The Ariel Helwani Show - Massive UFC 323 reaction, Champ Joshua Van, Payton Talbott, John Wood, Dr. Brian Sutterer on Alexandre Pantoja’s freak injury, weekend news & notes

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show with his reaction to UFC 323, including the excellence of Petr Yan in his upset win over Merab Dvalishvili, Joshua Van becoming the second-youngest champion in UFC history, Henry Cejudo’s retirement, and more (02:38).Dr. Brian Sutterer MD joins to discuss Alexandre Pantoja’s elbow injury, UFC initially suggesting it was a shoulder injury, the timetable for Pantoja’s return, MMA’s overall injury risks, Tom Aspinall’s eye injury and continued complications, and more (45:08).Ariel reacts to Dana White’s recent comments about Aspinall, and the latest updates about the White House card (59:35).Joshua Van joins on the heels of his UFC 323 victory over Pantoja to talk about becoming the second-youngest champion in promotional history, his view of Pantoja’s injury, wanting to rematch Pantoja, bringing the belt to his father’s grave, potentially fighting Tatsuro Taira, his response to those criticizing his celebration, and more (1:16:43).Coach John Wood returns to break down Merab’s performance at UFC 323, including Merab’s preparation, whether Merab relied too much on his striking, telling Merab he was ahead in the fight between rounds, plus, a check-in on Gina Carano as she returns to training, and more (1:34:57).Payton Tablott is back after the biggest win of his career to discuss Henry Cejudo’s game plan for UFC 323, their past training sessions and respect, who he wants to fight next, Merab’s performance, his wild interaction with Adin Ross, Winged C’s tattoo claims, and more (2:02:12).The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll join Ariel to cover some news and notes, including Dana White weighing in on Terence Crawford being stripped of his WBC belt and Arman Tsarukyan’s path back to the title, UFC announcing some new fights including Max Holloway vs. Charles Oliveira, Conor McGregor’s linkup with Mike Tyson, and more (2:31:42).Ariel answers your Super Chats to wrap up the show (3:50:27).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Eriya-Hawani Show. Back in your life on this Monday, December 8th, 2000. And 25, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. welcome to our final post pay-per-view Monday of 2025. And technically, you can add it to the list of finals that transpired this past weekend. Technically, it's our final post-paper-view Monday ever? Post-numbered event Monday doesn't quite hit the same.

Post-PLE Monday, that does hit the same. Another, you know, another notch on that side of the thing. You know, if you have the pros and cons and all that. But a lot of finals this past weekend. We had the final UFC pay-per-view of 2025. The final UFC on ESPN pay-per-view. The final UFC pay-per-view ever, or at least for the next seven years. And the final numbered event start at 10 p.m. Eastern, hopefully forever, but for the foreseeable future.

I know there are a lot of people who were celebrating the end of the ESPN era. I know that there are a lot of people who are happy to get off the app. I know that there are a lot of people who are happy to not pay $80 or so dollars every month for the numbered events. I was feeling a little melancholy on Saturday. I was feeling a little reflective. I was reminiscing about the early days, 2018, 2019, Rick and I ushering in the new era back on a frigid New Year's Eve, 2018. wearing our tuxes and whatnot, I was thinking about the people who worked at ESPN to help make this sport what it is today, because make no mistake about it. There are people, and it was a very,

very small group of people, but there were people that loved this sport at ESPN. There are people that truly were excited to work on the UFC coverage, the UFC content, who were longtime fans, who came together. I mean, I'm talking about a group of people, like five, six, seven people. And I was there when the whole thing started. We were there. Rick and I were there. We felt it. And they were excited.

And I know over time there was the apex and I know the pandemic and this and that. But I thought, you know, overall, the sport leveled up. We saw it during the pandemic when it was the only game in town, the coverage on dot com, on, you know, sports center and then bleeding into other sports on the ticker and whatnot. There is no doubt about it that the UFC is better off as a. result of this tenure with ESPN, this era with ESPN. And so now it comes to an end. They are better off. They're moving on. A much better deal. I think they're in much higher demand. They're a greater entity. They're a more successful entity. They're a more popular and mainstream

entity because of the fact that they were on ESPN for the last seven years. And now we wait and see what will transpire as this new era is almost, almost, almost upon us. Of course, there is one more event on Saturday at the Apex, Manel Cap versus Brandon Royville, and it's a good time to have that fight, of course, with the flyweight division very much in focus after this weekend. Could you have ever imagine, imagine us speaking in January of 2025, so almost 12 months ago, 11 months, let's say it was January 8th, 2025. Imagine if I would have told you that Peter Yan was the Bantamway champion of the UFC and Joshua Van

was the flyway champion of the UFC. Could you imagine? Think about all the things that had to happen in a very short amount of time. Murab has to be so active. Pantosha has to be active, as does Van,

taking those two fights in the span of three or so weeks. And then, of course, everything that transpired on Saturday. It's really remarkable. In fact, my son, my middle son, Walter, was asking me yesterday

while we were eating dinner, what does parity mean? Because he said he saw a video in which the NBA under David Stern, former commissioner of the NBA may rest in peace, was all about dominant champions, dynasties, things like that. The Bulls, the Rockets, the Lakers. And under Adam Silver, it's all about parity. It's teams winning one championship and then another team winning, that's what parity means.

The NFL right now is enjoying parody, right? And I would argue that the UFC has entered its parody era as well. We are not seeing as many long, multiple-time title defenses. I know Islam moved up, but isn't this amazing? I'm looking at this list right here. Heavyweight champ at the beginning of the year, John Jones. Current heavyweight champ, Tom Aspinall. Light heavyweight champion at the beginning of the year, Alex Perra.

Now, he is still the light heavyweight champion, he did lose the belt in the middle of the year and had to win it back. Middleweight, DDP, now Hamzat. Welterweight Balal, now Islam, and there was a champion in between, Jack Delamadalena. Lightweight Islam, now Ilya, we're about to get an interim champion

in a little over a month. Featherweight, Ilya, now Vogue. He's fighting again in February. Marab, bantamweight, now Pejorian. And then, of course, flyweight. Pantosia now Joshua Vand. So much parody. So much has changed.

It's really amazing. Kayla Harrison, of course, becoming a bantamweight champion of the UFC. Like there's just, there's, I think there's an incredible amount of talent right now in the sport. The ceiling has never been higher. And it makes those, you know, three, four, five successful title defenses in a row, even what Pantosia was able to do before. what happened on Saturday, that much more impressive, perhaps, than 10 or so 15 years ago. But in the end, UFC 323, very, very fun card.

It has come and gone. And yes, like I said, Peirreeryon is the new UFC bantamweight champion. And it sort of feels, at least for Peirrean's story, it sort of feels like everything is right in this world. You know, this is a guy who four and a half years ago made, you know, a lethal mistake. I mean, it was, it was one of the, the most. boneheaded moves that we've ever seen in a title fight, especially in a fight that he was very clearly about to win. He was minutes away from beating Al Jermaine Sterling and he just had a lapse in judgment. He messed up and the belt was taken away from him and he ended up losing

in the rematch. But it never felt, and I was around a year or so later, I sat on the post show sub obviously via split decision. It never felt like he was able to get back on track. It never felt like he truly was able to kind of, I don't know, brush that off. He was never able to get back to that guy who won the belt, who beat the likes of Jose Aldo, who was killing people on the way up. Because there was a time where, you know, Pierrean was doing his thing and I thought this guy is going to be a champion for a very long time. He was looking that good, that dominant, that clinical, that tactical, the striking, the kicks, the punches, Everything was just incredible. And that mistake against Aljo seemed to have unraveled something to where he couldn't get back on track.

He's losing multiple in a row. What is going on with this guy? But this year, he seems to have figured it out. He goes on this winning streak. He gets the title shot. He has to get lucky in the sense that Marab is willing and actively looking to fight. Most champions are fighting once, twice a year, max, not four times a year. And take nothing away from Pyotrion.

That was as good of a performance as you'll ever see. from a challenger in a title fight. Now, he did have the benefit of fighting Marab back in March of 2023. And imagine telling someone on that night that these two will fight some two and a half years later and that Peter would do what he did to Marab on Saturday. There's no way. Now, I know that he was hurt and all that stuff, but still, it was so one-sided. Goes out there on Saturday, and I'll be honest, there is a part of me that wants to know

how this fight goes. if these two get a proper time in between fights, they get to rest up, they get to heal, and they get to have a proper training camp. That's not me offering any type of excuse from Mareb Dueli Shefili. He willingly, gladly took this fight, took this opportunity,

he has to live with the consequences. You saw how happy he was in this studio when he found out that he was fighting for the belt. He wanted this. He wanted to try to make history. But I do watch that guy on Saturday and say, did he bite off a little more than he could chew?

too many weight cuts, too many minutes in the cage. You know, these are 25-minute fights back in January, back in October, this one, and then, of course, the one against Sean and June was a little quicker, but that's still a whole training camp, that's still a weight cut, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, that takes a lot of toll on your body. That's why fighters who are at his level, championship fighters are only fighting twice a year. I think that came into play.

But even if he was at his best, there's a very good chance Jan wins that fight. Maybe not 50 to 45 like I thought he won. Maybe it's 3 to 2. Maybe it's 4 to 1. One judge had it 48, 47. That's absolutely insane. No way it was 4847. It was at best, in my opinion, or at worst, I should say 49, 46 for Pierrotian.

But I actually scored it in real time 50 to 45. I think Marab should be next, meaning the next time he fights it should be for the belt. I don't know if that will happen. Jan will probably fight before. if I'm Marab and his team, I'm taking some time off, I'm chilling, I'm taking an extended period of time. Look at what Alex Pereira just did. He lost in March. He needed an extended period. He came back seven months later, and that's a long time for him. And so let's see. We're going to talk about all of that. We'll talk about the next steps. We'll talk to his coach,

John Wood, on this year program today to get a sense for what went wrong and where he goes from here. We will also talk to Peyton Talbot, who had a massive win over Henry Sohudo. More on him in a moment, but Payne Talbot will join us at 3 Eastern to talk about that big win. We will also talk to Dr. Brian Suterer about what transpired in the co-main event. You know this brilliant doctor. He's on YouTube. He's doing amazing stuff. Anytime someone gets hurt, anytime there's a freak injury or anything of that nature in sports, this guy's got a YouTube video up within minutes. It's unbelievable. I mean, yesterday, football, Daniel Jones, he's got something up there. The guy is just, Ertz, injured, got something up there. Pantosia, injured, got something up there. So we'll get

his take on what transpired in the co-main event, and by now you know what transpired in the co-main event is that unimaginably, 26 seconds in, Joshua Van versus Pantosia, we were also very excited for this fight, felt like it was going to be competed at an incredible frenetic pace. These two guys were going to come together and it was just going to be an absolute war of attrition. It was going to be competed at a 15 on the meter. And it ends in just 26 seconds. It's the quickest flyweight fight in UFC history. Surpassing, by the way, a flyway title fight that ended in just 32 seconds, which, oh, by the way, happened in January of 2019 in Brooklyn, the very first UFC on ESPN show. How crazy is that? And oh, by the way,

that was Henry Suhudo beating T.J. Dilshah. How crazy is that? But yes, there's a little scramble. Pantosha's falling to the mat, posts up, arm, bends, elbow dislocates. For some reason, Dana White and the broadcast told us, there it is, that it was the shoulder. I don't know how you could say it was his shoulder. I personally, as Joshua Vann's team, multiple members of his team who were there with him in Las Vegas and they said, no, it was not his shoulder. It was his elbow. The question is, how serious is the injury? The question is, does it need surgery, torn ligaments? What's the prognosis? What's the diagnosis? We need to know. We are waiting that from Alex Pantosha. He has gone online. I'll show you that video in a moment. But as of right now,

Joshua Van is the brand new UFC flyway champion. And there are people scrutinizing the way in which he celebrated and what he does and how he reacted and jumping on the cage. And, you know, and how he reacted. And and what he said in the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan and at the post-fight press conference, what I think we need to remember is that this man just changed his life. He's been through a lot. His family has been through a lot. In the moment, you're going to be emotional.

You're going to be happy. You're going to try to win at all costs. And I don't think while I understand while people, you know, it would have been great if he said like this belt, don't love the way in which I want it. You're going to be next. Whenever you're ready, I wish you the best. That would be great.

But think about the emotions. think about the anxiety, think about the nerves, think about everything coming together for a young man who is so young, 24 years young, the second youngest champion in the history of the UFC. You know, John Jones beats him by just five or so months. That's how young this guy is. That's how much has happened in such a short amount of time for him.

I am not going to scrutinize him and I'm not going to say that, hey, you know, he shouldn't have that smile on his face that you're seeing right over there. He shouldn't have celebrated with his family. It's a shitty situation. It really is. I feel for Alex Pantoja.

This guy has been unbelievable. He's been incredible. He really has been. He's the second greatest flyway champion of all time. And what he's done, you know, especially as of lately, Kai Kar, France, beatdown was just amazing how dominant he was. And so that's a really, really, really tough way to lose your belt. In fact, let's play that video since we're talking about him very quickly.

Here's Alex Pantosia on social media. I think he posted it Sunday morning. talking about the injury. Hello, guys. That's what happened, you know, accidents. When I go to the UFC today, I think I have my best shape on my life. When I see Joshua Van out the other side of the octagon,

I believe I can finish him in the first round. That's what I try to do. Best camp on my life, best catch weight, best everything, you know. I feel so comfortable in the octagon. that's my octagon that's my belt that's everything I did in my life in my whole life to that moment you know and I just Joshua just came in win this belt I talked with my wife about that like it's not just about myself today it's about Joshavan you know Joshua van that's his destiny to win

this belt tonight and he just can win this belt with my injury today you know And I talk with God, God gives him the message. And I really believe in God in all the message. I pray a lot. And I want to work very hard. I work very hot all my life. And I'm going to work again. And I'm going to take my belt again.

You know, I really appreciate all the message. Everybody know about myself. Everybody in the sand. I'm a very respectful guy. I respect first, my family, then everything, you know, I'm never going to say bullshit about anyone. I just want to work very hard and bring my belt to my home again, you know. I appreciate everybody tomorrow, fly back to home, Monday. I'm starting to follow my dream again.

Thank you so much. And you see the caption right over there. I'll be back sooner than you think. So hopefully that means he's been told it's a dislocated. It's not a fracture that maybe there's, you know, some ligament damage. Who knows? I'm not a doctor. We will be talking to one, though, in 30 minutes, and I look forward to hearing his

thoughts on all of it. We did the post show on Saturday. I weighed in, Pizzi weighed in, Chuck weighed in, three puck, didn't hear from the boys in the back, so I wanted to bring them in to ask them about the top two fights. The whole thing was great. It was a great card. They did a great job as far as the watch party goes, our last one. And they will be continuing, by the way, just in case.

you were wondering. I got a lot of questions about that. Will the watch parties continue in the non-PPPV new numbered events, new PLE era, whatever the hell you want to call it over on Paramount Plus? Let's talk about Peter Yan and what he did, guys. Peter Yan, incredible win of Robert Dwaradolishvili. Now that we've had two days to discuss it, are the boys there? Are we here? We're here. We're here, brother. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was just, I was taking in the news that the watch parties were continued. I wasn't aware. So you're breaking. that to me so now um okay are you not are you not willing to do it we're actually looking for the new co-hosts who's getting bumped no we're in search we're in search of a new co-hoast you want

a third or no you're saying i'm out you oh he's out okay rick has left that's it that's it we're not pushing him out he left i'm got i'm done he won't work or shoot no this is all okay sorry we shouldn't have got bogged down we're working ourselves into a bit i try sounds like it sounds like it um frank Don't blow your load in the first, like, 30 seconds there, okay? It's a lot in one answer. Those fighting words. Okay, here we go. I still can't determine in my brain how much of that was Jan's brilliance and how much of that was Marab, like I said, taking on too much.

Because he does say in the post-fight interview, like, look, I want an entertaining fight. And he says, I want to be a company man. And when he was out there, and I remember what Sean O'Malley said to us last week, does he think back to to the Corey Sanhagen moment and does he fall in love with the striking? Does he fall in love? And when I was watching

the first couple of minutes of that fight, I was like, this is a lot of striking. Now, I don't believe for a second that he shot for 28 or so takedowns. Whatever the hell they're saying on the UFC stat site, we're changing the way in which

we are recording takedowns. There weren't that many. I just, I'm not buying it. That being said, Jan did stop many takedowns. Let's leave it at that. Rick, what do you think? What do you think? Is this?

Was this Jan's brilliance or was this Mara biting off more than he can chew? It's probably both, but I don't think we can assess fights like that. There's no circumstance where every time that people step into the octagon, whether it be men,

women, champions, not champions, that both competitors are going to be at their peak, right? There's just realities of this sport where sometimes the guy's coming in at 85%, sometimes the guys come in at 30%, sometimes they're at 100%. If we want to do that type of calculus, we'll never get anywhere because every

time there's always going to be something. We have to take what we were given in front of us and what we were given in front of us was a master class by Piotr-Yon. The first three rounds were close. The later rounds, which are the rounds that Marab thrives in, the rounds that Marab steals from everybody, the rounds that Marab typically is turning up in,

are the most definitive rounds. Are the rounds that Piotrion won by his defense and the devastating punches that he was landing on Maraub de Voshevili. So I'm going to take that at face value and say that that was Piotr Yon's night and he absolutely crushed it. By the way... I can't take anything away.

By the way, G.C., I'm leaning towards that as well. I just think it's a fair thing to bring up. Of course. Ultimately, Jan was brilliant. I mean, Jan was absolutely brilliant. In the past, I think Marab has won based on like heart, will, determination, cardio. He met a guy who was just on the night

better tactically and technically than him. Everything that he did on the feet, take down defense, striking, the body shots, the kicks to the body, the punches to the body, Punches to the head. Everything that he did was textbook, beautiful, and then some. It was otherworldly. It was world class, blown away by what he did. Blown away. That's the only way that I can put it. I went back and watched all 25 minutes of this fight last night. And I'm even more blown away after rewatching it. You know, you go back to their first fight, getting 5045, getting completely blanked. And maybe you could say, you know, Marab's, he's had the four fights. Oh, was he falling in love with the striking? At one point, he tried to abandon the striking and go for the takedowns. start using that wrestling. And Piotr Yon stopped that from happening. The defensive masterclass that he put on from a grappling standpoint and also a striking standpoint, look at the two dudes

at the end of the 25 minutes. Like, you talk about the body work. He hurt Marab several times the body, had him screaming at one point, jumping up and down. And then his face completely bloodied him up, sent him to the hospital afterward. From pillar to post, like it was just unbelievable masterclass is the only way to put it, to bounce back after getting 50, 45, and to come into that octagon on the run that Marab is on and to completely shut him down like that. Whether it's four fights this year or not, it was truly unbelievable from Peoria. Yeah, you mentioned his face. We have a picture of Marab's face. Marab's face, bloodied, cut up, busted open. I mean, look at that.

Kiotrion did not look like this. No. No. The damage that he was inflicting to the body to the head and the takedown stuffing that he put on, I actually am in agreement with you on the fact that I don't think it was that many takedowns either. We were saying it live on the watch party. He didn't shoot for a takedown until like halfway through that first round. And then a minute later, it was like, 0 for 9 on takedowns. We're like, did he shoot for that many? Yeah.

I don't think they've changed it. They did that similar thing for the Marab, Corey Sanhagen fight. I don't know why they... He's getting the Utah Jazz, Chicago Bulls, home cookins, you know, scorekeeper where they're like, oh, Marab, 7,000 takedowns. They're just trying to up the takedown count. I think one thing that I will take a... accountability for, and I overlooked about this fight was I knew that Piotrion, even in the

first fight, was a defensive master, a defensive wizard. Like, even in the first fight against Marab, he was able to stay defensively sound. The problem was that the offense was what was lacking in the first fight with Marab. So I kind of, in my head, I eliminated the possibility that anything could be done on offense against Marab and kind of just assume that the fight would go the same way. I actually don't think it was the defense that was the most critical factor because that defense was there, as I said in the first fight. It was the offense. It was the things that he was doing in between the moments when Marab was shooting and in between the moments when Marab was striking with him. He punished him. He punished him in a way and his face reflects

it that no other opponent had done to this point, right? He made him really every time that there was an opening, every time that there was an opportunity for Marab to reset, he was punishing him with the body kicks, with the body shots, with the jab that was seemingly there all night. And every single moment of that fight that Marab was not doing something, he was doing something and doing it better than Marab, right? Marab gets by on high volume, but he's really not a devastating striker. And as far as wrestling, he kind of is content sometimes to not finish the takedown and just take the attempts and just take the shots. Piotr was extremely efficient with his work. And every single time he had an opportunity, he made it count with something really, really.

painful, something that really hurt Marab. We saw him wince and scream and moan and groan with some of these body shots. I did not foresee that type of possibility, but he had a perfect game plan. Pierrion entered the UFC 7 and 1. He beat Taruto Ishihara, Jensu, Sun, Douglas Silva de Andrade, Dodg, John Dodson, Jimmy Rivera, Uriah Faber. That was a tough one to watch for your Uriah Faber fan. And at that point, you were like, man, this guy is really good. Remember, he fights Jose Aldo, Fight Island, that UFC 251 card in July of 2020 for the vacant title because of Henry Sohudo and all that stuff. And he wins the belt. And now you're thinking this guy is going to hold the belt for a very long time. Like he showed no real, you know, weaknesses. He's an absolute killer.

He's a freaking kicking machine. He's a punching machine. He's a boxing machine. All that. And then the next fight is the Aljo fight. And he beats Corey Sandhagen in the fight after that. But then he loses to Aljo and then he loses to Sean O'Malley and then he loses to Maraub and you're like, how the hell did we enter a point in time in which Piaryana is in a three fight losing streak? How the hell did this happen? So quickly. But again, as

I said at the top, imagine telling someone at the beginning of the year. He ends, well, in mid 2024, he beats Song Yadong. And then he beats Davidson Figurato at the end of the year. Remember that card I believe it was in China, right? Was it in China? Yeah, I believe Macau.

Macau, yeah. Marcus McGee and, in July and then Marab. And again, he does benefit from the fact that Marab was very active because Marab blows through everyone. He blows through Umar, Sean, Corey. And even after the Corey fight, he could have taken the rest of the year off. And that's why I would like, and Jan's not, he's not taking this, you know, direction right now.

That's why I would like to see Jan return the favor. They're one and one. Marab fought him, even though the first fight was very one-sided. I don't love this idea of like you should go fight other people. Like if anyone deserves an immediate rematch. Now, again, as we talked about on Saturday, if Sean O'Malley wins on January 24th, I can see them putting Sean O'Malley versus Peeryon on that White House card.

Sean O'Malley, the biggest active American fighter in the organization right now. If you want to include John Jones, fine, but he's not really active. O'Malley is active. He's the biggest name's the most popular name. You can easily run that one back. He has a win. O'Malley does over Pejorian. And so those guys could fight, and then the winner could fight Marab.

I think it would be very unfair to Marab to have him fight someone else before getting another crack at the belt. Fourteen in a row, all those title defenses, fighting four times in 2020-5, I think he deserves. If anyone deserves another crack, an immediate rematch, and again, that might not be Jan's next fight, but the next time he comes back should be for the belt. I feel very, very strongly about that. Do you guys agree or disagree? I don't have a strong feeling on it, if I'm being honest,

but even seemingly with how one-sided the fight was, you still feel that it has to be. The first fight was one-sided, too. Yon's next fight was not a rematch. It was not to fight him again. But that was Yon on a three-fight losing streak at that point. This is Marab de Voschfili, who was racking up tighter defenses, who just fought for you four times, four tighter defenses this year.

I mean, look at Alex Pereira last year, and he fights Magamant-Av, if he loses, he gets the immediate rematch. I think Marab de Valshvili has earned that. He's one of the greatest band and weights of all time. He already has a win over this. It's one-one now with Piotr-Yon. I would like to see a rematch. I'd like to see it on a, you know,

Marab, who's got rested, who's healed from injuries and has rebed and ready to go. You know what? I just said I didn't have strong feelings. I actually do have strong feelings. I don't want to see an immediate rematch. I don't like immediate rematches in general. The only case for an immediate rematch in my mind

is what we just saw is with Pantoa and Dan. You don't think that when Marab fights again, it should be for the belt. I don't think it has to be, is my feeling. What is it about him? Did you feel like it was justified to have Alex Pereira immediate rematch? I would have been okay if it wasn't,

is how I'll put it. But that fight was close, right? There's a big difference between what happened with Mara. Is it more about Maraub or is it more about Yan? In other words, if O'Malley wins. It's more about immediate rematches. I just don't think that they serve anybody. But it's not really immediate because I think what you don't like

is that it holds up the division. I'm saying Jan should probably fight someone else. And whenever Marab is ready to come back, his next fight should be for the belt. I'm not saying hold the division up for him. I'm saying this guy, the next time he competes should be for the belt. Jan fights O'Malley, let's say, in June, if O'Mali wins, or Umar, if he wins, and then Marab fights the winner. He's beating all those guys. This is not an anti-Marab take. As anybody who's watching knows, I'm a big fan of Marab. It's more of a, I don't know that I want Marab's next fight to be against the guy who just pretty much blanked them. Like, I would like to see,

him see a different look, get a little bit of a mojo back and fight somebody else. It's more of a, I just don't think we need to always do immediate rematches. It was completely one-sided. Yon can finish business with somebody else. Marab can get one more win under his belt and come back into it. What if it's Jan O'Malley and O'Malley beats him?

Then do Yon and Marab still? Do the rematch. So the only thing you don't like about it is that Marab's getting another crack at the belt? Now it does feel like you have an issue with Marab. No, it's, as I said, I have no, if this is what ends up happening. I'm completely fine with it. I'm happy. I'm not saying Marab should not get a rematch. I'm just saying I don't prefer immediate rematches. And especially in the case that

it's one-sided. It just doesn't, I don't think it serves the fighter who lost much better, nor do I think it's better for the public. Oh, man, I want to see Marab get a full training camp. I want to see him get some time off. And I want to see if he could do it. And by the way, he may not be able to do it. Maybe Jan at 100% is that much better than him, and now we know. I'd rather find out after he gets a win under his belt and gets some of the mojo back, is how I feel. Who do you match him up against? Someone who he's already fought as well?

