The Ariel Helwani Show - Joshua Van, Frank and Bella Mir, Nakisa Bidarian in studio, Butterbean, weekend recap, more

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

The Craic's Petesy Carroll is in town, so he joins Ariel Helwani in studio to set the table for this weekend’s Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano trilogy fight on Netflix and discuss other major news and notes around the sport (06:10)."Butterbean" Eric Esch, boxing legend, calls in to talk about his incredible health resurgence, a potential return against Jake Paul or Brock Lesnar, fighting in PRIDE, and more (1:03:36).Frank and Bella Mir are next up, and they discuss Bella’s UFC aspirations, conversations with Dana White, following in her father’s footsteps, Olympic goals, and more (1:35:20).Next up is a preview video of the crew’s behind-the-scenes adventure at UFC headquarters during International Fight Week (2:04:14).Joshua Van joins after his barnburner against Brandon Royval at UFC 317 to reflect on fighting twice in three weeks, facing off with Alexandre Pantoja in the octagon, competing next for the UFC flyweight title, and more (2:18:27).Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Nakisa Bidarian comes in studio before the all-women's boxing card on Netflix headlined by the Taylor-Serrano trilogy. He discusses the lead-up to the event, Jake Paul’s win over Julio César Chávez Jr., negotiations with Canelo, and more (2:42:19).Ariel and the crew end the show by answering your Super Chats (3:26:10).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Er-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R Two thousand and 25. Hello again everyone. It's so good to be back. Regular Monday show, regular time slot. We're in the Saturday of the calendar year. Everyone loves July. The vibes are high. America just celebrated its 249th birthday. If you were one who was celebrating this weekend,

I hope you had a lovely time I sure did I was at the beach with my wife and daughter. It was a grand old time we had a lovely lovely lovely long weekend and well if you're If you're one who was not celebrating I hope you just had a a nice weekend because we have a lot to get to there's a lot going on New York City is The epicenter of the boxing world this weekend with the massive Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano 3 fight card on Friday right here at the Mecca Madison Square Garden live on Netflix can't wait to be a part of that and then on Saturday the Edgar Berlanga versus Hamza Shiraz slash Shakur Stevenson

versus Williams Apeyda card at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Flushing Meadow Queens the US Open one of the US Open venues so there's a pay to card at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Flushing Meadow, Queens, the US Open, one of the US Open venues. So there's a lot to get into. There's a lot to be excited about. Massive weekend coming up next weekend in the world of confidence. But just so much going on, so much going. It was a relatively quiet one in the world of MMA. There were a couple of PFL events.

There was a PFL Middle East show. There was also a PFL Europe show on Saturday. But as far as the UFC is concerned, relatively quiet. But that doesn't mean that there isn't a ton to talk about. So let's get into today's lineup. So excited, so happy to be back. Regular 1pm start time now for the foreseeable future. So no more 2.30 this or that.

So thank you very much for your your patience and understanding and on the back end of the show we're actually going to be joined in studio by the co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions the one and only Nekisa Baderi and the former CFO of the UFC and now alongside Jake Paul of course they have really gone full steam ahead in the world of boxing and in particular in the world of women's boxing this card on Friday by the way live and free on Netflix No pay-per-view just a subscription required available to 300 plus million if you're in Brazil if you're in Mexico if you're in Japan if you're

Anywhere in the world Canada USA Argentina Norway Ireland England It doesn't matter where you can watch this card with just your regular subscription. Now what's interesting about it is I'm told the Guinness Book of World Records may be getting involved in total eight fights in five of those eight fights, 21 titles being defended, two undisputed title fights, a litany of unified title fights, in total 21 titles on the line in one way shape or form and of course the big one is Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano. So that is a gigantic deal. He'll join us to talk about their foray into the world of women's boxing, their strong push. What

the hell happened with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Ice? Him getting detained? I think it was on Thursday afternoon. That was shocking stuff. Where does Jade go from here? All that stuff and more. We'll have Nikissa in studio at around 3.45 at 3.15. We'll be joined by Joshua Vann, who of course is going to meet Alexandre Pantoja

for the title maybe back into the year. Coming off that incredible win over Brandon Royvill. Can't wait to talk to him, one of the bright young stars, maybe the breakout star as far as the UFC is concerned in 2025. And maybe by the time the year coming off that incredible win over Brandon Royvill. Can't wait to talk to him, one of the bright young stars, maybe the breakout star as far as the UFC is concerned in 2025, and maybe by the time the year is done, maybe the male fighter of the year for goodness sakes. By the way, prior to that, we'll show you a snippet of our behind the scenes Vegas International Fight Week trip when GC and Rick infiltrated the UFC headquarters, the apex. They were there, hallowed ground. They saw it all, they did it all. We'll show you a snippet of that and most likely we'll post a whole

30 minute cinema, if you will, tomorrow on the YouTube channel. So stay tuned for all of that. Prior to that, we'll be joined by someone who competed on International Fight Week last week in Las Vegas, the great Bella Mir, who has turned into a phenom. The daughter of one Frank Mir, collegiate wrestling, BJJ, MMA. She has an MMA fight she fought or competed at UFC BJJ 1. She is an absolute phenom and we're going to have the two of them on at the same time. Bella and Frank at the same time. What a joy. I remember covering Frank fights and his kids are running around all over the place. Now his daughter is an absolute, I mean, just a star in the making. Acts like her dad, competes

like her dad, is submitting people, beating people up. It's a real impressive thing and it feels like just a matter of time before she enters the UFC. So let's look forward to that. And then prior to that chat, the one and only Butterbean, often imitated, never duplicated, the only man, by the way, the only man who can say that he competed against Larry Holmes, competed in a WrestleMania, competed against Johnny Knoxville. There's a bunch of other ones in there. Marys Prudzianowski, the only person that could say he competed against all those people and then some. An unbelievable career. I mean when you look at his actual resume, I don't think people realize what this guy has done. 17-10-1 in MMA, 77, 10 and 4 in boxing, 3 and 4 in kickboxing, has competed at

WrestleMania, has competed at in Pride, KSW, Cage Rage, again fought the likes of Larry Holm and Peter McNeely who fought Mike Tyson, an absolute legend of the game and now has really turned his life around. A lot of people in the chat though have been asking is this the day, this the Monday is this the time that the prodigal son? Finally comes to our New York City studio. Is this is this the time that the crack? Hits our New York City studio the uncrowned HQ and yes, I can't confirm without further ado Let's bring him in like he's an actual superstar guest. Yes Hello everyone he's here

Frank's been giving out to me because I'm not speaking to Mike So I would have danced would have danced my way in but Frank's just been non-stop in my ear can you see my face Frank you saying the mic's not covering my face? I can't help it. You just said no one likes me. I can't wait for the pop the pop on the YouTube let's see they're probably going nuts right now because you are their favorite. Oh yeah? You're the biggest baby face in the biz.

Doesn't surprise me. You have overtaken the one and only GC for the biggest. I don't know about that. Oh my god they're saying New York about to have a crack epidemic. Look at that fresh haircut. You know yourself No way. Oh my god. Does Ariel have a tan? Yes, I can't confirm NBD This is the people are going nuts. The PT theme hits different today. Let's go PT You got the four leaf clover. What's it was the four leaf and the three leaf. Can't tell you man. Okay. What is it like? What is it like? This is great.

Yeah, this is great. This is amazing. Look at us. I have to say, right? Like I talked to all these people so much. It didn't feel like weird at all when I saw everyone. I know I've met them. You're an extended member of the family. Yeah. It was great time. I mean, Andy made us all a cake for all the July birthdays. Right? That's very special Thank you. I'm the birthday's number one Andy. You're my number one You on July 7. No, you're on 17. Yes GC 16. Yes Jordan 9

Someone else on July 8 Then when's Rick and then Rick's August 1st, yeah within the span of 30 days I guess stop it. So then when's Rick and then Rick's August 1st. Yeah, so within the span of 30 days There's six birthdays. Maybe we should think about getting rid of Frank if he's not no he was the six I was including him because it's always part is anyone back there. It seems so quiet back there. Is everyone okay? Yes, we're having fun back here guys You're right Frank. Perfect. Yeah, what's wrong with Frank? And a little bit long issue laryngitis?

Probably. I just, when we came in this morning, we're all like, what's up Frank? Everyone's happy. He's raspy. Yeah, we're like, Frank, how was your week? And he's like, it was fine. We're like, what's wrong, man? He's like, a little lung issue.

We're like, what happened, dude? He's like, nothing, whatever. Can't go into it. Look at this foreshort right here. Oh, wow. Go into it. Look at this foreshot right here. Oh, wow. This is amazing. Look at Pizzi. Look at that side profile. Look at fantastic. Should we, should we say what Aspen also?

That's your camera. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So well, everyone else is already thinking it. I set the table, right? So I come in today and Rick is like, Oh, Pizzi, what, what size here? Um, he has this box of a champion goods. Yeah. And there's a couple of people sponsored by champion, uh, what size are you? He has this box of champion goods. Yeah, nice.

And there's a couple of people sponsored by Champion, one being Thomas Aspinall. Yes, yes, yes. And I was like, oh wow. Looking through the names here, a lot of names written on the old clothing. Oh, it's actually labeled. Yes. Wow.

Do you know what wasn't there? I didn't hear it now. Just the guy that's been covering them, longer than anyone in fucking mixed martial arts media. Peter Carroll. Nothing there. So I get out the phone. Yeah, yeah.

And I make a video. And I say, Tom Asimov, what the f- Like, you know, very excited here. Joey sends me back. Oh yeah. What's the crack there you say? I said, what's the crack with the No Champion stuff? And he just went, oh yeah, forgot about you.

I love Rick by the way, because Rick was also in the video. So then I went, oh yeah, I forgot about you. I love Rick by the way, because Rick was also in the video. So I sent him another video, me and Ariel in here, as we're warming up, doing lunges and whatnot. And he just sends back, why are you dressed like, where's Waldo? No, he didn't say that. No, where's Wally? Well, I was doing it for the American audience, all right? Which they call it, where's Waldo over here, apparently.

Same exact everything, but it just says, where's Wally? That melted my brain. He actually then sent me a Photoshop, which I don't believe he actually. Can you put it? Send it. I forgot to send it to the guys. Maybe I can keep it. Like it to Jordan.

It looks exactly like I look now as well. Shout out to Tom Aspinall, a living legend. We love him dearly. Shout out to our heavyweight champion. This was for the US contingent pizza, unfortunately. Just to correct the record, actually, as soon as you came in, I actually said, instead of what's your size, I said, I've got some bad news, pizza. Yeah, that's awesome.

You can order us all this. They've sent it online though, and get it delivered. But not for you. All kinds of piss. You know what's great? I always love when someone comes over to New York. I mean, it's a special place, New York, right? New York is a special place people

Why is it so warm in here what the fuck keeps it toast people? Pete you might lose that shirt at some point This is fucking what is wrong with you man, do you ever think about your guests? This is uncomfortable. No, he does not complain last time He was like, oh you like this Paul Walter no, so so people love New York people get very excited when when they're in New York This is a lot. There's a lot to do. I get a text earlier today. Where is it? Where is it? Golly. I get a text. I should have had this prepared. Oh, pizza, the plastic cup. We got the how I want to show mug. Oh, I know. Yeah. We got, we actually have, oh, there it it is shout out to Tom.

Jordan side by side. Okay. Okay. Shout out to Tom. By the way, we have our own mugs now. Look at this. Can I get the yeah. Beautiful mugs on Friday.

That's class. That's nice. I can't wait for the crack ones. See Pete. I got some more bad news about that. So so crack ones weren't weren't in the budget. So he texts me. So PT text me because he's nice. I'm going to wait for the correct one. See, Pete's got some more bad news about that. Oh, I can't. So. Right, we're in the budget. So he texts me, so Pete, he texts me because he's excited.

So every, every single stop, every single thing that he does is a big moment because it's in New York, you know, you're walking, you're going to the local coffee shop, local bodega. He says, how hard is my accent to understand? I got a bagel and they were calling out Kevin, then got a coffee and they were calling out David. And I'm like, you know, I'm getting my daughter ready

for camp, I'm entertaining this. It's like, all right, you know, I'm sure, it's a nice New York story. You know, you came out, like, now your accent isn't that tough. Then I go on Instagram, first slide, first story, I see this story from Pizzi. I thought I had a fairly neutral accent these days days ordered a bagel and after 10 minutes of the

Lad calling out Kevin I realized they were talking about me moments later the same thing happens when I'm ordering coffee the coffee lad was looking for David For the guts of five minutes Stuff my old BJJ coach. Oh, you even know what it's a status I didn't even keep it out Roger dad is once told me I see a black belly to avoid confusion I may do the same from now. This is what we call in the business of subtle flex to let everyone know back home we're in the Big Apple. Yeah, but you know what? You just didn't give me what I wanted.

Yeah. You know, if you had been engaged in that conversation and you had to give me a bit more, maybe I wouldn't have to go with the internet. This is how girls end up on OnlyFans. You know what I mean? They don't get enough attention at home and they have to go off and get it somewhere else. Boys as well, getting their bangers out online. Sure.

It happens with them too. Equal opportunity. And then I'm like, you know what? Like, did you have to go off and get it somewhere else boys as well getting their bangers out online sure happens with them too you know I'm like you know what like did you have she's been in studio 13 minutes we've already talked about getting bangers out like this is this is incredible bangers out for only fans could happen and then I go on X and I see a similar no same oh copy paste I thought I had a fairly neutral is it so you felt the need to put this on all the platform Well, I just wanted you to see them and realize that you didn't give me what I wanted All right, and I think you know now say this is just the hallmark of a good comedian He's just working out the material. He gave you the first shot at it. You gave him a little bit of feedback

Not the right feedback. He goes. Oh, I have to adjust the joke put it back out there. That's a banger Before I can even Dap him up this morning. He told me this story Oh, he told you he readjusted it to how hard is my accent to how mean and rude are the people of New York? Keep on trying to talk to everyone in New York and they don't want to talk to me It's why do you think that is? Yeah, this sounds like the beginning of a stand-up Irish guy tell them tell them about you know what the settlers did here tell them everything. Yeah we went down we saw the the Irish hunger not famine Frank not famine yeah hunger memorial yesterday battery City Park yeah battery

park battery Park City the battery the battery is that what the kids call it went down there yesterday. Battery Park City is a low is a neighborhood. It's a bit wordy. Um, yeah. Million people, a million people from Ireland came over here during the, uh, the great hunger in the 1800s. Why did they come? Yeah, because, uh, you know, the, the, the potato blight was happening in Ireland.

Okay. Okay. And, uh, you know, there makes me think that you don't know all the details. Oh, I do. I do. I just, I'm being very careful. What way I say it. Sure.

Cause then you'll get some feedback from back home. So, so that happened. Um, you know, we were, we were applying the lands and the British were taking our grains and Kotlin send them back to England. I mean, we're all starving to death. Um, many came over here for a new life in New York city. And it's amazing when, when Katie Taylor fights, it's fights it's like a fancy St. Patrick's Day because all of the Irish immigrants kind of get together and they have a big hoolie for this. I

can remember the last time we were here was it? 2022. April right? Yep, April 30th. And if you walked around Midtown after that fight it was a magic night, unbelievable, brilliant fight and this is terrible. What is the name of the guy who brought us backstage in Madison Square Garden? And he led us into the locker room. He works for MSG. That's right. Yeah I let a guy who's been there for many many years and he told us afterwards He said this is the one of the top three fights we've ever seen. Oh, it's a good arena The atmosphere was amazing. It was half Puerto Rican half Irish and thus this is why you are here Yeah, not just to see us not just to dilly-dally.

You're here to cover... A little bit of both. You're here to cover the third fight this Friday. Yeah, yeah. We all said, we all said it couldn't have happened without you being here. Like, I told the powers that be at MVP, unless we know that Peter Carroll is going to be in the building like he was back in 2022. This I think it was a lot of the magic there that night was to do with me, if I'm being completely

honest. But yeah, it was crazy. We went around Midtown afterwards and it was like the afters of a wedding of an Irish wedding. He was like all people wearing suits because they were trying to get fancy for MSG. Obviously, she faced as well all over the streets. It was an amazing night though. And the pride the Irish people have in Katie and it's a it's only a limited amount of fights you think left at this stage so it's a big one and I think that there's people a bit more cautious about it this time obviously 2-0 against Serrano and why is she doing this and what is the need to do it this time around so I think it could be one of the last times we get to see Katie and I just hope they aren't gonna keep doing this fight until she actually lives.

Shout out to Larry Torres by the way the PR guy who took us to the back legend he was the one that you were referring to. What a guy. I can't wait for this fight it's it's it's a huge deal at least very very selfishly for me I've never worked at MSG I've never like worked a card at MSG like I've covered events there I covered that one but I've never been in the ring or anything like that. And you know what MSG means to me, home of the New York Knicks, 2026 NBA champions. And then I love this card, I love this fight.

I was wondering though, from your perspective, since you followed her from the beginning, you remember watching when she won the gold medal in 2012, right? Yeah, very much a fan though, back then. Where does it... Does this feel like the culmination? You remember watching when she won the gold medal in 2012, right? Yeah, very much a fan though back then, you know, it's um... Where does it... Does this feel like the culmination? Does this feel as big of a deal as the 2022 fight or even the Paul Tyson fight? Is it being covered as much back home? Give us a taste of what the temperature is as far as... Because you're right, there can't be more than like two or three left max.

If not this being the last one, what is the the coverage like what is the appetite for this back home these things like it's like any Kay Taylor fight you know last week you're hearing a few bits and bobs but as it gets closer it starts everyone suddenly starts talking about it like I have friends who just got on to me today who are over in Toronto they're gonna make their way up nice I've been invited to three parties after the fight because all of the others that are coming in to see it and Even like at the weekend started the day before I left. It was my brother's birthday my nephew's birthday Can have a joint birthday party and everyone just starts talking about it again. I Think the fact that this is on Netflix. It's gonna be watched by everyone of course, but there there is a sense of

The second fight man the way the commentary team with Rosie Perez and all that kind of stuff won't be a part of it this time by the way I know but people were really pissed off. I'm the way morrow's not a part of it Rosie Perez is not a part of it. It's very much a different squad. Right, right Well, I think there is there's some negative sentiment about there's a fear. No, not a fear as much as like the way the fight is being framed is almost like that it was Serrano was, was robbed. And it's just an incredibly close fight. I don't think you can say it's a robbery.

I understand people. If people are like ice garden for Serrano completely get it. But the idea, uh, that's being put across as nearly like, how did you get away with this one when I think that's beyond the pale, I think it was an incredibly close fight. I think it's perfectly acceptable to have a score for Kay Taylor. I think Teddy Atlas had a score for Kay Taylor. I think Roy Jones Jr. Did I know I did.

Um, for, you know, I think, I think it's a fascinating thing because you saw a glimpse of it at the press conference in April. This is the first time where it sort of feels, sort of, sort of, feels like Katie's the heel. And I say that only because you're in New York, at the presser, MVP event, it very much sort of feels like Amanda Serrano territory, and everything was going nice, everything was cordial, everything was friendly,

up until the point where Amanda starts talking about the three minute rounds and says, hey, we shook on it, you guys saw it, and then you saw Katie take a turn and go like, you're not gonna get to dictate the rules of this fight. You don't get to pick, you're the challenger, you're down 0-2, we had never seen that side of her before. And then she starts to push back on this idea that like,

hey, you guys are trying to create this narrative that I'm dirty, that I didn't win those fights, that I didn't deserve to win those fights. I had never seen her get that sort of ornery. In fact, backstage I saw her and she was like, I was like, Katie, where did that come from? This is not the usual Katie Taylor. And she's like, was that all right?

Was that all right? I was like, yeah, of course it was all right. But that's just a more edgier heels, even too strong of a term, like just sort of like gray characters, opposed to the preacher's daughter, the choir, you know, like the patron saint character that we always see, who in the past wouldn't speak up. And in fact, at the press conference multiple times she said, I have a voice, I'm allowed

to push back. I'm almost like she's trying to convince herself that this is okay. It's okay to stand up for yourself, which I i love but added a new dynamic to the uh to the rivalry absolutely and it's very rare as you say to see katie worked up like this and i wonder i was trying to think of when we've seen it before and i i only rewatched the the great documentary i think was made in 2016 katie it's on netflix and at the moment in 2016. Katie, it's on Netflix. Um, at the moment, if you just want to watch it, it's brilliant. Not here.

I've never been able to see it. It's not in America. Oh my God. You guys get different stuff. Well, they should put it out for this week. Are you sure it's not? I've looked recently, not yesterday, but I've looked recently. It wasn't there.

Someone check if it's anyway, there's this. 2018, I think it was out. There's this scene in it and she's sitting with the great Brian Peters and he's kind of like going you know things are going well like that you know there used to be a fear that like nobody would fight you but now like it's because you're so big people want to fight you and there was this video of McCaskill but the boxer who had a carton of milk with missing Katie Taylor on it and And it's a great scene because say I'm Brian Peters, Katie Taylor sitting here, he's on his laptop

and he's showing her and he's like, look, isn't this good? And you'll see her like completely locked in on the screen. Like he's laughing like this is good, isn't it? And she's like locked in. And then he goes, no, but like, you know, he suddenly realizes, oh, she's, she's actually not too happy about this. And he was like, you know, like it's good that she, she's a name and she

wants to fight you. She's five and one, you know? Um, and then she goes, but how, how could she even say something like that to me? And that's the kind of thing I'm seeing back here. She's like, do you not understand boxing? You know, um, self-proven orthodox. Like, do you really think a person who was a beacon of sporting brilliance, it was whole life is about purity

and how she carries herself, the integrity she carries herself with. You know, like this is a beacon for this stuff in Ireland. And then suddenly they're like, you're this dirty fighter who's trying to headbutt Serrano in this fight. I think that's where it's coming from. She's like, are you really serious? You think me, Katie Taylor, the person who, the person who women's boxing wouldn't be an Olympic sport unless it was for Katie Taylor, the person who, the person who, women's boxing wouldn't be an

Olympic sport unless it was for Katie Taylor. In 2007 she was brought to Chicago to fight in front of the IOC, the Olympic committee to see if it was a noble enough sport to make the Olympics and she knocked the girl out in the first round and therefore they said let's put it in the 2012 Olympics. She's the reason why that's there and suddenly like oh she just, she's trying to headbutt someone all the time come on I understand what she's going. Yes, and by the way Jordan telling me on air Jordan tell me that it is on Netflix now So this is great. Check it out. At least here in North America I need to watch it this week because I've been wanting to watch it for years that is incredible because I've definitely checked a few times

But obviously would make a lot of sense to have it available worldwide considering the fact she's fighting We're gonna talk about this fight card throughout the week You're gonna have a special edition of the crack is on on Friday with some fellow journalists talking about it So we'll have plenty of time to really dig deep and there are multiple things actually later today I'm doing the face-to-face with them in Brooklyn, which I think will be fun Open workouts at the oculus which you'll be attending perhaps even covering for us on the aerial and Adé program. Okay, I'll do it, I'll do it. What else are you doing? Wednesday press conference, which I'll be hosting.

