The Ariel Helwani Show - Jack Della Maddalena & Bill Haney in studio, Vitor Belfort, Mike Malott, Jasmine Jasudavicius, Ariel blasts Jon Jones

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

Ariel Helwani kicks off a loaded show with Bill Haney, father and coach of boxing champion Devin Haney, who joins Ariel in studio and defends his son’s victory in Time Square over Jose Ramirez, slams Ryan Garcia for his loss and excuses, and talks Benn-Eubank Jr., the negative press after Devin's fight, the state of Devin’s rematch against Garcia, the PED problem in boxing, his feud with Oscar De La Hoya, and more (03:35).Vitor Belfort calls in after his UFC Hall of Fame announcement to discuss his part in building up MMA as a mainstream sport, moving from Brazil to pursue his dream, meeting Muhammad Ali, his ambitions for the future of combat sports, what should be next for Jon Jones, and more (48:16).Jasmine Jasudavicius returns on a win-streak after her submission of former champion Jessica Andrade at UFC 315 and talks fighting in Montréal, receiving her black belt, her path to the title shot, Niagara Top Team’s success, and more (1:10:52).Jack Della Maddalena, newly crowned UFC welterweight champion, joins Ariel in the studio to discuss his Fight of the Year candidate against Belal Muhamad, life since winning the title, his coach’s viral advice, transitioning from rugby to MMA, coming back from his brutal injury, a superfight against Islam Makhachev and other matchups, Volkanovski’s championship return, plus answers some Perth-related questions (1:27:20).Mike Malott rounds things off after his second-round KO of Charles Radtke at UFC 315 and gets into his conflicting emotions after his win, the trash talk before the fight, what he’s learned since his loss to Neil Magny, the state of Canadian MMA, Jasmine’s success, his brother Jeff’s NHL career, and more (2:23:01).Ariel answers some Super Chats and reacts to Jon Jones’ recent comments to end the show (2:48:53).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Err-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- team 2000. And 25 hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. We certainly are around these parts. Big win last night. Listen humble and hungry humble and hungry. It's it's hard to celebrate after witnessing the injury. We still don't know the status of one adjacent Tatum but you don't want to revel on something like that. I truly feel awful about it but you know them's the breaks last season the Knicks were decimated and flame down in the second round here we are up 3-1 humble and hungry humble and hungry let's see how it all plays out I know you're very interested in my thoughts on it all but we have no time to waste my friends because we have a super duper stacked

show on this Tuesday afternoon you know we like to play two on Tuesdays. You know, we have the Dazone show coming up. We have two guests on that show. That'll be at 5 PM Eastern over on the Dazone boxing channel. But today, right here and now on this year program, we got a lot to discuss. And oh, by the way, in addition to everything going on today and in addition to the great guests

that we have on the program, we are being told that a big announcement is coming from one day and away. Perhaps it will be during our show, guests that we have on the program, we are being told that a big announcement is coming from one day in a while. Perhaps it will be during our show, perhaps after, stay tuned. Now, as far as today's program, the big story, of course,

is that the brand spanking new, reigning, defending UFC welterweight champion, the pride of Perth himself, Giacomo, aka Don Giacomo, aka aka JDM aka Jack Della. He'll be joining us in studio, in studio right over there at 2 30. Can't wait for that. This is going to be a special treat. So stay tuned for that. Following that interview, Mike Mulad who had a massive win over Charles Radke on Saturday in Montreal, the Bell Center, emotional stuff, he will stop by. Prior to the Jack Della interview, it all kind of starts right there, prior to that interview,

we'll be joined by Jasmine! Yes, Mike's teammate over at Niagara top team, she had a phenomenal win over Jessica Andrade, submitted her via RNC and in addition to that got her black belt. How about that? Jasmine climbing up the ranks now in the top 10 in the UFC's official rankings and prior to that we're gonna be joined by Vitor Belfort the Phenom who we found out on Saturday is being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in June, a couple days before UFC 317 in Las Vegas, long overdue and quite frankly, I was a little surprised that he wasn't in there yet.

I thought he was already there. And so it is a jam-packed show. There is a lot going on. There's a lot to discuss with a lot of people. We love Tuesdays and there's no time to waste. We'll keep an eye on the news as far as Dana White's big announcement is concerned, but as you can see right over there, Jack Della in studio, Mike Malott

joining us, Vitor Belfort joining us, Jasmine Jasdivisius joining us as well, but we shall kick things off once I get the word, all right, in a matter of seconds with Bill Haney in studio, the father of one Devin Haney, an eccentric character in the world of boxing, the CEO of Devin Haney Promotions. Obviously the last time we saw his son Devin Haney compete was just a couple of weeks ago right here in New York City, not too far from where we're sitting right now

in Times Square, the Fatal Fury event had a big win over Jose Ramirez, a lot to get into with Mr. Bill Haney. He's going to join us in studio right here, right now. Let us say hello to the inimitable, the often imitated, never duplicated, the one and only Mr. Bill Haney. Hello, sir. How are you? Hello, how are you? How are you? It's nice to have you in the studio. Thank you. Everything good? Thank you. Salam alaikum, my brother. Wa alaikum salam, brother. Thank you. Have a seat. Have Haney. Hello, sir. How are you? Hello, how are you? It's nice to have you in the studio. Good, thank you.

Everything good? Thank you. Salam alaikum, my brother. Wa alaikum salam, brother. Thank you. Have a seat. Thank you. Oh my God. Now you're in New York.

Now you made it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you live in New York now? I do. Well, when did that happen? Well, we've been making a transition. Okay. What a wonderful city New York is.

Yes. But I'm officially here the fight as after the fight everyone left and I'm still here in New York. You're a West Coast guy. Yes, I'm here but I'm here on the East Coast. If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. Why the move? Any particular reason? Well, my daughter is in school here. Okay. You know, it's just a wonderful opportunity, wonderful city where the Haney's have no excuses because you can be anything. Yes. And New York city. I love it. I love Devin not living here though. Right. Devin has a place in, in, in Florida. Okay.

Um, and also he has a place, um, in, in California and Nevada. So, and I saw Sean, your son yesterday, second sparring session. Wow. You're on top. How about that? How about that? What tested all of the parent to partner? Patients that I have because we were in tennis for quite some time. Oh really? Yeah He's making a transition. He's been around the sport forever And he's a natural at it, you know know he's had a gift to be able to work on footwork on the footwork and tennis that transcends into boxing and any good tennis coach loves boxing and any good boxing coach loves tennis as well.

Was that always the plan or did he say one day yo I want to make the move? No not at all not at all it wasn't it't my plan. It ultimately comes down to what I believe in my kids. They're going to go longer, harder, stronger and faster about their dream and not mine. It's a passion that he's developed. And I'm just here as a parent, you know, supporting him. But it was nothing that I encouraged. Okay. Do you want him to go into boxing? Like, you know, you know what your son has to deal with. You know how dangerous the game can be. Would you prefer if your other children don't follow that path you know like I said you know the more wisdom I get as I get

older you know I just get more open to what they really want to do and I know that they're gonna they're gonna be great they're gonna be happy you have one life to live and may they live it and something that they're happy at doing you know what I mean and through through that, you know, a success. Okay, so let's talk about just a couple weeks ago, Times Square, now that it has come and gone, first I wanna ask you about just like the whole show, because you know, Ryan afterwards said

he felt it was a little hollow, he felt like it sort of felt like a sparring match, if you will, you weren't in the ring, but you took it all in, you were right there. We can't 100% trust anything that Ryan Garcia says. You know what I mean? Here on the Ariel Helwani show, let's introduce combat to reality through Bill Haney's lens. You have a wonderful opportunity in the mecca of media to put on an event,

to showcase what we do in this sport. But you have no opportunity to lie and not tell the truth. Whether you're in the octagon or whether you're in the squared circle, there's nowhere to run or nowhere to hide. Can we make that, can we let, you know what I mean? Yeah. Right. And either you're prepared or you aren't prepared Ryan Garcia He said he was in he had prepared himself. He said he was on his best behavior But of course he didn't have that one key ingredient the elephant in the room. There was no Ostrin Right. So what he might say

Has no necessarily relevance unless he wants to go back in the ring with Devon and do it as a clean fighter. Something that we earned the opportunity to do. But with Devon at being 26 years old and fighting more world champions than anyone, you can look it up at 26, whether you're Canelo, you're Floyd, Purnell Whitaker, by the time you're 26 and you've fought seven world champions and beat them in some capacity, shape, or form in any which way that you want to pick it, he did it. It's historic. You can call it boring, you can call it whatever you want to call it, but you've got to call it winning, Ariel. You've got to call it winning. And that's the name of the game, is to win. So we've heard some criticism going back and forth about this and that, but putting with

the greats. By 26 he found a way to beat seven champions. You have Oscar, by the time he was 26, he had already lost. So the question or not, Bill Haney and his expertise, well you see, we're right there in history. Nor do we have the machine, that you know that machine, well you see, we're right there in history. Nor do we have the machine, that you know that machine, that marketing machine, whether you're up under a top rank who we've worked with, you're up under a golden boy who we've worked with,

or a matron who we've worked with. We're trailblazing the way that boxing should be covered. Boxing should be a father and a son, a son and a father who've started from the amateurs and made it all the way to the top, doing it their way. And I think that that's what they want to kill off. God gave us this. He gave me the opportunity to be a father. That's a blessing, right? He gave Devin a gift in boxing, and through that we've made history. And they

want to make it a mystery. There we go. They want to make it a mystery. What did you think of your son's performance against Jose Ramirez? I loved it. You loved it? Why? I loved it because we shut down the critics to say that if we don't want to get hit with a hook, you're going to take it home with you. It's going to stay in the trunk. If we don't want to get hit with the right hand, we're not going to do it. That's boxing. That's the way boxing is going. That's the old school. You handicap a fighter, and you got to see at 26 another

dimension in Devin's game. And I'll tell you one thing, Ariel, they're even more intimidated. Yeah, you'll call him boring, but you don't call him easy. You say a lot of shit about him, but you don't call him a loser. That's what you didn'll call him boring, but you don't call him easy You say a lot of shit about him, but you don't call him a loser That's what you didn't call him Why why do you think people felt that way about the performance? I mean one hypothesis is look yes, you want to win you want to see your fighters win But you also want to entertain right and sometimes you know We had Connor been on the show last week, and he said look I'd I'd rather be in a- Conor Bend started late in the game.

He got caught, he started late. He had no long, he has no real in depth toolbox. When you saw Conor Bend and Chris Eubank, no respect, no disrespect to him, but you saw two fighters that started late in the game. So you're not gonna see dimensions to their game. So if you get two fighters that kinda know how to fight, you're in for a good fight.

When you get a fighter with dimensions in a warehouse full of, an arsenal full of tools like Devin, boy now you're going to see the science of boxing. It's called the sweet science. It's not rock them, sock them up. I get that. But to last in the sport and not come in last, you're going to have to know that. You're going to have to know the science last, you're gonna have to know that. You're gonna have to know the science, you're gonna have to study it.

And one thing about Devin is like, I'm saying is we keep continuing to see different things at him. Oh, it was a hell of a team in Robert Garcia and the Golden Boy and Jose Ramirez and all that. But what they studied for Devin, no different than Papa Chinco when he studied for Devin, and on that night we showed him something different, Ariel. You've got to point that out.

100%. Oh, 100%. And to shut out a great coach and Robert Garcia, a two-time champion, a unified champion in Ramirez, to shut those guys out and not give them an answer back to anything we're doing in that swear circle it's nothing but the sweet science and they don't want to give credit for that so guess what go back to the dump go back to the put on the dunce hat and go sit back there in the class and let me and Ariel chop this real game up I and totally understand

the whole point is to hit and not get hit, I get that. But there is a balance between entertainment and that, right? Well, depending on what you're looking at or not looking at, what they want to mislead you into believing that it's a place to run and hide. But when you're covering the sport and you're on top of it the way we are, you let them know, man, it ain't no way, the place to run.

And even in the octagon, who you covered that sport so beautifully. Thank you. It's somewhere in which that they turn their back in a way that in boxing you can't. You have to stay in front of the man so the artist to be in front of the man being able to hit him and not get hit. That's where the art comes in and for that team, wonderful team like I said said, to shut him out 12 rounds for Devon after coming back from off of all of the stuff that he had went through with Ryan Garcia, the whole debacle, and them saying to me, well, let's see what he's going to do. I'm going to show another dimension to the game.

If we don't want to be hit, we're not going to get hit. And we're going to the game. If we don't want to be hit, we're not going to get hit and we're going to hit you. It was a couple times, was not Ramirez buckled in that fight? Right? Yeah. Yeah, he was buckled, right? But I'm saying this, we can go get him or we can continue to punish him. What I said was that I was going to make Ramirez look like one thing that you've heard out that Mayweather team is straight up and down no special effects Who's ever been able to make Ramirez an?

Olympian right a guy that's fought for the undisputed title look Straight up and down no special effects Devin has that way of implementing that when we take you and handicap you. You know the narrative after the weekend was, all right, the Garcia fight, the Haney fight, the Canel fight, historically low output. Were you expecting that kind of output from Devin or if you're able to critique anything,

were you expecting a little bit more? It felt beautiful because we went in to handicap Jose Ramirez. We told him we were gonna handicap him. We were not gonna let him do shit. And that's what our, that's what the game plan is was. And for Devin to stick to that game plan showed an incredible mental fortitude and discipline that I applaud him for, because ultimately,

he let me design the game plan to handicap Jose Ramirez on that Friday night. How was his confidence, behind closed doors, how was his confidence? Because you know, you learn a lot about a fighter in how they respond from a tough night out, and so were you feeling any sort of more anxiety from him, more nerves from him?

Any lack? It's strictly building. It's strictly building because you'll use all that as fuel. So we're building off of the stuff that happened on April the 20th. We're building off that and we're using all of it, all of the energy in it to build a better Devin Haney. You know what I mean?

And what I got a chance to see was that he was disciplined. He was disciplined. Something that the critics and everyone was in question. Can he be disciplined? Can he keep his hands up? Well, absolutely can he keep his hands up. We can keep our hands up, our feet moving. We can do all the things that the greats do. And you got a chance to see a well-conditioned machine. I saw him comment on social media about the commentary. What did you think of the commentary that night for his fight on television? Well, I don't listen to the commentary nor do I listen necessarily to the

media that speak on the narratives that you speak about. Because if that narrative was true then it would be rolling on its own. What they tried to do was spend a little bit of money and create a campaign that doesn't work for a guy that has gave seven champions an opportunity to dethrone him in some way, shape, or form. Seven. You've rewatched the fight, right? You've rewatched the fight? No. You've not rewatched it? No. How come? Because it's on to the next. I mean... You want to like revel in your body of work, no? No, no, no, no. After the first round or the second round, I knew what it was and I knew what it was going to be, you know what I mean? But it was about can Devin be disciplined I knew what it was going to be, you know what I mean? But it was about, can Devin be disciplined,

that be as disciplined in that fight as he would need to be in any of the other ones. And that's what that was about. It was about not biting off more than you can chew. It was not about doing anything other than winning the fight. And I believe that that's the most entertaining thing that can happen in that ring.

Because I know the guys that are commenting are a little bit slow. They're not talking as fast as they used to talk. Because they were thinking offense, offense, offense, and not understanding that this is science. And you can end up a vegetable in this sport. I mean we gave them action. We gave y'all action with Ryan. We stepped to him and then you said well Devin's a master boxer why is he doing that? Why is he not

being Devin? So we gave you a little bit of your own medicine. No telling what we might do next. I mean there's always a warehouse of shit for us to do, but there's just no telling. We have to give you some of this drama. Speaking of which, I saw back and forth between you and Robert Garcia regarding the ambulance. He's saying, you know, why are you putting this out there? Everyone had to go in the ambulance.

You're saying we didn't have to go in the ambulance. No, nor did Rolly, who won. He didn't go in the ambulance, we didn't go in the ambulance. And saying we didn't have to go in the ambulance no no i did nor did nor did uh did roley who won he didn't go in ambulance we didn't go in ambulance and that's what i said i said that after right in this combat sport in this sport that's uh um that everyone says it's so easy and they say that there was no performance well i said after the fight he was in the back of the ambulance getting checked out for whatever you get checked out for right while they're saying that it's easy for Robert to say what running and to say that what does he can say let's apologize well his fighter is the one that's in the back in the ambulance getting

checked out why everybody is saying nothing happens, well, it's his fighter that's there, right? It's his fighter that gave it the best, that we gave 36 minutes, 36 minutes. And Ramirez is a good guy, man, comes from a great, a well-respected part of California, for me, being from Northern California. And he had 36 minutes to change his family's lives, change the trajectory of his career, and he didn't do it. Why not

be truthful about it and applaud the fact that Devin is better than what they're saying he is? Because it only undermines who Robert Garcia is and who Jose Ramirez is. It doesn't do anything for us. You could say that we're trash. What does that make you? I'm happy you're here for multiple reasons because there's an opportunity to clear up a lot of things. Oh, absolutely. This is great. I saw yesterday some rumors and stuff. Can you clear this up for us? Some people insinuating that there was an incident regarding Devin and the New York City or New York State Commission that there

was some sort of incident between him. Is this accurate? Is there any truth behind this? False. And you'll see a lot of things surrounding around Devin, right? No physicality or anything like that? Some people saying that there was pushing involved? No. Shout out to Champside who coined the phrase along with us is, they say everything except let's fight. You know what I mean? You'll hear some good things.

You know, you'll hear a guy that's in our division, in or around our division who might deserve an opportunity like a Richardson-Hitchens, who'll come out and say something about Devin and favorable into the style because we know that styles make fights and the more styles you have, the better fighter you are. You know what I mean? I'm a pressure fighter like Jose Ramirez, who traditionally throws a lot of punches, right? Who should be punching like his life depended on it or like his career depended on it.

He chose to have the lowest outpunch of his career depended on it. Chose to have the lowest outpunch of his career. For us, and me being a true coach and also a fight fan, well I know what kind of performance that was that what Devon did to him. You negated, you negated that there was no offense. But just to clear it up, nothing happened beforehand with the New York Commission? No. Okay, nothing? No, no, no, no, no. What I'm saying is a lot of other stuff that's happening in New York. And like I say, shout out to Richard

Hitchenson and that fight that they're about to have with George Camposos, a hell of a team in that Camposos family who just continue to keep fighting, George and Jim. So shout out them and shout out to, like I said, a great fight between them that should happen. But this shit about somebody, I ain't heard nothing about that, don't know anything about that, and I would be the first one to know. Sure. I saw you guys come back to watch the Garcia fight.

