The Ariel Helwani Show - Joe Pyfer and Shotzi Blackheart in studio, Diego vs. Yair feud continues, Canelo vs. Crawford lands on Netflix

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

Ariel Helwani reacts to major news regarding Canelo-Crawford landing on Netflix, the latest back and forth between rivals Diego Lopes and Yair Rodriguez, and more (01:37).Joe Pyfer joins in-studio after his big win over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 316 to discuss stomach issues stemming from his UFC Mexico pullout, staying off of social media, his strained relationship with his father, Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev, his next fight, and more (19:12).Shotzi Blackheart, former WWE star and current "indie goddess," comes by the studio to unpack the details of her WWE release, brutal injury, late father's legacy, working with NXT, wrestling with Ronda Rousey, and more (1:21:26).The Boys in the Back join Ariel to recap the day (2:22:52).

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- And 25 hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is great to be back for another Tuesday edition we like to play two on Tuesdays right here at the uncrowned HQ It is an absolute miserable day. I am soaking my socks are soaking my shoes are soaking my pants are soaking It was it was raining cats and dogs Dogs, where did that term come raining cats and dogs. Dogs? Where did that term come from? Cats and dogs. It had to have come from somewhere. Ask ChatGBT, will ya, Frank?

Where do cats and dogs, the term, raining like cats and dogs come from? Can you get that for us? It was literally raining cats and dogs. Where? In medieval times. Serious? No.

Oh. Well, that's what it was outside. And so it took a long time to get here. I should have brought an extra pair of shoes, extra pair of socks, but we are here and we are ready to go my friends. A very, very entertaining post pay-per-view Monday. If I do say so myself, we had Murab Dua-le-Shvili, we had Kayla Harrison, we had Mario Bautista,

and we had an absolute heart wrenching chat with both Mark Coleman and Mike DeSabato on the Ohio State University sexual abuse scandal. Hundreds, if not thousands of victims. They are two of the most notable ones. There's a new documentary coming out on HBO next week entitled Surviving Ohio State. They had the Tribeca Film Festival premiere yesterday. Couldn't recommend it enough and couldn't recommend that chat enough.

You checking out that chat in particular because I read a ton about the story heading into Monday's interview and I learned a ton. A lot of things that I did not know about so thank you to them for coming in. I really appreciate it. You know we love the in-studio chats around here. It's just a little different, a bit of a different connection and we've got two on today's program. So I'm super excited about that in about 13 or so minutes time. Body bags himself. Joe Pfeiffer is going to join us in studio on the heels of his huge win over Kelvin Gaslam this past Saturday at the Prudential center in Newark, New Jersey.

He gets back on track after obviously having to pull out back in March and the same fight, and he went out there and did the job. So now here he is on a roll with the New York, New Jersey. He gets back on track after obviously having to pull out back in March in the same fight and he went out there and did the job. So now here he is on a roll once again. He'll be joining us in studio at 115. At 215, one of the hottest free agents in the game, the indie goddess herself, Shotzi Blackheart, formerly known as just Shotzi in WWE, former NXT Tag Champion. Very popular fighter, did not have her contract renewed by World Wrestling Entertainment, and so she is now a free agent. She is free to do as she pleases.

She popped up on a GCW show. She's doing a deal with MLW, among others, great backstory, fascinating human being. She will join us in studio as well So on today's program two guests two in studio and then on the Dazon show at five o'clock We'll talk about a lot going on in the world of boxing and Eddie Hearn is going to join us He has a big show coming up this Saturday here in New York City at the theater headlined by his guy Richardson Hitchens going up against George Kambos. There's a lot going on, as always,

in the world of combat sports. Yesterday on the program, we talked to you about Ben Askren's health scare, his battle currently, which is still going on. He is still at a local hospital in Wisconsin. We did get an update from his wife, Amy Askren, this on social media. She wrote, last night, feeling so incredibly thankful for our friends and community. It's

times like this that remind you how truly blessed you are. I feel God moving through the love and support we have received. I'm sorry if I haven't had the chance to respond to you, but know I've seen your messages and each one has meant so much to me. Please keep praying for Ben." So we told you yesterday that he is battling a very serious case of pneumonia, a staph infection among other illnesses that have not been released just yet. I did text Ben, and then that got forwarded to his wife, and I asked yesterday if there were any, you know, sort of updates, did not hear back just yet. But this update that I just read from last night was, I would say, a little more promising and positive than the one that we read from her yesterday that came on Saturday. So hopefully this means that he is continuing to get better.

He is turning the corner and he'll be back on his feet doing what he does best, teaching kids, wrestling himself. He signed that deal with real American freestyle wrestling, which is going to kick off in August. Just wishing the best to Ben Askren because very, very scary stuff. And he's a young, healthy, fit young man who just has a lot more life to live and we want him to be

up and running once again. So our best to Ben Askren. I wanted to provide that update. This morning, we woke up to the news that the much talked about highly anticipated super fight between one Canelo Alvarez and Terrence Crawford is, in fact, going to air live on Netflix. This is massive news. It's going down on September 13th in Las Vegas.

You see the poster there. You see the announcement from Turkey, I'll shake. We were told that this would be the first sort of TKO boxing event. And then there was some talk that maybe things weren't going according to plan. And then there was the tweet and all this stuff. Well, once again, they moved the number of people that were going to the TKO. And then there was some talk that maybe things weren't going according to plan.

And then there was the tweet and all this stuff. Well, once again, they moved the Noche UFC card to a fight night. They took it out of Mexico. They put it in San Antonio. It seemed to open the door for this to, you know, be back under the TKO boxing umbrella. But it's a Riyadh season show. You see Ring Magazine logo. You see the Sela logo as well. Very notable that it is on Netflix because there was a time where after these reports started to come out that it seemed like it was

going to air on pay-per-view in fact I do believe Turkey himself said that but it is in fact going to be on Netflix their third live event as far as boxing is concerned there's the tweet right there from the good folks over at Netflix I say the third because yes Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson was number one and July 11th will be number two. Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano three at Madison Square Garden, the all women's card, which is getting better. They just added a Shernika Johnson in a title fight on that card as well.

In addition to the likes of Chantel Cameron, Savannah Marshall as well. It is by far the greatest all women's card of all time. And I do believe there will be more belts on the line for that card than any other boxing event in the history of the sport. I think that that is what they're trending towards. Now point is this is huge for combat sports. It's huge that Netflix is getting involved. Obviously we know about the deal with WWE and there has been some talk about them and the UFC.

I personally, I can't imagine if ESPN does a deal with the UFC, are they really going to allow another broadcaster to get like the four biggest events of the year? If they're going to pay multi-billions, right? Does that make sense? They're gonna pay a lot of money. They're gonna be paying the most money

that anyone has ever paid for MMA content ever. Are they going to allow someone else to air the biggest and best fights? I don't know. But when all this was announced, Mark Shapiro, the COO of TKO, said that they were hoping to put on four events, four mega events in the next couple years. This would be number one. Do they do another one in December? Do they do two more next year?

Let's see. You may have noticed that they didn't announce the venue and there's been so many changes to the story, right? They were saying at one point it's going to be in New York, it's going to be, they're going to shop it around to different LA, New York, Las Vegas, or back in Las Vegas. They did not announce the venue because, and look at this, I'll get to that in a second, they didn't announce the venue because Allegiant Stadium is booked on the 13th, on the 12th it wasn't. There's a UNLV football game. Boxing We're first reporting this. So they're trying to move that football game to a different venue so that they can have it at Allegiant.

If not, it will probably be at T-Mobile. That's UFC.com that we just showed on the screen. And notice that at the top of Canelo Crawford, what does it say? Zufa boxing. Are they bringing it back? Is it finally here? Is it back from the dead? Zufa Boxing. Are they bringing it back? Is it finally here? Is it back from the dead?

Zufa isn't a thing anymore. Zufa is no longer the parent company of the UFC. Zufa essentially went away when the company was sold back in 2016. But maybe that's the name. I even noticed Turkey retweeting a Zufa Boxing Twitter account that started in May of 2025. So maybe that's the name.

Maybe that's the answer to the question we've been wondering. What is this promotion going to be called? Perhaps it's going to be Zufa boxing. And what a story that would be from the t-shirt in the build to Mayweather McGregor back in 2017 to putting on Canelo Crawford. I am so interested in the build to Mayweather McGregor back in 2017 to putting on Canelo Crawford. I am so interested in the promotion. I'm so interested in how this is all going to look. Obviously the UFC team going to be producing it. WWE sending out a press release. All the figures like Triple H, they're all

tweeting about it. So this is a very, very, very big deal for them and you can see it's all hands on deck to make this into the, uh, the biggest deal possible. So let's see how it all pans out now. Speaking of September 13th, that was supposed to be a pay-per-view. Now it's a fight night and the obvious fight, the obvious fight is Diego Lopez versus Yay Rodriguez. That's the, I mean, not only is it the perfect fight for a fight night, but it's the perfect fight for a Noche UFC because like Mexico is a part of the feud. We know what happened back in April in Miami at the press conference.

We saw the back and forth. Well, here's Diego a couple of days ago. Hey, yeah. Rodriguez. I just heard you got a call from Hunter Hunter Campbell and refused to fight me on UFC Noche. Where is the man in front of me at the press conference? Hey, Yair Rodriguez, I just heard you got a call from Hunter, Hunter Campbell, and refused to fight me on UFC Noche. Where is the man in front of me at the press conference?

What a picture, by the way. And I love Volk and Chandler in the middle there. Okay. Then a couple days later, after not much from Yair, Diego writes some more. Let's get to the facts. After the fight versus Volk, UFC contacted me asking how I was doing. I told them all the recommendations the doctors gave me. That I would be ready to fight in September. They offered me Aaron Pico.

I said yes. Two days later, they offered me John Silva. I said yes. When UFC changes UFC Noche to San Antonio, Yair Rodriguez. I said yes. Seems like the UFC is in agreement. This is the fight to make for that card. I also suggested, he continues, offering the fight versus Mofzar or Laron Murphy. If you have any doubts, ask Dana Hunter or Sean if I've ever turned down a fight. The day I refuse or don't accept a fight, it must be because of a very serious health problem or that I'm really unable to fight. My career was built on accepting fights. Not for nothing, I have 33 professional fights.

Alright, then in response to this and all the chatter, Yair Rodriguez goes on social media and posts a video of him talking about this fight But it's in Spanish luckily for us We have the great Andy our TD who speaks Spanish and she loosely translated what yeah year had to say and this is it I'm going to Baku to support Ignacio Bahamundes. This sport is so fucked I would love for things to be a little different because everything has turned into a circus. I saw that Diego saying I don't want to fight him which isn't true. I'm a little disappointed in the UFC because they offered me to fight him but let's back up for a

moment. When I had the chance to fight Diego he said no because I had just lost. Now that he's lost he wants to fight me which to me doesn't make any sense. Also I don't have any issues fighting him but but if he asked me, I'd rather fight him on the streets since to me a fight with him within the UFC doesn't help me. They won't pay me more, they won't put me in a better spot because he just lost and I'm still hurt from the last fight. So before we do anything else, I need to see how my injury is doing. I went to a doctor that recommended I had surgery, which of course I'm trying to avoid. I just wanted to clear up that I haven't said no to fighting him.

Obviously I'd be happy to fight him and his stupid crew. Everyone keeps talking, which is easy to do when someone is injured. By the way, where are you getting this content? Where are you getting this translation? Shout out to Andy, great job. I just wanted to clear up, oh wait, I read that part already. I'm gonna take care of my health,

try to avoid surgery as best as I can. I'm on a trip right now, so once I'm back and have dealt with my health and immigration status, have to get my visa sorted out, I will see when I get back to the gym. For now, I'd like for Diego to stop running from John Silva and fight him. Did I sync it up or is there still some time left on the video? I was trying to like, Ah damn. I was trying to go like, His mouth is moving but your words are coming out almost perfectly. I love that sound.

Maybe thirsty. So listen, what the UFC wants, the UFC often gets. Diego versus John Silva would be a fine main event, a very important main event in that way class. But this is the one to make, if he's healthy. Now I understand what he's saying about he's coming off a loss, but to be honest, he's coming off a title loss. It's a little different.

And those rules don't really apply as much anymore. You know, like the rules of like, oh, this guy's coming off a loss, and that like, I get it, but there's just, you do something like that it's to a degree it's it's to a lesser degree but if you do the whole thing at the press conference you're almost begging for the fight. It's like when you throw a dolly at a window you have to fight. If you brawl on the streets or in the hotel you have to fight. If you brawl on the streets or in the hotel, you have to fight. You just have to. There's a lot of interesting fights to be made right now at 145 and this would be at the top of the list, but as far as like a perfect fight for an event, that's

the one. That's the one in my opinion. So let's see. Diego Lopez versus John Silva, not a bad second choice, but that would be my pick. All right, so there's your news and notes. We'll get to more on the back end. Maybe talk a little bit about John Jones as well. A lot of people asking me, why do you hate John Jones? I don't hate John Jones. I actually, I've been covering John Jones since his UFC debut. We've had many chats, some on the record, some off the record.

I just have to keep it real and tell you about how I think things are going down here, and it's not great. Not happy about it. Like I said yesterday, a mockery has been made of the sport. Of the belt. The most important thing in this sport is the belt. The most important thing to the UFC is the belt. That's what everything gears towards. And they have told us they hate when people vacate the title or don't want to defend the title. Well, that's what's happening right now.

So tell me where I've been unfair. Tell me where I've lied. Tell me where I've been biased. I saw some people saying yesterday like, oh, he just defended the title. All right. Are we going to wait till November to strip him? The fight that they want to book is for November. All right, are we going to wait till November to strip him? The fight that they want to book is for November. It's for MSG. If he doesn't want to fight today for November, it's time to move on. And by the way, it's like one of those things where there's, you know, a coach that you want to part ways with.

Sometimes you want to fire the coach, but to let him have, you know, some dignity, you say, okay, he resigned or we mutually agreed to part ways, just mutually agree to vacate the title. Of course, the top choice is we want to see John Jones versus Tom Aspinall. It's the number one fight that the UFC could put on right now. The most interesting and high profile fight. No one feels otherwise. No one. Not a soul. Everyone wants to see that fight. Maybe for you it's number two behind Ilya and Islam, which we're not getting either. Or Kale Amanda, which we are hopefully getting.

But there are a few bigger fights and Dana White himself has said it's the biggest fight in the heavyweight division. The fight in the heavyweight division. The history of the heavyweight division. But like how long do we wait? How long do we wait? He agreed to the fight, all right, so then what are we waiting for? And trust me, it's not one of those things

where it's like we know the fight's been agreed to and they just haven't announced it yet. That happens sometimes. This is not one of those things. There's like we know the fight's been agreed to and they just haven't announced it yet that happens sometimes this is not one of those things there was there was a but there was a but there that was missing he agreed but now by the way maybe maybe after watching all this stuff he says you know what screw that aerial guy i'm gonna. I'm going to show him that I'm a fighting champion. I'm going to show him. I'm going to stick it to him. I would love that. And I'd be happy to take credit for it. But I don't think that's going to happen. Or I don't

think that's happening anytime soon. But let's see. I'm imposing an international fight week deadline. Right here and now I'm imposing this deadline. And by the way, they announced that they're gonna do a press conference tour for Canelo Crawford and one of the stops is June 27th, the day before Ilya versus Charles, International Fight Week 317. I'm imposing an International Fight Week deadline. An announcement must be made.

A decision must be made. That's when the eyes of the MMA world are on the UFC. It's their Super Bowl. Announce Tom Aspinall versus John Jones. Announce Tom Aspinall versus Francis Ngannou, which would be the ultimate swerve. Not going to happen, but would it be something. Or announce Tom versus Real Gun. One of those. International Fight Week it must be done. That's the deadline. I'm imposing that. I think they're going to adhere to my ultimatum. In a matter of seconds my friends we're going to be joined in studio by the great Joe Pfeiffer 14 and 3, 5 and 1 in the UFC. Picked up a big win, 28 years young.

We had him in the studio, the old show, but it's a new era. He just had a huge win at the Prudential Center in his home state of New Jersey. Let's say hello to the one and only body bags himself, Mr. Joe Pfeiffer. Yeah, there he is. The man with this nice jacket by the way. Thank you. Thank you. Please have aiffer. Yeah, there he is. The man with this nice jacket, by the way. Thank you. Thank you. Please have a seat, have a seat. They give you that?

Yeah, they gave me this. Wow. Just cause you're from Jersey or what? Nah, unfortunately everybody got it. Everyone got it. I like it though. Yeah. I like it. I don't know how special it is if we all got it. Well, you look fantastic. It's good to have you in studio.

This is my show by the way. Yeah. It didn't get canceled. We're still on three days a week. Listen, it's nice to have you. I forgot. I forgot. But I knew it wasn't canceled because I had watched the show and seen you interview Sean. It's all good. I'm just giving you crap. I'm just giving you crap. Um, congratulations. Congratulations on the win in the post fight interview. It seemed like you were like happy, but also

like a little bit bummed that you didn't stop him. How do you feel? I think I was pretty bummed just because I didn't get the finish and I hold myself to a high standard. I think I'm a guy that has the power to finish anybody. You were close. I was pretty close but he recovers really well and I think you know I think a lot of the negativity from the fight is just you have to fight Calvin a certain way. I don't think you can ego fight him and be in a power for power. Let's just exchange. He thrives.

