The Ariel Helwani Show - Lex Luger, Diamond Dallas Page, Marlon 'Chito' Vera, Jones-Aspinall official? Illia Topuria’s options, more

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

Ariel and the Boys In The Back kick off Tuesday’s show with a discussion of WWE’s record-breaking weekend, Chael Sonnen suggesting that Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall is agreed upon, the latest news around Ilia Topuria and International Fight Week, and more (05:02)WWE legends Lex Luger and Diamond Dallas Page join Ariel to discuss Lex’s delayed Hall of Fame induction, Dallas’ role in helping other wrestlers gain recognition, Lex’s devastating spinal injury and how Dallas aided his recovery, the evolution Lex’s relationship with Vince McMahon, and more stories and insights from their unbelievable careers (57:26).Marlon 'Chito' Vera previews his UFC 316 bout against Mario Bautista and discusses his headspace coming off of two losses, his decision to take almost a year off, how he got into modeling, his new camp structure, the Merab vs. O’Malley title rematch, and more (2:15:40).      

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Err-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- 2000 and 25 hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It's great to be here on a Tuesday It's a lovely spring Tuesday in New York City. I'm just fixing my chair over here back on a 2-2-2-2 Tuesday we play two on Tuesdays We have the Ariel and Adé show on the Dzone boxing YouTube channel coming up at 5 on the road to Ben Eubank. Will I be there? Will I not? Do I have a big thing potentially in the works for Saturday?

Maybe but I'm not ready to talk about it. I said 24 to 48 yesterday. 24 to 48 that still gives me another 24. Alright so stay tuned. Now, feeling... I don't know. A little down on this Tuesday. Tough loss. Tough loss by our New York Knicks yesterday. Tough game, too. Not showing the fight. Not showing the grit. Not showing the gusto. Not showing the panache that we need. Detroit just kind of out muscling them, out toughing them, if that's a word.

It's a little concerning. I'm fearing, I'm fearing, if I'm being honest, I'm fearing a first round exit. At the moment, the vibes aren't great. They were once immaculate, they are not great at the moment. So let's see, game three on Thursday. Forest did get the big win over Spurs.

You were following along with all of us, the breaking news, the goals, the disallowed goals, all that stuff and more have lost in the playoffs. So a mixed bag as far as my sports teams are concerned, but you don't care about all of that. You care about today's program. And today's program is a juicy one, my friends, because back into the show,

we'll be joined by Marlon Cheado Vera. He was supposed to fight next weekend in Des Moines. Now he's fighting on June 7th in Newark, New Jersey. What's going on with Marlon? He's doing a lot of fun things. Is this a do or die fight for him against Mario Bautista? Why did the fight get moved? He's lost his last two in a row. One of my favorites to talk to.

He's a great guy. He's the pride of Ecuador. And he'll join us back into the show. Now we have also promoted a mystery guest, not because I'm trying to be coy, not because I'm trying to play games, it's because this guest sometimes isn't the most reliable, and so while they've told us they're in, I have my doubts. And so I just, it's kind of my way of saying like, there is a guest, but I don't, as you know, I hate announcing guests,

and then they don't show up. And then we were like, and it also just happened yesterday with Juliana. Obviously it wasn't her fault. It was a freak thing that happened at the 11th hour right before she was about to join, like literally minutes before she was about to join. Point is, there's another guest, stay tuned, it will be worth it, but I'd rather just not deal

with the anxiety of will here, won't here, so I just say mystery guest. Does that make sense? I hope it makes sense. Now, prior to all of that, very excited to be joined by Lex Luger, very excited to be joined by Lex Luger, the total package, the narcissist, the freaking all-American, the former WCW champion, the now WWE Hall of Famer, who has been through hell and back, has seemingly survived it all, and is enjoying a great period in his life. He was essentially diagnosed as a quadriplegic not that long ago, and well, actually over a decade ago now,

and has recently linked up with the great, the inspirational, the motivational, the salt of the earth, Diamond Dallas Page, who is determined to get him back on his feet, who has done that. If you saw the induction speech on Friday, he stood up while speaking to the crowd, which was incredible and somewhat unfathomable not that long ago. And so he's doing great stuff with DDP in light of the induction, in light of everything going on in his life. We're going to have Diamond Dallas Page, the other DDP, the original DDP,

and Lex Luger at the same time at 2 o'clock. And I'm really excited about that. Because there was some questions about, you know, would he show up, would he not? That he wasn't at WrestleMania Saturday when they brought out all the other Hall of Famers. So a lot to get into with those fine gentlemen, and I'm very excited to do so. Speaking of WrestleMania, there's a lot to discuss in the first hour of the program. I'll have an update on International Fight Week.

I'll have an update on Jones Aspinall, because my friend Chael P has talked about that as well. We have much to discuss, so buckle up my friends and please come join us for the next few hours. Now yesterday, WWE officially announced that WrestleMania 41 is their most successful event ever. Now this is a bit of a trend. I know people hate the gate talk, but it is what it is and it is an indicator of business thriving at the moment. They said that WrestleMania 41 generated the largest gate for any event in WWE history and the event drew a combined 124,693 fans

over the span of two nights at Allegiant Stadium. Viewership was up 114% from the record set last year at WrestleMania XL. That's insane. Cause I thought that that had a, a better build and it was a better card on paper. Merchandise was up 45% versus the previous all time high of last year, making it the highest grossing event in the world. was up 45% versus the previous all-time high of last year, making it the highest grossing event of all time as well. Additionally, e-commerce sales were up 86% versus last year's record. A record 28 total partners signed up for

sponsorship deals. Some would argue a little too many. The ring is starting to look like the UFC octagon. This doesn't bother me. Everything else is like this. The NHL is like this. The NBA is like this. MLB is like this. Boxing is like this. UFC is like this. It doesn't bother me, but I do know that it is jarring for the old- school fans and for the purists And so when they see logos on the turnbuckle when they see logos on the mat, they get upset about these things It ain't going away. It definitely ain't going away And then they talked about the social and all this stuff. Anyway, a very successful

Weekend few days for WWE. They also announced yesterday that Survivor Series in November is gonna take place at Petco Park in San Diego, which is pretty damn cool. That's outdoors. I like that. In November, San Diego, in November, outdoors? I think that's cool. What's the weather, 60s, 70s?

San Diego's beautiful. I always kind of dreamed back in the day when I was a kid. I dreamed of living in San Diego or Seattle. I thought those would be two great choices. Different weather patterns, but I thought. Both great choices. Nice life over there, yeah. Why those places specifically? I don't know.

There was something about, I think it was the baseball teams. I liked their logos, but like everyone seems very happy in San Diego, the beach. The happiest people. It is a quite beautiful place. And then Seattle was just cool in the nineties.

The Sonics, Nirvana, Sean Kemp. Sean Kemp, shout out to legends coming, come on. Gary Payton, you know, the logo was cool. The old logo, I liked the old logo, the Sonics one. And then the new one was still pretty cool too. Key Arena, I don't know. It just seemed like a good time. Anyway, maybe we'll go to Petco Park.

Also Petco Park was like the crown jewel of baseball stadiums back in the day. And I think it's still one of the best ones. I've never been there. Anyone ever been to Petco Park? Never been to San Diego. Never been to San Diego. I'd love to go. Yeah, it's beautiful. Pete C. Shirley, you've been to San Diego. No, I haven't, Dario. Just Vegas and New York. Those are the only two American cities you've ever been to? Well, we had to emergency land

in Philadelphia once. Did that for a little bit. Had Had some got some food in it, in an airport in North Carolina. That was very nice. You've never been to L.A. No. Could you imagine the impact that I have on L.A. though? Yeah, I know. I've been invited so many times by all my celebrity friends, but just haven't been able to do it, unfortunately.

You know what's funny, Eric? I know. I know. It's crazy. You know, I always dreamed of living in Blanchett's town and here I am doing that right now So if this conversation did anything it's reminded me to do a good dream. Thank you. Hey boss. I've been to San Diego. Oh Cool. How was it? It was great some great fights some great fights in San Diego oh that got me good Paul Daly Nick Diaz back in the day happened in San Diego that was it was called the shark tank right wasn't that the nah that's San Jose oh yeah that's right San Jose sharks guys yeah I want to talk about Monday

Night Raw after WrestleMania in a bit because our resident wrestling expert is taking it all in, GC. I mean, he's got all the takes. If I'm being honest, I did not watch. I was locked in. I was locked in on the Knicks heartbreaker against the Detroit Pistons. They were so close.

My son and I, at one point, did a high five and then we both paused for a minute and we were like, that was a little too hard and his hand was so red after like a big shot. I forget who shot it was, but it was just very frustrating. Anyway, GC has watched it all and I'm up to speed. It's very easy to follow along these days on social media, but we will get to that a little down the line

because I know people get very upset when you talk about pro wrestling. Oh, even though they all freaking reside, they have never been more intertwined. Isn't that crazy? Like you watch WrestleMania, there's Izzy, there's Marab, there's DC, there's freaking Dana voicing the intro. There's Mark Ratner in the front row. Who else? Tim Simpson. Tim Simpson obviously with Izzy, gigantic fan. Dan DeCormier. I said that already. There was another guy. There was someone else. Colby Covington. Colby Covington got a freaking like Jumbotron. Who else? Who else was there?

There was someone else. There was someone else. I saw DC. Are you shitting with me? Not in the mood. I saw DC there. I'm not in the mood. Joanne Wood was there. There were a lot of MMA luminaries. It has never been more intertwined. Oh, Rhea Ripley was at the Vogue fight in Miami. Obviously they're owned by the same entity, but yet people don't want to, for whatever reason, accept this. Do you think it makes people uncomfortable?

Why do you think they don't want to accept it? Why do you think MMA fans get so mad when wrestling creeps into their domain. Why do they get mad? Because this is the thing that they feel like is so real and sacred and this thing is poisoning it? No, I don't think it's that deep. I think it's much more rooted in school yard. Yeah, like a little bit of like, you know how like-

It's nerdy, it's fake, I'm above this. When you like a girl when you're young, you bully her and dip her hair in the inkwell and all that. Dahlia. She was doing that to you. It's a bit of that. It's a bit of just like, they don't wanna admit that there's crossover,

that there's elements of it that they like, so they'd rather just be like, I hate wrestling. It's like, okay bro, nobody asks you if you like wrestling or not. You don't really have to come out and make that your corner. I actually watched WrestleMania with one of my dorkiest friends on Saturday night,

and the entire time he had to let me know how much he's not into the sport at all, how little he enjoys watching it, and how he just doesn't understand how anyone could watch it. While watching it for hours. And after a while I was like, I got it, man. You can leave whenever you want.

Okay, why is that? Why do you feel like people are so adamant on letting that be known? Like if you invite me- They just don't want to be into it. You're like, I can't be into it. It's fake, it's childish, it's not cool. There is an element of them that is into it,

and they do not want to admit that to themselves or to you, and so they project the opposite. I can't believe anybody would like this. It's like, yeah, lots of people like it. Like on Saturday, the guy was like, so this is T-Mobile, yeah? I was like, nah, man, this is Allegiant. And he's like, Joe Tessitore's here?

What is he doing there? I'm like, he works for him. He's like, Pat McAfee? I'm like, all right, man, you had to have seen some of this. He's like, oh, RKO. My nerdy friends at work always say RKO. And I just never knew what it meant.

I'm just like, come on, dude, you can't be that buried from this stuff. Do you think, okay, here's my theory. Do you think because, because if you invited me to your house to watch Game of Thrones or a Marvel movie, I don't watch it, but I would just kind of watch it, suspend don't, I don't watch it, but I would, I would just kind of like watch it, suspend disbelief, try to get into it, but not continuously remind you how much I dislike it.

It's akin to you inviting me to your house to have a meal and I cook it for you. And, and you really, you really don't like Indian food, but you're like, all right, I'm going to eat it, but I'm going to tell you throughout the meal that I don't really like Indian food because how, you know, how dare I like Indian food, but you're like, all right, I'm gonna eat it, but I'm gonna tell you throughout the meal that I don't really like Indian food because how dare I like Indian food? And is it because,

so the reason I say that is, those two examples don't happen, right? If you invite someone over to your house and cook them a meal, they don't continue to remind you that they don't like it. If you invite someone over to your house to watch a show, a movie, whatever, even a game, like a baseball game or a football game or a basketball game, the Super Bowl,

you aren't continuously reminded by people that you don't like it. But when you do invite people over to watch wrestling, you will always have that one person that GC is talking about. And my theory is, I don't know if it's right or wrong, it's presented as a real sport. And people, they don't like the idea's right or wrong. It's presented as a real sport,

and people, they don't like the idea of potentially being conned, even though they're very open about what it is. In fact, they just announced yesterday that there's gonna be a show on Netflix called WWE Unreal, where they're literally taking you inside. What was once so taboo is that- Never under Vince's watch would this ever happen? Absolutely

And I love it. We all know what it is. So I saw some like hardcore fans be like I hate this I hate this. This is a massive massive massive mistake. What we know what it is It's amazing privilege to be able to get any sort of crumb behind the curtain but I feel like a traditional sports fan will be like I Don't want to be conned by this. You're presenting this as though it is actual legit sports. And I need to tell you, because when you watch game of thrones, when you watch DC Marvel, they're not telling, no one's telling you this is real life, but here

in WWE, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, or pro wrestling, they say it's real life and they can't, I guess they just don't have the ability to suspend disbelief and say, I understand what it is, I'm going to treat it as Game of Thrones, Marvel, but because it's presented in front of a live audience in a sporting arena where you see other actual live non-scripted sports, they won't allow themselves to, you know, to cross over and just be like, I'm going to enjoy this for what it is. Essentially, because it's presented as a live

non-scripted sport, even though it is a live scripted sport, there are just some people who will never ever, ever sign up for it. Does that make sense? Yeah. It makes sense. And I think there's probably some truth to that. I do wonder though, if to what the point I'm trying to make, I think- You're saying they're closeted. I think they like it.

As your example, right? You're talking about coming over to dinner. If somebody invited you over to eat Indian food, And every couple bites they were like, ah, you know, that bite wasn't bad. I could see how someone would like this Indian food. Right, people don't do that though, right? They wouldn't come over.

Never, that's the line that like, anytime I'm watching it, like Royal Rumble, It's always that. It's always like, right? They wouldn't come over. Never, that's the line that like anytime I'm watching it, like Royal Rumble or something, it's always like, I guess I could kind of see, like the kid on Saturday I was with, he was just like, what do you think of the percentage of the audience that actually thinks this is real, like 50%? I'm like, no dude, like probably like the kids,

and then everyone else is just suspending belief and just like having fun with them. Right. Okay, but in that example, you think there's 30,000 people in that arena that are convinced this is real? It's absurd. Is this stupid, man?

If you invited somebody over for Indian food, and they didn't like Indian food, they would not come over. They would not come over and eat that dinner, right? If you invited somebody over for something else that they didn't enjoy, Game of Thrones, and they don't watch Game of Thrones or wouldn't enjoy Game of Thrones, they will not come over. For wrestling, they're coming, they're always coming, and then going, ah, I don't really like this, it wouldn't enjoy Game of Thrones, they will not come over. For wrestling, they're coming.

They're always coming and then going, ah, I don't really like this, it's not real, it's all this, because they actually do like it. They're ashamed of whatever the connotation of, whatever they think liking it means, whatever they think a fan of wrestling is, they do not want to be associated with those characteristics, those traits, this and that.

So they have to sit there, watch it, semi- semi like it and then tell you how much they hated it because they don't want them to whatever assumptions they make about a wrestling fan to project onto them and I say this is somebody who doesn't consume wrestling that much yeah I know here I am defending wrestling as if we watch wrestling and the best part is is that like WWE does not need any of these people their existence is booming on a level that is like- Do people actually like that? Do people actually, yeah, it's a few billion dollars a year.

Yeah, people like it. It's a weird thing. I just don't understand, I understand not liking it. I just don't understand the constant having to tell people you don't like it. I for sure understand not liking it. Last night during Raw, once Jey Uso started the yeet for the eighth time, I was like- You're good. Yeah, I was like, I think I'm sure I understand not liking it. Like last night during Raw, like once Jey Uso started to yeet like for the eighth time, I was like, all right.

You're good. Yeah, I was like, I think I'm good. I think wrestling, I can go a couple months without. Yeah, yeah, and you go all in for that weekend. Yeah, all in. You immerse yourself and then you can check back in and that's totally fine. I don't feel, again, we've talked about this in the past,

like when people are talking about things I'm not into, I don't feel the need to tell them how much I hate it. Enjoy your entertainment, enjoy your thing. And that's what we view it as. Let me talk about, I don't even know how we got on that tangent. Let's talk about two things that are pertinent right now to MMA fans.