Obviously, you have a vested interest. As you're watching this performance unfold, Garcia's performance against Rowley and Rowley winning the fight and ultimately wins the fight, what are you thinking? I was dying to know what you and Devin were thinking because is there a part of you thinking like, holy crap, we did our job, we won, and now the big rematch is slipping away? Well, Allah is the perfect planner, right? God is the perfect planner. What Deon had said then, and for Devon to be vindicated for himself and the people and seeing that, no you don't just gotta just beat that guy, that guy's over there beating himself. He had an opportunity where it was a classic 3-3

amateur rival and he came in dirty, right? he came in dirty because when you face a Devon that's what you know everyone gets up for him but when you face them Devon you like man I can't lose this guy man I can't I can't lose to this guy it was okay to lose the rollie it was okay and the thing about that is, is I think he'll be forever haunted with that PED stuff, where he tried to sweep it up under the rug like it was nothing. So shout out to all the athletes that are clean and all the young athletes. Continue to be clean because that PED shit is a terrible cloud to hang over you. Why do you think, okay, so one guy tested positive a couple times, one guy didn't, yet the guy who didn't in the aftermath has been vilified,

has turned into the villain, and the one who did is sort of like the people's champ, if you will, you know what I mean? Is loved by a lot. Why is your son vilified when he technically did nothing wrong? You know what? I think that it's a strong media push for that to happen.

We have took the non-traditional route and went for the people and saying that, listen, it's comforting to maybe ride with Bob Arum in that machine or Golden Boy or PBC or Eddie Hearn, but then the narrative will be created that you have to roll with them. What we wanted to do was provide hope and inspiration that other teams, father and sons, that if you have enough talent at home and you have enough discipline and wisdom in the house that you can truly make it. But within that, you have enemies, whether it be press, whether it be press whether it be promoters or whatever so the stories that they want we embrace it we're

embracing because we know that it's not us so being the villain I mean I think that we're the heroes actually does it does it not bother you though like you everyone wants to be loved everyone wants no no no I mean you put your time and effort you want to beat you want to be respected Do you feel like you are do you feel like you and your son are listen seven world champions without being in the machine? Well, guess what? The next father and son is listening Somebody is listening no matter what?

It's not it's not them that work for Oscar just running Oscars printer running Floyd or running Canelo's print The numbers speak for itself men lie women like numbers don't Devin has more world champions independent under Devin Haney promotions and himself Than any of those guys by 26 so that says that's company of the greats The other guys in this division this other guys is operating right now It's just operating in the Devin Haney era The obvious is is the lawsuit right people said you don't do that. You don't like that. That's breaking a code

Is there any part of you that regrets doing that? Well, I know this building right here this big monster You do any violations? Yeah, it's yeah, you're getting violations, yeah, it's, yeah. You're getting sued, it's part of business, it's contracts, it's lawsuits, it's business. And when you've reached this height, right, where you're going against the big boys, it's all part of it, it's not none of that yo-yo,

that other stuff that goes on. I mean, so when we share it with the world, we share the good, the bad, and the ugly. Ariel, we gotta do it. We gotta let you know that that's part of it. But one thing that you'll say about Devin is is that we've adhered to every part of the contract. That's why we've been in the business

and we've been successful enough to have seven other champions from all different companies do what we call make events happen. Do what we call good business, right? If we were doing bad business, if it wasn't the way. So I think that you'll hear a lot of narratives being created, but they have no steam. They have no lustre because they're not real. Where does it currently stand? Where does it sit right now, the lawsuit? He definitely did some damage, right? We understand that, right? We know he did damage.

Is it still in the court? No, but do we understand that he did damage? Who's that? Ryan Garcia. Damaged to your son? No. He did damage by coming in on our stream. I mean when you say damage what do you mean? Do you mean in the fight or do you mean

like to his reputation? Both. Well sure I mean he claims he didn't know but yes that was in his system so he wins the fight and then it gets taken away from him he gets the one-year suspension. Historically in combat sports you get a one-year, a two-year, or a banishment. You don't historically see, as you as you all know, the fighter sue the other fighter. Not saying it's wrong or right. I'm not weighing it. I'm just wondering where it stands right now. No, so everyone for the record we haven't been compensated. If damages were done. At all? For the record, we haven't been compensated. If damages were done, well. At all?

No, what I'm saying is no. In no form or fashion. You're getting a call. Maybe that's where I am calling right now. To settle up. Yeah. You know what I mean? But is the lawsuit still alive in the courts?

But this is what I'm saying is that if we both agree that there are damages, now this is just me and you, this is not Devin. Sure, sure. This is just me and you. I believe that there have been damages. You believe that there have are damages. Now this is just me and you, this is not Devin. This is just me and you. I believe that there have been damages. You believe that there have been damages. But Devin, who I work for, hasn't been compensated in any way. And I'm sure he's cool with it, but that doesn't necessarily sit well with me.

So the fine and all that, none of that went to Devin? Nothing. All to New York? Listen, all to Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions, who historically doesn't take care of fighters. You see fighters complaining all the time about being compensated. No one is being compensated over there, right? And we did a deal with them and we were damaged.

Even the New York State Athletic Commission agreed that we were damaged and awarded the fight promoter and promotion $1 million, in which we weren't compensated a dime. Wow, wow. Right. And so you did tweet recently like, hey, if we get the rematch, I'll drop this, right?

Right. So does that still stand? Well, yeah, exactly, because that's the compensation we need is whipping his ass. Why not both, though? Why not get compensation for the damages and the rematch? Why does it have to be one or the other? You know what I mean, like I said,

it sits better with us whipping him out for it. You know what I'm saying? Okay, so why not have that fight on May, whenever that was, second? Why wasn't the, they were both there that night, everyone wanted to see it, why wasn't the fight booked that night? You're both available as opposed to, you know, tempting fate with these other fights.

You know what they chose? They chose to get a tune up. I think I think Bernard came out initially and said that he believed that Ryan would need a tune up and Oscar and all them. So you know, they've taken on that. we would have taken it you would have preferred that We were ready. Yeah, we're ready. Um, but but obviously the what Turkey put on the table I agree with you know what I mean Devon agreed with which was was fine You know what I mean? Um, and and right now we're expecting the same thing that we agreed to And right now we're expecting the same thing that we agreed to Which is what the October the October date and and and whipping him out Is that still alive did the result in the main event affect that at all? I didn't affect us it didn't like the way the motors

No, it didn't affect the way that we look at we look we look at him. Sure. I'm sure you know I still want to see the fight I think I think the fight is still like its own story regard It would be nicer if Ryan was coming off a win But I still want to see the fight just as much as any other fight out there right now I was just wondering if you had any sense of whether Turkey and the promoters still want to put on the fight do they feel like it's been devalued because Ryan lost You know what I agree to the fight

You know so I can't back out of it. You know I mean I think they've already done promotion for the fight leading up to fight, you know, so I can't back out of it. You know what I mean? I think they've already done promotion for the fight leading up to it. You know, that's, you know, Rolie Romero went on record for saying, you know, well, you guys are already promoting. So Devin has spent time in promoting that fight. We've spent time in and negotiating that fight for and for all 10 purposes. We believe that that's the next fight.

Okay, and that would be October, like mid-October or so? Yes. In Riyadh? Mid-October in Riyadh. You like that? Do you prefer it being there as opposed to in America? Or would you rather it... It's a dream of us, as a family, as a team,

to fight over there, you know what I mean? Of course, we fought in Australia a couple of times, and we know that one of the places that's that's on our on our bucket list our true bucket list is the fight in the Middle East. What type of testing what type of you know what type of rules regulations are you going to put into place as far as in the buildup to the fight? You know what you know what we we called reached out to Vata to continue testing, to let Vata know that Devon is in Miami right now

and he's ready to be tested at any given time. I don't know what's happening with their team and what they're doing, but we're in Vata. And if you're not in Vata right now and you're talking about fighting Devin then we question Whether or not you're you're clean. What was that in place for the Times Square card as well? Absolutely, absolutely and and for those that that questioned whether or not Devin Was and you know and Tia FEMA whether or not they were all main events

Devin's ability to be the second fight or, you know, to co-main influenced what everyone got a chance to see was a clean fight, a fight where fighters were actually being tested in a way that they couldn't come in dirty. And Ryan Garcia, who I believe was under a microscope, I don't think another dirty test he would have been able to, you know what I mean, he would have been able to write the narrative that they attempted to write. So I think I attribute that to Devin standing on his all 10,

you know what I mean, and saying that he won't be involved in a fight that isn't VADA approved. And also, shout out to Turkey and CELA and Ring, who aren't as vocal always about VADA, but they work with VADA as well as all the other companies do. But they did a great job in providing the budget that was needed for the fight, for all the fighters to be tested, the way that VADA believes that they can be tested and detected.

And so it was just a great knife for boxing. And I believe that if the media writes the story the way it is is then you'll understand What you saw but a lot of times you have fans that just come to the sport or you have fans that are being influenced By their favorite fighter or their favorite company and they're writing false narratives in your opinion How big of a problem is it in the sport right now PDs? Do you think a lot of guys are finding ways to skirt the system? You know how big of a problem it is? Is you only have one fighter,

this 24-7, 365, Devin the Dream Haney at 26 years old. But once again, I said, he's the youngest guy with the most champions. So he'll truly be the most concerned about guys coming in hot. Do you think a lot of guys are doing it? I don't think that a lot of guys are concerned

about who's doing it. So that's where I accuse them for me. Is the concern, like the conversation that we're having right now, you don't hear this conversation as open as we're doing it. So that kind of concerns me. I don't you as we're doing it sure so that kind of concerns me I don't know if they're doing it

Okay, but I sure know they're not talking about it and they're definitely not trying to be bring light to the situation Yes Was this something that was on your mind before the Garcia fight or did the Garcia experience kind of open your eyes to like holy crap? This this oh no, I knew I knew going into it. I knew that Devin At a at a very young age, had the skills and the boxing IQ to go far in the sport. And I knew that the only way to slow him down,

what would be, or one of the ways would be, is bringing in someone on PEDs. So I've always been concerned about it. We've always been Vata tested. I think Devin has tested, I don't want to call out a number, but it's like with seven champions obviously, you know, and all of those fights that Vata has been testing. So you know what I mean? I just I just encourage other fighters if you are clean Then you don't speak on it so we can you know me and have the sport bring the sport when they always say make the sport

Great again. Well, let's make the sport clean for once I saw just a couple days ago Oscar said he will never sit on a dais with you again If this rematch comes to fruition, we all hope it does, how's this all gonna play out? Listen, Oscar doesn't dictate anything. The people that wanna see the fight, you, right? And your audience, they're the ones that dictate what fights happen, you know what I mean? And for that matter, if he's not dancing,

matter of fact, what does he have over there? Who does he have over there? When he's talking about going at Devon, if it's not Ryan Garcia, who does he have? So if he doesn't, if he thinks Ryan Garcia's going to get beat because he's not on PDs, then you don't have anything. So he's not saying anything, we run through companies. By the time we get through here, if I do a deal with, to give me a fighter, just like when we did it with Top Rank, it was for whatever Top Rank had. It could have been for Lomachenko,

it could have been for Shakur, it could have been for whoever he had. Same thing with Eddie Hearn, Regis Program, whoever you have. Devin has a style that gives any fight that he's in a problem, and a big chance for Devin to win first lose. So in other words, you're saying he has nothing

that you want other than Ryan. Other than Ryan. So let's say we get to October and the fight happening. How are you guys gonna be able to? Coexist you and Oscar because Ryan's one of his guys and that's likely the next fight Long as he's over there on that side number on this side We are right long as he don't cross side stay on that side and I'll stay on my side feel about Oscar. I Mean he's he's arguably one of the best fighters right? Sure, of all time. You know what I mean? So I really have a whole lot

of respect for Oscar as a fighter right and what he's done right with a gold medal and and everything you know but when it comes to Devin I don't pull any punches that's that's my job, right? And that's somebody that I love and I care about so when Oscar is shooting Bullshit and nobody else calls him on it. I feel compelled. So he said I can't believe Devon hasn't fired bill yet And and I can't believe Ryan hasn't fired him Because they still don't have a championship

over there. Still, he got right there to the door. He can't make Ryan into a champion. Ryan, I feel sorry for you. I feel sorry for you. I don't see how he's moving him, right? Because at the end of the day, Ryan Garcia, who had 12 national championships, right, as an amateur, I believe it might be 12, Henry don't quote me, because it might be more, but you don't have one world championship, whose fault is it?

You know what I mean? So when you talk about that, and you take a chance fucking around now, who knows where it might go. Did you see some people say like, hey, Ryan's better when he's crazy. When the Ryan who showed up in April, the drinking and all that, he's better, he needs that.

The guy who showed up a couple weeks ago was too subdued. He needs to go back to crazy Ryan. No, the Ryan that you got a chance to see is the real Ryan. Which one? The last Ryan. Okay. That's the the it's funny that he got two of these motherfuckers right but shout out to Henry and his

wife produced two motherfuckers. Right so but um you just didn't know he was if he was gonna show up earlier you didn't know if he was gonna show up, Ariel. You didn't know if he was gonna show up against us. It was hard to train for that motherfucker. It was hard to, you know, and then you have a decision to make when he's three pounds overweight. So that person that they're asking for, you know what I mean, is not anything for boxing or anything that boxing needs.

I saw you tweeted like, hey, Canelo fought the same fight as my son, and yet everyone saying like he was clinical and this and that, and they're criticizing my son. I kind of felt like Canelo got heat too. No, but shout out to Antonio Tarver who carefully- There's your stats right there. But shout out to Antonio Tarver who didn't cover this stat, who carefully pointed out they want to say Devin broke a record and I don't know how you break a record in four, fifth, sixth,

whatever place. That's not breaking a record. Either you broke the record at number one or you didn't. Okay, so then they try to run that narrative. And then the very next night Canelo breaks the record for real. And I'm saying is, what are you guys looking at? You know what I'm saying? Are you looking at a fighter in Canelo that has a problem with the great Eddie Reynoso

and cutting off the ring? Did you see the problem with Robert Garcia cutting off the ring? Is it the coaches or is it the fighters? Right? That's what you get a chance to see this narrative in the Devin Haney era. How good are these fighters? Because in the combat world there's nowhere to run. And the boxing, there's nowhere to run. Listen, me and you get up in there with any one of them they're gonna corner us off. So you can't even... You're coaching me?

You're gonna coach me? Yeah. Oh, that'd be sweet. No, listen. You think I can go all the way? Listen, I guarantee you, you come to my institution, you're right. Here in New York?

Huh? Here in New York? Yes, yes. Where's the home gym? There's no home gym. We haven't picked any home gym, but you know, I don't wanna- The city, Brooklyn?

We're going all over, all the boroughs. We're here representing it. I love it, I love it. We need some more New York fighters. I know transplant, but you know, we need some more activity here. Right, but we can't have the stone, the mummy feet. Yeah, I know.

Gotta have active. We gotta move, yeah. Gotta have active feet, moving and stuff. By the way, some people criticize Ryan with Derek James. They don't feel like the partnership is working out. Was that part of the problem a couple weeks ago? Should Ryan have stayed with Reynoso in your opinion? Because he's a bit of a nomad right now in terms of finding a head coach. I don't know. I can't really understand Derek James.

He talks so fucking low. I don't know what he's saying. Because I asked him, I asked him, I said, did you do the, are you doing the weight cut here? So I don't fucking know. You know what I'm saying? I can't speak for Derrick until he can come out and say, well, what the difference was, and he's a Hall of Fame trainer,

I think he's been trainer of the year, but he won't address the weight cut with Ryan Garcia. For the last one. For the last one. Why he was three pounds over, But he won't address the weight cut with Ryan Garcia. For the last one. For the last one. Why he was three pounds over, why he had the Ostrin or whatever. And so that's what I'm saying is, that's not gonna fly.

With shows and platforms like you have, it continues to give the fighters, the managers and trainers the real opportunity to come in and have a voice. Right now, how do you feel about the state of the game? The business? It's a fascinating time, right? With with with Turkey involved, yes, with Saudi. We're going like you. What does that mean? You're growing, are you growing? Oh, we're growing, yeah. Are you growing? I'd like to know. No, but I'm saying. Do you feel like the sport is in a good spot? Since you started, I've watched you. I appreciate that. Right? And you continue to grow and you continue to sport is growing. Yes. You know what I mean?

And that narrative that they're kicking is is. I think it's I think it's a fascinating time for boxing. I think it's exciting. Almost every weekend there's there's a great fight going on. Listen absolutely I love the sport of boxing as a fan. I'm in the business, of course, it's a cutthroat business. But you know- Do you ever get tired of it? Like man, I don't need this crap. I see you battling everyone on social media.

You ever get tired of this and be like, yo, just leave me alone. Let me go sit on a beach somewhere. You know what? The amount of time and research that I actually spend at my job for my son gives me an unfair advantage. I come in way more prepared than the narratives that they create.

You know what I mean? Just because I love. You know what I mean? They look stupid. You know what I mean? I always say, listen, the narratives that they create and the comments that they're in the sections will not be the way that they're speaking at home

They will not be voicing that shit in front of their daughters and their kids and all that but I see you I'm the same. I love says something you come back at him like you're you're some people are like nah Forget that you you run to the fire. You want to you want to battle everyone? No, it's all defense You see you see no, but when I say battle, but I'm saying this, but you see you said, he said something. I'm not saying you start. I'm not saying you start. Yeah, yeah, I'm just saying, some people will be like, yeah, let them say what they want to say. You come after them, which I think is cool. You're defending your son. You're defending yourself. Like, fair play. You should. But I'm defending a guy that's the youngest undisputed champion,

right? A guy that has fought more champions than anyone at his age Um, you know what I mean? Like so i'm i'm in a great position. I was just tired of it No, no, never you love it. Never you heard somebody say something lately. I'm on they ask today on the ariel The waddy show. Yes. Yes. No, I know listen respect man I mean who if not your father who is going to back you, right? Like the bond between a father and a son, there's, there's nothing greater. I have three kids myself. I would walk in front of a train for them.

I get it. I get it. This brings out a passion and maybe some people think like, oh, you know, they quote you with like coach manager. No, no, no. This is father son. This is a different level of bond.

