The Ariel Helwani Show - Live from LA! Mike Tyson joins, Rousey vs. Carano presser reaction, Conor McGregor & Jon Jones updates, Ilia vs. Islam saga continues

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by recapping his experience hosting the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano press conference, including a few revelations (05:31). Legend Mike Tyson joins the show next to talk about the Mike Tyson Invitational, which is his amateur boxing event in Las Vegas, his upcoming exhibition bout against Floyd Mayweather, spending time with Conor McGregor, the aftermath of the Jake Paul fight, and more (31:46). The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll join Ariel to discuss other MMA news, including Jon Jones asking for his UFC release, ongoing negotiations with Conor McGregor, the Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev rivalry heating back up, Ronda Rousey’s comments about the UFC, and more (47:18). Ariel wraps up the show with your Super Chats (1:40:10).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the air. On this Wednesday, March 11th, 2000. Then 26. Hello. No, no, no, not there, not there. Go to the other one. Go to the other one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That one, that one right there.

Hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is great to be joining you on this lovely Wednesday morning. morning here on the West Coast in Los Angeles, to be exact. Yes, I am still here. It is great to be here. If I'm being 100% honest, I get a little worried around these parts. You know, those Dodger fans, they're still coming for my neck. They're still in my comments and my DMs, so I got my head on a swivel around here. But otherwise, I'm having a blast. Very nice night in Venice last night. Golly, I could see myself living here. I got to be honest. It's a nice love. I went to that,

what's that grocery store, the high-end one that everyone's so worked up about? Oh, yeah. I mean, they make a nice smoothie. They make a nice smoothie. I'm not going to lie. It's quite the vibe over there. It's like a movie. You're like, is everyone just living their best life out here?

What is actually happening? No wonder they're so happy out here. But it's a great time. I'm going to tell you about everything that I've done over the past 24 hours or so ago. I actually left from the studio on Monday what a show Monday was, went straight to the airport. And I do have to say, that's a bit of a mental struggle as well because I was sitting for about four or five hours. Then you go to the airport, hour drive, then you're on a flight for six hours, then you're

landing at around, you know, 3 a.m. East Coast time, 12 a.m. West Coast time. And then you have to try to say, I'm not complaining. I am not complaining in any way, shape, or form. It is nice up in business class. Let me tell you. You lie back. You're having a great time. But, you know, it's, it's the life we dreamed about. And so it's been very exciting. Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Herman. It's been very exciting. I have a lot to share with all of you. I have a lot to discuss. I have a lot to get off my chest. I do want to let you know that back end of today's program, we'll talk more about John Jones. We'll talk about I'll talk about I'll talk about Connor McGregor. Remember that meeting that I told you about on Monday's program? Well, my understanding is it happened. So I have a lot to

share. There's all kinds of drama going around in the world of combat sports and the world of MMA in particular, but very exciting to also share that in about 28 minutes time, 130 to be exact, Eastern time, the one and only, the baddest man on the planet. Iron, Mike Chison is going to be joining us. Mike Tyson is going to be joining us ahead of the Mike Tyson Invitational, which kicks off tomorrow at the Sahara, Las Vegas. Very excited to talk to him about that and about some other stuff. I haven't talked to Mike since when we were in the ring in November of 2024 AT&T Stadium in Texas

after the Jake Paul fight. That's the last time I spoke to Mike Tyson. So what a time, what a day. Excited to get into everything. But let me tell you guys about my day yesterday in particular. And by the way, shout it to the boys in the back. Shout to everyone who held down the fort yesterday. We're making a habit out of this.

You guys were there doing your thing, doing the special chance. Tuesday edition of the program. They will be back tomorrow, by the way, for their regular Thursday episode. And oh, by the way, shout out to EKC, shout out to Alan Murphy, shout out to MFL, Gable Stephson, Team Stevenson. Right before this show went live, we premiered our latest uncrowned film, which in my opinion is one of our best so far. And I know it's only been like five or six, but this was an amazing behind-the-scenes look at Gable Steven's last fight, which was last month, February, in Mexico, Mexico Fight League, and it got a little dicey there, spinning back kick, you may have seen it,

hands up, hands up. We had all access in the locker room with him, John, Brandon Gibson, Greg Jackson. It was an amazing look, and I think it's one that over the years, if he turns into the superstar that we think he's going to turn into, it's going to be just great content. So check it out. It's on the channel. Check it out after the show if you're watching us live.

It's called The Making of a Superstar. our Gable Steven, I hope you enjoy it. I thought Casey did a great job. It was great to be a part of it. And I want to thank once again, MFL and Alan Murphy for hooking us up and making all of that happen. And of course, Gable and the team for allowing us to shadow them for those couple days in Mexico. So check that out. Guys, great job doing the watch party for the press conference there. Did you like that? It was sort of like mystery science theater, I felt like. Yeah, yeah. Great job doing the press conference, man. We just kind of sat there and we were just like, oh, that's cool, that's fun.

I enjoyed the you guys watching the press conference. Yeah, no, it was a good time. It was a good time. A couple of one-liners from Rhonda out of nowhere. A couple. You got me, Valentina catching strays, Cyborg catching strays. Cyborg one didn't feel like a stray. That felt like a straight on.

A couple of things that I did want to ask you, obviously, since you were there. Sure. How big was that screen behind you? It looked gigantic. It was gigantic. Honestly, it is gigantic. It's actually right next door to where I'm staying right now. And I've never been to the Intuit Dome. I don't think any of us have, right?

It's only about a year and a half or so old. I am thinking of checking it out tonight. Clippers are playing the T-Wolves, so that could be fun. The whole outside of it, we were outdoors, I think you could tell. The whole, like, outside terrace is so freaking cool. Paintings, there's this one structure, which you may have seen of all different, like, basketball nets hung up, like streetball type of stuff, like the types of nets that you would see in different type of playgrounds. They did an amazing job with this with this venue from the outside

and everything I've heard about the inside is spectacular as well. So I can't wait to actually be there on May 16th. And I thought that the setup was really freaking cool. Like when I walked there in the morning and I saw Rhonda's face and Gina's face, Francis's face. I was like, holy crap, like this is real. I could share some thoughts in the sense that like when you walk there, you know, it had been a, it had been a while since I was at A, an MMA press conference, B, a non-UFC MMA press conference. There was a period in 2011, 2012, where, you know, there was the big strike force fight, there was the big affliction fight, Elitex C fight. Like, you were getting some alternatives. And so to be at another one,

after all these years, that felt big, that felt different. You know, people are getting upset about certain things. You know, you get upset about nonsense online. Biggest fight ever. This, I don't give a fuck about any of that stuff. If you don't recognize the fact that Netflix getting involved in MMA, when it seemed like for the first two years of their venture into the world of combat sports was boxing specific, they're getting into MMA,

the sport that we all love so very much. And they're getting into MMA, not with, the UFC, we know that, you know, the UFC talked to them about doing the numbered events there and it didn't work out in the end. This is very, very, very significant. And it's why I said it's one of the most significant events in recent MMA history. It's very significant for us, the fans, for us, the media, extremely significant for the fighters. It's extremely significant for the UFC as well. I believe that when there's competition and to the best by knowledge, it's just a one-off. So this isn't a new venture in terms of like, oh, MVP is going to

to be doing eight events or 10 events or 12 Netflix is going to be, no, I think they are taking the approach. And Nekisa spoke about this with the media as well. When they did Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson, it was a one-off. If that would have bombed, they were done. And maybe they would have gone and done something else with someone else. But as far as MVP and as far as boxing at that point, they wanted to see how big it could get. And I think it's the same approach with MMA. And so I think it's big for everyone involved. I think it's very significant. I think it's been a while since we felt like there was just an alternative. You have chicken every single night. It's nice to have a nice steak on a Saturday night. And that's all I'm saying. I'm not saying that they're going to rival.

I'm not saying they're going to take them down. I'm not saying that the UFC should be worried. I'm not saying any of that stuff. I just think it's fun to talk about another MMA outfit, if you will. I do want to make something very clear. I saw some people saying, reveal that you're being paid for this. Of course I'm being paid for this. But let me be very, very clear. I have never taken a check. I've never taken a dime.

I've never even taken a car service from MVP or any promoter since I made that mistake in 2016 when it ended in 2016. I have been steadfast in that. And I've turned down many opportunities when, and I understand, by the way, that people don't get this. They don't understand this because in MMA, in particular, if you're on the broadcast, if you're part of the circus, if you will, the promotion, you're working for the promoter.

Everyone that's on the UFC broadcast is working for the UFC. Everyone that's on the PFL or Bellator back in the day. Boxing is different. The dudes at DeZone don't work for the promoters. They work for DeZone. Zufa boxing is a little bit different. But historically, HBO, they're working for HBO, Showtime, they're working for Showtime. That's why I wanted to work.

badly in the world of boxing because I didn't want to work for a promoter. And so yesterday, I wasn't being paid by MVP. I was being paid by the production company who was putting this on for Netflix. When I did the thing last week at MSG, same thing. When I did the AJ fight, same thing. Netflix doesn't pay. They hire production companies to, same with their football, by the way. They're not doing anything in-house, but they're high. Usually it's a company called Everwonder. Yesterday was a company called Concom. That's it. So I don't get paid. by MVP. And I know it's weird when you're standing up there and you're talking. I get that, but I want to make that very clear. I'm very transparent about that. So if you think that I'm

shilling for MVP, no, I'm excited. I am honored to be a part of it. I am supremely honored to be a part of it. I'm extremely excited to be a part of it because it's the first MMA event on Netflix, first and foremost. Second of all, it's the return of two legends. And oh, by the way, Francis and Ghanu, and oh, by the way, other names are to come that I think people will be excited about as well. And so this is a big deal. I've never stepped in a cage and done a post-fight interview. I've never done that. I've done that only in boxing rings. So I'm really excited. I hope that came through. I thought the press conference looked great. Obviously, you know, I'm standing there and I'm taking it all in. And I keep saying the word surreal, but it feels surreal. I never expected to do press conferences

like that. That was never a part of the dream because typically the person in my position in my role doesn't do that. And for whatever reason they like when I do it. And I'll be honest, I don't think I did a great job yesterday. I fucked up a couple times and the yeary thing last week pissed me off saying for some reason that Philippe Lins is on a four-fight losing streak. I don't know why I said that. There's no prompter in front of me. So that's all off the top of the dome and I don't rehearse it. I know where I want to get to and I will know what kind of points I want to hit. But I don't know why I said that and it pissed me off. I think I could do better, but, you know, that will make me work hard and strive to do it again and to hopefully do it again. And I enjoy doing it. I think it's fun. There's a part of me that

is selfish and just wants to ask them all the questions myself. There's still a lot of things that I'd love to ask them about. But obviously, the media is there and I'm a member of the media and I want to give the media an opportunity. So I try to weave in as much as possible. But it was a lot of fun. It's a massive rush. It's a huge, huge honor to do it. do that. I'll tell you when I got there, you know, I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't know what was going to happen. Obviously, my history with Rhonda and Gina well documented at this point. Wasn't sure what was going to happen. And I didn't see them until about 15 minutes before the presser. So I did a little rehearsal. We ran through things. All good, all good. And then I'm off to the

side behind the curtain. And the first person that comes is Francis. And, And so I say, hello, Francis, good to see you. Last time I saw Francis in person was in Saudi Arabia when he fought Anthony Joshua. I do believe that was the last time. And then Rhonda comes. And I wasn't sure what to expect. And I can tell you that we spoke briefly in the back. I'm not going to talk about what we spoke.

But, you know, I'm happy to say that I walked up to her and I said, you know, I understand in the past there were issues, miscommunications, whatever you want to call it. Hopefully we can move past that. we can have a great time here, a great show. I'm excited to be a part of this. I'm honored to be a part of it. It's a huge deal for me. I have no animosity whatsoever. Wish her the best. I think, you know, life is too short. I have great respect for her husband, Travis Brown, love to see the family that they're building together and all that stuff. And it was very nice, very cordial. She said she appreciated it. We spoke a little bit. And I felt good about that. I did not see Gina, though, until I was up on the dais.

So when she said, it's great to see you, that was my first time speaking to her. And I wasn't necessarily worried about, you know, any sort of awkwardness with her. But, you know, I was just curious how it would all play out. And I thought it was like, it was really nice. It was great to shake her hand. It was great to shake Rhonda's hand as well.

Here I am with Gina, courtesy of Getty. Here I am with Rhonda, courtesy of the great Esther Lynn. And yeah, man, I mean, if you would have asked me six months ago, did I think I'd be up there for an MVP MMA card on Netflix? No, that I'd be up there with Rhonda and Gina, absolutely not shaking their hands in front of the world.

Like, man, it's just a wild life and a wild wild ride. And I thought that the two of them were amazing in their own right. They first of all came across as so, like, I thought healthy, motivated, happy, rejuvenated. the way, and I did an interview for the Netflix series that I guess is the countdown show that will come out before the fight. But I feel like part of the story here is they both left the sport not on the terms that they wanted to leave. And obviously we know about 2009, the cyborg fight, we know about 2016. And I feel like for a very long time, they both kind of shun the sport.