Number one, Chillsun in yesterday, who I would say like if he was a slugger for the Yankees, what do you think he bats in terms of news? I adore Chell, he's one of my closest friends. Is he a, it doesn't really work like that. Like it would be like he bats 300, 400. That's a good batting. No, no, I mean, if he was good.

No, he said 0.05, that means he's batting. I know, but like literally Five percent, let's say one and twenty. Yeah, one twenty five percent. Is it really one? Wow? I was closer to like maybe 25 percent to 50 below the Mendoza line as they say I think those are probably closer to Jessica can I just say it's amazing when this stuff happens because a child Specifically when this stuff happens because Chael specifically, when this stuff happens, I wake up in the morning and I've got like four messages off lads who never

talk to me about anything other than when they think of fights about the break. And I woke up today and I was like, where's this coming from? Like, I don't know what you're talking about. Like, oh, did you not hear about this and all? It's booked. It's ready to go. And I was like, what? Where'd you get it?

Every single one of them writes back Chael Sonnen. Yeah. So it's unbelievable. So whatever he's doing is working in terms of that viewership. I'll tell you that much. So I do believe that Chael said it's a done deal down to the date, right? Tom Aspinall versus John Jones. That's essentially what he said.

My understanding is, am I wrong? Did you guys see the same thing? Yeah. Yeah. My understanding is not quite accurate. Now, here's the thing, here's what I understand. My understanding is, if this fight doesn't come to fruition, if for whatever reason it falls apart and we never get to see John Jones versus Tom Aspinall,

the UFC is not to blame. The UFC has, in my opinion, well, excuse me, I'll take that back. The UFC has, based on the conversations that I've had, not in my opinion, but what I'm reading and surmising and what's being told to me is they have made every effort in very good faith to make this fight happen. Now, obviously when fights don't come to fruition, there's a multitude of reasons as to why fights don't happen. But in my opinion, if this fight doesn't happen, it's not because of the UFC. It's not because of Tom Aspinal as well. I think ultimately who will decide whether or not this fight happens or not is, is John Jones. Now that's not some big breaking news, but I say that to say, yes, if John wants the fight to happen today.

And I don't mean like the fight to actually be fought today, but like done deal today. It could be a done deal today. It's, it's up to him and it's always been up to him. Now for a while, you could have said, all right, they have to meet whatever number, right? That 30 million was thrown out, whatever whatever that number is Rogan walked it back I had heard the same number whatever point is I believe that the UFC has met all the demands Well in a very favorable way for both guys. They both have demands

They both we know what Tom wants to a both, we know what Tom wants to a degree, and we know what John wants to a degree. I think ultimately it's on him. Now, we don't need to get into the whole like, at what point do they need to pull the plug on this? And when's the deadline? We've done that song and dance a bunch of times and I'm kind of tired of it. They'll do it when they need to do it. They'll do it when they want to do it. They'll do it when they want to do it. They'll do it when they need Tom to fight. If, uh, if John isn't going to be that guy. But I think at this point, there are some people who want to say, Hey,

the UFC didn't make Jones versus in Ghana. Uh, the UFC didn't make this big fight. The UFC didn't make that big fight. When the story is written on this fight, if it doesn't come to fruition, I don't think it will be on the UFC. I really think the UFC based on what I'm hearing and has have been told, I really think the UFC has done everything that they could to make it happen. Is the fight a done deal as of right now? No, it's not a done deal as of right now. So I don't know what he's hearing. Could it be a done deal as of today at some point? Could it be a done deal in 30

minutes? Yes. But is it a done deal as of earlier today when I was doing some digging? No. So I don't know if we add that to the point zero five or the point five that P Pizzi said, but I wouldn't celebrate just yet. If you're hoping, if you're praying, if you want to see this fight like everyone does, I think it's a little premature. He may be right in that there's a date year marked, there's a time frame, there's a want, there's a desire, there's a need to make this happen. He is right about all of that, but to say it's a done deal, to me is a little bit premature. In fact, so much so that I had heard at one time, there was some talk about having the fight in August

in New York City at Madison Square Garden. Now you know that annually, they like to go to Madison Square Garden in November. We talked yesterday about how the Madison Square Garden date and venue has really become like the new international fight week, if you will, where they try to bring the biggest and best fights possible, in addition to Miami to a degree. And that's how much they wanted to get this done and put it in the biggest and best venue possible, which of course is Madison Square Garden,

the world's most famous arena, the Mecca. August is rapidly approaching, not hearing that's the case as of this moment. So the reason I bring this up is A, after hearing what Chael said, I wanted to see if there was any validity to it. He is right in that there's dates being discussed, there's this and that. It is not in that there's dates being discussed is this and that it is not accurate that it's a hundred percent and it would not be fair to the UFC to

say that they dropped the ball on this one does that make sense they're trying to make it happen it does and it's very fascinating because it seemed like previously the stalemate was hey can the UFC make this happen? And to your point, now the stalemate becomes, can the fighters make this happen? Because that was my operating assumption was always the holding point, the stick-up point is going to be, can the UFC make it happen? If that hurdle's cleared, it becomes a lot more fascinating.

And it also gives me more optimism, to be honest. I would agree in that if they are meeting all the demands, that was the biggest hurdle, right? Yeah, that feels like the biggest hurdle. I guess we're gonna find out. We know Tom wants this fight. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. We know the UFC wants this fight. We're gonna find out how much John wants this fight.

Yeah. That's the bottom line. We're gonna find out how much John wants this fight. Yeah. That's the bottom line. We're gonna find out how much John wants this fight. Is there any possibility that John fights again and doesn't fight Tom Aspinall? No. You think so. I don't think so.

I think it's no as well. What would the justification be? Who would he fight? Because he's not gonna get that, whatever the demands are, he will not get that price tag to fight somebody other than then Tom and so I don't know what you come back for if it's not Obviously he's not he's not looking for that price tag if the UFC have offered him that money He doesn't want to fight. It's not nothing to do with that. Yeah, but why would he come back?

Unless Yeah, I think I think it's a possibility. Definitely. I think like who do you think would get him excited? Would it come back? I don't know. I just think every fighter is gonna fight again. You know what I mean? They find a way. Anthony Smith yesterday in his interview I'll take a box and fight to say like if he doesn't fight Asimov now, he will never fight again. Oh, you're talking non UFC You're talking like yeah Any is there like well the question was, is he gonna voice him out? Yeah, that's fair.

I mean, he's not going to fight now in the UFC anybody other than Tom. That I don't see. You know, if he does fight again and it's not against Tom, what a freaking victory for Tom Aspinall, right? It's not bad. Yeah, it is. The ducking allegations will only get louder.

Now here's the thing, ultimately that's great. It's great for a street cred. It's great bad. Yeah, it is. The ducking allegations will only get louder. Now, here's the thing. Here's the thing. Ultimately, that's great. It's great for a street cred. It's great for his brand. He can't take that and deposit it in the bank. Beating John Jones, fighting John Jones, and then beating John Jones would be the greatest thing for his bank account, for his family,

obviously for his legacy as well. So that sucks. But if John Jones comes back and doesn't fight him, if for whatever reason they meet all the demands, Tom is in, the UFC is in, they've done everything possible to make this a reality, Dana has all but guaranteed that the fight would happen in 2025, and it doesn't happen and he comes back and fights anyone else, even if it's an absolute killer who that person is i don't know jelton almeida serguej spivak volkov fucking rosenstrike parrera uncle live whoever it's a massive victory for tom aspenall tom aspenall can essentially say

this guy did not want to fight me not only is it a massive victory for aspenall i do believe that would hurt john jones's legacy in a way that when we were talking about this the question was raised and we've talked about this numerous points but there was a point where the question was raised if John Jones never comes back and doesn't fight Aspinall does it hurt his legacy and I remain on the corner that it does not. I think John does not need this fight. I think John's legacy is so firmly established, he could be fine walking away. But if it comes to light that everything was met, the demands were met, the fight was there, Tom was willing anytime, anyplace, and he was not willing, a willing participant, that I do think hurts his legacy and that I do think hurts past fights that did not happen,

right? Now you start to question what materialized in the Francis Ngannu and John Jones negotiations. You start to open Pandora's Box the idea of maybe John Jones was potentially a sticking point in other things. If he remains on the sidelines, I don't think his legacy will be harmed because that is, hey, I just didn't wanna fight anymore and I walked away, Tom was great,

but it was not my time to have that fight. If he fights somebody else, that, that is no longer subject to, to that preservation. The rules are different today than they are in five, six years. What I mean by that is in five, six years, all this may just be a footnote because he had such a long career and such a, such a, such an esteemed career, such a successful career. But I would argue that both scenarios will hurt his legacy today. Because if Tom Aspinall was a 40-year-old former champion and he's getting Top Dollar to fight him,

I'm pretty sure he takes that fight. I'm pretty sure he takes that fight. He gave us no indication back in November that he was done fighting. Did he even hint at it? Did he even say, like, this might be it for me? I don't remember that he was kind of riding the fence all week But to your point like the little beer the last thing he said was like pay me and I'll fight that was ultimately what he

Ended up at and so if if what you're saying is the pay me part has been settled now There's only one direction to look, you know, it makes it very clear. There's no doubt, John Jones doesn't need Tom Aspinall, he doesn't need to beat Tom Aspinall in order to secure his legacy. That could be true, and it is true, but it could also be true that him walking away from this fight, not accepting this fight, is a bit of a sting on his legacy,

it's a bit of a, a little bit of a, I don't know, some sort of demarcation. And it's a massive victory for Tom Aspinall. It's an unofficial moral victory for Tom Aspinall. Because I do believe if Tom wasn't this young, wasn't this good, wasn't this dangerous, wasn't the kind of guy whose fights only last a minute or two and doesn't give you a lot to game plan, which we know John loves, more power to him,

I think John takes this fight. For the money that's being discussed, I think John takes this fight. I have long carried water for John Jones, no secret, and proclaimed that he's the best. I've also proclaimed, Tom Aspinall is a massive risk to John Jones. Tom Aspinall is as good as advertised in my mind.

I think he is extremely dangerous. I think he's as dangerous to John Jones as anybody who's ever been around. And so to take that risk, you need to be compensated fairly. If John Jones has given out a number that he felt was fair compensation and that number was met and then you don't take the fight, that is a different story, right?

Because now they're paying you what you have deemed the price tag to take the risk to fight Tom Aspinall. So I get more toward what you're saying. I do think ultimately, even if he just walks away clean, I still feel like his legacy is intact. If he comes back and it's not against Tom,

that I think is a real demerit. That's a real stain on the legacy, truly. I know Ariel said the top of this, and I get it where you're coming from, like, oh, let's not talk about how long, blah, blah, blah, but this division is on low support. Like, right now, the rest of the fights in this division don't make sense. There's a slimmer heavyweight bracket there than ever before, and we might have, like, a guy we could potentially see becoming one of the greatest heavyweights ever.

We have him waiting and he's lost a year of his career already. Like I mean, you have to shitter get off the pot here. You're either going to make the fight or you're not. If they've given him this money and said, this is what you want and he doesn't want it, what are we waiting for at this stage? You know, like we're just, we're endlessly talking about this since December last year. I mean, to move the conversation on, you have to do one of two things, make the fight or make a decision on where if Jones is the heavyweight champion.

You're right. You're a hundred percent. I mean, could you, by the way, could you imagine being Tom Aspinal right now? So, no, but like here's that, like if like if you think Tom is annoyed about this, I think he's been really patient and the Aspinal like he's all about competition. He's the one that's saying, I don't care if it's Jones. We have the heavyweight champion here. Can we put the belt on him, please? Like I want this guy to keep fighting.

He is saying like, look, he goes in there and he knocks these lads out in a few minutes. Like he wants him to compete as much as possible because this is a very small window when you have a prime guy. And I know Aspinal is a very young heavyweight and we're very lucky that he could have a decade left in the sport if previous heavyweight champions are anything to go by. But this division, honestly, when the heavyweights fight now, nothing makes sense because there is no closure at the top of the division. We have no idea what they are fighting for. Who could name off the top of their head the next highest ranked heavyweight? You know what I mean? Like it's not a conversation anyone's having. So they're basically letting

the division wither away, waiting for a fight now that you're that that we think can happen. So it's time to make a decision. I agree. I mean, I think I think we all kind of thought like by the summer. So maybe there's a couple of months left. Um, I just can't imagine a guy, his age, his skill set, the role that he's on prime of his career, just getting better, coming into his own and waking up every day and not knowing what you're training for.

Not knowing if you're getting the fight of your life, the biggest fight of your career, or... Another interim title defense. Or a vacant title fight against someone who is like... No one made it. A hundred steps below John Jones in terms of fame, notoriety, all that stuff. That's gotta be a mind freaking F, right?

And to your point, Pete C, about the heavyweight division, if Tom Aspinal were able to beat John Jones, even forget the challengers that would come then, then you have this defending champion who his popularity will explode if he's able to beat John Jones. And if he's able to finish him from past results, he will become this guy that's just like the Terminator in the heavyweight division. And he will draw so many eyes each time he fights because people want to see a quick finish from the baddest man on the planet being the UFC heavyweight champion.

Yeah, I agree. And look, it's devaluing the rest of the contenders in the division at the moment because we don't know what they're fighting for. There's lads up at the top of that division. They have nowhere else to go, but basically wait for this to be sorted out. And the longer they wait,

the staler they grow in the fan's minds. And if it gets to a situation where this fight doesn't happen and you have to pair up Tom and Cyril Gann or something like that, there's going to be people having shit fits about it. The longer this goes without being sorted out, it's devaluing the whole heavyweight division. What's also frustrating about it is you have arguably the best heavyweight in the world

Revved and ready to go you're looking for something for International Fight Week. He's right there. You know what I mean? He's right freaking there and I get it. Throw another 10 million on top. Throw another 10 million on top. See what happens. Could that be the game plan from from John Jones? He gets the money offer and then he's just like Hey, you know, maybe I don't want it. And they're just like another another five million. And he's like, okay, all right, let's do it. It's possible. That's negotiations. Yeah, could be. Could be just like the, you know.

But imagine if Tom. The monster stroke of Jones. Imagine if it was 30 million. Well, to be honest. And then he hits the sponge bob, he's like, eh, I don't really feel like it. I imagine John Jones has been in this position with UFC before, and they probably have not been willing to meet the number in the past.

The fact that they are potentially willing to meet the number to me tells me if I'm John Jones that there's more money in the bank then. If you can meet this number that means you're giving me... Oh God, you can't do that man. You can't do that. Can I get 30 million? Yeah you can. Oh wait, is Rick Jones' manager?

I would love to be. I'm at 40 million. Nobody's been more pro than me. That's bad business. That's unfair to do that to someone. To say like, okay, what's your number? They meet that number and then you're like, wait a second, you were willing to give me that?

Happens. Yeah, I mean, what else? So like, what if it is, what if this is his last fight regardless of outcome? And so he's like, well, better break the bank while we're here. We need to hear from Jones here. This is the loose end, right?

Oh, 100%. We need to hear what the hell's going on with him. Where is he at in terms of this negotiation? When's the next Dirty Boxing Card? Let's send some intrepid reporter to ask him some questions. If we were to hear from Jones, do you expect he'd say anything, you know,

beyond where negotiations like, or who knows? He likes to play the game. He could be like, yeah, you know, I'm not that interested. I'm not that excited. Who's Tom? He's an asshole. What has he done? I'm not that interested. I'm not that excited. Who's Tom? He's an asshole What has he done? He doesn't deserve this. Is Tom the asshole?

I mean John is a very compelling guy. He The mind games that he plays in the interviews are tremendous and and this sport will be a little less exciting And a little less interesting when he's gone I know some some people at home might be looking at this and be like you're hating. I don't know how you can Possibly honestly say that. It's all right there for you to decipher on your own. Tom Aspinall wants to fight. He's the interim champion. He's been told repeatedly,

that's the fight that they're gonna make. They aren't making it. It hasn't been announced. The UFC has tried its hardest to make it happen. It's either you wanna believe that John is the reason why this fight isn't happening or not. But I can assure you, if you are going to blame Tom, you're wrong. You're not gonna be able to make it happen. It's either you want to believe that John is the reason why this fight isn't happening or not.

But I can assure you, if you are going to blame Tom, you're wrong. If you're going to blame the UFC on this one, you're wrong. And trust me, there have been times where the UFC is blame worthy. Not in this case. They want to make this happen. How could any fan look at this conversation and be like, Oh, well, the lads are giving Jones a hard time. The fight is for the fans.

