The Ariel Helwani Show - IN STUDIO BIRTHDAY BONANZA: Craig Jones, Shakur Stevenson, Cherneka Johnson, Petesy Carroll Join Us

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

Ariel Helwani kicks off a special all in-studio show with Petesy Carroll, who comes bearing gifts for Ariel's birthday (05:06).Craig Jones joins ahead of his grappling match against Gable Steveson and talks all things CJI 2. He also discusses mending ties with ADCC, his feud with the UFC, training with JDM and Tom Aspinall, and shares stories of his travels to Ukraine (16:00).WBA bantamweight champion Cherneka Johnson joins before her unified title fight against Shurretta Metcalf on the Taylor-Serrano undercard. She discusses signing with MVP, fighting at Madison Square Garden, her Māori heritage, and more (1:19:09).Superstar Shakur Stevenson closes out the show as the final guest before his fight against William Zepeda. He shares his thoughts on Turki Alalshikh's comments, Floyd Schofield, fan criticism, Canelo-Crawford, and ends with his predictions for boxing’s biggest matchups (1:54:49).The gang rejoins Ariel and they answer your Super Chats (2:39:56).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Errrya Kawarii Show! Back in your life! Oh, this is nice! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! To you This is nice why wasn't it I? Wasn't expecting all this well. Where's my sachet wow? I wasn't expecting all this. What are you doing outside smoking cigarettes? The whole studio rakes like a club is that where you were yeah, we're getting some items. He's some kind of

He's some Can I be a thousand percent honest with you guys as the music as the music was coming in it started to fade a little Earlier than usual I was about to explode on Frank like Frank how many times have we done this this guys are taking time Bob You got me a car to sweaty doing Wow you know what was this where you were now. I feel like an asshole Should feel like an asshole easy just grab me. It was like 20th. Oh my god. Let's go You got me Become a millionaire Oh my god, let's go. This guy got me. You got me. Yeah Much we want say any kind what's it say in your card? Oh in the card in the card Oh, why you're the guy that doesn't read the card intro. Happy birthday, Ariel

The Gaelic word for friendship is scratch card or something. It's not That's signed from all of us, what? What is it? Talk into the microphone. It's a coin to scratch the cards with. Oh my god, that is amazing. You know what? The great Bob Marley once said, possessions make you rich, possessions don't make you rich. My richness is life. If you win, I eat 10% though.

Forever, wow. Thank you guys. Right now, live on air, we don't have time. We have a stack show. It's my 43rd birthday in case you missed it. Richard Petty. Richard Petty, Brad Doherty, who else? All the great people. Darren Strolls here?

Darren Strolls, wonderful. Yeah. I've never felt richer than right here now. I've never felt richer. And what I mean by richness, I don't feel like I have the most amount of possessions and money in the world. I feel like I have the most amount of love and camaraderie and friendship great colleagues I was about to lambast those that didn't text me this morning a happy birthday

I do want to give a special shout out to GC who was the first to text me for the record Pt Jordan and New York Rick have have yet to officially wish me a happy birthday. You walked in, we all said happy birthday. I needed an official text. I just got you a card with a lot of scratch cards. G.C., Andy... What are you talking about? It says happy birthday on the card.

And in fact, in fact... What does it say on the card? In fact, Frank told me that he wrote... So, uh, G.C., what did I say? You were the first, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hit me with the invisible link. That was a nice talk. Yeah, Frank told me he wrote his text at 4 a.m. But he didn't want to be first, so he did it at 7.48.

You beat him 7.16. Oh, you got the form away. I almost responded. Excuse me, that's better than a text message. Almost responded with a surprise. Frank didn't get up in the middle of the night to send it. Yeah, he said he timed it, which by the way, I don't even know how to schedule a text.

I sent it at 7.16? Yeah, you did. Wow,, which by the way, I don't even know how to schedule a text. I sent it at 716. Yeah, you did. Wow, how poor was it? My arbitrary number I picked just happened to be later than yours. Let it be known there will be no text coming. No, I was expecting an HPD from Rick, like the least amount of effort possible.

I've seen you in person, so now it's all out the window. There will be no text. Nobody's ever got you a card, like a real gentleman. This is amazing, this is amazing. Where'd you get this? Is this why you went to the bodega? This is why I was trying to find a bodega. It's all out the window. There quid. Scratch one off. George, you're getting a bit of a surprise tomorrow yourself. So you're scratching it off with an authentic Euro there. I mean, what am I doing? A million gold went up to a million? By the way, it's going to make a whole big mess here.

Nah, you'll be fine. G.C. the clinic. Okay, I've... Do it quicker, man! Come on! I'm too worried about the stuff. He's too worried about the little flakes that are going to come off. Microplastic. By the way, I got a dollar euro. Just a euro.

A dollar euro. What the fuck is wrong with you? What a time to be alive. By the way, my birthday today, JK's birthday tomorrow. I won't be sending him a text. Who else is who else we got? We got we got you on the 17th, GC on the 16th, my dad on the 17th. We just learned that Craig Jones is you on the 17th GC on the 16th my dad on the 17th We just learned that Craig Jones is also on the 17th. He's 17. Yeah. Well my good friend Kevin Wang tomorrow

I mean everyone's got their birthday Rick on the first no one text Rick by the way It's gonna break my heart. I assure you we won't even acknowledge Yes, neither will I by the way. Oh my god, you know yourself. This is a great time. I'm still pissed How are you celebrating my birthday? You were at the Empire State Building today? I was unbelievable I managed to be at the back of every media convoy couldn't help but notice you were all the way back there I got there 20 minutes early too. They were letting the boxing guys in one door and letting the dirty MMA guys in another What a nice view right here? I mean what kind kind of camera we have? What kind of phone? That's an iPhone, but I think the perspiration on my body

was somehow on the lens because as you can see there, look what I did there, the framing on this. You can see the Empire State Building. Very nice, yeah, that's good. That's where we're located. A little bit to the left, yeah. Ah, what can you do? Didn't get a good shot, you know,

front and center of Jake there. I was shouting, I was saying, Jake! Over here. Over here, mate! Didn't move. Then up there. I was shouting, I was saying, Jake. Over here. Over here, mate. Didn't move. Then up there. Look at this shot. I don't even know. What are we looking at here?

Don't really know myself. I just tried to point it in the direction of the other cameras. This is like a tourist at like a big event. Did you just hold it up, hoping for the best? Well, no, I was listening to Steve Buntz giving a New York journalist a bit of what's for. And I kind of hung back to listen to that.

And then when I got there, I was like, oh, it's over. Like, so I just got like, you missed it all. Good scene though. It seems like it was well attended. Yeah. I saw, I briefly saw the great Brian Peters legend and Coraline Katie out of there. So she seemed cool. They seem to get on very well.

Is Ireland in the house? Like are they, are they present as far as the media is concerned? Not yet, they're all coming in today. So they would have missed that, but I expect to see them all at the workouts today. And you'll be there. Oh, we'll be there. In fact, you'll be our special correspondent.

Do I have to wear this? Or, or not. They're doing the open workouts at the Oculus downtown, which is a brilliant spot. I can't even imagine how much it costs to actually do this. And there'll be two fights Yeah, crazy at the workouts. This is the scene right here with the the blow-up dolls of Katie

What is it call them figurines or something Blob statues Inflatable Blob dolls No, maybe for you for fuck's sake You know Why are you laughing at that? I haven't seen a doll that big Anyways, there's

Blob statues Just fucking statues The big statues. But they're like- Inflatable statues. They're inflatable. Are you sure about that? They're blowing up.

We will check that. We'll verify this on a- That's why we're sending you there. Boots on the ground, man on the street. Are they or are they not blow up dolls, Peter? Yes, tell us. First question. Poke it.

Do you guys remember that commercial, Nobody Beats the Wiz? No. Nobody Beats him. GC, surely you know what this is from Seinfeld, right? Nobody beats the Wiz There's that episode where she dates the guy who's the Wiz and the commercials early early episodes mid mid when I say mid I don't mean not good. I mean

I understand I could understand the translation Anyway, that's who I feel like I look like right now. This is a nice little crown. ATC picked that one out. Where? Party City? Freshly wrapped, rest in peace to Party City. They've gone out of business. They have? It was a very sincere moment for me, losing Party City.

That's where I got all my props. Yes. This is from the old Village party supply. Shout out. Around the block. Yeah. It was in a wrapper. I was like, when are we going to stop moving, mate? My back is ringing with. I feel horrible. Oh, I started jogging across the street. Tell them what you thought I was doing. Hey, hey, hey, hey, no jogging. I legit thought he was smoking outside. And, and, and by the way, no one stopped me from believing that.

I could hear them making excuses. While I walked into the room like, no, he's smoking. He's smoking. I was like, what the fuck? He just needed to get a quick puff in. No one said, oh, he needs some air. No one said. He's overwhelmed. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, there he is. Yeah, the wiz. Nobody beats the wiz. There you go. You're the wiz. Good job. Yeah, it's a classic. Pizzi, it's so nice having you here.

You have brought an infusion of energy. By the way, why aren't you looking at me? Why are you looking off to the side with your birthday head cap? I don't know. I don't know what to do. Are you loving New York? Why is it so warm in here?

What is wrong with you? Oh, should I tell people who's on the show today? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, today's show is a stacked one. By the way. Don't wear too many clothes if you're coming on the show. You Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Today's show is a stacked one, by the way. Don't wear too many clothes. If you're coming on the show, you will perspire. By the way, from this point forward till tomorrow, we have seven guests between this

program, the Dazon show and tomorrow's show, all of them in studio. We don't have another zoom guest scheduled until next week. So today on the program, back into the show at three o'clock, we're going to be joined by Shakur Stevenson, WBC lightweight champion, headlining the card in queens louis armstrong stadium actually co-headlining He's not the main event which is a little surprising to me against williams apeta Prior to that sugar nix johnson aka shernika johnson

Undisputed bantamweight title fight this friday not on netflix on the prelims which will be on youtube this Friday, not on Netflix, on the prelims, which will be on YouTube, MVP's YouTube and Netflix's YouTube, she'll be in studio, and then the great Craig Jones. Everyone loves Craig. Fantastic. Back from his séjourn in the Ukraine and Columbia, and Lord knows where else, he'll be joining us in studio.

He's in a bit of a brawl right now with the good folks over in Las Vegas, claiming that they stole his idea for CJI, the rules, the fighting surface. So those three individuals will be joining us star studded lineup. And then on the Ariel and Adé program, actually Adé is going to be joining us in studios. Well, everyone's here. We're the epicenter of the combat sports world right now.

Is Adé not here for the club world? He is. Yeah, he is. Bit of a sellout. Yeah. I mean, he is doing the PSG Real Madrid match. Does he have any tickets for me? Honestly I hear the tickets. Let's not talk about tickets. So I think that you may get one for. I want one from him though. No you can ask him he'll

be here at around four o'clock. Anyway Edgar Berlanga who's going up against Hamza Shiraz in the main event of that July 12th card he'll also be joining us in studio so it's a real two for Tuesday it's a slobbering around these parts this is how we do people call it a loaded lineup a stack show i mean we all talked about the lineups over the last couple weeks we just call this Tuesday around these parts like it's just ain't no thing ain't no thing thing. My kids, by the way, before they went to sleepaway camp, they got me, I always talk about the Devin Booker shoes. Are you familiar with those? GC, familiar?

He's a Fousey flavor? The son. Yeah, I know the D-books. Actually, our EIC, our fearless leader, Shaheen Alshadi would appreciate this. I always tell them that the D-books are probably the nicest shoes in the NBA. They bought me a pair of D-books for my birthday.

Why aren't you wearing them? They're basketball shoes. What's that mean? Well the real hoopers know that you don't wear basketball shoes on the street. Rick would know this. You wear skateboarding shoes. Yeah but I don't skateboard. You better put those motherfuckers down. Are those Jordans by the way? Ah what a poser you are. Imagine wearing shoes of a sport you don't partake in on a daily basis. I've seen you wearing soccer jerseys. No, you could have easily hit me with the skateboard. Skateboard?

Yeah, there you go. Two of them, for fuck's sake. Um, oh, my sister-in-law's calling me. Probably to wish me a happy birthday. Should I answer? And lambaster for calling me. Have you been smoking? Or just, did you not know I'm live at one o'clock just in case the Lanes watching haven't been smoking line all lawyers rule is you have to answer the phone if they call you no I can't do that

Of course you haven't been smoking you've been very conscientious of your health. Yeah I mean if you spend on where this could go We've had an interest in lunchtime Jets. I know if you spend five minutes with the guy He'll tell you everything Well, there's a lot to be excited about there's a lot to be thankful for by the way Mazel tov to Marcus Buchaca Oh, yeah, he signed with the UFC. Did you hear about this? I did. Yeah. Yeah, heavyweight Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend I wonder what Craig Jones thinks of this. I'd say he wants a piece. You think so?

Oh, he, Jones would have them all. Mad for it. He's going up against Gable Stevenson, CJI 2, August 30th and 31st in Las Vegas. He's trying to redefine the game. He is though, he already is. The amount of interest that a CGI brought to Jiu Jitsu on the same weekend as ADCC. I haven't ever seen it.

Like, including like, there's been moments where like MetaMars, remember MetaMars? And they rematched Braavu V. Gracie. They actually awarded me this black belt. That's correct, I remember. But there's little moments when Jiu Jitsu can kind of spill over into like the broader combat space consciousness.

I think he did it better than anyone ever has. Yeah, let's see if he can sustain it because they're coming after him. Now UFC is signing these exclusive contracts according to him they're saying they're not letting it. Jiu-Jitsu used to be this place where like you could just kind of roam free. You can compete for Polaris here, ADCC. Now it seems like they're trying to funnel it all towards you know one promotion. What's that promotion? That would be UFC BJJ. It's the good old monopoly there.

No, I don't know about that. I feel like they could have come up with a better name than UFC BJJ. Zoo for BJJ. No, just like, I don't know. Something a little bit more, or maybe not. Maybe simplicity is key. They want the branding.

They want the association, don't they? Yeah. So what are you up to now? You're going to head down to the Oculus or what? A few drinks in a local bar, then head on over and you guys call me and I'll ask for the tickets and find out if they're blow up dolls or not. Okay, wonderful.

Well thank you so much. Great stuff from Pizzi. There he is. Everyone, can we get some music for him, Frank? Thank you. There it is. Take care, Pizzi. what do you got in the bag okay he can't hear me anymore well is he supposed to take that with you Frank is saying the earpiece what do you have in the bag beers or what oh the stuff you had to yes yes yes yes yes what do you got there? Blue Moons? Sam Adams? Four Gyres Out?

There he goes everyone, The Great Pizzi Carro. Host of The Crack. They'll be doing a Friday episode right here in the studio and then a post show from MSG. Oh he's coming back now guys. He's coming back. What do you got? Oh, there it is. Yeah. All right, guys. There he is, the great pizza carer. Let's hear that music one more time, Frank, if you don't mind. There it is. Yes. Okay. Well, this is wonderful. Thank you so much for all the wishes. Thank you for the lottery cards. Everyone is just so very nice. I feel loved. I feel appreciated. I feel respected. I feel enamored with all kinds of emotions. And it does mean the world to me. 43, I feel respected, I feel enamored with all kinds of emotions, and it does mean the world to me. 43, I was born on July 8, 1982, 830 a.m. Eastern time, in case you were wondering.

And what would I want to do on my birthday other than this? Nothing. This is exactly where I want to be. Talking to great people, talking to fascinating individuals, and we shall kick things off with our very first guest. It doesn't get more fascinating than this guy He is a man of mystery travels the world Spreading the gospel of jiu-jitsu and he returns with his own event CJI 2

August 30th 31st Las Vegas going up against the man the establishment and we could certainly appreciate that Let us say hello right here now to the one and only Craig Jones. Yes, there he is. Craig Jones in the house. You look my crown, Craig. Thank God for my birthday. Oh, you got me a present too. Wow. Thank you, my friend. Thank you so much. Is this for me? Okay, I felt weird asking. Did you wrap this? I got my assistant Anthony to wrap that. Should I open it now or should I save it? Save it, pretty good surprise. You think so? It's not better on the air.

Oh, we're live now? We're live. Perfect. What do you mean? What did you think this was? I thought we were in a break. Thank you so much. This is so nice of you.

You actually remember. Ooh, is this a B-Team jersey? Ooh. Okay. A little lower class in the B-Team. Wow, look at that. A USA single. So someone actually. Wow. Technically I stole that a USA single. So someone actually wow technically

I stole that but I thought it would just look great on your body. This is a Gable Steve's is this legit? Yeah, yeah, did he wear this? That's yeah unwashed as well. I kept it unwashed in my luggage until I got here. Guys This is incredible. This is an Olympic gold medalist. Which camera here? Look at that. Can we get you to wear it? Right here and now? Yeah. Maybe a little bit later. You're looking very, thank you for this. No worries. Does he know that you gave this to me, by the way?

Does he know that you have it? I think he left it in my car. That sounds quite of a strange thing to say, but yeah, I just decided to hang on to it. Basically like the bounty before the match, you know? Sure. You're going up against him. Up against him, yeah.

Okay, we have many things. First of all, have you lost weight? A little bit, yeah. I wanted to even up the match, you know? Sure, you're going up against him. Up against him, yeah. Okay, we have many things. First of all, have you lost weight? A little bit, yeah. I wanted to even up the match, and obviously Gabe was massive. Yeah? We got the jiu-jitsu advantage, so we decided to. How much do you weigh?

91 kilos. I don't know what that means, let's see. 100 pounds maybe? 91 kg. 200, yeah. Okay, and how much is he gonna weigh? I think 265 Okay, so so you are competing against him last year. You were the great mug by the way. That's a new mug. Yeah, thank you

Last year the attraction the main attraction CJ one was you versus Gabby Garcia similar-looking match Yes, and this is this is fun. Has he ever competed in a jujitsu match? I don't believe he has I believe he's going down the MMA Route eventually yes, and how did you how did you get him to agree to this? Has he ever competed in a jujitsu match? I don't believe he has I believe he's going down the MMA route eventually Yes, and how did you how did you get him to agree to this? Well, obviously he's coming off a loss. So we caught him at a vulnerable moment. Okay, but yeah, I mean it was easy He was like he was super keen for it. Really now is this the main event? That is the main event So this is August 31st August 31st. I'd be on the Sunday night in Vegas amazing three five-minute August 31st, that'll be on the Sunday night in Vegas. Amazing. Three five minute rounds.

Yep. And we'll see how that goes for him. Hopefully he's not too big to leg lock. He looks enormous. I have a slight height advantage though. You don't think you're going to, I mean, does he know how to do anything submission wise? I don't know.

I mean, who knows? Maybe I'll take him down. Yeah. No, I've never trained with him before. Wow, wow, wow. This is great. What a great idea. He kind of frightens me. He's a big boy, this is great. What a great idea. He kinda friends me.

He's a big boy. I saw you guys doing some photos together. Yeah, we did some, we redid the, what is it, the dirty dancing scene with the lift, and he lifted me up shockingly easy. That was actually very intimidating. Do you really have Fuck You tattooed on the bottom of your feet?

I do, yeah. Wow, that's incredible. That's probably the most painful thing I've ever done. There it is, right there. Yeah, I mean, that's obviously- By the way, that sing incredible. That's probably the most painful thing I've ever done. There it is, right there. Yeah, I mean, that's obviously the- By the way, that singlet looks familiar. That is the actual singlet. So he was sweating in the sun there.

We kept that on wash for you. I tried it on. It's a bit loose in some areas on me, but I feel like you could make up the slack there. No, I can understand. Where is this? This was in, it's wherever he lives. Where is it, Nebraska?