They wanted nothing to do with it. It was too hurtful. It was too emotional. It was too painful. and to see Rhonda in front of the media. Like, even when she came back to fight Amanda, she didn't do any scrums, she didn't talk to any of us. And to see her talk about MMA,

to see her have passion about MMA. And I know there's stuff with Dana and the UFC and all that. And, you know, I think she's speaking her truth. And it's great to see someone not afraid to do that, good, bad, and different. To see Gina talk about the last few years, to see her talk about how, you know, difficult it was. and then to see or talk about the journey of getting to this point,

losing weight, getting in shape, fighting again, dusting off the cobwebs, whatever it is, working with John Wood. It's just amazing to see. Never thought I'd see it. That's why I call it a dream fight, because I feel like it's two pioneers from different eras who blazed their own trail and who brought the sport to new heights in their own right.

One brought it to broadcast television and premium cable before that. One brought it to the UFC, and out to see them go toe to toe to and I feel like there was some concern, hey, is this just like a friendly sparring match? You saw some of that like mutual respect, but you also, in my opinion, standing up there, you saw like a deep desire to write the wrongs of yesterday and to go out on top. And that's what I felt. When the presser was over, I waited for Gina, she was doing some media stuff and I just wanted to talk to her very briefly. I have said many times, how much she has meant to my career and how much I appreciated the time, the access, the interviews,

all that and more. When I first interviewed Gina Carrano was May of 2008, I was a month and a half into interviewing people on camera. I was supremely shy, awkward, nervous, all that and more. And she would always give me the time that was before the CBS card. And I hated that we had some sort of falling out, whatever you want to call it. And so I really wanted to talk to her and I wanted to express to her that, and this is what I did express to her, was I felt like when I was going through a tough time, the banning thing, which I'll get to in a moment because it's crazy how life kind of comes full circle, she reached out, she had my back, and I felt like she felt like I didn't have her back during her difficult time. And that was never my intention.

That's never what I wanted. And I felt awful about that. And so I told her that. And so I told her that exactly that how I felt and we had a really nice chat and I would say it got a little emotional and yeah it just I felt these two weights lifted off my shoulders someone wrote to me like man it was and I appreciated it a friend of mine who said who's in the sport said that it was just very it was emotional to them to see two beefs if you want to call them that for lack of a better word squashed within two minutes. And this is the way I want to live my life. I've always said, I feel like grudges are a cancer in your body. I don't want to have grudges with anyone. And so, yes, it was this opportunity that brought us together. And maybe if this thing doesn't happen,

we aren't brought together. But to be able to squash two things like that, two very powerful and meaningful things, two people who meant a lot to my career, who I enjoyed getting to know, cover all that, to do that in the span of a few minutes was really, really, really, really, emotional and powerful. So I'm so grateful, so thankful, so appreciative to get that chance. And I thought that they did great. And it wasn't lost on me that here I am in Inglewood, California, at the Intuit Dome. Obviously, the Intuit Dome didn't exist in 2016. But we were at the forum in June of 2016. And that's when UFC 199 happened. And that's when I was escorted out of the building. And that's when I was told that my career was over and a bullet would be put in my head.

and 10 years later, here I am hosting a press conference for an event that will almost happen 10 years to the date in the same city in Inglewood on the biggest platform in the world. And that kind of struck me yesterday as well. And so I know, I know, I know I'm making this about myself right now, but guess what? It's called the Ariahawani show, all right? So it is about me right now. And I just want to explain to everyone why yesterday meant so much and why it was so emotional and significant and powerful, at least to me.

and the timing of it coming off of, you know, all the stuff with the White House and John Jones and Connor and all this, you know, Ilya and Islam. And it just feels like there's an appetite for just a little bit of something different. Again, I'm not saying competition. I'm not saying taking them down. But for it to come 24, 48 hours after all of this is amazing timing. If they would have done this two weeks ago, I don't think it would have hit the same. Rhonda saying what she said. Francis saying what he said and it's amazing to see him up there like you think back on Friday

oh this guy fumbled he was released from PFL do you think it's a fumble to go from the PFL to Netflix like in what universe when is this going to end this narrative the guy made tens of millions of dollars fought two of the greatest boxers of all time arguably beat one of them fought in an MMA fight in

2004 and now he's fighting on Netflix in a fight that he should win I thought Philippe Lins was lovely up there, but let's be honest, Francis is the more accomplished fighter. He should win to see him up there as one of the UFC's greatest foils alongside Rhonda, who is one of the faces of the UFC for so many years, speaking the same language here, and then to see Gina up there as well and Jake's up there, and he's doing his thing, and it was just, it was a lot, it was a lot to process. But it's why I say there's no greater drama, there's no greater reality show in all of sports than the

world of combat sports. That Venn diagram continues to get bigger. That middle part continues to get bigger. Boxing promoters getting into MMA less than five years into their journey as well. Francis coming back, Ronda, I mean, just a whole lot. So those are some quick thoughts. I wish I would have done a little bit better if I'm being honest. I don't love my performance yesterday, but I hope, if anything, my passion and my excitement and my emotions towards this event came across how much it meant, how much I think it means. And if there's one thing I feel comfortable talking about, it's the history of the sport. And I think when you look at the fact that Gina Carano was a part of the first women's MMA fight ever on premium cable against Julie Kedzi in February of 2007,

and then the first women's MMA fight ever on broadcast television, and then the first women's MMA event to MMA main event to headline a major show in August of 2009. And then Rhonda, with all her accomplishments, UFC, first main event, first champion, all that. And then. And That's a big deal. It's historic to see these two eras come together. Add Francis and the other names that are to come. I'm pumped. I'm pumped.

I'm happy to be here. I can field any other questions. I know you said you had a couple questions, G.C., and I stopped you at one there, but if there's anything else you want to know. I think you answered them all with the... Yeah. How about the spacing?

They were very separated. Okay. Up on the dais? Yeah, like the difference between Francis and Rhonda and Gina and I don't know That was not That was not my doing

Did it look too far apart What do you try to say? I don't get it Was it was too much space There's just a lot of space between I think they were trying to I think I don't know I didn't even think of it

But I think that they were trying to cover It's a huge screen It's a huge like stage I think they were trying to cover that up I don't know maybe That's what Rick said All right No yeah he pretty much answered everything

I was gonna ask about the pre before Did you run into them How were the the Nervous? as everything was starting. I mean, the palms were sweaty. Not going to lie, the palms were sweaty. Knees week? Knees week were, no, not so much.

No, mom spaghetti? No, no, but the palms were definitely sweaty. I mean, I'm holding that microphone too. I don't like when you're up there on the thing to like talk into the mic. I like to hold the damn thing, you know? I don't know. That's not traditional, but I like to feel in control.

It's very hard for me to not like rifle off all the questions. I got to be honest. It's very hard. And then some people are coming up there asking three, four questions. I'm like, golly, can we speed this up? I got shit that I want to ask. But overall, I thought that there were some highlights there. As you guys mentioned, I think, a couple people catching strays.

Cyborg, one of them. Please. This was not a stray. We need to stop calling this a stray. Okay. This was like a... Aimed and fired straight at her. This was not a stray by any means.

I have to say before you answered, I was also keeping an eye on like the MVP stream and the Netflix stream. Cyborg was active in the MVP chat, answering all these questions and everything like that. Oh, wow. As soon as Rhonda said this, she said it as she was saying it on the stream, she disappeared off there. Wow. Yeah. Well, okay, so Gina says something about the five-round fight. Yeah.

Rhonda then says, you know, I'm going to say a little bit more and then goes off. And then I guess Cyborg has since responded on social media. Cyborg or whoever runs her social media. And so here's what she had to say. Before you read what she had to say. Rhonda called her a cheating, roided up bitch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got to be clear about what.

I mean, she said this. She has said some version of this over the years. No love laws. She's never been shy about Cyborg, for sure. Yeah, so what did Cyborg say? She said, the problem with Rhonda is that she actually isn't a very nice person outside of the character. She attacks Valentina, but everyone knows the rumors of Rhonda's company relationships.

She saved Gina, but hid behind a pillow herself. Now the narcissist is back to save him. I mean, if I'm being a thousand percent honest, I don't think Chris is writing these tweets, but it is coming from her account. This is the fight. This is the feud that will never end. So there you have it. She also mentioned, here's another one from Cyborg, the narcissism of Ron Rousey to be charming.

There's no world where she does that tough girl talk and then actually fights me. Gina Corona, you do move different. You are classy and genuine. And then she mentioned something about Valentina. I don't know if she's trying to build a fight there. Valentina responds. It's 2026 fighters using only fans. It's just a new way to connect with the fans.

Looks like Rhonda slept too long after our last fight. Golly, golly. I can't tell you this, guys. We do have breaking news. We have breaking news. Okay. One of the first things I asked Gina Crono about was how this all came together. Do you remember her saying that she got a call from Dana White in 2024 in December of 2024?

How long is that clip? Do we have that clip? Because I know we're getting up against... Okay. So we won't play because we're going up against... clock here. But she sent, you all heard it. She said, I got a call from Dana White in December of 24 telling me, hey, are you interested? Rhonda's pregnant, but we're interested in making this fight. Rhonda then goes on to explain that, hey, like they were talking about that being the last ever

ESPN pay-per-view in December of 2025, a year later. She had to get in shape, all this stuff. It didn't work out. She's mad at Hunter Campbell. They didn't want to pay for it. You know the drill. And I was thinking about it afterwards. And I was like, wait a second. wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. This timeline is very, very interesting. December of 2024, last pay-per-view, 2025. Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. Do you remember that press conference in Tampa at the very end of the year,

December of 2024 when Dana White dropped a hint and a tease of what was to come next year, something that we could have never imagined that came out of the blue. Do you guys remember this? In case you forgot, take a listen. I anticipate a lot of, big fights i've got i got i got something in the works right now i'll drive you fuckers crazy all you guys are running around i got something in the works that you will never fucking see coming for 2025 um that literally started to come together last night and um yeah we we got some fun stuff

coming up we finally got the answer to that mystery we finally figured it out it was that fight it was ronda versus gina that was the one we were talking about what's this fight what's this fight is it Tom, John, is it this, that? And I want to give a shout out to our friend. She only loves gloves. I believe that's the name. Is that the name that we created it up there? She loves the gloves.

Excuse me. Shout out to Georgia, who did post this, but I was actually going to bring it up myself. But I want to give her credit because she did tweet it and credit us as well. That's the one. So look at the enthusiasm. Look at the excitement. And does that mean we can add this fight to the list of the fights that they haven't made over the past year? or maybe even more than that.

Ilya Islam now and all these other. John and Ghanu, John and Aspinall, on and on it goes. John and Pereira. Crazy, right? I thought you guys would be excited about this. I think we can absolutely add it to the list because Ronda also says that when she talked to Dana White, Dana White was like, yeah, we're just not going to be able to pay you. So don't let me stop you from making money, go out there and get what you're worth.

So again, the UFC just being like, nah, we're just not going to fork up the dough. What do you think the reaction would have been if this was the final ESPN pay-per-view? Gina making her UFC debut, Rhonda, returning after nine years at that point. I think people would have been excited. I do think it probably would have been met with many of the sentiment that people are saying, like, oh, this is a fight we wanted to see 10 years ago. They haven't fought in, you know, combined 27 years or whatever it is. We haven't seen Genius since 2009.

I think you still would have gotten a lot of that, but I do think there would have been excitement as well. See, I think, and Rick, I'd like to get your opinion. I don't know if he's available, but I think people would have been pretty excited. I think they would have said this is a cool way to end the ESPN run. I think sometimes people meet these things with criticism just because it's not the UFC. I know that sentiment is changing a little bit, but I think that people would have been pretty jazzed up over it. I mean, look, the last UFC on ESPN pay-per-view was Peter Yan versus Murab, which was a fine fight, a great fight, a great performance. my performance of the year. But this would have, I think, ended the paper view era in a very

unique and fun way. Like, it would have felt, I think, special. I'm just happy that we finally got the answer to that mystery. Perhaps someone can ask Dana White about it. I wonder if you'll actually reveal that and admit it as well. But the timeline is there and I was talking to some people as well, and it feels like that's the one. And so amazing. You know, Rhonda keeps talking about like, you know, Dana's an employee and he can't you know, he couldn't make this fight happen he didn't like, he doesn't like the White House

card and all this stuff. I'm very curious to see how he responds to all of this. Like, if you're Dana, are you loving this being called an employee and all that? I think it's really in mind games. Yeah, I don't think he's liking any of it. I don't think he's going to respond to much of it. And I could see him denying that this was the fight that he was

thinking of. Yeah. I could see that as well. But I mean, the timelines certainly adds up. And based on what I was hearing from people, it would back it up as well. But it is interesting how, you know, the way she's speaking is I'm not against him. I'm against TKO essentially, right? And obviously her time at WWE didn't end well. So I think it would have been interesting if she went back. This makes a lot more sense her being, you know, affiliated with Netflix, her kind of marching to the beat of her own drum at this point. Gina was never a UFC fighter. So I think it makes a hell of a lot more sense as far as the narrative is concerned.