We're speaking from the perspective of fans when we're talking about fights that need to happen. That is the fight. So if anything, we're speaking out of a love of this idea of this fight happening, right? Same with Islam and Ilya, same with Hamza and DDP that those fights happening is for the betterment of the fan base it's for something to get the fan base excited I just I don't

understand that stance at all not only this specific fight happening because I think we all want to see this fight right it's either our one or two or whatever that list looks like but the integrity of this sport is important we've lost the idea of it being a meritocracy I don't think we'll ever get back to that, right?

I don't think number one always fights number two. We will never return to that. But the idea, though, that the fight that fans want to see is something that Dana White says a lot and is often parroted, you have to prove that, and you have to continue to prove that, right? It cannot just be something that you live on and coast on forever and then turn around,

and those fights are no longer being made. And this is one of those fights that you have the opportunity to prove that and continue to prove that. And it's important that it happens because you need to maintain that integrity. You may not be able to say the best guy fights the best guy every time,

but you will be able to continue to say the fights that fans want to see are the fights that we make. And this is one of them, and this needs to get done. Who's the bigger star in the UFC right now, Hamza Chamayev or Ilya Tupouria? I'd argue Hamza. Ilya Tupouria.

I'd argue Hamza. Oh interesting. GC? I would say Hamza as well and I think the only thing that's keeping him from like stamping that is getting the belt. Can we give the IG breakdown? What's the IG breakdown?

IG breakdown, let's pull it up. Yeah, because this is always a good indicator It's a porous seven point two million followers right now And if you haven't checked on his on his Instagram lately, he has updated it to the legend Okay, perfect under there and then hams at Shamayev. I Know it's more than the seven point. Is it really nine point six Wow I was gonna say Ilya I was gonna say Ilya seems to have more of a I don't know like more mainstream. Yeah mainstream. He's holding a press conference like every three days

It seems like for like a street named after him and then these are rare things like I mean it would be the equivalent of like say like the Real Madrid treatment him appearing on the league of TV is the equivalent of like like the Real Madrid treatment, him appearing on the league of TV is the equivalent of like John Jones being wheeled out with the Masters and going like, Oh, look, UFC champion. Like these are elite sports situations. And him being brought out on the pitch, all this stuff, the spots that he's in Lamarca, like these are leg, like some of the most prestigious media outlets of all time who usually don't cover MMA are covering this guy. It's very similar to the McGregor situation here 10, 12 years ago, when he took off, everybody wants a piece of them in Europe. But yeah, I think to, to, to GC and Rick's point, like,

I don't have an in into Hamzats sort of things like the, the Middle East is huge and Russia is huge. I obviously don't speak the language that I use over there so obviously I'm just speaking from my own experience what I'm seeing and publications on the spots he's popping up in. Yeah I mean we also like we kind of say it in jest but like the the Instagram followers but also like on Twitter everything the guy posts just goes absolutely nuclear like he posts a selfie and says good morning D, Drikus2plusc. 76,000 likes, seven million views on the tweet. Just like everything that he was posting about, like him versus DDP, 42,000 likes, 25,000 likes,

a picture of him just lifting a guy up, 21,000 likes. Like everything the dude puts out just goes nuclear. People are salivating for him to fight for the title. I think Iliad Tupori is certainly better, to your point, Pizzi, at like soaking in the spotlight, right? Like there is no equivalent for Hamza, right? He can't soaking in the spotlight, right? There is no equivalent for Hamza. He's not from Spain.

There is no huge soccer team for him to associate with. Those things are kind of part and parcel with Ilya Tupori's nationality and things like that. But I imagine if Hamza wanted to do a press conference every week, it would probably be pretty well-trafficked and well-attended and well-listened to. Yeah, that's fair. Worth noting, can I just say, maybe the elephant in the room,

one guy has a little bit of baggage, the other one doesn't. Yeah, there's also certainly that. And there's also the whole Muslim community and other things like that. And just for the record, that ain't the baggage that I'm talking about. No, no, I'm saying as a... I didn't think it was. That wasn't a transition there. Well, he went back and back, you know, they're going to come for me.

They're going to come for me. What I'm saying is, that contributes to the fandom, that contributes to the people that are supporting, the worldwide appeal of that. Like, Iliot Emporia, he is a big star amongst MMA, he's certainly a big star in Spain, but globally, maybe Australia might not have the connection to him.

Muslim population around the world is gonna know Hamzat is gonna be a supporter of his and speak to the things that he's able to do. And so there's different, what I think when Connor and I did like who's the stars, is the UFC in a dirt of stars right now and kind of talking about that conversation, one of the things that I realized is just like stardom isn't quite what it used to be.

And like the measurement of stardom is harder than ever before, like what actually is a star. It was a lot more linear when it was like, Conor McGregor is on every television because he's made himself established. I think Ilya is more in that line for sure. But I do think because of the way like, people are able to communicate,

people are able to follow things, like Hamsat has this fan base that is rabid and massive I do think because of the way people are able to communicate, people are able to follow things, Hamzah has this fan base that is rabid and massive, that I don't know if Ilya's built quite yet, but he's certainly on his way. And if Hamzah gets the belt, the way that he got to the title fight, smashing people, just running through them,

his star power is just going to be massive. You're gonna start hearing the real casual fans being excited for Hamza Shamiah pay-per-view. I say this and I bring this up all to say Ilya Tupori has to be on International Fight Week. They gotta figure this out, in my opinion. They've gotta figure it out. They can't take two L's here.

They can't take two L's here on Ilya Islam and, ah, come on. It's gotta be the showcase for him. It has to be. They put Connor in that spot, they put Izzy in that spot, they've always tried to put the guy in that spot. Does anyone, Islam versus Ilya to me is very close to Jones versus Aspenol in terms of fight that the world wants to see and that I want to see

and that we all want to see. It's massive. But Ilya versus Charles ain't that bad ultimately you have me there I think that Ilia versus Charles Ilia versus Islam is a no-brainer Ilia versus Charles is bigger than hums out first DDP is bigger than hums out versus Caio Bahalia do you guys agree definitely definitely the Caio fight and more than likely the DDP fight because when you I was gonna say when it comes to star power the star power drop off from Islam to Charles

is not much man, like it is barely there. DDP to Kayo is probably that, and honestly DDP and Kayo is sort of here whereas Islam and Charles are massive. I mean you could make the argument that Iliya Taporio like, is he the B side in either of those fights when it comes to star power? Charles and Islam? At the moment I would say yeah. Like he could be the B side in either of those fights when it comes to star power?

Charles and Islam? At the moment I would say yeah. Yeah. Like he could be the B side. His ceiling, his ceiling is limitless. The ceiling is limitless at the moment. Like if he beat Islam, like we don't even, like the conversation's over at this point. He's the biggest thing that UFC's got by a country mile.

I'd almost like at that point start thinking about like is he entering McGregor territory. But I do think like right now Charles has more cash at least with the fan base. He's just been doing it longer. He's he's he's somebody who's been in their lives for that long. And I would not have it above DDP and Hamsa but I would have it above nearly anything else. I think that's one specific matchup that gets there, but outside of John and Tom, Ilya versus Charles and Ilya versus Islam are as good as you can possibly do. How do we get to Ilya versus Charles?

I'm gonna, how do we get to Ilya versus Charles? Basically, they, well, we get to Ilya versus Charles if A, JDM wins, right? Then I think Islam is gone. Islam has talked about how the weight cuts have been a little extreme. I personally think there's one fight left for him at 155 and it is Ilya. But you can also offer the excuse of, or the retort, the rebuttal that, hey, you can keep saying that.

There'll be another guy, there'll be another guy. He really has done it all at one 55, especially as of late in terms of defending the title and, and taking on all comers, including the featherweight champion twice. So a, as we said, they're either going to wait till may 10th, or they'll say like, we need a main event. The same, by the way, the same way they needed a main event for Miami, they needed a title fight for

Miami, they got the belt off of Vilia. They. The same, by the way, the same way they needed a main event for Miami, they needed a title fight for Miami, they got the belt off of Ilya, they could do the same with Islam. So does that mean it would be for a vacated title? Yeah. I'm into that. I don't believe for a second,

the next, here's what I feel is, and maybe I'll regret this one, the next time we see Ilya Tupori fight, it is for an undisputed title. The question is, is it going to be against Islam for the actual undisputed or the vacant undisputed? Yeah, the Miami situation. It's really the Miami situation all over again.

It's crazy. If the Charles fight is made, the Islam fight is not happening. At least not in the near future. It's crazy if the child if the child's fight is made the the Islam fight is not happening That's at least not at least not in the near future. It's not is there any chances for contendership? They just go you get the next crack at Islam Well, why do we keep doing it like it's just fucking it's right there either do it or don't it's just This thing tends to this is hinging on Islam's plans and And I think he's earned that, if I'm being honest. I think he has earned the right, this is not John Jones, right?

Let's just be clear about Islam. Islam is not somebody who is trying to like, have a little bit of cake you needed to eat. He's not trying to sit out. He wants to fight, but he wants to potentially take an opportunity at the 170 pound belt. I think he deserves that opportunity. Now, here's where I'd push back.

Here's my one issue with the Islam stuff. Fight Bilal too. Don't give me this bullshit about like we trained together one time fight Bilal oh time one time give it to them because Bilal is gonna be in the fucking mix like anyway right so I was just gonna say and all of Islam's plans hinge on the performance of Bilala Muhammad at UFC 315 next month? Yeah, it is a little crazy. The whole of International Fight Week hinges on how Bala Muhammad performs in Montreal against Jack Delamadalena. By the way, the MMA world waits.

In a fight that wasn't even like the original plan. Right. Where have you gone Shafkat Rahman? Yeah. In a fight against Jack Delamadalena like, entered the fray out of nowhere. And so this idea of like, they won't fight each other, I get it, I'm okay with like the respect of this, but like at a certain point, that is the guy

that is holding the belt that you want. And so are you gonna go get it or not? Or are you just gonna forever wait until somebody dethrones Balal? Like just go fight Balal. I don't, look, he's not in the gym with you guys, he comes in, he trains. Like we see Kaio like we see Kayo

We see Kayo and Hamsa. They've trained together and they're talking about fighting. They're building something up Let's let's just see the fight if if 170 pound gold is what? Islam ultimately wants fight either of them fight Jack or fight below I'm actually surprised that at no point Dana has said like, you know Dana gets mad when when marab and and Aljoe would entertain the idea of fighting each other when GSP Rory wouldn't entertain, when, when Koscheck and Fitch wouldn't entertain. And a lot of those were just sort of like fictitious,

like what if X, Y and Z happens, would you entertain? It was never, you need to make a decision. DC Kane, et cetera. Make the call. But those guys were actual teammates. Those guys were actually in the same gym with each other every single training session. Murab and Aljo are in the gym together every single time.

And so maybe I'm mistaken. Maybe Bilal is over training with these guys, but when I see the videos of Islam, Habib, Umar, he's not there. He's sometimes there, but it seems more like he's popping in the same way somebody would. This is a quote from last July, right after Bilal got the belt.

He said, this is Bilal speaking, I would never fight Islam Makashev 100%. And then he said, but honestly, he'd go up to 185 and be DDP right now. It's like ridiculous. I wouldn't fight him either. But Islam said this on fighting Bilal Muhammad. He said, I don't know I don't know brother. We have the same manager. We'll do something. We'll see

Gives a fuck about a manager. Yeah, like honestly Cheeto and Mario Bautista have the same manager and they're fighting each other I know it's not the same stakes but like this happens Gary and Sean Brady of the same fighting each other. I know it's not the same stakes, but like this happens. Ian Gary and Sean Brady have the same agendas. They're not like each other at all. The manager thing is ridiculous, but to me it sounds more like Bilal will not fight Islam as the opposed. I wouldn't either. I'll tell you what, I wouldn't fight Islam either.

I was like, no, no, no, no, man, just go to 185. I wouldn't fight him either. Dana White never gave it though, oh, it's 100% or anything like that with Ilya and Islam. I think I've probably because of my want for both of those fights I've been kind of put them in the same basket in that regard until Rick said that there I mean, you're right Islam does deserve to have a look at pastors new. I guess he's fought Volkanovsky twice He's kind of thinking what's it gonna do for my legacy beating another featherweight champion? And there's the fact that the UFC like they did with Tom and John haven't promised this to us

You know all those months ago. So I guess it is a different situation. It's a different person. Why can't they call up Islam and say, look, we've got International Fight Week, the same way this came up in the talks leading up to Miami, we've got International Fight Week. You want to headline it against Ilya? Here you go. Here's the big marquee, right? You don't, we need to take that belt away,

just like we took Ilija's belt away, and we need to make Ilija versus Charles for the vacant title. Why can't that happen? It seems like it can. Ilija gave his belt up. No, but they, come on. Nah, they took that belt, come on.

They took that belt. I guess the argument is that like, Ilija doesn't care who he fights at 155 as long as it's for the title, whereas there's this belief that Islam Refuses to fight against below and it just all comes down to Montreal Next month the what a marquee of it Alina has a chance to like really shake up the entire you have new prediction new prediction

We don't get international fight week until the night of UFC 315 All right tonight the gate was 22 million dollars. Islam Ilya international fight week. Who's got the first question? Kesbala wins. By the way, there's a very good chance that they have told Charles, hey just prepare for June 28th. Probably. If you know if xyz happens you'll be fighting this person, if xyz happens you'll be fighting that person. Hey XYZ happens, you'll be fighting that person. Hey, Ilya, you're going to be fighting for a belt, but XYZ happens, you're fighting this guy XYZ. And then, and then we officially announce it to the world on May 11th.

They'll probably sell the tickets again. I feel for the people who, you know, have plane tickets, have hotels, have things of that nature. Hopefully it's one of those where you can cancel it if you're not happy with it a week out as opposed to prepaying the whole thing. But there's a very good chance that nature. Hopefully it's one of those where you can cancel it if you're not happy with it a week out as opposed to prepaying the whole thing. But there's a very good chance that happens. Here's the part that's-

And the reason I say this is, there's a very good chance those guys are preparing right now. They're just not quite sure who specifically, but they're all kind of, they're obviously not the same fighter, but it's not like one's a supreme striker and the other's a supreme grappler, right? Islam, Charles- They're good not the same fighter, but it's not like one's a supreme striker and the other's a supreme grappler right Islam

Charles everything look lads prepare for a random Just play the music on fight night This is the part that sucks I would rather see Charles versus Ilya than I would rather see Yeah, okay now you know I would rather see Charles versus Ilya than I would rather see See Ilya being competitive with Islam whereas I think Charles is an actual fight that's my that's my take the intrigue the Yes Islam will beat him up I just don't know he can't make that court anymore Rick I am buying it I am buying it and I think Charles would be a banger I think Charles would be a great fights

but the the dude who's on this what's it 12 in a row now he's getting the car this can be Islam yeah no no like 14 or 15 or McGregor right what Hylia this could be the Connor McGregor moment if he if he he just killed two featherweight legends to become a legend himself literally by name and now he he beats Islam he is he's in the Connor McGregor conversation in a way that nobody has been since. But I just don't see him beating Islam, that's the problem. And I think he could beat Charles.

If he flatlined. But he doesn't beat Conor McGregor by beating Charles. No, no, no, no. The Charles fight doesn't get him there. The Charles fight doesn't get him there. The Islam fight gets him there. I can't believe you said you're more into that fight. It's a great, it's an amazing plan B. more into that fight. It's a great

What is like What 25 champ 155 champ coming together in the recoil Wait, can I just add Georgia versus Russia and all that that's going like this is all great build This is fantastic. Then the fight happens and then what? Then the fight happens and then what oh Then the fight happens and then what? Ilia can also be then the fight happens and then what Islam and You thought it's something to be like oh you thought you thought this is gonna be it for you you thought you were Connor I don't see I don't see it. I think Charles. I think Charles is a better fight. That's that's how I'd position that I'd rather see it because I think it's a better fight

But I think both of those are box office is some just a little bit more But I think both of those are box office in fact I think the boys in the back I was like would you buy Charles and and Ilya's a Fight week headliner, and I said yes a hundred percent I would and I said, yes, 100%, I would. Belt or no belt, by the way. Belt or no belt, I don't care. Yeah, but it's the dangling carrot that you can't look past, you know?

My opinion. The good news is, it seems like we'll have a few more days to talk about all of this, so we'll put a pin in that discussion for now. Still to come on the show, one of our favorites, Marlon, Cheeto Vera, he returns to action in a little over a month right here in the studio. in that discussion for now. Still to come on the show, one of our favorites, Marlon Chito Vera, he returns to action in a little over a month right here in the Tri-State area,

June 7th, UFC 316 on... Well, actually June 7th, I said that already. At the Prudential Center, the show headlined by the Bantamwe title fight, Sugashan O'Malley, Marabdowali Shafili, Julianna Pena, Kayla Harrison. So that's still to come and more.

