The Ariel Helwani Show - Malcolm Wellmaker, Bill Haney, TNA President Carlos Silva, Abdullah Mason, Chris Bungard in studio, Terence Crawford stripped?!

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by reacting to Terence Crawford being stripped of the WBC super middleweight title, Mike Tyson’s support for the Ali Revival Act, Oleksandr Usyk’s feelings on Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua, and more (03:07).TNA President Carlos Silva joins to talk about the promotion’s new broadcast deal with AMC, how the deal came to be, plans for 2026, TNA’s relationship with WWE, Joe Hendry joining WWE, and more (17:44).Bill Haney is back to discuss his son, including his review of Devin’s last performance, their relationship with Eddie Hearn, potential next fights against the likes of Ryan Garcia, Conor Benn, and Rolly Romero, his stance on the Ali Revival Act, and more (47:38).Chris Bungard joins Ariel in-studio to talk about his run with Cage Warriors, being a free agent with several offers on the table, the origin of his ‘Bad Guy’ nickname, some of his thrilling walkouts, including a Bray Wyatt tribute, his love of Bret Hart and pro wrestling, wanting to fight Dillon Danis, hanging out with comedians Shane Gillis and Theo Von, and more (1:18:06).Malcolm Wellmaker returns on the heels of his UFC 322 defeat to talk about accepting the fight on short-notice, what he knew about Ethyn Ewing heading into the fight, being devastated by the loss, technical mistakes he made, when he plans to get back in the cage, and more (2:15:28).Abdullah Mason, the youngest active male champion in boxing, makes his show debut to discuss his win over Sam Noakes, his feelings on Keyshawn Davis and lessons learned, having the support of Cleveland behind him, how he got his start in boxing, and more (2:45:44).Ariel is joined by The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll to cover some news and notes, including Colby Covington vs. Luke Rockhold being announced for Real American Freestyle, Henry Cejudo saying UFC 323 will be his retirement, the future of UFC on Paramount, Terence Crawford’s strong response to the WBC stripping him, before wrapping up with your Super Chats (3:08:04).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Eria-Hawani Show! Back in your life, on this Wednesday, December 3rd, 2000. And 25, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It's great to be here on a lovely Wednesday in New York City. We've had a very busy week around these parts. Wow, what a couple of shows in the books. Tom Aspinall yesterday.

Sugar Sean yesterday. Arnold Allen was tremendous as well. Monday show was great. And today on the program, a five pack of guests from around the world of combat sports, dare I say, a little something for everyone. on today's program. Off the top though, I do want to thank everyone. It seems as though as of yesterday or so,

YouTube and Spotify have done these rap things where they tell you like, these are the shows or these are the channels that you're watching or listening or consuming more than others. These are the minutes, these are the hours, these are your rankings, all that stuff and more. And so many people have tagged me on social media

about having our channel number one, our show number one, the amount of hours, the amount of minutes, all that stuff and more. And honestly, it warms my heart. And so just like I said yesterday, I love, you know, our inside jokes. I love the drops. I love when people leave comments, referencing things that are said on the show. I love this as well. It really does mean a lot.

You are spending a lot of minutes, a lot of hours, a lot of your time consuming our content, audio form, video form.com as well. We can't thank you enough. we really appreciate it. Thank you for sending those messages. I'm trying to respond to as many as possible, but it really does mean a lot. And I really do appreciate it.

I have to say, a bit of a Willis Reed game for me here today. It was on my morning run. Here I am, a couple of days after I'm telling Kayla that I like to get out and move because I'm sitting for so long each and every day. This is the sacrifice that I make for all of you, for your enjoyment, your entertainment, for those minutes and hours each and every year.

was going uphill and felt a pop in the old hammy. Yeah, felt a pop. I don't know if this is, you know, I feel like I'm pretty limber. I have been doing a lot more stretching these days, but perhaps just a sign of hitting the big four, three father time, as they say, undefeated. So the problem was I was 15 minutes away from my home and it was, it was a tough walk back. I mean, I'm feeling it right now. It's kind of throbbing. Felt the pop. Don't think I'll need to go under the knife if I'm being 100% honest with everyone, but I am feeling it. So, you know, trying to lean on my brethren, trying to lean on my colleagues, my brothers and sisters, trying to, you know, draw some inspiration, some motivation, and we're going to power through. And today's actually a big day for us here at Uncrowned HQ.

It's the Uncrowned Holiday Party, everyone, going down this evening. Yes, everyone's very excited. all the details under wraps. You know, it's all very top secret, top secret, and still unclear if everyone's going to be showing up. Well, we thought maybe the hamstring thing was your way of saying you can't make it. Some of the RSVPs have sort of trickled in at a, you know, a glacial pace. Who's to check?

But who's the maybe? There's a... I think Ariel's the maybe. Rios to me. F you, Frankie, all right? I'm the one that established this. I'm the one that kept asking about this. I'm the one that kept saying like, what about this date?

What about that day? I hate that I get painted as this guy who doesn't step up or doesn't want to show up. It's just not true. I appreciate that you waited until I was back instead of doing it November 26th. That was discussed. That was one of the days he threw out. We wanted to mention to each. That was discussed.

There was some talk of maybe you coming in, you know, maybe you coming in. But I think in the end today worked for everyone. You know, everyone seems available. We'll find out. Did you bring to Pan of Tony? I've secured it. Okay, I just want to say that. A little soup dumplings is going to be fantastic.

My man. Yes, that's right. We just gave out a lot of the details. Today on the program, five pack a guest from around the world of combat, like I said, the youngest active champion in the world of boxing, young man named Abdullah Mason, the pride of Ohio, of Cleveland. They love him over there. The Brown's giving him a shout out.

He just won his belt, the WBO title in Riyadh, defeating Sam Noakes. Interestingly enough, he's had a feud with Kishon Davis, who we've had on the program a couple of times in studio. Kishon, Mrs. Wake, gets stripped of the belt. In walks his rival, Abdullah Mason. We'll talk to him at about 3.45, at 315, Malcolm Wellmaker. So another up-and-coming 135-pounder. The 135-pound division very much in focus right now.

Of course, Marab defending his title on Saturday. It's on our minds, Shugashon yesterday, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Our first chat with Malcolm since the loss, the shocking loss to Ethan Ewing. Remember, we had him in studio. it seemed like everything was gearing up for a big explosion of superstardom for one Malcolm Wellmaker. It hasn't quite worked out that way. He stumbles against Ewing at MSG. Who hasn't over the course of the last 30, 40 years?

But, but, but the ceiling is still high. Looking forward to seeing how he's handling it, how he's going to rebound, what the plan is. Just, you know, it's a big moment in his career. So I'm going to check in with him about that. Looking forward to that, chat. that is at 315. At 2.15, the pride of Scotland, Chris Bungard, who, as our own Petey Carroll has said, might just be the most interesting man in all of combat sports. He's a Renaissance man. He does a little pro wrestling. He's done a lot of MMA. Most recently fought and won over at Cage Warriors,

has won his last three in a row. He proudly supports his home country. Big Celtic fan as well, has dabbled in the world of movies, is friends with a lot of famous people over in Hollywood. He's seen and done it all, very interesting guy, great backstory as well, looking forward to getting into it all with him in studio at about 2.15.

I know he might not be a household name here in North America, but trust me on this, very, very fun guy, very interesting guy. It's going to be a great chat at 215. At around 145, we're going to be joined by Bill Haney, of course, the father of Devin Haney, who was victorious, also on that reed card,

very outspoken a lot. to talk to Bill about as it pertains to what Devin is going to do next, but also just the state of boxing right now. It's a very interesting place. Hold that thought. More on that in a second. And then in about eight or so minutes from now, Carlos Silva, the headman over at TNA, also in Victa as well, works for Anthem Sports. They had a massive, massive announcement yesterday. Their new deal with AMC. It's going to be called Thursday Night Impact. And it begins January 15th, Eminent. from Dallas, and I wanted to have them on to talk about that, how hard it was to get that deal, the relationship with WWE. What's going on with Invicta as well? So we'll talk to

Carlos about that former executive of one World Series of Fighting, the man who kind of ushered in the Kayla Harrison era. Before we get into all of that, though, a couple news and notes to hit off the top, the first pertaining to one Terrence Bud Crawford. So you know about 81 days ago, Terence Crawford became the undisputed super middleweight champion that's 168 pounds when he defeated Canela Alvarez at Allegiance Stadium on Netflix. Well, it wasn't as short

as when Alexander Usik became undisputed champion after defeating Tyson Fury and the IBF took their title away, but it's just a little bit later. Here comes the WBC saying we're taking away our version of that belt, our piece of the pie. There it is, courtesy of uncrown.com.

The number one, unbiased combat sports platform in the world, Terence Crawford stripped of WBC title over sanctioning fees. A dispute between the WBC and their president, Marisio Suleiman, and when Terence Crawford, Suleman at the convention in Bangkok. There was a WBC convention over in Bangkok, announcing that they are stripping him, because Terence Crawford has not paid his dues.

That's what you have to do. You have to pay the sanctioning bodies. And this is what TKO is saying. Why do you have to pay them? Don't pay them. Don't adhere to their crazy rules. Well, Maricio Suleiman spoke to boxing scene.com and explained why they felt like they had to do that.

Here's what he had to say. He did not comply with the rules. Then he moves up to Super Middle and makes the fight of the century. Bits Canelo makes full. $50 million or around that, the WC absolutely is not going to charge 3% of such an amount. We made a very clear 0.6%, which is $300,000, with $225,000 going to the Jose Sulayman Boxer's fund, which is to help former fighters in need and it is just regretable, not even a

Thank you for, or I'm sorry, taking a different route, no response. I wish him the best. But this is not. The WBC's huge, is great. It's about greatness, and I'm relieved to tell you a truth. In the midst of all of this, Terrence Crawford went on X, aka Twitter, was, I mean, just was a part of a massive tweet storm talking about all kinds of things. He did go on his Instagram, though, in case you were one of the way. how he felt about the WBC taking away their super middleweight title.

And by the way, they ordered a bout between Hamza Shiraz and Christian Mbili, my guy, straight out of Montreal, which is not a bad fight at all, honestly. And who knows if it actually gets made? I would love to see that fight. Terrence is the man at 168. He just beat Canelo, won that title, Fair and Square. Anyway, here's Terrence Crawford on Instagram kind of reacting to all of this. Great stuff.

Do y'all see them, though? Do y'all see them, though? Do y'all see them, though? I'm missing, too. Still in the plastic, don't worry about it. Y'all see them, though. I'm just spewed it. I'm just spewed it.

That's Connello right there, guys. That's Connello right there. That's fish right there. and dongo right there they just didn't put them on there and just spewed it you see them ring belts see them ring belts yeah yeah got another he doesn't seem too bothered yasidemdo yasidemdo doesn't seem too uh too bothered by the whole situation so there's terence crawford and i suspect we'll see him back and he has reached a point where it doesn't really matter what belt he's holding. He's one of the biggest stars in the sports, certainly one of the biggest stars

fighting out of North America. I don't think he's going to be bothered. And this is what Zufa is trying to say, like these sanctioning fees, all this stuff, this is antiquated, this is old. The fighters shouldn't be doing it. Come over here on this side of the fence. Come over here and we'll do things our way and you can fight for our title. Of course, one of the things that they're trying to do is make some changes, if you will, to the Ali Act. And they announced earlier in the week that Mike Tyson is on board with these changes. So they're getting some big names to support their cause. Here's what Tyson had to say via a press release. Muhammad Ali has always been my hero both inside and outside the ring. Supporting these

revisions honors the spirit of the original Ali Act by closing loopholes that have allowed some promoters to regain monopolistic control over fighters' careers. These new legislation restores balance, allowing boxers to choose their own path while preserving the integrity of the sport, the act does not alter the opportunities of those who are comfortable with the current system. It simply adds options for fighters who wish to pursue a different path that better suits their career goals. So there you have it. Mike's saying, this is good. Don't listen to the noise. You have my vote. I'm down. Also, by the way, at this WBC convention, Alexander Ussick is all over the place.

He's been holding court as well. And he was asked about the Anthony Joshua Jake Paul fight and then said something very interesting about Jake Paul. Take a listen to this. If Anthony and Joshua won, Anthony killed this guy. Listen, a lot of questions, blah, blah, blah. Only won my answer answer.

Anthony Joshua is the Olympic champion. First. Jack Paul, it's, yeah. Sportsman, YouTuber, yeah, showman. Rose Royce, Fiat. It's true, yeah, I'm not, I'm not, like, I'm not, like I'm not about, I mean, have nothing better money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just true.

It's business, more, and more money. Only, only this. So we need to pray for a day cold. Yes, yes. I will pray Jake Paul because I won't fight with Jake Paul in Octagon. now how about that he wants to fight with jake paul and octagon now he says octagon you think ufc i think he just means it an m mhm a fight and this is not the first time that usick has talked about this he doesn't want to box jake paul he wants to fight him in mama could you imagine jake paul versus alexander usik in mixed martial arts and i don't know if he's joking i don't think

he's joking maybe he's joking i'm not sure uh but that was yesterday so Alexander Usik, who we presume is still going to fight and is going to come back in 2026, still seems very interested in fighting Jake Paul. And it is wild for as much as people want to criticize and say what they will about Jake, you have the biggest stars in the sport who are either campaigning, volunteering, or signing up to fight him. Again, remember, Kenel Alvarez was this close to fighting Jake in May. Like, the signature was, like, it was that far away from happening. It was like there. And then he got a better deal at the 11th hour. I did want to show one of the thing pertaining to boxing.

Chris Eumach, Jr., yesterday posting a pretty scary video of what appears to be him being hospitalized. This is pretty shocking and scary stuff. He says, I've been dealing with a lot of health issues over the last year, and yet it all finally cut up to me last month. I will not box again until I'm back to 100%, and I don't know when that will be. But one thing's for certain for the fans that have supported me through thick. and thin, I will do everything in my power to make sure that one day the old me makes a big comeback. Now, we're not quite sure what that is, what's going on there. I don't know if he's under like anesthesia. I don't know what the state of his health is in that moment. We're not even

quite sure like where that is or when that happened and when that was shot, was that before the fight, after the fight. But nevertheless, that is a pretty alarming update from one Chris Eubank Jr. So we do wish him the best and hope that he makes a very speedy recovery. Okay, a lot more to come as far as news and notes are concerned. But for now, we're going to transition to our first guest of the day. They had their own piece of news, massive news, which came out yesterday morning. We had been wondering for quite some time, all right, what is going to happen with TNA wrestling?

because over the summer we had Carlos Silva, who is the president of Anthem Sports, and as a result, overseas the growth, development, and distribution of TNA wrestling in VictaFC and the Flight Network. We had been hearing about them looking for a TV deal here in the United States, a new home, an opportunity to grow. We've been talking about their trajectory and how, you know, they've had this resurgence and how the deal with NXT and WWE has really helped, you know, bring. them back to life, all this stuff and more. And we were wondering when that other shoe would drop,

when we would hear news about their new TV deal heading into 2026. Well, yesterday we found out it is in fact going to be on AMC. That's the big news. AMC being the home of TNA wrestling. You know, I love this stuff. I've been talking about top rank for a while and where PFL is going to go. And obviously, earlier in the year, UFC and ESPN, WWE, going to ESPN, UFC, going to Paramount. So all these things are very interesting to me. And now we know. It's going to be Thursday night impact beginning mid-January on AMC, TNA's new home. What a history for this company from the early weekly pay-per-view days to the Spike Days to the Discover America days to the Access TV days to now AMC. Let's talk to the man who made the deal happen.

The one and only Carlos Silva is here. Hello, Carlos. How are you? I'm doing great. Nice to see, Ariel. Great to see you. And thanks so much for doing this. And congratulations to you and the whole team.

can I ask, given the climate that we're in, the media climate, it's so interesting, it's evolving, they're streaming now, it's not just linear television, how difficult was this deal to get done? How hard was it to get it over the line in the year 2025, a deal like this? it was hard it was hard uh it's it we started this process i mean you know because we spoke over the summer and we've been we've been speaking it's been a long year we started it in april we've had you know many many calls and as you said i mean especially now the media landscape around all of the moving parks whether it's whether it's properties moving from platform to platform platforms changing platforms being in live platforms not not being in live. Just a lot of moving parts. And so you got to find the right moment. You got to get a little lucky and you got to find the right partner. And in the end, we did. And we found a partner

that's really excited about putting their big toe into live and live sports and entertainment and using TNA as that beginning for them on Thursday nights with TNA impact with AMC. So it's super exciting news. None of these deals are easy. as you know, Ariel, but it's always great to get them done. Yeah, and so you mentioned, like, this platform, this property that everyone knows about that had a great run with the likes of Mad Men and Walking Dead and, you know, breaking bad, et cetera, and they haven't been synonymous with live sports. And so how did you tell us how this came about? Did you guys pitch them? Did they come to you and say, we're interested,

we've heard. Could you give us some of the details as far as how this relationship came about? Yeah, sure. You know, you, I, I don't know if I had mentioned it, but CAA was our partner and helped us in setting up all these meetings. We had many, many calls with so many different outlets, you know, some that we've all known for so many years and done many deals with going, you know, going back in my case, even back to, you know, the Universal Sports or World Series of Fighting or PFL days. But we had a great first call with AMC. They were literally the best first call we had at just their. There was something about them being very intrigued about wanting to have a weekly show, wanting to start to get into the live sports and entertainment business.

And they liked TNA, and I think they felt like they also could help to lift up TNA. We knew that being on a foundational network like AMC that's basically on the first page of everyone's program guide would give us the audience lift that we've needed. and it worked from there. I mean, we had a couple of months. We were working through it. We got through the summer. And then it really got serious

as we got to the end of the summer and we worked through the deal and got it done a couple of weeks ago that the teams are already working really well together as we start to plan for January 15th and the live debut. Was there a point where you were worried that maybe this wouldn't get over the line

and you guys would have to stream your own shows or keep it on access, something like that where it just was too hard to get this done? Oh, sure. I mean, I finally slept well last night. I've had a lot of sleepless nights. I mean, again, Ariel, you mentioned it when you asked the question at the beginning.

Everything is changing in this landscape every single day. So any day that the deal wasn't done was a day that something else could happen. Someone could buy someone. Someone could change something. a strategy could change. There's so many moving pieces. So until these deals are done, they're never done. And I said that throughout the summer. We got, you know, we got a, you know, we got lucky. And, you know, some of the hard work that we put in helped us get the

luck so that we could come together with AMC as a partner. And I know you probably won't mention, but were you looking at other people? Was it down to AMC in another entity or a couple other entities. How many finalists were you looking at here? Yeah, we probably, it probably started out. I'd say there was between six and eight originally that we started to hit up.

I mean, most of the folks that you would know, no big surprises. Everyone's talking to everyone. But there's also, you know, some networks that, you know, aren't allowed to talk to us based on the other programming that they might have on their network. So in the end, we had,

you know, we sort of got it down, to three, and then we got it down to two. And, you know, really only really proceeded with AMC because we knew they were the right partner. And so when we really got down to the real serious negotiations of getting the deal done, it was with AMC. Could you tell us who the other two were? I don't think it would be the right thing to do. I mean, if, I don't think any of them would be surprises. Everyone's talking to everyone, but no, I mean, I don't think it's right. They were very supportive of us, and we had good relationships and ended them, and you

never know what might happen years to come. But, you know, like I said, we got serious with AMC and just proceeded down that path over the last sort of 30, 45 days to get the deal done. So the first show is January 15th, Texas, 9 to 11 p.m. East, time, and that is live. I remember you telling me that the hope was 52 weeks live. Is that the plan, or is it going to rotate? How is it going to be as far as live is concerned? Yeah, so it's a great question. And I, you know, I'm a live guy. I've been in a live sports business my whole career. We're doing, we did a little more live this year. I think we're going to

do a little more live in that first three to six months. And we'll sort of get our rhythm with our new partner. And then I think in the second half, we'll decide how much more live we can do based on operations and just finances and also just the logistics of being live on a weekly basis. I think we're going to be smart in these first six months and make sure that we do all the right things to kick the partnership off right and not do too many extra things that could get in the way of that. But certainly doing a little more live in the first six months is in the cards. It's also why we're debuting live. Okay, so, but it will still be a weekly show, right? Every Thursday night, 9 to 11, 52 weeks a year in 2026, absolutely a weekly show.

And so I'm guessing sometimes, like, you'll have a live show and then tape next week's show, that type of thing from the same venue, and that's, you know, that's what those other shows will be when it's not live? Correct, yes. So in some of those instances, we'll stay at a venue on maybe the Friday night or the Saturday night after the live show on a Thursday and get in a TV taping or two for the next couple of Thursdays, correct? Okay. And what about paper views? What's the breakdown going to be as far as the New Year's concerned and moving forward? Yeah, so the pay-per-views will stay the same. We'll have four paper views in 2026. You know, we've got Genesis will be the first pay-per-view that will be right after.

our live debut on AMC on the on the Saturday after after Dallas that will be genesis which will be the big big big first big pay per view of the year okay as you know you know the UFC moving off pay-per-view now with their paramount deal and it seems like more and more entities are doing that WWE did it a few years ago and there aren't that many left do you foresee a day and age where you guys aren't on pay-per-view I think it all I think it all depends on how things come together. I mean, you know, TNA Plus is still an important platform for us. You can still get our pay-per-views on that platform. I just don't think we've ever had a partner like AMC. So I would say that all of those kinds of questions will be on the table

once the partnership comes together. But the partnership is for TNA impact on Thursday nights. Okay. There's many ways to skin a rights deal, right? There's barters, there's time buys. There's, you know, a lot of money being paid. Could you give us any details as far as what the, the nature of this deal is? Like, is this a multi-million dollar deal going from AMC to TNA? Is it a barter deal? Is it a, is it a time buy? That to me is very interesting when it comes to a deal like this. Yeah, I mean, what I can say is that it's definitely not a time buy. It's a, it's a partnership that has upside as we build TNA into a bigger property. AMC is very happy. and interested in that upside.

And for TNA, there's a lot of upside in the deal as well. And financially, it really helps us get where we need to be in 2026 and beyond. Okay, so you're happy with it. Very happy with it, yes. Sometimes, as you know, I don't think I'm prying when rights deals are announced, we know exactly like how much they're for, the NBA deal, the NFL deal, the UFC deal. Are you willing to share how much this is for? No, I think right now we're not going to share.

I think as part of the partnership, once we really launch and come together and the deal really sort of takes off, then I think we'll be able to talk a little bit more about it, Ariel. But I think for right now, being a new partner, we've decided that we really want to just launch the partnership the right way first and grow it. There were some rumors I saw online that this deal signaled the end of your relationship with WW. I didn't quite understand why. If anything, I thought this deal would be sort of a byproduct. of it and that deal, the WWD deal, helps strengthen TNA. Could you clarify that and clear up once and for all? What is the status of your working relationship with WW and NXT?

Yeah, Ariel, probably why you didn't understand it is because it made no sense. And there's zero like factual, anything to that statement. Things are going great. I mean, Leon Slater was on the CW last night in an eight way on the NXT show. there's all kinds of things in process as we work with, with WWE and NXT on a whole bunch of, of, you know, wrestlers moving back and forth. As you know, Lee Ying just won the belt back at Madison Square Garden just a few weeks ago.

And it was really nice that, you know, Sean Michaels and the team allowed me to go into the ring and give her, you know, her TNA belt that, you know, now is the world champion, your first Chinese world champion ever, you know, an amazing moment. So, no, things are great. I really don't, I read it and just sort of scratched my head. I had no idea even where it came from.

Things are going great, and I think they're going to just be even better now that hopefully we'll be able to give a little bit back to WW and NXT by having their superstars come on AMC network, a bigger platform that is good for everybody. Did WWE help you guys get this deal? It depends on what you mean by help. I think data, you know, if I would answer the question from a day-to-day business development standpoint, no, we did it ourselves inside, along with CAA as our partner and agent, to help us with the deal. But did they help us? Absolutely. I mean, our 2025 was great because of WW and NXT. So many integrations, you know, Joe Henry running into WrestleMania. So many, you know, every Tuesday night, we've been on, we've been on the CW on. NXT. I think all of that exposure absolutely helped us get the AMC deal done. It helped to

elevate TNA as a platform and we're super appreciative for it. Any particular reason why Thursday was chosen? You know, I think everyone's kind of marked their spot in the sand, Ariel, in the wrestling week. Thursday, we've been on Thursday nights for quite a while now. You know, been a high-rated show on Access TV. And I think in working with AMC, they like Thursday night. They like Thursday night kind of going into the weekend and their audience. And so we stuck to it. The one change we've made that you might notice is that we're going to be on from 9 to 11 Eastern Time versus 8 to 10 Eastern Time.

And that's because AMC really thinks that's the right slot for them and their fan base. our fan base to really provide the biggest audience on Thursday nights. And the other slight changes, the official name is now Thursday Night Impact, right? Correct. Yes, Thursday Night Impact on AMC, that's right. Okay. And just curious, you know, we talked in the past about, you know, potential investment and whatnot. I had also seen some rumors of Lorenzo Fertita being interested in purchasing TNA wrestling. Is there any truth to that? Was there any truth to that? No, I mean, we've known, we've known them having been in and around the MMA space and, and, you know, certainly knowing the TKO, you know, folks well and the Fertita's being such a big part of those things going on. But no, there's no, there's no truth to the rumors in terms of them being an investor in TNA.

