The Ariel Helwani Show - Massive weekend recap, Terence Crawford, Eddie Hearn, Gable Steveson, Zuffa Boxing review, Ricky Hatton memories

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

Ariel Helwani begins the show by touching on the death of Ricky Hatton (3:34), before recapping a loaded combat sports weekend, starting with Terence Crawford's win over Canelo Alvarez (09:25), Eddie Hearn's brewing rivalry with Dana White (16:25), White's fingerprints — or lack thereof — on the card itself (29:47), Turki Alalshikh's growing influence (39:09), Noche UFC (1:01:27), and Ilia Topuria's continued callouts of Crawford (1:06:19).Crawford himself joins next to break down the win, talking about fighting up two weight classes, reacting to Canelo's frustrations during the fight and his comparison of Crawford to Floyd Mayweather, and responding to Topuria (1:22:50).Journalist Tris Dixon, the ghostwriter of Ricky Hatton's autography, is next, speaking on his emotions following Hatton's untimely death and reminiscing with stories from his incredible life (1:44:20).Gable Stevenson returns following his successful MMA debut to recap the victory, talk about his next steps, reveal details about his withdrawal from CJI 2, and more (2:06:15).Ariel dives back in on Noche UFC (2:42:32), Dana White saying Jon Jones called him to apologize (2:43:12), and Conor MCGregor pulling out of Ireland's presidential race (2:48:48).Eddie Hearn is the final guest of the day, reacting to Crawford vs. Canelo, Ricky Hatton's death, Molly McCann's boxing debut, and the decision in the rematch between Lewis Crocker beat Paddy Donovan. Plus, he discusses his rivalry with Dana White and the next moves for both Anthony Joshua and Katie Taylor (3:02:16).Finally, Petesy Carroll joins to wrap up any other news and notes from the weekend, before the crew answers your Super Chats (3:53:56).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Eriot-A-R-I-V-I-D-Y show. Back in your life on this Monday, September 15th, 2000. And 25, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It was great to be here on a lovely Monday. in New York City. Nothing quite like New York City in September, right? I mean, it's just absolutely gorgeous.

Hope you had a tremendous weekend. I sure did. Can't wait for today's show. So much to discuss. Went to the Bills game yesterday. And yes, I stress Bill's game at the Meadowlands, at MetLife, which is a bit of a dump of a stadium, if we're being honest. I mean, it's not great.

It really isn't. It's kind of amazing that they spent a billion dollars on that stadium, and it's going to host the World Cup. Cup final. It's not very nice. And it's pretty young as well. It's not that old. Anyway, Bill's laid the smackdown on the Jets, got to meet my guy, Dion Dawkins, Eric Wood, took the kids there, saw Josh Allen, like he was literally like me to this camera. That's how close he was to us. We did not tap. We did not high five. We didn't do any of that, but we felt each other's presence. It was a great time to be alive. And very grateful and appreciative

for all these blessings. And grateful and appreciative that on a Monday like this, I can show up to work. This is my job, and I get to talk about the wild and wacky world of combat sports. And dare I say, my friends, now more than ever, now more than ever, the Venn diagram that is combat sports, how many times have I talked about said Venn diagram? Maybe we need to make Venn diagram merch. It has never been more intertwined. That middle part has never been bigger than it is today. MMA, boxing, wrestling, it's all intertwined, and it was all on display this weekend.

So we have a lot to talk about, my friends. We have a lot to get to. I do have to mention off the top. A lot of people asking me, a lot of people wondering, got a ton of tweets, a ton of comments, a ton of questions regarding this. I can't confirm via sources that G.C. is alive and well.

G.C. is alive and well, everyone. He's okay. He disappeared. in the middle of the night he's alive a lot of questions a lot of people wanted yeah we probably should address it on the show

yeah your boy just wasn't feeling great wasn't feeling great I had to make a quick skaddle Jordan flu game no it wouldn't even be the Jordan flu game

because I didn't make it through the fight I didn't make it that's right I was doing a lot of math in my head some people kind of started noticing it

on the on the rewatch got a little labored breathing started getting a little more quiet yeah had to make my make my way to the old porcelain throne and deal with some...

Good, though? You good? I'm all good. I was honestly good by, like, the time the fight was over, but, like, I obviously... I couldn't just hop back in. At that point, Rick was drowning. You just said, like, let him just go. Oh, Rick was killing, man. I was like, man, this guy doesn't need me. He took the baton... Thanks for the vote of confidence. Nah, he took the baton and ran with it. It's good that it happened then and not during, like, the King Callum Walsh fight,

because then he really would have been drowning. That could have been tough, yeah. I am all good, though. I appreciate all the concern. Yeah, I'm all good. All right. Well, great to hear. And great job by the two of you. We have a lot to discuss as it pertains to this weekend. At the very top, we have to mention the tragic passing of the one and only Ricky Hatton, the hitman who, in many people's eyes, is one of not only the most beloved, but also one of the most talented and successful boxers to come out of the UK. At one point, he was the fighter of the year in 2005. his win over Costa Zoo, a moment, a fight, a time that everyone who watched it, who witnessed it, will say that it was one of the greatest moments in the history of British boxing, a former IBF light welterweight champion, a former WBA light welterweight champion, a former IBO light welterweight champion, a former WBA welterway champion,

the man who was beloved, who was revered for being the every man, for being one of the lads, as they say. The pride of Manchester, the, I mean, the devoted Manchester City fan. He bled Manchester City Blue. He walked out to Blue Moon. He sold out the MEN time and again. He brought 20 to 30,000 people over from the UK to Las Vegas

for when he fought Floyd Mayweather. that particular 24-7 is my favorite. The closing scene which I tweeted yesterday is my favorite. The dichotomy

on display with their two personalities the juxtaposition of those two gentlemen one from Michigan who grew up with very little who made it as a pretty boy

and then turned into Money Mae Las Vegas jewelry planes flaunting money against the hard hat wearing lunch pail holding

Ricky Hatton of Manchester it was brilliant the song there's only one Ricky Hatton legendary everyone adored him very open with his trials and tribulations

very open with his struggles with mental health but would always be willing to talk about it would always be willing to be a role model would always be willing to try to teach, especially the younger generation, some of the lessons that he learned during his career, post-career. We wake up on Sunday morning coming off that brilliant Terrence Crawford performance, settling in to watch another brilliant boxer inouye do his thing over in Japan.

And in the midst of all of that, I see a tweet from our guy Darshan, everything boxing, saying that Ricky Hatton has passed away, according to the Manchester Evening News at the very young age of 46, and I thought it was like a fake Darshine account. So I clicked on it. I was like, oh, wow, this is real. Go to the Manchester Evening News page, and there it is.

As of right now, cause of death, not officially confirmed by the police, they did say nothing suspicious attached to the death. but it's um it's just a tragic thing because our minds are going elsewhere um we're wondering what led to this how did this happen there were talks of him fighting again he came back in 2022 to fight marco Antonio Barrera and he appeared to be in tremendous shape of course there were always the jokes of Ricky Fatton he played those up he leaned into them again he was the every man if he never watched him fight, the scenes were incredible. We talk about the Tommy Aspenol scenes here.

I mean, it was times 10 with Ricky. Legit 20 to 30,000 people would travel from the UK to Vegas to watch him fight. He only fought in Vegas three times, but those scenes were unbelievable, in particular, the Mayweather one in the Pacquiao fight. And so later in the program, we'll talk to Tris Dixon, longtime boxing writer, who's written several books, including the Ricky Hatton book, with Ricky himself, Hatton Worn Peace, it's called. a very close friend of Ricky Haddon. He'll join us at around 3.30 to remember the late great Ricky Haddon, who tragically passed away yesterday at the age of 46.