But for now, let us turn our attention to our first guest of the day. And this is a massive, massive, massive privilege, a huge, huge honor for us to have these two gentlemen on the program. What a weekend for them. It was on Friday that the UFC, excuse me, the WWE held their annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

It's always a big deal. It's always a staple as far as WrestleMania weekend is concerned, and they do it better than anyone. At this point, it's a well-oiled machine. It's something that people look forward to, and the UFC has some years to catch up to them in terms of getting it just right. And one of the big attractions this past year, of course, was the induction of the total package Lex Luger.

And what a story, what a life he has lived. It has been a roller coaster, to put it mildly. He has been through hell and back, but these days he is thriving in a mildly. He has been through hell and back, but these days, he is thriving in a major way. He has found God, he has found a relationship, a rekindled, a renewed relationship with his longtime friend and colleague, Diamond Dallas Page. When it seemed like he was down and out, when it seemed like he may never walk again, when it seemed like he may never stand again, his relationship and his partnership with the Great Diamond Dalles Page we've had on the program before to talk about the great things that he has done for so many others. A true salt of the earth

Mensch has been amazing to see. They have chronicled this on the DDP Yoga YouTube channel. He has helped turn Lex's life around in so many ways and And there he was on Friday, standing up, delivering a great speech to a sold out audience, finally accepting his induction into the WWE hall of fame. And it was great to see. And so without further ado, let us say hello to the great diamond Dallas page, the man who works so many wonders with so many individuals, and we say hello as well to the great diamond Dallas page, the man who works so many wonders with so many individuals.

And we say hello as well to the total package himself, the newest member of the WWE Hall of Fame, the one and only Lex Luger. How great is this? Thank you so much, guys. Really appreciate you joining us. You look fantastic. Lex, to you first. Congratulations on a massive weekend. Thank you. Still basking in the afterglow. Yeah, you look like you are. You look, you got a massive smile on your face. Yeah, it was fantastic, great.

The way they did it, they really jazzed it up with more of that theater atmosphere, almost like a Heisman Trophy, like ceremony. It was like really classy. It was always really classy. It was always good, but like you said, they seem to be stepping up here. They even blinged out the rings this year.

Yeah, I gotta admit, I'm a little bit jealous. I'll try to get it on camera. I'll show it off, but yeah, they blinged the rings out. So yeah, Triple H gave me the ring. I go, wow, you guys really jazzed the rings up. He goes, yeah. Now I did a signing the next day. All the guys are already in, looked at my ring. Oh man, we kind of got like, wow, wow. We got wet. Our rings don't look like that. So it was pretty funny. I was like rubbing it in.

Yeah. It's still great to get that ring, but yours is way blinger. Yeah. You have it, but yeah, they blinked it out. Yeah, it didn't look like that in 2017. That's when you went in, Diamond Dallas Page, but congratulations to you because I think that you are owed that. You were a big part of Lex getting this recognition after all these years, so it was wonderful to see the two of you up there. Can I ask you, Lex, to be back there, to be around, you know, all those those big names, to be around your your friends, people you've worked with, the new generation and whatnot. I would imagine that was a setting, a scene that you probably thought

would never happen. What was it like when you were in the moment taking it all in? Was it surreal for you? Was it hard to process considering everything you've been through? It was. I said in a brief little talk that I shared with everybody if you'd asked me 20 years prior,

I'd never have anything to do with wrestling. Let it be up on stage with all the past and present stars. A WWE and the global jogger not, a WWB and the global Joggernaut, it's become with the merger with UFC and TKO Endeavor. I mean, it's just a global phenomenon and to be there. And I hadn't met most of the, I've interacted some, but most of the new guys, young talents, it's, I haven't met most of those guys.

So it was, it was, that made it a really exciting evening. It's the stuff those guys do. Most of us never even dreamed of doing the athleticism with the men and the women. My gosh, right, D, sometimes- Unbelievable. The women have the best match of the night sometimes. Yeah, unbelievable.

Oh my gosh, they're incredible stuff they're doing. So, you had to be around the atmosphere of all those athletes present. And then we had Taker there and Stone Cold and Kevin Nash, all our buddies. Yep, Bret Hart. Bret Hart was there. Bret was there.

It was a special night. Dallas can hold the new ring up for you a little bit. Oh wow, there it is. This is the bad boy here. Oh wow, that is beautiful. Well done. I love it. It's got, you know, it's got the Hall of Fame across the top and the bottom of it blinged out with the diamonds and. That's your name on the side.

Yeah, yeah. Don't lie. I even noticed that they put your name on the side of it. Oh, yeah. And then you hear it's beautiful and good description in between. It's beautiful and good description in between. It's a beautiful, you know, it's, it's, it's, I, I ever since triple H like literally took over with Nick Khan, I mean the storylines, I mean, everything seems just, it was time for that next level and you see what those guys have done.

Um, I, I enjoyed the hell out of it, you know, I'd use the, I've been back for them with and to see what those guys have done, I enjoyed the hell out of it, you know, because I've been back with them, with those guys, for a while, and it's been a lot of fun, and they recognize, you know, what work that Lex and I were doing, and it was really awesome to be there, you know, and just to, it's just something you can't really put into words. This may be a tough question for you to answer, DDP,

but I've watched all the videos. I see the way you care for your friends. It wasn't just Lex, Scott Hall as well, May He Rest In Peace, Jake the Snake, Roberts, Butterbean, so many others. Why do you do this? Why do you care so much? And I know that may seem like a catless question,

but you don't just do, it doesn't seem to me like you do it for any fame, publicity. You really truly care about these guys, and you could be living a great life and kind of like sailing off into the sunset, but you're doing this to help your buddies. Why? Why do you care so much?

Oh, God, you choked me up a little bit on that one. Um, my wife says I can't help myself. You know, it's like even when my business partner, Steve Yu, set this up for us today, so, you know, everything goes perfectly. We're... What a team. Yeah, like the best yin and yang you've ever,

you know, you've ever seen together. And, like, we both can be fried. And I mean, fried. And if something comes up like Dory Funk, Dory Funk Jr. When Marty, his wife, I mean, literally just got off the phone with her. You know, when she said, is there any way that you think Dory could do this?

I said, yes. I said, give me your number. I said, I'll tell you what, here's my number. Text me tomorrow, because I always put it on them. You know, text me tomorrow and let me know if you want to get together. And we said, she texted me first thing in the morning. And Dory's like 85.

And you know, and at the same time, I also know I can have people like be able to come in and zoom like my buddy Josh Nair. He'll be working with Dory. Hey Steve, Steve you in here? Oh he's out of here. Okay and one of my other instructors Tommy, I always get his name wrong when I say his last name,

what's called Stratus, he's been working with the butcher, Abdul, I always get his name wrong. When I say his last name is what's called Stratus. He's been working with the butcher, Abdul and the butcher. So when I hear that those guys are actually putting the work in, like I showed up, and when Barak Pyshoff and I just did episode 83 weeks here at the Performance Center. And I said, I said, we're gonna go see Abby and we're gonna surprise him.

He's like, you're going to see, I'd love to see that. I go, come on, bro. Let's go. And Abby was literally sleeping in the chair, like watching TV and he was asleep. So I sat down in the chair cross room and it was Abby. Yo, Abby wake up. He's like, time, time, Malika, Malika, am I dreaming? He's diving down the page in front of me. That sounds like it happened.

Yeah, right. And I loved Abby, man. But when I first broke in, Abby was very, was very nice. He was just kind to me. And, you know, now that I know he's been working with Tommy and he's been working, you know, we're working on getting to lose the weight so he gets his hips replaced and stuff.

Both of those guys are 84, by the way. So now he can tell me it's too late to do something. Yeah, it's never too late. And, you know, it's just a part of it. And Lex will tell you, I help get a lot of guys' jobs, you know, back in the day when they live their dreams. It makes you feel good. When I was 22 years old,

the real bottom line answer to this question is, I was listening to Zig Ziegler. And Zig, a big Bible thumper back then, he doesn't speak much now, he's in his 90s. But I heard him say, you can get whatever you want, as long as you help enough people get what they want. And man, my whole life's been like that, bro. I can have a caveat to that if you don't mind.

Please, please. In my experience, the time I spent with Dallas has been so special, especially these past 13 months. And I believe you mentioned that I'm a person of faith now, which has totally transformed my life. I know now that God creates everything and everybody created us in his image, I believe. And, but we're all different.

We're like a snowflake, no two snowflakes are the same. Imagine the care and the talents and talents he gives each one of us. I believe God has a plan and purpose for each one of us. He gave Dallas a special gift, a talent and empathy, a kindness, a passion for helping other people. And mentally, physically, he's relentless with it. He has a, he's in a sweet spot. I feel what God created him to do.

And that's why I think he's had so much unbelievable success with it. It's just, it's just two years. It's definitely, I believe a special God given gift. Lex, what kind of state were you in? Where was your life at when you reconnected with Dallas 13 months ago? What state were you in? Where was your life at when you reconnected with Dallas 13 months ago?

I was pretty much, even the most simple things of brushing my teeth or getting out of the shower was not only difficult but dangerous. Going to the bathroom, things we all could take for granted. My mobility got to the point where I was pretty much in the chair all the time. And so obviously my quality of life was compromised. I focused on what I could do, what I couldn't do,

but I couldn't do much anymore. And while we started right down, I couldn't even get out of the car, right? And you'd seen, and we have video footage, a lot of stuff that is just from beginning to end, like a five minute segment of Lex trying get out of the car. Like if he needed, if I wasn't there

or you're gonna fly down in good Samaritan, right? Independence, yeah. He has now, you know, a word called freedom that, you know, means so many different things. But for Lex, it means being able to be free to do what you wanna do when you wanna do it, and not have to burden anyone else. Quality lifestyle.

We can take for granted every day. Little things. Your diagnosis, the doctors told you that you were going to be a quadriplegic? Right. And so that means? Go ahead, I'm sorry. No, no, that means you can't move your body below the neck, right?

Well, yeah, you might move your head. I had head and shoulder movement and I can lift my arms up a little bit. But yeah, quadriplegic cervical, it's the neck down. We're we're paraplegic. It's more from the middle mid, or mainly just the legs. Okay. I always joke with people. I always did everything big.

So I wasn't just gonna be waist down. I had to be neck down. Ariel, let me interject that this is the craziest thing about this. You were there though. Yeah, I was there the day it happened. Tell us, tell us. And Eric Watts, who's one of our, both of our,

one of our closest friends. And back at the time, Eric hated Lex, you know, when he was in wrestling. He wanted to beat me up. He wanted to beat you up. And I mean, we waited a couple of times to, and then years later. I have talent back then, I'm getting people's good sense.

Yeah, you know how to push your buttons. And bottom line is, Watts was telling me how Lexus found Christ, and he's a completely different person. I'm like, pro, what are you talking about? Never happened, that ain't happened without Lex. Cause I remember when Sting was saved, he, oh God, he buried him.

He goes, I'm telling you, it's true. I go, you hate him. Why, why? I love Lex, but you hated him. And he, and he said, not anymore. He goes, actually we're living together. And I was like, what? What is your, your living with Lex? So there's a stamp that it was the first time they did a signing with the UFC and all the wrestlers. there's a stamp that it was the first time they did a signing with the UFC and And all the wrestlers and it was in at the cow pals in San Francisco And I heard that that Lex was gonna be there. I didn't care. I the money wasn't that great I didn't care. I needed to see the new Lex and then the promoter calls me up and he goes DB

I just want you know Lex is here, but yo, I think he's had a heart attack. They had to kick the door down. Tell them when you were in the room and you fell out of bed and you couldn't breathe, right? Yeah, well, your breathing is compromised with a cervical injury. So I tried to move my head and shoulders

to get, knock the phone off the hook, so I don't know what that would have done, but I was panicking. I fell down to the floor and I was like, I'm metal suit in the bag that pulled me through the floor. I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know what I was. I thought I was dehydrated or something.

It was dehydrated only like to be completely paralyzed. Up against that night scan, my chin tuck with compromise. I had completely paralyzed. I was on function. Up against that nightstand, my chin tucked with compromise. I had breathing bursts. So I literally thought that was, I was gonna suffocate. So the EMT, there's a man and a woman, they put them in a chair. That's when I, I see the door blown off the hinges because they kicked the door down.

The battery ran out. And Lex is sitting in a chair. He's like, hey, D, what sitting in a chair, he's like, hey, D, what are you doing here? I go, I came here to see you. I go, are you okay? What is it? I give him a hug, but I didn't really notice he didn't move.

But he was drinking Gatorade, thinking I'm dehydrated. Lex says, sure, I'm good. I'm like, and the EMT is, no, you're not. I'm paralyzed from neck down, and I'm good. He's good. It's a true story, you're not. I'm paralyzed from neck down and I'm good. He's good. It's a true story, man. Wow. And the EMT goes, you have to go to the hospital.

Alexis, no, no, no hospital, no hospital. I'm like, bro, I'm thinking it's a heart situation again, right? I'm like, have to go. And he's like, well, you think so, D? I'm like, yeah. He goes, well, you know, my hips, he was supposed to have hip surgery like a week later.

Yeah, get his both hips replaced and- We'll charge you back in the ring. So bottom of line is he says, I can't really stand. And I said, I got you, bro. So me and the EMT picked them up, put them into gurney and off he went I had no idea so when he gets back to the Shepherd Spinal Center here in Atlanta my business partner Steve Hughes the director of the resurrection of Jake the

snake and anything like butter beans video like all those words genius yeah he's he's reason he's an amazing storyteller and he cares. Like he can't help himself either. You know, like he cares. And we started filming with Lex 17 years ago when it happened. And so we're doing a documentary on it. And the reason why Lex came back to wanna work with me again,

cause I only had floor stuff then. You know, now you can't tell me you can't do my workout. It starts in bed, then sitting in a chair, then using a chair. I have to do the bed workout every morning. And he's done that now, but here's the beauty of this. You know how many people are in chairs right now that aren't paralyzed, but they're still in a chair.

Filmed every video, we're gonna start putting them up. You don't use it, you lose it, if you start sitting too much. We filmed them at every moment, because what I was doing was custom making this to what he could do as opposed to what he couldn't do. And then it moved to, you know, I'd film it and send it to him.

And by the next week or the week after, he come back and do more. And then he could do more. And then he, then I said, try to stand up. And he went to stand up and he could use the, in the beginning, Braille and get up a little bit, he'd sit back down, but eventually he could push himself off.

And then I said to him that day, see if you could get up without touching anything. And he couldn't, couldn't do it. And he got a little bummed out. I go, pro, no, this is good because you're going to be able to do that. And we have it where you can't do it yet. And that's the biggest thing.

I always say, you say you can, you say you can't, you're right. It was Henry Ford who said that originally that was quoted saying that. But mine is if you have to say, I can't, say I can't do it yet, because it's the yet that makes it possible. And what we were gonna do at the Hall of Fame,

Deluxe, tell them the story going into the Hall of Fame. Drive on the way there. We do our last workout. I'm doing the stand up with no hands, we're milking it, we got a whole thing worked out. I was gonna walk across the stage with Dallas up to the podium and won't come out in the chair then walk across the stage.

Uber driver, my wife and I are robbing off at the airport. She's getting out in the far side. Uber guy rushed around to get my wheelchair at the airport. And when I went to turn to sit down, he panicked and moved the chair on me. I landed on the sidewalk. Oh no. A whole right leg went down, but I was buckling. So we had to call an audible at the last minute, hoping it would come around in time for the Hall of Fame the following night. But it was,

it was, it was a right before we went out to, I, I told Dallas, what were you talking to, uh, Steve and Kevin? I was, I hear I hear having a really fun conversation with Dash and Austin. And so I was like, wait, try it, run forward out to make sure I could do it. And it was back in the restroom, it was a no go. And his adopted son, who is such a sweet, amazing kid,

his name's Jonathan. And Jonathan goes, hey, hey D, Lexi's talked to you right now. I go, oh, is it right now? He goes, no, now. I goes, is it, is it, we good? He goes, no, I don't think so. I'm like, okay, look, boom, we run down there.