I don't even know. Minnesota. Minnesota, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Similar. What a life you live. Do you have a home? I'm homeless, yeah.

Looking for a home if you have a spare room. Do you really have no place where, where do you get your mail? I send it to my business partner's house, Seth. And where's that? That's in Austin as well. I mean, I technically have a house in Austin, but it just turned into Airbnb. Okay.

Got out of Dodge, yeah. How often do you, like, how many days out of the year so far have you been in Austin? I would have been in Austin less than two weeks in the last 18 months, I reckon, yeah. Do you ever get tired of traveling so much? I'm tired, but I also get bored staying in the same destination, you know?

Obviously, as it's challenges, living out of of a suitcase trying to find safe training partners and stuff Obviously airports all that experience, but yeah, I get bored. So I just want to get out go to the next place So okay, there's so much talk about Craig. What going on? There's a lot going on CJI 2 is the big one You're coming back. The plan was always to have another one, right? That was the plan I mean, yeah obviously we got the funding for the first one and I just lied to every competitor that gave up their ADCC dreams that I was Like a hundred percent worth a second bomb, but it went well, so we could same investor different investor different investor Yeah, we can't it's different mysterious every time you know you never know won't tell us you never know where that dirty money comes from

Okay, the things I have to do and and what's the prize money? The prize money will be 1 million US dollars for the winning team. So we'll have eight teams in there. Okay, what do you mean by teams? So the idea was basically we wanted to have real Jiu-Jitsu teams because like kind of the first CGI kind of proved the two best Jiu-Jitsu athletes in the world in my opinion. Nicky Rod, Kader Tolo. But then the always the argument is cause like IBGF events you win a team's trophy, who gets the most medals? But I was like, well, if we want to find out the best team,

let's take what Quintet did, which was the Japanese event that would do this like five versus five, winners like sort of you submit the guy you stay in. And I was like, let's really take your five best 80cc weight division guys against our five best and really see who wins. So that's the idea is like now We're gonna determine which team is actually the okay, and this is completely different than last year. Yeah Well, you didn't have teams last year. No teams last year

We just had two 16 man divisions with a million dollars prize for each obviously We've cut the prize money a little bit. I was a bit generous last year. But yeah, this time we're just mixing it up. I really, I feel like we set the precedent for how the sport should look in the first event, but I didn't just want to rest on that and redo the same thing. I want to keep it moving, keep it exciting. So I was like, in my personal experience, the most fun I've ever had competing was with quintet. So I wanted to like showcase quintet style, a few modifications of the rules, use the pit and just basically show the most entertaining

form of the sport. And what's the show money? Is it still the 10,001? $10,002 this year. You're upping it. This is big. Adjusting for inflation for sure. Okay.

In total, how many people have agreed? We've got eight teams of five. Two of the teams, New Wave, Danaher's team, we're just waiting on one more guy to fill their slot, and same with Andre Gavau at Atos, every other teams. So who are the captains of the eight teams, so to speak? Oh, I mean, it's a...

Well, like, is Danaher considered a captain or is he more like a coach? Yeah, he'd be the coach of the team. Okay, okay. So we've got Danaher for New Wave, Nicky Ryan for B-Team, we got Heath Pettigo for Daisy Fresh, Eddie Bravo for 10th Planet, Andre Galvao for Atos. And then we wanted to have all real teams because obviously you could put together a super team.

Like a lot of these events have that do team We'll just like it'll be a rich guy and he'll just be like, I'm going to pick the five or eight best guys and just stack my team by the victory. So we wanted to keep it kind of to really determine who was the best team. But certain individuals would miss out. So then we filled the other three spots. We made them region-based.

OK. So Australia and Asia is Lachlan Giles. Europe and the UK is Faris and America's is Greg Souders. We have like three regional teams and five real teams. I was hoping that one of the remaining teams would be Gordon Ryan. Oh, I mean Gordon is New Wave. They've just rebranded actually to Kingsway. Okay, so is he going to be a part of the Dan Hur team? He will not compete. I don't believe he will ever compete again.

You think he's gonna retire? I think, yeah, I think this time it's real. This time it's a real retirement. Because of his health? I think he's going into politics actually I've heard. Really? Yeah, I think he's gonna run for Congress. Would you vote for him? Would he secure your vote? I don't know. I don't know what his... Look at the hesitation.

I don't know what he believes in. I don't know what his. Look at the hesitation. I don't know what he believes in. I don't know what he's all about. Follow his Instagram. Yeah, I guess so, I guess so. Is that true? Is he really going into politics? That's true, yeah. Wow.

Are you surprised by this? Me and many of his constituents probably would be surprised by that too. But I mean, he achieved great things in Jiu Jitsu, so like, we'll see what he can do, hey. How's the relationship with ADCC? Mended, we've... For real?

We're back, yeah. You're back? Me and Mo Jasim, best buds again. We put our differences aside for the... What does that mean? Well, I mean, we just are friends again, you know? So are you not going head to head with them? No, we won't go head to head with them again.

You know, like, I just wanted to like- Because they don't go every year, right? Every second year, but yeah. Okay, so you're free and clear this year? Free and clear this year. Next year we definitely won't go at the same time as them. Wow, what happened? How did you get into the fences?

I mean, time heals most wounds, you know? But also, I mean, it was like, I was just trying to prove a point with that first event that there was like, in a way, a better way to do it. But obviously Mo was kind of restrained by like what? 80 cc, you know, like you have that formula for 30 years or whatever. Like obviously we had a lot of differences about how we do it. But really at the end of the day, like, I felt like we want a little too much and I don't want 80 cc to disappear. That's like the legacy event of our sport. It can like, We can coexist together. Athletes can participate in both.

I wouldn't want to rob the athletes the ability to be able to do both of those events. So next year you can compete in ADCC annual event if you do a third one? You are planning on doing a third one, right? If we're still around here, if we haven't. So there's no more like a war between you guys or? No.

Have you spoken to him? Yeah, yeah, I spoke to him actually. We text back and forth now, it's crazy. It's like nothing happened. What a difference a year makes. What a difference a year makes. Yeah. Yeah.

So we're all cool. So now you've just redirected your feud with the UFC. You've chosen an even bigger entity to go up against. We've got a bigger fish to fry now, unfortunately. As you know, they're a powerful enemy to have. Yes, yes. Ariel. Yeah, I mean.

What are you implying by that, by the way? What are you trying to say? Well, you're not best friends with? No, listen. It's all work. Do you know what, pro wrestling? It's all for the cameras. Me too.

That's what I try to tell them. But I don't blow up, you know, blow up dolls with Dana White's face on it with a bazooka. Hey, that could have been any white bald man. Right, right. That's quite... This is next level right here when you're doing this. I mean, yeah.

This is a declaration of war. Yeah, those dolls are actually used as well. Okay. Where is this, by the way? This was on the front lines in Ukraine. Jesus. We'll get to that in a moment, but you legit, what is that like? Be honest, what do you think of the UFC BJJ belt?

Well, can I just ask what kind of a weapon is that? What is that called? Flamethrower? A rocket launcher. A rocket launcher. Yeah, so. And you nailed it, right? Yeah, actually when we blew up, we blew up a car with ADCC paint on it last year, but

I actually missed six times. So I just had to pretend I hit the car. Cut away. Yeah, it was actually missed six times. I was set to pretend I Cut away. Yeah, it was actually like super after this time We got really close to the target pretty dangerously close, but we we had one rocket we hit him one shot So okay, so I know you asked me the question But look, can I talk about the genesis of this you feel like they have taken your ideas, right? And you were quite upset about this. Yeah, I mean, obviously we have the pro wrestling drama of it, but yeah, I do think like, I mean, the Octagon's trademarked.

I mean, like no one can go around using the Octagon. Like I feel like I made a blend. I stole from a bunch of different people to put something together, and they basically slightly adjusted the finishing product. Which is the Pit. Which is the Pit, yeah. And the Pit, credit to Kar to karate combat they have a similar.

Yeah would you say that you got some inspiration from them but you're cool with those guys right yeah we I mean we shouted them out for the inspiration you've competed for them competed from with a licensing agreement with them so like. I do like to take other people's ideas but I do like to credit. Okay, and you feel like they haven't given you credit? None at all. If they would have given you credit, would you have been okay with this? Or because they're so big, do you feel like it would have been better if they used their own type of surface?

I mean, it's a cash 22, right? Because I think we decisively proved that that format that we sort of created is the best format for grappling. So in my opinion, I do enjoy that they're using it because what they were doing for many years was not that good a product. By-pass Invitational never popped off like the way I guess UFC BJJ appears to be popping off.

So- Do you think it's popping off? Do you think the first event was a success? I think it was, I watched it, it was exciting. The most exciting part for me was when they accidentally called it the pit and then they were like, Oh, we can't say that around here. Don't say the P word. Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, obviously you like to watch grappling take place in what we basically put together makes it a more exciting sport. So overall, I appreciate that

they're doing it. And I understand from a business sense that like, if you're view yourself as up here in an industry. You're not really acknowledging people down here, but at the same time it It would be nice if someone was like, yeah, we saw what Craig did we're gonna throw some money at it and Do it in our own way, you know, but like you've had conversations with them hunter Campbell in particular, right? Yeah, that was about you being a part of the reality show that was for the reality show yeah but that was like it was actually funny because like when I spoke to those guys they didn't like the Gabby Garcia match they thought the gable steves and match was stupid really and they're like hey Craig you want to face Mikey Musamichi and I'm like isn't that a freak show match as well I'm like I'm like I don't see the disconnect. You're much bigger than him. Much bigger, yeah. Like obviously Mikey's a very small but talented grappler.

But yeah, it was just, it came from a weird energy. You know what I mean? It was just like. So they wanted you to coach and then compete on this cart? Yeah, as far as I know, they wanted Gordon and Mikey to coach and compete against each other. And Gordon said no to the competition aspect. I don't know if he said no to the coaching role. I don't know if they got that far. He just wasn't willing to compete against each other. And Gordon said no to the competition aspect. I don't know if he said no to the coaching role.

I don't know if they got that far. He just wasn't willing to compete against Mikey. So Mikey sort of backdoored me through a mutual friend because he was scared if he messaged me direct, I would like to go after him or something. But yeah, I spoke to Mikey and then I spoke to the UFC. They made an offer. I thought it was not a fair offer for the time commitment

and what I would have to give away in terms of the exclusivity type of deal there. So I really did turn it down and I went with flow grappling instead, because flow grappling basically offered me whatever, you know, like it's like, Hey, this is an exclusive deal. If you want to compete over there, compete over there, just make sure like we can figure it out within our calendar schedule. If I were to compete. If you would have signed over there compete over there just make sure like we can figure it out within our calendar schedule If I were to compete if you would have signed up with the UFC Idea, would you have had to shut down CJI?

No, I think they wanted to broadcast it like they've made us offers to broadcast. Okay us but um For me personally those offers were quite embarrassingly low considering the amount of money sure someone else's money that we put into it and obviously time and effort and also like just really wanting it to be free on YouTube. Like I think in the infancy stage, and I still consider Jujitsu competition in its infancy stage, I think we just need to get it out there

in an exciting way to as many eyes as possible before we hire to buy on a paywall. So what was the exclusivity part of it? They didn't want you to be for other? Yeah, and obviously from a business perspective, it makes sense, right? They're investing all this money into us. They're marketing us. They don't want us to go elsewhere.

But at the same time, it's like if you're an individual athlete, you want to face the best guys in the world. And this is the problem Mikey Musumichi has right now. Everyone keeps saying, oh, you're facing easy opponents. Like they're like, you're not facing the best guys in the world. And that's because these guys are under other organizations that the UFC will not, I believe, be willing to work with.

So if you're signed, for example, a Mikey Musumichi who's very much one of the faces of this UFC BJJ promotion, if you will, can he not compete for CJI? I don't believe he can, no. That's their decision? You'd be okay with that's their decision you'd be okay with it. Yeah I'd be cooler obviously like I think we just work together like we're trying to grow this sport sure again. I am sympathetic to their logic you know I mean like trying to protect this what like they're investing into but at the same time.

For an event like mine once a year you're trying to get every good competitor around the world basically to participate in this event and like with the money we made from the first one we just gave away to charity were like building juditsu schools around the world so it's like. I don't see our event as competition to them but obviously they're going to be protective of their athletes like if their athletes would come to CGI and lose. of their athletes like if their athletes would have come to CGI and lose it's damaged their brand they've gained nothing from it are UFC fighters also not allowed because you know they'll allow them to do fury grappling and all this other stuff good question we I mean basically after I had declined their offer we communications of okay was it contentious when you declined oh I think I think any offer you declined comes,

is a little bit of contentious. It could just be like, hey, I get it, I respect it. Good luck, maybe we'll revisit. The reaction from them to you turning down the offer. I mean, not much of a reaction. Obviously I have my manager, Dan Moseley, take care of that, but really like, it's like, middlemaning a couple of direct conversations,

but when it came to the later stages, really it was just like, yo, like they basically had to take it or leave it non-negotiable aspect to it. So in that sort of restrictive nature, at my point in my career, I'm gonna be like, no, I'm not gonna sign such a strong deal. You know, I mean like I understand for like Andrew tagging competed for us put on the most exciting match I think in the history of jiu-jitsu

He chose to sign with them and go with that sort of UFC money or really I mean what they're really offering you is the prestige the attachment to the brand, you know like Showing your face at a UFC event sureointing in UFC fan expos and shit like that, which is if you're a kid, you grow up watching UFC is going to be really appealing to you. They're targeting something that's been a dream of you as a kid. So they have that strong point of leverage in the negotiations. We're going to elevate your brand by attaching it to our brand. What's interesting is when they got into this

and when Mikey signed and all this stuff, it was like, oh wow, UFC's going all in on BJJ, but correct me if I'm wrong, I feel like part of the culture and the spirit of your community is like, hey, you could pop up at this event, at this event, you're just sort of free to compete, may the best man win,

and now they're trying to change that culture, trying to make it more like MMA where it's like it's like you're either with us or against us exactly not that is that like i will say with without a shadow of a doubt that is basically. The negotiation point for them are you an enemy are you a friend like there's really no gray area in between. And how is that being received by the community and by the competitors, by the fan base? I mean overall I'm not sure. Like I think a lot of people, I mean it's hard for people to really like understand the big picture of this right? Like I wouldn't want to call any organization a monopoly but like there are a lot of problems associated when there's just one dominant, say in MMA, like the UFC, one event, there's really like,

there's no alternative. You know what I mean? If you want to become famous in the sport of MMA, there's no alternative. And when there aren't alternatives, you don't have leverage to negotiate. So if it comes down to compensation, if anyone, it doesn't even have to be the UFC,

if anyone came in and offered enough money early to secure, if anyone, it doesn't even have to be the UFC, if anyone came in and offered enough money early to secure the best athletes and the other organizations died, how are you gonna leverage a pay rise? So like at the end of the day, what I'm trying to make sure is there is an alternative that's a big event, that's a big platform, that you can at least use it to leverage a better deal if you choose to go under these exclusive contracts.

Would you ever wanna make CJI a multiple times a year thing? Or you like it as a one time? I mean, like, I think given where the sport's going with the restrictive contracts, like ultimately to have a viable alternative, you would need to offer something that would provide these athletes with as many financial opportunities throughout the year. Do I personally want to do it? No, because it's so much work. So much work.

It's like herding cats, stealing with these athletes. Like the individual event where it was like, we just had to find 16 people in each weight division. Hey, do you want a chance at a million? Bang, I'm in. But to organize the teams, I thought the teams would be easier. We pick a coach, the coach picks these guys.

But like a lot of the individual athletes are like, am I gonna be on a winning team? Like, you know, it actually turned out to be much more difficult to build these things. Did you do that because you wanted to be different than UFC BJJ? Well, I didn't know what they were gonna do. I had no idea.

Why didn't you just stick with the format of last year? Just to show, like, because I knew it would be copied. Okay,, because I knew it would be copied. OK, OK. I knew it would be copied. Obviously, I'm going to be offended if someone copies it and doesn't give credit. Obviously, it's very, very similar. You know what I mean?

For me, it was a background in the sport. And I'd always planned, knowing full well that it was going to be mimicked in some capacity by other people in the industry, to the extent that it has been, that was surprising. I think that's a testament to the success of the first event, but I always wanted to do something different for the second event. For the third event, we probably likely go back to the million dollar 16 man style event, but I wanted to showcase how exciting grappling could be.

So we hooked the best athletes with a million for the first one. Now I really want to double down and show the fans that this is the most exciting format from a spectator's perspective. Quintet for someone that doesn't train will have the most appeal. It's the chaos. It could be a small guy against a big guy. And that's really, that's the goal for this event. Thomas the Mac again, Thomas the Mac again. could be a small guy against the big guy and that's really that's the goal for this event thomas macagan thomas macagan are you still donating all the.

The profits i know i have for this one will keep some of the accounts of a cj three but like which we actually work with. Guardian program which builds schools for like communities. So a lot of the money from the first event, well not a lot, but part of the money from the first event and banking on the profits of the second event, we're building a school in Peru, and the goal is the more successful these events are, the more schools we can build around the world. So not just growing the sport amongst the communities that can watch it on YouTube,

but also growing it because of the benefits of Jiu-Jitsu just for people all around the world. So trying to build schools in locations where tourists don't even go. These parts are like the school in Peru, like there's really not a lot of tourists there. There's some surfers that go there, but like there is a poor community there and Jiu-Jitsu can fill a healthy void for that community. Are you at war with the UFC? Would you categorize it as such? I mean, I don't know. Is a bazooka an act of war? I'm not sure.

I mean, the reason I ask is you're quite, you know, you're prevalent at some of these events. You have guys that you train, you're in their corner. Do you think that you will be okay to continue to corner these fighters? I had thought about that and I was really, I mean, here's the thing. If you don't answer the phone calls coming your way, how do they notify your band? It's good. Put the phone on, do not disturb.

You just show up. They got to tell me some. Yeah. I mean, I would be shocked to be honest, if they were to ban me, if they were wondering, you know, like it's like, I mean, the big picture is like UFC hates me. You think so, but they also hate Dagestani wrestlers and Jack Della is fighting Islam. Makachev. So they're in it's a cash 22 to the left.

We hate this guy, but we hate these wrestlers as well. So I think they want me. I helped them get rid of below, like hold on a bit longer guys. We'll get rid of Islam. I can't tell you. It is a crazy thought. Although there was a time way back when, when Ryan Couture wasn't allowed to have his father, Randy Couture in his corner. Hold on a bit longer guys. We'll get rid of Islam Akhachar for you. It is a crazy thought, although there was a time way back when

when Ryan Couture wasn't allowed to have his father Randy Couture in his corner. That's wild, yeah. Now this was a bit of a different time. I think they were a little more contentious back then. But if I'm being honest, nothing would surprise me. How did you and Jack team up? How did this happen? Because this was the first time you cornered him. First time cornered him. I've trained with him a little bit Back and forth. I'm trying I'm trying to go I go to so many places. My memory is terrible. Yeah, I Brought him in why encourage the team to bring him in and it was obviously also beneficial for Jack at the time as well Jack was getting ready to face Gilbert Burns and

Vokes was getting ready to face Elliot's pooria and I remember like, this would be a good blend. Like obviously Valks got great fence wrestling, Jax got great boxing, sort of complimentary skills for the upcoming fights. So like, I would say that was one of the first times I spent like a bit of a stint with Jack. He joined Valks camp for a little bit. So yeah, I mean, on and off for a bit, but yeah, this was the first time cornering him for Balau.

And we really- What a performance. Yeah, I mean- How much of that credit goes to you? All of it, I think that's fair to say. This was the first time cornering him for below. And we really. What a performance. Yeah. How much of that credit goes to you? All of it. I think that's fair to say like, the takedown defense was unbelievable. That's all you.