We'll also talk to Eddie Hearn about Ricky, about everything going on in the world of matchroom boxing. He was in the news as of late as well. We'll talk to Yo Romero at about 2.30 about his BKFC debut, a successful debut over the weekend. We'll talk to Gable Steven, the former two-time national champion Olympic gold medalist, about his successful MMA debut. He fought on the LFA card on Friday night. And at about 215, the man of the hour, the star of the weekend, the man who is now the first male boxer to win undisputed titles in three different weight classes, the second after Clarissa Shields did it on the women's side of things. Unbelievably, Terence Crawford is now the super middleweight

champion, the undisputed super middleweight champion after his win over Kenel Alvarez. We will talk about that with him and we will talk about that fight and the broadcast and the week throughout today's program now frank asked me to do something there's the the lineup what is this i'm sitting here trying to get deep and frank is that what did you ask me frank what did you took care of it oh that was it would you think that was the best time to ask me about it it's in a text for you to consider it as it pops up not a lot of activity can walk in on the camera in retrospect maybe wait 10 minutes on that one or fine what? I'm eating my

my ego right? Wow okay okay uh well did I did I get what you need to me to get? Perfect. Okay I just want to make sure I got everything um I never thought that we would see a better performance out of Terence Crawford than the one that we saw two years ago

against Errol Spence because everyone has talked about that being virtuoso being unbelievable being a master class. I never thought he would top that one. Getting up there in age, getting closer to 40, never thought he's fighting once a year now. Didn't look amazing against Majumov. I did for the record, on the record, pick him to beat Canelo from the beginning. Started to waver a little bit last week. I won't lie, but in the end, when it, when it had to be said, I stuck with him. I never thought we would see a better performance. On Saturday, we saw a better performance. We saw a better performance

out of Terrence Crawford against a man who is way bigger than him, jumping up, people say two-way classes, I say three, I know his last fight was at 54. As of late, he was a 147-pounder. He went from 147 pounds to 168 pounds and thoroughly out-class Canelo Alvarez, who, yes, I know Canello's getting up there in age,

but wasn't showing any real signs of slowing down. His last few fights weren't going to be in his top three-four greatest, but this is still Canella who a lot of people thought was going to win, who I do believe was the betting favorite going into the fight in a more comfortable weight class, 168, where he is the undisputed super middleweight champion going into this fight. Terence Crawford went in there and showed that he's on a different level.

We always talk about Terence Crawford having to switch stances all the time and not even having to. Does it so effortlessly, probably the best in boxing right now. He didn't even have to do that on the night. for the most part just kind of stayed at Southpaw and did his thing

it was unbelievable to watch amazingly seven hours later we saw Noah in a way fight who's a little bit younger 32 Crawford 37 Usik 38 he beat the man who a lot of people thought

would be his toughest test at least of the last three four fights M.J. Ahmadalev in a very once again one-sided dominant win. Back in July, we saw Usik do this thing against Daniel Dubois. We are living in a time, my friends.

I hope you all appreciate this, where you have three generational grades, all undefeated, all in their 30s right now, all winning undisputed gold in multiple different weight classes. And it's almost like when this guy fights, he now becomes number one, when that guy fights, he becomes number one.

I don't even know if there's a real debate to be happening. If you have Usik as your number one, I agree. If you have Crawford as your number one, I agree. If you have Inouye as your number one, I agree. I almost think it's 1A, 1B now with Usick and Crawford. But it was just an unbelievable performance. To see him do that against Kenel Alvarez on a stage light Netflix,

to see everyone talk about it, the way in which they were leading up to it, the pomp and circumstance of TKO getting involved, how big the press conferences were, how big the weigh-ins were, how big the venue was, Allegiance Stadium, 70,000 people sold out. I could always kind of tell when a fight is really big when people come up to me at my kids, you know, soccer games, parents at school ask me, who's going to win the fight?

And they don't have to say anything more. On a weekend where there was other fighting as well. Obviously, Notche UFC in our world, there was a great fight over in Belfast, Lewis Crocker and Patty Donovan. In a way, fighting on Sunday, BKFC on Friday, Gable, Steve's in on Friday as well. Like, there was a lot going on. I obviously knew what they were talking about when they would ask me about the fight.

And this one was one of those that broke through. In the end, we don't know as of right now how many people watched. It's a big deal. It felt big. Thank God for Netflix. Boxing as of right now is not on linear television in America. It does not exist. DeZone is the undisputed global home of boxing.

They are. But they're behind a paywall. And then there's another paywall, at least until they get rid of pay-per-view once and for all, to get the biggest and best. To get this, Netflix feels like basic cable at this point because almost virtually every person on the planet has it in some way, shape, or form. I know it's not free. I know it's not CBS, ABC, Fox.

But it almost feels like the closest thing because it's available all over the world and there's over 300 million subscribers so it feels as mainstream as it gets to be able to pop that thing on and get a fight of this magnitude is pretty damn special and it feels big and so far this is their third

foray into the world of boxing and they've all felt really, really big and they've all felt like they've broken through and so now it remains to be seen what happens with TKO and Netflix with Zoufa boxing in Netflix, how many of these are going to happen on the platform? We know that the next one is Jake Paul versus Tank Davis. Netflix is so big that they can pick and choose. Netflix is so big

that right before the Terrence Crawford, Kennell Alvarez fight, you'll get a commercial for Jake Paul versus Tank Davis. And you know, Dana did not want that. But they call the shots. They're that big and that powerful. And so I want to talk about all of that. But so much has happen since we last spoke. And that's why I said on social media, I wish we had seven hours today. So much has happened since we last spoke. I almost want to go through everything chronologically, but talk about certain topics in their own little bucket. Do you get what I'm saying? So much has happened since we last spoke with all the intertwining of MMA and boxing and wrestling. But I'm going to put them into buckets here. All right. So you'll recall last

week on the program, on Wednesday, we talked about Dana White's interview with Amber Dixon of the Vegas PBS. And that really kind of set the tone for his first full week as a boxing promoter. Interestingly, this event didn't really feel like it was being promoted as a ZUFA boxing event. There was a little promo for Zufa boxing coming in 2026. It really did feel like a Ring Magazine re-ed season card. But Dana White, front and center, doing all the media, actually did more media for this and we've seen out of him in a very long time. Was that the press conference?

Was that the Wayans? Was front and center at the event in the front row next to Turkey Alashake and Mr. Beast and Marky Mark and others? So it did feel like his fingerprints were on it. It also felt like they were bringing in the best of the UFC production staff and the best of the WWE production staff. It felt like a Super Bowl type event. But one really interesting storyline that was.

was happening throughout the week was a little feud that we've never really seen so far. For the most part, since they started talking about each other, it always felt very nicely nice between Dana White and Eddie Hearn. But since the announcement that TKO and Turkey were going to form this boxing promotion back in March, little things continued to be said and that really got I thought amped up last week

but what's interesting about what Eddie kept saying about Dana and TKO and vice versa what Dana was saying about Eddie and the boxing establishment everything is always prefaced

with like a nicety or tagged with a nicety so it's not like full on war but we've never seen this type of I don't know this type of banter this type of friendly

trash talk friendly maybe this to me is now one of the most fascinating storylines in the world of combat sports and it all really started last week in my opinion when our very own Pizzie Carroll was in Belfast covering the Lewis Crocker

Patty Donovan fight which I still believe a few days later that Patty Donovan won should have won in the end he did not close fight split decision I thought he did enough two knockdowns for Crocker, but still I thought Patty had it. Anyway, Pizzi was there front and center. Did a tremendous job. I urge you

all to listen to his post-fight pod. It's on our podcast feed right now. Brilliant stuff. He did a great job. Shout to him and his producer Oscar on that one. We're a great article as well. He asked Eddie Hearn at the pre-fight press conference about what Dana White said to Amber Dixon

about what Zoufa boxing is going to be, which, in case you forgot, he called it a sort of like contender series to the Ring Magazine event. a little different than what we were told back in March. Here's Eddie Hearn's reply to that. Dana White did an interview of PBS yesterday, and he has now said essentially that his side of this new thing

with TKO and Turkey Al-Sheek, he'll be like the contender series to the ring cards. At least that's what it sounds. What do you make of all of this? It seems to have changed from what we first thought, Dana and Turkey. It's what I said the league was. It's lower-level fighters and young prospects who are,

who they believe they can build into big stars, to big pay-per-view stars. I don't think it works. You know, but will it, you know, these guys are very powerful, they're very clever, and I'm sure they're going to come up with something compelling, but in boxing, that's not a new format. That's been done before.