That's the thing. I mean, you could do Amin Zahabi. Do Amin Zahabi? Amin Zahibi might be... The thing is, Amin's probably going to be ready to fight sooner than Mara, but he's probably the biggest loser of Saturday

because I thought if Maraub would have won, Amosahab would have been like the only guy standing that he wouldn't have already have beaten. Now that O'Malley talk all of a sudden gets real loud. O'Malley, everyone. Everyone's back in the mix now.

Like, Corey Sanhagen, bring it. Like, they're all back. I think O'Malley in particular, though. 100%. 100%. I think he literally was streaming, and he's, I think he said song, you're out, Piotr, you're in. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, by the way, let's all forget about Song. If Song wins, he's right in the mix, right? Like, every single guy, Song doesn't have a fight against Murab. Henry might come out of retirement as a result of this. Song does have the fight against Piotr, though. He did lose. Yeah, yeah. I'm just saying it feels like every single guy is now alive again because the dude ran

through everyone. Yeah. Same thing in 125. Yep. To a degree, yes. All right, so let's talk about that one. Nice little transition there. That's a, there's nothing really to talk about as far as the fight is concerned.

But Ricky just said it. If anyone deserves an immediate rematch ever, it's the guy who just had his, you know, his elbow snapped, very unceremonious. Just the third time, by the way, in UFC history that a title fight ends like that with some kind of freak injury or some kind of injury like I mean this is the freakiest of the freak 26 seconds into the fight did you guys have an issue with Van celebrating or being happy or anything like that zero he's 24 years old yeah he just got the UFC title wrapped around his waist to

become the second youngest champion ever the circumstances I don't love I actually I mean it deflated me on Saturday night to see pantosia's run ended like that was was quite sad to see, but I'm not going to fault a guy for his dreams coming true no matter how it happens. His next fight will be a tighter defense, and if he wins that, then no one can say anything about it. This is his dream coming true. Who are we to decide how he gets to celebrate that moment? I have zero issue with it. I think anybody who takes issue with it is insane. It's the worst possible take you could have. His celebrating is not, he's not celebrating the injury to Pantosia.

He, believe me, Joshua Vann did not want to win the title that way. That is not the way he wanted to capture the belt. He wanted to go in there and show what he was made of and get it that way. But he's allowed to celebrate being the second youngest champion in U.S. history. He's allowed to celebrate what this is going to do for his family. He's allowed to celebrate all these things without us weighing in on it. So if you have a problem with it, you're out of your mind.

And anyone's saying, like, why is this not a DQ? It's like there were no fouls. Pantosia could not continue. you. Therefore, it is a loss. No, no, no. It's the same way Anderson Silva lost, although he wasn't the champion, when he snapped his leg against Chris Wyman, it's just an awful, you know, it's an awful turn of events, but he wins the fight, he becomes champion. It's a horrible way to lose your belt if you're Alex Pantosha. Whenever he's ready to go and hopefully we find out some kind of timeline

soon, we hope that he gets a crack because he's been such a great champion. But it sounds to me like the UFC would like to do something exciting with Joshua Van because Dana White at the press conference was talking. He made it very clear and I understand what he was saying because sometimes people take his words and run with it. Not us here, but I've seen it happen where you read a tweet and you're like, okay. And then you watch and you're like, well, that's not exactly what he said. But anyway, that, you know, the idea of having Van versus Tatsuro Taira who beat Brandon Moreno, some people didn't like the stoppage. I was kind of fine with it, to be honest. Brandon Moreno

100%. I didn't think it was as bad as some of the other stoppages that we've seen as of late and Mark Smith didn't have a particularly great night as a referee especially in the Macy Barber fight

but I was okay with it. Tyra is someone that has done a great job had that one tough loss to Brandon Royval has bounced back. Tyra versus Van in Asia, in Japan

would be huge. Tyra versus Horaguchi would be huge as well but it sounded to me watching the Post-Fite press conference, he even said Pete Dropik, who used to be kind of the top executive at WEC when Zufa bought it, now in charge of venues for the UFC, booking venues and stuff like that. That's his main gig. It's a tough gig. He already said they had him looking at venues in Japan. And so it sounds to me like they're really interested in this, which I love. Could you imagine

a Japanese-born fighter competing for the belt in Japan to become the first Japanese-born fighter to become a UFC champion would be an incredible scene. It would be amazing for the region. Put Horaguchi on that card in a number one contender fight, maybe against the winner of Brandon Royval versus Manal Cap, which is this weekend. So it's an interesting time. It's a fun time at 125, but your heart breaks for the former champion, Alex Pantosha. He was so damn good. And as we were saying on Saturday, he was really growing into becoming a champion. Like it felt like he was one of the top dogs. The walkouts were great. The interviews were great. the aura, as they say, was great.

You have the Horaguchi storyline forming, all that stuff and more. Just a heartbreaking thing. Are you guys down with Van versus Tyra? Let's run it. Is that the one? Yes, you finish Brandon Moreno like that. Hasn't been, only finished he's ever been accredited for

is the Pantosia tough exhibition fight. First time to truly finish him in a professional bout. He was number five. He's about to be number two. He's a young star on the rise. I love the idea of, let's say, say Roy Vowens or Manel Kopp

Horaguchi rematch I believe they fought in Risen yeah run it back in Japan I'm all in Is it fair for the champion to have the challenger fight

in his hometown or home country No this is business Yeah This is business By the way I imagine that they would have been working on having Pantosia a champion

who's a long reigning champion fight in Japan if he was the next fight So I don't think you get to Make those decisions when we're talking about such a massive market and such a massive opportunity. I don't disagree. I mean, Rhonda fought Betchko Hay in Brazil.

Yeah, and some people like the challenge. I imagine that Van or even Pantosha had been him would have liked the challenge of going to Japan, being in front of that audience and having that once in a lifetime opportunity and then challenging the Japanese contender, whether it be Horaguchi or Tyra. So yeah, I don't have any issue with that. Also, I was mistaken, not Horaguchi, Minowka, Mano Cup. Who's to check, right? Who's the check? Who's to check?

Who's to check? There it is. It finally felt, I will say this one thing, it finally felt like Pantosia was within striking distance of Demetrius, and this is how it is. You saw him talking about it. He felt like he could start chipping away. Like, once you get to the halfway point,

that's when you're really like, okay, now I can actually, and he's just, it's over in a flash. It's very unfortunate. Respect him. He showed up. He posted something. He's a gangster, man. And even on the way, like, even as he was leaving,

it seemed like there was some optimism that I don't know if it was put back in place does anyone think it's a shoulder what was that? Yeah yeah it's a shoulder I think that was just a mistake I think they triple confirmed yeah I think that was just a mistake in reporting I don't know how anybody could possibly think that

I saw I saw Paul on X say that it was the elbow it was the elbow Paul on X was correct I don't know about Paul but I saw his elbow just completely come out of place so man you talk about the video like the class of Pantosia

to post that and be like this is Josh Van's destiny this is how he becomes champion is just incredible both him and Marab the optimism and just happiness coming off of a loss off of these incredible runs

is inspiring you get the sense that those are two of the mentally strongest guys we've gotten the sport like to be able to suffer defeat and especially in the way the Pantosia did

and look at that as an opportunity right like now I have the chance to rebuild and get this back they're bulletproof man I have a lot of faith in their willingness to come back, and I believe in them because of that. Like, mentally, they are so strong. The fight that I was most locked into and excited about was Payne Talbot versus Henry

Sehudo. I love the storyline of the legend. Last fight against a guy he's trained with this superstar on the rise, the story of, like, holy, remember our reaction? Paint Talbot's fighting Henry Sohudo. What? He just got outr wrestled by how many Barcellos, when this was announced, like, eight months prior, 10 months prior.

and freaking Peyton Talbot, holy shit. That was the guy that we expected back in January. That was the guy who was looking as good as he was heading into that January fight. The two takedowns. This guy, Peyton Talbot, took Henry Sohudo, Olympic gold medalist down twice in the first round. He had only one takedown in his previous five fights. I mean, talk about rising to the occasion. The striking was beautiful.

I mean, even did the old Max Holloway in the final seconds. That is a superstar. And then you look, he's like, okay, now you beat Henry Sehudo. Now you're swimming with the sharks. Now you're swimming with the big dogs. What a performance. I can't wait to talk to them about that. Really, there were a ton of great performances on this card.

As we said, Tetsuera, defeating Brandon Moreno, Peyton Talbot. Like those top four fights were really big. And I think I saw a stat that there was 11 or so fights on this card. And the younger fighter won in, in what was it, nine of the 11? It wasn't there like 14 or something? Yeah, there were 14. 14. Maybe it was 12 out of the 14, something like that. Jan Bukhovich and Bogdan Guskov fought to a draw.

Very fun fight as well. Great fight. A little bit frustrating, but still a good fight. I have to say, I was incredibly impressed by Talbot. He continues to kind of make strides. I think there are a lot of people who hopped off the bandwagon and maybe that was premature. Actually, clearly, that was premature. But, man, I have to give even more credit to Henry Suhudo because it would have been the easiest possible thing for him to get in there with a killer like Peyton Talbot. And when Talbot's landing some of those one-toes, taking out his legs, it would have been easy for somebody to fold up and just be like, this is my last one, there's no benefit to me. Do I need to take the damage that he's about to inflict to me into my face? And there was not one single moment in that fight that Henry Suhudo looked like he was ready

to pack it in. Look, I mean, you look at his face after the fight, and it would have been incredibly easy for somebody who knows that this is the end. And they're probably at a certain point realizing they're not going to win this fight to just take their check and go home. And at no point did he do that. He gave every single thing he had and his entire career was kind of marked by giving every single thing he had. He was, he was an incredible ambassador for combat sports and I was really happy to see how he went out because that was the fight that we deserved to see. So much heart from, from Suhudo, but the improvements that Talbot made were like jarring, how good he looked defensively grappling. It was, it was incredible. The striking we knew was

crispy and it stayed that. And not for nothing, the Max Holloway thing. I mean, no one's going to be able to recreate Max, but he made a pretty good attempt. That was a pretty good version. It wasn't bad. That was a pretty good version. Henry sometimes gets lost in the gimmick and all that stuff, and it's been discussed before. But, I mean, truly one of the greatest athletes to ever compete in the UFC, again, Olympic gold medalist, two-division champion, beat a who's who. When he was, when he was triple C, he was doing incredible things, and he was very hard to beat. And by the way, not for nothing, developed into a pretty damn good striker as well, had that sort of Leotamachita karate style.

this is a guy who grew up wrestling. And so, yeah, the decision to retire in May of 2020 was a big mistake. And some of the things that he has said since, I would say, have been missteps, if you will. And even like asking for a bonus in your retirement fight, I'm like, golly, what does that say? That was weird to me. That exchange was very weird. That's the retirement fight. And the first thing on the mind is, can I get an extra 50K?

I guess you're trying to squeeze out everything at the least. end, but at that point, I would hope, would be pretty secure with how much you made, but who am I? Who am I to judge? A great career, a Hall of Fame career, and a passing of the torch. And it's a very pro wrestling-like result. The older guy, as he's leaving the territory, should lose to the younger guy. I know Henry didn't want to lose, but for the UFC, this is the better result. There's no doubt about it. Let me quickly run through the other results and then we'll get to our first guest of the day. Manuel Torres with the win over Grand Dawson, great win there to headline the prelims. What about Chris Duncan and Terrence McKinney?

A frenetic two minutes and 30 seconds. There was a point there where I thought T-Rex was going to win, point there where Duncan was going to win. These two have a bit of a history. They're just, let's just go. And then McKinney gets tagged. Looks like he's getting tired as well and ultimately loses the fight via Anaconda choke. But that was incredible. Two minutes and 30 seconds of absolute madness. I mentioned the Macy Barber, Karin-Silva fight a couple times, some very clear fouls. There was the kick to the downed opponent, and nothing's happening. Absolutely nothing's happening.

There's warnings, stern warnings, all that stuff, but no points or anything like that. And in the end, Macy Barber wins, and she was very, very emotional afterwards, good for her, very happy for her. She comes all the way back. and, you know, 15 and 2 on a nice winning streak, definitely a factor at 125, Ferrezyam with the win over in Nassim. Sadeghav, Bruno Faheda, beat Marvin Vitorra.

He missed weight and still got the win. It is tough. It is tough. Jalen Turner with a great story. You know, he retired in March. We spoke to him about it back then. He decides to come back and what a performance against Etze Barbosa, who may be at the end of the road.

He might just be there. But Jalen Turner is still a young stud who deserves a lot of our attention. Iwu Bairnowski beat Ibo Aslan in an incredible fight as well. Absolute insane 89 seconds. It was just as crazy as Duncan McKinney, if not crazier. Mansour Abdul Malik wins in just 69 seconds against Antonio Tricoli. Myron Santos wins in the third round against Muhammad Nayrov, or Naimov, excuse me, to kick off

the card, a lot of great performances and a lot of great finishes, especially early on. So I would say if you, you know, if you hunker down and watch 323 from start to finish, the final UFC numbered event, the final UFC pay-per-view, I think you got your money's worth and I think it was time well spent. I think it was a very fun card. Okay, love being able to check in with our first guest. Again, as I've said, multiple times now, does tremendous work on his YouTube channel. Highly, highly, highly recommend if you're a sports fan anytime, and it sucks.

when it happens, a player on my favorite team gets hurt anytime. I rush to his channel. I keep refreshing because I want to know. It's the quickest way to have any sort of idea as to what we're in for because the teams are not very honest about the state of injuries these days in sports. And so he had a great breakdown of Alex Pantosha's elbow injury. Wanted to ask him further questions about what transpired. He is Dr. Brian Suter. He's kind enough to join us right here. And now during a lunch break in between patients, he doesn't have the usual setup because he's at work. living lives, for God's sakes. Yeah.

Hello, doctor. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you? I was a pleasure to be here. Absolutely. Thank you so much for the time. We'll keep it short and sweet.

What happened to Alex Pantosia? Well, if you go by what we all saw on TV, an elbow dislocation, if you go by what the UFC initially said a shoulder injury, right? That was a really bizarre sequence of events. I think we all could see plain as day that it looked like his elbow or his arm was injured. There was some clear deformity in his arm. we've since found out through your reporting, you know, confirmation with this team that this was, in fact, an elbow injury. And it looks like it was an elbow dislocation.

So the joint of the elbow dislocated, that's what we're seeing on the screen here. If anybody's squeamished, you know, look away. But yeah, it looked like it was an elbow dislocation. And I'm sure, you know, we'll talk about kind of what transpired afterwards with the reporting about shoulder versus elbow, et cetera. Okay. So when you say elbow dislocation, is that better than an elbow break? Yeah, good question. It depends.

So oftentimes when the elbow dislocates, it will also fracture. So there's two components to the elbow joint. The part of the elbow that flexes and extends that goes this direction is the bone, the humorous, that's the arm bone. And then the ulna is one of the bones in the forearm. So if you poke on the backside of your elbow, this really firm prominence, that's called the Electronon. That's part of your ulna. And so whenever you just flex and extend the elbow, that is the joint between the ulna and the humorous. the ability to turn your palm up and down, we call that pronation and supination.

That's between the radius, which is another bone in your forearm and the humorous. So there's two components to your elbow. It can flex and extend this way, and it can also spin up and down this way. And so what typically will occur with an elbow dislocation or what always does is the joint between the ulna and the humorous dislocates. Typically, the forearm bone moves backwards relative to the arm bone. When that happens, we would classify them two ways, either a simple or a complex. A simple dislocation of any joint, for that matter, shoulder, ankle, et cetera. A simple dislocation is when the joint came out of place, but there's no fracture.

A complex dislocation is when the joint came out of place, and there was associated fracture. So we always assume there's going to be soft tissue damage. There are going to be ligament tears. There's going to be ligament injuries in these types of cases. The unknown is always how much bone involvement is there, and that influences the treatment in terms of surgery, no surgery, depending on if it's a simple or it's a complex, which I don't believe, we've heard about fractures or not. Okay, so, you know, let's forget about the shoulder weirdness for a moment, but just the idea that they popped it back in, because even in your breakdown, you had noted, like, just based on the way he was holding it and leaving to go to the back,

it seemed like perhaps that had happened and he wasn't, you know, like yelling in pain and whatnot. Is it possible to pop it back in and all is okay? Or the fact that it got dislocated, there's going to be damage and you're going to have to deal with that. It's just, okay, now it's back in, but stuff happened leading it to get dislocated. Yeah, so step one with any joint dislocation is to reduce it. That means put it back in place. And so I don't know if the camera just cut away in one of the medical staff that was there in the octagon reduced it, or we kind of saw him playing around with it a little bit,

kind of grabbing at it. And so I don't know if he just pulled on it in a way that got it to go back in. You know, you can kind of think about a couple different ways. If it's easy to get the joint back in place and then it stays in place, that's usually a good sign. If it's easy to get back in place, but then continues to fall out, continues to be unstable, there's probably a high chance there's a lot of broken bones in there that are making it unstable. So, yeah, if you notice when he was on his back, there was like this indentation, this dip down where his triceps tendon inserts into the back of the elbow. And that little dip

that we were seeing, that's from the bone being backwards out of place. And so then when he was walking off, you're right, we didn't see that yet. So I don't know if he was able to pull on his elbow to get it back in place on its own, or if we saw, if the medical staff didn't and we just didn't catch it on the replay. But it must have just been him doing it on his own because surely then they would have said, well, we put his elbow back in place, you know. Is there any scenario in which he avoids surgery here? Yeah, definitely. So in fact, most elbow dislocations, unless there's a large fracture, most elbow dislocations do not need surgery. In fact, a very, very small percentage of them

need surgery. You assume, you know, you'll hear a lot of stuff on social media of well, hopefully it's just dislocated and nothing is torn. That's not the case. You always assume there has to be some degree of tearing whenever it dislocates. But the body does a really good job, especially the elbow of kind of healing those tears on its own, restabilizing the joint. So step one, is there a fracture? If there's a fracture, that usually means it's more likely to be persistently unstable and

might need surgery. But if there's no fracture, it's very rare to need surgery for an elbow dislocation. We've seen this in the NFL with Jane Daniels getting back after just, you know, four to five weeks after dislocating his elbow. It often comes down to individual patient factors. You know, if this is the dominant side of a baseball pitcher, you're probably going to go in there and reconstruct those ligaments because the demand they're putting on their elbow. Combat sports is a little bit of a gray area, right? Because you're grappling, you're down on the ground, you're putting a lot of stress through your elbow, but not necessarily throwing. So I imagine we'll

hear about an initial period of immobilization, get things to solidify, stabilize best they can, and then they'll continue to assess the ongoing stability or not, and then only operate if there continues to be a lot of instability in his joint. I was just going to ask you about Jaden. He leaves around a month ago, comes back yesterday, but then leaves the game yesterday after seemingly re-injuring his elbow. Based on what you saw, and again, I know you're not there, you're not speaking to him. Does this seem from afar like the same type of injury?

And is there a lesson there? Obviously, there's no rush to have Bantosha compete next month as there was for Jaden, but is there a lesson about trying to come back too soon? Yeah, I think you have to assume. that Pantosia is going to have a longer absence. And, you know, you see all these football players, linemen, linebackers that wear those braces on their elbow. It's very easy to put somebody in a brace and let them go play football, but you can't do

mixed martial arts with a big metal brace on your elbow. So you have to rely on the body's ability to heal to provide that stability, where you can't provide that added stability with a brace. I was frankly shocked to see Daniels go back out there. One of those situations where you don't know, like, what's the benefit, right? I mean, the team's out of the postseason, so why go back? out there and risk injuring something else, the hard unknown that we don't, that we're not aware of is what was that conversation like with him? Because he could have been pushing, pushing, pushing to

play. All the risks were explaining, he's still pushing, push and pushing, push and pushing. And so at some point, it might be safe to go back out there. But I think just the nature of the sport, you have to assume it's going to be a longer absence. And I don't know. Do you know, is he right or left-handed? Do you know, Pantoja? I believe he's right. Okay. So that influences things, too. You know, I think if it's his non-dominant side, that's, that's more likely to do well without surgery, then had it been his right, his right side. He is 35. Does that, you know, factor in?

And like you said, tough sport, no, you don't think any of that comes out. No, I don't think his age plays a role. No, I think it's purely a matter of how much bone damage is there. If there's minimal bone damage, I would not be concerned about his age, no. Are you surprised that stuff like this doesn't happen more in the UFC in MMA? Yeah, I am. I'm always surprised that guys in. MMMA don't get hurt more than they do, right?

I mean, I'm always surprised that there's not more dislocations and more, you know, all the arm bars that people are being put in and the shoulder cranks and all the stuff that, you know, I don't understand the technical side of. I'm shocked that there's not more injuries in mixed martial arts. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't injuries. It means we don't hear about injuries. And so it could be that a lot of these guys are injured. We just don't ever really hear about it or it doesn't get to the point where they're having

surgeries and having operations. But yes, I'm very surprised. In fact, I don't know of any other elbow dislocations. I'm sure there have been some, but I'm not aware of elbow dislocations. Lots of arm breaks from, you know, being cranked on the force loading it. But I'm not aware of any recent elbow dislocations. Based on what you saw, is there any chance that this was a shoulder injury and not an elbow injury? So could he have also injured his shoulder at some point along the way?

Sure. So I don't think you can sit here and say, well, guaranteed there's no shoulder injury. But you definitely cannot ignore the dislocated elephant in the room of his elbow as he's going down there on the canvas for sure. Even the way, like, he was standing there with the arm and the splint, does that suggest that it wasn't a shoulder injury or would he be in the same thing if it was a shoulder? He'd be in the same thing. Okay. So the one thing that makes it less likely to be a shoulder is when you look at that view of him walking off the octagon, there's no abnormal contour or deformity that we can see. Right.

His deltoid. So typically when someone dislocates their shoulder, the ball will be sitting forward. forward from the joint and the shoulder will be very flat, almost like there's a flattening of the deltoid muscle contour. And we didn't see anything like that as he was walking out of the octagon. So all this talk about who someone popped it back in, who knows where in the world that came from. Could this be an issue that plagues him for the rest of his career or for it's fixed, it's all good? Well, you have to worry about this. I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think so. I think so. I think the bigger unknown is how he responds initially. So, you know, how that first

fight goes coming back because sometimes there might be some instability in the elbow that he doesn't really appreciate or notice symptomatically until he gets thrown down and until he's put in some of these different positions. But once he kind of clears that initial step of, okay, how does it respond? Then I think he'll be fine. And if they go conservative and it doesn't respond, it continues to be unstable, then you get surgery, you get it fixed and there would be no reason to be worried about it going forward. You know, the elbow, the elbow is not a weight-bearing joint, right? So if you think about an injury to an ankle, a knee, a hip, those. Those are weight-bearing joints that are going to be much more prone to future pain to future injury, et cetera, bothering you because of the weight-bearing aspect.

The elbow is not a weight-bearing joint. And so you're really only going to bother it if you're throwing like a dominant side overhead athlete or if you're trying to set bench press roll records or something like that where you're repeatedly loading through it. Last thing on Pantosia, there was a fighter named Dominic Cruz who went on Twitter after the fight and said like he wished this is it right here. I wish that Van Pantosia fight was allowed to keep going should be up to us. the fighter, people dislocate their arms and put it back into place and keep fighting all the time. From afar, I think it's a crazy thing to say. Is there any way in which, based on what you know about all of this and what you saw, that he could have kept fighting? Not with an elbow. So a shoulder, I think a shoulder is a different conversation because there are definitely a lot

of fighters, a lot of people who have chronically unstable shoulders that easily dislocate. And when you get it back in place, they do just fine. They function just fine. In fact, with a football player, if you're covering a football game, somebody dislocates their shoulder, for the first time, you put it back in on the sideline, if their range of motion and strength is good, we'll let them go back out and play. So if you'll let somebody go back out and play in a football game, I think there could be some space for a conversation. The challenge is you can't, I don't think you can rely on the medical staff to put it back in. You'll see sometimes guys kind of pull on their arm or shoulder to try to get it back in, and I think that's maybe a different

conversation. The elbow is just notoriously much more risky joint to dislocate. There's a lot more important blood, vessels, and nerves around the elbow, it's much, much more challenging to get an elbow back in place than it is a shoulder. And so there's just a lot of other additional risks for subsequent injuries, future trauma, fighting with an unstable elbow compared to a shoulder that's got more surrounding stability and support from the muscles. Last question, I will let you go. And again, thank you so much. And I urge everyone to check out your YouTube channel, including your latest video on Tom Aspinall. I just wanted to ask you, based on what you've seen from him, interviews, footage, Brown syndrome, everything he said,

is he in for here? And are you surprised that it's as bad as it seems? I think, number one, it all makes sense. You know, everything, when he's looking up there in the video with his eyes, I mean, I can tell that his eyes aren't moving the same way. And all it takes is a very, very subtle amount. I mean, we're not talking about one eye, fix straight ahead and the other one's way up here. I mean, these can be very subtle differences that cause you to have persistent double vision. And so to not have double vision, you rely on the eyes moving in synchronicity with one another. So everything he's saying, everything in the reporting he's shared makes perfect sense. I think we all absolutely have to assume this is legitimately what's

going on. What he's going through next sounds appropriate as well in terms of an injection at the spot where it's basically the muscles that move the eyeball. One of those muscles has this unusual kind of pattern where it kind of comes up and takes like a 90 degree turn before attaching to the eyeball. In that spot where it takes that turn, there's this little band of tissue that kind of keeps it anchored down in place that the tendon has to spin back and forth through. In these cases with this Brown syndrome, it doesn't move smoothly through the that little area. And so injections can be done in that spot to try to help decrease inflammation,

help get it moving better. And if that doesn't work, then surgery. So I think hopefully the injection takes care of all this and he's back, you know, without any future issues. Whatever that orbital fracture potential was that was mentioned on some of those reports, that should not be any concern by now. So once they can get that muscle working again, it shouldn't be a long delay.