Oh yeah. I mean, obviously like, this guy's not going to be able to take me down either. Sure, sure. Hopefully my skills translate personally as well. But yeah, I mean, like, for me personally, when I coach MMA fighter, like we have a short window of time to work with them.

Right. So like Jack Della, I've been a fan of his since his, uh, was it the Dana White contender series debut? And I remember seeing him hit some specific grappling moves that blew me away. So I would say that like, as just a fan of grappling, I appreciate what he does.

So when he asked me to help him, I already knew what his game sort of looked like. So it's really just adding little things in there, like, and also most importantly, giving him confidence, right? Like I think that's what's most important. Like I always make jokes. I'm just holding the bucket in the corner. Obviously most of those fights, yeah, I'm just holding the bucket.

Been like, good work. So much time is remaining, but really like fighting, I think is so important. The confident, the confidence aspect of it. So like, if you have someone that is who you perceive to be a good grappler, encouraging you, telling you, you're making the right decisions. What is it going to free you up to do on the feet is throw a bit more caution to the wind. You know, if you, if you face the guy like Khabib and you're like, Oh, if I get

taken down once the fight's over, you're not gonna be able to open up where you potentially might have an advantage. So it's really like, it's about giving proper techniques, little touch-ups, because obviously folks in Jacket are already so refined in what they do. We're jumping in right in the coat towels at the end, but it's really like just instilling that confidence

so they're making the right decisions that if they get taken down, they will get back up. What'd you think of my hometown, Montreal? I feel you would like it. I did like it, yeah. Yeah, we enjoyed that quite a bit actually. The after party was at Jack's house and we kept at the Airbnb and we kept going

so they threw us out of there. The after party was at Jack's, you know, Montreal is like one of the great party cities of North America. They used to call it the Vegas of the East of legendary clubs over there I don't know if you know about your you're enticing me to go back now I mean actually felt like I was expecting like more content from you in Montreal because there's a lot of things that I think you could have

Enjoyed doing over there. I was recovering from the foot tattoo. I should look like a month to recover the fu one Yeah That took a long time as a terrible idea because I was training with Jack and Perth and we had the flight away and I Was like my feet will heal this will be a funny joke get the tattoo it took like then got infected took three four weeks I was like hobbling around Montreal, but yeah, obviously Jack's like a family man. That's a such a special moment for him and his team that it's kind of like Keep it close there. Okay, the apartment afterwards, but how do you think the fight against this time goes? I I think it's a super difficult fight from Islam this one. He's like, obviously he's faced Volk twice. We'll forget about the second one, but the first one,

very competitive, very competitive at the grappling. And now we're talking about, he's facing a guy that's some of the best scrambling ability, I think, period, in all of MMA, and some of the most unorthodox grappling. And I think that's what Balal struggled with. He's a guy that's been around for a long time, and he's been around for a long time. And he's been around guy that's some of the best scrambling ability, I think, period in all of MMA and some of the most unorthodox grappling. And I think that's what Balal struggled with.

Balal really just sticks to a blueprint. The blueprint obviously works very well, but in terms of creativity and what Balal does, I think it's pretty strict. Jack, as you saw in that fight, some of his off balances and grip breaks and some of the things he does, it's really hard to prepare for that. So I think like Islam, the size difference is going to be quite a lot bigger than people think. And we've seen how Volk did on the ground and how much Islam struggled with him in the grappling exchanges. And I haven't seen Jack and Volk's work together, seeing the skill sets, like this is a perfect one.

The UFC one guys that stand in bang, I'm trying to still help him out even though potentially enemy. You feel confident about this one? Yeah, very, very confident for this one. You think Islam stays at 170 after this or do you think he goes back down? I mean, yeah, good question.

I don't know what he's weighing. Like I think he was posting that he was pretty light. So I'm not sure what he's weighing. I think he was boasting that he was pretty light. So I'm not sure how he's gonna deal with that size difference. I think obviously worst case scenario, he goes out ragdolls, potentially submits Jack. I think he's probably gonna stay. You think Ilya beats him? Who knows with that guy?

That guy surprised me every time. He's incredible, right? Yeah, I was too hard on him at the beginning. I think I watched some of his fights and just didn't think he was that good. And then I was like, oh, all right. God damn, it's one of the best ever, I think. Yeah some of his fights and just didn't think he was that good and then like I was like, oh, all right God damn is one of the best ever. I think yeah, he's unbelievable him I mean, I would love to see him versus woke again at some point

But I don't know if that's ever gonna happen because I don't think he's fighting at 145 and I don't think books going up to 155 And I would love to see him versus Islam. I don't think that's gonna happen either Yeah, I think I mean, here's the thing like if Jack as I think he will beat his arm puts his arm in a difficult position Does he now go back down to fight Ilya after he loses? I know Ilya make jokes He's like, oh if you lose to Jack you have to reown the shot of the title But yeah, I think I really like Ilya's waiting for that fight and it all is determined by how good a performance Jack does So these days in terms of people who call you up and say like hey Craig I want you to corner me is it Alex Jack. Alex and Jack that's it I trained a little bit with Tom Aspin on with joking around yes and Paul Hughes and who use yes how did that come about.

Actually Oscar Willis Mac life friends with Tom Aspin also he set it up was over in the UK but yeah Tom awesome dude. I saw you guys recreate the John Jones bike scene. We recreated the John Jones bike scene I mean we feel like we could do a whole series recreating John Jones scenes, but we need a few police There it is right here Yeah, obviously, I mean I had to twist Tom's arm into doing that. He does not like talking Continually talking about John Jones sure sure sure like so it's like funny I like is great right here when he looks yeah she didn't know we're still filming then that was his honest reaction he was like what am I doing what about his grappling though for a

big man yeah he's good I mean he's been training jiu-jitsu since his kid his dad is like I roll with his dad I thought I was gonna his dad like this older small guy and I was like oh you like oh roll very gentle with him but his at his dad like this, oh, the small guy, and I was just like, oh, you're like, oh, roll very gentle with him, but his dad, his dad brought the heat. So it's like a good grappling base there. I think the, kind of like Jack Deller, is like if you're striking, it hits a certain level, and people don't see the grappling,

they just assume your grappling's bad. So I think we've seen Tom Aspinall, who did he, he submitted Volkov, right? Yeah. So I just, I really, like, he really impressive. Really impressive. I mean, he really, like he really impressive. Really impressive. I mean, he reminds, I always say he reminds me

of Cain Velasquez and Frank Mir, if they had a baby, it's Tom Aspinall. That's true, yeah. Even the body type, but just like the way you're like, Frank Mir with the grappling, Cain with the wrestling, the striking of course, both guys, arguably he's better. Who would have won? In a fight between them?

Yeah, Tom and John Jones. Oh, in that fight, oh. On the White House lawn. Tom. Tom, yeah, I think. John's not a dummy, he knows. There's a lot of currency in retiring undefeated, right? So what's the point?

Even though I would say you had one fight left and if you would have just retired in November after this deep A fight, none of this would have been a real thing. People would have said, oh, you duck, but that kind of would have gone away. The fact that he dragged this out for so long, and really for calling it like we see it,

if we want to speak of the truth, he asked for a big number, and I think he was banking on the UFC, not saying yes to that number. So I said, hey guys, I tried. The UFC actually met the number, and then he was kind of. I wish I could say the same about say like, hey guys, I tried, the UFC actually met the number, and then he was kind of.

I wish I could say the same about the UFC, but unfortunately, here we are. Did you ask for a big number? Yeah, yeah, I mean like, it's the last stage of their career, talking about control of my options, you know what I mean? Yeah, you wanna be compensated for that, right?

Sure, like how long was the contract for that they were asking? I mean, that part was really, they that a little bit of room there but really it was kind of a commitment like I'll be 34 you know July 17th July 17th yes we have multiple July babies on the team that's why I noticed I noticed yes happy early birthday thank you very much yes it's like obviously I don't want to do this forever I didn't have to compete in a 40 41 and stuff like that so like I see the end pretty near competition wise so it's like to obviously I don't want to do this forever. I don't know how to compete in a 40 41 and stuff like that. So like I see the end pretty near competition wise. So it's like to sign away the end. I'd want to be well compensated just in case. Like we see the sports payment structure just going. So it's like you lock yourself down for a certain time period.

You might miss out on a massive payday down the line. Anyone trying to get you to fight before it's all said and done? Yeah. I mean, I'll likely. MMA that is. trying to get you to fight before it's all said and done? Yeah, I mean, I'll likely. And that is me fighting my man. Yeah, I still think me, Gabby Garcia rematch with the gloves on would be a great, great option. Where Japan? I think Japan's the only country that would allow.

Yes. Maybe you'd be open to this. Who knows that could happen on the White House lawn, you know? How are you and how are you and Gabby these days? Good, good. Yeah. I mean, she just calls me out to see what I'm doing with my life and life at me, but yeah, that's the foundations of a strong relationship, I think. We saw a video, so you were in Ukraine recently, right? Yep, yep.

There's a video of you like in the fields, and as you're watching the video, we can play it now with the sound up. Oh, yeah. This video right here, it's like, I could hear like the bullets whizzing by. Yeah, bullet hit next to my leg. You see it like the ricochet hit off the glass here.

Is this legit? That is, unfortunately that is legit there. Where is this? This was near Kramatorsk. So I've been to- What are you doing in the field there? I mean, the camouflage was not a good choice there, you know? Why are you doing this?

Why? Oh, I just support my buddies over there. I know, but like you can get killed You're at peace with that I Mean like yeah, like I went to Ukraine to do a seminar like I've been there three times now and it's kind of like If I'm gonna go to Keefe and a lot of the soldiers trained you did so they're stuck on the front lines If I'm gonna go to Keefe and teach the people that live in Keefe But the soldiers like well, what about us it's, you're in a pretty tough position to be like, oh, you're on your own out there. Yeah. I mean, so like,

that's kind of the foundation for going to the front line. And now I've been to Kursan, Kharkiv, I've been to some of the most dangerous cities. I mean, it's also good like, what do you fly into? Poland into Poland Poland and then you just have like this brutally long drive How long I mean depends on how angry Polish immigration are that day? But like There's not a lot of smiles coming from Polish people. Yeah, it was like ten hours I've been stuck at the border five six hours one time damn, but like yeah 15 hour journey minimum I remember like like like you're like walking around Keev like are, is there a hotel? Where do you sleep?

There's hotels. Yeah. Last time actually this recent time I rented a penthouse because I was like wanting to see, cause Keev's such a beautiful city. I think that's what shocked me is like people think it's like this thing's separate to Europe. But then you see and you're like this one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. So this time I was like I'll book a penthouse so I could have a view of the city. And I remember like the building I stayed in had been bombed like

three months before and the guys were like, penthouse a bad choice, my man, with the airstrikes going on. So like, luckily I was fine. Then this time I went to Kharkiv to see my buddy Roman. Roman's a Jiu-Jitsu black belt. He lived in Ukraine. He went back to, he lived in France for eight years. And then he went back to Ukraine to enlist because his family was still there. And now three and a half years later, he's still there. He used to fight every may, used to travel around, living a good life doing Jiu-Jitsu, but made that sacrifice to go back. So actually did a European seminar tour and I basically gave all the money to my buddy Ukraine. So I brought, I won't say how much because he might get me in trouble, but yeah. And he's just bought a bunch of drones. So it's like, it has a lot of significance to me to make sure that that money's gone

directly to him to buy supplies that are going to like, it's like, you're really basically protecting your friend's life here. You know, that's like a close friend of mine. And if funds are low over there, that actually puts their lives in direct danger. So the European trip was sort of like a last minute fundraiser because my buddy's battalion needed some cash. So I was able to get the cash in Kharkiv. But Kharkiv's...

Is that him? That's him, yeah. Legend. Kharkiv's a very heavy, heavy city. It's like every night we were there, there was like bombs. I remember one night I heard what I thought was a mosquito. It turned out to be like a Shaheed drone. So we looked out the window,

you hear this just buzzing coming closer and closer and closer to we're seeing rockets getting shot at the sky. So it's pretty surreal, but it's also like shows a resilience to the people that live there. You know, life has to go on, you know? Do you have to run to bomb shelters a lot? I don't do it cause they don't do it.

You know, like they don't do it. Yeah. You can't be the only one running sure sure sure obviously there's a hit close by oftentimes I do a double tap to try and kill the first responders unfortunately so like yeah if something hits close get out of dodge but yeah. Damn how long were you there for? This last trip was maybe 10 days. Are you ever nervous? Are you ever like man? I I mean, honestly, I'll just be like, I feel like I'm in safe hands. But that video that we just played,

that doesn't look like you're in safe hands. With all due respect, it looks like you're being attacked. Yeah, I didn't know how close the bullets were going. You hear that. Sounded close. You don't know. Obviously, in retrospect, we watched the video, and when I talked to the troops and stuff,

they were very close. One hit maybe this far from my leg. Jeez. Could have been on the injury show for a while with that. But yeah, I mean, you're obviously nervous, but in the moment... Yeah, I don't know how to explain that. It's a wild thing, man. How's morale, by the way, there? Like when you walk around, when you talk to the people?

Yeah, I mean, they obviously put on a brave face. Yeah. But yeah, morale, it's been going on a long time now. Like for those guys, like really 2014 is when they took Crimea. So it's like for these guys, and especially some of the soldiers have been fighting since 2014. Yeah, it's like morale is low. All those flags represent the fallen.

Yeah, yes. Yeah, those are fallen soldiers. And here, this is a residential building that got hit. The night before I arrived in Kyiv this time this got here I believe it killed like maybe 14 or there was other 14 or 28 people died and it was like Russia just targeting civilian locations so that one was pretty heavy because we're watching them rebuild and a few kids died in that one so it's like they got the playground there with the flowers and the parents are there but

I mean they're persevering but it is like quite a quite a big battle for them you know like a country of 50 million obviously with some international support but Russia's like a 150 million people war machine, you know, like they're overcoming massive obstacles to keep the front line where it is Then you spent a significant amount of time in Columbia as well. That's a war zone in and of itself. Worrying for you over there. I saw some videos of you. Uh, it looked like you were drugged or something. Yeah. You know, that was actually, what is this? What's going on here?

Have you ever heard of a devil's breath or scapula? I mean, I think I've heard someone talking about it. It's like, uh, it's like a drug that you'd put in a drink right? Yeah yeah so it's like I remember Vice did a doc on it back in the day. That's you there with the hat right? Yeah that's me. That's fucked. Yeah so we were down on just the main strip just people watching we weren't even drinking much that night like it was kind of a for a Columbia night out it was a couple drinks go home but then I don't know what happened really,

but some two Jiu-Jitsu dudes sat next to me and took a photo and then the bar staff became very attentive. But yeah, I don't remember anything. You think they did it? Not those guys, but I think like obviously if someone takes a photo with someone. Oh, it happens like a bullseye. Little do they know we're operating on Jiu-Jitsu money,

here nothing to take. Why do you think they would do that? Like what, do you think someone was out to get you? Oh no it's just like there are a lot of tourists targeted. Sure. You know especially in Medellin they're obviously like Tinder and stuff like that guys go missing. I think it's like one of the most dangerous spots for US tourists traveling around the world so you are a target then. Scopolamine has this strange trait where you kind of you're out of it but you remember numbers you remember details of like so you could give someone scopolamine oftentimes it's so dangerous that people do die just from the

drug itself but you would remember your logins for crypto like I remember what was surreal was in that security video the reason we realized it was scopolamine was because we got to the Airbnb and I like sprung up and put the code in to enter and then wow I was back out so it's like you remember the details scopolamine is it's kind of a bit of a mythic thing to right because you got a wife and kids and the account gets drained at a strip club or something must have been drugs and Columbia was scopolamine but yeah it is definitely a real how long did that last like how long were you out for? Oh I was probably pretty good eight nine hours. Just like really and who was carrying you

So that's my business partner Sethie run CJ with us And what was funny is the reason we weren't even drinking is because he went to Columbia to get stem cells in his neck So that night he's not drinking and I've had a couple of drinks. I remember calling him, I'm like, you pussy have another drink. So why I ended up drinking both the doses of the scapula. And then he had to carry me out of the place we're at with his stem cell like yeah, jammed up next, I probably destroyed all the benefits of the stem cells he had my dear. Well, at least the people. Why were you in Columbia? For the culture, the tourism, the sites. You have a bunch of videos on your YouTube page,

the B-Team YouTube page, where it's like 90 day fiance. Oh yeah, we made a play on that, eh? 90 day fiance, we're calling it 90 minute fiance. 90 minute. Yeah, we're trying to. And who are the girls in the video? I mean, just chicks that meet along the way, yeah. So you're not spoken for necessarily,

you haven't found the one. No, no, I'm eating along the way, yeah. So you're not spoken for necessarily. You haven't found the one. No, no, I haven't found the one. No, that's the pursuit of 90 day, 90 minute Beyonce, yeah. But yeah, I mean, Colombia, I mean, it's a fun place to go. Like obviously it has its dangers and stuff. I wouldn't discourage people from going, but I would say like, I got here because some Jiu-Jitsu dudes recognized me

and I think the bartenders drugged me. Most of the time dudes are going on Tinder dates with women that are probably way out of their usual abilities. And I think like that's where the danger lies. Is that the only scary quote unquote thing that happened to you over there? I would say so, yeah. I would say so in Columbia.

I actually ended up meeting Pablo Escobar's older sister. Yeah, I saw that. Someone DM'd you about this, right? Escobar's older sister. Yeah, saw that Someone DM'd you about this right and said I know his yeah someone, you know You check the DMs like that someone's like you want to meet Escobar sis. I was like How do it like is this legit? Is this not legit? They sent me some dodgy pictures and I thought you know what? This is probably he seems like he's in the industry So then he we met I met her for dinner we had a few wines and stuff and she was telling some stories about Pablo, but like largely just obviously maintaining

her image of Pablo. Sure, sure, sure. She was just. Was she nice? Yeah, she was a lovely lady. Did it kind of like end on a sour note? A little bit, yeah, cause we got the, being the engineer,

I am putting my degree to use, is we put the spoons on the end of the sunglasses. So like, she's obviously not a fan of the nose beers herself. Yeah. Obviously a lot of Colombians aren't because of the, the history of what that's done to the country. But yeah, I remember we got it. I was like, can you try these on for me? And we took a photo together and then when she realized the spoons are on the end. She wasn't a fan, but she did laugh it off. She just like leave No, no By the way when we when we posted that you were gonna be on there were a lot of messages about nose beers No, you come up with that term. I don't know where I think it's a Australian culture thing. Yeah. Oh, wow

Okay. Yeah, it's like is that a term for a cocaine? That is a time for good. I never heard of that before Okay, no, no, no nose beer. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I think it's like Yeah, just some slang for you know, okay, it's on When you're when you're competing do you have to cut all that out? Spends on the danger of the opponent like for gable for gable. I mean, that's a big boy You know, I mean we could take any, we can get our hands on for this. Okay. Will you be doing that?

No, I'll try and get healthy for this one. We've had too much of a good time the last year, so it's like, competition's a good excuse for me to get back in shape. So like, when do you cut it all out? Like, how long before? Probably 48 hours, the junk runs total. Oh, that's it.