Thursday, by the way, weigh-ins live on Netflix. Ooh. Like not on the Netflix YouTube. Oh, that's a lot. Weigh-ins live on Netflix and then the fight Friday night. Can't wait for all of that. But let's get into some news and notes from this past week. I think the big one was

Was it July 3rd or was it July 4th? It might have been July 4th. No, it was July 3rd. Yes. It was July 3rd The president of the United States Donald Trump held a press conference to kick off America's 250th birthday celebration birthday year no, so like From this point forward. It will be a year long celebration and next year, 20, uh, 26 will be 250, right? So they're doing a year long celebration and then he dropped someone somewhat casually in this press conference. It wasn't really a press conference.

It was like a whole big celebration, which he spoke at that they're going to have. A, a, um, a UFC event. I think he said a fight, event fight at the white house in the back garden on July 4th, 2026. And then a couple of people look up like, wait a second, July 4th, 2026. That's a Saturday night, even if it was a Thursday or Friday, who cares? They could have done it, but okay, that's nice. Even if it was a Thursday or Friday, who cares? They could have done it, but okay, that's nice.

And then our old friend, Greg Rosenstein of NBC News now reached out to the UFC and they confirmed that this in fact is the plan to hold an event on July 4th, 2026 at the White House. Now a lot of people have asked me, this can't be real. No, I really think that they're gonna try to do it. Do they ultimately pull it off? I don't see why not, but this is not just a thing.

This is not just a throwaway thing. They're actually going to try and do it. Subsequently, once this came out, you had the likes of Conor McGregor say, put me in. You had the likes of John Jones say, put me in. You had other fighters, American and non-American say, put me in your thoughts on this idea. Do you like this idea? I mean, it's, it'd be the biggest spot MMA has ever been in ever. Wouldn't it? Like, I mean, it's hard to be the biggest spot. MMA has ever been in ever. Wouldn't it? Like, I mean, it's hard to

be like, this would be great for the UFC, great for the sport. And as we know, UFC slash MMA is Trump's sport. We've talked about this, the different presidents, some like baseball, some like basketball. And forty five, forty seven is an

MMA guy. Yeah. And it's huge. And it doesn't surprise me that like Jones and Connor are suddenly interested in, in being there. I mean, Connor had a massive PR pop when he arrived in the white house on Patrick's day. Um, I kind of became the catalyst for this

political career he's embarking on. So, I mean, it's, it would be a huge, huge deal. It kind of reminds me in theory drummer Eddie Heron was doing those matrimonial cards out his backyard. Oh yeah. Like in the middle of Essex. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It kind of reminds me in theory. Do you remember Eddie Herron was doing those matrimonial cards out his back garden? Like in the middle of Essex? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It kind of reminds me of that. But could you imagine what that would look like just in terms of a spectacle? Like we talked about the spectacle of the sphere and stuff.

Did you imagine that like the White House in the background with the octagon? Oh my God. Well, just the symbolism of, you know, about 30 years ago, the sport being banned in the vast majority of this country. And then it's just like Florida and New Jersey, and then of course it's Nevada. I mean, 10 years ago, it was still banned in New York. And to think that 10 years later, actually the symbolism of him being elected

the same week as the first show at MSG, 10 years later, an actual event at the White House is pretty insane. And now of course everyone's trying to figure out, I mean they even got odds, you know, who's the most likely, who knows, who knows what the sport looks like, who knows what anyone looks like a year from now. Hang on, John Jones says he wants to come back, there's one fucking fight to make. Can I just, why? Because it's the American versus the Brit. Well that's what, who said that in the message group? Was it Jordan that was like

suggesting it should be a Brit against the USA? Come on, that's perfect. What kind of a, um, what's the, what's the word that I'm looking for? What's the word that I'm looking for? Um, is egomaniac the word? Like, you calling me an egomaniac? You just left. You just left. And now, and even as recently as this morning, right? Didn't he have a tweet as recently as this morning, teasing us, it feels nice to be the hunter, not the hunted for once. By the way, if this is in fact true, why did you, why did, why didn't you give up the belt months ago so that you can feel this way? And oh, by the way, when you gave up the light heavyweight title, you were the quote, unquote hunted, no, excuse me, the hunter for three years. You know, he gave up the light heavyweight title in the midst of the pandemic and then

they had the vacant title. Like, it's not like a completely foreign thing. And oh, by the way, he was stripped of the belt and Daniel Cormier was the champion. So this idea that he's never been the hunter is ludicrous. But you just left, man. But you want us to keep talking about you you want us to keep saying oh come back don't come back the big fight this is the behavior of what an egomaniac yeah well look it's also like you know that kind of thing we were saying like he could have a cater like that's been the thing the whole time I

remember Rick kind of making the argument a lot where like Pereira is potentially a bigger fight than Aspinal and what we were saying at that time was like yeah have at it just get rid of the belt then like that was always the easy solve to this. So it kind of plays into the argument that he just really didn't want that Aspinal smoke as well. You know like the fact that he's suddenly like oh I'm available now all of a sudden you're like well that kind of plays more into the idea. They could book that fight tomorrow.

Do it for October. Well, now if we have it in the White House lawn, I think we should keep it in the back burner. You know what I mean? What could possibly go wrong with a fight that everyone wants to see in the UFC? No, a hundred percent. And John fighting at the White House would, I mean, make a lot of sense. Yeah. I mean, he's a squeaky clean kind of guy. He represents your country so well.

Hey, listen, Tom's squeaky clean. He'd be great representing. Is that the birth of the American nation? Was that you and the Brits? 1776, yeah. Was you squaring off with the Brits and then you got rid of them and then you were like, America. Well, when you say you, what do you mean? Because of course we also do represent the red and white. You're an American citizen, sir. That is true. That is true. That's what the other one there is.

Well, let's ask the actual true blue American citizens what what does it represent 1776 me a July 4th that's the the day that we declared our independence the Declaration of Independence then we had to fight no well yes signed it right oh well who was there who was there who signed it tell us tell us GC who signed oh there's plenty of names on there Yeah, John Hancock Sam Adams Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin Sam Adams was there he brought the beers everybody was like come on now Thomas Edison no no no no Thomas Edison was alive in the 1900s. He did the lights right? Yeah He was not a founding father. Yeah, right who were the founding fathers? Washington yeah Adams.

Lincoln. Hamilton. Definitely not Lincoln. Franklin. I mean, you had to pass the citizenship test. I got this just for being born here. This should be ingrained in your DNA. Oh man. James Doon, yeah.

I don't think it happens. I don't think it happens. You don't think it happens? Thomas Jefferson. Serious? I'm serious, yeah. Why? Why do you say that with such like disbelief I don't think it happens. I don't think it happens. You don't think it happens? Thomas Jefferson. Serious? I'm serious, yeah. Why? Why do you say that with such disbelief

that a UFC event, and I assume if it was taking place on July 4th of 2026, that would be their International Fight Week headlining the White House? I think not. You think the week after? Yeah, they do it end of June, International Fight Week, and then they do this the following week. Why is that such a crazy thought? I think the crazy thought is

them having a UFC event at the White House. Who mentioned 25,000? Didn't someone mention like 25,000 people there? No, fuck no. Listen, 250th birthday, this is going to be a huge deal throughout the country for the next year, right? Yeah. 250. They're going to do it up, they're going to have all kinds of celebrations.

You don't think it's inconceivable that at some point they said, what can we do on the actual 250th birthday? And, and they called up Dana White and they said, of course, like what would be so hard as far as actually pulling it off? Freaking NBA players show up there all the time. Like what's the difference? By the way, you don't necessarily need to do

like the exact same thing. You could do like a two fight card. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I think John Jones has to be involved because he's probably the biggest American star, right? Like he feels like the name.

No, Connor has to be involved. Well, certainly Connor, but he's not American. Right? I imagine that this is intended to be a tribute to America in some regard, but certainly Connor would be involved. It's the perfect time for him to fight Michael Chandler.

It is the perfect time. Yeah. Well, can he like the same thing we're talking about? He hasn't been able to get you a Foy Camp in years. No, no. You know, like we can't just. He's going to try.

Listen, that part, we don't know how that turns out, but the fact that they're going to put it on to me. And by the way, now you have this thing that you can tell whatever broadcaster you're doing business with. Like it, let's say, let's, let's say they're talking to Netflix. Isn't it? Let's say they're talking to Netflix July 4th at the White House UFC you don't think Netflix wants that as a one-off event

like you don't have special events they don't have special events like White House White House okay fuck do you have to put the Americans over though is is it work no not a work but do you have to book fights that... Yes, you have to have Americans. I don't think Michael Chandler and Conor McGregor. I think they don't care. I think they just want to celebrate the sport, celebrate the country with some... What a great endorsement for the UFC.

You've got to have Americans on there. Man, there's not even an American champion as we discussed last week. That's what I'm saying? You throw John Jones on there. You can throw Kayla Harrison on there. Kayla John Jones. Here's the part, by the way, here's the thing that you have to... Not them fighting each other for the right. Here's the thing that you have to balance. Tom Aspill versus John Jones would generate a ton of money at the gate. Are you willing to lose that to put this on? We do a common-sense bullshit ruining our White House party. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, even the

Connor one. Connor is, if a, if, if it comes to fruition as a 25 million. This isn't about, this isn't about money. It's about freedom. So is, is the fight, no, seriously, we're all talking about this is the fight may be like a showcase, honestly, don't laugh at me. Is it like a contender series card?

Oh, come on. No way. I'm serious. You can't go to the White House. There's no way. There's no way. You would just have to. You're just going to give up, You're going to give up that gate?

But he is thinking like the UFC though. To do it at the White House? Like he is. To do it at the White House? The goodwill would be worth it. You don't think it's like a Manel Cap headline event? No. Stop.

Are we going to get a poster from the White House event? Donald Trump will have had to have heard of them. That's the thing. You said NBA players show up there all the time, yeah, to like do the whole, like here's the jersey, we win the championship, like to have sanctioned fights on the lawn of the White House is a totally different story.

I imagine there's gonna be a vetting process in which the president is involved in signing off on the people who come to this world. Bo Nickel. Yeah, you get Bo Nickel, you get Strickland, you get Colby. Strickland feels like a bridge too far. Why like why they want they want the squeaky clean white Huh white American boys don't they is squeaky clean?

John Jones up me I didn't throw John Jones. I said too much Clean why is that like a requirement? I? Don't feel like it is at all. I don think they want anyone that's going to bring any baggage what's the way can you have Connor on the car Trump did say this he said that up to 25,000 people will be able to show up for the spectacle there's no chance I saw the white house like a month and a

half ago it is tiny it is the lawn is like a half acre can I get this is a tough finale should they make this the tough finale maybe they'll do it what it, what's that area where they had the... The mall? Yeah, the mall, the mall. The Million Man March and the water. That would make it even more difficult.

Where Jenny ran into the water to see for us. Jenny! That's just such a public area. They can't block that off. I'm sure they can, but now this is starting to feel Times Square S. Yeah, yeah. And it's like, oh, that was actually a letdown right right right I just throw it on the lawn okay so here we are it's July we're gonna remember this July 7th

2025 what's our vote is there an event that happens on July 4th 100% yes 100% Rick says yes Connor says no yes I say yes they're warming up in the Lincoln bedroom is that what's gonna be happening Frank Frank, what do you say? What do you say, Frank? You're the decider. I feel like we got it. We got it. That's not really an answer, but.

It's like yesterday. It's like he throws into AI how we can respond with the fewest possible words. I think it's too much of an opportunity. I think, like honestly, Dana White to do this at the White House. They're gonna make a mini doc. Think of how excited Dana gets about, like,

I can't believe it. Fight Island sphere. This is another version of that. It will get him excited. And it's also, as Ariel said, a great bargain and chip. Like, if we had one thing that we were like, you know, could play against the UFC here, it's the monotony of a lot of these events.

Like, they don't have any, you know, big, like, this is so different, and this is the one you got, like, I guess, International Fight Week is the WrestleMania, but they need more things, more eye catching events. This is the biggest thing they'll ever do in terms of that, like spectacle. Yeah, you wanna know how big it is? You wanna know how I found out?

My mom texted me. Yeah, oh, I had a ton of people. She's like, yo, DT said we're doing a UFC fight. I had a ton of people ask me, is this real? Are you gonna go? Oh yeah, I'm gonna go. I can't believe I'm the most pessimistic one about it. Yeah, I'm surprised as well. Yeah, GZ, I had a ton of you blast me. Is this real? Are you going to go? Oh yeah, I'm going to go. I can't believe I'm the most pessimistic one about it. Yeah, I'm surprised as well.

Yeah, G.C., I thought you'd be all over this month. Just logistically, this is a... Do you think there's any chance they do this as International Fight Week? No chance, right? They'll just do the 28th. They're going to the International Fight Week straight into White House? Huge, huge couple weeks. Why not?

I feel like the... I'm in. The UFC does their own production. This would be hellacious on the crew if they tried to do those back to back. Also hellacious on the roster. How do you, how do you have enough big fighters to make that happen?

I just think he's right, two, two fights, two, three fights. If people know that they're about to watch a free big fight on the, on the White House lawn, assume it like we're, let's presume that it's going to be free, right? Let's presume it's not on pay per view. Then you can't sell people the International Fight Week card

the week before they'll just watch the free one they'll just skip it no no this is a special event this like fuck yeah they'll watch that you put this on ABC if you're still in bed with with ESPN you put this on Netflix that's what I'm saying they're not gonna pay for the other put it on ABC and no gate and by the way July 4th 2026 is going to be a celebration. It's probably going to be among many different things that happens. Like maybe they'll have Cody Rhodes go up against Roman Reigns, and they'll have a Beyonce concert. It's going to be like the biggest party of all time, 250 years.

So when was the last time this happened? What's 50 years? Bicentennial in the 70s? Yeah, 1976. 1976. None of us were around. Well, Frank, what was it like? Tell us. Well, you know, the weather was nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't mean to be Debbie Downer, but like, this conversation reminds me of when they were going to have the boxing match at Times Square.

And we had all these great ideas, and then we saw where it ended up. So I'm just like, let's manage our expectations. Like, maybe there are 25,000 people, but they're across the street. That part I don't believe. That part I don't believe. where it ended up. So I'm just like, let's manage our expectations. Like maybe there are 25,000 people, but they're across. That part I don't believe. That part I don't believe. Four or five fights on the lawn, July 4th, a Saturday night, I believe it.

If you're the president, if you're the White House, if you're anybody involved in this, you want it to be 25,000 people. You want it to be mob. I just don't think you can actually fit 25,000 people. That's the problem. I think they'll figure out a way to do it. On the White House grounds, too.

Come on, the security there is insane also. Yeah. It's going to be incredible. No, let's not act like it's going to be like ticketed fans. This is going to be like friends and family of people. I mean, the landscaper's nightmare. You have a lot of people. You got octagon getting built on the lawn.

So before the show. People just trampling your grass. Before the show, I just trampling your grass. Before the show I was like, man, let's try to, let's try to build the perfect card. Let's try to build the, this would be so much fun. And then I was like, fuck, our thunder has been stolen because there's Don Davis just giving us

the perfect card on social media. He literally just, he served up the perfect card. You didn't see this. There it is, MMA at the White House, great idea, Donald Trump, July 4th, 2026. PFL has wow fight card for MMA fans to celebrate USA 250th anniversary. PFL afternoon, UFC in the evening.

And so here's the card in case you missed it. Francine Ganu versus Vadim Nemkov. Ustman Ramagomedov versus Paul Hughes. We're gonna have to wait a whole other year for that fight. Dakota Ditcheva against Liz Carmouche and Bruno Ferreira versus Goldtov. And then on the the prelims there, I believe that's Johnny Eblen versus Corey Anderson, my eyesight is getting a little worse here, Cyborg versus Pacheco and AJ McKee against Pinedo. What do you guys think? White House USA, they whipped it up in a

in a in a Jiffy. The USA chance for Liz Garmouche are gonna be deafening. Yeah, well I think she actually was born, wasn't she born on a Marine base back in the day? Who asked you that? You know what I mean, who the fuck asked you that? With all due respect.

Wait a minute. You know. Also, I love the idea of they're gonna have a smart cage on the lawn, tear that down, put in an octagon all in the same day. We're hoping for maybe two, three UFC fights. Now Don's booking seven fights. Ah, this is the pre-links.

It's like, come on. Can we just acknowledge, this is a great card. Just make this card. Just do the card. Why do we need to do this in the life? That was my takeaway. I'm like, you know what, on paper, this is actually like a really good card. What is stopping PFL from making this card, just do the card. Why do we need to do this in the life of us a lot? That was my take away. I'm like, you know what, on paper, this is actually like a really good card.

What is stopping PFL from making this card right now? Make it, put it together. Are any of these people tied up right now? I know like one may have a fight coming up. Like you actually- Liz is in the tournament, right? That's about it. If you were in the business,

if you were in the business of just putting together the best fight cards, that should be one of your cards. Yeah, well. That should be a tent pole event in September or October. And they would do it in Saudi Arabia with four people in attendance. But still, we all love it. I just wish they'd make one fucking fight, you know what I mean?

That's it. You'll take one of those, any one of those? Like what are we doing? What is this? Do you know what is going on? Paul Hughes out in Belgium. I was like there's got to be some clarity. Gonna get some clarity here. What do we get? Social media post from Paul. Paul pushing it again. You know what I mean? We got the duck picture again. I mean fair play. But like why is, what are you doing? Like we have one week, there's another thing getting, there's another, yeah, look, fair play to you, Paul.

I love Paul. You know, I love Paul. And look, it's him pushing it again. I think about a month ago, they had someone else saying, he's sending his message. It was Archie Colgan. He's sending his message. He's moving. You know, he thinks he deserves to be ahead of Paul.

And then we had the coach incident. We don't want to get into that again. All right. Where the coach was saying, don't listen to what the PFL say listen to what I say What's going on come on lads like what there's all types of conversations going on people are afraid who spans out a contract next year And if we avoid this one fight now, it's gonna be gone PFL. That's the fight to make that's the one everybody wants to see you Just look at the UFC like if you want to keep comparing yourself to the UFC Don look at what happened to the two fights The UFC wanted this year. They're gone Didn't happen now at least they have the White House to redeem everything next year

But I mean Aspen Olin Jones gone Ilia and Islam is probably gone like we can all say oh, but what if I've been there? It's probably gone like that's the reality of situation. You have to strike while the iron's hot. Everybody wants to see this fight. I thought there'd be an announcement at Belgium. Belgium, very good card, was available in the US. Yeah, on the app. Finally. There's actually a ton of great stoppages, finishes. See that spinning back elbow. Yeah, quality, yeah. Incredible.

But like they're doing great things in Europe. This is what I've been telling you for ages. Like the European product is unbelievable. They're selling out places and that was a sellout crowd in Belgium that's a new place the UFC have never been to Belgium and that Patrick Haberora guy in the main event is absolutely unbelievable they had a lot of prospects on the card undefeated guys like they're tapping into these areas and they're doing unbelievable work but on the global side of things they have this one fight everybody wants to see and they're playing tiddlywinks over it. Like what's going on? I think we have the, uh, spinning back elbow.

Do we have that? Look at this. Bah! Like we need to remember these in December because there's no chance I'm actually going to remember this in December, but that's a, that's a knock out of the year right there, contender.

Is it not? It's a beauty. Look at this. God. That's one of the nicest spinning back couples I've ever seen reminiscent of year versus zombie but zombie went up remember that look at that and there was a ton Danny Roberts had a vicious knockout against them right Danny Roberts yeah lost in the main event against Patrick have a raw a guy with hot chocolate he might yeah yeah he'd been training with Ian Gary as well like they've been doing it Danny Roberts is a great guy like he he

trained in Liverpool then he went over to Florida and trained there a guy who I feel a lot of people don't think he ever reaches his full potential because he was a great boxer before he went at the MMA as well but in terms of having raw like this great KO artist Roberts was served up as the perfect foil. You know, this is a guy who's going to come in, try and take your head off. That's exactly what he did with a big head kick. And look, this is another guy. Do you remember when I went to see, and I know I bring this up all the time and I apologize, when I went to see Cedric Dume in France and I was texting you and I

said, what was the name of the arena again? The Acre Arena. Yeah. On what street? Rue de Bersie. Yeah. All right. But there was a Belgian kid on that card and I text you that night going, there's a lad out there walking out here from Belgium and you swear like he lived in this arena. Like the place went absolutely crazy. That was Patrick Cabrera and they have another guy now. So they have Doumbay, Hughes, Dakota and this guy now.

PFL Europe operates as a different entity. Yes. Then people in the sense that like clearly, well, in the sense that they like they book for the market. Yes. And it's like, oh wow, what a, what a great idea. Put on good fights. And with local stars in front of their, their partisan crowd and the place is electric. And you're building people off of that. Like, oh, isn't this, and it's real boots on the ground. Like I've told you before, the obscure teams I've talked to that be like just off the phone with Dan Hardy. Did it mean like he's bringing every corner of these territories looking for different guys? I'm like the guys he's picking, like I'd never heard of that dude.

Have Aurora and he's he's a huge deal now. You know, he's doing this endlessly. And then I don't know. I just, I feel I've said it before when, when the coach went down and did that press conference, I was like, Dan, how are these right there? Like, this is a guy proven track record. You can't get a guy who, who was more beloved in Europe than, than, than this guy.

He was the best signing they made when PFL were going out with this stuff. We said at the time he was the best guy. And I think he's over delivered in his role. I really do when you consider what's happening in all these different regions I think he's over delivered and I think putting him out as like a guy who's talking to the media, who's talking to the fan base, I think that would help a lot because even if you weren't going to make that fight at least you could put Dan Hardy out there who understands like I know this is the fight you're going make this is the way we're gonna see it

Like just explain to us what is happening if this is not happening And we still don't know and it's getting very irritating if you're looking for an edge over the UFC It's making the fights that people want to see making them happen. You have the power to do it Go ahead and do it couple other bits. Congratulations to Molly McCann signing with matchroom. I did not see this coming Did you not at at all. You sent it to me, I think. I was like what? I couldn't believe it. I thought she was gonna take a break. She recently retired from MMA and the UFC.

And then there she is. By the way, shout out to Matchroom. They revamped their entire press conference format. New logo, new branding, but like they've changed. The whole format is different, the way it's all laid out. And then the weigh-ins are completely different. And that interview on Thursday was a part of the press conference where they went off

to the side and there's Eddie Hearn with Molly saying, I'm getting into boxing. Yeah. I didn't see it coming either. She's closing like Katie Tyler. That's right. I wonder if she'll be here. I think they look quite similar. I've always said it.

I can remember years and years ago, Molly said that to me before she made it public and she's like, I'm so embarrassed. Like don't tell anyone. Why would she be embarrassed? She was embarrassed that she thought that if you put it out there, people would think she was trying to wear her coat tails or a clout chase or anything like that. And I think when they met each other, she said to Katie like, oh, Auntie blah blah blah. And she's like, no way. You know, straight away, you know, I want to think about Molly is, she moves people. People care. I've been in Liverpool. They love her man. I can remember saying this to you when I was in Liverpool. I didn't hear a bad word about Patty or Molly while I was there. Everybody, even if no, no matter what team they support, they like that.