Is Anthem happy with TNA? Is TNA for sale? What does this deal do to the sort of state of TNA under the Anthem portfolio? I can tell you that Anthem Sports Entertainment is much happier today than they were, you know, yesterday when we did the announcement. You know, now that the announcement is out, I think, you know, our owners, our board, our investors are really excited about what TNA did in 2025. And they're looking forward to helping us to grow it in 2026 and beyond now that we've got a great outlet in the USA. and we've got great partners in other countries, you know, with a great sports net deal in Canada, you know, a really nice and good deal with Claro and Mexico and 14 other South American countries, as well as our deal with WBD and India. So I think we just continue to grow the platforms.

There's a whole bunch of other countries that we're looking at in terms of expansion also in 2026. You did mention Joe Hendry. Could you tell us officially what is his status? Has he signed with WWIs he? leaving TNA? Joe is now part, you know, you'll see him on NXT all the time. As part of our partnership, you may see Joe come back and be on TNA shows, because that's just part of what we do with, you know, with WWE and NXT is share wrestlers.

Okay, but he's a WVE wrestler now. That's right. How do you feel about that? I'm super happy for Joe. I'm super happy for WWE. We kind of all worked on it together, and, you know, Joe's a great talent and a super, a super good guy. Okay. That was the one thing that I think some people thought might be inevitable with him being featured so

much on WWE that eventually he might move over, and that's maybe the gift and the curse for lack of a better term of the relationship, because now there's a chance to get to know some of your talent, not implying at all that they're going to try to poach guys, But you know what I'm, you know, we kind of talked about this the last time you were there. You were in here. Yeah, look, I mean, the partnership is going well and, you know, we've talked about it. There's going to be, there's, you know, we hope that TNA creates talent that WWE wants. That means that we're also doing a great job in building talent.

And that's why you see, you know, some new, some new superstars, whether they're knockouts or whether there on our guys roster, appearing on the NXT shows, being part of the storylines, being in tag matches, and showing off what these great T&A wrestlers can do. So that's all part of growing the brand. And we embrace it, and I think it's going great for everyone. And hopefully the fans are enjoying it as well. Now that you've been out in the wild and you've talked to the executives and you've seen what the landscape is, the one story that I'm fascinated by is top rank boxing still not having its own deal. Their last show was in July. It's now almost five months later. Does this surprise you knowing what executives are saying, knowing what, you know,

the budgets are right now? It's an interesting time for combat sports. Golden Boys deal is up with the zone. Matchroom's deal is up next year. PFL's deal is up next year. The UFC, WW got their deals. You got your deal, et cetera. A&EW got their deal. But are you surprised that a top rank doesn't or does it kind of makes sense knowing what you've seen now in this process. There's not, yeah, I mean, there's, there's not that many outlets, and you need to sort of find the right outlet at the right time. There's just, it's, as you know, Ariel, it's a bunch of puzzle pieces, and, and you can't just think, I want to be on this network or I want to be on that network. It's, it's everything else that the network's got. And by the way,

it's not just combat. It's all of the other proper. from the Olympics to all the major sports, to college football, to, you know, everything and how all the puzzle pieces fit together. So it's just not easy to get it done. Look, top rank's been around a long time. There's a lot of great properties that are still out there. And I think we all know that live sports and entertainment is super important to the media landscape. So I think that that's why all those properties exist, and they'll find a good home. AMC Plus, how does that tie into all of this? So if you're an AMC Plus subscriber, you'll also be able to watch TNA, TNA on Thursday nights,

simulcast on AMC Plus. You'll also still be able to watch it on TNA Plus simulcast. As you know, I mean, I'd like to say that AMC is in every single home in America. in a whole bunch of homes, but it's not in every single home. So there's still got to be other outlets for you to be able to watch TNA and both AMC Plus and TNA Plus are two of those outlets in the USA to do that. Okay. Also wanted to ask you, last time you were here, I asked you about you becoming an on-screen character. And you said, you're any more of a behind-the-scenes guy, but I've noticed more and more you have been on screen and in certain angles and whatnot. And so are we moving in this direction? And are you enjoying that?

I'm enjoying it very much, but I'm enjoying it, you know, really as, as the president of TNA. You know, look, I really enjoyed, you know, the other night in Madison Square Garden with Lay Ying winning the championship and, and the NXT folks allowing me to go in the ring and, you know, put the belt around her waist. And, you know, she was so excited and was so happy. And so, you know, I'm going to continue to be the president of TNA and the president. President TNA is going to, you know, represent the talent and the athletes and the organization as as the president should. And, you know, that's, that's the, you know, quote, character that I play, but that's a real-life character. That's the same character that I'm playing right now on your show, which is representing the brand. And, you know, as you know, Ariel, I've done it for a number of

years with a bunch of properties. And I do very much enjoy it and, you know, work hard to try and and represent the brand well. Could you tell us how many years this deal is for? It's multiple years. Okay. What I can tell you. Fair enough. It's a multi-year deal.

Do you think, obviously the relationship with WW is there. It's strong. It's present. Is the hope by the end of 2026 for you guys to be the number two brand in pro wrestling? Is that the goal? Is that what you're shooting for? I think we're shooting to be a great, a great brand other than WWE. I mean,

WVE is far and away the number one brand. And so, you know, we want to be a great, a great other brand that you can watch wrestlers and you can enjoy week in and week out and enjoy kind of the brand of TNA wrestling that, you know, has some legends that have been in the, in the market for, you know, 20 and 30 years, but also has some really great young talent that we've developed and how do we mix those together.

I'll let you tell us if we're number two. I'm just trying to build T&A into a great property, and AMC is a big puzzle piece of that that's going to really help us do that. December 5th, final resolution. You'll have a couple of impact tapings on the 6th and 7th, January 15th from Dallas, first show Thursday night impact on AMC. Genesis, as you said, in January. Before I let you go, I did want to ask you about Invicta, three shows in 2025, and nothing planned or at least announced as of yet. Could you tell us about the state of

Invicta? Yeah, so we did do a couple of good shows this year, CBS Sports Network, broadcast those shows. We've done a couple of sort of repackaged shows. We actually did one just a couple of weeks ago on CBS Sports Network. There's going to be another one coming out in December, sort of a highlight show from 2025. And we're working with Shannon and the rest of the team on a possible relaunch in February or March of next year. And as soon as those plans get finalized aerial, I'd love to come on the show and tell you about them. I think they're going to be exciting. And we just got to work through a couple of operational issues. And hopefully that'll get relaunched in the 2026 season. And we are actively looking at, you know, where we should

relaunch that. Okay. And when you say relaunch, what does that mean? Is that like a rebrand? Is it like a different Invicta? What do you mean by relaunch? We're just looking at the format for the night of fights and what the right format for the fights should be. And we think we've got some exciting ideas that that are almost finalized. Okay, okay, looking forward to that. I know you're also very excited by Kayla Harrison getting a shot on that first Paramount Plus card against the goat. Amanda Nunes, what do you think?

You think she gets it done, she beats the goat? You know, look, I have yet to root against Kayla. I mean, Kayla's near and dear to my heart and everything that she's done over these years since we first sat down and signed her to her first deal. back in 2019, I think it was, I think it's very tough for an athlete to come back after being off at the highest levels against another athlete that's at the highest level that she's ever been. So I think Kayla, I think Kayla is going to do what Kayla does, and I think she's very strong

and powerful. And she said it, and I agree, if she gets her on the ground to that's where Kayla thrives. But yeah, I'm rooting for Kayla. I think she'll get it done. I think it's going to be a great fight in any case, though. I mean, you can never, you can never, you know, say enough about what Amanda has done and how tough she is. I just think it's a little, it's tough when you haven't been in the cage for, you know, the time that she's been off. And I think Kayla will have the, you know, gets the nod and has the upper hand. Thank you, Carlos. Appreciate it very much. good luck to you in the team. Congratulations once again. I think this is very cool. It's great. And I love to see the growth of the brand and that they're still kicking it and still thriving TNA

a company near and dear to my heart as well. And so it's great to see for the wrestling business. Really happy for you guys. Thanks so much for coming on. Great. Thank you, Ariel. Appreciate it. There he is. The president of TNA wrestling, president of Anthem Sports, Invicta FC Fight Network, under that umbrella as well. I say TNA near and dear to my heart. I was a student in college watching the weekly paper views. I would buy them for $9.99 because I thought it was cool, post-WCW that there was a challenger brand, if you will, led by the Jarrett's, Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Jarrett.

And so I would buy those every Wednesday for $9.99, which was a tall task. Like, it was a big ask back in the day. And they had something, they got, you know, they had some good names on there, the likes of Raven, etc. And then they started to build and got on Spike TV. and it was Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle and Sting. And obviously, Hogan and Bischoff came over, Vince Rousseau. And I got to do one thing backstage. We talked to Vince about that last week.

And, you know, they were going up, up, up, up, up. And then it seemed like they were going down, down, down, down, down to the point where it really seemed like they were in trouble. And as of late, over the last, I don't know, two or so years, it feels like it's been a steady climb back up. In fact, they're bound for glory attendance. was their highest attended event ever. Almost 8,000 people attended back in October. They had a show Slammiversary on Long Island in July. That was a pretty damn good show as far as attendance as well.

The relationship with the NXT, I don't know why it would end unless WW is mad about something, but I can't imagine why they would be. I think it's benefited both very well. And now they're on AMC. It would make all the sense in the world for it to continue. That's a big platform. It's a big network. So this is good for the business.

It's good. You've got Monday Night Raw on Netflix on Mondays here in America, Tuesday, NXT, CW, Wednesday, AEW on TBS, Thursdays now, Impact on AMC, and then Smackdown on Fridays on USA and then collision on Saturday. You have wrestling on every single night, essentially, of the week. That is wild. What a time. What a time to be alive. All right. In a matter of moments, we are going to be joined.

by the one and only, the outspoken, the inimitable, the often imitated, never duplicated, Bill Haney, who is never afraid to speak up, to share what's on his mind. His son, Devin Haney, victorious, a little less than two weeks ago, over in Riyadh, becoming a three-division world champion. He won the WBO Walterway title.

And so now has won a belt in three different weight classes. We spoke to Devin about that last week. He defeated Brian Norman via unanimous decision. Now 33 and O, one-no contest, 50 knockouts, Devin Haney. And afterwards, you know, Devin and Bill clapping back at all the haters. There was some bad blood going into that fight between Bill and Brian Norman Sr. A lot to be discussed as far as the 147 pound weight class. That's the welterweight division.

That's the division in which he just won that belt. There's been some talk of Ryan Garcia fighting Mario Barrios for that WBC title. It seems like the Haney's are targeting one Roli Romero. WBC saying that Connor Ben is the mandatory recently, actually at that same convention that we talked about at the top of the show. There seems to be some bad blood between the Haney's and the Ben's as well. it's a fascinating time in the world of boxing with what Alexander Usik is talking about, Terence Crawford's next move,

what's Canello's next move going to be, Zufa boxing starting, we presume at the beginning of 2026, what's going to happen with the Ali Act, some recent PED issues popping up as well, Janubek, Subriel Matias, obviously the uh and that was austrian as well obviously the the ryan

garcia stuff has uh reared its ugly head again as it usually does when it gets a little hot and heavy we did find out about the chakur stevenson tiafima lopez card that is scheduled for january 31st i actually said on the show on monday that january 31st is going to be nix lakers that's actually february first so it does seem like madison square garden would make the most sense for a fight of that stature i don't think that it could happen and, you know, over in Queens, I don't know if those tennis stadiums are insulated enough.

And I wouldn't suggest for it to happen over there because I think that it's just too far out. It's too remote. MSG would be perfect. Actually, what would be perfect is Newark, the Prudential Center, because that's where Shakur is from and that's where he's the biggest draw.

And Tiofumo's fans would travel over there. But the Mecca is the Mecca. And I love seeing big fights at the Mecca. the theater, the actual, you know, the big dog arena, the world's most famous arena. So we could get into all of that and more with the one and only Bill Haney, who is kind enough to join us right here. And now, yes, there he is. Hello, Bill.

How are you? Thank you for having me, man. Listen, it's always a pleasure when I come on here on the Ariel Hawani show. Well, I appreciate that. I was worried that you were ducking us because initially you were supposed to come in studio. I was looking forward to a face-to-face. Well, wait a minute. Now, you wanted me to come in here. I came in smooth. You mentioned the wrong word duck when it's in relation to Devin Haney. You see, I got the DHP on here.

Ariel, who sent you? And I want you to ask the tough questions because we don't got a whole lot of time. Okay. Listen, I'm here representing, I'm here representing Debo. And he's debowing the entire 147-pound weight division, the glamour division. The glamour division. the division that normally historically has all the champions wanting to fight but now that Deboating showed up they're tucking their belts I don't want to say tucking their tails

because then that might be borderline disrespectful but being that you started it off already let's get to it Ariel what's going on and by the way I don't want that smoke I was excited to have you in studio so I don't want any heat with the great Bill Haney trust me on that who's Debo by the way

who are you referring to there Man, listen, the guy Debo himself, Devin the Dream Haney. Okay. He's been debowing to sport of boxing for quite some time. It built up some momentum, and I was trying to figure out. Now, I don't know if you remember the character, but in the movie Friday, yes, of course, yeah. Well, I mean, listen, when he showed up, what did they do? They started putting away their jury.

All of a sudden, nobody was doing nothing. Everybody was kicking back. Everybody had something else to do. and it sounds kind of like Roli Romero where did he go and where was he talking? Listen, I've been to every buffet,

every smorgish board and I know he's lurking sitting around there because if he was hungry and he was Willie the fighter that I know Raleigh Romero to be, he would be stepping up to this opportunity

to unifying the division. We want the ring belt. Listen, I got to go on there and tell you, we want the ring belt. We should have gotten it when we fought Brian Norman after that performance and everybody was scared and they was quiet and they had bet against death. And guess what? Now, they're even more quiet. What are they betting on now, Ariel? Okay, so there's so many people that we can respond to here. First, let me ask you

about the performance against Brian Norman, just a couple of weeks ago in Riyadh. Were you happy with your son's performance? If you hated Brian Norman so much, I thought you guys loved him. We would have stopped him. We would have laid him out. We would apply it even more pressure. But when he was on his back and Devin stood over him, I thought that you guys would have been happy with that. But now I seem to everybody is saying blood, blood, blood, listen, let's not get any more graphic because we want it to get out to all the listeners that what's really going on. I mean, what kind of performance when you step up, you fight a champion in George Camposos over in Australia? I mean, listen, let's be honest, Lomachinko ducked to fade. Lomachinko didn't want to go to Australia

after George Cambosos put that elacious ass weapon on Tiafimo Lopez. And now we're building Tiafimo Lopez up to be the guy that he is. Okay, I don't have any problem with it. May him and Shakur fight for the 140-pound title. And whenever they get through, the 147-pound division is filled with a bunch of smoke. And it's Devon the Dream Haney, a.k.A. D.B. Now. Okay, let me ask you, when you're watching your son's fight, when you're living it, again, you're reliving it,

you're watching it, you're enjoying the performance against Brian Norman, and I thought it was phenomenal, and you know I have great respect and admiration for your son. And they keep cutting to Connor Ben, yawning and sleeping on Eddie Hearn's shoulders. How do you feel about that? Well, I didn't know what kind of, you know what I mean? I'm a guy that's open to a lot of things. I don't know if that was a section where it was the soft porn. I don't know what was going on, but it looked at real suspect to me.

It didn't look like energy coming from a real, you. UK fighter during a fight. Now, listen, when you got a chance to see all the different, if you understand pugilism, if you understand boxing, then you understand that Devon stood right in front of the guy. If you go back and look at it, you look and see who was doing the grabbing. Was it Devon or was it Brian Norman? Ariel, you tell me.

Listen, I thought it was a great performance when he knocked him down. I thought it was huge. It would have been great to get the stoppage. but I thought it was a systematic, dominant beatdown of a guy that everyone thought would knock him out, would knock out your son. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.

Now, who was doing the grabbing? If you go back and look at the film, it was Brian Norman, the one that was doing the grabbing, and it was Devin that we kept yelling, chip away, chap, chip away. And every time Devin, he would get, Bobo, Bo, Bo, Bo, Bo, he was stealing. He was stealing.

And, you know, Brian Norman Jr. came out, and he, I mean, Brian Norman Sr. came out and said that it was, you know, and you listen to what people say, what they don't say, what they never will say. When they first came out and what he said was, it was a masterful performance. Devon did what we said we were going to do. We were going to handicap him. And then we were going to show him that it was levels above it. So when you talk about a champion, you talk about who Brian Norman is and being a young fighter and all that, where was the urgency? Where was the urgency? We know we had administered the maximum punishment and put him down and we had took away to fight in him and his dad was asking for something that he couldn't do, but no different than him, no different than Lomachenko. In the 12th round, what's happening? What's going on?

We've beaten the wheel of them out of them. When I said that Devin has fought, let me go back to the first champion of George Campos, he heard him over in Australia. And went and did the job that nobody wanted to do, including T. Fimo Lopez in the Reefo. match. Then we stepped up to Regis Progray. Another fighter that they said was dangerous and who would want to fight him, right? He hurt him too. Then Brian Norman. Be Norm the storm that they said that he was

going to get caught in. And what happened? He hurt him too. Well, where did things go wrong with you and Eddie Hearn? At one time, you guys were like, just he's in the park. Where do things go wrong? There's nothing going wrong when you have, when you have the Hearn family and then you have the nor other than the great the hernes and the my other British promoter the Warren's gentlemen

the Warren family now you have a little bit of the Hurons and the Haney family right and whatever that he's talking about I'm sure that we can settle it with our fighters in the ring and make for a great event

but when he starts down talking he starts saying all the wrong talking points to get the, I should say, what we call those guys that don't understand boxing that just believe in the bullshit? Knuckleheads. How about when he gets the knuckleheads involved

and talk about it's a snooze fast and it's all these other things? Come on, man. Be honest to the people. What you witnessed was a master class performance. You saw a technician, disarm a puncher, a very athletic and determined and punch her, and we handicapped him.

Do you have any idea how Turkey-Ales-Sheek felt about the fight? Because when Eddie was asked about it, he said, no comment. Eddie was asked, what did Turkey say about the fight? He said, no comment. Why would you ask, why would you ask? I didn't ask him. Eddie. I haven't asked him.

I saw interviews of him. No one should. Listen, everyone knows that Turkey speaks for himself. We don't do any speaking. No one speaks for Turkey. And when you do the little ad-libs and all that shit, you know what I mean? you know you lead the people you lead the people to believe

you lead the people to believe what's happening you lead the people to believe something that that's not true I got a chance to talk to Turkey at the end of the fight you know what I mean and he wants to know

along with Dr. Rekon what are the plans next there's nobody over time yeah oh what happened they're trying to cramp our style over there what's going no no what they know what they know that i get excited when i come on your show you know what i mean so they're going to find they're going to find a place from me right back here where i can give you all the energy okay i appreciate that yeah we don't want to stifle you so so could you tell us could you answer that question for us the question they asked you what is the plan what do you hope your son does

next? Well, let me get somewhere where... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do your thing. Hold on one, I want psychos. Okay, we're looking for a good spot here. We don't want to stifle your energy. We don't want to suffocate. We want to let Bill

cook. Yes, thank you. Let Bill cook. I'll just use these or something. Yeah. And I choose these here, too. No, I use them right here. There we go. Yeah, you look fantastic. Nice lighting.

It's going to get you going right here. There we go. What do you think about this? That's perfect. That's perfect. Great lighting. You look fantastic. And so tell me, what do you want your son to do next?

Well, the one thing that you do as a champion, you give the other champions an opportunity to unify, right? And a perfect world, right? when you do what exactly what we would be won the champion in the division to give us an opportunity to be ring champion, uh, the baddest man in the division, so on and so forth. I'm just going to ask for you. Yes. Oh, what's up, man?

Hey, man. Nice to meet you, man. You're too, man of the people. Appreciate you. Thank you. Man of the people, Bill Haney. Absolutely. Listen.

And this is what it's like. This is what you tell all the fighters, the, the, the, the, the, the. and trainers and don't listen to what they're saying. What you get is you get respect and you get admiration from the people for doing what, ultimately what's in your heart is to try to make the best fights that define your fighter's legacy, defines what kind of fighter he is. And you talk about Bevan, you talk about all the smoke. What do you make of yesterday the WBC announcing that Connor Ben is the number one contender to

Mario Barris' title? well Connor when since when have we been talking about contenders we're talking about Devin how many champions has Devin fought I know you've been how many a lot huh

a lot yes two three four five six seven I believe right and we talk about three we challenge three champions for their belts so you know with all due respect I say Connor when when is he going to do it because I've been hearing

about him talking about he's going to do it I've been hearing talking about, he's been interim. I didn't hearing him talked about this before, but it's Connor win to further notice. All respect to Nigel Ben and the Ben family, but it's still Connor win. Ryan Garcia coming off a loss, and it sounds like he's in line to fight Mario in February. How do you feel about that? Well, why will we be concerned about the loser's bracket? If you give us the loser's bracket, then you say, we took an easy pickings.

We want the guy that beat him. See what I'm saying? We beat you to the punch. You know, the question you was going to ask, well, what about this guy coming off a lost to fight? This guy that come off a controversial, hey, man, listen, give us the winner. First, you gave us the guy that had put the guy in the hospital and lost his memory. Then we said, instead of the guy that's the hook and all this other stuff, give us the winner. Ralee Romero.

Okay. So if it was up to you, Roli Romero, when and where? where would be your ideal place for it and went? Well, tell him, stop hiding like he's waiting on some money from Pachial and he's trying to do a fight with Pachial. It's not happening. Listen, you don't draw enough, you don't bring enough to the table for Pachial. Listen, and guess what, Floyd, I wouldn't get in your way.

I hope that you and Pachial get together and do it again for the people. Do it again for the people as distinguished champions, promoters, men of the men of boxing. Yeah, and then let us handle Roli Romero. We're going to tighten him up. Okay. Can I ask you, Bill, you know, a hot topic right now is Zufa Boxing's entry

into the world of boxing and some of the changes that they'd like to make to the Ali Act as someone who has been in the game for a long time. How do you feel about this? Some of these changes, would you like to see them happen? Would you like to see this bill passed? Or do you think the Ali Act is just fine as it is?

Well, I mean, listen, I believe in free enterprise, I believe in a family, working hard and being able to determine their future. And that's what I represent, you know, this management, whether you're going to be able to be the manager and you're going to be able to be the promoter. I don't know if that's the one issue in there that you're discussing, but I think there's several issues in there. And you're not asking me enough and I'm not versed enough and, and, and, and, in

to really give a real opinion. I know that boxing right now for us and what we represent for other families, you know what I mean? They can't stop. They can't stop you, man. Shout off to Zupa boxing and everything that they're going to come in the game and do.

We've watched, you know, showtime. We've watched HBO. You know, we got match room. You know, we got the zone. You know, you have turkey all the sheep coming. You know, so new players. and the game brings a new life to the business. So I'm all for it.

But Dana White has said that he does not want to mess with the WBC title, IBF, he wants his own title and the ring title. They'll recognize that one. Well, Debo is coming to get that one, too. Okay. Debo is, yeah, you listen, you make it a title, and you make it a title of significance that the people value and the people say it's something,

and Debo is coming to get it. He wants to come get the WBC, the WBC, the WB, I mean, the WBC, the WBA, the I, IBF and the ring. But right now, we got our eyes set on Roley Romero and that ring belt and that WBA that he's holding on tight to. Part of the reason why I ask this is I'm sure you saw Terrence Crawford had his WBC title taken away, Maricio Silemon saying he isn't, you know, isn't complying with the fees. They drop the rate down. He's not answering them. And this is part of the stuff that Dana White talks about. He's like, enough of this stuff. Like there needs to be an evolution in this

board. How do you feel about that? How do you feel about the fees that are imposed on the champions that they have to pay to these sanctioning bodies when they become champions? Seems like we've been paying the fees for so long that, you know, it's just a part of, it's a part of boxing. It's a part of what we've learned to, you know, our path to the Mount Rushmore of boxing. Now, here you go and say, okay, well, you get these other titles, you get these other things, and we want them too. You know what I mean? Like we don't say that, oh, the IBF doesn't mean anything, no.

We know that the IBF, the WBC, the WBA, the WBO, they all hold weight. And guess where they hold the weight at? At the Haney's house. And we're ready to bring them all in. And if you want to start a new one up, if it's the Zufa belt and whatever other belt that we're going to bring, we'll take that to. Just this week, Bill, Subreal-Matias, Janubeck, PED violations, you lived through the Ryan Garcia situation. Is there, and that's just one of many, is there a PED problem in boxing, in your opinion? Well, it wasn't a PED problem while, you know, just a year ago, you know what I mean?

We weren't asking those questions. So now I'm here to, I don't want to talk about the PEDs. I don't want to go down there. I want to stay focused with becoming a lineal champion. That's fair. I'm just saying your son was a victim of this, right? Your son was hurt by this, and we're seeing a lot of names pop up that are getting caught, that are getting slapped on the wrist, that are getting fine, suspensions, et cetera.