He's a guy that thrives when you do film study of getting hit and then returning fire. And so that's why we were super patient and I really expected him to come at me a lot more It's what we based our game plan off of and he didn't do that So I feel like part of the reason why he didn't do that is because he felt your power in the first round and that Would change exactly someone's attack and that's why we kind of were like waiting for each other. Yeah So but the only thing I'll say is I just don't understand how anybody could see how that fight was close So, okay, so the judges gave him the truth, two of the judges gave him the third round. Yeah.

Do you agree with that? I can see their case for that for the third round only. Just because he had a big one, two that he hit me with, which was his most significant strikes of the fight. But I mean, ultimately he landed six shots on me. I think he landed one jab, one check right hook, one, one, two, and two body shots. That's, that's my recollection of the fight, watching it back. Like I just don't understand the second round,

how they could say he was landing anything. Who was saying that? Who was saying that? Just like the people on the scorecards. Okay. With the, with the stats. We just, we just showed the, um, the scorecard right here.

Everyone gave you the second round. Okay. It was just those two judges that Eric Colon and Chris Lee. Yeah, I would agree with that. I would say I won the first two for sure and then maybe I would say the third round was 50-50. In my opinion, I believe I won it. But yeah, I know I hit him with like a good one too, just as hard as he hit me with his one too. But then I got the takedown, but how much of a takedown was it? Cause he rolled through, so I didn't really have control.

But yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be mad with that. Yeah, so I think I was just hard on myself cause I wanted to finish and I wanted to be the first guy to knock him out and I didn't get that. And it is what it is, man. But you know, I had back surgery, I came back after a year,

I think I had a good performance. I had back-to-back weight cuts just like he did They're pretty hard for me to make so you know I think I handled everything well I got to fight in front of my president. Yeah, so it's you know you talk to him Oh, yeah I mean just like briefly like hitting the cage until I got his attention, and I was like yeah This is USA motherfucker, and that was it so. So he pointed at me and it was cool. And then obviously Mike Tyson was there, who's one of my favorites.

So yeah, it was pretty cool. I felt really relaxed in there. You know, when we talked before the fight, you said you were still kind of dealing with some of the stuff from Mexico, like health-wise? Stomach, man. Still now. Still?

Yeah, still. So basically- So how did it affect you with the weight cut and everything? It was painful. Really? Yeah, still. So basically, How did it affect you with the weight cut and everything? It was painful. Really? It was painful. It's just, I just feel like I have like something with the acid in my stomach got really messed up.

And like my, I guess just like what I'm really used to, like regular, like instead of, you know, going to your normal, I still have my normal times of like when I go to the bathroom type things but like I'll get this acid Feeling like burn in my stomach and it's just you know, I take probiotics prebiotics Like I'm pretty good. Like I'm really good with my I'm so good with my diet now that it's like even eating pizza yesterday I was like sick from it Wow, because of the acid like I just couldn't I can't eat pizza no more and that's kind of Depressing but yes, but yeah from it. Wow. Because of the acid like I just couldn't I can't eat pizza no more and that's kind of depressing. Yes. But yeah. No doctor since like recently. No I

haven't but I'm gonna get checked out that's why they were like oh what's next what's next I'm like I'm gonna try to get my health back to a hundred percent and I also just had like this crazy congestion since I've been there and yeah I don't know I have no idea man. Any of the other fighters that dealt with the stuff did you talk to them if they're still dealing with? I heard Mark Montoya is still struggling. Wow. So I don't know how deeply but now I don't know. I have no idea man. Any of the other fighters that dealt with this stuff Did you talk to them if they're still dealing with I heard mark Montoya still struggling Wow so I don't know how deeply but now I haven't talked to them and You know some people were like how show the only when I got sick out there I was like bro like four of my team sure sure four out of 15 of my teammates got sick just like I did so but

Yeah, it is what it is. I was fighting back home in Jersey for the first time in the UFC. What was that? Like that was cool, man. What was that like? That was cool, man. It was cool. It felt very, everything felt super comfortable. I didn't feel stressed out, like who's flying, and getting a big enough Airbnb for everybody. And I just, you know, it was easy.

It was an hour and a half drive from my house. So I just drove up. Didn't have to actually be there till Thursday. So I stayed there, went to a nice gym out there. It was called GTG. And it was probably the coolest gym I've ever been to. Really? In Newark? Yeah well it's in Linden. Okay okay. But it's an invite only and I met this guy Ash through Dante Rivera who's up here up this way and they connected me man they were awesome they awesome. They had a big cage, a small cage, a boxing ring,

a sauna that was made out of like a shipping crate. Wow. Just for pros or for regular people? Just for pros, yeah. I mean, it's for regular people too, if you go and you train there, but it's an invite only type gym. But they comped everything and like took care of me

and my team, so it was pretty sick, man. I have to say that made the fight week so, so easy. The owner Joe was amazing, so. The juxtaposition of like being sort of like in enemy territory this time and then being at home Must have been such a relief right? Yeah. No, so like I have no problem being the enemy I mean I think people have turned so sour towards me because they don't they don't understand like I Want to look back and laugh at some shit when I get older, you know I mean, I don't get to do this forever.

And, you know, I've kind of embraced being the villain, even though I was the guy that everybody liked in the beginning and now I'm probably like, hated it is what it is. I don't know. I don't know like what the ratio is, but it's just, you know, I've always been me. I've always been unapologetically myself and, you know,

dare to be great as far as say what you believe. And yeah, I think a lot of people have like twisted what it was. myself and you know dare to be great as far as say what you believe and Yeah, I think a lot of people have like twisted what it was so like, you know going out there in enemy territory I have no problem doing that Obviously, I said what I said about Mexico is just I don't think professionally It makes sense to put fighters in that position where you can get sick and lose everything You know what I mean? It's just we put a lot of time into it and I really did try my best out there to not get sick and I Did and it is what it is. But yeah, so I didn't care if it was enemy territory if it was home turf. I just

Prefer not to fight outside of the country though It's so interesting because I was actually looking at some old videos and then thinking of talking to you today and the way we were introduced to you Through the injury through contender series, through your life story, the documentary, to steal a wrestling phrase like you were a baby face. Do you know what I mean? Like you were the ultimate good guy.

Everyone felt for you, everyone wanted to root for you. And now it's like, it's not the Mexican fans, it's like the American fans, some of them are turning against you. Why do you think that is? Lack of education on the sport. Why, Why do you think that is? Ah lack of education on the sport Just stupid people I could because if you look at the guys that are saying it, I mean I'm not gonna say this dude's name cuz I can't fucking stand but

There's a podcast guy. Okay, and he's just I mean he talks like he could whoop my ass He talks like he beat you. He's like. Oh, this fucking guy sucks and everything like I stayed off social media Oh, we probably for the best. Yeah, it was great. I just needed to lock in like I enjoy it I actually think it's funny, so it's it's to me It's funny how upset everybody gets and like how passionate they are to hate me And I have a lot of really good people that support me still, obviously, but it's just everybody always makes what I say so much bigger than how I said it. And it's like, man, it's not that deep.

It really isn't. Everybody made fun of it because I said Jack was older and I thought I would knock him out. And it's like, bro, but that's what I believed. I went out there and I fought and I lost a decision. And then everybody called me fraud check and they don't understand why I'm salty about that salty Joe It's like bro because I don't believe losing a decision to a guy who has 23 fucking UFC fights is considered fraud check It's just not what that's not how I view it as a fighter, and I don't think other fighters you like that

It's always funny too when you get like your fellow fighters in the same organization like you like I've talked to some people, and fellow comrades in the UFC, and they don't view me like that at all. At all. But then if you go to the casual fan, it's like, they're like, oh, you fucking suck, you're this, you're that, it's like, ah, whatever.

It's kind of funny, but. I mean. You don't get riled up by it? So, it depends, it depends. 99% of the time, no, I actually think it's funny. But there is the 1%. Sometimes, you know what I mean? Like maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day and when you go on Instagram and you read negative shit every day, yeah, it can bother you. But, um. How do you react? I just, no, sometimes. But if I write back, it's because I think it's funny Okay, or somebody just said something really stupid that I just can't comprehend

I'm like bro, did you even think this through before you posted it? But yeah, I don't know Sometimes I respond some most of the time I don't Just because I can't fight everybody But like what why why allow those thoughts to occupy your mind? Well, that's why I got off social media, right? Whether it bothers me or not, it still has an effect on your brain subconsciously. So I got off social media this week and let my buddy handle everything

as far as obligations and what I need. I thought you were gonna say social media, period. Yeah, yeah, he was holding me. No, no, I mean like you're not on it anymore. Just for a week. Yeah, just for a week. And then did you come back after the win? Yeah, I'm back.

And now I'm now I'm collecting Messages cuz we're gonna make a little we're gonna make a little collage. Oh my god, bro. That shit motivates me You're leaning into this though. Oh hell. Yeah. Okay. I love it. Like people everybody say I was gonna get beat by KG I was gonna get fucked up. I was gonna get done like Jack Ramansan did I'm this I'm that princess Joe soft Joe poopy pants like all this shit, which I think is funny But it's like I mean, I think I pretty handedly whooped his ass without taking any damage. Look at my face. I'm walking I'm fine. I don't have anything hurt But you know and and everybody's so mad

But you know Kelvin wasn't that man and I apologize to Kelvin in the back, you know if I did offend him I apologize to the Mexican people what I said, I could have said differently shouldn't have said it the way I did But you know, I still stand that like I don't want to fight their type thing And that's what I think got me a lot of obviously deserved flack I think but do you think it was just that or do you did you feel it coming even before all of this? People were talking crap even before that. Yeah, I feel like the Jack fight was the turning point. Yeah, that's when everybody turned. Isn't that a weird thing?

Because you didn't do anything offensive in that fight. You just lost the fight. Well, apparently, I was being disrespectful before saying I was going to knock him out and all these things. And it's like, bro, that's just what I believe. Yeah, yeah. I don't believe I'm going. I don't go into a fight thinking I'm going to lose.

I wholeheartedly, in my heart of hearts, didn't believe I was going to lose, and I lost like so and then everybody's like fraud check I'm like bro That's not fraud check fraud check is you don't go out there and can't even fucking compete with that guy You said Bo nickel got fraud check so I don't think I'm saying if we're going to define fraud check It would be Bo nickel going out there fighting up in competition and getting finished the way he got finished. That would be considered fraud check. The only reason I personally won't say that Bo Nicol got fraud checked is because what

he's done in only seven fights is amazing. And the time he has in the sport, bro, if you put me in the UFC against RDR, like we've done with Bo, I would lose. Like if I've, me and Bo have the same amount of training time, like where, how many years he's what? Two, three years in, four years, I don't know, something like that. If I was four or five years in MMA and he was four

and five years in MMA, I would have lost the same way. So I don't think he got really fraud checked. I just think he's so young in his career and he has a ton of potential, but fraud check is when you step in against higher competition and you get absolutely obliterated like you don't belong there and that's what happened that's fraud check I stepped in and fought Jack and I was very competitive until I got punched in my eyeball and then he kicked the shit out of me and I couldn't see nothing so patchy I think the patchy

project I don't think patchy got fraud no no I mean he's 21's 21. He's a veteran. Okay, so he just lost a fight It could because he was just saying like this guy's a journeyman. I'm gonna walk right through him He comes over from Bellator and it wasn't the best performance. I know you fought right after him So yeah, maybe nerves got to him. Yeah, I don't know if anybody's interviewed him or talked to him yet But from what I've seen him fight in Bellator, he didn't fight that way So maybe like a different guy. So I wouldn't call it fraud check. Maybe the nerves got to him. Like obviously he didn't get finished. He got beat and I think he lost every round, but I wouldn't say he got fraud checked

because he's obviously tough. He's durable. He's fought a lot of really good competition, but maybe the UFC, like that's the other thing, right? You're fighting in front of your president, you're fighting in front of a bunch of people at this level, like PFL doesn't sell anything. So, and Bellator, I don't think they're the same league. So, maybe that got to him, maybe the nerves got to him and he put a big expectation on himself and maybe that's what hindered his performance, you know?

But Mary Bautista's a dog, he's a tough dude, so yeah, I don't like to say people get fraud checked man, and it's different if I say I'm a fighter sure But these these casual fans is just crazy They swear they know some shit, but they've never fucking fought like half of them are fat as hell They can't even take care of their fucking diabetes, bro. The shit's crazy. I like heel Joe Pfeiffer. This is fun I think it's funny, but it's just like these podcasters are the ones that actually get a reaction from me. Oh, okay.

Because they're the ones that run their mouth. Like there's just, I just saw yesterday, and the one guy's like, man, he's a fucking piece of shit. Joe Pfeiffer. Who's talking like this? Who's talking like, these are professional guys, right? Well, I guess they're trying to be with 265 views. I don't fucking know.

Why are you watching videos like that? Just because I like to see what people say. Like I go back and I watch all the predictions of what people who they go back and do that. Yeah. Yeah. I just like to stay aware, man. You know what I mean? I want to, like I said, I'm 14 and three in MMA, bro. I'm pretty good. Yeah. I'm not a scrub. I belong where I'm at and I want to get better. I know I have a lot of areas to get better and I'm 28 years old, man. I get to live my dream and I get to perform. I just beat a Hall of Famer and I just beat a guy

who grew up watching and I dropped him and I hurt him. And yeah, I had a good fight, man. I think it was a maturity fight. When I was against Jack, I was just throwing big shots, big shots. I was doing that here, but had a good fight, man. I think, I think it was a maturity fight, you know, when I was against Jack, I was just throwing big shots, big shots. I was doing that here, but part of why I was throwing one singular shot was a part of our style or game plan.

Cause you can't throw two, three and then risk getting cracked back by him. So. Do you allow yourself to enjoy though, the victory? I haven't enjoyed this one. Why? Cause I just, I feel like I could have done so much more. But it's also because I think the negativity of,

like it wasn't, you know, I didn't bonus out, I didn't knock him out. So like me personally, I kind of let myself down. Yeah. Yeah. I want myself to a high standard, you know? Um, and then I just know, I know I can do so much more, man.

So, but I am happy ultimately, like I talked to my coach cause I was just like, you know, be honest, what'd you think? And I I just know, I know I can do so much more, man. So, but I am happy ultimately. Like I talked to my coach because I was just like, you know, be honest, what'd you think? And they were happy. They were like, dude, you did exactly what we told you to do, which was to not throw too many punches because you might get caught standing up. And if you watch Kelvin's success, he is a dog and he has thrived on people trying to knock him out. And then that's where he catches you. So yeah, just kept it to one big shot, two shots at the most. And I mean, again, what damage did I really take

that anybody could say the fight was close? I don't remember getting hit besides six times. I got hit with a jab, a chuck hook, one, two, and two body shots. You were up two rounds to none. And then the story for me, the broadcast was kind of trying to sell that it was closer than it was. They were up two rounds to none. And then the story for me, the broadcast was kind of trying to sell that it was closer than it was. They were a little hard on me.

They were a little hard on me. Yeah, did you feel? Yeah, Joe Rogan, it was a little hard on me. Which is what? What did he say? I just think the expectation is set so high for me that if I don't get a devastating finish, then everybody kind of starts being like, oh,

he wants to fight to the higher competition. He's got to do this. He's got to do that. It's like, bro, a boost, smug, a medal. I've just fought Michelle Pereira when he was two and two in the UFC and now he's ranked number 11. Like you could go from being on ranked and 27 is what he was or something like that to number 11 on one fight. Like I'll get the better competition relax. So yeah, I don't know. I think they were a little bit I Don't even want to say I'm fair because I don't give a fuck but it's just I think they were a little bit unfair as Far as like the reality of the fight like it was it was not a close fight

Yeah, never in danger and so that was the thing like the only intriguing the third was He hit me with a good one, too. Yeah, and and and he would have stopped you How hard does he hit from that one to the one exchange? He hits hard. I think it would have hurt somebody else but yeah he hits hard. It didn't rock me. I was buzzed like I didn't get like a ring. I didn't get like a woof or like my face went numb like nothing like that. I just was like, yeah, oh shit, he hit me. But it was because I leaned. That was part of one thing we didn't wanna do is I leaned to the right instead of sliding back. And yeah, the one time I was like,

ah, he's not gonna throw, he threw it, so yeah. I just love the idea of Joe Pfeiffer gets a huge win, Prudential Center, UFC Pay-Per-View, and then he's watching a podcast with 200 reviews and getting riled up over it Yeah, like you know, I don't know how not to I don't know how not to because to me It's like I've never in my life No matter I lost a parlay because I used to lose all of my UFC parlays

Back when we were allowed to do I lose it all so I've never been so upset though to go and like shit Talk somebody that has nothing to do with me like You got you got people that are emotionally invested in an upset that I'm saying something about somebody else I'm going to fight or About an experience I had I understand the Mexico thing like I said I understand But you know aside from that it's like people are upset that like I say what I believe or I say how I feel Then don't ask me fucking questions I won't say shit then like I'm just gonna be me and I think I don't think people can handle a guy like me that

Really doesn't care how you feel about what I say I'm still gonna say it and I think it rubs people the wrong way or it might be insensitive to some people's little baby feelings And I think we need characters like you I Do too I think it's a real man's way of living. Say how you feel and say it direct and be blunt and get your point across the table. I'm not afraid to say how I feel. I'm not afraid to say how I think something's going to happen or what I want to happen or what I'm looking for.

