The Ariel Helwani Show - Ian Machado Garry, Yair Rodriguez, Jean Silva, Dominick Reyes, UFC 314 Aftermath, More

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

Ariel Helwani and the gang kick off the show by reacting to everything UFC 314, including huge wins by Alexander Volkanovski and Paddy Pimblett (3:36).Jean Silva discusses his big stoppage win over Bryce Mitchell at UFC 314, barking in Mitchell's face after choking him unconscious, what's next, a potential fight against Volkanovski and more (46:36).Dominick Reyes discusses his knockout of Nikita Krylov at UFC 314, his big career turnaround, overcoming deep vein thrombosis, how close he is to returning to title contention and more (1:13:58).Ian Machado Garry discusses his UFC Kansas City headliner against Carlos Prates, accepting the short-notice opportunity without even knowing the opponent, Sean Brady's recent comments, how the Jack Della Maddalena situation is fueling him and more (1:32:28).Yair Rodriguez discusses his dominant UFC 314 win over Patricio Pitbull, his beef with Diego Lopes, why he deserves the next title shot, skipping over Movsar Evloev and more (2:18:35).File with TurboTax before the tax deadline, April 15th! https://intuit.me/3GbvNM2

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Errrya Hawaii Show! Back in your life! On this Monday, April 14, 2000. And 25. Hello again, 2000. And 25. Hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is great to be back here an hour earlier than usual. Yes, it is 12 p.m. Eastern, 9 a.m. on the West Coast, 5 p.m. BST, and yes, I am not in our usual

New York City studio. Actually, we usually talk about these things beforehand. Do we have a shot of the studio? How's it looking? I miss my baby. Is it lonely? Is it dusty? Is it sad?

Oh, it's actually dark. We get a live shot of the dark. Wow, look at that. You see that window? Still kicking. See, you say that it's not real. How would it be looking like that? And by the way, what's up with that?

I see the three gentlemen's faces over there in the desk. It's our studio now, man. It's a little sussy McSus. In any event, obviously I'm not there. I am away. It is Passover. It is Easter. It is spring break.

But we had to do a show on this post-Paperview Monday following UFC 314. Everyone back in the studio, everyone in the control room doing their thing, everyone doing okay, I'm very, I'm very like, I'm feeling FOMO, I'm feeling like I'm missing you guys. I feel very detached from everything. Everyone doing all right?

Everyone's here, except we're missing vacation on-air Jordan. Some of us do the show remotely when we're away, some of us don't, is what you're saying. Some of us go to Portugal to go we're away, some of us don't, is what you're saying. Some of us go to Portugal to go to wineries and enjoy the sun. I mean, he took the spring break literally.

I mean, he said the whole week, he said, I'm out of here. All right, well, I am thankful. I am grateful that you guys are there. And obviously we couldn't miss Monday. It is worth noting to everyone watching, everyone listening, this week's schedule is a little different. Monday, you're getting the A.H. show,

an hour early, but same amount of guests, same-ish length of time. Tuesday, back at 1 p.m. Eastern, you are getting The Boys in the Back, special edition. Wednesday, 1 p.m. Eastern, you're getting The Crack Live with Pizzi Carol. Thursday, also at 1 PM, volume two of our classic interview reaction series, where I look back at some old interviews from yesteryear.

We did a volume one in late December. Everyone seemed to enjoy it very much. I tell you some backstories. I tell you some things that happened that perhaps you didn't see, behind the scenes stuff, paint the paint, December everyone seemed to enjoy it very much. I tell you some back stories. I tell you some things that You know happen that perhaps you didn't see behind-the-scenes stuff paint the picture for you new fans out there It's a great time and so that'll be on Thursday and then on Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern will have a WrestleMania 41 roundtable with the uncrowned wrestling crew

We've been doing a tremendous job over the past few months looking forward to that very much So we'll still have shows for you still have a ton of content all week long. Just a bit of a different Format different schedule if you will and then back to your regular shows Next week Monday Tuesday Wednesday, etc, etc Also, we'll have a a narrow and add a show tomorrow, but that would just be with Adé over on the Dizone boxing channel So there's still a ton of content No rest for the weary and there is much to discuss here on this post pay-per-view Monday today on the program back into the show We'll talk to yeah year

Rodriguez El Pantera who had the massive win over Patricia Pitbull Pitbull. Pitbull's debut, some saying he had the octagon jitters, some saying he froze in the lights. Is it okay to just say Yair is really that damn good? And he was the better fighter on the night. And that's that. I personally think that Pitbull is a little too old to be affected by that sort of thing. He's fought in Japan, he's fought all over the world,

he's fought obviously all over the United States. I don't think it was an Oskar Jitterstein, I think it's Yair just being a bad matchup for him. And kudos to Yair for that performance and that win and we'll talk to him about it all back into the show. Prior to that, we'll be joined by Ian Machado-Garry, who of course is going to return to action in 12 days time in Kansas City.

He did not have a fight booked. Carlos Pratches was supposed to fight Jeff Neal on 314. Neal injured. They moved Pratches to April 26th. Khalil Raunchy versus Jamal Hill off. It's now happening in June in Baku, Azerbaijan. And now we're getting Ian Machado-Ghari versus Carlos Pratches in 12 days in pitiful Kansas City. But it's a great main event and I'm looking forward to it.

So we'll talk to Ian. I do believe his first interview since all that went on. Carlos Pratches in 12 days in pitiful Kansas City. But it's a great main event and I'm looking forward to it. So we'll talk to Ian, I do believe his first interview since all that went down. Prior to that, we'll be joined by Dominic Reyes, who had the massive, beautiful knockout win over Nikita Krilov on Saturday.

What a story. Now three wins in the past calendar year for a guy who was oh so close to becoming UFC light heavyweight champion. Look at him now, he fell on some hard times, I believe four losses in a row, took some time off, and now he's won three in a row, and very much in the title picture once again at 205.

1240 will be joined by John Silva. Hush, hush, hush. What a win, what a moment, what a performance, what a star he has become. He'll join us to talk about the win over Bryce Mitchell. Let's talk 314 though. Let's talk about what some of the individuals on that roster of guests did. And we have to start, of course, with the main event.

We have to start with Alex Volkanovsky. There was so much said going into this fight. And I have to say there have been times where I sit here on the Monday after a big fight and I say, I'm in awe of the person who wanted the main event. I am in awe of Alex Volkanovsky for so many reasons, because it wasn't just about, you know, the, the 35 and older club and you know, the, the stats are a little bit wonky out there. Here's what we could tell you for sure. No one over the age of we could tell you for sure.

No one over the age of 35 has ever won a title fight in the UFC when the title fight was at 155, 145, 135, 125. It's 0 for 16, it's 0 for 17, it's 0 for 15, 14. Do you include the interims? Do you include the BMF? Here's what you need to know. No one has ever done it.

This guy's about to turn 36. No one has ever done it. So that's point number one. Point number two, he's on a back to back losing streak. He had lost his last two fights in a row. All right, fine. Remember that. Point number three, he had not fought in a year.

A little over a year. Point number four, he's fighting against a guy who is obviously younger than him, but is that damn good, not just any guy, guy who hits really hard, who's coming off an impressive win, a dominant win over a very good fighter and Brian or Tega. No easy task. But the thing that I feel like we don't talk about enough is Alex Falkenovsky was not just on a two-fight losing streak. He didn't just lose two close ones. He lost via knockout twice.

You change as a fighter. How often do we see someone have a belt for a long time, get knocked out, and then thus begins the decline, especially when you're mid 30s and up. Oh, and then you look back, you're like, man, how did that happen? You know, like you look at BJ Penn, he loses that close one to Frank Edgar. He's never able to get back to where he once was. Anderson Silva was never able to get back where he once was. It happens time and again.

And sure there are, you know, there are examples of the opposite, but time and again, we have seen people in their mid to late thirties lose the belt. And then after a while you look at the resume and they're like, where did that four or five fight losing streak come from? And, and, and Vogue was on route to going down that path. Looked to be an amazing shape. Looked to be, you know, saying all the right things. I love how self-aware he is afterwards talking about the fact that like, Hey, I was saying to myself, I need to do this for my daughters.

I need to bring the belt home for my daughters. And then right before the fight, he said in the post-fight press conference, you know what, I'm not going to think like that anymore. I just need to show them that I can come back. I just need to show them that you can, you can fall, you could trip. You can be down and out, but then you can work your way back up. And he did that. From the moment he stepped in the ring,

he did that regardless of the results. He has nothing left to prove to anyone, but he wanted to prove that he wasn't the guy who lost to Islam in October of 23, the guy who lost to Ilya. The only thing that could have made this story better was if he fought Ilya, for Volt, that is. But other than that, it's one of the greatest things that we have ever seen in the UFC.

There have been some great moments. Randy Couture coming back to beat Tim Sylvia, George St. Pierre coming back to beat Michael Bisping. Guys have been out for a long time. But you could count those moments on one hand. Alex Volkonovsky and what he did on Saturday is truly one of the greatest, most impressive, one of the most impressive moments of his career. out for a long time. But you could count those moments on one hand, Alex Volkanovsky and what he did on Saturday

is truly one of the greatest, most impressive, one of the most inspiring feats that we've ever seen in the UFC. We don't talk about this man enough. And this was a guy who early on in his career was just kind of there, had a bit of a vanilla personality, wasn't connecting with the audience.

Is he truly as good as he thinks he is? Is he truly going to be one of the greats? Is he someone that they can build around? Is he someone that could headline? Is he someone that could take the UFC back to Australia? And what I love so much about his story was he forced their hand. He wanted to be the backup fighter at 145. He goes to Edmonton. He wants to be the backup fighter at 155. He goes to Abu Dhabi.

He always bet on himself. He always ignored the noise. He always made things happen. He always made things happen. He always made things happen. He wants to be the backup fighter at 155. He goes to Abu Dhabi. He always bet on himself. He always ignored the noise. He always made things happen. Impressive. Beyond impressive.

Sometimes the internet is gonna, it's gonna get a little wonky here. I'm on WiFi. We're okay though, right? I'm looking at myself. It kind of- Yeah, we work through the kinks. I mean, I could see myself,

so you don't have to do the everything is good thing. I mean, so it stutters a little bit. No, man, it's good. I thought you developed a speech. No, no, don't do this. It's good bullshit. I hate when you guys do that. Wait, you just heard that.

It's just good? I said that like 15 seconds ago. Oh no. By the way, why are the words not matching your mouth right now? Oh Lord. They're matching on our mouth. No, I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I see. You can do it. I can do it too. I'm trying not to yell into the mic.

OK, sorry. Sorry. Sorry about that. It's, you know, we're working through the cakes. We're working through the cakes. Anyways, blown away by what he did. And before the fight, you'll recall that he said to us, I'm going to win this fight.

I'm going to fight Mo win this fight. I'm gonna fight most are Three months later, and I'm gonna be an active champion again Well, it seems like I was talking to his manager yesterday. He's got to check out his hand. Is it broken? He had a ton of stitches. I don't know if it's going to actually pan out that way I don't know if it's going to be as quick of a turnaround as As he wants but it's it's a really great story. And, and the beauty of it all is Diego Lopez will be back. Diego Lopez is one of the most inspiring stories in his own right.

If you know about his backstory in Brazil, in Mexico, did you guys see the scene of the people outside in his neighborhood watching him fight for the belt? Incredible stuff. Look at this. Look at this. I mean, how are you Diego Lopez and not watching this in the aftermath and just want to cry and hug all these people? Imagine having that kind of support in your hometown. I mean, I'm getting chills just looking at this. It's a beautiful thing. He fought valiantly.

He never gave up. He was in there. Had the the knockdown in the second won the fourth in the end. I thought it was four to one for Alex Volkonovsky at, at, at best or at worst. I should say three, two for, for Diego Lopez, excuse me, three, two for Volkonovsky at worst, at best for one. He did win the fourth round. Nothing to be ashamed of. One of those, one of those situations where it feels like stock went up. We say this all the time. He's, he's, he's now a big star in the UFC.

He's beloved. He's a contender and you know, we'll get to it in a moment, but I would love to see him fight. Yeah. You're Rodriguez because of everything that happened on Thursday and because of the backstory there now, but we had the three see him fight Yeager Rodriguez because of everything that happened on Thursday and because of the backstory there. Now, we had the three-poch post show on, on Saturday. This is what we'll be doing moving forward.

You guys wanted it. We delivered. So I didn't get a chance to talk to the boys in the back about what transpired. You guys did the watch party, but you had some time to digest what folk did. I see you rocking the Alex Volkanovski engaged T-shirt there. Mr. GC. T-shirt curse dead. T-shirt curse dead.

35 and up curse dead. Drake curse dead. What other curses died? Yeah, a lot of curses. That's it. He got rid of a lot of curses. To beat the T-shirt curse, I think might be the biggest one. Yeah, Volk.

I had people in my DMs being like, could you please, please wear the Eagle Lopez shirt? I was like, nah. Was it not? I think it was called the merch curse, right? Yeah, Volt. I had people in my DMs being like, could you please, please wear Diego Lopez's shirt? I was like, nah. Was it not? I think it was called the merch curse, right? Yeah, it was just straight up merch curse. But yeah, shout out to the cage.

Ashko Castro. We had a guy on Boys in the Back say, please wear the Volt shirt because he wanted Diego to win. Yeah. Wow. Didn't work. That's messed up. Volt beats all curses.

I'm assuming, like there's no real debate to be had here. I'm assuming you guys agree with everything that I said. It's one of the most amazing things that we've ever seen and the guy is just beyond inspirational at this point. Not only that, to come out there in that first round and just be willing to get in the pocket and just trade massive shots with him. Just like chin ain't gone, I'm not afraid of this.

I'm gonna bring the fight to him as well. I'm not scared of his power. I know he's a dangerous guy, but I'm willing to go all 25 minutes, I'm willing to put it on the line. And just this incredible performance, and then to get on the mic afterward, adversity's a privilege, it's amazing to bounce back like that.

It was just, it was a complete performance from the start of the fight all the way to getting out of the octagon, it really was incredible. This could have gone one of two ways. There were two ways this was going to go. This was either going to be, man, Volk is done. Volk is washed. Look, he's lost to these guys. It's over. The run on top was great. And I think MMA fans are willing and ready to do that very quickly these days. Or it was going to be, and I think Connor and I were both on this corner, but correct me if I'm wrong,

Connor, if I'm not speaking for you, but we felt like losing to the number one and number two pound for pound guys doesn't really tell you where Volk is at. You need a fight like this in order to understand where Volk is truly at, against a top featherweight who isn't Ilya Toporya, who's blistering hot, knocking out everybody, knocking out Max Holloway,

and Islam Makachev, who is the probably, now that Ilya has left the division, the best featherweight on the planet. And it was back to normal for the king of the featherweights. I would love to see that fight again. I really would. Lopez. I think Alex Volkanovsky deserves it. Or Toporia.

No, I would, I would, I would love to see that fight again. I would love to see that fight again. I would love to see that fight again. I would love to see thatweights. I would love to see that fight again. I really would. I think Alex Volkonovsky deserves it. No, I would. Toporia versus Volkonovsky.

Yeah. I would love to see that fight again. But I don't think we're ever going to see it. I think the way could. Unless Volk moves up to 155. And I don't know why he would at this point. It just seems like Volk deserves it. He was champ for so

long in 145. He deserves to fight the guy who beat him, who took the belt away from him, but it's just not going to work out and that's fine. How eerie is the mirroring of the Conor McGregor thing for Toporia? Toporia comes in, beats the guy, makes it look easy, goes up to 55. Now the the guy Jose Aldo at that time goes back wins the title in that division the same way Volk won the title in that division it's it's crazy it is crazy the parallels of Ilya and and Connor story and then also like the subsequent what Aldo and Volkanovsky did in the aftermath of it showed that they were still the best at that but they got

caught by the guy they got caught by the guy at the time. Also Aldo eight title victories in the UFC. That was Vokes seventh. So he's getting really close. I think you'd start to have that conversation. We did this on Saturday. We don't have to do it again. Like the strength, the schedule, I think is starting to look better for Volkanovsky. But if you include the WEC title fights, then maybe Aldo is still a little bit ahead of

him. It's fine. It doesn't matter. No one really cares. They're both incredible. They're both Hall of Famers. But it's just an amazing thing because let's be honest, after the Toporia fight, everyone wrote him off. Everyone said that he made a huge mistake. A, fighting Islam on short notice. B, coming back so quickly against Toporia just three and a half, four months later.

Takes the year off. Starts talking about, should I come back? Should I not come back? Do I still have it? Retirement, all that stuff. And usually, that's another thing I didn't mention at the top. Usually, how many times have we heard guys talk about that before a fight, and then they show up and they lose, and then they retire? Like usually when, and Dana talks about this all the time too. Usually when you say, I'm starting to consider, my foot is out the door, it might be the end, I'm having thoughts, I'm having doubts.

It is the beginning of the end. And he looked nothing like a guy who was at the beginning of the end. He looked shredded. He looked amazing in the first round. He looked great in the second round until the very end. Rebounded very nicely in the third. Finished strong in the fifth. Was smart enough. The one second round until the very end, rebounded very nicely in the third, finished strong in the fifth, was smart enough.

The one thing we don't talk about, Volk, tremendous fight IQ, did not engage in the final 15 or so seconds when Lopez tried to do the max hallway thing almost exactly a year to the day of UFC 300 when he did it against Justin Gaethje. It was just a virtuoso performance. And Engage has a shirt, they have a Volk shirt,

which they sent to me. I think you have it as well, GC. Earn not given, it's a Volk shirt. Advers engage has a shirt. They have a VULK shirt, which they sent to me. I think you have it as well GC earn not given. It's a VULK shirt. Adversity is a privilege. Is it like that? It's right there. Adversity is a privilege. Boom, I can see it.