We're all trying to build stars. Now, to do it in a league with some different kind of marketing and profile and storylines, yeah, maybe you can unearth a talent. But people want to watch the big stars, fight. That's the reality. They want to watch great fights between people they know. So, yeah, it is what I've always known it to be. I'm sure TCO will have a different, you know, they're obviously involved in the fight this weekend. That's a massive fight. So, but yeah, the league,

I think it will be a great format, but I don't think it's really going to, you know, start dominating boxing. Okay, so when I heard that, I was like, okay, this is interesting. Eddie's old guard. His dad, his old man, Barry Hearn, shout out to them. They've got. got their Netflix series premiering on Wednesday. Can't wait for that. It will air here in North America, which I was wondering about. I was like, okay, here's Eddie.

Maybe the only guy that can compete with these guys. And sure, he has his relationship with him. But here he is sort of sticking up for the old guard, saying, hey, I don't want a matchroom title. I want the WBC title to be defended on my shows. The IBF, the WBO, the WBA. I thought that was interesting. Then I heard Eddie on with Charlie Parsons of the stomping

ground, always does a great job, saying this about TKO. And I do want to add, earlier in the week, Max Kellerman did an interview, and we'll get to Max in a moment, Max Kellerman did an interview with Dana White, essentially asking him like, hey, you want, you want to, Max knows better than this. Max knows that Dana White is not Roger Goodell. He knows that he's not Adam Silver. This is a tired mistake that people have been making for 15 years. Dana White is an owner. He is not a commissioner. he is not a CEO of a of a sport he is the owner president CEO of a promotion he doesn't control a sport he doesn't oversee a sport it may be dominant it may be the biggest but there's a big difference between stern godell and white white is more jerry jones white is more mark hubin he's more

uh james dolan and even those comparisons aren't the greatest he's more vincikman if you get what i'm saying and anyway in that interview they talked about him being the CEO of boxing, overseeing boxing. You heard this narrative throughout the week. Anyway, here's Eddie's response to that. Must be the CEO of boxing. Almost as if he, like he is with the CEO of the UFC. Yeah, because they're trying to get the Muhammad Ali Act changed. You're not going to see me slagging off Dana White, not because I don't want to upset him, because I respect him. The one thing that I would really like at this point in my career is to go head to head

with him and to take him on. I want to compete against Dana White. I want to prove that I'm much better than him as a boxing promoter. So I'm excited for him to come into the space. That doesn't mean we're going to fall out, by the way. Competition's fantastic. But you're not going to come into boxing and steamrolled a game. It's not going to happen. Let's see how it plays out. You're not going to come into boxing. By the way, that's Dana's tagline there. That's his catchphrase. Let's see how it all plays out. You're not going to come into boxing and steamroll. the game. It's not, hey, let's work together. I want to compete with you. Them's fighting words if you're Dana White. And Dana White was asked about those fighting words on the Jim Rome show. Take a

listen. I'm not arrogant or cocky when I say this. My guy, Eddie Hearn, whom I love. And I respect him. And I saw him today. He's out there talking smack. He's like, I look forward to Dana's wrong. He can't do this. And what's he doing that's different? Everybody's doing the same thing. and I look forward to competing against them to show that I'm the best boxing promoter in the world. I love this stuff. You love that, but your response to that was what? I look forward to it too, Eddie.

I can't wait. First off, phenomenal question by Jim there. Yeah, you love it, but what's your response? I look forward to it two. Fantastic. Love the fact that Dana's watching the crack. Tremendous. Also referenced the stomping ground,

those two clips he combined into one. I look forward to two. again they may love each other they may respect each other they take photos they invite each other to their events but these guys are competitors and they don't want to play in the sandbox with others now eddie does so because he has to in the world of boxing and that's the way it has always been you work with others dana does not have to and does not like to and so you're starting to see something develop here also by the way Dana's not backing down from anyone in the world of boxing because in that same interview with Jim Rome,

he talks about the fact that he promoted two of the biggest gates in boxing history, patting himself on the back, and sends a little message to the old guard, to the establishment. Take a listen. Dana, what about the negotiation? This is different. This is new, at least boxing from a boxing standpoint. Was it a hard negotiation?

Well, the beautiful thing for me is I stepped into this fight. It was already negotiated. shake turkey negotiated this fight between these guys and then asked me to come in and be the promoter

of the fight you know so for me and all you boxing guys out there don't want to talk crap and talk all your smack

three of the biggest fights in boxing history Pachial Mayweather McGregor Mayweather and now Crawford Canello I've been a part of two of the biggest

three fights ever in the history of boxing you and I have talked on that one, boys. Yeah. By the way, shout out to shake turkey. He's sticking with it. Also, when I first heard that, I thought, oh, this is going to be good.

This is going to be good. Because we all know that he just let Connor McGregor take that fight against Mayweather. Initially did not want that. And, you know, did he take 40%, 50%, that's the number that's been discussed of a very big number. Even when he was talking to Amber Dixon about the 100 million, not all of that went to Connor, by the way. Some of that went to the UFC. And so, okay, that one, but the production, all the promotion, that all came out of, you know, Showtime, Mayweather, and stuff. And then this one, I thought, all right, yes, they are promoting it, but like, if you actually looked at the event

in the promotion, it wasn't actually that much different than the Great Ring slash Reads season events that we've seen over the past two years that have all been big, some have been deeper, some have been in massive venues like Wembley, right? Like, it didn't seem that much different other than his involvement and the other TKO members. So I was like, oh, I wonder how this is going to be received. And then on Saturday morning, there's Eddie Hearn responding to IFL TV. Take a listen. Dana White saw your interview with Parsons.

He had a little poppet yet. He says the three of the biggest fights in the history of boxing, he's been involved in two of them. One of them was Mayweather McGregor. I mean, that's not one of the biggest fights in the history of boxing. That's an exhibition fight as far as I'm concerned. And Canello against Crawford's not even his fight. It's Turkey-Ele-Shakes fight. and he got invited to be the promoter.

So not sure, but listen, as I said, I don't think we're going to be going backwards and forwards. He also said that he respects me and he likes me a lot, and the feeling is very mutual. But I want the competition. And when I say, you know, I saw in an interview, he said, you know, Eddie Hearn said it won't work. I never said that.

I said, I think the league can work. But I don't think it's anything different. I don't think it's going to revolutionize the sport. So, yeah, I look forward to the challenge. So this is, to me, the most fascinating thing in boxing right now. Aaron versus Dana White. And again, they're not, as he just said, they're not cursing each other out. They're not wishing harm on each other. But look at how quickly he wanted to respond to that. He was invited by Turkey Al-Shake to promote the fight. There is something

that guys, am I wrong back there? Am I wrong? Or is there something brewing here? Something that we've never seen before from these two guys. There's definitely something brewing. And as you said, in the past, they've been very deferential to each other, right? Like, it has been very respectful. Eddie has always talked about how Dana is a great promoter and wants to, you know, adapt portions of what they've done. Dana's always been pretty respectful to Eddie.

But now they're on each other's turf. Now Dana is entering the game. Well, they're still being respectful. They're like, oh, I love the guy. And then they go on to entice each other or sit there. They're not going to be able to do anything like that. It's no offense, but, you know? It's like, no offense, but I'm about to offend you.

Yes, exactly. How does this play out? Because I feel like, Oh, yeah, by the way, that is a tremendous show. I was actually going to go to the whole show without referencing it. We'll talk about it later. We got shit to get to it. Let's talk about it later.

Here's the thing. At some point, does the first part of the sentence before the butt go away? Yes. Yes. How soon are we getting there? Look at, just look at Dana and Turkey. They've only been working together for so long, and you can kind of see, like, some friction forming between the two. Like, it doesn't seem like they're all buddy-buddy.

If Eddie and Dana are going head-to-head, they're not. even working together, I think the respect will fall away quickly. Well, that's a great segue. That's a tremendous segue because, yes, it does seem, look, Dana White is the kind of guy who's going to go in there, as he always likes to say, guns ablazing, right? He loves to go in there to talk about guns ablazing. He uses that term all the time. And so he's not trying to be friends with the likes of Eddie Hearn.

He doesn't necessarily need Eddie Hearn unless he wants to try to co-promote, which I don't think he wants to, I think he gets up for this. Here's the thing. Dana White is missing that in MMA. He had that in MMA when the Gary Shaw's of the world were trying to come after him, when the Bjorn Rebneys of the world were trying to come after him, when the prize way back when we're coming after him, when the IFLs were coming after him, when the coquers were coming after who here in our sport in MMA comes after him?