And so, again, as someone who is well respected and has been around for a very long time, do you feel like there needs to be stricter drug testing? Do you think that there needs to be more of a violation attached to these failures, hoping that people don't continue to do this because as you know boxing is not a game you can you can die in there it's a very serious sport well i mean that's something that um if you go back and you you take a look at some of the things that i've been saying for the past past year um you know what i mean then you got the information but right now let's stay focused okay okay that debo is a three division champion and i want to ask more importantly

if the fight doesn't happen with him and Roli where does that put Roli and how do you feel about Roli and fighters that are taking that position and boxing. Come on, talk to him, Mario. I want to hear how you feel.

Well, I have to be honest, the Roli fight is a good one because of the belt that he holds. I don't necessarily think that it's the highest profile one. Do you know what I mean? There are other names that we've discussed here that I would love to see your son fight against.

I'd love to see him fight. Well, then let's, well, then let's, we have to take one or the other. Either we take the Tank Davis approach and we go high profile and high profile means it, or we take the Devon Haney route and say Legacy reigns supreme. Sure. Now, which one you want to go, but you cannot split your pants on the Ariel Hwani show. Sure. Let's go with the, you got to stand on business. Let's go with the former because at the end of the day, you can't go to the bank and deposit legacy.

Okay, well, listen, for us, legacy, it reigns supreme. Legacy is what got us here. Legacy is what continues to pay you and what you've done in the sport, right? We know that the line is around the corner to fight an eight division champion and Mani Pachial, a several division champion in Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson, youngest champion. So you can't tell me that the money doesn't come from the legacy. That's true.

You listen, no, no, no, no. but you did a great job in trying to spin the narrative with a guy, listen, with a guy that's heavily connected to the legacy fighters, the fighters on the Mount Rushmore boxing, the fighters that have really done it and accomplished the shit, and it didn't matter who had the belt. Guess what?

They was coming to get it if it was the real deal. You told me I couldn't split the pants, so I had to pick one or the other, so I picked the legacy over, I'm sorry, I picked the prize fights, the big time fights over the legacy fights. Well, listen, I mean, you got a chance to do it, And then you have to stand on it.

You stay over there and where, listen, at the end of the day, no one will necessarily remember the money part of it. I don't think my grandkids, you know what I mean, says what dad had, granddaddy had a bunch of money. You know what I mean? I don't think that that lasts as long as that you compete. You compete fairly. You know what I mean?

And, yeah, that's what's going to last. What about Jack Catterall? He was saying that he wanted to fight your son. Jack who? Caterall. What did Jack? What did he do? What does he have?

You know, he had a big win a couple of weeks ago on the undercard of the Conor Ben, Chris Eubank fight. He's been in the game a while. He fought Regis Pro Gray not that long ago. He's had some fights. He's had some battles. Popular guy trains with Boots Ennis' camp now. Okay.

I have to look into him. You're not familiar. Okay, what about Lewis Crocker, the IBF champ? Hey, I've heard about him. Okay. How about that? How about that? A tough guy out of Belfast.

Yes. Listen, and we've always wanted to mix it up with a guy from Ireland, right? They say that there's tough guys. The Fighting Irish. Right? Yeah. The Fighting Irish, you dig? So what better guy to take a good look at as a guy from Ireland that holds the belt?

So, yeah, for sure, I'm very familiar with him. Do you think there's any chance in 2026, Bill, we see Haney Garcia, too? That's the biggest one of them all. You know what? It's the biggest one when we say it is, and then they come in and they say it's not. They do a whole lot of plan. Who says it's not? Who says it's not?

Well, I mean, you'll hear some things from Delahoya sometimes. You hear things from Garcia and not giving what the fight really brings, right? And I say, let's be honest. It's a big fight, but it's a fight that both fighters need to come in, be focused, right, promote, right? And, of course, drug test. You know what I mean? Of course. And then it's a big fight.

But, I mean, you know, when you have a guy that's flighty and flaky and has proven to the world that he didn't win fairly, he came back and he looked at like shit, the next fight after. You know what I mean? So he still has a lot to prove. I think that, you know, our main focus, right, as right now is getting Roli Romero in there. And that's, listen. And once again, I said, is if they drop the hardware, if they drop the belts,

we probably don't even pay attention to them. You know what I mean? It's the fact that Debo is more interested in the hardware that they carry than actually who they are. I'll let you go in a moment, but I'm just wondering, Bill, what is it going to take for your son to finally get the respect?

that he deserves. You look at the resume, three division champion now, he's beat a who's who, he's gone, you know, enemy territory, he's done the job, undefeated, all that stuff. Why does it still feel like he doesn't get the respect that he deserves, especially at his age as well? Well, respect is going to, is for those that are finished. You see, respect came with, with, for, for, for Dr. King, for Muhammad Ali, for, you know what I mean, Malcolm X, you know what I mean, for a lot of the greats. And I speak of the ones that I study and I'm familiar with. The respect for their work came at the end. So we're not looking for the respect right now. We're going to beat them up and make them pay us. Okay. By the way, can I ask Shakur Tiafimo, January 31st we found out this week.

Who do you like in that one? Shout out to Shakur for landing a fight of that magnitude. You know, shout out for Lopez, you know what I mean, for stepping up. and fighting. You know what I mean? And giving the people a fight that we all want to see. You know what I mean? Made the best man win. I know both of the families. And they're both deserving of not only

a good fight, but also a great payday. One last one. Top rank. You had a relationship with them back in the day. It seems as though their future is a little bit up in the air right now. No TV deal. No shows for five months. Top rank works for us. Top rank gets the opponents. We knock them down. So

we're waiting to see what top rank is going to come with no different than Eddie and the rest of them. You know what I mean? They squeam and, you know what I mean? They squill a little bit, but they work for D.HP. Keep bringing them to us. We're going to keep knocking them down. No matter what you try to tell the people.

Do we need top rank, though? Does the American boxing scene need top rank? Yes, we need top rank. We need everyone involved. We need everyone pushing this wonderful sport forward. It's when I see them, when we're on the battlefield, I mean, it's fangs out. It's, you know what I mean? gloves off, we're going at it. But of course, when the cameras are off and, you know what I mean,

and it's time to enjoy the deal that we've done, enjoy the opportunity to see the fighters, you know, being their best and most comforting place, and that's on the stage and getting paid, you know what I mean? Then it's comforting to see those guys and to talk to them. You know what I mean? I don't have any ill feelings like that. I want them all in the business. Unlike them, and I say them, them, but we know who they are that might not want me in the business. I love you guys, and I want all of you guys to continue. Take it, take it, take it. Much love, Bill. Thank you so much. Congratulations to you and your son. Great win. Looking forward to a big 2026 for you guys. Happy holidays as well. One thing. Oh, yes. Rowley, you know, because he had a lot to say.

If he doesn't step up to this challenge, he's no longer a man. Is he a mouse or a meese? Okay. I don't know. Oh, there you are. This is why nobody takes boxing series. Two of the actual world champions ain't on the list and the other champions at the end of the list. Everyone wonders why boxing is dying. He's referring to the rankings. And you say, stop dunking. You might move up the list. Did I say anything wrong? I mean, we'll see. Is he actually ducking or is he trying to just get the best deal possible? The best deal possible. He's lucky to get a deal in these day and times. This ain't no time. He just beat Ryan Garcia. And I'll tell you what, we just beat Brian Norman. And you better get out there and make the biggest and best fights that you can't make happen.

You did? I did. Listen, there ain't no time for that. Ain't no time. We don't do it with three division. Youngest, undisputed. Man, and we don't do it. Respect.

Thank you, Bill. Appreciate it. Okay. So, no, now one more time. Okay, okay. The guy named Crocker. think something of him? I think he's fine.

You know, the two fights against Patty Donovan were fun. I thought the first one was controversial. The second one was a great win. I think in America where I think Devin is most popular, the fight against Roley is a much bigger fight, and I think the buildup will be a lot more fun. But like I said, if it was up to me, Garcia would be next,

Barrios would be next, Connor Ben would be next. Those names, I think, are the biggest. Okay, well, I'll tell you what. Let's go. Connor Ben versus Devin Haney, let's go. that's the one he's coming off a big win Devin's coming off a big win let's do it

massive fight let's do it in a stadium over in the UK I'm not I don't get up for it I don't why do you not get up for it that's a huge fight well because I know if he's going to do it at 147 he did him at 160 the fight is still on the table yeah it's on the table

at 154 it's on a table at 160 right that fight is why we put him at number 10 right is why we put him at number 10. Now, we have other business that we tend to as a three-division champion and that's conducting ourselves as a champion as well.

And looking to become unified, looking to become ring champion. Isn't the ring belt what's happening? Undisputed. Yeah, undisputed. You want to be undisputed. I get it. Yeah.

I get it. Hey, listen, to the ring team. Baby, we're doing it for you. Sure. All right. Thank you, Bill. All the best. Appreciate it. And congrats again. Absolutely. You have a great one. There he is. The great Bill Haney, the father of won Devin Haney.

A great character in the sport of boxing. I always enjoy talking to him, picking his brain. And no doubt, Devin has some, he has choices. There's no doubt about it. Now fighting at 147 pounds look great. At 147 looks strong. Dropped Brian Norman early in that fight. I do believe the second round. didn't get the stoppage, but it was a systematic, dominant one-way traffic type of fight, if you get what I'm saying. So let's see what's up next for him. Now, still to come, Malcolm Wellmaker first chat with us since the loss to Ethan Ewing.

He did a local TV chat over in the Atlanta region last week or so. I haven't heard much from him since the loss to Ewing at Madison Square Garden a couple weeks ago. and Abdullah Mason, youngest active champion in boxing today, had a big win on that same card against one Sam Noakes, the best fight on that ring card in Riyadh just a couple of weeks ago. I've been talking to our next guest via social media for some time about getting him on the program, preferably in studio, because as our own Pizzi Carroll once told me,

he is the most interesting man in MMA. That's what Pizzi said, the most interesting man in MMA. I do believe he was at the Nick Celtics game yesterday, and that's... That is sad for me because it was a tough loss against the Celtics, so I hate very much. Is this thing showing right here?

It's great. It's not showing? I hate when it shows. But you can hear me just fine. Oh, yeah, I can hear you just fine. Anyway, he's been in the game for quite some time. 36 years young has been fighting professionally since 2013. Has competed in Beltor, Bama, ACB, Cage, War,

very recently as well, just won on a Cage Warriors card. Once headline a Bellator card, three-fight winning streak, five wins via knockout, 12 via sub, five via decision. He is the pride of Holy Town, just east of Glasgow, Scotland. He is the man known as the bad guy, Chris Bungard. Yes, there he is. Rocking the Boston Bruins jacket. I like it. How are you, sir?

How are we? The greatest of all time, 50. the time, champ. Oh, thank you so much. I was going to say, what's the crack, but you're not Irish? So what do you say to a Scottish man? What's the version of what's the crack? I don't know. What's going down?

What's going down? That's it. What's happening? What's happening? That's what it is. Welcome, welcome. How are you? I'm good, man, how you're you at the Celtics Knicks game last night? Daly. Yep. You're a big, what are you? You're a big Celtics guy? Celtic. No, Glasgow Celtic football.

Yeah, but as far as basketball is concerned? None. Nothing. But you're a Bruins guy. Yeah, big thing. Why? Just love hockey. How do you love hockey? I didn't know any Scottish people knew anything about hockey.

Yeah, we've got some teams and not. Do you really? Yeah. Glasgow Klan, Five Flyers, Dundee, Stars, stuff like that. It's popular over there. Well, the small arenas, but they sell out. Okay. I started Lincoln Browns about 10 years ago

through my favorite comedian, Bill Burr. He used to always speak about it on his podcast, and I would then start checking up on the scores and stuff. And then I became a fan. No, every November I'll go to a game. Okay, so this is like a yearly trip. My good friend, Derek, has dragged me to two Nix games, one last night in Boston,

then we drove back down and won the Raptors at MSG. That's right. So I think he's trying to turn into the next guy. I know you're a big Knicks guy. Eric's my guy. We met him in Las Vegas, so we're in June. He's a big Knicks fan. From Scotland, too.

Yep. He's just a friend of yours. Yep, my best friend. It just stays round the corner from me. That was a great game. We almost made a comeback there at the end. Yeah. But it down to like three in it as well.

Yeah, yeah. But that Jeline Brown man, that guy's an animal. He is an animal. I don't like him very much. He does Derek. Yes, I don't like him very much. Watching him, I was like, I'm actually glad I'm watching some like this because he's

obviously a world-class player. So it's like the Knicks. Yeah, yeah. Didn't have a good game last night, but just they see them, basically, guys in the prime. I'm like, that's still class. In person, right? Yeah, man. Unbelievable.

And it's great to have you here. I said, I said as you were walking in, the great Pizzi Carroll has dubbed you the most interesting man in MMA. I don't know about that man I don't know why do you think he says that I don't know man I don't know fuck knows do you consider yourself that I'm definitely an interesting cat I

I just I just live a wild life sometimes but I don't know that's another man's opinion but I just like to stay busy here like if I'm not training fighting I'm coaching I'm being pro wrestling or I'm acting I just like to stay busy What a journey what a journey for you

I've always been like even I used to play football just constantly doing stuff if I don't do stuff I slip into like a mini I wouldn't say depression but it is kind of a I need to stay busy and stay active

so that's the way I like it and look at this like we're here in New York Boston we're just constantly dancing constantly on the move getting miles in but I'll say one thing going about New York and trying to do a piss is absolutely unbelievable

trying to what? Pee? Oh trying to get a piss in New York? What does that mean? Like I was busing for the toilet and I couldn't go anywhere. You couldn't find one? No. Why? There's any toilets out here? It's murder. What do you mean? Like public ones? Yeah. Well, anyone? Like, you can't walk into a restaurant? No. They don't like that. Unless you're buying something.

Yeah, yeah. What you had to do there. This is a big problem. Have you been to New York before? Yeah. Through COVID. Okay, okay. The day COVID happened, I was here. You were? So I was walking about New York and it was basically, it was dead, basically. So it was quite, quite real. I was doing all the bridges all. And it was. like nobody there. Wow. It was like a zombie apocalypse?

Was that your first time in New York? Yes. What a time to come. I know. I know. And if I didn't leave, I was basically stranded in New York for months, so I had to go home early, basically.

Okay. This time's a lot better. What is Holy Town Scotland like? And am I pronouncing that correctly? Holy Town. Holy Town? Yeah. I never heard of it.

Obviously, I've heard of, you know, where have I heard of? Aberdeen? Abidene, yeah. Glasgow? Not Glasgow. Yeah. Some Americans.

But holy town, just east of Glasgow, right? It's a small village, just outside Glasgow. It's kind of in the middle of Edinburgh and Glasgow, but it's the town I grew up in my full life, just hard, working class, loyal people. Made me the man of her today in that small village. But it means a lot to me. It does. It means a lot to me.

Do you live there now? I just live outside it. Okay. I just live outside in shots. But I still live outside. once I'm getting announced on my fights they always still say Holatown because I was born and bred there. I only moved away from there

like two years ago but it's what a place and the people people for Hollytown especially through my career they've followed me everywhere even like my last fight there like all the pubs were showing my fights and they've jumped about still and it's they just to support one of their own basically

they love you over there they love you in Scotland I mean some of your your entrances and the tickets you've sold it's an incredible fan base that you have. I don't know why. I honestly don't know why. You're one of their own. I think I think they could maybe just relate to me that I'm an honest guy, pure energy. I like to bring, I like to get people off their seats. I honestly feel that I was put on in this world to kind of entertain people, whether it be through fighting, wrestling, acting, anything, like making people laugh or whatever. I just feel like I was born to entertain and maybe they can see that where my

fights. I'm always trying to get them off their seat and my entrances. People call me a showman, but I don't really agree with that one. I think you're a showman. I mean, here's some of your walkouts. This is a Cage Warriors one. What's the song, by the way, that you're walking out? Everyone's singing it at the same time. This is Jerry Sinerman. This is a Scottish songwriter and singer, but it's not his song. Discoland was like an old school rave song. Okay. And he'd done his own wee version, basically. So I came out to Jerry Simon. Every other fight. I've come out to Bad Moon Rising by Creedence. Jim Miller used to come out to.

Jim Miller's like my favorite fighter. Okay. He's always the guy I would always love to fight. If somebody said, who would you love to fight? I would say Jim Miller. Love it. Why him? I just think I just love his experience. He's been in there with everybody and he's

just a solid everywhere. Cool guy, Hunter comes out to a good music like myself. So I'm just like, if I could pick anybody, I'd pick Jim Miller. The disco one, so Jerry Simon does his envy version and it's kind of like it's all the Scottish and even English and Irish people, Welsh people would all like this song

and I knew that song would get everybody up and it did. Oh my guy, I mean like I said, Shoman, you once had a walkout where you paid homage to the Lake Great Bray Wyatt. Yeah, that's right. That's one of the all-time best. What a scene that was like you literally did it

like you looked exactly like him. I know, so I shot that with my good friend Darren who his company is called Wii 40s and we shot that in three minutes Wow

So see here I'm actually on my knees Oh just sitting on my knees In my old gym I go to the shirt The wiring shirt I go to the hat

I bought this lantern off Facebook market Right It was somebody who's lived like half an hour away And it was like wanting like 20 quid for it I'm just saying what

I drove over there It was an old thing right so the wee what would you say like the candle stick with it you'd have to light it would like worn down basically

so here I'm a little lighter fluid in this old gym right and pouring this lighter fluid into this old rusty lantern and every time we were trying to light it and I was doing like

the wee segment where he sings every time my breath would blow out oh my God we kept on to pour this fluid out and it was honestly

the gasoline was like stinking the full gym out and we eventually got it with that one but he's got a few outtakes it was quite funny where I'm I fuck it up basically

but it was that it's good I appreciate this stuff it popped yeah I think this stuff is important we need this type of stuff in MMA I feel like some you know some of the fun has been taken away of course man right you can't even have a good entrance these days even like with it now everybody needs to wear the same stuff

they're starting to take flags away or this shit so but I the it popped in Glasgow as well because people put like the lights up like fire fly so that I would dig over a wee bit with some of the wrestling fans in the M&M in the MN show, not I mean?

So you're 36 now, right? Yeah. 38 pro fights? Yes. Just fought for Cage Warriors. Simple yet direct question. Why never the call from the UFC? So I lost fights at certain times in my career.

There was a possibility at one point. I was on like a four-fight win streak. It was years ago. and I lost a fight. My opponent missed weight and I still took it. And I lost it. So there were some decisions in my career that I should have maybe managed better.

I thought guys late notice that lost, I thought guys that missed weight with a lot of weight. And they were key moments in my career. I could have been managed a bit better. But me being me, I would always take the fight. I always wanted to fight. Where I didn't have the goal to get to the youth, Obviously, I would fight anybody.

If they offered me anybody in the UFC, then I'd fight it, but I know that's not how the world works. But I just think I could have been miles better at certain periods of my career, but I always came down to it. I always just wanted to fight when I should have maybe used a wee bit more common sense.

Do you regret that? Yeah. Well, I don't really regret much in life, but there's, I would have loved to come out to have my name on the shorts, Bungard and my team in my corner with all the tracks out of so on

and fight at the highest level. Of course I would... It's funny, by the way, that you mentioned the uniforms as being a bad thing, but here you are saying you wanted the uniforms. As long as I could dove all my sponsors

with that one to give a book. But I think I'll let me and my team we've been through so much the last 15 years. We kind of deserve that moment but, I mean, I've had some great fights and I've fought some of the best

guys in the world, I've trained with some of the best guys in the world, I've travelled the full world. And now look at me, I'm sitting with the 15-time champion, I mean the goat. But this is something I've always wanted. So this right now is like, this is like one of the highlights of my career. Because I knew you, like I've followed you for, since I started, I met you. My first ever UFC was 120, Bisbing Akiyama in London. Wow, wow, wow, yeah, the O2, really? I met you outside.

Were you there? of course I was there yeah definitely met you where did we meet outside the arena wow and I did say one day you got interviewed me so it took 15 years so that was 2010 you hadn't debuted yet you hadn't made your pro debut yeah I was just about to make my amateur debut wow wow wow wow you were just a wee little kid at that point so 2010 and Scotland would call that a bam I was a bam yeah you were 21 yeah wow okay so it's been a hell of a journey so with that kid looking at the future 15 years would he be happy with this?

If I would have told you, yeah, this is how it's going to work out but you won't get to the UFC. Would you have been content? Absolutely, because at the time it was a hobby and now I've made a career out of it. I've had 45 M.M.A. fights.

I always knew I wanted to have 50 in retire. But at the time it was a hobby. I was playing football at the time. I was partying. I was drinking everything, doing all that. So it was just, it was new to me that. But now as the years we've went past, I've matured, I've got a soul.

all the team behind me. I've been in some great fights and I've traveled the world and there's no much more things I love than traveling the world and jump in a car abroad and just driving. Like see, through America

or Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia. I've done it all, man. It all comes through with martial arts. So you say 45, so that would be 38 pro, 7 amateur. Are you going to go to that number? You've got...

Five more. You've got five more. That's the plan. And do you know, Do you know, like, if you can map it out, do you know how long it's going to take for you to get there? Because that shouldn't take too long, right? You only got a couple of years left, probably. I'd like to fight four times in a year, but sometimes it doesn't.

So two years left, right? So the injuries are, they're coming more often, and they're no going away. I've got a terrible knee injury now in my back just healed last year. So I get it, I'm getting old, but I see these other guys fighting at a high level that older me. I'm just like, nah, I'm still good. and I'm training hard in the gym where younger guys I've got like 10 years old me

I'm still doing great so as long as my body's good I think the five could be done not next year but maybe mid the year after you just fought for Cage Warriors you won that was your third straight win are you still with Cage Warriors

so my contract actually runs out in February but there's no other show until the end of February so technically it'll you're a free man technically I because they're not going to have another show sure do you want to stay with them I want to

My last couple of fights I want to travel A lot of more experience I've had a lot of A lot of interest For a lot of other organisations But obviously I couldn't speak to them at the time Because it was contracted

But They'd been a lot over the world So I know I know if I wanted to go certain places It could happen Like where? Like where? I don't know

Australia Okay Europe, America So you want to spread your wings a little bit for these last few Has your time with Cage Warriors been positive? Are you happy with your time? Yeah, yeah. Six one's

two Aussies. I fought for the world title against George Hardwick. I took it in late notice. I still think I was no too happy about the finish it, but the other mother lost the guy weighed seven kilogram heather on me and just laying top of me, Brazilian

that came in two days notice. So these wee things can sway it but my six wins there have been wars they've been good great finishes

I love the staff so I would say it's a positive okay you know it's interesting your nickname is the bad guy and for the longest

time I thought it was a nod to Chale Sunnan but then I found out that you you beat the piss out of a young man when you were playing football back in the day

like badly no I want to say that first of all I was I was called a bad guy before Yeah, clearly. No, a long time ago. What happened here? What happened with this? No, I just, we got in a fight in a football park, and I threw one punch. It was just one punch.

Okay. You knocked him out? Yeah, but he swallowed his tongue, and he took a seizure in a football park. He swallowed his tongue? I think so. Now, why did you knock him out? Because he hurt me. He hurt you. It was a tackle or something? He kicked me off the ball.

Okay. As I was getting sent off, and that's when I threw it back. How old are you? Then? Yeah. This was, I was an amateur fighter, so it was like 15 years ago or something. Okay, okay. Okay, so you've got skills at this point.

You know how to throw a punch? Yeah, no. You're not just swinging. Yeah, and I fought all the way through. Sure, sure. So when that happens and you see the aftermath, are you starting to get nervous? Yeah, that was like the darkest day in my life. Okay.

I got took to a police cell and I didn't really know. Oh, you got arrested for this? Yeah. Wow. So I didn't really know. I didn't really know how the boy was and stuff. So I got to took to the police cell. I think I still had my football strip on.

Wow. But that was quite a dark, dark time in that prison cell. But I don't think I threw a punch outside the gym or the cage since that day. Okay. So it kind of made me look at life a bit different and matured a wee bit. How long did you spend in jail? I got out a few days later for that

But My husband had been in jail before that Oh you have okay Yeah, but I was for fighting my police Police assault Two police assaults but I've been really calling police assaults They were male like

I wasn't really letting them handcuff me Okay Why did they want to handcuff you Um We got asked to come out a car Well I think they were drinking And basically We all got to pull out of the car

and when they just started grabbing me. I didn't really, it was called resisting, but I didn't let them handcuffed me and they called at two of police assault but the pepper sprayed me. Wow. Pepper sprayed and ice.

I'll tell you off on the story so they put me in the back of the police car and like I can't see because my eyes are burning. The car window's all like condensation, like cold. So I'm like trying to rub my eyes. Oh my dear. On this glass window, police car window.

But then I'm handcuffed. So I tried to run across the back seat to open another car door and it was obviously locked and they just opened the door like, where are you going? And I'm just like, I'm going anywhere. And that must be awful.

You can't rub your eyes. No, so I remember once I got out, so once they took me at the police cell to go to court, I put my jacket on that I was wearing once they arrested me and it must have still had the gap, the CS GAF. So as I put it on, it all started again, man.

Oh, my dear. This is a lot. How old are you at that point? That was roughly, 15 years ago. Okay, okay, same time. Yeah, yeah. So you were a bit troubled back then? Yeah.