So I respect the fact that you want to go to war for your son and back them. I just might going back to that previous question, like I think everyone kind of wants to be loved. I think it's a lot of love. I think it's a level of bond. So I respect the fact that you want to go to war for your son and back him I just might going back to that previous question Like I think everyone kind of wants to be loved everyone wants to be appreciated Do you think when Devon's story is finished when the story is? Complete the arc is over that he will be respected and appreciated for all the things you said

Fought X amount of champions X amount of defenses Do you think that he will be one of those guys that will be appreciated when he's gone? sometimes it happens when they leave right I went when we walk around New York City and People come up all the time and they're like hey Bill you're doing a great job, man They come up and they introduce their kids and stuff like that. That's the real world You know, that's why I said when I first came out here, this is where combat sports meets reality. This is the real world. And we've done an excellent job at providing a lane

for someone else to travel. I love that. That's what Devin Haney and his career represents right now. I love it. So for now, you wait and see. We're hoping for October. And that's the next time we'll see Devin. It's Devin Haney verse everybody. You know what I'm saying?

That's what it is and it's gonna stay that. We ain't got no friends in the business. You don't see Devin partnering up and being friends with this guy in his division, that guy. No, no, no, no, no. You know, we're not with the promoter because he has a relationship with a network. No, that's not for the people. When you're really doing it for the people, then you got to go against everybody like Devin. I love it. Well, I wish you guys the best.

Congratulations on the win. This was a pleasure. Now that you're in New York, come by any time. Hey, listen, absolutely. Mikasa su kasa. All right. Now, so you guys see what I got a platform. Yes, anytime. Anytime. Quiet. The door now, so you guys see what I got a platform. Yes, so y'all any time

Anytime why the the the doors open for you and your family Devon and when he's in town Sean as well the whole family Absolutely. Appreciate it. You're the man Bill. We're gonna take a quick break. Hey speaking of some of those old guards Here's my conversation from many moons ago with the great Bob Aram take a look at this and then we'll be back with VTOR Belfort Don't go anywhere Legendary stuff Yankee Stadium, Bob Arum, September 2009, holy crap, that's a long time ago. That was what? That was 17 years ago? No, it's 2025.

That was 16 years ago, crazy, unbelievable. You know why I chose that clip? For a couple reasons. I chose that clip because Bill Behaney was here and obviously we were talking boxing, what a character this guy is, holy smokes. He's a great guy, he's a great guy, You know why I chose that clip? For a couple reasons. I chose that clip because Bill Behaney was here and obviously we were talking boxing. What a character this guy is. Holy smokes. He's like a, he's just like a Tasmanian devil of energy.

And so it felt like a nice classic clip. But also I chose that clip, Bob Arum was promoting a fight involving Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto. And that weekend, the story was boxing and UFC going head to head because Mayweather was fighting Marquez, I believe, and UFC 103 was happening in Texas, and it was Vitor Belfort against Rich Franklin. And it was one of the few times that there was a big boxing event and a big UFC going toe to toe, and that's where the whole thing with Bob played out.

You see how it all works? And so that leads us to our next guest, who on Saturday was in attendance at the Bell Center in Montreal. There is a guest fighter, and all of a sudden a package plays, and he finds out, I believe at the same time as all of us, that he is going finally into the UFC Hall of Fame. We're talking to the legend, the phenom, the one and only

Vitor Belfort, the pride of Brazil, joining us right now. There he is, my old friend. Hello Vitor, how are you? I'm doing great, Ariel. So good to be with you again. We have stories, no? We have a lot of stories. It has been many years and it's a great pleasure and privilege to have you back on. And I should say, parabéns, congratulations on the great honor. Is that in fact true? I was talking to your agent, the great Lloyd Pearson, about this, wondering if you knew beforehand the emotion on your face suggested that you didn't know. Did you know that you were going into the Hall of Fame when you attended the event that night?

I have zero expectation of that. And you know me, man. I'm a real UFC entrepreneur. I helped build the sport when no one was watching. Actually, we get banned from pay-per-view, I was there, when we get banned. You can have porn, but you could not have UFC. And I love what the Fertilis Brothers did,

along with UFC, now the Endeavors. It's just beautiful to see their respect, what they gave me and the fans. It's beautiful, a lot of message. And it's something that I'm grateful forever and I'm honored, but it's very important that I never compete to chase that. I think the people that get inducted,

and I know everyone is different, but I feel emotion because I remember with 16 years old, I'm getting on the plane convincing my parents that UFC will be bigger than boxing one day. And no one believed it. You know, my dad, I dropped eighth grade and they sent me to America. I convinced Carson to move to America.

As you know, Carson Gracie and the Gracie family, they didn't get along pretty well. And I said, Carson, let's make your name knowing, let me do it. I had a path. So I got a guy to open a gym in LA. So I convinced everyone. We jumped on that plane. And I remember one time Carson saying,

Victor, I'm going to go back. It's too rough here. I said, give me one more chance, give me a couple more months. So when I was 18, I got that fight with John Hess, and that's the story, that's the beginning of the journey right there. So I'm wondering, what did they say to you?

Did they say like, hey,, just come be a guest fighter How did they get you to come to Montreal so that you can have this moment? What was the story that was told to you? So they invite me to go to you've see you've seen Miami. I was there. I saw the induction of Amanda I was very happy for her I thought it was beautiful moment. I say, and then my wife said, you think one day they're gonna do that to you? I said, Joanna, I don't know. The only thing you can do it,

you honor is something that you earn and people give to you. And I mean, we are so happy for Amanda that day. I thought it was beautiful. And then I was there and they put me on the front seat row. I was great. I didn't have an idea that all of a sudden they started coming cameras, you know, the thing, you know, I've been seeing everyone getting inducted in.

I cherish, I celebrate because I knew how hard it was for us to become a sport, a mainstream sport now, ESPN, the sports in ESPN. That was my dream to be in ESPN one day. And I think we took a long time ago. I don't know how and why took that long, but here we are, man. We are, if not the biggest sport of combat, we are the biggest sport of combat sport, there's no doubt, but one of the biggest sports in worldwide, I think. 100%. Certainly, as far as combat is concerned, the UFC has come such a far

way since you were fighting. And that actually like leads me to the thought when I was watching that, you know, I don't look at everyone who's in there and it's been going on for so long. I was like, wow, I almost kind of assumed you are already in the Hall of Fame. What took you so long to get in? It feels like you should have been in there a long time ago. You know, you know one thing, Ariel, is this. The Bible says there has time for everything, time to read, time to sew, time to cry, time to laugh. And I mean, everything takes time, you know, and I know, and I always thought about like, you know, when you earn something, you know, you earn. But of course, being inducted, it's the organization itself. It's a lot, it's big, you know, I think they have their their priorities, you know, and I'm very honored to be to be inducted. But, you know, I like to always mention, you know, like the young, young generation is like the the values and the whys of like, what, why are you doing this, you know, the why question, I never did this to get the glory of people.

I really wanted to feel my dream. So my dream was promising my parents that I was gonna be successful. They trust me. They send me, let me drop eighth grade in Brazil. I promised Carson Gracie that I was gonna become UFC champion and I gave that to him.

And I promised, I remember when the Fetina brothers, and Dana White, they took me to this room, me and my mom, and they said, we're going to make this the sport that's supposed to be, everyone's supposed to. So we're going to need you to fill the roster. So I remember signing with them and they promised me, and I said, I promise you, I'll make this sport go mainstream in Brazil and Help you guys in America. So one time as you know, Brazil was bigger than America was much bigger than America

we became mainstream Brazil before because I I Moved to from America to Brazil to help my sport grow there become the re ambassador of UFC and along after that came all the generations came after me because they looked me like Anderson Silva, Minotauro and all of them. So it was beautiful because the thing with all these young athletes is not fighting to be a UFC Hall of Famer, it's, you join the process, making history in sports. And now it's a mainstream sport.

So is where your faith is anchored and the why. I always ask my kids, why are you wanting to be that famous? And why you wanna be a football player or a volleyball player? Where is your why? So my why is to glorify the name of God in everything I do. And I think I did that pretty well. And I'm very, very thankful to be on the Hall of Fame, but I'm more thankful to be on the Hall of Faith.

Something that is not my merit, it's by the grace of of God So I'm very excited for this journey along with you and many other people That they help the sport you are one of the figures that helped this for to be where we are now And they have the rest of history So so you look fantastic Vitor your 48 you just turned you just turned 48, so happy belated birthday. Your last fight was in 2023, that was the boxing match against Jacare Souza. Are you officially done competing? Usually when you speak to a 48 year old, former fighter if you will, it's an obvious question, but with you, I think we never really know.

So are you officially done competing? No. So I want to just take a time, you know, I know boxing and UFC now is getting together. Yes. I'm gonna tell you a story, short story. When I fought, you know, I don't know if you know that, but when I fought Tank Abbott, right after the fight, my mom, along with one of the managers

and the lawyers of Muhammad Ali, I think was CIA agent, they tried to sign me to become a boxer. So they took me to have lunch with Muhammad Ali. Wow. I mean, I remember arriving in a hotel, they take it to my room. Outside of the door came Muhammad Ali, you know, he had partisan as you know, he, he couldn't talk. He had his interpreter that there was a photographer that always walked with him. I forgot his name, but he was there. You know, we had life for him. I forgot his name, but he was there.

You know, we had life, I think was his name. Yeah. We are having lunch, the lawyers, the managers, and they had a contract and they had a contract, I think it was like $2 million back in the days. So it was a lot of money. When I saw, I just asked the contract. My mom said, similar. I just want to see how much money we make I saw, I just asked the contract, my mom said, similar, I just want

to see how much money we make $50,000 to fight UFC tournament. And then I just fought 10 cabinets, just one fight in the night, you make another 50 grand. And then I remember $2 million, I said, Oh my God. So, but I mean, it's not just one fight. They sign you a contract. It's a contract called Boxing is different than what people think. It's not $2 million for one fight. It's $2 million the contract. So for many years, so they're gonna pay your purse. They're gonna, you know, it's not guaranteed money,

but I saw the amount of money. I love it. And the only thing I asked them back in the table, I said, I will be able to do both UFC and boxing. They say, no, you're gonna have to quit UFC and become a boxer. I look crying to my mom and say, mom, I can't, I can't do that because I believe UFC one day

is gonna be bigger than boxing. And I had that in my mind. And I remember that I didn't sign that contract. So I always wanted to box. I always made the Olympic in 1998 representing Brazil. So I never had an opportunity to do this both. And I was very happy to see Conor be able to box Mayweather. And I think that crossover is gonna help showing

that MMA guys are great boxers. You see the Australian fighter, you know, he's amazing boxer. We have Tapoya, we have so many other fighters that are amazing boxers in MMA. And you know that my dream is to be able to have a glove like I designed to bring these two sports collide together in a rules that we'll be able to grab his hands,

fight hands, not elbows, anything, but see who has the best hands in a real fight, real grabbing manhood fight. That will be my dream. I think I will never be able to do that, but I would love to launch that kind of event that I hope Dana White one day can put that together. But until then, I want to box.

I love boxing and I think I still got it. So it's just fun fights. Nothing I'm not looking to fighting for the title, but I'm looking to do some business and I think a lot of people didn't have the opportunity to see me fight in 2013 is one of my best years. And as you know, when Vitor Belfort stepped into the ring or the octagon, you know, the fight is on. So it's not like we're not going to take to the score point, scoreboard. I'm going to look to the knockout. So that's what makes so interest, you know, the combat sports.

Who would be, I don't want to say a dream opponent, but if you did get another fight, who would you like to fight? You know, I think it's fighting, you got to be someone that makes sense, you know, someone someone that will make sense. Someone that we have history together in the past. Let's say Anderson Silver, Vanderlei Silver, you name it, like Jake Paul, this young generation, maybe the Jackson Feers brother. I really admire that kid, I really admire what Jake Paul is doing. Fight that will make sense, business, this young generation, because if it doesn't make

sense, I'm not there, I'm not looking, I'm not doing this just for the money, the money is just part of it, it's part of the process. I'm looking for legacy, what legacy we can live on. So my dream, Ariel, is to patent this glove, as you know, I'm going to send one to you, it's called BMA, is creating a boxing fight where we MMA guys can grab the hands, the clinch, no elbows, no takedowns, just hands, just men who like to, let's see who has the best hands like, you know, because I guess when the clinch, the boxing clinch is one thing, the MMA clinch is different. So we're not going to kick the boxers, we're not going to take them down, but let's see

who has the best hands, who can fight, who can endure the grinding, So that would be my dream to combine these two sports as a become a hobby for both athletes and hopefully one day I can find a promoter that they will let me co-promote with them and bringing this to reality. I would love to see reality. I would love to see, let's say, John Jones fight Joshua, Anthony Joshua on the glove. That would be a dream fight for me to see it, and I believe for you too. But not just boxing. John Jones will be able to bring the clench, grab that guy. So I really think now we increase 50% chance in John Jones. Now it's becoming 50-50. What do you think? No, I mean, there's a couple of promotions out there

that are trying to doubt. There's the Platinum Perry dirty boxing promotion that has a variation of this, although there is some ground strikes as well. So it's not exactly what you're saying, but I understand you, I mean, you would know you used to have in your prime, some your prime some of the fastest hands in the in the history of the sport and actually by the way I just saw on social media

your son Davi who is a great quarterback who I know is gonna play for UCF next year Central Florida University of Central Florida he appears to have same kinds of hands as as his old man I saw some very impressive hand speed there. Look at this. Look at his lip. What's that? Put the clip, you put the clip, look at that. It's fast, his shoulders, the trend.

The way he's separating his shoulders is insane. So the separation, so becoming a good striker, boxing for a quarterback, so you gotta be able to transfer your shoulders. So, and he has speed, the kid run a four, three, and he's tough, but I mean, I told him, say stick with football, you know, but you know, he definitely can box.

He has a dream to become a, to do some boxing fight one day, I believe he will. Okay, so that was my question. Do you think eventually he will ever follow in your footsteps and become a fighter? 100 percent. Maybe like, you know, when it's like a hobby, it's like example. Michael Jordan play baseball, am I right? Yes. What's his name? The boxer, the play basketball. Roy Jones, yes. I think the view is no doubt one day he will box.

That's on his blood. You know, he loves it. He spar with me all the time. And I coach my kids, all my two daughters are amazing athletes as well. They all the kids here in the hands, you got to know how to strike, you know, you gotta know how to to impose your will. You know, that's my daughter. She's right now at the Brazil team. She got invited to be on the Brazil volleyball team. Incredible. Well, she's not a fighter, though.

Is she a fighter as well? They are fighters in the house. Like I said, they all have to learn how to strike. So my other daughter is a track athlete. She's just run the third on the state. The 400 meter hurdles, Chiara, she's a beast too. So, you know, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree as long as the tree nurturing, you know, with time.

A lot of parents, a lot of athletes' parents, they don't invest time on their kids. My priority in my life, you know me for a long time, it is my wife number one and my kids number two. So, and that's been the most successful, you say, what's your title? What's your hall of famer? You know, first thing is the hall of faith, my faith with God,

but be able to leave the legacy to my kids. And today, be able to have more time to be able to coach some athletes, some young athletes from different sports, mentors and people. I'm really going to that direction because I feel like the next generation is not hard to succeed because a lot of distraction.

These distractions, especially with the NIL, a lot of things pull your attention everywhere. The athlete, sometimes you've got to just have one mentality. They're one plan. Plan A, Plan A, Plan A. They ask how many plans you have. You just have one plan. They're one plan plan a plan a plan a they ask how many plans you have I just have one plan and the many routes to get to that plan. You know I'm saying yes I by the way, I wanted to ask you I saw an article I wanted to know if this was accurate your old foe John Jones you suggested to him Don't fight the Aspen. I'll fight you have nothing left to prove

Just you know walk off into the sunset. Is that an accurate assessment of how you feel on the situation? Yeah, I would like him to fight. Mayweather had a chance to go boss, thinking about that. I'm just talking business right now. If right now I'm hearing John Jones say, John, what's next for you? Next for you is to be able to live the legacy,

creating a legacy to all the other. So I'll get John Jones and say, John, let's challenging the British fighter, Anthony Joshua. Let's ask him to come and box with you on these gloves. It's no fingers exposed. It's not like this dirty boxing, nothing. You just gonna use your hands.

You guys gonna box 12 rounds, three minute rounds. But the rules is you'll be able to grab his hand. You'll be able to grab his head and punch him and on the clinch. I think that will be the fight that will break pay-per-view that go viral, especially now with Dana promoting boxing. I think we got to level it up, creating the 50-50. We MMA athletes always went there and box with them. Now let's bring in the middle. Let's meet in the middle. John Jones is the perfect guy to make

that fight on the BMA gloves. And this is, this is gonna, I'm telling you, do this. We're gonna see the numbers rise to the top. Paper review never seen before. As you know, Ariel, I think at least have people should respect me for everything that I called before and everything happened. have people should respect me for everything that I call before and everything happened. Everything happened. Remember, you know, everyone has some people have authority to ask for things. I know MMA and boxing, if they meet together, it's going to be a business that they are writing in slap boxing, UFC is writing in slap boxing. I want to bring this to Dana. I think Dana, she stopped promoting, you know, fights between boxing and UFC. Imagine this fight inside the cage, inside the octagon,

this fight, John Jones and Anthony Joshua. What do you think about that? That would be crazy. That would be crazy. I think there's a lot of money that would have to be shelled out to make that happen, but it would be a scene. And I love your passion for it.

I love how into you are. And you have his ear. You'll be seeing him in June at the Hall of Fame. And I'm so happy that you're getting this opportunity, Vitor. And so I just want to thank you and congratulate you again. I can't wait to see you get your rightful spot in the Hall of Fame come June in Las Vegas.

I look forward to seeing it. And I have a question. What is your, if I ask you, what is your favorite five of Vito Balfour that you love? What your favorite, like pick one and pick two and pick the third. So one, two, three. Number one, Michael Bisping.

Number two, Vanderlei Silva, and let's say number three, the Rich Franklin one was good, the Luke Rockhold one was incredible. When you fought in affliction, when you kind of came back, I believe it was against, was it against Terry Martin in Affliction? That was a great knockout. So those are a few that come to mind. Yeah, Matt Lindlin was a good knockout. Matt Lindlin was an incredible knockout, yes. Oh, that's the knockout, when he went vvvvvvvvvv. There's a whole history dating back to, I think, 1998. You're a legend, Vitor.

So thank you so much. It's great to have you back on. I wish you the best. Thank you for everything you do for the sport. You're a great ambassador for us and congratulations on your career as well. Thank you. Thank you so much, Vitor.