And he was so worried about like, disappointing me. I was wondering if he disappointed you. Oh, come on, man. I was. So, so I I said I don't but I didn't care it was like he was like dude you know what you're gonna stand up there you're gonna do your talk and that's gonna blow everybody away like don't worry about anything else and of course the show of course, the show off, of course, likes being legs, stops about, you know,

about four or five feet from the stage or from the side, the podium. And I'm like, dude, I go to, I go to put my arm around him and he didn't remember saying this. I just reminded him, I go to put my arm around to help me. He goes, get your hands off me. I'm like, I got this. You just give me your shoulder. I'm like, okay. And he walked up there. But you can see my hands were waiting to catch him in case anything spasms him. Because when you have nerve damage, it's not like, and one of the guys, and I met him too,

Joe Montana, someone who I, one of my favorite quarterbacks ever, he's got a lot of nerve damage. And I came, he was still signing in Buffalo, of all places, right at, that's where he likes us from. He was signing right across from me. So I walked over, I gave him my DB pick, DB pack. I said, I don't know how much I can help you, bro,

but I know I can help you. And you know, he was like, thank you so much. He was just super class act, but somebody just said this to me over a Hall of Fame weekend that I tell him all the time, you should try to eat the yoga. I would fly in to work with you.

Yeah, I bet. You know what I mean? But the nerve damage is really, it's hard. It's really hard. There was some concern when you weren't on the stage legs on Saturday with the other Hall of Famers. Can you clear up why you weren't there? That's why all that stuff catches fire.

Yeah. It was the guys knew I'm a four a.m. or now. And with all that happened at the injury and everything, the next day on Saturday, I could hardly get out of bed. So I just called the guys and they were so cool about it and said, look, we'd love to have you down there. Let's see how you feel later today.

But it was obvious by late afternoon, that time that I wasn't gonna be able to get out. There was no way he could get out of bed. Like what a lot of guys don't realize is that first of all, we're, we're East coast guys, right? So it's not even starting till 10 o'clock, which is one in the morning for us. And Lex is a nine o'clock off the bed. You know, you know, you so I just told my wife's guys. I can't, I can't. It wasn't like you didn't want to be there.

You know? Did that bump you out? Was that a bummer or the, the, the thrill of Friday and, and, and everything that you experienced there was enough for the weekend. I was still basking in the, like I said, I still basking that to go. Okay.

Of course Saturday would have been great, but I don't, yeah. It was a to go. Okay. Of course, Saturday would have been great, but I don't, it was a no go. So I. Yeah. You know, we're like, well, when he shuts off, he shuts off that phone, he shuts off everything. Because you know, it's getting. I could have, I would have, yeah.

Yeah, you would have been there. And for anybody not to think that, it was like, it was a huge, this has been a huge thrill. And I reached out to, you know, when, when, when Jake when Jake Roberts, if you've never seen the resurrection Jake the snake, it's on Amazon prime. When I reached out to Paul of that coup, when I broke in

as a manager in a W a my next job was with dusty Florida championship Wrestling, then Dusty brought me into WCW, but at some point they were like, he's basically too over the top for professional wrestling as a manager. And I start working. Well, when I start going that power plant every day,

you know who's there with me? Terrorizing, Paul Lavec, Triple H. And so me and him became really good friends, man. So we, over the period, I remember Terry Taylor, we were at this restaurant somewhere and he had gone to the restroom and Terry Taylor said to me, he goes, I really like that kid.

He's got your work ethic. I said, yeah, and his age. He was like 22. I was 36, you know, and he had more experience than I did. But, you know, I can't, you know, I was going up to do the very best of nitro and I had, you know, come by. We were supposed to tell you when you're breaking in

Yeah, like so we don't quit your day job. Wow I mean Michael PSA just laughter my face But with Jake, I'm doing the very best of nature All right so I come in to film it and mean Paul the meeting afterwards and I was like Hey, bro, I'm not saying I saying, I'm not crazy enough to say I'm gonna get Jake Snake Roberts sober, but he's 60 days sober.

And you know Scott, Scott just came in too and I'm not saying either one of those guys I can get, but I just wanna be right. I just wanna put it on your radar. That's all. And then, you know, we both know that following year, they both went into Hall of Fame. And when it came down to Alex too, I just let him know what we were doing

and just wanted to let you know I was working with a man. And yeah, I kept him impressed as we went along this journey. And I mean- The renovation specials, like off of that, like the HDTV, all us beautiful wrestlers. Your resume Lex would certainly warrant

being in the Hall of Fame long ago. And I've heard you talk about your mom every year before she passed, she would ask you, when are you gonna get in? Are you gonna get in? Do you think you're gonna get in? When you would see the years go by and others who, you know, no knock on them, maybe didn't have the resume, the accolades that you had amassed in your career, would it bum you out, had you given up hope

at this juncture that it would ever happen? Well, I've been through my life, you know, and where I met with my faith and the good Lord, I don't give up anything. There's a verse in the Bible where Jesus says, disciples are asked, well, humanly possible, that humanly that seems impossible, God, anything is possible. So I don't ever, yet, he just said, yeah, anything's possible, I believe, pretty much. But I just felt like, yeah, my resume was there. I don't know what criteria they chose each year.

I thought maybe eventually it'd be a huge honor if I ever did. If I did, it didn't change, maybe accomplished my head in the ring. Maybe my outside of the ring stuff influenced you not getting in. I know there's consequences for decision making life prior. I understood that.

And if I didn't get in, maybe that was the reason. I didn't know for sure. But obviously, yeah, it was my mom was so though, keeper to ask me every year. I knew it meant something to her. So yeah, it's just thrilling to be able to get in this year. You know, a lot of it, I call Dallas the drip drip drip special, dripping triple H all year long about I'm working

with Lex and sending them little little little inside clips. Right? Yeah. I didn't show anybody, anybody but him. So the machine. I say even the Hall of Fame thing, the huge part of my mobility increasing my quality of life with this guy. But I think the 2025 behavior

probably wouldn't happen this year. Wasn't for tea here, so. Now, whatever. Bottom line, it did, we're super grateful. And grateful to WWE for making it such a big thing. And, you know, bringing Ben Brown and, and, and Triple H and there's the whole crew there. It's been put on view.

I don't know if you got, I'm sure you did hear Triple H's induction boy. Well, I love the way he started with his parents. I've met his dad before, super guy. They were celebrating their 61st wedding anniversary as their son, which was all about, you know, bringing in HBK and Taker, like those guys and of course,, Nick Khan putting that all together.

So that was just right. Cause a guy like Triple H, he would never put him in by, he just wouldn't have done it. He wouldn't have put himself in. But those guys doing that and to be a part of that class, very, very special. Michelle Kuhl, I mean, Kuhl, I mean, Taker's wife, she's, what a beautiful speech Taker had too

and about his wife and then she came out, she just nailed it. It was, it was beautiful. HBK made me laugh out loud a number of times. You know, everybody had a really good time there and you know, it just, like I say, very, very late, even for me there and I know it just like I say very very late Even for me and I'm a nightclub guy Would you to edit I didn't get the middle 330 in the morning?

Yeah, 630 630 in the morning and I'm 69 now. It's not like I'm 49 You look fantastic still at, better than most of us. What's amazing about your story, Lex, is that it's not just the injury, it's everything before that as well, everything that you've been through. I think, how many, forgive me for bringing it up,

but it was like, and I say this only to let people know that they can turn their lives around too, 11 or 12 arrests, I think it was. Was it in that vicinity? That really dark path for a while make a lot of bad decisions. Yeah, and it's just amazing. And unfortunately in pro wrestling,

we've seen a lot of people not get off the bad path and onto the right path and be in the position and in the state as far as happiness and gratitude that you are in now is concerned. Were you ever cognizant of the fact that you were going down the path of so many others and it appeared as though you weren't going to get off of it because it felt like unfortunately you were going to be another one of those examples. No one wanted that but it just seemed like it was snowballing.

Yeah, I heard I was voted most likely to be the next wrestler of Bound Dead in a hotel somewhere. I read that one time back then, but when you're going through it, you always think, well, I can, it's my own body, I can do what I want with it. And I went down that path with drugs and alcohol and excess and really make a lot of bad decisions.

I was a stubborn one and I wouldn't listen to anybody. I wouldn't get the help. It wasn't, I always thought I could fix anything. I was always, as also supremely confident, some say arrogant individual. And I had to really reach, here the terms rock bottom, the end of your rope, I had to reach the point where I was in such a bad way, for accuracy I didn't end up not making it. But I was at the point where I said, I can't fix this.

I had to be totally, God allowed me to be totally broken down. I had to get myself out of the way. When I got down on my knees as Jesus become my Lord and Savior, I was, I didn't have to be convinced. I was Jesus saved me from myself. Mm, heavy.

Saved me from myself. I was at that point. That was, that was, I was at the breaking point where I was broken enough to look up rather than around and think I can fix it. Cause I was the problem. I called Lex the cyborg because he could just go through anything.

I remember one time and I think they only gave us so much time to talk, but I wanted to tell the story about Lex. Like I've worked out with Lex a number of times. My weight's nowhere near his weight that he's moving, but I spotted at one time, 405 pounds, ass to the floor.

I didn't touch him till the 25th rep. Like that's the kind of mindset that like, and he took it everywhere, even when it was not a good place. He still took it there and he could, that he could fix it. And sometimes you can't. Unfortunately, my all in attitude, some of our greatest strengths

can be our greatest weaknesses. I came to certain things that definitely put way down a bad path for sure. I've also heard you say that you think it was, you had a big workout, you're on a flight, you're sitting awkwardly, and then it's just the next morning you find yourself in that hotel room. Is that actually what happened?

Do doctors know exactly what happened to your body where you could go from having an intense workout seemingly healthy the day before, and then you end up essentially paralyzed the next day. How does that happen? Yeah, I've been around world renowned neurologists. They said that the intricacies of the human body God created are so immense that they'd only be guessing.

Their best guess is they put in a category called transverse myelitis. And the world-renowned neurologist who worked with me at Shepherd Center, Dr. Pills, he said, like, that's the category we put spinal cord injuries in that we can't explain. He goes, you have an injury that was swelling, massive swelling from C5 down to T5.

We took the x-rays. You had a little bit of stenosis. There's nothing there indicating why it happened. Either you go your theory about the plane, maybe plausible, may not. That's what I think happened. But he goes, it could have been the plane, maybe Plazo may not, that's what I think happened. But he goes, it could have been a factor, maybe not. So they really, really don't know.

Well, what about you, Ariel? But if I'm looking here, I'm looking at left and I turn and look to you like this, I'm not there for more than 30 seconds. If you're standing there, I'll go bro Move over here because our necks Think about it And and I took a beating yeah, they took a beating and you really don't Really feel it to you get into your 50s

And then it's coming to your 60s and i'm knocking on the door 70, you know So i'm constantly and that's's what DDP yoga comes from. That's where power cuffs comes from, being able to heal your body because like nothing tastes better to me than feeling really good and not in pain. So- Yeah, but you were using the ice bag therapy.

Yes, all that. To get the body towards that best career. I went towards that. But it's clear. I'm going to lock him. I used to make fun of him and say, look at Gumby over there with his yoga mat. You got the last laugh on that one. Yes. Do you, uh, for you, diamond, uh, do you wish that there was something in play, you know, like in the NFL,

there's a sort of pension for the retired players. And I, and I know WWE tries its best to help guys out, but, um, you know, we've, we've talked about, what happens to guys later on in life and, and, um, how it's difficult when the music stops, so to speak. Do you wish that there was something a little bit more, uh, you know, uh, a little bit more regimented in place to help people so that they don't go down a bad path post wrestling. You know, I think it's, um, first of all, everybody knows what they're getting into when they start to, like there's no,

there's no one who doesn't know, you know, and all you gotta do is take that first bump to go, wow, this fake stuff hurts like hell. I have almost 5,000 matches. That's almost like 5,000 car races. I would say like 25,000. Every match would be like four or five car races to normal person. And I would believe at some point you will see, I mean, the WWE has made so many changes for the better over

this last just couple of years I think it's a yeah though yeah the legends program and what there's so much more wrecking you recognize they out of word I'm thinking those guys recognize a lot and you gotta remember who's a cat who's one of us is like I always say the biggest star in the world. Oh, he's a wrestler. His name is Dwayne Johnson. He's a rock. Well, the biggest, really the biggest guy in control right now who was Joe Paul of act AKA Triple H is one of us. Like he'll always be. And I think that it's the program's getting better, acknowledgement, like there was a point where I'd go in to see Cody, I think it was at Bad Blood.

And the WWE had put out the thing, because a lot of these kids, they weren't even born when we were over. You know, when we were having our run. So they don't know. So they literally put out a, like a little, like a paragraph on each one of us that they knew were coming in and don't just say hello to them, walk up and thank them.

You know, so I think in time, you know, I think, you know things will continue in that direction. Cause the company is like, you look at the company now, I used to think. Well, they did the action figures. Yeah, all the stuff. So they make sure that we're making money and stuff. We get in our piece and so to speak.

But I think overall, it's just gonna get better and better. I forgot what I was gonna say. I can't remember now. Knocked that out. Like,, Lex knocked it out of me. Yeah, yeah, well, we can come back to it. Can I ask maybe a difficult one for you, Lex? Do you think if Vince McMahon was still around that you would have been inducted?

Does he still hold any hard feelings towards you showing up on Nitro? Oh, that would be a Vince McMahon question for sure. Well, that is the a Vince McMahon question for sure. That is the best answer ever, bro. If I was with some of my other brothers, I would go, Dope, dude. Okay. But, Lex knew exactly how to answer.

He's a pro. He's a pro. I would, you know. It doesn't, it never, it's never like when I hear some guys talking about all these kids today, blah, blah, blah, I'm thinking, dude, what these kids today are unbelievable. You know, it's the, the game can, can use to change. And they're, one of the reasons why I believe

that these kids, cause I know quite a few of them and they're straight edge, meaning you don't drink, you don't do pills, you're not getting high. You're like they're straight edge, meaning you don't drink, you don't do pills, you're not getting high. You're like, they're straight edge, so their body is healing faster. And they're like, they're literally super men and super women. But it never, I always look at some of my buddies

and everybody said something about someone, you know, young superstar and you know, rest of them were both at this point. Like, why would you even say that? Like, there's no reason to say that, you know? It's like, let's keep positive attitude and, you know, lead with example of how you'd want someone to talk about you.

You know what I mean? Fair enough. I know he holds a grudge. So I didn't know if that was part of the reason why it took so long for you to get in. I did want So I, I didn't know if that was part of the reason why it took so long for you to get in. I did want to mention, I don't know if you know this, it's, it's, it's pretty obscure 37 years ago today, uh, staying in some young man named Lex Luger

defeated Arne Anderson and Tully Blanchard to win the 1988 Jim Crockett senior Memorial cup. How about that? 37 years ago. There you are. How about that? Isn't ago. There you are. How about that? Do you remember anything from this match or was that way too early? No, that was fabulous, my gosh. Stig and I have had just an amazing relationship for almost 40 years now. So that was our first big deal we did together.

The Kraken Cup kind of kicked off our careers, how they parallel each other and our relationship as a friendship. So that's a great shot right there. Thanks for pulling that up. And they had a great gym too, had a couple of them. The main event, the main event. It was the back of the Southeast.

It really was phenomenal, phenomenal gyms, both of them. You were introduced to a lot of us Northeast boys. I was a Northeast guy. I was from Montreal. So when you came to WWF. Oh, yeah, that's right. And I'm a big Bills fan. We have a lot in common. I didn't know that. Yeah, I started my pro career up there. Wow. How long? Almost three

seasons. Wow. How about that CFL? I played the great cup my rookie year up there. Okay. And the Nascamokes. God, I mean, what a hell of a run. Yeah. When I met Carl Malone, we became buddies. They were playing Houston and Charles Barkley grabbed me and pulled me into locker room and he was, he's so funny, I love that cat. But him and Warren Moon were going back and forth, like who's the better athlete? And those guys would be busted each other chops. So Amazing. It's one of those times you wish you could go into the future grab one of your phones and just film this

Because it was priceless. You know, who's the better at Warren? What a hell of a career He had all of them legends just like you guys The reason I bring that up is when you came over, first you were, I believe the narcissist, then you were the total package, the All-American, you slam Yokozuna, the Intrepid, all that stuff. Everyone thought you were gonna get the belt, right, at SummerSlam. And it ended up being the countout and whatnot. It was never planned.

If it was gonna happen, it going to be done at WrestleMania 10. So. And why didn't it? It was never summer slam. Why didn't it happen? At WrestleMania 10? Yeah. That would be another business.

Come on. You're stonewalling me here. If they made you go on a bus all across the country for like a whole summer, right? No, everybody thought maybe they should have put the belt on me there and then took it back off me and if they wanted to rev it back up for wrestling, maybe you do it that way because when you get such a big push on something it can be disappointing but the guy who was a tour manager on the bus with me the Lex Express

When he found out right before something's up that I wasn't going to win the belt He goes he goes i'm not a wrestling guy, but I'm a Hollywood guy. He goes, your career is over. What? Are you serious? Did he really say that? He was wrong. Did you prefer being the bad guy or the good guy, the healer of the face?