They've already made it. Oh, have they made it? Yeah, you can buy it on the engage website right now. Adversity is a privilege with a picture of them on the back. Yeah, they got right on that. And it's like only available for like 48 hours or something like that.

Yeah, they stay on top of it. Brilliant. Now, do we all agree it's going to be Movsar? It has to be Movsar, right? And his coach seems to be signaling toward that. I guess that's it. Feels like that's the one. I mean, he's on a nine-fight winning streak, albeit all by decision, but I think he's still... Yeah, Eeyore's really pushing for this fight in Mexico, but... I just don't think he can...

He's already lost the Valk. Yeah. Yeah. Finished by Valk. He's on a one fight winning streak. I think meritocracy needs to rain here and you need to give it to him. Also for what it's worth. Valk doesn't seem to want to wait till like a September rain.

I know. I love it. He gets the belt back. He's like, I'm ready for July, October fighter of the year. Here I come. He's crazy. I mean, come back for it at the year. No doubt.

If it, if it continues this way, no, it has to be most are. I said on Saturday, I thought they were going to go back to Australia, but it sounds like it might be a, a fight night, not a pay-per-view. So that would have made any sense. Um, I, you know, I don't think Volk needs to go to enemy territory if he wants to, God bless them. But I mean, most of it's right there. You know, the, the winning streak speaks for itself, the wins, the people that he

has beaten speak for themselves. That wins, the people that he has beaten speak for themselves. That has to be the fight. And that's a tough matchup for Vogue, but I think he's game. Like, you know, I don't think Mofstar's gonna beat him up on his feet. Obviously in the grappling department

and the wrestling department, he's incredible. He's relentless. He's very, very good. But I don't even know, are there even odds for this? What are people saying? Are people saying that Mofar is gonna steamroll him? You know what, give me two seconds. I saw they did release hypothetical.

Yeah, I didn't see anything. I'm sure there are some people who think, but like, this is an intriguing matchup. It's an intriguing matchup. If anybody thinks that he's gonna get steamrolled by anybody at this point, I don't know what to talk about. Minus 160 bulk. Yeah, that's-

Moxar plus 140. I'm cool with that. Diego Lopez minus 280, Yair Rodriguez plus 240. Really? Interesting. I think that's a great co-main for the Guadalajara card. It's the perfect co-main. It's like beyond perfect.

There's the whole history there. There's the backstory. One of the guys, Marco Beltran, who's at the center of all this, did an interview with Tarzan TV MMA, I do believe. And Andy, who's turned into not just one of the best TDs in the history of the internet, also one of the best interpreters and translators in the history of the internet, translated the whole thing for us. It's a little lengthy here.

I could give you a bit of the backstory because you know, on the internet translated the whole thing for us. It's a little lengthy here. I could give you a bit of the back story because you know on Thursday, they had the back and forth of the press here. It was incredible stuff. Shout out to Fabiano, who did an amazing job of trying to translate everything that was going on. And it was just wild stuff. But basically, as it has come out afterwards, it seems like, and correct me if I'm, I'm misinterpreting this.

It seems like Yair is upset because he feels like Diego and another member of the team jumped Yair's teammate. And he also doesn't like the fact that he's representing to a degree Mexico while he's Brazilian and he's a hundred percent Mexican. And there's a whole backstory there, which maybe at some point I can, I can read through this because she did an incredible job of, uh, of translating it all. But there's like a deep, deep tie, which they could tell in a countdown or an embedded to your point. It's, it's, it's, it's the perfect. Comane for a Noche UFC because it, it like Mexico is a part of it.

There, there are ties to Mexico. The, the country is a part of the storyline which you know, what's better than that? It's it's Mexico versus Brazil. But obviously Lopez now has his roots in Mexico and has trained the likes of Alexa Grasso and the whole team over there works as a trainer still till this day so yeah, I would I would love to see that and I think I think love to see that and I think I think he'll be just fine he has fought in five round fights before I know the broadcast was saying otherwise obviously this was his first big fight

in the UFC on on that type of stage but Diego Lopez will be back and he's a great story to taking that fight on short notice against Mosar look how far he has come I mean the card is a the card looks great over the five rounds. A lot of people were worried he was going to fall off a cliff and like he never gave up like you said. At the end he's calling Volk like obviously trying to debate him into potentially getting a finish but like he stayed moving forward the entire 25 minutes. I was very impressed with Diego as well. Okay. Wait a second. Wait a second. We have some breaking news here guys. Oh, I'm seeing something. This is from editor in chief extraordinaire Shaheen Alshadi who tells me that the uncrowned

pound for pound rankings have just been released. And I'm looking at these very quickly. This has to be a mistake. Wow. There is no chance on the, there is no Alex Volkanovsky in the top 10. Wait a second. One Islam to Ilya. Three Merab, four Alex Pantoja, five DDP, six Tom Aspinall, seven John Jones, eight Magomed onkalaev,

nine Francis Nganu, 10 Alex Pereira, no Volk? How is Volk not on there? Please explain, wait, wait, I'm seeing this. Did I not hear Balal? Is Balal on there? Balal, why is he not on there? Connor put him at number eight, Eric and PT left him off.

I had Volk. Wow. I had Volk at eight. Alex Volkanovsky's not top 10. Alex Volkovski's not top 10? Belal's not on that list that you just mentioned? Magomed Akhlyev? Wait, wait, wait. No, Akhlyev is there. He's eight, he's eight.

Oh, sorry. I don't have Alex Pereira or Francis on mine. Hamza Chamayev not on there? Yeah, Volkovski. He's not a champ. So what? He's not a champ. What does that have to do with anything?

This is pound for pound. I actually think Belal not being on there is more of a valk. How is Balal not? He's a champion with 12 straight wins. By the way, by the way, by the way, don't move the goalposts here. This is not a Balal discussion. How is Volk not a top 10 pound for pound fighter?

I had Volk in number eight. I'm saying that Balal's not even on this list. How could Volk even get ahead of him? Volk's not even, But my point is Balal and Volk should be on this list. I agree with you. I've got Balal on mine. I actually don't. Where's Volk even get ahead of him? Volk's not even... But my point is, Bilal and Volk should be on this list. I agree with you. I've got Bilal on mine. Where's Volk? We're talking about Alex Volkanovsky.

I don't have Francis or Pereira. I have Bilal and Volk instead. I would agree with you, GC. Wait, you don't have Hamza? In the top 10? I'm looking at the top 10 right now. Oh, I do have Hamza. I do have Hamza. You know what?

Wait, but if you don't have Francis, wow. I'm talking about all this disrespect. I might have Homs out. Again, as in the chat, you know, I've got a perfect list and Pizzi, the other one to not have Volkan, also has probably a perfect list. This is crazy.

My defense, I sent this to the man in the hat at 2.59 AM in the Uber home from the watch party. So yeah, I guess I didn't- Are you saying you mailed it in? Yes, I guess I didn't fully think it through. You're bearing the lead beyond all this. Vina Jandaroba cracks the top 10. Yeah, baby.

Number 10 on the women's count. I mean, there's a lot of people who didn't have Verna on their list at all for the last couple of rounds. Focus top 10, I'm sorry. He's not. Pizzi. How is it? Pizzi does not have the law of law.

Tell me when I get to somebody he's above. Islam. Yeah. Yeah. He's not right? No, no, keep going, yeah. Homsot. Marab.

Is this your top? You have Homsot number three? Oh yeah, easily. keep going. Yeah. Hamza. Murab. Is this your top? You have Hamza number three? Oh yeah, easily. Oh, this is crazy. Islam, Ilya, Hamza, Murab, DDP, Pantoja, Jones, Bilal, Asbinall, Magomed. I'll put him over Bilal. I'll put him over Magomed. What?

What? His only two losses, his only two losses were to Islam and Ilya. He almost beat Islam, the first time. I'll put him over Magomed. Yes. What? His only two losses, his only two losses were to Islam and Ilya. He almost beat Islam the first time. The second time was short notice. And then you got knocked out by Ilya who knocks everyone out.

No one else. In the list that is theoretically who would do well if going up weight classes, the guy who lost to, twice to a guy who's up a weight class and then to another guy who now is Beat him the first time. Beat him the first time. Does not make that list, unfortunately. The guy who lost twice to a guy who's up a weight class and then to another guy who now is a network class as well. Beat him the first time. Beat him the first time.

Does not make that list, unfortunately. That's kind of the, defeats the entire purpose of pound for pound, kind of, you know, kills the guys. No, no, almost beat him the first time. And then second time, yeah, second time he lost. But look at the amount of wins and who he beat and compare that to who Uncle I have beat. And compare it to even who Pantoja beat.

Uncle I didn't lose. But no, I'm saying he's had draws, he's had this, he's had that. It's strike the schedule. It's strike the schedule. Anyway, I don't wanna get into a whole pound for pound thing now. Finding the proper type of guy is difficult.

It's not easy, but in my opinion, Volk is like top seven. Anyway, I want to talk about Patty Pimlet because he deserves all his flowers as well. And he's finally getting them because it seems as though, it seems as though we have finally moved past the, oh, he just has a cool haircut or a funny haircut

and a cool accent, a funny accent. And I hate to say it, but if you watch this program or our former program, we've been on this train since 2017, we're telling you. It was never, that was part of the package. He was never a gimmick fighter. He was never an influencer fighter.

He was never someone who didn't deserve the attention that he was receiving overseas. And now you're finally starting to see it. And I do see afterwards, oh, you know, he beat a guy who was what two and six down the UFC bullshit You don't do that to Michael Chandler and not deserve your spot And then it wasn't just the performance and how strong he looked and how big he looked in the game plan Attacking the legs and how vicious he was and the blood and the and the ground and pound and the elbows and everything he did

It was a flawless performance and it was a flawless post fight as well, because what's been the knock on him? They protect him, right? Oh, they're moving him up. They're protecting him. They're not trying to expose him. They're not trying to give him tough opponents. And what does he do afterwards? He essentially calls out every single person

in the lightweight division. Every single one, even the ones that I thought he wasn't going to mention, like the likes of Armand Tserouki. Now, he didn't mention Ilya Tupouria. He mentioned him afterwards, said he's so irrelevant. Obviously, I me, the likes of Armand Tseruki. Now he didn't mention Ilya Tuporiya, he mentioned him afterwards, said he's so irrelevant. Obviously I disagree with that.

That would be a gigantic fight. But I thought that that was just what Patty Pimlet needed. It was his best performance of his career. Forget UFC, of his career, period. And look, we talk about stars, he is there. Like, he's a win away, in my opinion, from fighting for the belt. I think they're gonna get him one more fight.

I think it could be against a Justin Gaethje. I think he could easily win that fight. When I say easily, I don't mean he could beat him easily. I think it's a winnable fight for him. And I think if he wins that fight, he'll fight for the belt, and that will be a big freaking deal. I have to put my hand up.

I have to raise my hand. Apologies to Patti Pimblitt, because I've long been on record. You didn't believe. Didn't think he'd be a champ. Like on record saying, this man will never be a champion. Furthermore, didn't think he could beat the likes

of a Michael Chandler, didn't think he could crack the top of this rankings. Hand up, I was completely wrong. The skills are there. The swa, I mean, the confidence, the swag, the aura, that part was never in question, right? It was the skills. I did not see it, but now I'm seeing it.

Now I'm seeing what is the makings of a guy who can be around the top of the rankings for quite a bit. The efficiency with which he dispatched Michael Chandler, to your point, is not how most people do against Michael Chandler, right? In the Dustin Poirier-Michael Chandler fight, moments against Poirier, who we consider one of the best in that division.

Charles Oliveira's last fight with Michael Chandler was beating him thoroughly, but wasn't finishing him, wasn't taking him out like this, to the point that Michael Chandler had a chance in that fifth round against Charles. He completely dismantled him, could not have been more impressive Patty Pimblitt, hand up, I was wrong, he's as legit as they come.

Yeah, and it was just so dominant. Michael Chandler had nothing to offer him, gets him out of there in the third round, and I just can't wait to see what's next for him. I mean, whoever his next fight is going to be massive, it's going to be huge on a pay-per-view, and if he wins that one, he gets on the mic and he calls for the title, and I think he'll get

the title shot because of his star power. Like, he's massive on Instagram He's massive on YouTube people tune in that are from a casual space to see him and now he's putting on performances to match That star power the sky is the limit for this kid Here's where we stand and because I think it's very relevant to talk about this because he's in that sort of top five Territory we still don't know what Islam is doing. My understanding as of right now, and I know you guys have talked about it

on the boys in the back is, they are in fact going to wait to see what happens on May 10th in Montreal to then determine what Islam is going to do. So the main event in Montreal is Bilal Mohammed against Jack Della Maddalena. If Bilal Mohammed wins, Islam's going to stay at 155. He doesn't want to fight his friend Bilal Mohammed. If Bilal Muhammad wins, Islam is going to stay at 155. He doesn't want to fight his friend Bala Muhammad.

If Bala Muhammad loses, he's going to move up to 170 and fight Jack Della. I presume if he moves up to 170 to fight Jack Della, he's going to relinquish the 155 belt because they made Ilya relinquish his 145 title when he moved up to 155. If they do that, I presume the vacant title fight is going to be Ilya versus Charles. But I say all of this, we're still almost a month away from May 10th, which means unless they're going to roll the dice and say, hey, we're rolling right now, we don't need a main event for International Fight Week until mid-May, I think that's crazy. And way later than usual, obviously last year there was a late replacement after Kana got hurt

and that was in, you know, earliest June. That's not ideal. You need to sell tickets. I think maybe that whole situation is not going to be resolved, International Fight Week, when we all thought it should be and would be. I saw earlier today, Hamza Chamayev tweeted, "'I have good news.

Is it Hamza and DDP? I mean, it feels like that's the only other one out there. Let's see. But here's the thing. If we go back to the lightweight division, because we're talking about Patty Pimblitt, let's just say for now, there's two options. Islam stays at 155. Bilal beats Jack. Islam stays at 155. It's got to be Islam versus Ilya, right? In his post fight interview, Patty called out Charles. I would love to see that. I think that's a great fight. And again, I think it's a winnable fight for him. I think he can win that fight. He is young, he is hungry, he is strong.

He's developing into a great striker, has been great on the ground as well, athletic, et cetera, et cetera. He says he's better on the ground than Charles. Yeah, what a story. What et cetera. He says he's better on the ground than Charles. Yeah, what a story. What a build. And two supremely popular guys, is that the fight? So this is scenario one, if Islam remains champion at 155,

and then obviously it's Islam versus Ilya, your options are Armin, Justin Gaethje. Everything I'm hearing is it's Poirier versus Holloway in the summer, so let's remove them from the equation. Thank God. Dan Hooker's on the comeback trail after the surgery, so we'll remove him for now from the conversation. Those are the options, right?

At one time I wanted to see the Moicano fight, but I feel like at least for now, Patty has kind of moved past them a little bit. No, he hasn't. He's moved past them. All three of those, in my opinion, are incredible options. You have this rivalry between Patty and Armand, him basically being like he's been gifted

everything in his life. He's a posh boy. I love it. All of them beat him. Like they have this great rivalry. That's a beautiful fight. Him versus Charles, just two stars. It'll be an incredible build.

He's saying he's better on the ground. He's a better submission artist than Charles. And then Gagey, another star in himself, it'll deliver a wildly exciting fight. All three are winning scenarios for Patty Pimlet. On Saturday night, Patty Pimlet solved this lightweight kind of logjam that had all been happening here. Islam versus Ilya, Charles versus Patty, Gaiety versus Armin.

It's perfect. Let's do it. Gagee versus Armin, Islam versus Ilya. Now, but wait a second. What if Ilya, what if Islam moves up? No, then all bets are off. Who knows? Patty versus Ilya for the vacant title. Hand sanitizer, boy.

By the way, Charles versus gigantic mega fight for the UFC, right? Could you imagine the build? Do you think- Mega Dega, imagine if Patty handed Ilya his first loss. I know- Oh, superstar. Superstar.

I know it will feel big, but is it truly bigger, pay-per-view wise, putting your money down than Charles versus Ilya? I don't think so. I think that's still a bigger fight. Yeah, Charles is such a star. Charles is a star. Patty gets that casual engage.

Patty's beloved. We get confused and we try to fast track some of this. Patty Pimbla has not been a pay per view headliner. It is not guaranteed. I know he has the Instagram followers, he has the support, he is very good. It's not there in the way that Charles is there yet. I'm thinking Charles is still a bigger fight.

No one, by the way, has a wider array of insults than Patti Pimblitt. You ever notice like Lizard, Maggot, Sausage, like he just like, he just throws them out. He's got so many. I mean, Lord knows I've been called half of those and more. Um, and then of course, Colby Cummington is in the mix too. Uh, I saw them getting into a little bit there.

I think Colby Cummington is in the mix at the, for the 155 title. Get him in there against Pat, right? That's the one that's the, that's the money fight. No, I guess we could, we could all agree though, he is in the conversation with those guys. He wasn't in that conversation seven days ago. No, he entered that conversation on Saturday, and it helps because they needed some, there was some odd man out,

and he has solved that problem for them. No, it's an incredible scenario for the UFC. You have this guy who, you know, we keep talking about starving for a star, Patti Pembrolet could be that star. Ilya. What does Chandler do? That superstar, man.

Fun scrap. It's tough. Pitbull goes up to 155, they rematch. The thing is we've seen it. Like I want to see them fresh matchups, you know, fresh opponents. I mean, what does Chandler do? We're two and six in the UFC now?

