The Ariel Helwani Show - Leon Edwards’ nightmare, UFC London buzz, KSI out of Danis fight, GFL debut | The Craic

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

Veteran U.K. journalist Chisanga Malata of The Sun joins the show to talk about the buzz in London (2:43) ahead of Leon Edwards’ main event clash with Sean Brady. After Michael Bisping claims that Sean Brady was a nightmare matchup for the former welterweight champion, Petesy and Chuck weigh-in on how they feel the two match up (21:29).After speaking with surging light-heavyweight Carlos Ulberg in the lead up to his co-main event meeting with Jan Blachowicz, Chuck talks about the impression Ulberg gave him ahead of the biggest test of his career (33:20). The lads look at the rest of the card and discuss some interesting storylines they are excited to see play out (40:50).Petesy breaks the news to Chuck about KSI pulling out of his boxing bout with Dillon Danis (47:28), before they take a look at the fights GFL announced for their debut event in May (48:51).Finally, the lads give their picks for the main event and the co-main event of UFC London (01:07:00).

Welcome to the crack, my beautiful crack heads. How are you all? It is of course UFC London Fight Week. It is tomorrow of course, UFC London Fight Week. It is tomorrow, of course, that the event goes down. We had the official weigh-ins this morning. The ceremonial weigh-ins are about to pop off just in the next hour or so. We will be joined by the great Chisanga Malata of The Sun, a veteran UK journalist. At the top of the show, he is in the O2.

He is waiting for these lads to do the old dance again, tops off, knuckle to knuckle. It's all going to happen. Ornair Jordan is showing us the way in from earlier today. And we also have the return of Chuck Mendenhall. We thought he had just left us forever, but he is back. Everyone in the comments can now stop abusing me. I have him back.

Chisanga and Chuck, what a combination. Welcome to the show. My loves. How are you both? What's up, Pizzi? I'm glad that you kind of frame it like with the knuckles out. You still envision the fight game from like a hundred years ago. I can appreciate that, man.

Thank you, man. It's a, it's a, it's a big deal for me. And Chisanga, Chisanga making a special effort. He's got himself into a little room so we can talk to us at this way. And just sangha, how are you, mate? Very, very good. I like it. Yeah.

So you must've had an early one today. Just saying, I mean, were you up for the ceremonials? Were you out there? I mean, were you up for the ceremonials? Were you out there? I mean, sorry, the official weigh-ins were you cutting tape this morning at 9am? Indeed I was, indeed I was. But this time, as I spoke to you yesterday, as I told you yesterday, my laptop had died, but today I had a working laptop.

So yeah, it was good. The weigh-ins were over very quickly, obviously, because Leon and Sean weighed number one and number two. And then I believe it finished just in an hour and 15. Christian Leroy Duncan was the last man on the scale. But yes, I was there bright and early, five hours sleep. My daughter was keeping me up as she always does, but wouldn't have it any other way. Lots of coffee.

Lots of coffee to get me through. It's always the way. Uh, we have, uh, Chuck obviously here, he's wrote some great piece about Leon Edwards, one which should be going up on un-crowned as we are doing the show right now. We have also got a piece of a Carlos Ulberg who's taking on Jan Bojovic in the calm main event, very, very interesting stuff. I guess, um, before we, uh, get talking about all the ins and outs of outs of this just to say what's it like on the ground over there what is the boys we've seen the uk scene kind of hit a height that hasn't previously at two thousand twenty two i always said i asked me volkoff card was like a high watermark for the sport what is the bulls this time around. high water mark for the sport. What is the buzz this time around?

I don't think it's as big as it was around 2022 or even 2023 when Leon had the grand homecoming in the trilogy fight with Kamaru Usman. Even making my way here, there weren't as many fans, you know, the diehard fans who were here like two hours before the queue to the O2 even opens up. Although there was a small pop-up, well, WWE TKO UFC store, which I think we're going to be seeing a lot of around the world in years to come. There were a few fans queuing there, but I just don't think the buzz for this one is

as big. I don't know whether it's maybe because Leon uh, Leon's lost a bit of, uh, uh, a bit of a luster because he lost the title and the manner in which he lost the title, but it's definitely not as big as it has been in, uh, in years gone by, but I think that will change tomorrow night. There will change maybe in just over an hour's time after these two go toe to toe the way you were describing, like, uh, the old pugilist of years gone by. And just like, like the, the ticket prices,

this was always like a, the kind of the sub story, right? Every time that the UFC goes to England, the ticket prices were out, you know, just kind of outside the realm of any normal fan being able to just afford to buy a ticket and go to what is it like this time? I kind of did like, I did a piece today on Leon.

I kind of just glanced at it, just to see, and is it like this time? I kind of did like, I did a piece today on Leon. I kind of just glanced at it, just to see, and it looked like the cheapest ticket was in like the 350 pound range somewhere in that round. Is that, is that about right? Yeah, that's, that's about right. So those are the official tickets, which are still on sale. But then you also have ticket touts or scalps, as you call them in, uh, in America

who buy and hoard lots of tickets and then try to resell them for extortionate prices. They're still trying to sell them for extortionate prices, but I think come tomorrow, some of the prices will tumble down because these scalps want to try and make the money that they put out buying all these tickets back. But yeah, it's crazy that these tickets cost so much. I was talking to a work experience kid who's actually come with me. I've actually left it with all my stuff in the, in the arena right now.

A shout out to a young Daniel Clark, who's doing a great job helping us. Um, I told him back in the day, the first UFC that I went to, I believe it was UFC 89 and that was Bisping versus Levin and that was in, that was in Birmingham and I got my ticket and that was in the NEC arena. I don't know if you've been to the NEC arena, uh, PC. Yeah, in Birmingham. Yeah.

But I was in the lower, like the lower, it's not necessarily a bowl, but I was in like one of the lower tiers and that ticket cost me 50 pounds and I had one of the best, one of the best views, uh, that I've ever had for a UFC UGBAL since Yeah, one of the best views that I've ever had for a UFC up-bought since, well, since before I became a reporter and everything. But yeah, it's just crazy that UFC have maintained these prices, the prices they set for the UFC 286, the trilogy fight between Usman and Edwards, which you could kind of justify it then because you had pay-per-view star and Justin Gaethje, and then you were getting the former pound for pound king and Kamaru Usman.

And, uh, it was Liam's homecoming. So you could kind of justify it in some, uh, weird way, but to just maintain those prices for fight nights is now just, it's ludicrous. And it's just, it's pricing out the, uh, the working class fan, which most UK MMA fans are. Yeah. It's a good point. And I know it's a thing that has been an irritant for the UK fan base.

We've talked about on the crack before, but obviously we're back in London. We had Manchester last time and there was this big rejoicing. Oh, we're out of London. Finally, you're going somewhere else in the UK. And then they put it on in the middle of the night. We are back in London, but we're on the right time. Do you think this is a positive development for the UK fan base? It is a positive development, but we both know that if another pay per view comes here,

it's going to be a three o'clock start for the bank card. That's just the way it's going to be. Dana and the UFC brass and the ESPN brass or whoever will be in charge of the pay-per-views going forward next year. They're not going to sacrifice pay-per-view buys in the North American market just to cater for us Europeans. So yeah, the next time they come here for a pay-per-view, it's going to be, it's going to be a late one. It's going to be lots of coffee. And I will send you on errands to go get me sandwiches like I did last time. Yeah, pizza.