Did you prefer the narcissist or, or, you know, the all American? Oh, I love being healed back then. Everybody said it came naturally. Really? What was he like? What was he like back then? What's that? Like, you'll be such a heel sometimes. Let me tell you, let me. I had a special gift. Rubbing people. I'm telling you, let me. I'm special again. I'm rubbing people through my room.

Lex, but I can't remember where it came up, but he had just gone to, this is one of my fondest memories of just the Lex attitude of back then. And he said, you know, my wife and I, we went to the Redneck Riviera. I go, Redneck Riviera, where is that? He goes, oh, it's called Destin.

Beautiful, beautiful resort. And the people, the people, and when they'd see me from a distance, oh, hey, hi Lex. And he goes, then the next time, they see him, they're coming by, hey Lex, how you doing? Hey, how you doing?

And he goes, by the next time, they're sitting down next to me, wanting to have coffee with me. He goes, you know, there's four degrees of celebrity. And you remember this, four degrees of celebrity? And I go, four degrees? I go, what's the first one? He goes, well, you know, when I play for Green Bay,

can't remember which team you mentioned. He said, he goes, you want to sign that autograph. You're anticipating that. You're anonymous and people start to recognize you as kind of neat. Yeah, so I go, well, what's the next one? He goes, well, avoidance. You wear, have bag your clothes,

you wear sunglasses, your hat. Be careful where you go, because you're gonna get kind of swarmed. So he brings, never look at anybody in the airport, never look at anybody in the eye. I go, what's the third one? He goes, well, he goes, that's where I am right now. Recluse.

He goes, never wanna go to the ball. There's a fourth though. No, I know, it's coming. I never wanna go to ball, don't go to dinner. And then he goes, I go, what's number four? He goes, well, it's a place we hope we never go, but we all get there at one point or another. I go, what's number four? He goes, well, it's a place we hope we never go, but we all get there at one point or another. I go, what is it?

He goes, aggression. Oh. I go, people come up and just heal on them. So my buddy Larry at the time, I tell him, I go, this is amazing. We gotta put it in a book. I love that. He goes, well, he forgot about the fifth one. I go go there's a fifth degree of celebrity goes. Yeah, he goes remember me I used to be yes

Unless you're Muhammad Ali Everybody gets that Are you are you guys still you know, obviously I know that you were at the event recently in Atlanta DDP, but do you still keep up with it? Do you like the product? Are you fans of the product? There's a lot to watch these days. Yes, I mentor a lot of guys,

especially trying to keep them with a positive attitude. There's a lot of guys out there that I love, Damien Priest. there's a lot of guys out there that I love, you know, Damien priest, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm the big w when, when Dominic Mysterio would memory just go back a year or so when he had the incredible heat that he had, I said, I would put that, I had, I put him with the guy like Kevin, you know, big guy like Nash would be right. And I said, I'd never beat that kid.

I said, I'd put a freaking Neuracontal champ on him and just zoom with him. So when he went over, I mean, that was the biggest pop of the night. That kid went over, man. And I sent him a text saying, dude, can we have the same birthday? And I said, dude, I said, yo, just keep doing what you're doing.

Always stay, but when you go through the career, to me, it's like, always stay humble. Keep your feet on the ground. Keep reaching for the stars. I just loved seeing him get that moment Cause that's a WrestleMania moment right there. Oh, it was amazing. Yeah. And then I've got so many, Karrion Kross, I think Karrion Kross is one of the most talented, is a beautiful wife. I mean, they're a great team together.

I think like, like that kid I see like at some point, like really like getting that break, like, like. That bench is deep. They got a lot of. Yeah, this really is a real, Drew McIntyre. You know, yo, J Uso, I mean, I was so happy for J Uso. When he, when he, what a moment, what a man. And that, and Gunther, I mean,

there's so much great talent there. And these cats know how to promo. They know how to work the crowd. As you see that ladder, you'll still see big bumps, but you won't see the, wow, bumps, because those cats are telling the story. They're like Roman Reigns, like he'll be, I was sitting outside Cody's bus

cause he was off doing something yesterday. And as Roman walked by, there's people, I went, yo Roman, he goes, hey D, got up and gave him a hug. He goes, I love what you're doing with the boys. He goes, I'm not quite there yet, but. That kid's a thoroughbred. He actually did DDP Yoga with me back when, I didn't know him at the time,

but he played for Georgia Tech. And used to work with Georgia Tech all the time. Me and Yoga Doc, me and Yoga Doc, yeah. Lex, there might be some new fans that don't remember or weren't around or weren't born when you were in your prime. If someone wanted to maybe after this go watch your favorite match, the apex of your career, what's a match or two, a moment or two that comes to mind? Well, more obscure one was a tag match with the Steiner brothers and Sting and I. Always.

One of my favorites and one like batch of the year. Obviously, the slam on Intrepid was huge with six hundred twenty seven pound yoga. Zuna and then a hundredth nitro. When Hogan put the strap on me, given up in the torture rack with the whole end, you will come down and have me play the whole gang. I was I was I was there. I was there with you at the end, bro. It was bringing so cool.

I never heard, in my career for me, a response like that night in Detroit was special. Yeah. And I told the guys earlier that I was a guy who wrestled, wasn't a wrestling fan. And I didn't get the fans at all. When I was at my lowest moment, I said at the Hall of Fame, I ended up in a Walmart one time, the first time ever. Hey, man, those are our peeps.

Walmart's place like regular, ordinary, everyday, hardworking people who love wrestling. And they show me the kind of love when I felt at a point you asked me earlier about where I was at, where I felt worthless. I felt unlovable about where I was at, where I felt worthless. I felt unlovable. And I didn't care if I woke up the next morning. Those fans embraced me. I walked in that Walmart. It was the biggest commotion and it gave me hope. So I've gone full circle or a 180 to not really being a fan of my debut match was the match I was in. I'd never gone to wrestling. Wow. People don't know that.

So I didn't grow up watching wrestling. So I've become now a wrestling fan. Great time. Watching the unbelievable talent in the ring now. So it's amazing. The transformation just in that aspect for me and my relationship with wrestling and the wrestling fans. Wrestling fans are special.

And now I remember what I was gonna say. I thought it's never gonna be better than it was in our day. I mean, because it was the Monday night wars, you know, you grew up with it. It was so hot. It will never be bigger than that. And then this next evolution happens

and Netflix takes it. Like you're not looking down your nose. There's still people who do, but they look stupid looking down your nose at wrestlers when the three of the biggest stars in the world are The Rock, John Cena, and Batista. I mean, those guys really went out there and really knocked it out of the park.

And the whole Netflix deal. What? We're mainstream now. We are, and you know what? And I was looking like the General was insurance, one of those big insurance companies. I go to my wife, Paige, I go, look the general was insurance. One of those big, big insurance companies. I go to my wife, Paige, I go, look around this entire building.

The general is everywhere. And it's one, you know, one match after another, the like, they're falling over each other to be advertising. If someone has a hot movie or a hot song, where they at? Oh, they're on, bring their own. Now they're on Netflix with the WWE. It's, we, we have been so copied like before the nitros and the raws with the explosions. NFL didn't do that. Watch an NFL game today. It's a wrestling show.

And when I say wrestling, I mean sports entertainment. Well, I think we make a special connection with the fans, our characters, our persona. And I believe like when I was in jail for the last time, thankfully, I had this big tattooed up security guard, jail guard, break down crying, cause I was his dad's favorite wrestler

and he wasn't with us anymore. I was at May this year, I had 10 people come up, you get more than me, even with what you do, who cry. But a memory they had with someone they watched when they were little growing up, watching wrestling with their dad or their grandfather or their uncle who's not here anymore and they're in tears.

There is a real connection, a personal connection I can't even explain between wrestling fans and the wrestlers. And it's really something very unique. Yeah, and it's mainly, you know, one of the biggest reasons I believe, besides we're exaggerations of ourself is because we're also in your living room.

Like back when we were up, we were on every Monday, Thursday, Saturday morning, Sunday morning, and then Sunday night, once a month for a pay per view. And now Netflix is in front of God. 300 million friggin' subscribers. You know, and it's still everywhere else too. So Peacock and all that, you know, it's a very, very special moment.

Social media, that's all I'm rivin' at. We're an envy of social media. That's all the rivet. It's right. It'd be of social media. A hundred percent. NFL is in here. So the, our, our social media. There's no better fans than wrestling fans. So just isn't, I mean, they, they, they care. They legitimately care about you.

Lex, what would you say to someone right now who maybe is going through a tough time, some of those tough times that you went through 10 years ago, or 12, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, who feels like there is zero light at the end of the tunnel, cannot see it, can't even fathom the state that you're in now, the happiness. I mean, I see you're in a constant state of smiling.

Like, look, you seem healthy, you seem happy, you seem very content, and can't even wrap their head around that. What would be the message for someone like that? I guess Dallas and I are kind of the same mindset. I guess, number one, don't ever give up hope. If you're still breathing, your heart's beating, there's hope. Number one and number two.

Um, I just decided that I was going to be a windshield guy, not a, not a rear view mirror guy. A friend told me there's a reason that rear view mirror is way smaller than the windshield. Stop looking at it all the time. So no matter what you've done, been through what you've done, bad decisions you've made, or what's happened to you, whether emotionally or physically, if we can put that behind us, and keep our eyes on the horizon,

keep on moving forward, I tell people a great quote from Martin Luther King Jr. was, if you can't fly, run, if you can't run, walk, if you can't walk, crawl. And I said, I had to enroll, even if it's in a wheelchair, but keep on moving forward. Don't keep on looking behind. Know if you're breathing, if your heart's beating, God's got a reason or purpose for it. He's got a plan for you and just keep on moving forward. Beautiful. Speaking. Anyone can do that too.

And just, I mean, anyone. You can, we are the six inch piece of real estate in between our ears. You know, we are our inner voice. Well, Winston Churchill said never, never, never quit. Never quit. Just keep moving forward, man. Because everybody can do it. You can own the story you tell yourself.

You can own that. You just gotta work at it. What is your plan, DDP, for Lex? Like ultimately, where do you wanna see him? Are you guys, are you guys joined forever? At some point you let him fly and go on his own? We'll always be joined forever. We'll always be joined forever, man. It's such a special spot, just like with me and Jake. I was your first guest at his new beach house. I saw that. They got you a room, right? It was a special on-screen with all ADA. Oh my gosh.

That's my wife, Paige. She was like, because I was saying, listen, we were building it. And Steve and I were talking about, because Lexa said, What a beach palace. You know, that, you know, it's been a long time since I had my feet in the sand. You know, like over 20 like 12, 20 years. Almost 20 years. Yeah. So, so, you know, Paige, we started talking

about that and she's like, we're going to make this ADA, right? There's an ADA room and she goes, we're going to make it the beach front. I go, perfect. You know, so the Lex sweet Lex suite, she calls each one of them like beachy names all over the world because she's been all over the world. And it'll always be known as the Lex suite. I love it.

You're one of the most impressive human beings that I've ever met, Dee, because you are so inspirational, you are so selfless, and I feel like you can make a living just doing motivational speaking. It just is uplifting. I feel better about myself just speaking to you today, being in your virtual presence. And I-

Marlin's out of the way. I gotta tell you, do you know my buddy Marlin Ransom? Have you met him? Of course, of course, yes.. Marlon said, and this is his word, he goes, don't forget to tell people that they can get booked by me to get you out there. You're doing corporate speaking. Yes, I was setting you up for that right now. I was just setting you up for this. So what are you doing? Oh, got it. You know, it's just, I speak on a bunch of different things and it's all, it's really all wrapped around, you know, living life at 90%, the concept being life's 10%, what happens to you in 90%,

how you react to it. Like, again, I teach people, you know, through my talks, through my story, you know, like, what's your why? Like, a lot of people don't even know and understand what that means. Like, what's your why? Like a lot of people don't even know and understand what that means. Like what's your why? Like why are you doing this? If you go on DDP Yoga app, okay?

It's go to ddpyoga.com if you go there because we always got some kind of sale going. You'll never get on iTunes or Google. But if you go there and you try my thing for free for seven days, the first thing you should do is the list. It's the very first little tile that we've got up on the app.

And the very first thing when I take you to the list, the first thing is what's your why. Like you have to know why you're doing something. You have to understand whether it's for your physical, it should always be about you and your physical health first. But a lot of people from my kids or whatever the reason is, whatever it is, whatever makes you really start to, you know, not just change your life, but own your life.

And then we get into SmackDown. Of course, that's my acronym, specific, measurable, achievable, compatible, K, keep it going, do it, own it, write it down now. And then I get into a lot of videos that are inspiring, that that's what you wanna really be around. You don't, you know, we are the five people we hang out most with.

And it's so important, you know, choose your friends, you know, properly, because your friends can pick you up or your friends can pull you down. And I try to give people, like as I go through my story, I don't just tell my story and I'll personalize it for every different company I go in to talk to, depending on what it is.

But each one of them I leave with that you can own this story you tell yourself, and I'd show you how to do it. It's not that hard, but a lot of people will say, well, I can't do this or I can't do that. You're right. Again, say yet at the end, I can't do it yet. I try to bring it, it's not just a mental state of mind,

it's a physical state of mind. Like I gotta say, I'm just turned 69 and I'm not training for 70. That's gonna be here tomorrow. I'm training for 80, 90 and 100 plus. And if you talk to centurions, like people who are in their 90s and up, and you ask them, how are you still so cohesive?

How are you this physical? How do you do, how are you still so cohesive? How are you this physical? How do you do, how are you living this life? The first two things they're gonna tell you, exercise and the food I put in my body. I don't care if you like RFK or not, I pray that RFK can do a third of the things that he's trying to do when it comes to like the food we put in our bodies, like the food in our country sucks.

Go to Italy, go to some places over in Europe. You know, the food is real food. And we've genetically modern changed our food. And ever since then, yeah, it's so processed and garbage that we have to change this. And I couldn't believe when I heard RFK talk about it. As far as the vaccine and stuff,

I don't care about any of that. I didn't take it, but that's just me. But I don't care what you do with that vaccine thing, but I care about the food. Because the food, the food, the food, the food can help heal us. It can also slowly kill us. And put, cause the very first thing that I do,

like you come to and you spend any time with me, I hear you eat the way I eat, is gluten-free dairy free GMO free organic I eat real food and The first time I stopped just gluten and people made fun of it for years. Well 25 years later It's still going and more and more people are like this gluten-sensitive Like I'm I don't have the celiac, thank God, which means when the food goes into your stomach, your stomach starts leaking.

If you put gluten and wheat in your stomach and your celiac, it leaks through your stomach. Think about that. Okay, so I don't have that, but what it does affect is the joints. And that's where I care. I still got my own knees, my own hips, my own shoulders. That's my goal, to keep them.

And how do you keep yourself in that kind of shape? You try to stay away from inflammation. Number one, inflammation, sugar, then wheat, then dairy. Those are your top three right there. And I thought about cow dairy now. And you'll see me if I'm in France, I will eat the cow cheese. It's a different animal.

So again, it's just making people aware. And that's what the list does. I don't tell you, don't eat this or don't eat that. On the list, I've got a movie up there that you should watch called Food Inc. I believe it won the Oscar in 2007. The next one is Genetic Roulette. The next one is GMO, OMG.

Just watch those three and just take out what you want from it. Anything sometimes, you know, when it came when Jake and Scott moved in with me, they didn't have a choice. Everything was healthy. Oh, but it tastes great. Like on our DDP Yoga Now app,

we have three different eating plans that are 90 days that break it all down for you on three different levels. So you see, I want people to make it as easy as they can. And if you don't have to do it the way I'm doing it, but make it your own, like lowering, step into my workouts, and we will eat this and eat that. If you want to have a cheat, do what you want to do.

Because the people who get clean and eat starting eating clean food, that's what my brother calls it, clean food. When you start eating clean food and you put the shit back in there that you used to eat, you're gonna get sick. Now that should be some kind of clue, but most people, bro, they wanna keep their head in the sand

and I'm okay with that too, because if there's a thousand people there and I reach one or two or three of those people, my work is good. You know, D, well, I'm listening to you here now. I think the key for you and your success has been, you know, he just gave us a lot of information, right? You could have all the information in the world, but did you have a why?

Like you started out with them, how to apply it and really wanting to apply it to your life, it's not going to matter. And I always had a mentor told me like like it's not the wind that matters, meaning the direction of the wind. We're gonna have, in many times, winds of adversity in our life. We all know that. It's what we do have a choice over the set of the sail.