Troublemaker. No, not a troublemaker. Not I wouldn't say I was a troublemaker. Okay, so why do you say yes to troubled but not troublemaker? What is, what is, why does troubled resonate? Because I would never, I was never like a bully or start trouble, but if something arised run about me or to me, then I would deal with it. Okay.

So I wouldn't say. say really I'm a troublemaker. And with regards to the football incident, what happened as a result of that? Did he press charges? Yeah, I think I'd pay a fine compensation. I'm sure I can't remember how much it was in the community service. You didn't have to spend more time in jail?

No, no. Is he okay now? Yeah, he's fine. Okay, okay. Do you know the guy? I don't know. I know he's brother, but I've never seen the boy since it happened. Okay.

I know he's a big brother. But do you view that as sort of like the turning point of your life? Oh, absolutely. absolutely man it was as I says it was a real turning point in my life and it was a dark day

and then as I says I've never really got in a fight outside apartfully like last night it was close to I was close to last night punching somebody

what happened so we were staying in Brooklyn is there one of those stupid Celtics fans no hate those guys okay no this guy just followed

me and my friend Derek from we're going to our hotel we got off the subway at Brooklyn and we're walking around but he's across the roadway he's like that we're

shouting and not, right? Yeah. But wait a second. Last night, the game ended. Okay, sorry, okay, yeah. Brooklyn, I went to Boston. Yeah. And it's fall.

It starts for all, but it's across the road. We're just like blank and I'm blanking them. You know the crazy people. Sure, sure, sure. But it then crosses over. We go down an alley where our hotel is. And he's come right up behind. He's shouting everyone.

He's shouting everyone. We're just blanking him, I mean. Like, he was out of his mind. But he kept, like, going into his pockets and stuff. I'd be like, you're on edge. know what I mean, you need to be careful. So we go past our hotel. We go into the corner shop to get like,

like, just and stuff. He follows his into the shop, man. Follows his right into the shop, right? And I'm just trying to get like cookies and, like, juice and stuff that, and he's calling his all sorts. He's called, I think he was calling us, Irish, calling his other things,

that I won't repeat here. But then he comes right in my face, man. Right, right. But he's like, right over like looking into me but he's like arts like posture like a prong like pure yeah yeah and honestly I think the owners of the shop knew who he was like ah he's okay he's okay but then he comes closer and I'm just like this is a fucking problem here like the owners I'm got to deal with this like because I had him lined up if he came close I was I was just got to know oh my dear

and as I say I've no through a punch from outside in about 15 years and but the owner's like No, no, I'll get him. Let's go for a cigarette. And a guy keeps shouting and shouting, and I'm just trying to get cookies and just. So that was, that was close to knowing that guy. He was, the guy who owns that show, he saved that guy. The street could have ended two nights ago. Yeah, exactly. And then the cameras in the shop. Oh, dear. And then you would have had to cancel this.

Yeah, no. No, no good, no good. They'd have been gone live for the prison sale. Yeah, yeah. Just jump so. Okay, so it's interesting, though. That's the turning point, but you've leaned into it because you've, you've called yourself the bad guy as a result did you give yourself that name or did no that was that was from an old forum that you used to be like an old forum in the uk for mhma fighters and gyms and all that and somebody called me on that and then that

somebody else called me and that came a stuck and i was just like i'm got to go with this okay and i kind of like being the villain like all my favorite films everything or the pro wrestlers like i love the heels the heels or the these are my favorite you don't see a lot of heels winning or in movies like the bad guy never wins really not me so I I was like I'm got to go with this and kind of stuck how was your childhood um I had read that your parents enjoyed drinking and it was a little challenging at times you had a very close relationship with your grandfather he was sort of like the rock the foundation in your life yeah um I my mom and dad liked a drink and

and a smoke, to be fair. What kind of smoking? Weed. Okay, okay. Which is all right with me. I've never, like, doesn't bother me. I don't need to grow up, like, in weed or drinking a lot. I'll have the occasional drink in between fights and stuff or that,

but I don't really get that from my mum and dad a lot. But my papa, like, he was basically like my mum and dad. Wow. So I stayed with him every Thursday, and then when my grand passed away, I stayed with him full time Wow Yeah

He watched all my fights It wasn't he took Kino and me day in it But like he'd support me in that And we've done a wee Documentary for the BBC And he was like the star of the show Yeah yeah yeah

Fuller the part of like Like he just took out of the line Like afy But he had a famous line And it was like When I'm cutting weight And he says like I go for he man to skeletor

Like that That was his quote and I was just like, the guy does he know nothing about MMA or weight cutting, that's basically hilarious. But I, like, I still think about him every day, go to his grave and put flowers on and stuff like that.

I've got a daughter now, and the only regret is that he didn't get to me. That's only regret, but he'd be proud to, he'd be proud, definitely. Can I ask, when did he pass? Six years ago. Okay, six years ago. How did that affect you,

considering how close you were? Yeah, quite badly, to be fair but he was still alive through all my Bellator fights and he loved to watch him so once they'd done the documentary they asked if they could have got cameras in

his house to watch the reaction. Wow, wow. And that this is how bad it was like I didn't think I was going to win because I had so much doubt because I was fighting a world champion, Terry Braza I was 13 and 1

the two weight divisions champ I just thought I was getting brought in to lose basically co-me an event on national TV as well in Scotland which was a big thing so I didn't they're like can we go to your papas

and set up cameras and what record him like his reaction and I says no because I thought it was going to get beat and now I wish like they'd caught that moment of him like jump my boot with his wee glass of vodka wow slippers and all that

they'd have been gone mental so that is one thing I dare I got actually But that's just through my self-doubt And my doubt Coupes in all the time And fight weak for me And I kind of like it I like it

It keeps the doubt there Because I know You've had that throughout your career Yeah Even when it's fights I know that I should win I like it there Because it makes me

Train harder And it makes me focus On the fight more And it keeps me Switched on as well Imposter syndrome Like me you don't belong here What do you say to yourself?

The fucking imposter system I'm sitting here No no no I don't mean that I mean like for the fight, like why, you know, you've had a lot of fights, 40-something fights now. I don't know, like, I've had like 30 finishes. It's mental, but it's like, like, you're dancing right here. Yeah.

I think just before I walk out, sometimes doubt creeps in, and I'm all right with it, though. It's always been there, so I'm like, it's like my wee pal. How did you gravitate towards MMA? Because back then, MMA's not huge. Pro wrestling. Pro wrestling was the first love. Brett Hitt Man, Hart is my... The man.

Yes, my guy. The man. Everybody's been slating him in the new. and I'm just like, I won't fucking hear this shit about Brayette Hart being. Thank you. Why? Because recently he had that thing

where he talked about Vince. He's talking about everybody. He's getting a little bit older. He's getting a little bit older. The fucking man. The greatest professional wrestler ever worked. Ever. Ever.

Ever. So. He was your first favorite. Oh, he's like my only favorite. Your only favorite. Look at this. Look at this homage. Ah, there to go, my man.

Look at this homage right here. If you talk, I, I want, want Brett to see this one day. Yeah, I've seen it. I've seen it. I've met him. You've met him. You've showed him this. That's picture perfect. That's textbook sharpshooter right there. And he always hates when people fuck it up and do it wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's critical. I hate that as well. The Rock. We had a terrible

sharpshooter. Yeah. But that was actually, that sharp shot was in the Barterlands. It's like a famous Scottish, Scottish venue. It was my first ever pro wrestling match. ICW? That was your debut. It was on WWW. It was on WWE Network. Oh, wow. So it was like, that was my foot.

Watching that match show, everyone was rushed. Now that I've had a lot more, this was what talent tell you. It's like, if you think you're going too fast, slow it down me. Yeah, yeah. If you're going too slow, slow it down me. So now that I'm doing more matches,

I'm sorry to take my time. Like, I've always loved wrestling, but going back to your question, like Brett Hart's, the submission side got me into MMA, like jiu-jitsu and making people tap out and transitions and stuff and that way. I thought he was like a technician.

like once you watch his matches if you watch like the Ironman match with Sean Michaels Yeah Like he's on like a front headlock for like 10 minutes But it's just so fucking good And I was just like I could watch this all day Yeah

People that don't really get it Like I know it's maybe like born or whatever But to me watching Brett Hart It's the same way I do my punchings punches as well It looks more realistic But for me like that was My full childhood was Brett Hart

Wow And so through the that, then you start to do grappling, jujitsu, and then you try... So why do you dabble... So you've had like 21 or so pro wrestling matches, I do believe, right? Why didn't you go down the...

If you loved him so much, why didn't you just from the jump go down pro wrestling that path as opposed to the MMA path? I think I liked more... The shoot style. The MMA I liked a proper, like, the dealness. I liked hurting people

I liked elbowing people like proper submitting people so it was just really real for me even though like I love wrestling and maybe I've no every time I'm wrestling I'm feeling I'm no

I've no got the wrestler look like a look that the wrestlers have got the big physique and the good looks or whatever we are once I do it at my pro wrestling obviously I'm me I'm Chris Bunga that's my gimmick so it's hard when I'm planning matches it's like oh what I'm

doing a double leg of my grounding pound am I doing my MMA stuff so I'm trying to get away for that and showing people I can work here I can but they don't want to see Chris Bongard running the ropes and fucking I climbed up the cage and I've done like a five star frog slash I'm fucking doing it I'm getting this in here that the Viva la Rass at the top Latino heat and stuff right where it's you know people want to see they're paying to see Chris Bungard, come in and be MMA, the MMA shooting and beating people up. You did blood sport not that long ago. That seems like a perfect avenue for you, right?

So I didn't have a good dance partner for that. I don't think he made a lot of mistakes. And he was more of a death match guy with the day all the crazy shit and cut each other. So I'd like to do that again. I'd like to actually face Josh. Oh, okay, let's go. as I call it. There's a bit of a size difference though.

Yeah, I don't care. No problem. That's all right. I've got heavy weights in the gym. Yeah, yeah. Lazy heavy weights. But I, the experience was great. It was in London.

But I was just around Dan's partner for me. I feel like he was made a death match guy, so I couldn't really have a shoot match with him and proper. Like, it could have been a lot better. I made mistakes and stuff right, and I wasn't too happy about it, but Josh knows that. But I would like another crack at that. It was good.

So do you think, you know, you said five or so MMA fights left, but are you starting the pro wrestling career now? Like, do you think that will be the next phase? It's a tough business, pro wrestling. A lot of people put a lot of work in it for not much back. I don't taste off for money or that

or like a career, but I date for the love. But I don't know, I need to, there's only a certain few companies that I wrestle for Valour now, which are great. It was chaotic, it's mental. Somebody got crucified the other day, like they brought a crucifixion.

Wow, like Old School Undertaker. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was wild the day, like, Texas rope matches and stuff. So it is a wild promotion. But I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying working with different athletes and just getting better at pro wrestling.

You like being a pro wrestling fan or MMA fan better? Oh, that's a good question. Oh, fuck, that's a good question. good question. What do you follow more? MMMA. MM. Okay. Yeah. I'm still liking some of the stuff I know. It's good to see Brockback.

He just looks like he's enjoying his sale again. The scene in retirement, I feel like wasn't great, right? The whole tournament thing wasn't helped my spree. Turn heel, then turn back. Then he gave him the IC for Dom. I love Dom, though. Dom's tremendous. How good is that guy.

Dom is unbelievable. He is so likable. He's so much fun. What a story he's got, eh? He's got the girls. He's got the cars. He's got the belts. He's unbelievable, yeah. But he's like a max share between his dad and Eddie. He's unbelievable, yes. But I went. But something, it felt a little bit off.

Yeah. I don't know if, do you, we were debating this a couple days ago. Do you think, so the right thing to do in the business is as you're leaving, you put people over, right? That's why Don beats him, get the rub. I beat him on his last PLE. But do you think the fans, for someone like Sina, do you think they wanted to see him had his ass whooped so many times towards the end. Especially, the Brock one.

That one there, like, five girls just laid them out with all these finishers. I'm just like, why is he putting all these girls over for as well? The tournament is just like, so you probably put them over as well, maybe, like, it's got to be gun for, I don't know. Like, I don't know. I would have put him in with somebody big for these last one and, I don't know. Everyone wanted Edge.

Edge, aye. Yeah. I don't know. I wasn't the key known the tournament for. It felt like there needed to be a story, right? Something from the past. Just thought it that, Triple H, I don't know. I don't know.

We had Vince Rouser on the show last week. I loved him. You saw that? Oh, I loved them. He's going crazy on everyone. Golly, him, Triple H, Jim Cornett. I mean, he was spraying everyone this guy. He's good, though.

I like Vince. What a character. Yeah. The wrestling business has a lot of those, and that's why I appreciate that you bring some of that over to MMA. You also, as you say, dabble in the world of acting. Yep. Pee T tells me that you guys went out on the town with Shane Gillis.

Yeah, man. You guys were on the piss with Shane Gillis? Yes, my friend. He claims this, but I don't believe him. No, I were. You were, oh, wow, look at that, wow. I was talking to him last night. Look at Pizzi.

How many drinks is that down there with Pizzi with doing the fist up like that? 12, 13? How many on the pisser is that? Oh, I don't know. That's a bit too, probably. He's some kind of piss, is he not? I actually spoke to Shane last night. Oh, wow, what a name drop.

I told him that was coming on here because we've been. He knows me? he says it's cool that I was going on the Hawaiian show he doesn't know why I am well we said to Hualani show you so he knows Soldah but I appreciate that thank you I'll show you text but we meant to see Dan Soder

two nights ago and show a message to him I'm like saying in a year in New York we've got to see Dan he's at a wish I think he was in Philly or some and he's a big wrestling fan too I think he does like some of the impersonations right Dan Dan Soda yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah he's soft well the best impression of us seen but I just said That's cool at your own aerial. Okay. How did you become friends? He played a gig in Scotland years ago when he wasn't that big.

And me and Derek went to see him. And then after it, we hung out with him. You just hung out like that? I would go drinking with him and just spoke on Instagram. We went over. He told us to come over for Dublin. And that's where I go. Okay.

Seeing that through. Wow. We had another night with him as well. So he's probably the funny. guy in the world right now but just so down to earth and supports my career as well my fights he's always messing me um good luck before fights and he always tells me the day celebrations in the cage and it's always some stupid video he's seen on instagram's like chris you need to do this he's told like NFL guys to date and they've done it and when they celebrate and he's like you need

to do it now and he's got me day in these dance he's not he's in a debt but he's hilarious Theo vaughan as well yeah another maid of yours yep how did that one happen oh that was from a bell at all days. Okay. Yeah. I met him in America. We hung out there. Look at you two chaps.

That's in San Jose actually as well. We're chilling in his green room. He was doing a bit of jiu-jitsu as well. Was he? Was he? He was doing some podium and stuff like that. Oh, yeah, yeah. So another cool guy.

I don't know. All the comedians like me. It's good friends to have us. So as far as the acting career is concerned, what are you doing? So I've done like, indie films, I've done TV shows, I've done

adverts, I've done I'm reading a script to know, I've got a script sent to me, it's a film about a fighter who doesn't make it to the UFC and he's got like trauma with his family and I think they were like, I think this is made for you. I'm reading through it, I'm halfway through it

so I think that's got to be a next, that's got to be an actual feature film in Glasgow. Okay. But I love acting. Like I've got a passion for cinema. Like, I run like a a film location page so I travel the world and go to all these film locations

so I've got like the way I look at cinema now it's not just about a film it's like a dialogue the storyline the setting the location everything so it's just I know I can like

most of my parts have been like anger angry like henchmen gangster whatever and I can shout at people like that's no acting to me I can scream it someday and be angry, but I don't feel that it's acting, where the last one I've done,

there was more emotion in it where I could tap into, you know, like my childhood and my papa and stuff like that, not bringing, and that's acting for me so I can tap into other things where these shouting scenes and being angry

and biting people or guns and that, that's no acting for me. That's just, that's easy. Right. So I like... Do you get typecasts because they think fighter, you're... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Where I want to show it, I can fucking act, man. I can show emotion. I can cut good promos and good lines. I can improv. I'm getting my great improv. Just like that. Denzel's my guy.

He's your favorite? Without doubt, the best actor ever. You speak about him on the Sin City podcast? Yes. Come on. Look at that. Look at that. Look at a podcast.

Come on. Amazing. So we've actually got one next week. And it's got to be like a Christmas one. It's Christmas. Okay, okay, okay. About Christmas movies? Yeah, the top ones.

Greatest one of all time. Fuck. Home alone, probably. Okay, I was going to say, I was going to say. Jingle all the way. No, no, it's home alone. It's without a doubt home alone. What do you like better?

One or two? Two, really, because in New York? New York, yep. It gets a little bit weird there towards the end with the turtle doves and all that. To me. Yeah, the pigeon lady. Yeah, one is the best. One is the best.

You know, Pierce Morgan is a pigeon lady? That is, I never thought of that. One to me is the best, but two is pretty damn good. Die Hard a Christmas movie? That's the big debate. It's got a Christmas tree in it. Well, this is the big debate. I don't know about over in Scotland, but here there's a debate.

No, there's a die hard. Is a Christmas movie? What do you think? I'd say no. No, okay. I'd say lethal weapon, interesting. They start with a Christmas song as well. Wow, wow, wow.

Jingle bells. Yeah. So the podcast, we usually pick a year. So it'll be like 1994. There's four days. We'll pick our top five in 1994. Okay. We'll go down one each, but someday might pick your film,

fuck, I pick Pulp Fiction. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's great, and then whoever wins, we'll put it to a vote, whoever wins a year, they get to pick the next year and stuff. Okay. So it's been fun, and the fans love it, man. I get stopped on the street now.

It's not about my fights. It's like, insane the next episode on it. Love it, love it. I know you've just plugged it as good guy, hell yeah, hell yeah. I tell you one of my favorite movies of all time that I think is sort of in that era that you just talked about in 94,

and maybe one that you have seen, and can relate to in the name of the father. Oh, stop. I love in the name of the father. What a film. Giuseppe Conlin, I love that. What a movie.

I watched that movie so. Possible, God rest of so. Who did? Who did? Pete Possible? Oh, the actor. The actor, sorry, yes. Unbelievable.

Unbelievable movie. I don't know why. There's something about that movie as a teenager. Just noted. Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. What were they called?

What was the name of them? They had a name for the group when they arrested them. and they thought that they had done the... What the thing before? Yeah, something like that, something like that. And then that scene, it gives me chills, that scene at the end when they... I'm going out with Jerry.

I'm going to be fun of doing. Oh, God, God, fucking hell. What a scene. What a scene. Daniel Dealous is, like, one of the greatest actors ever. Yeah. He's your own, like, handful of movies. Yeah.

Where's he from? Ireland? No. Daniel Lewis, yeah. He's Irish? Okay. I could see you being in one of those. Yeah?

Got the look, yeah. Yeah. Hopefully. Okay. Is that the goal? Is that the dream? Yeah, man. post-fighting that's what you love to do i'd love to if it was up to you full-time actor yep but

i've got a gym there march progress martial arts i love that that's a great name the guys i honestly i love everyone they're just they're such a tight unit they're in every day they're working for each hour we've been on for march glasgow um shots still just out okay where i stay we're not gone off from my house okay um but some of the results we're getting this year is unbelievable and they're just such a tight unit they're all in it together they're all helping each other just just a great bunch and any pros yet yeah yeah the three pros okay and like 10 amateurs and some people ready to make their debutsu guys at grapple and stuff or that but it's just a great atmosphere and I love I fucking love coaching I love coaching name

especially man um so that's taking up a lot of my time so I'm training I'm opening up I'm coaching training, then at night I'm closing up, I'm opening the mat, so I'm doing everything. So if I did have to do acting, then it would be tough, I think. You spent a good amount of time at SBG back in the day. Yeah. How was that? It was fucking great. I loved it.

What years? I loved. So it was, I remember them because of the camps. It was 2017 to 2005 for five years. So it was a little bit post-Connor, like it was- No, it was during. 2017 is when you fought Mayweather. I was camping corner

the Diaz and Oh because that was 2016? I was in the Kabib one as well Oh 2018, okay Oh wow wow wow What was that like? It was a battering concert Yeah, yeah

But I loved it Like I love So to Dublin's like a half an hour flight For me And I used to go for like Two weeks at a time Every time I'd have a fight I'd go over for two weeks

And I'd stay a cross road For the gym The same wee house I shared where it was like an Airbnb A woman stayed and I loved it I loved the coaches I loved all the fighters

I just had a proper relationship with most of them I loved it I just loved I was getting away from my own gym and getting tough rounds with harder bodies

and just networking and meet new people and just travelling as well I love Dublin but every time I was in Dublin I was always true I didn't get to really enjoy Dublin until I came back to fighting it

and Shane Gillis, Spillboard and stuff I'm sure do you think he can he can recreate the magic Connor? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know, man. It's been a long time. Yeah. I've seen him jump about with Tyson last night, so I don't know how all

that shit is going, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, I mean, it's... You think he fights again? They're talking this, White House card. He's going to fight Chandler, surely. I think Chandler needs this. I think Chandler needs us.

Poor guy, right? Poor guy. They sleep at night, fuck sake. But I think Chandler's probably the best fight for Conner to come back to because the rest of them are just improved. He's not fought or winning a long, long time and this sport just passes you by

but you don't know, you don't know with Connor but if there's got to be the White House one then you'd probably put him on it wouldn't you? Did you ever train with Dennis? I did. I trained him a few times. Why'd you laugh so much when I asked that? Because he's a fucking pellet man.

What does that mean? What does that? A pellet. He's an idiot. Really? Ah, he's an absolute fucking tit. In the gym? No, in the gym he was class. Okay. I used to roll with him, but now he's,

I've never met a guy that wants to take so many beatings to stay relevant. And have you met a guy that craves clout more in your life? He don't have you than this guy. I know you're quite pal with him now, but, like, does he stay local? Tell me come up, tell me come up, man. I just I mean look at everything he does

It's just They got hop by toilet He got choked out With a security guard Anthony Taylor slapped him He fights Logan He does not throw a punch He's always getting bad

That all these fight shows He just can't fight For a guy that thinks he's hard He cannot fight I would love to fight him I would love to fight him In Misfits and Combat Jiuetsu

Boxing If he wants to fight, they know. They're getting into MMA a lot more. I, but he's just fought a guy that's never grappled in his life. He's got 150 grand for guillotine in the guy. Listen, I'll all accept a lot, but slander of the mechanic, Warren Spencer, is something I will not accept.

No, he hadn't done a grappling back of training. And then, well, what's he doing? How is he getting to choke a guy out of his never grappled for a lot of money? For the bell, too, by the way. And now he's just got battered off. He's, do you see his wee red clown shoes hanging in there when the boys say, Daddy Stan gave him a beat down?

It's just like, stay away, stay away, man. You're just, you've got to get yourself really hurt when these days. I know he acts a tough guy. Sometimes it's for show, but he isn't a tough guy, that's the thing he's no. But in SBG he was, he was all right because, like, he was just, like,

he sat beside Connor, and if he didn't he sit beside Conner, he would start greeting or not, so he's like, he was nice, he was good to roll with it, a great round, something to be fair. But as the years I went by, I'm like, I can't he fucking stand this guy, man. I can't stand him.

I knew he's fighting Anthony Taylor. And our guy's shit. He's pushed to him, man, not what I mean? He's absolutely dug meat. I'd fight you two of them for free, right? Please don't say that. Don't say that. I would fight Dylan for free just to get hands on him. I know you stay local in now, Dylan.

So if you're kicking about later, I'll give you a shout. Sure, sure, sure. A fellow countryman of yours fighting this weekend at UFC. Chris Duncan. You have a relationship with him? Yes. Your boys? Okay.

I train me him in Sterling or he comes to magic in progress and trains with me, Robert Whiteford. I love Robert. Aye. The flying judica. He gave me that. The Haggis. See that in the middle over there? I see it?

Yeah, yeah. Because I thought Haggis was an actual animal. I see him tweeting about it. Yeah, he's a legend. So me, Chris Duncan, Robert Whiteford and Adam and Michael Blair, we sometimes train in my gym on Monday and a Wednesday. obviously Chris goes to the American top team when he's fighting, but they sessions

with Rab and Chris are fucking brutal man. Like Rab is like what, 42, sorry Rob you would think he's fucking 30, he's strong as an ox, he outworks as all, still got it. And he's all the knowledge

as well, so he just picking his brain and he'll just tell his stuff to work on. After class, we'll do like 10 rounds. Sometimes he wants to do like a 45 minute round, Rob, just For 45 minute, he breaks. Straight. And then after it, he'll just pick your brains

and sit and go through stuff with his. Brilliant, brilliant, especially for my last camp and for Michael Blair's last camp. He was rabble's fucking outstanding. Chris comes down as well, but obviously goes to a top team for his camp. But I think he beats McKinney. Yeah.

So, like, two of them are finishers. Chris can knock people out. He can take a dig, but he can submit people now as well with his guillotine. So I see Chris winning by, first or second round finish. Okay. By the way, relationship with Drew McIntyre? Um, not really.