Two and seven in the UFC now? Two and seven in the UFC now? Is a Grant Dawson too far back? Yeesh. Gamrot, Gamrot looking for a fight? 365 we had a poster for Michael Chandler, Conor McGregor, now we're talking about Grant Dawson in the APEC? I'm just saying, listen. Now we're talking about Grant Dawson in the Apex. Now we're talking about Grant Dawson.

Are you a UFC Vegas 109? No, not in the Apex. Please God, no. Don't do that to Mike. He has been through enough. I'm just throwing out names because I know Benoit is booked and obviously he's gonna need some time off.

So, you know, Benoit could fight. And then, you know, by the way, I don't hate the Benoit one. Winner of Benoit, Joel Alvarez? I don't hate that. Joel Alvarez keeps getting finishes, man. By the way, why the winner? Why the winner?

Shouldn't it be the loser? Or is it because he's a bigger name? So that he should be the prize? That's at the bottom of the lightweight rankings. That's like 12 versus 13 or something. But I mean, Joel Alvarez finishes. What about Gamrot? Gamrot is always looking for a fight.

He's down for anyone. That's not bad. But probably at this point, Chandler's gonna need some time off. Take some time off. Figure it out, I guess. I am struggling to think of what's next for him. He's obviously gonna keep fighting.

People are gonna obviously watch, but I just don't know what's next. Your heart breaks for him because he had the payday. had the fight you know he wins that fight against Connor everything changes everything's different. He's set for life. I wish we could peer down the timeline where International Fight Week last year happens and it's Chandler versus Connor and he wins that fight and see where it happens. Sliding doors. Yeah. It's like that movie sliding doors, Gwyneth Paltrow. Shout like that movie, Sliding Doors, Gwyneth Paltrow. Is it Gwyneth Paltrow? Shout out to GP, legend.

Frank, is it Gwyneth Paltrow, Sliding Doors? Yep. Have you seen that one, Frankie? Absolutely. No. He doesn't even know. By the way, Rick's having a great time back there. I'm laughing, man.

I'm trying to cut back here. Shaddy Cathy over here, he is just like, how's your day going, what's for lunch? Is that sweet greens? I love sweet greens. Just like, how's your day going? What's for lunch? Is that sweet greens? I love sweet greens. Just like, all right, Ray. Just frame him up. Well, shout out to Patty Pimple.

Great win for him. I am happy for him. I know others would say, or would be surprised to hear me say that. I am happy for him. And I know he has come a long way and it's cool to see him get this type of shine. Yair Rodriguez with the unanimous decision win over Patricio Pitbull. We will talk to you here about that win, a hard fought victory, a very impressive victory.

John Silva and Bryce Mitchell. What a performance that was. What a win. I mean, they have they have another superstar on their hands with John Silva. What a guy. I mean, he's just like, he called his shot. He asked for the fight after the whole Bryce, our insanity podcast situation. And he went out there and just steamrolled him and choked him out with a ninja choke and almost had him in a guillotine choke in the, in the first

round. And that's just the second time that Bryce Mitchell, who's, who's, who's grappling is his own, his own, his own, his own, his own, his own, his own with a ninja choke and almost had him in a guillotine choke in the first round. And that's just the second time that Bryce Mitchell, who's grappling is his bread and butter. Just the second time he's been submitted the first time was against Ilja Tupouria. Well on his way is John Silva and that team, all they do is win.

What a fun time they are, what a vibe they are. Kyle Bohaglio is saying on Friday that Nasrudin Imavov turned down a fight against him. That was the fight to make. Hopefully that doesn't actually play out that way, because I would love to see that fight. But anyway, John Silva, a performance bonus for him as well. A guy who didn't get a performance bonus was Dominic Reyes. And I think a lot of his fans were upset about that. He beat Nikita Krilovlov with a beautiful brilliant left hook.

Shades of Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo back in the day. Moving backwards, beautiful stuff. And now he has won three in a row. And he's all the way back, as I said on Saturday, all the way back from the, the, the depths of despair, four in a row, four losses in a row, the title loss to John Jones. What a great story. Newly married, Dan Ege beat Sean Woodson and was on route to beating Sean Woodson. But the stoppage was not a fair one.

The stoppage was too early. It was not a good one by the referee, Aaron Glenn. Unfortunate. And you could say it stoppage was not a fair one. The stoppage was too early. It was not a good one by the referee Aaron Glenn. Unfortunate and you could say it was elementary at that point, who knows, but that was not a good stoppage. It was too soon. Vierna Jean-Geroba, the aforementioned, beat Yan Xiaonan, very much the number one contender in my opinion at 115 but does she fight Zhang Weili? Is Zhang Weili, is her next fight going to be against Verna? I have my doubts because if Valentina wins in May they want to make that fight but she has put herself there so shout out to her. Chase Hooper had to work very hard to beat Jim

Miller. Jim's you know his old man strength, his veteran IQ, savvy in all facets of the game. He made him work, but in the end, it was another impressive win for Chase Hooper, who has won five in a row and has really come into his own. Good for him. Julian Arosa with an impressive win, a vicious stoppage against Darren Elkins in the first round. Michal Olek-Szeysiuk, I did not know was a part of the Fighting Nerds, but had a nice W over Cedric Dumas, and I give him a little French when I say his name.

Another first round stoppage. The prelims were very fun. Sumer Dergiy beat Mitroposso via split decision. That was a little controversial. Marco Chulio had a great win over Trey Shongor and afterwards credited his work with Ian Machado Gary. He won in the second round an impressive win for Marco Tulio and Nora Cornel beat Hailey Cowan via rear naked choke in the first round an impressive win for her she improves now to 9 and 2 so overall I thought a fun affair interestingly enough UFC 299 that's Sean O'Malley versus Chito Vera 14.1 million dollar gate that's still number one number

two Izzy Pereira I think that was 287 two years ago and this was number three. Maybe the ticks are getting too expensive or maybe it's because it was on the first night of Passover. Maybe that's why and some of the high rollers can come. I don't I don't know but I thought that that was interesting because this was a really good card on paper. In addition to all of that, they did announce that Amanda Nunes is going into the UFC Hall of Fame later this summer, June the 26th I do believe. She will be inducted and this comes 24 hours after she was at the press conference for the upcoming UFC 316 fight involving her two former friends slash foes Kayla Harrison and Juliana Pena.

She was sitting in attendance with her daughter. Someone asked Dana White about the prospects of Amanda Nunes fighting the winner of that fight, and he essentially confirmed that she is coming back. So that's on, that's on Friday. On Saturday, they announced that she's going into the hall of fame. It's not the same rules as the baseball hall of fame or the basketball hall of fame, football hall of fame. There's no four year period and all that stuff, but it does seem like she's coming back.

She also shook her head a bunch of times. And, uh, and that's great because now the stakes have been raised for that fight between Kayla Harrison and Julianne opinion. She seemed extremely emotional. It was a beautiful scene. I love the way they do this. They don't tell the fighters that they're doing it. So they, they, they did the same thing to Izzy when they announced that his

fight against Kelvin Gaslam in, uh, in Atlanta back in 2019 was going in. Like you see the raw emotion. It's a beautiful thing. And she was extremely emotional and, and, and widely recognized as the, the greatest of all time, as far as women's have amazed concern. There's not a lot of people out there just given her resume, given who she beat, given how she beat them. Not a lot of people out there would disagree with that, but I, I love the fact

that she's coming back for two reasons. Number one, that day, she beat them. Not a lot of people out there would disagree with that. But I love the fact that she's coming back for two reasons. Number one, that division sorely needs her. And number two, if you were ever coming back, now's the time to come back because you have a history with both of these people. Juliana beat you once, you beat her in the rematch. Kayla and, I mean, we were talking about Kayla and Amanda.

We were talking about Kayla and Amanda. We were talking about Kayla and Amanda when Kayla was in PFL and it seemed like a massive long shot. Very far-fetched. And now she's one win away from fighting Amanda Nunes. In what could be one of the bigger women's title fights in UFC history. Not the biggest. Nothing will top, you know, the Ronda Hay Day, but pretty damn big.

So I love that. Uh, Sean and Marab had their press conference as well. Uh, good stuff from Marab, good stuff from Sean. Overall, I thought it was, uh, it was a good way to start the build for the pay-per-view June 7th in New Jersey. After that press conference, they had Aaron Pico up there, introduced him to the audience, did a little Q&A with John Anick. So in case you're keeping score at home, you had Kayla Harrison at the press conference,

you had Aaron Pico introduced. The next night you had Patricio Pitbull and Michael Chandler fighting on pay-per-view. You open up your Twitter app, your ex app, any point of the day. You'll get a tweet from Corey Anderson, you'll get a tweet from Johnny Eblen, you'll get a tweet from Patchy Mix, complaining about the state of their careers, complaining that they're being held hostage, essentially, complaining that they're not getting fights, but everything's doing great.

Everything's doing great. Everything's on the up. Totally, 100%. Let us move along now and welcome our first guest of the day. He was one of the big winners on Saturday, an incredible win, incredible performance, an incredible weekend for us. 100%. Let us move along now and welcome our first guest of the day. He was one of the big winners on Saturday, an incredible win, incredible performance,

an incredible weekend for him, incredible build. He talked the talk, he walked the walk, and he's now just the second person to submit Bryce Mitchell. And he did it with an impressive ninja choke. And he's now turning into one of the biggest stars in the UFC as well. He is beloved. He is one of the biggest stars in the UFC as well. He is beloved

He is one of the members of the very very successful fighting nerd squad He is the great John Silva joining us right now to talk about the big win Thank you so much, oh bigado John and we're being joined by our interpreter, Teresa, who's helping us as well. We have our interpreter now, and we're going to move on to John da Silva, who had a fantastic weekend with incredible adversaries, who not only said he would, but he did. He went to the end,

and he was the second person to finish with Bryce Mitchell, and with that last ninja and now he is a person who is very much talked about member of the UFC member of the nerds fighting nerds here we have with us Jean Hey, hello everybody. How's everybody? This is Jean-Lôde da Silva. I'm here with all of you. Just, yes, of course, now you have to talk about me and I'm just going to have to talk to you about the next steps. Okay, well, I wanna ask you about the Saturday. You were very emotional in the aftermath, John. I saw all the media that you did after.

Can you tell us how you're feeling two days later about what you accomplished on Saturday? Hey, John, we saw that you were super emotional after the fight, that you, talking to the media, were very emotional. How do you feel now, two days have passed, and how do you see your future now? I think that part of the emotion is my way of thanking. When I'm there very emotional, it's the way I have to thank for everything that's happening in my life. I think that's it, my emotion is a way of thanking.

Well, I'm very excited about the next steps now, let's see what FC has. I want someone who... well, let's see. So, when I get emotional, it's my way of saying thank you. I get very thankful and I want to be thankful for everything that's happening in my life. And I am very positive about the next steps. I just want to see. Let's see what the UFC has to offer. Jon, you can still hear me, right? Jon, do you hear me me, right? Yes. There were a lot of people who were rooting for you, maybe for the first time, if only because they didn't agree with some of the things Bryce Mitchell said recently.

Did you feel any type of burden? Did you feel any type of responsibility to beat him, especially the way in which you did, because of maybe the fact that you don't agree with those things and because so many people were backing you because of those things? We saw, João, that this time you had a lot of people rooting for you, maybe even for the first time, because who knows, maybe they didn't agree with what Brice was saying.

I don't know if it was in response to that, if it was in response to you having won the fight, or maybe because they didn't agree with what happened. What is your response to all this, to all this scenario? I believe in the part... I was the hero of that instant and I became the star. And then I ended up being the hero of the crowd at that moment. You're sorry, but you'll have to repeat a little bit because your internet signal was super weak at the moment.

It's okay. As I said, I have to thank Brice Smith for all this fame. I won because of so many things he's been saying on the internet and the crowd doesn't agree with the things he says, I have to thank Bryce Mitchell for all this fame that I have because he was the one that kept saying my name on the media and I kept really just reaping the benefits of being spoken about all the time. And so people, because they didn't agree with what he was saying, all of a sudden they just started supporting me.

When you submitted him, you stood over him and it seemed like you were saying something to him. What did you say? I wasn't really talking. I wasn't saying anything, I was just barking. Okay, okay. I had a feeling you might have been barking, but I wasn't sure. It's an unbelievable shot. Would you say this is the greatest moment of your career? That performance that won, as of right now, the best moment of your career? I didn't know, I thought you were talking, but I wasn't sure. It was really a fabulous image, it was incredible. But do you think this is maybe the best moment of your career? Do you think this is the peak of your career at the moment? It was funny. No, it's not the best moment. My moment will always be one day after the other and a victory after the other. I don't believe in moments. If I look at the moment, I'm creating my own moment.

There will never be an end to it. You can expect something bigger and bigger. That was a funny moment indeed, that moment, barking there. No, I don't consider this as being my best moment of my career, because I believe that my career, the best moments of our career are built day after day. I don't, and victory after victory. I can't create an end to how I perceive it, because otherwise I would have a limit. And I have no limits. You just wait.

We saw that you needed a little extra time to make weight and I've seen the footage after of how much of a struggle it was to make weight. Could you tell us, is it always that much of a struggle and at some point are you going to have the right weight and that you always have to have that waiting period to stay in the right weight. Do you think that this is a problem athletes that cut weight on Thursday night, I like to cut it on Friday night so I don't get dehydrated for a long time. So, despite being 9, I start my dehydration at 5 in the morning to be able to dehydrate and already hit the weight and hydrate. So I don't get dehydrated for a long time.

But this time I got lost in the time and started later. So I ended up losing the time to start cutting their weight on Thursday or Friday to dehydrate and I like to dehydrate on the day off so I'm not such so very long periods of time dehydrated and I like to do it early in the morning but that day for some reason I just weren't wasn't aware of that of the time and I just got a bit delayed, that's it. Okay, I love the connection. We all love the connection that you have with Bruce Buffer. It's a beautiful thing.

And after, I think I saw you whisper something to him after the win, what did you say to Bruce? I really like this relationship you have with Bruce Buffer. And I saw that in the end you were whispering that you were whispering something to him in his ear. What were you saying to him? Bruce is part of my dream. I think all athletes dream of entering the UFC. I heard him talking about us.

And he knew that I told him that in the end I would let him keep my heart and his heart. So, our secret. So, Bruce is my dream. Everybody has to have a dream at the UFC. And I like to hear his voice, but whatever I whisper to him that day, it's in my heart and it's in his heart So it's it will remain a secret between between us Okay, fair enough. You said in the aftermath that on Monday you were going to speak to your manager About who's next and you've referenced who's next a couple times. Can you tell us? According to John Silva who is next? Who do you want next? What if I look at a black hole seal Silva, who is next? Who do you want next? I haven't had this meeting yet, but I'll either go straight to the ring, depending on what the hunters want, what they think is necessary, or someone who

puts me very close there, because if Bryce Smith was the hardest grap in the category there, I showed that I'm the best strike, the best grap, objectively speaking, I I'm the best in my band. Sorry, but you'll have to repeat the beginning, your internet is coming and going. You said that on the belt? I said I want it either directly on the belt, if Hunter, Dana, and Chen Shelby believe believe that something is cool for the show,

I want to go straight to the belt. I believe that there are some credentials, or someone who puts me close to the belt or to get the ranking. I believe I have the credentials and if this is good for the FC I'd like to do it if not to have somebody that will bring me as close as possible to this goal. So to be clear you you would like to fight the champion Alex Voloknatsky in the next one? I see myself offering a good fight against Volkanovski, and honestly getting this belt via knockout between the second and the first round. I love Volkanovski, but I'm planning for a moment and that's it. in the first or second round. Okay, let's see if that happens. Can you clear something up for us?

You wanna get married soon and you want Dana White to pay for the musician at your wedding and if so, you want him to be your best man, is this true? And if so, who's the musician? It's true that you're going to marry, that you want to marry and that you want Dana White to pay for the music? And that he will be your godfather and he pays for the music? And if that's the case, who is this musician?

I can't believe this is going to happen. So, I'm very happy, right? My dream is literally my wife's dream of us getting married in church. So, this is our biggest dream. And to make this dream come true, we have to have Belo, who is a Brazilian singer, singing our wedding. And I made this joke there, I never imagined that this would come to him like this. And from what I understand, maybe he's in favor of being the patron of our marriage. But even more if he's going to pay for the wedding,

have you ever thought, Dana is the patron of my marriage? You're crazy! I don't believe this is going on. Yes, I'm very, very happy and I would like to marry my wife in church. And yeah, the singer that I would like to have at the wedding, his name is Bélu. And I was kind of joking when I said that, but I can't even believe that this got to his ears and that he said that, yes, that he would be the godfather and the money for Bello and paying for money for Bello, this is all incredible, this is amazing, I can't believe it.

Can you imagine if this marriage would be at the Apex in Las Vegas? That would be just out of this world. Would your wife want that as well? I saw her in your corner, so she seems down for anything and very supportive of you. Would she want to get married at the Apex? She supports everything you want. She agrees with this choice. Honey, are we going to get married at IPEX? Of course! But my love, are we going to get married at IPEX? Of course! Wow! They should stream it for the world. They should put it on like a UFC Fight Pass or their YouTube channel.

Would you be okay with that so the world can watch? I think that would be unbelievable. I am totally onto that. And I just want the world to see our happiness. I want everybody to feel what we feel and feel the contagion of our love. I definitely want that. Wow, beautiful. Okay, I'll ask you one more question and then let you go

because I want you to enjoy your day. How soon do you want to reach your goal? I think it's going to be a long time. I think want that. Wow, beautiful. Okay, I'll ask you one more question and then let you go because I want you to enjoy your day. How soon do you want to return if it was up to you? Just one more question for you to be able to connect. No, you can't do more. I like it here.