All the best and we'll talk to you soon. Parabens. There he is, the phenom, Vitor Belfort. A lot to choose from. But yeah, you know, what'd you say? Frank, you agree? Absolutely. Yeah, okay.

Let's move along. A big winner on Saturday was our good friend, Jasmine. Jazz Division. Yeah, five in a row, black belt, submitted the former champion, Jessica Andrade. Holy smokes. She is on a roll. The pride of Niagara top team, both her and Mike Malott victorious on Saturday.

And it was beautiful to see. Do we have her? We have her. Hey, there she is. I like this background. It feels very Canadian. The, the wood, the outdoors. Where are we right now?

Driving home from Montreal. Oh my God. This is a pit stop? Yeah. Wow. Are you annoyed at me? No, no, no. I love it. I love breaking up the drive

or going on a little hike and everything. Golly. Well, I really appreciate it, Jasmine. Thank you. And by the way, how was, you know, I'm from Montreal. That's my hometown. How did it treat you?

Did you enjoy it? Did you have fun? It was awesome. I feel like I ate my way through Montreal. I stayed in up all the restaurants, got the smoked meat, the poutine, everything. You had the bagels as well? Of course.

Okay. And what about the, you know, sometimes like Quebec is a very complicated place. Like sometimes with the French and the English, it felt like they were treating you as one of their own. There was no sort of like, oh, Ontario, there's the rivalry. Did you feel the love as opposed to some of the other Canadian cities that you fought in?

I definitely felt the love. I feel like right when I got here, like everyone was cheering for me. Like the crowd coming out on fight night was like for me. Like the crowd coming out on Fight Night was like absolutely unbelievable. Like the energy was nuts in there. To beat someone like Andraj with her resume, former champion, the role that you're on, and then in addition to that,

getting your black belt and submitting her, would it be fair to say up until this point, the greatest night of your career? I would say so. It's funny you say that because prior to this, I feel like the Cachoeira fight like in Toronto, it was like, you know, the best night ever. And like now after, after Saturday night,

I feel like, I feel like this might've been the best night, you know what I mean? It's like every time I'm fighting the greater the challenge, like the more fulfilling it is, and you know, the greater the feeling. It does it feel now, like this run that you're on is unbelievable. You just broke into the top 10 in the official rankings. Congratulations on that.

I saw you posted about that as well. Like it just feels like you're on this incredible role. How are you keeping yourself, there it is, the official proof that you're now sitting at number six. How do you, you don't strike me as someone whose head gets too big, but how are you keeping yourself grounded? The job's not done.

You have an ultimate goal of becoming UFC champion, so you're not feeling yourself, you're not getting too high, not, you know, trying to stay centered. How do you do that? You know, getting back in the gym kind of right away back to training, you know, don't get too high on the highs, don't get too low on the lows and continue on the process. Like I know what I did to get here. And so I just going to continue doing that.

Like, you know, fall in love with martial arts every day and just you know experiment and try my best try to be my best. When you were envisioning the fight playing it out in your mind was the submission win over Jessica part of the dream? Did you see that opening? Yeah, I mean that kind of like series that I did right there, that's something that I hit on in practice. I bet you the girls from the team are like, oh, I felt that. That kind of like mat return I do, I'll come up right away onto the back. And so it did feel very, very fluid.

So it did feel very, very fluid. But it's cool to see the things that I drill in practice are happening, and you know, as silly as that is. It's amazing. But yeah, it's just, I don't know, hard work every day, and then it shows when the time matters, when it counts. The last time you fought, I remember you were very excited that the great GSP was in attendance. He was once again in attendance, this time as the ambassador

but also to corner his longtime friend, Aimeen Zahabi. Any interactions with him this time? I didn't see him at all, I wish I did, but no, I didn't see him, unfortunately. Are they now calling you She SP? Is that a thing? I hope so. You like that?

Yeah. Okay. I feel like you can make that happen. Either that or the truck. I don't know which one is gonna stick, but they're both great. We'll see, we'll see which one sticks. Incredible.

And also what I love about this fight, what I loved about your placement on this card was the title was being contested at the top of the card. You're on there and Natalia Silva was on there. Like I feel like it puts you very much all of a sudden in that conversation. Do you feel like that's what has happened in the aftermath of this?

Now all of a sudden people are viewing you as a potential future contender. Yeah, I believe it. I'm clawing my way to the top and it was nice that there was other fights in the 125 Division on the card. And for me to show so well against a former champ, I feel like it's rightfully so I should be in the talks. Did you watch Natalia's fight? I didn't really watch it. I kind of saw a little bit, but like I was still doing stuff. My family was there and everything. So I didn't catch too much of it,

but I'm definitely gonna watch it. What about Valentina's? The same thing. It's like we were watching, but I had family. So I'm going to say hi and you know. How do you feel there's this story that's building and it seems like it's going to come to fruition. Valentina against Zhang Weili moving up from 115.

As someone who is getting very close to that title picture, would you be okay with Zhang fighting for the belt and thus maybe delaying things for the other contenders at 125. Um, I mean, that would suck. I don't know. I haven't really thought of it. I guess like, I hope nothing gets in the way of my road, but I don't know. That's there's so many paths. Yeah. Do you think there's any chance that the win on Saturday gets you a title shot?

Or do you think realistically you might need at least one more? I think like realistically I would need one more unless it's some type of like short notice thing like if any of those girls are fighting then I'm going to be you know ready. I always keep my weight down and everything so I'm going to jump on any opportunity that presents itself but yeah yeah, I assume I would probably need one more. Who do you think is the one that gets you there? I would say either Grasso or the winner

of the Blanchfield-Barber fight. Right, the one that's coming up in a couple weeks. Or Natalia. Or Natalia a couple weeks or or Natalia or Natalia, but I feel like Natalia probably would get a Title shot next. Okay. Yeah Probably she's probably a touch further away. I don't think Grasso necessarily Now on a bit of a losing streak. I think the winner of Barber Blanchfield makes the most sense Yeah, I think the winner of Barber Blanchfield makes the most sense.

Yeah, I, I'm about that. Okay, you're about that life, as they say. Yeah. By the way, in case you're wondering what CSP looks like, this is a rendering. I just want to get your thoughts. How do you feel about this? That's amazing. Oh, man. Kind of looks like John Cena as well.

But no, that is GSP I think on your body. That's his head on your body. He is growing the hair out. Well, he keeps growing it. You like the, some people say they like the old shaved head GSP. Which do you like, the frosty tips or the shaved head? I don't know, whatever. Whatever is easiest for him

Okay, more comfortable for him whatever he likes better, okay. I don't care about people's hair. No I mean, what do you think of this lady? I don't know man. Whatever they like you're just easygoing Yeah To be on the same card as you're a good time your longtime and good friend Mike Malott And and you know like we've seen this before with Patti Pimblett and Molly, where the two teammates kind of feed off of each other. Do you guys talk about that?

Like, hey, I'm gonna start, I'm gonna set the table and then you're gonna come, you're gonna feed off my energy. Do you think of that? Or is that putting too much pressure on yourself? No, I feel like Mikey and I, we just like feed off each other naturally. We don't talk about it beforehand. We don't like, you know, he is in camp doing his thing.

I'm in camp doing my thing. We always kind of like, you know, feel like we're in the trenches together. And we're like at the, those hard days, we'll kind of look at each other and make those eyes like we're this together brother, you know, like that kind of look at each other and make those eyes like we're this together brother like that kind of thing but I uh I think it just like we see each other day to day in the grind so we know what it what it took to get to that point so it's like seeing Mike get that finish it's like I know what he went through in order to be able to get that finish and then seeing him like fulfill his goal. It just is like awesome for me. He's such a great dude. He's a great person. He's so talented. He's so technical and like just

a wealth of knowledge. I always ask him questions and like, you know, it's just he embodies MMA like makes martial artists he's he's like a very good like martial artist and what a great ambassador for the sport and for Canada as well and it was amazing to see his emotion afterwards he was very emotional after that win but to see the two of you doing this like I I talk a lot about you know the state of Canadian MMA and the glory days and GSP and Rory and all that stuff. On Saturday, I feel like, okay, we got to see it. Like there is a new wave, there is a new crop and it's led by you two.

Yeah, and we got so many guys coming up in the gym. Like I feel like MMA has like really grown and like Niagara is just a hotbed right now. Like we got to, our Monday practices are insane. There's like 35, 40 people on the mat from all over kind of within two hour driving distance of Niagara Top Team. And it's like, I don't know, we got a really special thing going on right now.

Yeah, it's great. It almost feels like Niagara Top Team has become what TriStar was a few years ago, where that is the hub for Canadian MMA. And not to take any knocks on TriStar or anything like that, but it just seems like you guys have emerged as the top team in Canada, which is remarkable and something to be very proud of. Can you clear something up for us? Is it in fact true that you are not gonna get married until you win the UFC belt or fight for the UFC belt? Is this happening and are you willing to wait if it requires a year, a year and a half, are you willing to wait that long?

Yeah, I'm willing to wait. Like, you know, I understand that right now I like athletically have a short window. It's not like I'm a 20 year old little spring chicken. I understand that my window is short and afterwards I can get married. And like I want to like have a fun wedding. I wanna actually like plan a fun wedding

and enjoy doing the process instead of like scrambling to do it in between a camp. You know what I mean? That's not enjoyable. I don't think it's like I need to get married right now. I have a goal in mind. I have this focus on becoming number one in the world. I know that Chris, he's along for the ride. Like it's like, let's conquer this

and then we'll do that afterwards. I'm happy to hear that because I was getting a little nervous. I didn't receive the save the date in the mail and I was starting to think that I was on the out. So this lets me know you haven't sent them out yet. Okay, I was nervous about that. By the way, does your fiance feel the same as you?

Or is he saying like, hey, can we hurry up? No, no, he feels the same. Like, you know, we've got an important goal in mind right now and that, yeah, he's awesome. Realistically, if you could plan it out, when are you fighting for the belt? When do you think you'll get that shot? When do you think you'll get that shot?

Realistically, I would say like within a year. Yeah, this time next year I feel like, right? Yeah, headline in Toronto. Yeah, oh, I like that. Put it into existence, manifest it, as they say. That's what I'm saying. By the way, where are you right now? Are you in Quebec or Ontario? I'm in Ontario.

We're thinking about driving through the States, like through Vermont on the way home to, I guess my sister and her boyfriend looked up a nice little road. I'm just kind of like along for the ride enjoying it. This is the best, right? You just get to like sit back, relax, the pressure's off. I know you've told us before, you like to take the week off,

you like to chill, so this is all part of that, right? Exactly, yeah. I'm just like along for the ride. Jazz, what do you want? I don't know, you guys decide. Whatever, I'm just here. That's great. Any jumping into lakes during this road trip?

Maybe, I mean, it's definitely warm enough and we pass by a nice enough lake, I'll definitely hop in. I love it, well I'll let you get back to your road trip. Thank you so much for stopping by Jasmine, so happy for you. We still represent you all the time. We do not boo you, we have the cup right here,

we wear the merch and we have your name at the ready in case anyone screws up I don't screw it up anymore. But in case anyone else screws it up, we have to remind them So way to make Canada proud congrats and enjoy the the time off now. Enjoy everything that comes with the big win Thank you so much. It's such a pleasure always speaking. Thank you. There she is. The number sixth ranked women's flyweight contender. The one and only Jasmine. Jazz Divisius. You know what I love about that? After the win.

I love me saying goodbye to her before you having me hit the drop. Oh, sorry. Yeah. What do you love, man? No, after the win, everyone was like, hit the drop, Frankie, on Twitter. People were saying that.

Yeah, that was pretty cool. Yeah Yeah Wow, okay Frank. Sorry. I didn't know that don't rattle the cage man. Did you did you guys? Did you guys hear when I did the? The thing yeah, that was that was funny the was the same today My my invitation yeah, we get a picture of your... Pop back here for it. Of your refrigerator at home, is it just covered in Save the Dates from years ago?

No, no one actually sends them, that's the problem. I don't get invited to anything. You don't get invited to anything? Mm-mm. How about like birthday celebrations? Nothing. We're saying celebration instead of party? My Save the Dates dates on your fridge uh

That one I don't know if you actually said to save the date was it a was it a paperless? But now you did I remember it wasn't a paperless post right I do paperless post You like paperless post It's old school it is I mean you know gotta You know, gotta respect the earth, you know? You don't need all the extra paper. Yeah. Breaking the fourth wall, Frank's having a birthday party. Oh, is he?

When is it? By the way, birthday party. Celebration? Little old for me. Extravaganza. Well, we're going to the ballet. It's gonna be great. 39?

39. 39, is that true? You think you could be there? Yes, that's true. Wow. Okay, so then I actually feel less bad. 39 is not an important one. Next year, I'll be there. We've known each other for quite a few years now. You've never attended one.

That's not true. I remember having cake in your honor upstairs at Vox. Listen, Frank, we don't have time to dilly dally and argue about these, well, they're important matters to you, but not to the outer world, because we are in the presence of greatness. Behind that door in front of me right now is the brand spanking new reigning, defending UFC welterweight champion. Oh, my ear thingy just screwed up.

I don't know what happened there, but I'm gonna take these off. Why? Because he is the man known as Giacomo. He's the man known as Don Giacomo. He's the man known as Don Giacomo He's a man known as JDM as Jack della. Maddalena. He's the pride of Perth. He's the brand new champion Hey Tim, how are you? Hello everyone. No belt? It's outside. Tim promised me the belt right here. Tim.

It's great to see you. I should have brought it. How are you sir? Yeah, good. This is incredible. I can't believe you're in front of us right now. It's cool to be in New York. Yes.

And I think this is the first time we've ever met in person. Yeah, it is. You usually come on the show like at four in the morning when you're feeding the baby or something. You're the UFC welterweight champion, Jack. I know, it's surreal. Has it sunk in? No, not really.

I mean, in a way I feel like it has, but not really. I don't know. It's just been a, yeah, it was a cool, I thought I was gonna beat him and I got him. You freaking did it. Yeah. What has life been like for you since Saturday? Oh, it's been good.

A lot of the friends came over from Perth. It was a long journey for them, so they're pretty excited. Some family came over, so I've just been seeing them. Monday we got here. Some of the friends came here, so we've just been enjoying. We love Montreal. You know, it's my hometown. Yeah.

That's where I'm from, born and raised. How did it treat you and your family? It was beautiful. It's like, yeah, it's a great city. Great city. Have you ever been to Canada prior to this? Never. I went to Montreal at the start

of when the flight was initially announced, but I was only there for 40 hours. Sure, sure. But it's an awesome city. Yeah, we just, I mean, we just stuck to ourselves. We had a cool little place in old Montreal. Love it. Just went training, cruised around basically.

I heard you were a big fan of Schwartz's. Yeah. That's the spot. Yeah, I've been there. I loved it. I was like, wow, you guys are back for round two, round three? Did you have the smoked meat sandwich?

Yeah. You had the steak and the smoked meat? Yeah. What did you like better? Because the smoked meat is like the real staple. The smoked meat is good. I even had the chicken. The half chicken as well.

Really, I never had that. It was good. Have you ever tried meat like that? The smoked meat is good. I even had the chicken. The half chicken as well. Really? I never had that. Have you ever tried meat like that? The smoked meat is very like Montreal. Yeah, pretty unique. I've had like a traditional sort of American barbecue smoked meat. Yeah, this is different. Very tender. Yeah, it was awesome. And what about the French? How did you get around with all of that? Yeah, I don't know any French, but guess everyone started French but then they I think everyone we goes back and forth Yeah, that place will now forever be special in your heart Yeah, that's right

Right and I felt when I first got that was that this place is special already Wow, and I was like, this is the place man, what a fight what a freaking fight what a performance and It's you know it's it's an amazing thing because I went on this mini rant yesterday about the performance and about the fight because one thing that has bothered me in the aftermath is Is the sort of like analysis and narrative about you and Bilal? Because I feel like a lot of people are saying Bilal didn't shoot enough He didn't he didn't try to take you down enough. But when you actually look at the stats, nine takedown attempts, he landed three more

on the backend, but historically that kind of falls in line with his highs. Like his most takedowns were 13 and prior to that it was 10, nine. It's in that range. And I feel like when people say that they're not giving you enough credit. Yeah.

It's not like he can just waltz in there and take you down. You are long, you are strong. You have great takedown defense and great scrambling. This idea that he was just gonna walk in there and go to you is very disrespectful to you, I feel like. And I don't know if you've seen any of this and any of this has annoyed you at all,

because it kind of annoyed me, because I was thinking that a lot of smart people sort of misread the way this fight actually played out. Yeah, I haven't really looked into it too much, but yeah, I think, yeah, I've seen a couple of things like that, but I think it was, I think I just stopped him. We worked towards a game plan to not let him take me down. Stayed off the fence.

I think if I had have stayed on the fence, it would be easy for him to actually take downs. Kept changing stances and just kept the footwork up. So I think he was, and I was throwing threats up the middle to like, Oh, teeps. Yeah. You were throwing a ton of combinations his way.

Like you gave him no opportunity to close the distance to get in close on you. And even when he got you down those couple of times, you were up. Was that all Craig Jones, by the way? I mean, it's a, I mean, yeah, he's taking on, no, he's a, he helped me a lot. He's a smart guy and he was all, all,

yeah, he helped us a lot. Just, he didn't come in and want me to change my whole style but he just watched me grapple and just told me where, what I, what he thinks I'm good at. And then we, he obviously tweaked some stuff, gave us a couple of stuff to work on. But yeah, just the beginning working with Craig as well. so we'll keep working. This was the first time? No, I've worked with probably maybe three or four separate occasions. Okay, first

time he corners you? Yeah. Yeah and you liked it? Yeah it was great I had the the OG corners and then obviously been a main event championship we had the plus one so we thought he was a great man for the job it's not like he's a yeah he's been a main event championship. We had the plus one, so we thought he was a great man for the job, it's not like he's a, yeah, he's been in the corner before, so it wasn't new for him, and he's helped us out a lot. So it was a good corner. Did you feel like Bilal respected you, or did you think that he was looking past you?