Right. No, I will get healthy for this one. Honestly, I'm so busy with the CJI. There's so much shit going on that it's like, I just need to stay. So where's the home base when you're locking in for this? We're actually, like, I just picked up a 89 Lincoln Town car and we're gonna do like a bit of a road trip

around the country and promoting, it's like a Hunter S Thompson political campaign promoting CJI. I love it, I love it. So we'll just be popping into gyms in different cities cities like no organized seminar where I'm trying to get money. I'm just going to show up to people's gyms and surprise and roll them. So different cities in America. Yeah, and hopefully they don't beat me up. I hope that's the yeah, and you get some training in Yeah, that's the idea. And and this is three three five minute rounds refining around. Yeah, and and UFC took that

model as well Yeah, I mean all right to be fair. I stole there they were doing three fires from a major and I always said what like that Would work great for grappling. I think some Russian event ACB did it for grappling and it worked quite well They took that Back, I guess that I took from them the pit I stole from karate combat they I guess that I took from them the pit I stole from karate combat they Reinvented the wheel with their pit by just curving a little bit making an octagon the geniuses the technical geniuses. They are Yeah, I mean pretty much the same same thing so you're you're matching its gables is a one-off, right? It's not a part of the team. So are there any other super?

Matches like this. We have a four woman tournament for a hundred cases. It's actually the highest female prize money in Jiu-Jitsu history. We have Ana Vieira, Adele Fenario and Helena Craver. We need to fill the fourth spot. Helena was just doing Polaris, right? Yeah. Super active, super active. Probably the best up and coming prodigy in the sport. Like in terms of her accomplishments, like she rarely loses. It's incredible. probably the best up and coming prodigy in the sport.

In terms of her accomplishments, she rarely loses. It's incredible to watch. Is she Scottish? Where's she from? Somewhere in Europe, right? Maybe she looks a bit Romanian, maybe. I don't know. Good question.

But she's European. I believe so. I believe her parents are from Europe somewhere. Okay. Yeah, she's out training with Dana here and just super active. Who's the fourth? We're trying to figure it out.

Might have to go call up Gabby Garcia, get her ass back in there. That would be cool. I was thinking like a Mackenzie Dern or someone like that, but. We could try. We could try. You have the connections.

Get Hunter on the horn. I don't know if he's answering that call. I don't know if he's answering that call. I don't know if he's answering his calls either. Nice one, nice one. By the way, so like Mikey was saying, I saw his post-match, did you watch his match? I did watch his match, yeah.

I saw his post-match and he's like, he said something to the effect of that he had to take his social media off his phone because he was afraid of any messages he might get. Would that be from like Craig Jones supporters or from you specifically? Oh, I mean, we're meeting and talk back and forth. We're actually like fine with each other, you know, like, like even when we're talking about doing the show together, we would have been exaggerated, but largely would have been friendly.

Like, obviously, like I attack people, but like, I'm trying to not like to us enough too hard, you know, like I actually want to keep it in good fun. You know, like I actually want to keep it in good fun. Like, so for Mikey, it is in good fun. But yeah, he did, um... What's this? Yeah, I'm waving the white flag. We're cool, yeah. And that's you. I'll take that as, yeah, that's a victory.

I mean, yeah, Mikey, Mikey's not my enemy. You know, he's chilling. How could you be mad at Mikey? Such a nice guy. It's true, yeah, yeah. I'm not mad at him, it's just, he just falls victim by association, you know? But like most of the time I'm just trying to make fun

of these guys in a lighthearted way. Like I made a lot of Bala Muhammad jokes, but like, me and Bala were chillin'. You know, I messaged him afterwards just to be like, yo, like, you know, I actually felt super bad for Bala. I thought they set him up when he did the weigh-ins and the guy was like, who are you? I was like, I'm not even gonna fucking comment on that.

That's like, how could you do that? They just called his name out. You know, so it's like, I love a bit of fun like that. A bit of lighthearted fun, nothing too, I crossed the line accidentally. You know what I mean? I feel like- It's not malicious.

Yeah, it's not coming from a bad place. What about this Bellamere? Did you see her? I didn't watch her much. Oh, Frank's daughter. Frank's daughter coming from a bad place. What about this Bella Mir? Did you see her? I didn't watch her match. Oh, Frank's daughter. Frank's daughter, yeah. Looking credible. I mean, it's just kind of cool to see Frank's daughter,

but yes, collegiate wrestler, MMA fighter. She has a fight coming up. Yeah, 22. Seems like she has a bright future. Brock's daughter, does she? Brock's daughter, yeah. That would be the match. She does, I think, shot put.

She does some sort of track and field, but Ian Freeman, I don't know if you remember him. Yeah, that would be the match she does She'd I think shot put she does some sort of track and field but in Freeman I don't know if you remember him. Yeah, yeah, Ian Freeman fought Frank Mir at UFC 38 The brawl at Royal Albert Hall in London. Yeah, and she now signed with the UFC really so that might be His daughter Kennedy Freeman signed with the UFC. That's why Bella, although different weight classes, 135 and 125. I think Bella competes at 45. But anyway, it's just kind of cool as, you know, someone who watched Frank in his prime to now see his daughter killing it.

That's why, cause you always think of like, oh, I have a son, maybe our sons will fight, like the boxing fight recently, but now it's like, oh, maybe our daughters will fight. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think that's a fucking cool thing. The U-Banks. Do you think this might be it,

like this particular match against Gable, this could be it for you. I think more than likely, you know what I mean? Like this could be your retirement match. This could be the retirement match. I'm just saying that to promote this or are you being serious? I mean, like to be honest, like my drive to compete is less like I'm doing the CGI of like other things. Like I like my drive would be to leave the legacy in the sport that grows the sport.

Like I get more fulfillment out of building these gyms for these kids around the world. Like that was my focus to be honest, me competing even against Gabby. Like obviously I could have done ADCC. I knew that the Gabby match would blow up. It had been brewing. There'd been a lot of foreplay for years on that one. So I was like, I'm trying to compete now

and help leverage the other athletes on the card. In CGI, really, I'm trying to use the brand I've built to bring these guys up a bit more, to help people grow in the sport. So I'll compete, obviously, if the money's, you can twist my arm with some money, but for the most part, I'll just continue to compete in big matches that could elevate the sport

in an effort to kind of grow the sport. I mean, this is it. I would imagine it's probably easier to put this event together if you're not competing, right? If you could just focus on putting the event together and not training. Yeah, the kind of the promote the promotion aspect so much more difficult, so many challenges and like obviously like we're going up against allegedly going up against a pretty big right like a pretty dominant organization here you think they're gonna try to screw with you I think to the degree at which they will actually do it I don't know but like in terms of if we're seen as a rival I think they are very aggressive in their business practices and it wouldn't surprise me and nor what they've done has surprised me in terms of how they go about things.

So like I do foresee some unforeseen obstacles ahead just in the sense that we are seen as a rival. And a lot of people will say like, I'm trying to unionize grappling and stuff like that. And obviously that's not, that's been attempted in MMA. You know, like it's like, it's not, it's not something's been attempted in MMA. You know, like it's like, it's not, it's not something they're a fan of.

I would imagine. Do you think that could happen in grappling? I feel like it's way too splintered. Yeah, but I mean, it's kind of like, you kind of like tricking these people into forming a union. You know what I mean? Like I created CJI to force, to try to strong arm ADCC into paying more.

We're kind of, by paying these guys more myself, I'm kind of tricking them into forming a united unionized front. So it's like we, I think whether or not they agree with the philosophy behind it or really necessary, the methodology we can convince them. With our own finances to really unionize, I just hope that they understand the goal here is to maintain the power in the athlete's hands CGI one put a lot of power in people's hands by making a make a choice. We're trying to still do that with this event like I do not want. Any other organization to cease to exist I just want them.

The athletes to have more leverage at the end of the day if you're gonna sign an exclusive deal Make sure you get paid Compensated well and the way to do that is to explain about the other opportunities you have And if you have a chance at a million dollar tournament, and they're offering you ten and ten It's like we're giving you something to demand more money from these guys and that at the end of the day I think is ultimately for the greater good here of the athletes themselves, whether they understand it. At least I'm trying to trick them into being able to leverage better for themselves. By the way, I haven't talked to you since the Gabby match.

You're very lucid. It's hard. It's like you'll pop up and then you'll hear for like 10 days. Like her strength rolling with her pathetic, pathetic. Absolutely. Yeah. And I'm thinking Gable Steve's and we'll be the same, you know, I'm thinking Gabel Steve's and we'll be the same. days. Like her strength rolling with her. Pathetic. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Yeah. And I'm thinking Gable Stevenson will be the same. You think so?

Yeah. I've seen him in the same way. Yeah. We had a bigger. Did you enjoy grappling against her? Yeah. Obviously we made a lot of jokes to build that matchup. Right. Me and Gabby at the end of the day, super close, super friendly with each other, you know, and like for me, me the shot like it's like what you came for isn't what you left with but it's still good and in that sense it's like Gabby

has always been this like ten time world champion and everyone was like look at her she's way bigger than the girls of course she's gonna win and she was kind of unappreciated even a match against Mackenzie Dermott she lost she's kind of like being booed by the crowd and stuff. So like, for me, to ultimately see her be celebrated by the crowd, and I think like, the ability to laugh at yourself is very important. So she was able to laugh at herself

in the lead up to this match, and then ultimately by making the decision to side with us and explain the reasons why in a post-match interview, and seeing the crowd support her for who she truly is, that was probably the best part Yeah, see Jaya for me. Will she be a part of the second one? In what in what capacity I'm not sure but for sure whether I have to go down there

Drive and throw in a trunk of this car will get it a seat. I too no chance. She competes I mean, you never know we'll see who you looking for an opponent for myself No, but I mean she is an attraction right she it is your birthday we all made the call I'm just saying she's a big star in that world and a lot of them are now being tied up I do think it's good when you get the MMA guys in there because it draws people like me in as well who may not know you jujitsu only superstars. Who's the biggest MMA fighter and woman we could have Gabby face? Oh my gosh.

You know what? You know who I tried to convince? Demetrius Johnson. Oh yes, that would be the one. Unfortunately, I was scared of her. Demetrius versus Gabby? In the gi. Oh my gosh, in the gi.

Demetrius, mate, don't be afraid. Come on, DJ. By the way, no promotional ties. You're cool with one championship, right? Yeah, yeah, they actually, all their athletes are allowed to compete for us. Oh, DJ versus Gaby would be box office. That would be incredible.

That would be. Did you actually offer it to him? Yeah, yeah, he wasn't interested in it. Was it last year or this year? This year, this year, yeah. This year, what'd he say? He said he's never been with a woman that big and I said, I hadn't either.

She's gentle. Oh my God. Who do you think would win that? My God, what a fun match that would be. It would be an exciting match. I'm not sure. I mean, I think, even if we could pull in a Henry Cejudo or something,

I think she'd take Henry down in a heartbeat. He's UFC. You think they'll let him? Good question. Be a good pitch. Paul Hughes? Reopen the conversation. Paul Hughes would be good. When's his rematch? He's getting ducked. It's a weird one.

That's crazy. I don't know if it's an official duck. I think PFL is trying to push it to January because they have this deal with Abu Dhabi or Dubai, excuse me and they want it to be there but it's like this fight happened in January and everyone was talking about it you have an amazing thing just do it now you need all the buzz you can get I was trying to tell him I mean like all of like Sambo in and of itself which these guys celebrate they say what is if Sambo is easy to be called you did so all of these guys are terrified of heel hooks. It scares them beyond belief. I was like, Paul, all you need one heel hook. That's over. It's done. It's easy. That's why I really wanted to have a like, Kibbe talks a lot about how good Sambo

is. You know what I mean? Like my opinion is Sambo is just a bunch of judo guys decided to take their pants off and wrestle. That is really what Sambo is. So I want them to put up or shut up basically. Okay. So we have Mika Gavau. Mika Gavau is with FloBoe. He's available to compete for CGI. And I think in the nature of a team's event, I think Mika could probably run through

consecutively the entire Khabib team back to back to back to back. So I'm putting the call out on the show. If you, if you Sambo guys really mean business, give us your best five. Jiu-Jitsu rules versus Mika Gavau. I reckon Mika would submit every guy on Khabib's team in under a minute. Are you saying five versus one? Well, yeah. I mean, and that's favorable to Mika would submit every gone could be seen under a minute. Are you seeing five versus one? But yeah, I mean and that's favorable to Mika in my opinion

I think you wear the t-shirt if Sambo is easy because you did say Let's see. Yeah, that would be crazy. So you're essentially saying team Sambo team Khabib Versus Galval. Yeah, and one dude anyone that can get a visa from Russia. wants to face me you get out it's not gonna last long I love this. I'd love to see vocal involved as well but we tried that we did we tried that for CGI one we tried to have actually in a no leg lock match Mike Musumichi versus Volkonosky okay what happened. The higher ups weren't interested. Meaning the UFC? Yeah, I believe part of it was also like- He wasn't even champion at that time. Yeah, and part of it I think was also that like, Izzy was fighting in Perth at the time

and they had another one of their stars competing in something that potentially draw eyes away from that thing. Okay, okay, okay. Oh yes, it was around the same time, yes. But Volk wants to be busy. The man wants to do anything. Fight, compete, you know, like, okay. Oh, yes. It was around time. Yes, but vogue wants to be busy I mean and wants to can do anything fight compete, you know, like so it's like I don't even know who he's gonna fight It's unclear. They're having most our fight Aaron Pico. I don't know what's going on there. Yeah, I have no idea either I haven't heard He's got nothing booked nothing booked as far as I know if he's got something book

You should tell me cuz I gotta make sure you make your your schedule make room in the calendar So you'll come down there, right? You'll go over there. Yeah, I always got the boys back I always participate in their camps if there was ever a situation where I was in the corner. I'm not in it for the corner I'm in it to help them prepare. So like no matter what happens in the future. I always help these guys train You know, it's like friends to me. It's like and we're talking about their Health right their safety. You don't mean if I can contribute positively in any capacity to that I'm obviously gonna be a part of it. You're a good man August 30th and 31st August 30 at 31st Thomas and Mac available tickets available now. There's the poster

CJI to and soon to be announced Demetrius Johnson Gabby guys. Yeah, come on DJ and calm right now Cool. Let's become I put him on the spot. Yeah, come on DJ. Should we call him right now? Call him. Put him on the spot. Put him on the spot. You think it'll piss him off if I do that? No. Let's see if he, oh, Demetrious Johnson,

just texted me. Let's see what he says. He's asking me for, okay, so he wasn't watching because this was, actually, he might have been watching, it was 20 minutes ago, so I'm gonna tell him, I'm FaceTiming him. Let's see, do you think he picks up? He might be watching right now, someone might have been watching, it was 20 minutes ago. So I'm gonna tell him, I'm FaceTiming him. Let's see, do you think he picks up? He might be watching right now,

someone might have alerted him. We are live and we don't usually FaceTime, we're more texters. He texted me 23 minutes ago, didn't wish me a happy birthday by the way. Typical Demetrius Johnson behavior. Come on DJ, this is it, this is your chance. Oh thanks, you did that for me. I'm an artist. Yeah

No I'll work on this if you can get that man put the feelers out. Oh here. We're recording a video Three two DJ we're live on the show look who's here face your fears Demetrius Johnson Come on you versus Gabby Garcia, August 31st? August 31st. They're going to take you out of the Hall of Fame if you don't do it, mate. Don't be afraid. Night two, and they're taking you out of the Hall of Fame. You're not even in the Hall of Fame, but they're going to take you out if you don't accept the fight. And one thing's for sure, I'll pay you more than your old contract at that company did, mate.

Come on, DJ, I'll corner you. We'll see you there. Oh, I have to upload this. Okay. There it is. You're the man. Thank you so much. Good luck. Thank you for coming. Please stay safe. Don't get killed. We love you. Craig Jones. We're going to take a quick break. We'll bring in Srinika Johnson. We're going from one Australian to a New Zealand. Do you know Srinika? I don't, but I probably should have. She's a QA. She's incredible. She's Bantamweight champion. She's fighting at MSG this Friday on the Netflix card. Oh shit. Yeah, actually, I think she has she works with the fight dietitian

Oh, Jordy. Yeah, exact. So he works with all you guys. Anyway, quick break. We'll be back. Don't go anywhere Okay, that was my conversation with Marabh. Del Wally Shvili the UFC bantamweight champion. That was my conversation with Craig Jones What a guy enjoy him very much. He's a great character. Is our guest outside by the way? Yes. Okay. All right. Let's keep the train rolling along. In about 40 minutes time we're gonna be joined by one of the best boxers in the world WBC Lightweight Champion Shakur Stevenson who headlines July 12th Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens against Williams Apeyta. Highly anticipated fight. Can't wait to talk to him. He's one of the most interesting guys and best shit talkers in the game. But as you know, Friday, MSG, Netflix,

maybe the most star-studded card of all time. In total, 21 titles being defended across five fights, eight fights total, three undisputed title fights, and we have one half of one of those undisputed title fights. Obviously, main event event you've got Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano for the super lightweight title. In the co-main event you have Alicia Baumgartner defending her undisputed belts and then lower on the card we have the pride of both New Zealand and Australia. Shernika Johnson going up against Shereta Metcalf for the undisputed bantamweight title. She is the WBA Bantamweight champion and she joins us in studio right here and now. Yes, there she is.

Sugar Neeks herself. Hello, how are you? Come now, thank you. How are you? Good to see you. Let's hug it out. My pleasure. Thank you for coming in.

I know that it's a busy time. Hello there. Is this someone who knows you? Yes, this is my friend Cassandra. Nice to meet you. Hello. It's so good time. Hello there. Is this someone who knows you? Yes, this is my friend Cassandra. Nice to meet you. Hello. It's so good to have you here. Did you meet Craig Jones back there? No, he was our previous guest. He's also from Australia and he's a legend in the world of jiu-jitsu. He was the guy just sitting here. Yes, I seen him but I didn't. You didn't get a chance to meet him. He took off. He's a crazy character from Australia and trains the likes of Alex Volkanovsky. He trains him. He trains. He's there. He's his jiu-jitsu coach and he also works

with the the fight dietitian. Jordi. Yes, who works with you too, right? Yes, he does. He's the best. Come closer to the microphone if you don't mind. Don't be shy. Welcome. Move this? Yes, do whatever you want. Welcome to New York. Thank you. This is amazing. This is a huge opportunity for you. Massive. First time fighting in the U.S. Yes, and I'm very excited. Have want. Welcome to New York. Thank you. This is amazing. This is a huge opportunity for you. Massive. First time fighting in the US. Yes, and I'm very excited. Have you ever been to New York before? I haven't, no.

Your first time in New York City, you'll be fighting at Madison Square Garden. Yep, how crazy is that? I still sort of can't believe it, but we're here and I like to live in the moment, so I'm taking it all in. When did you get here? Got in on Sunday night.

Sunday night, okay. Did you go to MSG yet? I've walked past. Okay. It looks... Incredible, right? Yes. This is the world's most famous arena.

Ali Frazier fought there. Bo Holyfield, like some of the greatest fights of all time. And now I get to fight there. And now you're getting to fight there. On a historic card, 21 titles being defended across five fights, three undisputed fights. I don't know if you saw earlier today, Guinness announced most amount of titles

on one boxing card ever. I did see that one. They're saying 17. I think they're not recognizing the four ring titles for whatever reason, but this is a big freaking deal. It's huge. And you weren't, so I hosted the press conference in April, you weren't there.

It was Dina Thorsland against Shredda Metcalfe. How did you get involved in this? Before you answer that, your microphone's annoying me. Sorry? I have OCD, no, it's just not straight. It's like a little bit crooked. You see what I'm saying? I don't know, Frank is gonna get mad at me for,

my audio guy, I think it's better now. Okay, go ahead. So, yeah, I'm always somewhat in the gym, somewhat ready, somewhat in shape. We got a call from my manager saying, Hey, look, Dina Thursland is out of the fight with Sharita Metcalfe. Do you want it? I was like, yes, yes, I do want to I'm taking it with both hands. This is a huge opportunity. And I think for me, I had no hesitation because we were iron off the winner anyway, okay So what was this like maybe five weeks ago five weeks ago? Okay, and you were good to go good to go We um, we had a quick turnaround obviously, so I've been in Montreal doing my camp there

This is very exciting for me as a proud Montrealer So anytime I see you posting about things in camp there. This is very exciting for me as a proud Montrealer. So anytime I see you posting about things in Montreal, I'm like, this is crazy, because. This is in my hometown. Yes, it's a great place. Hometown, right? Hometown, yes, born and raised.