I mean, I would see this as like, oh, it's working. Great. Go train. You know, it's not like it's going to be, oh, it's working. Now sit for. six months and do nothing. You know, it's really, once you get that motion back where you're not having the double vision, then good to go. But I don't know if I would see a reason. Obviously, I'm not in my doctor, but I would assume they're letting him do cardio. You know, I know he said no like

combat or training, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're letting him do some cardio and hopefully keep his conditioning up. Obviously, you just don't want to be sparring and taking hits when you've got double vision and can't see straight. Incredible stuff, as always. Thank you so much, doctor. Really appreciate it. Again, everyone go check out the YouTube channel. phenomenal work that you're doing in, and we love checking it out. All the best. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Yep. Have good rest of your day. There he is. The great Dr. Brian Suterer, who does such a great job, again, anytime, and hopefully it's not the case, but you're watching a game, you see an injury. More often than not, he'll be in that studio of his doing his stuff,

and it's just, it's a fascinating look. It's a fascinating look at the world of sports injuries. So we appreciate him very much, and great insight there. And hopefully sooner rather than later, we'll get more insight into what Pantosia is dealing with. Very, very freaky stuff. And yeah, unlike anything we've seen in a title fight before, that particular injury. So still to come, Josh Van in 15 minutes, the brand new UFC flyway champion, Peyton Talbot's going to join us as well. Looking forward to that chat very, very much.

Looking forward to having him on the program. And we'll also talk to John Wood, the head coach for one, Marab Duolishvili, talked to him about what went wrong against Peter Ardian. but let's stick with the Tom Aspinall topic. Can we stick with that topic if we can? So, Dana White was holding court, and there's a few topics that I want to get into as far as the Post-Fy press conference. We'll save most of those for the back end of the show when we get to the news and notes,

stuff on Armin and Terrence Crawford, boxing, Ronda Rousey, etc. But we just spoke about Tom, so let's just stick to that subject for a moment here. Dana White was asked about the things Tom said on this here program and on his YouTube channel. Again, no, you know, no sourcing, no citing of the program. But, you know, we expect that by now. Don't love it if I'm being 100% honest. But perhaps the thinking is, you mentioned the show, it'll get them off track, you won't get the answer. I don't know.

But I found his answer to be very, very interesting. I found his answer to be interesting for several reasons. First, here is what he said in regards to the things that Tom Aspinall said on this show and on his YouTube channel last week. Tom Aspinall did interviews recently saying that his eye is not better. He was a little bit disappointed with some comments you made. Have you spoke to Tom? Do you know anything about that? And what's your reaction to what he said?

I have not. Yeah. I mean, I get it. I don't remember exactly what I said. What did I say? That is. Just said you think that the... I think his eyes are okay.

Yeah. Since normal David with MNM in Myanmar Hold on, so I'm still talking to this guy Sorry, my bet Here's the thing So obviously, and I know Tom said

You know, I haven't even talked to him and all that stuff But we have people all over him right now You know, checking up on him making sure he's good Does he need any help or, you know, any specialists? Yeah, I'm no doctor I'm just saying what I've heard and that was in no way it wasn't said in a way that

they're like, oh, what do you think? I said, I think he's fine. It wasn't like that. I said, I think Tom's eyes are good. He's going to take some time, he'll, come back to, you know, that's all I said. I wasn't saying anything negative toward him. So,

you know, and I think that things can be taken out of context or he didn't see what I said, because I didn't even remember what the fuck I said, but never once did I say anything negative about him or, you know, in a derogatory way, you know, I'm sure he's upset and fired up and, you know, he'll get better and we'll get him back in there. He saves himself at the end there when he says, well, I don't even remember what I said.

Glad to hear that because the picture that he is painting there isn't exactly the picture that he painted back in October after that fight. Just think for a moment, you're Tom Aspinall. You've just waited a year and change to fight. gone through the whole John Jones saga. You think you're getting this big fight, then it gets taken away from you, and now you're fighting Sorrel Gan. This is your first fight back, your first official title defense. You get poked in the eyes multiple times, at the end, a double poke, an eye gouge, if you will, and everyone's now crapping all over you. You hope that

your promoter, that the guy that, you know, you take cues from, your boss, if you will, you hope that he comes out there at the post-bred press conference because he could change a narrative in a second. We have seen it. We'll come out and say, that was nasty, that was dirty, that was uncalled for. That was a mistake, but it was still nasty and could have been, you know, could have been a disaster for his long-term health. We've seen what happened to Michael Bisping, a fellow Brit. Instead, what you got was, yeah, I don't give a shit about the gloves.

I don't give a shit about eye pokes. And most damning of all, wasn't just that like, oh, what did I say? Most damning of all is that he said this. It's unfortunate that it ended the way that it did. And yes, I think that there probably will be a lot more interest in the rematch after they saw, you know. I mean, he had Tom bloodied up and, you know, Tom didn't want to continue in the fight. So the rematch is very interesting. If Dana White cannot understand that Tom didn't want to continue in the fight is not the ultimate insult to a guy that got his eyes gathers.

If he does not understand that that is insulting, that Tom Aspinall is pissed off about that. And oh, by the way, the fact that he never checked up on him, the fact that he never sent a text, a DM, hey, how are you doing, champ? Everything okay? What could we do for you? We've got this place lined up. Don't give me the we're all over him. Are you guys all over him before the interview? Are you all over him after the interview?

Be honest with us. Before the interview or after he called you out? Why wasn't he seeing the best specialist in the world on the Monday after that fight? Why has it taken, you know, six weeks for him to speak up for this to become a thing? Come on now. What did I say? What did you say? Didn't say anything derogatory.

Didn't say anything derogatory. Tom didn't want to continue as akin to someone tapping out. Is akin to someone saying no mass. Roberto Duran didn't want to continue when he said no mass against Sugar Ray Leonard. Tom Aspinall did not say no mass. Tom Aspinall had his eyes gouged, as he put it like a bowling ball, his eyes gouged. Tom Aspinall couldn't continue. Tom Aspinall was foul to the point where he could not see.

There's a massive difference there. So to feign ignorance and say, what did I say? I'm not a doctor. I'm just talking about the way it looked. What did I say? What did I say that was so bad? What did you say that was so bad? You said the guy did not want to continue.

He chose not to continue. come on now come on and everyone in attendance should have said that well actually you said he didn't want to continue that's a big freaking deal to a fighter the alphaist of the alpha males the biggest freaking deal there's no bigger deal than that you called him a quitter you called him a quitter when he had his eyes gouge if you don't see the problem with that i don't know what to say anymore and then to add insult to injury no one checked up on him no one checked in with him. No one got him to the best specialist. Don't give him a call. No one said, hey, man, we're here for you. Not what could we do? This is a pro sport. Imagine if early Holland gets

injured while playing for Man City. Do you think he sits at home and they say like, hey, he didn't want to continue and then say like, hey, if you need anything, let us know. No, they get him in front of the best freaking specialist in all of Manchester, in all of the world. If the best specialist is in Abu Dhabi, they send them there. If the best specialist is in Kentucky, they send them there. That's what you do when someone gets injured. I always saw these videos back in the day like these WW wrestlers would get hurt and they would send them to James Andrews in Birmingham, Alabama.

That's what you do. You don't say, hey, if you need anything, give us a call, right? And then when the media asks about gloves and eye pokes, you'll say, I don't give a shit. I say, no, this sucks. This hurts us. This hurts our athletes. I'm tired of this. And we're going to fix it once in front.

all. Unbelievable. That was unbelievable to me. That was one of many things that I felt was a little bit unbelievable from that whole post-fight press conference. And trust me, I just want to say, I don't want to start the show dissecting these things and calling them out and getting fired up about them. Trust me, I don't. As I've said time and again, I love this sport. We stay up late. We do all this content. I've devoted my life to this. But I cannot. sit here and listen to this stuff and see these stories change in front of our eyes. If I was

sitting there, you know what I would have said? No. Actually, you said he didn't want to continue. That's a problem. And you said he'd be right back there. And now the guys got these issues where he might need surgery or at least get injections into his eyeball. And oh, by the way, you guys didn't

check up on him. That's a problem. That is a big problem. So yeah, I think I think we kind of know why he's pissed off right now. Anyway, let's talk about the White House card, can we? Some updates on that. Dana White was talking about the White House card and how exciting it was. All the stuff that they have planned.

It's going to be big. It's going to be massive. The president of the United States even talked about it yesterday. Mr. Donald Trump himself first. Here's Dana White talking about this card, which is slated for June 14th of next year. When you look at the marketplace right now, what do you think it does to take the UFC off pay-per-view and make it more accessible for the fans how much bigger can it make the sport what do you think it will happen with that huge and the amount of marketing that these guys are going to do uh you know for the UFC on their platform is just it's impossible

for the sport not to to get even bigger it was 1,300 or 1,300 bucks a year to be a fan you know this year it's going to be 120 dollars next year something like that for for the entire year so um and we have you know huge fights coming up, the White House fight alone will be madness. We're inching closer to when we can start to figure out who might be available. I'd say after these January-February fights, we'll start to have a better picture about who might be available. It is going to be madness.

The one thing I'd love to know that we don't have clarity about just yet is how many of these events are going to take place on linear TV at all in any way, shape, or form? Like, are there going to be prelims on CBS? Are there going to be prelims on CBS Sports Network? Or is it all going to be Paramount Plus? It seems like the White House card is going to be on CBS. At least that's what we were told. But what about the rest?

Because, like, on Saturday, I was able to watch the prelims on FX. We've been able to watch prelims on ESPN 2, on ESPN in the past, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. How much of it is going to be on linear? Because what he continues to say about the boxing competition is that none of those guys have a TV deal. We're the only ones that have a TV deal. Well, how much of Zoufa boxing is going to be on TV? Or is it all going to be on Paramount Plus? Because if I'm paying $7.7 billion to have the UFC under one umbrella, which is Paramount Plus, yeah, it would make a lot of sense that I would put the vast majority of that behind a paywall. In fact, it would make a lot of sense to have the White House card behind the paywall, behind the subscription paywall. The way in which Paramount Plus recoups their money, And it's a lot of money, $7.7 billion over seven years, is to put the vast majority of the content, including the number of events, behind a paywall. That's how they're going to recoup the money, not by giving it away for free.

And so I wonder, they haven't said yet, prelims, are they going to be on TV? White House card, going to be on TV. Any numbered events going to be on TV. That, to me, is still up in the air. And we'll find out, I guess, next month. But Donald Trump was speaking to reporters yesterday talking about this. card and he seems to have very big plans incredibly big plans now i think he might have misspoke far be it for me to correct frank's commander-in-chief who me but this is what he

had to say well we're going to have a lot of events you know one of the things you're going to have here is some of the ufc press you're going to have the fighters coming over talking about the fights it's a big deal the ufc on june 14th it's going to be june 14th next year and they're building an arena, the great Dana White's living in arena, and they're going to have eight or nine championship fight, the biggest fights they've ever had. Everyone's a championship fight, and everyone's a legendary type of fight. He's actually holding back fights right now for six months so he can do it for this, the 250. I think 250 is going to be amazing. I think the arena is going to be five or six thousand seats right in front of the front door of the White House and 100,000 people

in the back where they're putting up eight or ten very big screens. That's going to to be an exciting night so many people are asking for tickets the ufc by the way gc uh quick pop quiz ufc 250 who headlined it i i don't know when he says 250 doesn't your mind go there yeah that's what i was thinking for a second i was like oh no it's going to be like ufc 334 yeah all-time classic by the way oosman nah Amanda nunes versus felicia special oh yes yes yes live at the apex when he says too because we're so used to saying 323 324 this and that he says eight nine title fights i know everyone's going gaga over that come on there's not going to be eight nine title fights we all know man he's talking

eleven divisions they can make it happen eight could you imagine eight nine this would be like one of those pfl black friday cards that went on for nine hours maloney looked like she's bought in she does look like she's bought in eight nine i was i was excited about the fact that he said the ufc press is going to be there does that mean does that mean like we're are we in or are we out. Who the fuck is we? I mean, I'm in. Like Usman said, are we invited or not? Like, are we going to be invited? Are we going to get like one of those cards?

It would be like you're cordially invited to the White House? Yeah, first time, right? What a scene, that would be. We'd stand there in the Oval Office, shake hands. Da-na-na-na-na-na-da. Oval Office is where they're changing. We can't get it. We're going from getting a seat at the event to literally be in the Oval. It actually be my brother on Claire. Your brother.

Yeah, what's up, man? Has he got in his assignment yet? No, but there's a chance. Golly. Do you imagine? I never know. Eight, nine title fights, the Great Dana White. What do you say? Like, there's going to be 5,000 people and then 100,000? Yeah, 6,000 people in the front, 100K in the back. At the ellipse. The ellipse is the name of the park?

What is that? What is that? I thought it was going to be like the mall there, you know? Me too. Like where Forrest Grump ran, and he said, Jenny, do the water? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we just pull up to that one? Yeah, we can pull up anywhere we want, bro. Now I have my mind set on Oval Office. I don't want to be able. Can we stand outside with that? Can we stand outside with one of those, like, megaphones and be like, you know.

Free Tom Aspinall. Fighter pay, very important. Revenue sharing, important. Please. Peace and love. Peace and love. I'm going to be like, I don't know these guys. Yeah, I don't know him.

Oh, 47. I don't know these guys. Secret service has you done in two minutes. Oh, yeah. Do you think the title fights could be like BMF type fights? I hope not. Did they make white house titles? Yes, make White House titles.

Frank, you know what? You might be on to something. You think they'll make a white house title? I think that's what it is. Everyone gets a belt. Yeah, everyone gets a belt. The America 250 belt or something. You know what?

I could actually see it. Red, white, and blue? Yes. Remember when they randomly made custom belts for the Mexican champions? Yeah. That's pretty cool. It was a randomist for Noche.

Now this is going to be this version. No, you know what? I could actually see it. He did happen to say that the president is a massive Derek Lewis fan. Did you catch that? So it sounds like if Derek, that was like the first time that he hinted at a fight happening on the card, he said, big fight for Derek coming up, of course, against the great Waldo Cortez Acosta coming out of the bullpen for your Cincinnati Reds on fire as of late.

He did hint that, you know, big fight for him if he gets by this next one, could secure a spot. That's why I feel like once the January-February fights come and go, we'll start to be able to know, like, who is on a winning streak, who's coming off a win, who's healthy, who would make sense. It's going to be like UFC 300 again. Like, we got into, like, the January time zone of 2024. We started finding out fights about 300. Yes.

Jordan just sent something in the slide. This is it. Is this the ellipses? What is it called? The ellipses? The ellipse? The eclipse? Looks like the ellipse.

Okay. Yeah, right across the street from the White House grounds. He says 85,000 people are going to find. fit on that? Where's the White House in this picture? Up top. Oh, to the right there? No, up top. So the round part is the ellipse and then, you know, there's a fence

around the grounds and then you have the White House in the background. It's that White House right there. Yes, I see it right there. Beautiful, by the, it's the house. It shows two wings on each side there, but that'll be new. There'll be a ballroom that the fighters will dance in after they fight. Okay, sick. I'm in. Is that actually the beginning of the

octagon right there on the lawn? It feels like they should put it in the circle. the ellipse but then you're not on the White House long that's not the White House that's the ellipse it's pretty close what is an ellipse mean it's like an oval is it also a parking lot there's cars you were wondering what they're called an elliptical yeah motion is like an ellipse like an oval oh I believe our orbit around the sun is an ellipse right yeah yeah what are you talking about orbit around the sun is that showing love to the oval office the ellipse I have no idea um okay we'll talk more about that in a moment for now

though let us go to our next guest he is the second youngest champion in the history of the UFC. He's the new reigning defending UFC flyweight champion. Strange circumstances, 26 seconds, quickest UFC flyweight title fight ever. He is the pride of Myanmar and Houston. He's the one and only Joshua Van, who's kind enough to join us here for a few minutes to talk about the big one. There he is.

Josh, my man, how are you? I'm doing good, man. How are you doing? Exactly a week ago. We were talking, you're in Houston. You were getting ready to go out to Las Vegas. Fast forward seven days, you're the flyaway champion of the world. Has it sunk in?

I don't know, man. I still feel the same. You feel the exact same. Nothing's changed, man. You don't feel a sense of accomplishment. You made it. Dream come true. You gave the belt to your mom that whole scene?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. But, you know, I still feel the same, Joshua, man. Is it overwhelming? No. just what are you thinking about the next one already you're on to the next uh no man i'm just feeling right now i'm just trying to talk to my dad you know okay oh i lost you there what did you say you're trying to talk to who i'm at his grave my dad oh wow i'm sorry i didn't know that you were doing that now yeah yeah i was gonna do it

but you're good you good okay we'll keep you for a few where is your dad buried if you don't want me asking? In Houston. Okay. Are you bringing the belt with you? Yeah, for sure. Oh, wow. Wow.

What is that going to feel like you think? Like I said, man, I just wish you proud of me, you know. Yeah. And how old were you when he passed? I was 16. Okay. Wow. Well, I can't believe we're talking to you as you're about to do this.

And I'm sorry for taking you away from that, truly. But I appreciate you checking in with that. us for a few minutes. Obviously, it was, it was strange, right? It was, it was weird the way in which the fight ended. Can I ask from your vantage point, could you see right away? Could you feel that something went wrong with his arm? No, no. That's why I was kind of hesitate to ground and pound him, right? And I looked, and then the ref didn't stop it. I was all right, let me go for it. And as I go for it, I think the ref know what was going on and things like that. So when the rift stopped

step in then I was like oh I guess they stopped and then I didn't know whether I was winning or whether I win or I lost but I was celebrating and shit yeah I mean in that moment you have just realized the dream to a degree but he's obviously

in a lot of pain and it's a weird ending did any part of you feel I don't know for lack of a better word unfulfilled because usually you win a fight you knock someone out you go the distance you submit him and this was very strange it was unceremonious It was very quick. Yeah, man.

But like I said, man, it is what it is. You know, it happened the way it is. I feel like if it didn't happen that way, I was still going to be the victorious that night. You know what I mean? I didn't think anybody can beat me on that night. How did the week go? How did you feel as you cut weight

as you were preparing at the press conference? You're looking great, by the way. The suits were fantastic on fight night throughout the week. I mean, who's doing your suits for you? Let's give this guy a shot. Look at these suits right here. Who's doing that? for you.

I thought out to suitably, man. They're making me look right, you know? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I pick all the colors and everything, too. I like, hey, those suit, man, they're going to look great with the belt, you know? Yes. So were you feeling good all week? All week, man.

I was just smiling, laughing, you know? I was just all, I was so excited the whole week. What about in the back before you walked out? well you know you get a little butterflies in your stomachs and things like that but uh i didn't actually getting like too nervous for this fight man it's crazy i was more more like more excited it was like more of excitement okay and and um because you're preparing you're in the back you're warming up and you only compete for 26 seconds how do you get rid of that energy afterwards you know what i mean like i'm sure afterwards you were probably bouncing off the walls how do you actually

release that energy did you even go to bed on Saturday night? Nah. All night. Really? What'd you do? Well, we did some prayer. We have some prayer with the family.

And then after that, you know, it's Vegas. You know what I'm saying? So I stay up. You turned up, as they say. A little bit. You got lit, as they say. A little bit, yeah. Sometimes I say, as the kids say, you're literally a kid.

second youngest champion born in the 2000s first champion ever born in the 2000s 24 years young used to sign cards and say champion by 2026 right used to do that and now here you are champion by 2025 you have exceeded your own expectations well yeah like um like i say i manifest this thing man like uh no man like my phone screen and said bitch i'm a champion and I put the, you know, December 6, 2025 and things like that. You know what I mean? And I custom, I actually custom a pistol that said, award champion December 6. But it would probably come out next week because, you know, it takes time to custom guns.

So I can't wait to see that gun and everything, man. But, like, yeah, I like to manifest things and see beforehand, you know. Is there any part of you that feels bad for Pantosia? because it happened that way to him. Yeah, you know what I mean? Nobody wants the fight to end that way, and especially like, and like I respect the guy so much that, you know what I mean?

I want to run a back, man. Because, you know, he's one of the greatest of all time in our division and things like that. And for our fight to end like that, you know what I mean? I think we should run a back for sure. You say run a back. Do you mean run a back next? like your next fight you want it to be against him?

Yeah, it don't matter who they put in front of me, like I said, but if he recovered quick enough, then yes. Okay. He posted a video of himself afterwards talking about the situation. Did you see it on his social media? No, what do you say? The main thing is, is that he was talking about how disappointed he was and the injury and whatnot, but he didn't, in my opinion,

was very classy and took nothing away from you and said, this was your destiny. It was your time to win. He wants to come back. He wants to fight you and get it back. He felt great. But I thought it was very cool of him to not try to take anything away from your moment. Yeah.

You know, like, that's why he's a great champion. You know what I mean? He, you know what I mean? A lot of people say he's an accident, but, you know, I made that happen. You know what I mean? A lot of people don't like that, but it's a fight. You know, things like that happen. And he's a great champion.

and, you know, he takes responsibility for whatever happened, you know what I mean? And that's why I respect him so much. And I think he deserved a rematch for sure. When you say you made that happen, what do you mean by that? Was that something that you did on purpose? Well, he kicked me and I push him. Right. You know, of course, like, you know, I push him.

But I didn't think he was going to break his arm. But it happened. you know what I mean sitting cage side was Tatsuro Taira Did you even watch his fight I know it was right before yours but were you watching

were you looking at it while you were in the back Yeah they watched his fight But I was warming up at the same time So you know he looked good He looked great man Dana White said he liked the idea of Tira fighting you in Japan He liked the idea

Didn't commit to it but said They were going to look into it How do you feel about that idea I'm the champ man He got to come to Houston Okay, okay. They are coming to Houston in February. Do you want to be on that card? There you go. Say list. Okay. That's a fight night, though. It's not a numbered event. Are you okay with defending on that card?

I don't have pay-per-view no more. Sure. So it doesn't really matter, right? Yes. I don't know how this new deal is going and things like that. So I don't know whatever they want, man, but, you know, I've really. really want to fight you know my hometowns and things like that so yeah that's in February 21st I believe is that okay for you as far as timeline is concerned hey they want the belt that bad but for you in terms of like your body you fought a lot this year I look good don't I do you look fantastic you looked and it was just 26 seconds I know it was a whole training camp there but you did

look tremendous do you think that he is the most deserving if if if they're going to have you fight before Pantosha comes back. Do you think he's the most deserving? Well, yeah, they got, who's that, who's that guy that just, that just come that the other Japanese guy? Yeah, Kioji Horaguchi. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that guy, they got him, they got Tara, and they got, um, what? There's Royville and, uh, Manel Cap fighting this weekend. So, like I said, man, whoever they want, whoever the UFC want, you know what I mean? So, I don't pick and choose, man. I never pick and choose my opponent, so why I start now, you know? Sure. Did you see Tatsuro after your fight?

Yeah, yeah. He said, I'm next. I say, let's do it. Okay, okay. I mean, two young guys, you both have looked fantastic. I think it's a fight that would make a lot of sense, but I agree with your sentiment. Pantoja, whenever he's ready, he has to get a crack, right? He shouldn't have to fight anyone else. Yeah, like I said, man, like, I don't, you know, I don't make this type of decision. So as I Whatever you want. Would you be disappointed if they ask you to fight in Japan against a Japanese fighter? No, like at the end of the day, I'm just a fighter.

You know what I mean? So, but as a champion, you know what I mean? You got to have a say a little bit. So I do want to fight in my hometown. Sure. Or, yeah, in the U.S. How are the celebrations in Myanmar? It's crazy, man.

People are going crazy like the whole. whole village, you know, the whole city is watching us and thing like that. So, yeah, it's good. Is this the greatest moment in Myanmar sports history? For sure, for sure. Is that, is that a hard thing to wrap your head around, how you've put your your country on the map like this? Nah, man, it's never a hard thing, man. Never pressure on me, you know. I enjoy this thing, man. I enjoy stuff like this. What was it like when you gave the belt to your mom? It means the word to me, man.

She didn't want to let go on the belt. Did she sleep with it that night, or did you take it to your room? Well, I took it back because, you know, because, you know, when you go out and things like that, they want you to carry your belt and things like that. Sure. And then you brought the toy belt. Who gave you that toy belt?

Well, I actually bought it for my nephew before the, before my fight, I was like, hey, when I win the belt, they raised that. And he did. Wow. When they called him on the state, he did. And I was like, you know what? You're the real champ. Let me carry that belt. I love that. That's great. And by the way, Josh, can I ask you some criticizing the way you celebrated, right? That it was, you know, you were too happy, all this stuff. I'm sure you've seen some of this. What is your response to the criticism? well it was a it was a mixed up uh moment right because i beat him and i was happy and i was celebrating of course you know when you when you just realize you just win right and then i look at him and he was just laying there and then i want i want to go talk to him i was like hey man

i'm very very sorry we let's run it back man you know you're a great champion and things like And, you know, he did tell me, sorry that the fight didn't go how we expected, you know. And he was telling me how, how much of a training camp he put into this camp and things like that. So, you know, I was, I thought I was being respectful, but a lot of people didn't see it that way. Does that bother you? I don't give a fuck. You're happy. I'm happy, man.

I'll let you go after two more questions. Do you say you want to fight maybe three, four times next year? Yeah, I want to fight at least, yeah, three, at least. At least three, okay. Because we just saw Marab fight four times, and there's a part of me that wonders if he put too much on his plate. Obviously, you're younger than Marab, but is there any sort of lesson that you take away from that?

Well, like I said, everybody is different. Yeah. You know what I mean? So for me, I like, I like, I do better when I stay active, you know what I mean? And I guess, well, we don't know how much weight he cut and things like that, too. You know what I mean? So for me, staying active and a problem. Did you have McDonald's this morning for breakfast?

No, you know it. Oh, my gosh. Everyone's talking about this. You have McDonald's every morning? Yes. after training. What do you get? What's the order?

Two burritos and breakfast burritos and two hash brown and orange juice. Every morning, even while you're cutting weight. Yes. Well, yeah. Even in Vegas? See, when I cut weight, I changed the burritos to like the oatmeal. They have. Yeah, yeah.

And they're two hash brown. I can't, bro, the hash brown is just too good. You can't go to McDonald's and not order the hash brown. Yes, yes. You ever have the one where it's the McGrittle where it's the two pancakes with the sausage and the egg in the... That's good. That is nice, yes. We need to get you a McDonald's sponsorship.

You talk about them so much. You get asked about them all the time now. Hey, McDonald's stop playing, man. Let's go. Let's go. And even while you're in Vegas, you're still having the hash browns. No, no, no. In Vegas, you know, the UFC take care of our meals and things like that.