And I hate to even call it our sport because we cover all combat sports, but you get the point, our bread and butter, if you will. No one comes after him. He doesn't pay attention to anyone else. There is no competition for him. And he's right. The gap is so big. so he loves to go back to 2001 Dana White

where people are doubting him this is what gets him excited I would imagine this almost gets him more excited than Power Slap because here there's actual people in Power Slap he's kind of like fighting no one he's fighting us who are just sort of saying like we don't really care

can you leave us alone there's actual established players in the world of boxing that are doubting him that are poking him that want to pick a fight with him and that applies to the promoters, to the old guard, if you will, and it also applies to the media. Because as we all know, over in the world of UFC, they have done a great job of not being very welcoming to the media. And I'm not just talking about myself.

Look at who's in attendance at these events. Look at the kind of questions that are being asked at these events. Are there a good journalist? yes. Do they ask good questions at times? Yes. But this ain't 2015-16 when the very best, who are still covering the sport, we're going to almost every single pay-per-view, every big show. They have not made it worth everyone's while to go there. From the media days to the types of questions that are being welcomed at the press conference, to the lack of access, to all these things. And so over time, these fight weeks have felt a little bit, a little bit hollow.

Again, I'm not trying to take shots of the people who are there. There are a lot of people there who do a very good job and do the best that they can, given the circumstances. But you're lying to yourself if you're saying it was what it once was. It's not. Boxing is more of the Wild West. The same rules don't really apply. And that was on display at the press conference. there was a reporter named Sean Zettel who got up, open mic, in front of everyone, and asked Dana White a couple of questions in an exchange that has now gone viral. And I thought the exchange and in particular Dana White's response was very telling. Telling of what he hasn't been challenged with over the last few years and telling of the way in which he views media, which by the way isn't new, but is sort of a stance that we haven't heard from in a while. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the clip. A couple questions for Dana. Dana, this fight, as you said earlier in the week,

is set to be the third highest gate in combat sports history. The second biggest gate you've promoted alongside Mayweather McGregor. The top five gates in combat sports history. Great job by Sean. By the way. When you want to ask a question like that, great job to sort of preface it with compliments, which he did there. So you sort of drop the guard if you're the person being asked the question, and then you come back with the question that you want to ask. So that was actually a really good job on his part as a question asker slash reporter. I know he has been doing this for a while. He doesn't need me to give him props, but I thought that that was very notable and interesting. Go ahead. Come in the last 10 years. So my question to you is, why then do you want to

make sweeping changes to the Muhammad Ali Reform Act that is meant to protect fighters to bring about a business model that currently has your company already paid out $375 million in antitrust lawsuits and has two potential pending class action lawsuits on the way as well. Well, this is obviously a long discussion. If you want to talk to me about that set up an interview, this isn't about me and my business is about these two guys. We pause it right there. But keep the shot up. Keep the shot up, please.

Turkey looks very bored from this particular topic, which I thought was somewhat interesting. Dana White, as you can see, a little bit stumbled, did not expect that, I think, and is explaining that this isn't the time nor the place. We'll play it out, and then I'll share my two cents. my follow-up dana earlier this week the california state athletic commission

had a hearing about tk o trying to bring those changes to the ali act and it was postponed three months because of the question is you want a showboat right now set up an interview with me if this is really what you want to talk about it's america baby first amendment for these two ask them like you can set up an interview with me Dana my follow up is if tk o positive part of there but keep this up keep this up keep this up. The look on Dana's face there where he tells him, set up the interview if you want to talk about something like this, and he goes, my follow-up is, and the look on his face like this motherfucker. Now, I kind of wish he never said it's America Baby First Amendment, because that

feels a little bit like what he's trying to say there, like you're trying to make a moment, but up until these points, up until this point, excuse me, all the questions in my opinion, accurate, fair, and timely. What more can you ask for? This is the fight week for the first show that he is promoting, the changes to the Ali Act is a massive story heading into this new promotion, TKO boxing, Zufa boxing, where else but there? He is not always asked questions about the people up there or the fight that he is promoting. Go through the history of press conferences and he will answer questions and very rarely have this stance unless they are critical questions, not positive questions, if you get what I'm saying, to the promotion.

but the fact that he views questions like this like it's showboating or being an asshole as he'll say here in a second just goes to show what he thinks of media and what he thinks of proper journalism that's not showboating you're asking if you're going to ask him a question about I don't know

who if John Jones is going to fight on the White House card in this moment yeah that doesn't pertain to this But these are ZUFA boxing questions that are very timely, very fair, and very appropriate, if you ask me, we continue. Will you still invest in the sport of boxing? Will you compete in the market? Listen, if you want to be an asshole, let's do it in private, and we can do an interview. Yes or no. If you want a showboat, I get it. If you have questions for these two that are fighting on Saturday, that's a different story. fight fight fight fight fight fight fight this isn't a discussion to have at a press conference for these two that are going to fight on saturday two legends

if you want to set up an interview with me and ask me these questions let's do it one on one sounds good you can ask me anything you want all right well terence and saul have a good fight yeah you have a question for these two no no beat it and so there you have it um being an asshole and and showboating is asking good questions, pertinent questions, not how was training camp questions. And I get it. They want to promote the show. The whole press conference wasn't filled with questions like that, but those are really timely, fair questions, in my opinion.

And it was just, it was very telling by the way in which he responded. It was very telling when you juxtapose questions like that to the questions that he usually receives, excuse me, at these UFC press conferences. and the fact that he views that as being an asshole and showboating is very telling on what he believes the role of the media is at these events. Now, Sean got to go to the event. I know there were people joking, oh, you know, he's going to be banned and all this stuff.

I would like to think that they won't do that. And I don't think you see that much of that stuff anymore. I know that there's an issue going on right now with boxing scene and read season. and I think that's a whole complex issue to itself. But I think it would be a really bad look if you took away this independent media members' credentials for asking those questions.

I think they were very fair. And it was just classic Dana White to say something like that. All he had to do was we're making changes, we're trying to make, we're lobbying for changes, we'll see how that plays out. Right now I'm talking about these. guys. And the question of, hey, if you can't bring about these changes, are you still going to invest in the sport of boxing? Are you still interested in being a part of boxing? I thought

that was a phenomenal question. Because what they're trying to do is change the structure so that it's easier for them and more favorable for them to do it their way. Come in, change the structure, change a massive part of the sport that has been intact for about 25 years. years so that they can do it much more like how they do it in the UFC and WWE. That's what they're trying to do. And so these are fair questions in my opinion. It wasn't the best press conference for Dana White. And it wasn't the best press conference if we're being a thousand percent honest for Max Kellerman. I have said that when I got into this, I wanted to be the Max Kellerman of MMA. I have great admiration and respect for Max Kellerman. He has

had not been in the game for about two and a half or so years, buyout from ESPN, left first take, just kind of sailed off into the sunset, was very quiet, wasn't on social media, did nothing. And he has now reemerged with this, you know, Zoufa boxing ring magazine deal. But it was noted by a lot of people in the buildup to this press conference and this fight week that, you know, if I'm being 100% honest, there was a lot of D1 glazing going on. The type of D1 glazing that wasn't necessary because you're Max Kellerman. What you say is gospel to boxing fans. They missed you.

You didn't have to go over the top. But for some reason, for whatever reason, I don't understand why he felt the need to go over the top, not only with his praise at the press conference, but also with his praise on the broadcast. Did it multiple times? we get it you like them they're your friends you respect them we get it it it's very nice you don't have to do it time and again

time and again time and again and again and while doing it disrespecting the sport that loves you so much here's what I'm referring to and for the first time and so long the people bringing you this present love boxing let me start with his excellency

turkey a shake let me start with him because If he's never born, none of us are here right now. This was his idea. And then Dana White. Dana White is the greatest combat sports promoter in my lifetime. He built an institution. You know why boxing's not as popular as it used to be anymore, right?