What do you think of Montreal, by the way? I didn't get to experience much of it, because camp mode, you know, so dialed in, back to my room, rest, recover, train. But everyone was very lovely, and I was in there once before and from what I'd seen Old Town Montreal, very beautiful. So where are you staying? Like which part of Montreal? Laval. Laval, okay, yes. It's a little bit

French over there. Very, very much so. So I wasn't really aware. I was walking around trying to find my bearings and find everywhere, found a yoga studio, I booked in and the whole class was in French. Okay, we'll just follow the leader here. You feel like a bit of a fish out of water. A little bit, but you know, I'm comfortable within myself to just go with the flow, see where it takes me, and I had a good time.

And how did the connection with Montreal, I mean, you live in Australia, you're from New Zealand, born in New Zealand, right? But you train out of Australia, and that's where you live, that's your home. Gold Coast. Yes, how do you get to Montreal? What's the connection there?

The connection is my trainer, Craig, is quite close with, well very close with, my cut man Russ Amber. Legend. Legend, absolute legend, and I was fortunate enough to have both of them in my corner for the training camp and we just thought, you know what, we'll get adopted to the time zone for here in New York first. And there was some really quality sparring that we had over here and it was just eyes

in camp mode sort of thing, a little bit of, you know, what would you call it? Be secluded to focus solely on the camp just because we had the short turnaround. Okay. Rick? Yeah, we're just moving the bottle. Okay, he's moving the bottle. Sorry.

No, no, no, it's okay. You got to be hydrated. Very hydrated. How is the cut, by the way? Cut's going great. Not far off weight and I'm still well hydrated, well-energy and one day to go pretty much. Weigh-in's Thursday. And it's quite humid out there.

So. It is. I'm a little bit, little bit climy. Like, come on. Because it's winter time back home, right? It is. It is. How cold does it get? Maybe like 15, 13 degrees? Celsius.

Degrees Celsius? Oh, that's nothing. So it doesn't snow or anything? No, it doesn't snow. So I'm glad I'm not here in winter to be honest. Montreal would be an awful place. It is, I think it's inhumane and I grew up there, how cold it is.

Like it's nothing near what it is here. Like it will get to like minus 20 Celsius on like a regular day. So I've heard and I was just thankful that I wasn't wasn't there to experience it. When this card was being put together, you weren't a part of it. And you're starting to see all these women getting signed

and it really feels like a showcase. It's the greatest women's card of all time. It's not the first all women's card. There have been others, Clarissa and Savannah, Headlined and all that stuff. But it's without a doubt the greatest. Were you sort of feeling like on the outside looking in? I had big FOMO.

Like I was, I seen everyone. That was the word I was looking for. Yeah, I had big FOMO. I was like, man, everyone's getting on this fight. And I was hoping to fight either Sharetta or Dina. Like I had my fingers crossed thinking, oh yeah, I'll be able to fight on that card against one of them.

And it didn't happen. I was like, okay, cool. My opportunity will come when the time is right. I had my fingers crossed to get, oh yeah, I'll be able to fight on that card against one of them. And it didn't happen. I was like, okay, cool. My opportunity will come when the time is right. And I said, I was like, I've got a little bit of FOMO here, you know? Such a big card. Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano trilogy.

Like, I'd love to be on there. And I just let it go. And then this opportunity popped up and I was like, wow, the stars have aligned. So some of the fighters competing on this card aren't MVP fighters. They're, they're just signed to fight on this card. Katie, obviously being the most notable one. You're now an MVP fighter, right?

I am. Yes. How did this happen? This happened with, you know, a very fortunate that I was with Lou DiBelle and he happened to come to a deal with MVP where, um, you know, he was happy for me to be in a better position to showcase my skills. So now you're with MVP exclusively, is it fair to say?

I believe so, yes. Okay, so, and what a time. I would imagine if you're a women's fighter right now in boxing, you want to be with MVP because of the commitment that they're making to women's boxing, right? Yes, a commitment they're making to the boxing and I guess the platform they're providing.

So, you know, that's what we all want just to, I guess, showcase our skills and what we're made of and get the recognition we deserve and they're providing that. I saw the video that you did with Jake, sort of the announcement video, they're all very clever. Did you speak to him beforehand? Before the-

No, I didn't. It was pretty much get on the phone, Jake's on the phone and here we go. So I didn't get to speak with him beforehand or plan anything, it just naturally come about. When he first got into boxing, were you, you know, some people were like, this guy's a joke, he's making a mockery.

Some were like, okay, let's wait and see. Some were very supportive. What do you think compared to what you think he's done now? I, at the start was, okay, let's wait and see. Some were very supportive. What do you think compared to what you think he's done now? I, at the start, was like, okay, let's see what he can do. I feel like you can't judge somebody, I guess, off what they've done on social media or anything like that. But now that I can see, he's really going all in and look at the platform he's providing.

So I can't say anything bad about Jake. He's doing great things for boxing, for women's boxing. He's bringing new eyes to the sport. So yeah, we'll see where he goes from here. It almost feels like, and actually earlier today, got a press release, they've signed Ebony Bridges as well. Did you know about this? I heard it was on the whispers,

but then I'd just seen as we were coming in that she signed as well. Actually, you two have kind of gone back and forth. We have, yes, in the past. We were supposed to fight years ago for the IBF title down at, Super, maybe Super Bandham? One of the two, but for some reason

that deal didn't go ahead and she's gone her journey and I've gone my journey and then who knows, we might end up crossing paths again. You know, I'm open to that if that's what's on the table. I just feel like I want to be the best and I wanna fight who is the best to be the best. So ideally, you know, after this fight,

I'm gonna be the best in my division. So everyone's gonna be chasing me, right? Sure. And if I guess everything falls into place, then yeah, it would be a huge fight for Australia. Yeah, I'd be open to that. It's a crazy turn of events because now you're fighting for undisputed,

not just unified title fight because Dina vacated her two belts as well. Did you know that off the bat that that was going to happen? No. So I originally just thought it was going to be for my bout on Sharita's bout. I was, I was wrapped. I was happy to unify. And then when it was for all of the belts, I'm like, okay, wow, this is, this is huge. Like, you know, even if I have to win Dina comes back to fight Dina,

that's even a fight that I, that I would have liked either way. So it's a huge opportunity. I'm so blessed to be here and be in this position. So, you know, there was the controversy with the Nina Hughes fight not that long ago, right? And then you put your exclamation point on it. You put her away. Yes, we did. But like, I feel like a year ago this time,

maybe something like this felt very far away, right? Like a year ago now, could you have imagined that you'd be fighting for Undisputed on a stage like this, on a platform like this, or did it feel like you were so far away from all of this? I felt like I had maybe a few more years to go to get to that position of fighting for the Undisputed. Never did I imagine that it was going to be at Madison Square Garden for the undisputed world title. But it was something I was always chasing to fight for undisputed. And then it just so happens to be at the Mecca of boxing.

On the biggest platform, 300 million subscribers available worldwide, all this stuff. Shireta Metcalf, is she someone that you've been thinking about, is she someone, she's got a crazy backstory herself fighting underground fights in Dallas for many years, had a big win at the theater not that long ago. Is she someone that you've been thinking about that has been on your radar? Well, when she won the bout off Maya, I was like, you know what, I won another bout.

She has something that I want, so let's chase that. And after the last fight with Nina, she was one of my options to fight so we were chasing that fight anyway. Have you seen her? Have you run into her since you've been? No not yet not yet. So tomorrow will probably be the first time? Yes. At the face-offs? Yes that's gonna be fun. What is what is the approach when you do the face-offs? I'm just me I'm wholeheartedly me I just show up I'm in the moment and I've got a job to do I'moffs? I'm just me. I'm wholeheartedly me. I just show up. I'm in the moment and I've got a job to do. I'm so focused. I'm so zoned in. I'm not too worried about, you know, outside noise or what she brings. I'm focused on myself and that's the confidence

that's, you know, a strong aura about me. So, and I believe I bring all that. I've seen on you and there's the announcement right there when they put it out they're very good on the social media they're very... They are, they're all about it and it's cool to see this week you know just the amount of social media exposure that everyone is getting. Yes I've seen on your social media you're very into meditation. Mm-hmm. In fact I think you even fly out your... Is she your... My healer pretty much. Yeah my mind body and soul, Roz. So when you say fly out, is she your? My healer, pretty much. Your healer? Yeah, my mind, body and soul, Roz, yep. So when you say healer, what does that mean?

I guess, you know, that's just a term we sort of say for each other because we work in mind, body and soul massage therapists, so I get treated for my body. We do a lot of mindfulness, we sit, we meditate, we visualize. Every day? Throughout camp, yes, every day. Every day we do something, whether it be having sound bowls over evening,

whether it be a guided meditation to walk through how Fight Night's gonna go and how you see yourself winning and the emotions that you feel during that moment. And just a moment to, because this is such a huge platform, like being in front of so many viewers, being here in New York,

I feel like the hype can get to everyone and you're sort of off with the fairies, whereas I want to stay grounded. I want to stay true to myself. I want to be focused in on the job. And I feel like you have to be confident in you and yourself to be in that position. So you fly her out, she stays with you.

Yes. For the duration of your time in Montreal. Is she here too? She is here in New York. She didn't get to come to the. No, I don't mean in the studio. I mean, did she come to New York with you? She did, of course.

Yep. And she comes to watch all the sparring sessions. She can see, like, she listens to Craig in terms of, okay, you know, Nix could maybe use this cue or interpret this into her meditation. So she's a big, big part of my team. How long have you been working with her? I've known Roz for eight years. She was just a body therapist. And then the last two years years we've been working quite,

I guess, deeply into the more mindful side of things. Okay, and when you're meditating, like how long, I'm fascinated by meditation. I don't do it because I don't think that I would have the patience, to be honest, which I think is a bad thing, given our addictions to devices and all that stuff, how long do you do it for? How long do you actually shut off?

Honestly, it doesn't have to be crazy. Maybe 15, 20 minutes or even, we do a breath work of a morning and it's seven minutes, but you allow that time solely to you. Okay, and is this like, are you saying anything while you're doing this or is it just? It's just, I think, being present in the moment

and giving yourself time, whatever thoughts run through your head, or before you start the day, you know? Life can be chaotic at times, and you need to really calm down, and you can focus, like I like to focus in on how my day is gonna go, or what was I grateful for yesterday just to just to be able to reflect. Yes. Are you the type of person gets nervous before your fights? There's always good nerves. I find that if you don't get nerves you're not really in the zone but it's nerves where okay I'm switched on

here. I'm so focused, I'm so dialed in. I know what I need to do. And it's just more so, you know, there's, I think it's the energy, everyone is a little bit nervous, such a big stage, you know, fight night, one winner, one loser sort of thing. So, yeah, it's good nerves. I love the nerves come fight night. Because you fought on big stages before, Haney Combosis, how many people are there? 30, 40, 50,000? I don't know to be honest, but there was a lot of, it was huge. Right, so like being on a big stage fighting in front of a lot of people, maybe not in America, this is kind of, you've been there. I've been there, yeah. This will get to you on Friday morning. I feel like I'm, I will be used to I guess somewhat knowing that there's gonna be a lot of eyes on. Right. I'm trying to see, by the way, where the scar is on your forehead. You can't even see it,

huh? See it? Oh, there it is. Maybe in the light. Yes, now I can see it. Move in the light. You cover it a little bit. A little bit because if you get sun on it, I find it shows up a little bit red. It's one of the more memorable cuts of the last few years. It was a viral moment for me. There it is. It's huge. Yeah, look at that. When you see that, what do you think? I think she's a warrior. She's a true fighter. She's a champion. Yes, I mean, that is an unbelievable shot. But that's kind of a framer, if you ask me. And this is the aftermath. Yeah, look at that. Gee whiz. Could see my skull almost. Yeah.

How much did it hurt to get that sewn up? I think I was full of adrenaline because I went straight after the fight. I just didn't even feel it to be honest. But then a few days later, all the swelling had sort of dropped down and big black eyes. Okay, okay. And how many big black eyes. Okay, okay.

And how many stitches? 12. Okay, did it ever reopen? No, thankfully. Incredible. I feel like it's in a pretty good spot. Sort of, maybe with my little wrinkles coming up, we can hide it.

I don't mean that, like, one thing I'm wondering about is Amanda's eye, you know, from the cut, because she's in a spot here that tends to open again. And that was a pretty, you know, from the cut, because she's in a spot here that tends to open again. And that was a pretty, you know, it was a similar cut, but in a more sort of, I don't know, tender spot of the body. And a common spot.

Yes, yes, because I saw her yesterday, and it's still a little bit puffy. Really? Yes. But you can kind of tell that it's, that something happened there. And so I wonder if that's something that's good. Where do you fall?

And there is the very gruesome. That one actually, now that I see it side by side, that one might actually be worse than yours. That definitely looks worse. That's like, yeah, that one's, that one like, is like, ugh. Yeah, even for a boxer to say that. Where do you fall in this like, it's Yeah, even for a boxer to say that. Yes. Where do you fall in this, like, it's dirty, it's not dirty?

Orthodox Southpaw, her team says that the way Katie fights is dirty leading with the head. Is that just part of the game, or do you think that there's something to that? I think that's part of the game. Everyone's got their own little tactics and tricks, and I guess they're gonna use what they can to their advantage.

I think, you know, a lot of people are like, okay, let's just push it to see what we can get away with. And I think it's just everyone's tactics. Did you watch both fights? I watched, I did, yes. I was there live for the one in Texas. You were there live? I was, yes.

That was real cool to watch. Did you fly in just to go see it? Yeah, I did. Oh, wow, wow. I did. And, wow, wow. I did. And, you know, being there up front, it was really cool to watch, but I haven't watched it back yet

because I felt like there was a different view from. Who did you think won on the night? I thought Amanda won on the night. But yeah, I'd have to, I feel like, you know, watching it on TV and watching it live is, can be two different. Who do you back in this third fight? I'd love for Amanda to get the...

Are you just saying that because you're MVP now? No, no, only because there's been such a close fight, both fights, and just to have the two in one, I feel like you always got that hungriness, okay, it's my turn now, I'm gonna win this. So I feel like that's what she's got there. Have you met her yet? I've met her in Texas, but I haven't bumped into her yet.

Okay, and just in terms of Fight Week and the way that you're being treated and logistics and all that, how is MVP compared to some of the other promoters you've worked for? It's been great, we know, we've been look really well looked after Being very supportive very accommodating to a lot of my needs especially being like such Such a short turnaround to get into the ring. I Couldn't fault them. We had a fighter. There's a fighter named Kai Carr, France. Are you familiar with him? Yes. I do know Kai

He he's off. I knew all of him. Of, I knew of. Of him, okay. He is of, I'm gonna butcher this, Maori descent, like you. Yes. And in the buildup to his fight, just a couple weeks ago he fought for the belt, unfortunately he lost. He was speaking a lot about his heritage

and maybe early on in his life and career he tried to not showcase it as much, but now he's a lot more comfortable and there's a few great videos about his background. I'm just wondering if you saw any of that stuff and even if you didn't how much does your ancestry your background? I've seen a lot of it and it's very inspiring to see and it's great to see you know just showcasing the Māori culture and Māori people are proud. I'm so proud to be of Māori descent and to represent my culture as well. So to see that on UFC and him openly expressing and sharing and I guess explaining and showing

the culture is really cool. And I love to somewhat walk in the same path and be a representative for our Maori people. For those that may not know what it means, how would you describe what the culture is? The culture is, I guess, indigenous people of New Zealand. I feel like we're very proud. We show, I guess, I guess we show a lot of pride in our culture

as anyone would in their own sort of cultures. And how old were you when you left New Zealand to move to Australia? I was nine when I left. Okay, so do you have more of a connection now to Australia than New Zealand? New Zealand is always home. I always remember my roots, where I grew up,

but I feel like I am a part of Australia now. Why did you move? Just I think my parents brought us to Australia. I think it was a better lifestyle growing up and they wanted to be in a better environment. Okay, and who got you into boxing? My dad. Was he a boxer?

He wasn't a boxer, but he was into fitness, and I wanted to go to the gym when I was maybe in my, I think I was like 12. Okay. So we went to a local YMCA for a box fit class, and it just grew from there. Just from that? Just from that, yep.

Did he try to push you to? Never pushed me into anything. We did a box fit class in the trainer there at the time, Philip Holliday, he had his own boxing gym. And I was enjoying it. I was always a bit of a rough tomboy growing up. So I was like, oh yeah, I could get the hang of this. I went down to the boxing gym

and sort of just fell in love with it. So how do you go from like that, just doing it for fun, to actually like probably getting an with it. So how do you go from like that, just doing it for fun to actually like probably getting an amateur fight, maybe a smoker or something like that and like working your way up to becoming a pro. How does that happen? A lot of hard work, a lot of dedication,

a lot of commitment. You know, I competed for Australia in the amateurs at a few world championships, was trialing for the Commonwealth Games. I wasn't successful with that. Started a pro career and then I just enjoyed it. I loved traveling, I loved the training, I loved the person it created and the characters,

the characteristics that I gained from being so dedicated to boxing. And just hard work. I was so dialed in, I was so dedicated to boxing. And just hard work. I was so dialed in, I was so zoned in. People said, oh, you're not gonna make a career from boxing. Oh, why are you doing boxing? What are you gonna do? Where's that gonna take you?

And I was just like, I make my own choices and this is what I wanna do. And I just chased it. Did you ever doubt? Did you ever think that they were, you know, maybe they are right, maybe nothing is gonna come of this, maybe I'm spending too much time at this?

There was always times where I thought, oh, you know, maybe I should do something else, but I was like, if I'm gonna be good, I have to go 100% in, and I did that. I went all in, you know, I focused, and I was like, no, this is what I'm gonna do, and I just went for it. Did your, this is what I'm going to do. And I just went for it.

Did your parents support it? Very much so, yes. Do they come to all the fights? Not to all of the fights, but to majority of the fights. Will they be at this one? No, unfortunately not. My mom would love to be here because it was such short notice. I think it was with work commitments and things like that.

But I'll be at the next one. Can I ask about your brother? I'm sorry about what happened to him. This was back in 2023. Your brother was murdered. He was. Could you tell us about it? Very tragic. Yeah, it's... Yeah, it's, uh, I think it was like going down the tracks of, um, gang related. Okay.

Um, yeah, it was a big shock to our family. He had actually just not long gotten out of jail and had sort of had plans to change his life around and yeah unfortunately there's some cruel people in this world. How old was he when he passed? 22. Were you close? We were close when we were younger as he got through his adult life we weren't as close just because of the path that we were on. You know, I loved my brother, and I was happy, you do what you do, I do what I do,

but I didn't, I guess I didn't want to be involved in the lifestyle. Okay, were you ever tempted or pulled into that direction and chose not to go down a path of, you know, trouble? No, I felt like I had started boxing and chose not to go down a path of trouble? No, I felt like I had started boxing before I guess anything had shown signs or anything like that. And I was so dialed in already at such a young age.

I'd moved out of home quite young. So I wasn't interested or I guess tempted to go down that path. And you fought shortly after he passed, right? I did, yes. And I took it on because we had planned this, the fight was going to be the first one that he was going to come to watch live. So you had kind of reconnected with him? Yeah, and I was like, you know, he would have wanted me to fight.