No. Like, I've shared dressing rooms with him through ICW and that, but, um, I would say a lot of that's about it. Okay. I'm not really about it, but Drew McIreyer or anything. No, I mean, one of your own, one of your own? Eh, well, he's a Rangers fan, so he's definitely, I know, one and one. Okay, sorry.

I mean, I thought, I thought, not. I'm happy he's, like, he's doing well for Scotland, but he's, he's no my type of wrestle either. Why not? I don't know. He's just no my type. Okay. It got a little weird there for a second. No, no. Okay. Didn't they hate and Drew Magda? You have heat with Drew? No, no hate.

Just, just, I just like more of the technical guys. Yeah. Yeah, you're a big Celtic guy, huh? Of course, man. That's your team. Yep. I don't like your former coach. So, let me say, son. Okay. Wait, wait, do you know what I'm going to say? There are some of the things I've got to say here? Sure.

Like, I don't, like, how many teams have you got to support? I know you've got Forrest, your beloved forest Right here, right here Don't you forget it But you used to have a Celtic top Or used to have an Everton top of Bill Everton, Everton, they tried to woo me And my services weren't going to be bought

So I need to feel it So Celtic are playing right now Sure, yeah, 245 I was told you. So Martin Anil, this is his last day His interim manager, right? He was the manager like 30 years ago He won day to European Cups with Forrest, see the two stars

Yeah, yeah, I know So he, this is his last game tonight Now we got a guy you might know who just Don't tell me Ange pasta caglou No, because and that's the one you don't like

facility. So he's just got a new manager today from Montreal, I think he's like French Canadian but he started with Columbus

From Montreal? Yep. You got a Canadian to? Wilfred Nonsei. Okay, okay, yes. So he just won MLS league.

So I'm like, maybe he has got to know some insight about this thing. From Canada. So I'm sure he's the manager for Quebec, Montreal

and he was the manager of Columbus You guys are so down bad as a club, Celtic, that you need a Canadian to be your manager? What's going on here? I don't jump ship for everyone to Forest, that's what's stuff. What about Big Ange? Andrew's fucking amazing. He didn't

get time. He should have never left you guys. But he never get time before he's got about eight weeks. He was like, oh and eight years. You got Sean Dych outperforming him. Sean Dyche. Come on. Sean Deich Woke nonsense. Sean Deich is the man. Do you think eight weeks is enough for a manager? I know it's cut through these days. He kind of came

in and like he was a little smug and I just feel like he didn't connect with the supporters he didn't connect with the team I follow force through and through and it felt like a bad, first of all the first mistake was getting rid of Nuno Nuno got us into the Europa League It's a fucking uno

I like Mr. Maranakis I'm not going to speak poorly of him okay That guy's a psycho your words not mine the first problem was getting rid of Nuno and then they bring an edge who like I felt like he felt like okay I'm blessing you with my presence here

I won't hear any Ange hate He should have stayed at you guys The Tottenham experience was a disaster He did win Europa League One of the European Cup, though But I mean, come on The two primary league seasons were awful He always wins in the second season, eh?

Yeah, how about that for us? I see style, he's all attacking But he won't, I thought maybe he'd come back to you guys Same, yeah Did you want that? Celtics been a shit show I would have to come back, yeah Well, we don't know about this, Wilfred Nonset guy

You do have a Canadian under a team who I like very much Alster Johnson. I thought you were going to speak about about AJ earlier but No, no

Alster Johnson Yeah, yeah He's on your team You don't like him? Fucking love him He's my favorite player He's your favorite player Okay, yeah

He's great on the Canadian national team I'm very happy for him That he got this He's injured his hamstring again And he came back too early injured that again But see when he plays

He's fucking everything for the club And that's what we want I was I got a message about him ages ago But even when he speaks and stuff like

Everybody's like, he could be the captain. Okay. The way he speaks about the team and the players and the fans, he just, as soon as he was in the door, he just got what the club meant to the fans and the people of him. But, so he's interesting. He's got in a couple of weeks on his hamstring. I'm trying to look right now, they're so low

that it's hard to find their score on the... Oh, what is that? You're talking about Celtics. Oh, you're up 1-0, as they say. Yeah, what is it? It's so low down the... the Scottish Premier Oh, one against Dundee FC

The powerhouse that is Now let's take a look at the table here real quick Oh, you're number of your second place Bainter side, we've got a games in the handle Oh, you're tied for first, yeah Who's scored? Yeah, I'll tell you what, Celtic would fucking beat Not in Forrest, not even, are you in Champions League?

Are you in Champions League? Are you in Champions League? Well, last year, remember we go to... What are you now? What are you now? Europe League? So are we? Yeah, how are you guys doing? Mid table, 17 for some. Yeah.

We got out the group. We had a big win over Malmo last week. We got out of the group stage for the championship last year and go by a Munich and we got beat with the last kick of the ball. That's right. In Germany. Maeda scored. Yeah. So this is like your team.

Of course, man. Born and bread. But by the way, I didn't like the slander. I am through and through forest. Other teams have... What was the fucking ever know of it? Yeah, they tried to woo me. They sent me a jersey. I held it up and people used that as the thing.

I'm sure I used to see a Celtic tap on your desk. Celtic jersey, no? Did we ever have Celtic guys? I definitely did. Listen, I'm open the Adelaide. I was going to bring you one. The Adelaide Crows sent me something, the AFL team. That's a nice kit right there, huh?

That's a nice looking kit right there. Look at you. I was going to bring you a boat of Buckfast. No, I would never. Oh, look at this. You know what that is? That's America. Where is that?

It's in North Carolina. Okay, okay. You look fantastic here. We went for pre-season with Celtic and we beat. Yes, we beat. Manchester City and Chelsea. Scudied them. Well, this past?

Okay. Scotland, have you guys qualified? Yeah, for the World Cup. Oh, I saw that. Honestly. That guy scored the goal from the other end, right? From the half-time. So my friend scored the goal before it.

Oh, your actual friend? Kim Tierney. Okay, yeah. He played for Arsenal place for Celtic. Okay. So he scored the third one, and then McLean scored for the half-hour line to seal the deal, basically. But Scotland in the World Cup. I've seen Oasis twice this year.

Yeah, what a year. Honestly, what a fucking year. I knew I'm sitting with you. Man. Fucking hell. By the way, when was the last time, has Celtic ever played for? For us? No, I'd have been...

No, never played for us. No, you've got to wait down. You used to have just got a good member. They didn't play like in, they didn't play in like in 1983. Maybe. You got to pull up so. Guys, can you help me out here with this or no? Did they beat Celtic in fucking.

I see here, 2-1. Third round, second leg of the European Cup, 1983. You beat us? Yeah. Yeah, listen, no big deal. I know. It's before your time.

You weren't born in 1983, right? Okay. You just have won it twice. we won at once. Yeah, so there you go. It was the six or seven. By the way, back to back. Yeah.

7980. Martin Anil was in the team, Celtic manager. He was on for us. You won that twice with him? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The great Brian Clough. Yep. You don't know anything about Brian Clough.

Yeah, he's a manager. You're not a football historian like me. Excuse me, shit house. That's how I used to say. He used to call people shithouses. Me? Brian Clough. Oh, Brian Clough, yes.

By the way, when's the last time Scotland made the World Cup? 96, France, 96. Okay. Welcome back. It's in America. so we'll probably come back. You're going to come back? Oh, aye. Okay, okay.

I love that you guys always say aye. Aye. Yeah. That means like yes? Okay. Now you're warming up. Yeah. Unfortunately, we have to go.

Great to have you here. Thank you very much. Yeah, what an honor. Pleasure. Keep up the great work. Congrats on a great career. Thank you. Love the wrestling and Brett Hart influences.

Trying not to get into any fights in Brooklyn. I'll try my hardest. Yeah, because. Unless Dellen's kicking a bit. Okay, all right. Well, we can. Yeah. There he is.

The great Chris Bungard. The bad guy. See him in a fight, maybe first half of 26? Yep. Okay. All the best. Let's go browns and all as well. That's right.

Who are they playing? They're playing blues. Okay, St. Louis. We'll be back in a moment. Malcolm Wellmaker standing by. Don't go anywhere. Back on the program. That was my conversation with Tom Aspinall from yesterday.

A lot to unpack there. A lot to take away from it. Check it out on the channel. What about Chris Bungard? What a lovely guy. Great stuff there. I really enjoyed meeting him for the first time. Seeing his friend Derek, who's a great fan and supporter of ours as well, the only Scottish man that is a Knicks fan that I know of and really is a Knicks fan.

So that was great. Big thanks to Pizzi. He helped me out in prep for that interview. So I appreciate that very much. And always love meeting some of the OGs of the fight scene and individuals that we don't get to talk to often, especially from overseas. So I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. We transition now. And I want to let you know that at about 345, we're going to be joined by Abdullah Mason, who's the youngest.

active world champion in boxing today. Just won the WBO lightweight title over in Riyadh, defeating Sam Noakes. That's the 135-pound division in MMA. That division is in focus this weekend with Marabdolishvili, defending his title against Pejorian. And our next guest competes in that division as well. We had him on the program right before his fight at Madison Square Garden. By now, you know what happened.

He didn't end up fighting the opponent that he was supposed to fight. In enters the relatively unknown. Ethan Ewing, and as it goes in the fight game, the best laid plans of mice and men often go right. Did not go his way on that night, and so wanted to check in with Malcolm Wellmaker to see how he is doing in the aftermath of that fight. He is kind enough to join us right here and now on the program. There he is. Hello, Malcolm. How are you, my man? I'm good, man. I always find myself smiling super hard listening to your intros of me, man. You do such a good job. I appreciate that. And I'm happy to see that you are good, that you are small.

smiling. I did happen to see a video that you posted on your social media after the fight saying that the couple days after the fight in New York were rough for you. And so could you tell us how you handled it why they were rough? Well, for the first is, you know, I don't lose very often. So it's not an experience I'm, you know, really used to. And second, man, I just, I felt like I lost everything. I built up all year. You know, I felt like I was. You know, I felt like I I'm on track to being rookie of the year, legendary, first year in the UFC, Madison Swarton, three knockouts. And like, it just all slipped through my fingers. And it was such a bad loss because I knew the narrative was going to be that I lost to an underdog or nobody. Like, it wasn't Cody Haddon who people had knowledge of and respected. It was somebody we never heard of. And he came in and he outfought me. And I just felt absolutely devastated. And I just felt absolutely devastated. And I just. knew how rough the time's coming was going to be. And so let's take a step back if we can.

I remember speaking to you. You were right here in our studio on the Tuesday of Fight Week, right? And at the time, you're fighting Cody Hatton. When do you find out that he is out? And do you find out right away, hey, he's out and we've got this guy? Or is it he's out and we're looking for someone? So I had an interview with the broadcast team at Thursday on. at 11 a.m. and I came down from my room at 10.30 to grab a coffee before going to that

broadcast, and as I was in line to get my coffee is when they called me and told me that Cody had to broke his foot. And the immediate conversation following that was, but we're going to find somebody that's going to make weight, going to fly in, and going to fight you on Saturday. So that was around 10 a.m., 10.30 a.m. on Thursday. Had you ever heard of Ethan Ewing? Never. I never heard it to do at all. So the conversation regarding matchups that came was around like 2 to 4 p.m. I was going through my day. I was getting ready for my weight cut sessions. And I was in my

hotel room and I was laying down because I was scheduled to start my cut at 6 p.m. And there was a group chat with my team, my management and they started dropping names in there. Ethan was one of them. And I texted them and I said I'll fight whoever. Y'all make it happy. and tell me what to do. It was just like that. I locked my phone and I rolled over so I could lay down before going to cut weight and, you know, everything kind of happened on its own afternoon. So, so by, by Thursday night, you knew that you were fighting a guy named Ethan Ewing. Yeah, it was, it was shortly after that, maybe around like 4 or 5 p.m. they said it was locked in. It was a done deal. It was going to be at 145. And, yeah, we just move forward with it.

Did you look him up? Did you watch film on him? Did you do your research? Oh, man. I hate even admitting this. But the full extent of my research was I looked him up, I saw his record, 8 and 2, 7 knockouts. Obviously, he's a striker. And the only clip I watched him was the highlight of him when he knocked out Billy Brand the week before. And that was it. That was all of the knowledge that I went into the fight with, foolishly, obviously. Wow, wow. You didn't watch footage tape, break him down, anything like that. Was that, do you, do you? Do you, do you? you think, you know, I'll just ask bluntly, like, do you think that was cockiness on your part? Let me, let me tell you, it wasn't, it wasn't, it was cockiness, I don't think so much of, it was foolishness, because I truly believed that the matchup they was going to give me was the show must go on kind of matchup. Like, I honestly thought they would take care of me, which is dumb. It's stupid looking back, but, bro, I'm new to the game, bro, and like, you know, I'm sitting here

thinking like last time, it was Chris Mutino, like, he was cool. we're getting a contract out of it. Like, I'm going to go in there and do what I'm supposed to do. Like, they want their prospect to keep knocking folks out. So they must be throwing me a guy that's a good striker, but not on my level, for sure. And just a absolutely dumb assumption to go into the fight with. And obviously, I got a rude awakening shortly after the bell rung in the first round. Did your team at least watch footage on him, or did all of you feel the same?

So my team watched a little bit more footage than I did. Okay. Um, they didn't like, they didn't like the matchup, uh, but, you know, I'm a fighter. You know what I mean? I'm me. So I wanted to go forward with it and, uh, they didn't tell me no, um, they didn't even necessarily voice their disliking of the matchup as much to me, obviously because they didn't want to impact my mental too much.

They talked a little bit about it to my management, how they didn't like it and they prefer some other names, but, um, he was the only one, I guess we were told he was the only one with medicals up to date that could fly in, that could make the weight of 145. um you know they said he was going to be the guy and me being who i am i didn't care who it was and uh them being my team and supporting me uh even if they didn't have a good feeling about it they was willing to move forward so they didn't watch him they did have an idea of how we wanted to approach him but to be honest we didn't have a thorough uh extensive enough sit down um looking at his style and and coming up with a strategic approach for the fight at all

do you think if you would have asked them should i proceed with this they would have said no they might not have like flat out said no but they might have been honest and saying i really don't like the fight i don't think it's a good situation i mean i even remember um talking to my coach jane about it the pro i told you about and i told him i was like bro it sucks because i'm in a situation where if i fight this dude that nobody knows and i win it does nothing to raise my stock people won't say i fought only can some unsigned guy that that was a sacrificial lamb and if i lose to him i get knocked out or finished or beat by bum um and i knew how much of a lose lose situation it was. But even in that conversation, my coach was like, yeah, like he didn't,

he didn't say anything to make that weight of that feeling any heavier on me. They just really more than anything prioritized in the moment, my mental, but I think if we had had the conversation, if we wasn't willing to make the plan of pulling out, they wouldn't have said anything more than they did. In the back, fight day, fight night, how are you feeling? Are there doubts? Are you feeling great? Is the moment? Like a million bucks. Okay. I felt like that, brother, I felt, man, look, I felt like the best I've ever felt. And I don't even think it was, like, necessarily, like, my camp was that much better than me or the other ones. I just felt like I had been doing everything.

I felt like I was starting to belong in the UFC. I was starting to feel like, you know, I was getting the swing of things, like, that I was almost, like, filling my shoes of, like, the start. that people wanted me to be. I felt good. I felt like I belonged. And I was very excited to go out and fight. Like I just wanted to go out. I have a good time. That's all I wanted to do. And yeah, you know, it kind of went the way it went. Do you think, okay, so I asked you if there was any sort of like cockiness, hubris involved and not looking into him. There was so much buzz and attention on you and it was Madison Square Garden. Do you think just overall you went in there too confident, too cocky? Like, did you feel like the previous fights, the great success you had in

2025 affected the way in which you mentally approached the fight and ultimately fought that fight? Yeah, yeah. Now, when you talk about it from like the way that the previous success influenced my technical approach in real time, absolutely. So I don't like my camp, like even the mentality I was competing from, like I had respect for this dude. Like I didn't feel like, oh, nobody can beat me. Like, I mean, I still felt human, but I just felt absolutely confident like I was supposed to. It's a weird balance you have to strike as a fighter, but I felt like I did it without being too cocky necessarily. But when you talk about the way that I was fighting, 100% I had too much faith in my right hand. I mean, I mean, it's obvious. Even an uneducated viewer could

tell, like, I had way too much stock in my right hand, even especially after early in the fight, like I got really close to, you know, having a success with it. And I think that When things got rough and I started fighting from an instinctive place, like I wasn't stringing together combos. I wasn't throwing straights. Like I just wanted to put my right hook on him and he just, he was able to beat it and nullify it. When you know, you were having such great success with those right hands, especially early in fights as of late, when it was clear that you were in a dog fight here? Internally, were you panicking? Were you getting worried? Are you thinking in the third round like, oh shit, if I don't do something here, I might lose

this fight what's going on mentally as the fight is progressing so i'm going to tell you exactly what happens so i go into the first round and again like i'm i'm completing from competing from the same place i've always competed from like i feel ultimately confident especially now like the crowd's not bothering me i'm going to look for my finishing shot when it presents itself i'm gonna commit to it and we go into this first round and i hit him hard and he's giving me a good technical response to everything as far as the striking goal, so I'm starting to realize, okay, this guy is actually pretty good. And then we end up in a clinch scenario. And remember, you know, I look into his record and I'm like, surely he must just be a striker. Like, if he's eight wins, seven knockouts,

no way they throw me a killer that has these kind of strike and finishes and can wrestle and grapple and all that stuff, right? So I go for a poor, uh, take down attempt when I, when I tried to do the outside trip, he threw the hell out of me. And, um, when he threw the hell out of me, and I had to work my way back up, that was probably the moment when I was like, all right, bro, like, no, this kid is good. And so the first round finishes how I finishes, and I feel like, even with it being very close, I felt good about the way I fought in the first round, but I go back to my stool and I realize, like, I feel completely, like, blindsided and out of the moment and realizing, like, this is not what I thought it was, and, like, I need to be

ready to fight. And so from that moment forward, I almost, through technique out the window and trying to make it a dog fight because the way I thought about it was like if this dude can strike with me if this dude can wrestle with me I know he doesn't have the heart that I have I know he's not durable as I am I know he's he's not you know conditioned the way I am and I lead into trying to make it a dog fight like if you watch the fight like I was the one that when the exchange is finished I walked forward like I didn't care about standing in a stance and like galloping forward responsibly like I literally walked forward or like I was jogging forward to try to keep pressure on them

and just make it dirty because I almost fell back to like, you know, this dog mentality that I have that people don't really know I have because I've been knocking people out in the first round. And looking back, I almost feel like it was a mistake, but I wasn't like present in the fight mentally from a competitive standpoint. Like, I don't, this is the first time I can say this,

but I literally don't remember a lick of advice. My corner gave me between rounds. Like I was, I have no idea what they said to me. they told me after the fight that, like, I was saying, yes, sir, and not in my head, but I literally don't remember anything they told me. And I just remember, like, in the fight, just walking forward, trying to put pressure on this guy, and trying to break him. And he was durable.

He was conditioned. He believed he was supposed to be there. And that approach was not the right approach to want to fight against him, unfortunately. When his hand gets raised and you have to walk to the back and now you're in the locker room and the music is kind of stopping and the show is rolling on, but you have to sit with this result. What is that like? What are those feelings like? What are those emotions like?

Well, you thought somebody shot and killed my mama the way, you know what I mean? Like, I held it together a good bit as I was walking from the cage through the tunnel. I remember walking through the tunnel and all the fans were like screaming at me telling me they still love me. And I was holding my head on my chest. I was like, I love y'all. I love y'all. And like the tears were starting to come. And when they took me to like behind the curtain where the doctor was and they closed the curtain.

and it was just me and my team and the manned staff, like, it was like I felt like I lost everything, you know, it was bad. You mentioned in that clip that you and your team had to have like a really serious and honest conversation about everything, and it was a difficult conversation, but you kind of laid all the cards on the table. How difficult was that to have an, it's always hard to have honest conversation with people you love, and what is the result of that conversation? In short, are you staying with your team?

Are you going to move on? what are you doing as a result of this difficult conversation? You know, so I talk about, you know, going into the fight with the wrong mentality, lack of preparation, not a good strategic approach. Like a lot of things like that, what a bad matchup it was. Like, even if I, if I was to talk about, like, my fight week shakeouts, like, brother, like, I remember one shakeout, Benil Darius was in the room, and then the other shakeout Before the fight, walk out, I was sharing the warm room with colors protests, and I get excited in front of these superstars. I'm, like, I'm cracking so damn hard.

Like, I got to, like, that's something that's not beneficial or, you know, going to help me go into the fight without spending some of my energy. Like, there's so many small things that I know we aren't doing, like, the best in the game do, such as that, such as obviously that not doing the film study and making it mandatory that we do not step in the cage with somebody without having prepared calls, without having a prepared strategy, you know, just. stuff like that. And then on top of that, this is something that me and my team, you know, have always done, but our fighter trips are like vacations. So we love, you know, going to see things, going to eat. But that ended up having me in New York in particular walk a lot more than I probably should have. I had my son with me carry around my son a lot while I was walking and that probably didn't benefit me in the fight as well. So like a lot of things that happened that was because of a lack of us having like a standard or a protocol in place being a family

more than like a professional team like these other guys have with their coaches. So like we talking about all those things that went wrong, talking about all the habits and things that we do that we might need to change. But I mean, we're going to do it. Like I'm not going nowhere. My team is good. My team is great. Even looking back, like the advice that they were giving me in the fight was the right

advice. It was my fault and lack of ability to implement it. On the max, I still think, like, I have good guys on my team that can give me the rounds I need. They have the right mind for the sport, but we just have to fine-tune a couple things, and we're going to come back, and we're going to be good, 100%. We did talk before the fight in studio about, you know, getting good sleep and, you know, the family was there and the babies. And I'm not trying to offer the – I'm not trying to make that as a distraction, but that's just the reality of life.

And I know this as a father. You're in a small hotel room. It's hard to sleep when you've got a six months. month old. In retrospect, do you think that that did, you know, influence the way in which you fought and were feeling that week? So let me tell you this. So my coach, he got a, my coach, Jake, the the Balamweight prod telling you about, you know, he, uh, he brought his wife and, uh, his three-year-old son and his four-month-old baby. And I had my six-month-old baby. It's a lot. Like I said, we do, brother, we do everything as a family. So I'm going through wake because we got all the

kids with us. You know what I mean? I'm going to eat at this rest. around and the kids acting crazy and you know when I look back at the conversation me and you had I also know that during a fight week it doesn't matter what goes wrong the mentality that I have when answering your questions of if my baby is crying oh well like I'm going to compete the best if if all the kids are throwing a fit oh well I'm going to compete the best like everybody wants fight week to be like catered to the fighter but the reality is the world is not going to like work around you on your fight week and as a fighter it's your responsibility to make sure that no matter what happens, you still can compete at the highest

level. So that was the mentality that I was speaking from. And that's the mentality that I will maintain moving forward. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to remove some of those factors moving forward into my next fight weeks. And that again was another conversation that we had had that super hard because how do you tell your coach or how does your coach take responsibility for his children, you know, adding stress to you on Fight Week? But I mean, we talked about that stuff and we walked away on the same page with it and knowing that we're going to do the things that we have to do to be successful in the future.

Okay. You know, sometimes you have never given people a reason to hate you. You know, sometimes it's like a fighter gets push, push, push. I remember back in the day there was a fighter name Sage Northcutt. You probably never heard a Sage North Carolina. Yeah, I know. Now I know he is.

All right. And then he was the nicest guy, but the fans felt like he was pushed too far and too fast and he loses. I remember in Newark, and everyone crapped all over them, crapped all over them. And now there's this term fraud check. People love to build you up, and then you get to the top,

and they see all the success you had it, and they want to see you stumble. Did you feel that fraud check thing? Did you feel that backlash from the fans? Did you feel people piling on, or has it been relatively good? No, it's been horrible. Has it really been? Well, you know, when I say it's been horrible,

that's me, I guess being human about it, because most of the people that support me are honest enough to see that I put on a great performance. I fought my heart out and that Ethan is very talented. But, like, for every, you know, few good comments, there's plenty of bad ones. And I don't think back when Sage was fighting, like, these parlays was a thing. So, like, brother, I messed up so many people's money. And, you know, like, they are relentless. Like, even right now, bro, if I go to my notifications tab, I promise you within the last hour,

I've gotten comments about, you know, how I suck and I got fraud check. So it is rough. It does. And it's real crazy. I guess Sage was probably similar, but like I felt like I went from being like the most beloved, you know, come up story that people wanted to see when. And like the hate is just like sharp as far as like how it feels when they cut you with it. You know, and it's just I don't know, man.

Like I'm cool with understanding that this is what come with the fight game. And I'm not letting and affect me too much beyond it, just being internet trolls, like an internet troll, the internet troll. But no, it's been hard, man. It's been rough. And I can kind of see why some of the athletes have such a love-hate relationship with the band-based. So how are you feeling now? We're almost a month removed.