How they represent Liverpool and she definitely does that. I think it's a great get from matchroom. I think there is plenty of space in women's boxing for personalities like that, that people who will force their eyeballs on the sport and all the best with a fur like I hope it goes well. And yeah, I think what she said in the interview was she had some options as well. BKFC are a bare knuckle, certainly bare knuckle options. So I think this is a better option. I'd much prefer to see her doing this than a bare knuckle. And she's boxed before, before she was in MMA, she wanted to be a boxer. So this is her chance to live out her dreams. By the way, speaking of Liverpool, Diogo Jota. Oh my God, what a tragedy. Awful, awful, awful. Sick, sick feeling. Like when you say something like that. I woke up and I saw that. I was like,

what? Oh, this guy, prime of his life, just got married 10 days prior, three beautiful kids, beautiful family, a huge part of the Liverpool team that just won the Premier League like 28, right? Yeah, like with his brother as well. Yeah. And here's the thing. He just kind of reached this zenith in his career. Like he'd become the premier league champion. He won the nations league with Portugal. Everything's coming up. Jota.

He got married 10 days ago. Yeah. And the thing about Jota is, and I have a lot of friends who are Liverpool fans. I would say he's always been the diehard fans, one of their favorites. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like you're going to think Mo Salah, right? Yeah you think about guys like exactly these guys, but he's the, like, he speaks to like

the hardcore fan, like an all they gonna solve scar from our chest. The guy who won us the European Cup, his last goal against Everton. Yes. You know what I mean? Like it's crazy. I heard some broadcasters speaking about him last week. Second captains. I've mentioned it quite a few times.

I love football show. I love, um, and they were saying, you know, like, I'm going to be a fan of the team. I'm going to be a fan of the team. I heard some broadcasters speaking about him last week at second captain's I've mentioned it quite a few times a little football show I love and They were saying he was also a world-ranked FIFA player. Oh, is that why his celebration is him with controllers? Oh, wow and he said they actually played the game of football like he was like playing a game of FIFA like you had all these Chop-style passes and the way he attacked the goal was was very like a gamer would rather than a football player but I am really just devastating news and I can't remember any player any football player doing in

the prime like that like tragically being so this story reminds me a lot of Drazen Petrovich I don't know you know him he was a player on the New Jersey Nets great basketball player really coming into his prime. Croatian player who died in a car accident in Germany in 1993. And this before there were a lot of European players in the NBA. Incredible three point shooter, had a cup of coffee with the Trail Blazers, but really came into his own in the early 90s in New Jersey and was on those teams with Tony Kukoc and all these guys and was a sharp shooter and then I remember reading in the newspaper in 1993 that he died in a car accident and he was in Germany on vacation and

And tragically died. This is the closest thing to that in my opinion and Jota probably a little bit further along in his career and yeah, just Hard to come to terms with, especially when you start to see all the photos and everything, beautiful stuff from Oasis, paying tribute to him at their first concert on Friday. Yeah, man, with the big mural, giving me chills talking about it.

But yeah, that was awful. And I know that you were locked in on all the Oasis content like I was. I can't even look at it. This is the thing guys. PT loves Oasis. I love Oasis team blur. They are stop song too. Uh, they are coming to Dublin and he's refusing to go. Why are you refusing to go? It's not that I'm refusing to go. It's a can't go. And then, and then as a result result you're not watching any of this content

I don't watch upset you can watch all the concerts so far. I think there have been two don't pretend It's the same thing. It's not the same thing you get to hear like they want that the pro audio of slither way being released I got me but then it upsets me so much not to take the story back to Tom Aspinal Oh, wow, right. I've told you about this this. Oh, that's right. That's right. Aspinal, you know, fucking flash Harry Aspinal now, with his celebrity friends, happens to be close acquaintances with one Noel Gallagher of Oasis. And he was saying this somewhere,

or someone was saying it to him. They had heard that they were friends, and he was kind of brushing up and quiet about it or whatever. And I randomly texted him one day, I was like, I don't think you're actually mates with him. They had heard that they were friends and he was kind of brushing out being coy about it or whatever. I know he randomly texted me one day, I was like, I don't think you're actually mates with him. And he's like, what are you talking about man? He's like, no, you know, text him a bit, like, you know, the fights around, like, he's always giving me a text and blah blah blah. And I was like, nah, I don't believe you. I'll tell you how I would believe you though, if you managed to get me two tickets for the

tournament gig. I believe you then. So Tommy, you may not have got me the old champion t-shirts, but please, please get me the tickets. Oh my gosh. I love it. Take me to a place where you're now. He's in the room. Where nobody knows if it's not okay. Sing with me, Frank. Please don't put your life in the hands of a rock and roll band This is like the pro audio I was talking about earlier And throw it all away What's your favorite?

Sooo Really? Yeah, give me gin and tonic You can have it all but how much do you want it? They're so good I think mine is Don't Look Back in Anger Really? The one you were just singing a second ago? Wonderwall This is's my wonder woman. This is like wannabe being your favorite.

Today is going to be the day that we're going to throw it back to you. It's a basic selection area. You need to pick a different one. I have all the hits. I have the hits. Buy now, you should have some. Come on, Frankie.

What's your favorite Oasis album? The Greatest Hits. Yeah, the greatest. Yeah The the Apple the premium playlist Shout out to them shout them also. I did want to mention. Can you not leak your big deal? Can you not text one woman say fucking pizza you need some tickets man Liam or no? Little tighter with no yeah They're actually coming to to MetLife and well a flow, I'll fly out, no problem. Would be nice. I'll come back.

You'd come back? You'd do that for us? If you get the book. It wouldn't be the same. You've got to see them in Europe, I feel like. I don't know. Just feels like. I'm willing to take the trip.

Why was the first stop in Cardiff? Because of Principality Stadium? I thought it would be in Manchester, no? No, last one in Manchester, isn't it? Oh, is that where they're ending it? I think so. Oh, okay. Oh, wait, no, hang on.

Manchester's this weekend. Yeah. Why do they go to Cardiff first? I think so. Oh, okay. Oh, wait. No, hang on. Manchester's this weekend Yeah, why they go to Carter first? Oh Sight of clash at the castle too. I went there. Maybe that's why I did I did want to mention There there was a young man named Jeff Brady who works for PFL So does some work for cage warriors and bell tours. Wellific story. I don't know if you guys saw this. I mean, actually a lot of, a lot of awful stories this weekend that, that a summer camp in, in Austin and then all the people have you,

have you heard of this? Oh, I didn't hear. Oh, horrendous floods and some young children, unfortunately passing away and, and, and some people outside of the camp as well. Horrific, horrific stuff. But anyway, this young man named Jeff Brady, his brother Greg also working in the MMA business

has worked for Bellator, PFL, Cage Warriors. Apparently, as I've seen online, jumped to save a couple of kids in a river and unfortunately lost his life as he succumbed while trying to save these young kids, he drowned himself. This is his brother, Greg, posting this about Jeff, his twin brother.

Today I lost my twin brother, my best friend, my other half, and now my hero. In an act of incredible bravery, he gave his life saving two young boys from drowning at the place both of us call our little slice of paradise, the lower river. That's who he was, selfless, fearless, and always putting others before himself. He didn't think twice. He saw someone in need and he acted just like he always did. There are no words to describe the pain of losing someone who has been a part of me since the

beginning. We shared everything, laughter, struggles, dreams, and memories I'll hold on to forever. My heart is broken, but I also am incredibly proud of the man me yet with the full force that I know will be coming. If you knew him, honor him by living with the same courage and kindness he showed every day. Having gained a Viking angel, rest easy brother, you'll always be with me. I've seen a ton of videos of him. I've seen a ton of videos of him. I've seen a ton of videos of him. I've seen a ton of videos of him.

I've seen a ton of videos of him. I've seen a ton of videos of with me." And seen a ton of tributes in his honor and there's a PFL posting about him. So I wanted to mention Jeff, awful, awful stuff who's been in the MMA business for a very, very long time. So yeah, some, some tough news. What a brave little, right? Yeah, unbelievable, unbelievable. Some tough news this weekend.

Shout out to the chat also reminding me of Johnny Goudreau and his brother who passed away last year in that car accident as they were another horrific story is they were riding their bikes the day before their sister's wedding and were hit by a drunk driver. So important to appreciate and be grateful for everything that we have uh... while also sending out our love to to to those who are suffering you did

have a great article on uncrowned dot com about uh... the conor mcgregor appeal oh yeah that is ongoing what uh... what could you tell us about the status of that oh well basically there was a lot of press in orland about this new evidence that was coming out that to former neighbors of Nikita Hahn, that's the person who successfully sued Conor

McGregor for a 2018 sexual assault. He was appealing that obviously, but what came out after the decision was made there was that there was these two new witnesses, former neighbors of Hahn's that had seen an interaction take place from their bedroom. The woman I believe her name is Samantha O'Reilly said she saw an incident take place and these quotes were published by the Sunday World, but her view was obscured because obviously she's looking

into a house. She said she saw Steven Redmond, her then partner, push her to the ground and attempt to hit her. She said she couldn't see any blows being landed because of, you know, the restricted access the window gave her that that was all published beforehand. And then it was withdrawn on the morning of the trial and Hans legal team were basically said like, this is crazy. Like this has been out in the public sphere.

We should be able to cross examine them. And they suggested that it should, there should be an inquest by the DPP. That is the director of public prosecutions. The director of public prosecutions are the people who did not and prosecute connor for the crime and which is why it ended up in the civil court what they said it should be referred to them the three judges were over and see overseeing the appeal have pushed those two people as samantha really and. Stephen cummings i believe her partner's name is add they should be in question for perjury he also suggested that and. That mcgregor should be looked into as well but as far as we know at the moment and as far as what spokespeople of told the orish mirror only samantha orally and steven cummings are being investigated for perjury but the people. Crazy crazy stuff to happen on the first day of that appeal. Damn. And so how long is that expected to last?

Like what is the, We thought we would have an answer on July 3rd because the score, the court had laid out, um, July 1st to 3rd, I believe it was for the whole appeal process. But because this, uh, spanner has been thrown in the works, I don't know if the appeal court are going to wait for the DPP is determination on this to push forward if they do, that could take a very long time. You know, as we know, the Han situation was 2018. I think it was three or four years before she got an answer as to whether they were going to

go, I don't know how this works. And if there is any updates, we'll let you know on the show. But yeah, or on uncrowned.com where you've done a great job of covering all this also this weekend on uncrowned.com mid year've done a great job of covering all this also this weekend on uncrowned.com Mid-year awards for MMA boxing and pro wrestling Shaheen cracking the web cracking Does he not get enough credit? He's a website, but away. Yeah, I just say who else is doing this No best who's keeping journalism alive and mixed martial arts chuck menhoff dare I say yeah in the greatest form of his life And this is the one of the greats, right? The great all time. Like the greatest all time. Ben folks, Ben folks is on fire.

Unbelievable. Chuck and Ben, the resurgence of Chuck and Ben, one of the great stories of 2020. Look, they happen to be guests on a show. That's right. I don't know what's going to do with it. I do think a little crack in their life has really up the ante. No, the three of you have, you have found that, that secret sauce. You have found that connection, that camaraderie, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that,pped the ante. No, the three of you have, you have found that secret sauce. You have found that connection, that camaraderie.

And Cheyenne has done that with the website though. Oh my god. I was shitting myself when I started writing again. No, trust me. We all knew that. You made it very well though. Yeah, he's got me back into good form, but a mile behind, like, at Showcombe, Ben, Drake, Drake cranking out everything as well.

The team is just on fire. Darshan, everyone, everyone's on fire. You are on fire. You're going to be with us all week. Yes. You'll be back tomorrow. Look at this guy. Look at that smile.

Look at that smile. Are you doing a meet and greet? I did one yesterday. Okay. Got a bit out of hand. Okay. Didn't get enough security. People pulling my clothes off and everything.

Okay. Okay. Well, you'll be on the program tomorrow. You'll be on the Ariel and Ade program. Ade must be buzzing about that, isn't he? Yeah, no, he's big. He's a big PT guy. He's a big fan of the crack.

You'll be on Wednesday's program. Thursday, boys in the back, I don't know if they're using you. Yeah. I haven't talked about it yet. I tried to. If they're utilizing you. I was like, GC, yeah, you know, obviously, yeah.

And then you sit in the big boy chair on Friday. Yeah. Before heading off to MSG. You're a bit, you're a bit, you know, I noticed that some things were out of place. What would happen if I just, as long as you keep it all in order, it won't be good. PTC actually really did do that earlier. What? Oh, he moved the shit.

No, no, no. He was again on Thursday. I mean, if you guys want to use me, not it is what it is. I'm in New York for the week. Everyone just quiet. I'll be here our people will talk to your people yeah Pete see this has been fantastic please don't be a stranger but you don't have to go home you you got to get to the hell out of

here there he goes everyone could get some music from same music that he entered with there it is yes there it is there it is look at that look at that zoom out by Brad thank you that was That was very nice of you. Thank you. Tremendous stuff from Pizzi. Well done, Pizzi. We love you. We love you. He's going to talk to eight people on the way to the control room back there. He can probably still hear me for all I know. Alright.

Great stuff there from Pizzi. Back into the show, we're going to be joining Maitreya Kisabidari and the co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions. Prior to that, we'll be joined by Josh Vann. Can't wait to talk to Promotions. Prior to that, we'll be joined by Josh Vann. Can't wait to talk to him. And then prior to that, Frank Mir and Bella Mir, the father-daughter duo that are taking the world of combat sports by storm. But now, my friends, now we have the great honor of being joined by an absolute

legend of the game. I mean, it's really unbelievable what this man accomplished in the world of combat sports in his own right, excluding, you know, some of the game. I mean it's really unbelievable what this man accomplished in the world of combat sports in his own right excluding you know some of the exhibition tough man contest a boxing record of seventy seven ten and four with fifty eight knockouts an MMA record of seventeen ten and one with eight knockouts and a kickboxing record of three and four with two knockouts in total ninety seven

twenty four and five with sixty eight knockouts. In total, 97, 24 and 5 with 68 knockouts. And again, that's not including those tough man contests. We really put him on the map many, many moons ago. He has transformed his life in large part due to the help of the one and only the inimitable Diamond Dows page and perhaps is itching for another fighter too. He is the man known as Butterbean, aka Eric Esch, and he is kind enough to join us right here now. Hello sir, how are you? Hey, I'm doing great. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. It's a great honor to speak to you. And you know, it's July 4th weekend

that has come and gone. You were synonymous with those shorts. You've transformed your life. I thought this would be a great time to have the one and only Butterbean on the program and congratulations on everything that you have done to transform your life. I thought this would be a great time to have the one and only Butterbean on the program and congratulations on everything that you have done to transform your life. If we would have talked about, I don't know, two, three years ago, could you have ever imagined that you'd be feeling like you are now, walking like you do now,

and being as active as you are now? No, I was in a wheelchair. I mean, I was like pretty much better than I could. I couldn't do nothing. I mean, I was like 500 500 something pounds and like not mobile. How much do you weigh now? Right now about 280 280. What's the lowest you've been as an adult? 280 to a this is it The teenager on I've never been under 300 Wow Wow. And so what has been the secret?

You know the DDP program may help me out so much It's open so many doors for me also Lucky energy drink actually seen my recovery and They said, you know with some of it's so dedicated and getting back in shape It's a true story of the American dream. To be able to do something nobody thought you could do. This footage that we're looking at here, courtesy of the DDP Yoga YouTube channel, how long ago is this? Where you couldn't walk, where you were hunched over? A year and a half, two years ago tops.

And how did you meet DDP? Well, I've known Dallas for many, many years, but I was doing a podcast and we had him on as a guest. Me, boss, Rutan, Flex Wheeler, we had him on as a guest. And it just blew up and he said he was gonna do a show and Flex said, you gotta have Butterbean on there. And that's how it happened. And so when you did that podcast with him, what year was that?

It was about three years ago, yeah. And what was the state of your life at that point? Like, could you move? I was depressed, I was down. I didn't believe in myself anymore. I believe in myself again. That's the most important part in life. You have to believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything.

And so when you do this, he probably invites you out to come train with him and do the yoga and say that I can transform your life. Did you believe him or did it take some time for you to believe? Well, I actually went and lived with him for four months and then I went back and stayed for four months more. Wow. To get more. What did you think initially when you said, yeah, come do the yoga with me, this will help you? Did you believe right off the bat? I said, I'm not doing no damn yoga.

I'm just trying to do, I'm not a yoga kind of guy, but it's not really yoga. It's yoga on steroids, and it's basically stretching, and like, I can't explain it. You'd have to just get on the site and check it out. Sure. And, and if you don't meet up with DDP, if you don't go live with him, if you don't do the yoga and do all this, where do you think you're at right now in July of 2025?

I'd still be in a bed 500 something pounds, not moving around. And you know, so many good things happen. You know, this is this is my recovery the evolution of butterbein incredible if I cared of walking to Moving better now. I'm running so it's like it's a miracle and a lot of things have happened since then Because of getting back in shape. But in fact this doesn't happen. This is too cool It's a new energy drink out by lucky. Look at you. I got my, this happened. This is too cool. It's a new energy drink out by lucky. Look at you. I got my own energy drink. Is that too cool or what? That is,

but look at that. Only 800 ever made special edition butter bean cans. I think they sold out quick, but there's so many other lucky flavors like peach and tropical thrill, but I do have something for you. Tell me, tell me. I got something for you. I seen your desk. Oh wow, I would love that. I'm gonna give you your address, I'll send that to you.

Show what you got me on your desk. Oh, that's incredible. I love that. I mean, I've been watching you for so long since the 90s, the brawl for all, you versus Johnny Knoxville in the department store, all the great fights. You're a legend and I'm so happy to see the big smile on your face to see you all healthy.

So as far as like your workouts, as far as your day to day life, can you do anything or are you still limited? No, I'm 100% back going strong. I'm telling you what, the GDP and the lucky energy drink between both of them, it's got my life back on track. And I mean, I'm just so happy and blessed to be here. and the lucky energy drink between both of them. It's got my life back on track. And I mean, I'm just so happy and blessed to be here and thankful to all the people that's helped me.

Are you really trying to fight Jake Paul? What's going on here? Oh man, I want to fight Jake so bad. When I was in my wheelchair, Jake said some nasty stuff about me. Butter beans a joke, butter beans this, butter beans that. In magazines, like I'm like, dude, what can I do about that? Nothing. I couldn't do nothing about that. But when

I started getting healthy again, I'm going, you know what? I'm going to push myself until I'm able to knock him out. So he, guess what? I'm here. He's been, he's been sort of like the pot at the end of the rainbow here. He's been the motivation. Exactly. I mean, just to prove to myself that if I believe in myself, I can accomplish anything. And to get down to 285 pounds, that's a huge accomplishment. Seeing that I've been there maybe

in the fourth or fifth grade, I was 280. Wow. And I'm not joking. I'm dead serious about that. Realistically though, I mean, not that long ago, like you said, you were unable to get out of bed 500 pounds wheelchair all that stuff He is a young guy. He's about 30 years younger than you or so is Hitting pretty hard these days

With I have so much harder than he does You know, that's why it would be such a great fight. I mean, I'll be honest Tyson fight thing I think was the biggest BS. I'm sorry. I know Mike real well, but I think it was BS just because he's an older guy. I don't mean he couldn't have knocked Jake out. I myself, I would take it to him. He wouldn't know what to think.

When you say BS, what do you mean by that? Uh, BS stands for bullshit. No, I know that, but are you saying like, are you, are you saying it was a work? What do you, what do you imply? Does it were that it was a bad fight? I don't see how Tyson didn't stop him. I don't know. Unless Jake is that much better than I thought he is.

He's not a bad fighter. He's come so far from when he started. When he was talking bad about me, he was horrible. He's got a lot better now and it would be a good fight. I mean, I think it'd be a very competent, you know, competitive fight for me, but I know I can take him and he thinks he can take me. So that's what would make a good fight. Me knowing I can knock him out and him thinking he can knock me out.

If, if not Jake Paul, you're not interested in resuming your fighting career at this point, are you? I don't want to resume it. I just want to have one more fight and people won't you have nothing to prove I don't I don't have nothing to prove but to myself and I've had so many letters from people that assume what I've done And they they they contacted me want to know, you know, what can they do now? And I give them hope. So if I can come back and have one more fight,

it's gonna give that many more people hope that they can believe in themselves and they can accomplish anything. Does that one more fight have to be against Jake or anyone at that point? It don't have to be against Jake. I mean, I would love to fight Jake just to prove my point from the things he said bad about me to,

but, um, I'll tell you another guy I was thinking about is Brock Lester. I'd love to fight Brock Lester. Brock in what kind of, in what kind of fight? In a boxing match. I've got two new hips. Oh gosh. Which they would never do hip surgery before, but you know, they don't want me to do MMA, but they've cleared me the box.

Okay. So you versus Brock Lester, that would be the dream. I think that'd be a great fight or Jake Paul. I mean, I'd rather fight Jake to be honest, because he runs his mouth a little bit too much, like a little, like one little chihuahua dog. Beep, beep, beep, beep. You know that, but you know, I'd like to shut him up.

I thought you were going to say Mike Tyson, cause that was the one that was talked about for so long I never came to fruition I'll be honest after the the fight Mike had with Jake. I don't think would even be a close fight I think I would destroy him that quick. Okay, if that's actually how he's gonna fight. What? Why didn't it ultimately ever happen between you? I think in the late 90s it was close, right? I'll be honest. I think because Tyson does not have a chin Mike cannot take a punch if you've noticed like he's been knocked out many times Buster Douglas knocked him out a guy named Kevin McBride

Funny thing is I fought a guy that knocked both them guys out and I knocked him out Lewis Monaco How close did it ever get? I don't know. I think after I knocked Monaco out, it ceased to exist because they seen the power. And they knew they didn't want to put Mike against anybody that had power because Mike don't back down.

There's nothing, no, no, nothing wrong with Mike. He just don't, he's not smart enough to try to run from me. You did compete WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas, right. Against a Minoru Suzuki. How was that experience like for you? The bad thing about that? I had hurt my leg prior to that.

And I thought I broke it. I mean, I actually had to go to the emergency room afterwards, but I didn't, I didn't want to disappoint the people that already paid to go there. So yeah, we had a lot of fun with that. Okay. And so you, you, you injured your leg before the match? Yeah, like two days before, it was like swollen up twice size.

If you look at the tape, you can see it just bright red. Prior to that, when was your last combat sports match? 10 years. Wow, and there were some reports that- My hips were so bad, my feet were going pigeon-toed out. Like, yeah, I could barely walk. How did that come about, you taking part in that match?

Well, when you're 354 pounds and you're running, and I did a lot of cardio just to be able to do what I did. You know, I went 10 rounds of Larry Holmes, if it wasn't for doing cardio, I'd never been able to do that. Because I'm a big guy, I've never been a small guy. So running just wore out my hips totally. I mean, they were bone on bone. They actually fused together after time.

You know you're the only person in the world that could say that they competed against Larry Holmes, Marys Pujanowski, and Johnny Knoxville. True story. Which opponent did you like best of those three? Puginowski and Johnny Knoxville. True story. Which opponent did you like best of those three? Yeah, I like Johnny. Me and Johnny are real good friends. Uh, man, man, Larry's actually become friends now that he's got, you know, he's, he's mellowed down a little bit.

I didn't care for Larry. Larry's the only fighter I've ever fought that didn't like. Really? I normally won't buy something I don't like. And, and why is that? Why didn't you like him? I mean, don't get me wrong. I like Jake, but he runs his mouth too much. Why didn't you like Larry?