I put it out there and if it happens, it happens. It is what it is. But yeah, I like watching going through and like keeping track of all these little fuckers that like run in their mouth I cuz I like this one guy really hope I see one day I really do man I would love to just bitch slap the shit out of him. You know his name? I do know his name. Okay. I can show you off camera. Alright you don't want you don't want to put him over. Nah I don't want want to get many. I saw the one guy at the pre-fight presser talking about your hair. He was cool, he was cool.

I knew he was joking. Okay, okay, because I was like, Ben, it's bold. It was a backhanded compliment, but like, I mean, he's not wrong. It was a great comeback. No, I know, but I didn't know if like, wow, you feel really comfortable. I didn't know if you knew him or if you had any.

No, I've never seen him. So it could be taken as an insult, right? It could be taken as a shot. And I think you said something like, oh, I'm gonna remember you or something. I was like, oh geez. Oh, I remember your motherfucking face. Yes, I was like, are you,

I couldn't tell how mad you were in that moment. You weren't? No, no, not at all. Okay. I mean, look, bro, like everybody like, that was the one thing the dude like tried to talk crap to on him. He was like, oh, you know, I'm securing myself But like he went over and got hair. I'm like bro. I didn't pay for it

I had now hair time that paid for me and my coach They flew us first class and they did the shit for free. Yeah, I'm gonna do it. I Have the option. So if I want to go back to being bald, which I was absolutely fine with, then I can have hair or go bald. I don't give a shit. Like, um, but it's just funny. It is a tremendous job, by the way. It's not bad. You would never know. Yeah, you would never know. You would never know. Except my shit is straight.

Yes. And do you have to like go back or? No. That's it. One time. Yeah. I mean, if it falls out again, you would go back, but I wouldn't go back. Does it, does it like, is it supposed to fall out? No, no. So it's literally just take the hair from your back of your head, that's like, because that is a very popular area that always grows back, so they just pluck it out, like they

take the hair follicle out and then they insert it in the front. So it's my own hair from the back to the front. Oh wow. So are you supposed to grow out the back? Well, my hair grew back, yeah. No, no, no, meaning like when you go there, do they tell you, hey, No, so they shave it just like your head would be and then they pluck each thing, yeah.

One by one? Yeah, one by one. Yeah, it's kind of a crazy thing. They did like, I think it was like 5,000 grafts, I think like six hours, seven hours, between, it took like three hours, maybe five hours, I don't know. I think it was like two, two and a half, three hours

for them to pluck everything and then you know They let you go eat and then you come back in and then they start like taking that kill Well, you don't feel any of it The only thing that hurts is like the 35 fucking anesthesia needles they stick in your head before you get known. Yes 35 I'm in something like that. Oh my god, and then they put fluid they inject fluid it around your dome So that way your pores like open up and your head expands so you look like fucking Megamind bro I was traumatized I remember when I went with my coach I was like bro I can't believe I just

did this like I literally didn't look I didn't look or research anything I'm kind of went for you were you were his like his wingman kind of yeah yeah so I just I literally but that's the main reason I went is because my jujitsu coach wanted it and I kept telling them no, telling them no. And I was like, all right, well, if they give it to you for free, I said, I'll make you a deal, I'll go with you. So we went.

How's his look? His looks great. He's a darker, you know, he's like, he's black, Hawaiian, Japanese, like, so he's got darker skin complexion and his came in, I think, better than mine. Wow. So it's kind of like a crapshoot.

You just have to sort of wait and see how it's gonna look when it comes back. It looks like shit for the first six months. Like when I fought Marc-Andre Berriov, dude, that training camp, I remember I shot a double leg, hit the mat, and my head was still so all nervy and sensitive. It's definitely painful for a couple months, but yeah. I mean.

I just, so someone hates on you for the, like this is all very weird stuff that this is out there, but also that you're paying attention to it. I'm sure there are people in your life who are telling you not to pay attention to this, right? Yeah, of course, of course. And I like, it's just hard. It's like, if I'm not gonna pay attention to it,

then I should just get off social media. That's true. It's hard to avoid. But maybe it's giving you an edge. I think it does. I think you're gonna go full heel here Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah We're like I'm we're we're we're already like making like my body Chandler is making like a little highlight of all the shit that people talked before this he did the doc, right? He did the dog. Yeah, and he enjoys it too because it bothers him too because it's like, you know at the end of the day What I do is to provide for me and the family I want to build and and for my life and you know, and it means a lot to me and like I almost got turned away from the sport with the injuries and

Even you know, I fought mark and two weeks after I got back surgery You know what I mean? So it's like I'm very injury prone and I haven't had an easy road. And you know, it's not the hardest one, but it's, you know, this game is special to me. So everybody wants to just take shots, take shots, take shots. It's like, that's fine. I'm responsible for the things I say,

but I just don't think people are very educated on the sport. So they think they are, their opinions are like facts and they're just, they're just not, you know, it's different. Like I said, if I was to say Bo Nickel sucks, I should be allowed to say that.

I have the possibility of fighting him. But for just regular people that have no idea what that guy's life is or what my life is and they get to speak so harshly on it, it's the only sport where I think it's that brutal. Boxing to two degree? Boxing to, but like boxing, I mean, these guys make so much money that I don't think they even fucking look at their

Instagrams, you know I'm saying like I got a fight, you know, so they these guys can fight once every five fucking years The money they make so yeah, I don't know if it's the same but yeah, I mean, yeah people I would say it's probably the same Then I do you think Bo nickel sucks. I do not okay I do not I I do not. I think he's gonna keep getting better and better. And I like watching him, man. Like I want him to win. I'm team USA and I wanted to see him win.

I just don't know who he trains with. You know what I mean? I'm sure he's got great coaches and everything like that, but does he have yes men? Or is he actually getting those hard rounds? Is he actually getting those gritty, like break you mentally type rounds in the gym, because it doesn't look like it when he transferred

over into the fight. It looked like the second he was getting hit, because things weren't going his way, he was very, very, very uncomfortable. So, nah, I don't think he sucks at all. I think he's amazing for what he's done that early. And I mean, the sky's the limit for the guy, if he can get a striking down.

You mentioned the injuries and everything you've been through if you weren't a fighter right now if the injuries were so bad or if life took you in it what do you think you'd be doing now? I'd probably be a deadbeat mechanic man I don't know. You think so? I think I probably would have been working on cars because I developed that trade. I don't know I don't know that's that's the scary part right is like I never knew I never could picture I've tried to picture things like that in case something went bad, but I just never could do it So I never really thought that deep about it. It was just like man. I don't know same question

That's our you didn't have a dream like this the dream but like okay So maybe like the realistic like okay if this doesn't work out never had that no wow It was all always UFC Wow always UFC and I would say this was the fight that I came closest to achieving the dream because I was finally on a pay-per-view card on a big spot against a veteran and fighting in front of the president like I handled a lot I handled my first press conference I handled fighting in front of the president talking to him like saying what's up to him, at least, you know, dealing with all the fans and all that. Like this is all first for me still.

Home state, you know, all that so-called pressure. I do well with all that. Like you didn't see me flustered or bothered by any of that. I enjoyed the walkout, was having fun. Like I was happy to be there. And these are all things that sometimes can break people. So, you know, but these are all my first moments to experience in the UFC in my own career, my own journey. A lot of people don't look into those details. Like I handled all that plus winning the fight and I feel like I won the fight pretty dominantly. But yeah, I'm only getting better man. And that's yeah, but no there was this was all I had man. This is this is all I've ever had. You remember when the dream started? Eight years old. Eight years old. You saw a fight?

Yeah, eight years old. It was the. You saw a fight? Yeah eight years old It was the dream of walking out in front of like 20,000 people screaming my name What did you see that allowed you to think that like did you see someone on TV? I watched been watching UFC since I was like five. Wow who introduced you to it? My father. Wow. Yeah my father He was the one that was doing He was learning MMA from a guy named Steve Hague and then as he was learning he would come back and show me and make me Learn as well and which I'm grateful for you know what I mean, so even though we've always Had our differences, and we don't have a good relationship and probably won't ever talk again

I still love the guy for that and respect him for that you know so he gave me the tools that built the house I live in now, so that's, that's how I see it. And, uh, you, you, you have not talked even in this, when's the last time you spoke? Me and him, it's been a couple of years. Um, probably maybe three plus years for something like that. So what was the last time, if you don't mind me? Uh, the last time was just him like making, so he was making fun of me about something like saying my jab sucked or something like that. Cause he basically was pretending he was me

when I would train with, when Daniel Gracie was a part of our team, Daniel Gracie thought he was texting me, but he was texting my dad, my father's number. And so my dad pretended to be me for almost two years. You're kidding. No. What?

So when I found that out, I was just like, yeah, I got a different number. I was like, I'm not dealing with this dude no more. But he was basically just saying I sucked and I wasn't doing this. And I got beat up at practice because I wasn't doing this. And I'm like, how the fuck does this guy know what's going on? And then I started thinking there was a rat in the gym. And I'm like, which one of you mother? And it wasn't doing this. And I'm like, how the fuck does this guy know what's going on? And then I started thinking there was a rat in the gym.

And I'm like, which one of you mother? And it wasn't any of them. It was just, damn. Did you tell them that you found out? Nah, nah, nah. I found out in Abu Dhabi, actually, when Sean lost to Balaam Ahmad. Wow.

Because we were all trying to put our numbers in a WhatsApp group to text each other. And dumbass Daniel was like, Oh Piper, this is your number. And I was like, no, you idiot. I was like, that's my dad's number. Oh no. I found out that. And then you put two and two together. Yeah. I put two and two together because then I was like, he was like, look, I text you right here motherfucker. And I'm like, that's not me. You idiot. Like, oh my God. I read the messages and stuff. Yeah. That heartbreaking. Uh, no, cause I expect it, um, from Yeah. Was that heartbreaking? No, because I expect it from him.

Basically, man, he's in a position of just being desperate. You've got to remember, the last time I was on here, I think it was a little harsh towards my mother and my sisters saying about white trash. I have since developed a relationship with my mother. Great. Yeah, and my one sister, my two youngest sisters, I finally get to meet like my other nieces and nephews

and things like that. Amazing. And they've been apologetic, you know, and that's something I can look past and move forward. Like he was the real damage, you know, there were obviously me and my mom had our things and issues and damage and so did my sister for sure. But I think it's a lot more forgivable as far as laying them back into my life than

my father because they didn't try to kill me. They didn't try to break me mentally. You know what I mean? Uh, it's just, they were absent at times, for a big chunk of time. But, like he's out here trying to, like Dr. Phil's show reached out and I was like, I'm not doing that. Really? And yeah, so.

To go on with him. Yeah, and I was like, I'm not doing that. Because basically he just wants to be relevant because of me. He doesn't feel that I deserve where I'm at without him. And like I said, he deserves credit where credit is due. He's the one that got me into it and everything. But I mean this guy tried to cut me off from Jiu-Jitsu at 15 years old.

This guy didn't want me to train with anybody else because they were taking over his property, what he raised, what he was built to be a champion. And he even put out his own documentary that he got almost 50,000 views off of just because he has my name, I have his name. And it was just a complete denial. Like, I never abused him. I was just tough on him verbally. But it's like, brother, you have an ex-wife that could testify to the abuse that you did

to your kids, let alone her. You have four other children that could testify to the abuse that saw it with their own eyes of what you did to her and to them and to me especially So it's like in his mind I think he's just one of these guys that have told him self a certain story for so long that he believes it's true And it's just it's just wild so but he's yeah He's still trying to does he try another part of a documentary to try and come out against he's still trying to make another part of a documentary to try and come out against me. So he's not trying to reconcile,

he's trying, he's almost making this work. The only reason he agreed, think about it, Ariel, the only reason he would agree to something as public as Dr. Phil is because it's public, because it's relevancy. But I told the one guy that I talked to, I was like, bro, what do I have to gain by doing that? No.

He has nothing. He's been, his last wife divorced him. He lives in a two bedroom or one bedroom apartment. Like he has no kids in his life. He has no family. He has no friends. Like he's got one friend all of a sudden. And it's like, because you've ruined every single bridge, every bridge he could have

crossed, he burnt and blow it up. I mean, if that doesn't show and all the while he's saying everybody's fucking him over. So it's like bro How how is everybody screwing you over but you're the only one that has nobody around you? Why does everybody hate Joe Pfeiffer the fourth leg? Actually, it's not true everybody starting to hate Joe play for the fifth. I'm almost there with you pops I'm almost there. But you know what I mean? So five of you. There's five of us. Yeah, so there I have two older sisters

There's Sarah Hanna and then me and then Rachel and Amy. But the fifth, like there's five Joe Pifers. Yeah. Who was the first? No idea. No idea. When do you start? Like, do you know the second? So no, I know he's the fourth. So obviously there's me.

Your grandfather is the third. My father's the fourth. I met my grandfather. He was the third, but I never met the second. Do you know anything about them? So I know the third was in Vietnam. My grandfather was in Vietnam. He was a mechanic on a patrol boat on the river.

Wow. And then his father, I think, was in the World War. But I'm not too sure on that. I think he was military also. If you have a son, will you call him Joe Piper? I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think so. I think he was military also. So if you have a son, will you calm Joe Piper? I don't think so. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think so. I think there's been enough curses I don't know bro. I don't want him to get the hate that I'm getting I don't know. I don't know. I it's

It's it's a tough thing to do because you know, I think I broke the cycle and I broke the chain the chain But I don't know. I don't think it has much meaning to me. The name. Yeah, being the cycle. When you say the cycle, what do you mean? Just being a piece of shit father to your kid, you know? And when I say break the cycle, also just as far as the way I live my life

and being a Christian and actually caring about people. I have sympathy, I have remorse. I apologize if I've offended somebody. And at the end of the day, I don't think I'm a bad dude and I care about people, but yeah, I say breaking the cycle as far as like these guys have taken from a lot of people and they have never had remorse.

Was his dad like that? Your father's dad, your grandfather? Like do you think- In his words, because there's a lot of people and they have never had remorse. Was his dad like that? Your father's dad, your grandfather? Like do you think that- In his words because there's a lot of people that watch me to get all upset and they'll DM me and be like, you talked about your grandfather, you don't know shit about him. Like yeah, you're right, because I never really met him at my house.

Sure, sure, based on what you learned about him. I didn't know the guy that well. But yeah, me and my dad said he was super abusive and I believe my dad had a harder life than I did for sure. Oh said, you know, he was super abusive and I believe my dad had a harder life than I did for sure. Oh wow. You know, he was homeless. His mom was, I think a hooker at some point, I don't know.

Your dad was homeless. That's how he put it. Yeah, my dad was definitely homeless, but that's, you know, his words, he said that she was basically a prostitute having different guys in, banging them to have a way to live and have food and things like that. So he was passed around from the time he was three years old and then was homeless from, I think, 14 till 19,

hopping home to home. Said his dad was super abusive, said that his father sold drugs, things like that. But these are his words. So I think that there is some truth to it. You know, I don't want to discredit his own life, but yeah, he definitely grew up fucked up too. But he never went and got help and he never acknowledged he had a problem or that he wanted

to get better or anything like that. And it just kind of transferred into his family life and onto his wife and obviously us five kids. Until this day, he doesn't take accountability for it. So I think that's the biggest problem, right? It's like you have to take accountability. At some point, you don't's like you have to take accountability. At some point you don't want to die a piece of shit.

And I think you have to admit when you've done something wrong, especially when it's supposed to be about people you were supposed to love and care for. And he's just never done that. Like he just completely avoids all of it. Your siblings talk to him? No, I know my second oldest sister did at some point,

like here and there, but she's the only one. So that's the other thing, right? He's like 12, 14 years later later after the fact that he's left, you still have three of your four daughters that have never tried to talk to you. Why did they hate you that much? Can you answer that? Like nobody's, he made a documentary where he didn't answer those questions. He didn't answer how come they said they've seen you hit their mother and strangle their mother or beat their kids. Like he didn't address any of it. And now he's coming out with another documentary

because he thinks he found somebody that he can get relevancy. How do you know that he's doing this stuff? People tell you. Out of connection. Yeah. Do you want to have kids? Yeah, I do.

I do. Is part of the motivation, like you want to, as you said, break the cycle, but like be the father to someone or multiple people that you didn't have. I just think if I have kids one day, I just think it's the right thing to do is to, when you have kids it's no longer about you.