So I'm meant to always told before he passed away, like it's not the wind, it's the set of the sail. So we can get all this information on this great app, but you gotta have a why and wanna apply it into our lives. And that's the sale. So we can get all this information on this great app, right? But you got to have a why and want to apply it into our lives. And that that's the key. And I think that's the gift that you have is motivating people to get started. Take those baby steps, right? And then get to the point where you're at an advanced level with an hour. Sure. Step one, how do

you know if it one bite at a time? Right. So start out, and it's an amazing program, it really is. Well, this has been wonderful. So happy to see both of you thriving in your own way and to see this partnership and to see you get your flowers Lex, and to see you there by his side on Friday, DDP was fitting and there was no one else that should have been there by his side other than you.

So congratulations Lex on finally getting into the Hall of Fame. Congratulations on an incredible career and most importantly, congratulations on turning your life around and all the work that you've been doing to get back on your feet quite literally has been amazing to see and of course once again, congratulations to you DDP.

It's great that we were able to reconnect. I was going through old photos at my parents' house a couple days ago and I sent you one from WrestleMania 18 in 2002 23 years ago there I am young Ariel with the great diamond Dallas page and Lillian Garcia Just just a bushy tailed wide-eyed wrestling mark a fan getting to a chance to take a picture with a legend like you Thank you for being so kind then and now it's always a pleasure to have you on the show where you go where you go I remember my first interview with you too and where you were just starting out and you were starting these interviews of guys and how it went from wrestling and then it went you know went into UFC and

then and then doing both and then you're interviewing all sorts of people. Let me ask you a question. Do you, do you work out? I do work out. Yes. Please come to, uh, and you tell me what your schedule looks like. Come do DDP's gauntlet. Oh, and it's something I do once a month. Where is it? It's, it's that it's down in my place. You'll have a, you'll have a room on the beach. You can bring your girl with you. Uh, you could, uh, you can stay for a couple of days if you want.

We w w what we do is we, I don't really consider interview. It's more of a conversation. And we talk about, you know, what, you know, just what's happening in whoever's life that happens to be with me. And then we go through the gauntlet. And the gauntlet is, you know, I've got two cold plunges. So you can talk to each other. Then I get into walking backwards to help the knees with you have to push the treadmill yourself.

It's not doesn't move by itself. You've got to make it go. But we're also oxygen and my oxygen level like right now everybody's breathing 20 21 percent. I'm around eight percent, which means like 22,000 feet. The other person could be anywhere from you know maybe 18 or 15 percent oxygen and just so you can feel what it feels like to take that away and then we're going to boost it and now we're going to shoot that oxygen into your body that's coming through your mask. And it doesn't just heal you at a cellular level. It breaks up into your brain blood barrier.

And the reason why I don't look at things that people tell me, oh, that works. If it works for me though, then I'm gonna tell you about it. And the biggest thing that with that oxygen trading I do is that my memory is so much better. Like when I came back, wait, now I remember what I was gonna say.

Yeah. You walk into a room and you forget why you're there. I was doing that all the time until I started this. And I didn't notice a difference till about three or four months into it. Cause everything comes down to doses. Like how often you do something reps. It's all about reps, you know,

repetition is the mother of learning. But then I started to realize, wow, I've been walked into a room and forgot, you know, like why I'm in here. So I started keeping a journal. The most I've gone is 34 days. I just screwed up the other day and couldn't remember. I was 22 days in because when your brain, because all this, every, this body that God gave us means nothing without your brain. It means nothing without having that,

that your memories are who you are. And so I go from that to the mat, from the mat to power cuffs, cool down on the mat, then hang upside down in a yoga swing, which is the most unbelievable, you know, feeling of stretching out your spine. So I would love to have you come down bro.

And, and, and, uh, I guess I would bring your, bring your girl or whatever. And we'll, we'll set it up through my for the end with stretching and spine. That kind of makes me crazy. It's actually, it's actually amazing. Again, Paige turned me off that she's she is my person she and The food will be incredible. It'll be healthy and it'll be taste great

Thank you I appreciate that invitation and I would love to come and we will try our best to make it happen Sincerely for now that we say goodbye. Thank you so much to the both of you Congrats Lex Congrats DDP on everything you are doing and it was a great privilege to have you guys on. Thank you so much to the both of you. Congrats Lex, congrats DDP on everything you are doing. And it was a great privilege to have you guys on. Thank you so much. Thank you, bro. Appreciate it, thanks. There he is, the new Hall of Famer,

2025 class Lex Luger, the total package, the narcissist, the all-American, what a career, and the one and only Diamond Dallas Page. In a few minutes time, we will be joined by Marlon Chito Vera, who competes in just a few minutes time, we will be joined by Marlon Chitovera, who competes in just a few days and a few weeks in New Jersey. Right now over in London, they are doing the grand arrivals for the big Connor Ben, Chris Eubank Jr. fight going down this Saturday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

There's Connor Ben with a beard. It's coming in thick. They love to do that. going down this Saturday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. There's Connor Ben with a beard. It's coming in thick. They love to do the grand arrivals. They do them big. Ooh, this looks kind of, it's almost like fashion show-esque, right? It's a little red carpet.

It's very red carpety, yeah. Yeah. Just wait. I fucks, I fucks with it. No, I fucks with it Oh, there he is You know there there may not be He is a classic wrestling heel slash babyface in that like everything about him is heelish but the the people are 100% supporting him and

he has been able to Connect with people like I see all the comments are like I've never wanted a fighter to win more I've never wanted a fighter and Chris then Chris. Yes I mean the paying the uh, the paying the athletes from the the oh what a move. Yes heel slash baby face, uh behavior Yeah, he did. He did. Uh, I saw I saw that such a nice gesture But he's also doing it to stick it to him a little bit. To stick it to the man, but he's sticking it to the man. He's a lone wolf.

And there you have Ben Shalom and Eddie Hearn. Eddie puffing his chest out there or what? What is he doing? Is he flexing? What's happening? Absolutely puffing his chest out. What's going on there, Eddie? Which one?

He's trying to get another men's health card. What's going on? Is he like, yeah, what is happening over there? He looks great. So the anticipation building people, it's amazing to see the turn on. Cause there was a time where people despise Chris Eubank Jr. And they felt like he was just sort of, you know, like, like he was getting all his fame, all his opportunities, a NEPO baby, right?

Like because of his dad. And now to see the people finally turn in his favor, unfortunately, it doesn't seem like his dad is going to be a part of it. Just a few days ago, his father, the great Chris Eubanks Sr. did a whole bunch of media. He was at some sort of event in the park. There was a ton of media there and he kind of went in hard and as I was watching it, it sort of event in the park. There was a ton of media there. And he kind of went in hard.

And as I was watching it, it sort of broke my heart. It made me so sad because of the things that Junior has said to us recently about his dad. And I'm like, man, I can't imagine what it's like hearing your father say these things about you. And this whole fight came about because of his father's history with Conor's father's history.

You know, them two coming together, Nigel Ben and Chris Senior, and the two fights that they had, and the rivalry that they had. And obviously Nigel's a big part of Conor's life, and Senior isn't a part of Junior's life. Do we have the clip? At least a portion of it?

Junior, you're smashing an egg against this guy's face. I told you that, I didn't teach you that. Who told you that? Did Karen teach you that? Who told you that? That's disgraceful. I have, I can have, I'm gonna stand in your corner, you must say, mud, you must be mad. I would never be in your corner. You're a disgrace. You're smashing an,

you're smashing an egg in someone's face and then you're saying, you're trying to justify it. There's no justification for that. There's nothing noble about that. Damn. That's hard to see. That's hard to see that's hard to see your disgrace calling his son that I Don't know I understand like It's it's a tough one. You don't like to see that. It's one thing to sell a fight It's one thing to have a rivalry with your opponent But this is a father and a son and a father and a son who were very close for many years Senior was in his son's corner trained him.

And who knows if this has anything to do with the fact that Junior went off and started training with other people. Who knows, who knows what really happened. But it's heartbreaking. And it doesn't feel right that he's not a part of this fight because the fight, the only reason why this fight is happening, the only reason why there is any sort of appetite for this fight is happening, the only reason why there is any sort of appetite for this fight is because of

the history between the fathers. And obviously now there's a whole new layer of intrigue because of the failed tests, all the stuff that happened in 22, but the only reason why the fight was happening back then was because of the fathers. And so to see just one father involved and the other saying things like this has to be tough. It has to be tough for the young man, for Junior. I feel for him. But this is all part of perhaps why the people are behind him so much.

I think they feel for him in this regard. I think they feel like, you know, Connor's the bad guy, Eddie is the bad guy, and Chris has now taken on this persona of being the lone wolf who will do it without his dad, without a team, he's up there by himself at the press conference, he's taking on all comers, he's taking on Eddie Hearn, he's taking on Frank Warren, he's taking on Connor Benn, he's taking on the British public, they. He's taking on all comers. He's taking on Eddie Herron. He's taking on Frank Warren. He's taking on Conor Benn.

He's taking on the British public. They don't love me. They never supported me. And in doing all of that and in saying all of that, the people start to support you. It's a funny thing. Our conversation with him back in October was one of my favorites.

And then the follow-up just a couple of weeks ago was really great as well. He's just a very eloquent, thoughtful, cerebral kind of guy. Later in the day we'll talk to Eddie Hearn at around 5.05 Eastern on the Ariel and Addie program on the Dazon Boxing YouTube channel about this and some other stuff as well. What is going on with him and Shakur Stevenson? All kinds of stuff. Never a dull time, never a dull moment in the world of boxing. So looking forward to that. Looking forward in a matter of moments, hopefully in speaking to the great Chito Vera. We always enjoy speaking to him.

We thought we were going to get him back in there in early May in Des Moines. Instead, it's here in the Tri-State area, which may be better for him because I know he loves this part of the world so very much. It's not exactly New York City. It is Newark, New Jersey. But it's close enough he returns to action

against Mario Bautista, and he's kind enough to join us right now. Is he there? Is Chito there? Yeah, there he is. It is Newark, New Jersey, but it's close enough. He returns to action against Mario Bautista and he's kind enough to join us right now. Is he there? Is Cheeto there? Yeah, there he is. My man. How are you Cheeto?

How's it going? Good brother, happy, healthy, and I'm excited to be back, man. I'm very excited to be back. Why aren't you fighting in Des Moines? I mean, that's, I guess it's more up to the UFC. They asked me if we could change the date. I'm a great employee and I love these games. I say, well, a little extra time to train, a little extra time to prepare. little extra time to prepare and I will say the the best thing about the day change is like

uh I'll be able to be on my son first communion on May 3rd which was the same day of the fight um and you know and then besides that it's all good I mean I was pretty down for May 3rd I was like losing my weight I was was like, uh, sparring everything was like that. Then we kind of like, you know, take a little bit of food of the gas and, and now we've got a new date. So it's all good. Okay. Uh, were you going to miss your son's communion for the fight? Well, because he wanted to do it.

So I told my wife, you can, I mean, it's kind of like fucked up to choose to come to my fire. If you feel coffee staying with, with natural go for, uh, you know, I'll be just fine. If not, we can, we can have the ground must stay, but I think it's better if the whole family goes, right? I mean, you don't do the first communion all the time. So everything happened for a reason. And, you know, now we are going to play part of it.

So that's pretty cool. When they offered you Bautista, what did you think? Were you into this fight? Oh, a hundred percent, man. That's a guy coming up seven wins. That's a guy that no one has. I haven't figured it out besides Trev Jones. And that's a, that's a has, haven't figured it out besides Trev Jones.

And that's a, that's a tough fight, man. I mean, if you look at the top 15 or the top five, that's probably the toughest fight. And, you know, I'm here for a reason. And this is, this is another chance for me to like, to like prove myself and go in there and put a clinic on a guy like this. So I'm excited.

I've been training so hard and I'm ready to go, man. This is a big opportunity for me to remind the division what I'm about to do and where I'm going from here. I love this. I love hearing this. Can I ask about just the state of your confidence? Obviously, it's been a bit of a rough patch, the two fights in a row that you have dropped and now here you are saying all these great things, which sounds tremendous. How are you feeling

about yourself and the state of your career as you head into this fight? The way I see it is like this. 2024 was a pretty bad year for me. It's not secret, you know, our lives are very public. I got the fight of my life, fell short for the title. Then I was almost on an urgency on just getting on the winning column and I was like, let's go. I wasn't planning on fight that year till November. Like when the fight was over, Dana called me against within the Miley fight and he asked me like, hey, how are you? Great show. Blah, blah, blah. You're tough.

All these good things. I will have a good conversation through face them. And I said, hey, the only thing I'm going to ask you is I want to come back on the New Yorker. I don't want to, I want to take some time off. I want to rebuild myself and I want to, you know, be able to fight in November. Almost just like nothing has happened. You know, he said, yes, sure.

But then I get offered the fight in Abu Dhabi. And first I said like, no, no, no, I'm not fighting. But then the point was it was a good fight. I mean, in terms of like former champion, the guy was doing good in the division and fuck, I just play a victim of my own self. I get too excited. I was like, fuck yeah, let's go. And I mean, I always of my own self. I get too excited. I was like, fuck yeah, let's go.

I mean, I always take the high role. I don't like to regret my decisions because there's always a lesson in every failure. So I'm like, you know what? It's okay. There's a lot I learned about myself and I take the rest of the year of full-time training. I didn't get the the foot of the gas and eventually I get to a good rhythm again. My heart was happy, my soul was stable and I always plan on that and just keep making sure my head is in the right space and I can figure things out. I give time to my family. I had a trip to Ecuador to see my family and do some work and stuff and

now I'm back and now I feel like I have rebuilt myself and you know the only time and way to figure it out is getting back in there and see what I can do. So this quote unquote time off was something that you planned, you wanted, because there was some talk about, okay, how long are you going to take off because of the quick turnaround in August? In the end, it's going to be almost a year. It's going to be 10 months in between fights for you. Did this happen organically or is this something that you said? You said, don't come to me with a fight. Give me some time. I mean, you know, I'm always seeing things around and looking around, but it was just

well played. I mean, me and Porillo are very close and we talk a lot about planning and what we can do and how we can get better. And everything takes time. And I felt like this was a needed time for me because think about it. Between I've been, I, I, I, I, I headline three times in a row. Then I took few months. Then I fought Muñoz.

Then I fought for the belt. Like it's like, I, in my whole my whole career, it's been pretty busy. I've been in the gyms since 2014, never declanified, never missed weight, always there. So at some point you kind of let the candle burn a little bit. And more importantly, it's your mind. My body's always strong. I'm running crazy miles. I'm in the gym. I'm sparring in the off-season. I'm always doing something. I'm grappling. But you have to learn how to respect your board a little bit

and know when. Train a lot, but not have the pressure of a fight. Like that's a different animal. And especially in the state that I am right now, like every fight of mine is a big fight. So it just, everything is, it just work out the way that should work out and you know, I felt like, you know, what does in, what does in kill you make you stronger and, and I feel good. I feel, I feel good right now.

When you, when you talk about your soul feeling happy and things like that, how do you get to that point? I mean, you just gotta dig deep in yourself and find what really makes you happy. See the real drive behind what you're doing and really staying away from the noise because there's so much destruction out there for every athlete. So I just try to lock myself into my small circle.

Don't fuck around. And it's not like I have ever been a drinker or a barter, but there's little things that pull you away from just eat, breathe, dream fighting. And for the last eight, nine, 10 It's it's all I've been doing and I'm always consistent But I mean I guess you just need a little time more in between and and I feel good now Like I always say I'm never been the guy that

Come with excuses or plan excuses or have a plan B. I'm just You know, I'm just on it the whole time. And this time between fights has helped me to like rebuild that, like to like just be healthy and keep on going. Now, what about Chito Vera, the model? Cause I've been seeing you pop up as a model. I see you walking the runway, Paris fashion week, right?

I mean, look at you in Nordstrom here. What is going on here? I mean, look at this guy. Look at this, look at this. This is something. How did this all come together? I'm just, I mean, my friend, Willy Chavarria, he invited me to my first show in New York,

like a year ago. And, you know, they hit my email and said, Hey, Willie would like to have you in the Runaway show. And I was like, oh, that's, that's pretty cool. So I went to New York for something else. And then we, we met up and, you know, really cool guy. He has a, he has an amazing brand. And, and then when they buy me for powers, I was like, fuck,

this kind of like the big deal. But, you know, it's cool. It's cool. You get to meet great people. You you get to like have a. You know, just just no, no, no different things out there. And it's something so easy to do. I mean, walking. If I'm running 13, 16 miles every week and I mean, walk for five minutes can be too hard,

right? I thought maybe Luke Rockhold got you into it. I mean, not really, but he's, he's, he's, where is that guy? He's somewhere around here. Oh, well, I mean, he was one of the first guys to make the transition, you remember? He's a Reno, yeah, he's a Reno model from the UFC. And I mean, we are together every day.