I think he respected me, to be honest. I think he knew what he was in for. I think he knew what he was in for. I think he knew he was in for a tough fight. That's what I was getting the feeling of. But yeah, I thought he knew he was in for a tough fight. Just because sometimes people say something and you don't know if they're just selling the fight, sucking themselves up, or if they're thinking down the line,

there's some other big fights out there. And the circumstances in which you got this fight, very unique, right? Obviously, you're supposed to fight Leon, Shevka gets hurt, you get pushed. And so I wasn't sure if the vibe that you got from him was like, oh, you're not a number one. You didn't have to struggle like I did. You're not a number one contender. I mean, that's what he was saying. He was saying that a lot. But then when I feel like I guess all the talk it seemed like I felt like

he was overlooking me but then I feel every time leading into the fight when we were face to face I feel like he knew he was in for a tough fight that's just what I got the vibe the vibe of but yeah I believed in myself and the team did so I went for it. Was there anything that surprised you about him? No, not really, to be honest. I knew he was tough. I knew he was going to be, his normal go-to is to push the pace, try and push his opponent up against the case.

So we sort of just knew we would have to meet him in the center or just use good footwork. So not surprising. He was tough. I knew he was going to be hard to finish. Takes a good punch, right? Takes a good punch. He isn't the most powerful guy, So not surprising, he was tough. I knew it was going to be hard to finish. Takes a good punch, right? Takes a good punch.

He's the most powerful guy, but he landed some good shots, which we were expecting because he normally throws a high output. But yeah, not too much. He was tough. I was trying to finish him in the end. I was really trying to get him out of there. I was hoping throughout the whole camp, even,

I loved the idea of a late finish deep in the fire because it's just a it just feels nice to exert yourself and get the finish. Yeah like Leon and Camaro. Yeah right. When I fought Gilbert just in that time whereas it was all on the line I was in Maya Blue getting that late finish was a cool feeling so I was sort of working towards that, but it was tough. The clip that has gone viral of your coach Ben Vickers talking to you going into the fifth round. What did he say? Ping the cunt? Keep pinging the cunt. Keep pinging the cunt. You got to put that, I mean, I think I've seen some talk,

I actually was Street X. Keep pinging the cunt. There it is. There it is right there. Incredible. Someone DM'd Street X and said to put it on a t-shirt. Have you seen this? to put it on a t-shirt. Have you seen this? Yeah, I think the t-shirts. They're making it. There it is.

This young man, Daniel Bradshaw. Brother, we need a Coach Vickers keep pinging the cunt tea, surely. It's coming. Look at this. The design's out. Wow. Yeah, it's cool.

It was just a good moment. Vince, the perfect corner, you know, he always tells me, he's so genuine with me, so he knows how I'm feeling. And whenever I watch that clip, it gives me goosebumps. It's legendary because there's such a range of emotions. Like he's telling you to do that. He's also telling you five minutes from, you know, realizing your dream, stay safe. He sounds like a father in there talking to his son, like, you're right there. That motivates you in the moment?

Yeah, 100%, 100%. Especially, I feel like I was getting a bit excited. You could feel it coming. I was getting excited to have, I think he could tell, so he was just saying, like, keep us safe, don't do anything silly. But then also, keep pinging the cunt, take him out. I saw a video afterwards, I think he was talking to DC

where he said 10 years ago he told someone that you would be champion. Yeah. Did he tell you this? Yeah, yeah. Like he always instilled that in you? Yeah, he always instilled it with me. We were talking about I always believed I could be a champion but he always believed he could coach a world champion you know so I feel like we just met each other and I feel like we're both just carried. We both really have helped each other get to this point. I wouldn't be here without him and obviously he wouldn't be here if we hadn't found the guy. But I'm sure he's got more coming as well.

When did you first start working with him? When I was 16, the first gym I walked into. So he's been with you from the beginning? Yeah, me and my brother were looking around for gyms. I was sick. I was probably 15 my brother 17 we're looking for gyms and we found scrappy went in there me my brother went in and Ben was doing just the intro course It was a free we did 30 minutes of grappling 30 minutes of striking and we were hooked to that point What's amazing about that is obviously now hearing? oh, I believed in him 10 years ago, I thought he'd be champion, it's a great story,

but you lost your first two fights. Yeah. Was he even telling you back then, don't sweat it, it's all gonna work out? Yeah, I lost my first fight, the second fight, after that I lost the second fight, he pretty much said to me, like, let's just, you're better than this,

this is just a learning curve basically. And he just said, we basically made the deal that we'd get to 10 and two. I was oh and two and then we made the deal, we'd get to 10 and two so. And then what? And then at that point we'd 20 and two is the next goal. In case you kept like putting markers.

Yep, but 10 and two was the first real big goal and then when we got there we were one contender series, 10 and two, and then we basically said, yeah, we'll get to 20 and two and then reassess. So just knocking them off one at a time. And right now I think you're 18 and two? Yeah. Wow, so you're almost there.

Yeah. So did you believe like he believed? Or after that second loss, were you starting to doubt like, hey, maybe this isn't for me? I mean, after the second, I wasn't thinking after that second loss I'm gonna be a world champion it was more just I still loved the sport I loved training loved to compete so I just stayed in there and then he was really he had high hopes for

me so he just sort of didn't really give me time in a way just pushed me into fights basically just said let's go like another fight. We'd made the deal. So I just, just head down. Yeah, just head down. Just kept training and just knocked one fight off at a time. So your confidence didn't waver? No, I mean, I had doubts at that point, but I also believed I was a lot better than like 0-2. And I knew I could, I knew I had more to give. And I'd learned so much from both the losses, so I felt like I was on fire. Going into my third fight, I felt like I was on fire.

What did that one feel like when you got the first one? Yeah, I think that was an important one. Yeah. Like if I'd have lost that one, I probably would have, I guess. You think so? Yeah. Man, imagine.

I think losing 0-1-3, I would struggle to, but it doesn't matter, yeah. just went in there with a fire and getting that one, getting that one in, getting in the wind books for that one was, yeah, I was on fire then. And then that, I guess, at that point I had sky high confidence and then we just kept at it. Maybe a silly question, but which one felt better, Saturday's win or that first one? I mean, of course, this Saturday's win was special, you know, it was, it was a special one. And great to see your brother there by your side, because as, as I understand your dad kind of, your dad was a big sports fan, rugby fan, but really kind of backed you guys on this journey to be fighters,

gave you gloves, but initially it was boxing, right? Yeah. He sort of got us into, but we were, we played rugby. We were pretty aggressive kids, you know, and like had a lot of energy. And so he's good. He like, we love playing rugby, but in the off season, we needed something to do. So he sort of just got us into founded boxing gym for us. Just to, uh, stay fit, do, do something different.

And then, yeah, we just, from that first time getting into a boxing gym, it was just really for us. We just loved it. Why didn't you stick with boxing? Because even before we got into the boxing gym, we were both MMA fans. We watched a lot of MMA, but there wasn't many gyms around. And then we sort of got into the boxing gym.

But I liked MMA. I just liked the, I don't know, there was something about the visual of like the no rules sort of go into the boxing gym but I liked MMA. I just liked it. I don't know there was something about the visual of like the no rules sort of aspect and it was more free flow than a boxing match. Also a lot of similarities to degree with rugby right? It's a lot more physical grabbing guys on. Yeah for sure. Were you a good rugby player? Like could you have gone? Oh I mean I don't know. I loved rugby. I was pretty decent, but I probably know it takes. Yeah.

It's a pretty, I mean, if I had to put, I feel like if I had to put my mind to it and really committed to it, I think I could have, could have played for a bit longer, you know, but I just, my love for rugby just swapped to MMA pretty quickly. Okay. Your grandfather was a big WWE fan, right? Yeah. He kind of got you into that. Yeah.

You were a huge fan. Yeah. I loved it a big WWE fan, right? Yeah. He kind of got you into that. Yeah. And you were a huge fan. Yeah, I loved it. Which era are we talking about? I'll probably, I recognize when I, in 2008, I started enjoying MMA more. So I don't know who that was, but I liked Shawn Michaels. That was your guy?

Yeah. I hated Shawn Michaels because my guy was Bret Hart. Yeah. That man right over there. Shawn was your guy? Yeah, like. I hated Shawn Michaels. Because my guy was Bret Hart. That man right over there. And Shawn was his rival, you know? I found the um. The screw job. In that building. I told Tim this.

Didn't realize that until after. Ryan, my other corner man, big WWE fan. Okay. Do you watch now? A little bit, a little bit. Not too much. Some of the big, now that's on, it's easy to watch.

Yeah, on Netflix. Some of the bigger, the bigger. Did you ever go as a kid? Did it ever come? Never, but they come in a Perth, they're doing a Friday night SmackDown, Crown Jewel, and then a Monday night Raw. Yes, yes, yes. Like a three, three.

You're gonna be there, front and center? I was gonna go, yeah. You're gonna roll out the red carpet for you there. Yeah, I mean, a ringside seat would be, that'd be the way to watch it. Yeah, hell yeah. That'd be pretty special. When you. Yeah, hell yeah. Pretty special. When you were a kid, did you want to be a wrestler?

I think when I was really young, I was like, yeah, I'd love to, yeah. When I was, I was probably started watching when I was like five. Wow. Five to 10, I reckon. And I was, yeah, I'd love to have been a wrestler. But then rugby and then you found out

about this thing, MMA. Yeah, and then I saw MMA and then I sort of couldn't, I just enjoyed watching MMA more. And then the WIS, when I realized it was, I don't know, I just liked MMA. Yeah. And then playing rugby. Who were some of your guys in MMA? Like who did you look up to when you were coming up? Oh heaps.

I liked, first I liked Van Dijk Silva and Anderson Silva. They were sort of, I liked those guys. I liked watching Nick Diaz, I always enjoyed his style. I think it's pretty unique and cool. But heaps of, I liked Carlos Condit. He was also one that I really enjoyed. I love this. Some legendary welterweights.

Yeah. But yeah, I liked it. I was a fan of the sport. I liked it. Oh Condit fought GSP for the belt in that same building. Yeah, that's right. Yeah and and Diaz. Yeah, I just did you meet GSP Yeah, he react funnily enough right before pretty much out maybe 10 minutes before walking out He came into the changing room and got changed and wow. Yeah the same one that you were in Yeah, after his hobbies fight. Yeah. Did he say anything to you? He was real respectful but then we yeah we just said he just wished me luck. That's kind of wild like that's the house that he built the most famous welterweight champion. In fact I believe

now you're the youngest welterweight champion since he won the belt back in and I think it was 2008. Yeah that's right. Which is crazy. Yeah, crazy. Yeah, my coach sort of looked at that and then he didn't tell me until after, but he just looked at it like GSP just passed the torch. Yes. Does that stuff get to you?

You're so like calm, cool, and collected. It doesn't feel like you get too high or too low with anything. Yeah, like the sport, I mean, the belt doesn't really mean too much. It's all about the fights, I feel. The belt doesn't mean sport. I mean the belt doesn't really mean too much. Okay. It's all about the fights. I feel The belt doesn't mean anything. I mean, it's obviously whoever I beat the guy that had it But there's a lot of guys that can anyone can win on any given night

I think I can I think I can do I think I can beat a lot of the top contenders. I back myself And now it's time to start. Yeah knocking them off Did you feel like because it had been so long in between fights for you that people forgot how good you were going into this fight? Yeah, I think I was pretty underestimated. Yeah people thought I think everybody counted me out For the most part I believe or not counting me out But just if most people said below definitely win and I was kind of annoying me because I just thought I feel like I was better than Okay, so you listen to that stuff you pay attention And I was kind of annoying me because I just thought I feel like I was better than you know, okay So you listen to that stuff you pay attention? No, I try not to too much but it gets it crosses your radar sometimes. Yeah, who annoyed you the most anyone?

I know no one in particular just like the chatter. Yeah, just I Guess anyone that said he was gonna win kind of yeah, I could say that but I guess that's just the competitive But not ideal to have such a long layoff in between fights. Yeah, not ideal. But you did say, I saw in the press conference, you said there was a silver lining where it allowed you to not get beat up, focus on certain things.

And so this idea of cage rest really wasn't a thing for you. Were you worried about it? No, I wasn't worried about it. Yeah, I looked at it like it was, yeah, blessing in disguise pretty much, I felt. Because it just, time off, rest the body, rebuild the hunger, you know, just for, yeah, and then work on specific stuff that you,

rather than just focusing on one particular game plan, but just working on skills across the board. Imagine someone telling you as you're walking out of the cage after the Gilbert Burns fight that your next fight would have been for the belt and you become UFC champion right? Yeah. You'd be like what the hell? What the hell is gonna happen here? Right? In the end four surgeries right? Yeah it was four surgeries. Yeah pretty just crazy. The photos are gruesome. The surgeries, especially on your arm,

is there ever a point where you're worried, you're nervous about never getting back to 100%? A little, yeah, there was sometimes. Sometimes it was just a matter of, like there wasn't really specific answers. It was more just the doctor just said, let's watch the bone and if it doesn't heal, then it will probably just start to disintegrate.

And like here and that I was like, oh my God. And it was just a matter, I was on antibiotics and it was just a matter of time, just waiting, just like watching the bone grow, you know, like every two weeks getting an X-ray and just watching it and just thinking, is that looking better? But we got there eventually. But there was time, even my daughter was being born in July you know and I was having a surgery probably two

months before that's even just like hoping when she was born just being able to like pick her up would be yeah was yeah that was sort of my goal at that point I saw by the way shout out out the new YouTube channel. I've enjoyed it. Well done. There's a, there's a video out there where you, and here it is. So anyone out there watching right now, please do subscribe. That second one, training with a broken arm is fascinating because you've got like, you've got the

thing on and you're, you're there with your brother training, you're doing light sparring and things like that. And he's saying he's trying not to hit you, but he did mention like, just mentally being able to do that was huge for you because I could imagine there was a period where you couldn't do anything.

How did that affect you as an athlete? It was tough, yeah. Cause I don't, yeah, I guess it's my full-time job, you know? And if I'm not getting better, then I'm just, I feel like I was just falling behind. So just sitting on the couch sort of sucked. Could you even run? Could you do any sort of physical? For a little bit, I couldn't.

For a while, they gave me this, like, antibiotic drip. So it was just like on me all the time. I couldn't really get too sweaty because it was just like, it was fully in my... Yeah, so I couldn't get too sweaty. So it was a bit, it did drive me a bit crazy. But then again, it was also a blessing, you know, just forced rest. How does it feel now? After your first fight since?

Yeah, fine, really. It feels pretty fine. My hands are a bit bruised, but feeling pretty good. Yeah. But apart from that, I feel pretty. And your face is all right? Yeah, fine. It was a little swollen on Saturday. Yeah. You've recovered tremendously. Fast.

Yeah. The eye blew up a bit, but it was, yeah, it's getting better. So I don't know, structural damage. Amazing. One thing that I saw in the other clip, which I think you entitled it or someone on your team entitled it, like, how to beat Bilal or something like that, which is a great title. Your coach, again, Ben, is just sort of like talking about things and very casually he's sort of talking about Balal and he's like, yeah, well, you know, when he wasn't on PEDs and now he's on the Roys or something like that,

and he just sort of drops that. The comments noticed it. Yeah, right. Is that something that you believe that he got better because he was on steroids? No, I don't really look into that sort of stuff to be fair. Okay. You know what I'm talking about, right? Yeah, I don't know. I haven't really thought too much about it.

It didn't bother me if he is, you know. Okay. You didn't feel like you were going in there with a sort of unfair? No, no. I feel like I can beat him on if he... I have no accusations towards him, but I feel like I can beat him if he's on the steroids or without them. Do you think that he deserves more respect from the community? You know, like some people like to take shots at him, like he's the worst champion. Is that unfair in your opinion? I think so because he's done well, you know. Obviously he has heaps of finishes, but he's a winner, you know. It's hard to... Yeah yeah from my perspective and I respect all my

competitors and then anyone that steps in there then if you become a champion I feel like you should give them respect. Yeah, has your respect for him grown? No, no I had a lot of respect. You always had. Yeah I always had respect for him so I haven't got anymore. Obviously you go in there you've shared that with him but like yeah I thought it didn't really surprise me at all. So yeah, I still got full respect for him. You have two children, right? Yeah. Did any of them come with you? Yeah, both of them came. Yeah, yeah, just out. Yeah. They're here. Yeah. Oh, wow. Lovely. They came on that flight. Yeah. How long is that journey? It's a bit, it's,

I think the quickest you could do it. It's probably 30 hours I think you do in about 25 hours. How many stops is that from Perth to my you can go Perth? Doha Montreal, so just one stop but there to there that 12-hour back-to-back flights Or you can go. Yeah, or you can do the three stops and and and they're quite young How were they on the plane? Did you fly with them? I did fly with them. My mom came and my wife, they did a unit. But they were a bit nervous about Franco, my young boy. He's two and a half. A lot of energy. A lot of energy. But we tried to keep him off the movies and so he was pretty, I

think he just loved it. He just sat there the whole time watching movies. Wow, wow, wow. So he hit a ball I think. And once they got to Montreal did you sleep separate or do you like to be around the family? We slept separate. They had a couple of friends, my family and some friends basically had a house and then we had the training, the team house. Okay, okay. We just stayed separate just so we just focus on the battle. I can't imagine what it's gonna be like when you go home. You're the first Perth champion in UFC history. A product of Perth. What type of like feedback have you gotten from back home? Do you feel like they're gonna come greet you at the airport? Is there gonna be a parade? You don't want any of this.

Maybe not the airport. I'm excited to take the boat to the gym and then just slowly see everyone. But yeah, I don't need to be... You don't want any of that? I don't know. So what brings you to New York? Are you doing... Just a bit of fun.

No, why not? Had you ever been here before? Never. Never been to New York? Holy smokes. Yeah, and it's always been on the bucket list, so... You're so close. Yeah, it was like, we'll get over here. We're only so close. Yeah, I was like we'll get over it get over here

We're only here until Friday. So only a couple of days, but yeah What do you think so far? I love it. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's bustling. Yes. We went for a big walk We see what yeah a lot of stuff to go see but it's an awesome city Have you had any food yet? Any anything any pizza? We went had a good haven't had any we are Had any food yet? Any pizza? We had a good, we haven't had any, we're thinking about getting some pizza after this. We have to get the pizza downtown. Yeah.

Yeah, we'll tell you some spots. Although you are Italian, you have Italian blood. Yeah. So you might be a little bit, I don't know. I'm sure it's pretty good. I'm sure it's good. What about the pies? Any meat pies here? No, I don't think so.

I don't think so. Why would you come here to have the meat pies? Someone told me, by the way, I kind of blew this when you came in. They said that when you walked in, I had to say, welcome Jack Della Maddalena, handshake, the welterweight champ fucking oath cunt. Fucking oath.