And you wanna set that child up to have a successful life so you don't have the same struggles. They don't have the same struggles that you did. Everybody's going to struggle, right? Like you've struggled, everybody in this world has struggled and then that's how they find themselves. Sure. And what they like, what they don't, you know, at some point they're going to have an obstacle or adversity

they have to overcome. But I think it's very important that if I have a child, it's like, I make sure that child knows that they're loved and that I support them as long as it's within reason you know and it's good and It's going to provide for them in the future things like that. Like I'm not supporting some freak shit That's why I'll leave it at Freak shit, just freak shit. I can't say cuz I get canceled. Well, you know some people I don't even think cancel culture is a

Thing anymore. You don't think I don't think so. You're setting me up for fail I don't think cancel culture is a thing anymore. You don't think? I don't think so. You're setting me up for failure. My point is, a lot of people would say, ah, I don't care what my- Basically, I'm a Christian, Ariel, and I don't. There's certain things that, you know,

like my kid's not gonna be a fucking furry. I'm not gonna deal with that. I was in Pittsburgh one time and there was a furry convention and I did not know, I never heard of it. It was actually there for a fight. 2011, it was Nate Marquardt. Who is it against? Ah, Tyron.

No, but you know what, you know what happened? Um, Charlie Brenneman stepped up. You remember Charlie Brenneman stepped up on 24 hours notice cause Mark got, he popped. Whatever. Uh, PDs. But the point is I was at the hotel and there was all these people dressed up as animals. Wild.

And I had not. Where the wild things are. Yo, that's my, actually my son told me there's a couple of kids in his class that do it. I was like, wow. Yeah, this is real shit. It's real shit. It's definitely some weird.

It's gotten more popular. Yeah, it has. But, you know, I don't support it. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. You know, and I have no problem saying that. I don't support it. I think it supports mental illness, and I think it's a big problem in the world and what it's doing to kids and allowing them to live these

fake fictional lives and then when they get slapped in the face by reality, it's like they're not prepared at all and they're on 10 medications for it. I think it's child abuse. I think it's really fucked up. But yeah, that's what I mean by like I'm not supporting the freak shit. I want my kid to have morals. I want him if it's a boy, you know, I want him to be able to work on cars. I want him to, you know, have a trade at least. And I also want him to be, you know, educated on history and you want would you want him to be a fighter? No, why not?

Because you don't, you have to be a different breed to be able to deal with this kind of shit. What if he is that breed? I'm gonna do it In other words, will you try to support? That or would you try to steer him away from that? No, I would let him make his choice. I think I think Depending on it. Well how passionate I thought he was about it

Like I wouldn't just take his word for it. Like I'd have to see that he wanted to go to the gym He kept asking me to train and then he was getting better jujitsu Then he wanted to compete jujitsu tournaments Then he went to wrestle and then he went to box like I'd have to see that effort For me to be like I think this kid wants to do it and I'm gonna support him and I'm gonna help him You know, obviously I could Whereas my father it was like I did all those things and he was like now I'm cutting you off. Obviously I could. Whereas my father, it was like, I did all those things and he was like, nah, I'm cutting you off

because nobody else is getting control. And if I'm not it, nobody's it. And if I ain't gonna say it, then nobody's gonna say it. Nobody gets a part of what I made. So me, yeah, if he was doing those things, I would support it, but I think I would initially try to get him, I would try to encourage him in a different sport just because the pay grade is so much different, right? And he doesn't have to you know, beat his body as bad as we do

This is a lot of this is I think a lot of training for you know, such a small moment I guess And it beats up your body bro beats up your mind too Especially when you got all these dick eaters out here talking about it. You don't have to say it, but I will. You guys don't get paid enough. So it's like the John Jones situation, where people refer to what he asked for as fuck you money,

is not fuck you money. John Jones is worth that. John Jones has earned that. You talk about the boxers, there are way less accomplished boxers than him who are making three times what he has made in his career per fight that's that's my only grip it's like I think it's just crazy because I think the UFC really does have some bad dudes like and you know we should be paid like the boxers because we put it on the line one thing I'm not a fan of is the 50-50

purse that's my only thing I want guaranteed money are of is the 50-50 purse. That's my only thing. I want guaranteed money. Are you in the 50-50? We're all in 50-50, unless you're up there. Sure. It's antiquated. Yeah. I'm still new in my career, right? So I'm still proving who I am, but I think I've proven that I'm going to bring it and I'm going to look for the finish.

I'm just not a decision guy. Could I have kept Kelvin on the ground? Yeah, I know I could have. Could I have grabbed him? Yeah, I know I could have. Could I have grabbed him? Yeah, I know I could have. But I wanted to finish, you know, and I wanted to try and get that sweet shot and really like put him out and make a statement. And, you know, I didn't, but I still dominated. But yeah, I would prefer to have guaranteed money because I think the anxiety for me, just me personally, is just like, man, I'm fighting one of the best guys in the world,

anything can happen. But if I don't win, I win I only make this much sure and that that's deserve to know yeah and you deserve to get to get the carry them out yeah I'm 28 years old bro I don't want to be fighting for half my check cuz I lost it's great especially when you have these judges right yeah the fuck it's crazy I just don't understand the stats bro in the fourth in the second round They said it was 14 to 10 him at one point Wow When the hell did I get fucking hit 14 times like you get credit for fudging the air? I don't get that shit That's the only thing bro. It's crazy, and I didn't see I was watching in the back, but I wasn't paying attention I had like an audiobook on but like apparently Spivak got robbed too

It was close. It. I didn't watch it What are you listening to in the back? What audio? Inter Excellence that the book that AJ Brown was reading It just really it really I was getting I was making the moment bigger than it was and I just kept listening to it because I was reading the book but I was you know, too many people talking here So I just put the headphones on and bought the audiobook It just kept me in check man. Just killed you know present. Yeah, because you ever done that before no first first time I'm not a big book reader

But I do like history I'll read like on the internet and things like that about like war war and shit like that like I'm interested in history, but it was the first time that I really was like Trying to let go of the result. I really tried to make sure I was present to enjoy the moment. I knew Donald Trump was going to be there and Mike Tyson and all these people and just

like my friends and stuff like that. So I really tried to make sure I was in the moment and didn't care about the result, but cared about the effort and the performance. I think what I've been learning, which is probably why everybody hates me is I was a very very very ego driven fighter and ego driven as far as like I was obsessed with the result the knockout the money afterwards the win the bonus these all these things that they're all ego driven. And so this book's been helping me a lot like put in the perspective where it's like man you got

to let go all that and all you have to harness is you know the one that wants to thrive in performance and performance only doesn't know what's next doesn't know what's after and it's only focused on this moment right here what's where where your feet are where your eyeballs are what you can see and where your feet are is what matters. And I think one of my toxic things has always been looking to the future. And I think that's why I didn't have a call out or nothing because it's like, man, that also taints the win.

Like I'm sitting here talking to you today and I don't feel like I fought Saturday and I don't feel like I won. I just feel like it's another day. That's kind of a good thing, but it's also like, eh, you know, I don't get that high off winning unless I get a finish. So that's the part of me that was like, ah, man, I know I could do better

because I'm always fucking hunting that feeling. I want that feeling. That's what I want. Did someone tell you about that book? No, I saw it. I saw him reading it. It was a real famous picture of him sitting there reading an accident's book. And if him reading it. Yeah, it was a real famous picture of him sitting there reading their accidents book

And if anybody did tell me to read it, it was Sam or pizza So who's I've known since I was like 10 years old He's always encouraging me to read books and read this and read that I'm just not a big book reader But you know, have you ever tried to talk to like a sports? psychologist, yeah, no Sean's recommend Sean Sean Brady's recommend. Does he do it? Yeah, he doesn't.

It's what helped him change his whole trajectory, and him being more present and being more social and things like that. He's obviously improved so much, but that's because he's gotten help. And there's nothing wrong with it, man. These are high pressure situations, and this is all first for me, like I told you, right? It's kind of cool it, man. You know, this is these are high pressure situations and like this is all first for me.

Like I told you, right. It's kind of cool for me because it's like I've never dealt with any of this. I just know I know I could deal with it. But, you know, subconsciously, you have things that affect you and you get these bad habits or you get these certain thoughts that you would never without help. You would never sit there and think, OK, well, when these negative thoughts thoughts come in like I'm not worthy or I might lose but you have to face those thoughts while they're in your head and you have to Spin them like it's in a blender and then bring out a different result It's almost like you put the banana in but then it comes out like a milkshake It's like it's different you have to spin it and then

Turn it and then get rid of it and spin it and turn it and get rid of it And it's just what the mind does and it's really important and I think it's gonna help me a lot because I only just started doing it and turn it and get rid of it. And it's just what the mind does. And it's really important. And I think it's going to help me a lot because I only just started doing it. And I think I've already learned a lot. So I think I was a very ego driven and still am, you know, an ego driven person. Hence why I go back and look and see what people say

because it hurts my pride, hurts my ego because I want to do something about it. But yeah, you know, I'm learning. I'm learning on the job, Ariel. I think you're doing a fine job and I would suggest not being so hard. It's obviously easier for me to say, but to a degree all fighters have to be ego driven, right? It's not a team sport. I know you have coaches and you're part of a gym, but this is all you. You're there naked, essentially, in front of the world. And I feel for you guys, if a gym, but this is all you, like you're there naked essentially in front of the world. And I feel for you guys, if only because among many reasons,

like you get knocked out, now people are like clowning on you and posting things about you. Make a meme. I hate that. Imagine if I actually fought. So I woke up, I went to bed at 209 pounds in Mexico, 11 p.m PM the night before the fight. I woke up at 6 AM. When I say woke up,

I didn't sleep. I was awake. I slept maybe 35 minutes to an hour. And I woke up at six and I was talking to Dr. Davidson, all of them, whatever. He was like, well, what's your weight? I was 194 pounds. Like that's crazy, bro. I'm like close to making weight again and I'm still vomiting and I'm shivering and I'm sick and all these things and it's like, you know Then everybody's like you're a pussy you should die or this or that and it's like we have to cartel kills you all

It's like bro. How did you want me to react? I mean, but that's what I'm saying about the ego. I hurt my ego It was like because I felt like when I was down and I was devastated, I've never pulled out of a fight. I fought with my hand broken half. I fought with my toes glued together. I fought with a fracture. Like I have fought through some crazy shit and that time I just couldn't do it and everybody's like you're this, you're that, you're this, you're that. It's like damn dude like this sport is ruthless. Like they don't care how you feel. They don't care if your mom's about to die in an hour at home. You should fight. And it's like, nah, bro. Like I told you before, I think

at one point, I've learned my lesson from the jack fight and I won't fight compromised if I can help it. And that was one of those things where it was like, I couldn't fight period. And I wasn't going to be a shitting meme by going in there and trying to fight with my ego Kelvin I had a lot of respect for and I expected him to be his best self of old and that's what I trained for and To give you know to be ignorant of that and go in there and think I could fight him just because I'm Joe Pfeiffer That's now That's too much ego. So I had enough respect that it was like, oh, I much ego. So I had enough respect that it was like, Oh,

I love to fight another day. I can't make it. And let's, let's figure it out. I'm just very thankful that the UFC kept that fight together because you know, that was a good fight for me. You like the B Joe Piper stuff. Do you still, you don't like it? I never liked it. You never liked it. No, I never liked it. I just hoped, uh, no, I never liked it because it's fake love, man. It's fake love. They love you today. They hate you tomorrow It's a key from came from Dana guy. That's cool

I mean it was cool, but it was always cringe to me just because I don't like I don't want people walk up and Telling me be Joe Pfeiffer be Joe Pfeiffer is corny like it's just you know, but you can't be somebody else and but I did like the message of, I didn't like it for the way reasons, the reasons people interpret it. I liked it for the way that he said it.

And he was saying, if you want to be in the UFC, and this is where you want to be, act like Joe Pfeiffer. Which was, I was passionate, I was vulgar, I screamed at him, I knocked the guy out, and I called my shot. And I came back and I was a resilient motherfucker. I had two surgeries.

They told me I wasn't gonna fight again. That's B. Joe Pfeiffer. That's called being a resilient dude and believing in what you said you were gonna do and set out to be. And I didn't let people discourage me from it. That's B. Joe Pfeiffer. Like that's powerful.

But, you know, just coming up and being like, B. Joe Pfeiffer, the way you fight. Like, nah, it's just, have that intensity. People come up to you and say that? Yeah, yeah, it's corny. And it just like irritates me. Yeah. Like I don't get mad at people for it.

Like they don't know about this. Sure. But to me it's corny because it's just like, they don't actually understand what be Joe Pfeiffer means. And I think it's much more than just how I fight. You said on Saturday, you didn't call anyone out. You wanted to be in the moment. Now that it's a few days later do you have anyone on your mind I know you also said you wanted to get you know yeah back to 100% but who

do you think makes sense? I think there's a bunch of fights that make sense but I don't want to say their names because they have fights right now. Actually I think like the next six seven guys in front of me have fights. So I gotta wait like this month, like a lot of them are fighting this month. So I gotta wait. Is there a dude though that like you think would be, you know, if he wins this next one. Yeah, I would like to fight Marvin Vittori.

Okay. That would be good. Yeah. I mean, that's like the only one that popped in my head. Okay. I think that would be a good fight. I mean, I would love to fight Paul Craig still,

but I think he moved up one that popped in my head. I think that would be a good fight I mean, I would love to fight Paul Craig still but I think he moved up and I think I'm ahead of him Obviously, you can't lose to Bo Nicol and then me fight. Yeah, it doesn't make sense. I wanted to fight RDR But now you got Robert Whitaker. I asked for the RDR fight before he fought Bo Nicol. Oh, wow They said they had other plans. So I was kind of disappointed with that. I would love to fight RDR They said they had other plans, so I was kind of disappointed with that. I would love to fight RDR. You think he beats Robert Whitaker? No.

No. I don't. Um, I just don't think he has the skills on the feet for it. And I think if Robert is able to, I think Robert has good takedown defense. Oh yeah. Obviously, uh, Kamzai is a different style

and just is coming after you. Um, but I don't think RDR possesses the skills to, he does possess the skills to beat Robert, but I just don't, I don't, I don't see him being able to hurt Robert on the feet to even get to his effective wrestling. And I don't think he's just going to be able to close the distance, start a jab and then shoot a single and take him down. I just don't see it happening. I think Robert moves well on the feet, obviously through his combinations.

I think he's going to chop up his leg. And I think, I think it'll be easy night for him. What about DDP Khamsat? I think DDP is, uh, in danger in those first two rounds, um, for sure. And, uh, I don't think he has the best jiu-jitsu. He's just a big strong dude. And you know, he's tech, he's technical with his

own game, like he makes it work for him. Um, but yeah, I could see, I think that's a 50 50 fight. I think coms out. It's gotta get them down inside three rounds and submit them more like two rounds just because his style is so energy demanding.

Um, and then obviously if he doesn't get that finished, I can see DDP finishing him. Um, before the bell's over, this is just going to keep going. DDP shown that he can just keep going, keep going, keep going, but I don't think, I don't think, yeah. One that I'd like to see down the line,

Joe Pfeiffer against Sean Strickland. Yeah, I think it'll be a fun one. I think that would be a great one. Baraka. Yeah. Baraka. Yeah. Yeah, I think that would be a fun one too. I just think, I mean, you're both tall, I don't know be a fun one too. I just think I mean you're You're both tall you I don't know similar body types, but similar styles. Obviously he's been around a little bit longer

Yeah, but I think that that's That's that that's one to shoot for obviously not next. Yeah, although I don't know what he's gonna do next I know they were talking maybe about the Izzy rematch. Yeah, turn down a fight recently that he said he said yeah I don't remember who it was, but he said that he wasn't interested in it. Point is, that's one that I feel like, I almost feel like I could see it. Like I could see the poster. I could see this one being a fight in maybe a year or two. Yeah. A hundred percent in a year or two. A hundred percent. Hey, listen, I mean, if they want to say I didn't have a good performance or whatever and they want to give me another guy, shit, give me another contract and let

me, let me do my thing. I know Andre Munees ain't booked. I like that flight. Why is your contract up? I got one more. Okay. Yeah, I got one more. So we're going to renegotiate for sure.

Do you think before the last one or you'll have the last one and then when it gets better? Nah, I think we'll renegotiate. I mean, I got four finishes and I just beat a veteran who's going in the hall of fame. Why wouldn't you resign me? Yeah, yeah, no, I just mean like,

sometimes they wait for the last one, so maybe like your stock is even higher. Maybe, you would know better than me, I have no idea. I think maybe it's up to you. I mean, I don't wanna go in and right before the fight negotiate, I'd rather get this done now. Yeah.

And then we look for what's next, but like I said, there's a bunch of fights that have to happen, but yeah, I mean, if you want me to fight the stiff competition, I'm going to get paid to fight the stiff competition and I'm going to get guaranteed. Or at least that's what I'm going to ask for, you know? Ultimately it's, I have to be grateful and I fight for a very big organization that I think is the highest level of it. And yeah, there's killers, man. So.