And so here we go. We've got a little over two months to go before the fight. We're going to talk more about things that were said at the press conference, the ripple effect, and obviously some other news and notes regarding John Jones, Connor McGregor, Ilya, Islam, et cetera, et cetera. It is a massive, massive honor to welcome back to the program and to speak to for the first time in a little over a year. The last time I spoke to this man was inside the ring in front of around 100 or so million people live on Netflix at AT&T Stadium. That was back in November of 2024. And as you know, I'm a huge admirer of everything that he's done in his pro boxing career. And he is here to talk about some very exciting things that he's doing at this stage of

his career in life. He is the inimitable, the often imitated, but never duplicated the baddest man on the planet, the one and only iron. Mike Tyson. There he is. Hello, Mike. How are you? I'm good. It's great to see you. It's great to see you again. Great being here, man. I'm glad to me. I want to tell you guys about my new tournament. It's a Mike Tyson invitation. And it's going to be very excited. It's going to be next week. It's going to be in the Sahara Hotel. Can you hear me? I can hear you just fine. Yes. I'd love to hear. I think it actually kicks off March 12th tomorrow. Right? In Las Vegas.

Yeah. So what is it? What is the Mike Tyson invitational, Mike? Well, it's a tournament that, it gives invitation to all the best fighters in the country. And then I haven't developed a team yet, but we're a developer team. And then we'll fight other fighters. We'll fight guys in Cuba. We fight their teams. We'll fight guys. Pat them on Robert Duran had the team so we'll fight them. We'll fight other guys all over the world.

We'll fight anybody once I develop a team. And so that'll help the amateur boxing get the experience, travel around the world, and prepare to be professional. Because, you know, amateur boxing is getting ready to be kicked out of the Olympics. So we have to do something about that. What inspired you to do this? Was it hearing the state of boxing in the Olympics? Did you feel like you needed to help rejuvenate it?

I just, one day, no, one day Richard Steele told me, no, he asked me, come to my gym and see the kids. So I came down there and I saw the enthusiasm in the kids. And I said, wow, I want to be involved with something, an amateur boxing, not professional. And I thought this would be a good opportunity. So I got a team together, and we kicked butt and we were ready to go. Yeah, so tomorrow, March 12th, you'll have the opening night.

in an exclusive conversation with you and your old friend, Jim Gray, over at the Sahara. Then there's a workout and media day on Friday, and then the fights on Saturday night. And I understand, Mike, there's a fun one involved in this card. The younger brother of Devin Haney going up against the younger brother of Ryan Garcia, Jacob Herrera, which is cousin. Ryan Cousin. And Devin Haney's brother, Sean. So a little rematch if you were, right?

It would be very exciting. They fought before. And it was very exciting, so I wanted to see that match again. I love it. I love it. And so how many fighters in total? Do you have any idea that will be competing on this? I think it might be 25 or 20-some to that effect.

Okay, this is amazing. By the way, I noticed your hand is in a cast. What happened? Excuse me? Training and punching stuff. Okay. So what is it? Is it a broken hand?

You're going too hard? This little, you know, this little sprain. I got to go hard. That's the only way I know how to go. I know. I know. We've seen you do it. We do know that you were in talks to fight Floyd on April 25th.

Can you give us a status update on that? Listen, that's something I signed for already. It's already going down. It's going to be going down in Africa. Is it still happening on April 25th? I believe so. Okay. So this small entry is not going to be.

going to preclude it from happening? Well, let's see. Okay. What weight will it be at? It's just free fighting, catch weight, everything. Okay. How many rounds? Eight, I believe.

Does this interest you, like, in the kind of way that the Jake Paul fight interested you, like to fight a guy like Floyd, obviously with a... It's going to be pretty interesting. I'm looking forward to it, yes. Yes, and especially in a setting like that, right? I think you were over there and got to meet the people a little bit. Yeah, it was over there and it's going to be in the same ring that Muhammad Ali and George Foreman was in. The exact same?

They kept it? Yes. Yes. Holy smokes from like 1974, right? Yes, yes. So it's the Rumble in the Jungle part two? Yes. Amazing.

So as of right now that... Mike Tyson invitation is really what's going down right now. That's really what's happening tomorrow. And that's what we're going to say, yeah. Okay, okay. Totally understand. Now, is this going to be a yearly thing, the MTI? Listen, I would like for it to be, I used to fight every week.

We were from Cassie. We go to the Bronx and fight every week. I like it to be as often as possible. One year is just too long. Yeah. But every week might be a little bit too much, right? Maybe every month or something. Okay, every month.

I love that. You don't think that's too ambitious. You guys are ready for that. Yeah, well, we'll get there. We will get there. You're right. We would get there. Okay.

And just curious, what is your take on, you know, there's a lot going on in the world of amateur boxing right now. I saw USA boxing come out recently and say they weren't in support of the amendment to the Ali Act. I know you have come out in your support of it, right? You put out a statement. And so. Listen, well, this is how I feel people need to choose who they need to be, who they want to be with. We shouldn't tell people who to go with. We shouldn't allow them to choose who to go with.

Yep. And do you feel like that's the possibilities that are in front of the fighters right now or do you think that there should be more options? Well, no, I think, well, if more options come, it's up to them to judge. Okay. How do you feel about the state of the sport right now?

Do you feel like it's in a healthy spot? Amateur boxing? Yes. It's horrible. It's getting ready to get cut out the Olympics. How bad can that be? Yeah. Well, the Olympics are weird, right?

They get rid of sports here and there. but I feel like it will be saved. You get rid of boxing. Boxing was one of the main things in the Olympics. Now you're going to get rid of that. That's because of the lack of measures, because they don't have the tournaments like these. These have boxing clubs all over the country.

Like three, to be like five or ten in New York, three in Ohio. You know, they'd be all over the place. Yeah. And what about the pro ranks? Do you feel like it's in a good spot? Hey, listen, I don't think too much about the pro. I'm not really not there.

I want to either average kids. This is where my passion is right there. Do you think that this will eventually lead for you to do more promoting a pro, or do you just want to focus on the amateurs? I don't want to get involved with professional boxing, at least not this stage in my life. I just want to do something for the kids. That's where I'm at right now. I want them to have a place where they're always going to have fights.

They can prepare themselves, and then we're going to the MTIs, and we're going to get out. We have a Richard Steele Award, too. Okay. What's that? What is the Richard Steel Award? The Will of Steel Award. Oh, okay, okay, okay.

And of course, he's a legendary figure in the world of boxing. And for you, Mike, would you like to take this to other places outside of Las Vegas? Oh, yeah, we're going to be in, we're going to be at the Sahara Hotel in Nevada. Then we're going to do the Sahara Hotel in Reno. Then we're going to do all over the country. We're going to fight. We have a lot of sponsors. We have a lot of hotels that's willing to participate with us.

And I can tell people that it's going to air on DeZone, beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern on Saturday the fights. And also on your social media channels, swerve TV, swerve.tv, and the CSI fight sports stream as well. So a lot of places where you get to- Oh, that's a lot for me. I is going to be there. I'm helping you out. I'm helping you out.

I appreciate that so much. By the way, I love what you're doing. doing on YouTube, I love seeing you hang out with Connor McGregor. Can I ask, what was that like for you? Oh, we had a ball. It was just good. He's a good person. I liked him a lot. We had a great time. This is a classic clip right here, Mike. You know this clip. A lot of people were wondering what you were thinking as he was showing you his moves. I was just enjoying the moment, man. I was smoking. He's a great character, right? Oh, the best. The best. Did you go to his restaurant? Yes, that was wonderful as well.

Okay, okay, yeah. You have the steak on the stone. They're famous for that. The steak on the stone, they cook it on there? I don't do too much meat. Oh, okay. Are you fully vegan now, Mike? No, no, no, but it don't do too much of it.

Okay, okay. By the way, I know you're short on time. This is my first time speaking to you since the Jake fight. Can I just ask you a couple questions about that? Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm dying to ask you just a couple of things. At the way-ins, when he stepped on your foot, when I looked at you,

I felt like that was like 1986, Mike again. Like, it was, it was a different. I don't know. I shouldn't have did it, but I thought he did that on purpose. And is it true that you don't like when people step on your foot? Well, I have bad feet. So my feet, that's my weak spot. Okay.

I thought if I got a little bit too. If I'm in the ring and somebody stomp on my feet, it's over. I'm tapping out. Oh, gosh. And he did that, and so you got upset. I don't like my feet of sore. I don't like people fucking with my feet. I got you.

I got you. And then what about the one that everyone keeps asking me about still was the biting of the gloves? And your answer was amazing when I asked you about it. But we had never quite seen you do that. Can you explain further why you were doing that in the fight? I don't understand why I did that either. It just happened. Do you have regrets about the fight?

No way. I can't believe what I did it. You're proud of it. of it. Yeah, but I guess, listen, this is what fighters should be thinking right now about me. How could this guy be 60 years old and break all the records? They should be disappointed with themselves. How could this old cat come in here and break all the records? You're 100% right. Over 100 million people were watching that. Speaks to your superstardom, but you're saying there should be more like you doing that, right?

Absolutely. Listen, they fight once and twice a year. These guys, no one knows who they are. They need to have a story behind them. They have clientele watch them and people look up to them and follow them. Do you think part of the problem is they're getting paid too much, so that's why they're only fighting once a year they don't have?

I don't know. It's not that they're getting paid too much. It's just that they don't want to do it. Why would you listen? If you like getting paid, you got a lot of money, why don't do that three times a year instead of one? Right. If you're getting paid good for that one,

so why don't we do it three times this year? We're going to get more money anyway. It's in no lose situation. It's all up. It's all the wins. Everything's a win. You're fighting. You're getting in shape.

You're getting paid more money than you ever did before. Were you surprised it did those numbers that that many people were into it? Yeah, kind of. But I'm the kind of guy. Everybody's told me not to be this guy. I'm competitive. I want to compete against people. I want to know who's the biggest draw in the history of the world.

I want to see if anybody's bigger than me. And if they are, I'll tip my hat to them. But that's the kind of guy. I want to see who's better than me. Who's bigger? Given those numbers and your age, would you feel comfortable saying you are the biggest draw? Hey, listen.

I have, listen, my, my, I have, this is what I have to say. My talent speaks for itself. The Floyd fight if it happens, will that be your last one or given your competitive nature, there might be more? Well, I think it will be my last, but we'll see. Okay. And the last one that I'm dying to ask you, as you know, it went a little bit viral when your son, which I thought was a great moment, interviewed you in the locker room. And then they showed you walking off, and we got, we got the full shot there. You know, you know, you know, I'm talking about, right? And I was wondering if you knew that, if you knew that they were filming you from the behind like that.

Hey, listen, I never thought about because fighters are most fighters. I'm normally naked there. So they got me to get that with my cup on, but I don't know. I think all fighters do that. They've never got the pictures taken and the dressing, but I think all fighters wear their cup before they put their shorts on. Were you bothered that they caught that?

No, not at all. I thought you looked great. I thought it looked great, too. Yes, and it was such a nice moment to have your son interview in the locker room, right? Yeah, he's a good kid. Yeah, I love it. Well, Mike, this is great. Like I said, I know we're short on time, but I want to congratulate you and your team on launching this.

The Mike Tyson Invitational, which kicks off tomorrow in Las Vegas. Oh, I'm excited. Yeah, man. And it's great for you. It's great to see you giving back to the youngsters, you know, to the amateurs, wanting nothing to do with the pros, really giving them that roadmap, if you will. And so Thursday, there will be a conversation with you and Jim Gray, a workout in media day on Friday, and then the fights, which you can watch on the zone, among other places on Saturday. Good luck to you and the team. Congratulations.

And so great to talk to you again, Mike. Thank you very much. God bless. God bless. There he is. The one and only. Iron Mike Tyson joining us live here on the program. what a week, what a day.

What a, what a, what a, what a personality, what a legend. And we, we answered some of the, the lingering questions from November of 2024. That was lovely. It's, it's just so crazy seeing Mike Tyson. Like, he's, you, you asked him if he's the biggest draw. The answer is unequivocally yes, right? Like, the, what was his answer? His answer was great.

His work speaks for itself, basically. Like, the, you know, my boxing is, it speaks for itself. but like the Netflix numbers, you know, look, Jake Paul is definitely a part of that, right? No doubt. Jake Paul's fights do massive numbers. But only Mike Tyson can really do what they did that night, right? Like he has that, he has that presence, he has that aura. He has that nostalgia for a lot of the people, you know, our age and older who grew up watching Mike Tyson. And then for the young generation, they know him as, as, you know, the uncle Mike character,

the one who's got the podcast. And he's just one of these fixtures of American culture that it's impossible. to not like recognize instantaneously. You're walking on the street with anybody. Mike Tyson's going to be the first person that they go out to. It doesn't matter who you're next to. I mean, look at that, look at that shot of him in Africa of the people, you know,

going crazy. And this guy last, you know, was active 25 years ago as far as like active big fights fought Lennox Lewis in 2001. Yeah, it's unbelievable. It's amazing. I'm not sure about this Floyd fight because it seemed like it was up in the air, but he seems somewhat still, look at this.