You don't have to tell anyone this. You don't have to tell anyone about this. Jesus Christ. I like to hear the dirt. This is good stuff, man. Go and get me some biscuits. I'm like, oh. No, no, no.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'll be back, sir. Not quite how it went down. I just kindly asked and you kindly obliged. I'll never forget it. One of our many touching cage side stories, we should write a novel about this. That would be good.

Let me ask you both this because I know that PC a couple of years ago, you coined this, I think, and other people have ran with it, including the UFC, I believe, with just the golden era, right? Of the UK MMA scene and like it moving in. And I know that we're, you guys are talking about UFC 286, but even before them the year prior, and when you had Patty on the same card, um, you know,

with Tom and all that stuff, and it just seemed like that market was just as hot as it could get, um, and there, you had so many prospects you had, you know, Leon just, you know, kind of get into where people thought he could be. He would eventually obviously become like the lifeblood of the country when he gets this thing and everybody can relate to this guy and now you have Tom, but are we still in that golden era? I just like, it's funny to look at it because I feel like some of that buzz, even though the fighters themselves, I know that Molly McCann and some of them

have not, you know, have, they're not winning a ton of fights, but the main players are still intact, including Patty Pimblett, who's got Michael Chandler, but do you guys kind of see it? Are we still in this golden era or is it already kind of slipping off of that? I think it is because we've still got, um, the likes of Arnold Allen's in their prime. Patty Pimblett is just approaching his prime and, uh, Tom Aspinall, whose prime is currently being wasted at this moment

in time due to a certain pound for pound great is very much still in it. And the way I gauge it as well, I gauge it on the casual interest and there's still, I think there's still such a casual interest in it, particularly from my boss as well, who's the most casual of USC fans. And he's like, oh, I've heard about Arnold Allen, this guy that loves a meal deal. Can we do a story and get videos of him eating a meal deal? This is my public pitch, Arnold, to do that feature. But that'd be a brilliant feature, by the way. Tesco meal deals.

Yeah. But even I mentioned before, I have a work experience kid with me who's 20 and he pretty much knows everything about all our current crop of UK fires. So I think we still are in a golden age. We're in a healthy position, especially with Tom and Leon. But I think the sentiment that some people have that maybe we're on a little bit of a decline, it only takes like a couple more wins. Like say if Molly McAnlis to get two more spectacular wins and, uh, Arnold Allen puts

together a wind streak and Lerone Murphy is obviously leading the charge and he's got a massive fight coming up, uh, in two weeks time against, uh, uh, Josh Emmett at the, uh, world world famous apex. Talk about a hot bed. Yeah. Talk about a hot bed. Yeah, talk about a hot bed. And if he wins, that will further my belief that we still are in the golden age. Yeah, I think that's a fair point. And look, I'll be remiss if I didn't ask, you brought him up there, Tom Aspilow,

and the word on the street was that this would be a big negotiation week for Tom Aspilow on the UFC and there would be progress made. Look, you've been there all week. You're not going to come on this show and tell me, you know, absolutely nothing about these developments. Are you just saying? I'm as clueless as the next man. Honestly, honestly.

You know, you know what Tom is like. He likes to keep, uh, play things close to the chest and what have you. Honestly, honestly. You know what Tom is like. He likes to keep playing things close to the chest and what have you. But I saw him yesterday actually, I did a round table sit down with Michael Bissing and I briefly saw him. I was going to ask him, what's going on? But I know he's getting so annoyed by everybody. So like in the brief interaction that I had with him and his dad, I just asked, Hey, how you guys doing? And what have you? Um, but yeah,

Tom, what is going on? It's, we need to, I believe it was you PC, who was saying that if we didn't have an announcement this week, which we could still very well get, um, the alarm bells should be ringing for this fight. And, uh, yeah, the week is fast drawing to a close. I mean, but when you said that, I convinced myself, I was like, oh yeah, something's gonna happen. Something's gonna happen. So much so that I have a draft Aspinal versus Jones story

ready to go, ready to just press publish. You've talked me into it, P.T. for saying that. But yeah, I think we're all just lamenting Tom Asimov's prime slowly but surely withering away. There's rumors, I believe it was Ariel who said on the Uncrowned Europe 313 recap that John and his team want at least six months to prepare for this fight. And if that's the case, at least, yeah. And if that's the case, that's what September at the earliest, anything can happen during that time.

Anything can happen during that time. Like Tom, Tom could get injured or what have you. It's yeah, it's frustrating to say it's frustrating to say the least for us, but I can imagine if you're the Wigan warrior who's just itching to get a fight, I really do feel for him. What is the mood like in terms of like British MMA when it comes to guy like Tom Aspinall, because even here in the States, man, we, everybody kind of gets the sense. I mean, if you talk to even casual people, they're like, that's a bad

thing for Sean Jones. I think that there's just this coronation that's waiting to happen. Like Tom Aspinall will finally, you know, get his chance. He would make the most of it and, you know, all this sort of thing. He presents the biggest challenge to John Jones. That would be the biggest doubt ever cast on a John Jones fight. But what is it like there, man? Is it, it feels like we're in such a purgatory.

Are people just like, what, what is the fan base? How are they handling this? You know what I mean? Or how do they look at John Jones at this point? people just like, what, what, what is the fan base? How are they handling this? You know what I mean? Or how do they look at John Jones at this point? Um, I mean, I keep bringing up this work experience kid. He's getting more shout outs than, uh, than Averon, which I'm surprised. I'm disappointed we didn't get an average shout out.

Back to, back to the point, uh, at hand, he doesn't really know John Jones and the UFC's new demographic is young males like him. He's 21. So the young demographic now is 18 to 25 year olds and a lot of these guys, young girls, they don't know the body of work that John Jones has. They weren't there during the come ups, so they don't understand just how good he was. And a lot of people just automatically assume that Tom is going to Mollywap it, which could very well happen.

I mean, it could. I don't necessarily foresee that happening. I think Tom is going to be a bit cautious to begin with when this fight happens, but yeah, the overwhelming sentiment, I believe for most youngsters are kids, uh, as I now have to call them now that I'm 35, they think, they think that Tom's going to walk through John, which as I said, just a few seconds ago, I don't think is going to happen whatsoever. Wait another six months when people are like, who's Tom Aspinall? to happen whatsoever.

We have another six months when people are like, who's Tom Aspinall? Oh my God. What a weird situation. Just saying, we only have you for a few more minutes. So I got to ask, uh, Leon, uh, I feel Leon is a bit awkward this week because a lot of people, um, you know, they saw his interview with Ariel, he's making excuses about the Bilal thing. Um, there's all this talk and I'll talk to Chuck about this later. Cause he just wrote a piece about it.

This potentially being his last kind of chance to get back in that total mix, given the fact that the UFC didn't exactly float the idea of an immediate rematch beyond Belal Mohammed. Um, tell me what, what's the impression you get of Leon this week? Um, he comes across as quietly confident, but I think the manner in which he lost to Belal has to have shaken his confidence. It has to, I mean, we looked over each other again for tales for PC and Chisanga's octagon, octagon stories.

But I remember we looked at each other when this happened and we were like, is this, is this really, really happening? Leon is, I don't want to say lack of us, but because far be it for me to, to critique a fighter when I'm just the worst amateur fighter there could ever be. But, uh, yeah, I think he's, I think I sensed a bit of nerves. I got a little bit of nervous energy and That's completely understandable given the fact that if he loses this Then he's gonna be right down in the title picture and he's gonna have to probably go on like a four or five fight win

streak and ice everybody in the process to even get back in the conversation with the UFC brass let alone the fans who like it's well, I'd probably say fans outside of Europe who are so quick to talk. Uh, well, I was going to swear there or talk rubbish about Leon and put down his, you can do that. You know, you can do that here. Okay. I'm trying to save spot. Fuck any shit.