When would you like to return? September? Okay. Yeah, September October. Oh perfect the Abu Dhabi card That's that's what that's what my manager said to and I was like I'll tell you this I go to Abu Dhabi over Mexico. It's a Vegas pay-per-view early October. Yeah. Yeah October 8th I think it is yeah, that's that's that would be good. I want to enjoy the summer a little bit. I got my car back finally that I haven't had for two years. I've had it for six years. It was the last car I bought. It was a 2000 F body Camaro. So I'm going to build that the summer a little bit. Yeah.

And I want to do some things this summer. You know, I didn't get to really do anything last summer. I went on vacation and got cut short because I had the back surgery. So and I don't want to get my health right. But I'll tell you this, I'm going to stay in shape, man. I feel very motivated and I feel good. I feel happy. I will say that I feel happy,

despite all the negativity and everything. I just feel happy, man. I feel grateful. Like I did a cool ass thing. Like I got to fight in front of thousands of people. And it's just, I feel grateful because it's like man, you know Everybody said I wouldn't be doing this and now I'm 14 and 3 as a professional like that's pretty good record too Like should be 15 or 2, but that's pretty good, you know

I've been one of the UFC 5 1 to UFC, you know 14 and 3 like one of them by injury loss And you know, I'm I'm making money and I'm fighting and I'm happy and you know, I'm making money and I'm fighting and I'm happy and you know, I'm getting better and I'm young. I'm only 28. So, and I feel like I'm maturing and I still will always be my immature self like making jokes and vulgarity and things like that. But I think people just take this shit too serious, man. They take it too serious. And sometimes it gets to a dark place when it's always like, what's next? What's next? Like that's the thing people don't understand, right? Like when you take a fight, bro, you think about it every single day.

Almost like how if you've ever been late on a bill and you're like, man, I gotta get the money to pay. I gotta get that money to pay. Imagine having that type of feeling for like two months. The shit wears you out mentally. So then when you finally pay the bill and then like, boom, here's another one, you're like, ah, fuck, man. Like, you know what I mean? You get what I'm saying?

Where's you thin a little bit? So I don't I'm just I don't like to I don't like to take that moment Even if it was quick or I'm not injury free and then just yeah, what's next like you know any means? So I try to enjoy like at least a month of the summer and then get some dirt biking in with Sean and Yeah, we're gonna go to International Fight Week so it'd be fun I got a couple fun things I want to do I'm gonna go on vacation too. The best thing you said throughout this chat is you're happy yeah that's the best thing because if you're not enjoying all this you're living the dream man most people on this planet don't even dare to dream of the life that you have like they wouldn't

even dare because it's so out of reach. And I think when you're in it, sometimes you get comfortable too, where it's like, you think this is normal. Yeah. Shit ain't normal. No. Like this ain't normal. And then you go to a coffee shop

and you realize that person working there, that's normal. And that's, I couldn't do that, you know? And I respect them for it, but I couldn't do that. And I'm grateful that this has worked out the way it has because it would fucking sucked. Like I wouldn't like my life if I couldn't do that. And I'm grateful that this has worked out the way it has because it would fucking sucked. Like I wouldn't like my life if I had to do that job or work at a coffee shop or work at a gas station. Like I couldn't do it. I would be very unhappy and I would feel like, I would feel like I failed like to be honest. So yeah, I mean, I have to be very grateful.

Like I got a bunch of people, even though there's the downside with it, too There's you know pros and cons like you know I was begging for this opportunity when I was fighting amateurs for no money and Making no money and owing money because I fucked up ticket sales You know me and I'm still wanted to fight so it's pretty cool to now I get to fight You know and I think we deserve more as far as fighters pay and stuff like that But you know I used to fight for fucking nothing. So I'm just happy, man. Like, and I just beat a really good guy. Like he's only 33 too. So it's not like he's old. Obviously, I don't think he's on the better end of his career, but I hope Kelvin keeps fighting too.

Appreciate you coming in, Joe. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Keep doing your thing. I like heel Joe, but I like this Joe's well. I like grateful Joe too. Yeah, it's a nice thing. So thanks for coming in really appreciate We got to get this bike thing going though with Sean now. That's the last thing make sure you follow up on He doesn't want it. What do you he doesn't want it? I told you I got advice at the gym I can't be a bully. I I don't want to bully someone into a competition. You saw my guy Connor over there I think he's afraid of him. I got to see who Connor looks like I saw Eric no no Eric's not the guy we have we have Connor back there he know he may not be back there no he's not there you'll see him in the back all right I just don't think Sean

wants to smoke it's like it's maybe maybe not maybe not maybe you scared him but also like but thank you for having me pleasure you're the man you're the man Joe thank you so much we'll take a quick break. Shotsy gonna join us in studio. So don't go anywhere. But for now, we'll say bye to Joe and be right back. All right. That was a segment from The Crack on Friday of this past week. A lot has happened in the saga that is John Jones and the UFC and Tom Aspinall. Check out The Crack every Friday, 1 p.m. Eastern, right here on the channel. That was Joe Pfeiffer. What a great chat that was. I enjoyed it very much. Fascinating human being who's been through a lot

and who's figuring it out right now. Who he wants to be, the relationship that he has with the fans, with the public, with the community, with the organization as well. But he is 14-3, 5-1, a tremendous career so far and just, but he is 14 and three, five and one, a tremendous career so far. And just, as he said, 28. I need to crack my jaw, Frank, is that okay? Yeah, do your thing, man. Ah, that felt good.

That felt nice. Now, in a matter of seconds, we're gonna be joined in studio by a very talented young wrestler in her own right. She was, as of very recently recently a member of the WWE roster, a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion Breakout star in 2020. Was a member of the main roster for quite some time, had been through her ups and downs as well, but very recently did not have her

contract renewed by WWE and now she has become the indie goddess and what do I mean by that now she is everywhere a similar to a degree story the one that we had last week with Cora Jade but she was obviously on the main roster and in the game for a lot longer and now she is doing some massive things for the likes of GCW, MLW and many others. Another fascinating individual who I'm looking forward to chatting with right here in studio Without further ado let us say hello to the Indie goddess herself the one and only Shotzi Blackheart is here hello Shotzi Wow nice to be here Okay, what are you?

And I have a gift for you. Oh my dear. This is amazing Very own Shotzi Funko I see that you love the toys I also thank you so much for this and you look fantastic. Your hair is green. Thank you I just touched it up just for you. I appreciate that Thank you for that, thank you so much for coming in. Thank you for having me. This is so cool. Thank you, thank you.

You have such an awesome studio. I appreciate it. We have a lot of mementos here. I love it. We have the British Bulldogs over there. These are the big rubber guys and you have one as well. Oh yeah, hit that plug. Yes.

Yeah, we're getting it early. Right off the bat. Yeah. I love that. My big rubber guy, I have to say, is like the coolest figure ever. Oh, you got it up there. How about that?

Well, yeah, so Yours is legit one of the coolest ones I've ever seen Thank you. I um, yeah, I get so lucky with the figures. I have really loved every figure that has come out So this is with Matt Cardona's company. Yeah, he hooked it up I wasn't sure if you guys were like beefing or not I mean Cause he was saying trademark infringement, Indie Goddess, Indy god, that's his name, right?

Look, it's a game of thrones out here on the Indies. And if I want to sit on the Indy iron throne, I got to take out the king, and that's Matt Cardona. So yeah, there can only be one king. And you're down to wrestle men, no problem. Absolutely, yeah, no problem. Yeah, I'm willing to fight Matt Cardona to the death for that title.

A death match? Yes. I've seen his death matches. Me too. With the light bulbs and the thumb, you wanna do that? Well, I actually just did one. I did see that this weekend. I saw your face.

I know. Yeah, well, see, it was my first match back on the Indies, and I just wanted to make some noise for my first one back. And I just thought, okay, I want the most non-WWE match ever. Like I want to wrestle men. And I wrestled the GCW Deathmatch champion and Jimmy Lloyd, who is insane, and yeah, we kicked each other's butts. This was like your big reintroduction. Yes, yeah, it was a big surprise.

I saw the photo that you posted afterwards. Yeah. How beat up were you? I'm feeling it today, to be honest. Yeah, my back is pretty messed up. The shower afterwards was not fun. I was picking glass out of my back. Oh my dear.

For quite some time. Look at this, look at you. Yeah. Do you like this? Do you enjoy this? I do a lot, but I have to say, I am not a death match wrestler. This is not something that I'm going to be doing often.

You just wanted to come out with a bang. Yes, I just wanted to come out and do something ridiculous for my first match back. And I just thought that going to GCW and entering in their tournament of survival was the way to go. Had you ever been in a death match before? One other time, but honestly, I didn't even do anything that crazy, just like thumbtacks.

Didn't go through glass, no barbed wire, or anything crazy like that. Thumbtacks freak me out. It's uncomfortable to watch. Yeah, I mean, they're pretty intense. When they stick in, obviously Mick Foley is the most famous, he gets up and it's all on him. That stuff's gotta kill afterwards when the adrenaline.

When the adrenaline wears off and you're picking every single one out. Yeah, it sucks. What was it like for you? So this was your first indie show since leaving WWE, right? So, and you started on the indies, right? And you were very well known and you were popular and then obviously you come to WWE

and we'll get into all of it. But to sort of be back there and no knock on GCW whatsoever but you're not wrestling in front of 17,000 people, the arena isn't quite the same, catering probably isn't quite the same, if there even is catering, is there catering? No catering. Sometimes there's not even water bottles back there, you know what I'm saying?

Oh dear God, you bring your own catering. Exactly, yeah. What was that like for you? I don't know, it's weird, because obviously it being my first match back to the Indies, it like, it makes it real that I'm not with WWE anymore. So it's like bittersweet.

But once I made my entrance and that crowd went insane and I just got to have a match that was just stress free and just wild and balls to the wall. No one was telling me, no, you cannot use glass or no, you can't, you know, do that crazy thing. It was, it was a lot of fun and like really helped with my confidence already. Were you starting to doubt yourself a little bit? Well, you know, yeah, it's, you start to when you're not being used for, you know, I haven't really done much in like the last year and a half.

So yeah, it's hard on your confidence for sure. Part of that was injury, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I tore my ACL back in February of 2024. Right. And you came back at the very end of this year. What's interesting is, you know, we had Cora Jaden's studio last week,

we had Sonia Deville a couple months ago, all three of you had ACL injuries and were released shortly thereafter. And in a weird way, and I know that your situation was a contract renewal, right? But do you think of this in the moment like, hey, if I'm out of sight, out of mind, this is going to, usually when you get injured,

it's like, hey, hey shit happens and you hope to Get back into your same spot when you come back But do you think there is something to the fact that if you get injured you almost like the whole machine moves without you And then you become expendable and then when it's time to make a decision like hey We just we just lived a year without this person We can move on right? I mean like being part the death knell, if you will. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that is the big fear. Like obviously, like when you're going through such a huge injury like that,

that puts you out for almost a year, you start like getting in your head a little because you're stuck at home, you know, you're just going to rehab and you're thinking like, oh man, what if they're not gonna use me when I get back? Like, what if it's it for me? But you know, you try to stay positive and you hope that, well, if I work really hard and come back even better,

maybe I'll get rewarded for coming back from, you know, such an intense injury. But unfortunately for me, I was like, oh. Did you watch WWE while you were away? Of course, yeah. Okay, so you kept up with it. Yeah, yeah. Is that hard, do you have FOMO? You was like, oh. Did you watch WWE while you were away? Of course, yeah. So you kept up with it? Yeah, yeah. Is that hard, do you have FOMO?

You're like, man. Huge FOMO. Yeah, that's a big thing with me. Like I have huge, huge FOMO. It was very, I mean, it wasn't hard watching it because I was rooting my friends, right? But it really just like kept me motivated, honestly. You wanna be in the mix though.

Yeah, absolutely. You're like, I can be perfect for this. Yeah, yeah. Is that part of the reason you came back, I think in December or so, right? And you were actually quite emotional when you came back, the promo. Yeah.

And that was real. It was, yeah. I was just really happy with my match. Cause like, you know, coming back from an injury, like you're training and you just don't know what it's going to be like when you get back out there and have your first match. And I thought that I put on a good show

and I like was really hopeful for the future. After, you know, sitting at home for 10 months, not knowing what was gonna come of it, I felt very hopeful in that moment. So yeah, I was just, it, I was just very hopeful for the future of my career at that moment. So yeah, I was just it. I was just very hopeful for the future of my career at that point. In fact, you said in a video, a New Year's video that your your resolution for 2025 was to have the most matches of your career. And in the Indies, you had like something like 100 to 200 matches a year, right? Yeah, yeah, I was working hard on the

Indies. So I knew like saying that was a ballsy feat and maybe like I manifested my release with that because There was no way that I was going to be wrestling that much on WWE It was more the the message that you wanted to send maybe to the brass like hey, I'm ready to work. Yes Yeah, yeah That is exactly like I've always been a workhorse and I feel like I've never really got to show how hard I can work, and, like, I'm always like, put me on everything, I don't need to sleep,

like, I will do all of the interviews and all of the appearances, and wrestle on every single show. Yeah, I just, I want it all. You could burn yourself out if you do that. Yeah, yeah, that's what I do. Did you ever burn yourself out? No, no. No, not yet.

No, not yet. No, not yet. I just really love wrestling and I love being on the road and I love getting out there and just promoting myself and I just love the sport. When you came back, when did you start to feel like perhaps your contract wouldn't be renewed? Well, like, when I did my little stunt at NXT, I was never meant to stay at NXT. They told me, okay, we'll give you two months at NXT and

we'll bring you back to SmackDown. So I was really hopeful that I was going to get something at SmackDown. They told me that I would possibly be working with Chelsea in something and I was pitching some story lines with her. And it was just like week after week, like they're like, oh, we're gonna move it back. We're gonna move it back. And then it wasn't until like around Mania

where I was like, ooh, maybe they're not gonna renew my contract. So it started to get real around then. So Mania was in like early April and your contract was up in May. Yeah, yeah. When you came to the realization that this was a real thing, how were you feeling?

I don't know, I was feeling a lot of different things. You know, I try to stay positive and think like, no, no, no, like, you know, they're gonna use me. Like, big things are coming, like, I just got to keep pitching things, I got to like keep putting myself out there even though I'm not showing up to TV. But then part of me was like, okay, I need to get ready for this because like my contract's going to be up and I don't get those 90 days to figure out my stuff and get bookings lined up, get merch lined up. So I also have to like think about, okay, what am I going to do if they don't re-sign me? So I don't know, I was kind of just in the mode of, get to work, get to work.

Where were you when you got the call? I was at home, I just got back from the gym and I actually was just sitting in my living room, no TV on, no music, just like contemplating my career a little bit. In that moment? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, yeah, because I had just put out just like contemplating my career a little bit. Because I had- In that moment. Yeah.

Wow. Yeah, yeah. Because I had just put out that big promo, kind of calling out WWE to like give me a call. So I don't know, I was just like letting it all soak in because it kind of got out there. Like a lot of people were texting me about it. And actually a lot of people thought like I got released.

Because of the promo. Yeah, yeah. Do you think so? No, no, I don't think so. No, because they hadn't been using me for a while. So I think that they knew for a little bit that they weren't gonna renew my contract. Were you given a reason?

No, and unfortunately that's just how it is. I probably will never know why they released me but like I, WB doesn't owe me anything. That's showbiz right? Like they just didn't think that I was money and that's okay. Like I can take that. How do you react when you get that? A little bit of relief obviously like I had already been like get that? A little bit of relief, obviously. I had already been grieving it for a little bit. I felt like it was coming just because my contract was up so soon.

But then also just so hopeful for the future. I was just like, well, okay, now I get to go out there and do what I love to do full speed. Like no one is going to make my schedule. I get to make my schedule and I get to work every weekend if I want to. Like I can wrestle three times a week or however many matches I want, you know, like,

so I was just really hopeful for the future. And I just felt like this weight lifted off of me. Okay, who's the first person you call? I didn't really say anything for a minute. I waited until my husband got home and I told him. I called Scarlett, who's my bestie, so I told her. I messaged Matt Cardona immediately. I was like, I need a figure.

I'm done, make me a figure, please. He sort of put out the blueprint, but also in many respects, I think given a lot of people hope that the career isn't over when you leave WWE and that the career can even level up. Right, so he's become more famous, more popular, right? Yeah, he's very very inspiring and I like that He's a very transparent on like how he gets things done because I feel like some people really gatekeep that information

But he's just out there with like everything like here's how you guys can make money Here's how you guys can make it on your own without a big machine behind you Was there any point in the for for lack of a better word, grieving process where you were like, I want to take a break from wrestling? No. You want to go full? Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, yeah. I was like, I need to work as soon as my contract is up. And I saw that you said this past weekend, you made more money than you had for, in like, in two days in a week, right? I'm not saying that correctly, but two days on the Indies,

you made more than a week in WWE. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's me hustling though. Like that's me including like what I've sold online and meet and greets and you know, pay out for my matches, of course. Yeah. But I know that that's not gonna be like that forever

because when you first get back on the Indies, everyone's so hyped, so everyone wants to buy your merch and take a- Support you. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So I know that that won't be forever, but it felt good. It felt good that I can make it on my own. Do you feel like a lot of people are supporting you?