How close are you to your next fight? How long do you need to get ready for your next fight? I think it's very important and interesting if this fight is against Volkanovski because he tweeted and posted on his social media that he wants to fight as soon as possible. So if he wants to defend his belt in two months, I'm in his hands in two months to take his belt off. And we'll make this good fight that the audience will love. about the questions. You can ask me any questions you want. I love being here with you. Thank you. Yes, I find it super important that if this fight is going to be against Volkanovsky, and I think that he would like the same thing too, because he's already publishing this on

his social media and all his networks. So if we would take maybe two months for me to remove his belt, I'm totally in favor of that to just go ahead and remove his belt because I think this would be a fabulous fight and the public would love it. I think a lot of people would agree. I would like to have someone to fight in two months. I like to be in action. I'm the kind of guy that when I get the belt I'll defend it three or four times a year if Dana finds it interesting. I completely understand if the UFC doesn't find it the right moment to do it right now. But in two months, I would find it very important

or very adequate for me to remove his belt. And once I defend that belt and get it, I'm the type of fighter who likes to fight it three or four times if Dana agrees with this. But John, as you know, there's Movsarloweb out there who has won nine fights in a row Why do you think you should get the title fight before him? Come to see Sabita in the Mozart Evloweb He's tiny because he won nine fights in a row

Why do you think he should go straight to the champion before going after him? I believe that Evoluev is letting the opportunities pass. He was supposed to fight Iron Prick, but he left the fight, I don't know why, but he left. So he's not a lot of opportunities. He actually got out of the fights and I don't think he's offering sufficient opportunities to UFC for the title. He's a very good athlete and I very much would like to fight with him, but I think I present to the UFC

more profitable opportunities for the future. So I think I could go directly to. Okay. And what about the ninja choke? Is that something you work on a lot or is that something that just kind of came to you in the moment? Yeah. a lot or is that something that just kind of came to you in the moment? showing the level of justice, the level of grep, the level of defense that I had.

Those who lose already know that my level is above all of them, so I wanted to show that my grep is above anyone in the category. So we trained this finalization. My master Flávio do Alvira trained with me for two months, just this finalization, so we can get there and end it exactly like this? I have and I wanted to show my Shujitsu, my grappling. I wanted to show that all my skills are above all those other levels. And so this is exactly the way I wanted to the submission to be. And I trained for that for two months. When I watch you, John, you remind me of a smaller version of Vanderlei Silva.

The way you fight, the way you look, even the tattoos, you look just like him to me. And it's amazing to see all these years later. Have you ever met him? Do you have any type any relationship with him? Can you imagine what I'm saying to you when I say you remember him? I'm sure I'm the 2.0 fan of the day. I consider myself that. So I still want to be friends with him, I hope to meet him one day. We will be personal friends so that he can pass on more and more experience to take me into the Octagon. I met a very personal friend one of these days and we really very much like to share experiences and absorb all the experiences he wants to share so I can bring them in to my art. And I saw you got to meet Kaká as well. Were you a fan of his? Was that a cool experience for you?

I saw you met Kaká as well. Do you root for him, how was this experience of meeting him? My God, don't even say it, I'm living a dream, right? My dream was to be appearing here on this camera talking to you, I'm already here. Look at this, and yesterday I met KK, so like... God is blessing my life too much. There's no way to describe it, no words, no other way, the feeling I'm having blessed with my life. I can't describe it in words or in any other way. The feeling I'm having right now, what I had yesterday, I just want to live. It's being so good, so I just want to live.

Oh my God, this is just a dream. One of my dreams was to... I'm in Miami, look at this. How crazy. This is a total dream for me. I wanted to be on camera here with you and today I'm here on camera with you. Yesterday I got to meet Kaká. I don't know. God is blessing me greatly. I have no words to describe these feelings. what I feel now, what I felt yesterday. I just wanna live it. I wanna live it. I wanna live it all.

Can you believe it? I'm in Miami. Look at me, I'm in Miami. Amazing. Well, enjoy it. Parabens. Well done. It's so much fun to watch you fight.

It really is. And you're doing great. So, obrigado for the time. Thank you so much. And we look forward to the next steps really is. And you're doing great. So, thank you for the time. Thank you so much. And we look forward to the next steps for you. Thank you for joining us

and talking about such a great win for you on Saturday. Really appreciate it. Thank you very much. It was super amazing to talk to you. I love to see you fight. You have an incredible fight. I'm super happy. Congratulations.

You deserve it. And. I'm super happy. Congratulations. You deserve it. And thank you for being here. I know you can't give your opinion about this, you can't show your feelings. But let's leave a poll here for people to comment and tweet, put on social networks and what they think. Gia De Lora is in favor of the belt or another name to put me closer to the belt? So let's ask the guys to do this hair, this movement to see how interesting it is for the world or Gia fights against, I don't know, any other guy there, for the belt or direct against Volcanoves, let's see.

And I also want to thank you again for being here. I love all of this. Next time I want to be there, live. I want to be by your side. Let's make this happen. So I know that you cannot probably give me an opinion about the feelings, what the feelings are, but I would like people to comment and tweet and go on every social media and to say what should John the Silver do? Should he go direct with it for the belt? Should we go for the title? What would be the intention? What would make everybody, the crowd happy? What should I do? Should I go directly to Wolkanovsky? What should I do? Anyway, just spreading the word is what I want to do and get people's feedback. And thanks so much for being here.

But hey, next time, I'd like to be live. I'd like to be sitting right next to you, okay? Let's make it happen. Yes, let's go. Let's make it happen. We'll speak to Ivan and you come to New York. We would love to have you. Yes, let's make it happen.

I'll talk to Ivan and you come to New York. Let's make it happen. My God, I go to New York and then I zero the game. Then success is more than guaranteed. Me in New York, that's game zero. Then success is absolutely assured. Let's go. You can send the belt, then there is absolutely assured. Let's go.

You can send, you can just mail the belt already. Because if I come to New York to be in an interview, you can be sure that the belt's mine. Let's go. Thank you so much. Obrigado, parabéns. And thank you, Teresa. Great job by you as well. We appreciate it very much.

There he is, John Silva. Incredible. And by the way, in case you're wondering about the resume, 13 fight winning streak, which includes also win on contender series. Made his UFC debut just 15 months ago. Already five and O in the UFC. All five UFC wins by way of stoppage. Four KOs, one sub. That was this past Saturday.

Currently tied with Steve Garcia for the longest active finish streak in the UFC. That's five in a row. So the man is on a roll. And you heard it right there. He wants a title shot. We can talk about that on the back end of the program. But he called his shot.

He wants Volkonovsky. He says, I'm on a roll. And I step up for the UFC. And Mofzar doesn't. Very interesting statement. on the back end of the program but he called his shot he wants Volkonovsky he says I'm on a roll and And I step up for the UFC and most are doesn't very interesting stuff there from John Silva What a guy also we move along now and talk about another big winner from Saturday He kicked off the pay-per-view main card and what a story he has been It was it was it was it was this time last year He had not even fully returned to the UFC just yet.

His first fight back after a long layoff was in June. Won that fight, came back a few months later, won that fight. And then on Saturday, wins again. Now that's three wins in less than a calendar year. Very much could have won, come back fighter of the year 2024. He doesn't care about that. He's probably one win away now from being right back into title contention.

He is Dominic Reyes and he's kind enough to join us after a big Saturday night. We appreciate him very much. Hello Dominic, how are you? What's up? Living the dream, Ariel. Living the dream. Hey, I like the longer beard.

I like this. How long we letting this go? Pretty much since my wedding, I haven't cut it since January, but we'll see. We'll see how it goes. See if my wife likes it. Well, it's serving you well. A lot of great things coming your way

and congratulations on recently getting married. I heard in the Post-Fight Press Conference, there you guys are, lovely couple that you're looking forward to going on your honeymoon, which is well-deserved as well. Can I ask you, Dom, like if we would have spoke exactly a year ago today, April of 2024, you had yet to return. Where are you at? Could you have believed any, if I would have said,

yeah, you're going to go on a three fight winning streak, pay-per-view, knockouts, all this stuff, would you have believed how all this played out over the next few months? I wouldn't have, I just, I would have been like, yeah, it sounds good, but I'm taking it day by day. You know, I can't, I can't sit here and say, Oh, I know what's going to happen. And this is next.

It would be the same thing, same way. I feel now where it's day by day, man, fight by fight. You know, the, the Lord anoints anointed me on Saturday night and I'm just so blessed and grateful. I got to perform and put on a show in front of my president. She's always been a dream of, and I'm just so blessed and grateful. I got to Perform and put on a show in front of my president She's always been a dream of mine

And yeah, man so freaking cool What a shot that is that that is one for the wall I also heard you say that you always wanted to meet a president ever since you were a kid to compete in front of the current president I'm sure you knew he was there. He walked out right before you fought. Did that add any nerves? It didn't look like you were nervous. It didn't look like you were anxious,

but that's a pretty big deal sitting right next to you watching you compete. Were you cognizant of this? Well, I mean, it was just, I knew he was there. I mean, I knew there was a lot of, it's a huge card. It was a huge card. I knew it was going to be the biggest card of the mean, I knew there was a lot of it was a huge card. It was a huge card. You know, I knew it was going to be the biggest card of year.

I knew there was going to be a lot of influential figures in the audience and it didn't matter. I was locked in on my goal. I had my team with me. I have my family with me and ready to go man. Like all the work all the sacrifices. It's all paying off and it's really cool when what you're doing and all your your Preparations are working and you don't have to make changes. I don't have to go out there and

Do all kinds of things differently. I'm just continuing what I'm doing and it's working. So I'm blessed Continue what I'm doing and it's working. So I'm blessed And you seem to have such a peace and tranquility to you Like I notice you always say you're living the dream and and you talk about how blessed you are You seem so happy you seem so, you know Just like in love with life a joie de vivre as they say in French like you have you have a zest for life Have you always been this way or is this part of your, for lack of a better word, transformation as a human being? Yeah, I mean, I haven't really always been this way.

I was a little more on the downside, always looking at the possible things that could go wrong, on the negative of things. I guess a pessimist in some lights. But I think my health scare last year really woke me up, man. It really woke me up. Everybody's always going to have something a little better than you. That's just the reality of life. And it's like just appreciate what you have. and

and them and for those that may not know which house care you referring to okay that changed everything this is something that we've seen some other the some NBA players deal with I don't know if you saw that a damien Lillard and Victor Wemba yama same thing right yep yep and it just it's pretty it's pretty yeah it's pretty serious serious situation. I mean blood clots are real problems

I mean it can end up getting to your heart and then you could have you know real bad problems, it's just it's not a not something that you want to have and When you when you're kind of on a day-to-day basis it makes every day that much brighter do you do you have to do anything on a daily basis to continue to combat it or is it not a part of your life anymore no I'm clean I'm clean clear of it amazing yeah so so that happens and it changed everything. The negative turned into an incredible positive for you.

Yep. Pretty much. I mean, yeah, I mean, there was so much negative. I was on a losing streak. Everything was going bad. And that happened. And it just was like, this is this, this fighting thing is an opportunity for me to spread the light around the world. Instead of being negative or mad or bitter about things that have happened in my life, it was just like, hey man, this is your chance now. This is your purpose. Go out there and spread your light to the world. Wow. Well, good on you for being able to turn that negative into a positive. It's, it's incredible to see because it feels like the weight,

like you don't even fixate on wins and losses. You don't fixate on any of that stuff. None of that really matters. Right. And in doing so, it made you into a better fighter. Absolutely. Crazy. I'm not worried about the outcome anymore, man. You know how freeing that is? Yes.

It's incredible. Like I go out there and I just fight because I love it. of to do this. One day it's all gonna be over but I get to do it and like make the most of it man. Don't be all stressed out and freaking out and worried about it and dude you did the work. You put everything in that you needed to put in. You gave everything you have. It's not up to you at this point you know. Just show up and do what you gotta do. Let it flow. I mean I was heavily in the flow state on Saturday night as soon as I walked in the octagon. There was a point where I and And some people say that, but they don't always like put it into action. Like I don't care about the result anymore. Is there anything that you do in the, in the buildup to the fight to not focus on that, or is it just kind of a way of being? Cause I know a lot of people say that, but I don't always believe them. I believe you.

Well, it was, it's a, it's a lot of prayer. We pray a lot of the team. Uh, we pray the night before we pray the day of the fight. We pray at breakfast. We pray a lot as a team. We pray the night before, we pray the day of the fight. We pray at breakfast, we pray. I mean, it's that reminder, those prayers are reminders that, hey man, it's not in your control, bro. Like, yeah, there's stress. Don't get me wrong, you know, leading up to the fight and things happening, there is stress,

you know. There, every once in a while, the devil will put those thoughts in my head, making me think about what's going to happen if it doesn't go Your way, you know, like what's next and things like that, but I Don't worry about that. Like we pray and then all of a sudden it all just melts away It's really it's it's incredible. It truly is and yeah, man. I mean I walk into the arena and like Yeah, man. I mean, I walk into the arena and like it's it was just like an overwhelming

sound sense of Tom amongst the chaos of the arena. I mean, it was such a crazy fight night. There was people everywhere shouting, running around, things happening. And I just felt like I'm home and like, this is exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. And I was just looking around the arena like looking around the backstage just taking in every single detail I could and just really relishing in the moment. Incredible good for you. He seemed to have made a very critical error you need just to kind of like bum rush you like that and you caught him with an incredible left hook and stepping back people compared it to Conor McGregor

and Jose Aldo, it was as clean. It was as clean and it looked the exact same. In retrospect, are you surprised he came at you like that? Not at all. I mean, if you look at his footage and you see his fights, I mean, he that every single fight. Every single fight. But he has such a tremendous chin, you know, and amazing cardio and he's in amazing shape that he gets... He just takes it and keeps going and ends up taking you down. I think the biggest difference between me and everybody else, I say this every time, is my athleticism, man.

He couldn't keep up with my angles. He couldn't keep up with my footwork. You know, people say it was exactly like the Connor thing, but Connor was 145 pounds. I'm a 205 pounder doing that, you know? Like, you just got to put that into perspective there. And yeah, man, I was surprised that he went down because he's never been knocked out before. But I wasn't surprised I did it because we've been working on that, you know? He's a very aggressive fighter and he pushes forward. In some fights, he didn't push forward very much. For instance, the Ankalev fight, he kind of waited back the entire fight.

This fight, he came out hard, man. He was pressuring me, but my angles kept him very uncomfortable, you know? And I just, I drew him right in man. I gave him no choice, but to rush me at that point. A lot of your fans and I see them in our chat right now upset that you didn't get a bonus. Do you, do you share their, their sentiment?

It's definitely upsetting. It was, it was, it is upsetting, right? their sentiment. It is what it is, you know. I got two paychecks at the end of the day and I'm gonna keep pushing, man. I believe, yeah. Wow, bottom line, I'm winning, man. We're moving forward. Fair enough. I know you said you wanna take some time off. You wanna go on your honeymoon, well deserved.

How quickly would you like to return? And on Saturday, you said one away from being in that title conversation. Do you know who gets you into that conversation? I'm not a hundred percent sure yet. I mean, a few things have to, you know, get settled in a different, a couple, a few different fights. I got to see where I fall in the rankings on Tuesday.

But we'll see, man. Right now I'm just focused on me and my wife, my life, starting a family. You know, hopefully I get some even better news in this fight soon, you know, and we'll see what happens. You know, maybe I'm a father here in the next 10 months or so. Amazing. Yes, it seems like you have your priorities very much in check, which is a beautiful thing. But if things continue to work your way, maybe by this time next year, you're fighting for the belt again. Do you see that? Oh, yeah.

I see one more this year, you know, maybe October, you know, maybe a little sooner, maybe November, you know, but then go in and 26 looking at a title shot, you know, looking down the barrel with title shot. And that that's the ideal situation. But if not, you know, keep fighting. I'm here. I'm not going to be a player. You know looking down the barrel with tower shot And that that's the ideal situation But if not, you know, he fighting I'm here. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon What did that be something all the way back after everything like, you know, we call ourselves here our Network is called uncrowned and and some could make the case that you're the young crown champ of the 205 pound division Because you should have won back in February of 2020. We'll go to our graves believing that.

And if you work your way all the way back and get that belt, that'll be one of the great stories in the history of the sport. Well, that would be amazing, man. God's grace will put me there. I think my whole goal with my whole career is to just be cemented in the Raptors as one of the greats as one of the greats.

One of the great fighters who showed up every night and gave his all and put on performances and had incredible skill that nobody could deny. I feel like I'm well on my way to that. Obviously a title will solidify that in my eyes, but my whole goal is to be one of the greats and be a champion. I got into this sport to be the best in the world. And I got real close, man, real, real close. I touched the crown, but I couldn't quite pull it off. So I'm here and I'm working back to getting it and solidifying my name in the rafters.

It's amazing. I think you're still in John's head and we don't need to go down this whole path. But I see like the way he doesn't talk about a lot of his former opponents ever But he still likes to throw the zingers and that only implies to me that you're kind of under his skin. You're in his head Well, hopefully, you know I get enough under his head, you know bring some light into his life, you know, God bless him. I Know you're out with your family. You're doing your thing. I don't want to keep you much longer Just wanted to talk to you after such a big win,

an impressive win, incredible stuff that you're doing over the past year. So very happy for you, Dominic. Congratulations, congrats on getting married. Enjoy your upcoming honeymoon and enjoy everything that's happening around you. It's beautiful to see. Thank you, Ariel.

God bless you, brother. Appreciate it very much. There he is, Dominic Reyes. Tremendous stuff. And yeah, if you watched that fight back in February of 2020, that's just me spitting facts. I'll believe till this day that he won that fight. And it doesn't matter anymore.