But no, yeah. Um, Leon finds himself in a position where this is almost, it's not a must lose. Obviously his career is not over if he loses, but his title aspirations are well and well and truly in tatters if he doesn't get the job done. But I also don't think if he just gets a decision that they're going to be, that his title hopes are going to be solidified. And as he says, he gets the next title shot, he needs to do something spectacular against Sean Brady. And I spoke to Michael Bisping yesterday and he said that he needs to,

to be aggressive and not allow Sean Brady to dictate the pace. And that's what, that's very much what he needs to do in this fight, because if he does what he did against the Lowe and Colby Covington and Kamara Usman and let them come forward and counter and then try land a kick off a parry and then circle out that could sell very, very bad news for him in this fight. So yeah, we need an aggressively on Edwards in this fight. Speaking of Michael Bisping, just one final question before I let you go.

Michael Bisping said just last month when when he was when he was thinking about this fight, I believe it was when Madalena got switched out for Brady. We have the quote up here from on our Jordan. Thank you very much. This is a kind of nightmare situation for Leon Edwards, not saying Leon can't beat him, but stylistically and on short notice, this is a very, very different fight and potentially harder fight than Jack Della Maddalena. Jack Della Maddalena, as we know, fighting Bilal Mohammed now for the welterweight title. Tshisanga, just before you go, how do you read that having been there in Manchester and watched

Bilal's suffocating wrestling style against Leon? Yeah, I think, yeah, even from a training perspective, you would assume that Leon and his team led by Dave Lavelle and coach Henry Tomlinson would have predominantly been focusing on striking for JDM, in particular boxing and the boxing exchanges, and gearing their cardiovascular output for those. Cardiovascular output for wrestling and getting off the fence and everything is a whole nother ball game. Not to say that they weren't doing that in general, they obviously would be doing that

to maintain it, but you need to build up a base fitness and then peak and then what have you. And four weeks preparation time is not ideal to do that. I think it is a nightmare situation. Leon, as he has many a time, many a time drawn the short straw in this, so much so that Bilal said that I took his belt and I took his opponent. Bilal's social media, I know I'm digressing here,

but Bilal's social media drives are becoming a lot better these days. So you've got to give him credit for that. But yeah, Leon,, it's not, it's not ideal. And also if again, if he loses, uh, people aren't going to give him the grace and say that, ah, well he took the fight on four weeks. No, as people are only just going to see that, ah, he's lost again to another grapple heavy, a grapple heavy fire. And this is his kryptonite, which I don't think it is obviously for the last few years he's prepared for nothing but wrestling grapplers.

But yeah, I think. Yeah. I know you're going to ask for my predictions. I'll hold off actually. I'll hold off for that. Well, with that said, just before you go to Zynga, what's your prediction? Well, my prediction, I think I've convinced myself that I think Leon is going to go in the front foot in this fight. He's not going to sit back.

He's not going to want to lift the counter. He's going to want to try and make a statement to get that second shot at welterweight gold, which I don't know if that's even going to come this year because obviously you've got Shavkat Rachmanoff waiting in the wings, but we don't know when he's going to be fit. I think Neil's going to knock Sean Brady out and I think he's going to go take him out in the third round. That's, that is my prediction. Mystic Malakos.

You're the man. It was great having you on the show. You can go and enjoy the beautiful ceremonial weigh-ins, you know, go and tell that, you know, train ego you have. Tell him to do everything. You should just kick back there. You're a legend of the scene now. Surely, you know, this guy can do the do the donkey work here, no? No, I can't do that. I brought him here, painted back. Just, yeah, give him back the same way that Gareth A. Davis kind of let me shadow him back in the day when I was just a fledgling young journalist. So it's a circle of life.

That's a book in itself. Oh my God. Talking about that book. That is a book in itself. That is, yeah. I can add some chapters to that book too. I think we all could. Cheers.

You're the man. Thank you so much for coming on. Um, and I hope to have you on again soon. Enjoy the fights, mate. See you, man. Thank you very much. coming on. Um, and I hope to have you on against you and enjoy the fight. See you, man. Thank you very much. Absolute pleasure, gents.

Take care. Well, there he was just sang him a lot of Chuck. Yeah. I mean, I'm kind of, I'm kind of, I understand where Bisping is coming from with this. Um, I went back and I watched Belal V Brady and I think it's Bilal's finest performance. I completely thought Sean Brady was going to win that fight. But when I watched that again, I'm kind of looking at ways like if Leon isn't tentative and that's something that people have complained about him being

for a long time, but if he can come out and get on the front foot and get Brady moving backwards, I think that's his best shot at winning this. If he can stuff the first couple of takedowns like Bilal did, I think that really gave him the momentum in the second round and that's obviously where he finished Brady when he fought. What, what do you think? Do you, do you think this is right? I'm watching, you know what I'm saying?

Because there's not a lot of, um, you know, you're not going to find a lot of positive things to look at and to say, Hey, we could dial in on these, um, outside really of that, of that fight with, Hey, we could dial in on these, um, outside really of that, of that fight with, uh, Bilal, right? Like that's, that's really going to be the one where you're like, okay, what if we try to do this same thing? I know that Leon has a very, very good actually take down defense. Um, there's just, there's just strange things about it.

And I think it, it almost, it almost borders, like we talk to us all the time. We get into these analytics and you start to think about stats and just patterns and all that, but really what it comes down to sometimes is the pattern and we've seen guys who kind of have like a really bad moment and a, and a big escalated moment, like where, uh, you know, Balal, I mean, uh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Well, Balal goes in there and wins the belt in a very kind of drowsy way. I, and I'm not taking anything about, you know, away from the way Muhammad

got the belt in the end, like he had to fight just as hard as Leon to get there. But the fight itself, it's not like people are going to go, um, talking about it years to come, you know what I mean? It's not one of those. Edwards just kind of got caught, like kind of pushed to the back through this whole process. Uh, it's just, as long as it was mentioned this, like he, he just kind of got caught, like kind of pushed to the back through this whole process. Uh, as long as it was mentioned this, like he, he just kind of gets pushed aside. Now he's just buried into the title picture.

Where's his confidence? And then you, you know, you, you go into a situation where you're going to be facing, um, like he was mentioning a boxer, a guy who's going to box him, stand up with him in a Della Maddalena. Now you're going against a guy who will be a dogged wrestler in there. I mean that, you know, he will do that. He's going to be heavy in that pursuit. This is a guy who in his last two fights, I pointed this out in the piece.

I just wrote 20 minutes of a 12 takedowns and 20 minutes of control time. I mean, we know what he's going to want to do. It is a nightmare matchup. It really is a nightmare matchup. But if anybody is going to not be dictated on those terms, it's going to be a guy like Leon, because every time we've slept on this guy in the past, the reason he is such a success and the reason we love his medal and where he's from and everything he's about is because he's handled situations like this in

the past. That's where the, that's where the optimism swings back in his favor. I'm not sure like having his country at his side, how much that will mean. I'm hoping, you know, that you get a big inspired effort from him because of the confidence issue. You're not 100% sure. But I think if anybody can kind of, if the UFC is kind of trying in a weird way

to kill him off in terms of being a contender, he's the exact guy to be defiant of that and stubborn to go down. So I kind of give him in the strangest esoteric way, an edge in that. Well, yeah, it's interesting you talk about confidence because I, like, I haven't spoke to Leon, I haven't spoke to anyone in a circle this week. Um, but I wonder how that impacts you, right? Like you're getting ready for this headline event and obviously your opponent goes and he's fighting Bilal and

he said on our aerial show when he was on air this week, he kind of said, well, they didn't want to remove me from this card because I'm like, I'm the headline guy in the UK and it just wouldn't have made sense. They would have never went for that. But then he talks about the Bilal fight and look, I was there at 5 AM as was Cheers who was just on. And the place was like, it was like a mortuary. You know, really like when this was happening, it was crazy, man. It really, it's the most unique thing.