Yeah, I would say so. Especially like after this past weekend, like I showed up in a death match and I showed that like, hey, I'm not licking my wounds. I'm creating some more wounds. Also MLW, right? Yeah, yeah, I'm really excited about that. Like I've been watching them for a long time

when I did my first run on the Indies. And it's super cool that I get to come in there. Like I hope that I get to do some really awesome stuff, maybe be champion someday. I love it. And you know what's great about your situation is you were Shotzi in WWE, you could be Shotzi Blackheart, but it's very familiar.

Yes. How did you do this? Because you were Shotzi Black Heart before WWE, right? Yeah. Usually they want you to change the name so they can own it. Yeah. I mean, I was Shotzi since I was 16, so there was no way I wasn't going to not be Shotzi. Yeah.

But there are people who are very well known that they'll have them change, you know, Daniel Bryan, right? They'll just do something so that they can own the name. Yeah, exactly. With you, they got rid of the black heart, but I feel like it's a huge thing that you could still be Shotzi. I agree, yeah.

Did they ask you originally or did they try to push for you when you first got signed to change the name completely? No, Hunter really liked what I had going on. He loved the name, he loved the look, everything. So they wanted to just ride with what I had going on. Okay. And where did that name come from? So I was in this musical called Star Mights when I was 16 in high school. And Shotzi was a character in the musical who was like this evil banshee lady, alien thing. It's very complicated. But yeah, I was that and then just it stuck. I've been

Shotzi ever since. Wow. Yeah. Because your real name is Ashley, right? Yeah. So it has nothing to do with your name. You don't like that. I hate it. You don't want anyone to be called, you to be called. No, no, no. I feel like a lot of people think I'm rude because I'll introduce myself as Shotzi. And like in the wrestling business, like people usually will out of respect you know introduce themselves as their shoot name but like I've always been Shotzi okay so it's not like a disrespect thing if I introduce myself as Shotzi okay I didn't I didn't think it was now where did Blackheart come from I'm a huge Joan Jett fan okay so Blackheart yeah Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

Ronda Rousey used to come out to- I know, yeah, yeah, I always thought that was badass. And then she had Joan Jett with her. I was so jealous. Did you meet her? Joan Jett? Yes. No, uh-uh, I haven't.

I wish, I wish. So when you're a youngster, I believe your dad was really into pro wrestling, right? Yeah, my dad and my brother. Martial arts as well. Yeah, my dad was- Black belt, was he a black belt? Yeah, he was a fifth degree black belt in Taekwondo.

He had his own Taekwondo studio, the Urbanski Academy, which is my last name. In California? Yes. You grew up in San Jose. Yep. And did you get into martial arts, karate, taekwondo, anything like that?

No, my dad would teach me sometimes, but we just never stuck with it. Okay. I wish I did though, cause I love taekwondo and now that he's gone, I would really love to get into it. My sister really took to it when my dad passed. There he is.

Oh yeah, there he is. The legend. My bad ass dad, yeah, he is the coolest. He kind of looks like Chuck Norris. I know, isn't that awesome? Yes. Yeah. This was the post when you unfortunately

shared the news of his passing, but he seemed like such an unbelievable role model. Truly, like always. Yeah, really shaped me. He always had my back. He was my best friend and he just taught me to be a badass

and not take anyone's shit. He taught me to love rock and roll. He taught me to love tattoos. I watched my dad get a tattoo in our kitchen when I was like four years old. He got this really awesome dragon piece.

And I would love to get a giant dragon tattoo on my back just to- Have you gotten it yet? Cause I've seen you talk about this. The dragon tattoo? No, I haven't. It's just like- You hate getting, you love tattoos,

but you hate getting tattoos, which is quite the dichotomy because you are completely covered in tattoos. I know, like I used to do like nine hour sessions, and now I'm like, you get two out of me. But you can't do that with a back piece. Sure. It's very time consuming.

And then imagine like getting a giant back tattoo and then taking bumps on the mat afterwards. Oh dear, yeah. How long do you have to wait for something like that? Like a week or two maybe, yeah. The first one, what was it? My first tattoo, I was 15. I got a, like, the drama masks on my shoulder.

Okay. Yeah, my dad actually took me to get it when I was 15. Wow, when you were 15? Yeah. What did your mom say about this? She actually, I somehow talked her into it. Wow. I had this whole-

Is your mom's a Filipino mom? Yes. She's very Filipino, excuse me. Yes. Very traditional? Yes, very traditional. She doesn't like any- No tattoos?

No tattoos. She hates like the colored hair and everything. But I had this whole PowerPoint presentation for her. Oh my gosh. And I was like, mom, look, I love theater, I'm never gonna regret this tattoo, like I'm gonna be on Broadway, please let me have this tattoo.

And she was like, sure, whatever. And then she just gave up at that point. You're covered in tattoos. How does she feel like every time you get another one? At this point, I mean, she's used to it now. She knows like that's just me now. And yeah, I think she just thought like,

oh, you're never gonna become a doctor or whatever. But now that I'm doing wrestling, she's like, whatever, okay, it's cool. Does she like wrestling? No! She hates that I do it. At all, really? No, no. She hates that you do it? Yes, because, well, she just worries about me.

She's like, I don't want you to get hurt. I hate watching it. She hates watching my matches. She still does, but she hates it. When you got this news, did she try to convince you to do something else? Like maybe this is the chance that you could become the doctor.

Yeah, I mean, my mom always just wanted me to be a doctor. Like that was just her, or a lawyer, yeah. But I think she's accepted that that's not happening. So you're four years old and your dad's getting a tattoo in your kitchen, right? Yeah. What do you think, I mean, obviously you don't probably remember, but like, do you just say like,

that guy's the coolest, I want to just be like him? Yes. I just always thought my dad was the coolest. He was just always so sweet with me, and yeah, we've just always been best friends. Like, you know, riding on his motorcycle with him and like just rocking out to ACDC in his truck. Like, my dad was just always the fun one.

Wow. Yeah. He got to see a little bit of your career. Oh yeah. What did he think of it? Was he like your biggest fan? So proud of him. Okay. Bought every single merch.

Like, anytime I would go out with my dad, we'd go like shopping at Target. He'd be like, you know my daughter's a wrestler? Like, one of those. Yeah. Did he go to your matches? Yeah, yeah. Okay.

He actually went to NXT when I won the Tag Championships. He didn't know that I was gonna win. I actually didn't even know I was gonna win the Tag Belt when he was coming. And it was like, and that was actually like his last year. So it was really cool to have that moment with him. And they let him like come backstage and like, you know, take photos with me in the belt.

So that was like a really awesome moment that I got to share with him. I saw some interviews that you did in the aftermath, the immediate aftermath and it obviously, you know, you're so close to him. I saw some interviews that you did in the aftermath, the immediate aftermath, and it obviously, you know, you're so close to him. Do you feel like you are starting to be comfortable in life without him or do you still feel like you're grieving? Because it was just a couple years ago that he passed, right? Yeah, I mean, it's just like, it's the new normal now, you know? Like, I will forever miss him. And sure, I still like think about him

and get a little worked up, but I gotta move on, you know? So it's just the new normal. You know, your career is a fascinating one because I think you wanted to be a wrestler from a very young age, right? Do you remember how old you were when? Well, no, well actually I wanted to be in theater. Okay, you wanted to perform.

Yes, yeah, Broadway was like my first love. I actually went to AMDA, the American Musical and Dramatic Arts Academy in Hollywood. I think there's one here in New York too. And I dropped out because it got way too expensive. But while I was at AMDA, we did this class called Stage Combat, which is basically like wrestling.

Like they teach you like the roles and stuff, and like, you know, like fake, like fighting on stage. And it was my favorite class ever. And when I dropped out, I, you know, started watching wrestling again with my sister, and we fell in love with the Wyatt family. And it was like at that moment where I was like, wait, maybe I could be a wrestler. Because I love musical theater, but I'm so wacky and I was getting tattoos at the time and

had colorful hair. And I felt like I didn't really fit the mold of a musical theater person. I always felt like a little too wild for it. So yeah, at that moment, I just decided I'm going to be a wrestler and I just Googled, how do you become a pro wrestler? And APW came up near me, which was like a big wrestling company in the Bay Area. So yeah, the rest was history. So you just show up one day? Yeah, I just like, I showed up to APW

and I was like, I want to wrestle, can you teach me? But unfortunately, Roland Alexander, who run APW, he passed away like a Month after I signed up and I never got to train with them and then I started going to hood slam in Oakland which is this really awesome party pro, you know party wrestling show and party wrestling so okay like That's the only way that I feel like I can describe it But like so hood slam you like go in and it's like it's 21 and up and a lot of the wrestlers will wrestle as like Video game characters or comic book characters and it's just a wild time like the opening of the show

the The host comes out and he'll like be pouring whiskey down everyone's throat. The fans are up against the ring and they always sell out. It's a thousand people just crammed into this building. And it was just the wildest time ever. And I met the owner, Dark Chic, and she gave me her card. And then I just started training with them in this smoky warehouse. Wow. I've never heard of that. And I feel, you know, have you ever seen Beyond the Mat?

The documentary? Yeah. Roland Alexander is featured in it. Yes, that's yeah. Yeah. I didn't know he passed away. Yeah. Yeah.

But he in 2013, I think 2013. Wow. Okay. Because there's what's the name of, there's the two guys that he, was it Mikey? In the film, there's the two guys that he brings to the dark match. I love that movie, I've seen it like a thousand times,

it's the best. And they don't make it, and it's just such a fascinating look at the sport, at the business. From WWE all the way down to ECW and the Indies. So, and now I remember that it was in the Bay Area. Okay, so then you get to Hood Slam, which sounds like a great time.

And then where do you go from there? How do you get to Tough Enough? Tough Enough is like your first introduction into the world of WWE. How do you get that call? So, I was on Facebook one day and my non-wrestling friend posted that she just had an interview for Tough Enough. And I had been watching Tough Enough,

like just going back and watching old, like actually when I decided that I wanted to be a wrestler, I started watching Tough Enough just to like get like some insight on what to expect. And she posted that and I was like, oh my goodness, can you please give me the email to whoever you just talked to? And she did and yeah, I did like an online interview

with them and then they brought me in. But you had a heart condition. Yeah, yeah. That ruled you out. Yeah, I had no idea that I had that even. So when they took. What was it? It's just like a little heart murmur, nothing super serious.

And like I just had to wear a heart halter for two days to really figure out what was wrong with it. And they cleared me after that. But that kind of ruled you out of the competition. Yeah, because it was live. So they were like, we don't have time to put you through this medical process. We got to like film the show right now.

Did you think that was it for you with WW after that? No, I didn't because they were, they, um, they gave me their card and they said, when, when you figure out your heart stuff, send us the medical clearance and we'll get you in for another tryout. Okay. Yeah. So when do you get your next tryout with them? Cause then you start doing your thing on the Indies, right? Okay. Yeah. So when do you get your next tryout with them? Cause then you start doing your thing on the indies, right?

Yeah, yeah. I continued to wrestle and then a year later, I came in for another tryout and they were still like, yeah, it's like, it's a maybe right now. Maybe come back to us in like six months, two year, and we can talk again. And then at that point I was like, I'm not going to hit them up anymore.

I'm going to make so much noise on the indies. They're gonna hit me up And that's kind of what happened. I I was wrestling WrestleMania weekend and Brookside and William Regal were there and they just liked what I was doing and they signed me. There was some interest from AEW as well at the time, right? No, no, no, no.

Uh, I wish, yeah. I wish I could say that, but no, they did not hit me up. Okay. Cause what I had read in my research was that like they said, yeah, maybe, but then maybe once AEW was, or maybe they thought. Yes. Okay. That's what it was. So, so WWE, um, they offered me a contract. Yeah. And then like I went through medical and all that stuff. And then they were like, nevermind, actually, we're gonna, we're gonna pull your contract. And at that

point I was like, oh, okay, well, I guess it's never happening. And then out of nowhere they were like, can you start in two weeks? Wow. And I think it was like around the time that AEW was starting to come up and they got their TV deal and stuff. So I credit. 2019. Yes, yes.

So I credit AEW for getting me a job. Because at the time a lot of the guys were getting longer contracts. Yes. They were trying to secure everyone. Yes, exactly. Yeah, so yeah, if it weren't for AEW for getting me a job at NXT. Because at the time, a lot of the guys were getting longer contracts. Yes. They were trying to secure everyone. Yes, exactly. Yeah, so, yeah, if it weren't for AEW, I don't know that I would have showed up at NXT.

Okay, all right, shout out. Yeah. And you also said, I think to Daria, that maybe some photos you felt like could have stopped you from getting in. Yeah, so that was the thing is, you know, they signed me, or, you know, they tried to. They did the whole background check, and then they were like, was the thing is you know they they signed me or you know they tried to they

did the whole background check and then they were like yeah this is not really want what we want from our divas you know they didn't like some photos that I had posted like on Instagram you know yeah just a little too sexy for them I think and that's a wild thing because WWE I mean over the years yeah I think at that point they were trying to change the model of their women superstars. They really wanted to have them be taken seriously, especially like Conor. At NXT, he ran a tight ship. He's like, I want the women to be taken seriously. So I completely understood, but I just thought at that point that, okay, it was done.

Like if that's what they don't want, then there's nothing I can do. Like I can't go back in time and erase the photos. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, I just thought it was over for me at WWB. And then a few months later, they contact me again and I was in quickly. Like I had two weeks to pack. I was living in Indiana at the time and I just shoved it all in a U-Haul

and drove over to Orlando immediately. Why were you living in Indiana? Ah, because, so it is very hard to get booked in Northern California. The flights are very expensive and there's a lot more wrestling happening in like the East Coast, Midwest. So I was a year before I got signed, maybe like a year and a half, I was like,

I need to move like to Chicago or somewhere easier for people to fly me out. And I think that's what got me signed, though, making that move, just betting on myself because I was getting booked a lot more and just making more noise on the indies. And yeah, it was very helpful for me. When you get in the pandemic hits, right? Yeah. How difficult was that for you?

Yeah, that was really hard for me because I started at NXT, like November of 2019. Yeah. And then the pandemic hit like a few months later. And I didn't really know anyone at that point. Like I knew people at the PC, but I wasn't going to, you know, bug people to hang out. Like we're in, we're in a pandemic. So I w it was just me and my dog in my little apartment. And then like once a month we would do tapings at NXT. So that was really hard.

The comment was very, yeah, very lonely. Very lonely and we like, you know, we couldn't train. So I was just like running laps around my apartment building. Wow. Yeah. No one was training together? No, we weren't training. It wasn't until like a few months later

we started doing training with like masks and it was like very limited. But yeah, it was those first few months of COVID when we were just, we were doing like four shows in a day at full sale and then the rest of the month we were just waiting for the next one, yeah. Your look though was so great with the, you know, with the helmet and the tank it was so unique

And and I think it really here you are like what a great I hate to call it a gimmick But like what a great look that you had and it really made you stand out whose idea was all that Well, this is what I was doing on the Indies. So you came up with this. Yeah, why did they take it away? Ah Well, this is what I was doing on the Indies. So you came up with this. Yeah. Why did they take it away? Uh, yeah, I mean, I don't know.

Like Hunter loved it. When I went to NXT, he was all for it. Like I showed him a video of my little tiny tank that I got at Walmart. And that's being at Walmart. No. Okay. That one is that one. That's the upgrade.

Yes. That's the, that's the Hunter version. Okay. Okay. He hooked it up. Okay. Um, but I started with a tiny tank that I got at Walmart. It, it's the Hunter version. He hooked it up. But I started with a tiny tank that I got at Walmart. It's for like children.

It was a little two-seater for children. And I showed him a video and he's like, can you get it to TV this week? And I ordered an Uber XL, got that little tank in there and brought it to full sale. And yeah, he was just so into it. And then when I got to the main roster, Vince was not on the same page.

No, he didn't like it? No, he didn't like it. But you know what? I was ready for the change and I totally understood where he was coming from. He was just like, look, you got so much going on. Like you got the green hair, you got all the tattoos, you're like really, really cool looking.

And then you like muddy it up with the helmet, the tank and the howl. Like I just want like, I just want to know who Shotzi is. Like he wanted me to be more real. So I- No, this is awful advice. Sorry, the tank was great. No, I know.

I agree. I agree. But I was ready for the challenge, you know, like I'm a company woman. Yes, yes, I get it. If there needs to be changes, I can do it. So I was fully game. Like I was a little sad to see it all go because I worked so hard to like create this cool character

and I was very happy with it, but I'm always down for a challenge. And so when you're up there and Vince McMahon is telling you of this, is this surreal for you that you're face to face with him? A little bit, yeah, but he was honestly so nice about it. And he was like, he was always really cool with me. He really loved my promos and he was like, look, like, I really love the way you talk.