It really doesn't. But it's a part of his story and it's a part of John's story to a degree as well. But for him to then lose three straight after that, and it wasn't just about losing three straight. It was the way in which he lost those fights. TKO lost, TKO lost, TKO lost. to then lose three straight after that. And it wasn't just about losing three straight. It was the way in which he lost those fights. TKO loss to Jan Bokovic in the title fight.

Remember that, the vacant title fight in Abu Dhabi. The brutal knockout loss against Yuri Prokhaska. The spinning back elbow in May of 21. And then the first round knockout loss to Ryan Spann in November of 2022 at Madison Square Garden. After that one, I remember watching that one, UFC 281, and you're thinking like, this is so sad, man. This guy was this close to becoming champion,

and not just becoming champion of any division. Being the first guy to truly beat John Jones, and now he's getting knocked out like this. What happened? How did it all go wrong? Takes two years off, deals with that extremely scary health issue, comes back, knocks out Dustin Jacoby. That was last June, the Jared Kenanier-Nesaldini-Mavav fight in Louisville, Kentucky,

comes back, beats Anthony Smith in December, and then beats Nikita Krilov. And I'm curious, I'm curious right now, as of right this moment, it's going to change. He's 11th. Ahead of him, the likes of Johnny Walker, Volkan Oztomir, Nikita Krilov. Obviously Obviously you have the round tree and Jamal Hill fight coming up. I mean, a, a rackage fight, someone like that. Dominic Reyes thriving and doing his thing at 205 is good for that weight class. Very good for that weight class. Not quite there where the, the Pereira's and the Prohazkas and the

Ulberg's currently lie, but I would say, and I love that he said about not caring about the result and, you know, freeing yourself of this and I'm happy and this and that. And you kind of believe them. Sometimes you don't believe them at all. And then there's a lot of people who don't believe them at all. And then there's a lot of people who don't believe them at all. And then there's a lot of people who don't believe them at all. And then there's a lot of people who don't believe them at all.

And then there's a lot of people who don't believe them at all. And then there's a lot of people who don't believe them at all. And then there's a lot of people you don't believe them at all. And then there's guys who say it and you really do believe them. And when he says that, I really do believe him. I really do. And it's great to see. At 2.15, we're gonna be joined by Yair El Pantera Rodriguez,

who stole the show on Thursday. It was great stuff. He had the glasses down like this. Him and Diego Lopez, they were like, oh, I'm gonna be the judge. I'm gonna be the judge. I'm gonna be the judge. It was great stuff. He had the glasses down like this, him and Diego Lopez going back and forth, jawing at each other, all kinds of stuff. And, uh, and then went out on Saturday to beat Patricia Pippel in Pippel's UFC debut, highly anticipated UFC debut. And he's back as well.

That was kind of a theme on Saturday. Guys who took extended time off, regrouped, and then went out on Saturday and then went back to the show. That was kind of a theme on Saturday. Guys who took extended time off, regrouped, won big fights. Volk, Yair, not necessarily the recent Dominic stretch, but obviously took that long, that long time off and there's another one, but anyway, you get the point. So we'll talk to Yair about that. long time off, then there's another one. But anyway, you get the point. So we'll talk to you here about that.

And prior to that, we shall be joined, hopefully in a matter of moments, by Ian Machado-Garry, one of the very best welterweights on the planet. We have not seen him since December of this past year. He fought Shafkat Rafmanov on short notice, seemed to be upset that he didn't get the call to fight Bilal Mohammed for the belt in Montreal. After that whole switch with Leon Edwards and Sean Brady and Shavkat and you know, everything that went down, it's kind of waiting in the wings there for a moment. And then bam, we found out just a couple of weeks ago that he's returning on April 26 in Kansas City against Carlos Prochaz.

Prochaz is supposed to fight this weekend. They moved him to April 26. And this is a gigantic fight. And if I'm a ticket buying fan who was going to that event in Kansas City, I think I just, I hit the jackpot. That original main event was incredible, but this one, the stakes feel a little bit bigger. And so without further ado, let us go to our next guest and say hello to the pride of Ireland, the pride of Brazil, the great Ian Machado Gary.

Hello, Ian. How are you? How are you? Did you get, I'm doing great. And by the way, I, I'm wondering, we were talking about this beforehand. I know you're, you're a proud'm doing great. And by the way, I'm wondering, we were talking about this beforehand. I know you're a proud Irishman. I know you love golf. Are we happy on this Monday? Are you a Rory guy to see him win the Masters?

I'm, yes, I'm a Masters fan of Rory. I'm very proud to see him finally get that that green jacket I think he needed it to for his career and I think he's already incredible but that now just puts the kind of cherry on top Yeah, it was beautiful stuff good for him winning the Grand Slam. Okay, let's talk about you and actually I don't want to first start with April 26 Let's take a few steps back I remember speaking to you right after the shop cut fight and it was a great win. Some would say your stock goes up, moral victory. I know you're not here for those types of accolades, but it was a nice night. I know you can't go to the bank and deposit those things, but it was a good

night at the office for you and a lot of people were counting you out. And I think the respect that people had for you grew exponentially. And then the next time you kind of emerge, at least for me and on my radar was you seem genuinely upset that you didn't get the call to fight for the belt after Shovecut withdrew and then, and then Sean had to fight Leon and then they moved Jack Della. Is that an accurate assessment of how you felt a couple of months ago? Absolutely.

I think your word withdrew is the word that kind of bugs me on that because I don't believe Shag Pat withdrew due to just pure choice of not wanting to fight for title but from what I'm hearing is more an injury. An injury that I absolutely believe he sustained in the fight with me due to the amount of heel kicks I put to his knee.

And then, you know, we're in a world title fight, fight for the number one contender spot, so the guy who wins the fight, and rightfully so, I believe he's still won the fight to this day, he gets the shot. But if he's not available, it makes logical sense to go to me, not a guy who's been out for a year. And often injury before I'm repetitively have to kind of go down that line of longer, longer, longer healing. And so when you find out that news, what are you thinking? Are you, are you demon red? Okay. I was, I was in an Uber on the way home from training a shoot the box.

And my agent called me and killed me. And I was, I hung the phone and I was like, give me a moment. I'll call you back. I was just steeping. Cause I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I the phone and I was like, give me a moment, I'll call you back. I was just seething, cause I'm like, all right, this is how it is. Okay.

And yeah, I just had to kind of deal with that. Ultimately, why do you think they didn't go your direction? Um, the words I heard where we can't even a title shot off a loss. And I'm like, yeah, but you can. And you have them many times in the past. So I kind of just wanted to know, well, I've got a lot to do and I'm excited for one. April 26th, we'll show the world what's up.

Okay, we'll just move chronologically here. Brady beats Leon and he does so in very convincing and dominant fashion. Did that surprise you? No, no, not at all. We seen in the Kamaru fight, we seen in the Balal fight, and we seen in the Sean Brady fight,

that when the gong gets tossed, Leon doesn't like to be there. And I believe allow Muhammad to put out the blueprint for everyone to beat Leon, put him on the back floor, take him down, smash him, control him. And he'll quit. Stats person, his corners, doesn't want to be there when the going gets tough. He's not a fighter at heart. And Sean Brady, as boring as he is, is very, very good at what he does. Like, there's nothing exciting off the mic, on the mic, or outside of the cage about the two blokes, but like, they're talented in the octagon. And Sean Brady was just far more talented.

When you say that he's boring, do you mean his fighting style as well? No, I just mean as a person. Okay. I think he's I think his fighting style. I think there's a lot of people with Balal. They call Balal fighting style boring. I'm like, yeah, but not for the guy on top doing the damage, not for the guy who's winning, not for the guys that the doing the damage, not for the guy who's winning, not for the guy who's got the belt up around his waist.

And I feel like Belal and Sean Brady have a very similar game. And I feel like they're very talented and they're very good and they don't get as much respect as they deserve. So shortly after that fight comes and goes and we're preparing, okay, there's the title fight, May 10th. We know that Carlos is fighting in Miami. We, we find out that Jeff Neil is out and we're wondering what they're going to do with Carlos, is he going to stay on the card against someone else? Are you going to fight him in Miami?

Is, is, is, is Joaquin Buckley going to fight him as someone of that nature? And then all of a sudden we find out, okay, it's been moved to Kansas City and it's you and it's a five round main event. Can you tell us through how this comes about and ultimately, why do you agree to this? Another short notice fight against another great fighter. I mean, is that not what I'm in this for for the excitement there? Yeah, fuck it.

Let's go. Let's have a short notice play against one of the most dangerous open comers in the UFC. Let's do it. Find yourself. Why not? That's the type of things that excite me, that make you want to go out and prove to the world, I'm the best. Watch.

So I was in, how it all happened, I was in Madrid, cornering a teammate of mine from Shoot the Box. And I get a call from my agent and he's like, Hey, we've just had a new fight short notice. And I was like, what short notice? And he was like, 25 days. I'm like, Yeah, yeah, all right, yeah, sure. I hung up the phone and then he rings me back and goes, hey, you just hung up. I was like, yeah.

He was like, are you in? I was like, yeah, tell the US they I'm in. I was like, 25 days, let's go, let's do it, why not? And he was like, don't you wanna know who it's against? I was like, oh yeah, that's probably important. I was so focused on on the corner I'm just getting everything doing that I completely forgot about What I was like what we were talking about. Yeah, for sure. Who is it? He goes college practice like ah sweet

cnn Wow, why that reaction? Because they're just I want to fight. I'm a fighter at heart. I mean, they don't call us to fight in Irish for nothing. It's in my blood, it's in my body, it's in my soul. I want to fight. I want to put on a show.

I want to have fun. And I feel like I'm at a point in my career where I just want to go out there and beat the best guys and body them and show everyone how Okay. So Carlos has been on a roll. There's a lot of buzz surrounding him, surrounding his team. Have you, have you been, I don't know. I look at your face there.

Have you been impressed? Have you been impressed with what he's done? Uh, wins over Neil Magni? Okay. I think he's been successful. I think he's done very well. There's a reason he's on like a 10-flight knockout streak and fair play to him, that's great.

But I also, I think his team is phenomenal. I love watching his team, Jeremy, and I think his team are awesome and they're having a lot of success at the moment and they're a lot of fun to watch. So yeah, I'm impressed with him to a certain extent, and then I think of him as an opponent, and I'm like, huh,

that's not gonna work out well for you, mate. Is it one of those things perhaps where you look at who he's knocked out, and then you compare yourself to those guys and say there's a big gap in talent here? What do you think? Well, this is not my interview. I'm the one asking the questions to you. But yes, obviously.

I mean, you don't have to sit on the... Of course, there's a massive gap there. And so do you put stock into that. I'm of the most elite welterweight on the planet. So if this man thinks he's as good as he is, then when he steps across an octagon on April 26th against me, that's his do or don't time. And I promise you, you've seen it from me every time. When I step in that octagon, I look phenomenal. And I promise you right now, I promise you, you've seen it from me every time. When I step in that octagon, I look phenomenal.

And I promise you right now, I promise you, I feel it in my heart, I see it every time I close my eyes. I'm going to finish this guy. Wow. And you know, there's the risk and reward and I know you've addressed it as well. Short notice, people are just, you know, when you have more time,

you're better, right? And so to do this to yourself twice, was there anyone who was like, hey, let's just try to get this fight International Fight Week because I think before it all materialized, that's what you were gunning for, right? You wanted to return on International Fight Week just so you can have more time

and not put yourself behind the eight ball. Did that come into play at all? I know it didn't. I originally, yes, I wanted to fight in June in June and international fight week because I wanted to evolve and grow and just continue the next couple of weeks and months in the welterweight division, which I'm very proud to see finally, thank the Lord. And but no, no, if anything, it was the opposite area. My team, my, like everyone that surrounds me is very, very fast, fast fall. And look at here's an opportunity. Let's go. Let's prove it. Let's show the world how talented we are.

Let's go, let's go out and do it against someone who everyone's very high on and show the world that you're just that much better. Let's show the world that you think he's good. Well, watch this, see what I can do to him. If everything would have gone to plan, meaning Leon fights Jack Della and Balal fights Shavkat, who do you think you would have ended up fighting?

And Carlos fought Jeff Neal. If all those original fights remained intact and there wasn't this whole thing, how do you think your story would have unfolded here for your next fight? I don't know. I don't know. And I think it's kind of pointless to think about who it would have been that and who it is right now. And that man is Carlos Pratchett. He's coming in with a lot of theme, a lot of hype and a lot of confidence. And I'm glad that he has that because he's going to

need every answer when he steps into the octagon against me. I'm as fast and as talented as they come. The speed I bring is different. The vision I have is unrivaled. And I'm excited to go to improve. I saw you posted a picture of, uh, I guess saying like, if you beat him, you get his CPF card. What is, what is that? Like, is that his, his ID? What are we, what are we fighting for?

Yeah, it's like an international like idea, Brazilian idea, that if you want to get like a house, a car, you go to the pharmacy, you want to buy something, they ask you for it, it's there. And I'm just like, yo, you want to fight? I'll fight for your spare. For sure. I want to buy a house in Brazil.

I want to live in Brazil. Give me a spare. I win, give it to me. So does it like, can a foreigner not get one? I don't believe so. Unless you get the Brazilian documentation. My whole family's got Brazilian passports. I'm getting mine's coming.

Don't worry about that. Okay. Mine's coming. It'll get there in time. But I don't believe I'll get one straight away. It'll have to be kind of a time process thing. A process, okay. You're a high level athlete. You seem to care.

I see you talking about nutrition, about training. You're growing up. You're probably drinking some kind of a green shake or something right then and there. A beautiful protein shake. Get myself ready, get myself prepared. Look, this is how you got to do it. There it is

Could I ask when you hear as good as he is that he smokes 10 to 15 cigarettes a day. What do you make of that? I Want to see me he's not on I want to see him jittery Needing getting the art. That's what I do is to see I I to see. I think it adds a lot of character to him and I think if he was who he is and didn't drink and didn't smoke and didn't party, would he be as exciting as he is? Probably not. And that's nothing to do with his fighting but he's just a bit of a character. And people

like that. And that's okay. But I'm as talented as athletes get. And remember, Ariel, I chose to fight. This was my choice. I could have done many, many things in my life. I chose to fight because I'm in here, I'm violent. And I love to show up and I love to go out there and prove every single time I get in an octagon. And Pratchett's is going to be the example I set for the world about how good I am on April 26. What are we fighting for here? What's at stake here in this fight? There's a lot of ways I can answer that question. There's a lot of avenues I could take it. I believe that in the next 12 months, by the end of this calendar year maybe, that that belt is getting wrapped around my waist. I've shown the world I'm as game as game gets. I've shown the world I'm not afraid of anyone.

I don't care who you are, what you've done in your career, I'm not afraid of you. I'm going to step into that octagon every single time I get in there again now. I'm going to punch a hole in front every single time I get in there again now. I'm going to punch a hole in from where his head is in front of me. I'm going to dominate and destroy everyone because I'm even more dangerous now. Is it possible that all this, the way this all has panned out, the Shavkat fight, not getting picked, them going with you, has this given you an edge? Has this given you a bit of a chip on your shoulder? I guess you could say so. I guess you could say that. I...

I kind of want to get it and show you, but I framed in my bedroom, me on Shavkat's back in the first round so that every day I get up out of bed I see that fucking thing and it burns my soul. Why'd you do that? So that every day I get up I make sure that I get better and I evolve and I become the best version of me I possibly can to show myself and everyone that supports me and wants to see me do well and everyone that hates me and wants to see me lose that I'm the best in the world. best in the world. Do you want to be reminded of this within seconds of waking up? When you when you win the belt, do you take that thing down? Never lose sight of the goal, never lose sight of the focus. I tell you what's even better. Tell you what's even better, right? Haven't got there yet. In this room behind me, right, it's my drawing room.

Hey, Posh, they've got a new house. I have my cage door in this belt. I'm going to frame it and above it, I'm going to buy a blank, blank case. And I'm just going to put the words coming soon in it. So that every day I walk into that room which is my favorite room in the house and I go to relax and be quiet and just meditate and be calm I'm gonna see an empty case and I'm not gonna stop until that thing's full is there a chance you win this fight you're fighting for the belt next. You believe that? 100% 100% When I look at it, 100% you know, Balal has said it himself that he believes I'm the toughest stylistic matchup for him. Me versus Jack is a great fight, fan fight, strikers,

delight, whatever you want to call it. It's very, very entertaining. But also when I knock out patches and I've just come off the back of that really, really close fight with Shavkat and Shavkat's injured because of it. Who do you want to see Balal fight next? Do you want to see him fight Sean Brady next? Or do you want to see him fight Ima Shadow Gary? What's the bigger fight? If you're the UFC and you're sat on a pay-per-view on the main event is, it's obvious. It's me.

I get the attention. I get people riled up. Love me or hate me, I'm the best in the world and it's my job to show. Does that mean you think Balal beats Jack Della? Oh, 100%. Oh, 100%. Oh, 100%. And again, look, I think Jack's the nominee talent. Don't get me wrong.

I think he's very, very good at what he does, but stylistically, I've watched Gilbert Groen's Ragdoll for two and a half rounds and then unfortunately get caught. I watched, what's his name? Basil. What's his name? Basil? I watched him ragdoll Jack and I believe Jack lost that fight. It's stylistically not a good fight for him. Now if he comes out and puts on the show, like the show of his life, and proves everyone that he can stop the takedown, he can stop the pace, then wow, good job, fair play to you.

But sitting here right now, I think Bilal's steamrolls him. And it's probably better for you in the division, if you want it to work out this way, if Bilal wins, because it sounds like if Bilal doesn't win, Islam is going to move up. And that might delay things. That's also what I'm saying. You know what I mean? That guy is... You want to talk about talent with fighters in every facet of the game. That man's as clean as they come. He... and Jesus, you give him no real wake-up?