They do a very good job. So, you know, I want to stay in their meal plan. Yeah, for sure. Last thing, how do you not let all of this get to you, Josh? You're so young, you're getting so much attention, people back home. You told us last time the famous people are hitting you up over there, people you grew up watching. Life is about to change for you, whether you like it or not. How do you remain humble and keep your, you know, your feet on the ground?

Well, the thing is that I know, I know people come and go, you know what I mean? people that love me would stay no matter what so you know i just surround myself with the people that love me and all the other people all the new people man is they just noise you know okay they they love you one day and then they hate you the other day so as long as i got my love one i'm good i remember when anthony peddiss won the belt many years ago one of the first things he did was bring the belt to his father's grave he said that that was a promise that he made to himself did you do the same thing yes yes i'm about to to yeah I'm about to go right now I'm in the parking lot right now so I'm going to go talk to him

and see like tell him how I feel man like it's been a long as time I haven't talked to my dad well much love enjoy that all the best you Joshua and congratulations thank you for doing this I appreciate it enjoy every celebration with your family enjoy the moment and looking forward to seeing what you do in 2026 thank you for having me all the best there he is the brand new UFC flyway champion Joshua Van how could you not be a fan of that man and I had no idea that he was going to be in the parking lot about to go visit his father very reminiscent of the the Anthony Pettus story remember I think it was UFC 160 it was either 164 or 163 UFC 163 no that was Aldo for Benson Henderson Anthony Pettis in Milwaukee in um

When was it? 2013, golly. August of 2013. And he told us that he was going to bring the belt, and then he posted it on social media, the belt that his father's gravesite, his father passed away when he was young. And now here's Joshua Van doing it.

So pretty incredible stuff. And to be honest, I think everything that he said, you know, there about Alex is exactly the right thing to say, Alex is going to get another crack at that belt. There is no doubt about it. You just hope that the layoff isn't too long. you hope that the injury doesn't keep him on the sidelines for too long and that he can avoid the worst of it whether it's surgery and all that other stuff a freak freak injury yeah he's not a dirty fighter them's the rules you know injured can't continue didn't do anything wrong uh the the result would be the same whether it's a title fight or not he gets the belt he's a tremendous fighter wasn't gifted anything and um yeah let's see let's see how it all plays out in 2026 but all of a sudden there are some serious options

in the flyweight division, whether it's Tyra, in Japan, whether it's him fighting in Houston. Great point. You know, you don't have to have title fights just on the numbered events anymore. You can have them whenever, so that would make a lot of sense. Whether it's Horaguchi and then, of course, Pantosia, just those three options alone are tremendous right off the bat. All right. Let's refocus our attention, main event, Pioriyan, defeating Marab Duolishvili. What a fight.

We talked about it at the beginning. Wanted to pick the brain of the great John Wood. syndicate MMA in Las Vegas, ask him about what transpired in the fight. He is kind enough to join us right here and now to talk about it all. And John, I really appreciate your time. Thank you for coming on. I know it's easy to come on after a win and probably a little less, you know, a little less fun after a loss like that.

So it says a lot about you and I appreciate it very much. Thank you. Yeah, I'd be lying if I didn't agree with you on that one. The winning part is much better. but unfortunately losing is part of the sport you know and it's a part you have to be you have to be okay with and i try to preach that to my guys of hey man like this is the stuff that's going to happen so you know the fact that like i said someone like yourself or anybody who calls wants to talk to me about it i just be kind of you know i i just wouldn't feel good doing that with like i said

You've got to kind of practice what you preach and take your lumps. And, you know, so that's what we're going to do. So I'd like to actually start in October. Murab finds out, he asks, this is what his team has told me, his manager, Danny Rubenstein. Like, he wanted to be on this card, right? He finds out while he's on this show that he is going to headline this card, it will be two months after the Sanhagen fight, but he found out the week after. Were you okay with that?

Did you want him to come back? Or was there a part of you thinking this is a lot? lot for title defenses in one calendar year yes and yes and yes you know marab is marab and he's a special guy and and i've said this and stated this multiple times in different spots that marab is going to be back in the gym training and doing what marab does either way you know he's going to be back in there he's not a guy that that he lives fighting he's not a guy that takes time off you know he's in their sparring training helping his training partners get ready for fights he's He's, you know, he's still doing his cage rounds.

Everything is always full steam ahead. So, you know, hindsight's always 20-20. Dude, I think it's a lot. Did I think it was a lot? Did we all think it was a lot, of course. But if anybody could pull it off, it would be more up, you know, and his work ethic and how he holds himself. But, yeah, do I think that he, you know, go back and try it again and do it again?

I absolutely do. Do I think that, you know, we would have different conversations doing it again? Yes, I think we would. But, you know, these are the things, again, when you're chasing greatness, when you're chasing, you know, legendary things, breaking records of legendary fighters. These are the risks and the things that you have to take, and that's what Marab lives for. He is a fighter's fighter. He loves fighting.

He eats, breathes, sleeps it. He is one of those rare breeds that actually says he loves it and actually does love it. and you know sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't you know fortunately with morab most of the time it does work out and this one hats off to peter and his team and you know they got the w on that but um you know you've got to take those risks to be to be great so now that you've had almost 48 hours to digest what happened top of mind what went wrong why did this fight not go the way in which their first fight went two and a half years ago you know there's a lot of things and there's a lot of stuff behind the scenes and a lot of things that I really would need to have that conversation. I have not had that sit down with Marab yet and I don't want to speak for him and I don't want to speak, you know, like I said, you know, put things out there that that are going to get misconstrued of, well, this was this, you know, he lost because of this or that.

And, you know, Marab is not an excuse guy and I'm not going to be Marab's excuse guy, you know, for him. He would be very upset with me if I did that. So, you know, that conversation needs to happen first. Do I have, you know, have I developed my idea and hypothesis, so to speak, of what we could have done better and how we could have done it, of course. And those are things, like I said, over the next, you know, a few weeks that will sit down, break down, I'm sure, this week. And, you know, there's a lot, Ariel, just like you know, there's a lot to, you know,

that goes into fighting and it goes into fighting for title. fights in one year. You know, I can guarantee there's always bumps and bruises and people are banged up. I'm sure Peter was, you know, everybody goes into a fight at this magnitude, you know, hurt or, you know, banged up. I shouldn't say hurt, but banged up. And there's a lot of things that play into this. And, you know, we got to, like I said, just sit back and kind of go over this. But it was Peter's night, you know, they came with a great game plan. And, you know, we'll get back to the drawing board and I don't have any doubt that we can't pick that one back out. Last week we had Sean O'Malley on the show and I asked him how he thought the fight was going to go.

And it sounded to me like he, you know, he was leaning towards Marab, but he also said, given the success that Marab had in striking against Corey, he wondered if maybe he will fall in love with the striking a little bit and that might be part of his undoing. And then in the post-fight interview, Marab mentioned something about, you know, trying to make this a fun fight and entertaining fight for the fans. And early on, we did see him, you know, be committed to the striking and have some success very early on. Was all that in line with what you guys were talking about going into the fight game plan-wise? Or do you think that there is something to the fact that he just wanted to try to knock him out

because he almost knocked out Corey and was starting to feel like he had that power in his hands? Listen, there's a lot of things that get said, you know, before fights to build up fights. Do I believe all those things or all those things true? not necessarily you don't you know you don't usually lay out your game plan um to the world right before to your opponent before you're going to go out and do that do i think that rob has you know enjoyed getting better at striking of course you know the the guy likes to learn he's getting better at everything um but you know again this is the conversation i'd have to sit down with him before i speak on his behalf of of that you know being the thing that he fell in love of striking i don't think

that's the case um can we get back to doing you know more morrow Rob-ish-style things, sure, I think that's part of the game, but, you know, Marab is an evolving fighter. So there's things that you, you know, as you get better and as you're learning that you, you know, you kind of throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. I don't think this is a fight where, you know, Marab went out there with the intent or any fight of going out there to, you know, I'm just to knock you out and stand up. I think those options and opportunities present themselves, he's going to take them. But again, I'd have a lot of you. to talk to him about that, you know, he is learning and still getting better. He got a lot better

in this camp. You know, there's some things that went on. But like I said, his skill set got better and he's a guy that likes to go out there and try some things. So, you know, we might have that talk where we sit back and, you know, we kind of unwind a couple things and go back to doing some different stuff. But we'll see. You know, I don't think that that was the case that, like I said, He just fell in love of the striking, and that's why we lost the fight. How, and by the way, have you rewatched the fight? I have not yet, you know. I usually, I've replayed it a thousand times in my head.

I wanted to take a couple days. It's been hacked a couple days, but I wanted to kind of let, you know, emotionally sit back so I can watch it without, you know, feel in a certain way. But I'll probably watch it tonight or tomorrow and, you know, start breaking it down from there. Just from watching it on television, I thought, just being honest, I thought it was 50 to 45 for Yanor at worst 49, 46. And it did seem, it was hard to really see or hear everything that was going on in between rounds, but it did seem like you thought he might have been up three rounds at one

point. Do you think that that's just a matter of what you were seeing from that corner? Do you think when you watch it, you might think differently? How do you feel about that? Yeah, obviously, you know, looking in the corner, I've always been pretty good. good at, you know, kind of judging how the fight's going, and that's something I'm interested to see if, you know, what happened there. I thought that, and I will go on and say, I thought that Marab was the busier doing more pressing, but looking at it now, Peter had the bigger moments. He was landing the bigger strikes, getting the bigger reactions, and, you know, doing the damage. You know, the blood always plays into a lot of stuff, and you don't know how that's going to go,

you know from from everything that you know that I've said a lot of people thought you know that that was the wrong call um and in the moment you know again I think we all thought that that we were pressing the action um you know that's something I got to go back and look at and something if I you know like I said if I made a mistake then it's something I definitely need to fix um in in making sure that that doesn't happen and I'm looking objectively but uh you know at that moment I felt in the corner we all felt that we all felt that we were up and those first couple. A third one started to get a little dicey. And then, you know, obviously four and five I would have, I would have given to him. But yeah, you know, I got to go back and take a look. And it's just one of those things sometimes in the heat of the moment. And, you know, perspective, they really do, the optics of things really do play heavily in how fights are judged. I hope you, you know, that by asking these questions, I'm not trying to create any sort of dissension between you and Marab. But, you know, so I saw, so I saw, you do an interview with fighters only and you mentioned his 45-minute sparring sessions leading

up to the fight. And then I saw a video on fight night of a young man, I forget his name, talking about sparring Marab in the morning. And this is a new stuff. But all of this, I would imagine, plus the four fights and the weight cutting and all that goes into it, 25-minute fights, three out of those four, would take a toll on one's body known as superhuman, even as machine-like as Marab is. Is it time, in your opinion, to start tinkering with these methods is the time for him to put less strain on his body because this isn't unique as you know most fighters don't don't train this way well a lot of times with rob with a lot of stuff he does is very unique and we we do a lot of the if it ate broke don't fix it i don't know that

it's broke um i i think that to me the clearest sign would be the facts of four fights in a year It was such a short time. We had seven weeks to get ready for this fight. Technically six weeks, you know, take out the week he took off after the fight and, you know, the fight week. It's just a lot, dude. You know, it really is. So obviously after every loss, you know, you sit back and you kind of tweak some things and do it. But his, the way he does things, his process has been working very well.

again i think you need more than one you know situation i'll be it a very big situation that happened here to kind of point to things and say hey we need to start changing stuff but that might be that's a conversation that we might have and it's a conversation we will have and some things might change out of it um again it's maraub you know he's the fighter i'm here to kind of help him make those decisions and guide through those stuff we went into uncharted territory doing you know four fights this you know four title fights in a year. That's a lot. It's never been done. Had we had we come out of that different,

everybody'd sit here, you know, the narrative would be very, very different. But you've got to take those risks, and it didn't go our way, and so you've got to take the lumps, and everybody's going to say what they have to say, and that's okay. That's, everybody is entitled to their opinion. And obviously, like I said, the team and the group knows what we, the work that got put in and, you know, the visuals that we saw leading up to it. But I would think that more than anything, that would be the number one thing that

I would think, you know, obviously that it's just a lot, dude. It's a lot of stress on the body. The weight cuts alone, you know, it's hard. We know who Peeryon is. He's a former champion leading up to that Aljo fight, the first fight. He was looking like he was going to be one of the best Bantamweight

champions of all time, just incredibly good on his feet, his technique, his tactics, all that stuff and more. That being said, that was four and a half years ago or so. Did he surprise you on Saturday? Did you not think that he had that type of performance left in him?

No, that's no surprise at all. I'm very high on Peter Yon and his skill set. Man, that guy is the best, you know, currently the best fighter in the world. He has been one of the best, you know. And we all know, MMA is very unforgiving. You can be the best, do all the best, have the best camps, best training partners,

everything, and shit can just not go your way. way. You know, you can have a bad run. You can have these things that go on and make it seem that you're not on top of your game or as good as you are. So I've never thought that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, nothing, no disrespect to him or his team, like I said, they showed up that night. I think it's a, you know, it was an awesome performance, but I know that, you know, I know that Marab can come back stronger and have a better performance than he did that night. This is kind of irrelevant at this point, but I'm sort of hung up on it. You've been in this game a very long time. Did Marab shoot 29 times? Because they have

them listed as 29 takedown attempts and only landing two, but I feel like the way in which they're scoring these takedown attempts is different these days. I don't feel like that was 29 takedown attempts on Saturday. What do you think? Yeah, I would, it really is, that's the problem with, with the MMA judging as a whole. Like, it's so, it's in the eye of the beholder, you know, like, there is no standard of, hey, you must take somebody down and hold them down for, you know, three seconds. It's, it's different. It's different every time. So I didn't feel that that would be the number. But, you know, again, I'd have to go back and rewatch it. And it literally is takedowns and damage

and things are judged differently every single fight. You know, that's something we've got to kind of get a grip on of making it so that the unknowns are at least taken out of that part of it. But, yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I'd have to go watch. When Alex Pereira lost to Magamette-on-Kalive in March,

the sense was he needs some time off. He's been doing too much. Would you like the same for Marab? And what does time off mean for you? If you're in favor of that, how long would you like to see him out for? you know personally i would love to see him take a vacation you know rest up the body heal up some things i'd love to see him you know get his mind away from it and come back as hungry and

i don't think that i shouldn't say he's always been hungry the level of of motivation the level of drive that he puts in everything has never wavered you know but at this point in time like i said you're dealing with so much stuff as a champion where you're doing 10 times the work that you normally have to do all the press, all of the junkets, all the media, all the interviews, everything. It's so much more.

So I'd love to just see him just go for a few weeks and take a vacation, go home or sit in his house and build his barn or whatever he's looking at doing and just relax. Do I think that's going to happen? Probably not.

But we will definitely have a a conversation is aware when he does come back that it's smart and that we're being we're being smart and like I said letting some things heal up and letting his body and his mind just kind of get right and get back into it because I know him, he's going to come back

10 times more motivated and he's going to do what he needs to do to get that title back. If it was up to you, how long would he be out for? When would he come back? I mean, I think he's capable of training, you know, within within a month, you know, a few weeks, probably sparring, I'd like to see him just take some time off sparring more than anything.

You know, he does put in the work more than anybody I've ever seen in my life. And I'll be honest, he doesn't take a lot of damage in sparring. He really doesn't. But it's just the sheer volume of work that he's been putting in over the last year is insane. So, you know, if I could get him out for chilling for a month and relax and take it easy, I think a month would be great. But, you know, just really just not sparring for the next month or two would be, would be, I think, plenty time off.

Has he earned the right to fight for the belt in his first fight back? I say absolutely. You know, I think absolutely. And I think that, you know, the work he did for the UFC being the company man that he, you know, became and is and willing to do and only, you know, not even willing to do, but asking to do things that most people wouldn't want to do, I think he's earned that right, earned that respect. you know dana speaks very highly of him so i think that he you know a hunter does too i i think that he's in that spot to maybe call that shot um you know and also too he's pretty much the reason you know like peter you know he accepted that fight and he he went out there and said hey you know i want to fight peter next and now that peter wouldn't have got the fight without him he's earned

and by fighting but you know i think that the the favor could be returned and i absolutely do think that he deserves it now with that being said you know O'Malley can go out there and spark song and we're talking about a whole different conversation you know like you just never know the UFC is so good at what they do and they

have a method to how they do things so they can shift with the breeze you know so we'll see but there's a lot that goes into it I think that that trilogy will happen I do think it will happen this year and I do kind of think that it will probably be next. What do you make

of some of the things that Jan is saying which is essentially like he should go fight some other people and some of that rhetoric that he said at the post-fight press conference listen man again when you lose you got to take your lumps Rob is a funny guy and posted a lot

of funny stuff and said and done a lot of funny things and he's got a great sense of humor and when someone has their moment like Peter had you got to just kind of roll with it are those things actually going to happen Are those things, you know, does he get to make those calls and those decisions? No, the UFC makes that decision. The UFC will make that call, just like we all, like they always do and like we all know

that they do. So when someone's doing that, you know, he's earned the right to poke fun. He's earned the right to make those calls. He's the champ right now. So you just got to kind of roll with it. Do I think that any, there's any validity to any of that stuff? No. But again, you know, when you got to take your turn when it comes around and, and,

And like I said, take your lumps and be a man and stay in there with, you know, in victory or defeat and do what you got to do. Two other quick topics that I want to ask you about and then we'll let you go again. Thank you very much for the time. I have started to see some footage of you working with the legendary Gina Carrano, who we hold near and dear to our hearts, been covering her since her debut way back when when we were all much younger. And now here she is all of a sudden in Las Vegas training with you. What is she training for, John? What is going on here? Her last fight, August of 2009.

Yeah, so I've known Gina and Kevin Ross for 20-plus years. Kevin used to live with me. And, you know, Gina, they've been around in and out of the gym for years and years and years. So, you know, I got a call a few months ago that, you know, she wanted to kind of get back in shape and get back at it and had a little, you know, itch to scratch and see where it went. So I said, absolutely, you know, there, there's such good people. Her and Kevin are just amazing people.

And why wouldn't you want to have a, you know, a living legend? You know, that's somebody who paved the way for a lot of women and a lot of fighters in general, man or woman. You know, she deserves the respect that, you know, that she's earned. And it's awesome having her in the gym. And who knows where it's going to go. Does she want to fight again? I definitely think that there is. the little itch that is, you know, to do that.

So I think that there's, you know, when you're a real fighter and Gina's a real fighter, it never goes away. And then once you kind of get back in the gym and start realizing, oh, shit, I can still do this. And she can, man. She's still got some pop. And, you know, we're just, like I said, scratching the surface right now, getting back into it. But, yeah, I think that there's some thoughts there. Okay.

That was actually going to be my last question on her. How is she looking in the gym, on the midst, everything that you're doing together? Great, man. You know, she's been there for, I think, about a month or two now, a couple months, doing two days, just kind of getting back into shape. And she's putting in the work, you know, I got her working with some of the girls. And we do a lot of, you know, midwork and control partner drills and starting to play around with some of the touch bar and stuff.

And she looks great, man. I can tell you this right now, she still hits and kicks like a mule. Wow. know i would not want to get hit or kicked by her uh that drive is still there that competitive nature is is super there like jita is i i have to like settle her down a lot when she's working you know in the drills with the girl she gets excited so i see that fire there um and the willingness to to get back in shape and to do it so i really uh i'm impressed i'm impressed with with her mental state and in you know her her a mindset towards it and i think you

going to see some interesting things. Gina versus Rhonda? Oh, I don't know. Okay, okay. I'm not trying to get you in trouble here. Do you want to ask you just quickly about Zhang Wei Li? Obviously, it didn't go her way a few weeks ago. Would you like to see her now go back to 125 to get that belt?

Excuse me, 115 to get that belt? I mean, personally, yes. Personally, yes. I think everybody, you know, she's kind of in that situation where she's maybe too big for 115 but a little too small for 125 and thought there's a trust me there's a lot of wins that can be had at 125

obviously we just went through that situation with with Shachanku who holds that belt and is currently the best you know female walking the planet we could have that fight again and I think it could look a lot different but it really kind of just depends on what she wants her mindset you know what her mindset is

and what she wants to do with her career you know in the last few years of you know I imagine going out as champion would be you know would be a big thing and i think that uh you know obviously dropping back down pat pays that way pretty quickly um her and mackenzie i think would be a great fight but uh yeah you know it goes back to the old weight cutting thing it just it sucks as you get a little bit older and in the more you do this the more weight cuts the more it takes out of your body and the more you start thinking and hey i don't want to cut this much weight anymore

and so i'll move up and sometimes it's it just doesn't work out but yeah I'd love to I'd love to see her personally go back and get that title by the way saw you on Tim Welch's podcast cheeky move on your part wearing the the Marab sugar shirt that's that's tremendous work on your part to be fair to be fair I did not know that was Sean I thought I thought at first it was Henry I didn't pay any attention to it I just thought I really like the shirt I wear that shirt all the time but yeah so I guess that was kind of maybe a dick move but no listen come on it's all it's all needling it's all good it's all all's fair in love and fight promotion yeah for sure they got me back as soon as like as soon as they i got off the show

they started taking jabs at me though i think he he won in the end um well thank you for coming on really do appreciate it again great insight we appreciate it very much and and i know it's not very fun after a loss of that magnitude um but you come on after wins and so just wanted to see you know how you were feeling and the insight was tremendous. So don't be too hard on yourself. There's always next weekend, right? I'm sure there's another one right around the corner. This weekend, Luana Santos this weekend.

There you go. There you go. So it's on to the next. The train never stops. You might get a little bit of a break here during the holidays. Happy holidays to you and the family. Appreciate it very much, John. Thank you.

Thank you, very. Always an honor. Thank you. There he is. Coach John Wood of Syndicate MMA, one of the best in the game. Great insight and tremendous stuff on Gina Carrano. I would love it.

Gina Carrano, last fight, August of 2009, Legend of the Game, 43 years young. My age. Born in 1982, just like me. Why do I always think she was older than me? She could do it. She could absolutely do it. April 16th, no problem.

No problem. I would love nothing more. It would be incredible scenes. Gina coming all the way back, fighting in the year 2026. Let's do it, Gina. No problem, me. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. We're going to get it a few years ago. Now it seems like a real thing with John Wood, speaking very highly of her and all that stuff. I would love it. I think it would be a great story. The sport needs conviction Karano back. And who would have thought? Who would have thought some 16 years? 17 years by the time next year rolls around that this would be an actual thing that we discuss. I don't think.

Rhonda versus Katie has much likes to it. I think that was a bit of a media job. I do think... I'll leave it at that. All right, let's move on to our next guest. I don't even think our next guest was born the last time Gina Carrano fought. That's how young he is. But what a performance.

What an actual performance that was on Saturday. Oh, my God. You talk about a star-making performance. You talk about a performance that people will pinpoint and say that was the moment. That was the turning point. That was the next step. We were here. We were live on the air when they announced his fight against Henry Sohudo.

And I'll be honest in that moment. I was like, oh, this is interesting. We just saw the Barcello's fight. Is this the move right here? In the end, it ended up being the move and then some. Holy shit. And we had him on shortly thereafter. And he defended it.

He said, let's go. Let's do it. Let me try to see just how good I am. And what's the worst thing that happens? I lose big deal. Well, he did not lose. It was an absolute beautiful performance. Two takedowns in the first round.

The striking was great. the striking on his feet, the range, the distance, the way in which he just brought the fight to Henry. Henry never backed down, credit to him. But it was very clear, you know, who was the better fighter on the night? And three takedowns in total against the great Henry's Hutto, Olympic gold medalist, two division champion, all that and more. He retires, old yeller, as he put it, throughout the week.

And now he's kind enough to join us to talk about it all. He is the one and only Peyton Talbot. Great to have him on the program. There he is. Hello, Peyton. How are you? Good. How are you doing, man? Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. You did it. Yeah, yeah, we did it. It wasn't so bad, huh? You beat it, no. It wasn't so, man, you made that look relatively easy, I must say. Yeah, yeah, I was having a lot of fun in there. I think that's when it looks easy is when you're just having a good time. So you said all the right things in the buildup, deep down, was there any doubt? Was there any doubt? Was there any

concern? No, man. I mean, I just, I didn't really ever go there, honestly. I didn't even really put myself in the winning, like, category in my mind. I wasn't even like, I'm going to get the finish here. The finish is probably going to come later in the fight. Like, it was more just like, I just want to go in there and I want to fight as the best version of myself and I want to just leave everything out there. And if I do that, then, you know, I think everything else will take care of itself. So I wasn't even, you know, super worried. There was something about your demeanor at the press conferences, the subtle trash talk, the old yellow stuff, where I felt like you were owning the moment, like you belong there. You weren't phased by any of this. And it seemed like none of it was getting to you. Is that an accurate description? Yeah. Yeah, no, I was really stable. And the whole week, I mean, I'm a pretty calm guy, but the whole fight week I was abnormally calm. And, you know, I was just watching Henry go through a lot of it, too. I was like, you know, because we all end.

up there. It's almost like looking at a mirror at that point. And I was just kind of watching him as he went about his last week. And, you know, a lot of the transitions of like, Henry doesn't act that way all the time. Like, he was very appreciative and just very, like, present and happy to be there. And so that gave me a lot of confidence throughout the week because I did kind of feel like he had a little bit of one foot out the door. But it could have just been, you know, just appreciation. And he was fighting from a different place. But, you know, never really know. Yeah, he was reflective. He was talking about the end. He was announcing that it was the end. He was talking about Dana White. And I'm wondering if any part of you felt like he was just

kind of thinking that this would be the perfect way to end his career. You're much younger than he is, less accomplished as far as the things you've done so far in the sport, in the UFC and MMA. Did you feel like he thought, all right, I've beaten some tough guys. Like, this would be a nice way to go out. This will be a nice W for me. Oh, for sure. Yeah. I mean, I think he knew he had a really hard fight like me and me and i guy know each other i mean henry we we know each other so i think he i think he knew that it was going to be like something that he really had to earn and i think he came in like you could see in the first 10 seconds like he came in with his game plan he was ready to implement it and i mean it just didn't end up going his way but you know i think he that's just

who he is deep down is like he's not somebody that's going to pick certain fights like all throughout his career he was fighting nothing but dogs and we've seen after his retirement he's fought nothing but top level competition was it part of the game plan to take him down in the first round like was that something you wanted to accomplish to mentally break him or did it just present itself it just presented itself we were talking though like me and uh this a lot of the guys helping me out and in my camp were like you know what he's not going to expect you to take him down at all so it is entirely possible that you could um and just Just knowing, like, mentally how demoralizing that is, like, to be him and get taken down by me, I'm sure speaks volume.