UFC is really popular. That's because of Dana White. he built something like the NBA stop now because he's about to do it for boxing again for boxing now you want some you want an NBA or an NFL in boxing here it comes because he knows how to build an institute no one's asking for an NBA or NFL in boxing

boxing has just had an incredible two-year stretch in large part because of Turkey who he talked about seconds earlier saying if he wasn't born we wouldn't be here no one's really asking for any of this right And so to stand up there at a press conference and tell the boxing fans, the hardcore boxing fans, that this guy is your savior when boxing is in the midst of a pretty damn good stretch, yeah, of course, it's not, you know, it's not on ABC in front of 70 million people. I get it. It's not on HBO and Showtime. They're not in the business anymore. But who was arguing that boxing hasn't had a really good stretch over the last two, three years? No one. It's been a pretty damn good stretch. Forget comparing it to yesterday. It's different. The NBA was nothing back then. It's now something.

Things change. Things change. Crawford versus Canello would have been a massive show, a massive gate, just like Fury Usik was. One and two, Bivel, Better Beav, all the shows that they've had over the last couple of years. With or without Dana White. So it's to suggest that we're all here and we're all going to be better off because he's standing here is craziness.

They could have promoted this show without him. him. They had the keys to Canello and Crawford without him. Crawford's been on their shows. Canelo was a part of that deal back in May. Anyway, speaking of Canello, he comes in to save the day as the baby face that he is.

And how do you do that? Hey, Max. Hey, Max. Boxing is always bigger, bigger and big. Don't say boxing is no big, you know. Boxing is big. You know how big is boxing. Should it get bigger, yes or no?

Should it get bigger? Bigger, Canello? Yeah, maybe it's going to be bigger, but look, boxing is always big and big and bigger and bigger and bigger. I need to talk about that, too. I love it. I love Canello in English, by the way. I love it. Boxing is boxing.

No lies. No lies. How do you do it? I mean, to have the hubris to be up there and shit on the sport in front of the hardcore fans that are at a press conference on a Thursday, just to, I don't know. I like to, you're already in, man. People already love you. People already miss you.

I don't get going over the top like that. And by the way, being that MC guy, I've done it. I don't particularly like it. It's a tough job. And I understand if you're trying to be impartial. The difference is he's actually working for them. I don't when I do it. But the point is to be that guy, you do have to be a bit of a promoter.

I get it. but this was this was over to top and so to have Canello up there and like have to say yo man boxing is big I've been a part of some of the biggest shows in recent memory what are you talking about

don't don't don't play to this crowd that's not a thing I found that to be a very strange stance and if I was a boxing purist a hardcore fan I would be insulted by that that's our guy shitting on our sport

makes no sense By the way, at the end of the show, or the press conference, there was this scene where Turkey said that Dana was going to have an announcement and then the announcement never came. Perhaps this is what, or part of the reason why G.C. said what he said earlier, which is it seems like, not that there's friction, but that it's not, they're not in tandem all the time. Take a look. there is big surprise from dana white he out he will announce it now thanks for coming out tonight everybody we appreciate it we're gonna face these guys off for photo ops we'll see it the way us all right so there was no surprise and and uh you know that obviously fell a little flat now the following day on uh the stephen a smith show Dana White said, oh, what, you know, what he was referring to was that we're going to give

100K to the fight of the night and performance of the night, and they ended up doing that. Now, if I was a UFC fighter who has been in the approach for a long time, be like, whoa, your first show, you're giving 100K, and we get 50K, K, on the rare occasion, you bump it up when it's like UFC 300, first show 100K? Golly, what do I have to do? Anyway, also on that show, on the Stephen A. Smith show, Dana White talked about getting into the boxing business, and I thought he made a really, really interesting point. Not one that I agree with, but an interesting one nonetheless. Take a listen. Nobody has a television deal. DeZone is doing some fights. I will come into 26 with a great television deal for boxing. And yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to come in, you know, a lot of people are going to talk smack,

and everybody's going to see how this plays out over the next couple of years. They're going to do that. They ain't going to get away with doing that. Me and you've been talking about boxing. I've been trying to get you to do this for years. Yes, yes. He's been behind it. The interesting thing about that comment is he says no one has a deal.

DeZone's doing some fights. Wait a second. Matrum has an exclusive global deal with DeZone. Queensberry has an exclusive global deal with DeZone. Golden Boy has an exclusive global deal. with DeZone. MVP has a deal with DeZone. Misfits has a deal with DeZone. Boxer now has their deal with BBC. We'll see how that plays out. Top rank doesn't have a deal. He's right about that one. He didn't mention them. But this idea that no one has a deal and they're going to be

the first is actually 100% false. And it has been reported and talked about that they might get a deal with Paramount. They're going to get to deal with someone, 100%. Who wouldn't want to be in business with them. Dana White and Nick Con and Mark Shapiro and TKO and Turkey, like it makes all the sense of the world. Will it be with Netflix? Will it be with Paramount Plus? Will it be back on ESPN? That remains to be seen. But he's sitting there talking to someone who maybe just doesn't know these things, I don't know, or just hoping that we don't know. Boxing does have a deal. Boxing promoters have deals. For the most part, it's with a company called DeZone. And by all accounts, they pay pretty well.

of these promoters. They've been able, like, some like Eddie Hearn left Sky Sports to go to them. Some like Frank Warren left TNT sports to go to them. So he might be talking about the state of boxing in America, which surely isn't as on fire as perhaps in the UK, but to say that no one, you know, has a deal is patently false. Now, what did you guys make of Dana's demeanor at this event? Because once we got to the event itself, worth noting, he didn't go to the Post-Five press conference, didn't meet with the media afterwards.

Terrence did. Canelo did. Others involved did as well. But he didn't. And there were a couple of instances where he was shown on camera where people hypothesized that perhaps he wasn't loving it. I don't know. What did you guys make?

There he is. Just kind of sitting there. you know, that's just a picture. I'll say this. Turkey looked like he had the time of his life. There's Jason Stathen there, Mr. Bees, front and center, notable boxing fan. Every time they showed Turkey, it was like a revolving door of celebrities that came in. At one point it was Mark Wahlberg.

Who else was up there? Ari Emanuel was in there. It was a revolving door of the biggest names. Dana there with the belt? What did you think? Is this, you know, I've seen some people talk about this. I don't know who the two gentlemen were in the middle there, but did you feel when you saw him

that he wasn't having a good time, or was that just people, you know? I mean, he didn't look like he was having a great time. He wasn't really smiling or anything like that, but I don't know if that means he actually wasn't enjoying himself or if he was angry about something. Usually when you see him at these UFC events, he's got the headset on, he's looking down,

maybe no headset, but he's always looking at a monitor and he's like right there. It was interesting to see him more in the sort of like luminary section as opposed to, it feels like he's, working when he's at a UFC event. Do you know what I mean? I was just about to say it even further like highlights the point that like this wasn't necessarily his event, right? That this is an event where he is involved, but not necessarily his.

So can we talk about that? Because for the longest time, all of us that have been covering him for the last 10, 15 years, what did we always hear from Dana White regarding boxing telecasts? They're too long. They drag. He always says that there's podcasts in between the fights, right? and that they're a little top-heavy. And I agree with you, Rick, because unless he completely changed his stance, all those things were kind of in play on Saturday, right? The event went a little long.

There were breaks between the fights. Now, they tried to make up time in the middle, but there was musical acts and stuff. He historically does not like that sort of thing. And let's be honest, it was a little top-heavy, right? So that all led me to believe that he wasn't really, The puppet master here.

This wasn't his vision. It didn't feel like this was the Dana White debut show as a boxing promoter. You know what I mean? Yeah, this did not feel like Dana White presents boxing. It felt more like Dana White is a part of this larger production. But also, you know, the spotlight, quite literally, like, especially if you look at the ringside angles, is right on Turkey Al-Shake. He's the one in the middle. He's the one who's stirring the drink and running the show.

I imagine that Dana, if Dana felt super strongly about something, I imagine he could have some voice in the discussion. I don't, I think it should be made clear and not, you know, twisted in any way that I'm not saying Dana White was not involved in this, but this did not feel like Dana White's version of boxing that he had promised in terms of fixing all the things that you outlined. Yeah, it makes me very curious as to what the Zufa boxing show is going to look like next year, because it was all the things that you just mentioned. Like, it didn't help that every fight went to decision, all four on the main card. None of them had any knockdowns.

You know, they were exciting. The Mbilly fight was fantastic. But, like, all the fights kind of dragged out, and they were all sort of one-sided affairs other than that Mbilly fight, and it was like a few rounds in, you knew who was going to win, and then you just kind of had to watch it go to a decision.