I was at the other one in Manchester as well. And the same kind of feeling just like, how has this happened in the middle of the night, but, um, do you think all this talk of excuses and all this kind of stuff, things he's been asked about, like I saw, uh, I think Matt Brown did something with my fighting about it. He does a regular column there with Damon and I think they were speaking about it as well. Like if you're already kind of having this, um, confidence issue, which

anyone's going to have after a loss, like every fighter is going to have that after a loss. Do you think this kind of ramps it up? Like, is this the last thing you're wanting to be hearing when you're the headline guy pretty much in the hometown? I know he's from Birmingham, but in terms of the UK and now he's fighting this wrestler, a guy who could pose the exact same problem that Palal did. You know, I pointed this out, you know, it's like, you know, red, like red flags from excuses are red flags from the fallen, right?

Like they're usually like this, this kind of thing that if you start to hear excuses, you start to think, oh boy, now we're falling. But it has been rampant in MMA for years. And honestly, if let's say that Leon was just stoical about him, I lost the fight, you know, and just sit and really say it. Who's going to argue in his favor, man?

I mean, besides as people outside the UK, nobody's going to like be at his defense. I felt like he was totally justified in a very strange way to be like, you know, fighting against your biological clock in terms of like, you're used to sleeping at this hour and trying to get in sync with your mind and body was very difficult for me. And yes, there were a few injuries.

I almost, I feel like in some way it's just a defensive mechanism for him to be like, hey man, you caught me at the, you know, in the most vulnerable time you could have, or maybe at my worst. I think that's fair to point out. Obviously the proof is in the pudding on this fight. Like if he goes in there now at a normal time, cause he's going to walk by midnight, right? Like locally, um, this is just a normal, now it's just a normal, um, a normal fight in that sense.

I mean, if he looks the same, we know that it wasn't just this aberration. Now we know that it's, uh, that it's something more and maybe we're looking at the decline of Leon, but I think there are guys like him. And this goes for Bilal too, man. They've had to fight for every scrap they've ever had in this game, man. We talked about Leon coming up and Bilal, um, both

guys who, it felt like they were always behind the eight ball in contendership. Like they were always going to be a guy, if there was a better, sexier matchup that could be justified, that that other guy would get the shot. He had a 10 fight unbeaten streak, which is just incredible, right? Like to not get a title shot. And, uh, and I know there was anyway, in circumstances through that process, but

like he finally gets, he makes the most of it. He had a pretty good run, honestly. Um, and, and still one of the greatest upsets come, come from behind victories of all time. Um, it's just, I think that he's got like, I get, I'm going to give him a pass on excuses. What I'm trying to say, like if he's going to make excuses, he's going to tell us, Hey, this is, let me give you some context for this fight. I'm going to listen, but you'll know whether it was just excuses or if it was

legit come Saturday. Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree with you. And look, it wasn't just him. Like Tom Aspinal, I know he had a very different result that night. He, he said, like, I just didn't sleep the whole day. He was up all night. Like he was awake for 24 hours before he fought that night. And just because the result went his way, nobody ever speaks about that.

But he was like, this was a horrific, horrific time. I was having panic attacks because I couldn't sleep. And obviously that's not going to help you go to bed either. You're trying to go to sleep and you keep like thinking about, I can't go to sleep and then you stay awake. Why am I asleep? I know. It's working great.

But you know, a lot's being made of this from Leon's point of view. You've got the flipper and look over from Sean's as well. Sean had that against Bilal. Everybody thought, like, I think he was the favorite in that fight. And I think he was a guy that people were very excited about. He's got to be looking at this. Like I'm going into fight the former champion who beat like pretty much a generation, a generation of welterweight title contenders.

He was the champion of course. And now like he's got to be thinking like, if I can't get through him here, that's really going to put me behind the eight ball, right? Oh yeah. 100%. But at the same time, you would have to think this was a little bit of a lotto win, even though he's going into a situation where, you know, it's going to be a partisan crowd and Edwards favor. I tried to point this out in the piece, the more booze Sean Brady hears, the

better everything is going, right? Like that means that he is either dictating, like we were talking about, like he's dictating the fight. He's taking it where he wants, which probably means nullifying anything that Leon can do to hurt him. Taking it to the canvas, all that stuff. But this is, if he believes, which I know he does, man, he's full on self belief that he's going to get this done. If he believes he can do it and he is actually able to do it.

You know, this is a huge get for him because the ju- so like the juice that Leon has as a former champion means more to Sean Brady taking it than it would for Leon to beat Sean Brady, you know what I mean? Like Leon's not getting the same juice back. This is kind of one of those things where you're like, it's a thankless task, what he's going in to do for Leon. So Sean Brady, I mean, this is kind of one of those things where you're like, it's a thankless task, what he's going in to do for Leon. So Sean Brady, I mean, this is kind of one of those, those big opportunities that could set him back pretty big time.

Because I think at that point, you would have a pattern established with losses to the two guys who've ruled the division over the last few years. And depending on how he goes down, especially if he gets shut down completely, like he did against a, a Bilal, you would probably say, this guy's not ready. And that's a very hard place to come back from. Yeah. It's, um, it's interesting, like obviously so much to gain here, but it does feel like there is a lot of guys at welterweight, right?

Like Shavkat's just after beating Gary. Gary's upset that Della Madeline has been given a fight. Brady's obviously fighting Leon. If he gets through this, he could be potentially there. Like nobody's even thinking about the fact that. Jack Delamad, Lana beats Belal. What do we do with Belal? It's a really, really,

Belal is not getting that rematch either, man. Belal goes back further than Leon. I guarantee it. Yeah. I think you're right about that one. Yeah. Brady, do you think he still won away after this? Or do you think he's the kind of guy that if he can go in there and say, it's

like, say it's a signature Brady performance, he gets top position. He is dominating this guy. He arm triangles or guillotines or find something off it. What do you do with him then? I think that's his best scenario. He's able to go in there and just kind of go right through Leon because nobody does that. You know what I mean?

Nobody just goes through Leon like that. That's the one of the greatest things about him is that he's, you know, he's nobody's chump change man. You know what I mean? Like he's going to show up. So if he was able to do that in Leon's home country, I think that would have to be a very big statement to put him in that situation, but circumstantially, like you're mentioning, I don't know.

Um, if Rogmanov is able to fight, you know, if he's able to, to, uh, to take on the Bilal, uh, you know, winner from that, from that, uh, Della Maddalena fight, I can't imagine a leapfrog situation here unless Shavkat has a longer, you know, he's just going to be out longer than expected, but that would be a long time, man, because when, when would that fight take place? Probably October, November, you know what I mean? My, my, my guess is even with the best

performance, unless something falls in his favor, uh, that we can't foresee right now, he's probably got to go through somebody else after Leon. That's my guess, but we've seen this a million times, man, they go with who's available in the end and they go on their own time schedules. And if for some reason that all falls in Brady's favor, if he wins this fight, he could be this, this could be it. He would definitely have earned it at that point.