Look at these shots. right here. This is nuts. So the Mike Tyson invitational shout out. The clip of him watching Connor is tremendous. Yeah. That one clip is iconic. Pizzi, good to see you. What's the story, boy? How's it going?

What's the crack? Just out here in L.A. Might go see our good friend John Beer later in town over there. So we might go see the studios there. The most interesting you are being in the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's good fun. It's good crack.

Uh, what do you know, we, we heard from the boys. We haven't heard from you. What was your, uh, biggest takeaway from yesterday's press conference? My biggest takeaway is just how clearly the fighters and the promotion itself has pilled themselves against the UFC. I'm, I'm so excited about it. I'm so excited about everything that's happened in combat sports. The Eddie stuff with, with Dana, Dana and MVP now Netflix. It really feels like combat sports has become a battlefield and I'm here for it. Like it is the stuff that's happening outside is so much more interesting than the fights that are happening at the moment. And the impact a successful, and I know you said this at the top of the show,

but the impact a successful Netflix reoccurring promotion, which I know they have not signed up for just yet, but the impact that could have on the UFC and maybe some people not enjoying what they're putting out at the moment, maybe incentivizing them to put together stronger cards, well, will Netflix put on their own thing? It's all very, very, very, very, very, exciting for me and congratulations. I thought you did a great job at the presser. Thank you. I appreciate that. You know, people are frustrated about the lack of big fights being made. Do you know what fixes that like this? It's competition. It's exactly what we saw from WW emerged. The WWE product became so much better. When other promoters come in the world of

boxing, you see promoters trying to make the big fights. If there is no competition, there's no urgency to make the big fights. And so if someone starts to a little bit nip at the heels, just a little bit, if there's someone out there, I think there will be a greater urgency to make the big fights. Jake Paul was asked about the John Jones situation. Francis, I thought, was brilliant about the John Jones situation, essentially saying, like, this is what I've been talking about. Now welcome, you know, welcome to the party, so to speak. Here's what Jake had to say about a potential, a potential, and we'll talk a little bit more about it, deal with John Jones.

John Jones, let me the UFC. Would you silence an MVP car for an MMA fight? Yeah, well, 100%, John, you're always welcome to come over to MVP. We'll get it popping and we'll get you pay what you deserve. So here's the thing. John Jones put that out on social media and I'm sure his team is going to express that to the UFC that, hey, you don't want me to fight, let me be free. The UFC is not going to release John Jones.

They would, especially now, right? Especially now, I would be shocked if they release John Jones. I would be shocked. The question is, does John want to fight on a card outside of the UFC? Excuse me, does John want to fight on a card outside of the White House? And if they say, all right, all right, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, we'll let you fight, we'll let you fight. Is he interested in fighting the winner of Surreal Gunn versus Alex Prayer or Tom Asperor or anything like that?

And if not, then what is the release all about? What does the release really mean? Because if they did release him, I can assure you MVP, Netflix, everyone involved would say, here's Francis, and that would do gigantic numbers. And so that's part of the reason why I think that they won't release him, because they're not just going to let him cross the street and go fight for them. But I'm also wondering, he retired in 2025 saying he was done. Then the White House gets announced, says, I want to find on the White House card. But just the White House card, it seemed. If he's not on the White House card,

what does he want to be released for? Do you know what I mean? So that to me is a little bit unclear, but I'll just be 100% honest, I don't foresee them releasing him. They have no incentive to release him. And this is the unfortunate thing about these contracts. I'm not saying it's unfortunate because they're tied to the UFC. I'm saying it's unfortunate because if you have three, four, five fights left, you'll never be free. You'll wait.

You'll have to wait a very long time to be free. And so by the time John is free, because he recently signed a new deal, not that long ago, and he's only fought at, I think he signed one before, Ragan, so that's only been one fight since, Stipe. By the time he's ready, by the time it's free and clear, he's going to be well past his prime. He's going to be in his mid-40s. So I don't see, it's fun to talk about, and I'm sure Francis is sitting back, kind of smirking, being like, y'all said that I was the bad guy for wanting to test this and leave, and now all of you want to leave, this is what I was talking about, this is what I was preaching, but I don't,

I don't see John leaving anytime soon. Can I ask you something that I feel like we don't really have clarity to, right? Francis and Ganu had a sunset clause. Francis and Ganu had a period of time where no matter if he fought, didn't fight, whatever, he would be able to leave that deal, right? There was a date on it. Does that not exist for other fighters? Is that a thing that doesn't exist?

And if so... It does. Okay. No, but it does. But here's the thing. Francis, Francis, um, fought all his fights. So Francis fought out the contract.

He didn't have four or five fights left. Like George St. Pierre's Sunset Clause just happened like in the last year. But his last fight was in 2017. Do you know what I mean? So John's contract and Francis's contract, not the same. Francis had to fight his fights. He gets to January of 22. Then there's a whole year before they could like,

they can exclusively negotiate. He's a champion. There's a champions clause, this and that. And then you'll recall that press conference in January of 23 when Dana White came out and said, like, we're releasing Francis. No, you weren't. It was coming to an end, that window, that period was coming to an end, and they wanted to save face. Yeah. So there's two separate things.

Yes, there are sensitive classes, but they're like five years down the road. Francis had finished his fights. Some of these other guys have not. So even Connor, he has not. He still has two fights and whatever. And every contract is different. There's no uniformity in these contracts. So someone's sunset could be five, four, three.

Like, there's no rhyme or reason. And oh, by the way, they could do this thing where it's like, oh, yeah, John, we did offer you a fight against Tom and you turned it down. So now we're going to extend your contract and all that other nonsense. Like, it's almost damn near impossible. Unless they say, like, I think they did it to Anthony Pettis and some others. Like, unless they say like, okay, we're good. We're going to release you.

You're done. I just don't see them doing that for John Jones. For sure. And here's my second question. Do we think that these would hold up in court if challenged for independent contractors? If somebody, not saying this will be John Jones, but if somebody were to say, can you legally do this to an independent contractor, right? Can you prevent me if we feel like the terms are not being met from going elsewhere? That's the part that I have a hard time wrapping my head around.

Now, I imagine that by the time you get through all the legal battle and figure everything out, you wasted all that time anyway. And maybe that's the bet that they're hedging with. But it does feel very odd that legally a contractor can be held into a deal where it never is over, that they just have you forever. No? I think that the one potential is the fact that the landscape has changed. That there are other options out there that you... No, no, no, no, the pay-per-view. So I think...

Okay. I think... Excuse me, Connor has alluded to this. McGregor, he has said, like, the deal has changed, right? There's no such thing as pay-per-view. So this is null and void. Do you remember when he said that? Yes, yes, yes, yes.

So I think someone can try to challenge in that regard and say, like, what I signed up for is no longer in place. We now have to come to a new agreement. That's, I think, the most logical route. But even that is not a guarantee. And even then you're getting into a potential legal battle that again takes time and now you might as well have fought it out potentially. But it does just feel every time we talk about these scenarios, it almost feels like prison. It almost feels like you're not able to escape.

Like John Jones, to the point he made in the tweet, right, in response to Dana White, if you have no use for me and you say, I'm damaged goods. My hip is no good. I've got arthritis. I'm not capable of fighting. You don't want to work with me. Why am I here? What am I doing here? Is a very valid question to ask in light of how Dana White has presented it.

And so it just feels crazy to me that as a contractor, right? Not an employee where it's like, okay, if he's an employee, I get that. But as a contractor where it's like, that doesn't hold up. That doesn't make sense. Let me go, you know? 100%. I don't think they're going to let him go. I don't think they want to let him go, especially not now.

But golly, John John, I mean, like, if we could just daydream, John Jones versus Fransigano and Gano and Netflix would be insane, as with Connor McGregor versus Nate Diaz. Like there's now, now that we've seen that Netflix is interested in big MMA events, clearly, not just big, I think they're just into big events, period. Look, they're doing opening day, and they're doing the home run derby, and they're doing NFL Christmas games and all that stuff. Like, now there's that play.

Before there wasn't that place. It was funny hearing Ron to say, like, oh, yeah, you know, we could have gone to Triller or Fight TV. I'm like, what, like the UFC would have laughed at those. You know, they would have laughed at those. This is Netflix, which by the way is also in partnership with WWE, which is a part of TKO. And so someone was asking me this earlier in the week. Like, you think they're going to move that newer card? That's May 9th.

The Newark pay-per-view, what is it, 328? Yeah? Or whatever, the numbered event. is May 9th, and it's looking like it could be, could be Hamzad versus Sean based on tweets and stuff like that. It's a big fight. I think people will be interested in it. Would they move it to May 16th to counter them?

That's what the old UFC would do. Interesting. Now, I don't know if the Prudential Center is available, all that. But that's what the old UFC would have done. They would have loaded it up. Look at what they did back in the day to affliction at their first event. Does this regime want to piss off Netflix? Netflix is so powerful.

they are so, they're the one guys that they all want to be in business with. And are in business with, as you said, right? Through their TKO and WWE relationship. Exactly. And they want more with boxing and all that stuff. So I don't, I don't think they will. I don't think they will. It's the only time that they've had so much respect for the other.

Like, they hold more power. They hold the most power in all of media, dare I say, right now. Everyone wants to be in business with them, sport or not. So I don't think they would do that. I think it would be a really curious movement. if they did try to piss them off. The one unspoken part of what you said, right? You said, how great would it be if John Jones versus Francis and Gano was on Netflix?

It'd be great. The unspoken part is it'd be great if Francis and Gano or John Jones happened in the UFC too. The problem is that the UFC doesn't do that business, right? They would never let somebody else come in and they would not pay at this point in their life cycle for that fight, which is an unfortunate reality. But like, these things can happen. That's the part that I think gets lost in all this, right? we talk about like these things will never happen they can't happen they actually can happen

they just won't happen under the current structure where the UFC has dug their heels in they'll never co-promote they won't pay for big fights right they don't want to pay john jones to do it but in a world where people were willing to pay for the fights that we wanted to see all these things are possible francis and gano could be fighting john jones tomorrow if they made the money right and and did it differently it's it's just unfortunate that like this is the scenario we're in about the competition is so important like you said. 100%. 100%.

This changes everything. The one that you really need to circle, to me, is Connor versus Nate. If they don't make Connor versus Nate, Connor has two fights left. Nate is a free man as of right now. Connor versus Nate on Netflix would be, I think, is this a crazy statement? I think that's the closest that we could get to Tyson Paul. I don't know if it eclipses Tyson Paul, but of all the options out there, I think it's the closest. Am I wrong?

Yeah, I think so. It's Connor versus anybody and Nate is the best option, right? So I think so. Yeah. Although Connor versus Jake? Connor versus Jake would be pretty damn big too. I mean, yeah, the world is our oyster. I can tell you guys. Let's do that after Nate if we can. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We're doing that boxing. Are we doing it in MMA?

Who gives a fuck at that stage? Let's get the Connor in the room. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know they had the meeting on Monday. And by the way, I've said this many times about Connor McGregor. I think one of Conner's greatest skills, if you will, was his timing. I think that the reason why he got the Floyd Mayweather fight in 2017 was because it was on the heels of the sale and they wanted to recoup some of that money. I think the old regime would have never allowed him to do that. Getting the MSG fight when he did, all that stuff.

I think he's had impeccable timing, especially in the heyday of his career. And I think he has impeccable timing right now because I think that they have seen the backlash of the White House cards. and the John Jones stuff and all of this. And who's sitting right there? Connor McGregor, waiting, ready to go for July 11th, International Fight Week. And so I think that they are a little bit more motivated

to deliver this. And so I know that they met. I've reached out to ask how it went. I have not heard back. But this is the assumption that I'm going to make. The assumption that I'm going to make is I know when some of these things go haywire or awry, he goes on social media, he tweets a bunch of stuff, he gets upset, he deletes, he errs his grievances.

I have not seen any of that since Monday. And I was looking for that because I knew when the meeting was and I was looking for something. I'm not going to be played around. I want my release. I want this, that he has not jumped on this train. Have you noticed he has not jumped on this train at all? And so that at least leads me to believe that it was positive and that they are moving in that direction. I think the UFC wants him back. I think they want him to fight in in July. I think he wants to fight in July. I think everyone is on board with that. It's can they make the deal? Can they actually get this done? And then of course, it's who the opponent is. Obviously, Nate is out there. They have to sign him. I think that the Max Holloway fight is still interesting.

I think that there's more, there would be more interest in the Holloway fight than the Olivera fight at this point. But Olivera has a belt. Does Connor want a belt? Does that matter to him? you know, we know that they reached out about Pratchez. I reported he said yes. They've moved on from that. He wants to fight at 170. To your point earlier, I feel like Connor versus anyone would be welcomed with open arms by the audience.