What does fucking oath mean? It means just like, yeah, fucking oath. It just means like, yeah, yeah, right. Is that something you say in Perth? It's pretty common in Perth, fucking oath. In your blog, like at the It just means like, yeah, yeah. Is that something you say in Perth? It's pretty common in Perth, fucking no. In your blog, like at the end of every sentence, you say, I, A. What is that? That's just some bad Aussie slatter, no.

It's like, Canadians say that as well. We say A like as a question. Yeah, right. You going to the park later, A? Like something like that. Dad always tries to get me to stop saying that. Hey, is that a good look? I think what people, if you don't mind me saying what they like and respect about you so much

is that you are very sort of no frills. Like you're working class. Like you don't try to put on a show. You don't talk trash. You don't puff your chest out. You just are who you are. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not trying to like, I was even even like I feel like a lot of people in this game really want to be like superstars you know I guess obviously you've seen Connor and they

just obviously all the money and stuff they're just keen on that but I like the the art of fighting you don't want to be a celebrity not really I just like are you gonna deal with all this though because the belt brings that I just stay hidden you're just gonna stay away all the this though? Because the belt brings that. I'm just gonna stay hidden. You're just gonna stay away, all the way tucked away in Perth. Yeah, that's it, stay in Perth. You know New York, I have this written down right here,

I wanna get it right, Perth is the furthest city in the world from New York. Did you know that? It makes sense. You couldn't be any further from home right now. Yeah, I think it's also the most isolated city in the world in terms of this, because that's right. There's not many cities around Perth.

You like that. It kind of fits with your personality. Yeah, that's it. But it's a nice spot. It's just nice beaches, good people. Quiet. I mean, it's definitely, yeah, it's a long way to, all the fights are normally this side.

So it's a long way to travel, but I don't mind the travel when you saw and I don't know if you did But maybe you did the the Volkanovsky clips reacting to you is he reacting to winning them watching you and reacting Did you see any of those? I said yeah, I've seen folks one. I've seen both of those ones Yeah, just to see like sort of these legends. Yeah, that's a happy for you. Yeah, it's a Surreal yeah, you know those moments. I sort of just gonna pinch myself but yeah, I guess that's it I believed in myself to get here, so I guess you just got to uh Take it all in what a time for Australian MMA back-to-back shows a new champion. Yeah Volkwin's last month Yeah, massive. It's crazy. Yeah massive. I don't think we've I don't know if Robin

Volk with champions at the same time, but it might be the first time we've got two. Oh, yeah current champs. Yeah pretty Yeah, it's awesome for a pretty small nation That's why I think you're gonna you're gonna get a lot of attention. I tell you now that it's yeah. No, it's good I appreciate I appreciate the fans Yeah, are you getting a ton of love? Yep. You're feeling it? Yeah, feeling it.

I think that it was a good fight. A lot of people, I guess a lot of people, yeah, didn't think I would win, but then, bring the fight, and had a pretty good fight. I think I feel like I won. I feel like watching it back, I won every round. Oh, you think you won five rounds to none?

That's what I, I think the fourth round, you could give it. Yeah, that's how I had it. Either way, but I think maybe if you, if anyone watches it back, I won every round. Oh, you think you won five rounds to none? That's what I think the fourth round you could give it. Yeah, that's how I had it. Either way, but I think maybe if you, if anyone watches it back, I think I won five. I think you could argue that I won every round. How many times have you watched it? Probably maybe three times. Okay, start to finish.

Yeah, start to finish, maybe three times. Very enjoyable. Yeah, I enjoyed it. Yeah. It was good. Some stuff I could have done better but... Like what? I think I could have pulled the trigger a couple, there was a few times I could have pulled the trigger. Maybe in the fifth round, probably shouldn't have got, went to my back later in the round, went to my back, probably should have just tried to get

away from him. Okay. But that's what I have next time. Did any part of you revel in the idea of like, hey, you beating him screws up all the plans with Islam and Ilya, like you could be the one that changes all of this. Do you think about that at all? I did, yeah, I did see that a bit and I thought that was a, I was pretty stoked to shake it up a little bit. Yeah. So yeah, I felt like I had to win.

I felt like there were so many doubters and people saying that, I felt like it was just inevitable that I was gonna win after hearing that stuff. I know you're focusing on the win and everything that comes with it, but I'd be remiss if I don't ask you about what's next. That's always part of the story as well. Yep.

He tweets about you right off the jump, like right away, Islam does, right? He tweeted this, time to become double champion, inshallah, let's go. And then what I thought was really interesting was two minutes later, then he tweeted to his friend Bilal saying like, keep your head up. So maybe he was happy that his friend lost, I don't know, but it's clear he wants to move up. And so what do you think? Do you think that this is inevitable that, that he is going to be next? Is that what you're feeling?

Um, I would leave, I would just leave it with the UFC, but I think, I reckon, I think if he's, yeah, I think that was a lot was riding on it and I think. You'd give his line the shot. That's what I think the UFC will do, but I don't know at this point, but I would think they will give him the shot. That's what I think the UFC will do. But I don't know at this point, but I would think they will give him the shot. I liked what you said saying that you'll get it done for Volk. I liked that unity.

He was then coming back and saying like, keep my belt clean and you're not on his level. What do you, do you think he believes this? Here's some of it. You are not Volk. I will show you a different level. Keep my belt clean. Do you think he respects you?

What do you think? I don't know, I reckon he's gonna underestimate me as well. You like that though? Yeah, I like it, yeah, for sure. But it doesn't really matter what he thinks, we're gonna fight. I'm excited.

Do you think that he will fight Ilya first and then fight you or do you think that now he goes straight to you? I don't know. I actually don't know but I think Yeah, I don't know. We'll see what happens, but I'm ready. I'm ready for the challenge, but there's also the welterweight division There's a lot of good challenges as well. So it's uh, it's crazy how the the welterweight division sort of Kind of opened up a lot now. There's a lot of challenges and now you're also have Makachev going to wanting to step up so yeah big decisions to be made by the big dogs. I actually feel like it's the most interesting division all of a sudden in

the UFC. Yeah. Because you've got him entering pound for pound number one arguably in most people's eyes including my own. Ian Gary's out there, Sean Brady's out there, Buckley's fighting Usman next month like all of a sudden. Shavkat's always Shavkat, golly. Yeah. Sometimes forget about him. Yeah. I don't know where he is. I mean, that's the fight.

I've been gunning for that fight for a long time. You were saying, if you go to the, if people watch the end and here's Shafkat showing you some love, it was a great performance after a long layover. You know I'm the real challenge at 170. Sooner or later, my time will come. His time will come.

I think it's a great fight. I've always respected him and believed I could beat him. Know I will beat him and it's gonna be a good fight. So realistically, if Islam is next and not looking past him in any way, shape or form, there's that sort of logjam of guys with Ian and Sean, Shavkat, Buckley, who do you think is one notch below? Uh, I think Shavkat.

Yeah. Or you mean after that? After, no, so like Islam would be next probably. I think that's how I see it. I think in terms of the run he's been on, finishes never lost. I think, I think some of the other guys need to fight it out. I think Gary and Brady should just fight it out. I agree.

I think before, after watching the Leon fight, I, you would have looked at Brady and thought he's definitely the next guy. But then Gary now he's back in the mix in a way. What'd you think of his win over Carlos? I mean, he got, yeah, he got, he scraped by, you know, okay. You thought, you know, he got, yeah, he got, he scraped by, you know, okay. You thought, you know, he did well. He won the, he definitely won the first four rounds. I'd imagine. But then,

yeah, he just, he, he got, yeah, no, he, he did well. Four rounds to one, but that last round wasn't looking good for him. Did you think he was going to win? I thought he was going to win. He's a, he's, I think he's a smart fighter. Smart fighter. What about Brady's went over Leon? Did you think he was going to win? I thought he was going to win. He's a, he's, I think he's a smart fighter. Smart fighter. What about Brady's win over Leon? Did you think he was going to win? You were preparing for, for Leon initially. Did you think Brady would get it done on short notice? I didn't know that was a tough, that was the one where I was like, who knows? It really depends what Leon shows up. Were you surprised it was that dominant? No, I wasn't actually. No, not too surprised.

I thought if the Leon that showed up against Ballard showed up, I thought Brady could dominate him. Yeah, that's kind of what we saw. Yeah, I think it's the same Leon showed up. How did you think your fight with Leon was going to go? I think I was going to do some good damage? I think I was gonna do some good damage. I thought I was gonna take him out. You thought you were gonna knock him out?

Obviously a different fight than the Brady fight. Different fight than the Brady fight, different than the Balal. Yeah, I think I could have, I think I could have outclassed him on the feet personally. I think he's too, he's very patient, but I think that patience could, I think I could outwork him and then get the finish. If, if Ian fights Sean, who do you think wins that one? That's a brilliant fight. A brilliant fight. I think, I don't know.

I think maybe, uh, Ian Gary might beat him. Yeah. I think so. I think, uh, Sean Brady's striking isn't amazing. You think Ian can keep him standing? I think if he had the right footwork, I think he could keep it standing. But I think if it does hit the ground, then my opinion would change pretty quickly. I think he'd be in a bit of trouble. So it's an interesting matchup.

Striker is grappler, I believe. Do you feel like people don't talk about your grappling enough? You're a black belt. I mean, they talk, I think a lot of people think I can't wrestle, which is fair. Yeah. Does that make you laugh? Yeah, I don't get to laugh. I feel like people talk about you like one of these strikers that has no ground game whatsoever. I think that before this fight, they were saying, yeah, this is going to be easy

because he hasn't zero ground game Yeah, I feel like I showed that I do have a ground game I was thinking the best case scenario of this fight would be if I could show no ground game and then that uh Oh for the Islam fight. Yeah, and then people steal but I'm sure people are just gonna assume that Islam will just take me down and submit me pretty quickly Do you think you'll be big enough for 170? would just take me down and submit me pretty quickly. Do you think he'll be big enough for 170? I think he's a pretty, he just seems like a pretty big guy. Yeah.

I think he'll be all right. Yeah, you think he'll stick around at 170 or do you think it's just? I think he'll be one fight and then he'll probably have to go back down. Because of how it'll go? Yeah. How do you see it playing out?

I think I'm gonna take him out. Take him out, I think. Balau really just walks, changes stances, a lot of walks forward. But I think if I can have someone that just stays in the same stance, and I don't think, Islam's a very good strategy. I think I could land a lot of shots,

and I think I could take him out. Wow. Stuff to take down. If I get taken down, I believe I can get back to my feet. Strong guy. Everyone talks about his strength. I was talking to Dustin about it. He said his strength was just next level. I'll go spend a bit of time with Bo. He can tell me the ins and outs. Will you train with him for this fight? If I was going to fight Islam? Yeah.

You go there a lot? I did before my last two fights. If I was gonna fight Islam, yeah, yeah, I would have to I'd you go there a lot I died did before my last two fights, okay, just Both times about a week week to ten days. It's real beneficial. They were a great team. Yeah And yeah, but especially obviously twice. Yeah, and he's a world multiple time world champion So did his win give you any extra motivation or a boost or some sort of like inspiration? Yeah definitely inspiring you know someone that lost about so many people counted him out and then he came in and got his belt back so yes super inspiring. He was the one or at least one of the people

that was predicting you would win. Yeah. He was saying this all over the place so yeah I mean it would have been weird if he picked a guy for being honest. That would have hurt my heart. That would have been not the nicest thing from a fellow Aussie. Realistically, obviously you need some time off, but when would you, I'm assuming you'd like to fight again this year, right?

Yeah, no, I feel pretty good. I probably just need a week to eat some good food and then feel, yeah yeah I feel pretty good so I'll be keen to get back in there pretty soon. Maybe like fall time, September October, November. Yeah definitely September yeah September I'd be good to go if something came up earlier August maybe if there's something good then. Wow that's quick that's in three months. I feel pretty good. You want to make up for lost time. Yeah. Yeah, I want to get the...

I think there's a lot of... The vision is to get moving. Yeah. And you want to be an active champion. Yeah. I think I get all the top guys right now. I truly believe I can beat them. So, line them up. I saw you mention to Dana on the phone

that you'd like to fight a some in Australia. That would be that'd be nice Do you think he accepts that I think he yeah, I think I don't know if the UFC would be doing that But I think he would accept it. Hmm. I mean he's been he's been there before And that yeah, but who knows that's his that's yeah, and like when you're walking around how big do you get? But oh not to it was a not too big try I think the whole pretty much the whole fire We'd probably sitting around 185 Okay, when they do you're pretty young in your career still there's never a time where you think you'll have to move up to 185 No, so this was the easiest. Yeah now the weight cuts seem to get easier.

I just try and stay at 185 leading into the fight and then just drop down and then just get back up to 185 pretty quickly. So I'll probably fight at 185, as in on the day of the fight, I'll probably weigh 185. So I just, which isn't that drastic of a cut. When you were hearing Balal talk about 185 or comparing himself to Canelo and all this stuff, how did you feel about that before the... I mean, I just thought that was a big mistake on his behalf, just overestimating me.

I just feel like in his head, he must've been thinking, oh, am I gonna, should I stand with him? I would imagine he'd be going back and forth and he said, like, should I stand with him or should I take him down? Do you think, you know, I said at the beginning of this chat that I think he wanted to take you down, he just couldn't.

Yeah. Do you think that is a fair assessment? I think so. Or do you think he tried to prove a point by standing with you willingly? No, I think I didn't give him the option to take me down. I feel like I was hitting him, hurting his legs, hurting his body, hurting his head.

And then I was always changing levels and I was always threatening with stuff up the middle. And I never stayed in front of him for too long. So I think he couldn't. I think at any point, if he could have taken me down, he would have definitely done it. Any truth to the rumor now that you are a champion, you're a big deal. You're going to go by Giacomo Delano.

You're going to go back to the original name. No, maybe we'll see. No, keep it. Keep it JDM. Yeah. I would just throw it for a legendary name. Yeah. And stock X I like that you're repping them.

No, not stock X street X. I always screw that up. You know why? Cause there's a stock X. I screw that up all the time. Did you see our guy? He was rocking the the StreetX shirt back there. I did. I missed it. Oh, you'll see after this one of our producers. He's always wearing your merch. Yesterday he was wearing another shirt and they made like a special championship edition. Yeah. These guys are great. Yeah,

Daniel. He's out here at the moment as well. He's in Montreal now. He's out in New York as well. There's a great shoe store. Are you a big shoe guy? I like shoes, yeah. There's a place called Flight Club right around the corner here. Yeah, I really check it out. All the like limited edition stuff. You should check it out. I wanted to, people associate you with Perth but we don't know a lot about Perth, so I wanted to ask you some Perth specific

questions if I can and you tell me if this is accurate or not. I'm told that the like the number one local beer is Emu Export. Yeah. Is that it? Yeah, that's it. There it is. Look at that. Yeah, that what does that taste like? A bushchuk. What is that? A bushchuk. Yes. It is a bushchuk. What does that mean? Well, an Emu is a bushchuk. I don't even know what that means there. You are enjoying one Look at that right in the hand. Yes visual evidence Chris Plaga Nothing better on than a hot on a hot day than a can you get any in the in the aftermath of this Montreal in New York? Yeah, I don't think so. What does it was to me. It's a kind of beer. I Mean, that's what you'd call a new export. Okay, because an emu, you know an emu, like it's an animal. It's like a bit, it's like an ostrich, like an Australian. It looks exactly like an ostrich, but it's a,

straight, it's an emu. Okay. So you call it, I guess it's a bush chook and a chook is a chicken. Okay, wow. There's a whole other language. Yeah. And what's bush? Okay, wow. There's a whole other language. What's bush? The bush. Just like the outdoors. Okay. So it's like a bush chick in there. Interesting. And that's what they call the beer? Yep.

You know in Montreal we have Molson, Le Bat, did you have any of those? I did have a couple. We had a couple of beers after the fight. Had to. I should have read the next line here. It's Bush being outback, Chook meaning pour down your,

this is from our friend, pour down your gob. Right. We have a friend that lives out there, Iman who was telling me a lot of these local things. He was telling me that Veebee long necks are big out there. Oh yeah. Victoria bitters. Victoria bitters.

That's a different type of beer. That's a different type. Yeah, that's a pretty Australian beer. Not as popular in Western Australia. Okay. You can see more bush chooks around. Are you more of a beer guy or a wine guy? I like wine.

I don't drink it. Because this is wine big over there in Western Australia. Yeah, you've got Margaret River, which is like a nice wine region. You love it. You know, like one Swan Valley Swan Valley. Yep. That's in WA Perth. Are you impressed with my knowledge? Yeah I was told that Margaret River is one of your favorite places to travel. Yeah, it's a nice spot So if 300 kilometers south of where we live pretty much over three hour drive, okay

300 kilometers south of where we live pretty much or a three-hour drive. Okay, just a nice beautiful Yeah, it's a nice really beautiful spot If one were to want to pick up maybe a VB or a bushchuk would they go to spud shed? Nah, they'd go to a bottle. Oh, oh, what is that? Like a bottle shop? Oh a bottle? Oh, but like spud shed is the supermarket Yes local market. Yeah, is there a guy named Tony G? Yeah. Whoever's. The potato man. You know this guy right here, this guy.

Who is this guy? He's the potato king of Perth. He's had it, yeah. Is he a real person? He is. He actually gets in the ring every now and then. What do you mean? Has a couple of boxing matches. Really? yeah, so he's like a local celebrity

Yeah, he owns the supermarket he owns the spudger and why you of them around and why is he the potato king? Cuz the spudger they say spud they sell yeah That's unbelievable and what about the the Demis? Demis, you know about the Dim Sum? Oh, Dim Sum. Yeah, I love Dim Sum. You call it Dimmies? No, I don't. Damn, I screwed that one up.

There's Bam Bam Boo, Fortune Five. No, you know any of these? No, I don't. Mrs. Chow's? Mrs. Chow's. Maybe you need to go to some of these places. Yeah, maybe. Perth is...

Are you more of a Frio or an Eagles guy? Frio. But you played rugby union, right? Yep. This is Aussie rules? Yeah, that's Aussie rules. What's the difference between union and Aussie rules? Rugby. Rugby union is rugby.