Like your promos are always so real and I just want to tap into that. So he, like, explained it to me in a way that I was like, okay, maybe this will be good for me to change it up. Because at that time, I, you know, I was doing that same gimmick, had that helmet from the time I started on the Indies, like my first match. So, like, I had been wrestling for eight years at that point with the same gimmick.

So I was ready. I was up for the challenge. That period where Hunter is leading the charge with NXT, you're a part of it. What was it like to be a part of that? Because you guys were on fire. Amazing. Like, seeing Hunter work, especially in that era, I learned so much. Because he was so hands on with NXT. Like I'm sure with like main roster, he has so many like things to juggle, right? So I didn't see him as much on the main roster,

but like he was hands on for NXT and just like there through everything. And yeah, working with him at that time. And because also like I was on every show back then so I got to work with him a lot it was really awesome and I learned so much from Hunter. There was a feeling around 21 where they were like the the the the consensus seemed to be like they were trying to kill NXT or that anyone that came from NXT to the main roster wasn't getting a fair shake you know what I mean like cross comes over and he loses

first match and it just felt like there was this weird and then they changed it to NXT 2.0 and all this stuff was that was that a real thing or was that just something that people were talking about on the internet I don't I didn't see it that way I I think like cross and fun funny enough like I feel like we have a lot of prayer parallels we got called up at the same time and it was the same with him like Vince just wanted to change his thing too like you know he got rid of Scarlett and you know had him do this Viking flick. Also not a great idea.

But I'm sure that Kevin was up for the challenge. Yes, he was, he was. What is that like, by the way? I have so much respect for you guys because of everything that you have to deal with. We talk to MMA fighters as well, and boxers and stuff like that. They control their destiny.

They keep winning, they'll go to the top. You guys are not in that case. Someone has to decide if you're gonna go to the top and then someone's gonna decide if you're on TV or not and then someone's gonna decide how you look and how you dress. It's a lot to deal with, right? That's showbiz, baby.

It is showbiz to a degree, but in showbiz it's like a movie every six to eight, nine months. You guys are dealing with it on a daily, weekly basis. It can mess with you, right? It messed with me for sure. How did you handle it? I'll be honest, and also, granted,

I was going through a lot when I first started at the main roster, so going through all the changes and then also- You mean personal? Yeah, just grieving my dad and my stepdad, I lost both of them in the span of like nine months. And then also like watching my sister fight through cancer and then like coming to the main roster

and having to completely change my character and not really knowing who I was on the main roster. And then also like, you know, going through all of roster and then also like you know going through all of that and then watching it like kind of affect my performances and then reading how people responded to that was just like very hard on me so I think that's why I say like I'm building my confidence back up now on the indies and yeah that's kind of what the promo was about. I went through all of that and I really worked on myself

when I tore my ACL. I think that my ACL tear was kind of a blessing in disguise because I really needed to work on my mental health at that point. And I was just a workhorse. I didn't take any time off when I lost my dad health at that point. And I was just, you know, like a workhorse. I didn't take any time off when I lost my dad and my stepdad. I showed up to TV every week, even when I wasn't booked,

you know, and, you know, was stuck in my head a lot. What do you do when you're at TV and not working? Hanging out. Okay. You know. Are you pitching things? Are you trying to be seen in the mix? Yeah, I would pitch things to my writer a lot,

but maybe I could have been more active about that. Like, I was never the one to, like, knock on Vince's door or knock on Hunter's door and be like, hey, please use me. Like, I have this idea. Like, I was always very by the book. Like, I'll do whatever you guys want me to do. I, you know, would only go through my writer usually.

Like it was very rare that I would go to Hunter and be like, hey, I need to do something. Like probably one of the only times that I asked him for something was when I wanted to shave my head. Right. To support your sister. Yeah, yeah.

And he was cool with it, right? Yeah, absolutely Yeah, as soon as I told him he was like, okay, like what what what's like the time frame? Like how much time do we have like what are you thinking? Yeah, he was game for it. How is she doing? She's she's doing good. She's still you know, she's still fighting but She is in better mental spirits now, I think. Yeah, like definitely better mentally now. Okay. Did she know that you were gonna do that?

Did you tell her? I did, but I didn't tell her when or how it was gonna happen. Okay. Yeah. How did she react? She like immediately FaceTimed me crying and yeah, I'm just glad that I got to do that for her. Yeah. She's honestly my best friend like we are so, so close.

Do you get to see her? Do you live? No, I live so far from her. Yeah, she lives in California still, and I live in Orlando now, so I don't get to go over there as much, but I have so many bookings in the Bay Area now that I get to see my family all the time. Like, since getting let go,

I've seen them more than I have in like, last year. And so, when you're on the roster, and you're having moments, like you and Rhonda, that was a great feud, right? Are you feeling at any point like, hey, I'm here, like I'm on a roll. Was there any point looking back now where you felt like you had your mojo,

like things were going well for you? I felt like right before my injury, I felt like I was getting on a roll. Like I had just done, excuse me, I had just done War Games and I thought like I had a done, excuse me, I had just done War Games and I thought like I had a really good showing there and Hunter put me over on the press conference after that. And I was having really awesome matches on the live events

like wrestling for 20 minutes with, you know, Oscar and EO and Bailey and Becky. So like, I felt like I was gonna start being in the mix. And then, you know, the injury happens and it just like killed my momentum completely. How did you like working with Rhonda? I loved working with Rhonda. Okay.

She is so cool and so down and people do not give her enough credit. Yeah, like, it. Yeah, like, like, she got a lot of shit when we did that DDT spot in our match and like people didn't like how she took the move. She went and got a trainer to teach her how to spike a DDT and we did it in our next match and she fought for it. She was like, I don't care what we do in this match. I am do, I am taking that DDT from you again. And she took it like a champ spiked herself on the apron. And yeah, she is such a badass. I loved working with Rhonda. Why do you think the fans had sort of like a love hate relationship with her?

I don't know because when she like first came in she had that WrestleMania match and it was really, really awesome. But I don't know, like, I don't know with the fans. Like they're so picky sometimes, you know. Do you pay attention to a lot of that stuff? I try not to. Like for a long time I didn't really have a Twitter. Like, I told my husband to log in to my Twitter

and then just like retweet WWE stuff, and I'm not going on it. You don't want to read it, you don't want it to get in your head or affect you? No, because I'm too sensitive, and I'm very aware of that. So I try to stay away from it. Okay, but now? Now I'm learning to not give a hoot.

Okay, good. Is it working? Yes, yes. So I'm just going to own that and yeah, I don't give a hoot. What about this Ron Killing story? Work or shoot? I do think that they actually let him go. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's been a string of contract non-renewals, right? Yeah, well, I just feel like,

because also at the same time, Carlito and Sarah Logan's, they told them that their contract wasn't getting renewed, so I think it would be really messed up of WWE to capitalize on that. To you know. So do you think it was as simple as they did it, they thought it would be a thing, it would go away 24 hours later, it didn't,

and they're like, hey, let's reconsider this? I think the fans got him back. That's wild. I think the fans got him back. And like that just shows you like, how much power the fans do have sometimes, you sometimes. So I think that's really cool. Yeah, it's incredible. Do you see Cut His Hair yesterday?

I know! Crazy, right? I know! I mean, I like that they're doing this. It's a fascinating thing because they do the press conferences now. And so that gives you this window into the world that you didn't have before. Exactly. And so I almost wish that,

and we'll see where he goes from here, but I feel like they have an opportunity to make him into this sort of like anti-establishment hero, like the fans got me back, screw all of you. So where he could be like a baby face to the people, but to the brass and the people in the back, he's trying to shove it down their throat, and Cena represents that.

And there's a real opportunity at 53 years old that give him this moment here. Which is amazing and like so cool because yes, he's 53. That just gives us hope that like I could be 53 years old and be put in like some crazy storyline, right, still. Absolutely, and as you know, people leave WDU, they come back. Yeah.

Are you hopeful that you'll be back? Do you think of that? I mean, I would love to be back at WDU, they come back. Yeah. Are you hopeful that you'll be back? Do you think of that? I mean, I would love to be back at WDU. I loved working there. I didn't love not working there, you know what I'm saying? Like, it was only when I wasn't being used that I was unhappy, but anytime I was being used, good time, love the locker room,

loved, like, everyone I was working for. So yeah, that's just it. I just don't wanna go back and not work. Okay. Yeah. You wanna be active? Yes. Are you open to being full-time with someone else?

Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. So the indie thing is cool, but you would prefer a home? Well, yeah, yeah. Like, you know, I love TNA, I love AEW. You watch them? Yes, yeah, well, yeah, yeah, like, you know, I love TNA, I love AEW, like... You watch them?

Yes, yeah, yeah, always have. Do you have a preference? Um, AEW. Yeah? Why is that? I mean, for so many reasons. I love their freedom. I, you know know I have a his talent, that is super important to me.

Yeah, yeah. And like hot girls get to make out with each other, so like that's cool. Okay. I wasn't aware of that. What's like a dream feud for you there? Oh. I mean, first thing that comes to mind, Athena, I think that she's so awesome.

I honestly think that she's the best women's wrestler in the world. Yeah, I am such a huge fan of her. Not even just because we tagged together and I had so much fun with her as a tag team, but I just think she's amazing. And I've never gotten to wrestle her before, so I would love that.

But also, you know, Mercedes Monet, obviously. Sure. Toni Storm. Toni Storm, absolutely. Just to hear the promos that she would cut on me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She is killing it. Yes.

She is killing it. But I wouldn't wanna go, you know, to AE AEW just because I was signed with WWE and I expect them to sign me. I wanna earn my spot. That's why I wanna just kill it on the indies and if they really love what I'm doing for the rest of the year, I'm game. Are you booked up, obviously, in the immediate future,

like from now till when? Through the year. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. Like, are you done, like you can't take anything more? No, I still have like a couple days in the year. Is it every weekend? Pretty much, yeah. How many do you think you'll get to

by the time like December 31st? Like matches? Yeah. Ooh, I don't know. I'm hoping like a hundred. Wow. So your resolution may actually come true. Just not where you thought it was going to come to. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Is there one right now like coming up that you're really looking forward to? One booking, one match? Oh, I can't say. You can't say? No, I don't want to. Why, it's a surprise.

Yeah, I don't want to give it away yet. It hasn't been announced yet. No. Okay. Yeah. All right, are you gonna show up with the tank and all that? I would love to. I'm still like in the process of trying to get my tank back.

Oh gosh. Yeah. Now which tank is this? Is this the Walmart tank or the? The souped up tank. I'm trying to get that one back. Do you get to keep it? Well, okay, so technically it's half mine, half WWE's

because when they made that tank, they cut my tank in half and they put it on top of a, it's a wheelchair in electric, it's an electric, they built it around an electric wheelchair. Yeah, so I would love if possible to have it back. Have you asked? I did. Okay.

Yeah. And what's the response? They were like, oh, we'll find out for you. But I was like, I will drive to Connecticut right now and get it. You pay for it. I'll just. Like if they say, we'll sell it to you.

Yes. You're in. In. Worth it. Yes, I love that thing so much. It's so good. I would just want it just to even just have it to keep in my garage. Lamento. Yeah, yeah. It's it means a lot to me.

And you're a big collector, right? I've seen like the interviews that you do. You have all these things behind you and you're into like the horror movies. Yeah, yeah. Paranormal stuff. Yeah. I mean, most of my toys are from horror movies. OK. What's with the haunted houses? I want nothing to do with a haunted house. Why would you want to go into a haunted house? Why are you so into it? This is the YouTube channel, you and Scarlett.

Yeah, yeah, subscribe. Yes, why do you like this? I don't know, there's- And are they real haunted houses? They are very real. Legit. These things exist? Yes, they are super legit. Ghost. Super scary, yes.

Some places more haunted than others. Like for instance, Lizzie Borden, that house is super haunted. There's something going on there. Like what? I don't know, but Scarlett levitated there. Wow.

You could see it on the show too. Legit, this is legit. Yeah, so we, yes. We played light as a feather, stiff as a board with Scarlett, you know, like that little kid game where you put two fingers under her and she got this far off of the ground. Jeez Louise. And we tried to pick her up, um, you know, before playing and it was impossible. We were not going to do it, but that girl got this high off the ground and we were all freaked out.

It was wild and we tried it at other places. We couldn't do it. Have you ever seen a ghost? Can you see ghosts like Casper's style? It doesn't work that way. No, I'm not talented like that. Like, yeah, I wish, I wish. I feel like there's some people that like,

you know, they can, they just have that talent. What do you think happens when you die? I think multiple things. Yeah, I'm not sure exactly. Do you think there is life after death? Yeah, yeah. I believe in like possibly reincarnation or, you know, other realms. Heaven, hell, do you believe in that?

Not really, no. No, so you're not religious? No, spiritual. Spiritual, but not religious. What's the difference? I think, I don't know, religion is so confined to one thing, right, yeah. So you believe maybe in higher powers? Yes, absolutely.

Do you pray? Yeah. Who do you pray to in higher powers. Yes, absolutely. Do you pray? Yeah. Who do you pray to? The universe. Okay. Do you believe in like astrology? Yeah, a little bit.

I don't know too much about it, but like, you want to believe in- I believe in like the universe and like, you know, a higher power and like, we're all connected, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. This is important. Yeah.

I think it's important to believe in something bigger than you. Absolutely. I agree. I agree. This shapes who you are. Yeah, for sure. The green hair. Does the green hair represent anything?

Yeah, well, I chose green because I'm a huge horror fan. My favorite monster is creature, so the green is kind of an ode to my favorite monster, the creature from Black Lagoon. How often do you change the color? Like, never. Never. Well, I mean, sometimes it'll change shades of green. Okay.

But the only time I had a different color than green was when I shaved my head and I kept it my natural hair color for a little bit. And did you really get married on one day and then wrestle later that day with the same- Yeah, the same day. With the wedding dress? Yeah, yeah.

So I actually pitched that to Road Dog. Yep, yeah, that's me. This is legit. Yeah, I got married at the little white wedding chapel and then rushed on over and wrestled Bailey. That is with the wedding dress. With the wedding dress. I ripped off the wig and everything,

but yeah, it was a good time. And that's your husband. Yeah. And he was down. He's a huge wrestling fan. Okay. He's a bigger wrestling fan than I am. Wow.

So we have our toy room and you've probably seen my side of the room. It's all horror toys. His side is all wrestling. Wow. Mostly Undertaker and Kane, but yeah, his side is all wrestling. Did you meet him once you were a wrestler?

Yes. Okay. Yeah. Like you met at a show or something? Was he a wrestler? No, no, no, no. Okay. Uh-uh. No, he was living in Orlando. He's an architect for like the theme parks in Orlando.

Oh, cool. Yeah, he just worked on Epic Universe. He worked on like Donkey Kong. I think his job is so cool, cause I love theme parks. So that wedding was real? That wedding was legit. Yeah, we legitimately got married

at the Little White Wedding Chapel in the morning. And then I wrestled that night in the wedding dress. Did you pitch them this beforehand or in the midst? Yes. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We planned it maybe like a few weeks before. I got booked on that live event and I told my husband,

I was like, what if we just stopped planning the wedding and we just eloped? Wow, so you were deep into planning something? Not super deep, like we had talks about like what we wanted to do. Like we wanted to do like this big like Halloween wedding. And I was just like, you know what? Screw all this stressful stuff.

Like let's just get married and it just be us. And it was the best idea ever. Oh wow. Yeah, I am so happy that we did that. Like it was just no stress. We just did it, you know, got a really awesome room at the Cosmopolitan and just had some fun that night with like everyone that was on the show. Yeah so all the wrestlers came out

and partied with us at a karaoke bar and it was it was the greatest time ever. You refer to yourself as the ballsy badass. Yeah. Does that is that like things like that is that why or for another reason? Yeah I mean because I'm just like so spontaneous. For the moment. Yeah for sure. Yeah I live life on the edge. You take another reason? Yeah, I mean, because I'm just like so spontaneous. For the moment. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I live life on the edge. You take risks as far as like,

I mean, obviously the death match would be a risk, but like, are you someone who does crazy stuff like that, jumping off things, are you into all that stuff? I mean, in wrestling, yes. Okay, in wrestling, not like jumping off of like, bridges and stuff like that. No, no, no, no, no. That's what I think of when I think of ballsy.

I would never go bungee jumping or like skydiving or anything. Like, that's not me. I've done hang gliding. That's like the most crazy thing I guess I've done. That is ballsy to a degree. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who came up with that? Ballsy?

Yeah. So when I started getting into wrestling heavy and I told my friend that I wanted to become a wrestler. He like you know started giving me advice and like gave me a bunch of wrestling DVDs and he was also in a band and they have this song called I'm Ballsy which I come out to on the indies and I just always thought that the word ballsy was so fun so I just I I wanted to be ballsy something so I just always thought that the word ballsy was so fun. So I just, I wanted to be ballsy something. So I just came up with ballsy badass. And it works.