And I know that there are some people who still think that he's not going to fight, but I feel like him not airing any grievances. Unless I missed a tweet that was deleted, but I feel like people catch those all the time is a positive sign of how that, how that that that that meeting went on Monday. So let's see. I feel the way about, no,

you go PT. I just doubt it's like a one call kind of situation. Oh, no, it wasn't one call. It was also, it was, it was face to face.

Oh. Connor was out in Vegas. No, no, his team. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Okay. Hunters in Dublin and he didn't give me a shout. This is crazy. Oh, Hunter was at the, the blackboard gin. No, no. No. No.

No. Towards Dyer's representation was in Vegas. Yes, he said this on the smash cast. Yeah, don't you listen to the smash cast? Yeah,

I feel about the Connor McGregor like fight negotiations stuff, the way I feel about Habib and Tony, which is like, I don't want to hear about it

until he's there. Let's just skip all this. Like, skip, fast forward to the fight and I'm good. I don't, I,

it's, we've done this too. Like, we keep doing this. We've done this all this time. I'm not of the camp. Like, I have to see him in the cage.

I need to make it to a fight week and the fight still be on. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, that's fair. Get me to fight week. Yeah. All right. I think it's pretty important. I just think that for the first time, like, oh, this is a, yeah.

Thorosa? You good? Uh-oh. Oh, not, do we lose them? We lost them. Oh, did my internet crap out? Can you hear us now? We got it, brother.

Can you hear us? Yeah, so, uh, let's, let's try and, reconnected with Ariel as Ariel would say. We're efforting. We're efforting. Pete, what you say, bro? I was just saying, like, it feels like this negotiation could have massive ramifications, no matter what way it goes, on fighting in general.

Because if the UFC get him, everyone on the roster, once again, knows he's been given an incentive like massive amount of money you'd imagine, right? If Connor is signed on the dotted line, they have given him what he wants to a certain extent and what he wants should be around the Connor Benmark. And sure, people would argue,

like, he brings in more eyeballs anyone. Wait, hold on. Should be around the Connor Benmark. Well, I mean, it's, that's what it has been historically when they opened up all those payments and stuff. Oh, man. That's what he was getting.

John Jones got offered $30 million to fight Tom Aspinall. It can't be around the Connor Benmark. You got $30 million for a kitchen. It's not going to be. Do you think this regime, after everything we've been saying for the last few weeks, everything that Ron DeRousey is saying is going to be like, oh, here's 30 million, Connor and people discuss that. I do.

Because otherwise you don't get Connor and they need Connor. now. We're just talking about people being frozen out of contracts. They will 100% do it over Connor. Yeah, but I mean, a lot of my faith is in the fact that Ariel Hawani just said they're motivated. They heard the talks and they're motivated to get this done. You're not getting it done for Connor Ben money. I don't think there's a world where you can get Connor McGregor for Connor Ben money at this point.

With no pay-per-view, how do you justify it? You know, that's what Ariel was alluding to earlier when he said that tweet that Connor sent out, my contract's null and void, how could his contract be the same when there's no pay-per-view anymore? All his upside was on pay-per-view because he was such a massive draw. If they offered him $15 million,

I wouldn't be surprised if he laughed in their face. Also, it can't. I know it's a super fight and it's a big deal doing it at the White House, but they're saying they're paying $60 million for this. They're not going to be able to sell tickets. There's no pay-per-view or anything like that. If they do International Fight Week at Team Mobile in Las Vegas,

that's essentially a home game for him at that point. You're going to sell it you're going to set the gate record, everything like that. You're going to be able to do massive ad sales surrounding Connor McGregor. You'll be able to make that money back. I'm not saying $60 million, but I can't imagine it's going to be Connor Ben's price tag. Well, that's the dirty little secret about all the UFC stuff, which is they could afford to pay these guys $50 million each and still make a profit because of how much they generate

from the sales and the broadcast rights and all this stuff. But they would never, obviously. And they're, you know, as Ronda Rousey has continued to say and makes a lot of sense, the bottom line, the business is their motivation. But yeah, I don't know. I think they have to come with a number that's very, very correct. And 15 million feels pretty low. I just hope it happens.

I hope something, you know, we need a sign here at this stage that they are interested in booking these big fights. That's certainly not the impression that we're getting lately. So I'm very interested to see how it all plays out. I definitely agree with Ariel that we're going to hear about it either way. Yeah. There's no way he's walking away pissed off. And he's not telling us exactly how he feels in a matter of days, you know?

Well, when Ariel, welcome back, Ariel. When Ariel asked that question at the top when he was like, how do you make the big fights? I thought the answer was actually money, even though you said competition, because that is it. Like, the same way Turkey comes in and pays all the fighters what they need to make those big fights. If you pay Connor McGregor, if you pay Sean Jones, if you pay all these guys what they are asking for,

the big fights will get made with the one exception being the time that John got off for 30 million and turned it down, which still baffles me to this day. But if Connor McGregor gets paid what he's worth to the business, to that gate, and to what they will bring in for viewership, that fight can be made tomorrow, I bet. I bet Connor McGregor would be happy

if they gave him what he was asking for. Well, speaking of big fights that weren't made, let's talk a little bit about Ilya in Islam. I know you guys talked about them yesterday as well, but I wanted to weigh in real quick. Ilya did, Ilya is a stone cold killer on social media. He went on Twitter and posted this.

By the way, John has since backed up what I said on Monday, and now Ilya backed up what I said on Monday. Once again, Islam comes up with an excuse. This time, it's an injury. I always knew I'd be a part of the White House event. He did tweet that last September. Even when the UFC told me at one point, they wouldn't count on me for the event.

I knew I was a part of the negotiation. When they finally told me I would be on the White House card, they mentioned Islam and didn't hesitate. didn't hesitate for a second to accept the fight, even though the fight hadn't been officially confirmed yet. The White House card was going to be announced the next day. And when I woke, I found out that Islam had gotten injured. And then Justin Gachie appeared. Once again, someone else who pay for Islam's escape. Both their manager is a bitch and also ugly as hell. Justin, see you at the White House. I'm not someone who humiliates other people. It will be quick. When you wake up,

everything will already be over. Stone cold. Islam responded on social media as well, quote unquote. We both know who chickened out here. You can cover your cowardice with nasty tweets, but don't worry one day you will get what you asked for, and your fat-ass manager don't have to ask for billions to fight me. We'll do it for free. Malkikawa is Ilya's manager,

and he did respond to that shot and said, damn, I've lost 40 pounds. Why is Ali still calling me fat? my question about this is why would Ilya be called the chicken if he's fighting on the date and Islam isn't? I don't think Islam is the chicken but it's just a weird thing to say about the guy

who's actually still on the cart, no? Absolutely. The whole thing is bizarre. The whole thing. I mean, it's just weird. The managing is getting strays, ugly, fat as hell. Yeah, it's a weird one. I know I'm like beating a dead horse here

and harping on the... These all feel like they are firing shots at each other. You're a chicken, you're a chicken. And in reality, these fights are, the UFC makes the fights, right? It's the same, it was the same thing that was happening with Tom and John, where everybody in the lead up to before Tom, before John was made that Godfather $30 million offer, it was like, this guy doesn't want to do it. This guy doesn't want to do it. Tom has the duck, this and that. It's always just, the UFC makes the fight, right? It's not Islam making the fight. It's not

Ilya making the fight. They both want to fight each other. It's very clear. There's no doubt that they want to fight each other. UFC has to make the fight. UFC has to pay for the fight. And so we're just going to go back, like, it's going to, now we're going to go back and forth, and Ilya's going to be talking about Islam, duck me, and Islam's going to say,

Ilya's a chicken. Does it feel like we're closer to it, though, because of their interest, or do you think that they only wanted to make it because of the White House? It seems like GC is skeptical by your face. I don't know. I don't know if we're any closer. It feels like we've had these discussions before.

They've jabbered on Twitter. They've gone back and forth. I don't know. This is sort of like a Connor McGregor thing. I'm not going to believe it until I see the fight actually get made. There's always the chance that one of them slips on a banana peel and then the fight isn't worth what it was at one point.

Right now they're pound for pound number one versus pound for pound number two. Elia would be going for a third title with this one being offered at 170. I'm not sure we're closer than we've ever been and I would imagine Islam's going to have to take another fight before they would get in discussions again for this one. Oh yeah. He's going to fight someone else. He's going to fight. I think it should be Ian Garry.

Michael Morales is out there posting his stuff. but yeah I mean he loses that belt Ilya is no longer interested oh it's over oh yeah it's over unless it's so personal can I can I ask

can I ask on a serious I'm not going to say that Ilya Islam is is the same as Ilya Armin but has the gap gotten a little bit closer what do you mean

or is it still Ilya Armin yeah I feel like is getting to be just as big as Ilya Islam am I crazy yes

yeah I think I think Ilya Islam still blows out of the water. He's going for the third title. Islam is such a massive superstar. I know Armand is on the rocket ship right now. He's heading straight for the moon. But I think the fact that Islam has that third belt that

Ilya would be going for and the history between the two and just the star power of both, it's hard to recreate. Also, yeah, just consider the upside. If Iliot Toporio wins, he's done stuff that nobody's ever done, right? Everybody to this point is kind of doing variations

of what Connor McGregor did, right? If we're looking at the, what is the gold standard of how you've navigated this business and what you've done, there's like two examples. There's Ronda Rousey and there's Connor McGregor. And everybody's done some facsimile of Connor McGregor, right? You've gone, you've won your championship, you've knocked out the best guys, you won a second belt. Ili has done all those things, right? Alex Pereira has done those things. The third belt is that thing that nobody's done yet. That third belt is that thing that like you can now start separating yourself. And if Iliot's Aporia, who's never suffered defeat and is just walking through people, all of a sudden captures a third belt. He's entering a

stratosphere like we can't even like really think about. Now the environment's not the same. He won't be Connor. Connor is an unachievable level at this point. There's just too much else going on. Attention spans are too short. But as far as the actual thing, the product inside the cage, what you've done in MMA, Ilya beating Islam would be monumental. Whereas like Armin, I think it's a very very very tough fight, but I don't think it gets there. Alia T. Poir-A-O's Islam for a triple chip. It's nuts. We're talking the goat talks will be very loud.

Yeah. By the way, we were on the verge of seeing two triple champions on the same night. That could have been nuts. Well, one's the interim. Wednesday interim. Yeah. I know, but still, like, no, anyone even come close to this, and we were close to

having it happen or at least be a possibility on the same night. Well, Dana White said never, never, never, you know, there was no talks of Islam versus Ilya. it never happened. So, you know. Can I ask a question about the Ours card? Sure.

What do you think happens if either Ilya or Alex can't fight for some reason? Someone touch wood, doesn't happen, don't want that to happen. But what happens if one of those lads falls off the card, given that it's so reliant on their star power as far as I'm concerned? Yeah, I mean, disaster. I'd like to think this would be a great question for them. But if you just look at the lineup, there's no proper backup, right? so I'd like to think that they have something but like who oh John

could you imagine John Cyril too it's time you're back I just don't think they want to they don't want to set that press man I say I don't know the answer to that obviously they will have had to think of it beforehand I would like to think that they are but yeah that would be a complete disaster I still think that the biggest draw is going to be the White House. People are going to tune in to see a fight at the White House. No one on that card is like a true household name. They're massive stars, Alex and Ilya, in particular. But a million people have asked me about it. They don't know anything about MMA. They know nothing about fighting, but they know what the White House is. They know how insane it is that a UFC fight is going to

happen at the White House. So that is still the biggest draw no matter what. If Connor was on there, okay he could have rivaled it in terms of like oh wow interest Connor McGregor's fighting again but still I think the setting the location is the draw and I think that's ultimately why they felt like they didn't have to break the bank for any of these guys and you know they they realized that and it would behoove them to break the bank for international fight week because there's so much revenue attached to that as they've said a million times there's no revenue that's going to be attached to this at least that's what they say speaking of armin by the way I did want to ask or I wanted to bring up that he is competing today

at the hype FC event, this submission grappling event, and there was a huge brawl at the presser yesterday. Speaking of Carlos Prachas, too, did you guys see this? This was insane. I don't know. Look at this.

Carlos loving it. Yo, water bottle. Crosses. Carlos is loving it. Joe, look at this dude right here look this dude right here what the hell

Arvins like I'm out of here Armands like get me out of here this is too much John Silva Sharra Bullitt That's like The stars are out there man

I don't know who's the money behind this promotion But those are a lot of big names right there A lot of big UFC names It's wild to see all these guys Like there was a time where the UFC would never allow this to see these guys on R-AF, to see these guys on hype. I think it's a byproduct of the class action lawsuit if I'm being 100% honest, but it's kind of fun. I don't know if they like, I mean, Dana

kind of, he kind of no-sold it, but I don't know if they'd like to see all these guys get into brawls all the time at these things. They might have to tell it to chill out, but that's actually happening tonight. I think you can watch it on a bunch of different streams. It's happening, what is it? I got an email about this. Does anyone know, Hype FC? You're into this. There was Bryce Mitchell sitting right next to Yeah, the rematch with Jean Silva. Bash. Bash TV. It's live on pay-per-view beginning at 4 p.m. Pacific,

so not too far away from now. Muhammad Mukaiv versus Armisturukin. Yeah. Crazy. Who would have thought? Okay, I just had a thought. Yes. What if John Jones asked to do something like this right now? What if John was just like, all right, you don't want to use me?