He just not a nice guy. He wasn't a nice guy when he was younger Just like George Foreman when he first started he wasn't a nice guy me and George become good friends and you know later on Did you feel you know later on that some of those guys like the old guard or maybe the more Traditional guys that they respected you that they didn't treat you or view you as a as a you know as a sideshow actor as a Tough man that eventually you got the respect of the sweet scientists if you will Well Larry that that was exactly Larry's opinion in the beginning of me. I'll take him out the first couple rounds He's not a fighter. He only fights four, six rounds, he can't go until six, eight.

He's like, okay, I got respect for this man now. Okay, so you felt like you earned it afterwards. Oh yeah, I had to prove to him that I was a real deal. Your experience with KSW competing against Marius Pujanowski, what do you remember of them? Because they're still around, they're killing it. They've grown exponentially and have become such a big promotion. What was your experience like with them? I would love another rematch with Puginowski. I would love to. I don't think they would

allow it. I think I've got so much better, I think they'd be afraid of me. Are you still training in combat sports? Every day, all the time. Every day. I'm in the bag, I've got a heavy bag in my living room right now. Why at this point, like you said, you have nothing left to prove. Why put your body through this? I'm proving it to myself. I enjoy it.

I mean, once, once you've fought, it's great exercise, first of all, but you can't get a better feeling than going out there and competing. Like I said, I wanna do it one more time just to prove to myself that I've overcome being in a wheelchair, I've overcome being overweight. I've overcome not believing in myself. I believe in myself, I can do anything. You were someone who was very active

despite people calling you Butterbean and you being a bigger guy, you're very active, you competed in all these fights. When you get to the point where you can't get out of bed, where you're in a wheelchair, mentally I would imagine that's very tough and I would imagine it was quite depressing. How dark did it get as you were unable to move?

Very dark, I mean I already give away stuff, you know, to my kids that, you know, I didn't think I had a couple more years left. I was looking out the window just waiting to die instead of looking out the window looking for something to live for. Once you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything. Like I said, I did not believe in myself.

I didn't believe I could do anything anymore. I give up hope. You never do that. How were you passing your days? What were you doing? I Tell you what for a couple years. I didn't know them. Yeah, I stayed in bed the whole time Wow I never left the bed. I mean that was that's how bad it was I'd go to the bathroom and that's about it. That's it and were you around family members were people visiting you Yeah, I mean, but the kids my grandkids have ten grandkids

It's a whole different thing now, now that I'm not grumpy. I never realized I was grumpy before. Now I'm more enjoyable to be around. I mean, I just love life. I mean, life is a blessing. I need, one thing that I can't get back is the time that I lost not believing in myself.

Do you look back on that time with regret? Sometimes, but now I'm looking forward. I'm trying not to look back. I'm looking forward to what life brings me. Yeah. Would you sit down, would you lie down and watch some of your old fights when you were on top of the world doing such big things? Would you look at that stuff or was it hard to watch that? I didn't want to watch it back then because I mean I'd give up hope I mean that's something I used to be able to Now I can do it again. Yeah, how about now now you can watch it now you enjoy it. Oh

No, I love it. What about the shorts by the way who introduced you to those shorts whose idea was the shirt? That was part of your your aura yeah, when I first started tough man, it was a world tough man competition and supposedly there's fighters from all over the world going to be there. I wanted people to know America is a force to be reckoned with. Funny story about the 4th of July. We were in Vegas right around the 4th of July. My, my trainer, Murray Sutherland, what's a formal world champion. His daughter was like 12 or 13.

She looked at her dad and she goes, "'Damn, this butter bean stuff's really taking off." It was the 4th of July. It was, you know, the red, red, and blue everywhere. I mean, it was just so funny. I love that. By the way, we just showed a photo of you. You wore those shorts all the time,

but that was the Brawl for All footage right there when you knocked out Bargain. 100% a shoot, that? That was not a work whatsoever? 100%. Bargain, I mean, yeah. Bargain's a great guy a shoot that that was, that was not a work whatsoever. I mean, yeah. Why don't you great guy though? I mean, he really is.

I mean, I've talked to him since really good guy, Vinny, Vinny, which is a ref. He should have stopped the fight after the second knocked out. Cause Bart was out of it. What was your experience like working with those guys with WWF at the time and Vince McMahon? I got along great with them. So, I mean, I've done, I, I mean, I've done a couple of the wrestling events prior to that with Mark Murrow and a couple other events with him.

So I mean, yeah, I had a good time working with the guys. The other matches in that tournament, were they all shoots as well? All the brawl for all was a real deal. Some of the guys got seriously injured. Yeah. You know, into their careers. And is it true that like this was, I think they wanted someone else to win and Bart beat,

maybe it was Mero and then you were kind of like the punishment. Well, it was Dr. Death. They wanted Dr. Death to win to kind of push him. And my understanding that Vince went to him and said, look, we want you to throw that fight. And Bart said, I ain't doing it. This has been a real thing from the beginning.

And he was saying he was trying to get out of wrestling. So he wanted to take and destroy everybody and then go as a professional fighter, which he did move on to be a pro fighter and he done really well, really tough dude. After knocking him out that viciously, you go to the back. What was the temperature like? He went back, he went back.

I think he had 10 or 12 pro fights, big fights. But what was it like for you backstage after that knockout? Was anyone like, oh my gosh, we've made a horrible mistake. This was not a good idea. Did you feel any of that? Well, no. Steve Austin kept coming. I guess him and Rock were talking about, you know, Rock was saying I was going to win. Austin saying I was going to get knocked out. Austin come into my dressing room probably 10 times. You're a bad man. He'd run out, he'd run back in, tell me that again.

It's like, it's cool to sing. That's amazing. You also had a couple of fights under the Pride banner, which is a legendary MMA organization. What are your memories from competing for Pride? You know, a lot of the Pride fights are not on my record. I fought Pride probably 30 times. Really? Yeah, I'm a lot of the pride fights and on my record, I fought pride probably 30 times. Really? Uh, were they, were they all, were they all shoots as well?

Yes. Okay. You know, when I fought like rum on the rock, when I fought cabbage, the first time I had built butter. They call it butter bean rolls. If it went to the ground, they get a status back up, went to pride. There was none of that. It was like legit. No special rules. Incredible. What did you, uh, between boxing and, uh, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, they get a status back up went to pride there was none of that it was like legit

No special rules incredible. What did you between boxing? Toughman MMA kickbox, which did you enjoy the most? You know the the fans for pride were so knowledgeable. I enjoyed that so much in the end so many more people I mean when you're at an event here in the u.s. You're looking at 15 to 25 thousand000. You go over there, there's 80 to 150,000. Yeah, and millions watching on television. It was a huge deal. Oh, without a doubt. I mean, like, it's insane.

But boxing's my true love. I love boxing. That's why I wanna have one more fight, just to, like I said, to prove to myself that I can do it and To prove to the world people that say somebody cannot do something, you know, I was always bullied as a kid Don't never judge a book by its cover. Well, we're the kids saying to you back. I appreciate that What were the kids saying to you and how old were you when you were bullied the worst, so to speak? Well, you know, in school I was always a big kid.

I was more fat then until I graduated. Then I started working out and getting actually healthy. I've always been big, but if you notice how I'm fighting, I'm very fast. And so the speed and the power know I had a killer knockout punch either hand I knocked as many out with left as I did the right how's your diet these days I eat very healthy I don't have a diet I don't I've never that diets don't work you have to change the way you eat diets are they don't they

just don't work you just got to change what you eat eat. Diets, they just don't work. You just got to change what you eat. But I'm sure you have to be a little bit more conscientious of what, so like a typical day for you, I'm sure you were eating back in the day massive quantities of calories. No, no, just unhealthy food. Unhealthy food.

A lot of fried food, a lot of like, I'm in Alabama, good know, good old Southern food. It's not healthy. And so what are you eating now? I eat very healthy now. I've got rid of a lot of gluten, a lot of dairy, cow dairy. I do eat cheese, but I'll eat like a sheep cheese. Sheep cheese, interesting.

Sheep or goat, yeah, it's very good. Okay, and are you cooking for yourself or are you having someone cook for you? I cook myself, I'm a great cook. I didn't get 400 pounds and 500 pounds not being able to cook, let me tell you. I love that. And as far as your kids are concerned, did any of them fall on your footsteps? Did any of them try to be fighters as well? Well, my one son, Caleb, he's still fighting. Okay. My older son, Brandon, he's retired. He decided he wants to do other things.

But one of my grandkids, he's 13, he's training to fight. I work with him, he works out with me a lot. He motivates me a lot. Wow. Boxing, MMA, what's he trying to do? Boxing, he likes to box. He likes boxing. By the way, we don't see a lot

of the tough man contest these days. Why do you think that is? It's still out there. It's just the founder of it, Art Dora, which was the guy that managed me in the beginning, which was more like a father figure to me. He passed away a couple years back back probably four or five years ago now And it's just not the same there. There's this influencer boxing scene, which I think actually would probably be

Seeing that would be interested in you did any of those promotions ever reach out anyone come to you with offers that maybe I work with a company called roughest and toughest. Okay, and It's basically a tough man contest, and we've done a couple influencer fights. There was a fighter named Jimmy Mooney, and then the Hillbilly. I had them fight each other on the card, which was a pretty good fight.

Oh gosh. Did any of these promotions try to get you to fight? Like anyone offer you something that you were like, nah, this isn't for me i have i have i have bigger plans well i don't know a lot of them yeah the money that they don't have the money first of all but they're more of an amateur type fight okay you know what you had a hundred some pro fights and i want to they don't match an amateur the professional be like the the brawl for all over again

by the way when you when you fought a johnny Johnny Knoxville in the department store in the film, is it true that he was trying to swallow his tongue because you hit him so hard? Well, he was snoring. I mean, he didn't try to swallow it. He was out pretty bad. Did you go 100% on him or did you pull any punches? You know, I was taking it easy on him in the beginning.

I was hitting him, but then the last punch, I don't remember throwing, so it was a solid punch. Oh gosh, oh gosh. And you're still friends as a result. I talked to him when we done the family feud. Yeah. We done that year and a half ago. I go, you ready for a rematch, Johnny?

He goes, I mean, I had vertigo for like six weeks. He said, every time I stood up, I got dizzy and had to puke. And like, he goes, I don't, no, I got dizzy and had to puke. And like, he goes, I don't know. I don't want no, never again. But he's, but you're, you're still friends. We're still friends. Talk good bit. Um, any interest in continuing with the pro wrestling?

Maybe that's a little easier or, or you, you know, it's just not, it's just not what I'm interested in. Okay. Fair enough. I want to actually hit somebody. Are you hoping to get this fight in, in or are you not putting it in? Yeah, I mean, Lucky is really helping me with it. Lucky Energy Drink, if you've never tried it, it's more of a healthy energy. I was drinking so many of the other ones and it really was messing

my stomach up and not good for me. Okay. And my wife would holler at me, but Lucky she'll let me drink because it's got a lot of healthy stuff in it and it's sugar free. Butterbean, what do you want to say to the people who supported you, who backed you all those years and who still believed in you? I'm sure you've had a ton of support. What do you want to say to those people who may be watching? You know, I love them all. I really do. I got to take, I started a TikTok page just because of the fans. Wow. And that's why I do TikTok. I mean, it's not something I'm, I am not tech savvy, trust me.

I'm lucky I'm on here with you right now. But if it didn't make it so easy, he clicked this and that's it, I would not be here. But I like doing TikTok because I can relate with my fans, the people that have followed me and supported me. And I just love it. Well, it's great to see you in great spirits, in great health. We'll check out the TikTok. Congrats on everything that you're doing. Hey, and let Jake know that Butterbean's out for him. And as a matter of fact, I told Jake that

right after he beat Tyson, after the Tyson fight, I said, Jake, when's me going to go on? Oh, being your legend, I can't fight you. Well, come on, you saw Mike Tyson. You didn't fight me. He knows I'd knock him out. We're actually gonna have his business partner in studio in about an hour's time. What's the message to him, Nekisa Baderian? Tell him Butterbean is ready.

People wanna see it because it's an American dream. You don't wanna give somebody that dreams for this fight not the opportunity to make it happen. I come from a wheelchair to running just to fight Jake. So hey, that's why I'm here. All right, well good luck to you. Thank you so much, great to meet you. Appreciate the time and good luck the rest of the way as well.

Make sure I get your address. I really want to send you that. I appreciate that, thank you. We will send you that. Thank you, it's very kind of you. All the best. I appreciate it. The great Eric Esch, aka Butterbean, living legend, often imitated in every duplicate. What a guy, knocked out, bark gun, brawl for all, among many, many others. An illustrious career and he wants one more dance in the sun and he wants it to be against Jake Paul.

Alright. Had a wrestling match back in April, WrestleMania week. Everyone knows Butterbean. Hailing from Atlanta GA. I wonder if GC knew that. It's tough. Yeah. Atlanta GA. One of Atlanta's finest. Turns 59 in August. August 3rd. Two days after Rick's birthday. So he's got to get that fight in. But I mean, if you think of the 90s, if you think of tough man, boxing, WWF cameo, pride cameo, you think of that man, Butterbean. I mean, in the, in the Jackass movie, the shorts, legend, absolute legend. Frank, you know Butterbean, I mean, in the Jackass movie, the shorts, legend, absolute legend.

Frank, you know Butterbean, right? Absolutely. I thought Butterbean would get a big pop back there. He did. All right. He's a legend. Did you know he's from Atlanta, GA? I didn't, no.

Yeah, there you go. I did learn about him in Jackass, so. That's where you first heard of him? Yeah. That's crazy. Look at that Heavyweight Champion shirt there. Did we get anything else? Oh yeah, we got shorts and sweats too.

I love that. What is that? 00, 02, 02. Average fight time. For Tommy. Yeah, shortest in UFC history. Unbelievable. We'll have to update it after each fight,

but that's all right. Yeah. Just have to get a new shirt. Could be less. Could be more. Could be more. One of the two. Or he could knock him out in two minutes, two seconds. Or that, or that, yeah. That's right, that all right. Just have to get a new shirt. Could be less. Could be more. Could be more. One of the two. Or he could knock him out in two minutes, two seconds.

Or that, or that, yeah. That's right, that's right. I watched the countdown show for Taylor Serrano III and the whole Katie Taylor team, including her mom, decked out in the gear. So, I mean, what a start, by the way, to their foray into the world of combat. Tom Aspinall and Katie Taylor,

I mean, could you have picked two more likable and perfect people to rep the brand? Sound bad. The gear's good too. Yeah? I like the Katie stuff. Love it. You saw it?

Yeah. Yeah. I've seen pictures of it. I'm very excited to talk to our next guests. We're gonna be joined by them in a matter of moments. It's Frank Mir and Bellamir. You know Frank Mir, of course, former UFC heavyweight champion. I mean, just an absolute legend of the sport.

Hall of Famer wins over Brock Lesnar, Big Nog, Tim Sylvia, Tank Abbott, Mirko Krokop. On and on it goes. In fact, next week, week from today marks his 25th year anniversary of his Pro MMA debut. That was a unanimous decision victory over Jerome Smith at hook and shoot in Evansville, Indiana. His last fight was in 2019, 27 fights in the UFC between 01 and 16, 19 wins. I mean, just, just a legend. And, and over the years you interview him, it would always be the entire family, his

wife, Jennifer, the kids, they would always be at the open workouts at the media days. And then some of the other guys would be at interview him, it would always be the entire family, his wife, Jennifer, the kids. They would always be at the open workouts, at the media days. And then slowly but surely we would start to hear about his daughter, Bellamere. And then slowly but surely you start to hear like, wait, she's getting into Jiu-Jitsu. She's already a purple belt. And now she's getting into MMA. She's already 3 and O. And now she's winning championships. 2024 IBJJF Nogi World Champion as a blue belt. Four IBJJF national champions. National championships, I should say.

Then she gets into NCAA wrestling. Finalists and two time All-American. Place on the U-20 and U-23 teams. Now all of a sudden she's on the UFC BJJ card. The first one back in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago was an Iowa Hawkeye transferred to North Central ahead of the 2024-2025 season freshman year in Iowa. Had a 21-3 record, placed fifth in nationals.

North Central in Illinois had a record of 22-3, national runner-up at 145 pounds. A three-sport star following in the footsteps of her father. Grand plans, aspirations to become footsteps of her father, grand plans, aspirations to become an Olympian, a national champion, a UFC champion, an incredible story really. And even when she won a couple weeks ago at UFC BJJ One, just sort of like her demeanor, her celebration if you will, the vibe, the swagger, all felt very much like her dad. It's amazing to see. She is, by the way, just 22, so she has her entire life and career ahead of her. But I'm loving watching a mini Frank Mir, a female version of Frank Mir, his daughter, and he's in her corner throughout all of this,

progress into the combat sports star that she is becoming. By the way, way back when, in July of 2002, Frank Mir fought an Englishman named named Ian Freeman you may recall. The brawl at Royal Albert Hall in London. On that night, Ian Freeman defeated Frank Mir in a legendary fight, an all-time classic. Well, Ian Freeman's daughter, Kennedy Freeman, is 6 and 0 as an MMA fighter. She recently signed with UFC and will debut at UFC Paris. Now, she competes at 125 pounds.

Bella typically these days at 135 as far as MMA is concerned. But could you imagine? That would be incredible. And so there's a lot to be excited about here. There's a lot to like. It feels like just a matter of time before she enters the UFC, in my opinion. she is in fact an NIL UFC athlete while sticking with the collegiate wrestling. While in the summertime doing stuff like this jiu-jitsu competition at the UFC BJJ event, has an MMA fight coming up in a few weeks, July 27th to be exact, going up against Olivia Beerly 2-1 at Fury Challenger Series 14 in Houston, Texas, fighting at Bantamweight.

Two first round submissions in MMA, like I said, 3-0. This will in fact be her first MMA fight in about three years time. Her last one was in June of 2022. And when she made her MMA debut, it was very exciting. It's now getting wild to see the kids of the stars that we covered, that I covered when I was coming up, now start to become stars in their own right. So let us say hello to Frank Mirren in a matter of moments. Shortly thereafter, we're going to be joined by his daughter Bella to talk about, all right, everything that is going on.

We're actually going to be joined by both of them at the same time in a matter of moments. Following that conversation, we're going to be joined by Josh Vann, number one contender at 125 pounds. Looking forward to that. He competes against Alexandre Pantoja coming up later this year, and then we'll round out the day with a conversation in studio with Nikisa Bidarian, the co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions. Without further ado though, let us say hello to the former UFC heavyweight champion and a future potential UFC champion, his daughter, Bella Mir.

We've got Frank Mir and Bella Mir here. How exciting is this? This is unbelievable. Hello, guys. Thank you so much. Frank, it's great to see you. And we've obviously talked a million times over the years. Now to do it with your daughter, who's turning into a future

star in her own right, this is pretty damn cool. So congratulations to much, Frank. It's great to see you. And we've obviously talked a million times over the years. Now to do it with your daughter who's turning into a future star in her own right. This is pretty damn cool. So congratulations to you, Frank, first and foremost on everything that you're doing with Bella as of late. Well, thank you so much. I mean, I think it's every father's dream to make sure that his child finds something that they love and can and also make a living doing it.

So like, just it's, it's definitely a dream come true for me. Not that I want her to do this, but she's doing something she loves, she's good at it, and is able to take care of herself. And Bella, it's great to formally meet you as an adult. I do remember every time Frank would do the media days, whether it was the open workouts, the press days, the whole family would join.

Your mom would be there, Jennifer, your siblings would be there, you would be there. Now to see you turn into this, it's pretty remarkable. He said it's a dream come true for every dad to, you know, have their kid find what they love. Was this always your dream? Did you always want to do this as you watched your dad in the prime of his UFC career? Yeah, I mean I've always wanted to follow in his footsteps and, you know, be down in that legacy that he was creating. And I just think it's awesome that I'm here. It's crazy to think that I've even been a part

of the UFC BJJ card. It's like one step closer to the real dream. Bella, do you remember how old you were when you first, most young girls probably aren't thinking about fighting at six, seven, eight. Do you remember how old you were when you started to think this is something I really want to do? Um, I think I didn't get like really serious with training and this is like really what I want to

be doing in my future until I was like 13, maybe 14. But when I was younger, I always was in the gym. I always was doing like my dad's like kickboxing classes and jiu-jitsu classes and wrestling over at Gorman when my dad was like training over there, so I've always like been in the gym I always felt like that was like second nature to me and That was what I was supposed to be doing, but I didn't realize like that was gonna be my future and What I'm gonna be dedicated with until I was like early teens. Frank, when she started to tell you this as an early teen, what are you thinking? What is your wife thinking?

Are you worried? Are you trying to convince her otherwise or are you all in? We're worried and obviously, you know, being a professional martial artist is like being a professional musician. I draw correlations, lines easily. I think, you know think learning a musical instrument, having music be a part of your life, is like having martial arts.

It's a way to learn about yourself, way to overcome situations, just a way to grow and adapt. So the martial arts from my family is just kind of a way of life. Getting paid for it is like going and joining a rock band. You know what I mean? For everybody that made it, how many thousands of guys have it?

So that was our fear of her wanting to become a professional mixed martial artist was just that, you know, there's a lot of pitfalls, a lot of luck involved in, you know, injuries that you don't get, you know, that you just the right things line up at the right time. So that being said, we didn't want to, but then she just pushed and was so driven that, you know, the writing was on the wall. My wife actually sat down with us and we had to sit there and think about, we're either gonna be a part of this journey or we're watching from the sidelines. So we chose to go ahead and use the experience that we had

to help her get the most she can out of this. Bill, as far as the journey is concerned, you have multiple journeys that you're on right now. You've got the wrestling journey, you're still in college, you're doing great things. The Jiu-Jitsu journey, the fighting journey, you're talking about the Olympics. Is there a predominant journey though? Is there one that's more important than the others in your

mind? That's like, that's so hard because I feel like they're all important to me. I definitely feel the end goal is UFC champion. That's always been my end goal to all three sports that I'm competing in. Right now I feel like my main focus would be wrestling just because I'm still in college and I base a lot of my time off of okay when is college season over? Okay I'll do the UFC BJJ card in the summer when after US Open and NCAAs. So I feel like right now it is based off wrestling because I feel like I don't have much time left. Like I feel 2028 and then it's like,

am I gonna wrestle after 2028? I don't know. Or maybe I just go full in on Jitsu and MMA. So, but yeah, definitely MMA is the end goal and UFC champion, that's for sure the end goal. But right now I would say wrestling. As far as competing, which you enjoy the most? Oh, I feel like it's the event.

I feel like if I'm at the US Open or if I'm at NCAAs, in the moment I'm like, oh, like wrestling's so much fun right now. But then if I'm doing the UFC BJJ card or if I did the Fury card back in December, it's, oh, I think Jiu-Jitsu is like what I really like. Or if I just had one of my pro fights, after all my fights, it's like the whole trip, I always look back on it. I'm just, man, I really like MMA right now. So I feel like it's just whatever moment I'm in, honestly.