Yeah. We will do our picks for this, the top two fights at the back end of the show. And, but I know you spoke to Ulberg and I thought this is, he, he was great in the interview with him because, you know, he pretty much, uh, he, he completely went through that, you know, our prayer is cleaned out the division. He's like, hang on a second. Right. I'm still here.

Motherfuckers. And, uh, it's a great read. It's about this fight with Jan Behovic. Of course, it's a bit of a rematch fight for city kickboxing given what happened when israel at the sign you stepped up to two oh five and he met the great yabba hovich. Terminally underrated for the stage yabba hovich like forty two years young and still an absolute few more years give me a few more years people catch on. people are going to catch on. He, uh, he hasn't fought for a very long time, of course, but I think this is a very significant fight. He, he has given well before Angeliath, he had given Pereira that kind of baptism

of fire at 205, I think it was a split decision win for Pereira before he went on to become the big poster boy for the UFC. We've already mentioned what he did against Israel. Tell me, what, what did you get from Ulberg when you spoke from? Well, first of all, it's crazy. I think that it was Ariel who pointed this out on his show that, you know, Jan has sat on the sidelines for the whole entirety of Pereira's title run. It's crazy.

Like at 205 anyway. That's just kind of mind blowing. Cause it, that I guess it just tells you the meteoric sort of year that Pereira just went through. But anyway, Ulberg, you know, it's funny because he's one of those guys, almost in the Johnny Walker sense, you talk to him, you know, he's got this, this kind of background where,

oh, he's a male stripper and he was doing all this stuff, so he figured it out. He could really punch hard and you know, he could fight and so you're trying to kind of get that out of him, but he's a little bit in the pro-athlete way, you know, bro-mightish. And so you're trying to kind of get that out of him, but he's a little bit in the pro athlete way, you know, bro-mightish. Like he, he kind of gives you like nothing sometimes.

So you kind of, kind of drag it out. It's always in your followups that you'll get something of substance from him. A bit coy like he plays a bit coy with you. And I'm not sure if it's just because he's like trying to, I'm not sure if it's just because he wants to speak in platitudes. Like he just wants to remain neutral and safe and not say too much. Or if it's just a personality thing. I really don't know, man.

But he, the one thing that kind of did spark him is the thing you just mentioned, which was that, you know, in that narrative heading up to three, uh, three 13, where, Hey, Pereira, if he wins, what's next for him? We're all talking about heavyweight fights and all this stuff. Everybody's like, well, he's cleaned out the division. I think that was kind of the, you know, kind of the universal, um, take on this in that fight, even though you have a guy like Carlos Oberg, who's won seven fights in a row and is fighting Jan Blomvich, the former champion so close to 313, that would maybe stamp his, you know, his entrance into that talk of being there. So I think that that did peeve him, man. Um, I think that it's a very, very know, his entrance into that talk of being there.

So I think that that did peeve him, man. Um, I think that he was kind of like, as long as I'm here, you know, you haven't cleaned out the division and I think there was a little bit of a, I don't care if he holds the belt or not. At this point, I would, I want to face Alex Pereira at some point in time. Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, I like that chip on his shoulder. And I also liked the fact that when you spoke to him and, and you kind of, you

were giving him, he already has two nicknames. You gave him the other one, the under, cause that's what most people are backing when this guy fights. Isn't that true though? Yeah, it is. I was laughing as I was reading it, but I was also like, I liked the fact that. He knows it's not necessarily going to be that easy against Yan. Like when you asked him that he was like, no, this guy is smart.

We know what this guy's about. And I think that's a great mindset to go in with because if Ulberg goes in there and he's like, I'm going to put this guy away in a minute. And he's still standing there at the end of the first round. I would be suddenly very worried. I like that he has the awareness that as he is going up through the levels, he is now fighting a former champion and this could be very difficult. Yeah. You get the sense that he fully respects everything about Blachovic.

I think that he, uh, you can tell obviously anybody who can thump like he can, you know, you can tell that they're like, if it's there, man, I'm going to get it. But he's also, I think being realistic in just the history of Yawn's fights, like they're not a ton of them, you know, are, are, does he roll out like a kind of red carpet to his chin and like, he doesn't, he doesn't make it easy on you. And I think that in a lot of times he'll make the

fight ugly and you got to figure out a way to kind of battle through that, right? And like make it in your favor. If it goes to scorecards, you got to make sure that you've won two of those rounds, right? So I think that that's kind of where through that, right? And like make it in your favor. If it goes to scorecards, you got to make sure that you've won two of those rounds, right? So I think that that's kind of where his mindset is. He did strike me, man, as a very grounded dude. Like, uh, have you talked to him before?

Because. Old work, never enough. Cause, uh, I, that was the first time I talked to him and maybe people who are more familiar with him, um, who probably, you know, Australian journalists and stuff who've been around him, um, a lot more have a different take, but he struck me as very kind of measured on all levels, including the realistic things in front of him. Like, you know, some guys, they delude themselves. They start buying in their own hype.

Maybe it's good in a strange sense that Oldberg isn't getting that hype because he's kind of, you know, polishing that chip on his shoulder a little bit, whatever that is, like he's got a little bit of a chip on his shoulder. And I think he, he knows how to manage it. You know what I mean? So I think he's in a good spot hitting into this fight. Is Jan a problem? Like, cause obviously, and you're right.

Like when you're reading the article, like you're like, this is a prototypical prospect at light heavyweight Oldberg. Like he's a good looking dude. He starts his people out. He's from a world renowned gym with a world renowned coach. And then you just have Jan kind of coming off the bench after 20 months, 42 years of age. He is just coming off a split decision with Alex Paretta, the seemingly immovable, right? Yeah.

Does he cause a problem here? Like, I mean, if he's thrust back into that situation, he knocks Ulberg off. Suddenly the UFC are like, right, we're going to do, we're going to do Ankalayev and Pereira, but what the hell did we do with Jan Bohovic? I think that he, I mean, obviously like there's a ton of respect, but I also think that from the USC's perspective, they're like, Jan, what are we doing? Uh, well, let's give you Olberg because he need, like, you know, going, coming from Oztemir, which, you know, he had, he had

to kind of toil in that one to get that one done. He wasn't, wasn't one of his quick victims, but coming off of, um, you know, coming off of that fight, going into Jan, if he gets through Jan, you can make them all cases. Right? Like you can kind of plug them into a kind of title eliminate, or you could, you could make them a title fight, like, or you could plug them into that

situation where they're the backup fighter. You can make anything of, of, of Ulberg. And they, you often see this with guys. They're like, I don't know quite what to do with a guy like Jan Blachowicz because he's, he's been the top. He's been out a long time. Like, what is it? 20 months? Like it'll end up being something like that. He's been out a long time, like, uh, what is it? 20 months? Like it'll end up being something like that. He's been out a long time. He's been out of discussion a long time.

This might be from an insider standpoint, kind of like a feeling out process to see if he wants to remain around, who knows, but from a, from that perspective, you're like, if Jan shows up and he beats, you know, you know, tamps out, I guess the momentum of Ulberg, you still got Jan there. And if not, you know, Oldberg kind of catapults himself into that space. And I think that it's a good matchup that way. Right. And I, but I do think from your perspective, it's almost like Jan, you're on the ice

flow, we're about to give it a kick unless you can fight your way back to land here. You know what I mean? Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if he did. He is a tough motherfucker and I think his skill set is highly underrated. Look, I think it's a good card. I know some people, there's no pleasing these UK MMA fans. They get events every year.