I'm going to go wrestle Daniel Cormier. Would they let them? I mean, they let him do the reality show. Would they let him wrestle? Would they let him do Raff? Raff? You know, everybody was like, John versus Daniel Raff.

Would they let him? I think maybe in this new climate of class action lawsuits. This is where it gets interesting for me. This is where it gets real interesting for me because I wonder, you know, how far does that reach extend? That way and also does it extend to the superstars?

Exactly. John Jones for me means a lot. And if he's not, like, here's the assumption that there. making with a lot of these guys, right? Armant Sarukian is going to do this, but at the end of the day, he will fight for us, right? He's coming back and he's going to be our guy and we're

going to make money from Armand Serucan. John Silva, he's doing this thing, but we're going to get back and he's going to be in our cage. Carlos Proches, and on, and on, and on. But if John Jones ain't coming back, are they just like, yeah, go do a ref, whatever you want. Okay, okay, make money for somebody else.

That's where I think we start testing the limits of something. What do you think? I don't think they would let them. Yeah. And again, this is where I'm like, can you legally get away with this? Is that okay? Like, is that actually possible that you can hold somebody with this type of deal? I think that there are certain guys who don't get that. But, man, I thought they'd stop Armin from doing all of this, too, you know?

John would be a great test. John versus Daniel Cormiere for Raff. What about dirty boxing? Probably not. No. Striking. Because that's too, yeah, that's striking. That's too close to MMA.

Didn't DC come out and be like only, he'll only do wrestling at this point of his life? Yeah. I saw a picture of Armin. He's down in Brazil. Looks like he's enjoying it. Went to a fogo to chow. Oh, hell yeah. I'm sure.

I'm sure he's loving it. By the way, speaking of guys moving up, like Muhammad Mikhail is, Reneer de Ritter has announced that he is moving up to 205. What a difference a year makes, right? RDR beats Bo-Nickel less than a year ago. Seems like he's on the fast track and then lose. two straight and now he's moving up to 205. He posted a video announcing this to his team.

It's crazy, right? I want to say thank you guys for all the help. I came up a little short. I think could have gone either way, but I'm happy that I got my body back, most importantly. I was able to go three hard rounds. And I think I have a lot more to show. I brought you guys donuts because I need you guys heavy.

I need you guys strong because I'm coming at 205, baby. Yay! Yeah! All right, hard work on three. One, two, three. Let's go, baby. Let's go, eat some donuts for me. Come on.

Now, he was a double champion in one championship, but, I mean, it seemed like he was, like, knocking on the door of the middleweight division title picture. And now here he is moving up. And now here's Mr. Bo Nicol on the White House, back on track. When you guys hear RDR, do you think of Red Dead Redemption or do you think of Renew to Ritter? That's funny.

There was a time. Who me? If you drop the two on it. So if you ever does a rematch and it's blank blank versus RDR2, then I'll think Red Dead Red Dead Redemption too. Because I haven't played the first one. I've only played the second one. I'm guessing Frank is thinking of the video game. I haven't played either of them.

Yeah, I was thinking of that. Wow, you haven't played either? Have you played GTA? Yeah? The first three. Wow. Wow. Is it... Is it crazy that we're getting Gino Krona versus Ronda Rousey before GTA6? Yeah, I had the exact same reaction.

Six-seven. I had the exact same. Yeah, what was that on Monday when you were like? Yeah, I think it's a little bit cringe. And then Frank was like, oh, is it? And you're like, yeah, you're fucking weird if you say six-seven anymore. You went in hard on the six-seven. Did the kids put the foot down? They were like, it's over.

Me? Yes, you went hard? Really hard on six-seven. To the former, me and Rick looked at each other and was like, wow, I guess six-seven's really sagro? No, man. I got to be honest, the kids are, they're coming from my neck. Like yesterday I was texting with my boys.

And I said, I'm just going to meet people for dinner. And I wrote PPL. Oh, no. And then he wrote, my son, Oliver, wrote back. He goes, look at Unk out here trying to talk like kids writing PPL. It's like, PPL. They think they invented, like, text language. Shorthand?

He invented it. Nine, bro. Do you know anything about T9? Come on. What is T9? Oh, wow. That's when you used to have to type out the letters on the keypad with the numbers. You have to press one, three times to get the letter to, you know, and on.

Nah. PPL is not a kid thing. No. Hell no, bro. That's actually, I would have thought they were going to be like ripping on you for like, oh, the onks still uses PPL because it's so outdated. No. He's trying to claim like they started the shorthand.

I'm like, yo, yeah, yeah. No your role, all right? No your role. It doesn't feel great. It's like I'm constantly being told that I'm too old. By the way, from Max Holloway, from Max Holloway to my kids. Everyone's just talking about your 43, bro. Like, yo, chill, chill.

I feel young and spry. Forty-year-old. A few months, man. Yeah, I know. Thanks. Oh, Jesus. Where to go. What are you?

What are you in a few months? 31, 32? Not 33, bro. 33, Pizzi, around the same time. What are you? 26. Yeah. Fuck out of here, 26.

Pete, I love you. For real, man. Yeah. I'm 30-9 this year. Get out. Wow. Wow. We're going to have a lot of 40 parties. When I joined this team, I was, I just turned 28. Yeah, that's how time goes, you know. I know.

I was spending my brain here. That's how time works. Wow. So it's a wild thing. By the way, what about Kyle Dachas? Kyle Dachis is the frontrunner, in my opinion, for social media user of the year, Capos Award. Look at this guy.

Careful, careful, careful. You know. When everyone is hating on you, but you're just a chill guy that gets the fight at the White House. He is a chill guy, in fairness. In fairness, he is a chill guy. I feel like he's become the poster boy for the dissatisfaction of this card. Even Kyle Dawkins is on this card. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Kyle Dawkes and Steve Garcia were just direct targets when this thing got announced. Oh, great. Can't wait for the White House card. Oh yeah, it's a great fight It's a good fight I also think he's handling it perfectly Which is like I get that you guys are mad But I'm just gonna do my thing

And be on the White House car and try to win Yeah I mean what else is he supposed to do Yeah like he's supposed to crawl in a hole Could you back If he was fighting Bo Nickel at the apex It's a massive fight for him Yeah

Period coming back winning the last two Now it's at the White House American The Battle of Pennsylvania Isn't Pennsylvania a swing state Yeah it is The battle is one. So by the way, we know where Bo, you know, how he leans. Imagine if Kyle leans the other way and it's like a true swing state battle.

I don't think Kyle's making that known right before he fights at the White House. Let me just say. I don't know if Kyle is going to get revenge for Biden. Yeah, you're right. I don't think that goes so hot for him. It's still the most random political shoutout in UFC history is still. Kevin Lee shouting out Bernie Sanders at MSG. What about Jacob Volkman saying he wants to fight Obama or whatever he was saying?

By the way, that was when like we were in such a different political climate that even talking about the president was weird. Yeah. That was very bizarre, but just like a UFC fighter shouting. I think that was the card that Trump attended, but he wasn't there yet. Maybe 244. I think it was. When he fought Gregor Gillespie.

Yeah, that was an interesting one. and then he's like, yo, and I think he's since walked that back, right? Yeah, it was 244. Yeah, it was the night of the first BMF, and he shouted out Bernie Sanders. Yeah, there was some additional commentary after that, you know, made us wonder.

But never forget, we had that Jacob Volk, the Volkman for president. Oh, it was not set for forever. Yeah, we landed on the Tonight Show as a result of that. Yeah, that's right. Remember? The Tonight Show did a skit where then Obama comes and smashed

Vokeman's head into the wall, and I'm standing there. Crazy time. I feel like Connor's hearing about this for the first time. What is this? Explain this more? Jacob Vokman, who was a legendary sort of bit of a, you know, different type of cat. I asked him who he wanted to fight next. I don't know how to describe it. This is when we were doing the locker room interviews in the hallways and stuff.

Way back, I think it was UFC 125, if my memory serves me, Craig. and he said he wanted to fight Barack Obama because I think he was mad about Obamacare. I think it was something related to that. You mean both, Jacob. He said he wanted to knock him out. You wanted to fight him. And that was very random.

And then he told me later that the FBI, I think, contacted him or came to his house. My memories, it's like 15 years ago now. Anyway, the clip went super viral. UFC fighter says he wants to knock out the president. And then I'm pretty sure it was Jay Leno. It was definitely the Leno era. He made a joke about this, and they cut to the clip, but then at the end of the clip, and this is way before AI, Obama comes and smashes his head.

But it's like me standing there on the Tonight Show. Oh, wow. Incredible. Yeah. In the video, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like, it was like a fake thing. Okay.

The way you teed up in my head, you went to the set and, like, was on. Oh, no, no, no. No, they just threw to it. Yeah. Did he hear about this fighter who wants to knock out, you know, the president? that's my Jay Leno impersonation. By the way, speaking of the White House, yes? One more thing on that.

I'm looking at an article from CBS News at the time. From back then? The comment not only got Volkman put on leave from the school district, he was a teacher, but also caught the attention of the U.S. Secret Service, they questioned him not long after. So yeah, Secret Service confirmed. Yes.

...Fofficman at that time about this. Crazy. Let me tell you. Let me tell you. Jacob Vokman walked, so Bryce Mitchell could run. He's like, you know what I mean?

Yeah, I do, but I don't think, I don't think Connor does, but I do. He was pre, he was never as outlandish, but I feel like he like set the table.

Yeah. So is it Volkman, VOLK? Yeah, yeah. Are you just saying Vokeman? Vokman, Volkman. I don't know if you,

is it that hard of an L? Yeah, Volk. Oh, yeah, hard L for sure. Yeah. Alex. What do you think what happened if a fighter said

he wanted to knock out Donald Trump? go good it wouldn't it wouldn't go so well for imagine Kyle Dawkins gets on the mic do you think you think if a fighter said that they get cut would they get cut for saying that

no because then you can't stand on the free speech thing anymore I'm just saying is knocking is saying that the line federal that's a fucking prison yeah so good

what about Frank as I took off my headset on Monday you dropped the line there and it made me laugh and I heard it from like the as I'm getting changed to to leave what was it what was that draw? I'm too hung over to deal with these people tonight. Oh, I love that one because the I'm comes in so hot.

One more time. I'm too hung over to deal with these people tonight. So hung over to deal with these people tonight. Maybe a slight edit there. We just start with two hungover. I kind of like that. Oh, you do. Okay.

It's like the D1 Glazer. It comes in so hot that I love it. I love how hot it comes. I saw people in the comments calling me that yesterday. That's okay. I could, I didn't stand up there and be like, we're all here because DeKisibadarian was born. And let me tell you something. This fight reminds me.

I've been waiting my whole life for this press conference. Yeah, yeah, yeah. None of us would exist had Nica Bidarian never been born. Before we move on from the press conference, because I feel like we kind of like transition. Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Cyborg versus Rhonda Rousey feels like a fight you have to make at some point, right?

Like, if Rhonda does keep fighting, we are building to that, no? Like, that has to be in... But here's the thing. Gina said, I'm not going to put an end. Rhonda essentially said, like, I want to have more kids. So if anything,

and now she could win and say... If she wins... If she wins... I don't want to fight, make me fight. Yeah. Man, can the kids wait? I don't think she ever wants. to fight her.

Because of what she said about the movies? Yeah, I don't think she wants to fight her. I am interested in like how deep she wants to get into this. She said, I want to be the face of this and help them. I'll be his Dana White or whatever. Right. Speaking of Nekisa, like does she want to be not, I don't want to say like Amanda Serrano is to MVPW, but sort of that because Amanda is actively fighting, but I wonder if she wants to be that person

who's, I mean, her up there yesterday, like she's still got it. as I said, like she's still throwing 100. And maybe because she hasn't done that in so long, she had a lot of ammunition and she was excited to be up there. But I wonder if she wants to be up there promoting fights. And that would be interesting. And it would be right up their alley, right, with how much they promote women's fighting.

I just, I'm so curious to see how this all plays out. Is this a one and done? Will there be more? Who else is going to be on there? Who else do they want to sign? Like, there's just, wow, such a fascinating time. It actually felt for a minute, like the MMA business was getting quite stale and boring

and all the fun was happening in boxing, it's nice to have a little bit of excitement, some stuff to sink our teeth into. And obviously we love the fights and we want to see the matchups, but they're not giving us the big fights. Let's just be 100% honest. They're not.