And then the Miz stole it. Well, yes, he stole the big balls, but I guess multiple people could have giant balls. But yeah, when he was doing that big ball gimmick, I was like, hey, what the heck? No, I'm the girl hey, what the heck? No, I'm the girl with testicular fortitude. You can't take that away from me.

Shout out to Mick Foley. Yes, yeah, you know. Yes, are you able to watch now? Do you still keep up with it? I still do, yeah. I mean, like, you know, there's no hard feelings. No hard feelings, this is great. Yeah, I watch, support my friends.

You know, I've got to, I've got to. If we've learned one thing over the years from pro wrestling, regardless of who's in charge, everyone comes back. Yeah. And so no point in burning the bridge, no point in. No, absolutely not. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, no.

But what a time for pro wrestlers now, because there was once a time if, you know, WWE doesn't want to be in business with you you're kind of like SOL right? Mm-hmm. Now you've got so many options as far as like major leagues here overseas but then you've got these indie promotions that are killing it. Yeah exactly and I mean like you know Matt Cardona showed you anything you can make it on your own. Right. So Cody did as well. Yeah exactly. Drew McIntyre. Exactly. Cody did as well. Yeah, exactly.

Through McIntyre. Exactly. A ton of people. Yeah, so I'm taking this Indie run very seriously. All right, when's the next booking? Is it this weekend? No, it is not this weekend because I'm filming a bunch of stuff this weekend.

You're taking a weekend off already? You just started. Well, okay, so like I, that didn't happen on purpose because I wanted everyone to think that I was coming back in July. So no one like hit me up for much for the month of June. So I think that's why I didn't get any bookings for June.

I didn't, you know, I was, I was trying to keep like my first appearances under wraps because I wanted it to be a surprise. So I think my next show was at GCW on the 20th. Okay in Little Rock, Arkansas All right 20th of June or July. Okay. Yeah. All right. Well, good luck to you. Thank you Thank you for coming in really appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah, come in just for this No, so I I wrestled a In Atlantic City, okay, not too far. Do you like Atlantic City?

It's okay. It's okay. It's had better days. For sure, for sure. It was once sort of the Vegas of the East back in the 80s. Right, I can see that, I can see that. These days. But I wish you the best, really.

And your story is inspiring and it's very easy to root for you. So I hope that you enjoy this run and that you kill it. And I'd say you're off to a great start. You've got the store, right? You've got your own YouTube channel as well. Yeah. So yeah. I'm getting all the plugs. Oh, and um,

Here's the YouTube channel. Yes. That's okay. Yeah. I'm grateful that you reminded me of that because I had my friend Andrew who used to work for WWE for like socials and stuff. I brought him along with me to document my first weekend back on the indies. Oh, nice. So we got a lot of great footage. On top of like working at GCW, deathmatch, I did get to wrestle my OG trainer at hood slam. So yeah, a lot of emotional stuff in there.

When's that coming out? trainer at hood slam. So yeah, a lot of emotional stuff in there. When's that coming out? As soon as he is done editing it, hopefully by you know, the end of the month. So like, stay tuned, subscribe. Okay. And then I plan on doing a lot more vlogs on my YouTube channel and keeping up with that. So yeah. Love it. Well, good luck to you. Thank you so much.

Wishing you the best and thanks for coming in. Yeah, thank you for having me. There she is Shotzi Blackheart coming to an indie show near you. We shall be taking a quick break. We'll be back to wrap up the show. Do not go anywhere. And pre-order my, my big rubber guy. Oh yes, that too.

You have until the end of the month. Big rubber guy.com? Yeah. Is that it? No, collect major.com. Collect major.com. I have one right here. Dusty.

So cool! And I do believe that they've only made, I don't know, oh, does it say here? No, but he told me it was some sort of limited. Something like 800 or something like that? Maybe 50. Oh, really? No, I'm just saying that to be cool.

Oh, okay. But it is cool, it is cool, and there it is, yes. It reminds me of the LJNs. Yeah, you only have until the end of this month to order it and then it's donezo. Okay, there it is. We'll take a quick break and we'll be back right after this. All right, back on the program.

That was Fight Fies, Venezuela edition in honor of the Venezuelan vixen. And Andy makes the appearance. Is that real baby shark? Or is that just like a thing that people say? No, yeah, it's baby shark. We call it gasón in Spanish.

So it's an actual baby shark. Now what if you had like an adult shark? I don't know. Does it taste the same? I've never had it. What does baby shark? We only eat the babies. Well, what does baby shark taste like?

Is it chewy? Amazingness? Nah, I wouldn't say amazingness. It just tastes like a flaky fish. It's really good, I recommend it. You know what's interesting? You say flaky. I was thinking when you said shark,

I think like chewy. Yeah, nah, that's not what it is. Really? Nah, it's like a tuna. It's like a flaky. Interesting. I was thinking almost like octopus. No.

Or catfish. No. No, not catfish. Swordfish, swordfish. Think like canned tuna or something. Interesting, interesting. All right, so what do you give it? It was okay.

Okay. He wasn't a fan. You weren't a fan. Yeah, it was all right. What are you rocking there? Trashers? Well, Trashers jersey, baby. It's UFC Atlanta fight.

Oh, that's right. Oh, what'd you wear yesterday? Well, Drashers jersey, baby. It's UFC Atlanta fight week. Oh, that's right. Oh, what'd you wear yesterday? Well, I wore the Denny Hamlin Yahoo shirt because he drives the Yahoo car. Sure, and he won. And the company man he won, had to support. But yeah, Atlanta for the rest of the week. Love it, love it.

Yeah, big one coming up this Saturday, Kamara Usman against Joaquin Buckley that is at the State Farm Arena. When's the last time they hosted an event? Their most notable one was UFC 201, Tyron Woodley against Robbie Lawler. I actually think the Izzy Adesanya. I mean, Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gaslam.

By the way, that might be more notable. Well, it was Poirier Holloway. Yeah, I think that was the last one. April of 2019. Yeah. I'll never forget that one. Before the event, I got to go to Braves batting practice and I hung out with my guy, Josh Donaldson. He gave me a signed bat.

The Rainmaker. Yeah, the bringer of rain. Bringer of rain, yeah. I'm actually going to a Braves game on Friday as well. Wow, it's a real homecoming. Real homecoming, can't wait. Yeah. I've had this one circled for a while.

No, I know, of course, you know, missing the bar. Real homecoming, can't wait. Yeah. I've had this one circled for a while. No, I know, of course, you know, missing the bar mitzvah and everything, but. Yeah, you know, I noticed that you were throwing some guilt shot my way. There's no shot. And then Jordan over here is like, wait, he's, he's guilting you.

I'm, I'm not going and I'm, I'm in town. Wait, me? Jordan's not going to the bar mitzvah? Ha, breaking news, Ray. What's up, Jordan? I thought you were in. You know, it's Father's Day. Yeah?

That voice crack, he's nervous. So I guess the time with my dad, it's my parents' 40th anniversary, you know. Wow, I guess I was- The only weekend we don't have anything for work, so I figured you said, no pressure, no pressure, and now it feels like there's pressure

that I should be coming. No, listen, there's no, listen, I didn't- I offered to come on Saturday for the real- I didn't turn you down. I mean, you're welcome to come whenever you want. Do you guys throw the sun kiss after the half-door? By the way, I like how he says he offered to come. You got an invitation, you pick and choose. All I'm saying is- Actually, there was only one option on the RSVP.

The funny thing is- No, I said I'll come Saturday. He said, no, no, no, no, no. You don't have to come Saturday. I received a lot of guilt leading up to the sending of the invitation, which I always said was coming. You didn't even give our email addresses to your wife. That was a whole bit. I sent the invitation. Yeah, it was a bit. And now I find out no one's coming.

I mean, this is. I'll be there. Oh, wow. With my El Norese t-shirt on and everything. Frank's been wearing Hawaiian merch all week. Today too? Going to the med school. I actually haven't even seen you guys today.

I said hi to you, you just kept walking. You were on your phone. Yeah. I was, to you, you just kept walking. You were on your phone. Yeah. Listen, Jordan, I know this is like tit for tat. I didn't go to your wedding. I get it. How could you show up to my son's bar mitzvah if I didn't go to your wedding? I mean, I'm going to call him and say, hey, I'll still tell him.

Your dad's really proud. You invited Ariel to your wedding? Yeah. Of course. Oh, and he stiff armed you. I invited him to my birthday. I actually had to chase Ariel down and be like, like hey man still don't have the RSVP Jacqueline ready to roll. I you know what I

Don't appreciate that. That's a lie. Actually. I think I did I not respond pretty quickly It was probably knee-jerk. It was probably as soon as you got here, you were like, no, I can't be bothered. This fucking guy. I will say, you know, I had to text you and you were like, oh my god, I feel so bad. Sorry, we can't make it. Instant Venmo gift. I was like, wow, this is the most generous thing I've ever received. You said, oh yeah, you left that part out. I paid him off. I paid him off. No, I was gonna say something, but... How badly do you not want wanna go to this way?

I forget sometimes that we're actually on the air, so I'm not going to say it, but I'll say it. I'll say it, it's nothing, nothing that anyone cares about who is watching this show. Anyway, muzzle tov to everyone. Muzzle tov on UFC Atlanta, muzzle tov on Father's Day, muzzle tov to my son, and muzzle tov to Yuri Prochaska. Did you guys see this?

His thesis is done. Now what is thesis defense done? What does that mean? Like you defend your thesis? Yeah, in front of like a committee or maybe just the head of the department. Now just full focus to state final exams in two weeks. What an inspiration.

Let's go for that, baby. Let's go for that. Love it. We also have Mr. Jelton Almeida campaigning for a fight. And again, this is what I was referring to yesterday. Whatever's happening at the top of this division is backing everything up. It's like one big backlog. Do you know what I mean?

It's annoying. I feel for Jelton. So are we doing Jelton versus Volkov? Is that what he mean? It's annoying. I feel for Jelton. So are we doing Jelton versus Volkov? Is that what he wants? Volkov, like you requested, fall is coming and I'm ready. Which pay-per-view event would you like more? I'm available. Pick this one, pick that one, pick this one, pick that one. Now, why does it have to be a pay-per-view? Why can't it be a fight night? I don't know. I could see Jelton versus Volkov headlining an Apex show. Oh, for sure. Jelton versus...

Rosenstrike headlined a card like two years ago. Oh, yeah. But I like that he's, you know, he's shooting big. Do we have any Super Chats or no? Not today. Oh, thank God. Thank God, thank God. I didn't want any, if I'm being honest.

I did not want any. We don't care. Yeah, we don't care about your super chats. How about that? Any news since, you know, the thing about the in-studio guests, you get locked in and you don't get to look at the wire here. Did I miss anything? We never really talked about this Mark Coleman interview from yesterday. I'm still thinking about it. I'm still a little bit shaken up over the stuff that they were talking about, if I'm being honest.

It was a crazy thing. Highly, highly, highly recommend. Just eye-opening. And it's amazing that these things were allowed to just go on, and no one did anything about it. What the hell? Tomorrow on the program, we're going gonna be joined by Josh Vann. You may be familiar with him.

He is in fact fighting in two weeks time at International Fight Week. International Fight Week against Brandon Royval. He's replacing Manel Cap. Manel Cap was supposed to fight Royval. He suffered a fractured foot and so now he's out and Van coming off his big win this past Saturday is stepping in on short notice. He's on some kind of roll which is great. His championship odds

for the end of 2025 have plummeted all the way to plus 350. Wow. Now why would you categorize that as plummeted? Because I want to say at the beginning of the year, he was like plus 5,000 or something. Wow. Yeah. But in this case, plummeted is a positive thing. Not if you're a better, if you're Josh Mann, it's a positive thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Crazy though, crazy. He's now second favorite behind Alexandre Pantoja. Wow. Yeah. To be champ by the end of the year. Yeah. Wow.

And you have to think. Moreno's looking good lately. Well, the line has come out. He's a slight favorite against Brandon Roybal. If he wins that fight, you have to think he's getting the title shot. You know, there's Horiguchi out there. I know he was supposed to fight June 21st.

Do they give him the title shot? I just think with how much of a aesthetically pleasant fighter yeah Josh Vann is he's he's on the come-up Brennan Revelle is the the number one contender the number two contender he's he's incredibly high ranked 23 October 2001 he's also only been training for like four years or something he he's probably gonna get two or three shots at Pantoja anyway so October 2001. He's also only been training for like four years or something. He's probably gonna get two or three shots at Pantoja anyway, so might as well knock one off

right off the bat. If he beats Royval, I feel confident that he'll get a title shot. Especially, especially if Pantoja wins. What happens if Royval wins? Yeah, I don't know. Royval's gotta hold that. Royval's gotta hold that. Congratulations, Alexandre.

Yeah. Number five. You're fighting Murab. Oh, I mean, yeah, thank you, thank you. There it is. You're fighting Murab after Murab cuts to 125. Oh my God. Oh hell no. No way.

I don't think he's got it. I'm not. 134 this past week, just a lot. No, he's got. Last nine pounds to go. In the history of the UFC, I think only one, am I wrong about this, only one time the champion went down.

Huh? Meaning in a champ versus champ fight, it's usually a guy going up. Oh, wait, so who would that have been? TJ. TJ coming from 35 to 25. Yeah. Who got 25?

I think that's it, right? You know better than me. Yeah, you might be right. I actually never thought about that. Because, you know, Amanda went up. Connor obviously went up. Connor went up. DC went up. DC went up.

Alex went up. Izzy went up. Yeah. I think that's the only time. Volk went up. Alex went up. Izzy went up. Yeah. I think that's the only time. Volk went up. Wow. Volk went up twice. Zhang Weili would be going up. Valentina? Did she go up? Ioana went up. Well, she was a champion. She just lost the belt and then went up. Did Valentina? No. Well, Valentina was at 35 and then went down, but she wasn't the champion. Yeah, I guess you're right. DJ went down. Did they announce the Aspen All Fight yet? Did they listen to my ultimatum? They do. Frank, Breaking News music?

That's actually better. Coming up at five o'clock over on the Dazoned Boxing YouTube channel. And by the way, I love my new addition here. He's got good toys. Yeah. Green hair is great. Green hair? It's a good look, yeah.

You didn't notice? Yeah, you question whether or not she has green hair. Do you have green hair? Right at it. Don't think she's ever not. And your hair is green? No. Fuck off.

I don't know. The lighting's weird. The lighting's weird? Um... Not a lot of people could- Radioactive green, she looked like- Not a lot of people could pull off the green hair. Nah, she did a fantastic job.

She looked like Shego from Kim Possible, shout out Rowan's No. Mm, no. I thought she was going for like a Wednesday look. A Wednesday look, like Wednesday Adams? Yeah, with the outfit she had on. Mm, interesting. Oh, like, you know, classy, Coming to Yahoo. It's a big deal.

As I was saying, 5 o'clock will be joined by, well, Adi Oladipo, because it's his show and mine, the Ari Elanade program, every Tuesday at 5. Eddie Hearn going to stop by to talk about losing to Frank Warren yet again. He lost this past Saturday. He had his guy Justice Hooney rolling along, and then he got knocked down on the 10th. He's back with another show here in New York on Saturday, and there's a ton going on in the world of boxing. Of course, the big news this morning,

Canelle Crawford, September 13th, on Netflix, not on Pay-Per-View, and promoted apparently by Zufa Boxing. How about it? Is it actually back? Back from the dead? Back like it never left? Frank, you hit my music. It's time to go.

Oh, what's this? Oh, shout out to Slito. Shout out to Slito, bro. Slito's the man. Slito. Shout out to our mods. Mod, mod, Eladjuan Dream.

Mod, help me out here Frank. No, no, I wanna hear what this guy. Brandon. Brandon? You see Frank, why are you such a dick? What, like, you know that this guy's not, this guy's gonna,

he's gonna be upset now. You could have helped me out. You saw that this guy's gonna be upset now. You could have helped me out. You saw that I was struggling. Dick move. Agreed or disagreed? Absolutely agreed. I totally said I wanna see where this goes. So that I can crash and burn.

Can hang myself. It wasn't like the first day they started and Ant said, thanks Lajuan and thanks... O.C. He didn't even bother to see who was the actual monster. Anyway, um... Hey, shout out to the Three Lions. They're playing at the City Ground today for the first time in I think 84 years.

The world-famous City Ground. So that's pretty cool. A sign of great things going on in Nottingham. They're trying to get into the Europa League I saw and They're trying to convince. I don't know the I Think it's UEFA that Crystal Palace shouldn't be in there. Are we excited about the Club World Cup guys? Are you guys into that this weekend? Yeah, I'm pretty high. Yeah, it's gonna be big pretty high. Yeah, yes No idea. I did see. Yeah, it's gonna be big. Pretty hype. Yeah. PSG. I have no idea.

I did see a stat that it's like 17 in the last 18 years have been won by European champions and all of them won the Champions League. Sure, but this is different. This is every four years now. Anyway, I'll tell you about it later on. Thank you, Joe Pfeiffer. Thank you, Shotzi. Thanks to you, thanks to them.

Back tomorrow, same time, same place. This is gonna be so many years.