In between the fights, it didn't go that long. We had the timer up in between each, and it was like 11 to 16 minutes between each, but then from the co-main to the main, it was like 47 minutes, 45. five minutes from the end of the Callum Walsh fight to the main event starting. I can't imagine that's what a Zufa boxing presentation is going to look like. And it was very notable because he has told us for the longest time that he's always felt

that these shows dragged too long. Like that wouldn't happen in a UFC show. Now, Canello and these guys, like, they kind of decide they're the promoters here. Like, they decide. If he doesn't want to walk out, he doesn't walk out. As opposed to the UFC, they say, like, you're walking out now. And so who knows what exactly happened, but you're 100% right now. they had a little bit of bad luck.

The last fight on the prelims went long, so when they went to the start of the broadcast, you could see when they went to the desk that the fight was still going. There was still like three, four rounds left. And then they went to Anik and Ward and Kellerman. I would imagine they probably wanted to start with those guys, but they couldn't because they were calling the prelims.

Now, I do have to say this. I have to say this. I thought the star of the show was John Anick. John Anick coming over as a, you know, UFC guy for the past, what has it been now, 12, 13 years, something like that. It's crazy how time flies. I think his first show was UFC 155. I could be wrong about that off the top of my head. But the point is to come over on a stage like this, a lot of pressure, there's a lot of people watching, there's big names involved in the main event. I thought he was phenomenal. I thought

he seamlessly crossed over. I thought he was tremendous. And other than, you know, the glazing at the very end, this is the best version of Max Kellerman. The Max Kellerman, the Max Kellerman, that is sitting there opining and breaking down as the fights are going on and also has the historical knowledge this is the best version of him not the one of the press conference

not the one hosting shows and doing all that stuff this right here in my opinion is the max that everyone fell in love with on HBO boxing and prior to his time at HBO boxing and I think that Andre Ward is the very best

fighter turn analyst in the game all to say I thought the booth was fantastic but Dana has talked about like going to the desk and all this stuff and they did that And so that's why I thought that is he really running the show here? Or is this just the debut and maybe like Zufa Boxing, the contender series show that he talked about with the reporter Amber Dixon is going to be a completely different thing.

It's going to roll kind of like contender series or a UFC event. It just did not. I was expecting, I was talking to you guys, like to me, almost as interesting as the fights themselves are how it's going to be presented. And it felt like a re-ed season show, which I'm not saying is. good, bad, whatever. It just didn't feel any different than what we've seen over the last two years.

When he came in and talked about sweeping changes, I didn't see many of those changes. Other than personnel, other than the people involved on air, I didn't see those implemented. Yeah, it certainly felt closer to what we've come to expect

in the boxing world and not in the UFC product. I will say, you know, maybe that wasn't necessarily the objective, right? It would be smart. If I were in Dana White Shoes, it would be smart for me to get a lay of the land

and then try to tweak from there, right? You don't necessarily know the things you don't know and you also don't know what you're going to be able to do. Like you have to kind of test the thresholds of those things. But at the same time, if you have been talking as you have been about boxing for this long, you would hope that at least some of those things kind of get implemented and it didn't seem like we saw any of it.

It was surreal to see him sort of like plopped into a boxing scene. That's right. that is the way in's being so crowded he's always talked about that. But there he is. The ring being so crowded after a fight, he's always talked about that. And there he is. You know what? I always envision, if he ever gone to boxing, like it would

look exactly like a UFC event. You know what I mean? Where there's no one in the ring, where it's just him. You did not see that sort of thing, which I thought was really interesting. That's what makes me so curious about the Zoufa boxing next year. Because if it looks like what we saw on Saturday, then it will almost feel like he's not really even running in and he's not making

these calls. You mentioned it was like a similar to the re-ad cards. Another thing that I found interesting was how much they were pushing the ring belt. I know that that's Turkey's outlet and that that's his thing, but it felt like they're making a clear push

to make that be the most important belt in Boston. 100%. I remember when they made the announcement, Adiola Depot was here in studio, and if I'm being 100% honest, this is where it felt like, you know, the relationship between Turkey and I

did not continue as it was, which was really good over the last year and a half, we were talking about what the belt was going to be. And it was actually Yadeh who talked about how, you know, the WBA and the WBC and the WBO that has history. And, you know, I was saying, you know what, in the UFC we've seen promotional belts and everyone's okay with it. Maybe this is a new way. And then he quote tweeted that clip that we put out there saying, you know, we have the ring belt that's 100 years old. And he's right.

And in the moment, I didn't think of that. I didn't think that they were going to use that because I thought these were going to be separate entities. But it does make sense to use the ring belt as their belt, because A, they own the ring, and B, it does have the prestige. It's kind of viewed as the undisputed title, if you will, the unified belt. And it's the one that, why try to establish something new when you already own the historical one? And it doesn't look like your traditional UFC belt, but it's very clear that that is going to be the title, that they are going to push as their own, which they easily can because they own the property.

By the way, what a weekend for Turkey. And when I talk about that, that Venn diagram, I mean, he is right there in the middle. We've never seen anyone like this in all my years of covering and watching combat sports who extends from one to the other, to the other, MMA boxing and pro wrestling. Because on the Friday, before Canelo Crawford, the previous day, there he is with Triple H, Paul, with the Undertaker, with Sean Michaels, with Logan Paul, with Liv Morgan, with Bianca Blair and others announcing that WrestleMania 43

2027 is going to take place in Riyadh for the first time WrestleMania leaving North America and has only taken place in North America, twice in Toronto, the rest of the time in the United States going to re-ed. Something I think we

never thought would happen, not just in Riyadh, but anywhere outside of North America. Because of the time different, because of all the other stuff that happens throughout the week, this is going to be a fascinating thing to watch unfold. You know, a big part of WrestleMania, all the activity throughout the week, all the people traveling from all of the world. Will they do that?

Will there be a litany of indie shows throughout the week? That's part of the WrestleMania week experience. Will all the media go? Do they even care if the media goes? I saw some people suggest that AEW should do a show that same week. in America and invite all the indie promotions and be like, hey, we're the place here.

But here's, you know, here's one thing that I had not seen suggested and maybe I'm just pie in the skying this. And maybe I missed it. I didn't hear them reference two nights in Riyadh. Is it possible, guys? Is it possible that they do maybe night one

in Riyadh and night two in America? Is it possible they do night two in Riyadh and night one in America? To appease the American fans, but also have a mega show in Riyadh. almost feel like you go all or nothing. That almost feels like splitting the baby, you know, like you, because you get an insane site for you to go in Riyadh, and then you get a big one in America.

But then just if you're going to do that, just go to Riyadh for the whole thing and then go to America for a different event. Like, it just feels like you're almost getting a lesser of both. I don't think the combination. It also feels like if Turkey and Saudi are dropping insane money, they're not going to accept just going to accept just. I was just wondering because, look, they're not saying. sitting there reading the internet. They're not sitting there reading YouTube chats and

Twitter. Like they couldn't care less. They're very, very, very smart businessmen, shrewd businessmen who are going to do what they think is best. And more often than not, you know, they succeed in doing that. But there's no denying that a lot of people were upset about this in large part because a lot of people don't have the funds to go all the way to read. And there are some people who don't agree with it and there's people who don't like it. And there's a litany of reasons to feel some sort of way about it if you feel strongly about this sort of thing. And so I was just wondering, not because they're going to try to appease the internet fans or the vocal minority, but I didn't notice, and again, I might have missed it. So I could be completely off here.

They never said night one and two, two nights in Riyadh. And so then I was thinking, I wonder how they, like, I don't know, I wonder how they spin all of this, for lack of a better world. Well, you see this thing where Saudi has gotten a lot of sports, you know, live golf, they get these tennis tournaments, everything like this. Now they're getting WrestleMania, which would happen with or without Saudi, and so fans seem to be a little bit more upset. They don't have the money to get out there, everything like that. Whereas with boxing and potentially in MMA, they're making these fights that wouldn't happen without the Saudis. So you're seeing this juxtaposition of WrestleMania is happening either way, whether the Saudis get involved

or not. And now that they are involved, a lot of the American fans feel like they're getting it taken away from them because they can't go. Yeah. That's going to be a fascinating storyline. And again, to have one individual really at the center of all this, controlling all this is nothing like we've never seen someone control MMA and boxing. The power he has is insane. And now it's MMA boxing and pro wrestling. It's a fascinating thing. And yeah, anyone who does any kind of list about who the most powerful person in combat sports is and doesn't have him at number one, that list means nothing. I mean, it's not even close at this point.