Frank, which makes you most nervous? I'm coming at this as a father who has an eight year old daughter, and I can't imagine her getting punched in the face. You're obviously ingrained in this world. This is a part of who you are. Your family's fabric is is is entrenched in combat sports. But which makes you most nervous when you're watching your daughter compete? MMA, just because, you know, the striking aspect of it, you know, I've watched her dive in, get caught with an egg or know, the injuries are more prolific to me, you know, with the

jiu-jitsu matches, you know, when you tap, you know, worst case scenario, you know, there's a, you know, damage to the joint. Uh, wrestling again, you know, it's not really a high injury sport, you know, comparative to what it may because once you start throwing knees and elbows, you just, those things make me nervous because, you know, as a father, that's where it comes out the most where i'm like man you know she takes a shot at the wrong time runs into something we've seen some pretty uh you know you know bad injuries we don't often see athletes doing three different disciplines at a very high level like she is are you okay with that or is there any part of you that's worried that she's stretching herself too thin?

It does at times but so far what Bella does prioritize so even though we are juggling and she has a multi-sport athlete She's Prioritizing college wrestling right now because it's the time period she's in so we kind of all sat down about three years ago and um Had this discussion, you know, just Bella turned pro right now, you know, and jumped right into the UFC. She was 17 years old. And actually Dana and I were actually on the same page more than anybody else really in the group, as far as saying, hey, time's on her side.

Let's just, you know, we can wait. There's no rush to jump into the UFC. So let's go ahead and follow the college wrestling dream as far as it can. Jiu-Jitsu will be there until she's, you know, barrier in the UFC. So let's go ahead and follow the college wrestling dream as far as it can. Jiu-Jitsu will be there until she's, you know, the barrier in the ground, obviously, the matches and the MMA will be the next thing. And when it comes time for that, we'll focus on that fully. Right now, these are just building blocks to help for the culmination of her ultimate goal, which is to be the best martial artist possible. But right now, focusing

on wrestling at this time in her life is prevalent. It's the most important aspect for her to focus on. Belle, before you joined us, I mentioned that you're returning to MMA on July 27th. And this will be about three years since your last fight. Why the big gap between fights? Well, so when I went to Iowa, my first two years in college they

weren't fully supportive of Having fights like during the summer because that was my plan I was gonna go to college and then fight during the summers when I'm off of wrestling But they weren't that supportive of it. So I feel like that was the first hold back for the first year and then when I was when first hold back for the first year. And then when I came back last summer, I actually was planning on having a fight, but it was really hard trying to get opponents.

A lot of people say no. So I actually was going to fight last year, but there was just a lot of stuff people wouldn't fight and whatever. So whatever so then this year finally we got someone to fight me but the first year and then the first year also was hard and i was just a junior worlds and trying to you know train for that but. Is that part of the reason why you transferred out of iowa. Is that part of the reason why you transferred out of Iowa? Yeah, I would say I would the main reason was the injuries just because I Was getting injured so much like like my entire second year. I Can't even tell you how many injuries I got it was I'd be back in the room

For like a week or two and then something would happen and then I'm out for six to eight weeks. And then I was like on that same cycle all the way to Nationals. I mean, at Nationals I was wrestling on a broken foot and my knee was completely braced up. I looked like a robot and my shoulders were both just torn and I just had surgery. So like, in my neck, everything about it, it was just, I genuinely wasn't loving wrestling anymore because of dealing with all these injuries and trying to wrestle through it. It made wrestling not fun.

So then when I transferred out and I transferred to North Central this year, I mean, I had no injuries, knock on wood, but I felt great and I genuinely loved wrestling again. Frank, I mentioned at the top, I remember vividly when you would do all your media stuff on Fight Week, you'd bring the whole family. There are other fighters who like to treat Fight Week as a business trip and they leave everyone at home, they do the job and then they come home. Do you think you immersing your family and your kids into what you were doing led to this? Do you think if you would have kept them at home, Bella's maybe doing something completely different

or was this inevitable? I think it was inevitable, but I do think this definitely paved the way to make it easier and more transition. Well, she truly understood what she was getting involved with. She was around us so much. I mean, so many people want to be a fighter,

but they've never even been to someone's corner. So my daughter from baby, you know, was in the audience, and then even before she turned pro and was fighting, I had her corner me, so she would walk down with me to the cage and see what that felt like, the energy, the back room. So not only did Bella train like everybody else as a martial artist, but I exposed her different aspects

of it, so when she finally said, yes is what I wanna do, I felt more confident that she knew what she was getting into. And you have four kids total, right? For Frank, you have four children. I'm sorry. Three, three children. Three. Do they, do they also compete?

Yeah. My son's cage actually just, he competes as multiple state champion in wrestling that for Gorman High School actually set the school record for most wins. He's going to Landis University leaves this August to go wrestle in college. And he was a little bit more late to the game though. He didn't really take wrestling seriously as Bella had until about a sophomore, junior year of high school. He was very focused on football.

This is more the culture there at Gorman. And then the bug bit him and he just really focused on wrestling more. And then my youngest actually is gonna go to a faith here in Las Vegas. It's another great academy to go to, but he's really focused on football. So again, he trains, they all do Jiu-Jitsu,

they all have to wrestle, they all have to, in my household, this is stuff. It's like, you got to learn how to read, you got to do math, all have to, in my household, this is stuff. It's like, you gotta learn how to read, you're gonna have to do math. You gotta do martial arts, you know? And so I don't want you to get paid for it, but you have to be a part of your life. But right now, my youngest's passion is football.

Could I ask you, Bella, I mean, this may be a silly question that you've probably been asked a million times, but what is it like having Frank Mir as your dad? And how old are you when you start to realize, like, this guy is a badass, he's a former UFC heavyweight champion, he's a legend in the Hall of Fam are you when you start to realize like this guy is a badass, he's a former UFC heavyweight champion, he's a legend, a hall of famer,

where you start to realize like, my dad's just a little bit different than the other dads. Yeah, I didn't realize until I got a little older. My parents always make this joke around the house when I was younger. People would ask me what my dad was, and I'd say he's a model because he would have like a bunch of magazines and pictures of him like half naked with gloves on. So

I was like, oh, he's a model because he's always being posted and all his pictures around the house. So I didn't realize until I got older that he actually was one of the greatest heavyweight champs in UFC history. And all of his submissions and the way that he would just rip people's arms off. I didn't realize that he was that good until a little later in my life. But I never realized that it's not even like what he accomplished or what he did. It's his mindset and the way that he takes martial arts in his entire life, like how he always has his weapons. He just showed me last night, he has this like axe of a cane,

in case like he's like walking around and he can beat somebody up with it. So he's just, he's always like taking martial arts in every aspect of his life. And I think that's just so cool that not, like to truly like live and breathe in it, like I've never met anyone like it unless like it's my dad. To that point, I actually heard Bella say

at the post-match press conference after UFC BJJ One that you, Frank, like you go to bed listening to instructionals and things like that so it seeps into your brain. Is this true? Are you still doing this at this age and if so, why? Oh, no, I'm constantly listening to things. But I mean, I'm a fan of YouTube.

There's so many creators out there that bring information and I love to listen to it. And I don't necessarily fall asleep purposely to try to absorb information from it. It's just that I love falling. I watch it till I pass out. I wake up in the middle of the night, I'll listen to it for a little bit more.

So I just have a list that just keeps going through and runs over. But that's just, yeah, I'm constantly like, I can't shut it off. I don't know anybody, I never did martial arts to make money. To me, the money aspect was to justify why I'm at training.

So that my wife's like, hey, you spend a lot of time at the gym. I'm like, well here, which it's gonna be worth it at the end. Here, you take the check, I don't even care. I just wanna go train and live and breathe this and just immerse myself. And even now as my body, obviously age has caught up to me and some of the mistakes that I made throughout my career of the choice how to deal with injuries You know, but my mind is free and constantly developed

So the great aspect of it is I get to push that aspect of my mind much further than it ever was And then I get to convey it to my children and pass on that knowledge That I took to a different level that was given to me and then they can take convey it to my children and pass on that knowledge that I took to a different level that was given to me and then they can take it to the next level. Bella, favorite Frank Mir fight. Does one come to mind? Probably the second Noguerre fight,

just because I feel like it was a lot of his mentality and trying to deal with adversity. It's hard beating someone really, really good twice, three times, four times. So when he beat him the first time, I feel like that plays a lot in his mentality. It's like, oh, I have this much confidence. I'll do better or I'll knock him out again because he knocked him out in the first fight. So the fact that Noguera put it on him and had him in the guillotine and the way he was able to out position him on the ground too, and especially

the fact that no Gara's like you know his accolades fall under jujitsu and a lot more accolades in jujitsu than like my dad has and he was able to Get the Kimura in the end and And I genuinely like, I just, I feel like it's never like a specific fight where I'm just like, wow, like that impressed me. It's always the fact that my dad's able that my every fight in his career, the fact that he's able to beat somebody what they're best at the way he's able to knock out Crow Cop and he's what world level kickboxers the way he's able to beat Brock on the ground

and get him in the knee bar and able to submit no garret's. Like, I just, it's so hard, like beating people what they're best at. And my dad was just really good at that. I remember that fight in Toronto and it was such a big deal to see someone submit big nog. And I mentioned this after your win a couple of weeks ago. And I think Frank knows this.

Frank, you had swag, you had aura. When you walked down to that song, amazing. You had a vibe to you. And I felt that even the way you got up, you almost get up like, ain't no thing, you brush. I felt that, I saw that in Bella when she got up after the submission win. Is that you emulating your dad or is that just is that the mere way? Is that just

ingrained in you? I genuinely think that was just a gene that he just happened to pass on. And I just every single time I just feel like this energy that after fights, like I just get in this like feeling. And I genuinely I don't know why I do it. Well, now I know why when I see him. Yeah, but you see it too, right? You know what I'm talking about, right? Yes.

It's funny, we both have the same way. We both have that two sides to our personality, the very passive, loving, carefree side that Bella has when she's home. I'm the same way, very laid back. And there's that bravado that we have when we compete of just this, you know, I'm the ultimate samurai type mentality,

you know, conquer the world. And it's funny, because we both, not only did we act the same way after the fights that I saw, but we both were embarrassed about it later when we convert back to this personality. In fact, we're sitting there, it's kind of cringey, like, oh man, did I really do that? Every time I watch myself, and then I watch my daughter

do the same exact thing, and also be embarrassed about it. I love it. I'm like, oh, it did I really do that? Every time I watch myself, and then I watch my daughter do the same exact thing, and also be embarrassed about it. I love it. I'm like, oh, it's perfect. It's so good. What is it like for you as a dad, Frank, to hear your daughter speak of you with so much love and admiration, to see the way she talks about you is an incredible thing?

What is that like for you to hear this? Oh, you know, it's. Yeah. Actually. I'd imagine this is these are tears of joy. I'd imagine these are tears of joy. Yeah. I feel like I'm the richest man in the world to have your children love you as a father. I think anybody who has children can understand to be a father, to be a role model, to have your children admire you, to look at you like that.

I mean, in one sense it's scary because I want to pull to a certain image they behold to me. But at the same time, just like I couldn't imagine living any other way. I pity anybody who doesn't get to feel love for the children that I get to feel. There's nothing like it. There's nothing, no reward, no championship, no submission, no accolade at the end of my career

where my hand is raised, whatever is equal to how that feels right now. Well said. By the way, you were around six, Bella, when Frank, your dad, had his rivalry with Brock. Were you aware of any of that at the time? I mean, he was kind of a big, scary man. Were you ever nervous around any of these guys?

Like anyone that he was fighting? Or, I mean, the Brock one was a very notable one. The rivalry was very intense between the two of them. But I think you may have been too young to remember any of that, right? Oh, she gave me advice after the second fight. Oh, yeah. Oh, really? Do you remember this? Oh, she gave me advice after the second fight. Oh, yeah. Oh, really?

Do you remember his villain? Yeah, I remember after the second fight, because the first one he got the submission, obviously. The second one, I remember telling him afterwards, I was like, why didn't you arm bar him? Oh, my. Yeah. And just to say, throw it out there.

She's like, we're in the jacuzzi, I'm sitting there, I'm sore, I'm sitting in the back of my house, and she says, dad, when you did this, how come you didn't just turn your hips and grab the armbar? I was like, that would have been a great idea, but I missed it, you know? Like, just sometimes you compete, you'll see.

That is amazing. Were you at the fight? Were you at UFC 100, Bella? No, I don't think so. I was in the hotel with Mom. She was freaking out, yelling at the TV. How old were you when you attended your first Frank Muir fight? Well, I don't I don't think I was a mom. She was an infant. She

remember which fight was the first one? The only reason I kept we stayed home for the Brock fight was because Ronan was only three weeks old. That's right. At that time, my youngest was three weeks old. But up to that point, the men's brother was born. All the kids were at the fights. We had to put little headphones on her ear to make sure they're damping the noise. But that was one fight they didn't go to because my youngest son was born June 9th and that fight was like July 8th. So he was not even like 30 days old. So to bring him into the arena, so that's why they sleep at the hotel room. Okay, so I was telling the guys in the back, like I'm on a text thread now with Frank, Bella, and your wife Jennifer, who has always been by your side, and now I feel like this is like the virtual version of the text thread, which is very exciting. Now I have to, can I,

is that your wife speaking? Is that Jennifer speaking in the background? Yeah. Can we bring her in for just a quick second? I just want to ask her this one question. Is she okay with that? Okay. Oh yeah, we're just shy. Okay, this is what I want to ask. When your husband retires, you probably think like now the coast is clear. Like now you can sit on a beach and enjoy life. Now you're going through the whole thing with your daughter. What is this like for you? Now these nerves and the emotions, I can't even imagine what it's like when it's your actual daughter as opposed to your husband.

Could you tell us what it's like going through this now all over again? Oh my gosh. I actually have cried before. Like it's just a lot. I always tell Frank, I've been keeping journals like since we got together and I always tell him when he finally, I mean, I don't know, I think we're here, but when he finally is like, okay, I'm Frank, I've been keeping journals like since we got together. And I always tell him when he finally, I mean, I don't know, I think we're here, but when he finally is like, okay, I'm done. I'm gonna write a book called My Life with the Champ because it's, you know, he has his story, but it's a lot to be the wife and the supporter

and the parents or, you know, a fighter. It's just, it's a lot. And it's, you have to wear so many hats and here I thought like oh and then when Bella I know I did I I cried but now when you know you watch Bella and watching her post interview from her last you know the UFC BJJ One, I mean, she just is meant to do this. It's like, I don't think anybody,

not just because I'm her mom, but I mean, I think anybody that watches Bella cannot argue that she's meant to be here. She's gonna have such a great journey and I'm so happy to be a part of it and I'm so proud of her. But yes, there was a lot of tears. I think I cried like a couple times like it just to think to do this all over again. It's a

lot. But um, but no, I'm so proud of her. I love it. I love it. And yes, you do have that starlight quality. And so the next the next event, if you will, is end of July, this MMA fight, then you're back at school for two more years, Bella. Is that it? Yeah, just go year by year. I really want to win NCAAs this year, and I really want to win New 23 Worlds. I just, I can't, I don't think I could leave wrestling

without feeling like unfinished with goals that I have, you know, since I was little. So definitely go back after and train for Worlds in October. And then, yeah. And then Olympics maybe. Yeah, that's always been the goal. Every time I go see Dana and he's always like, are you gonna train for 2028?

I'm like, well yeah, probably. And is the goal then MMA and UFC after 28 if all goes according to plan not before Yeah, I'm like trying to like think about I feel like that would be ideal I've also like thought about maybe just doing like contender series like every summer or maybe like twice a year Just cuz college wrestling will be over so I won't be like in school or anything And I'll have like more time where I thought about maybe just doing some prelim fights in the UFC. But it's just, I feel like I'm just going day by day,

and when that time comes, me and dad and my coaches will think what's best for the plan. And will you walk out to Amazing too? I'll walk out to that when I have my first title fight, everyone will go crazy off of that. Absolutely. Uh, Frank, did you hear that? What, what I said about Ian Freeman's daughter, do you have any interest in this or do you want to stay away from that?

Oh, no, as far as a fight there, that'd be kind of a legacy fight, huh? But, uh, Bella, it seemed like, I mean, I was, didn't was not aware of it till you were bringing it up. But then when he said she fights at 125. I'm like, that makes things kind of difficult because, you know, Bella is a bit of a, you know, it's not easy to make 135. Bella wrestles even 145, you know, walks around like in the mid 150s. It's just super lean, as anybody can see. So cutting down to 135, that's a pretty strict battle. In fact, actually, I didn't get to have dinner

for Father's Day because Bella's here at the house while she's training for the fight, home for the summer. We had to wait till she took off. And then me and the boys and my wife stuck over and had all you can eat sushi. All right, now we can eat real quick. It's coast is clear. Because it takes over the whole household for it making weight.

I can imagine. This is amazing. It's great to see. Congratulations to the whole family on all this great success. I know you're still involved in MMA in a big way, Frank, with UFL and everything that they're doing there, which is great as well. But nothing more important than this. Great to see you in your daughter's corner as well. It's a beautiful thing. So Bella, congratulations on all your success. Good luck to you on July 27th. Looking forward to that. And to Frank and Jennifer, congrats on being tremendous parents raising such great kids. This was a lot of fun. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Take care. There they are. Frank Mir, Bella Mir, Jennifer Mir, the whole family there. An amazing thing. And I have a feeling she's going to be a superstar. I have a feeling that, I mean, the UFC obviously very much behind her. Frank Mir was a huge, huge part of the UFC, especially in those, in those early days, as they were, you know, as they were getting off the ground, building the heavyweight division, UFC 100 main event was gigantic. Brock versus Frank, one of the most heated rivalries, I would say, in MMA history. And there was, I mean, it was a no-brainer,

no-brainer to have that headline, UFC 100. They fought back at UFC 81. Steve Mazzegati may have gotten in the way, but it was a win for Frank Mir. And a lot of people thought that, you know, maybe it was a little bit too soon for Brock they ran it back at one hundred Brock wins goes up to the cage and starts foaming at the mouth

incredible stuff and uh... and and i guess Bella told him that he should have went for the arm bar. Love that. An amazing story and and definitely wish her the best. So UFC BJJ One was at the Apex and some of us were at the Apex just a couple weeks ago when we were there for International Fight Week in Las Vegas. Not Frank, not me, but GC and Rick may have infiltrated the Apex. We had someone following us behind the scenes.

It was a great thing. We'll put it out tomorrow, about 25, 30 minutes. But I wanted to give you guys a taste of what GC and Rick were up to in Las Vegas. When some of us were sleeping, some of us were in Anaheim, they were infiltrating UFC HQ. Take a look. Take a look. You want your Juliana painting?

Fight kid, bro. Do we need to get you the Ilya one for tonight? Damn, it is crazy to see somebody's face like that. Thanks for having us. Congrats on the new digs. We watered my friend. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one.

We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one.

We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to get a new one. We're gonna have to see somebody's face. Thanks for having us. Congrats on the new digs we watered my friend. Oh it's Shanley. That's been on there since it opened and they

just never erased it. Oh that's crazy. Daniel Santos Lease It, Marab. Every episode of Embedded is Marab with a thing. Him and Paulo Carca. Fucking yeah, you got DC. Holy shit, it's great. Look at it. The amount of fucking time I've spent sat on my goddamn couch in the middle of the afternoon watching shit go down. I should have brought my tough jersey. Let's stick around later, we're bringing back women's 145. A bit of beef over at the Performance Institute between one Al Bazzi and Johnson. Is this just like a beauty light? What is this? Probably, yeah.

It was another great night at the Apex. I'm really happy with my performance. Who's got the next question? Eric Jackman on crown.com. Yeah, hey Eric. How is your camp leading into this fight? How was your preparation? It was great because I was training at the USCPI. Oh yeah, this is actually pretty dope. Oh yeah, I'm gonna get warmed up. Come on, Bob. Oh, he's dead.

Yeah, spinning wheel kick probably not gonna go well for me. Yeah, spinning wheel kick probably not gonna go well for me. I'm sorry, what's up man? I'm sorry, what was that? That was like a nice pectoral punch to really thwart the enemy. Alright Sean, I came to you now. PI, I'm here to break your record. You won't bike against me, I'll just come smash everything you've ever worked for. I can't do it

Nick Diaz. Oh yeah cuz they're sitting all the way over here. I swore it was like an actual light panel. That's crazy. I thought it was too. Man, really getting to see behind the scenes today. All right, we just did a tour of the PI, the UFC Apex, we swung by the store, we got some merch, mystery posters. These are signed by fighters from whatever posters we got in there.

We'll open them up on the watch party tonight. This was an apex event. This was like apex 94 or something. Oh God, another fucking shitty apex card. God damn it, they ripped us off so bad. Oh Jesus, three apex cards. Fuck, we got duped so bad. Pretty sick, I can't lie.

We got to see the warehouse. We're really living it up. International Fight Week 2025. The best, that is so good. That's one of the highlights of the BTS that comes out tomorrow. Guys, great job. I think my favorite part was the press conference shot.

Rick all the way in the back. I mean, we didn't have to do much. All think my favorite part was the press conference shot. Rick all the way in the back. I mean, we didn't have to do much. All we had to do was walk around. What's crazy about it is there was no one there. No one there. No. We were legit the only ones. When we went to the Apex, it was us, the dude we were with,

and then a guy sitting in front, the security guard. And he was like, what's up, guys? Come on in. We're like, thanks, man. Yeah. It was great. Shout out to our guide. Did it feel like you were in hallowed ground. Did it feel like you were, you know, in hallowed ground? Like did it feel like, I don't know. Seeing the PI was pretty sick.

Like the upstairs, we didn't really film any of that just because there were there were fighters that were fighting that night like going through their their warm-ups and everything, shakeouts. Cortez was there, someone else was there. McCinney was there. Yeah. We saw Amir Al-Bazi was all, Charles Johnson, we saw Fluffy, so we kind of tried to stay low key there. But I mean, it was cool, like, those are scenes we've seen a million times on, like, the behind the scenes footage from the UFC,

and then going to the Apex itself was just next level. Tough, contender series, all 100 Apex cards that I've watched. You got to see the Hall of Fame too. What do you mean the Hall of Fame? The UFC Hall of Fame is a staircase. It's the wall with the plaques on the staircase, walking up to the- Oh, the belts that are on there? Not the belts. No, no, no.

As you're walking up to where like the octagon are at the TI. Yeah. That's the UFC Hall of Fame. Yeah. It's not much. It's just a few plaques. It's not much. The stairwell went. Yeah.

Did you know that the screen was just a backdrop? Did you know, I mean the flash bulb thing? Yeah, no I didn't. I didn't know that. I've been a fan for this long. I had no idea. I'm actually shocked it looks that way. Yeah, me too.

How could it look that way? I had no idea. The magic of cameras. The depth of field. It was incredible how much everything is just, it's all there. Like we got to see where they go for like their pressers and medias after the Apex card or before the Apex card.

It's all just like self-contained. They can do everything from there. It was amazing. The studio and all that, I'm sure there's a control room, right? Oh yeah, one of them. Oh, it's a control room. One of them.

Oh, a ton, really? Yeah, there's like 10 control rooms upstairs. It's actually, as much as we hate the Apex, and what it's- Who the fuck is we? Yeah, that's a good point. I'm the number one Apex truther. Who the fuck is we? That's a good point.