There are great fights. I'm excited about Yeri and Elberg. I'm excited about Joshua Van and Tyra. Obviously, excited about the return of Kevin Vach. Vachshahos. And Josh Emmett this weekend. but like we want more we want more and a little bit of an alternative

is good what do you think of Rhonda yesterday Pizzi? I thought she was great and didn't seem to miss a beat she spoke so well, so did Gina but Rhonda was really holding court up there yeah, thought it was really strong like really brave, like you know just come out and talk about like that

about the UFC knowing that she had such a great relationship with Dana too it's a very strong stance to take and again it all feeds into this situation this battlefield situation that I'm looking at. And honestly, I think Dana loves this shit. You see the way he's talking at these Zufa boxing press conferences, as opposed to how he's speaking at,

at the post-fight 326 thing. I think these guys, MVP coming at him, could awaken the beast on the MMA front. He's fighting a war on two fronts. This is what he loves. He's a wartime going to do it. He's the guy that you want at the top of the company when this kind of shit is going down.

I'm excited to see it. I can't, as you said, I can't wait to hear what he has to say about all this. We're not going to have to wait too long to hear. And I don't think he's going to take it lying down. I'm here for it all. I mean, her talking about the finances, the deal, fighter pay, employee.

Yeah. Look, I did see some people saying, why wasn't she talking about this stuff, you know, in 2015? And it's a fair thing to bring up, no doubt about it. It's also fair to say people change, people evolve, people see the light, people remove themselves and feel a certain way. You know, who knows? Her motives are her motives, but that doesn't take away, in my opinion, from what she's saying. And there's not that many people who are willing to say those things

and are in a position to say those things without any type of backlash. So anybody who's asking that question is coming from the wrong place. And there's no other way to say it other than that. The what aboutism is like kind of sickening, to be honest. Like if you believe that what Ronda Rousey is saying right now in 2026 is the correct thing and something that you align with and want to support, it doesn't matter if she didn't ask it in 2012. It doesn't matter if she didn't ask it in 2016, unless you only care about being right, right? Unless you only care about the fact that, ah, you know, I was doing it back then, or this is the time that I was doing it and I've got these miles in the game and I was right all along. If you believe in what the message that she's saying,

it doesn't matter when she was saying it. If she's saying it now and you still believe that, that's the proper time to say it. And it doesn't matter what her motivations were. Then it doesn't matter what her motivations are now. I'm so sick of that shit. I'm so over the like what aboutism of like, she wasn't riding with us and the, who gives a fuck? She's doing it now. And this is

the time to do it. Get over it. You want the plot it. You want the credit for being right. Congratio, fucking lations. But you're not moving the needle in the way that Ronda Rousey is. Anyway, that shit pisses me off. No, no, I get it. I get it. It was wild to see her talking to

The press, we hadn't seen her talk to the press in so long, the MMA media, and to see kind of that hate go away. Also, I got to say, it was a different edge to Francis this time. Like, I believe him when he says that he doesn't care about the critics, but like, you could tell it motivates him in a certain way. There's a different type of edge to him out there. Like, I was seeing him walk. And obviously, Jake being involved and whatnot, it's just, I don't know, there was something

about, there was something about people. There was the people involved yesterday. Philippe Lins was actually just like a lovely guy who just seemed very happy to be there and appreciative of the moment. So shout out to him. I think, yeah, I mean, yeah, no, obviously. He's not a superstar. He hasn't fought since 2024. But he was on a winning streak and just kind of left and disappeared.

So what an opportunity. Here's the picture right here. This is it. We got it from Daniel of Obama. Yeah, there I am. Interviewing Obama. UFC 125. They even went ahead and got the little picture on the side there.

They cracked it because Obama had smashed Volkman's head into that. I thought that was a nice little touch. So I was not lying. It is so crazy to think about this shit. Yeah, I was not lying. By the way, speaking of the White House card, guys, could we give a shout out to Amin Zahabu who's really laying it on thick here. Golly, I mean, he's really calling me out.

He really wants to know whose side I'm on. He posted this video. which I have to say has made me very uncomfortable because I'm trying to stay down the middle. I'm trying to remain impartial and he's really putting the gun to my head here. Here's Aiman being very aggressive and dare I say,

bully like tactics being employed on me here. So do you have anything to say to Ariel? Ariel Hawani, my doppelganger, my twin brother, you know, he's super professional Ariel so I'm sure he's going to stay as impartial as possible. We're both from Montreal. We both came from nothing. and we have very similar background.

I'm slightly more handsome than he is, but I feel like he can overlook that. He can overlook that, and he'll have my back for this car. Both our parents immigrated from Lebanon to Montreal. We both work in the same industry in MMA. We both represent Canada on the world stage. I think he won the MMA awards for Best Journalism

something like 12 years in a row. So basically I want it. So I feel great about it. When you close you for a podcast, you're going to say yes? Yeah, I wonder if he's going to call me. Ariel, you call me for my. Monday show or what? Monday, Tuesday. Let me know, man. Let me know if we're on.

Me and Ariel's, we've got to do an interview in the same place at the same time. It still hasn't happened. Maybe he'll come by. We'll do an interview face-to-face. It could be hilarious. I control the world that I'm taller than Ariel. First of all, no chance he's taller. Second of all, it was 15 times in a row. Third of all, you are going to come on and we would love to have you. And is it fourth? I don't know. It's like buzz in Home Alone. A-2D. I can't pick a side, all right?

I like both of you. You are bringing up good points, Montreal, Lebanon, all this stuff. You're bringing up great points. I'm not so sure about the better looking thing. The beard's looking fantastic. Shout out to the beard. Stop making me pick, all right?

It's very un-Canadian-like of you, okay? We're supposed to be down the middle here. We're supposed to be peace and love, peace and love. But I am excited for him and happy for him, and it would be nice if, you know, Sean had my back here. You know, at the end of the day, you know, we could be bought. We could be bought, you know. Who can't be bought these days?

Did you see that shot of John trying to buy off the referee in the dock? Yeah, it was great. Everyone could be bought. It was great. It was great. Shout out to Casey for putting that together. That was very fun. And we will definitely have him on.

This was just a little bit of a weird week with the no show yesterday. And then today, I did like that he said Tuesday. He knows the schedule now, the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, cadence. He knows that. Best thing I saw yesterday, though, outside of all the feel-goodness at the press conference was this clip right here from Israel Desaigne and an old friend. Pleasure having my bestie. So what's up, bestie? Hey, what's up, Dr. Let's go. Thank you.

Always pushing me no matter what. I mean, who could have ever predicted that, right? A few years ago, those two guys together, training together, life is an amazing thing. Rob and Izzy together, Rhonda and I shaking hands. Rhonda and I shaking hands is not quite me and Dana, but it's not too far off. If I'm feeling like if I'm being 100% honest, it didn't feel like it was too far off. It's a to experience that yesterday was a wild thing. It really was. But I'm happy it happened. I'm very happy it happened. We have any super chats, Frankie. I think I saw one or two in there. Is there any better press conference host than Ariel

Hulani when you start cooking? No one does it better. I appreciate that. I don't know. I don't know if I'm the best at it. It's you go up there and it's a little bit that you're like, okay, I've got a, it's different than doing this. That's for sure. And like I said, no script, no prompter. Fun doing it for MMA because I've got, I've got a whole compartmental in there where I could just like bring stuff out. It was a lot of fun. But I don't know if I'm, who is the goat of the press conferences? I'm not sure.

Who is the goat? Dana. Yeah. Should I, next time I should just walk. You know, that was actually one thing. I thought I went, I wanted to go long. Sometimes I don't like to go long. I want it to go a little bit longer at this time just to provide the context.

Maybe it was too long. I don't know. I think Dana goes very short. You know. I think setting up the history was, important. I was following with you. Okay. All right. All right. All right. Yeah, you know, we're, we're our worst critics around here. So, uh, but, uh, no, I enjoyed, I enjoyed it a lot. And I've definitely felt more comfortable doing it.

It's not like a thing that you're kind of used to doing in my position. So I definitely feel more comfortable doing it, but I feel like we could always get better. What else, Frankie? What else? Jake from Wendy City says, bring a pocket knife just in case when going around LA. Wow, really? I don't think so. I was in Venice yesterday. It didn't look that dangerous. And by the way, I'm walking around there with my Blue Jays hat, all right?

I ain't afraid. No. I ain't afraid. Are you really? Nah, you're lying. You think these guys are going to come after me? Because I'm wearing a Toronto Blue Jays hat. Bring it on, Kiki.

I think he's playing in the World Baseball. Can we talk about the World Baseball Classic? Can we talk about Team USA? What the hell, G.C. You're Mr. Team USA. Hey, when does Mexico kick off today? Yo, yo, yo, you hear about this, Pizzi? No idea.

I saw the thing you put in. Oh my gosh, 7 p.m. tonight. Pizzi, Team USA is 3 and 0, all right? They're about to play their fourth game. It's a round robin in the qualifying stages. There are five teams per pool, so you play four times, right? The manager of Team USA, and Team USA has probably its most loaded lineup ever. Like, as close,

to a dream team as you can get in this day and age. The manager of Team USA is a guy named Mark DeRosa, former, I believe, Texas Ranger. He's on MLB Network, TV channel here in the States. And he's talking to them about their upcoming match against Italy, which obviously is not a powerhouse. And truth be told, the vast majority of the team are a bunch of Italian Americans from like the East Coast. But the way the rules are, you know, if you've got a grandfather, a grandmother, a mother, a father, a cousin from the country, they let you in. By the way, I see a lot of people.

There was no Irish team, but there's not a lot of Irish Americans who are good at baseball. There's a qualifying. The red-headed dude took all the steroids. Get him out of retirement. McGuire. McGuire. McGuire, Irish name.

Get them back. Come on, Mark. 1999, I think he last played. It is funny, though, I will say, the hypocrisy is great because Team Israel is just Jewish Americans. everyone gets very upset about them, but they don't bring up Team Italy and all the other teams,

but that's the way it goes. Team Italy has, like, you know, lower level MLB guys or minor leaguers, and the manager of Team USA says, yeah, you know, we always want to win, but I want to get some guys in there, get them some action, get them some at bats, things like that. We know we've punched our ticket to the quarterfinals, so obviously we're able to, you know, some guys play and this and that. Well, guess what? They didn't punch their ticket yet.

So they played a lot of the benchers and then Team Italy breaks it open, going up 8-0, ends up winning 8-6. It got a little squeaky bump time there. But to me, what I don't understand, so he's getting absolutely killed. He thought he had advanced and they had not advanced. They had to win that game in order to secure 100% their spot by themselves without any help from others. What I don't understand is no one on his coaching staff, no one in the front office for Team USA said, actually, by the way, we do have to win this game if we want to guarantee our spot. Like, no one corrected him. He said this on national television. So he's getting killed. His lineup suggested that he thought it was a, you know, a game of no real consequence.

I don't know how, I've never seen that in all my years of watching sports, international sports, knowing how the rules are and whatnot. The manager thought that the game didn't matter. And as a result, they need, correct me from wrong here, GC, they need Italy to beat Mexico in order to get in. Like, they do not control their own destiny. Is that right? They need Mexico. Italy to beat Mexico is automatic.

If Mexico wins, it has to be four. Five, right? I think it's Italy scoring five or more means USA is in no matter what. If Mexico wins like a four-two game, USA is out, eliminated. And then after the game, I saw him being like, well, I just didn't really. as we could get knocked out. And it's just like, are you...

I misspoke, he said. I misspoke. What? That's insane, man. You know what kind of a disaster that would be for this? Nice level. What happens if Italy loses? Are they in or are they out?

Italy is in no matter what. Okay. If you're Italy, do you... That's what everyone's saying. Wait. Italy is out if Mexico wins a low-scoring game. If Mexico wins, it comes down to runs. If Italy wins, then Italy is.

Italy is through. Italy and USA are through. Okay, because I'm thinking, what if you're Mexico and you want to get USA out, you just let Mexico win in a low-scoring game, but you're saying then they're out as well? Yeah, yeah. Okay. What if they both agree? And they're just like, all right, Mexico, you just win one-one-nothing and we'll both be through.

Oh, so they will, Italy will get through if they win, if Mexico wins one-nothing. Someone posted. I would let it happen. That's what I would do. Well, a lot of people said, a lot of people said they should just both walk up to the plate without holding a bat and just both like let it end zero zero just to F the USA. Let them score just walk four guys.

Here's the breakdown and that's how they win. If Italy wins, they advance and USA advances. If Mexico wins and scores five plus runs, they advance and USA advances. If Mexico wins and scores four or less runs, they advance in Italy advances. So the U.S. needs either Italy to win outright or Mexico to win. by five or more runs. Wait, but that's squeaky bum. Right?

They just have to score five or more runs, not the point differential between them, right? Yes, win and score five plus runs. I think it's about the amount of points, you know, right? Yeah, so it's like a five, four Mexico win gets them. If Mexico wins by four anything, USA's out.