So, yeah, I was definitely looking for it when it was there. It's not even, like, you're taking him down. You're celebrating after taking him down. We just showed the shot of you, you know, sticking your tongue out. Like, you're truly in the moment having fun with it. That, you know, that's like, you know, that's like a, like, you're crossing up Jordan and, like, looking back at him and then shooting and holding it up there a little bit longer, the follow through. that no one does that to henry sohudo i know man i i got i let my excitement get the better of me i was pretty hyped right because i learned that from him i even said that i took him down

i stuck my tongue out or whatever and then i went down i was like i learned that from you motherfucker oh my god i think he might have giggled or something i didn't catch it but um yeah i mean that's just like a surreal moment of like i knew he was about to inside trip me like the minute he got that over under i was like he's going inside trip so i'm going to do it right right before him and it worked out wow if this was a video game and there was a confidence meter after those two takedowns is your confidence just sky high at that point do you do you say to yourself okay i got this guy yeah yeah after i mean the double leg too i have zero recollection of even shooting that that's pretty wild i watched it back and was like damn i did that yeah so yeah

after that i was like oh this this fight's over i actually expected to lose the first round and i I was ready to have a really first tough round and to just take the fight to him in the next two and win it that way. But, yeah, right. Why did you expect to lose the first? Oh, Henry's a first round fighter, man. He's tough in the first round.

You look at all of his fights. He beat Marab in the first round. Like, he comes in with such a good game plan and he implements it very well. And, you know, I think if I took maybe a couple more of those kicks, like it would have been a lot tougher of the first round, but from the get-go, Like, his speed is on point in the first round.

He has power. He's always had power. And, yeah, just the cardio, the age isn't really a factor in the first round. You know, we were, how many Barcellos, his name just, it won't go away. His name will always get brought up now when talking about you. And even Henry joked about it on Twitter. Like, just how good is how many Barcellos after that performance. And so now I wonder, like, what's the difference?

What's the difference, man? Like, what was the difference in you? that guy who showed up on Saturday wins that fight in January. So what went wrong over there? You know, man, I don't want to make any excuses. I lost the fight. I had, you know, I had some stuff going on.

And I'm a much different person now. And Brownie's good. Like, I will not discredit him at all. He's a great fighter. He's on a crazy streak right now, which is awesome. Makes me look good. But, yeah, I think, you know,

I learned from that fight how to structure a camp and how to really take fighting seriously. You know, I don't know if I was really taking it too seriously because I was getting away with whatever up to that point. And I was just getting by on my skill in youth. And, you know, up in the top ten, it's a different story. And you really have to come with your A game at the point I'm in now. And, you know, I can do all this side stuff at any point in my life. So right now it's just really important to be healthy. though is you beat Barcellos, you win in June,

they match you up against Henry, maybe you have that mindset going into this Henry fight and this version of you doesn't show up, right? Yeah, totally. I think I really needed that loss and it was really hard for me to see that from the beginning, you know, it was more just like, you know, anger and I'll never let that happen again,

but I think it was really good for me in that way too. But I don't know, Barsalis remains unscathed thus far. You will meet them again. You will meet them again. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe not.

I hope so. Yes. That's your fight. That's your title fight, right? That would be amazing. That would be so. Cinderella story, that's what happens. Next?

Would you want them next? I want a striker next. I've fought, you know, three wrestlers back to back to back. So I want to, you know, have fun and give the fans what they want a little bit. still sharpen my skills wrestling, of course, but I want to remind people what I can do with a striker.

Who comes to mine? Man, I'm down for a Cheeto or as a hobby. Which, you know, you're not full of me. You're double. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You go to sleep and you take some ambient and then you walk into that cage

and you do some awful things to people. I know. But, yeah, either of those guys, honestly, I walked in the back room and I saw as a hobby, I didn't even know it was him. I haven't even, I've never watched one of his fights fully before, but he was like commentating or something in the back, and I just thought he was like a staff member or a press guy,

and he was like, congratulations, man, and I shook his hand. I was like, wait, that guy looks kind of familiar. And then I realized later, I was like, what, that guy looks like Ariel? No, it's not Ariel. And then I was like, oh, it's a hobby, but yeah, him or her Cheeto, I think. You're trying to say he doesn't have aura? Is that what you're trying to say? I mean, he was in a suit, man

He didn't look like a fighter Like when I saw him There's press people everywhere Sure, sure, sure Can I ask you about a moment that happened mid-fight It seemed like there was some blood On your calf or shin And then you like rubbed it

Do you know what I'm talking about? Oh yeah, yeah I don't know where that came from Like an orifice on Henry's face But it landed on my leg And I you know I wanted to stain the short shorts because I'd never wear white shorts. So, yeah, I wiped it on there and Henry gracefully

allowed me to do so while he took a pretty deep breath. But yeah, now my white shorts are very stained, so I'm happy. Why'd you wear white if you don't usually wear white? Well, one, because Henry gets dibs because he has seniority over me, so he chose black. But also, you know, I could have chose any color as well. I just wanted to cover them in blood and stain them. Okay, and so it worked out What are you going to do with the shorts? I think I'm going to frame them and put them up in the gym

Okay I don't really keep a lot of the stuff that I get and make a big deal like that But that's a pretty big moment to me And I think it means a lot to my gym too It'll be a good reminder Seeing that up in the gym above the mats Like covered in blood that

You know, that's just what I'm here for I was trying to figure out The post-fight Selly Was that a botch or did you mean to do that. Yeah, brother, that was a bad botch. I realized later on that I jumped off of the calf that he was tearing up. That's why I had zero pop.

Normally, I land that all the time. Why do they have to show it? Why did they? Oh, gee. It looked like it hurt. One of these days in Atlanta, I actually have like a scratch now because that's like the worst damage I took. Oh, my God.

You fell right on your face? Yeah, yeah. It's kind of crazy that the most damage that was inflicted on you in the fight, It was from the Selly? Yeah. Yeah, I can't... What were you trying to do? I was trying to do a B-Twist.

Okay. Butterfly Twist is what they call it. And how would you land properly? I would have done like a 180-degree turn and spun 360, like rotated underneath myself. Oh, my. Have you ever hit that before? Yeah, yeah. I used to do it after training all the time, but my foot just had no pop, man.

Yeah, yeah. He kicks hard. I get it, I get it. Did you happen to catch the moment between him and Dana way where he says to Dana to take care of you, that you mean a lot to him? Yeah, I saw that on social media after. That actually meant a lot to me and almost made me kind of tear up, man. I don't really be crying too often, but that was a... Were you surprised that he said that in that moment, that he cared that much about you?

Yeah, yeah, honestly, to think of, you know, somebody other than yourself in that moment is pretty huge. And, you know, Henry gets all kinds of flack. But at his core, man, he's a very generous guy. And, like, he's, he's just a solid dude, man. Like, he had to be the villain for whatever reason, you know, to save sports entertainment and whatever he had within himself. But he, I know that guy, and he's a really good human. Did that make you feel bad about the old yeller stuff?

No. Okay. No, bro. I'm going to be old yeller one day, too. Somebody's going to put my ass down. So that's just how it goes. It's funny you say that because I was thinking of that. You seem to be the type of person that would think of this in the moment.

Did any part of this experience allow you to reflect on like one day in 15 years, you're going to be that guy and there's going to be some kid who's going to try to take you out? And if so, how did that make you feel about just like your mortality in this fight game, so to speak? Yeah, yeah, man. It made me look at Henry a little bit more intensely. Like I got like a little emotional when I was walking out because he was doing his post-fight speech. and they're playing his video and everything. And, you know, it's almost like when you watch a loved one die,

like, when you, the first time you watch your grandma die and you realize, like, you know, this happens. Like, this is going to happen to me. I'm going to be there one day. And this fight game, like, flies by is what I'm starting to see. So, yeah, I just, I looked a little bit harder at Henry, and I really, like, listened to what he had to say. And even at the last 10 seconds, you know,

I could have held him against the cage, but I chose to, and it was kind of hard, I had to really pull him off of me to break apart so I could get that last, you know, 10 seconds with him and let him stamp his career on such a high note. Were you happy with that exchange, how it played out? Because sometimes people say the Holloway thing doesn't hit quite. I would say of all the people who have tried to recreate it,

that was probably the best one. Yeah, yeah, man, I was really happy with it, especially considering I knew I, like, won all three rounds, and I wasn't worried at all. And, you know, so be it. If he were to knock me out, then that's the way it goes. But I was just really glad that I was able to give him that moment because he gave me so much knowledge leading up to this point.

Were you surprised Marab lost to Jan the way in which he did? Yeah, yeah, actually, I was a little surprised. I knew it was going to be a tough fight. It looked like Maraub was having a little bit tough time with the cut. And, you know, fourth title defense is like, you know, I'm sure his body is feeling it. But I was honestly surprised at how high level the fight was, like how back and forth it was.

It was, you know, Marab didn't quit at all the whole fight. So that was really surprising to me. I know way back when he wasn't happy about something that you said about him and he told you about it when you saw each other this time around, was there any interaction between you two? Just head nods. You know, I think we mutually respect each other, but there's a little edge, you know. I think we both would like to smack each other up a little bit.

Okay. But he was kind of on his own. Like, I don't really see him more than I normally do. Okay. Do you think he deserves a crack at the belt upon returning right away? Like, do you think he's done enough to earn that? Definitely, bro. If anyone does, it's him.

Right. You can't deny him. There's no way. Who do you think wins in a trilogy? If he gets like a proper rest and training camp, because I do wonder how much, like, the toll of fighting four times. Again, not trying to take anything away from Yan, but that is kind of superhuman. Yeah, I don't know, because how old is Jan?

Jan is, he's in his 30s, but he's not quite as old as Marab. He's 32, and Marab is 35, I do believe. Yeah, I don't know. I think, because it's scary because Jan, the way he fights is the more he starts to figure you out, the better he does, and he's fought him twice now, and that's a lot of data that he's downloaded um so yeah i don't know man that's a toss up um my heart goes with marab but i'm interested to see did you see sean o'mally reacting to your takedowns a little bit i saw some clips cut up on yeah yeah yeah what do you make of that he's a goofy guy he's just having

fun um i yeah i i think him and like henry don't get along i don't know if they actually don't get along or if it's just the Sean O'Methley thing, which is fucking hilarious. What is Sean O'Methley? That's what Henry calls Sean. Oh, right, right, right. Nicknames for people. I love nicknames, bro. And especially when they, like, sound good like that.

He didn't have one for you, though, did he? No. No, he actually didn't. Wash. He's washed. He lost it. Yeah, he respected me too much. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But the Sean one, I feel like we're inching close. Oh, for me? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's, you know, now it's a realistic thing that could happen very soon. It's, top 10's interesting, man. You just have to see how everything shakes out and timing is really big. So, um, he's fighting what? January 30th? Uh, 24th. Oh, 24th. Okay. So, yeah, I mean, if I win my next fight and he loses his next, we could see that or, you know, even if we both win and, you know, it could definitely be next year. But I'm not even worried about that. I'm just trying to take one fight at a time.

If I do my job and he does his, we'll get there. You know, if we would have talked this time last year, you're about to go into that big pay-per-view, that fight, and it seems like you're on the cusp of superstar. I mean, you're right back there, and dare I say, an even a greater spot now. Where do you think you are this time next year, December of 26?

Oh, man, I think I'm... December of 26. Hopefully I've fought twice by then and I'm in talks of title contention or yeah you know just up there yeah I don't know we'll see

we'll take it one fight at a time let's got to stay present you know yeah yeah we are talking about some names you mentioned you know Cheeto Amen the Sean stuff is there any chance that in those 2026 plans

the incomparable Wing C will be a part of what you're trying to accomplish? No, man, I don't think he's going to be in the UFC in 2026. You know Wing C? You're down with Wing C? Yeah, yeah. We had a little back and forth on Instagram. He did. He's got your tattoo. He stole your tattoo. I know. Yeah, dude, he tried to dominate her like, that pause, actually. He tried to like alpha me is what I should say. What do you mean? Where? Where?

he like well he just wanted to be like i got the tattoo first or whatever he asked me like when did you get your tattoo because he wanted to be like who got it first or whatever but i had him beat by a year or two or three um but yeah then he he was he's just been saying like it's destiny we fight someday um what do you think happens what do you think happens if you fight him me and that guy i think uh man it would be really fun to watch a lot of emoting Oh, my God. You know, I think he would, like, maybe, like, hypnotize me and having too much fun and, like, breakdancing.

And, like, you know, he might give me a little bit tougher of a fight than he should because I'd be like, yeah, let me, you know, I might try to hit, like, a flip or something and land on my faith. We had him on the show a couple weeks ago. I had no idea what to make of it because the whole time he had the wings on and he was doing the moving and all that, the emoting, I guess you call it. And it was just madness. He's got a head tattoo.

That's a tattoo that thing on his head. Oh, I know. No, bro. It's like everything's whatever, but it's the emoting for me. That's like when I'm just like, dude, it's like, ah, it's like hurting me. Like, stop moving. Oh my God. Yes. It looked like when my kids are playing Fortnite and they're like going through the characters and he's like, he's doing that thing. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to grab his head and like shake it. Can I ask the beef with Aiden Ross. Is that a worker or shoot? I can't quite tell. what does that mean like is it staged uh work where it's a pro wrestling term like work is that it's like scripted shoot is that it's legit oh no it's legit i mean i i recently saw that he like put a fucking bounty on my head

yeah he said 50k or something for someone to knock you out yeah and then he said he's gonna like sue me i'm sure he was joking or whatever but like see that's my point man it's just like the one thing he can do to like maintain relevance is just like put a fucking bounty on my head Like, that's why I said no in the first place. It's just shit like that. This is legit? Yeah, yeah. What?

That's what I have, the gripe I have with streaming culture. It's like he has no ability to do anything to me. So he's offering somebody else money to produce some kind of viral money. Like, that's just why I don't like it. It's like vampire. It's leachy. And guys like you and Nina, I said that on Nina's thing and I felt kind of bad because I wasn't talking to her.

She has her whole stick. You guys and her, you and her both do like your. research and it's a job that you guys do like there's skill you guys talk you guys engage but it's just like pointing a camera at somebody and saying that now clap like a monkey yeah no wait now do it again the chat missed it's like I just don't like that no no I i I it's not my thing I don't get it um I understand it's for a younger demographic I see my kids watching these guys all day and I've nothing against them I just couldn't do that um I didn't know that you said that with Nina. Why'd you feel bad, though? Oh, because I just didn't, you know, I just don't know if she

generalized herself to what I was talking about. Okay. Like, I don't hate those people or anything. I just, like, don't want to be a part of it. No, I get. So, but can I ask, what is the issue? Because I thought you guys were friends. Me and Aiden? Yeah, like, what is the issue between, he just asked you to come on the stream and you said no, and that was it? No, bro. He DM me asking me and this is everywhere already but yeah I sent him a picture with my decline and I said no I would not like to be on your stream

stream these instead and there's a picture of some nice balls and they were yours or you just took them off the internet I won't say okay wow they're really good looking I will say that they weren't they were a good pair of balls that's incredible and he took this

as a personal offense I mean he kind of passed the vibe check he just thought it was funny he's like good luck anyway like can we still be friends and I just like left it at that Wow wow wow I guess he doesn't want to be friends anymore

I'll just put a bounty on me Big scary bounty Wow That is weird That is weird to do that Yeah I don't know Wait what I did was weird No no no no no no the bounty

Like what is that Yeah oh yeah It's like nobody's trying to knock me out as it That's right Here's an extra 50K. He was training with Ali Abdel-Ziz. Did you see that? Yeah, I saw he like went to their gym.

Yeah. Yeah, that whole thing was weird too. It was a little bit weird. By the way, I don't know if we found the clip of Winksey talking about you on the show. Did you want to hear it? What do you have to say? Or are you over Winksey? Oh, yeah, yeah.

Let me see. Okay, let's see. Here it is. Here's Winkie on the show a couple weeks ago. The most painful one was, ready? Yes. Oh, dear. Oh, wow.

that one that one hurt a lot it's a little Peyton Talbot-esque with the circle on your stomach okay bro oh my goodness

I knew people were gonna say I remember when I first saw Peyton Talbaugh I texted him there's a DM I'll send producer the DM

so we make clips of this because we both got the tattoo at the same time we both got the circle tattoo at the same time I texted him I'm like

bro when did you when did you get that he's like six months ago and I just got in mine like four

months ago in like 2023. So like we got it within like three months of each other in, I think in the year of like 2020, no, either in 2024 or 2023. And I just knew people were going to say that I was copying his swag, but I think I had the idea first. Oh, that's funny. So he says it was at the same time? No, there was a, there was a year difference.

It says right here. January, you can't see it. It's not going to focus. It's too bright. I got mine February of 2022. He got his January of 2023, so it was a year. Okay, all right, so he's making it up. But he is funny, I have to admit.

Yeah, no, he's a character. We need more of that, you know? I don't know how I feel about the continuous, like, emotes, but, you know, it's entertaining. I'm tired of, like, the boring guys that we see all the time. I get it, I get it. Okay, before I let you go, when do you come? come back when do we see you again um i'd be down for like march or okay you know

april i want to enjoy the holidays uh henry actually did a number on my calf it's not broken or anything but it definitely is like swollen so it'll need a little bit of time but again i still want to work some things and get better and yeah i think march march or april is a good time because it seems like they're kind of skipping these cards like a little far out yeah and you're letting the hair grow yeah man i'm trying like it there's this boogieman that like sneaks in my room and night and just shaves it sometimes so hopefully he doesn't like come back that's weird a friend of yours does that i don't know man i'm asleep i just wake up and it's gone so i mean i made it this

thus far i don't think he has my new address but i'm hoping he doesn't sneak back in and get me again maybe it's yri pochaska because he saw you uh doing that ritual yeah he would do something like i feel like i would hope that he'd leave me with like a little dongle but he uh he he he commented on this video did you see it oh no what did he say uh do we have it he i saw it um on the post way to say he probably called me a pussy because i wasn't doing it as

aggressively as him no no no uh he said use it like a man with a bolt and i don't know i mean maybe that's what he meant but he's like like a man yeah or was it like come on man use it like a man that would be very good I thought it was good I thought it was good We appreciate you here Very happy free man

Congrats Enjoy the victory Any holiday plans Oh man Just getting fat and healthy Snuggling up I'm gonna try to get to Gold or Platin

Overwatch hopefully So Shit I wish I knew what that meant What does that mean? What does that mean? Oh it's a video game I've been playing It's like a competitive

Five like team game. Wow. Frank, you know about that? You've heard of Overwatch? Yeah. Is that a good game? Frank's our resident video game. We're playing the first one or the second one? Oh, first one or second one? Well, second now. Because they got rid of the first. Yeah. Overwatch too. But yeah, man, it's one of the best games that has ever been released ever. Oh wow. Okay. Can you get on PS5? Yeah, yeah. That's what I'd be playing on. All right. I'll tell my kids. I'll see if they're down. Thank you, Payne. You're the man. congrats incredible stuff blown away by the performance truly really a lot of fun to see you grow into the fighter that you've become so enjoy it and congrats again thank you's a hobby and if

you haven't watched go watch crucible oh yes the youtube channel yes i saw it yeah unbelievable you know when those drop stop everything i say honey new paint talbot youtube video has dropped thank thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you you're the man there he is the great paint talbot kind enough to join us youtube channel is one of my favorites, enjoyed very much. Yes, the latest one, what is it called? It's called Crucible XI. So what would XI be 11? Yeah, it would be 11. Look at the description. The description is, it's really good, 33 minutes, very heavy metal and reflective, beauty and beast, both a reflection in the eye of the beholder. No shade in this, just ultraviolet radiation.

that which sets you free can kill you. How much is too much when your appetite is the sun? Everything in moderation, profit begets greed. My currency is blood and I'll pay it every time. I mean, who's better than this guy? Who's better than Payton Talbot? Enjoy him very much. Paint Talbot versus Wing C.

I mean, talk about potential White House cards. Something. 30 million for the cage and scrap. What? What? is that? What was that? Was that was that live?

No. I didn't know it was a drop. It's my first drop. Thank you very much, Frank. Let's hear it again. How much do you think they would get for that fight? $30 million for the kitchen scrap. Yeah.

It's that the first time I said it, yeah? That pulled from then. I hope so, because it was fantastic. I think it was, but in retrospect, No, it's too clean. Yeah, you don't sound that Irish, I guess it's a guy with an Irish accent. This is a later one where you repeat it, guaranteed.

Oh, all right. By the way, what's happening? A lot of laughter. A level of conviction. We know Ariel hates laughter back in. No, no, I love laughter. I'm just looking at my watch. I'm looking at the date, post-paper-view Monday.

This guy has gotten on the show three times and had to send him home. Ptie, what the hell are you doing here? You know what I mean? You can't get enough. I just can't stop. You know, there was a football player back in the day. His name was Paul McGrae. He played for Orleans.

He was one of the greatest Santa House of all time. He had famously bad knees. And when he played for Austin Villa, you know, he was the guy. They have a big game. We need Big Paul out there. His knees are fucked, but he can read the game better than anyone. But, you know, if they had a midweek game, they'd be like, we're not playing McRey here.

We have Manchester. the weekend you know let him play against barnsley this weekend i've been during the week cup toy let's just let's leave him out let's keep it for united sometimes you just show up midweek and they'd be like holy shit is mcgrath playing this game and people be like yeah this is great and i want to be like a palma grapresent when i show up and post pay-per-view or post p leon monday and that's what i'm trying to offer today that was a fantastic fantastic analogy we appreciate you coming on i don't know about the three times business but uh it's great to have you this four this fourth time. Wow, geez. Who's count?

Yeah, who's count? Who's the chat? I mean, I am because he keeps popping up. Yeah. Not now? I was like, because you had him come on at three. I'm like, oh, sorry. Is he interviewing, baiting himself? There's a lot happening. Who's to check? I wanted him to see the Payne Talbot interview. Wasn't it great?

He's a great lad. He really is. Very unique dude. And look, I know I said I wanted this Zahabi fight in the post fight show, but I'm here for Wing C as well. I want to see them doing backflips and a moating. Oh my God, could you imagine? Could you imagine?

All right, guys, there's a lot to get to. Are you ready for this? I mean, we usually do on Mondays a sort of like around the world of MMA, combat sports, really, news and notes. But shall we strap in? Ready. I need everyone. One, two, three.

Woo! Let's do it. Yossi D'emdo. Oh, yeah, that's a good one. What does he even say there? Y'all see damn do. Y'all see damn do. He's talking about the belts that they took away his belt.

Y'all see them do. One more time, Frank? Y'all see them, though. Remember that? He was like, yeah, you try to take away a belt. Y'all see them do. You know what, Frank? I wasn't going to start there, but let us start there.

That is a great way to start. So last week, on Wednesday's show, guys, the news broke. Well, it was actually Tuesday heading into Wednesday. The news broke that the WBC was stripping Terrence Crawford of his super middleweight title. And this plays into the UFC and Zufabwe. boxing, don't worry, because they strip him of the unified title, excuse me, they strip him of their portion of it, the WBC title, and they say, Marisio Suleiman, we played you the clip, said that he didn't want to pay the fees. Now, he explained that usually it's 3%, but they knocked it down to like

0.3 and they asked for 300,000, but they were going to donate 225 or so thousand to the Jose Suleiman fund, which is his father, and all this stuff, and it's kind of weird. And Terrence got upset and was basically like, you know what, go F your belts. Now, based on what I heard was that all the other sanctioning bodies, IBF, WBO, WBA, they all said, you know, we'll take 75, you made a ton of money, but we're comfortable with 75. WBC, for whatever reason, in that ballpark, they weren't comfortable with it, clearly. Although the breakdown of the 75 to us and the 225 to the charity would seem to suggest

that maybe they, you know, they were trying to be like, all right, We'll be in line with everyone else, but we just want this extra stuff on the side. Maricio Suleiman gave the greatest assist of all time. Now, some people said, like, this was all sort of concocted by Zufa, by TKO. I don't know. We'll never really know. But he gave them the greatest assist of all time because he did this. Then Nick Kahn goes on a bit of a media tour.

Then they have this congressional hearing on Thursday. And it's like, look, this is exactly what we're talking about. These guys are trying to charge fighters. these bogus fees and we're just trying to say come fight for us now of course they're gonna you know they're gonna pay a lot less so in the end it all comes out in the wash but he gave them the greatest of all time now the the bill has not passed i would bet my life that it's going to pass by the time january mid-January latest february rolls around and so i think that that was a bit of a misstep on suleiman's part and and ultimately it's just another like it's another thing that they could talk about

about like, look, this is exactly what we're talking about. Now, I understand what the likes of Eddie Herner are saying, which is essentially like, look, you're so proud of being an undisputed champion, and being an undisputed champion means holding all four of those belts. The crown jewel is usually considered to be the WBC title. You're on your stream saying, y'all see Demdo, Y'all see Demdo, look at the WBC, look at the ring, look at all this. So you're proud to fight for them.

You're proud to collect them, but you just don't want to pay by the. pay the fee, play by their rules, adhere to what has always been, which is, yes, you are fighting for the belt, you win the belt, you have to pay a fee. It's not new. It's not new that you have to pay a fee. It just seems like now it's an appropriate time to be like, F your fee, F all of this, let's make a big show of it, and now this would be, you know, now this would be a good time to talk about, hey, over here on this side of the fence, we're doing it this way. So I don't know if that was like a massive blunder on Suleiman's part. The timing was weird. Coincidental. I understand, you know, I understand why Zufa would run with it. I understand

why TKO would run with it. I sort of understand where Terrence is coming from in the sense that like, hey, if all three other sanctioning bodies said yes to 75 and these guys are saying no, yeah, screw you. Like, why are you better than the rest? Why are you different than the rest? Why are you different than the rest. But I also would say, like, you knew that there was a fee attached to it and you were happy to compete for their belt. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been an undisputed title fight if the WBC wasn't involved in all of it. So a bit of a, you know, a bit of a funky one, but they had that congressional hearing. There was some pushback. Ultimately, I think it's going to pass. And it's going to be a really interesting thing to see how it all plays out.