Are you still feeling down? Are you licking your wounds? Are you back at the gym? How are you feeling mentally and physically? Yeah, so 100% I'm back in the gym. I got back in the gym not the next week because I went to Texas. one of my teammates who fought on Fury, but immediately the week after that, I was already back in the gym. Obviously, I'm limited. I still got to let the stitches on my face hill up a little

bit, but I'm back in the gym. I'm already working new things. I got some more people I've added to my team to change up a couple things. I'm feeling a ton better, a ton better. Obviously, I'm not waking up and like, that's the first thing on my mind no more. It's still a very big part of what I have to deal with mentally every day, the loss and the things that come from. moment, but I'm in a very good place. I'm already back to work. Hopefully, we'll be getting able to compete early next year and wipe all this stuff away because the fan base says to have a short-term memory. So I'm excited to get back out there and start my comeback story. But I'm doing good, man. Everything's all right. I'm still very blessed. And, you know, I'm happy to be here.

How's the confidence? Good, brother. Listen, I look, man, I hope it to be true, but I feel like the loss is going age well, bro. Like, you got to know, like, bro, he came to Madison Square Garden and on 48 hours, like, his nerves was not shook. Like, I put him in some, like, uncomfortable positions. And every time I felt like I might be getting close to, like, maybe making him want to take a knee, like, bro, he finding it in his heart to Bradley back. And aside from that, look how much technical approach he showed. Like, bro, Ethan was good. He deserved to be there. I lost to somebody that I feel like it's going to go on into the division to do good things.

And when that lost age is well on me, that's going to be good for, I feel, like, public opinion on me. But aside from the fact that I feel like, you know, I'm still who I thought I was, like, she showed me so much I can improve on. Like, the things that I know that I'm going to dial in between now and the next fight, like, I'm going to be so good in my next fight, man. Like, on my worst day, which I feel like that was one of my worst days, nobody in the division will be able to do that to me again like I'm going to make the improvements

I'm going to use this loss the way that the the legends and champions did and I'm going to come back better for sure I didn't realize by the way that there was a bit of a rivalry between the pipe fitters and the safety managers yeah let's talk about this let's hold up let's talk about this okay because I have seen these these uneducated outlets yes saying that you know Ethan has the best base for MMA, which is construction. I love, I love you, Ethan. But he knows and I know this, bro. He's not a construction worker.

He don't put a tool in his hand. He walked around the job site with a clipboard and a pen, and he take notes on whether people are following safety protocol or not. So, like, I'm not saying that, you know, there's like, I have a problem with him because he's necessary, right? Because in the 90s, on job sites, when they used to bid jobs, they used to bid at how much lawsuits for deaths on the job was going to cost them. So without people like Ewing, people like me would be dying on the job.

job site, right? So we need them. But he's, he's not a construction worker. You know what I mean? He's, he's a white hat, you know? Um, so he's, he's, uh, he's one of those people that people like myself in the trade and we're trying to get stuff done. When I talk to you about working on a zinc processing plant and not having a respirator all, right? He's not letting that fly. And it's like, I'm the guy like, get out of him, bro. I got a job to get done. I need to make this money. I got a family to feed. And he's like, no, we're not doing that. You're not putting your life on the line for this company. So we have a love and hate relationship with safety guys. But again, like, he's unnecessary evil. He does good for me, for my family, making sure we all stay alive. I love the guy.

But on the job site, when I'm trying to get something done, he's the last guy I want to see. You understand what I'm saying? So when you found out about that and you were like, I'm sure you've had some battles with these guys back of the day, you're like, these freaking guys again coming into my life. Let me tell you how I found out. My journeyman from my first year of apprenticeship, first year of apprenticeship, his name is Eric. He texted me. He said, I got bad news. I said, what's wrong? He said, uh, Ethan's a safety guy. He wears a chain strap hard hat. And I said, oh my goodness. And that was like the first message from, you know, the construction industry I got. But like, I've got a multiple. Pre-fight or post-five? Did you

learn about this after the fight? Okay. After the fight. Okay. Oh, my. So like, after the fight, brother, I had so many pipers that reached out. I was like, bro, you lost to a safety guy. And I'm like, oh my God. Like I did, I did a bad one for the trades, bro. I feel horrible. But, you know, look, Brad, he earned it. And again, like I said, I'm honest enough to admit that he is necessary in the industry. So that's off to him, but damn, man, the safety got one up on him, brother. You know, we had him on the show after, and he's got a great story as well. He landed, you know, the morning of the fight, all that stuff.

I don't know if any of this stuff, like, crosses your feed. Yes, absolutely. What is it like for you to see this? Now, he's being celebrated, and, you know, it's, I don't know, is it tough? Is it tough to swallow in the moment? It is, but it's not. So, like, 100% I'm happy for him. Like, I remember being in his position, having to work a job, having a train, and waiting

for my opportunity, knowing that I can do what these guys on the highest level are doing. Like, I'm happy for him. I want him to get his success. I want him to get his sponsors. I want him to get his money. I want him to get more fights. I hope he continues to do great. You know, because look at me, like, I've had my blessings.

Like, look how much money I've already made. Look at the position. I'm in. He got a baby on the way. I had a baby on the way. Like, he's going to be able to do great things for his family, for his old lady. So, like, bro, I'm glad for him. I'm happy for him.

I want to see him going to do good things because I can see so much of what I went through in him. But also, it is very hard because my loss and my failure is tied to his success. And obviously, if I open the comment section, good Lord. You know what I mean? It's all bad. But, you know, I'm very happy for him. And he deserves to be here 100%. And I hope that blessings keep coming his way.

Is the dream a rematch somewhere, some way, somehow down the line? I would definitely like to fight him again. I feel like if I had a full fight camp and especially, well, not even full fight camp, brother, if I just, if I knew what I was walking into, bro, like, it would have been different. If I had took an hour with my team to sit down and know how to approach this guy, it would have been so much different. So I would like to redeem that one day, but it's not something that I'm like, I can't walk away from my career without redeeming that loss.

No, I'm fine. He can hold that. Like, bro, I still want Maraub one day, you know, that's my dream. You know, and I do think that one day he will possibly be right when I am as well. And I hope that, you know, if it works out, we can have us a huge fight with a great backstory one day. But if I never see him again, it's not going to hurt my feelings at all. Do you have a preference who you come back against? Not at all.

I don't care who I fight. It could be, look, I don't know how the organization really does feel about my next step, but whether they want to dial it back or turn it up, bro, I do not care. Like, if they give me the name, I'll do the breakdown, I'll do the film study, we're going to sit down, we're going to have a strategy, we're going to have calls, my camp's going to be just as good as the last one, my mental is going to be just as good and confident as the last one, and I'm going to put on a fantastic performance. I don't care who it is.

Do you feel like the promotion is still behind you? I would like to think so. You know, I took a, well, okay, so the night that I took the fight, so that Thursday night, Hunter Campbell calls my manager, and he asked to put me on the phone in particular. And he talks to me and tells me how much he respects my decision to fight somebody on 48 hours notice, especially knowing that they're not signed to the UFC and what that could mean, like what kind of risk that is.

Because I'm going to be honest, a lot of people in my position probably would not have done that. So he respected that a ton. He told me he believed in me. And I would like to think that after putting on a performance that earned a fight at a month, they still feel the same way about me that they felt beforehand. But obviously, you know, when the next fight comes and we end up at the negotiation table, hopefully it shows.

But until then, I won't know. So we'll see. Well, I'm happy to hear he said that. I'm happy to hear he spoke to you and they should still be behind you. One stumble, one loss, not taking anything away from Ian, he deserved that, or Ethan, I should say, he deserved that. But that doesn't change how they should feel about you. And I still think that your ceiling is super high and your trajectory is still going up. And I still think that you'll be very much, look at the greatest fighters of all time. They all have losses, multiple losses, some of the best ever have double digit losses. I got a little bit of room for error. Yes, shouldn't change the way they look at you or the fans look at you or the media looks at you and certainly most importantly, the way you look at yourself. So small stumble, you did it. You made the walk.

Can't wait to see the comeback. It will be greater than the setback, as they say. Good luck to you. Yes, sir. I look forward to the return and happy holidays to you and your family, my man. Thank you so much, Ariel. I love you and all the guys on your show, man. Y'all are amazing and I cannot wait to see y'all again.

Thank you so much, Malcolm. Same here. Take it easy, brother. There he is. Malcolm Wellmaker. Surely will be back in no time, 2026. No doubt about it. Ethan Ewing, perhaps they'll meet down the line as well. And that is crazy when you think about it. I caught a whiff of that when Ethan was talking about, you know, safety manager and pipe, I don't know, nothing about that world. But he was talking about this. And I was like, wait, is there like a little rivalry there? And then, so to hear that reaction. But I think he's handling it well. He's handling it great. He's not hiding. He's got a smile on his face. Yes, he's upset. Yes, he's down. He's having hard conversations. People lose, and they come back, and it doesn't change anything about them. It doesn't change anything about their career, about the way the promotion feels about them. And I'm sure actually the promotion kind of feels like, yes, thank you. You stepped up. All good. We'll put you back in there. And yeah, a little setback, no doubt.

No doubt about it. A little setback, two steps back, three forward. All good. We move on. All right. Let us talk to another young stud who fights at 135 pounds, but just in a different combat sport. That sport, of course, boxing on, when was it, two Saturdays ago, whatever date that was, two Saturdays ago in Riyadh, the ring card over there in Riyadh, which was a star-studded affair, no doubt about it. The best fight on that card by far, it wasn't even close, was the Abdullah Mason versus Sam Nokes fight. And Mason has been fighting for top rank for the last couple of years, and they've been really pushing him. And here he is getting this opportunity to fight for the vacant WBO lightweight title, and he knocked it out of the park. It was a tremendous

performance. His city, Cleveland behind him, the Browns behind him, everyone behind him. And now all of a sudden it appears as though we have a new star on our hands as far as American boxing is concerned. And as of right this moment, he is the youngest active champion in the great sport of boxing. He is kind enough to join us right here now to talk about all that and then some. There he is. Hello, Abdullah. How are you, my man? There we are. What's going on? How's everything? It's going great. I appreciate you coming on. Great to meet you. Congratulations on winning that title right over there. It's looking very good. How's life been since you wanted?

Cricket, man. I think it's a little crooked on here. I think it looks good. I think it looks nice. That's good. Yeah. Okay, for sure. How's, how's life been since you won that belt? Man, it's been a lot of congratulations, you know, a lot of support. And everybody's seeing it, you know, me is the youngest world champion in boxing. Everybody's looking forward to what's coming in So when you got into all of this many moons ago, did you think at 20 years old, did you think at this age so young in the game, did you think that you would have a belt of this stature at this point? Yeah, I felt like I would definitely have been prepared for a title at this point. And it's been proven that it's been able to be done.

So I knew it was something that was going to be able to be accomplished. And we're here now. So, you know, we're looking forward to what come next. this was obviously a huge card a huge opportunity for you a big stage but it was your first time fighting outside of north america as a pro right you had fought in canada mainly in the united states you go all the way to freaking saudi arabia not exactly like a hop skip and a jump away what was the experience like for you it was different but i felt like the support was still there you know um we was locked in until you know until the fight and um the main difference was fighting at 2 a m you know being that on

Saudi time. I fought at 2 a.m. on their town, so I had to make the times match up. But besides that, you know, everything was cool. You know, the environment was solid, the people were solid, you know, who was definitely support. And everybody was showing hospitality, you know, everybody from Saudi, you know, all the teams was there supporting. So it was all, it was great, you know. I was wondering about that, especially for the American fighters. Did you just stay on American time zone? Because essentially you were fighting like on a more normal time in I think your fight was at like five, six o'clock local time on the East Coast as opposed to 2 a.m. over there. So did you just try to stay on American time zone? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We tried to stay out of American time zone. You know, it was a little tough at first, but we got used to it. And, you know, we got the job done, came home with the title. So, you know, it's all good. Sam was super game, though. Tough, tough opponent, gritty guy. What did you think of him as far as, like, just his ability to stand there and take the punishment that you were dishing out. He came as expected. You know, I definitely had to have to put some on him a little more than I, you know, he withstood a little more than I thought he would be able to. But I was prepared for that. You know, our training camp, you know, allowed for me to be able to have that type of fight. You know, that was my first fight going past six rounds. And we, you know, went in there

arguably the toughest guy in a division. I don't think nobody else would have went in there and fought him that way. And for me to come out on top fighting that type of fight. And, um, beating him at his own game, it was definitely something I had to be prepared for, but we knew that he would be coming like that. We knew that he would be strong like that, you know, before that, before, you know, fight night or just leading up to the fight in a training camp, my father would let me know the game plan, but then he'll also add on at the end. You may have to hurt this guy, man.

You may really have to sit there and hurt this guy, you know, and that's what it ended up being. Yeah, that is wild. You went from six rounds to 12 rounds. as far as the cardio I mean obviously you you trained for this and you were well prepared but just like being in there in the actual fight

those six extra rounds how did you feel by the end? I feel good I felt ready even I was a I was prepared to go more if I had to you know

like towards the last two rounds I feel like I started turning up a little bit more just to solidify that win and I knew I had more in the tank you know I was able to go more rounds if I had to go more rounds there's there's a little bit of irony i think that you are the the holder of that particular belt

because that was kishon davis's belt right until he missed weight and then was stripped and it felt like there was a bit of a i don't know a rivalry brewing between you two how do you feel about what's happened to kishan over the last few months because not that long ago i feel like we were talking about him in the same exact spot that you're in now and now you've you've since replaced him after everything that he's been through i feel like it's just boxing you know That's boxing, you know, you got to be prepared for whatever is to come. And, you know, me sitting here, let's you know that I was prepared to grab this title after whatever happened on his end of things. So, you know, that was definitely a moment of time.

We thought that that would have been, you know, the next route to take. You know, we was right there in line while he still had the title. But whatever happened, we was prepared for it. You know, this was the route that we had to take. And, you know, I came out on time. Do you feel like perhaps you've learned lessons from how he dealt with things? Like, did you look at him and say, okay, I can't do the things that he did. He did a few things.

He made a few missteps. And I can't do that because now I'm in the exact same position. Yeah, I mean, not just that, but you know, you got to be on your A game all around. And I feel like that was just a reminder. You know, you can't look at only, you know, the good and everything. you got to look at the bad in it or you know what could be as well and just keep your eyes open for every outcome

and that was one of the outcomes you know you definitely want to be on on top of that do you think he fights again yeah for sure I believe so do you want to still fight him anybody who comes next you know I'm prepared to face him so you know

if that was next you know I'd be prepared for it but you know right now we're the lightweight world champion and we're looking for forward to whatever comes next. What is your feeling on the state of TopRank at the moment? No fight cards in the past five months, and obviously you're still a part of TopRank,

and I know that Brian Norman was on that card as well, but we're looking for some stability, a new TV home. They don't have one yet post-E-SPN. How do you feel about the state of things right now? Top Rank is odd. They've been doing their job, you know, and they've been working even without the TV deal, they've been making sure they fight or still get fights. And, you know, me being where I'm at, the position I'm at right now, I'm basically, like, the head of top rank.

So, you know, it's time for me to carry the brand and, you know, keep top rank on the map. Are you getting any sort of intel as far? Okay, like, we're going to have a consistent home so that you don't have to fight on other people's cards that you can fight and headline your own top rank cards. Yeah, everything is being put together right now. You know, we're looking for us to next route, but me winning this world title, it's the door opening for whatever's to come. You know, there's definitely big talks, you know, me, possibly. be having a war title home fight or you know whatever's next but there's definitely different routes you take okay so that would be amazing they're talking about a potential fight in

Cleveland for you yeah that would be incredible I went to a fight in Cleveland when steppe Mietchich you know him the uh the heavyweight champion I know stepe you know personally or I've met him I think I've met him one time yeah I don't really know him personally but yeah I definitely I'm hip to him 2016 he was the heavyweight champion of the UFC and he finally got a chance to fight in the 216 at the queue, right? I'm not sure. Probably. Go ahead.

Yeah, and the place went crazy for him, and it was huge for him because I feel like it made him come across as a superstar to everyone at home. And not saying necessarily that you need that, but I think it would be great for you to get that type of, you know, hometown treatment. Yeah, yeah. I mean, Cleveland has supported me ever since the beginning, you know, ever since I started boxing Cleveland has, you know, they've been pushing me. They've been, you know, beside me.

you know, helping me, you know, me and my brothers before we even started officially boxing, we were hustling our father's products out of his fragrance store. And, you know, his instant, hustling the incense on the street, the oils and stuff like that, you know, the natural body products. And they would just support that way. And once we actually got into the amateur boxing, they would use that to support us to help us get to the nationals and stuff like that. So with me grabbing this world title, I feel like, you know, I'm another person to help carry Cleveland.

now, you know, in a sports aspect, you know, they have a war champion in a boxing arena. So I feel like that's even more reason for them to support and push me forward. And it would be even great for me to have that support. You know, I feel grateful for it. But I can't wait to have that world title fight at home. You know, we've been talking about it for a few years. And I feel like next year might be the time for that to finally come to happen. Who would be the perfect opponent for that world title fight at home?

Man, I really don't know. I really don't know. You know, it's just the door opening right here. So whoever it is, I'm pretty sure, you know, my people will be pleased with it just as well as I would be pleased with it. Are you hoping to unify? Maybe, maybe. You know, there's a lot of different routes we could take, but, you know, this world title is the door open it to whatever that is. But first thing is, you know, whatever plans you put out there, you know, I feel like everything else is going to be rolling after that, you know.

So we might, it may be Cleveland, it may not be Cleveland, you know, possibly unification, possibly not. But like I said, it's a lot of different routes, you know, and I'm going to be. pleased with whatever it is. Okay. You know, I saw the Browns showing you love before your fight, after your fight, your homecoming. It's got to be great to have Cleveland, you know, behind you. I'm wondering, a better fighter reppping Cleveland right now in boxing, Abdullah Mason or Jake Paul? I'm joking, yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, man. Do you know Jake? I know him. I know him. What do you think about what he's doing right now? I mean

I feel like he's doing what he has to do to get where he has to get you know and I feel like he's putting his time into it and he's serious about it so you know

that's really what you need to in anything is doing the dedication putting the time into it and having a right environment so as far as he does that then then I feel like

he that'd make it that much easier than if he wasn't as serious about it you know sure do you think he could beat Anthony Joshua Come on, man.

I mean, AJ is AJ, man. You know, I feel like at this stage, AJ might have it, but you never know, man. He could surprise us. I thought, you know, I thought a great fight. And maybe it could still happen down the line, especially for the American fight scene, would be you versus Shakur Stevenson.

But then we found out on Monday he's fighting Tiafima Lopez next. A, are you surprised he's moving up to 140 and B, who do you think wins that fight? I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised. You know, he's doing what he got to do to get where he got to get. And won't 40 if that's the next step for him, that's the next step for him. But I feel like Shakur might have that fight, but I feel like it would be a great fight.

I feel like it would be a great fight. You know, there's different ways it could play out. But I'm just tune in like always. Sure. You're still so young, right? You're 21. Eventually, where do you think you end up? Most guys, you know, they don't stay at the same way class their entire career,

especially if you have success at this weight class at such a young age, you may move up to 40, 47, I don't know, 54. What do you think? How far do you think you can go? I really don't know. A lot of people compare my frame to Crawford's frame and, you know, are reaching all that. And he started out that lightweight.

And you see what he did. He went up and fought Canelo at 168. And I'm pretty sure you asked him some years ago. He probably wouldn't have seen himself at 168 pounds. But, you know, it's all, I feel like it's, it's whatever I want to do. If I want to end up a little higher, then I can train my body to do that. But right now, you know, I'm been pretty disciplined and making it pretty comfortable for myself. So, you know, whatever the next step is, I'm pretty sure.

You know, it's going to be the same thing with each weight class. I'm going to just do my best to stay on time. Who is your dream opponent? Who is someone that Abdul Mason would love to fight? A dream fight for you. Dream fight for me. Whoever box to put in front of me next. Nah, there's got to be a name.

I know there's a name that you think about. I would love to get my hands on that guy. I would love to punch that guy. Who is it? Tank Davis? It's the door opener. Who is it? No, no, this right here, you know, this title right here is the door opener.

This right here. So, you know, whatever name it is, this put me much closer to that name than I've ever been. And right now, there's no specific name. Right now it's just boxing. Okay. You mentioned your father, Valiant Mason, right? He has trained you and your brothers, Amir, Adel, Abdulrahman, Ibrahim, and you. All five of you in boxing.

Yeah. How old were you when you first started getting into it when you first started to lace up the gloves? How old were you introduced to the sweet signs? When I first started boxing, I was nine years old. That's when I was first joined like a boxing gym. Well, my father had put us in a gym that was around the corner from us. But before that time, he had my older brothers into combat sports.

And they were teaching it to me before I started boxing. But I started actually at nine. Okay. When you say combat sports, stuff outside of boxing too? or always boxing? Yeah, yeah, mixed martial arts. Oh, for real? Back on Dojo, Jitsu, yeah, yeah.

Did you do any of that as well? Yeah, yeah. What happened? Why did you veer towards boxing? Well, we had moved overseas for a while, me and my brothers. And what they had learned from that, the mixed martial arts, they were teaching us to me while we were overseas. And when we had came back from overseas,

there was a gym around the corner from us, you know, and we had took a little break from that, from, you know, learning the mixed martial arts and stuff. But there was a gym around the corner from us, the boxing gym from someone my father had knew. And he asked us all who wanted to get into it. And I was the first one to actually say, yeah, I want to go ahead and try that out. You know, let's see how this is. And then once I got into it, I was like, oh, shoot, you know, this is something I, you know, this is kind of fun to me.

And I was nine at the time. So that's before I actually saw myself as a professional, like as a war champion. But this was also before my brothers joined in with me. Okay. I was around nine years old. And once my brother joined in, that's when I kind of got serious about it. Okay, I can see myself taking as far. You know, I was about 12.

It was a few years later. I was about 12. And we took it a little further to start taking it serious and got serious about our training. And, you know, you see where we are now as a result of us staying focused since then. And when you say overseas, where are you talking about? Egypt and Yemen. Wow, okay. The Yemen and Egypt.

Yeah. That's where you lived. Yeah, yeah. We were in Yemen for a year and Egypt for a year. Okay. Okay, my dad is from Egypt. Oh, for real? Alexandria.

Where did you live? We was in Cairo for a while. Okay. Yeah, I was about four or five, but I remember if that's the only city we were in, but I know we were in Cairo for a while. And why did you go there? Well, just to experience it. I think my father, he wanted us to experience that, you know,

us being where we're from. That's something to experience, you know. Wow. So you don't really have much memories of there. I got some memories, you know. It's a bit of pieces, but I got some memories. Have you been back? No, not back there yet.

Not back there yet. The closest thing to that was Saudi for, I was... Yeah. Are you Muslim? Yes, I am. So to go to Saudi Arabia, obviously predominantly Muslim country, that must have been very impactful and meaningful for you and your family. Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.

You know, it was definitely a experience that I'm grateful for. And something I'm looking forward to doing again, being back there. you know I love the environment and all that but you know first things comes first with this boxing you go somewhere you go to get the job done first sure sure yeah it comes next did you try the dates by the way over in Saudi

I had the dates over there they were phenomenal they were so sweet and juicy and soft yeah for sure yeah I did the food is great over there I went once for the AJ and Ganu fight and I enjoyed it very much yeah people everyone's so nice everyone's so pleasant and accommodating it was a great experience

yeah most definitely All right. And so, by the way, any chance you transition back to MMA, you go back there and dabble a little bit in mixed martial arts? Right now it's just boxing. Right now, you know, we just became a world champion, so we're looking forward to the next step in the sport. Who's your favorite fighter of all time? All time, number one. All time number one, I couldn't give you all time number one, but I would, you know, say the greats, man, back, you know, Sugar Ray Robinson, Shirley Leonard, you know, Muhammad Ali, those are those are those are. top, those are my top guys. I appreciate you saying that because some of the younger fighters... Mohammed Ali, number one, okay.

You watch his old fights? Yeah, I watched some of them. I haven't watched him all the way through, but I watched some of the old fights. Highlights and whatnot? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay, are you feeling the love back home? Have they brought you out to a Cavaliers game and shouted you out and paraded you? I just got back.

I just got back two years ago, you know, since I got back, they've been showing some love, support, a lot of... They should. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So, you know, we're looking forward to the next day. you know, hopefully I can bring a championship here, though. That's all I'm excited for, you know, Cleveland's been supporting, like I said, for a long time. And that'd be great for me to come back and show them support that way.

Yes. By, you know, bringing a championship, allowing them to see it in person and hopefully have my brothers on a card and all that as well. What's your shirt say? Appetite for Smoke? Oh, yeah. And the new. That's nice. Where can we get that?

Mason Brothers Boxing.combs and the new Abilandemasea Appet for Smoke. I love it. Mason Brothers Boxing. I shop. So all the merch from all the, you know, the rest of my previous fights, so it should be on there as well, you know, some of the t-shirts are still up and they haven't sold out. Okay, okay. You know, uh, to me, back before I heard of you, the most famous Abdullah that I ever heard of was Abdullah the butcher. You know, Abdullah the butcher? Yeah. The pro wrestler? I've heard of it, but yeah. Legendary pro wrestler. And now I feel you have taken the mantle from Abdullah the butcher. You're now

the most famous Abdul in the world. So much, much love and respect to you. Congratulations, my man. Thank you. Very fun watching you fight. That was a tremendous fight a couple of weekends ago. And I love what you're doing, love how you fight and what you represent. So keep doing your thing. And I hope you get that fight in Cleveland in the very near future. Thank you.