God... I'd do that for a happy, you give him no real winkle? God, I'd do that for a happy, you know? That's like, you wanna test your skills? You wanna see if you're one of the best in the world? Fight this guy. Actually, you know, I'm actually wrong. I need to correct myself. If Bilal loses, if, and I know you say that you don't think,

we could look at a scenario, you win on April 26, Islam would then move up, and all of a sudden who'd have thunk it it's Islam versus Ima Chadogary for the belt in I don't know October break through that UFC call me I'm saying no have Have I proven myself already? No, no, no, you have talked the talk and walked the walk. You know what's also funny? Since the day I made my UFC debut, I'm the second most active fighter

across all weight divisions in the entire UFC. Second only to one man, you know how that one man is? Out spray. There you go. Yeah. We made our debut on the same night. MSG. And since that point, this is my, I believe my 10th fight in the UFC, which is mental. We're getting to that veteran stage now.

We've been here, we've done this, we own this show now. And Pared I think maybe has 12. And he saved two big events. I'm as active as they come. I'm as game as they come. There are fighters in the world built like me. And I'm excited to go out there and put on a show for all of the UFC fans.

When we talk about April 26th, my first main event, I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna make sure that everybody that has paid to be in that stadium gets the fight that they came to see. I'm going to finish Carlos Pratchett. I'm going to make it look easy. And I will beat him every second of that fight.

There is like an intensity, like a sort of like, and I say this with the utmost love and respect, like a serial killer like mentality to you now. It's very American psycho, Rory McDonald-esque. Do you get what I'm saying right now? Like, I don't think you're just- I feel it, Trust me. Yeah. Like the way you look into the camera there to say that I feel like you're staring into my soul here.

Like I feel like if we were face to face, you would eat my head off. I mean, I'm not, I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone else. I mean, myself, when I get into the office and I've always said that I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone else other than myself when I get into the art film. And I've always said that that's the thing I love to do the most is prove that I was right. There was a 16 year old kid who had a dream in Dublin, Ireland, sat in his bedroom watching USC fights going one day I want to be there.

I'm not letting that 16 year old down. I'm not letting that 16 year old go, oh, he tried it. I'm having that 16 year old live out his dream, live it to full potential and shoot for the fucking stars. Before I let you go, I just want to read you a quote from Sean Brady, just to kind of set the mood even more so.

He said, I went out there and took this opportunity, he told this to us on our show. I heard he was bitching that he didn't get the fight with Belal bro you lost your fight what are you talking about you came in second place you don't get to be rewarded for that made the most sense for it to be Jack you're number seven at this point you lost your last fight I've won three I just beat a former champion who's a great champion I've got bigger things going on than Ian Machado Gary. John Brady loves to mention my name you know that I swear I'm in that man's head we have the same manager and agent sorry the same agent and I swear to God, I always, I always, every time Sean's name is mentioned, when it's frightened or anything, he's always, always, always calling my name. He just has this weird obsession. I think he's jealous that I'm just beautiful and handsome. He looks like something out of Lord of the Rings.

I feel like this one has to happen at some point. I punched him out off him. He tried to shoot an ugly take and I put a knee through his nose and he'd never be able to breathe again. I'd squish it. How does April 26 then? No, he thinking about this. And I see way too many visuals. Every time I like sit down in the sauna and I visualize it, I see, I just constantly see his head being bounced off the canvas. I constantly see it. I see people shocked, grabbing their heads going, Oh my God, I can't believe he just did that. I just see way too many ways to get there. There's so many options for me. And I believe, I believe on the night I will just go freely and calmly. I'll stand in front of them and I'll do whatever I please.

Can't wait. And by the way, congratulations, Marco Giulio giving you some major props on Saturday, saying the work that you guys have done together led to that moment. Dude, I actually wanted to talk about him. So thank you. Sure. No problem. Do you hear how hard that man hits with every shot? Can you please now understand how horrible every round of training

no matter what he throws in her and it comes out of nowhere as well. It's spinning kick, it's head kick, it's kick, it's punch, punch, punch combo. It's everything hurts. When I tell you I'm as ready as ready get for anything in the world, it's because I've got training partners like him that mentally, physically push you that I call him, I call him the terminator because he just takes it and walks forward. He's just unbelievably talented. And this is also another point, but I just love watching Brazilians fight, man.

I love it. When you watch Marco Tullio on the weekend and then you watch John Silver and then you watch John Silver. And then you think about the greatest of all time. You think Jose Aldo. You think of Anderson Silver. You then think of all the shoot-a-box history with Van der Lee Silver and yada, yada, yada, Damien Mayer, Charles Olivetta. The list goes on.

I feel like they justify with so much heart and pride and venom because of where they come from and what they've had to do to get to that spot in the first place. But I feel like it's just beautiful to watch and see a kid go in there and just put everything on the line and come out with that win. And it makes me very happy. And I was hella emotional watching get that win because He's an amazing human. I'm very proud to be a friend. I'm trying to plan with this Love it. Yeah, I loved love seeing him give you props as well

I know I know we have to go but I just have to ask because of 305 Your your old mate Colby and Patty going back and forth backstage. I'm sure you had a chuckle seeing all that firstly your old mate Colby and Patty going back and forth backstage. I'm sure you had a chuckle seeing all of that. Firstly, yeah, this is it. Yeah. What did you think when you saw this? He just chats out his ass and Patty said it perfectly at the press conference. Mr. Reveller trying to just stay relevant. I mean the guy's been running for so long. He doesn't want to fight. He's not a fighter at heart.

He'll do anything he possibly can to pick on the guy with the biggest potential, the biggest stardom and go after him to try and get some help. I think Patti dealt with it like a professional. I think Patti looked amazing, came out of that fight with the biggest performance of his life. He looked great. He did everything right. And I think having someone come up and shout at you and try to tear you down from that moment was very loud. And I think Patty dealt with it very, very well. Yeah, I agree. Ian, you are the man.

Can't wait for this fight. Twelve days away away there it is the build-up is gonna be great on the week in Kansas City and the stakes are just gigantic good on you for taking this fight and Again, as you said it perfectly What could they they can't say anything about you now Ian they can't say anything about you now and I will defend that point You I think they do- And even if they do, Larry, and even if they do,

do you think I care? I'm gonna go in there and do the dream, like I said. I'm living the dream. I'm living the dream. I'm fighting at the highest level of this game. I'm fighting the best fighters in the world. I'm proving that I'm of the very, very elite on this planet. I'm doing my country proud,

I'm flying flag every time I'm in that octagon. I'm gonna bring another belt home to Ireland. There's people in Brazil who lose their absolute mind when I walk down the street. There's people in Oman who lose their mind seeing me. And then I go, what are you doing here? Do you know what I mean? I am just a kid who was in my bedroom, dreaming about being a UFC

fighter on this close to getting that belt wrapped around my waist. And I believe I fully believe within the next year, that belt is wrapped around my waist and then what will they say? Then I have nothing to say. I don't care if they do. I'm the best in the world. Good luck, Ian. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it tremendous stuff There he is. Ian Machado Gary

Climbing his way up the ranks. We've talked to Ian a bunch over the years. I've never seen that side of him I've never seen when he says I'm this close. It is a little American psycho esque and I don't say that as an insult it's it's it's it's Rory It's it's Carlos Condit like there's an intensity to him. It's Robbie Lawler. By the way, all 170 pounders. That's weird. That's a different side of him. And maybe the best thing to ever happen to him was getting passed over. Maybe the best thing to ever happen to him

was seeing that whole welterweight shift and him not getting the title shot or not getting the Leon opportunity. Whatever it may have been, look at where he is. He's not getting the title shot. and him not getting the title shot or not getting the the the Leon opportunity whatever it may have been look at where he is now he's fighting against a supremely popular fighter a fighter that's on a roll as of late a fighter who's developed a reputation for being one of the most exciting fighters in the UFC he he has a certain aura to him and he was preparing for a fight this past weekend, April 12th. So he just had to move things two weeks down the line.

Ian was out traveling the world. I don't know how this one is going to play out. I don't even know who the favorite is in this fight, if I'm being 100% honest, but I can't wait for it. And I think it's a huge, huge, huge main event for a fight night in a pretty crappy part of the world. Who is the main event? Excuse me, who is the favorite going into that fight?

It's like minus 115, minus 105, coin flip. Coin flip. If it's minus 115, minus 105, is the 105 guy the favorite? Nah, minus 115. Oh, really? It's not the lower number. No, because think about a two to one favorite

is minus 200, right? The higher. Right. Yeah, I get what you're saying. By the way, a few things to unpack. Yehia Rodriguez is going to join us in about 10 minutes time. Everything OK over there? I heard there was a fire alarm.

You heard that? How'd you hear that? I heard it through the headphones. Wow. Yeah, there was, but we're all good. Yeah, we got the old clip. Frank wrote it to me. You really think I heard that?

No, I didn't think you heard that, Ariel. Oh, so what? Am I not supposed to say that? The light's getting worse. It's getting really warm. You're Stanley Cupcake now. Why are you doing that intentionally like that? Why are you doing it like that?

Isn't that how people have to drink it? Oh, there it is, we're here now. Uh-oh. Fire on floor one, we gotta get outta here. All right, man, it's the rest of the show. We have a show to do, damn it. I wanted to ask you guys, is it back, really? It's gone now, so.

Oh, okay. Hey, what's up, Frank? Oh, they're actually gone. I just wanted to ask you guys about a few things that have happened over the last hour and a half or so. Number one, John Silva kind of threw me for a loop over there with the I want a title shot next talk, saying that he wanted to fight Alex Volkonovsky next. Do we see any scenario?

There's no denying that he's supremely popular, but do you guys see any scenario in which he actually gets it? He wants the world to talk about it. You do see a scenario. If MovSar can't go on the date that they want him to go. Yeah, that's a good point. If MovSar cannot go, you could do a lot worse than throwing John Silva in there after the performance he just had.

Like one of those where they're like, hey, we want you to fight on an off-court basis. Yeah, that's a good point. If Moff Sar cannot go, you could do a lot worse than throwing John Silva in there after the performance he just had. Like one of those where they're like, hey, we want you to fight on October 12th, and he's like, nah, I can't. And they're like, all right, onto the next. The Sean Strickland. Is it really, by the way, is it really Moff Sar

and then John Silva? I would think Yair, right? Yair would have to be ahead of him. But you want to save Yair for Guadalajara, no? I just wasn't expecting him to say, I don't know. You know, someone who's there. Well, he also did, to his credit, he did say he would like to fight Mobsarra as well.

He's like, yeah, I'd love to fight that guy as well. But have you seen the confidence the guy moves with? Yeah. Like, he's one of the cockiest dudes in the UFC. Like, he is supremely confident. I think, like he's one of the cockiest dudes in the UFC. Like he is supremely confident. I think he thinks he's ready for a title shot. Probably thought he was ready for a title shot

before the Bryce Mitchell fight too. First or second round knockout he said against Volk. Yeah. What's happening over there? What's happening now? Everything's back to normal. Everything's back to normal. Everything's back to normal.

Lovely alarm goes off to tell you everything's back to normal. Listen, it's important. If Alon goes off to tell you everything's back to normal. Listen, it's important. If you're Volkonovsky, who would you rather fight? Jean Selva. Do better business. The fire department game, wow. As he says-

Do better business. The case he's in- Better matchup? It will do better business, and he's not incorrect. Right. Look, everybody knows Movstar is good, Just as everybody knew Balal was good. Just as everybody knew Magomedov is good. Like, it's not about are you a good fighter?

It is about can you headline a pay-per-view and people be excited about watching you compete? Jean Silva gets people excited about watching him compete. Can I just say, like, if he, and I know sometimes this may come across wrong. He doesn't necessarily need it. And we've seen it with Alps. I feel like with his personality, Alps is so stoic. He doesn't really need to speak.

You know what I mean? If John Silva could just speak a little bit of English, I feel like he would be even more popular. Do you know what I mean? Because he is so charismatic. He is so fun. That smile, the way he switches on the Spider-Man, Superman, Batman thing that he does,

I'm still not quite sure which it is. You know what I mean? Like, he just has, if he could connect to people just an inch more, I think, holy shit, they may have something really special in their hands. I agree with that, but I feel like the stoic nature, the quote unquote aura that Alex gives off, people can get without speaking. And his infectious energy, smiling, frantic movement,

I feel like people can get that without speaking too. I feel like he has already become one of those guys. This would even take it one step further. Sprinkle in some English shit talking though, I don't think it would hurt. Yeah, just a couple. I will smash you. I mean, he's great on the social shit talking. He's great. He's got some one-liners in there. Like, he's pretty good.

He just needs to tailor it to the audience. Now, what about Ian Michelle Gary? There was a different type of edge to him, right? I felt like he was, I don't know, sometimes I'll do those interviews with him and be like, that was the best version of people. And people will be like, ah, it was scripted. I'm like, what? What happened felt like he was, I don't know, sometimes I'll do those interviews with him and be like, that was the best version of him.

People will be like, ah, I was scripted. I'm like, what, how was it scripted? What are you talking about? I liked his intensity. And I also liked his confidence. And I also liked the fact that he doesn't really seem to care what anyone thinks anymore. I don't know, whatever he was selling over there,

I was buying it. I was all in on that. You can no longer doubt the man in any way, shape, or form. He's performed with the best and he's also willing to fight anybody. He's now proved it with this, the Shavkat at the end of last year. He is game as they come

and he is obviously has the makings of potentially becoming a champion. I like how you asked him about the experience and he turned to you, he's just like, what do you think, Gario? I'm asking the questions around here, fuck. He's right. But I mean, that speaks to it.

Look at the resumes, right? Like, everybody loves Carlos Proches, but the level of competition is not even in the same universe. Like, Ian Gari is fighting the upper echelon. Shavkat Rachmanov is a different level from the guys that Carlos Proches has faced, and he took him to a decision where if he wins one round,

he might have taken the fight. So yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see how that matches up when they step in the cage, but if you're Ian, you have to be confident that your octagon time and who you fought against is gonna serve you well. God, it's such a great fight. I'm just looking at the poster.

I just, I can't wait for it. It's an incredible main event. Such a great fight. If Bilal retains and Ian beats Carlos, do you see any scenario in which Ian fights for the belt next? Yes, if Shavkat can't make the date. Every question is always if the rub could not.

What about Brady? What about Brady? I was going to say, it just feels like whoever fought most recently and won is who's next up at 170. Right. It's a tricky situation. Who does he jump Brady? No, probably not.

I don't think so. I think it's Shavkat, you book Brady versus Gary if Gary beats Prochess, and the winner of that gets the title shot. Brady faces winner. I guess though, if Bilal loses the belt and Islam moves up to 170, that's gonna muddy the waters even more.

Can I tell you, I know sometimes they don't like that this is the byproduct, but I really wanna see Ian versus Shawn Brady now. Like that promo there, and Shawn on him was great, and now this promo here was great. When you say, it's also a great fight. Who doesn't like- Oh, the fighters, you know, when they do the whole like dismissive thing, it almost makes me want to see the fight more.

You know what I mean? I see what you're saying. It's like with Yair and Diego, you Diego. It makes me want to see it more. You know, Ilya being like, none of these guys are on my level, or Patty being like, I don't even think about Ilya. Ilya, I want to see that fight the most. Yeah.

You know? I want to see Ian versus Brady, but I do think Brady's going to remain ahead of him in the pecking order. Now, if he goes out there and just flatlines Carlos I want to see Ian versus Brady, but I do think Brady's going to remain ahead of him in the packing order. Now, if he goes out there and just flatlines Carlos Pratches, I might have a different opinion,

but for now I've got Brady. It's kind of the perfect number one contender fight. It's great. Well, oh, Brady versus Ian. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. 100%. Unless you're just trying to save them from each other,

but I don't think they care about that sort of thing Yeah, the implications from that that title fight in Montreal is there are a lot Yeah, Oh 100% so many. I mean the fact that it's going to affect two weight classes It's it's it's crazy. It doesn't have it. It's crazy because it doesn't have it doesn't have like the The biggest like, you biggest star power appeal. Yeah, Blomberg's JDM is like, oh my God, you must see television. Of course I will be watching.

It's the welterweight title, but what can stem from this? The amount of fights that weight in the wings being decided by the outcome of that fight is fascinating. Yeah, yeah, in two different weight classes. By the way, we did officially find out late last week that the UFC is going to Azerbaijan in June, June 21st. By the way, I'm not, I'm, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm not a big, I'm not a big, uh, F one guy, but I know that there's a race in Baku.

I didn't realize that Baku was the spot. I didn't realize it was such a hotspot, if you will. People are very into this. I actually have flights to Baku up right now. Thinking about Wednesday to Monday, Baku, Berks coming out. Where do you fly through? Istanbul, swing through, little transplant.

Can't go direct? No directs, I know you don't like that, but. No. He's making the stop, he's gonna. Turkish Airlines. Oh, right, right. A little stop, get dotted up, head to the Bayesian for the fights,

and then we're back in New York City by Monday morning. Imagine you show up to work on that Monday with the dots. Couple dolmas down the gullet. I mean, we're talking about a weekend there, baby. I'm serious. I went on a rant to my friends the other day, I think it was yesterday, I was like, everyone I work with, I keep being like,

yeah, I'm down to go to Azerbaijan. And they're like, yeah, I'm down too. And I'm like, no, but you're not actually down because I'm actually down. If you want to book the flights, I'll go to Azerbaijan. I'm not kidding. We said, boys in the baku, we do boys in the back. Oh, that's not bad.

From Azerbaijan. That's not bad, that's not bad. I'm telling you, man. I'm telling you, I mean, the beautiful flag, Baku looks like a beautiful city. It does, it really does. They were showing those shots of the boardwalk, it looked fantastic.