Yeah, four three, two, one. If Mexico wins four three, yes, USA's out. Four one, four, two, four three, they are three or two or one. It doesn't matter. They need a pitching gem tonight to keep us out. It's unbelievable. The collusion that could happen between Italy and Mexico right now is insane. Why would you not?

USA was minus 110 going into the tournament. Happens in the World Cup every year. You know, final game in a group stage is people go, what's the best thing we can do for each other here? Oh, 100%. What's interesting is the vast majority of these Italian players are American. Oh, yeah. You know, they're just not good enough to play for the United States.

And, you know, the Italian team has been very fun. they've had like a whole espresso bar in the dugout like they've really played it up very well but these guys could screw the likes of Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper like these I love this drama I love how they go down 8-0 and then they're like

all right we we should probably just try and win the game and they almost came back they lost they almost came back the best part about it is this game was relegated to 2B and now they've moved it to I think Fox Sports 1 because there's so much interest in it now like they were just this game meant nothing because everyone expected the U.S. to just roll right through the qualification stage,

and now here they are. And the semis and, well, the quarters and semis and finals, I know the semis and finals are in Miami. I think the quarters are also in Houston as well. Point is, it's all in the United States, and the crowds will still be amazing, Dominican Republic and all that. Canada, actually, if Canada wins today, by way, we're looking at a scenario of Canada beats Cuba today,

we're going through, and you guys might be in our dust. What a turn of events that would be after what happened at the Olympics. But anyway, the crowds. Venezuela undefeated, they play Dominican Republic. Andy stand up, you know. Yeah, shout out, shout out. I'm going to have to come in in my Dominican Republic jersey if USA gets knocked out. Oh, my God.

You'd switch that fast. What else am I going to do? I have to cheer for someone. USA's bounced. That is crazy work. You'd switch that fast, huh? What do you want me to do? It's every three years.

You've got to cheer for someone. We didn't even make it out of the group stage. By the way, did you guys see Stephen A. Smith yesterday talking about... Sure did. Oh my gosh. What is going on here? I just want to preface this. Dana White is a best friend of mine.

Nick Kahn is a close family friend. TKO is paying me to say this right now. Just kidding, he didn't go that far, but... You didn't go that. I was like, what? Did I miss that? Prefacing this statement with like, I'm really good friends with the guys at the top of TKO. And I got to say, they're doing good stuff.

He said similar things when Dana had the incident with his wife as well. Yeah. everything. I love Stephen A. Stephen A has always been great to me, so I'll preface this as well. But the quote, boxing has been completely contaminated by promoters who have not prioritized giving the people what we want, when we want. I know that ain't going to be Dana White. To say that when we're in the midst of a run here where they're not giving us the fights in MMA, in his bread and butter. That's not going to be Dana White though.

All that tells me, honestly, the real takeaway there is Stephen A. Smith used to watch or was aware of MMA five years ago, right? Like that was a thing. There was a time where that was absolutely true. And it is not true anymore. And he hasn't kept up with it. It's, you know, freezing cold takes? Like those usually take like a year or two.

This was freezing cold on arrival. On arrival. Yeah, I think it was just an incorrect take. Or that. Or that. Frankie, what else we got? What else we got? There's one MMA legend who I would love to see on this card or any Netflix card.

He is ever so deserving of a huge payday. Nick Diaz. Is there a desire to see Nick Diaz on this card? That BMF clip probably helped him. Where was this? I'm talking to him sitting in the bar, watching the BMF title, no? Yeah, that was great.

I'd rather see Nate the Nick, but I'm still down, right? Nate v. Nick! No, come on. Oh, stuff. But if, you know, the whole concept of this card, right, the fact that Gina Carrano is in this event is homage to, you know,

the stars of yesterday. year, I think Nick would be in that same vein and I'm down for it. You obviously have to find the right matchup, but I think Nate is more what a modern audience is, you know, familiar with. What else, Frankie? What else?

To John Jones or anyone who knows him, Ariel holds no grudges and no better place to speak your truth to power than the Ariel Hawani show. You have important things to say and we would like to hear it. Let's talk, champ. Let's go, champ. Hey, we saw John on the uncrowned film, so perhaps. Perhaps that's a bridge to getting him on the program.

What do you say, Johnny? What do you say? We're here. Shake hands. I got your back. I think John is owed more than $30 million for his next fight. But if that's the number, that's the number. He deserves it and would love to see it. Thank you, Mossayed. What else, Frankie? What else? Opinion on Armin being removed from the pound-for-pound rankings.

Is that true? Is that a bullshit? Is that true? Was he in the pound-for-pound? Well, I'm looking at the pound-for-pound right now. I don't know, was he in it before? And also the young crown pound pound way more prestigious, in my opinion. And I think we had him in there.

Did we not? I can look this up as well. But Max Hollowate says here, jumped up. Wait, no, did he jump up? He went down five spots. Joshua Vans in there. Drick his two plus C's in there. Charles O'Overa.

Have him in our pound pound? He's getting right back in those heavyweight rankings. Big deal. We have Armin at number 10. He's 10. Oh, okay. All right, yeah, yeah, I was looking. Yeah, okay.

So what are you talking about? You're talking about the UFC? I don't know. Did he get removed? But did he get removed? Let's see. He's seeing removed. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, he just got like outvoted. Like, he's still number two in the lightweight. So who cares? It means nothing. What else, Frankie? What else? Which fight was canceled Thursday or Friday? You mentioned Ilya was not scheduled to fight at the White House until the day before.

What fight was being considered until then? I don't know for sure. I do know the timing if you figure it out. They only talked about Justin versus Ilya, like late Friday, early Saturday. So is it possible they found out that Islam was out? If you look at Ali's tweet earlier in the week, it would seem to suggest that he was talking about a potential fight there. I'd be long if I say right here and now, you know, I know exactly what it is, but I feel like

the signs point to that. I also kind of think, like, who cares? We know it's not the John Jones fight. We know the whole story behind the ESM fight. Like, there's nothing bigger than that, right? Colby Coveington spoke to MMA junkie today and said that the White House card is piss poor at best, quote unquote. The fans have spoken. They said they hate it.

It's a terrible card. They promised six or seven title fights. Now they have one title fight and an interim title fight. They just put together in the last minute. The thing was so disorganized. They put it together last minute. There wasn't any big high-ranking American fighters. where the guys representing America on the 250th birthday of America?

It seems like they don't care anymore. They made all the money with Paramount, and they're just happy it is what it is. Golly, add Colby to the mix. Dylan Dennis's opponent, March 28th, R.A.F. Kobe Cumberton going against the White House? What timeline are we living in here, guys? By the way, speaking of the White House,

did you guys see this? The UFC and FBI partner for historic first exclusive training seminar, UFC athletes will hold an exclusive training seminar for FBI personnel at the FBI Special Agent Academy in Quantico, Virginia. March 14th and, oh, sorry, March 14th and 50, what's Quantico? No, where the CIA is? I feel like I've heard that in like a mission impossible. Yeah, FBI, Quantico? I liked, if I'm being honest, I liked Quantico better.

It can't be Quantico if it's in Virginia. It sounds like a resort. Let's go down to the coast or something. day. It feels more exotic. Let's see what Cash Patel's got to say. I think we have a number one hit on our hands. Speaking of Mr. Patel, quote,

I'm thrilled to announce this historic seminar between the FBI and the UFC at Quantico. That's how they spelled it. This is a tremendous opportunity for our FBI agents to learn and train with some of the greatest athletes on Earth. So there you go. So just clearing it up, Quantico is actually its own television show. On the ABC shout out.

It's also where the... the Marine Corps bases. Justin Gaichi, Jorge Masvedal, Chris Wideman, Claudiae Goodellia, Michael Chandler, Manel Cap, Henzel Gracie, going to be involved. So the lines are blurring even more. What else, Frankie? What else? And lastly, would big MMA stars go beyond just talking

and actually do something for Fighter Pay? A letter to Congress supposing the Ari ALE Act, Ari Act and for Ali Act to MMA, signed by J.BJ. Ronda and others would be a start. Hmm. I don't really think that they need to write anything, to be honest, because Congress, the government doesn't oversee MMA, so it's not really going to, they're going to be like,

okay, thank you. It does beg the question, why don't they? Why isn't there some kind of Ali Act for MMA? I feel like we've reached the point that we clearly deserve it, meaning the sport deserves it. Who would advocate for it? Who makes this? No, no one. one's going to happen. I know, but it

is wild. Yeah, no, it is wild, yeah. I mean, or some sort of, you know, like a John McCain type of personality, right? Human cockbutton, baby. It requires somebody actually caring about what happens and nobody is going to do that. Yeah. It's, it's,

the environment is, it's changed. We're, we're going the other direction on the boxing side with the, uh, revival act. It just wouldn't happen. It's crazy. does seem like there's any you know there was a couple of times where there was associations and yeah yorn repney shout out jorn that was the the shortest lived that was literally five days i don't even know if it lasts a five yearn repney baby dare to dream the best one it was like it's like

cowboy mr ufc is in it and then like they ask him later and he's like i nah i didn't even know what this was nope t j delish on him just immediately uh fuck no it was like they announced it on a I think a Thursday. And then Saroni was fighting in Toronto the next week at a pay-per-view. So, like on the Wednesday, the media day, he was like, yep. It was less than a week. Book this, boys. Yeah, yeah.

I'm out. No thank you. He got a call. There's no doubt about that. He got a call. And they were like, yeah, you know, about all the stuff we did for you. And it seemed like, I don't know if they understood who Bjorn was. I don't know.

It was wild. How can they understand who Bjorn was? I don't know. It was like one afternoon of holy shit. And then as quickly as it arrived, it just disappeared. But this is different. These are different times. I do feel like we have been here before, guys, you know this. We have been here before where there's unrest, where there's upheaval, where there's people speaking out from time to time. What does this all mean? I think a lot of people are getting, oh, this guy's going to go here and this person's going to sign there. This is going to change. Like, they've got a lot of power and a lot of

of time and equity in the sport. It's going to take a very long time for anyone to make any kind of change. It is interesting to see it all kind of happened at the same time. And I think a lot of the stuff that Rhonda was saying was accurate. And honestly, it's a lot of the stuff that we have been saying for a very long time about the, just the sort of spark not being there. So again, I think Connor might stand to gain the most from all of this, meaning there'll be some sort of motivation to get him back in the mix.

That would be a nice little response to all of this. I don't know. It's fascinating times. Fascinating times. Is there another question or you said that was the last one? Ariel, is Richard Schaefer still managing John Jones? I remember him saying negotiating with the UFC is completely different ballgame. Also, how do you think Eddie would do as a manager?

Richard Schaefer is not. He was more of his consultant. Now he works with the Cowah brothers again. also has a lawyer who does a lot of his business dealings. So that didn't last very long. And Eddie is a manager. I mean, I don't think Eddie really wants to be a manager per se. He's got a massive business, but I think that he would be a great negotiator and someone who obviously knows the ins and outs of the fight business. When he's sitting next to me and he's breaking things down, it's like, golly, this guy knows what he's doing. He knows about, you know, what makes dollars and cents

in the fight business. So I think he would do very well. But, I don't think that's what he ultimately wants to do. And it gets a little tricky because of the Ali Act. You can't be a promoter and a manager. I know this is a different sport, but you don't want to, I don't think you'd want to blur those lines too much. So I think he would do great,

but I don't think that's his ultimate goal in all this. That was the last one, right? Yes, sir. Alrighty. Believe that's it. Bit of a shorter show. Bit of a short. Okay, wow.

I wasn't quite ready for the music. I listen to the director before I listen to you. A bit of a shorter show today, but that's okay because we gave you two hours in Mike Tyson and we gave you yesterday. We also gave you, obviously, the gable dock. So check that out if you haven't just yet. Really, really great access, really, really fun stuff. So go check it out.

Great stuff from John as well. I thought John came off quite well as a very passionate and attentive and loyal friend. Yeah, and training partner. It was cool to see. crack coming up on Friday Pizzi and the Boys BITB back tomorrow 415 sub BITB number to call

Leave a voicemail What are we doing? Breakdown of the return to the apex Is this the first apex? No, it's not the first apex of the Paramount era, right? Yeah. What do we got? What do we got? Yeah, we're breaking down every single fight on USC Apex 114. Hell yeah. Voice mails pound for pound is still TBDs.

Still up in the air. Okay. Oh, yeah. We're going to figure something, though. Still working on it? Yeah, we thought about Oscars, but... What about something, uh, Argentinian inspired?

Yeah, we're workshopping. We'll figure it. Okay. We'll get there. Kevin. Vaheos. No. Vallejos.

Vasejos. Vasejos. Vasejos. It's a doozy, those double L's. I want to get it right. I want to get a right. It's, it's, it's tripping me up. like Jasmine. Great stuff, Pizzi. Great stuff, everyone in the back. Thank you very much to everyone

for their love and support. I appreciate you all very much. Thank you very much to Mike Tyson. Check out the MTI starting tomorrow. Thanks to all of you back on Thursday, same time and place. Until then, I say peace.