Now, Dana White was talking a little bit about this situation. He spoke about it in the post-fight press conference like let's take a look at what he said he talked about terence crawford he talked about the belt being taken away he also talked about the tv deal but for now let's take a listen to what he said about terence crawford in particular what did you think of the wbc split uh stripping terence crawford of his belt listen if you look at if you look at how this thing's playing out and first of all let me say this i love that all these guys all these boxing guys love the Ali Act the way it is now. I want to see how many of them actually stay there

and do that version of the Ali Act instead of the add-on that we're going to do. You know what I mean? You don't have to be a fucking rocket scientist to see what's going on with all these guys. All these guys that are crying the loudest are the fucking problems. They're the problem, every one of these guys.

And, you know, Crawford Nobody told Crawford to say anything Crawford's his own man doing his own thing And that's how he feels And we'll see how this thing We'll see how this thing plays out In the next couple of years

Are you surprised by this frosty reception From the other boxing promoters? No, not at all Not at all But here's the thing that's great for fighters Is that they have options You know All these promoters are saying

The Ali Act is perfect And this is the way it should be I want to see them all stay in it. I want every one of them to stay in the Ali Act as it is now for the next however many years. I fucking guarantee you they won't. Well, it changes everything for the promoters amending this, doing whatever it is that they're trying to do to it. And he's right, maybe they will all change their stance. They're trying to fight back because they see some major competition coming and they know about their track record. They know how successful they are

in the world of MMA, in the world of sports business, in the world of pro wrestling. I do think that everyone is being very disingenuous about what their true motives are. Let's be honest. Their true motives aren't to like up the, you know, the amount per rounds and all that stuff. They want to have their own ranking system. They don't want to have to adhere to anyone else's rules and regulations. They want to be able to decide who is going to fight for what belt. They want to control the belt.

They want to do all the things that they do in the UFC. And they've had great success doing it. So they'll say that stuff is for the birds. We don't want to pay Marisio Suleiman or anyone else like that. We don't want to pay them fees. This is nonsense. We want to control the whole thing. We don't have to play by anyone else's rules in the world of pro wrestling or MMA.

So we want to do it our way. Just be honest about it, in my opinion. But they sort of couch it with everything else. They let you know that it's about, you know, the health insurance here and this. And all those things are nice little things that you do to kind of, you know, decorate the cake. But let's be real. That's what this is all about. Now, where it gets interesting is when they use the UFC as the example.

As our great friend, New York, Rick, pointed out on social media a couple times, they'll use the UFC as an example of saying, like, look, in the UFC, the best fight the best, the number one contender fights for the belt, and that's how it will be, that's how it will always be when we're in charge. As we know, it's never been like that, especially not now. It's worse now than ever. Just ask a guy named Armin Sarukian. And so you'll have a situation where last week, Nick Khan is telling all the media that he spoke to in the UFC, the best fight, the best, the number one contender fights for the belt.

And you have Armid Sarukian, who is the number one contender in the UFC's lightweight division. Not only is he not fighting for the belt next, he is not even in the interim title fight to determine who's the interim champion, and we suspect that the interim champion will then fight the champion. And when asked about that, what does Dana White say? I don't care about the number. if you ever had any indication, if you ever wanted to know truly how meaningless the rankings are, just take a listen to this sound.

Armin Srukin, obviously, the odd man out now. We expect Ilya to be unifying against the interim title winner, which would make a long run by first title. I wouldn't say that he's the odd man out. You know, he had an opportunity, and you guys know how that played out, and he's going to have to work his way back.

I don't give a shit what the number says. he's going to have to work his way back. It just too much goes into this for those type of things to happen. You know, we were at a little, we were talking back in my room tonight and we were talking about, you know, all the crazy shit that's happened

over the last 20-something years. But you can't do that. You can't get the opportunity and then you can't end that way. So he's got to work his way back. So the message is take the next fight you offer him, obviously? No, I mean, you know, he obviously, he knows. He knows what's going on.

I don't give a shit what everybody else says. You know, he knows what's going on. And he's got to work his way back to that title shot. I don't give a shit what the number says. So there you go. If you're the number one contender, it means nothing. If you have upset the brass, if you have upset the company, the promotion, you're not fighting for the belt.

So it's not the best fighting the best. It's not the number one contender fights the champion. It's if you are in their good graces at that moment in time, you will fight for the belt. Just ask Armin Sarukin. And by the way, this has happened before. UFC 177, Hennam Berao loses the title to T.J. Dillshaw. He is scheduled to fight T.J. Dillshaw in Sacramento, UFC 177. On way and day, he slips, he hits his head, he's ruled out.

Joe Soto steps in to fight T.J. Dillshaw. Hennon Brow has to fight one fight. He beats Mitch Gagnon. He beats him. He gets another crack at T.J. Dilshaw. Armin had that fight. He beat Dan Hooker. How much more does this guy have to do?

How much more does Armantruching have to do to earn his number one spot? And oh, by the way, he made weight, he served as a backup fighter, he did everything that you asked him to do. So how much more does this guy have to do? And oh, by the way, not that long ago, just to prove that none of this, none of this makes sense, and none of the words that come out of their mouth is true, October, October 4th to be exact. UFC 320 fight week. What does Dana White say when asked

if the winner of Armat Surukian versus Dan Hooker is going to be fighting for the belt? If the winner of Dan Hooker versus Armaturugian is going to be the number one contender, what does he say? This is what he says. Dana, earlier this week, you scheduled Amman Soruki on to fight Dan Hooker in November.

Yeah. And will the winner of that fight become the number one contender in the lightweight division will the number of that yeah yeah thank you Dana you welcome what happened what happened in the last two months I'll tell you what happened Armatrukeen won and he looked incredible

and now what is being said I don't give a shit what the number says he's gonna have to work his way back up he's not in the mix are you kidding me what changed none of this makes sense none of this makes sense and he makes it seem like he did this thing where he's like you can't do that you can't torpedo the event you can't torpedo the event you can't just ask out we've built the whole show we built the whole event here you can't ask out

on the morning of the wayans that got me thinking about what dana white said in the post fight press conference of ufc 311 in january in inglewood do you remember when he went to the post fight press conference and he was asked about the switch and about moikano stepping in on short notice and you remember him touting how the gate went up after after they announced the switch, how they actually made money off the switch. Do you remember that? In case you don't, take a listen. The paper you, you know, main event changed on 24 hours notice, but you've done it before.

So I guess what was your take on, you know, the case? Here's the crazy part. The budget 7.5 million for the gate. We're at 9.5 when the fight falls out. Fight falls out. We replace it. We end up at 10.2. Wow.

Isn't that crazy? It went up. So why should this guy be punished? he actually did you a favor. He actually came through for the company. He made you extra money when he didn't even fight. And you had Islam win

and then he went on to fight for the 170 pound title Madison Square Garden. It's been a great year. And yet, Armand Serukian couldn't fight, couldn't make the walk, steps up,

does what he has to do, backup fighter, weighs in, makes weight, beats Dan Hooker, headlines Qatar, feels like a big show feels like the whole thing is built around him, and now he's not in the mix, and now he's going to have to wait and work his way back up. Please, for the love of God, please, someone make it

makes sense. And in case you want further indication that all of this is nonsense, and that really we shouldn't care or put any stock, but I can't help it because that's the most important person in the sport. That is the guy making all the decisions. In case you want further proof, I can almost garrantam t you at this point that michael morales isn't fighting for the welterweight title next why is that important because the week of his fight against sean brady dana white was asked about that fight and this is what he said it's for dana dana the winner between brady and michael does get the title shall fight sure none of it matters none of it is true none of it makes sense. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable to be covering a sport where things are just said

and there's no accountability. This is not me being a hater. This is them saying things to us and it not being true and never coming to fruition. There is no accountability whatsoever. Things just get said. People go on their computers. They clip it up. They write it all out. And then it just goes away. And then it's just like, nah, I didn't say that. What did I say about Tom. I didn't say anything. What did I say about Armin? He's not next. And it's like, how do you not say, wait, wait a second, wait a minute, wait a second, didn't you, like two months ago, didn't you just say that he was next? Didn't you just say that this is a number one contender fight? Didn't you say that the guy didn't want to fight? Talk me off the ledge, Petey. Talk

to me. Talk to me right now. Tell me. Not pretty bad. Pretty bad stuff. Can't really talk you off the edge here. One thing that you were mentioning earlier, like you were running through the different things that this new amendment would do for the Ali Act. Another thing to add to that list is they would not have to disclose how much these events are making. And that is a huge part of every boxing negotiation. I spoke to Mick Conlon, who you know very well, for, he had two opportunities to fight for world titles in the past. And his point to me was, I made more money fighting Lee Woods in Nottingham than Francis and Gannu did defending his UFC heavyweight title. But that doesn't makes sense. Like, I mean, in terms of that is the

baddest man on the planet, as he put it, and I'm making more money than him, and I haven't even won the title. So, we're using Terrence Crawford as an example here. The UFC have pretty much a closed circle of managers that they deal with, and it's the same guys, and they have a whole roster of fighters.

And as far as we know, as far as we hear, like, there's not a lot of hard ball going on with a lot of them. Like, you know, they have to appease all these fighters, so they're not going to play hardball with the UFC, because it's better for business. that is not going to happen with boxers, especially someone like Terrence Crawford, who's used to a completely different infrastructure,

who's used to saying, like, I am taking the lion's share of whatever this event makes. So I think he's a poor example in terms of, right, he's used as a perfect example in this situation because he is battling the belt system. But he's a bad example in terms of trying to negotiate with him under this new UBO framework where disclosures aren't the same is going to be very, very tough. And then you mentioned, like, you're not even going to be talking to Terrence. You're going to be talking to his manager. And then you think about the uproar over Andy Aspinall, Tom Aspinall's father and his manager, saying, you know, I just want to essentially get him the most money possible. If that's in boxing, why wouldn't we think about going there? That type of stuff is discussed every time you hear a boxing interview. Like, you know, you have Eddie Hearn on this show. He is constantly talking about different contract disputes. Whitaker, right? Like, you're only speaking about. It's big news in the UK. Every talk sport interview, Ben Shalom, Eddie Hearn, back and forth about how negotiations went. This is something that does not exist.

in the MMA world that absolutely exists in boxing, people negotiating in public. So I don't think Terrence and Crawford is a good example in that regard. I don't think he's the kind of guy they're going to be targeting with this. It's just that he made the right noises about the belts, which backs up the argument

they're trying to make right now. I agree with everything you've said except for one point. I think the Terence Crawfords of the world will be used in those sort of superfights. They team up with READ season. They make a big show. And then throughout the year,

monthly on P-plus, on Paramount Plus, they'll have these smaller events, and those are the ones that they'll have the Terrances. They're going to try to do Terrence Crop, excuse me, Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua back into the year. They are going to target the megaphites that are within the Riyadh Turkey, you know, orbit. In that case, it doesn't matter of disclosures because they're paying the massive lumsons. And they're paying none of it, by the way. Right? As Dana White said himself, I'm not the one cutting those checks. But they will hope that that will trickle down to the league, if you will, the promotion, the Zoufa boxing promotion to where they'll be able to do their own things and they'll have these guys sort of flying the flags for

them. Dana White will be up there. He'll be doing the pressers. He'll be doing the media. He'll be doing all that stuff. And they'll be viewed as sort of like ancillary characters in their promotion. But those aren't the main, you know, month to month guys. Those aren't the ones that they'll be, you know, playing on Paramount Plus. I mean, as of right now, we don't even know what the promotion is. They haven't announced anything, right? And we suspect that we'll get rolled out soon. Dana White was asked about it at the post-fight press conference. He asked his head of PR, Linnae, about it, and she said it's coming soon. But we don't know what the scales. We don't know if every one of these events is going to happen at the apex.

We haven't heard about many big name signings. We haven't heard about events going here or there or what their plans are. I think what they're trying to do first and foremost, have this bill pass and then it's, you know, it's smooth sailing. The coast is clear. Until that happens, I don't know if they want to get involved just yet. And I suspect, based on what I'm here, that it will happen come January or so so it's not going to be too long but the Armin thing is just I mean what more does this guy have to do

and you know he says Dana says that Armin knows what's up he knows what's going on does he really does he really know what's up I would love if Armin could tell us because I don't know what the fuck's going on I mean it's very clear what's going on he's being punished but like Armin doesn't

give off the impression that like he's down with this arrangement he's being punished but and I have some larger picture thoughts which are I generally don't really care that much

if this is the UFC wants to operate but don't pretend that you're operating in a different way I care I don't because if the

no no no not the lying part that I care about I don't care if the UFC wants to put on the most fun fights and doesn't care about the rankings

I don't care if they want to make Patty versus Justin for a Mickey Mouse belt and all these other things as long as they're just transparent about it if you're going to bullshit

if you're going to lie and pretend that there's a meritocracy in place and that the rankings matter and all these things and then use that as a talking point to then talk about why you're going to save boxing, that's my issue. If you just go, if Dana White stepped up to every press conference podium and was like, yeah, I don't give a shit about the rankings, I'm just going to put whoever I want in there, I'd respect it.

I'm fine with that. Give me the most entertaining fights. Nobody's mad at Paddy Pimble v. Justin Gachi. But when you put a Mickey Mouse belt on the line and Armin Serucan sitting out on the side and you're like, I don't know when he's going to fight for a title. Who fucking cares? Who cares about his number?

That's where I get upset, but I don't have a problem if the UFC just transparently came out and was like, yeah, we value entertainment over rankings. In fact, we're scrapping the rankings. We don't give a shit about them. I'm kind of okay with that. But that's not what we're living in. They're just out here lying, lying, lying, lying, lying. Yeah, that would make life a lot easier. Because of the fan base, though, as well.

Like, every time we speak about this, we're talking about it from the prism of what will the UFC generally do in this situation? Like, it's happened constantly. Like, we have always, when we got into this sport, we were always push of our meritocracy. And so is the UFC. They were responding to what the people wanted. And back then, the people were hardcore fans.

They've just shifted their focus to what the casual observer will want the most, what's the biggest spectacle they can do. So when we're talking after these events and we're talking about how the matching process is going to go, we're talking about

this is what the UFC are probably going to do because that is what's been happening over and over again. And then we see in the comments, people look, how can you say Armand isn't the next guy with the party?

So it's just because that's just the way it's gone. And that's what we said. Like they're going to go and do patty, will be in the title fight, and that's what happened. It's not like we're saying, we believe this was the right thing to do.

This is just the way the UFC is operating right now, and we're calling it as we see it in terms of how their matchmaking. If you're saying that Kamar Usman doesn't deserve a title shot, I want you to apologize right now, because if that's what you're saying, I'm not aligned with it. Well, to your point, Pizzi,

like I firmly believe Maratha Valshili needs a rematch for the 135 belt. Do I actually think he's going to get it? I'm not sold. Despite being deserving of it, I'm not sure if he's going to get it because of the way the UFC operates. Yeah. I mean, for the longest time, the worst kept secret was they weren't big fans of his.

And now it seems like they are because he stepped up and he fought four times and saw a photo of Hunter Campbell at his post-fight party. So it seems all good. How's Shakespearean. You know, he loses and they finally love him. But this is also the issue. The whole issue is the sport, if the sport is going to run by who did us a favor most recently, then let's stop pretending that the rankings matter. That's all I'm asking for. If we're going to do this, if this is going to be the way that it goes,

it's like, we fucking hate Marab, we wish he wasn't champion. Ah, you know what he fought four times this year? We love Marab. Just say it. I'm okay with it, but don't pretend that it matters. Don't pretend that the rankings matter. They don't matter even a little bit. Are they even pretending at this point, Dana?

Yeah. It's like, I don't care about the number next thing. What bothers me is saying this is a number one contender fight and then it doesn't based on one. You know, like, because we were selling, right? We were selling that day. Yeah. That fight is on close.

Yeah, that's the number one contender fight. Well, I remember you said, no. Is he even selling it, though, Pizzi? They're just like, is this the number one contender fight? He's like, sure. He's like, what's the fucking sell there? He's not selling anything. It's unbelievable to see this.

Well, when I was making fun of the fact that there was an interim title in Gaichi versus Patty, you would be shocked when I said, I'm not sure that either of these guys or Armin's Rooki and his fight. fighting for the title next, you'd be shocked how many people were in my replies saying, no, Dana White said that the winner of this fight is going to fight Iliad's Aporia. No, no, he said it. You'd be shocked how many people still fall for this, how many people still believe that when Dana White sits up there.

So I think there is a point to dissecting and picking apart some of this because there are people who still believe some of this stuff. And I don't know how, I don't know why, but they do. And somehow we're the bad guys for calling it out, for not just being like, okay, yep, On to the next one, this totally makes sense. Somehow we're the bad guys. Now, John versus Tom, 100,000 percent, whatever percentages we kept getting. 10 million, going to happen, 10 billion percent.

Him at the press or the flip a coin on whether or not it's what he's saying is valid. Sure. I did think we were critical of the announcements of the lack of panache, the lack of pizzazz, the lack of passion. And then all of a sudden, we get one of those big press conferences on Friday. We get a bunch of fun reveals during the broadcast. I mean, you're welcome, everyone. I would say we could all give ourselves a little pat on the back here because they have this It's on press conference on Friday to, you know, reveal the 324 guys, reveal the 325 guys.

You got Alex there. You've got Diego there. You've got Sugar there. You've got Song there. You've got Justin there and Patty there and Amanda and Kayla. And then this was Pro Wrestling S. They like, you know, John Anick is up there. No Dana White, by the way.

No Dana White at the big, like, Paramount Plus. This is the schedule. This is it. No Dana White at the Thursday press conference. conference as well, who's to check, who's to check. But John Anick says there are two seats open on either side of the day is here. You see them right there. And here it is, March 7th, BMF title, Las Vegas, T-Mobile Arena, the big rematch. It's the battle of Saskatoon all over again. It's Charles Olver against Max Holloway 2, and they come out. And there's like a little bit of,

there's a little bit of pomp and circumstance. You know, you got Sean Shelby rolling up there with the hoodie, it's like, it feels, it feels big. It feels big. I like that. I just, man, have we, have we? This is it. All in so far that, like, even the minimalist effort, even the smallest possible gesture is now excited.

You're telling me this isn't better than an Instagram live. Oh, it's better, but it are. Is this going to get me, like, out of bed? I don't know, man. Like, I just think we're battered dogs at this point. Like, this can't be what we're, this can't be what we're, this can't. be what we're excited about. Oh, it is. Oh, it is. Oh, they had Max and Charles in a press conference. Oh, my God. They did it, folks. Yes. They did it. Yes. We are down so bad. I think this is a huge upgrade. I was delighted to see this. But that's the sad part. I agree with you. But that's the sad part. I always say to Rick. Like, everyone points back to the 2016. The Conner Aldo promo. Oh, greatest year ever. Yeah. Yeah, 2016, greatest year ever. You know, I casually watched like a McGregor fight here and there. Obviously got much more into the sport during COVID.

and then once I started this job, I always say to Rick, I'm like, it feels like I'm on like the tail end of the Roman Empire. No, no, you're keeping us up. You're bringing that. From a promotional standpoint strictly is what I mean. Oh, that is true. Oh, this is what we get excited for. Yep, that is 100% true.

That is 100% true. Everyone was going Gaga because apparently Max was presented with these gloves that had a bit of a Hawaiian flair to them, and he posted this on his YouTube channel. But I did ask around, and these are going to be a charitable item, which I think they actually look very cool. But I was like, there's no way they're going to let these guys fight with gloves like that. And so people will be able to bid.

I don't know what the details are. But I know who that man is. That's Brian Smith of the UFC. He works with the charities and the corporate stuff. And he does a great job. And so I think it was that, hey, shout out to Timbo. I didn't see him there. I think that there was some thought that these would be, you know, fight gloves that they actually

compete with. than I know, G.C., you had to have been excited about them. Oh, salivating. Yeah. They are nice, right? They are nice. They do look pretty cool, yeah. But no, they're not going to be fighting with them.

It's just going to be a charitable thing. They announced the slate of shows coming up first quarter of 2026. These are the shows that will happen in the first two months and change of 2026. So the first show will, in fact, be January 24th, UFC 324, Las Vegas. T-Mobile Arena, show two, which we knew about, 325 a week later, Sydney, Australia, numbered event, then first week of February, back at the apex. There was a small hope, a glimmer of hope that this would signal the end. Like, the fact that they still go to the apex is just, I mean, I don't even know what to make of it at this point. It is wild to me, but there

you have it, February 7th. They're off the following week. That is Super Bowl weekend. So everyone can focus on the bills doing their thing that weekend. It will be tremendous. Then back to Houston, February 21st. And that's the show headline by Sean Strickland versus Anthony Fluffy Hernandez. And good on Sean. He said, I'm not going to Australia. And they put him as a main event in Texas. This seems to be a great turn of events for him. And I love that fight, an important fight at 185. February 28th, Mexico City, shout out. Usually they go there around that time. March 7th, 326, Las Vegas, back at T-Mobile. two of the first three numbered events

in Vegas at T-Mobile and then back at the Apex at the O2 which was announced on Friday of last week and then Seattle to close out the month of March. March 28th, my wife's birthday. Climate Pledge Arena. Pizzi, who do you think headlines the O2?

It's actually it's tough because obviously Paddy's in a fight I don't think they're going to like I know you flow it on Saturday the idea of Tom. No chance. No chance. But they could, right? They could. To Josh Vance point, doesn't matter anymore. I mean, they're not going to, if they do this and they do it out five o'clock in the morning again, it's just going to. No, no. My point is, do it in the afternoon

just like boxing does. It doesn't matter anymore because you're not selling paper views. That is a fair point. I mean, it would be great if he could. I think he's great, great nights in in London. I just feel like there's no every London event for the last while, ever since the pandemic since it came back in 2022, there was always kind of like, right, Leon, Tom kind of going back and forth.

I don't feel like there's a natural person you're kind of like... I think there is. I think there's a layout. Go on. Go on. Lorone Murphy, Mofsar. That's the one. And you know what? Lorone has kind of been denied that opportunity in the... Yeah, this is the one. To be the front runner, to get that kind

of media, because to be fair, UFC does attract mainstream media when it's in London and Tom has got that treatment Leon's got that treatment it's a great show I'd love to see Leon and Lorone in that spot

that's the one I mean it's a number one contender fight it should be a number one contender fight right I know I know from a you know a buzz personality

POV like MoF doesn't necessarily knock your socks off but there's a story there right and I think people would get behind Lorone and by the way if you actually get Lorone's story

out to the masses and everything he's been through in his life, the miracle and all that. Like, people should get behind him over there. I would imagine they'd get behind him. It's going to be tough to get Laurent to sit down and do... Tell that story. ...interviews about that.

Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like... But this is, if I were his manager, this is the time that you do it. Like, you had to get it out there when you were climbing. Now you've got to do it one more time to get over the hump, to get that title shot that should have been yours in early February.

So I would say this is the time to do it. But that to me is the one. That to me is the one that. that should headline the card. If it's not going to be a title fight and we suspect it won't be, that should be the one. Now, they did announce a whole bunch of fights

for 324 and 325. Let's start with 325 first, guys. What about this co-main? Dan Hooker returning to action just a couple of weeks after his loss to Armin Terukian going up against the blazing hot BSD, Benoit Saint-Dini.

What about that one? Anyone surprised that Hooker is coming back so soon? Yeah, I hate it for Dan Hooker's legacy, but I love it for a fight. What about his legacy? Because I feel like he has reached Soroni status where it does it, like, people... He's a Diaz, he's a Seroni. He's just a game guy

who stepped in there and fought anybody. Like, to go off, you know, a loss to Sarukin and then sign up a week later to fight BSD, he's just that guy. For him to be the one that got kind of, you know, thumped in that matchup, though, and then Armin not be fighting the week before.

It is wild, right? It is a bummer, yeah. It is wild. It is wild. Who knows about Armin, you know? It's a great point, by the way. Norman knows what's going on. Yeah, he knows. He knows what's going on. Who knows?

That's a big fight. You know, I like it. I think it's a fine. Again, the standards have changed now, right? It is a numbered event, but it's not a pay per view anymore. So you're not being asked to pay $80 for it, at least here in the United States. So that fight was announced. Rafael Fiziv against Marisio Huffy was announced.

It's a banger. That's a great fight, too. Sick fight. I love that fight. Golly, I love that fight. I mean, that is going to be incredible. Yes. Taitui Vasa against Talasin Towson Tashara.

Kind of a do-or-die fight for Bam-Bam? I need to see Ty. I need to see one go through the hoop form. Come on, Ty. No, there's no do-or-die fights at heavyweight. Derek Lewis has proven that. You need to see him win, man. You could be convinced.

If he loses, you could be convinced in his next fight that he's going to throw hands and knock somebody out. I'm not convinced for this one, bro. I'm not convinced for this one. It's five in a row. It's five in a row. Doesn't matter. He might say I'm done.

Maybe he says he's done, but at UFC heavyweight, having a tie to Ivasa is good for life because he became an established UFC heavyweight. He doesn't need to win. He does not need to win. You can lose five in a row. You win the next one. He's already lost five in a row.

Yeah. This is for six. Perfect. Six. You're still back. Oh, man, I disagree. We need to see one go through the loop. Who is throwing away Tai Tuvaasa?

We're not throwing him away, but like, dude, he gets so important. You're just like, dude, you've lost a lot in a row. And then in between fights, he kind of ballooned up in wait. You really start wondering where he's at it. Who's replacing him? Who's coming up from the? No, my fear is not that. My fear is that he just says, you know what? To hell with this.

To hell with this. I think he says I don't want to do this anymore. Could see that. That's my fear. That's why I just want his mojo back. I'm with you. I love it. I'm with you.

Let's see you go through the hoop. Jimmy crude against Dustin Jacoby, Cam Raustin, Cody Brundage, Jacob Balcun, Torres Finney. Cullian Sal Kield against Rongjou. Jonathan Mikalif against Oban Elliott. What do you think? back, Oban. I like that. PT, you like that one for the...