I appreciate you, man. Take care. All right. All the best. Salam al-a-a-lakem, my brother. All right. There he is. Abdullah Mason joining us, 21 years young, 21-0, 17 knockouts.

If you don't know, now you know. former NABF, NABO Lightway Champion, current WBO lightweight champion. You'll recall, we had Kishan Davis in studio after he won the belt, and then we had him after he was stripped of the belt. And it's that belt. And in the buildup to that fight,

when he was fighting in Virginia, Mason and Kishon, they were both on the stage together, and they were jawing at each other, and now here he is. You know, I'd love to know how Abdullah and both Kish... Well, mainly Kishan, how he feels about it. I fail to mention one thing to Abdullah. Back in the day, this is how uncrowned is on the ball.

Back in the day, we did our top 25 under 25 stars in combat sports, led by our fearless leader, the great Shaheen al-Shadi. Top 25 under 25 studs. And what would be the female equivalent of studs? Studettes? What is it? Ladies? Who's to check?

There's something. There's a female equivalent. To Stutt. Anyway, nothing great here. What did you find? In any event, he was number three on our list, Abdullah Mason. There it is.

Ah, I should have said it to him. He would have loved that. Moses, Atama number one, Roxanne Perez, number two. Hey, let's see how this list has held up. This was back in March. So Moses has crushed it. What a year for him. He's fighting in January. Roxanne Perez has done great in WWE. Abdullah Mason clearly doing great. Mohamed McAyev still scratching and clawing his way back in there. Gabrielle Fondora doing great. Rosas

doing pretty damn good. Pacheco doing great. He's fighting, I think, next weekend over in Stockton. Javon Evans, solid. Norman. Just had the loss. Had a big win. And then the loss jumped up. Nick Wayne, all right, and Joshua Van, 11, fighting for the bell. I'd say that list has held up. And quite frankly, Moses is still won. Maybe Abdullah would be number two on the list. But I'd say that list is held up.

Anyway, I enjoyed meeting him for the first time. And I have enjoyed all our chats today. but there's a lot of news to get to, my friends. There's a lot of things to talk about. Did you guys happen to see earlier this morning, Real American Freestyle Wrestling announced January 10th at the Amarant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, home, home of Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers,

two-time, back-to-back champs. I guess they changed the name of that arena because it used to be something else. It used to be like the Bank Atlantic Center or something like that. A couple of big MMA fights there back in the day. Kimbo Seth Petrazzelli was there. DJ Ian McCall 2 was there.

Anyway, January 10th at this arena, it will be R.A.F. 5. And wouldn't you know it? Former U.F.C. middleweight champion, former Strike Force middleweight champion, won Luke Rockhold going up against the former UFC interim welterweight champion. The former UFC welterweight contender, Colby Covington. How about this? At cruiserweight, Covington, Rockhold, R-A-F, it's interesting. R-A-F, getting a lot of big names.

UFC allowing some of their, you know, Covington obviously still under contract, Rockhold not. Covington hasn't fought since last December when he fought Joaquin Buckley. They also announced that Kyle Dake. So they're, I think they're scratching. the MMA itch and trying to draw the MMA fans in, but also there's Kyle Dake on there, who's obviously very respected in that world. He will face the winner of R.A.F. 4, which is happening in December, December 20th.

Magomed Habib, Kadimagomerov, and Dustin Plot. What a, yeah. Magamette Habib. Jordan Oliver rematching real woods so anyway I thought that that was interesting you guys in

you tapping in who me I'm actually watching Rick sign up for a Fox Nation account right now right now yeah sign up I've been locked in on that listen I got to say

I got to say I asked Chale Chale worked the last show I said Chale shoot with me straight here like what do you think he said it's some of the most now Chale's like a hardcore He's a wrestling guy. Yeah.

He said it was some of the most fun he's had. He said he was sad when the night was over. Love that. He feels like there's something there. Now, again, he's working for them, but, you know. He's a wrestling guy. Yes. I like what they're doing.

I think it's creative, but like I feel like whenever we discuss this, it always just goes back to like I'm just not that into wrestling. Covington, Covington, wrestling against Rockhold. Does that do anything for you? No. I haven't seen one of these yet. I probably still will not. I think there is something there.

I think the move ultimately is, PT, what do you think? The move ultimately is like Covington against a wrestler. Is that the move? That's what you do. And then we go, look how good these wrestlers are. Now that's what these wrestlers wrestle.

Isn't that what they just did? With who? With who? They did Mand there's a Chandler, no? Yeah. No, but then there were a bunch of other ones. Yeah, Buckley got worked. That's what I'm saying.

Is that what you want to see? You want to see them getting worked by amateur wrestlers? Yeah, it's true. Who is this? Oh, it's already happened? Okay. There was an event. Buckley showed up.

He took a fight or a match on short notice. He wore the pop gun and he's like, you know, what does he call himself? He calls himself something. Like, Buck Meadow. Yeah. And he got absolutely work. Like, he got worked. He got worked.

I think there isn't. But again, is Buckley a wrestler? Is he even like? No, but there were others too. And I think there's an audience for this, but the question I would ask is, what is that audience? If it's just amateur wrestling fans, then. I think you can do this cheaper, right? I think you can do this without having all the glitz and the glamour surrounding it.

If it's a casual audience, then I don't think that they care necessarily for the high-level amateur wrestlers. And this feels like a mix of both that's not serving either the best possible product, in my opinion. Like, either, I think you have to either lean all the way into amateur wrestling or lean all the way into the kind of like MMA type showdowns and pick a lane. Otherwise, it's just like

a mixed message that's not really serving best to those one of those two crowd. Yeah. I appreciate what they're doing. I appreciate it. Like I... Play to get onto like Foypas or something by doing this? Like, I don't know. Oxnation's a good home for it.

I think they're happy with it. Ultimately, I'd love to see them on like FS1, right? Not behind the paywall on cable TV, streaming as well. The Fox nation is a nice, I think a nice step forward. But ultimately, I think you have to be on regular TV as well. It was, I mean, honestly, just to see Covington's name there, I was like, okay, all right, still active, still doing his thing. That is interesting. At least to me,

I wasn't expecting that. So, Covington, still active, still doing his thing. Guys, it does appear as though this is it. I put an asterisk there. This is it for Henry Sehuda. Henry Sohudo speaking to the media yesterday, guys, telling them that this is it. Now, we're going to play a clip here of Henry Sohudo saying this is it. But count how many seconds it takes him to add except. Remember, he retired back in 2020, May of 2020. And there's a big booth there as well, if I remember correct? On the way back to the locker room, post-fighter.

He goes, I'm retired, except. he did it again now now this is a lot different it's five years later I get it but it's amazing like he retires and then he hangs the little butt it's wild here it is from Henry Suhudo is this the last one

are you coming back just to get that taste out of your mouth you decided no this is it for me guys this is it for me unless Dana wants me to this is a really big fight with some other Mexican you know they'll be willing to do it but other than that I think I've done everything at the highest level since I was

11 years old from cutting weight at that damn time and there's just a lot of satisfaction in my life. I'm ready to move on to, man. I have a couple kids that want to play with their dad 24-7. So it was literally, this is it, unless,

like the next word. It's either, it or it's not. Pick one, Henry. I know Henry and I have gone back and forth, well, a little bit. It was more Camaro, but Henry was there. Big Doug, you're the big Doug. It's a matter of respect, Camaro. respect. I get that. I get that. I love Henry. We go way back, much respect, much respect to his

career, what he's done, who he is. I mean, the gold medal, and then, you know, to win the flyway title and then win the bantamweight title, I mean, it's unbelievable. It really is unbelievable. It's a great career. But when you retire, you got to retire with like Pannash, right? Like, you just have to retire because otherwise it doesn't mean as much. So the fight that he's talking about is the Brandon Moreno fight, that's the fight that he is talking about. I can't see the UFC bringing him out of retirement for that fight, and so I guess this is it. And I just, honestly, I want Henry to have his moment. If Henry wins and if Henry beats Peyton Talbot, and it's still such a wild fight,

and to me, actually, it's one of the most intriguing fights on this card. Like, I'm just, I can't wait to see how it plays out because I truly have no idea what the hell's going to happen. I never thought that they would go and book Payne Talbot versus Henry Sehudo after Peyton lost back in January, I just wanted to have his moment and I wanted to feel at peace and put the, you know, put the gloves down, get your moment, speak to the crowd, win or lose, but don't throw out the unless, don't throw out the accept. That's just not the way you retire, in my opinion. So I'm happy he's coming out and saying it, and we could talk about it,

and I know Peyton Talbot was asked about it at Media Day today, and he's like, look, I have to now stand in front of that. I need to stand in the way of him. trying to go out on a win. But just say it's over. Or don't say it's over. You can't say it's over unless. That doesn't count. It has to be a clean retirement, in my opinion.

Anyone disagree with that? If he gets a win, do you think he gets on the mic? Brandon Moreno is the very next fight, and he calls out Brennan Moreno again? That is true. They're on the car together, aren't they? There are no combat sports retirements other than Habib. They don't exist. Yeah, but he's not even retired.

He's literally saying, I'm done unless. Yeah, they're all done unless. less though. No, but most people say I'm done and then they come back a year later. Like, I have to be honest, Porre is giving me vibes like he's coming back in the next eight months. Time out. Porriere literally said I'm done unless. He was saying that the whole time. What was it? Nate Dia, there was some fight.

He was talking about... He said that after, like two weeks later he said, let's box. They're all, I'm done unless. There's no real retirement. Not everyone says it like Henry just said it and how he said it back in 2020. The whole thing, everything is saying kind of nonchalant. Like he was just like yeah I'm done I got kids at home

they want to be with their dad and then the follow-up question was what do you want to get out of Saturday and he was like you just give it my all despite the outcome whatever the outcome is does this make you feel any different about the fight yes it actually does he's very nonchalant it feels like he's he's one foot out the door wow he's not even talking about winning the fight

in the interviews he's just like yeah this is it for me wow wow wow wow wow wow wow okay I'm sure he's going to go in and give it 110 but like you're going up against the dude 11 years younger than you who is a growing star in the sport, has a chance to become a top 10 Bannamweight with a win. I mean, Henry Sudo hasn't won a fight in over 2,000 days.

It's been since spring of 2020. So wait. What the fuck? I thought unnecessary, Frank. Yeah. I think it's because they're fighting each other because Moreno and Ta-Sutu-Tarra is fighting after. Yeah.

I'm trying to put two and two together. I probably asked you this already. So forgive me, Peyton is the favorite. He is the favorite. He's like a minus 250. Okay. Interesting. Not for nothing. Barcellus is a two-time South American wrestling champion,

and he really web-blanketed Payton Talbot. And this guy is an Olympic gold medalist. I know I'll be similar to GC in terms of he's not really setting me on fire there with that, the talk ahead of the fight. But, I mean, skill set that work against Talbot, he's on a different level complete than Barcellos. Does does 510 versus 5.4 matter to you at all? Or is it just like you just got to get it to the mat?

For wrestling, it's better to be shorter. Better, yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm very intrigued. I'm very, very intrigued by this fight. I'm excited for it. I mean, Talbot wins. Talbot gets a knockout, whatever. Like, he's right back on that. And I could see it. I could see that too. Who's the only guy who's knocked out? Is Demetri's the only guy who's knocked

to Henry Sudo? Oh, man, that shot to the freaking solar plexus there. Yeah. Yeah, horrific. I think he's the only guy to TKO at Sudo, honestly. So that'd be huge for a paint and towel, but like either way here,

it's a massive swings and roundabout kind of fight. And that, of course, and he is, that of course was, well, well, yes, yes, yes. He got one back, obviously, on DJ, and that was obviously, would you say the biggest win?

Yeah, probably the biggest one of his career, yeah, for sure. For Henry? Yeah. For sure, yeah. The TJ win was pretty damn big. too, but to stop, you know, to stop his winning streak, DJ's winning streak, you know what I was thinking about? I was thinking, because we're approaching the Paramount Plus first show and the end of

the ESPN era, I was thinking in my mind, I was like, how many fighters who fought on the first ESPN card are still in the UFC by the end of the deal? Because that first card was January of 2019. It's now ending in December of 2025. Henry Suhudo about to retire. T.J. no longer fighting. Alan Crowder, Greg Hardy, no longer. Isn't that crazy? That was the commain? What the hell? That is crazy that that was the co-main.

I saw a video of Greg Hardy boxing over in Russia this past weekend. Did you see that? He collapsed in the corner. He collapsed in the corner and he needed an inhaler. It was a bad scene. I saw him getting splattered there a few months back as well. Yeah. Gregor Gillespie, Yancey Maderos, neither of them.

So as of right now, of the top. top six, just one left, and Henry is about to retire, so he won't be there by the end of the deal. Joseph Benavita is Dustin Ortiz, Paige Van Zant, Rachel Ostevic, Glovertecara, Carl Roberson, who I just saw at the BKFC show. So that of the main card, and it was a six-fight main card, by the end of this year, not a single one of them will still be in the UFC. Donald Tarone, Alex Hernandez. Hernandez, thriving, believe it or not, had some ups and downs, but now obviously thriving.

Joanne Calderwood, now Wood, no longer in the UFC. Ariani Lipski, is she still in the UFC? I think so. She was. Oh, wait, she just leave. Did she go to Octagon or something? I saw her son.

Or did she go to BKFC? She hasn't fought in a minute. I think Octagon. Yeah, maybe BKFC. Her last fight was in June. Yeah. But I think she just left. Alonzo Menefield?

Still. Yeah, just lost. Still there. Benicius Mojera? I don't think so. No. Corey Sanhagen all the way on the prelims down there

against Mario Batista What a big fight that is I won 35 now geez that's like a number one contender fight Dennis Bermuda's Taye Edwards Jeff Neil Bilal Muhammad on the early prelims

and then chance as people call them Ren Counter always bothered me Kyle Stewart so what's funny about that is so this deal lasted 1920, 21, 22,

23, 23, 24, 27 years. The vast majority of the guys fighting on this card on January 24th will not be more than likely in the UFC in seven years. Kind of wild to think about it, considering the big names on that card. It's just crazy knowing that the main card, there's the only one left is Suhudo and he's about to retire. And he'll be done. Imagine if everyone on the main card of UFC 324 is gone at the end of the Paramount deal. And I know I've been one of the louder, you know, complainers about the card.

And it's really just about the bad order. I've said the card is stellar as far as the names. Can we just say, I mean, ESPN kind of got hosed here. Like, this, the names here. Retrospect is not great. No, not even a retrospect. Like, the co-main was Alan Crowder against Greg Hardy. We were high-bon-hardy.

My only pushback is that was a fight night. It was a fight night with a title fight at the top. Okay, but it was a fight night. Do you remember what happened in retrospect? Do you remember what happened? I remember vividly there was supposed to be a pay-per-view the weekend before in Anaheim and they canceled it. Yes, yes.

Because they couldn't get a main event for it. Yeah. So it was rough out of the gate. I remember because we were doing Ariel and the bad guy and all this stuff. And we were thinking, like, what are we going to, and how do we talk about this? And I was thinking, most importantly, like, how do I talk about this in a somewhat not so critical way when I'm now new here and working for the broadcast partner? Yeah. And of course, I went on first take right before this fight card.

Yeah, and I said it was incredibly tone deaf to have Rachel Austin. of it, and then TMZ asked Dana and he said who the fuck is Aria Holwani to say anything

what the fuck does he know? What a start? Never asked back on first take, by the way. Weird. Wonder why. Yeah.

Speaking of the matchmaking, wouldn't you, you know, you guys ever see like, especially on Tuesday, Wednesday, there'll be like fighters doing like Henry just did an interview

and other fighters will be, you know, in the back doing interview with media that's there, interviews, there's the step and repeat. You guys have seen this, right, on Fight Week, especially for the big shows. There's DC there, Nina's there. You know these interviews on Fight Week that I'm talking about? Yeah, man.

You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. Usually it's like the fighters who are fighting on the card. Yeah, no, yeah, you get it. You know the ones that I'm talking about? Yeah, but I couldn't help but notice that a manager, Ali Abdulaziz, is doing those interviews as well. which, you know, runs counter to what Caleb was trying to say to me on Monday. And so I saw him doing an interview with Mike Bond of M.A. Junkie.

Like the same setup sitting down, the step and repeat, UFC, the logo, the sponsors, all this stuff. I'm like, wow, managers are doing these now too. And, you know, he was, he's talking, he's not talking, he's naming, he's doing the thing. And one thing that I would love to offer as actually, like, advice to Ali, he's taking it as an insult that people are saying, like, oh, yeah, like you get your client's title fights and, you know, the way in which you do business, you know, of course Justin Gitchie's going to get an interim title fight. And of course Kamar Usman's going to get an interim or an actual title fight and stuff. And he's taking this as an insult. He's being like, you know, this, like, I don't have any power here. That's the

wrong thing to say. No, of course. Say you have the power. Actually take this one and run with it. Tell the world and tell other fighters, yeah, I'm the guy. I'm the guy that could get you a title fight, an undeserved unwarranted title fight. Come to me, be on my team, and I will get you what you want. I would run with that, lean into that. We're criticizing it because these are unwarranted title fights and title shots that, you know, there are other people who deserve it. And, you know, we say he curries favor and house manager, all this stuff. But like, I would spin that and be like, yeah, yeah, well, you guys say whatever the hell you want. Come here. I'm the kingmaker. I actually call the shots. I'm the public.

and master. That's what I would, honestly, that's what I would do if I were him. So he's like throwing shade and getting all in his feelings about it. But if I were him, I would actually lean and take it as a comp and be like, thank you. Oh, yes, I'm the one. I appreciate you guys noticing. I appreciate the recognition. He said this. I want to read a quote. He said, Kamar Usman has done a lot of things for this company. I will campaign for him to get a title fight, as he should. He is his manager. That's literally his job. Now, it's also our job to say, but like your specific you work for him this is a great quote

this is a great quote here what the fuck has Ian Gary done the last couple of years Kamar Usman is a legend he was offered Shafkat last November who ended up fighting Shafkat last December Kamaruk accepted the fight okay we'll see Kamar Usman is one of the biggest names in the division when you're Isamahachev you want to have legacy on your name

so he's trying to paint the picture as to why Camaro deserves this fight. Camaro Usman, as we said, has one win in the last four years, right? He had a three-fight losing streak, and prior to this fight, he had not won a fight since 2021. Ian Garry, in the last year, has fought three times, including against Shafkat, short-noticed fight, short-noticed main event against Carlos Prachas, beat him, and then, you know, and beats the former champion Bala Muhammad.

He has done more in the past year and has won more in the past year and has helped out the UFC more in the past year than Kamar Usman has in the last four years. So what the F has Ian Gary done is a crazy, crazy comment. Again, I have no problem with him campaigning for his guy, but like we have to also look at it, you know, honestly and critically as well and say this is nonsense.

Yes, Pizzi. you know if he's getting upset with what you're saying he's essentially agreeing what you're saying he's kind of saying yeah this is a golden handshake he's done a lot for the company this is what you said it was like this is a lifetime achievement award yes yes this is like that that's exactly what like he is saying that's what usman deserves here that is what you said it would be if he gets it so he's about singing out the same hymchia i don't know why he's getting upset yeah he's getting in his feelings he's upset also again if i were him just be like yeah all you all you babies out there you're right I do have the inside track

they listen to me I'm the best but isn't it like Eddie Heron with Turkey Alashique in a way didn't he say this to you when you were asking about earlier in the year when you were asking about the relationship between Dana White and Turkey Alashique he was like I don't know if he can be what I am to Turkey where I just go this is your show back up

you're the man I'm second fiddle to you like I feel like that's what Ali is doing with Dana like he wouldn't he wouldn't take the liberty of being I'm like, yeah, I am the best in case Dan was like, hang on a second. You know, relax your cacks there, me. Yeah. We're calling the shots here. That's what I think it is.

Yeah. But, like, if I were him, puff your chest out, say, yeah, I'm getting Usma in a title shot. I'm getting just in a title shot. I got Kayla on this. Like, that's what you should be doing as the manager. And we should be doing this. Like, that's why he doesn't get, he takes it personally because he thinks that any sort of he is so thin skin that he thinks any sort of criticism.

But like, again, as I said to Kayla, if you are putting yourself, as an influential figure in the sport. If you are putting yourself in that position, if you are getting deals done, you are going to be subject to scrutiny. And you'll also be subject to praise. The fighters seem very happy. One thing I'll say about Ali,

and I'll give him props for this, a lot of guys don't leave Ali. You don't see people for all the criticism that we have. A lot of people don't leave him high and dry. They don't go and sign with someone else. So, you know, clearly he's doing something for them. but you know on this side of the table we'll say all right this guy deserves it that guy deserves it but his job is different than ours his job is to get his fighters the biggest

fights and eventually title fights that's his job and he's doing his job so fair play fair play aljermaine sterling has been online saying i want to fight and it appears as though he wants lorone murphy lorone tweeting a couple days ago the whole division are flocking like women. Whatever that means. It's always weird to me when fighters say that because like you know that there are women in the UFC too, right? Like what does that mean? I don't get that. There are actual like badass women fighting in the UFC. Anyway, hollering my name daily. It seems like the cool thing to do until you feel it. Hashtag body bag sees it. Here's Aljo's reply. I've agreed. I'd like a fight that has some meaning or we can keep tweeting on

X. Oh, I thought that was a little kiss at the end there. I think that was. like put up or shut up you like that fight pt i wouldn't like it was laurel morphy you know you think you're going to fight for a title and now you got a grappling savage coming at you a guy who is very hard to look good against as well aljo's a savage um and a fight the way he fights it's very difficult to uh get a spell-binding knockout like lorone did against iron pico so there's a fight with aljermain sterling really put him in the the driving seat to get a title shot. It's a very difficult task.

I wouldn't put a pass around. Like, he's a bad motherfucker, but it's a very tough fight to look good in. And as we know, the UFC wants spectacle. Like, it is about spectacle more than it is about sport as far as I'm concerned now. Yeah. I don't mind it, but I want to see Lorone versus Mossar. I just want clear number one contender fights.

I don't hate it at all. I think Aljo versus Leone would be a better fight, like a more entertaining fight. but I think as far as like meritocracy rankings if Aljo fights Lorone who the hell is Moser fighting you know what about your boy Chris Bungard man that was some

football conversation some can of piss over there huh have you have you ever played has Celtic ever played Forrest yeah yeah yeah in 1983 ah come GC gives me the

he gives me the graphic I thought you were going to hit him with the graphic on the screen what happened it was great was it just for my intel It was just your intel Jordan didn't have in the system

I think that was really like the home run The two logos with the 2-1 Hell yeah That was like By the way Go back to the First century Go back to the clip

He's looking He's waiting for it He thinks I'm gonna hit him with it He's waiting for it Can I ask? Was Del Boy back there with you boys? He sure was Aye

Every second word is I They're legend aren't they the boys You're talking about something We're talking about some movies we like And he's just like I be honest every fifth word you understand right no I get it completely okay I was getting most of it I wanted to send Chris a list of phrases that he could say to you

and you could work out what he was trying to say but there was one point when he was talking about needing to go to the bathroom and you were like I'm sorry what are you saying right now they take a piss I need a B that's talking about B guys we were talking about the decision to make the announcement on Thursday during halftime of the Chiefs

Cowboys game while the ratings have come out have you guys seen the ratings look at these ratings 57.23 million viewers fucking out shatters viewership records

most watch game in NFL history regular season game holy shit shattering previous record by 36% I was mid I had a little indigestion

Do you know what that was? That was like a DJ when he goes My wife Yes My father-in-law Wait what happened Okay go back NFL and CBS has its best viewership

Since the NFL returns to CBS in 1998 averaging 22.120 million viewers Now any Paramount Plus had its most streamed NFL regular season game ever And has its best NFL season today, audience peaked with 61.357 million. Anything about the halftime. Little skit there with the dip and the ding-dong and Marab and McKinsey, anything there?

I mean, everybody was eating dinner. That's right. That's right. Everyone was on Instagram Live, mate. But fair to say, there was probably, you know, 45 to 50 million people watching that halftime, right? Or at least it was on TV. I don't know if they were sitting there watching it, but pretty damn good use, I would say, of the platform. Do you think we'll see more of that guys? Yes. You think we'll see more of that? Like interjected into NFL games, yes.

Yeah, I remember at the beginning of the ESPN deal, they did that at the Foxx deal. And then, like, it kind of just like. Maybe, but I remember, I mean, they paid a lot of money for this. And I remember when one championship was on prime and they were getting plugs during Thursday night football on prime.

They were? Yeah, I remember them coming back to a Chargers game or whatever, and they were coming back from commercial break and out Michaels or whoever does it. Oh, yeah. It's like, make sure to tune into one championship 154. Yeah, I love that. I love that.

I love when the, like, when Mike Breen has to read a promo for UFC 324, something like that. And then when they have to say some names, it's like UFC 324 featuring. And they'll always, they'll make it easy for them. It'll be like Marab versus Peter, you know. Like Dana, basically. Yeah. Whenever Dana has to pronounce anybody's name. Then there's always a couple of tricky ones.

It's like, the one ones, they'll be like, on. Lang San fighting. By the way, some of my confidence in this continuing is from the fact that the biggest events are going to be on CBS as opposed to in the previous era when the biggest events were behind a paywall on.