And what's Aussie rules? Footy. Football. It's like that's a different sport, yeah. Is it a different sport? Yeah, a different sport. But it's not soccer, right? No rugby's like it's a Same pitch as a NFL pitch basically like a rectangle Is there a pro version of rugby union? Yeah, they the yeah there is okay. It's like a

AR The our league has teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, even Argentina now, and Japan. So it's just like state teams of each sort of play each other. Who's your team? Who do you support? In that I... Like number one, regardless of sport? I mean the Wallabies, Australian rugby. Okay, the national team?

Yeah, the national team. I mean, they're the team that follow. What about the Socceroos? I haven't been much, I'm not much of a soccer man. Always mainly watch rugby. And then I watch Frio in the Aussie rules. You know, I support the Adelaide Birds. You see that over there? No, yeah, the Adelaide Crows.

Oh, the Crows, damn it, I screwed that up. Wow. How about that? How'd you get that? Actually a fan said like, can you support them? So I said yes, and then they saw the clip and sent me a bunch of merch. A jersey, a cup. That's it.

Not my favorite team but. They're not, no. They're kind of shit, right? Better than Frio. That's what Tim told me. We're working on it. What about Mad Dog? Do you know Mad Dog? Mad Dog. Yeah, I heard he's like a's what we're working on it. What about mad dog? Do you know mad dog mad dog?

Yeah, I heard he's like a guy who goes around town on a bike this guy right here. You know this guy Yes You know this guy. I don't know him. I heard he's like a local celebrity mad dog I've never seen my crazy guy who runs around on his bike in Perth, starting fights with people. That's funny. You know, I have actually heard people talk about me. I have seen that clip. You have?

Yeah. Did you know that the second to last blockbuster was in Perth? You know what a blockbuster is? Yeah, I always used to go to blockbuster. The second to last one in the world. Yeah, we're pretty far behind in some regards. When did you last go there, a year ago?

No. That's a pretty exciting thing. Also, I was told that Raffles Hotel, that's a good spot. It's a pretty central spot. It's a nice location. Is there a big casino there too? Yeah, there's a big casino. Okay, you ever go there?

One big casino. Not too much. Okay. There's raffles right there. Yeah, that's raffles. Is that a hotel? It's, no, it's just a pub. Oh, it's a pub?

Yeah, just a pub. Wow, that's a really nice pub. Yeah, it's cool, pub, pub. But behind it, that's like an apartment building behind it. Okay, but it's right on the river. It's a nice spot Okay, what's the river called the Margaret? That's the Swan River the Swan River Yeah, and stormy is your dog. Yeah still still kicking it. Yeah still kicking. She's at the kennel at the moment What kind of dog bulldog a bulldog? Yeah, look at this guy right here. What the hell's going on? What's happening? She's get when it gets a bit hot

She has to be lazy. I think she just likes it I think she likes the feeling of being dragged on nice grass. She's not she's not a big walker a bit lazy Yeah, how old she's? Four okay, or going on five at some point this year. So two kids and a dog Yeah, one just one pet one pet. Okay, what a legend going on there. So two kids and a dog. Yeah. Just one pet? One pet. Okay. What a legend. What's going on?

There she is maybe as a puppy. Yeah. Yeah, she's pretty funny. She can't walk much more than two kilometers. Wow, look how small she is there. And you're a big Wu Tang guy? Yeah, I like Wu Tang. Is that your favorite?

One of. You know, they're big in New York. They're from New York. Yeah, yeah. There's a ton of great signage and stuff like that. They do my last tour, isn't it? Oh yes, that's right, that's right. I always used to say people would ask me,

what would your walkout song be? If you were ever a fighter, I would always say Wu Tang's Triumph. A bomb atomically. I used to listen to them before I'd play basketball. That and Hit Em Up by Tupac. You know that one? The diss track? Are you a big rap guy? Yeah, I like rap.

Is that what you listen to when you're... Most of the time. James Brown as well? I like James Brown. Yeah, Dustin walks out to James Brown. Yeah, I used to walk out to that song, but then... I used to walk out to it before Dustin did. And then he walked out to him and then I stopped.

Oh, you didn't want to... I didn't want people to think I copied it from him. The TNT was pretty damn cool. Yeah, I think that's a good one. It's a good Aussie track. Yeah. Gets the crowd going. Did you see that clip of...

Someone posted a clip of you sort of like walking to the beat. Have you seen this? I don't think so. Someone posted a clip of saying like, you know, the kids like to say like, you know, this guy has incredible aura. Yeah, they were talking about how you have incredible aura because like you were walking very far away from your team, head held high, chest out, and you were sort of like marching to the beat as you were walking out. It's a good song. It was amazing. It's a good pump up song. And you were just like going to work. Yeah, yeah.

High fiving a couple blokes and that's it. Yeah. I felt calm. I mean, I guess, yeah, as soon as I feel like, as soon as the music starts going, then it's game time. And then I just, all the nerves go away. And it's just. Do you get nervous at all?

Yeah, I get, yeah, for sure. I get game day anxiety, whatever you call it, like nerves. But I think that is, I think that's the good part about it. You know, that's the, I think that's some, one of the feelings that I chase. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's not much else that gets you going like that. But then when the music gets going, I start walking,

I just feel like it's meant to be, it's business time. It was super late by the time you fought. Yeah. Were you starting to get a little, like? Nah, we'd been pretty, we were staying up pretty late. I was going to bed 2.30 most nights, getting a late training session in, so I felt pretty good. I loved the shot as you were walking in because that's a legendary building and the Canadians, the hockey team, who I think they may have given you a jersey or

something like that, they've won 24 Stanley Cups, which you know, and so you see the Cups behind you as you're walking out. It was just like... It was iconic stuff. Yeah, it was iconic stuff. Yeah. Yeah, it was a cool venue. Really cool. Got very steep. Yeah.

One of the, yeah, one of the, I'd say one of the best venues I've bought in, I believe. And I don't know if you know this, but Montreal has an incredible Lebanese community. You love Lebanese food. Did you have any? I did, oh, I actually did. I did one, I can't remember what the place was called.

I did before the fight, but I couldn't eat too much. I just had a couple of coffee sticks and a nice salad. Oh, that's not... Fetouche salad. It's good with the crispy bits. Oh my God. I had to be light, but I like Lebanese food. A lot of Lebanese food here as well. I mean, here you're in the, you know, anything sushi, whatever you want. The pizza you have to try, without a doubt. Downtown John's, there's a bunch of spots.

Patsy's is another great one. But you're going to be eating a lot in the next few days, I reckon. And I think you're doing the Today Show, right? That's a big deal. That's like real recognition, right? Yeah, it is actually very surprising. Is that surreal for you? It is pretty surreal Because yeah, we'd never it's like that's as nice as it gets right in Australia

They don't I guess there's a lot of Australian MMA fans, but their mainstream don't really pump too much MMA So right. Yeah, I guess it's real. Well, I deserve it. Yeah, they've earned it Some people didn't think that I'd be able to get you to sit here for an hour, but we did it. Yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad we made it to the studio. Yes. Yes, thank you so much.

And thank you to Tim as well for making it happen. And yeah, it was just so amazing. I mean, to me, the fight of the year so far, this one and the Paul Hughes one. And by the way, shout out to Tim. What a day for him. He was fighting in in Belfast and you fighting at night. So we watched that. We watched that fight park Royale.

Oh, really? Yeah. Mount Royale. Yeah. Yeah. Royal. Yeah. Just we kicked the footie around.

Sad. I saw it was a beautiful day. I had the sun watch the fire and yeah, it did well. And you realized your dream. Yep. That's it. So congratulations. Thank you for coming in.

Really appreciate it. And I love the fact that we didn't your dream. Yep, that's it. So congratulations. Thank you for coming in. Really appreciate it. And I love the fact that we didn't have to do this when it's four in the morning. Yeah, it's perfect. But I always do appreciate when you wake up early for us. So enjoy New York, enjoy everything that comes with the belt

and one more time, congrats on representing your country and your city so well. It was wonderful to see. There he is, the brand new champion, the welterweight champion. Still a little bit sad that the belt is in here. I wanted to touch it. Where's the belt by the way? Back at the hotel.

Yeah. I mean, it's kind of, it's a little heavy. He wants to walk around with it, but he is the man who won that belt back on Saturday in Montreal and a couple of minutes will be joined by Mike Malott. Don't go anywhere. Quick break. And we'll be back with the one and only Mike Malott. I'm a legendary stuff there from Chael Sonnen. Don't go anywhere. Quick break, and we'll be back with the one and only Mike Mulatt.

Legendary stuff there from Chael Sonnen. Legendary stuff in here with the great Jack Della. How could you not love Jack Della Maddalena? So calm, so chill. Just a chill guy. Relaxed. And I want to give a special shout out to Perth's own Ayman Kidd, who's a good friend of pizzi's who provided me with all that Intel on Perth very kind of him

I appreciate that very very much, and I think I got I think I think he was happy with some of that stuff I think he liked it I'm not knowing mad dog was I think we got him. I think we got I think we figured it out You know I'm also not knowing Demi's also. Demi's, what's that Frank? You didn't know what an emu was? A who? An emu.

You know what an emu is? The animal, of course I know, yeah. I don't know what an emu is, a boss chop? I don't know what that is, but thank you to Mr. Kidd for helping us out, I really do appreciate it. All right, one more guest, and he was a guest that we spoke about earlier in the day

with Jasmine A little late there on the draw Frank we have maybe maybe maybe stick to the the the the audio and not the jokes All right He is a teammate of one Jasmine jazzed avicius and he was fantastic on Saturday scoring a second round knockout of one Charles Radke now two in a row for the great Mike Malott. He is kind enough to join us after a big night in Montreal. There he is. Hello, Mike. How are you? Going on, Ariel. How are you?

I'm doing great. Congratulations on a massive win, on a massive night for you and the team. And something that I thought was really interesting was you said that this was, you know, maybe your best fight, your best win since Vancouver. You refer to Edmonton, the one that kind of got you back on track, as like, that was just a fight,

I was just a guy on the card, but now like I was someone here. Why do you feel that way? Cause I felt like that was a great win for you as well. It just, I mean, maybe part of me is I've just been spoiled with getting finishes. Yeah. I've been used to putting guys away and I've been used to having that big fireworks show

at the end where it's like, nice, I came to do exactly what I said I was going to do. I did exactly what I said I was going to do. I put this guy away, there's finality, the fight was stopped, I beat this guy up. Now we can celebrate with the fight in Edmonton. I think long-term for my career, it's what I needed. I needed more experience in the octagon and just that extra time with my feet on the canvas, being under the lights and just getting

some more octagon time, going the three rounds after struggling in the third round, the fight previous. And I think long-term it's like, okay, check the ego and just do what you have to do to get the win and do it is best for your growth long-term. So I know it's what I needed, but at the same time, I'm like, man, this did not feel anywhere near as cool. I did also feel like it was like,

oh yeah, cool, the fight's over and Mike won, that's great, now let's watch somebody else fight. Whereas I've kind of had multiple fights where after my win, it felt like there was more of a buzz right afterward and I felt like it was a more gratifying feeling, I guess. So maybe I'm just very critical of myself at times and have high expectations for myself. So, you know, I'm trying to humble myself in some ways and recognize, look, man, you're fighting the best guys in the world sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get the win.

And if that means we get more experience and we get a decision win, we're gonna check the ego, but there's nothing like a finish to me and in my bones and in my DNA, I want the finish. And what a finish it was. I mean, his head was bouncing off the mat there. You did a great job all week of not buying into any of the bad blood, the trash talk.

Even when you extended your hand at the weigh-ins and he didn't reciprocate, it didn't seem like you were getting fired up over that or emotional. But was any of like in those final punches in the, in that final sequence or in the fight at all, were you bottling any of that inside? You're a very proud guy. You're a proud Canadian. He said some stuff about your country.

Were you, were you channeling any of that stuff? No, I felt very focused in there, you know, leading up there, there, there are always, you know, things going through your head at certain times where I'm like, I want to put on for Canada, this guy talked poorly about me and my country and these things. Obviously I want to put this guy away, but again, checking that ego and be like, look, that's not your responsibility right now. Your responsibility number one is to get the win and to go out and have a solid performance and put the preparation that you've been putting all this time and effort and focus into for

years, but then the last several weeks putting that, putting energy into that and making sure you fight the best you possibly can. And if that means there's a stoppage, which as far as my wins go, 90 whatever percent of the time it leads to a stoppage, then that's great. But if that means you pick this guy apart for 15 minutes and you just get the win, that's fine. But after knocking him out, after bouncing the head off the canvas a couple of times and getting to walk off,

and even after just patting him on the back and being like, all right, man, good try basically, good one, thanks for the scrap. Standing up and walking away and hugging my corner and grabbing the flag and getting up on the fence, then it felt like, all right, this is this is where I feel that now. This is where I feel that trash talk that you said, this is the time for me to soak in that not when I have a job to do not when I'm in the octagon. And I'm proud of myself for how I

dealt with that because this is genuinely how I felt I felt very focused I felt the most dialed and I've ever felt I felt like I saw everything, you know, I Felt faster than I felt I didn't feel in danger at all throughout the fight Felt like everything that I thought was gonna work was working, you know, I felt patient You know even watching the fight back Dean Thomas saying like it's important for Mike Malott not to get Frustrated or discouraged because you're hitting a guy with your best shots and he's not going down Like if nothing else you just have to be willing to touch him up for the rest of the fight Which is great advice from from Dean Thomas, but that's really how I felt. It was at no point was I discouraged Because he hadn't fallen. I also hadn't caught him perfectly clean yet.

I hadn't caught him where I wanted to catch him. I had cracked him a few times and I'm sure I rocked him a couple of times throughout the fight, but I hadn't landed anything exactly how I wanted to. The first punch that I landed pretty much exactly how I wanted to was that hook. You were very emotional in the post-fight interview. Where did that come from? What was that? What was that about?

I mean, I'm kind of always like that, like even you, you know, go back and watch contender series, I'm crying after contender series. I put a lot of my, you know, I put so much of myself into this. I dedicate myself to this. So much of my focus and, and, and passion goes into this and, and, you know, I try not to dwell on results or focus more on the results and process oriented and focus on what I can control.

But at the end of the day, the results matter. So we have to, as much as it's like, well, I've gotten better and I'm gonna go out there and try the best of whatever, it's like, at the end of the day, being on the wrong side of a fight a few times you run out of opportunities or you run out of you know the road ends in the UFC so the results do matter you know just trying not to focus on that too much because it's not something that you can necessarily control um so you know that all that passion that I put into fighting and all the hard work that

I put into it, it kind of like comes out after the fight. Again, when I'm in there, I'm not thinking about that stuff, especially Saturday night. I'm not dwelling on the things that are in the past. I'm not dwelling on what could be in the future. I'm in the moment and I'm just in there fighting and focusing on what's directly in front of me and I'm really happy with how I've grown in that way. But yeah, as soon as it's over it's like, all right man, now we can just let everything go. We can let out frustrations that happened in training camp, injuries that I've suffered this training camp and illnesses and

times I was on antibiotics and the ups, the downs, the hearing this crowd scream in times that I was leading up to the fight knowing I would dominate this guy and times leading up where I'm like, man, can I do this? And you just have all these different emotions and feelings and so I'm like, this is the time to really feel it all and just let it all out, man.

Heart on the sleeve, let's go. I do wonder if any of that dates, and maybe I'm completely wrong here, does any of it go back to the Magne fight, to where you feel like you can finally put that one to bed? Pay-per-view in Canada, you finished the job. Was any of that tied to the emotion or did you get that out of your system in Edmonton?

Maybe a very small percentage. I mean, you want to... I felt like I really did a great job in Vancouver and I felt like I really... showed a well-rounded and disciplined game and skills and just showed the, you know, kind of potential I have and showed what I'm capable of doing. And I don't feel like I did that in Toronto, even though I was winning the vast majority of the fight, like kind of the whole fight. There are things that, you know, it just wasn't a great night for me. And then, you know, like I said, Edmonton didn't have that. I was pretty happy with how Edmonton went, but it was a very reserved, caged performance.

So it just did feel like it got to be the first time that I got back to that feeling I had in Vancouver. So not necessarily that I was dwelling on Toronto at all, but just that I got to feel like Vancouver again, because that was just almost a once in a lifetime opportunity or feeling until this Saturday night in Montreal. The things that I am comparing back to Toronto, I actually learned a lot on how I handle things.

And I'm sorry to tease you with this and then say I'm not gonna get into what those things are. I'm not going to get into what those things are. I am going to keep those closely. But I did learn a lot this camp week and fight and after the fight, I'm like, oh, those are the things that I did very, it became a lot more obvious after this fight,

some of the things that I had done wrong in Toronto and that I, you know, there are things that, a lot of things I learned immediately after Toronto and there are some still, some things that it took until Saturday night where I was like, oh, that's something that I definitely did wrong. Sorry to just be that piece. I'm not telling you what it is, but yeah,

I learned some serious lessons and I'm really happy with how those how how I reacted to things on Saturday night. By the way I'm not sure if you saw this photo you probably have there's a great photographer who does work for Getty in the UFC named Cooper Neal who got a shot of you as you're about to enter the cage which I think is just an absolute framer I don't know if you're one to frame shots, but look at this shot right here. I mean that is the King of the North right there. That is you taking it all in as you're about to enter the gate. Have you seen this photo?

No, I haven't seen this. This is the first time I'm seeing it. What do you think when you see it? Like who is that guy? What is he thinking in that moment? That guy's thinking Be present. Soak this moment up. Enjoy this moment. You only get so many of these in life. You only get so many times where there's a stadium full of people chanting your name and holding your flag and wearing your t-shirts and cheering for you and genuinely just wanting the best for you. Almost treating like every fight like it could be your last one. You

know, like this. You never know how many you get, man. These fights are finite. This time in my life is finite. It will come to an end. I don't know when that's going to be. And I might not realize it until it's already done. So I want to soak up everything. And I don't want to be distracted from the task at hand in soaking those things up. So I'm very measured in when I will allow myself to take in my surroundings as far as walking out to the fight, but I feel like I'm doing a really good job of it and I feel like, okay, this is, we're taking, we're walking up the stairs, we're turning around,

we're taking a couple of seconds to just be grateful for where I am in life. Remember that you have been a fight fan since you first saw this as like a, you know, 13 year old kid on Spike TV. You've been dreaming of this and you've thought of these fighters as like, you know, your, your comic book superheroes type thing have looked up to these guys for years and through your hard work and through dedicating your life to this sport, you've gotten to this point to fight on a UFC pay-per-view card and fight one of

the baddest dudes on the planet who's coming into your home to talk trash to you and to ruin your night and to you know embarrass you in front of your country and you're still getting in there and holding your head high and going in and staying focused and fighting to you know eventually afterwards fighting to the best of your ability and trying to just remain focused on that's what I will do tonight. And it's been like, all right, man, this is the time tonight's the night. It doesn't matter what happens in the gym.