It is incredible what they built. It's incredible what they built to be able to do all this in-house. They can do anything they need to for their product from there. Now, you know, there will be complaints about like, this is not the right atmosphere, but in terms of the logistics of it,

they have a fully self-contained, fully self-operating ship. It's pretty impressive. I'm a little bit disappointed we don't have an Apex card coming up soon. I feel like I'm gonna watch it through different eyes now. Oh yeah. When is the next one?

Late July? Nah, I think early August. Cause we got the Abu Dhabi. Oh, right. That's right. That's right. That's right There's a lot 19 you back this weekend. My rod needs to go pick up his food I should have told him that when he came in so he had like eight bags waiting on And all that's free, huh? For the athletes. Yeah, I think if you're a UFC, it's it actually is amazing I think we were talking about this off air last week. If you're a UFC fighter and not living in Las Vegas, like unless you're like super, super, super high level

and you can do this all on your own, you can afford all of it, there really isn't a great reason as to not, like you have all this free stuff at your disposal as far as therapy, training, the food. Why wouldn't you live in Las Vegas? You're making a mistake if you are on the UFC roster and you are not there. Now there's exceptions, right? You're making a mistake if you are on the UFC roster and you are not there.

Now, there's exceptions, right? You're talking about like the top of the top level who can afford to produce their own camps. If you're not that, you should be in Vegas. A thousand percent. And the guy we were with told us that the like rehabilitation center there, like where they do massages and everything like that

is like of such a high quality that doctors will send normal patients there that like aren't even a part of the CPI yet to get recovery. Well it's in partnership with like a certain medical group and so if you're just a person who has that insurance or part of that medical group you can literally just go get your treatment at the UCP. Go ahead. I was gonna say in the cafeteria as well there's like a giant sign and it's just like four fighters.

It was something like no sugar, no candy, no desserts. Like, very healthy eating made for you right there in-house. By the way, and now you'll see like boxers. You'll see Terrence Crawford there, Michaela Mayer is there. You'll see a ton of other boxers go there. I remember back in the day, Yonte used to always be there. We were in that, Connor and I were facing off in that ring

till he whispered and then I had to break the stair, but we were in that boxing ring. What a time. Zufa Boxing, Zufa Boxing. You saw it, right? Oh yes, I mean it's all over the mat. That's why they kept the name. It's on each ring corner as well.

Makes all the sense. By the way, UFCX, how much is it? 35 per person, I think. Well, that's not too bad. I thought it would be more. Worth it? If you are a fan of the sport, like if you are a die-hard fan of the sport,

you can't really experience anything else like that. I think it was lessened a little bit just because I'm around it so much. Like if you're taking the weekend and you were going to 317, then I think, yeah, $35 is worth it. $35 and that gets you anything. Like you don't have to pay for any autograph lines or anything like that.

No, no, I think there, are you sure? There's not a separate fee? Maybe not. I think you just pay with your time. Yeah, you do have to wait on a loan. The lines are very, very long. In this like warehouse-y, is it like a convention center? No, no, it's a massive convention center.

Like spanning miles. It is, it is. I wish the camera was rolling. We actually got to ride on the Las Vegas Loop to get to the convention center. We got dropped off at one point and then you get in this Tesla and they're like, oh, welcome to the Las Vegas Loop.

And then you drive underground and it's like this trippy rainbow thing. It looks like the Willy Wonka tunnel. And then they pull up underground and you're at the convention center. Wow. It was crazy. It was, it's like owned by Elon the the board company. Oh and Elon Musk? No no Elon Musk owns the board company. Oh oh really? Okay. Oh I thought it was boring. Is that what it is? I think it's boring company.

Is that true? The loop was not boring it was crazy we were all like whoa where are we going? To bore, like to, you know, Got it, got it. Anyone come up to you there like, hey, you guys are... Quite a few. Oh, wait. Oh, oh, it's the BITB?

Oh, it's the BITB? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. You're the BITB? No one could be bothered by us. The bots in the back, nothing? We had a great moment with Fluffy Hernandez in the hot tub room.

It was a will they, won't they, who's gonna walk through the door first moment. He was like, go ahead guys. We were like, no, no, after you, after you. He's like, guys, guys, come on. You guys go ahead. We're like. And then he didn't say, after you.

I recognize y'all? No, of course not. And then on the way out, we saw him again and he's like, have a great day. Like Fluffy Hernandez, number one nicest guy. As we're leaving and he's just like, see you guys, have a great rest of your day. I wish Jordan was there.

Cause this was the actual next. Thanks Fluffy. Wow. Love it. He could maul me for 25 consecutive minutes. Well, shout out to the UFC. You know, a lot of people think that, you know, we're not welcome missing that clearly, clearly good standing, otherwise they wouldn't roll out the red carpet

like that. There's, there is. There is still time. This could have been like a undercover op agency. We did have to fill out all this information, take pictures, everything like that. Is that true? Yeah. I mean it is a corporate HQ, right? Yeah, we had to get like badges and stuff. Oh. Tell it the name, take a picture. Do the whole thing. it and this entire BTS Video is going to come out

Tomorrow, I do believe I do believe that is the plan. Yes, is that is that the latest that is the plan? The the video I think Frank is doing a few tweaks to the audio. Oh Yeah, yeah, and And this will be posted tomorrow but I wanted to give you guys a taste, a little je ne sais quoi, just a little something something to change the palette, you know. Change up the composition. Yeah, just a little something. The composition, that's right. So that you can see what we're talking about. We've got some big things planned. In fact, shout out to No Context Ariel, who posted the great Twitter account,

No Context Ariel, you guys are familiar, who posted that we had over, I think, seven million or so views last month. June was a big month for us. So I guess, I guess still the bread, I don't know. So we were toast, still the bread. You get the reference? Yeah, man, I picked up on it.

Yeah, is P.T. still back there? Nah, he's actually never even came back in here. He jetted! He needed a table desperately to quote unquote work. I went out to refill my water bottle and he was sitting there eating pretzels with his laptop slammed shut. Just looking? Yeah, he was sitting there eating pretzels with his laptop slammed shut. Just looking?

Yeah, he was talking with Big E.K.C. Oh, okay. All right, love it. By the way, shout out to the Toronto Blue Jays. I believe it's now seven in a row. First place, incredible, very exciting. The Yanks are fondering, I'm sorry, to Pat on our team. Yeah, they're not great.

Not great. Yeah, Pat Jordan. Pat's die hard, Pat's like super die hard. I think they swept them, they sweep them. That may or may not have happened, I cannot confirm. Yeah, there was a bit of a sweep situation and then swept the Angels as well. I think it's seven sweep, four game, three. Anyway. They're not really a first place team.

No, no, no. I don't know if you heard Mike, but not really a first place team. I got it, yes. run differential, all this stuff. In any event, looking forward to having Nikisa Baderian in studio in about 25 or so minutes time, but for now let's go to our next guest who is one of the stars of International Fight Week. We're still buzzing after that fight against Brandon Royvold. What a showdown, what a fight, what action.

It was incredible to watch and as a result, he is now the number one contender at 125 pounds. He is, your friend and mine, the pride of Myanmar, the one and only Joshua Van, who is kind enough to join us. Hello my friend, how are you? Hey, I'm man, I'm doing good. How you doing? It's great to see you again. By the way, can I ask, how has life changed for you since that fight? Because I can't talk to anyone about MMA or about the UFC since that fight without someone saying like, Yo Joshua Vann, this guy's my new favorite fighter. This guy's unbelievable. So I can't imagine what you're getting. What has life been like since the fight for you?

Everything's good. The social media wise, like, you know, it changed a lot of things, but I'm still the same me, man. Outside of social media, I'm still the same guy, still doing the same old thing, you know what I mean? So life is still the same. The head's not getting bigger, you're not feeling yourself, you're not Mr. Superstar now, you're not acting like that? Nah, I learned. I learned from my last mistake, you know?

Okay. I ain't trying to do all that no more. But what was that mistake? What did you do? Ah, you know? Okay. I didn't do all that no more. But what was that mistake? What did you do? You know what I mean? I got big head. I don't want to train. Like, no, not that I don't want to train.

I train, but I'll be like, look, I feel like I can beat this guy without training and things like that, but I don't want to make the same mistake. You know what I mean? I'm still learning right now. By the way, after, I think it was after the fight, you had mentioned that maybe your toe had been broken, but now it sounds like no broken toe, right? No, no, they say it was just like dislocated or something.

So it was just like very painful at that time, but I'm good now. Like I probably let it rest for a couple of weeks. Okay. And then we back. When you accepted the fight against Royvault, you know, and it was just a couple weeks. Okay. We back. When you accepted the fight against Royvault, you know, and it was just a couple of weeks after your fight here in in the tri-state area in New Jersey to be exact, Newark, were there any doubts in

the back of your mind like hey maybe I'm doing a little too much here maybe this is a little too soon or were you a hun- you say all the right things but internally how were you feeling heading into the fight? Nah, I always feel confident that I can beat the guys, you know what I mean? Even my last fight, like when they was doing media, I was limping and all that shit, and then they was like, hey man, Josh, you're gonna do the face off with the champ,

and I forgot all about my foot. You know what I mean? So like, when you get a call for the fight, I think something just changed inside me, you know what I mean? So like, I just forget all about the injury. I'm going to ask you about that face off in a moment, but regarding the fight, I'm assuming you've watched it in its entirety since it happened.

Which fight? This one, the rival one. Oh, that guy's tough, man. When I was in the cage, I didn't think it was like that much of a great fight, but then I rewatch it, I like damn we some dog, you know Yo, it's such a fun fight It's such an incredible fight probably the fight of the year as we sit here today And I'm just wondering you guys are in the pocket. You're freaking going toe-to-toe

It's just all action the amount of the amount of strikes being thrown by the two of you Are you thinking at any point like what do I even in the final seconds you drop him, but he doesn't go away Are you thinking what I have to like what do I, even in the final seconds you drop him but he doesn't go away. Are you thinking, what do I have to do to put this guy away? Jesus Christ, he's taking all these shots and he's still coming forward. Yeah, even in the first and second round I hurt him a couple of times. But every time I hurt him he come back stronger, you know what I mean?

So the third round I was like, because the first round it was like clear that I won that first round, right? But the second round, that's when he changed his timings and his speed and things like that. So it was kind of like hard for me to readjust again, right? Cause I thought I got him already in the first round. So in the second round, he just changed everything and I was like, okay, let me adjust it. And then in the third round, like I kind of got his timing,

but then he is like, he's not fast, but he's not slow. So his timing is weird. So I have to like, you know, let me readjust to that timing as well. So, so is this story accurate after the fight, you're backstage and you see Hunter and Dana and tell them you want to go in the cage? Was it your idea? No, I didn't see them in the backstage. I saw them cage side.

Okay. They were standing and they was clapping and then I was like, hey man, Hunter, can I do the phase off? He was like, we might call you. Wow, so you stayed there. You came back, you got changed and you stayed there. Yeah. Because usually they don't do that sort of thing. Like especially if you fought just you know the fight prior, they don't have the guy, the winner sit there. I thought it was a brilliant idea and apparently your idea. Like do you think they would have asked you to do it had you not brought it up? I to be honest, I thought it was a normal thing. A lot of people say they've never done that. I was like, oh, look, I'm blessed enough to, you know what I mean, for them to give me that chance.

So I'm very grateful for that. It was brilliant. So you got to watch Pantoja firsthand, up close, beat Kaikai France. What did you think of what you saw? It was a good fight, but like my head wasn't all there, you know, like, I was so excited, like I was so excited to be there, you know, and you got to remember I never go to UFC event.

Like, I think that was like probably like my second time. Because the first fight was done in Pineda fighting in San Antonio and then after that I never go to no UFC event or nothing So like for me to sit at the front row You know, so my head wasn't there So usually when you're fighting you're in the back and then when the fights over you just kind of leave right? You don't get to sit and take it all in Yeah, man It's crazy. You must have been loving it. And so when he when he calls you in

What are you feeling in that moment? Now you're face to face with the champs. Six months ago, you were nowhere near the title picture. Yeah, it was crazy. Cause I don't like when I walk in the case, I didn't even know what to do. I walk in there and then when Joe Rogan asked me a question, I thought we was done.

And then he was like, you know, shout out to the champ, man. He was like, hey, look, we got to do the face off. I like that. That was smart. That was done. And then he was like, you know, shout out to the champ, man. He was like, hey, look, we gotta do the phase off. I like that. That was smart. That was smart. Yeah, I forgot about the phase off. I thought after he interviews me, I was like, I thought we was done.

I love that because it showed, he was very nice. He was very respectful, cordial, but it showed that he gets the promotional side of things. And then you put the arm up. What does the arm up represent? Does it represent anything other than I'm the man? Yeah, I'm the man. I'm about to take that belt.

That's what it means. You know what I mean? So, it showed that I'm confident, that I'm ready to take him over. You know what's interesting about Pantoja? One of the nicest guys, but I felt like in that face-off, like he switched in a moment.

What did you see when you were looking at him? See, I don't really care about the face-off. I'm like, people wanna look hard when they face off. I'm like, man, come on, we gonna fight in the cage. Know what I mean? So you weren't impressed by any of it? Nah, man, everybody wanna look hard. Like when we face off, everybody change their face.

Like, come on, like, you know, it's cool. I liked what you said though. You said something to the effect of like, he's been a lot of tough guys, but he's never beaten me. He's never fought anyone like me. Something to that effect, right? Yeah, he is a great champion, but he had never fought Joshua Levan. There it is.

There it is. Yes. And you believe that because he has fought some tough guys. You believe no one like you. There's no one like me. You know what I mean? The fighting style that I bring, like the no respect, you know what I mean? I don't give respect to nobody in that cage. So you know what I mean? I respect him as a man.

I respect what he's done in our division. But when we fight, there's no respect at all. So that's an interesting word, respect, because you're not the only one who's fighting. But when we fight, there's no respect at all. So that's an interesting word, respect, because you could still, when you say respect, you could still have respect for what someone has done or who they are and maybe that makes you fight a certain way.

When you say no respect, what do you mean by that? You don't put him on a pedestal, you don't think of him as Pantoja the champion. What do you specifically mean when you say that? You know how a lot of people say, he's good on this, he's good at, you know what I mean? He's the next level, this and that. Look at Roy Vaughn, when they say, his pressure is going to be too much, right? But I didn't give him no respect. When he was pressuring me But I didn't give him no respect.

When he was pressuring me, I don't give him no respect. I stay calm, I do my thing, you know what I mean? So it's gonna be the same thing. I'm not gonna let him do his thing. And I feel like a lot of people, because they know that his grappling is so much, that they so scared of him taking them down, that they end up getting taken down, you know what I mean?

What about this Manel Cap who said, quote, I would murder both Van and Royval on the same night? What do you make of that? See, I didn't see that, I don't know, oh. There it is. What was that, on Twitter? Yeah. See, I don't have him on Twitter, so I don't see this,

but the interview guys asked me about that thing. He was like, cops said he smoked both of y'all. But I'm like, man, then why you always pull that, man? You know what I mean? I was saving his ass from getting his ass whooped. I feel like Royvault beat the shit out of him. I was just gonna ask you that. You think if Cap fought fights that night against Royvault,

the same Royvault that you fought, you think Royvault that you fought you think Royville beats the shit out of him. Wow not even close. Maybe the first round but then he would drown him in the second and third. Wow wow wow um well maybe one of these days you run into him but obviously you have a big test ahead of you. If we would have talked in January about like all all right, what are your big plans for 2025? Where do you hope to be by the end of the year? Realistically, what would you have said? Champion. You believed it. You thought that.

I think I said this in the interview one time. Yeah, I always thought I'd be a champion by the end of this year. Wow. I write it down on the paper and I pray to, you know, manifest that. So I like in the morning I'm like, we're champion. So you have that paper written down somewhere? Yeah, it's at my other house. I always have this, I think this is like the, so I started writing down 2022, so this is like my third, fourth year. So I started writing down 2022, so this is like my third, fourth year. Okay. Oh, so at the end of every year you say this?

No, I write down everything I do. Like, let's say, like I'm doing an interview with you right now. Yeah. It's on paper. Wow. So, uh, just because, uh, that just keeps you in track, you know what I mean? So whether you fucked up for the days or like you do good things and then when you go back and read it,

you're like, man, I should have done so much better today. You know what I mean? So it just keeps you in track. Wow, wow, wow. I love this. So in January or December of last year, you would have said end of 2025, you'd be champ. Yes.

I said, we're going to take over this year. So you're not surprised by any of this? No. Has anything surprised you? I mean, look at that, five wins in the last 10 months. That's not normal. That doesn't happen to a lot of people. And of course, you have made a lot of this happen.

You're ready to go. You take the opportunities. You beat the guys, of course. But has anything surprised you about this journey? Nothing surprised me, but like some moment just gave me more excitement. But surprise-wise, I'm not surprised. Because we put in the work and I believe in my team, my team believes in me, and I believe in my God. So, He always answers my prayers.

What are they saying back home? Are they reaching out to you? Are you getting a ton of coverage back home? What's it been like? Yeah, man, it's crazy. I just got surprised by my, my crush, my childhood crush. Come on. One of the actress from Myanmar, you know. That was cool. That was cool, wasn't it?

So she reached out to you? Yeah, so I got interviewed by this big platform in Myanmar and then they was like, hey, close your eyes. And then, you know what I mean? They count five seconds and then she came and she, and then she was like, hey, Joshua, how you doing? Like I'm supporting you and things like that. So it was, it was crazy.

When's the last time you talked to this girl? Like two days ago. Oh, no, No, I mean prior to all of this What you mean? She's famous. Well, I don't talk to her like she's famous. Who is she? Who is she? She's famous. She her name. Oh, hey She's a actress from Myanmar incredible and now she's supporting and she was your childhood crush Yeah, I used to watch all's supporting and she was your childhood crush. Yeah, I used to watch all her movies and shit like that. Yeah. Oh, you see when I when I when you said childhood crush, I thought like this was like a kid in your class that you had a crush on.

No, she is like way out of my league. Yo, but now she's now she's on your radar. How old is she? How old is she? Uh, I don't know. She's she's a but you know, age is just a number, right? Yo, let's go! Let's go, Joshua! Now you're one of the most famous people from Myanmar in the world! You're known worldwide. Is she known worldwide or is she just known in Myanmar? Um... You're probably more famous than her!

I would say that, You're gonna have a situation where you're gonna be rolling up to the fights and she's gonna be, you know, like how people roll up with the plus one with the wife with the girlfriend. Now you're gonna be the star couple, you're gonna be the power couple. That would be crazy. I love it. I love it. By the way, I do believe you're going to be the first fighter born in the 2000s to fight for a UFC belt, right? That's huge. What a great distinction. Making me feel very old though as a human being, but we're now officially in the 2000s era. Yeah. Like I said, the new era of fighting is here. When do you think this fight happens?

Hopefully this year. Have they given you any indication? No, no phone call. We're just waiting for the phone call right now. And then up to that, we're gonna study him and then back in the gym. He has said that he wants to fight December or so he likes the June, December range. Do you like that?

Are you okay with that? I mean, obviously he's the champ, so he gets to dictate the terms, but if you know, you're so active these days, would a five month break between fights be good for you? Yeah. Um, whatever the champ want, you know what I mean? So, uh, that's, I feel like that's perfect for me. fights be good for you? Yeah whatever the champ want you know what I mean so that's I feel like that's perfect for me as well because I'm still got a heel up you know I mean my toes and all that so I think that would give me a little more

time for me to prepare for him too so perfect Whatever you want as long as it's this year. And I think the fans want to see. Hell yeah. This year for sure. And when you when you think of the fight, when you when you sort of I know it's early now, but when you sort of digested, how do you see this fight going? He has been so good as of late. He has been on such a role. He has been so dominant. How do you feel it going? Yeah, that's exactly what I said because a lot of people give him respect, right? I mean, like respect is good, but when you show him too much respect, you're just letting another man play his game, you know what I mean? So that's hard to deal with. Like even when he fought, You know what I mean? So that's hard to deal with.

Like even when he fought, like Kai, his last fight, I rewatched it like last night, right? I feel like Kai didn't fight the way he usually fight, right? Usually he would throw and try to land and punch it, but right now, like last fight, he was worried about getting taken down that he don't, you know what I mean? He don't throw like he usually do things like that So I'm not gonna be the same way I'm gonna do my thing if you take me down to get back up and then we don't fight again. Gosh. I love it I love it

You have I was just watching an old clip from back in 2019 where the UFC was this close to getting rid of the flyweight Division Henry sahoota was about to fight TJ Dillashashaw and for this to kind of come on my radar a week after your fight against Brandon which is one of if not the best fights of the year and you have brought so much joy and so much excitement to the division like the thought of it going away is actually completely absurd at this point but it's just amazing what you've done in such a short amount of time. Yeah, that's crazy, man. You know what I mean? Man, I'm just very, very excited for our division right now, especially when we got a guy like myself, you know, Pintoja and then like there's like the top one to top 10. Yeah. Like killers, you know what I mean? So

One to top ten, we're like killers, you know what I mean? So, 125 division right now is very, very exciting. And the amount of strikes that you throw, the activity, your pace, it definitely makes you one of the most popular fighters in the sport, which is a great thing to see. What do you say to people who say this is happening a little bit too soon, that maybe a couple more fights.

Don't jump into the deep end just yet. What do you say to those people? Yeah, but who do I fight? Yeah. Number one guys, you know, when they offered me Roy Valle, they said the same thing. They was like, we love Van, but I think this is too early. Or be like, man, this guy is too cocky. But I don't think I'm cocky, you know what I mean?

I'm just confident in my work, and I just believe in my team. And you know, when my team say, you ready? I'm ready. Last time we spoke, you had, I think you had just bought your mom a new house, right? And now you're talking about your different houses. Now you got different houses.

It looks like you're in an empty room over there. Is this, and now you just got houses all over the place. Oh, this is my mom's new house. Oh, okay. Stuff and shit. So that's why I'm like, I'm gonna do an interview here. This little office room right here. Do you live with your mom? I have to.

There's, it's gonna be me and my mom love that. So is that is that your choice? Is there a reason why you want to live with her be so close to her? Yeah, no, I mean My dad passed away 2017. So I'm the only man in the house. So, you know, I gotta take care of my mom What is she what does she think of all this success that you're having? She's very happy, you know what I mean? Like I said, she supported me, seen my first fight.

You know what I mean? So without her, I would have never been here. So she, like she just very, very happy, man. You know what I mean? Was she at the fight on Saturday? Yes. She was there, wow. Love it. And I I mean? Was she at the fight on Saturday? Yes. She was there, wow. Love it.

And I'm assuming she'll be at the fight? Yeah. Every single one? Every single one. Damn, did she get nervous? Yeah, she do. But like, yeah, like I remember when she told me she was about to pass out and all that,

but I like, hey look, I did it. By the way, who gave you the fearless nickname? Myself. You just gave it to yourself? Yeah, so I did some smoker fight and this ref was like, man, I like this kid. Like I like, I really like this kid, man. I'm gonna name him Savage, right? And I'm like, uh-uh, I don't like that.

So I was training and then I told my coach, I'm like, hey man, can you find a nickname for me? And she was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I will. But then he never come up, and so one day I was watching a Viking movie, I think it's called The Last Kingdom. And there was this guy like Ragnar and the Fearless. And I liked the way he carried himself and things like that.