Tough matchup, you know? Yeah. Like, it's no softballs for Oban, you know? And that's a guy I thought they'd be looking to build. Like, I think that's a very, very tough match. Um, well, he's capable. I just thought they might ease him back into things,

but it's a very tough competitive for you, I think. Kind of 30 million for the kitchen scrap. There you go. Hope he's getting it. Hope he's getting it. It comes in and it's so great. Canne offly, uh, going up against Yiza,

Sergei Spivock against Antidellia That's big That's a fun one You know, it's big It gets its own graphic Yeah, I'll tell you know it's big Yeah, the graphics team They know where their stuff's bigger

I have to say this is Got to be ranked Hell yeah This is such a This is just like a stereotypical Australian pay-per-view Love it You got a Taffa brother on there

Hell yeah You got hooker down for a strap Huff against Billy Alicana Thortoe Voss on there A bunch of road to UFC fights as well one, two, three, four. So how many fights are on this card? Golly, are they all going to happen

on the same night? That's a lot. Throwing the road to UFC is kind of a lot. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean Root TEOC fights? Is it like a tournament within this? Yes, so they said it on the broadcast. Is he not about Road to USC?

They said it on the broadcast. I know about it, but I didn't, you know what I mean? You're not watching every week? And on our favorite tapology page, they have Dommar fan against Sang U. U. Kim. They have Sebastian, Sizzle against

Kelly Shiro Nakamura They have Sulaan Grampo against Lawrence Louis And they have Namsri Bhat Bayar against Aaron Tau Bupoyar Vital is on this card Is it? Hell yeah

Fair play on those names You actually did pretty well, man I think that after he got past the first name he was like shit Why did I do this? Why did I commit to this? It's just never a good idea to try and read the Road to UFC names

The rest of the 324 card was announced And by the way, unless anyone's seen otherwise, like, I don't see a distinction prelims on this platform. So is it all on P-plus? Oh, that's interesting. I didn't think about that. Yeah.

Is it on CBS? What would? Is it on CBS Sports Network? Yeah. What is it? It's just a card. Yeah. Just a card, I guess.

When we start going with P-plus, I like this. Yeah, you know. Every time I'm going to say Paramount Plus, Paramount. I'm with you. I like the P-plus. Yeah. I'm trademarking that shit. All right, what else did we find out?

We found out about Nikita Prilov against Modestis Bukowskis, Umarna Magamato against Davidson Figurato. Do you believe we have a graphic? Yeah. Atiba Gotea against Andre Puleev. We knew about that one. Alex Perez against Charles Johnson.

Solid one at 125. Here are some new ones. Josh Hokit against Denzel Freeman. Michael Johnson against Alex Hernandez. Dig that. That's a fight that could have taken place in 2019 on the first ESPN card, right? Ricky Terseos against Cameron Smotherman.

and we spoke last week about the Rose Numidunus fight against Italia Silva yeah so that's 324 so we found out about 324 we found out about 325 we got the main event for 326 we got the main event for Houston

you think there's a chance they put Josh Van in Houston probably not right he was pushing for that as a co-main to Strickland no put it as the main put it as the main and put Strickland as the

Co-main in five round co-main event the only thing is I think you just do Japan at this point yeah like just do it I know he said, I'm the champ. Unfortunately, he's going to get a call that alerts him to the fact that that's not true. That he doesn't make that call.

Yeah. And you just do it in Japan. Also, speaking of the Barry Hs, I'm pretty sure on the program last week, you were saying, Sean Strickland, Fluffy Hernandez is just like perfect for a fight night in America. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you for pointing that out. That's what it is. Yeah, no, it is.

It is. Especially for Texas, right? There's something very... Perfect. Yes, there's something very apropos about it. Got a couple face-offs there. Let's dissect these, shall we? Let's start with the 324 card.

Let's start with the main event. Patty Pimbleet, Justin Gae. Breaking down the body language? Yeah, I like this. I like this. This is our first look at the gentleman. Okay, perfect. We don't have that face off.

Perfect. What about co-main event? Amanda Nunes versus Kail Harrison. Actually, this is really perfect because it's the real main event. Is it? Oh, thank God. There it is. What do we see here, guys?

What do we see here? Shout out to the cargoes on Amanda Nunez. Great look. Plenty of pockets. Kayla, not backing down. Not looking away. Locked in, fake smile. Wow.

What's that hell of a handshake. That's aggressive. Look at that handshake. That's a you bet your ass handshake. I'm still going with the double belts. Yeah, so what about this? What about this with the double belts? I mean...

I see, I saw no complaints about this, but then like, you know, Islam throws a second one on the shoulder and people are like, well, he's not a double champ. Other way, it isn't even a division. anymore. Look at that handshake. The belts in those cargo pants and taking them out once you were standing there in either pocket. But it is weird with the double belts

because she is the champion of one of those. Like, you want to walk around with the 145, I get it. But again, none of it matters. They take it away from Islam, he walks around with it. They take it away from Zhang, walks around with it. There's a new actual champion. She's walking. What is this?

A Lifetime Achievement Award now? Come on. There has to be some sort of respect to the history, to the lineage, to the details, the particulars. This one feels the most ill-fitting. Yes. Literally, Kayla has the belt. She has the belt.

What are we doing? This is not champion versus champion. In fact, there's been a champion in between. Yeah, and 145 no longer exist. It's a slap in the face to Rocky Pennington. Go? It's, yeah, it's exactly the same. All these other.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of learning on the job. Do we have O'Malley versus Sonia Dong? What did you guys think of this particular face-off? Their song. Dong and there's Sean O'Malley. Now, what do you guys think about the mask from Sean? Oh, I didn't notice the mask.

Yes. What did you think? I don't know. Bad form. Yeah. It feels like an overplayed joke. Yeah, not good. Don't like it.

Yeah. Here's song writing. O'Malley grabbing a COVID mask is a throwback to the only stretch of his career when people liked him. Oh. Not a bad clap back. Five years ago. Poising quotes.

I think he said it to someone to type it up I did see that too I didn't want to bring that up but Who's the attribute in this comment did someone Just say it to him on the street and he was like Is it possible that he put it in Google Translate and then when you copy paste it Good quotes just appear when you do that yeah

No what do you think? I don't know I don't I actually I mean we've seen this before Come on this up Okay but here's the thing if someone would say Like if I would give someone trash talk I wouldn't put it in quotes No so they know

Post this quotes And then the, come on. Ali has posted, you know, all these things from fighter accounts. Like, come on. With quotes? This is not the first time. You think Faber's saying?

I was going to say, you're right of Fabers? Maybe he's doing this as he's saying it. The last time you were popular. He's getting somebody to translate it and he's going like this for them. Okay. I focus it too much on the, on the quotations. All right. All right.

It was a good clap back. Whoever came up with it, it's a good line. Song can use it. Who cares? It is a good line. And by the way, dare I say, the stakes for that fight now with Yan as champions feel like they're much higher. Well, for O'Malley. Nice idea, shame about the execution, as what I'd say.

Yeah, yeah, fair enough. No, but what about the stakes, though? The stakes are, like, I could see a very strong chance. O'Malley wins. He's fighting for the belt next. I would dare say... Oh, we lost you. Oh, sorry, I would dare say I anticipate that.

Yeah. That's what I expect. We do have the aforementioned Patty versus Justin faceoff. This is important. This is important. There they are. There they are. Look at that.

Tiny belt. It's going to say, yeah, like a bit of a teeth. there for patty also fair play on the it's on it's on paramount plus oh hell yeah i like that it's on p for it's oh what do you think backflip for a little backflip let's go with that patty listen can i say something shout out to patty fair play much respect i saw a video he flew that night to london then flew to newcastle to be there for some of his teammates at the uh at the cage warriors card right and so i thought that that was pretty damn cool of him he made it just i saw a video of him showing up, making it just in time for the main card.

I think George Hardwick, and he had one other teammate competing on that card, and he wanted to be there for, so he could have stuck around, glitz and glamour, Las Vegas, be there for 323, all that stuff, and he said, no, I got to make it home, which I thought was nice. A bit of a back and forth between him and Armin. He spoke about the whole Armin not getting a title shot. Here's what he had to say when asked about it. Let's start with him at the press conference first. I was half preparing for I'll be honest I was doing little bits in training camp for

the for Ilya and then like two days before the announcements I got told of it was Justin but it's a privilege to share the octagon with such a legend and it's going to be unbelievable to get in there with him and as he said until Ilya comes back this is the real belt people hold her a fake belt all he want but until Ilya comes back into the aftergone this is the belt me and him are fighting for the lightweight championship akin to what connor regregor said when he fought chad mendes um you as the guy fighting for the belt you have to kind of say that right you can't you can't downplayed it this is the belt he's going to come back we'll unify but for now this is the belt so that's that's the perfect approach in my opinion

now after the presser he spoke to fulsin and he really laid it in to armin suruki and here's what he had to say well that dary use looks about 65 You know what I mean? He's got a full of the grey here. He beat Darius. He didn't beat Charles Olivera. A lot of people didn't think he won that fight. On his way out to the cage, he punched the fan.

Got banned. UFC probably had to pay a big fucking fee for the fellow not to assume. He then got his title shot and... Oh, I've got a bad back. Fucking got beat by back pain. When really, he probably just couldn't even make weight. Sit out for fucking, what, 11 months. Get off of the fight in the meantime against Gamrot.

Says no. when if I ever got off of the fight against someone who'd beat me, I'd be taking that fight immediately. Then fight Dan Ocher, Ed Buttum at the Weyen. So, like, nearly ruined another main event. Like, you can't understand why he's not in that position. And as much as I like Dan O'Ochah, lad, he's shamed. He's shit.

He can't grapple to save his life. He couldn't grapple if his fucking Ma's life defended on it, lad. No what I mean? If I had that guillotine wrapped up on arm, he's going unconscious. And if Dan Ocher's nearly guillotine in you, you shitted shit. actually he laid into a few people there

I'm not going to lie not just Armin Armin did respond to the trash talk this is what he had to say I could talk about how you only fight senior citizens once a year or how the UFC keeps giving you the easy road to that paper belt but I'll say just one thing if you ever find the courage to step it to the octagon with me

there's only one outcome the one you fear the most where everyone finally sees you're a fraud you can keep running your mouth just make sure you're not the one shitting your pants in January. Like I said, the only thing that matters is when the octagon door closes. I'll be the one walking out with my hand raised

and you'll be the one getting helped out of the cage. Gosh, could you imagine if we're getting that fight on January 24th, wouldn't that be great? Sirius bit of Royton there from Iron Material, you'd have to say. Yeah, no, he's good. He's good on the Twitter. Anyway, we also got another face-off guys. Alex Volcanowski and Diego Lopez, another somewhat maligned

booking. Here they are. Here are the boys. There was a great shot of Alex walking away. He's like, I feel like I just did that. He said to the UFC social media guy, but there they are. Diego looking ripped, looking jacked. And the fight is still just about two months away.

Alex Volcanovsky, unlike Patty Pimble, did stick around for the festivities for UFC 323, and he was there in the front row doing what? Eating. What was that? Some lamb? He looks like a steak or something, but he's locked in on whatever, man. What do you think?

He went to the back, or do you think he cooked at himself? Cooked it himself. It looks like a kid watching Netflix or something. He brought the plate out and everything. He's got a steak there, and he's got a beef for everything. Yeah. He was probably locked in on that main event with that nice little plate over there. What do we got there?

What do we got? Some flank steak? What is that? It's a lot of... You need a few more minutes on the grill for you, Heleney. Yeah, I'd say so. Maybe some like prime rib, a beef rib as well.

He's doing all right. We did talk about the way in which Marab was handling everything, and it seemed as though he's in pretty good spirits. He took a video from the actual ambulance with his boy, Al Jermaine Sterling, there, sipping on some funk harbor. They seem to be in great spirits, despite the fact that they didn't get the win,

and that his 14 fight-winning streak was snapped. So perhaps Anderson Silva popping some champagne as well. Here's Marab in the ambulance with his boy, Aljo. I'm in the hospital with my brother, Al-Jab and Sterling. And then my brother drinking his funk harbour, ram. They got true. Some of that. I'm at the phone with my mother, dedico.

Quick, our job, English, Surat. That's his mom. Look at this guy. How do you not love this guy? This is great. Can anyone translate for us? PT, what do you think? I'll ring you back in four minutes.

I'm doing a social media post, man. You know? Is he filming with another film. phone. Yeah, what is he got? Two phones. Here's a video of Marab in the ambulance with his boy Al Jermaine Sterling. I'm in the hospital with my boy Al Jermaine Sterling.

Yeah. I love it. I love it. Everyone get, you know, I'm sure everyone was hitting him up just like you, Pizzi, on the blower there after the fights. He even showed up to the post-fight party. He made his appointment. He was there. Look at this guy.

He's got the nice three-piece on. Yeah. Like a marat. Signs feel a bit weird for the moment. Yeah. No, fair play, fair play,

but the cake and the letter's a bit strong for me. Nah, it's fine. His energy matches it. It really is an inspiring. I hope they let him go down the oil and throw a few kicks. Look at him with the boys.

People love to celebrate the fact that Theo Vaughn comes for the first fight. I mean, the amount of posts that I see of Theo Vaughn sitting there as a fan, like, yeah, of course, he got freebies, and they're great fights,

and he's sitting there and he's got nothing else to do. Like, what do we want to throw a parade for the guy? I don't see no post for action Bronson sitting in the front row for the first fight of the night. Why don't we celebrate that? I mean, enough already. Anyway, Marab, by the way, he's been all over the place. I saw him hanging out with Nina Dram. I also saw that he lost his car.

He couldn't find his car, so some random stranger and his significant other were driving him around the parking lot. PTC, has this ever happened to you? yeah has actually happened to be in dundrum shopping center about two years ago yeah had a meltdown to be told it happened to dundrum shopping center made it's a multi-story car park and they tell you to remember the number you're on or whatever but it was rammed because it was christmas so i parked the fucking mondale in some weird spot and went in got all the shopping so i've got all the bags and like yeah i think we're on this floor walked around and then people are also leaving the shopping center so snake like you around the place.

And I'm just in the middle with the bags going, where the fuck is the car? What the fuck is going on? How would it make it so fucking complicated? And then I just walk into the guy and he asked me for the reg. And then straight away, he's like, you're on two floors,

like down is where you are. You're just walking around the floor that you're not on. So, yeah, I've been there. And I can relate to Marab in that moment. Well, actually, he handled the moment. It appears completely different. Stars, they're not quite like us in this case because this is Marab.

Could you imagine the day after this guy loses a UFC main event, he's now in your car, circling around the car park, looking for his own car. Hello, guys, it's Marab with Raoul. Hello. And what's her name? Girl in the back scene. I got lost here somewhere.

Raoul would drive me around now. He offered me. Thank you, Raoul, brother. Yes, sir. Okay. You're going to find in my car. That's what happened when you get points too much times. I put somewhere and I can't

I love how he got shotgun girl to the back yeah yeah yeah the guy is like you know what this is get back there I actually think it would be way funner if we could have seen

the setup of how that came to be Maraub just kind of wandering around the guy being like Can I help you What's up Marad Voschili you want to ride? You don't be generally

just picking up lads with open wounds on their faces Yeah He seemed pretty excited to have Maraub in the front seat of his car Peter Yan excited about his win as well. A little bit of a cheeky tweet here of his post-fight celebration in the jacuzzi, relaxing after the fight.

And there's Marab on the right. Yeah, it's getting good, man. Yeah, that is something. That is something. The jacuzzi has become a real integral part of the trash talk between these two. Al Jermaine Sterling weighing in on social media as well. Here's what he had to say. on X, congrats to Jan and his team.

They fought well tonight and made great adjustments. I can't wait to watch it back with Marab and plan for the comeback. Some things looked a little off, but maybe that was what Jan was doing. We'll take a little heel up and go again. This is the journey of a fighter. I hope you all enjoyed the battle until next time. Crazy that Peter Yan has now fought those two guys four times combined. Unbelievable.

Umar and Magamadav also weighing in on the proceedings. Great spectacular fight. Congratulations to Piotr. I think on January 24th, it will become clear who is next. So maybe there'll be a bit of a tournament there between Umar, Davison, Shuga, Sonia Deng, Issa Makachev weighing in as well. Marab, you're one of the greatest to ever step into this cage.

Congratulations. Petya, you deserve it. Is that his Russian name? Or do you think it was a mistake? I don't know I saw Ilya showing some love to Marab as well yes there it is brother

life is full of twists and turns but to us you will always be the best you will come back much stronger true or false Marab's next fight is for the belt Ptze false

wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow that would be something that would be something by the way speaking of Alex Fokinovsky, he was asked about fighting in a rematch

and not against someone like Lerone Murphy or Moussaer Evelove. Here's what he had to say at the press conference. Especially, I'm used to some rematches. Probably going to be his first one. But again, he's a dangerous guy. Exciting. So I cannot wait to just go out there and do our thing.

You mentioned you're used to rematches. I see you sitting next to match. Don't bring that shit up. Don't bring that shit up. Come on. Why you got to do that to me, Bob? What the hell? I'm over here trying to have.

help him to get fucking the belts then he defend and he'd go throw me on their bus like that that's not bullshit, Bob. I can only apologize. Vogue, for you, you went into that. Great moment there between the two former foes. Voke, obviously, beating Max three times, but

it seems as though everything is cool between them. Guys, speaking of P-plus, I do have some exciting news for all of you. Breaking? No, that's not it's not good. It's not right. It's not right. Exciting is not breaking. No, it's not breaking. It is officially the home of contender series and the Ultimate Fighter.

This was announced on Saturday. So in case you were worried, are you happy about that? Who said they knew it? I said huge. Oh, yeah, yeah. All right. That's big. Now, they said that they didn't give any sort of like timeline.

They didn't say when, how often, or anything like that. But it probably is going to be the same cadence as it is now. What do you think? You think we'll get more of it? Probably not. Anyone? Who is to check? Who is to check?

Oh, yeah. Because it's usually like late summer, right? Yeah, August to like, early October. I'm surprised that they extended it, honestly. Do we need it, though? Do we need more? People love contender series.

That's one thing I was like, people love them some contenders series. I know, but with the contender series, you're just giving out more contracts and you're just building a bigger and bigger roster. I guess that's what they want, yeah? The bigger, bigger ruster full of people on the lowest. I think P Plus just wants the content now.

This is great stuff for that. I'm not talking about P. Plus, right? We're not talking about it. All right, fine, fine, fine, fine. Well, that is exciting news. What is not exciting news is that the fight before Christmas just became a little less interesting. It was announced late last week that Dylan Dennis is out of his fight against Anthony Taylor. This is the statement from misfits.

I suspect that was P.T. slamming his table. Independent physicians. I've determined that he is not medically cleared to compete at this time. Due to the melee that occurred at Madison Square Garden last month, we want to be very direct. This call is being made solely by medical professionals. Dylan pushed for every possible path to remain on the card. I'm reading it so slowly because the colors and all that are really tripping me out. But the doctors were not willing to clear him to compete this month.

Misfits boxing takes athlete health extremely seriously, and we fully expect him back in the misfits ring in 2026 to defend his misfits MMA title. Misfits, by the way, announcing a Pro League. They announced that Vidal Riley has signed with them. We had them on the Ariel and Adet program a few months back. So they've got Misfits Pro, then it seems like Misfits crossover, and now they're going to do Misfits MMA as well.

How about that? How about that, gents? We did have a crazy scene over at the karate combat. event on Friday in Miami. Crazy for two reasons. Number one, it seemed as though the card got delayed some three, four hours, all kinds of rumors and innuendo as to what exactly happened. But in the end, the entire card went off without a hitch. I did speak to the president of karate combat. I should have had this ready, but I just wanted to get to the info. Yes, our friend Assim Zaidi, who we had on the program once,

I asked him about the delay, and he told me that the truck with the pit did show up at like 3 p.m., some sort of accident plus Art Basel. I was running around focused on how to make a late-night show possible and didn't really sit down to hear all the details. no damn way I was going to have all these fighters fly from all over the world cut weight and cancel the damn show don't need that headline on my forehead just going through some of our messages here

so weird one the event was super delayed but all the fighters got to compete on it I heard from some other people who said that there was an insurance issue and the Florida Commission said that the insurance was going to run out if, you know, midnight came and went, so they had to get a last minute insurance. I mean, just seems like an absolute mess of a situation, to be honest. But they did get it done. They did pull it off. And there does appear to be a lot of speculations, you know, kind of circulating around karate

combat at this time, not too different than some of the stuff that we hear about BKFC, to be honest, where people are claiming they're not getting paid, not getting paid on time. None of it is great stuff, but this is all, you know, part of the experience, I guess you could say, of trying to get a promotion like this off the ground. The main event was headlined by Robles Despan versus Sam Alvi, and well, it was a pretty shocking ending to the fight, because here's Despine on the right, knocking Alvi down, heavyweight title fight one could argue

that the fight should be stopped right about now it is not stopped Alvi gets up is completely out of it it should be stopped

right about now I would say as he's stumbling all over the place it does not get stopped look at the look on Alvi's face now he gets

knocked and again it should be stopped it should be stopped now as he's holding on for dear life and it is not he has stood up and now he goes to sleep and that is just awful I mean that is just awful awful despicable refereeing dangerous stuff

hard to watch to be honest I mean despond is a beast of a human being and we all had very very high hopes for him when he came into the UFC it didn't quite work out but he is he is a scary man and to do that to someone like Sam Alvi considering the Knox that Alvey has taken throughout his career and how old he is at this point and and has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance with uh with karate combat or resurgence no doubt that was hard to watch uh gc's boy chris barnett just get he got a

a big win he looked good what'd you think like to see him active athens very own yeah that's your guy hell yeah it's our guy that's our guy you're right you're right you know what came out with a tight down there Yeah I think that's what it was That's what we do That was it Look at that It's actually the same

The same takedown that Titan used against Henry Oh look at that You guys like this karate combat I like it as an alternative It's fun What was that PT? What was that? Pete keep covering your mouth while you talk

Yeah what is that Rick was laying in bed at 2 a.m. Watching it after the delay Do you stay up till 4? I was like right about to get the main event Fell asleep Open my eyes up as it was over Went back and watched it

So where did you watch it on YouTube? Yeah How many people were watching? Quite a few actually There was at least like 10K streaming it at that time Yeah They have a pretty dedicated fan base The events are fun

This one moved particularly quick Because of how late they started it Like as guys were leaving the pit the next guys were entering the pit. They had to, right? I mean, it's 3 a.m. In the interest of... Shout out to Ben the Bain on the call.

Oh, my God, yeah. He saw Bain's post, man. I was like, fuck. He looked exhausted, right? He looked absolutely exhausted. Actually, Sam Alvey went on social media after the fight and did tell everyone that he was okay.

Here's what he had to say. Guys, God is good. The highest, high as the law is lows. For those of you that don't compete like I do, you should know that there are a few feelings in this world as bad as not getting your hand raised. But I know God has got my back. I know whatever hardship is coming,

God has got my back. Thank you guys for watching. Thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for being part of this journey with me. I truly, I love you. The good Lord has got plans for me. He's got plans for you. Don't forget it.

I love you guys. I love you, God. Thank you. What a guy. P.T. I'd say he's some man for one man. Absolutely. How could you not love him? Still smoiling.

Still smiling. After all these years. There was a lot of boxing action guys this weekend. In the midst of 323, PBC had a card on Amazon Prime pay-per-view. It was headlined by Lamont Roach, who joined us in studio last Monday, going up against Pitbull Cruz. And what did you know? It back-to-back draws! for Lamont. Golly. What is it? What do they call it? Kissing your sister or something?

Twice now. But the real story of the night was Frank Martin. His first fight since June of 2024, he lost to Giovante Davis that night, comes back against Rances Bartholome. And this is what he did. Did you see this knockout? Look at this. Look at this right here. That's Frank in the black trunks. Look at that. Good night, Irene. As the great Michael Chavello once said. That is something right there. There was also a great card over in Monaco. Everyone was wearing these nice tuxedos.

Adi was looking dapper, Frank Smith, Tony Bellew, of course, the great Eddie Hearn as well. Shabiz, Shabazz Mazud beat Peter McGrell in the main event. But the real story, in my opinion, was Elif Nur Turhan of Turkey, going up against Beatrice Faheda, the Olympian, who a lot of people in women's boxing very, very high on, look at this. Look at this power. Look at this aggression from the Turkish fighter. That's Turhanan and the golden black. Actually, her outfit, very reminiscent of one Katie Taylor, right, with that golden black.

And just going out there, guns ablazing. What'd you say? It was like Vanderlea Silva? Yeah. Yeah. Hooks just plant my feet and swing away. The Bosch was back. Johnny Fisher.

He got a win. It was a little dicey there. He got knocked down and had to survive against Ivan Balaz, but he ended up winning in the fourth round. There was a great knockout in the fight between Kana Walker and Pat McCormick. Look at this final sequence here in the 12th round of their fight. Look at this knockout here from one Kana Walker. Through the ropes.

Oh, my God, with the legs hanging over. It's a nice little scene there over at the, Casino de Moni Carlo. Have you ever been there, PT? I have. It's nice, right? All the cars in the front and all that? I mean, it's not really, you know, I'm not really blending in with the focus around there, you know? All right.

I'm not really, they're different out there. Okay. The way you were saying that, like the speed in what you were saying, plus your internet kind of stalling, was great theater. Thank you. This is what happens on a post-paper-view Monday. You couldn't miss the last one ever. You couldn't miss it.

I couldn't miss it. Are you going to bring up my boy Appetaya now? Well, actually, you see how it goes. Unfortunately, that one was on Fight Pass and, well, we can't show that footage. Wait, what are you trying? You don't have Fight Pass? No, no, no. World's largest M.A catalog.

Oh, absolutely. But if we show it, we'll get a strike on the channel. Oh, show it. They ain't in me. No, no, no. But it was a great knockout. Now, I will say it's getting a little bit redundant, right? like he's fighting a lot of lesser-known fighters.

I want to see him go up against Zerdo? Move up the heavyweight. Like something. We need something. It's almost like he's like the women's Fedaway champion, right? Yeah. Yeah. You ever said that all those years ago?