And so I dedicated that whole fight to him. And how difficult was that? It was very difficult just to, I guess, speaking on, I guess, the mind and being confident in, I guess, not confident, but just mentally being prepared to go through emotions and thoughts and feelings, to be mentally prepared. Did they ever find the people who killed them? They did, but still things up in a court at the moment.

And we hopefully will have some justice. And it's been a few years. A few years, yeah. They're taking their time, that's for sure, when everything is all on PCV. Was it 2022 or 2023? 2022. Okay, yeah. So three years and still no resolution. Golly.

Is this sort of hanging over your, like, do you just want a resolution so you guys can move on? Yes. You know, we, I feel like our family, we're just waiting for, waiting for, I guess, for some justice to be made. Is this common in Australia? Does it take this long to the best of your knowledge? To be honest, I'm not too sure. I don't know.

I don't know what's going on. It's always, okay, court hearing, court hearing. So we will, when we know, I guess we'll know, hopefully soon. Okay. How much do you think about these things when you like, you know, because sometimes I've heard about when fighters are cutting weight, like,

everything kind of gets stripped away and you start to think about your own life and... Thoughts and demons and... Yes, it gets deep sometimes. It could get dark. Are you that type of person as well? Does the mind start to wander? I feel like for me, I am so dialed in on trying to have you know positive thoughts, positive people around me. Any

negativity that comes about or crosses my mind I really work hard on. Okay we're not in the right time right now to be having those those thoughts like let's cut it out right now, it can come back another time. So I feel like I'm pretty good mentally, just to be like, okay, I'm in the zone and that's all that matters. This is the read that I'm getting, dialed in. You've said that word a few times.

Dialed in, I am so dialed in. Unflappable, unbreakable, like nothing's gonna. Pretty much, like I'm so focused, like I guess if for whatever something crazy was to happen I've got a job to do that's this is why I'm here I've got a job to do. If the whole place is on fire but the ring is still good you're just walking in there you wouldn't even notice.

Come on I'm ready. Like that meme of the dog just sitting there like all is good. All is good. Always been like that? Yeah. Incredible. Good on you. I been like that? Yeah, yep. Incredible, good on you. I mean, I guess this is why you should be like this

and the fight is literally. And this is huge, like this is a moment to make history. And you feel like this is the culmination of everything. Yes. This moment. Yes. That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself. I don't wanna put pressure on myself. I don't need to put pressure on myself.

I've done the work. I'm confident in myself. I'm confident in my team. I'm confident in my abilities I'm I don't have any pressure Well done. Well said some sometimes people say that like I'll say that to myself, but I don't actually believe it I believe it. Okay, I believe it. I feel it And just you know regular guy sitting here. How do you see it going? The the fight. Yeah, what do you think? I don't think it's going to the end of the fight. Okay. I don't see it going to the end and all I see is those belts around my waist. Wow. That's what I see. All of them? All of them. What a moment at MSG. Yeah. Actually I saw, I read a

thing I don't know if you if you if you saw this or knew this as well but I took a picture of it because I wanted to remember it for this moment. There have not been many New Zealand boxers, I know you also represent Australia, who have fought at Madison Square Garden. Do you know who the last one was? The last one?

Female? Yes. Fought Michaela Mayer in 2018. Baby Nansen. Baby Nansen. That was the last one. And then before that, the last New Zealander to fight at MSG was Callie Meehan when he knocked out Devaro Williamson back in 2007. So there haven't been a lot of you in the last 25 years. On the third lucky one now. You're the third one. And you're fighting for undisputed gold. I'm going to win it.

Can't wait. Very excited for you. It's amazing to see you get this opportunity. I know you've been through so much and now that you're a part of MVP, I'm really curious to see where they take you. Because I know you guys have been sort of eyeing each other from afar for a long time. But there it is three days away. Shernika Johnson, Sugar Neeks, one of the great nicknames. Thank you. She has a great name too. Sharada Metcalf. She's great. Chicken? Yeah but it's like not

spelled chicken. No I'm I'd be curious to know where it comes from. You're gonna ask her. I might. I have to ask you guys a bunch of questions so if you want to like help me with the questions at the presser that would be good. That's a question for me. Where does the nickname come from? I'm going to tee you up and you're going to ask her Okay, it's a deal. It's a deal. Uh, there she is sugar neeks the pride of both New zealand and australia fighting this friday at madison square garden On the undercard, of course of the big katie taylor versus amanda serrano three card on july 12th In queens huge weekend for boxing. Go to that card too.

There's a, there's a fight in Queens. The night after. Yeah. I believe so. Shakur Stevenson is headlining alongside Hamza Shiraz and Edgar Berlanga. Shakur is going to be joining us in studio. He's here too. Might bump into him.

You might bump into him. All right. We'll say goodbye to Shrnika and then we'll say hello to Shakur Stevenson. Don't go anywhere. Okay. goodbye to Shanika and then we'll say hello to Shakur Stevenson. Don't go anywhere. Okay that was my conversation with Tracy Cortez back on Monday of last week. That was Shanika Johnson who's fighting this Friday. It's an unbelievable card. Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, Alicia Baumgartner against Jennifer Miranda, Savannah Marshall against Shadasia Green, Ellie Scottney who actually has fought and has a win over Shanika Johnson also fighting against Yamileth Mercado, Tam Thibaut the Canadian

Olympian fighting on the card as well. We've got Chantal Cameron who's now a member of MVP on the card. I mean it really is a who's who as I said Guinness recognizing it as the most what's the word what's the word I'm looking for the most I don't want to say star-studded but the most amount of belts being contested on one singular boxing card now they're saying 17 it's actually 21 as far as the ring belts are concerned I'm not sure why those aren't being recognized but 1721 all pretty incredible Spanning five fights eight fights total the main card is at eight the prelims

are at I think five if my memory serves me correct and The prelims will err on the most valuable promotions and Netflix YouTube channel now July 12th like I said, New York is the epicenter of boxing and dare I say combat sports this week and there's a UFC event in Nashville, but these are two star studded events. You have ringed three at Louis Armstrong Stadium

on the Ariel and Adé program at five o'clock on Dazon and the Dazon YouTube channel. We're gonna have Edgar Berlanga join us in studio here. I mean look at this! Look at this who's who! Making the boys work back there from Pete C. Carroll to Craig Jones to Shernika Johnson to Edgar later but in a matter of seconds unless he's here is he there or no? Okay in a matter of seconds we're going to be joined by one of the biggest names in the sport of boxing. Shakur Stevenson the pride of Brick City, the pride of Newark, New Jersey, the current WBC lightweight champion, the former WBC, WBO and ring super featherweight champion,

former WBO featherweight champion as well. This man has been all over the world and even won an Olympic silver medal back in 2016, devastated by the fact that he did not win the gold, but silver medal in 2016 in Rio, not too bad. We last saw him in February in Riyadh. He was supposed to fight Floyd Schofield, AKA Kit Austin. In the end, he fought Josh Padley and beat Josh Padley, who replaced Schofield on just day's notice

after Schofield got sick and pulled out of the fight there were rumors that he I don't know that something the fairies happened who the hell knows he came back and looked great against Tevin Farmer just a couple of weeks ago that card in Anaheim the co-promotion between MVP and Golden Boy I got to do the mouth thing here real quick three two that felt good. That felt good Frankie. That was a 43 year old. That was a 43 year old jaw crack in any event. He's returning this Saturday fighting the undefeated 33 and 0 WBC interim lightweight champion, Williams and Pated. They've been circling each other for quite some time. They're gonna get it on in the co-feature.

I'm a little surprised that it's not the main event but who the hell cares it's an absolute pleasure it's an absolute honor to be joined by the one and only shakur stevenson is he actually here i don't believe it holy shit shakur stevenson is here this is a superstar right here how are you my friend it's good to see you let's hug it out let's hug it oh my god i can't believe you're actually here i can't believe i gotta tell you you're one of my favorite guys to listen to these days. The no fucks given Shakur Stevenson right now

is as entertaining as it gets. You're unbelievable these days, man. You're on fire. Yeah, I've been very focused for this fight. Honestly, I'm just here to make a statement. Like it's show and tell for me. So I'm going to show my talents and the world going to get to see a different version of me.

Man, I feel like I can actually see the chip on your shoulder. Like I could see it, it's that big. But yo, what's going on? Okay, so I got to, there's a lot to talk to you about, you have this huge fight. What is happening with all these tweets though? That's the thing I don't understand. Are they messing with you? Is this all part of a grand plan?

What's going on with the ring size, with the Tom and Jerry? What is going on here? Are you a part of this? Oh, I'm not a part of it. You're not a part of a grand plan? What's going on with the ring size, with the Tom and Jerry? What is going on here? Are you a part of this? Oh, I'm not a part of it. You're not a part of it? No, no, no. But I mean, honestly, I look at it this way. I feel like for somebody that big to be trolling me and he never done this to a fighter before,

let me know how great I am. I'm one of his mind that Turkey cares a lot about me. So I look at it. Every fifth tweet is some sort of like, I feel like a subtle dig at you, or maybe not so subtle. Yeah, I don't, I mean, I don't look at it that way. Okay, how do you look at it? For him to sit there and do that to me,

makes me just, you know, feel as though that I'm that high up. So I appreciate him for showing me that much love and attention. I saw a picture, you were with him yesterday. Was that yesterday, that picture? Yes. There it is. There you guys are. What was the meeting like?

It was cool. There's always good vibes when I'm around him, man. Once again, I appreciate him for giving me this opportunity because I've been trying to make this a pay to fight for two to three years now, so the opportunity that he gave me, it gives me a platform to show how great I am. At any point you say, like, yo, what's up with the tweets, man, with the pictures? I ain't even talked to them. I don't care that much about it. You know, the world kind of cares more about it than how I care about it, but I don't care

about it. Okay, so it was just like good vibes. Was it a long meeting? No, it was probably like 25 minutes. Okay. Just talking and, you know, I was probably like 25 minutes. Okay. Just talking and I can't even tell everything. I appreciate it. No, I get that.

Is your deal with Riyad? Do you have a deal with Riyad or are you- Yeah, I kind of got a deal with Riyad too, but after this fight, I'm kind of free to do whatever I want. If he's going to continue to make the biggest and most competitive and best fights out there, I definitely don't mind doing it again. So this was something that came up like a month or so ago that you had one fight left on your matchroom deal and that you're going to be a free agent after this.

You're not going to re-sign with them. I don't know what the future holds. Once again, a lot of people make these rumors and say bad things, but I'm actually an Eddie Hearn fan. I actually got a great relationship with Eddie. I can't tell you what I'm gonna do business is business so it depends on whatever the situation approaches but at the end of the day Eddie Hearn is a great promoter. I don't got nothing bad to say about him and I appreciate him. Have you been happy? You know I know you only had

one fight technically under the Matt Romer umbrella. Have you been happy with them? Here's what I'm happy about. They did something that was very good in my last fight. I pointed out that I don't think Floyd Schofield was going to show up to fight me. I told Eddie that way before the fight, even before we got to that night. He ended up pulling where he pulled. We was two steps ahead and Eddie Hearn kind of already had a replacement ready to fight.

So I appreciate him for allowing me still to make that payday and also bringing somebody to bring a fight for me. Why didn't you think Scofield was going to show up? And how long before the fight? Obviously it happened on fight week, but when were you starting to think that this wasn't going to go down? When they signed. Really? When they signed, I knew I'm like, I don't believe that these guys really want to fight

me. To have that kid right now just lose at this level is not a simple thing. I don't think people just think it's that simple. So for him to even sign, I was kind of shocked about it. But as he didn't show up for the press conference, I knew right then and there, I said, oh yeah, it's over. He's not gonna fight me. So this, what do you think actually happened?

Like there was this thing that was put out that he got sick, do you believe any of that? I can't, you know, if he didn't lie so much, if he didn't go to the media and say all of these things, I may have gave him the benefit of the doubt in the situation, but he lied so many times to where I know him as a liar. So since I know you as a liar, no, I don't believe out of the doubt in this situation, but he lied so many times to where I know him as a liar. So since I know you as a liar,

no, I don't believe that you got sick. I know that the British control pulled him, but they can pull anybody if you act like you're sick or if you act like you're any type of in danger. You know, you're getting ready for a fight. Nobody wanna send a guy in a ring that's sick. Do you think the problem was him or his dad? I think his dad played a part.

I mean, if he talking about somebody poisoned him, it may have been his dad. So he better go check in. Just to get him out of the fight? Yeah, he better go check in with his dad. Yeah, but what about that performance against Farmer? That was impressive, right? That was good. That was good.

Were you expecting that? No, I didn't expect that. I'll give him his credit on that fight. It was good. I felt like Tevin Farmer kind of got too big headed. If you watched him leading up to the fight, I have never saw Tevin Forma talk the way that he was talking leading up to the fight. So I think he kind of got big headed and when he went in there, he kind of treated it like

it was a sparring session. But at the end of the day, these young fighters is hungry too. And you got to also respect them with power skills and they gonna come in and try to win these fights so you got to give them that respect and I don't think Tevin gave him that respect. I have to say a lot has been said about Floyd and his dad I was lucky enough to be in the ring interviewing him afterwards he was very emotional he seems like a great kid that was my first time meeting him I felt bad for him it seemed like he had been through a lot he

said he even considered quitting boxing because of all the hate that he received after the fight weekend sitting with you And I don't know if you saw any of that, but did you feel bad for him at all? Like I said when I'm people lie as much as they do if you're a liar you could be acting too, so okay I'm not I'm not I'm not buying it No, I didn't good job for the performance I mean put on a hell of a performance back at at the end of the day I'm not buying that shit. They did mention you, they mentioned, I believe, who else did they mention? They mentioned a couple of people, but your name did come up.

Are you interested in running this one back? I told people I would still fight him. I even told him when I seen his dad in the elevator when we was in Saudi, and I knew that they was about to pull out. I knew it. I had a feeling- This is before. I knew that they was about to pull out. I knew it. I had a feeling- This is before. I knew that they was going to pull out.

I swear to God. I seen him in the elevator, and I told him, well, one day I'm going to whoop your son's ass. I stand by that. I do want to continue to fight him, but I also feel as though it should be penalties. You can't go slander somebody's name and just say all of these lying things. That's not true at all. You don't got no facts, no proof or nothing and just get away with it.

So I feel like in a contract, it got to be something to where like that can't happen. We got to get rid of that. Did they slander you? Yeah, they slandered me. They said that I sent guys to his house to slash his tires. I stole his passport. I don't even know where these guys live at. So it's kind of crazy. They said that you stole his passport. I don't even know where these guys live at, so it's kind of crazy.

They said that you stole his passport. I remember that whole passport thing. They said I sent somebody to steal his passport. I sent somebody to slash his tires. When he got sick and sorry, I sent somebody to poison him to get sick and sorry. So honestly, I don't appreciate that. Yeah, no.

You don't do business with people like that. I would imagine. Do you think he's on your level? Come on. I mean, you were matched up against him. I mean, no. That's the thing that people don't know too. I made that fight happen.

People didn't want that fight to happen. The higher ups, the people who condo, they like, no, that's a shit fight. This guy's not good. We don't want to see this fight. But I made that fight happen based off of all the shit that he was talking online. So being that he was talking online, all that shit, I wanted to make him fight me. But as far as being on my level, dog, he's a tough kid. It's levels to this shit, though.

It's levels. I'm very high up compared to him. Zepeda's coming off of two hotly contested fights against Farmer, but then you see how Farmer fought against him. You can't really do that sort of math, right? Styles make fights. At the end of the day, because a lot of fans want to say that. They're like, oh well, he got him out of there in one round.

Zepeda went 12. But by they same logic, y'all will be saying that I will destroy a tank, right? Because Lamar Roach went in there and fought with Tank, and it was a back and forth fight. But Jamel Hamren beat Lamar Roach. Now, if we recall, I fought Jamel Hamren, and I annihilated own Jamel Hamren. No disrespect to whom, that's one of my gods, but by their logic, if they go by,

oh, well, he did this to that guy, and he, no, none of that matters when you in front of a certain style. So styles make fights, I don't look at it like, oh, I'm going to crush tape because Lamont did that to him. It's two different styles, so honestly, I don't, even with that situation, I don't look at it that way.

Because it's a pay to make going there with Kid Austin and stop him. So you're no stranger to big fights or big stages platforms, but considering you're entering free agency to a degree and considering all the stuff that's happened over the last couple of years, do you feel more pressure going into this fight? I don't think about the pressure. The pressure is, it is what it is.

It's going to be a bunch of fans there. It's going to be the whole world watching that happens, but at the end of the day, if you trusting your training and what you done in the gym, all that matters is what you do in the ring that night. So it's going to be me and Zapata right there. I'm not worried about nothing that goes on outside of that. So what do you think the turning point for Shakur was? Because I remember those fights, those top ranked fights in New Jersey at the Prudential

Center, you were the man, right? They put you on that Vegas card, that Thursday night card, right? You were one of the showcase guys on ESPN, and now I just feel like I'm a pro wrestling guy too, the word heel, you've kinda become a heel, and you don't really care, but you don't do anything that's heel-like. You don't get in trouble, you don't do things,

but it just feels like, I don't know, maybe the more you interact with people online, the more it comes. I don't know, maybe the more you interact with people online, the more it comes. I don't know what it is. What do you think? I think part of it is the way that I talk on social media. I talk a lot of shit at times. I don't mind saying what's on my mind at the moment, but people charge me to that cool.

But also, I also feel like it's a lot of new fans to where they didn't know who I was. So now they just getting to know me. So most of the time you hear a lot of these new people who just, who never watched me before, but they just started watching me right after the Bud Crawford fight before Earl Smith. And they seen me right there. That's when people started kind of paying attention

to me a little bit more. So for me, I think it's just new fans. And when you get new fans, they don't know the history and know how great you are already. So you just got to get past them. It doesn't weigh on you. It doesn't say like, I'm going to show these guys.

I've been out... I was in the freaking 2016 Olympic games. You know what I mean? Sure. That's a long ass time. For sure. We're approaching 10 years. For sure. That doesn't annoy you?

No, it don't annoy me because at the end of the day, I look at the entire situation. So I'm not looking at what happened over the last year. I'm looking at my entire career and being that item dominated for all this time and I'm still here. I'm still undefeated. It's a lot of guys I came up with that is they got L's on their record. They got knocked out. These guys wish that they still in my position, so it's like for me to still be here lets

me know that I got a lot of longevity. I started my pro career at 19 and I'm still here. So it's interesting because right now the business of boxing has never been better in the sense of like the paydays are gigantic. You've got obviously Turkey involved, Netflix is involved, all these great things. But we've had a couple of cards especially as of late that have sort of fallen flat and you talked about the time square card you were there i have a theory about this and i want i want to know if you if you agree to a

degree but even yesterday they announced this ring four card right and uh... that's in november and bam rodriguez is on there but bam rodriguez has a fight coming up in a week or so and i think that sometimes when they announce these fights before the next one comes a Haney fight well, you know, but also what happens is like hey, I don't want to do anything to to get hurt I don't want to do anything to get knocked out

So let me just almost have like a glorified sparring match and I think that's what the Haney fight was in Times Square because he knew Hey, if I just win this fight, I'll make it to the Ryan fight. Unfortunately, Ryan lost his fight So maybe that whole thing has gone up in smoke now. But I feel like because... Another example, Canelo's skull. Why would Canelo take any type of risk if he knows that there's already a Crawford fight set for September? This is a tricky thing, no? Yeah. I mean, I kind of agree with you because they are looking for the future, but specifically with the Haney fight. And I hate to be... Because I'm a realist. I'm not like no guy that's going to... Just because I don't like you, I'm going to say

something bad about you. But with the Haney fight, I felt as though a lot of people talked a lot of smack about them when they fought Ryan Garcia. And they talked about him standing there and not sitting there and trading and moving and stuff. They wanted him to move and use his boxing skills. When he did that, they talked shit. So then the next time he did it with Jose, remember as he boxed and moved, stayed out of harm's way, they still talked shit.