And I look at my fighting style, I'm like the Fearless. Wow. Yeah. You certainly give up that vibe, my man. It's a lot of fun to watch you fight. You brought a lot of joy, a lot of excitement to the division. And I mean, that fight, like I said, fight of the year. And, and, and, and maybe by the end of this year, if everything goes to plan and you fight Pantoja, you could be the male fighter of the year.

You could be the breakout fighter and the male fighter of the year. Is that something that's on your mind? Uh, I see, I don't want no fight of the year things. I want to get the knockout and then get the fuck out. Cause my last fight I get hit too many for no reason. Yeah, no, I get that, but I'm talking about the knockout and then get the fuck out because my last fight I get hit too many for no reason. Yeah, no, I get that. But I'm talking about fighter of the year, like the male fighter of the year.

Yes, yes, I want that for sure. Yeah. Not fighter of the year. No, no more. No more? Maybe performance of the night, you know? But yeah, I don't, yeah, like, cause my last three fight I didn't get touched for this guy, man.

I think he hit me for all my last three fight. Yeah. There was no part of you that enjoyed that. Like you said, like, oh, it was actually kind of fun to be in a scrap. In the fight, yes. But then like when I rewatch the fight, I'm like, damn, I should get hit with those, you know? Yeah.

So yeah, I gotta get better for sure. Uh, what a great fight on paper. Can't watch, can't wait to watch it. Can't wait to see how it all plays out. And, uh, yeah, it's just a lot of fun to watch you do your thing. So thank you again, Joshua. Appreciate it very much. Congratulations on the great win on all your success. Good luck in training.

And, and, and I echo what you said. Uh, I hope we get to see it by the end of the year. That would be amazing. So all the best to you my man. Thank you again. So thank you for having me. Pleasure. There he is. Joshua Van, the pride of Myanmar. I need to find out who the uh the childhood crush is. I thought he was talking about a classmate from back in the day that like was his like his his high school sweetheart or elementary crush or something like that not a famous person from uh Myanmar which is uh probably even cooler that she's now supporting him i can't imagine what the uh what the love what the what the attention what the the the the coverage is like back home it must be amazing by the way um

these were the UFC champions when Josh Vann was born. Randy Couture at heavyweight, Tito Ortiz at light heavyweight, Dave Minet at middleweight, Carlos Newton at welterweight, Jens Pulver at lightweight. There was no flyweight division. There was no bantamweight division in the UFC. There was no featherweight division. And now here he is about to fight for the UFC title. Probably, hopefully, if all goes according to plan by the end of the year, which should just be an incredible,

him versus Pantoja would just be, I mean, not a lot of trash talk, not a lot of back and forth, but you don't need it when you got guys like that. Incredible stuff. All right, this Friday, massive, massive deal here in New York City, the greatest arena in the history of mankind,

the world's most famous arena, trademark that. The Mecca, the home of the Knicks, Rangers, and boxing. Some of the most famous fights in boxing history have taken place at Madison Square Garden. March 8, 1971, Ali Frazier won the Fight of the Century. On Friday, we'll be able to put July 11, 2025 in that same conversation, dare I say. All-female card spanning five fights. I do believe it's around 21 titles on the line. It's an insane number. And of course, multiple undisputed title fights, multiple unified title fights, the biggest rivalry, the first real trilogy in pro women's boxing. And it's on the biggest platform.

There is Netflix, Katie Taylor, Mandus Round 3. It's a great pleasure to have the co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions right here. And now to talk about it all, there he is, my friend and yours, There is Netflix, Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano 3. It's a great pleasure to have the co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions right here and now to talk about it all. There he is, my friend and yours, the great Nikisa Bedarian. Hello, sir, how are you? Good to see you.

Great to have you back. Yes, yes, yes. It's a tight one. I said I'm getting an hour with Nikisa, then they said in 30 minutes, don't waste his time. They didn't say we don't waste his time. Last time it was an hour and I'm getting 30 minutes because you're a busy guy. We're filming the Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano face to

face today. We are. I heard about that. It's good to have you here. What a crazy couple of weeks for you. It's been a great couple of weeks. Obviously, you know, a lot of disruption in many different ways but we're super excited we're here for the biggest women's boxing event in history live on Netflix globally. Jake is now a ranked fighter so we're feeling excited we're here for the biggest women's boxing event in history live on Netflix globally Jake is now a ranked fighter so we're feeling good yes by the way we say disruption what do you mean by that disruption good and bad right the the good is what we've achieved in such a short amount of time and the bad is the haters who continue wanted to try to break us down

to take out take down Jake's accomplishments and what he's done and that's that's disruption as well so in the immediate aftermath of the Jake fight I saw both you and him very vocal on social media by the welcome to X the Nikita Bidarian account very active and you guys these time we're saying like okay we used to laugh off the haters now we're we're coming after you yeah we're gonna sue you if you accuse us of nefarious dealings, right? I think look Stating like hey, I think this or I think that but when you definitively state that

Jake is putting on staged or rigged fights And that's just defamation and you're causing substantial Damage to his business to MVP's business and something that's 100% not true, right? It's a federal crime to stage a fight. And so that's why we're gonna get a lot more aggressive in going after these individuals who make these statements. And in the world of social media, these false statements get carried in a way

that people will start to believe the narrative, right? And that was the genesis of the issues with Dana White, because he was the one that was saying Jake's fights are rigged, Jake's using steroids, and that's how that all came to fruition. Now we're in a place where people just can't believe what Jake is doing is how I look at it, so they have to say it's staged.

Rick, you good? Rick wants to do something here? He's busy? Oh, he's fixing the microphone. There it is, he's working hard, all right. Have you started any of that? We are in the process, yes. I mean, like, elephant in the room,

Piers Morgan, you're going after it, like, are you going to come after these people? 100%. Wow, okay, they've crossed the line. 100%, enough is enough. The time has passed that Jake has shown what he's able to do in the ring and people still wanna criticize, that's okay. But don't make false accusations. Don't make

statements that definitively damage his brand, his business, MVP's profile, MVP's brand. How, can you put a number on this? Like how damaging is that? Not to be discussed here, but the damage is we're in business with the zone. We're in business with Netflix. We're in business with Celsius. Shout out to Celsius. Yes, right here. That's, that's the, that's the damage that you're causing because you're having us have to have conversations with our partners that are just unjustifiable. So can you definitively say you are going to be suing Piers Morgan for what he has said about Jake's fights? Because there was a contentious interview there between them at the beginning. I can definitively say that our legal

them at the beginning. I can definitely say that our legal representation is looking at multiple individuals to go after. What did you think of the fight itself, the performance? And we're kind of going in chronological order here so we'll get Jake out of the way. What did you think of the performance on June 28th? So going into it, what I looked at it as was Jake's biggest challenge. And the reason I say that is Jake has fought very accomplished, experienced MMA fighters that are much tougher opponents than the majority of the boxers that athletes face

in boxing earlier in their career, right? And then he faced Tommy Fury fairly early in his career as a boxer for Jake. Tommy's been boxing since he was a kid. You can argue whether he's great or not, but his pedigree is boxing. And Jake lost in a split decision. Fairly close fight. The next two pure boxers he fought were Andre August and Ryan Borland. Much more accomplished boxers than Jake from a traditional perspective, right? One guy was 10 and one, the other guy was 18 and two, Golden Gloves champion.

But the calculus there was those were two guys who'd never been under the bright lights. And even though Jake had an experience deficit, he had a mental advantage. And that's what I believe happened in both of those fights. He took them out in the first round. When it came to Chavez, it's a guy who had the in-ring experience and the big lights

experience. So I was nervous about that, assuming Chavez had a great training camp. In regards to the weight, Jake weighed in at 199, Chavez weighed in at 198. California State Athletic Commission, extremely professional, does a second day weigh-in at the arena. Jake weighed in at 209 and Chavez weighed in at 213. Jake was a smaller man in the ring that night and I thought for five rounds Jake totally neutralized Chavez and people can say oh he didn't throw for five rounds. No it's because Jake was much more active much more

sharp for those first five rounds. As Jake got a little fatigued Chavez got a little bit more you know opportunistic but I was proud of the way that Jake fought back in those later rounds. It wasn't like Chavez was throwing and Jake was just covering up and holding him. There was a back and forth exchange and if you look at the punch, that's extremely close in rounds eight, nine, and ten. So overall, very pleased with his performance. And so then I have to ask, he gets the win on Saturday and then on Thursday we get this crazy news that Chavez has been detained by ICE. Did you have any idea that this was in the works that

they were looking at him? In the works? Absolutely not, right? I got a text early Thursday morning East Coast probably around 4 a.m. from a immigration advocate that I know and he said just FYI Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has been detained by ICE. And I said, what? And then later in the day, we'd find out more details. I think the confusing part is they identified him as someone to go after June 27th. Why it took until the following Wednesday night,

I have no idea. I'm sure they certainly knew where he was going to be on June 28th. Right. And do you know where he stands right now? No idea. No idea. Like the footage of him being detained in handcuffs is wild because it was literally three, four days prior that he's in a ring. On a big stage.

Yes. Globally. Yes. Yes. And so this never came up beforehand? If it came up beforehand, we couldn't go forward with the event. Right, right, right. The idea of ice coming to the arena where we're putting on an event that is heavily Mexican-influenced, that would never be something that we would consider doing. Sure. Do you know what his status is as far as like, will he be able to? No idea. No idea. Okay. That is a crazy one among the list of crazy things that you guys have had to deal with over the last, uh, a few years.

And, and you know, it's interesting because even when we were talking about, you know, the tweets and potential legal action, I do feel we're getting to this point, you're coming off the Tyson fight. This has been an interesting year so far for, for you and Jake and for MVP, you know, the, the Canelo stuff and then the, the sort of like open battle with, with Turkey and whatnot.

How would you describe the first six or seven months for you and Jake and the company? Because there was a lot of drama there at the beginning, right? I think fully disruptive and continuing to be a, you know, leading voice in this sport when we have a small company versus some pretty big boys with big pockets. And I wouldn't say we're in a battle with Turkey. Turkey may find it convenient to constantly take shots at Jake, but that's okay. That's no different than when Dana White was taking shots at Jake, right? That means we're relevant. That means we're actually a topic of conversation.

So no problem with that. Chavez Jr. was someone we wanted to fight right after Tyson July 20th, right? July 20th was going to be Tyson last year and then Chavez. That fight got postponed so the Chavez plans got postponed. When the Canelo opportunity was presented to us in early December of last year, of course we jumped on it because that would have been a monumental moment for boxing. Much bigger than Canelo versus Crawford. No matter what hardcore boxing or MMA fans tell you, that fight would have crossed over just like Jake Paul and Mike Tyson did.

So Jake was interested in it because he wants to do big massive things that bring attention to boxing. He did that last November and we're here for the biggest fight week in women's boxing history. And I was interested in it because I felt like it was a good test for Jake at that point of his career. And even if he lost, it wouldn't matter. He was losing to Canelo. But Jake fully believed he had a really good shot of knocking Canelo out, given the size

advantage. When you're literally on the goal line of making this happen and then it gets pulled from you and that whole public back and forth, do you not say to yourself like, man, fuck this. What do I need this shit for? What do I need this stress in my life for? This is too much. No, I said everything happens for a reason. Right? Yeah. 100%. Because who knows what would have happened to Jake Paul in that fight if the fight went forward is the way I looked at it. There was a reason that God decided that this wasn't the moment in time for this fight to happen. Now,

once Jake gets a cruiserweight belt one day, maybe that's when it happens and Canelo goes to get a belt in a different weight class. I don't know. Could you clear something up? Did you ever tell Canelo, hey if you take this fight we don't want you fighting Crawford? In other words, why couldn't you have done both? Did we tell him that? Yeah. We were certainly not in a position to tell Canelo anything. So it wasn't like you were trying to sign him to a two-fight deal. No. You were were we were partnering with Canelo for that one fight Without war right and then or May 3rd and then and then he could do I mean He'd already signed the I think a three fight deal at the time

Then it became a four-factor deal with Riyadh's because there is an argument to be made you fight Jake you kick his ass Now the Crawford fight is bigger in September. It would have been ten times bigger, right? Ten times. Why do you think they made such a big deal to say? Hey, no, you can't do this in September? It would have been 10 times bigger. Right. 10 times bigger. So why do you think they made such a big deal to say, hey, no, you can't do this, fight Skull instead? Cause you don't want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a fight and it doesn't meet the viewership of a Jake Paul fight versus Canelo, right?

I think him fighting Jake, you could say, devalues in their mind the specialness of what they have with Canelo versus Crawford. And that's the way to look at it. That's totally fine. I believe exactly what you believed. No matter the outcome of that fight, everyone was going to win in Canelo versus Jake Paul. What you guys are doing now in this sort of battle reminds me a lot of Scott Coker in

Strikeforce versus the UFC circa 2011-2010. And what I mean by that is... Well, Strike Force didn't win that battle, so I don't like that analogy. Okay, no, no. Okay, I'm just... They did gain a lot of momentum though. Yeah. And part of why they gained so much momentum was because of women's MMA. That was the one thing that the UFC wasn't doing at the time and and I'm wondering if this was part of the calculus where you were like okay they have the deep pockets and they're going to try to make these mega fights but for whatever reason clearly they're not zero zero aerial nothing we started MVP August of 2021 and we had three priorities and one of them was women's

boxing okay we signed Amanda Serrano September of 2021. And she's been a priority since that day and continues to be a priority. The last thing we're thinking about is what someone else is doing on the men's side and how it reflects on the women's side. What I will say is that we have genuinely been interested and passionate about women's boxing. And that hasn't changed and it's going to continue to be the case. So you put Katie and Amanda, Co-main of Jake and Mike, and they steal the show, let's be real. Now they are the show, right? Now they are the show.

And then you have this idea of having a full women's card. When did that start? Was it like backstage at AT&T Stadium, you're with the Netflix exec saying, like, when can we do the trilogy? And we wanna now do it with this idea. How did it get to this point of July 11th, going from that fight in November to now

and the whole card being women? Look, that night Netflix executives came into Jake's locker room to congratulate him. And they said, we want to do more, right? But they said, what we really want to do right now is sign up the trilogy of Katie Taylor and Amanda Sorano. Right now, they're there. Yeah, like we're ready to sign.

Wow. And it reminded me of the story that Lorenzo Fertitta used to say around the first Ultimate Fighter coming back and they did something on the napkin. We didn't do it. Netflix is a little bit larger than what Spike was at the time and probably has more, you know, thresholds to get through before they can sign off on something like that. But it was clear they saw the value.

And I would say within two weeks in speaking with the Netflix executive team, I was clear on the vision of wanting to have an all-women's card, and this really being the mountaintop of Katie and Amanda bringing eyeballs to all of these great fighters that we've now signed to MVP and that are on this card, and Netflix bought in right away. And I would say Katie and Amanda both said the same thing.

We love it, just get us the best. We want the best of women's boxing on this card. And not every top fighter is on this card, but you've never seen a collection of top pound for pound fighters in the sport on one card, ever male or female. So that's what we're doing. 21 titles total, right? 21 world titles on the line. Across five different fights, eight total. Those are world titles. World titles. Yeah, there's also Chantel's interim title as well. And right now, as far as women, how many of you signed to MVP? 32.

And how many men? I think nine. So is there gonna be a point where MVP is all women? No, that's not the plan. But there's definitely a specific strategy to provide a platform and opportunity for the best women in boxing to be under one umbrella and to enable the best fights to happen if the fighters want to fight. I always say this, the UFC has John Jones and Tom Aspinall, right?

No barriers to entry other than making an offer and the two fighters accepting it. That's the ideal situation. It didn't work out in that scenario and there may be instances at MVP that it doesn't work out But if we can have all the barriers to the side, it's one organization. There's no sanctioning body hurdle. There's no promoter hurdle There's no network hurdle. That's the best way to grow women's boxing Would you like for it to come to a point where it's an MVP title as opposed to the WBC title on the line? I think if we have the collection of talent that we believe that we're going to have, it doesn't matter.

Ultimately, the title is a marketing tool. The title is not the success of the fighter. Conor McGregor comes back today. He will do the biggest numbers in the UFC. He has no title, right? Jake Paul, top three fighter globally, no matter how you want to slice it, he has no title. So Amanda Serrano, whether or not she's fighting

for a title, she's a massive name. So it's not the focus of, hey, the MVP belt. We certainly have a most valuable belt in our vision, but it doesn't matter to us. I bring this up because of course TKO is talking about having their own belt right and so I'm wondering if from the world you came from from the UFC world do you believe is that a thing that you say that could actually be good for boxing because there'll be less politics there'll be less division or do you like the old way? I think both are viable I think on the women's side it's an easier path to having what TKO is trying to accomplish

because there isn't as much ingrained equity value in the champions and their belts the same way. There's two or three of them, right? But it's not as deep. And I think, look, can it be good for boxing? Yes, if you're a fighter first. If you're actually doing this for the fighters and not just to make profit. Yeah, I think it could be good. Do you think it would be good if they got rid of the Ali act? I

Don't think the Ali act has been that relevant to be honest, right? I think it's something that's been put in place and hasn't been actually like enforced in many occasions And in the day if you do the right things by the fighters and are transparent the Ali act is not important is there a, I hate to use the word rematch clause, because that would suggest a second, but if Amanda or Katie wins, can any of them trigger another fight, a fourth fight? There was a rematch clause in the first two fights in Katie's favor. Katie's favor, okay. So if Amanda had won, there would have been a rematch.

Yeah. In this third fight, there's no rematch clause on either side. Do you think this is truly the last time we see them fight or Amanda wins, Katie wants to do it again? I've not had that discussion once, to be honest. Okay. And look, we're looking at this as the final installment

of Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano. Do you think it's possibly, and I know she's worked with Matchroom for a long time, so maybe they would know better, but is it possibly the last time we see Katie fight? What's the sense you're getting? Have you watched the countdown show? I did, it was tremendous.

There was one dude in a double breasted who was phenomenal throughout, I thought. Oh, you were on it, that's right. So, I didn't realize that Katie's father had come back. Incredible. That gave me chills, yeah. Look, it's look. It's an unbelievable story It's great to see that was the first moment I said to myself either one they feel like they need to change something which why would they there to know on paper and

She's been extremely successful with her current trainer or two She may be thinking this is her last fight and she wants to experience that professional fight with her father. That's my own thinking. I have no inside track, no knowledge. Didn't I saw her today. We didn't talk about that. Um, so I don't know, but I think there's a real possibility. Do you know if he'll be in her corner?

I don't know. Okay. My team knows I'm not aware. I think as a pro, he's never been in her corner because they split up 2016 Olympics. So that would be an incredible scene. never been in her corner because they split up 2016 Olympics. That was an incredible scene. As far as Amanda's concerned, obviously she has said some things and Jordan Maldonado, her head trainer, have said some things. Do you subscribe to the things that they say about Katie? In essence, that she fights

dirty, that she fights leading with her head. Do you think she is that type of fighter and are you worried? Because even when you look at her, like there is, there is, you know, it's a little puffy there. It maybe could open, I don't know. Are you worried about these things things so worried or believe in what they're saying those okay well first believe and then worried I do believe that Katie uses a strategy to lead with her head right to suffocate Amanda's power and not be in the mid-range because that's where Amanda has hurt her so yes 100% it's a strategy do I believe that it's a dirty strategy trying to purposely cut open Amanda Serrano?

I don't believe that, right? But you could say it's a dirty fight as a result of the headbutting technique that she uses to again, to negate Amanda's power. Am I worried about it opening? I mean, look, you cover MMA. Once that scar tissue builds up, it's pretty easy to open up, right?

And Nate Diaz being the perfect example of that So I think it's a possibility Do I think Amanda gives a fuck no Amanda's gonna fight through anything and everything and finally try to get that W on paper What were you thinking at the press conference in April when all of a sudden we saw a bit of a different side of KDA I think what really triggered it I rewatch it last night It was when she started talking about the rounds and she was like you don't get get to dictate, you're down 2-0. And then we started to see this other side of her come out. I loved it. I loved it.

Yeah. Were you surprised or did you know that she was going to come with a bit of fire? No, I was very surprised. Absolutely. I was surprised by the tonality of the press conference. And I think, look, it's good to see a little bit of emotion from the two of them because they are very respectful of each other. They are friendly. I believe deep down they can't stand each other. Really? Yeah, but they're too respectful. What makes you say that? Because all they hear is the other person's name. Their entire existence is based on this other human being. And so as a successful individual athlete, you don't want it to always be that, hey, this is my, this is the yin and the yang, right? No, this is Amanda Serrano. This is Katie Taylor, not Amanda Serrano and Katie

Taylor. Right. Do you think there'll be tension this week between them? I think at some point there'll be a lot of tension. Yes. Oh, really? Okay. Interesting. Look, when you watch that countdown and the question is asked who won the first fight, great, great moment. They both say I did. Yes. Or the, you know, the two fights, whatever. It's pretty magical. Can you take your MVP hat off and say who who thought who you thought won the second fight? You know what I thought and I what I thought was that the refs Sorry, the judges were gonna give it to Katie Taylor because I walked in the ring and you said what do you think? I said they're gonna give it to Katie and it wasn't because I thought Katie won because she didn't win

Amanda landed a hundred and seven more punches Katie had a point taken away. So It was a draw or Amanda won from my perspective But Katie has an amateur style and does clean one twos in and out and that gets scored well, right? And that's why I thought they were gonna give it to Katie. What about the first fight? First fight I thought was a draw. Okay, five five. Yeah, I thought it was a draw again Amanda was the one that had her in trouble, but Katie's style is, you know, scores points. You were at the first fight.

Jake was obviously there, front row. Did you have any of these plans in your mind at the time? Oh, we could do... Because it took a while. Like two and three came very close. One and two, it took, what, two plus years to get there. Yeah, if you remember two was agreed and then Amanda got injured.

Yes. Right, so that was gonna be a little bit closer. Yeah. That I think would be at this point, this fast, because I still think it's fast, right? It's three years later. Yeah. And now we're headlining Madison Square Garden

with all women that Eddie Hearn has said wouldn't work, isn't as good, but we're gonna have double the ticket sales revenue of the first event. Did I envision that? No. But did we start to really focus on it over the past year? Yes. How's your relationship with Eddie these days? Fine.

Fine. There's no legal stuff that's done? No, there's no legal situation yet. Okay. That's finished, right? That's been, what is it, tossed out or agreed to? Yeah, it's been settled. Okay.

Settled is the word. Of course, we do remember the scene in the ring afterwards What do you think it will be like this week and in particular on fight night? listen, the the biggest thing is what would do the fighters want right and if Katie wants Eddie at the press conference if she wants them walking her to the ring if she wants them in the ring We're totally cool with that. Okay, and does she? I haven't asked. You don't know?

That's not a conversation that I'm having. She'll have him in his corner or in her corner or anything? I don't know. Okay, you did tweet something like two or so days ago. Sometimes you have to like go through your tweets with like a fine tooth comb. Something about like people emulating you. Yeah.