We can pull up with Danny Rube. He'll probably be out there for Z. He's like the freaking mayor of Azerbaijan. Rube, Steve Rube, it looked fantastic. We can pull up with Danny Rube. He'll probably be out there for Fizeev. He's like the freaking mayor of Azerbaijan. Rube is the mayor, if you're watching, I'll split a hotel room with you. Jamal Hill versus Cleo Raunchy's a fine main event for Azerbaijan. The whole card's shaping up beautifully.

You got that and you got Blades Koun Yiv, to Ghirloom Bekov, Kyoji Horiguchi making his debut, or I mean, returning. Yeah, it's shaping up to be a great card. Now, do you put Fiziev on there? I think they will. I think you got it, right? I mean, he was tweeting something.

I think he tweeted, yeah, he said like, see you in Baku. You have to, man. That is your biggest star. Him and Nazim Sadikov, I believe, also reps the flag. Yes, yep. Throw those guys on there. You don't get a Azerbaijan on

card too often. And very much we've talked about this you know when the the local government gets involved the tourism board and all that stuff you see the way in which they talked about it over the weekend you see that they were they were they were referencing them so this is one of those site fee deals. Can't imagine how much they paid to get the UFC to come over, but this is where the UFC is at. They can-

I heard turtle on the card as well. Yeah. This is shaping up. It's big time stuff. They command a pretty penny. It's really amazing because remember, man, we are two months and 14 days away from international fight week.

And I really am curious to see how this all plays out. That's the last stop before international fight week. So we're getting close, right? Well, they haven't announced the June 14th main event, the Atlanta main event, but we're getting pretty damn close. We did find out that Michael Morales versus Gilbert Burns is being moved from May 10th to May 17th. So we're getting closer, but this remains a big mystery and there's not that many options.

They're going to pull a rabbit out of their hat. But like, I don't think a single fight is, oh, actually, I think Kai-Kai Francis hinted at the Pantoja title fight. So there's stuff out there. But man, is it going to be a lightweight title fight? Are they going to wait? Is it going to be a middleweight title fight? It really comes down to those. Can't be Valentina and Zhang.

That would have been a great one. A great mystery. Honestly, the big fight feel, it feels like the only viable option left is the Hamza DDP one. Those two, right? If it's not Ilya the, is the Hamza DDP one. Those two, right? If it's not Ilija fighting, it's Hamza DDP. Right now. They, right now it feels like Ilija won't be.

So we'll see. Unless they wait. Yeah. They roll the dice, wait till Montreal. That's a wait, man. That's a wait. And then announce it on the night. Yeah.

You'd have like five and a half weeks. I mean, you could, could you announce it on the night? Is it just like, uh, like Islam knows? Presser. He weeks. I mean, could you announce it on the night? Is it just like Islam knows going into it? At the presser. He's like, if, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we'll see, I think. At the presser, Dana shows up with a piece of paper

saying, all right, this is the main event. All right, guys, main event international. Yeah. Islamilia, who's got the first question? Yeah, exactly. Gate tonight was 17.1 million. Yeah. Who's got the first question?

I mean, I could see I mean I could see it. I could see it. I think Hamza tweeted this morning maybe something about like big news coming. Yeah good news with a newspaper emoji. Yes, oh man. I don't know what that means. Maybe he, I don't know.

I was moving my head around because I think I lost you there. We've been. But you didn't. But you didn't, you didn't. There's been a couple times I think I lost you there. We've been in, but you didn't, you didn't. There's been a couple of times during Ian, I lost you guys. Thank God it was during a question. Well, it was during his answer to my question. It wasn't during a question. And I don't know if you guys lost me any other time, but we've, we've

would have told you, you remember I was like, Hey, we'll let you know if something happens to the point where I was like, maybe we should check in and let them know everything's good. But I'm like that. And I might throw them off. That's that's that's appreciated. No, I mean, yeah Anyway, let's get to our final guest of the day. He had a massive win on Saturday as well Back in Miami a highly anticipated fight and what a performance it was it was Never even really close It was the type of performance that he needed

to come back to, and he did just that. A massive, massive win for El Pantera, who has fought them all and beat the vast majority of them as well. He beats the UFC debutant, Patricio Pippel, via very convincing, unanimous decision. He's kind enough to join us right now from, I do believe, back in Miami.

There he is. Hello, Yair, how are you? I heard you had an exciting day today with the family, yes? Yes, sir. We had an awesome day today and we were out fishing and I'm just here with my family having a moment with them before they leave. They have to leave to the airport. I'm here at the restaurant called Maize Agave in Miami.

Okay, well, I really appreciate it. We're not gonna keep you too long because I want you to be with the airport. I'm here at the restaurant called Maísi Agave in Miami. Okay, well I really appreciate it. We're not going to keep you too long because I want you to be with your family. I do want to know, did you catch any big fish? We did. We did catch some big fish and some small, the small way like returned them and we weren't able to keep any because you know, obviously my family's leaving and you know the meat goes to the to the fishermen, the owners of the boat and they are going to feed their, the owners of the boat, and they're gonna feed their families with that. That's what they told me. Amazing, amazing, well done.

In the aftermath of the fight, a lot of people were saying, Pitbull, the UFC jitters, the lights, all this stuff. I don't think that's fair to you, Yair. This guy has been around for a long time. He's in his late 30s. I don't think the UFC jitters would affect him like a rookie coming into the UFC at 25, 26. I think you were the problem, I think you were the reason why, you know, he wasn't able to look maybe like the old Pitbull. Do you understand what I'm

saying and do you agree with that? Yeah, I understand what you're saying but like, can you remind me how old is Volkanovsky? Uh, Volkanovsky is 36. And Pitbull? I think 37. Okay. So, you know, there you have it. Alexander Volkanovsky is 36. You know, Pitbull 37. It's like people will always have like something to say about like somebody

sells performance, right? Oh, it's too old or it was too young. He has too experience and he has no experience so at the end of the day it doesn't matter people as a great opponent was a great opponent for me for my comeback um honestly the UFC was uh we're like really pushing for this fight uh one of the most or all the most con-decorated uh Bellator uh featherweight champion of all times, you know, in Bellator. And the guy is like legit, you know, it's really good, really experienced. And I wasn't able to do any mistakes on that side, you know, because I knew he was going to take advantage of it and I was able to come out with a, with a

clean win on Saturday. I saw you say afterwards that you were really expecting a first round stoppage, but I have to imagine despite not getting it, you're very happy with your performance, right? Yes, sir. I'm really happy with the performance. You know, I worked really hard for this one. And more than anything, more than the performance, because it was obviously a team job

with my coaches and partners and stuff. I feel proud of myself, you know, because I was able to, like, overcome all the, you know, negative behind it, you know, like many people thinking, I don't know, they're not good enough or whatever, you know, I just like leaving everything aside and being able to like clear my mind, clear my body and being able to just fucking go in there and do my thing. Where was your confidence at behind the scenes going into this fight? Because it had been two fights in a row that you lost. Your last one was in 2023. Were you ever doubting yourself? No, sir.

No, no, not even once. No, no, you know, as always, like, uh, inclusive thoughts, it tried to come into my head, but I really like attacked him right away with, with 10 positive thoughts. You know, uh, on the past fights, past fights, I wasn't really preparing myself as I supposed to for a fight or for a title fight or whatever. I was only doing like 10 weeks of training. Now I've been doing months. I stopped drinking.

I stopped doing, I'm bullshitting around. Now I'm completely back focused on what are the things that I have to do and I'm pretty sure I'm going to become the champion again this year. Because of those changes that you've made, you look back on your performances and have regrets. I wish I would have taken it more seriously. I wish I didn't drink, et cetera. Yes, exactly. I think I was just, I wasn't just doing enough, you know, and, uh, thinking that

because I'm talented and whatsoever, you know, and, uh, just believing probably too much in myself, I was going to be able to like, just, them, you know, and it wasn't that way. But now I'm like, not only doing everything I can with my training, but also like helping my body with the right sleep, mentalization, visualization, meditation, praying, you know, like everything, everything is supposed to be. Do you think now fighting Pippo, do you think he could be a top contender at 145 in the UFC? I think he has great, great chances. You know, I think he has great chances. That's what I told him after the fight. Hey man, like you're a warrior. I think you have a bright future here in the UFC. You keep it up, man. You know, God bless. And I'm pretty sure you're going to have a great time from this company. Yes. Okay.

Were you hoping that Diego won the main event because of the history there and because you have never fought him before? Were you, were you hoping that that was going to be the outcome? Honestly, I don't, uh, I didn't care that much, you know, if I'm honest with you, for me, it doesn't matter. You know, I understand that in this game, we'll have like, more than anything time to face each other at some point in our careers for the championship or not, or whatever, you know, but all my mind right now is really in what is more important is fighting for the for that belt against Volkanovsky

and that's everything that is in my head right now. Were you expecting Volkanovsky to win? I never put any thought behind anything. I wasn't like nothing. When I was watching the fight, as I'm closer to Volkanovsky than I am with Diego, I was like happy and excited to see Volkanovsky get an incredible performance over Diego. And I was just like, really happy to see that guy doing his thing in there as he only he knows how to do it in the best way possible.

Were you impressed by how he looked out there? No, like I'm not impressed with him. Look, he's like fucking one of the greatest of all time. You know, I, I expected that. So, so afterwards you said that you wanted to fight for the belt. You wanted to fight in Guadalajara. Here we are two days later. How confident are you that you will get that title shot in September?

I don't know if it's going to be in September or before or after that. Uh, but Bokanowski, he said he wants, he wants to do it. You know, he's going to be in September or before or after that, but Volkanovsky, he said he wants to do it. He's looking for the fight. He's not saying no to the fight. He's saying if the UFC wants to make it happen, I won't be the guy holding back. So I think that's the fight to make. So let's make it happen.

And I'm completely sure that if Voltaevsky decides to take the fight and the UFC wants to make it happen, I'll become the champion 2025. Just curious, obviously, you know about most are in the street that he's on. What do you say to someone who says he's won nine in a row. He should get a crack at the belt first. Ben, I don't know. You know, I, the only thing that I can tell you is that a fight against Volkanovsky makes sense for me.

I don't want to talk about like mobs or whatever. He's an incredible fighter. He's a dangerous opponent and he's coming from a win streak. Now what I hear from the UFC, you only have to come from a win. Volkanovsky and I had a background fighting for the belt. I wasn't able to come with a win, but this time I'm pretty sure I will be able to come with a win. You know, the incident,

or if you want to call it an incident, the shouting match between you and Diego on Thursday, only really made people want to see that fight more. You know how that works, right? You see two fighters going toe to toe. And so how will you react if they come to you and say, look, you guys did such a great job of getting people to talk about you two fighting each other, even though you weren't fighting each other.

And it seems very personal. We want to make this fight for Mexico. How would you react if they come to you with that? I mean, all of that started, obviously, because he wanted to like point it that I was coming from a loss. And I'll repeat that to him. Now he's the one coming from a loss. He needs to earn his opportunity to fight for the title or for whoever contention. And, um, you know, I'm, I'm now the one coming from a win and I deserve a title shot. That's fair. Um, you, you, you have said that you don't want to really go into the history.

You've talked about your teammate, Marco Beltran. When do you think you will tell us about like where the issue between you and Diego stems because we don't really see you this, this fired up usually. No, I mean, I don't have to talk about any of that because it's not like Joe to talk about that, you know, I was just fired up in the moment because he was like bringing up, uh, that I was coming from a loss when I always have stayed respectful to him. And even in the past, when I saw him in the past, it was like bringing up that I was coming from a loss when I always have stayed respectful to him and even in the past when I saw him in the past it was like you know like even we took a picture together whatever I'm

cool with you you know but I won't like I won't stand at this respect like that you know and I was I was thinking whenever the time comes to fight Diego I'll take care of that inside of the octagon as I supposed to for my friend Marco will turn I told my told Marco don't worry about it I'll fucking I'll take care of that inside of the octagon as I supposed to for my friend Marco will turn I told my told Marco Don't worry about it. I'll fucking I'll fucking take care of that. I promise you all fucking beat him for you, man I fucking promise you but in the right way Who is supposed to be right and I think the right person to talk about that if you want to you want to ever talk To him with Marco will turn I'm pretty sure he will give you all the details

Do you want to know about it? That is that that's not my job That's fair. I respect that. I'm just curious, did you hear from Marco after the press conference? Yeah, man. So he lives in Spain and he was, he was like, hey man, what the fuck's going on?

You know, he was texting me, like, what the fuck's going on? And then he was posting, hey people, you see me at break. You know, I'm like, waking up here, let me drink my coffee, my morning coffee. And then I'll like start like telling you guys what happened Wow, incredible. Uh, it was it was intense only because we don't usually see you that upset You know what I mean? That's that's really what stood out. You're usually very calm I am you know, but like also I won't stand like I do respect like that, you know, and I was actually like

But like also I won't stand like I do respect like that, you know, and I was actually like Ready to play cool and then he started like saying that like oh He's going from like losses and like trying to make the interviewer whomever it was It's like to say would you say it? You know, why why are you like being like that? It's okay You know, yeah, I was going from two losses now I'm coming from a win and I'm ready to fight for the title In the aftermath were you able to calm down because obviously obviously you had a job, you had to cut weight, then fight people where you calm after, or did it take some time?

No, no, I'm able to like completely separate everything by the way, you know, I don't let my emotions overtake for like long periods of time. You know, if I have to explore, I explore, I let my emotions out and then I go back to where I have to be. I stay calm and collected. And even though people around me were like talking about it and asking me what happened or whatever, I always had the focus on people for Saturday.

Okay. I loved what you wore on fight night. Uh, how did that come about the, the sort of Miami Scarface attire? You know, uh, Scarface is just, uh, um, I don't know how to say it. You know, it's like a really, really Miami thing, you know? And, uh, you know, like the, we were like, I was talking to, um, Gabby, a member of the U S he was like, I wish like somebody brings like a really Miami vibes to this event, you know?

And I was like, don't worry about it. I got you. I'll do something cool. You'll see. And then, uh, I put myself on a task of, um, you know, doing the, the host, the whole, uh, dress of, uh, Scarface. And, uh, I think it came out like really, really good, really sleek. Yes. No, it was amazing.

You look tremendous. It was a great look for you. Um, can I ask you what you thought of, thought of John Silva who fought earlier in the night? I think the fight right before yours in your weight class. He had the win over Bryce Mitchell. What did you think of his performance? I think he always looks great. You know, he's one of those guys that is like He brings many things to the table. He's a dangerous opponent and things. I think he looked great He said by the way that he wants to... go ahead. Yeah, I wasn't able to watch the fight completely because I was like right before that I was like warming up

So I wasn't focused on watching the fight or whatever. I was just getting ready to to fight myself You know I understand He told us earlier in the day that he wants to fight for the belt next Everyone does Yeah, of course everyone does, you know, that's what I'm looking for right now. And that's what everybody was like looking for, you know, let's see what the UFC wants to make happen. And also like Volkanovsky, you know, Volkanovsky was talking there like a couple of days ago. I think in the after five interviews, he was saying that he wouldn't, he wouldn't mind like fighting me, you me. Now it's just a matter of the UFC, if they want to make that happen.

Volkonoski, I'm pretty sure he will take the fight, which I respect a lot from him. And Volkonoski is one of those guys that is a legend, and I know he will roll with it. And before I let you go, just fighting at sea level and not somewhere like Mexico or Utah, could you notice a major difference in the way you felt in the fight? Oh, you know, that this was like a gift for me, you know, because I'm always fighting in places like I already say, like Utah, Mexico City, or like higher elevation places, Denver. And you know, the preparation is completely, completely different for, for all of those places fighting sea level, especially in a place like Miami,

where like it's a huge Latino community. And everybody's just like hugging you. Everybody speaks Spanish. It just made me feel like home. So I was super happy. You look like you were at home. You looked fantastic in the fight. Congratulations.

Enjoy your time with your family. Yair, thank you for giving us some time. We really appreciate it and looking forward to what's next for you. That belt, the belt is next. Thank you so much, brother. Can't wait. All right. There he is.

Yair Rodriguez, Ed Pantera joining us. And you know, I have to say just as an aside, John Silva joining us with his family in the car. Dominic Reyes clearly out to lunch or brunch or something with his, I think that was his wife next to him. Yeah. Year's family's leaving. I think he said later tonight, he's, he's out to lunch.

He went to, um, he went to, to, to go fish with them earlier. Like the fact that these guys, honestly, the fact that these guys didn't tell me to take a hike and didn't say I'm busy or that this is family day, you know, that's why I wanted to keep these short because I could read the situation. You're not going to keep someone there for 45 minutes when they're at a restaurant really does mean the world. And I know they're coming on my show, but I hope the audience appreciates this as well. I know the team appreciates it. They could have easily said no, no, honestly, none of them even, you know, none of them even told me that they were going to be out and about during the interview. Oh, you know, this time is better than that time.

Yeah, that's all well and good, but that really does mean a lot. And, uh, and, and I don't take it for granted. So thank you to Yair and thank you to John and Ian obviously is, is always a delight to talk to Dominic as well. I mentioned earlier, we have a little bit of time here, I mentioned earlier that Andy translated. Let me pick this up. Here it is. No, I know. Would you not want me to read this? I just want... Okay, so I want to give people the backstory because I don't really understand the backstory

or fully know the whole story. So he mentioned Marco Beltran, who's a friend and teammate of his. And apparently there was a YouTube interview, an outlet called, I think it's TarzanTV, MMMTV, who's a friend and teammate of his. And apparently there was a YouTube interview, an outlet called, I think it's Tarzan TV MMA, I do believe. And the interview, is the interview with Marco? Yes.