It is not even close. By the way, at the same time on Saturday was Noce UFC, and here we are, and now we're into the show, so much is going on. We do have to mention Diego Lopez had an unbelievable win, an unbelievable win over John Silva. We do have to mention that it was an incredible fight, an incredible finish, maybe the fight of the year, certainly the best, you know, round and a half of the year, frenetic pace, unbelievable action, bloody elbows, and now everyone's saying, once again, the fighting nerds are dead. that's now 0 and 3 in the span of seven days Maricio Huffy, Kyle Boholio, John Silva all losing. Lopez kept it pretty cool, calm and collected throughout the week. Silver was very emotional

picking fights left and right. And Lopez has really turned into one of the best fighters at 145. That win by Volk over him has aged really, really well. And so now things have gotten really interesting at 145 pounds. By the way, a great scene back home for Diego, his neighborhood, and I do believe Brazil reacting to the wind. Do we have sound for this? beautiful stuff and you see right there's when Diego Lopez pushed punched who knows not quite Paul Daly versus Josh Kostek and I don't want anything to happen to him but obviously not a great look for him

Silva going up excuse me Lopez going up to his team afterwards and talking about all the the crap talking before the fight. Just not a great night for John Silva. A really good night for Diego Lopez, a really bad night for Silva and a really bad stretch for the fighting nerds. They are not done, they'll be back. Anyone celebrating their demise,

you're doing it very prematurely. They're very talented fighters. Just look how Carlos Prachas bounce back. So chill out. But anyway, look at John Silva's face. Look at his head the following day. He posted this video.

Look at this. Hey, guys, check this out. Cut here, cut here, cut here. look at my eye well unfortunately emotions ran high yesterday I was doing well in the second round but I went all

out eager to finish I ended up playing solo disconnected from my team the loss is entirely on me it was supposed to end with 13 seconds left and we're out you're right about one thing.

We lost three fights in a row, referring to the fighting nerds. We must be making similar mistakes. Just fighting really tough guys, by the way. So we'll definitely have a meeting, me, Kaya, and Hoofie, to identify and fix these issues. Like it or not, I'm sorry, but we'll be back.

And I have no doubt about that. I have no doubt about that. In the aftermath of all of this, you've seen a jockeying of position from Lorone Murphy and Al Jermaine Sterling on Twitter. Lorone says he's next, and I agree with him. He should be next. It's on.

Let's go, Volcanov. That was a great fight, though. Sterling replying, wait a minute, brov. Lorone, then tweeting again, Diego's done amazing against Silva, but not much changes in a rematch against Vogue. The people want to see new matchups. I'm 17 and 0 for a reason.

It's my time. Yeah, I agree. That was just one fight ago. I think it should be Lorone versus Volk Diego versus Movsar Aljo versus Yeyer

Or Diego versus Yeyer and you Ah but then you're running back Aljo Movesar So you're getting a rematch No, run back Aljo Movesar That's fine Too soon

I love Diego versus Year You also have Arnold Allen in the mix there I don't want to forget about him. There's a big drop-off between Arnold and the rest. Where's Arnie at, man? Yeah, I saw him. He looks jacked. He looks amazing.

Let's get a fight booked. Yeah. I miss him. I miss him. I miss him, too. Just do that. Do we all agree it should be Lorone versus... Yes.

Yes. It has to be, right? He's got the momentum. He had the great win. He's got a similar streak and record. There's no hype. There's no push right now behind Mossar. No buzz whatsoever.

No. It should be Lorone. That's the fight. 145 pounds make that fight now will we ever see at 147 pounds Terrence Crawford versus Iliate DePorea maybe at 154 pounds this is how it starts my friends this is how it starts this is how it started a couple of tweets Connor and Floyd a couple of mentions here's Ilya who wins in a fight a little hello how are you this was to start fight week

Teporia then adds. I won't talk about what would happen between me and Crawford and an octagon. I'll talk about what would happen in a ring. I put him to sleep in the first contact. Terence Crawford Fight Week on Wednesday was asked about this suite. Here's what he had to say.

Amelia Tuporia says that if you guys ever boxed, he would knock you out basically the first punch. A dude drunk, you know. You know a lot of MMA guys, they drink a lot. So you must be going to have alcohol that day. By the crazy comment right there.

Reminds me of the old Floyd Mayweather comment about MMA fighters have tattoos on their head. Crazy 2005 type comment. Well, that's Terrence talking about Ilya. And then at his Wow FC press conference, which is the promotion that he runs, Ilya then responded to Terrence. Take a listen.

When you want to test your technique, your skills, here I am to demonstrate because lately, It bothers me because there are many boxing who come out and interfere with our game. They criticize us and they try to put us down. But the truth is, there have been many MMA fighters to go to boxing and test their skills.

But I don't know of any boxers who talk so much actually test themselves in MMA. Anyone who wants to, I'm here. That boxing jump, would you be willing to fight him in boxing? Yeah, that's a goal of mine, he says. So I would love to do it.

And if it's against someone like Crawford, much better but first he still has the fight to win and of course he did win that fight Dana White was asked about this potential fight at the aforementioned press conference on Thursday

here's what he had to say you're now officially promoting boxing shows we have UFC lightweight champion Ilya saying he's going to knock out Terence Crawford can we expect some crossover boxing matches like you did with Mayweather McGregor moving forward

I certainly hope not. Two things about that. If I'm Elliot to pray, I'm like, yo, man, where's the faith? And secondly, in that interview with Jim Rome, he's touting the fact that, you know, he's a part of two of the three biggest gates in boxing history,

and here he's saying, I want nothing to do with it. Well, are you proud of it or are you not proud of it? Because the other one did really, really well. And throughout all this, I was kind of like listening to it and seeing it. I'm like, this is never going to happen. But then there I am.

Leonardo DiCaprio meme and all watching the fight on Saturday night. Musical acts, Frank is losing his mind because I think Tool was playing. Was it Tool, Frank? Yeah, half of them. Why would someone of Terrence Crawford's stature on such a big stage, on such a big platform, showcase like an indie band, like Tool? Wow. The speculation is that he's a fan.

But we haven't been able to confirm that. Maybe he'll confirm it later on. In five minutes, I can ask him. All-time bad take you. His tool, big-time band. Yeah, Grammy Award winning, but whatever, you know. Come on. Like, how big are they?

Pretty big, man. Like, what's their biggest, you know, song? I think they get the most radio play for a song called Stink Fist. Well, it's singing for me real quick. I don't think that would be appropriate. We have children that watch the show. In any event, he played, two guys were playing. and I was like, I don't know who these guys are,

but then I hear, da-na-na-da-nan-dan-dan-dan-dan-tan-tan-tan-tan-da-da-da-da-a. Ay, aye, my amor. I'm like, wait a second. That's Ilya's song. That's Ilya's song. Was he trying to send a message? Was he planting the seed en route to the ring for his biggest fight ever?

By the way, that's next level. Chil Sun and somewhere was smiling because he always, always have to plant the seed for the next one. I thought, oh my God. Is he swaggerjacking Ilya? Is he sending him the ultimate threat? I'm the man now. I'm El Capitan. Anyway, Terrence was asked about walking out to this song at the post-fight press conference. Here's what he had to say. It's how you came to choose that song in particular to walk out to it. Well, you know, it was part of my outfit. You know, the outfit was inspired by the movie Desperado. You know, as you see now, I had the guitar and everything, and my great childhood friend,

Resendo Robles, he was the one that, you know, carried a song out and performed the night. And, you know, it was a wonderful night. Like I said, I got Mexicans and Latinos on my side as well. So, you know, it was a beautiful night tonight. Did you know Ilya Tuporia walks out to that song in the UFC? You said what? Ilya Tuporia walks out to that song in the UFC. Oh, good, good for him.