Relax lads. You know what I mean? Leon Edwards, Sean Brady, Yamboho, Vicarla's Allboard, Kevin Hollen, Gunnar Nelson. Wait, so are people complaining that the card's no good? What's happening? I don't even know. I think initially they were. I think that's calmed down a bit,

but that main card, Kevin Holland, Gunnar Nelson, a great fight. I know Molly's actually got a new opponent, but Molly's a massive draw there. Molly is facing Alexia Tanara. I don't know much about the Brazilian to be honest. Uh, Jordan Vujicenic against Chris Duncan, Nataniel Wood, V Morgan Charry is a fucking banger. Joy Herbert against Chris Padilla. Joy Herbert is one of the slickest guys in there on his day. Lots more fights.

I'll talk about the Irish fights in a second. This new guy, Lonir Kavne, he did great work in cage where he's fighting Felipe de Santos. That will be an absolutely wonderful striking back. And Mick Parkin taking on Marissa de Deborah, looking to join his homeboy, Tom Aspinall in that weird old heavyweight division that towards the top of it. Yeah. Good man. This would be like a huge moment for him if he shines again, right? Team BFG baby. And Graham Kudatiladze is kicking off the card against

Kel Fernandez. Really weird one, but don't pick any of the Irish ones Chuck, but. Okay. What is your favorite fight that we haven't discussed here? That we haven't discussed? Well, I just ran through it. I mean, I always, maybe it's just the cinema, listen to me for the UK crowd. I've never actually been to a fight card there, but I felt I lived it so much when she walks out, but Molly McMahon, like just where she's at.

Right. I think she kind of needs that moment. And it's such a celebration when she comes in there. I always feel like she'll die on her shield if she has to. So maybe it's just me being a sentimental touch on this, but I'm like, uh, I get, I think that those are, that that's a big fight for her. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I don't think that you can keep that star forever.

And I think one big victory, like back in home, you never know how far she can take it. Yeah. And she is one of those conductors when, when it goes well, the whole arena just explodes, it's like, oh, we're at 10. Here's 15. Like she can, she has that ability to crank it up. Like Patty has it as well, but it's, we know this, like it's an X factor. It's not something that everybody has.

Yeah. Oh, it's a real showmanship to her It's weird too, because we were touching on this before man Like when in 2022 and 23 when you were talking about the the golden era kicking off which was so true The conditions were just a little different, you know Molly hadn't really like Molly was still kind of on a win streak at the moment Like she was still kind of there Patty Pimlet was still kind of on a wind streak at the moment. Like she was still kind of there. Patty Pimlet was still kind of like this, you know, Beatles-esque figure that was coming up.

Not many people, he didn't have a beef with Ariel yet. Nothing like that was going on. There was, Tom Aspinal wasn't yet the interim, but these were like, and even Leon was just kind of coming into it and, you know, you mentioned, like we mentioned some of the other guys, it was mostly in the budding. It was almost like the spring, right?

Like the, the springtime feel of, uh, British Army name. Now we're kind of like in bloom. Like all these guys are kind of where they should be. But I don't, I could get why Sean Brady wouldn't inspire people in terms of where this, this is a Sean Brady showing up, right. To kind of shut everything down essentially, because if you're bringing like, you know, if you have a big band and you have like some weird head, like some weird opener or whatever it's going to be, there's going to be mixed feelings about it.

You have a guy who has the potential to send everybody home in the worst kind of mood, almost like the, the same thing that happened in Manchester where breakfast was destroyed, you know, with, with, with, with Balal. You have that kind of situation. And I think there's a little bit of like, man, you know, this is one of those cards I'm going to be pissed at the end. Isn't it like, you know what I mean? So I think that that has to play into it a little bit, like a little bit, right?

Like just the potential that you're going to be really, really upset. And then some of that golden era that we've been talking about will, will maybe look like it's not the same anymore. I just, I was just thinking, like, if you're going to write, um, and if you're going to write a book about Leon, there's the title, you'd have to call it Belal room breakfast. Look, I just want to, I just want to know if nothing else, I mean, I just want to know.

I saw Andy Hickey tweet this out, a big Irish MMA fan and he's got a great following there on X. Do you know Chuck, that Irish MMA undefeated in the UFC in 2020, so far? Is that right? Yeah, because no one has fought yet. Okay. I was like, what's the catch? I feel like there's a little asterisk or something. Sean O'Bannon is just coming off her first win, a student of Patty Huland. Someone has a great following over here.

She's fighting Pusha Thumar, who has five million, I believe, followers on Instagram. This is a huge deal coming out of India. They really know how to get behind their guys. So huge, huge work for Sean and Kailan Loughran v. Nathan Fletcher. This is a proper little UK beef story because Kaelin used to represent Kelvin, which was Darren Tales old team. Used to be Tom's old team as well. Nathan Fletcher from Next Generation, Molly's team, Paddy's team. And they're kind of like the two dominant or were the two dominant Liverpool gyms.

So this has been kind of been cranking up in the background. Paddy has said stuff about Kaelin before and Nathan's a great prospect. And Kailin obviously a great, a great prospect. I think both of them were cage warriors champions. Like this is the one that's if, if you're trying to get excited, just sometimes you put on the card and it's early doors. This one is going to be fucking crazy. And I cannot wait for it.

And let's hope you get it for like any Any kind of soap soap opera dramas that happened. It's kind of true. I love it though. I mean, I'm with you, man. You're in the fight game long enough. Like there's some of these like little blood feuds that break out and you're like, okay, you got me. You got my interests.

I'm down. It's absolutely fantastic. How long until the UFC goes to India, by the way, you just mentioned that. And I'm like, you know, because they were talking about that McGregor, you know, the McGregor, uh, was it Logan Paul, like Logan Paul and not what they were trying to do. And they were saying, well, India, you

know, wants to do this event and they'll pay this stupid amount of money. How long until the UFC, if they can build up, you know, if one of his fighters has 5 million without anybody really followers, without, uh, anybody really paying attention outside of India, really like, what does that mean for the potential of big events there? I mean, I feel like that's gotta be a target too.

No, absolutely. Sure. As I saw Al Zelino on Twitter saying like, we've got UFC Azerbaijan before we got UFC Spain, how long have we been talking about UFC Spain? And it's just nowhere to be. That was a curve ball. We have a few bits to hit here before, uh, before the end, of course. Uh, we've got some very tragic news and Chuck, I don't know if you heard this.

So I want you to, I want you to calm down cause George is going to put something up on the screen here. There's a big fight that was meant to, oh, here it is due to illness. KSI, Misfits boxing boxing, unfinished business, scheduled for March 29th, Manchester has been postponed. Chuck, stop getting emotional. A further update will be issued next week, including a new date for the event. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha pussy at KSI.

He's like, you beat me by 24 hours before I pulled out. at KSI, so Dylan Donnis. He's like, you beat me by 24 hours before I pulled out. Devastating stuff. Dylan Donnis was about to beat KSI and then beat Tony Ferguson and then have the whole game in the Palm of his hands. And now nowhere. I mean, I, uh, I mean, whenever, and this is, I mean, I guess the, the strangest twist here is that it's not Dylan. And I'm not trying to beat, but I, if anybody, if you

place Dodds, who's going to fall out of these fights, you know, it'd have been Dylan, right? Like you'd say, well, Dylan's not going to, does he show up? I don't know. You know, it's unfortunate, man. That's one of those ones that you circle on the calendar and you kind of like mark the days or

whatever to kind of like mark the days or whatever to kind of get to it. So we'll have to revise our thinking. He's absolutely devastated. We also had news last night of the GFL. The, the, the event nobody thought would happen has been scheduled for May. Two events back to back, I believe it is. I'm a bit confused about all of this, but I believe on our job.