Okay, the interview is with Marco and he talks about the backstory, which could shed some light into this issue. We showed you the photos. It was quite intense between the two of them. They were yelling and pointing at each other and really getting in each other's faces. It was, it was intense. Two pretty mild mannered, happy go lucky guys getting into it. And there's a shot of Chandler and Volkanovsky just sitting there like, oh gosh, this is,

this is awkward. It's like when, when parents fighting the kids are sitting right there and not knowing what to do anyway. So obviously Andy is not a pro translator. It's hard to do fighting, the kids are sitting right there not knowing what to do. Anyway, so obviously Andy is not a pro translator. It's hard to do this on the fly, but she did a great job of summarizing what he said in the interview.

So I'm going to read it and let's see. Let's see if we can have some kind of clarity as to where this all came from. Marco was gonna fight Patron twice, fighter named Patron from the team Brazilian warriors. But that fighter Patron never showed up. He was training hard to fight him. The guy didn't show up twice and Marco got upset.

There was an online back and forth between them and their teams. The fight was scheduled for October 15th, 2021. One of the guys from Marco's team wanted him in his corner during a fight for a fight that was on a big card in Mexico. This guy, Patron, found out. He started telling people online to warn Marco that he was going to fight him if he saw him at the event. At some point, Marco runs into this guy, Patron, in the locker room, on the way to the bathroom.

He confronts him. They get into an argument, and Marco kicks him. The event then ends. Marco is leaving, but stops for a drink on the way out, and he sees Diego Lopez and a teammate of his named Alessandro behind a glass door guarded by a female security officer, and they start threatening him. They had about 15 other guys with them,

so Beltran tells them to fight one-on-one not him against a bunch of other guys So he claims then Marco does that Diego and Alessandro kicked the female security out of the way and started fighting him He started backing off to protect himself. This is Marco, but fell and they all started kicking him and broke his rib Once the fight ended he says Diego tried to help him up and said they should show people that everything is good now. They should calm down. Things escalated too much. To which he responded, they were not because a whole bunch of guys from his team had just beat him up in public. Understood. Marco then fought José Rura on December 9th, 2022, who's also Brazilian from the Brazilian Warriors team.

Marco beats him. They all start talking smack to him again in the aftermath. At the end, they didn't want him to take the mic, but he did and told the story about what they did to him in the fight he had cornered about 20 days prior. He says that the guys from Brazilian Warriors, including Diego, had hired a bunch of armed men that were waiting outside in trucks just in case something happened after the fight, but they started leaving once he took the mic.

He claims Diego's team was hitting people in the face had hired a bunch of armed men that were waiting outside in trucks just in case something happened after the fight, but they started leaving once he took the mic. He claims Diego's team was hitting people in the audience, including security. This is all his account. It's all alleged. They're pretending to be good people and humble, but they're not, this according to Marco Beltran. Yair was in his corner when he fought Rura, and Diego was in R is so volatile, why it's so personal. That's a tremendous job by Andy of recapping it all. I get it.

And you can see where that passion, that vitriol, that venom comes from. Diego obviously has his side. We will hopefully get that side of the story. that that that passion that that vitriol that venom comes from. Diego obviously has his side. We will hopefully get that side of the story down the line. But that appears to be Marco's side of the story. And if in fact they do fight maybe it is a great idea to have Marco on the program to tell us about it. So let's see on the program. We've had John Silva say he wants next we've had year say he wants next Mozart is the one saying I want next there's a

There's a jockeying a position at 145 pounds Fun times, but the man once again is Alex The great Volkanovsky Volkanovsky by the way always very good to us, always comes on. He was actually flying during the show today I was told, but we shall hopefully get him on in the very near future. And he's just, he's an inspirational guy. He's a very likeable guy. He's come so far in his career. What a story on Saturday. I had mentioned Amanda Nunes. It seems like she is going to in fact come back She's gonna be a part of the build for the 316 fight. Congratulations to her on

her Announcement the the induction into the UFC Hall of Fame I think that might be it as far as Hall of Fame is concerned. I think that might be the class But maybe not it sound you guys saw that, right? When someone asked Dana, he said, yeah, I think she's coming back. And usually he doesn't like let those things, you know, slip unless someone wants him to,

or unless he wants to. And then she shook her heads. That was all but confirmation. I think she may have done some media in the aftermath, but I don't know if anyone asked her point-blank Sounds like she's coming back Yeah, I mean she's nodding she was there at the press conference It feels like all stars are aligning for her to get the winner in this one

By the way also on Saturday Jaren boots Ennis having a great great performance against a Montes Staniones in Atlantic City the The victory the performance more importantly that he needed a six round TKO corner stoppage that was a big-time win for him. Just what the doctor ordered he he had not looked particularly great since joining Matchroom his two fights in Philly were just a little bit since joining Matchroom, his two fights in Philly were just a little bit. It wasn't the boots of old. He went in there on Saturday, did the thing. And perhaps in line for a massive fight at 147 or a jump up to 154. WrestleMania weekend this weekend guys, you guys excited about that?

Hell yeah, can't wait. I do believe there's some kind of WrestleMania theme. Again a reminder to those joining us late. Yes in fact we did start an hour earlier today. We started at 12. So I saw some people being like, yo what's up? Well you could just go back. A, B, this is the last show you're getting from me this week. Tomorrow, Boys in the Back, Wednesday, The Crack, Thursday.

Well, actually, I guess there is another show for me. But it's a different kind of show, all right? Classic interviews on Thursday, not an interview, a-h-o. And then Friday, WrestleMania Round interview, A-H-O, and then Friday, WrestleMania round table. Tomorrow on The Boys in the Back, I presume, more 314 talk, but also some WrestleMania talk, yes? Heavy around 314, maybe some WrestleMania, but like- 314.

Wait, I was told pound for pound is WrestleMania. WrestleMania pound for pound. Yeah. Our favorite wrestler. Frank lied to me. No, no, yeah. Our favorite wrestler. Oh, Frank lied to me. Oh, you know yourself, Frank. What do you want her to do? What do you want her to do? The top WrestleMania moments?

I couldn't do that. Yeah, come on. I couldn't do that. We jumped right to the he lied. I've watched two WrestleMania's. WrestleMania 40 and WrestleMania 39. Give me your top five moments from WrestleMania 40 and 39.

Is it 41 this weekend? Are we getting top five?, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Wrestlers, what are we getting? Five movies to feature a wrestler the wrestler has got to be on there ready to rumble another Iron claw iron claw and nothing by the way is a lot not sure we didn't rumble natural Libre great shout Jack Black hot in the street right now. What's the one with my grab you or a whole family is like a wrestling? Yeah, that was a pages. Sorry. Sorry is oh, yes. Yes Wrestling is my family or fighting with my family. Yeah. Yeah, what else what else? Oh

Oh, no holds barred Hulk Hogan and Zeus. Oh, Rocky III, Thunder Lips. There was wrestling in that at the beginning. Oh, Princess Bride. Andre the Giant. Princess Bride, Andre the Giant. There was one on Netflix.

Now we're just doing movies with wrestlers in them? Well, yeah. Man on the Moon, or the story of Andy Kaufman? Yeah. Oh! Fast and the Furious, Rock does the rock bottom to Vin Diesel, so I think that counts. Pretty sure I saw some wrestling in Eyes Wide Shut.

Oh Jesus, Frank, with the Eyes Wide Shut. I still haven't seen Eyes Wide Shut. There was some wrestling in it, but it wasn't this kind of wrestling. Can I just say, by the way, Man on the Moon, one of my favorite movies of all time. Which one? Man on the Moon is a the way, Man on the Moon, one of my favorite movies of all time. Which one? Man on the Moon is a great movie. Man on the Moon, yeah.

Andy Kaufman. Who played Lawler in that? Was there somebody famous? Lawler. Lawler played Lawler. Lawler played Lawler. Now what's your boy Adam Sandler last night in Mr. Deeds, all time movie?

Oh yeah, not a bad one. You should check out his stand up special. I'm good, thanks. Guys, yeah, not a bad one. Check out his stand-up special. I'm good. Thanks Guys GFL has announced that Well, no, they just they basically just said like if you want to be released you can be released They're hoping to put on an event in June. I mean everyone that I've talked to has said that I Mean we're pretty much at the point they're playing that song that, I mean, we're pretty much at the point, they're playing that song, the Titanic is sinking,

and there's a couple people still playing that song, and that's that, you know, you got a shirt. Did we even get merch? I don't know, did they even reveal a logo? We saw a picture of someone wearing the Team Miami one, and I have to say, it was atrocious. Underwhelming, yeah, so that's that. Did you guys like PFL on Friday?

Did you enjoy that? Yeah. I will say, we're losing a lot of top names. Yo, it's like five people every single week. Yeah, it's not great. We're losing the ones that we were picking to go deep. But as I said at the start of when we started talking about it, this format is much more digestible.

This format is way more consumable than the season into the playoffs. Yeah, but when you, I mean, yes, but you need some of that juice. I will just say in the aftermath of Boys in the Back on Thursday, I was sitting doing something and someone hit me up and said, oh man, Don Davis is going after you. And I was like, what, really? And I saw him quote tweet something that I said on the program about just like the sort of state

of MMA right now. There aren't a lot of options for fighters. I'm not just making this up by the way. Everything that I say comes from informed opinion. It comes from conversations with other managers, other fighters, other coaches, et cetera. Say like there aren't options, they're not paying as much. One isn't paying as much.

Bellator doesn't exist. I'm not just pulling this out of my behind. And so we can argue all day about the quality of the fights, the quality of the promotion, the quality, the promotion that that's fine. You can disagree, but when you start to claim that I'm lying to the public, that's when I'll get really upset. That's what will set me off.

When, when you start to claim that, uh, Campbell McLaren does it all the time. He's irrelevant and Don Davis did it. And that pissed me off. And so that's why I responded the way in which I did. Again, you could say I'm wrong. You could say you don't like, you know, you don't like where I'm coming from. You don't like my opinion. You don't agree with my opinion, all that stuff, but don't say that I'm lying. Cause I'm not, I know for a fact that I'm not, you can spin it whichever way you want, whichever way you want, you can spin it whichever way you want whichever way you want you can spin it

But I'll tell you the truth here I'll tell you the truth right now and and you don't have to do a lot of digging to know the truth They're not paying as much to the tournament winners They're not selling tickets, especially in this in this first round they asked Bellator fighters to rework their contracts They have to let go of some fighters. You look at the roster. Remember there was a period a few years ago where they're signing big names, big free agents,

overpaying for some of them to come over. When's the last time they did that? When's the last time they did that? The last big free agent they signed was Paul Hughes. And yes, he was a free agent, but it wasn't like he was like an established name like the ones that they did of yesteryear. He was looking for the next step from cage warriors.

So I don't like when those things happen. I don't look for those things as much as people love like, oh, 10-7, he'll want all this stuff. I don't want that, but don't say that I'm lying to the public. That pisses me off. Sorry. That's that. Do we have any super chats?

We do. Oh, wonderful. Any chance that Hamza's good news is that he's joining the fight against rising health care costs with power to the patients? Oh, you know what? I actually thought of that, but I didn't want to get made fun. No, what? What is he talking about? Is he comparing it to like... That was John Jones' big announcement that one time. Oh! I got a huge announcement and it was joining Power to the Patients. I think we all predicted that that was gonna be nonsense, right? We knew it wasn't gonna be a fight but we didn't know what it would be and then it ended up being that. So maybe Hunter. What else? Healthcare's expensive. Why do you think Hunter promised you

a title shot next? Yeah, he did say that in the cage. He said it would be him. He said Hunter promised me. I mean, all right, maybe that's what he wants. I mean, listen, Moe Star wouldn't be the first guy to be on a nine fight winning streak and not get a title shot, you know? Won't be the first guy to be on a nine fight winning streak and not

get a title shot, you know? So won't be the last, probably. Maybe they want to, maybe they want to a Mexican fighter on that card and say, Hey, you win that fight on Saturday, you get a title shot. Crazier, way crazier things have happened. But I haven't asked Hunter why he told him that. What else, Frankie? But I haven't asked Hunter why he told him that. What else, Frankie?

Was so happy to see 3POK back. The three goats. Hashtag, hashtag, hashtag, Bosch. Bosch. Yeah, it was great. I feel bad for Pizzi. I see his eyes like half open like this. I see him struggling.

That's not from the tiredness. Yeah, that's just like PTB and PT yeah yeah but it is it is it is a lot of fun we had a great run together and it's great to be reunited the giggles are great yeah the giggles really they didn't even podcast later like I think he giggled through the entire thing oh wow like it not all of it was audible to Zoom. But we were able to hear it. It was funny. Love it. What else? Kobe versus Chandler at 170. Let's fucking have it. Hashtag Bosch. I don't

hate it but Chandler at 170 just doesn't make any sense. I mean look how much smaller he looked at Patty at 155. I think he'll look way too small at 170. He seemed happy to do it when it was Connor and he was talking about all you can do. Yeah, okay, it's Connor. Yeah, of course. No, what? Nah, it ain't the same.

He can do 70, he'll just be out. What, so he can headline Fight Night Qatar in Not a bad show. In freaking August. Colby versus Chandler and Qatar is a banger. Yeah. Nah, nah, nah. Guitar, cutter. Guitar. Cutter. Okay. I guess Colby versus a banger. Yeah It's our cutter Cutter

Okay. Oh, okay. What else? If everyone could choose just one of these options either keep Frank employed with the team or have a blockbuster special Monday show with three studio guests including Patrick Ewing Bits back man and Howard Stern It's back, man including Patrick Ewing, Vince McMahon, and Howard Stern. Vince McMahon. Your reading cadence is insane. I mean, it's one of the easiest questions to answer. Yeah.

Come on, let's not get crazy. Really, Vince? I mean, the Vince interview would do numbers right now. It would do numbers, but no, we love Frankie too much. I would say no to the, I don't know what the biggest interview possible would be. What would be the biggest interview possible right now for us?

Dana White? Dana exclusive. Trump? Yeah. I would say no. Frankie stays. That's how I roll. And then lastly, Kyle Jr. writes,

Hey Ariel, would you have MMA guru on the show? Spelled Goro though. Okay, so I don't think that's how you spell. No, it's not and I wanted to pronounce Goro Maybe Goro from Mortal Kombat. Shout out to one of the best Mortal Kombat characters For arms, but is that a different person? No, they mean them. I'm gonna look it up now How do you know because there's two O's. Like you either you make the mistake to the question. It was very evident that the intention and the receipt. I just want to make sure. Averyl Goro Martinez. Yeah, there's fighters with Nickname Goro.

But it's going to be a Goro. Nine and I would love to Argentina. By the way, the Internet is holding strong. Yeah. When's his next fight? April 27th. This actually lines up perfectly. Have him when's his next fight? April 27th. This actually lines up perfectly. Have him on the show next week.

Samurai Fightout 21. Next week? Comeback show? Edgardo Pernas versus, yeah, Gabriel Goro Martinez. Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday? I feel like Wednesday. Get it close to the fight. I disagree. I mean, if someone paid $2 to Super Chat having him on,

you come out with him Monday at 1 p.m. All right. All right, Gabriel Goro Martinez. Somebody's gonna send him this and he's gonna be like, holy shit, I'm gonna. Where's the fight happening? Buenos Aires. We trying to pull up?

Live from Samurai Fightout 21? Where is he fighting? Because I'm thinking maybe he come in studio. Where's that base? Buenos Aires. That's where it's happening at. It's mainly a... No, no, no.

Where is he training out of? Where does he train out of? Wow, this is a thick card. Gabriel Martinez. There he is. Nine and 0. Anyway, if he's out there, maybe you stop. If you're coming from the West Coast.

He's fighting out of Buenos Aires. Yeah. All right, well, do we go to him? Yeah, I think we go to him. Messi jersey, a couple of Yerba Montes. You love Yerba Montes, Frankie. Love it.

I don't think this is who they were talking about. This isn't who they were talking about. Yeah, I lost you guys there, actually legit. What are you saying? That's not even a bit by the way. That's not even a bit. I'm just going whenever the I feel like I'm hanging on by like a string at this point and so I just I'm just sitting here like this. Yeah we did. What a relief. What a relief. Appreciate everyone who tuned in on this Monday. I have a plane to catch, guys.

I don't know if you know this, but I am looking forward to that. And I'm also looking forward to... Oh, yeah, all right. I thought you turned the music off, but it was just the connection dying. No, no, the internet is strong. Thank you, Frank. I guess it's just my internet like meaning what I'm seeing but what I'm transmitting doesn't seem to be affected who would have thought who would have thought you got a backup for

the mic when you yell oh sorry when I do that you can see the red hey guys I will just say this oh yeah NBA playoffs in full swing, are you excited about the Hawks and the playing? By the way, why does it seem like the Hawks always play in the playing? Every single year, yeah. Yeah, it always feels like it's the Heat, the Bulls and the Hawks. Yep, I actually think the last three years

have made the playing. Well, I'd like to say I wish you guys the best, but I don't. That's all right. But I think you're playing the Magic. Yeah. Right? Yeah. That's a 7-8 if they lose, they play the winner of the 9-10, yadda yadda.

Anyway, Nick's Pistons. Worried, not gonna lie. Worried about it. That goes down next Saturday. And man, there's a lot to look forward to. WrestleMania next week, PFL back, April 26th, gonna be nuts. Well I'm just going over like, yeah it's this week, like next week, like this coming weekend, like the next weekend.

It's like the next one up, you know what I mean? Anyway a lot to look forward to, looking forward to the Boys in the Back tomorrow, Crack Wednesday, Classic Game Reviews Thursday, WrestleMania WrestleMania roundtable Friday all that and more Thank you very much all our guests John Silva Dominic Reyes, yeah, you're Rodriguez even try to Gary. Thanks all the facts. I'll you back next week Thank you. you you you