So it's like for him, it's like a damn if you do, damn if you don't kind of thing. And I feel as though that night, I'm not going to fully blame him because I feel as though Jose Ramirez should have been able to try to bring a little bit more action too. We can't just put all the blame on Demi Haney. It got to be both parts. So with the Canelo score, I think Styles make fights. I think certain Styles you get in front of and that dude just moving the entire time. Canelo don't have the fastest feet, so for him to catch that guy wasn't going to be easy.

I think it's just styles make fights. I don't think people is purposely doing it. I think that it just, sometimes if you match a guy up against the wrong style, that's what you can get. As you know, Floyd made a whole career out of not getting hit, right? Yeah. And he's one of the highest paid boxers of all time, if not the highest. Yes. And so what's the difference between that and what you do? You don't get hit? Because you know Floyd made a whole career out of not getting hit, right? And he's one of the highest paid boxers of all time, if not the highest.

And so what's the difference between that and what you do? You don't get hit? I mean, that's the thing too. A lot of people don't even realize. Actually me and Floyd is similar, but we're a lot different. We're similar in a thinking way, but like our styles are different. But like for me, I feel as though sometimes I'm in that pocket and people not even paying attention to it.

The part that makes them frustrated the most is I'm in the pocket and I'm not getting hit and they don't like it. They want me to get hit. They want to see me take some type of punishment and show some type of adversity. But at the end of the day, if I can make it easy on myself and I don't got to go to the hospital after the fight and I don't have brain damage and talking funny, I'm good with that dog. That's the thing. But we glorify Gotti Ward, right?

Gotti Ward is what the people want. So how do you balance the two? Because you are in the prize fighting business. It's entertainment, it's box office. So how do you balance not wanting to go to the hospital, but also being one of those fan favorites? You gotta just let your hands go. I think that's the main thing.

Letting your hands go and throwing your hands a lot will put on an exciting show, but if that's a sacrifice for defense, I wouldn't do that. Was there a point where you weren't... Like the last couple of top ranked fights, were you not letting your hands go? I think in that Artem fight, I didn't let my hands go enough. It was spots that I let my hands go, but in that Artem fight, I could have let my hands go a little bit more. But it was a tricky style, I guess, in front of me that I had to figure out.

Boxing is boxing. Every night not going to be a Jermell Herron type of night. I just feel as though with fans, they got to be more realistic with us. You got to also understand Jordan don't come in every night and score 40. Some nights he put up low numbers and when he put them low numbers up, the next night he put up 40 and y'all happy again. But it's like we should get the same benefit of the doubt. It's a tough thing because a guy like Tim Duncan, he wasn't the flashiest guy, but he

was a champion. Efficient. Yeah. But in boxing it's different because it's all eyes on you. And you're getting paid and people are buying pay-per-views or whatever and so they want to be very critical and ultimately they'll love you even if you get into like a brawl or get into a war. But you don't want that, right?

The whole point of your training is to not get hit. The thing is I'm not trying to get into a war where it's back and forth. So if we in a war and we in a pocket and I'm the one that's landing the right shots, I'm cool with that. But if we in a pocket and going to war and it's like you hitting me, I'm hitting you, I'm not into that. I'm not trying to get hit all night. And once again, all that, it's backlash that come with it.

And them guys not coming to that house with me. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter, but I'm just wondering, I was surprised you weren't the main event. In fact, I kept calling you the main event and I'm just wondering, I was surprised you weren't the main event. In fact, I kept calling you the main event. Yeah. And then I was like, oh shit, he's not the main event. Yeah, I should have been the main event. I know this-

Why aren't you the main event? I mean, the higher powers, they go behind closed doors and do whatever they- You versus Zepeda is a higher ranked fight with- For sure. Greater stakes than Berlanga, which she has, with all due respect to them- And we also got a better on the line. Yes. Yeah. So WBC,, this is a big deal.

Yeah, for sure. At the end of the day, I don't have no control over it. I focus on my job. Anger, that's my brother. You guys go way back. Yeah, I'm going to go cheer him on right after the fight because that's my brother at the end of the day. But truthfully, yeah, I feel like I should have been the main event, but it didn't happen.

I'm just focused on my job. Are you bothered by this? No, hell no. Hell no. I mean, at first I kind of was, but you got to be able to control the controllables. If it's out of your control, you can't do nothing about it. So at the end of the day, you can hear all the smack that people going to talk and they going downplay you, but you just got to stay strong mentally and be well prepared

to put on the show that night. You and Zepeda have been talking about each other for a bit now, year or so, if not more. Why hasn't it happened before? What took so long? Man, it was more Golden Boy. I'm not going to throw Zepeda under the bus because I know Zepeda is a fighter and he'll fight anybody. Clearly he'll fight me,

because he signed up to fight me. So I think it was Golden Boy. Golden Boy is very smart, and they kind of played it in a strategic way. If you watch Zepeda last five fights, he fought against, I want to say five Southpaws in a row. So they was building him up to get ready for me.

And for them, I kind of commend them for that. Okay. What do you think of Oscar? I think he's good. I don't have no problem with Oscar. Only thing that I'll be having a problem with is when he trip out and posts those videos and he just doing too much. When he's wearing the little-

Yeah, like that ain't it. That ain't it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the predictions. Yeah, but that's crazy. Like, bro, you are trolling. He's also Oscar De La Hoya Olympic gold medalist, one of the greatest fighters of all time. Yeah, yeah.

I'm a fan of his boxing too. I came up watching De La Hoya. So maybe you'll sign with Golden Boy after this. I don't know. Nah, it's not gonna be crazy. You don't know with future hoes. You know what I like about De La Hoya though? He's a left-handed orthodox fighter.

So he's not a really right-handed orthodox fighter. So it's kind of like similar to me, and I kind of like that. Just curious, you see all the stuff going on right now in boxing, like all the drama. Do you think this is good between the promoters? Do you think all this is good, or does it get annoying for you?

You know, I'm just the guy that just like to do my job. Honestly, I think it's good for boxing in a way because they trying to make boxing like WWE. Yeah. And I get it, you know, I only get more fans in tune with it. So it's cool. But like to me, I kind of try to stay in my little lane

and keep doing what I'm doing. WWE, they're coming into the boxing world. Yeah. Your guy, Terrence is a part of their big show. I was thinking like you'd be the perfect guy for them my little lane and keep doing what I'm doing. WWE, they're coming into the boxing world. Your guy, Terrence, is a part of their big show. I was thinking like you'd be the perfect guy for them, for this Zufa boxing, because they're looking for young stars, but maybe not people who are so up there in age, you're still so young.

Have you looked at what they're doing? Have you talked to them? Have there been any sort of feeling out process between them? Nah, we never talked, but at the end of the day, I'm willing to work with any and everybody long as it makes sense. So I'm a businessman. If they want to bring me to the table and pitch me, whatever, I'm down with that. But yeah, for them to come into the business is big because WWE been around for so long

and they know what they're doing. It's WWE and UFC. Dana White involved. What do you think of that? Only thing with Dana, I like Dana. Dana is a great guy. I actually never really got a chance to meet him, but I kind of watch everything he says. So I'm a studier, but the only thing that I say, just pay me.

I'm not trying to get a pay cut. I know these guys are trying to bring the pays back down. I'm not with that. Okay, you're not gonna fight for like 50 and 50. 50 and 50, what you mean? Like that, you know, like a 50K and 50K. No, hell nah, fuck no. You can't bring somebody,

give somebody a certain amount of money and then bring them back down. Of course, of course. You know they have like a show and win model over there. You know what that is? somebody, give somebody a certain amount of money and then bring them back down the line. Of course, of course. You know they have like a show and win model over there. You know what that is? Nah. Like some guys will get like, when I say 50 and 50,

it's like, all right, you'll get 50 to step foot in the cage. And then if you win, you get another 50. But if you lose the fight by knockout, by submission, even if the judge has scored against you, you're only getting half your purse. I disagree with that. Yeah, it's wild, right? Yeah. I disagree with that. Yeah, it's wild, right? Yeah, I disagree with that just because guys, you want guys all to fight these fights where

it's 50-50 fights. If you want them to get in the ring, if you tell them that they're not going to make a certain amount of money if they don't win the fight, they're not going to get in the ring. It's going to create chaos and people not going to fight each other. Do you watch MMA? No, I don't watch it. I actually watch Khabib versus Conor McGregor though. That was it?

Yeah, he's a killer. That was like seven years ago. That's the last fight you watched? Yeah, I don't watch it. Why? Just not interested? Yeah, I'm not interested just because of the fact that they kind of throw elbows, kicks, knees. You're not down with that? Yeah, I ain't with all that.

Terrence is actually a great wrestler. Yeah, he nice. We've never seen his takedown defense. No, I done been in a room with Terrence actually wrestling against real wrestlers. Wow. When I was staying at the OTC, it was a USA wrestling team. One of the guys was, his room was right across my room, and actually him and Bud is actually close.

But I actually watched them wrestle for like 30 minutes straight, and I'm like, yo, Bud is crazy. He knows his stuff. Yeah, he's nice. Did you try? I will, I will, I want to. Okay.

I know wrestling is hard though. Yes, but it's good. It's good for like your hips, foot movement. it's a little bit different than what you guys do But it actually to me when you see how he fights and switches stances so easily It actually makes a lot of sense because an orthodox an orthodox wrestler actually has his front his right foot forward You know like if I'm also he will be a southpaw. Yeah. Yeah, so that's why he's comfortable I think going back and forth because of his wrestling background, I think.

I've never asked him this, but that's my theory. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And also, you see him sometimes in the clinch. You have to pay attention to Bud. He's kind of smart. There's little subtle things he do. I was watching his fight with Earl Spence, and when they got in the clinch, it's like he closed this whole side off and leaned his body all on Earl Spence and when they got in a clinch, it's like he closed this whole side off

and leaned his body all on Earl Spence. I thought that was a hell of a move because Earl Spence didn't have no punch to throw. Yes. It was a defensive move. I know he's your guy, but him jumping up to 168, how do you think he does? I think if anybody could do it, it's Bud Crawford.

You like his chances? I've been watching this dude for years. I think he's a superhero. Yes. He's not a human being. I think he wins. I'm actually going on the record. I think he wins.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I said, I think he can outbox Canelo, fight the smart fight, fight the perfect fight for him to win. So I can't wait to watch it. Do you think there's any chance you're on there? I don't know. I don't think so. Too soon? Yeah, because's any chance you're on there? I don't know. I don't think so.

Too soon? Yeah, because July, yeah, nah. Two months? Yeah, it's definitely not. That's too quick of a turnaround? Those are the old days when you would come back like you most likely would. I would, but I'll be having a lot of hand problems,

so I gotta get my hands timed. How is your hand? Because I know you broke it around October or so, or maybe September. You were supposed to be on that October card. What was it, September? It might have been September. Okay, and how is it now? It's good, that October card. What was it? September, it might've been September. Okay.

And how is it now? It's good, I'm ready. How was it after the- Surgery? Well, surgery and then the padley fight, like when you got to actually use it in a fight, how was it in the aftermath? No, it's crazy.

In a padley fight, it was my opposite hand that was kinda hurting. Oh wow. It wasn't even the hand, well, the other one, it was swollen. But the hand that wasn't swollen was the one that was hurting the most. But my hands is good.

I gotta live with that. I gotta get them stronger and stronger every day and just put a lot of energy and time into them. These are some of the highlights from the Padley fight. Did you feel like you had to stop him because he took it on short notice? I knew I had to stop him just because I felt like he wasn't on my level.

And that is no disrespect to Padley because I felt like he's a good fighter and he's a lot better than people give him credit for. But I felt like I had to stop him because of the fact that it was levels. You're kind of cool after, right? I think you trained with him, right? Nah, I never trained with him, but I would love to. I actually watched his last fight. You could tell that he's a smart fighter.

He kind of got a lot better since our fight. You think so? Yeah, he was picking up on some things. I watched him go to that body real good and he stopped the guy with some body shots, actually. I love it. By the way, another thing that I loved, I just have to say, you did this interview with The Ring. Yo, I couldn't tell if it was like a comedy skit or like, you know, like it was-

Very serious. It was very serious. Very serious. No jokes, no- It was kind of mesmerizing. It was you and my cop and Jer. Yeah, I don't like that guy Well, he's kind of become like he's kind of become like the mouthpiece for the ring now Yeah, I don't know why they use them. They need to get rid of him. He sucks. He's bad. This is for real He's bad at commentating. He doesn't have a likable personality. I just think he's terrible. So why'd you do the interview? Because I try to be like, I'm not going to be no person that says no to things.

I'm not going to just say, no, I'm not doing the interview because I don't like you. At the end of the day, we're doing a job and this is a business. So I did the interview and I did it in a way that I like. It was very entertaining, but I actually couldn't tell if you were messing with us, the audience, and you guys were in it together. I was serious. Everything that I said was serious. That's how I felt at that moment.

Wow. And what happened, the funniest thing was that he's doing the intro and then you interrupt him and you're like, this is the third time that he's had to do it. Yeah. Because he did it three times. I'm like, man is the third time that he's had to do it. Because he did it like three times. I'm like, man, I thought you was supposed to be on your game. You've been doing this for years and years, but also he probably knew to that lane. So yeah.

What was it like when it was over? I didn't say nothing to him. I kept it moving. You just walked away. Yeah, went my ways. Have you seen him since? I seen him yesterday. And how was that?

Man, I'm kind of like a troll, so I kind of was messing with him. You did another interview? Nah, we didn't do an interview. He kind of came and got me for that meeting that we did. And we was in that elevator and I remember telling him like, because he was trying to tell me to get off the elevator first. I'm like, nah, pussies go first. And he's like, oh man, you're childish. Come on, grow up. And I'm like, nah. pussies go first. He's like, oh man, you're childish.

Come on, grow up. What do you mean he's getting you for the meeting? Is he like... because he's a journalist, right? I have no clue what his title is, so I can't tell you. So he's the one bringing you to the meeting? Yeah, he brought me to it. Wow. Him of all people. I feel like Turkey's trying to put you guys together to- That's what I was thinking. I'm like, yeah.

Of all the people to get you. Why would y'all send this guy to come together to- That's what I was thinking. I'm like, yeah. Of all the people to get you. Why was y'all sending this guy to come get me? That's what I was thinking. I'm like, maybe he sent him for- Is he in the meeting? Yeah. Or does he leave?

Yeah, he was there. Does he chime in? He wanted to. I seen him over there kind of like, when they was saying certain things, he kind of wanted to- Say, but did he? No, he didn't. He was just like getting shifty.

He had a smile on his face. You know those smirks to where they like- Sure, sure. They want to say something really bad, but they like, they don't say it, so that's what he had going on. Do you feel like you've been covered fairly by the media, by the boxing media? Sometimes. It depends on the platform.

If the platform is not like a biased platform, Nine times out of ten is going to be fair. It's going to be some backlash, but it's also going to be some good too. And then you got certain platforms that's kind of biased. Sure. I feel like there's less and less non-biased platforms in boxing. Oh my God. There's so many biased platforms in boxing. Boxing is one of the worst things,

like far as like for up and coming fighters, just because they love you when you at a certain level, but as you get bigger, they start to hate you. The media or the fans you're talking about? The media. The media. Yes, the fans. You feel like the media hates you.

Yes. Really? Media hates you? Yes. Really? Media hates me for sure. Why do you think that? I feel as though these people is like, I can't even say it, it is what it is. Tell us, tell us, what do you think it is? I feel like they like certain fighters

and if they like certain fighters, they're gonna stick with that fighter. And it's fuck everybody else. They don't like this guy because this guy is in that fighter's weight class. And they can't be that way because at the end of the day, if you media, you can't be biased. You gotta have a platform that's like for everybody.

It can't just be, oh, I like this guy. So that mean I'm enemies with this guy. I say it all the time. Who are the untouchables? Who are the ones that you feel like they never criticize? I give some people untouchables that they never criticize. They used to criticize Tank. If you really go back in the day, they used to criticize him all the time.

Now they flip the switch to where it's like anything he do, he can't do no wrong. Really? You don't think he got heat after the Roach fight? Yes. I think he got a little bit of heat, but I think it was just the haters coming back out. But if you remember before the fight, he was just this untouchable, invincible guy. He was saying some crazy things before that fight about like, there was a video of a kid going up to him being like, hey, I want to be a boxer.

He said, don't go into boxing, go into soccer, saying that he was going to retire and all this stuff. I understand him. You understand him? Yeah, I understand him. You know, boxing is a dangerous sport. So that's probably what he was thinking at the moment when the kids say he wanted to be a boxer.

You got to realize we going in there putting our life on the line every night out. So I understand him. Do you think he retires at the end of the year? Maybe. Maybe. Who knows? I don't know. How does he retire without you guys fighting?

I mean, we've been hearing about this fight for freaking 10 years now. I don't get that. That's the one thing that I don't get just based off the fact that he said it in several different interviews that I was on his list and what he was gonna do to me. I don't got power, I'm not that good. All these different things to where he said that, if you really felt that way, then we should get in a ring and fight.

Sure, yeah, because it would be a gigantic fight. Yeah, for sure. With all due respect to Lamont Roach, the second fight, which by the way, I heard, is the second fight even happening? I'm not sure, you gotta ask them. I don't know, because they haven't officially announced it yet. And there to ask them. I don't know, because they haven't officially announced it yet.

And there was some stuff that I don't know if it was signed. It was supposed to be August 16th, I think, is the date. Maybe he'll fight Jake Paul instead. What do you think of that? I think that's terrible. Why? I mean, I get it, because at the end of the day, it's the money business saying, you want to make the most money, but from what I'm hearing, he can make more money in a fight with me.

If that's the case, why not fight me? Sure. Do you think he beats Jake Paul? Do I think he beats Jake Paul? Yeah. Yeah. I mean- There's a huge size advantage though.

It is, but I think Tank got the skills to make sure he come out on top. Do you think that Jake has gotten better? Yeah. I think actually Jake got tremendously better from the timeframe that he started till now. And in the right situation, I also could see him become a world champion. Really? Yeah.

He's now ranked 14th in the WBA. And a lot of people- Who got the WBA? That would be, so Badou Jack has the WBC, I believe it would be Zerto. No? I mean, that would be crazy. I mean, I'm not the biggest Zerto fan. But I mean, that's a big jump.

Yeah, it is. I mean, Zerto been boxing for a long time, but- The three champs are Zerto, Jaya Pataya, and Badu Jack. I think Badu is probably the most realistic fight for him at this point given his age, right? I don't think that's the best fight, though. I think Zerto is a better fight for him than Badu Jack. For Jake?

Yeah. You weren't impressed with his last fight? I wasn't impressed with his last fight, and I just know Bottle Jack, even though he's old, he got a lot of experience, and he knows how to win. Yeah. Do you think he should be ranked, though? Are you okay with him being ranked at this point, 14th? I mean, you selling out all these arenas,

you bringing a lot out. But it's more about who you fought, right? Yeah, technically you're right. It is about who you fought, and no, in that instance, but you know how this goes. It's about who got the most money and power, controls the sport. So at the end of the day, I see why he's there. Back to Tank for a sec, do you think he beats Roach in the rematch? No, I actually like Lamont Roach in the rematch.