It doesn't matter what happened in training camp for better or for worse. It doesn't matter what's happened in previous fights for better or for worse. Tonight's the night to perform. It's time to go soak it in and flip the switch. I freaking love that. What an answer. And thank you for that. I don't know if you look into things like someone

on my side of the table would and you probably shouldn't because it adds a lot of pressure, but there was something I thought beautiful and symbolic of the fact that the UFC was back in Montreal for the first time in 10 years. Montreal was the first city in Canada to have a UFC event back at UFC 83. I feel like you have been

the guy that people have said is the next best as far as the males are concerned and your friend and teammate Jasmine is the one on the women's side of things. And this wasn't just any sort of regular Canadian card. Who's in attendance? It's all the founding fathers. It's GSP, it's Rory McDonald, it's David Loise. I mean, like some of these, I haven't seen Rory at an event in forever. I mean, it's literally been almost a decade since his last UFC appearance.

And so I thought it was incredible that both of you stepped up in front of those people in that building, historic, and sometimes, as you know, Quebec, Ontario, there's a bit of a rivalry, it felt like they were treating you as one of their own. It was all Canadian in there and just all of it was just beautiful. It felt very unified as all of Canada. You know, I think when we're in Canada, there can be, you know, the Quebec-Ontario rivalry at times, but outside of Canada, it's we are Canadians, you know, it's it's we're unified

together, especially, you know, geopolitically right now, I feel like it's been a long time since we've had this much passion as Canadians and everyone getting behind the flag, not necessarily their political team or these ideologies or whatever where I feel like we're really unified right now. And to be the only Canadian fighting a trash-talking American on the car, especially with everything going on, it heightened that even more. I'm like, all right, man. Again, not focused on it, not dwelling on it, because at the end of the day,

that stuff doesn't affect what happens in the octagon. That doesn't affect how I prepared, it doesn't affect the skills that I bring to the octagon, it doesn't affect anything tangible that actually matters in there. But you'd be ignorant to say that that's not something that needs to be considered. Just like an opponent trash talking, it's like he can say everything that he wants before the fight. It's not going to affect what happens in the octagon because I won't allow it and I didn't and I'm really proud of how I dealt with those things. But if you're just, if you're just in pure denial, that may allow you to feel it and take an effect in the octagon. If you're just trying to say like, no, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. And you're like actually denying it. Like, know you have to address like okay what about this actually affects what's happening in the octagon nothing

okay cool we're gonna get in there and we're gonna see who's actually just better and who has more skills and who came more prepared and who's the better fighter you know who wins I don't think is always the best indication of who the better fighter is sometimes things just happen But I will say though trying to seem cocky. I think I proved I'm the much better of the two of us. I felt Like I was a considerable level above him in there. I felt really comfortable in there Even watching it back. I'm like, oh a lot more happened than I thought it did it felt really It did it just felt really like I felt so comfortable in there I felt like oh yeah I got this guy like man it just once the fight started I was just like this is we're on route to my win I don't know what I can't really

describe it other than that but I was like I got this amazing and by the way I'd be remiss if I can't really describe it other than that, but I was like, I got this. Amazing. And by the way, I'd be remiss if I don't also mention Eamon Zahabi, who was a big part of the scene on Saturday and did tremendous as well. Is it true that the flag that you had in there had blood on it and it was the flag that you had in the Mickey golf flight? Yeah. So yeah, that's the flag.

The same flag that I brought up to the Mickey golf flight, I bled on that for the Mickey golf fight. And I felt a little, I was like, symbolically, I want to bring that into the octagon and just have my blood soaked flag, my blood that I've poured on my own flag, I want to carry that into the octagon. I was like, I almost hope people don't notice it. And it's just in just in my head, because I don't want people being like, why is he bringing a dirty flag into the

octagon? But, you know, know again didn't think about that too much I'm like no this is meaningful to me I've I've gone out of our country and represented us and bled for for this flag in the octagon before and I am 100% willing to do it again. Jasmine fought right before you tremendous win she gets the RNC against a former champ gets her black belt are you so locked in that you're not even watching this, paying attention to it? Sometimes, you know, if you see your opponent, excuse me, when you see your teammate not have the best night, it could affect you mentally. So were you watching?

Were you aware of what she had done before you walked out? I was aware of what she had done. And I saw the finish. I saw the takedown and I saw the finish. I try not to watch my teammates too much. I like glance up at times, I'm not like locked in watching her. You know, I was still going through the things that I needed to do to stay focused for my performance. But man, you know, I ripped on her in the back. I'm like, way to set the bar high

enough. Like right before I walk out, she just absolutely killed it. Like you fought a former world champion black belt in jiu-jitsu, like one of the best fighters on the planet and just steamrolled her and looked incredible. It's like there's absolutely there's no way you're not getting a performance bonus. Like this, this girl's getting a performance bonus. That was perfect. And I'm like, you know, there was a moment again where I'm like, you know, there was a moment again where I'm like, well, this might be an Edmonton again. I might just, I might take a backseat to jazz and I'm pumped for her and that that's great for her.

I got to go out there and just do my thing. But, and then also just remind yourself like, hey man, when you just do your thing and you just get in your zone and you stick to what you planned, almost always you find a good finish. So just have faith in that. Uh, you guys are magic together. It's, it's a, usually a great night for the team when you're both competing.

Are you, are you upset? Not no knock on her at all, but are you upset you didn't get a bonus? Did you think you were going to get one? I mean, dude, who doesn't want an extra 50 grand man? Come on. And then also just the, also just the pride of me, that's kind of my style too. I pride myself on being a finisher

and part of me was like, I want a performance bonus in every fight, not just for the money, but just as the like, when I go out, expect a solid finish and a performance in the night bonus. I didn't get one with the Mickey Go fight, even though it was like a highlight real finish

and I was really happy with how it went and I didn't get one with the Mickey Go fight, even though it was like a highlight real finish and I was really happy with how it went and I didn't get one on Saturday night. But it's exactly that. It's a bonus. It's a cherry on top. It's a pretty frickin' big cherry. But you know, at the end of the day, I'm like, man, I got my win. I got the performance I wanted to have.

That doesn't affect, again, that doesn't affect the performance that I had. That doesn't affect the feeling that I had holding that flag up in front of 20,000 screaming Canadian fans. That doesn't affect that for a short second as I was about to get announced in the octagon, I looked out in the front row, just glanced up and saw a proper Mike shirt

and looked up at the face that was wearing it. It was my little brother, Jeff Mulatt, and I made eye contact with him and just pounded my chest and pointed at him. I'm like, let's go, baby. Just that, we're in this together, man. We've been on this journey together as far as professional athletes for years, and we've been growing together. And just symbolically, it was just like, it felt just extra empowering and getting me locked in. Not that I normally am looking out in the audience like, oh, I wonder what people are doing,

but just there was something about it, maybe just his energy, I don't know what it was. There was that big, bold, proper, just kind of glanced, looked up for a second, saw him. I haven't seen him in months in person and just like, let's go baby, I love you. Like, we're doing this. So yeah, none of that's affected by the lack

of a performance bonus, though. It would have been cool to have gotten one. By the way, shout out to Jeff, he's got some fighting skills as well. We know about the hockey skills, but he's representing on the ice too. I know you've been asked about this, but like when you saw your kid brother fight in the NHL,

were you proud or were you critiquing his skills? No, I'm so proud. I don't, you know, yeah, I've been asked this a bunch, but I don't, you know, I don't get sick of answering this question. I'm so proud of that kid, both as far as hockey skills and then his ability to, you know, his willingness to throw down on the ice.

You know, like just super proud of the kid, man. He just is literally fighting for his spot at times, right? He is like, if I've got to fight a guy to be on this team or to make it, then I'll do that. If I've got to, whatever I've got to do, I'm willing to do it and just super proud of the perseverance and consistency and the hard work that this kid puts in.

And, you know, it absolutely amped me up to see number 39, drop the gloves, man, that was so cool. And I honestly, I love that Brennan Fitzgerald set up both talking about Jeff and I on my walkout and then aired his fight, both in the arena and on the livestream. I'm like, I've never seen the UFC do something like that before. That is so cool, man. We watched the fight back. That is so cool, man. We watched the flight back. And my parents said, my brother was there, my sisters were there, and my parents were there. And, you know, we watched it back and just like we're watching Jeff's crap as I'm walking out and getting greased up and just such a super cool moment. Incredible. Your parents must be incredibly proud as well.

By the way, what is the grappling garden? Grappling garden is the Jiu-Jitsu gym I go to. Andre Granbois owns the gym. It's a beautiful gym in Hamilton, Ontario. You know, old like brick building, super cool looking. And he has a ton of plants in it. So when it gets like, you know, you get those sweaty hard grappling sessions

where the windows are all fogged. You can just like feel the plants opening up. It's a really, really cool vibe in there. Like it's a, it feels like you're grappling in the jungle. I love that. I love the logo and I was hoping that there would be, you know, some sort of plantation vegetation around. That's a brilliant name. So shout out to the grappling garden.

Did you stick around and watch the main event? One day, I know you want to be in that spot fighting for that belt. And if so, what did you make of JDM's performance against Bilal? I did not watch, man. You know, that's a next week type thing is studying the division again and getting back to just studying what I need to improve on it. You know, I've addressed a little bit of my own things that I think, okay, I watched the fight. I'm like, okay, that I did well.

This is something that I need to improve on. I can't let this happen again. Here's where, you know, whatever. Again, overall, really happy with the performance, but we can always critique things, whether it be fight camp, fight week, or fight night. And I think there are some things that I can improve on for sure.

But no, man, I'm still riding the high. I'm soaking up my win. You know, congrats to the new champ. That's awesome. And, you know, I heard you had a really solid performance. It was a wild fight. But as soon as my fight was over, I'm like, as far as I'm concerned, the fights are pretty much over.

Like, of course, I'm going to be cheering for Kyle Prepilek, who's just our Rocky Balboa willing to step up and fight one of the scariest dudes in the lightweight division on, you know, zero preparation and go in there and just, you know, fight his heart out. And then, of course, Amon's a hobby, willing to go in there against former world champion who missed weight by a full weight class and is still willing to take the fight. Like dude, to aim it at the ceremonial weigh-ins, I'm like, you're an absolute warrior, man. You are such a badass. And then he goes out there and gets the job done. Like, man, what a killer. Super proud of all the Canadians. Marc Andre Barrio coming back after a couple hard ones and having that performance. If there was anybody that I, you know, I'm bummed I didn't get the performance bonus. But when I, you know, I'm bummed I didn't get the performance bonus, but when I, you know, we were in the group

and they're like, yes, you got the bonus. And I was like, nice, just jazz. And everyone's like, yeah, sorry buddy, just jazz. I'm like, it better have been Marc Andre than who got it. Like if it's not gonna be me, everything he's overcome and come back to have a performance like that in his city, like it better have been a Marc Andre than like it was.

I was like, all right, man, I can live with that. I can live with that. Delighted for you. You represented as you always do incredibly well. And what a performance. Just the way you handled everything was super impressive. So congratulations on the win, Mike. Appreciate the time.

Always great having you on and really, really happy for you and looking forward to what is next. We'll having you on and really, really happy for you and looking forward to what is next. We'll allow you to enjoy it all now. No talk of what's next. Enjoy it all and looking forward to seeing you back in there later on this year. Thank you very much. Sir, appreciate you having me on. Always. There he is. Mike Malott, proper Mike, joining us. What a win for him over Charles Radke. And yeah, what an exclamation point to head us into the pay-per-view card. It was the, I do believe it was the prelim headliner, if you will, if that means anything to you. But it was deafening in there when he won. Back to back, Jasmine, him, back to back, incredible stuff. So a great night for Canadian MMA.

Long may they continue to have success in the world of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. All right, we gotta go. We got another show to prepare for very quickly before we go. There is no announcement just yet. Hopefully we get one regarding International Fight Week. I do see a super chat here.

Yeah. A gentleman asked me for a prediction. I'm not gonna make a prediction. I do think that I do think that Ilya is gonna be involved. I know they wanted Magomed and Pereira as well. As Dana likes to say, let's see how this whole thing plays out. You know, Frank?

Absolutely. One guy who will not be involved is John Jones. And I do have to say, like, I, you know, John Jones' legacy is intact and all this stuff he's saying has been this story that's been going on and on and on. But this one, this one I could understand why it may have upset people, triggered people. Did you guys see on his IG live he was talking about the accusations that he is

a duck, that he's ducking Tom Aspinall. This is what John Jones said earlier today. I got people in the chat calling me a duck. Meanwhile I'm living my absolute best life. I don't know if it's considered ducking when you're living good. I don't think that works like that. First of all, incredibly dangerous to do that. I mean, let's just be honest. You should not drive and be on IG Live. Second of all, look, he's doing this reality show with Nathan Diaz in Russia, and I'm told that the money is just absurd. It's astronomical.

Get paid, well-deserved, both legends of the game. I totally understand it. But here's the part that I very much disagree with him. It's not about you, John. It's not about you. It's not about your life. It's not about with him. It's not about you, John. It's not about you. It's not about your life. It's not about your story.

If you want to enjoy your life, if you want to be a part of a reality show, if you want to take that money and delay things and hold someone else's dreams back from becoming a reality, that is ducking. That is ducking because there is a time-honored tradition in this business, in the sport, in combat sports, in fight sports, in sports period, that the whole thing has to move along. It's not about your story. Your story is great and you're living your best life.

Great. Get rid of that belt. If you want to do that, great. No one will begrudge you. Everyone thinks you've done enough. You've earned enough. You've proven enough. Now allow someone else to have that same story.

Allow someone else to write that same story. You are holding him back. You are holding back not only Tom Aspinal, but the rest of the division. So yes, you're missing the point. This isn't about you. It's about the belt. How many more times does Tom has to say he would love to fight him? He would love're missing the point. This isn't about you. It's about the belt. How many more times does Tom has to say he would love to fight him?

He would love to be the opera. He would love to have the opportunity to be that guy. He would love it. Who wouldn't? But he just wants that belt. He wants whatever that belt signifies, whatever it symbolizes and what it brings. It brings all the things that John Jones is enjoying right now. Because if John Jones wasn't the most decorated champion, wasn't the greatest light heavyweight champion, wasn't the two division champion,

he wouldn't be doing things like this. He wouldn't get opportunities like this. He wouldn't get the opportunity to live his best life. And now you are stopping someone else from living their best life. Do you get the difference? It's not about you. And so when the legends fought you, and I'm not even talking about when you were champ or tried to become champ, I'm talking about the dudes that fought you on the way up.

I'm talking about the Stefan Bonners. I'm talking about the Brandon Vera's. I'm talking about the Vladimir Matyushenko's. I'm talking about those guys who gave you the opportunity. And then of course the Ryan Bader's. And then of course the Shoguns. And then the Rampages and the Vitors and the Rashads who helped solidify your legacy,

who helped put you in the position that you are in now to enjoy this, to reap the rewards of that great resume and legacy that you have built for yourself. That's how this whole thing works. So yeah, it is ducking at this point. You are ducking. You're ducking the opportunity.

You're taking that opportunity away from someone else. You are robbing someone else of the same opportunity and the same dream that you have already realized and lived. That is selfish. That's not how the game works. And so it's on the UFC to make the call, make the call. And, and, and, and you know what? They may have already made the call.

And it may be happening at MSG and we're all being, you know, we're all being taken for a ride here. But honestly, A, if that is the case, come out and say it. And please tell Tom Aspinall, for the love of God, because by the time that fight happens, if it does happen on that day, it's going to be a year. We're approaching a year since his last fight and that fight lasted 60 seconds. It is a travesty. It is a crime what is happening to Tom Aspinall in the prime of his life, in the prime of his career. Give up the belt or fight. That's it. Defend or vacate. That's it. It's great. We're all happy for you. I love the fact that you turned your life around Truly trust me. I was there. We did the walk and talk in Albuquerque. I covered it all it actually warms my heart

But you got to keep the train rolling along. It's not fair. It's not right Defender vacate, that's it Any other super chats Any other super chats? Any other super chats? Yeah, one second. Will Dana speak before the show's end? California driving? No.

And then last one, Andrew. Lads, Oli Barr update. We're trying to get him on Dan Hooker's One Minute Round Fight Night. Can you clip this off and give him a massive plug to get Hooker's attention? Cheers, guys, love your work. Dan, we know you're watching. Oli Barr, friend of the program. Good lad.

Good- good bloke. Dare I say? Cheeky little bugger. Maybe even a fucking oath cunt, if you will. I don't know. I don't know what I'm saying. Anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just give him an opportunity on your one minute round fight night thingy. All right? Give him the opportunity, Dan. Time on a tradition. World goes round. You're welcome.

All right, it's time to go. Heart out, four o'clock, I'm two minutes late. ["The Last Supper"] Ya da da. What's that, What's that? I just thought it was funny that you were coming along. Two minutes late. Nobody. Okay, now, now we're under pressure. I feel the pressure. I feel the eyes. I feel the comments.

It's the head shaking that you're. I feel the groaning. What a day. Oh, thumbs up to the chat. Yeah. Hey, by the way, by the way, didn't even see this didn't even see this 357 p.m. It was sent to me didn't even see it. Did he send this to me in the middle of the rant? Should we put it in your ear? Yeah, maybe On crown.com right now Ben folks haven't read the article, but here's the tagline. Here it is. Yes, John Jones It's still called ducking even when you're having fun I mean, come on, man

What are we doing here? He can't possibly Not understand all this right he can't I mean Enough I'll tell you what we're almost halfway through, and the first half has been a lot of frustration. What about that big, he was working on a big thing, big thing. Where is that? We're approaching the midway point. Hopefully by the time we speak tomorrow, we'll have the International Fight Week main event set. We'll talk to Darren Till, we'll talk to Benoit Saint-Denis, we'll talk to Valentina Shevchenko, we'll have Tim Simpson in studio, we'll have Arjun Buller in studio.

Remember when they said we couldn't get guests if we went three days a week? Do you remember that Frank? Do you remember it? Oh yeah. Anyway, two more guests coming up, five o'clock the zone for now. Back on Wednesday, same time, same place, same time, same place. Peace. I'm out of here.