Oh, he has the tweets up here, which I'm struggling to see due to my poor eyesight. Breaking Go Fight League is moving towards having its debut events on March 24th and 25th, my dad's birthday. And in Los Angeles sources per sources, the events as well as the promoter's license has been approved by the California state athletic commission. Let's go. We also have some, some matchups. Tony Ferguson V Dylan Donnis, I've already mentioned. Your Roya Faber V Henan Burrell and Benson Henderson V Anthony Pettis

and Douglas Lemur V your Roya Hall. There we have a joke. I mean, I mean the shrine theater, the shrine theater where this is supposed to be is held some of the biggest things, you know, the Oscars, the Emmys, the Grammys and now GFL. Yeah. This is, I mean, that's, that's some good company, isn't it? It's amazing.

Like, and it's what it deserves. Um, I mean, I think this is, this is the kind of event that you will get hardcore fans watching though, like Tony Fergs Ferguson v Dylan Donnis is too much. Like no one, no one, like I know we're disgusting. We're like crackheads. We're just feeding for this like ridiculous, these ridiculous fights all the time. But that is, that is like the golden goose of ridiculous fights. See, there was, it was that four fights.

You mentioned four fights there. Three of those people are officially retired and somehow fighting. Hennan Barrow hasn't fought since 2019. He's on there. And you, and Dylan Danis, like, I mean, what kind of diehard, we're tapping into like, like the last vein available in our body, man. You know what I'm saying? Like this is, We're tapping into like, like the last vein available in our body, man. You know what I'm saying?

Like this is, you know, I tried to be so optimistic, you know, like just watch me there at the start, I tried my best, but look, there's something wrong with me. I will, I will enjoy Tony Ferguson and Dylan Danister. Like I know that that is a weird thing about me, but it's unfortunate. That's, that's how we ended up in this industry. I see GFL and cage wires having a bit of beef online as well. Uh, jives about artwork and whatnot.

Yeah. This is the artwork that, uh, GFL had said, look, this is some sick stuff. And then cage warriors came back. And there's that soap opera thing again. I like it. Come on. This is what keeps me clued in. Um, but tell me this joke now that I was going to ask you, like if KSI,

G, GFL, tell them, see them. If KSI loses to, I mean, sorry, if, if Dylan Dennis loses to, uh, Tony for example, where does that leave him? I don't know, man, because he's in, in all of my years, kind of covering this. Like there are guys like him that I'm just like, I just don't know where it comes from. I mean, I understand that you can kind of keep yourself relevant social media, but the guy had a couple, like, you know, from his original, from his original moments coming up in the jujitsu world where he had a name to himself, he had a buzz.

And then into MMA, the segue was, well, this jujitsu guy is making that transition, let's see how he does. If you go from those, like the purest of beginnings, right? Like, well, it's just normal type of story, but a guy with a little bit more buzz on his name, he fights only a couple of times and it's just literally been, you know, spectacle after spectacle, including the kind of talent swoop, you know, from the, from the UFC 229, um, when Habib kind of jumped out after him. And like, from whatever point that that, you know, whatever form that has taken,

we're still here. It kind of feels like we're, uh, we're stuck. Um, it's a public that just kind of can't escape the Dylan Danness thing. I'm not trying to be cruel. If he's going to show cruel if he's gonna show up And he's gonna mean it That's one thing I saw him training, you know, man. I went over to uh, oh, that's right. Yeah Yeah, Plino Cruz's gym and he was in there. He was training, you know

He stood in there against Alex Pereira and he had some other training partners, including Action Bronson, which was pretty fun to watch He's in there. I think trying to give it a good effort. But he's still, he's always going to be a novelty until he does something. I mean, right now he has, what has he done? I mean, you almost expect it to be a fiasco if he's involved. Like that's a bad expectation in a game predicated on hype, right? Like, I just don't think that he can, if he loses this in a slack cluster where it's like, uh, you know, like his boxing, his last boxing thing or something like

that, I think there's no place for him, but he keeps carving out a spot for him. So I don't know how, how often do we want to see him? Let's say the Tony Ferguson goes in there and knocks him out. Is that enough to kind of satisfy the, what the aesthetic needs to be? Like for us to, okay, we saw Dylan get knocked out. I don't know. I don't know what it is at this point, man. It's weird, man, because like, and he brought it up.

And I know it was Gordon Ryan when he's on with Ariel during the week. Like he was mentioning his, his black belt records, 18 and 16 or whatever. And he's one and three and ADCC. But like, you're right. Like when he was a brown belt in Marcelo Garcia's gym in New York, like there was that brown belt dream team they had. And I was trying it in a Marcelo Garcia's gym in New York. Like there was that brown belt dream team they had. And I was training in a Marcelo Garcia affiliate in Dublin. And I went to Roger Dyrdice, who's a black belt under Marcelo Garcia and Paul Fox, who's also a black belt, one of Marcelo Garcia and the talk they'd have

about Dylan back then, like this very quiet guy, you know, who's just all in on this game, like, you know, not the, not the biggest personality, like he's fairly zoned in on this nearly like a savant. They'd be talking about him. Like he was that good and all this stuff. And to think now he has none of that kind of clout of like the, the technical mastery of the sport. And he has all of the, well, this guy brings a lot of hype and talking points and all this stuff with the Logan thing and his wife and everything like that.

It's amazing that like, it's completely flipped. The whole narrative around him is like, well, he can bring a lot of drama, you know, rather than where he was at when it's like, like we, I can remember that Marcelo Garcia, Brownbell team with Manshir Kara and, um, lots of guys. And they were like, these guys are going to evolve the sport. Like they're going to be fighting Gordon Ryan and the lads from Hensos for the next 10 years. And we're all going to get to watch. And this is great. And then it just, it just never happened.

It was in the days of like the metamorphosis and all that stuff was going on. It felt like it was on a movement, man. Like it was a movement at the time. It felt like it had like a pretty good, uh, head of steam. Yeah. It's a, it's a pretty good, uh, head of steam. Yeah. It's a, it's crazy the way it all turned out. And it's crazy that BJJ is kind of taken off with this Craig Jones thing. And he's, he's not involved in it.

You know what I mean? Like as much as he's probably one of the biggest names and not for competing, but one of the biggest names he is nothing to do with this. Yeah. It's a weird, it is a strange thing. Um, we've seen plenty of, uh, strange shifts, I guess in the, in the combat space, but the Dylan Danes thing reminds, I mean, it's just, it

remains just like a mystery to me. If drama is really all it's about, I mean, you know, at this point, like if we, are we just inexhaustible then when it comes to, uh, to certain things, I don't, you know, like there, there's certain things within the celebrity landscape, you know, this kind of crossover thing that's been exhausting the whole way, but I put him almost in the, and I'm not, I mean, it sounds so cruel, but you almost put him in like the, the wannabe area of that world, which is bizarre to me.