I don't remember that, no. You can't believe you're saying that. Oh, you're not a fan of Jai. No, no, I'm a big fan, but being the champion of this division. Yeah. I mean, no one there. Well, Cruz Rui is saying well. They got Zirto.

Oh, stay there then. Stay there. Loin them up. Benavides is moving up. You're telling me you wouldn't like to see David Benavides because it's Jaya Pataya. He's not moved up. You know, he's going to move up and he'll leave. And then they won't fight each other.

That's boxing. Dana's been talking about it, man. You're right. You're right. Get rid of the fucking belts. Speaking of which, Tyson Fury, sort of announcing the comeback that everyone suspected, the king must return to his throne.

There is a long and lonely road that only I can walk on. After the long and hard battles, awaits immortality. God's fighting one-man army, the battle was won over 2K years ago by a man who goes by the name of Yassau. In his holy name, I march forward. Who is Yusauer? Does anyone know?

I think it's another name for Jesus. Oh, Yeshua. Wait, did it say Yassau or Yeshua? because I know who Yeshua is. Which is Charles? That says you're sour. Does that not say you sour? It says Y-S-U-A-R.

It says Y-E-S-U-A-R. Or am I misreading that? Because it's so small. I'm saying Yosur is a variant spelling and pronunciation of Yeshua. Yes. The Hebrew name for Jesus. You know Jesus was a Jew? Was he?

Yeah, to the bitter end. I didn't know that. To the bitter end. Yeshua. I did not know. Okay. I didn't realize it was your sour. I don't think that's an alternate spot.

J.C.? J.C.? I went, when we were in Italia over the summer, we went to the Vatican and we had a nice little tour guide there. And she started talking to us about the Sistine Chapel and the paintings. And then she's like, look at this. This is the last supper. And we're like, oh, wow, look at this.

And we're like, what's up with that guy over there? And they said, oh, that's Judas. I was like, oh, wow, what's his deal? Well... Are you serious? What, what? You don't know who Judas is? Well, it was an interesting portrayal of the scene.

I was like, oh, okay, so you're telling me that the Jew is the one wearing the black? Of course, he's the bad guy. This is what it all comes back to. This is how it all started. All Jews. This moment. Every apostle is a Jew because he created the fucking religion then? Jesus.

I just felt it was... Is that a drop? I felt it was a... Was that Katie Taylor, by the way? You see that one more time? Jesus. Jesus. That's a bad one.

It's a horrible one. It sounds like you're in the bathroom and you're dying out on the toilet. It also sounds like it starts mid-thought. One more time? Ramp up. Go ahead. Hold on, hold on a one way.

Jesus. It's a proper artist. You can't hear the J. You can't really get. get the just like, where do we even pull that from?

Yeah. But I've never heard that. How did you even know you had that one in the arsenal? I'm trying to organize them. I appreciate that. It's nice to have some old ones.

Speaking of old ones, what about this link up here between Connor McGregor and the one and only? You didn't have that one on the ready, huh? Iron. Iron.

Iron. There was a rearranging. You see what happened was the way Frank's bank account is set up he couldn't get it was the last time he even played the iron yeah iron is he feverishly looking for it right now you are creating undue stress let's just

come on frank you know there used to be a guy on a show called the Howard Stern show and he would have the tapes oh do tell like he would physically have the tape his name is Fred Norris he would literally have the tapes anyway there's there's Connor and and Mike yeah there it is hanging out they were having a

grand old time over there. I saw a clip of Conner seemingly shadow boxing? What happened here? What happened here? Let's take a look. Let's take a look. Low to the buddy. You see, Canello, you see, Justin do it. They go low to the body and go high. See, that's a humpon. So I was doing this right.

Like you, a boxing way is, a lot of people do this from boxing. They step forward, yeah? You never, you jumped in. Did me you? Jumped in and they got here. You're right here. So I'm just doing the simple. what is that why is he looking at him like that that one's going to get used for sure

it's oh my god there was a great tweet from someone who's like what what what frank what was that frank you're losing it he did the mix he was like can my friend come to and it's and it's that clip it's oh geez oh that's what that was okay yeah damn there it is Anyway, Conor was also holding court, I do believe, at the Black Forge Inn and saying that he wanted Islam at some point in the near future. He's what he had to say, courtesy of bloody elbow. I'm motivated, I'm self-motivated, and I for sure want to crack at that belt. I for sure want to crack that.

I want to crack a little, 70-pound belt to go for the Shubble crown. I want to fight that would be you and Islam. That'd be crazy. Wouldn't be that for all these years? The good crap. lost out there was a performance out of him and February he only had the courage to do it

to go up so yeah we're right for it let's see what happens let's get back in the mix Was that Donna Corby holding court over there with Connor I think I heard his voice there

People was Corbs yeah That was Corbs Big Corbs Do you see To the forge Yeah just You know Just throw it out there

Yeah Is it the best look For Cardby pulling points When he's talking about Let's come back here two weeks ago being like went to rehab lads I'm ready to go

you know is that the you know smoking a joint in the picture you put up I mean it's kind of no but if you were

if you were trying to look for reasons that this might not happen he's going to he's giving you a few there now well it reminds me of what the great Bob Aram once said

when trying to decide you know who's to check you know who is to check who is to check whether or not it's the best look

I don't know you tell me I don't know what was what was even going on over there in that scene. It's actively pouring pints of... But like, what is it? Like, is there, like, a media appearance?

Like, why are there media there asking him questions while he's doing that? Because Mike Tyson was there to eat his dinner. Oh, okay, so they invited media. I don't know about that now. Corbs wouldn't be, like, waiting for the invitation either. You know what I mean? That man... He's just showing up.

He'll doorstep you. You know what I mean? So... Thick on the stone for Mike? I don't know if it was taken. It looked like he had chicken to me. Yeah. Oh, really?

Chicken at the Black Forge. I have the stake at the stone, stake on the stone, whatever it is, it's tremendous. We did talk guys last week about the, or maybe it was two weeks ago now, yeah, I think it was two weeks ago, about the incident regarding one Ian Gary and Hamza Chamaev. Well, an alternate angle has been relieved, relieved, revealed, courtesy of Armisturukian's YouTube channel. An alternate angle, wait, can we listen to it? Can we start over with the audio or do we not have audio? Okay, here it is.

a little, oh, a little, okay, okay. And now, yeah. What do you think? What do you guys think? Was it a little, can we replay that? The initial pats on the back from Gary are a little bit aggressive. You think? I like to see that one.

Okay, here's nice. This is nice. This is nice. What's the initial pats on the back here? It started at all. Those aren't soft. Now do you think Do you think that was just like

Boys Will Be Boys Or do you think he was trying to like Check him I think the pat's on the back We're checking him And that's what ignited the fire Wow Pizza your thoughts

Yeah I can see a little bit like Like obviously Hamz that's the last dude You're doing this to right Right Like if you're like Oh who will like firmly pat on the back here Probably not that lad

You know out of everyone to do with that too But I do believe there is a slight bit of miscommunication there as well when Gary says as he said to you the secure guy comes and then Gary says he's not going to fight me Hamzat's taking that like oh what the you don't think I'm going to fuck I can fuck you up here

you know that's the way he's taking that whereas Ian's not talking like that he's kind of saying there's nothing bad is going to happen here Hamza takes that in a different direction but it is just two lads who fight for a living getting into an exchange like I mean it's far from the worst thing we've

ever seen. And we will see a lot worse, probably in the next two months, you know? Frankie, any superchats? Just one or two. All right. Starting off with Netflix acquiring Warner Bros. I work in TV as an editor, and I can't think of a more frightening time

to work in this industry, less career opportunities. Well, correct me if I'm wrong, Frankie, you would be all over this story. It's not a done deal, right? That's correct. In fact, I saw this morning our friends, over at P Plus are trying to, they're trying to, what are they trying to do? A hostile takeover?

Yeah. Yeah. So I wouldn't, what is it, counting the chickens before they hatch? It's counting chickens. Yeah. I thought it was kissing your sister. Something like that. But yes, why would you say, would you agree with this man's sentiment that it's a bad time or that

it's a scary time? He feels personally worried about his own career. I think he's a right to do that, whether he's right or. Oh, does he work in media? Can we read it again, please? Yeah, he works in the industry. I work in TV as an editor. I can't think of a more frightening time to work in this industry.

It's all going to be good, says Eric. No, no, no, but I do think that the Warner Brothers discovery, that whole thing was not the best thing. And Turner, Warner Brothers, they've gone through several different ownerships now. There was the AT&T merger, which did not go great, and this WBD merger didn't go great. There's a lot of people in the wrestling world that are very interested in the story because of how it will affect AEW, who's on TBS and TNT. But based on everything I've read, the linear channels will go to Discovery and what Netflix and P Plus are trying to purchase are Warner Brothers plus HBO and HBO Max, which is gigantic, but it doesn't include the TV. So I think people were starting to think like, will AWB on Netflix? And I don't think it includes that let's see i mean i saw trump talking about it yesterday at that event that he was at and uh and i also saw david ellison speaking on cnbc this morning about it as well i think it's a little premature to say that they've been acquired but yeah this is the way it's going you know the strong are getting

stronger the powerful are getting more powerful what else frankie what else gc who has better pizza new york city or new haven't connecticut new haven sally's modern frank pep is Haven't been to either. Any of the places I just listed? Yeah. Oh, it's great. I've driven through them, and I've heard the pizza's phenomenal, but I've never had the pleasure. Unbelievable.

The Frank Peppie's Summer Special is... Where's that? Where's that? That's in New Haven, yeah. Okay. It's like a fresh tomato pie. Is it a very crispy, like burnt crust? It is crispy, yeah.

You like that? I love it. Yeah. I'm so hungry now. What else, Frankie? What else? Oh, we had a great Christmas party, right? Or, no, I say holiday party.

want to offend anyone you know i got in trouble one time when i said uh who is it i said that steepe lit up someone like a christmas tree and i got in trouble for that where where'd you work then fox wow yeah they were like hmm and i was like what if i say lit them up like a menorah yeah yeah yeah seriously but it was a good time we had some nice dumplings right guys great dump i don't think we're great fantastic jordan what which which dumpling was your favorite uh nice long jaubal uh i like the pork soup dumpling you know i like some of the the rice kind of noodles are always good oh yeah uh the sticky rice rolls

oh yeah i don't know exactly what they're called but frank ordered shrimp frank ordered shrimp always does shrimp cocktail for frank was a surprising move at the holiday party no it was a great time walnut shrimp it was a great time uh what else frank ariel still can't pronounce volk noob yeah what do i say voke yeah yeah i'm sorry

volk slide that l in there yeah volk volk volk volk What else, Frankie? What else? Is there a case for the bullet for Fighter of the Year? Hmm. You know what, guys, I meant to get into this, and I think we'll have time throughout the week. Can I throw something out there?

Throw it. Is Marop still the fighter of the year? I think it's a possibility. Fight four times three. Like, you know, we talked about this beforehand. Crack talked about it. You guys talked. Is he still the Fighter of the Year?

It might be. It's in play. I think there will be people that have that. who would be who benefited the most from this loss would you say Islam everybody else

well is I saw Tom say Ilya but Iliu only fought once yeah Islam Islam yeah I know it didn't end like it ended kind of unceremoniously

but Josh Van is four and no in 2024 5 that's a sure Breakout fighter perhaps yeah maybe

tune in January 5th for the what is it I don't even know what it is 12th annual, yeah, I don't know. We'll figure that out. What else, Frankie? What else?

Asia! We get first man, UFC champion, man division, main division. Okay. Is that from the actual Korean zombie? Oh, no, it says Zerian combi. Damn it. Yeah, that's big. Love it.

Exciting times. The sport is glowing, going global. Remember when they had that, they had that graphic, global domination. It has arrived. Oh, what else, Frank? Four title defenses, sparring before fights, the natural weight cuts. That's Barab. This reads like Chatchip-T.

He's earned his fans, and I know he can't take that to the bank, but we, the fans, want the rematch. And Marab make himself as big as any star to the casual. Hell yeah. Thank you. $20 Canadian. It's like $6 American these days. We appreciate it. I agree.

He should get a title fight upon returning. I think he's even clapped back at Peter Yan with the jacuzzi talk. guys see that no no yeah he posted a new jacuzzi uh oh there it is double jacuzzi pick so here's here's uh yon below 2025 oh 2023 okay oh and there he is in the back is that really what he posted in 2023 the jacuzzi thing came from the umar build which happened after that like that's a lot of jacuzzi love a good jacuzzi yeah the jacuzzi came back to the water gcc's going back to tonight. Yeah.

A little picture when you got home, J.C. Done. From the coozy. What else, Frankie? What else? Rousey versus

Corona on the White House card. Hmm. No, I don't think so. Ronda already said she didn't want to do it. What else, Frankie? What else? Izzy versus Strickland Hernandez's winner next?

Cheers. Hmm. That means he's going to be out for quite some time. I don't hate it. But I'd love to see Izzy back. We haven't seen Izzy since last February. It's going to be almost a year.

it's time so like it in theory but that means he'll have to wait too long unless the winner of that fight comes back quickly but we do miss the last style bender around these parts what else Frankie what else Chris Duncan fight feast this year

can't wait oh a little Scottish yeah maybe some haggis Haggis got any good haggis spots around here is haggis illegal in the States oh no no how about some Jordan's doing like a ham motion like this

Yeah, what is haggis again? It's like a... It's like the liver and something or other of a sheep. I thought it was the intestines. Yeah. Isn't it sheep intestine stuff? Or is that tri? Have you had blackburn before?

I love black pudding, yeah. It's exactly like that. It's very like that. When I was doing camel research, I came across an article saying that haggis was restricted in the face. It's crazy. Traditional haggis containing sheep lungs is illegal in the U.S. due to a 19- Hell yeah. By USDA deeming...

Wow. Unfit for humans. We need to go. fucking prison. We got to get some underground. We got to get some secret haggis. I can get some haggis. I can get some haggis.

Who's your haggis guy? He don't ship a sheep long. Bungar. Bungar, Jojo, Duncan, sitting around the table. Be incredible. Drew McIntyre, though. It seems like there's some beef between Bunger and. It was a bit weird.

Well, other than when you put up, the big man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's just not making the wrestler. Yeah, yeah. Wow. What else? What else, Frankie? What else? You're!

Okay, okay. We could skip that one. What else, Frankie? Oh. GC-25 Dern and Van to be champ parlaid is question mark. Fuck, I don't know, but that's a massive payout. I think Dern was like plus 15,000. I don't know what Vand was. Did you imagine? It was heavy no matter what. Look at Ricky scratches over here, leaning into frame. Yeah, what's wrong? What's wrong?

You're good? Papa's sleepy. What else, Frankie? What else? This one is essentially saying that Peyton came on the show a second time when he lost because of vertigo, but he still did it, and they have the same thing. So, what? When Tablet. Yeah, you got to read between the lines.

Well, thank you. You might still have vertigo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I do. I think they are commiserating that they also suffer from Vertigo. I do wish you the best, Danny, even though I think you kept that Blue Jay's thing to piss me off, but that's fine. can vertigo affect your typing what's that what's that did you pop a boat in there on the short i'm just i want to get to the five o'clock hour

you know what i was actually thinking about right now what's that man i was thinking right now about that christian bentford pick six it's one of the greatest moments of my life i'm not going to lie i was sitting there my kids i was like what is going to happen here guys like how are they going to turn this around and did you see this play did you guys see it of Like, it was, it was, it just like, it's stuck to his hands. That sequence of Josh running it 40 yards, two plays later, Benford, next play, AJ with the I&T. I mean, it was just, it was something. It really was.

Oh, my God. James Cork, man, what the fuck. Yeah, a lot of fumbles. All leading up to this weekend at Foxborough. What a time to be alive. Oh, what else, Frankie? What else? Young Cushie Morav's elbow was insane.

Go bills. Hell, yeah, wow. I didn't even know that was coming. It was insane. And those body kicks were something else, man. I mean, shout out to Marab, again, for taking those. Most people crumple when hit with those. Incredible stuff.

What else, Frankie? What else? Umar, biggest loser coming out of 323. Sugar jumps him with a W against song. Talbot on his heels with a favorable matchup against Sahabi Vera coming coming. I think Zahabi's the biggest loser. I think he was right there on the doorstep, and now all of a sudden there's a bunch of other guys in the mix.

Oh, what else, Frankie? What else? I love these post-paper-view Monday wrap-up segments, A-plus. Oh, thanks. I wonder if he's going to miss them. Yeah, yeah, post. When do we make the official switch to calling them numbered events? Post-numbered events? I'm sticking with PLE. I don't like this numbered event.

Oh, you go on PLE? N-E. I don't like P-A-E first. What is that? What is that true? No. Oh, U.S.C. numbered event. Yeah, I've already kind of started seeing people online correct to me when I say pay-per-views.

No, I'm not feeling it. not feeling it was like oh yeah last pay-per-view of the year exciting stuff and they're like last pay-per-view ever i'd say they're cool guys yeah yeah yeah listen fucking real just stand up i'll tell you what when it hit to like 1145 eastern i was like we're gonna be starting the post show around now that was exciting you know imagine that like late spring pay-per-view and every all five fights end in finishes and like we're tossing to you and it's like somewhat light out? It's like a, no, not light out.

It's like 1120. Oh, my God. Like 4 a.m. you're talking about? Oh, yeah. Wow. Honestly, that hour... Is that better or worse for you, Petsy? Like, is it kind of nice having the sun's...

Sun coming up when you do the show? It gives me anxiety, seeing the sun creep out of that window above him. We've got to get blackout curtains just keep Ariel's nude and time. I know, I know, because I start to see and I start to feel anxious for you. And then some way, somehow, like, two hours later, you're texting us about random stuff. I'm like, why aren't you sleeping right now? And also, the fact that you're not sleeping, the fact that you're not sleeping, why can't you come on the show on Monday? That's the part that I don't understand.

It's just, it's like, you know, palm grass and knees. Don't make me give you the rant again. You know, I explained already. It's how do I feel. I'm my knees feeling all right? I'll do the show. Are they not feeling all right? You know, get the cling film.

Get the ice packs. I'm going to wrap these bitches up for a week. You know what I mean? What else, Frankie? What else? Ariel, absolutely aren't calling it P-plus. I'm sorry. Not too late, 24 inch stubs.

It's fucking people. Yeah, it's happening, bro. It's happening, bro. What else, Frankie? Some of the best insights into fighters' lives have been from your brief encounters with their spouses. Oh. Maybe his spouse's round table or unground film special. Post-script, Uncrowned film hoodies coming soon.

Ooh, we actually talked about that. We are working on Uncrowned. Why he's calling it Uncrown? Uncrowned merch? You're thinking, what's this guy's name again? Sorry? Mo Saeed, 48, 67. So he's thinking, like, me and, like, four wives doing, like, a roundtable?

Is that what he's thinking? That sounds sick, yeah. Yeah, all right, I guess. Yeah, husband's still. Could you imagine? I mean, there have been some great ones. DJ's wife was spectacular when she came on there. The inside was, it actually is really interesting.

Dustin's wife in my encounters with her has always been great and insightful. I mean, I can't imagine the stress that these human beings go through. I mean, could you imagine the weight cutting and the moodiness? and the two of days, the three days. Not a bad shout. I don't know if I could pull it off, but it would be interesting. And what else, Frankie?

And lastly, sorry if I missed it earlier, but Dana's comments regarding Armand are stupid and proves why the UFC is no different from boxing. Best versus Best, my ass. There you have it. I'm glad someone said it. I've been waiting for someone to actually bring this up. It is kind of like a contradiction to what he's saying about UFC

and then you think of boxing. Have you taught Ariel at all? No, I have not. play to Stevie Husker. He does say, sorry if I missed it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't be such an a-hole. About Frankie, too, man. You've been Braggis and you're reading? Yeah, yeah, yeah, nailed it. Best first, best, my ass. Emphasis. Do you want to let you guys know the brand new uncrown pay-per-view rankings? Paperview? God, I just pulled the Frankie there. Pound-for-pound rankings. What fuck does that mean? Sorry, sorry, sorry. That's not a thing. We don't say I pull the

frank. Yeah, you just did. Now we will. Are out. Over on uncrown.com. The number Number one, unbiased combat sports platform on the planet. How about this, guys, Islam Mahathev, number one, Ilya, number two. Hamza Shemayev, moving up two slots to number three. Pantosha down. Oh, is he down? No, I think he stayed the same. Aspinall 5, Jan goes from unranked to 6th.

Alex Pereira, 7, Fulkanowski, 8, Marab, down three slots, 9, and, He's tied with Armand Sarucan. He's only down three, or was he third? No, he was third. Oh, wow. Okay, that's what this is. Yeah, I'm reading it wrong. Yeah, he was third.

Excuse me. He went from three to nine. And I have it as 10 here for Armand, but we had it as nine. I don't know if he's tied, but not a single vote, by the way, for Josh Van. Oh, well. Are both of you, both of you are voters? Yeah, we're on the board for it. I didn't know Pantosia at all.

I respect that Josh Van is the champion now, but I don't think he proved that he's better than Alexandria Pantosia. Perfect. All right. That's fair. That's fair. By the way, over on the women's side of things, Valentina Shivchenko, number one,

Kayla Harrison, number two, Zhang Wei, Lee, three. Chris Cyborg, in action this weekend. Piafell Lyon. Cute. Dakota Ditcheva, number five. Tally Silva, number six, Mano Furo, seven.

Eight, McKenzie Dern. Saikai Zawa, number nine, Aaron Blanchfield, 10. There you got it. There she is. Also want to let you guys know before we go, tomorrow is on the nose day, and I want to let you know that we are now on threads, the official social media platform of the UFC.

And there you have it. We're going to start taking questions from threads on the nose, and they shall be getting priority, at least for the time being. So go over to my threads account at Ariel Hawani right now. Drop us a question. I see a bunch already there. appreciate you very much and I will read those

and then we will also go to the substack so ariahawwani.substack.com is the place to be for all your questions but go to the threads please please please we appreciate that and also while you're at it holiday season go check out areahuawani.com for all your latest merch

and I'm about to put in a question on threads yeah I'm about to make threads my stream of consciousness please do and guys as we inch closer to the end of the year. We have two weeks left of programming and we head over to Miami some exciting news to share very soon regarding that. But I do want to let you know that this weekend, final UFC show of the year, final UFC on ESPN show. But at the same time, we also

have John Sina's final match going down this Saturday, December 13th on Peacock's Saturday night's main event. He's going up against two. Who's he going up against? Does anyone know? Our old friend, Walter, aka Gunther. Gunther. He won the last time is now tournament. A bit of a controversial pick. If it was me, I wouldn't have had John Cena's last match be against someone who won a tournament. I wanted some meat on the bone. I wanted some story. I wanted some... Someone's got to show up, right? Like, you mean like an old timer?

Yeah, just someone from his past. I just don't think it's going to be as clean as Sina, Gunther, that's it. Well, and then the other thing is, does Gunther go over? Do you pass the, is it Talbot-Sahood-esque? You know what I mean? Is it that sort of thing? Although Gunther isn't as young as Talbot, they're going to have a ton of stuff for Sina to celebrate him and promote him

and show him the love and respect that he deserves, which he has earned, obviously. I just wish a couple things would have been done differently. But that's the fun, that's the joy of being a pro-Russing fan. It's on Saturday. I think it's going to be a fun time. He also suggested, I think he was on one of the late night shows. He said he wanted to go on first,

and he wanted the rest of the night to be a celebration of the up-and-coming talent. I appreciate the humility. If we're going to do that, I would suggest having him go on last and then have the talent lead up to him, so people will tune in because if he's on first, people might stop watching. Anyway, let's see how it all plays out.

Point being, guys, we're going to have a ton of coverage surrounding the final week of John Sina's wrestling career, at least we presume. I'm not a thousand percent sure that this will be his final match. I know it's being billed as such, but everyone comes back, even if it's five, six, seven years later. But he does seem quite steadfast on retiring. And to be frank, seeing him walk and move,

it does seem like the injuries and just the toll on his body is getting to him. And he's talked about that as well. So I do want to let you know over on uncrown.com We're going to have a ton of coverage and I think it's going to be interesting to see how they play this out. If old names come back, if, you know, if Gunther goes over clean,

if Sina goes over, I would like to see Sina win. I think it would be nice. I don't think Gunther necessarily needs the rub, but let's see how they, let's see how they play it out. I think a lot of people are going to be interested in this. All right. So tomorrow on the nose,

I'll tell you about the lineup later, still working on a few things. One potentially very interesting guest, potentially in studios, so stay tuned for that. And Wednesday is going to be a great day as well. Peace and love, peace and love. Congratulations, Piotr Yan, Josh Van, and all the big winners. But it is time to say. Goodbye. I'm actually quite nervous.

Tomorrow is the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup guys. the Knicks 0-2 in quarterfinals trying to punch their ticket to Vegas this weekend to make it to the semifinals so I'm locked in on that. Pizzi, you've been locked in on the NBA Cup. I don't know which ones at a cup

but I don't know which ones are I going to see it. Yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. I did go to the Knicks Jazz game on Friday. Knicks went up 23 to nothing in the first quarter. Best start in the play-by-play era to a game by any team

in the history of the National Basketball Association. How about that? Are you happy when that happened to you like shit? The game's over. Okay. That is such a good question. The tickets weren't cheap. Shout out to GameTime app.

My favorite app for ticket buying. Love them. They are incredible. They're the best app by far because they have them all and you can see where it is and you can move your phone and see exactly the angle. Actually, shout out to them.

They're not even paying me to say that, but I do love them very much. I turn to my kids in the third and I'm like, I kind of want them to make a comeback so this game is a little bit more interesting because it felt like the crowd was pretty much done after the run because they're like, these guys aren't coming back.

And they have a good team, Lori Markinen, Ace Bailey, Walter Clayne Jr., Yusuf Nerkich, but they did not show up. You know, the back-to-back after the Brooklyn game, you're in New York, probably partying. You know, them's to breaks. But yes, there was a part of me.

If I was at home, I'd say step on their neck. In attendance, you're like, can we make this a little interesting? Anyway, who's to check, who's to check? Thank you very much to our guest, Dr. Brian Suterer, Mr. Joshua Van, Mr. John Wood, and Payne Talbot. Thanks to you, thanks to them. Back tomorrow, same time, but I'm still at the same piece of buddy.