We have a good synergy going up in my gym and it's just like friends and family there. Like, it's not a gym up into the public, it's, but really it's in charge friends and family there. Like it's not a gym open to the public is. But really is in charge of whatever we do. And I just make sure I build something where we can focus on fighting. Like no corporate bullshit. No, no fat guys on a suit telling us what to do. Just, you know, just fighting, training and grinding.

If I want to wrestle at 8 p.m., the keys are ready to turn. You open the gym, turn the lights on with crap, and we go home. And it's probably one of the best things that I have done for my career. You've been focusing a lot on the wrestling, right? The last time we spoke to you, I think, didn't you go out to train with Armin?

In my off season, I trained for a long time with Armin's people, extremely high level guys. Maxine helped me a lot with, I mean, we're talking about day and night, like those guys are like world-class wrestlers and when we wrestle, it's like, it's not even fun. It's like, but there's something he saw on me and it's like, dude, you never gave up. I'm literally kicking your ass for like an hour and you haven't asked for a time off.

You haven't like told me that's it. I'm like, dude, I would die here. So you be, if you're a coach, you told me when to stop you told me because I'm going to keep trying until you told me that's enough. And I went there. That's in Glendale, by the way. So I have to drive there every morning, five in the morning, get there by seven train. And I was coming home literally by noon. So it was like a lot. We would lift weights, train. So by the time I was ready to go back to do everything else, like I almost did that just to like beat up myself for those two losses in a way. And when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, I think it's, it's, it's time for you to like do everything. I say, sounds good coach. We went back to the gym and you know, every day and now you put in a wrestling one day, you did to one day lifting one day running one

day. And I will see for real every morning. And until now everything is working good. I have another really high level wrestling guy. Big name. He's coming soon to the gym. So who's that? He's going to be help. Roman Bravo, John. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. From Penn State. So he's yeah. Penn State guy. He's gonna he we talked yesterday. I said, Hey, my boy, Danny, who helped me with my wrestling, he coached me and I guess they know each other. So they text and I was like, and I was like, I sent him a voice. I said, look dude, I wanna keep it real.

If we spar, there's probably not much I will be able to do to you, but I want your mind to be in this camp. I want you to like, you know, send pointers or like, hey, this is good. This is, you know, this is not very good. And that's how you get better. And then on the grappling part, the men have been coaching me for many years,

but lately it's been twice a week, every week. So I feel good with everything. I'm really pleased with the hard work it's been done. And it felt good. Just because sometimes when you are from camp to camp, there's no time to really learn. It's just time to sharpen and go. So I have put in all the disciplines separate for a long time. And for the last few months, it's been all camp for MMA, which I feel that's the best way to learn.

This is great. And I think fans of yours are gonna be excited to see this version of you. I saw Mario Bautista did an interview with MMA Junkie and spoke about how you guys have the same manager, there's no animosity, you're not rivals or anything like that. But I did wanna read you one quote

that he said about the upcoming fight when asked about your renewed focus in wrestling. He said, I don't see him changing too much. I think he'll try to fix some things to get to where he wants to be and to continue to do the things that win some fights, maybe work on some wrestling defense because that's been his Achilles heel the past few fights, but I don't see too much difference. I think once we start going, he's going to fall back into his usual habits. I feel that goes for everybody, right?

I mean, it's not like you go from, from Kabib to Pereira, right? I mean, that's not the rocket science, so. But yeah, I mean, sure. All right. I mean, I'm not, I mean, I'm always training similar. Like, uh, is it gonna, is it gonna strike with me? Is it gonna try to ping me in the cage?

I mean, how much, what we can change, but there's little adjustments in there that when you fight at the high level, you have to figure it out. When you have faced guys in the top five for a while, you know one point in trick is not gonna work, right? So it's all about figuring it out, how to find those in between things that will expand your toolbox, but yeah. I'm assuming you saw his fight against Jose Aldo. Yeah. Great fight.

Really? Cause a lot of people hated that fight. Okay. They, you're, did you think Aldo won? In the moment, in the moment I was like, yeah, Ald'll go guard it because if we go score cars, what's the name of the guy that fought like a hundred times in content? The shortest talkie black dude that is a fucking monster, but doesn't punch too much. He just fought. I was in commentary for his fight.

85'er. 85 who doesn't punch too much? No, like not at all. Oh, Torres Finney. Yeah. That guy control probably 100% of the fight, right? Take down, hold, take down, hold, take down, hold, hold, hold, hold. The other, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, take down, If that was a split decision, I'll go one is fight. And you tell me what you think about it. Well, it's, it's this, it's the question that came up in the Magomay Donkalaev Alex Pereira fight. It's like just, you know, the, the, all the fights are

different, but Pereira said that just, you know, pressing up against the cage and not it's ultimately damage. Right. And so sometimes in a, in and not, it's ultimately damage, right? And so sometimes in a round and it's tough, four minutes and 55 seconds of, of control pressing up against the cage, clinch work should not be viewed as significantly as 10 seconds or 15 seconds of damage. You know what I mean?

Even though one is inferior to the others they always say damage is most important and if there's no damage being inflicted that has to take a back seat to the actual damage of a fight. Yeah I mean I don't think I honestly I don't think the problem is the fighters I really believe is the dinosaurs in charge of scoring. And I don't, I can't hit a fighter for, for winning a decision. People thought he didn't want it is what it is. I mean, that's not the, that's not the fighter for, um, I, you know, going back to my fight, my opponent is a good grappler.

Yes. I know that can he strike? Sure, he can. Is it going to be a tough fight? 100%. So I'm honestly focused on what I'm going to do. I'm not focused on, oh, I need to defend the technique. I'm just as good on the ground, so I'm not worried about if we end on the ground. I grapple really every week with guys that are world champions. Like, AOJ probably has the best guys of my size, of my weight in the whole entire world. So I'm not, I'm not tripping. Like, I just know I'm ready.

Like, wherever it comes, if we end on the ground, amazing. I'm not tripping, I just know I'm ready. Whatever comes, if we end in the ground, amazing. If I define every takedown, we need to fucking go for broke, go. I'm preparing for most scenarios, and I feel good with the work we have been doing. Marab O'Malley's on that card as well as you know. Can I ask how you see that going down? I mean, if you go basis on what we saw the first time,

probably not much difference, just because what Bautista said, right? You're gonna fall back to what you already know. If Omali really was hurt and he couldn't punch and move the way he normally does, that can affect based on what Merab did to Umar. You say he's gonna do the same? I don't know. I don't fucking care. I mean God bless for both of them and the the best guy my way like I feel like everything is based on opinions Right. Yeah. Well, that's I want your opinion. I Yeah, I think it's a great fight. I think it's a really I mean, he's a great fight a lot of people is crying that O'Malley don't deserve it, but

Do you agree? I mean he lost for he won the bill, defended the bill, lost it. Sure they can give him a fight. I mean who else they can give it right now? Right that's my thing. My thing is who's he leapfrogging? You know what I mean? Who should be really upset? There is no guy that should be really upset who feels like, there's obviously other people, but there's no obvious guy. He's the biggest name out there. He was just a champion.

It doesn't bother me at all. I mean, it doesn't affect my life. No, I know. But you're a fixture in that weight class. You've been there for a long time and you have been tied to, obviously, O'Malley and Marabas the man at the top of the bill. I did see that you were, I think, gifted a jersey, an Ecuadorian jersey, your own jersey.

We have this photo here from, was it from StockX or no? Oh, StreetX. StreetX. That's my own drop. That's your own? Yeah, we did, we did the two colorways from, from, from, from, from back in the day. That's like the vintage one. And people got very excited about it because that's like the old look. And I feel like they used to do really sick jerseys back in the day. Now they're, they're kind of like,

they lose a little bit, like the cool on it, like Japan used to have a seat went back in the day. They're kind of like, they lose a little bit like the cool owner, like Japan used to have a sick one back in the day. Italy has a great one too. And like, even the old Real Madrid ones, they were sick. So I feel like when I decide to do something like for my people, I went, oh, it's cool because I feel that's the best. Cool. And just a few days before your fight, Ecuador playing Brazil, Ecuador doing very well in World Cup qualifying. I don't know if you've been following. Equator right now has the best team that they have ever had.

And now all those fucking youngsters are fucking playing in Chelsea. They're playing big teams in the in Europe. A lot of guys play in Chelsea. They're playing big teams in the, in, in, in, in, uh, Europe. A lot of guys playing Brazil. Like I feel like, I mean, call me delusional, but these, these team can, can win a, a world cup. I, I believe so. I really like they have all these young guys playing at the highest level with the best technology with the best coaches like now he's not just like these older guys that they're really talented, but they didn't have the they didn't have the

The support like remember like I mean, I always go back to Antonio Valencia But when he went from from Neckward to Manchester, he become a fucking monster Now all these guys are playing in teams like that, so they will become something special. And they're getting comfy now. They're not shy anymore, so these guys can do something huge, and I fucking love it.

I really like the team that we have now, and I'm happy I get to meet most of them and I have the jerseys of them. I collect all the jerseys. I pretty much ask them if I can get the jerseys that they play with and I have them just nice and full and I just fucking put incense and fucking Palo Santo around.

I love it, I love it. By the way, this necklace here, what do you have here? These two things? This is from my boy Cheeto International, their protection. He's a graffiti guy that I'm a big fan of his artwork. I own a piece of him in my house, like an artwork of him and you know I'm protected you know I gotta keep my soul protected from bad intentions so I'm always into the good intentions so if you make these things for that kind of matters I'm all in for. I love it. I always love talking to you it's a great privilege because you're a deep guy.

I appreciate where you're coming from and I appreciate everything that you believe in and stand for as well. So thank you for taking the time, Cheeto. Always great to catch up with you. And I'm happy that you're coming to these parts. I know you love fighting in New York, New Jersey maybe not as cool as New York,

but it's pretty damn cool. It's pretty damn close. It's close. I'm born in another life in Queens. Yes, Action will be there, it's very close for him, right? Yeah, my people's gonna be there, my friends are gonna be there, and I'm excited to put on a show

and get back to the top five. And I feel like 2025 is gonna be a good year for me. I love it and I look forward to it. Thank you, Cheeto. All the best to you. Thank you, bro. Appreciate it. Oh, and by the way, I wanna say,

the Cheeto Vera podcast on YouTube right now. I know you don't do a lot of these, but you're doing great things on your YouTube channel, the Cheeto Vera podcast. There it is. Go subscribe. Yeah, look at you doing your thing. Much respect.

Yeah, thank you, bro. Honestly, for me, I'm just calling out my own friends or people that I'm intrigued about it. And it's just like, I don't even, you know, it's just having a conversation with people. It's a fun thing, yeah, I know. You don't really promote it much. I don't at all.

I'm just doing it for the love of it. And I get to talk to people I'm interested in. And, you know, when I will ever think that Tony Hawk will be on my podcast or Brian Collin or like Wes Lang, you know what I'm saying? Like, I like art, fighting and extreme sports. So I had like really good skateboarders and I just get to talk to people that I'm a fan of or I just simple like what they do.

I love it. Keep it up my man. Much respect. Thank you, brother. All right, talk to you soon. There he is, the great Marlon Chito Vera, the pride of Ecuador. So great to have him.

And speaking of jerseys, by the way, I wanted to mention we were going to have Bam Bam Twivasa in studio last week. You may have seen he was in America. He was at WrestleMania. He was in, I think he was in LA. Could be wrong. Definitely in New York, but unfortunately it was the week that we were away he's got his his Bam Bam Buds shout out thank you thank you Ty thank you Yanniv his business partner look at this he gave us all jerseys now did he give us and bucket hats bro yo yo yo I got the bucket hat right here. You got the bucket hat? Yeah!

Yeah. Oh you guys all got jerseys too? Bam bam buds baby! And we got a grinder. Yeah. Heaf tray and the grinder too, shout out. What's, oh look at that! That is sick.

Why are we all 18 though? Okay so my theory as to why we're 18 is because either it started in 2018, probably not, his business partner, Yaniv, great guy, in the Jewish religion, 18 is chai, which means life, and so I think he chose 18 as a... A high life. Yeah, sort of, kind of, as a, you know, as a symbolic number, if you will. I hate to tell you guys, my head is cut off here, the framing, no. I'm just kidding, but this is great Good for him Bam Bam Buds to evas are doing his thing I was so bummed because we had been talking since January about him coming into the studio How how rare is it that?

Bam Bam from from Perth right comes all the ways he is he from Perth noise from I think he's from area, bro Period nah, he's from the area. Yeah the area, but what is the actual area? I think it is Perthth. The area, bro. Pieria. Nah, he's from the area. Yeah, the area, but what is the actual area? I think it is Perth, no? Or is that JDM? All I know is he's from the area. He's from the area. Yeah, he's got the thing.

West something? Yeah, anyway, tremendous stuff, appreciate them very much. Thank you, and The Grinder, what is that for? That's an app. Oh, it's an app, okay, all right, cool. Also, I wanted to give a shout out to our friends over at Swingington. Did I get this correct?

Swingington, family estate in Portugal. On Air Jordan was there. Smithington, it's called, the place is called Grams. What did I say? Swingington. Swingington. I don't know why it's clearly spelled Smingington. Smithington. Where's the H?

Listen, that's what they told me. S-Y-M-I-N-G-T-O-N. Anyway. Symington, yes. Symington, Symington. All right, so Symington. We're both wrong. Yeah, yeah, you know what happens.

What is Symington? They are the family that owns the port place that I went to with my family in Porto. It's called Grams, delicious port. And a friend of the program hit me up and said to stop by. Rent, oh, look at this. He wrote us a beautiful letter. He's rocking the honorees. What's this young man's name?

Is it Felipe? Felipe. Just Felipe. Shout out to Felipe. Obrigado, Felipe. And parabéns. A mensch. And wrote us such a beautiful letter.

How was Portugal? I've only been there once. I've been to Lagos once back in 2005, I've not been to Porto. Did you enjoy your time? It was a great time, family time. Beautiful country, good food, really good pastries. If you guys have ever had a pastel de nata, it's unbelievable, it's a little pastry

with some custard in it, delicious. Sounds great. So a lot of family time, and honor my dad's 70th birthday, and it turns out my parents 40th anniversary, just found out this week. Oh wow. Wait, you just found out this week? Yeah, they were like, you know,

our 40th anniversary is in June, we're also gonna celebrate that. I said, oh, thanks for the heads up. Okay, you knew it was their anniversary, you just didn't know. No I did not. You had no idea when their anniversary was? It's in my phone, It alerts me day before. Got it.

They can't really spring this upon you, right? I mean. It's tough. Yeah, it is tough. Well, it's ultimately great that you wanted the trip. I felt you were due, you know, for a vacation. It had been a couple days. Yeah, it had been a couple days.

So I'm happy that you were able to do that. We have a hard out, 350, so we have to get to that. Oh, is that what it is? Yeah, Ariane Ade Program. We have a lot to discuss with the likes of... Surgents. Ah. There's only a couple.

Okay, here we go, here we go. Charger starts off with San Diego. I mean, we've got 38 seconds. My home away from home. Oh yeah, hey. I'm from Tucson, Arizona, Tucson, Arizona Shout out Eric writes and I know the boys don't like soundboard suggestions, but we need pts laugh and rotation

Eric We're not doing that. Okay, we have pts who deliver the laughs. That's fair. That's fair Was that it? That was it. You interrupted my goodbye for that? No, those were great ones. Those were great ones. Those were great ones. Those were great ones. Appreciate those gentlemen very, very much.

All right. We do have to go and get ready for our second show. Some people say we shortchange you on a Tuesday. I mean, what is we? Yeah. Like in what are we short hours and 50 minutes? Where that is considered? Short-changing and then we're doing another show that's usually around 80 to 90 minutes

And then of course another another tomorrow on the program We are going to be joined by several individuals I can't tell you that our good friend Joe Hendry is going to be on to talk about his WrestleMania debut. Smilin' Sam Alvey is going to be on to talk about his upcoming battle against one Tyrone Spong in Parody Combat, others as well. So stay tuned for that. And of course we are inching closer to the big April 26 weekend. FA Cup, NFL draft, Kujanowski against Eddie Hall, Ben Eubank, Proches, Machado again. That's a pretty great Saturday if you ask me.

Not to mention NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, etc. etc. Where will I be though? Where am I going? I'm going somewhere. I know that. I'm going somewhere. Tomorrow I shall reveal where I'm going, what I'm attending, what I will be doing. It's big not only for me, it's big for all of us. So stay tuned for that. For now though, we say goodbye. Mystery Guest did not come through. I'm happy I didn't promote him. Thank you very much, DiamondDow's page. Thank you, Lex Luger.

Thank you, Cheeto Vera. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to all of them. Back on Wednesday, same time, same place, same man.