And it's like a form of flattery. Who are you referring to there just? boxing as a whole right in terms of The way we produced our press conferences starting with the Anderson Silva fight. That was the first time where we spent over $300,000 on a press conference, which is what some promotions spend on an event. Mm-hmm. I Which is what some promotions spend on an event. Mm-hmm. I Was referring to our MVP owners experience Someone sent me a clip where they were talking about we're gonna create this new amazing seat I have an idea that we're gonna do these

Unbelievable experiences in the ring We started the MVP owners experience with Paul Tyson for a million dollars the most unbelievable seat and overall package in sports. We sold it then, we sold it for Paul Chavez and we've sorted for Taylor Serrano. So it's just it's just a recognition that look we're a small company but we do some pretty cool innovative things and others follow it and so that's that's a compliment to our team. When you found out that the ring would have an event the next day in New York how did you

feel about that? I loved it. I loved it. Why did you love it? Taylor Serrano won. Bob Arum, as Jake calls him, the dinosaur, but I don't, you know, he's just older, right, at this point, booked Shakur Stevenson on the same night. And people said, why are you doing this?

Taylor Serrano were fighting. Exact words. Nobody cares about women's boxing. No one's watching that. Taylor and Serrano kicked their ass in terms of viewership and ticket sales, right? Then I see they're doing a fight on July 12th with Shakur Stevenson and Edgar Berlango,

who we love and is a Puerto Rican fighter as well. And I loved it again, because it's it's like okay now here are these two women and there's another event right next to them and the biggest reason I loved it to be honest is it gives more to boxing fans and boxing media to cover in one week so I don't view it as being value destructive I view it to be actually value enhancing to boxing for this week. Could I ask I mean I see on social media And and the most the most prevalent site that I see right now is is the ring and they they do seem to take some Subtle shots at you guys with their tweets with the wording does that annoy you?

It's it depends. I'm sure you see this is there are there are writers at the ring which Call us and speak to us and ask for credentials and we're always happy to oblige. We're media loving, right? We want to treat the media well. And then there's like this narrative at the ring which is very confusing. It's like state-owned media almost. It's not an independent source of information.

Like there was one where they were trying to take a shot at ticket prices for Paul Chavez. We did lower ticket prices because it's called dynamic pricing. There was never $10 tickets available and we broke the record after 60 boxing events at that venue. And some reporter from Canada, probably someone you know, I don't know him. Why do you say that? You're Canadian too sort of. I don't, Aaron something?

Oh, Bronstetter. Yes. TSM. Yeah. I don't know him. Why you say that you're Canadian to sort of I don't like Aaron something Oh Braunstetter some yes. Yeah, yes, I'm yeah I'm sure he's a great journalist But I know he's a massive massive Dana White fanboy UFC fanboy from what I've seen historically of his tweets put out something like Context UFC did this much more in? 2007 or something Number one great for UFC 2007 or something. Number one, great for UFC. They were around already at that point 13-14 years. Number two, if you continue to compare us to the biggest fight promotion in the world, that's a major win for us. That means we're doing

something well. We're less than four years into this business and we're continuing to grow. If at any point the ring, Riazis and Zoufah boxing says, hey, we like someone in your stable. We like Alicia Baumgartner. We want to do business. We want to do fight. Are you open to working with them? Same way you're essentially,

Katie's a match room fighter here, right? So would you be open to that? As long as we were in a position of co-control, right? Everything that we've done, we've always had a seat at the table to be a co-decision maker because we want to make sure that our fighters are positioned well and not treated as puppets and that's something that we'll never do. But of course if they came and said, hey let's partner on an event together, we would look at that, no problem. So since announcing all

this, Alicia Baumgartner, Ellie Scotney, Chantel Cameron, Savannah Marshall, Shrinika Johnson, I'm probably forgetting, you had signed Tam Thibault, fellow Canadian. Are there- Sharetta Metcalf. Sharetta Metcalf. Are there others on the radar that you're looking at right now?

Obviously the sort of elephant in the room is Clarissa Shields who I guess we had the back and forth which you responded to about the invite. Was she not invited? Is she invited? She's a free agent after her next fight. Is this she would be the obvious? Are you interested? Listen, the obvious is we want to have the best roster of female fighters in the sport, right? There's obviously hurdles to working with Clarissa given the past public and private conversations that have occurred, but we have nothing but respect for her career, for her accomplishments, and for her independence as like promoting herself, right? The promoter

she works with is a great platform, great guy, but it's not Jake Paul as a as a megaphone it's not the UFC as a megaphone it's not Eddie Hearn as a megaphone so you have to respect what she's done by herself and being able to bring the attention that she has that's how that's what I'll be there on Friday I don't know okay bomb Gardner and Serrano is a fight that's been talked about for a long time now that they're under the same umbrella does it make it easier to make the fight or harder? I think it's in terms of Amanda Serrano. Obviously she has a big fight ahead of her on Friday night and then it's really what she wants to do. It's up to her. She's earned that right

This is her 51st or 52nd fight. She retires with a win I don't know because I feel like all that talk has been about Katie, but she has more fights Obviously the amateur career is a little bit more extensive, but she can't relatively no amateur experience. Just like Jake Paul actually yeah about it She's had 12 fights Jake had one amateur fight against a fellow youtuber. So Do I think she retires? I certainly hope not right because I think she's really come into her own over the past two years Both as a fighter and as a brand and as a businesswoman. But it's whatever she wants to do will support her. That's

why we signed a lifetime deal. And that's why when she retires from inside the ring, she's going to get very active outside the ring. And then I'll finally be able to call her on her phone. Ah, is it true? She still doesn't have one. She does. She now has a total wireless phone, but it's not something that she actively uses. So if you want to interact with her, what do you do? Most of the time I call Jordan, and Jordan will put her on the phone. Golly, and the socials and all that?

She's on the socials with her phone, for sure, for sure. Okay, so can you tell us about the relationship with Netflix? Are you going case by case? They're dipping their toe, they're getting obviously more and more into one-off events, sporting events. What is MVP's relationship with them? Yeah, what I'll say is the following. When we did Paul Tyson, everyone said, oh my God, is this like, are they going to do more? And I said, do more, they haven't done one. They need to see if it works. If it works, is what I would say to everybody, 100% they're going to do more because it worked. They did one, it more than worked, it

broke down the entire platform at some level, right? It was an unbelievable success that no one could have imagined. I told everyone we're going to break the record for streaming in the US, we tripled it, right? I told everyone we're going to break the record for biggest women's event in the US, we 4x'd it. So it was a success. After that of course they wanted more. But the question is was that an anomaly or do they have something here that can actually work on a consistent basis? Not at that level like 108 million live viewers, Super Bowl, Jake Paul, Mike Tyson, it's not going to be recurring, but can you get 20 million viewers, 30 million viewers? If you can, then there's something there. So they're doing this event with us, they have the

event with Canelo in September, right? And I think once they see how those go, then they'll determine if they want to actually invest more heavily, because then we'll say, okay, it was an anomaly. It actually is something we need to get dig deeper into boxing. What will be a win? What's the number that you're happy with on Friday? Listen, I would be happy if if the athletes go in there and put on a show. And I'll talk about the viewership. Do you have a number? You don't have to tell us the number. Is there a thing you're like, I want to break this number? Yeah, we definitely have a number that we think would be successful, right? I think about Paul Tyson and the number that we had,

again, we smashed. The success of this event will be based on our ability to remind the 70 plus million people that watched the first one that these two athletes are fighting again. Yes. Within boxing, massive event, right? But boxing is a fairly small ecosystem with a passionate fan base

The reason Jake Paul is successful The reason that fight the first the second one was successful is because you're getting into the broader Sports world and then to mainstream and so the question is can we do a good enough job of getting the broader sports? Ecosystem and the mainstream to focus on us this coming Friday night. And I'm pretty hopeful we can. That's the greatest point of all. I was at a friend's birthday party last week. Know nothing about fighting. Only watch Paul Tyson, honestly, because I was working in and they wanted to support. They don't watch pay-per-view. I was at their party, the wife's birthday party last week,

and I was like, you remember those two girls that you wouldn't stop talking about? They're fighting again on Friday. There you go. She's like, holy shit, I need to watch. She obviously didn't know cause she doesn't follow the sports. So you have to get those people, right? The soccer moms, everyone that tuned in to watch and, uh, I'm seeing it.

I'm seeing the billboards. I'm seeing all that stuff is part of the, is part of the, the, the, the motivation. Do you want to do better than Canelo Crawford? No, that, that. Is it, do you think that's attainable? I don't because if you look at the fan bases of the two fighters, of the headliners, right? Amanda is Puerto Rican. American but Puerto Rican, right? Born in Puerto Rico, New Yorker.

Fairly small population relative to Mexico. And if you look at Ireland, massive fan fan base for Katie, but again, a fairly small, true Irish population. I think Canelo in Mexico is going to be massive. Do I think Canelo Crawford is going to come close to Paul Tyson? No, but that's not because it's not a great fight for boxing. It's just Paul Tyson was a sixth generational cross cultural mainstream massive moment in time. So We're not looking at Canelo Crawford as a as a comp We're looking at as our event as being successful just a couple more than I'll let you go I feel like I've been on a treadmill on like level 15 here peppering you with questions. We haven't talked about his ranking

Well, it is literally you were here. It was literally the rank I have a list in my mind the ranking number 14 WBA that was literally the next question Is he going to remain ranked because people were upset about this? What's happening? And now they're- Who's upset? I don't know, people, you know, JoeX495.

You have no idea how many people tell us how people are trying to keep Jake out of boxing. How people are calling different people and say if you work with MVP you can't work with us and To me saying this who's saying this whoever it may be we know who it is this is a very small world and We're gonna continue to be gentlemen and keep confidential in terms of what we hear in the marketplace, but it's it's laughable Right that you're that bothered by this young man and his success and his impact on the sport

That you're going to to that You know to that length. I have no idea if the WBA is going to review it as of right now. He's 14 He's number 14. Yeah, and I have a list here. I've been looking at it. Okay, the WBO number 11 fighter And again, this is nothing against these fighters This is just what this ranking systems are and this is the reality of the sport. The number 11 cruiserweight in the WBO is 20 fights in, 28 fights in. His 27th fight was against a guy, so his second last fight, was against a guy who was 5 and 18 in a six round fight. And that 5 and 18 guy was coming off of

eight consecutive losses. Is that a tougher opponent or Nate Diaz in a 10 round fight or Anderson Silva or Tyron Woodley who are certified killers who are coming in and looking to put an end to Jake Paul. The guy fought a guy who was coming off of 18 consecutive losses and he's ranked number 11. How is Jake different in that in terms of the competition? WBA is number 13. The WBA. So Jake is 14, the number 13 guy. 12 fights in. His last fight was against the guy who was 5 and 8 and was 2 and 4 going into that fight. Is that a tougher competitor than Chavez Jr. who has the whole world watching him wants to dethrone Jake Paul and then my favorite one is the WBC number 14 he's 50 and 10 which is pretty

accomplished 44 years old and his last fight was against the guy who was 8 and 2 and you look at that and say that's that's okay that's that's pretty good except the guy who was 8 and 2 his eight victories were against opponents whose total combined wins were seven wins Do you follow? Yes. Yes, so literal tomato cans that were put there to lose and these guys are ranked and Everyone's upset Jake Paul has never fought an opponent That was there to lose every opponent based on his development as a boxer has been challenging for him when he fought Ben Askren Dana White said I'll put a million dollars that Ben Askren is going to be Jake Paul because everyone knew Jake was fairly new To the sport and he wasn't quote unquote a fighter yet

We saw what happened with Ben by the way, obviously our thoughts are with Ben respect I Also want to actually on that point also give our condolences to the Brady family for Jeff Brady. One of our team members Melissa Henrichs was very close to him and very sad to see what happened there. What a hero in terms of him giving his own life to save two young children. So I want to say that before we leave here. But going back to the rankings, that was Ben Askren. Then he fought Tyron Woodley. Do you think Tyron Woodley was coming

in to end his legacy for a couple of million dollar payday? No, he was coming in there to actually beat Jake Paul and continue to make massive amounts of money in boxing. And Jake dealt with that. Every step of the way, the competition has been fairly matched for Jake from our perspective, right? Tommy Fury, as we talked about earlier, a very experienced guy who had been boxing since he was five, six years old. For Jake, a massive challenge who was in the sport for three years. And it was a split decision and Jake knocked him down.

So I think it's totally unfair that people look at Jake and say he shouldn't be ranked when you look at the composition of the opponents of some of the other folks that are ranked. Do I understand some of the negative sentiment because people can't grasp why this young man has so much of a draw, so much of an interest from the general public? Yeah, I guess so. But that's what's important is that you want to be someone that draws attention, right? Lomachenko, a decorated amateur, obviously. I think he had a title fight in his second fight. Why? Because he had a decorated amateur career, I guess, right? But

it wasn't like he'd earned his stripes. Wasn't like he was ranked out the gate after one fight. So I think it's a bit of pick and choose in terms of how people wanna take shots. You can take shots of lots of things in boxing. Jake is a good target, because he gets lots of attention. And we're hopeful that the WBA continues to recognize him as a ranked fighter,

but ultimately if they decide to change it, that just speaks to what boxing is. Because somebody called you and said they were upset about Jake being ranked. It's ridiculous. Is he gonna fight again this year? Absolutely. That's the plan?

What time frame? 100%. November, December. Who's the front runner? I'm seeing him tonight for dinner and we'll have that conversation. The front runner or Jake? Jake Paul. Oh.

Is tank a real possibility? The only possibility right now man is that Jake wants to fight for a belt as soon as possible. That's the real like that. Could that happen this year? I think it's I got to talk to him I think it's tough this year because Badu Jack who's who he wants to fight more so than anyone has a has a mandatory rematch with the guy he just beat per the WBC. So I don't know if this year is possible. We'll see. But he will fight this year. 100%. Yeah. Look, that's the plan. That's the plan. First things first though, July 11th, this Friday, Netflix, the Mecca, Madison Square Garden.

There's the poster. It's a tremendous poster, by the way. Greatness demands a trilogy. 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.mm. Pacific prelims on the MVP and Netflix YouTube channels Yeah so if you look at Paul Tyson we had over 10 million viewers on the prelims and So which is a massive number for anything to have that kind of viewership So we're we're excited about the prelims here and given the UK time frame, right? Having Chantel Cameron on there on the prelims, that will be great. And then, yeah, 8 p.m. Eastern goes into the main part.

Which fight steals the show? Not the main event if you have to pick a sleeper fight. I think Savannah and Shadayja is going to be electric. I think those two are going to come in there and bang it out. I think Ellie Scotney is going to put on a performance of a lifetime. She's facing a very tough opponent, right? Not an easy fight, but Ellie's a supreme supreme boxer I think Shiretta and sugar neeks Johnson is gonna be very exciting, right?

Big big opportunity for both of them and look you have two unified championships and you have three undisputed Championships in one night. It's gonna be just just a magical magical moment for the sport. Incredible. Thank you for coming in. Thank you. Appreciate it. There he is co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions the one and only Nikita Bedarian. Quick break, super chats, then we say goodbye because I have to go. Don't go anywhere. It's good to see you. You too man. How are you? I'm doing great. By the way, you were at Mania? Mania? Oh my god. Let me tell you something brother. You were right there in the freaking front row man.

Oh my god. Like again. You put the ones up. I saw you. Bro, cause like my boy Shata, stay hydrated. Everyone knows who that is. Luca, he's the best. The best in the game. Is he here too? No, no, no. He's the best in the game. He's a big wrestling fan. And he got me into a rumble when I was in Saudi I watched that live and then I was like, okay, let me see how this plays out So it's been on Netflix now, so I kind of pop in I just put on the TV sometimes in the background Still trying to follow the storylines, but now I was like your WrestleMania Childhood dream. Yeah, you know you had never been right never been to a wrestling show live

So I'll never be the one ever Wow, so of all the ones to go to that Allegiant Stadium massive you walk in there and I'm just like they both of them both days were insane you went to both right fuck yeah yeah yeah I'm the DC was on day one as well as giving him shit yeah who did he who his guy lost fuck I can't remember but yeah it was just it was amazing just being there it's like a childhood dream ticked off. Just to be at WrestleMania watching these guys that I've watched since I was a kid, that I've learned from unknowingly as well, not knowing I was gonna do this shit growing up. But yeah, it was insane and it was, yeah, one for the books. The production is insane, right?

The energy, the stage, the ramp. The crowd, it's fucking packed. And they all know what they're doing, like when Jey Uso pulled up and they're all singing they're doing. Like when J-Usso pulled up and they all like, singing the theme song, and Stone Cold pulled up on the ATV as well. That was just classic. I loved it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a little bumpy. Did it make you think of like, now that you actually got the feel? I already said I will do it one day. I know, but now that you're actually there, Oh yeah, one day. Did it make it even more intense?

Nah, oh, what do you mean? Like, fuck, I really wanna do this. I wanna do it just like, cameo. Yeah, yeah, yeah mean? Like, like, fuck, I really want to do this. I want to do it just like cameo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I say, I don't want to be in there every week. I just feel like for me, I like to write my own story in my life as the narrator or player or whatever. So that would be fun to just like do a cameo pop in there like Mayweather did one time, headlock, and then gap it.

Speaking of which, like so you mentioned Saudi, and again, thank you for being here. This is great. Thank you for having me. I love it, and I love the shirt. We'll get to the young man in a moment. Come on, man. The man who's here, yes.

I got goosebumps again. Khomein, man, you looked so good in that fight, and I said on the Monday after that it was unfortunate because I felt, and now I can't even ask you, you were rolling, you got poked in the eye, mistake, unintentional, and you just brushed it off. Okay, there's my conversation with Israel Adisonia from June 26th. That was a great conversation, a quick one with one, I mean it was like 40 minutes, but

there was a lot to get to there and I feel like we got to a lot of it, the vast majority of it. I'm actually very excited to be hosting the face-to-face, I love doing those face-to-faces, you know the ones, right, where one person sits. Some people like to sit with the chair like facing this way, I'm not really that guy if I'm being honest, I'm more of a chair side-to-side guy, you know like side-side and then I just sit like this like a normal but some people like the anyway super chats do we have any super chats okay what's that what's that said of course we do his PT still here how are the pretzels he's enjoying the pretzels fellow Phil Australian. Let's get PT in one of the chairs back there.

That'd be fun. You know, like. What else? What else? Benny Avina says, crack your back with the boys in the back. Nice one. Thanks, Benny.

Cosmo Kramer, vibes are peak with PT in studio. This is Shlant. Shlant. Shlant? What was that? What was that? What was that? Sasha?

What else? Then we have 24 inch dubs. Teddy Roosevelt had boxy matches on the White House lawn. This feels like a Ben Foulkes feature story. The time Teddy Roosevelt, or Roosevelt, is it Roosevelt or Roosevelt? Roosevelt. Yeah, shout out.

We got Wally back here. What do we got? What do we got? He's trying to figure out the headphones. Oh for fuck's sake. Look at this guy. I've got double headphones. I've got headphones and I got the ear thing. You're still wearing the ear thing. Why don't you pull it out of your ear? Listen, it's tough back here GC. With the button press. You can just flick it. You don't have to hold. So am I talking now? Yeah, you're talking. It what are you doing back there pretzels sitting on some pretzels with case? Have some pretzels and what by the way? Why does it say Kevin David back there? Well, those are the evidence the the bagel and the coffee

Yeah, no yourself. I got I went to Wagman's I got a roast beef sandwich nice You weren't just locked in on the show. I'm sitting here working. You're going out and about. He did not see shit from the show. I was like, did you see that Josh Mann interview? It was great. He's like, the who?

The who? Who's that? Yeah, no, you seem to be doing a great job, man. Nah, I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Three and a half hours here. Sweating my, you know, I'm knackered back here. It's been tough for me to be just kind of standing around the place for this long.

No, I got it. I got it. Why don't you go to the media day? What's that? I don't know. What else? Darvin asked, Derek Lewis versus a Russian on the White House card? Yeah, it's not bad. I mean, who knows? It's impossible to predict these things. I mean, who knows? It would be nice. Maybe Jake Paul on the card. What else, Frank? In today's episode of Weird YouTube Videos for You, Ariel, Carl Anthony Towns breaking down UFC 274

with James Krause. Really? That is a weird one. I will check it out. Shout out to Kat. I miss my boys. I have not seen them in two weeks. It's been two weeks, and I will see them in two weeks.

I'm very excited about that the next no I was talking about my actual boys because they they tell me about all the carl anthony towns videos so that made me think of okay what else Emily when belongs sends over 19 tiebot which is 53 cents american thank you th THB is Thai? Bought, yeah.

Bought as in B-O-T? B-A-H-T. Hmm, thank you, Emily, appreciate it. Very kind, how much is it equal to? 53 cents. Yeah, one Thai baht is... Come on, Emily. A little over half a dollar.

We could do a little bit. I mean, the air time that we've just devoted to this is worth more than 53 cents. We appreciate all our fans and all their superchats. Thank you very much to Emily do dollars and 90 cents to get on the train these days. Yeah, what else? What else for fantastic MMA sends a cool emoji, but I love the profile picture I love the name, you know, I have to say like for $1.99 the cool emoji. Is it really worth our time here? I mean the band Really appreciate it. We appreciate it. Thanks, Fantastic.

And Jake from Weddie City finishes us off with, when will the USC media rights deal be finalized? You know, there was a hot rumor that they were gonna announce something at International Fight Week. Obviously that didn't happen. They also said they were gonna announce Heavyweight Title and it happened. Before, who knows?

I mean, it could literally happen. I remember when they did the ESPN deal, it was announced in May for January start. I mean, there's five more months. Technically, I guess it could happen in December. Do I think it's gonna happen in December? No. Do I think it happens before? Yes.

Do I think it happens in the next five months? Yes. Why do I feel like a September-ish range seems like a thing? Why do I feel like that's a thing? I don't know. But the last I heard was June International Fight Week. Since then, I've not heard anything.

Was that it? 430 Hard Out. What are you guys going out for dinner or what PT? Yeah they're trying to make me see insects and I'm not into it. We're doing fight feasts in New Orleans. We're going to get a crawfish broil. They're going to get a crawfish broil.

That makes you look like an optical illusion. Ben folks what a bollocks. Rick is out there coming in and seeing me in his seat. Look at this yeah it's finished buddy they what the fuck is this he's been freaking he's been setting up shop I know it the press the button now I still flick it you just flick it man no no no no no no quick you're not talking like it's not's not working Fuck guys, it's literally just clicking a button

Can you do the crack from there on Friday just so you don't mess anything up here? It's so fucking easy What about our mugs though? What about our mugs? Should we sell these? Yeah, we had a little malfunction when Nikkisi saw me washing and he was like, I'm not putting my water in that dirty ass mug. For real. I was like, next time. By the way, I was wondering why he came in with the plastic. I thought we were eliminating the plastic.

The future, we don't even give them the option. Why? So wait, he saw you washing the mug and said. He saw it in the box and then yeah, he saw me washing it like a bus boy in the back. Bro, you took it out of the box in front of him? We didn't have any other option. I accidentally left it in the box and then yeah he saw me washing it like a bro like a bus boy in the back i was bro you took it out of the box in front of him we didn't have any other option i actually left it in the studio ah yes i was wondering why you left them all i was so damn excited about him i left them in the studio tomorrow turned it down tomorrow yeah he was like nah nah man appreciate it what's that

when i said he tried yep i don't believe him hey thanks to all our guests thank you to nakisa thank you to josh van Thank you to Josh Van. Thank you to Frankie Bellamere. And of course, thank you to Butterbeet. Back tomorrow same time, but this is a piece of matter. James Tohono.