Like he's in the wannabe area of the, um, of that kind of Jake Paul thing. You know what I mean? And it's just, I just don't see it. I don't, I don't get it, but I guess when it comes down to it, if they make the walk, if he fights Tony Ferguson, we all know what Tony means to MMA fans. I think that everybody is kind of desperate to see him not just survive a fight, but if you got, if you got a victory, how great that would feel against a guy like Dylan, who I guess if you're going to match him up, that's who you should match him up against at this

point. Um, you know, we'll see kind of where everything stands after this, but I'd be, I, I'd be, I'll be happy when the kind of Dylan Dennis thing goes away if I'm being honest. Speaking of exhausting, I don't really want to go down this road again, but I'm very interested to get your take on the Patrick's day visit of Conor McGregor to the way I was no, but genuinely interested because it's been so. Polarizing here. It's been like,

I see so much online support for McGregor. I haven't met a lot of people. I've been like a lunatic. I've been running around Dublin, like asking people, like, do you know anyone? They come in to support this. And like, there's a lot of talk about, like, I support what he says, not him. And all this kind of stuff. He says he's running for president, but, um, tell me what's your take?

Like, what's that? You know, those games, like they kind of advertise them on your phone, like where you're like a little series of warriors and you can, you choose two ways. One is times 10 and one is like minus five or whatever. And so like you go over here and you, you do like the times 10. That's kind of what he did. Like in his polarizing moment, he just like, he took whatever polarizing things that he's doing and then he went to the times 10 side of it and boom,

you know, now it's this out of control thing. That's kind of where it's like for me, man. I don't know. I was actually at, when it was happening, um, I was out, so I was kind of catching up on, I didn't really see it. I just kind of caught everybody talking about it, but there's just so much, man. There's so much about it. Like he's four months removed, right.

From being held by, by, and this whole, uh, and this whole Nikita hand thing. And I'm like, we talked about it at the time we did a very, we did a live thing. Basically as this, as the whole thing came down and we talked in earnest, what happens next for Conor McGregor? How does he overcome this? What are the steps? Can he overcome this? Four months, Pizzi, four, four months later,

he's in the white house and, uh, you know, he's talking about the immigration problem in, in, in Ireland and, um, you know, rallying that Trump, like this Trump thing going on out here. And I'm just, I don't, I don't even and, um, you know, rallying that. Trump like this Trump thing going on out here. And I'm just, I don't, I don't even know, man, nothing surprises me politically anymore, but that was, that was still kind of hits a little close to homes, given that he's one of our own over there in the white. It was just, it was too much, man.

Well, I think we're going to be hearing a lot more about a joke because he's going to be the president of Ireland. He is definitely making a right. Welcome to my hell. The choice is yours. And it's an easy one. Thanks, Connor. Hey man, we thought that when it first happened, that Donald Trump was going to

like potentially become a, you know, the president of the United States back in a 15 or whatever, you know, it's like, uh, there was a lot of the same kind of sentiment about, yeah, right. That's exactly, you know, that is like, there was a lot of the same kind of sentiment about, yeah, right. That's exactly, you know, that is exactly what I keep saying to people. I'm knowing you guys back then. And I haven't had those conversations with you guys then where it was like, Oh, this isn't real.

And then I think it was a rival for McGregor V Alvarez and being like, yeah, he, he's, he's probably going to win this. You know, like it was an insane, an insane week. Um, crazy to see it's going to win this. You know, like it was an insane, an insane week. Um, crazy to see it's going to keep developing. And before we go Chuck, um, main card picks. I was hoping you'd start with, all right, go ahead. Just start with, listen, man, like, I mean, I'm no good at picking fights, pizza.

You know that you're still better than me and Ben. All right. That's the main thing. Just Drake rigs is above you. We were giving you shit last week for falling off. I know you weren't here for that. Um, all them, I was like, lads, can we stop? Shit. Not joke.

I love joke. Don't thank you for that PC. I didn't catch it. But yeah, that's good. I'm, I'm appreciate you having my back. Jordan must've cut it out or something. I don't know. But, um, tell me you spoke to Ulberg and Ulberg V Jan Bohovic.

What are you thinking? Is it that obvious joke? I don't know if it is, man, because if somebody, if somebody, like, if Jan just kind of like wants to make this very ugly, um, and you know, he's getting, I mean, Jan could surprise him too. Like he's got good standup. Like he could surprise him in an exchange or something like that. Yeah.

So, I mean, I could see this happening. I think if he makes it ugly, probably it could go like a 29, 28 for Jan. But I do think that the time off his age, the opponent, I think all of that will factor in and Oldberg man, I think is like I was mentioning earlier, a little bit of a chip on his shoulder because I think he wants to be known as a contender, an undeniable contender in that division. I think it's his moment to shine. So I think he gets it done.

I don't know if he'll knock out Jan, but I think he'll get the fight. I think he'll get the victory one way or another. I'm going to go with Jan just to make it spicy. Right. Jan to mix it up, you know, get an early take down. What a great thing that would be too, man, for him. I love that dude. Oh my God.

Yeah. He's so cool. I know. I mean, that's the thing. And I honestly feel as though if Jan didn't think he had it anymore, he'd leave. Like if Yan didn't think like, I can go in there and beat this guy. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who's chasing something. He seems very content.

Like if it all ended tomorrow, this is fine. But like there's something about him that's like, you can see it. I can remember when he fought Rockhole back in the day and everyone thought that was going to be a wash and he left hook KO'd him. I know that's a long time ago. I know he's, he's further down the track, but I'm going Yan and, um. I like it, baby. He's a big, like pretty big underdog.

Like for him, like he's like what? Plus two seven five or something like that. And I'm going with the dog again in the main event. It's Leon Edwards for me. I think. Is he the dog? I didn't even look at that line. Well, GC has been telling me all week.

I haven't looked since, but he was the dog, but I just feel as though the moment. The moment is a big one for Brady. Um, it's short notice for him as well, but like just you're fighting Leon Edwards in the UK and Leon Edwards is pissed off. And he knows like Brady can probably get back there at some point. Like they, you know, he's a, he's a fresh face. Whereas Leon is a guy they just didn't even think about as a rematch for Bilal.

He knows he has to know going into this. It's should I get off the pot mate? And that's why I'm picking Leon Edwards. Yeah. I'm picking him too, because we were talking earlier, man, just to take this whole thing, the full circle back to Shazanga, like we were talking about him thwarting the initial takedowns. I think that's going to be everything, you

know, because if he gets taken down early or too easily, and we see that kind of fight developing right away, it could be a long night. But I think if he shuts it down early, it forces him to kind of stand with them a little bit in that range, I think that Leon shines, I think that he's going to get it back. I think if there's any question of his heart, which there never should be, or

his confidence, which there maybe should be, he recovers it in real time. Like I think that he would find it again. Um, I've seen that guy overcome too much, man, to like, to pick against him in this type of fight. So given that this is happening at a normal hour and everything is kind of finally on his terms again, it's his home country. And I don't think he, I think he's unshakable when it really comes down to it because he's seen too much in his life, um, I'm picking Leon, man.

I think that he gets it done. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was something similar to what we saw with Balal, uh, when he fought Brady, where he's just able to kind of control the action enough until the moment he can start catching them, piecing them up and taking them out. I love it, Chuck. And before we go, we also got a super chat from Alex Hurst, uh, five pounds on this happy Paddy's day, boyos.

This is for the point. Well, let me tell you, sir, it will be down my neck in the next 20 minutes. Back my words. He's already intervened. He's already like hooked up to some, some Arthur. Yeah. Look, Chuck, it's great to have you back. You're a gentleman. I love you very much. I love Chasanga Malata very much of the son. He's been doing great work all week. Make sure you check him out. Hadn't seen that guy in years.

That was fun, man. A legend. We'll, we'll do it again. And on air, Jordan, you're the man. Oscar Lozeff, you're the man. We love you all. We'll be back next week. I know I kind of fumbled my words there, but

anyway, I love you so much. Enjoy the fights. Ah!