Serious? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Why? I think Lamont Roach. Serious? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Why? I think Lamont Roach is a hell of a fighter. I think he don't get enough credit. A lot of people don't realize how good he is, and if you really pay attention to the fight and watch the fight, you can see how skillful he is in the pocket, his defense

was on point. I think he a bad motherfucker. Really? Yeah, I think- I think he stops him. I don't think he stops him, but I think it'll go to the distance, and I think he a bad motherfucker. Really? I think he stops him. I don't think he stops him, but I think it'll go to the distance and I think it'll be a hell of a fight on both parts, but I like Lamar Roach. If Tank loses, does that increase the chances of you guys fighting?

Or then are you no longer interested? I mean, I would probably be more interested in fighting Lamar Roach just because of the challenge at that time, if that does happen that way. But also, we got to run it. It's a fate that got to happen. Everybody been calling for it. He done said it several times, so let's make the fate happen.

What about Keyshawn Davis? What happened to him? That's my little brother. What happened there? I think people go through things. People go through certain things and I feel like I'm with him regardless. So a lot of people could down him, talk bad about him.

I don't watch Kishon grow up from right here to here. And it's like watching the flower grow. You got nothing but respect for him. So people make mistakes. I don't look at him no type of way for it. You never fight him? Never, no. No.

Is he doing okay? Because that was a tough weekend for him. When I talked to him, he was okay. He was all right? Yeah. Okay, because the weight and then the thing that happened on fight night with his brother. It was tough. Yeah, like I mean, it's tough.

It comes with the territory. Keyshawn is a mentally tough individual. So right now he probably is going through a little something, but in the future he's going to be good. I think once he get his feet wet at 140 pounds, then when the belt, everybody will forget about it. I'll just ask you a couple more and then let you go, but I love your take on things. Abdulah Mason just got another fight.

What do you think of him? Just as a fighter, as a prospect? I think Abdul Abdullah the Truth. I think Abdullah Mason is the truth on speed, power, size, long arms. It's very interesting to see his future and where it goes in 135 division, but it's still me there and I'm definitely ready for whatever challenge comes my way. Could you be open to him? Yes.

He has to get by Sam Noakes though. Yeah, he just got to do a little bit more, but he's right there. You know he's a young, undefeated contender now. He's not a prospect no more. So he's right there and nothing but respect to him. Abdullah Kishan, who wins that? You know I'm rocking with Kishan. I'm rocking with Khawn versus anybody.

That's my brother, but I got nothing but respect for Abdullah. Abdullah is a hell of a fighter. What about Brian Norman against Devin Haney? What a fight. That's a hell of a fight. That's a tremendous fight. I'm about to tell y'all my take on it. Okay, tell us, tell us.

Everybody going to think I'm crazy. I like Devin. You like Devin? I like Devin. I don't think you're that crazy. Everybody think I'm crazy when I say it. Really? Well, Norman's coming off an incredible knockout. He's looked great. Yeah. Why do you like Devin? I like Devin. I don't think you're that crazy. Everybody think I'm crazy when I say it. Really? Well, Norm is coming off an incredible knockout.

He's looked great. Yeah. Why do you like Haney? I think Brian Norman is a hell of a fighter, hell of a fighter. But I think if Devin fight the way that he fought his last fight, and a lot of people may have criticized him, but if he do that, I think Brian Norman lose. Really? Yeah.

Just because he'll out box him, he'll outsmart him? He'll be able to hit him. Right. Yup. That's a big fight for Devin. I feel like he needs this one. Yeah, he do. He kind of...

I mean, they've kind of turned on him a little bit too. Yeah, it's like same situation with me. But your situation's different. You didn't lose. I know. You know? That's the difference. I know that is the difference, but the public and the people kind of turned against them.

That's a wild thing, man. To me, you're always like the golden boy. Everyone loved you. You had a nice smile. New Jersey always repped you. You know what I mean? Everyone would come out for your fights. It was always a big deal.

You're on ESPN. Yup. And then all of a sudden. It just takes one moment of... Do you have regrets? Do I have regrets? Do I have regrets? No, because you've got to realize life is about lessons and learning. That's like saying, okay, when I fought that fight against Edwin De La Sentos, because

that's when the turning point happened. I fought with one hand. I could have pulled out that fight. If I had pulled out that fight, the public had pulled out that fight the public probably would have never turned against me they would have been like okay he just hurt his hand and everything is good but that happened and that was the reason why it happened so now I learned from it like I learned so much I learned and see who was with me who was against me on the fake people that was around they kind of

cleared out and got away. So, truthfully, I feel like it was a learning experience and I think it made me stronger. I thought that they should have put this fight in New Jersey. Me too. I think the Prudential would have been perfect for it. They would have loved it.

Yes. They would have ate this right up. What do you think about it being in the tennis stadium? I mean, it's cool. It's cool because it's a new arena that nobody has ever for that. So for me, it's like I'm putting my name on the history books. You're going to go to the card on Friday? What card?

MSG. Katie and Amanda. Oh, I want to, but I'm not. You're going to be locked in. Yeah. Will you watch it? Yeah, for sure. Do you like the fact that it's back to back in the same city essentially?

Like you guys are kind of competing for attention in the same city It's kind of right trying to compete with them. That's women's boxing. You got to respect women's boxing course I'm not into competing against them. I'm with them and I love what they're doing for the sport I love that they got that big fight going on. I'm a fan of actually both of them. They're incredible. Two legends. By the way, what's your take on the... So Amanda's team says that Katie is dirty because she fights with her head forward, and that sometimes happens at Orthodox Southpaw. You know this, right? Based on what you saw in the second fight, do you think she's doing it intentionally?

It's not an intentional thing. You got to realize, Amanda is a come forward and straightforward fighter. So they're going to clash, and I'm not going to blame just Katie for it. You gotta realize, Amanda is a come forward and straight forward fighter. They're going to clash, and I'm not going to blame just Katie for it. You gotta realize that somebody's charging at you, and Katie's kind of moving in and out. It's going to be times where they clash and they bump heads or whatever. Even with a South Portland orthodox, you gotta know that that's one of the main things that

happens. At the end of the day, I don't blame Katie. Katie boxing in her fight, Tella keep boxing in the same fight she's been boxing, and Amanda pick it up. I think Amanda need to pick it up. She need to start early if she's going to win that fight. Top three pound for pound in your opinion right now? Top three pound for pound, I'll go with Bud Crawford.

I like Bavaw. Number two. You love Bavaw. I see you tweeting about him and stuff. I like Bavaw. Really? I don't think people give him credit. He's two of the biggest names in boxing and dominated... I ain't going to say dominated,

but he dominated both of them fights to me. But I like before. Third, I'm going to go with Usyk and I know he can't really be a pound for pound. Why not? Because he's heavyweight? Yeah, he's heavyweight. Maybe he was cruiserweight undisputed. Yeah, yeah, you're right.

Usyk, I like Usyk. Not Inouye. A lot of people have Inouye up there. I just think with Inouye, he had that one fight with Cool Boy Steph, and he did good that fight. He looked good. But then after that fight, I just felt like they crucified me for fighting no-name fighters and people that people don't know.

I felt like he done the same thing. There aren't that many big names down there though. Yeah, that's true. That's true. So maybe that's the reason why, but I think that, what's that guy? Junto Nakatani. That's the fight that needs to be made. That's the fight in Japan that would be gigantic.

Yeah, he beat that guy. Oh yeah, I'm definitely putting him in the top. Where are you in the rankings right now? I'll take any spot. Give me 10, 9, 8. Are you 4? Put yourself up there, no? No, I ain't gonna put myself up there.

Yeah, I want to beat some big names and just like Saturday is gonna be a very telling moment for me, so. So Zepeda on Saturday, one more at the end of the year? Is that the plan? Or you think you're done for this year? It depends. It depends on whatever I want. We gotta see how my hands hold up against Zepeda and then after that fight, we'll see

if I'm ready to go at the end of the year or go next year. Who would be the one that makes most sense for you? There's only one name. Y'all know the name. It's Tank. It's me and Tank. That's the fight.

I've been calling for the name for- That's the one. You have to sign with PBC to make this happen? What do we have to do to make this happen? Whatever I got to do to make the fight happen- You're going to chase him now. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make the fight. So if that's what they want, let me know.

Love it. You're the man, Shakur. Keep doing your thing. Honestly, it's great to see you flourish into the personality that you've become. And I say, fuck the haters, man. Do your thing. At the end of the day, yeah, there it is.

At the end of the day, you have to go home. The whole point is to hit and not get hit. And if they can't appreciate that, then go watch someone else. If they can't do nothing to stop it, I'm going to just keep winning. And the other thing is, don't let them change your style. I don't like this thing where I feel like you're being pressured to change your style.

I mean, I'll try my best. And guess what happens? They pressure you to change your style, you get hurt, and then they're on to the next. Agreed. I agree with that, but also, a guy like Zepeda is going to make you fight. Sure. And when he make you fight. Sure. And when he makes you fight, you gotta be fully prepared. So I think he's gonna run into something that he don't like.

Damn. That's a good way to end it. It's July 12th. Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, exclusively on Dazon. In my opinion, the people's main event. Shakur Stevenson against William Zepeda. There's the poster right there. Hamza Shiraz going up against Edgar Berlanga. A bunch of big names. David Morrell is on there.

Subriel, Matias and many others. A tremendous 24 hours in New York City. There's the guy, Shakur. Thank you so much. We'll take a quick break. Say goodbye to him and be back to wrap up the show. Don't go anywhere. Yo, what a day. What a birthday it has been for me. Big 43, three in studio guests today. Who doesn't like us? Arr. Hey Frank, who doesn't like us? Arr. Who doesn't, huh Frank?

Tell me, tell me. No one, no one doesn't like us. It's hot in here, I gotta tell you. I might have to reconsider. My palms are very sweaty. I hope they, you know what I love about shaking boxers' hands? They don't actually shake your hand it's always like this it's like you know cuz them's the moneymakers Frank who doesn't like us tell Frank who does

it like us who doesn't like the mailman that I saw earlier today wasn't a delivers wait what do you mean I don't know who who shook your hand like that Shakur Shakur did yeah and then he goes like she could as well or no who's she ka shernika oh sure Nika yes yes she ka shernika I think everybody happens to hear the nickname by the way between shernika Shakur and Shiraz last week it's a lot of sh in boxing sounds well the reason I brought that up is because we have super chats we do okay but also Leo our writer here came and told me about his handshake with Shakur and then that was the first thing you mentioned too I thought that was oh yeah you can't go

super chat. Slito comes in earlier with pizza give Marilyn Monroe happy birthday dance thank you I thought it was just pizza I said I said it's it's it's 499 it's 499 and we just want to take a moment to thank all our super chatters we appreciate every single you know whatever you can afford is good with us thank you it's actually 498 498 speaking of free ones Ginkgo Saurus says Hbd, Ariel thinks for all you do for MMA and us Can we throw in combat sports as well who can transition? From MMA to boxing to pro wrestling like me and throw in some kickboxing with our guy Rico who could do it no one

Oh, by the way, jujitsu. Sorry. Sorry What else Frank Tony Goodallis sends in $10 to the best of the business thank you thank you the joy and the content you give us that fills so many of our days is the true gift I really appreciate all you guys thank you all you and the boys do best crew ever thank

you this reminds me of a beautiful text I received this morning at 7 48 a.m. Eastern time. Do you mind if I read it, Frank? Yeah, happy birthday, man. This is honestly guys, no cap. One of the nicest texts I've ever received. Any music?

I don't have any music. Here's to wishing you the happiest birthday, man. You bring a light to this world that allows us all to see more clearly and I personally don't know if I've ever smiled and laughed As frequently as I have since I've met you Thank you Wow, what was your response to that? I wrote back chat GBT question mark At least I mean I did I honestly I didn't But at least it elicits a smile. I mean, honestly, I didn't realize that I had such a profound impact on your life, and

I didn't realize you had this type of vocabulary, these types of words associated to me, these types of emotions. Just keep these feelings in mind in our next review. Let me just, we don't do reviews around here. I'm going to pull up Jordan's text real quick. Let me tell you something. I don't often agree with Eric, but you know, I know I'm gonna see you. Isn't it nicer to say it?

Oh, yes. Birthday in person on the air so the world can hear me say it. Now, speaking of Eric, let me pull up Eric's right here. Oh, Eric. Yeah, he's not here, so he can't actually wish you a happy birthday. GC's was great. I mean, GC's was so heartfelt, I can't even read it because I don't want to put him on blast.

But he was first, 7.16 a.m. Andy's was great. And he shortened to the point, but it was great. It was great. I felt it, I felt the love. What else? Nicholas, sends in 9.99, met James Storm last weekend at a local wrestling show.

Cool guy, wasn't familiar with this game as Storm last weekend at a local wrestling show. Cool guy. Wasn't familiar with this game as I'm new to wrestling. Do you have any matches I should check out of his? HBD to the Uncrowned King. Thank you so much. He had, and by the way, it just occurred to me, did they get me a crown because of Uncrowned? Look at that, you're putting everything together. Holy shit.

The Uncrowned King has a nice little, you know what it kind of reminds me of this crown? Notorious B.I.G. The Derek Lewis thing right over there. You know the one right over here? It's kind of covered by it. You know the one, right? I covered it with my John Jones thing. Two of my favorite people in the business.

Yeah, whoop. Whoop, that one. There it is. There it is. Anyway, shout out to McFarland Toys. Oh, this isn't John Jones, this is Israel Adesanya. James Storm had a great feud with Bobby Roode back in the early TNA days.

So yeah, go check out those. Those were great. Those were in the formative years. And I can tell you that the president, the relatively new president of TNA and the former president, I do believe his title was president of World series of fighting slash PFL in the very early days. Carlos Silva will join us in studio tomorrow

So I'm looking forward to that Frank Smith the is Frank Smith the CEO or the CEO of matchroom boxing Frank Smith Matchroom you gotta love the in studio chats. They're just a little bit different. What is he a CEO? He'll also join us in studio. So stay tuned a little bit different. What is he? A CEO! He'll also join us in studio, so stay tuned for all of that. What else, Frank? What else? Mason Bickner, since 1999, wanted to chip in and say thank you to the entire crew for being a part of my life for the last three years.

Today is my 21st birthday, and that said, I was curious what advice you all would give to me, if not your younger selves. Wow, Mason is born on the same day as me that's incredible we're kindred spirits thank you thank you and this is for Mason of course. Does this light up? Oh it does light up. Did you have something nice for Mason? Yes Mason 21 is a great age you have the world at your fingertips and the palm of your hands. You're gonna crush it. Sorry, that makes more sense.

P.T. gave it to me all tangled up. Mason, what I would say is, a lot of people when you're in your early 20s, like you're very impatient and you think that things have to happen today, things have to happen right away. Like I need to get that job or I need to get this opportunity, I need to do this that it's

a long game my friend and I'm not saying to sit back and just chill on a hammock and just kind of like drink your your 20s away but enjoy life. Don't sweat the small stuff. That's a big thing that I've tried to learn over the years. Have a goal and and shoot for it. To me, every time I meet a younger person, the first question I ask them is, what's the dream? What is the dream? Is the dream to run a coffee shop in Thailand? Go for it. Is the dream to be a surf instructor in Hawaii? Go for it. Is the dream to be the GM of the New York Knicks? Go for it. Is the dream to be a world championship boxer?

Go for it. And along the way, the dream may change, the journey may change, but you'll meet incredible people and you will change and you will evolve and you will mature. But I say you'll live one life, you don't wanna have any regrets, whether you're 21, 13, 14, 43, 53, 73, you wanna look back and say, I did it, I went for it,

I'm proud of myself. And I could smile at the end because at some point the music is going to stop for all of us. That's inevitable. That's the only inevitability. The music is going to stop. You get to decide how you react to things. You get to decide when to zig, when to zag, when to hold them, when to fold them.

You get to decide when to go for it. You get to decide what to shoot for the stars and land among the moon. Moon, stars, you get the point. Go for it. Enjoy life. Be happy. Don't sweat the small stuff. Surround yourself with people who love and support you as well. And yeah, remember, as a wise man named Frank Lenz once said, YOLO. YOLO.

That reminds me, it's important for all of us to be appreciative, it's important for all of us to be grateful. There's a lot of heartbreaking things happening around the world these days. And so while we do celebrate life, while we do celebrate everything, I wish other people's pain, I wish other people's heartache, heartbreak subsides. I feel very lucky, I feel very grateful, I think we all do on this team, but there's a lot of dark and darkness and sadness right now. And yeah, we just hope, most importantly, that all that comes to an end. To me without our health we have nothing. All the all the presence, all the opportunities, all the accolades, all the money, all the possessions in the world mean nothing if you don't have your health. So ultimately I just want to say to the man up above, thank you for our health, our collective health, thank you

for the opportunities, thank you for the chance to come to work every day and work for all of you and Long may continue What else Frank? What else feels like a good way to end the show, but if that's one of the John fury 316 Ariel has a Knicks as an X fan. Yes. What's your thoughts on a potential LeBron trade to the Knicks? I would prefer a buyout and we could sign him. I don't even know if that's truly possible. You know there's been some talk of Kat for LeBron. F that. Kat's my guy. Kat's gonna be around a lot longer. Kat's in his early

30s. LeBron, I mean, what does he have? One year max left. If not two maybe? It defies logic that he's still doing what he's doing, to be honest. And so I would like for the Knicks to be smart, to be be prudent we just welcome Mike Brown to the mix Gershon Yabu Selle who I'm very excited about Jordan Clarkson of course the Knicks are a better team today than they were in late May there's no doubt about that the core is coming back curious to see what they do with Mikael Bridges of course but as long as we have number 11 I feel good about our chances let's be honest the East is weaker than they were this time last year. Okay so he's insane they've got this guy Topic coming over he's unbelievable but anyway I don't want to see them

blow things up for a one year maybe one year max maybe to Lebron like it's just not worth it that time by the way 15 years ago was the was the the decision July 8th 2010 I remember I was on vacation childless just my wife and I and I was watching and I was like it's gonna happen on my birthday it's going to happen LeBron's gonna sign with the Knicks and of course he did not sign with the Knicks. He took his talents to South Beach. We're past that point. So I'm not holding my breath. Would it be cool? Sure. But I'm not trying to trade anyone for him. Anything else, Frank?

That's it. Ariel and Ade program at five o'clock, Ade in studio, Dazon YouTube, Dazon platform. They've got the club world cup semis going on right now. Let's see, let's see what the score is. Froumenench against Chelsea up, 1-0 at half time. Jal Pedro at the 18 minute mark scoring a goal.

Tomorrow's a massive one by the way. Tomorrow's PSG against Real Madrid. Crazy. Here, like literally across the river. Yeah, that'd be cool to go to. I think I'm going to go to the Premier League showcase. The exhibition match is July 26 at MetLife. Bournemouth, Man United. No, Man United West Ham, Bournemouth against Everton.

Rather see the Man United West Ham match, if I'm being honest. Anyway, we have a lot to talk about. Frank is asking me my year for doing OTN. I'm still not sure about that tomorrow, because tomorrow we have three in-studio guests, and we have Pizzi, and then I got to go to the press conference.

It's a very busy week for me here. It's sort of like, I told my wife and daughter, it's like I'm sort of away, but I'm not away. Because tomorrow we have the press conference, then Thursday we have the weigh-ins, at the theater, live on Netflix, and then Friday night on Friday. I mean, how lucky am I? My 43rd birthday, I'm getting to work at my very first event at Madison Square Garden. I've covered events there, but never like in the ring. Are you kidding me? God bless America. God bless this life. Thank you, Craig Jones. Thank you, Shrinika Johnson.

Thank you, Shakur Stevenson. Thanks to you. Thanks to them. Back on Wednesday.