Plus, these events are going to be on the network that they're plugging it on. The biggest UFC shows are going to be on that CBS station that the people are watching when they plug it. I am skeptical. That they'll promote it? I am skeptical about them having the events on CBS, the biggest ones.

I think the biggest ones are going to be on Paramount Plus. I think ultimately the way you recoup your money is to get people to sign up, be subscribers, and watch. So I think you will get a couple, no doubt about it. And I think White House card, they've already said that. But I think the vast majority of those events are going to be on Paramount Plus. Otherwise, it's going to be very hard to make your money back. How many CBS cards do you think we get in 2026? Well, didn't they say four a year, unless I'm a mistake?

I don't think more than four. I wouldn't be surprised if there's less. Me neither. I wouldn't be surprised. That's interesting. Yeah. We'll see. We were talking about, you know, we need a little oomph as far as the promotion is concerned.

A little oomph, a little passion, a little, you know, I don't know, something. Hutzpah. I don't know what you call it. Like yesterday, you know, Kahnemortem. Gregor, Joseo Alto, Las Vegas Strip, those press conferences were great, who the F is that guy, and then what did you know it? I'm perusing Jedi's feed, and first he tweets this, which I love this, this was great. He tweets an alert that there's going to be a UFC athlete press conference.

I'm reading this, catch some UFC athletes for an exciting press conference. I'm like, come on, guys. Can we try a little bit? Catch some UFC athletes, some? What does that mean? We're all thinking, who's it going to be? Who's it going to be at the exciting press conference? It's going to be just some local guys.

Well, anyway, we got an update to that, thankfully. And now it feels a lot bigger. It's on. Seasonal press conference. There it is. Remember the other one? What was it? Go big?

What was the one that everyone references? Yeah, there was a go big one. There was one that the time is now? It's something like that. No, I don't think it was. It's on. It's got me pretty hyped. Yeah.

Time is now. It's on. So what do you think? They'll bring out. Gatchee Patty, Amanda Kayla, Sugar Song. Go big. Go big press conference was. There was another one, though.

There was one that everyone mentions. Well, Go Big was the, I don't know. We're going to see some UFC athletes there on Friday. At the exciting press conference, man. What more do you want? Yeah, it's going to be exciting. And there will be some athletes there. That's a guarantee, isn't it?

Some UFC athletes. Oh, yeah. When you've got some UFC athletes coming, it's always going to be. What is happening right now? One person who won't be at this press conference will be one Sean Strickland who announced yesterday that he was offered a fight in Australia against Fluffy Hernandez, which I believe once Fluffy pulled out of that RDR fight, I believe I remember saying that I think that that was a fight that made a lot of sense. Anyway, Sean Strickland took to social media to explain his line of thinking. Good news, you guys. My suspension's up in like 10 days.

I'm so fucking stoked. I just need like eight weeks, 10 weeks, more fat. But did this suspension suck? Hell yes, it's up. Is that the drink that Frank drinks? Would I do it again to hit that guy in the face? Yes, I would. You know, if a man tells you to do that, you only, you got to fight him.

There's no other way. You got to just send me. There's the thing, you guys. You guys, I did say no to the Australia car. In Australia, I fucking love you guys, man. You guys are all white trash. You're all like-minded. Dude, I feel like we're one of the same, but I don't have medical insurance.

So you want me to go get my first bite back in Australia and get half my check to you fuckers and buy your medical insurance? I ain't fucking doing it. I ain't doing it. I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. We ain't doing it. And I love the Australia.

I love the UFC, but I just can't do it. Can't fucking do it. Anyways, that being said, I love the Fluffy fight. Let's get the shit booked in the States. I'm an American. I'm like one of the few real Americans that are finally. in the UFC of them, Bryce. So let's get this book in the States.

And you guys, like, a little insight on the middleweight division. The middleweight division's on a fucking ice, dude. You got a jimmy, a little whore. He has Ramadan, then he has a surgery, and then he's going to fight Nassardine in a year, and just dry-hub Nassardine,

and then he's had to go back home and kiss the dictator, and maybe his ovaries are hurting. So, like, the middle-weight division doesn't exist. I'd be better off trying to fight for a 205 belt than I would the middle-way belt. It don't exist anymore, man. This is what we got when we got that little whore in.

So after he goes and fights and kisses the ring and says, Oh, Daddy Cordero, can I fight again? Do you want me to go do Jiu-Jitsu with the kid? They don't get set up. So middle-way division on the ice. Anyways, man, thank you guys for riding with me, Moss or two. Let's go get some Ws. I can't wait to get back.

Okay, so there's a lot in there. The main thing is, yeah, I kind of agree. Strickland, Fluffy shouldn't be in Australia. It's like that's an American fight. if anything it's kind of like a fight night main event no isn't that kind of a great fight night night main event yeah for sure it is why do they keep putting sean strickland outside of the united states they put them in canada they put them on they yeah they it's like a traveling show they love people love them out here but wouldn't he be like super over in the u.s i feel like he's

probably more over everywhere else because he's like a character yeah yeah yeah of america he's put over everywhere it's like the jukes of hazard rolling into town all right but Yes, that should be a fight-night main event in the U.S. I love the fight. I hope they book it for a card. Should it be on the White House card? No, maybe crazy. Why not?

The White House card? Too far away, if they wanted it for February. How long did he say? Ten weeks, he's got to lose some fat. Yeah. They're going to be thinking about the White House card until February. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

That's right. He's a former middleweight champion. Johnny Eblen is a former middleweight champion in the PFL announced, by the way, that they have resigned Johnny Eplin. I don't think he's going to get a title fight in his first fight back? Maybe he'll wait, but it sounds like they're going to do Fabian Edwards versus Costel Vancinus. By the way, speaking of that 324 card, multiple outlets, Sherdog, MMA junkie reporting that Alexa Grasso is out of that fight against Rosenomajunus,

and now it's Natalia Silva against Rosamajunis. That was a joke, by the way. So I thought it was going to be Natalia Silva against Valentina. I thought they were going to just do that title fight next, but I guess not. Natalia Silva stepping in. Shout out to her. Earlier in the day we spoke about Terrence Crawford being stripped of the WBC title. Well, he has also taken to Instagram to add further commentary, further thoughts to the situation. Here's a snippet of what he had to say while driving as well. I see Maricio, you know, got a lot to say about me not paying him $300,000 plus another.

hundred k something for sanction fees right they ain't gonna tell me i ain't even tell i apologize like who the fuck you think i am boy you better slap your fucking self and paying your ass shit fuck you talking about pay you three hundred thousand dollars what makes you so motherfucking better than any other other sanction bodies huh answer that question What makes you better than the WBO, the IBF, or the WBA? Everybody accepted what I was giving them. But you, you, the WBC, think that you better than everybody, don't you? So since you, the WBC, and you got the fucking green belt, which don't mean fucking shit,

the fucking real belt is the ring belt, which is free, motherfucking. you're talking about you want me to pay you more than the other sanction bodies because you feel like you better than them how in the world all the sanction bodies agreed to the same amount

but you sit your motherfucking ass up there and say that I need to apologize to you the fuck you can take the fucking belt it's a trophy anyway

the fucking my paying you every time I stepped foot in the fucking ring. So he had a lot to say there. I think the video was like eight or so minutes. You know, when I first heard about this yesterday, the first thing I thought, given his relationship with the TKO brass, I was like, oh, for sure they're going to say, like, look, this is exactly what we're talking about, fighters, don't adhere to these rules, don't pay these fees, like, don't do it,

don't fall for it. And then I see in the middle of the show, Nick Kahn is on Pat McAfee's show kind of saying the exact same thing, saying that. Like, look, this is a perfect example as to why. I think the, the quote was something like, what was the quote? I saw it here moments ago. Golly, I saw it. Does anyone have it?

Yeah, the quote is, what we're looking to do with the Muhammad Ali Revival Act is presenting a different option for boxers. We'll have our own ranking systems, and the champion will fight the number one contender. Let's do things in a credible way. So they're trying to like organize it in a way that, you know, there's one singular belt. There's a ranking system. UFC style. Here's the specific quote.

I saw that one too and I want to bring that one up in a moment, but he said, quote, Terence Crawford had an amazing effort against Canello and he unanimously won that championship. How is it that two months later he's not the champion because he didn't pay a fee? It's only in the sport of boxing that we see nonsense like this. and he is right to a degree. Now, that quote, that quote is regarding, you know, matchmaking and whatnot. And I couldn't help but see a cheeky little New York, Rick, quote, tweet that with what? Quote, the champion will fight the number one contender just like in the UFC

and then a picture of Gaichi Pimblit and Volcanowski-Lopez, too. So, you know, this is the way it's going to go. It's going to be very interesting. And if you think that the drama as far as title contenders and belts is strictly an MMA-Slas problem, it's not. It's been a boxing problem forever and it's a UFC MMA problem. It's, it's a combat sports thing. And to a degree, I will just say there's a fun part of it because you sit around and debate and have these arguments and all this stuff and it gives us fodder. And there's obviously a frustrating part as well because you do want to see the best fight the best, especially when it comes

to the UFC when there's no other outside influences factoring into these decisions. There's no, no, no, no, no. The mandatory is that guy who has nothing to do with the top five or no no no no we need you to pay these fees like it's literally them controlling their own rankings controlling their own belt and having to listen to no one so you would hope that given that model and system there would be no nonsense but doesn't quite work like that i did want to bring up we were talking about the middleweight division drickus duplice said to the fight forecast podcast regarding a potential fight against Brendan Allen, you want two fights in a row. Don't come calling out former champions. I mean, I would love to smash his face in. He's such an idiot. But to be honest

with you, as a champion, I only pick the best guys where I'm at. I don't want a money fight. I want the fight that's going to get me the title the quickest. If that's what the UFC wants, sure, but does Allen really make sense? There's a lot of guys, but I don't care. Give me anybody as long as it gets me back to my belt. So right now, we've seen a lot of activity at 170, looking forward to the same at 185. Frankie, do we have any super chats? Oh, yeah. Does that mean a lot?

No. We've got some dumplings to get to it. And Ptze, we're going to miss you at the dumplings. The what? Yeah. Dumbling? I was in the top. Yes?

0.03% of listeners. So I'll be messaging Frank, my Addy, for my trophy. Hell yeah. Also, and now they're both women. Still has me laugh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, when some, you lose some. you know what I meant

but I do appreciate that I see a lot of 0.3 percenters 0.7 percenters 0.07 percenters love you all and we're not playing favorites around these parts all right peace and love, peace and love. What else? Who the fuck is we?

Glad to see my favorites the Halwanis show and post wrestling be number one and number two on my top podcast list of the YouTube music recap cheers to many more years. Hell yeah, post wrestling we love John Pollock Way Ting, the whole crew over there they do a phenomenal job

we love being in that company in that vicinity so peace in love peace and love we appreciate you all very very much what else Frankie what up Zufa must be salivating at Crawford being stripped due to sanctioning fees there you have it Ace Boogie there you have it you called it you thought the same thing shout out to you and what else Frankie what else

shout out Abdullah Mason cool to see the kid on the billboards all around Bedford Ohio hell yeah yeah Bedford Ohio shout out to them the 216 I'm from the land till I die till I die oh what else Frankie

2025 YouTube recap top point one percent show with 79 61 minutes listened pound for pound podcast top 100 percent was zero minutes listen PS

since five halves to last night tough yeah that is tough did you get that joke no go back to it go back to it he said he said

pound for pound pocket top 100 percent zero minute It's listen. I think Frank not getting the joke adds to the joke. Yeah, yeah, it's good stuff. It's good stuff. Shout to the sins.

What else, Frankie? Someone check in on Josh T, question mark. His X is concerning. Hmm. Who's Josh T? Who's to check? All right. We thought maybe you would know.

Does anyone know? Is Josh Thompson? He's posting a bunch of throwback. Oh. But why is that concerning? Yeah, why is that concerning? I don't know. He posted like 12 throwback.

Oh, here it is. Yeah. What's concerning about that? We debated this back here. Yeah, I don't know. Okay. All right. What else for you?

Would it be possible to mail a Magic the Gathering card for Never Sick Rick to sign? No. I was supposed to mail? Yes. What is an MTG card? Magic the Galaxy. Oh. No, because why would you want to devalue your card like that?

There's no reason. Ah, get over and sign the card. Fucking sign it, Rick. Send it in. Send it and forge his signature. We'll make him sign it. I don't want to devalue the card. What if it's just like a swamp?

If it's a land, if it's a basic land. All right, maybe. Yeah. What else, Frankie? What else? Thanks for having, Abdul, 16, 330. Let's go Ohio. Oh, H.

That's one of Frank's best. The area codes red is full on numbers. The O.H, not getting it. That was perfect. 216. 330. matchmaking inconsistencies has been one of the biggest issues plaguing the UFC I think the USC should let people vote on their favorite

matchups let the crowd decide who got next that's what they used to do mate that's what they used to do I can't even lie a area looks like he's pulling a pizza right now he is what does he do it we are said we have to do this if we're going to text from now on no you'll have breaking news I wish I could tell you yeah you have to use the two hands, too. The boomer point and click. Send. Yeah.

Wait a one second. Talk amongst yourselves. The way he's sitting, too, is just purely just... Any more superchats, Frank? Are there? Yeah, let's see. Is Ollie that shook night of MMA?

Olly? The search. How dare you? Feels illegal. I need to hit that ditty duck, but away. No, I need to watch. Isn't it? E.Ped by 50 cent? Yeah. Oh, fucking in.

And there's definitely a few chief shots thrown up there. If anyone wants a producer all up in your videos, dancing. Isn't it exactly it, though? Yeah. It's very funny, though. Like, there's obviously very serious allegations, but there's just some parts where, like, 50 just threw this in for the crack. Like, he has, like, a one-minute montage or just people in. Like, he has absolutely no talent.

No, no musical talent whatsoever. I'm like, this isn't really the story we're trying to tell. but however. Nobody's pettier than 50 cent. He's fantastic. The Jaroa beef. Do you know about that one from back in the day? He bought all the concert tickets so that nobody would go.

He bought it on a whole concert of John's true, and nobody showed up. Is that true? Yes. I don't believe it. No, it's legit. Isn't there like a Floyd Mayweather beef with the, with the, everybody was doing the ALS challenge, and he asked him to read a book. I mean, he is, he is a generation later.

If you can read one page of Harry Potter, I'll donate 50 million or whatever. They're all terrified of them. 50 cents is genuinely terrifying. He's unbelievable. Dancing. What else, Frankie? Hey, Ariel and crew love the show,

and Greg Hardy is fighting again in January PFC. Keep fighting. Thoughts on who is we? Does he mean like who the F is we? Yeah, probably he wants to drop. Pizzi, I said at the beginning of the show, I don't know if you heard, I was going for my morning run and I popped my hammie.

It's tough. So much pain right now. Do you think this is it? It just looks like you're playing with your tackle if you start a Rubin down there, which is a. Do you think this is it? Do you think this is it in my, like my athletic career? Do you think it's over?

Oh, you got to believe in yourself. You can start stretching more, mate. Yeah, yeah, that's the problem. Run slower. It's that speedy or is, you know what I mean? Go for a walk. It's a problem. Rice.

Rice. Rice. Rice. It's kind of like coming up to my hip, too. Like, the pain is, like, moving up. Impression. Elevation. Elevation.

Right. Dumplings? We think it's torn? There was a pop. You're going to eat an awful fucking luck these downstairs. Yeah. I webbing, eat it? Yeah.

It's either a strain or a tear. And what does that mean? What does that mean? Well, it could be, you know, depends on the severity. Who's to check? Grade one, grade two, grade three. It's popping. It's like it felt it.

It continues to pop? No, but I feel. It was the one pop. There was a pop, and then it's like there's a throbbing. You have to wait a little bit to see what it is, you know. Yeah, I think I wrap it up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do a little bath situation.

I think you rest it. Yeah. Do some ice, some compression, and then you have a day. Yeah. What about sparring on Friday? Can I do that? No, we're going to pull you out of sparring. I'm going to pull you out of the fight next month as well.

No! I refuse. No. I need to do a video blog like Hospitals now every week. You remember when you, wow. Oh, so this was just like, were you turning a corner or anything or is... No, a hill, hill, hill, up a hill, up a hill. Yeah, felt it.

Felt it. What does the chat say? What is the chat? Chat, do you think I should... When's the last time you got new runners? You know what? You know what? My runners are kind of beat up.

Nah, well, then you're fucking messingly. You're going to do this seriously or what? No, I got on the blower afterwards. Just stop fucking around out there, you know what I mean? I know, I know. I know. Think about it. I know.

You have kids. Yeah. you're 100% right. By the way, someone sent me a message earlier today and I wanted to read it real quick because I think it's the most accurate thing ever said to me as it pertains to the show. This is from my friend Yohanan. He said, I have an idea when we want to measure the size of an event slash announcement slash rumor about an upcoming or potential fight. It really depends on how many calls and texts Pizzi is getting. If the UFC announces something and we're not sure how we feel about it, got to ask Pizzi about the calls, if he's getting calls, you know it's a big deal.

How do you feel about that? I think it's absolutely accurate. I think if you go back through the history of this show, since existence, every time you ask me, is it in fact a big fight? I will say, I can only gauge this on how many phone calls I got. And, you know, it's tried and tested. And as G.C. brought up earlier, his dormant needs a show here as well. Yeah, no, you're right. You're right. Well, thanks for telling everyone that I already told you about this. comment you could have just played around you know what i mean yeah yeah ptze's getting a bunch of calls and then i walked down to leave my apartment and my dormant's like hey did you see xyz fight got made and ptzee has already confirmed he's been receiving ample calls it's a big one everyone's calling me

i was on the blower with this guy i want to start now one's calling me though sometimes now calling me yeah yeah it is can you start tallying them for me ptze just to what's big like i'd say quantify it i'd say six to seven like That's an all-time banger. Like back in the day, right, when you're talking McGregor fights back in the day, the phone didn't fucking stop. They did not fucking stop. You're talking over 10 calls.

What? What do they say to you when they call? Depends on who it is. You know what I mean? Sometimes it's someone on the inside and I'm the one talking. Sometimes. Petey, what's the crack? What's the story?

What's the story, right? Yeah, yeah. What's going on here? And I'm like, what do you mean? What do you mean? I see this? And I'm like, what do you mean? They're like, this happened?

It's like, no, fuck away. When that happened? Hang on, let me get this up. It's so good. Yeah, no, see it there, see it there now. And then they go, yeah. I mean, you've been on the phone, me, Ariel. This is, I know.

This is that goes. So half of these calls are them informing you? Sometimes. I thought, did you see this? Oh, fuck, hold on, man. No, no, no. I didn't have seen it. Get the glass.

I used to get panics. When he was fighting, it was like a panic attack. You'd be wake up in the middle and I'd be like, two o'clock in the morning. I'd be like, you'd be going, what the fuck is out to happen? Like my day is fucked if something's happened there. I'd already have me shit ready to go.

I was working for about six outlets. It was an absolute disaster. So since then, six or seven is the hoi bar, I'd say, hoi watermark of interest. I love it. He also pay-per-view records. You know what I mean? Anything else, Frankie?

I've been waiting to hear Malcolm talk about losing to the safety guys. So thanks for that. I speak for most when I say we want to see Malcolm went. I agree. Very likable guy, rootable guy, if that's a word. I thought he came off well. It's got that nice smile

Makes me just like them more Yeah I love guys that face the music like this You know And that's why I always thought The Ronda thing was crazy Obviously Ronda is dealing with You know

A lot more scrutiny and all that stuff But She let the loss Engulf her She just would have come out And be like yeah fuck I lost Big deal

You know Guys is all back against Kallie Taylor Hell yeah Can't wait What do they sing on the blower About that one That was a big what the fuck phone call kind of thing, you know what I mean? I was getting the phone calls from the UK with

lad's being like, come on, what the fuck? No one texts. It's all, it's all phone calls. So annoying. If it's, you texts, anyone can text, the phone call is a true gauge of interest. I need to hear, I need to hear how you're saying these things. You know what I mean? I don't want to just, I don't want to, I just don't want to message a sentence. I want to hear how his voice, how is he intonating his statements with regard to this fight? That's what people want to know. You know what I mean? What else, Frankie? What else? And lastly, do you know why the UFC didn't come to Louisiana in January

like they usually do? I think it's L.A. Jesus Christ. I mean, it says L.A. I mean, it's literally L.A. Like, that's what it says. Like they usually do? You think they'll come to L.A. soon? Yeah, I mean, they went to Englewood in January.

Is it a thing? Were they in L.A. two years ago? I don't think so. Were they? They were in L.A. at the beginning of this year. Yeah, I know. But, like, he's saying as they usually do. And I believe they were there at the beginning of 2022. Remember they had that stretch where they did Anaheim. Yeah.

Oh, right, right. That's not L.A.A. area. It's Orange County. L.A. Jason. It's the Newarkton, New York, Anaheim to L.A.A. You're just playing in Los Angeles. Yeah, I hate that. It's one of the worst names.

I mean, that arena is tremendous, the Intuit Dome. Not that I've been there, but it just looks tremendous. So I suspect they'll be there. But, yeah, they're going to Vegas. Maybe they wanted to be in Vegas for the first one. Who knows? You know, first one, Paramount Police. Press conference coming up.

BITB tomorrow. What do we got? What do we got? Big preview. Of? Big preview. UFC 323. What's going on with all these matchmaking things?

Yeah. Pound for pound in honor of the challenger in the co-made event? Hell yeah. Pound-pound vans. Okay. Okay. Wait. Oh, like the shoes?

Oh, let me tell you If this one doesn't get a nod If this one doesn't get a nod, I'll tell you what The dream car, my baby We're gonna have to see All right, that's not bad Want to submit a list? I like that one

Because you could do the shoes, you could do the cars Journalists, some people have it in their name Fans, yeah You know, Josh fan What else with us? You want to submit a list You sent it to Jordan Van Zinnis

Van Zahn Okay, okay, I like it I like it I like it I like Mr. Van Zand. And then of course You're giving them all one

The crack on Friday as I guess at that point Wayans will be over right So the fights will be official And then watch party on Saturday The final watch party By the way we're doing watch parties

In the new era Yeah for sure For a numbered event Oh the Paramount era Yeah What's the new era Final watch party of the UFC on ESPN era

second to last UFC on ESPN show Penultimate program if you will and then three puck back for a post show final time we'll be doing one at 1 a.m. Eastern 6 a.m. in the UK and right this is huge

pizza. I'm just wondering about my contract because obviously we were talking about that. The point printed a contract it says pay per view Monday so that now cross over to P. We were actually talking about this wondering if you'll pull the card like hey i can't make it on the monday show because i stayed up late now that it's in the contract it's in the contract yeah and it's well it says pay-per-view

do i need to get my lawyer to look over this and yeah well we'll talk offline we'll talk offline with hr speaking of three puck uncron dot com chuck minnenhall with a story that just came out moments ago marab doleishvili grabbed 2025 by the throat now its final chapter can make him a more A great little summary here by Chuck when I visited Marab at the very beginning of the year, which he did out in Vegas. He was pissed off at Umar's disrespect, at missing the holidays, at the injuries he had, all of it. Now at the end of the year, question mark, he's happier than ever as he tries to make history. What a difference, 12 months make. Now, it is going to be a very good story on Monday.

What will the story be? Will the story be bit off a little more than he can chew? or will be one of the all-time great years in the history of the sport as a champion for title defenses in one year? Will we be talking about a new king at 125 or we'll be talking about the superfight, the ATT super fight,

Horaguchi versus Pantosia, come next year? Will we be talking about the retirement on a win for one Henry Suhudo? Or on a loss for the king of cringe? All those stories and more. On Monday's program, of course, there's still Thursday, BITB, crack Friday, post-show, Saturday,

watch party Saturday, all that and more. But for now, time to say goodbye. So someone called me, a very, very, very important person called me. A very, very, very, very big name. Like I would say, an A plus name. And I sent him that picture of me, you know, a little, a little verdume face, if you will. And I said, hey, we're on the air right now. Want to call in?

He said, not right now. and you can't tell us who it was Is that Is it possible for a later date? He said, I'll call you later All right It was so close

Pete, please stop Snap it's not a hint It's not a hint What you're doing with that Compressor is freaking out Please stop seeing Sorry, sorry, sorry But that was

I thought I thought I thought I saw Monday I'm not even watching on my day off I thought it was going to be an all-timer

I thought it was going to be an all-time cameo I'll be honest with you. But nevertheless, nevertheless. It was still a great day. It was still a great day. And I also want to let you know that very soon we're going to have our next uncrowned film working on it as we speak. EKC in the lab as we speak. So a lot of exciting things to come. Thank you very much all our guests today. Was a tremendous day. Thank you to TNA president and Anthem Sports President Carlos Silva. Congratulations once again on the new AMC deal. Thank you to the great Bill Haney. Bill

Bill was on one today. Golly, he was cutting promos left and right. Thank you very much to Chris Bungard for coming in. Great to have him in studio. Tremendous job. Thank you Malcolm Wellmaker. Good luck to him. And, of course, thank you to the new champ.

The King of Cleveland, Abdullah Mason. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to all of them. Back tomorrow, same time, place to the same piece. I'm out here.