Shout out to Oscar Willis of the Mackleck for that great question. And so the question is, do we believe that he did not know? No. Even if he didn't know to begin with, there's no chance with all the production and everything that had to go into that hiring the band that not one person, knowing the beef and everything, wasn't like, oh, this is Ely's song. You're doing this on purpose? And he was like, wait, what? There's no chance this was not mentioned to him at some point. the only thing I might say

is Terrence Crawford seems like a very singularly focused man I don't think he even knows or cares what Ilya Tuporia's walkout song is. I agree with you. That's my only piece of evidence that I submit for I don't think

he cares what Ilya walks out to or, bro, he didn't have the ox and he just threw on his iPod and just hit the button. There was production value there. This was ideas. This was discussions with production teams. There's no chance.

no one was just like oh you know that's Ilya's like famous walkout song like you play that especially for MMA fans like you play that and it's immediately that's Ilya there's no chance not one person mentioned I agree with this part my only thing I will respond with

is this is a very we are MMA centric thing I don't think someone mentioned it to him I don't know I don't know we're gonna have to find out we're gonna have to find out not one person mention it it's also he's playing the 40 chess there I mean he plays a song you know Mexican ties

So, you know, Latina fans, like, even the ones cheering for Canello aren't going to boo that song. So he gets to walk out. It's very Mayweather-esque. Get some love. And also, just putting that seed in the soil there for the Iliot-Teporia fight, which would be a massive money fight that he would most likely come out victorious in. Whatever the case, I'm happy he did it. Oh, it was great. Right?

It was great. I'm happy he did it because it was like, oh, my God. And now he could, he could say he didn't know. And maybe that's true. Maybe it was just complete luck. and maybe he's playing coy Ilya did respond Sunday morning to this

first he calls me drunk then he walks out to my song Crawford whenever you want I'll teach you how to dance the mariachi in the ring and Canella I'll save you around after him why does Canella get the smoke here come on

he's suffered enough Canella afterwards by the way saying that Terence Crawford better than Floyd Mayweather which I'm sure is going to be hotly debated on all the boxing shows and in barbershops worldwide. We'll never really know the answer, but, golly, could you imagine Crawford in his prime

versus Mayweather in his prime? That would have been incredible. True or false, we see this fight in 2026, guys. Ilya versus Crawford? Yeah. I'm going false. True. I don't know.

I don't know if it's 26, maybe 27. But 27 leaves too much of a window for Ilya. If Ilya loses this fight is going to. gone. This fight evaporates. Yeah, 100%. So I think if it happens, it happens at 26, and I'll just say, fuck it, let's do it. If they do fight, who gets to walk out to the song?

I think he's used it like one and done. It's not his thing. It was a nice little shot. No, but then he does use it because it turns out he was just a fan of the song and wanted to use it and had nothing to do with Iliot-Illia-I-I-I-A-Y-I-A-Y-A-Y-A- And here comes Terrence-Crofford. They just walk into the same song.

Or maybe different renditions of it Or different people singing it Yeah Who was the guy that he mentioned Robles? Was it Robles' spine? I don't know. I missed this. He said it.

He said it. I was assuming, you know, one of you... Definitely not Robles the Spine. For me? Would have said, oh, yes, of course. He was referencing... Yeah, two different pronunciations are either correct.

What is it? What is it? Sina. Sinna. Sinna. Like, cinema. I haven't seen Desperato. I only know that song

because of Viliate to four. referencing the 2013 film Frankie would have done that whole thing but he was still so reeling from the tool part I have never heard Frankie talk so much on air in his life

and I've never heard a bigger just like the second they showed these guys from like 500 feet off Frank was like oh my god is that tool? I was like wait what? He's like the two guys down there

that's half a tool he was loving it literally because I was making a joke like oh here comes Queen Latifah and then instead I'm like wait a minute am i you know or mark anthony like just someone and then this was so random i was so surprised um why was it two and how many these are great questions for terence no no no but how many are in the group there are four members of the band um some people in the community are

joking that that was actually only 2.2 members because only half of the drum kit was there um like usually it's a lot larger of a drum kit 2.2 yeah so it's like a fraction of the yeah well bud had to pay the the band to play the desperado song so he got 50% off on tool to start it out what's funny Veronica hardy on her Instagram I guess was there during rehearsal and she had no idea that they were

playing now we know she has like a friendship with the lead singer of the band so maybe we can ask her. Yeah yeah she posted it on Instagram where she was like I was just standing there and then all of a sudden those two came out she had no idea Nebraska's own tool oh is that why they're from Los Angeles oh

well then what's what's the connection we'll have to find out uh and when you see the community who are these people that you're referring to you know just like tool fans okay all right is there like a tool reddit page there is a reddit page a fan club oh my god you'd be surprised man is this your number one this is it wow and it's like hand them 18 times been listening about 30 years wow is it is it like heavy metal no it's like progressive rock you know is it like disturbed no how many how many like redditors do you think are in the are in tools reddit thread uh how only oh um did you just look it up yeah i got it 2.3 million oh wow no geez 239000 it's reddit it's kind of you know different wow apparently not as big as i thought um by the way uh terence has

clearly broken through here after this incredible performance uh did you see the uh the profile pick for the Nebraska football team over on X slash Twitter paying homage I actually think just full on

athletics just athletics yeah the Nebraska Coron Oscars do we have that okay a great a great homage

paid to him but also on the Netflix bio on social media it just says Terrence Crawford that's it that's the bio I do wonder

for the sake of the conversation do we have it or no if not no if you go to the Netflix not the Netflix the Nebraska athletics page you can see that they are showing love to their guy

because he walks out reping Omaha reppping Nebraska there's a member of his team that's always wearing the red Nebraska a hat. So I thought that that was really cool. And what's going to be really interesting is to see where does he go next? Does he stay at 168

pounds? Does he fight the likes of I don't know, David Benavides Dimitri Bivel? There it is. Look at that. He's actually got the Nebraska logo on the mouthpiece. On the mouthpiece. Yeah. The end. That's incredible. Good shit, man. That is amazing. Is it still up? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Shout to

to the Huskers, man. Three and O. Three and O. Crushing it. Shout to Tommy Frazier. Remember him? Oh yeah, I sure do. Legend. 90s Oscar? Are you being serious?

Yeah. Yeah, Nebraska used to be nasty. Anyway, I wonder where he goes from here. What's happening here? Okay. So yeah, we just went through a lot of stuff there, a lot of content there, my friends. But that's why I said I think that this was a really, really, really interesting weekend, a really big weekend.

And I'm really curious to see where it goes from here. Overall, it seemed like a lot of people were very happy with the show. Yeah, there were complaints that, you know, the event went a little long. There were complaints that it dragged a little bit. but overall, it seemed like the boxing fans and even the casual and mainstream fans that were tuning in to watch this one singular fight, overall it seemed like they were really happy.

Overall, it seemed like boxing was represented very well. Overall, it seemed like boxing represented itself very well. It seemed like, you know, there was no controversy, there was no judging, there was no opportunity to say, that's so boxing, it's so corrupt. This is why I don't watch boxing, all that stuff and more. it seemed like everyone was pretty happy with

how it all played out which was good this is what we want when the combat sports world has a massive spotlight on it oftentimes weird stuff happens we all remember in the world of

UFC the first Fox show lasted 61 seconds if you guys remember that we had Gino Santos versus Campulasas it was a bunch of talking fight only lasted a minute. So overall, we didn't have anything like that. I thought it was a great night. And then you wake up and there's no way in a way fighting. What a time. What a time to

be a fan of a sport that some people are trying to tell you is dying. It ain't dying. It ain't dead. It ain't struggling. There's a lot of amazing fighters doing a lot of amazing things all over the world now on different platforms. That's good. That's healthy. That's exciting. We can make the case. happening in the UFC right now, or at least in MMA. Different promoters, different fighters, different organizations, different platforms. That's not happening at the same level, at a dizzying pace right now. So that is very exciting. And of course, most exciting for us here on this program is the fact that the star of the

weekend, the man who stole the show, the man who not only put on a master class, against Canela Alvarez and put an exclamation point on his resume in some ways validated everything that he had been saying to all the detractors, all the doubters over the past 10 plus years, that he is the man, that he could be the face, that he is as good as he says and thinks he is. And that, of course, is the brand new, undisputed super middleweight champion, the pride of Omaha, the one and only Terrence Bud Crawford, who was kind enough to join us on this Monday afternoon. Terrence, my man, congratulations.

Incredible stuff. Really appreciate you coming on. Hey, thanks for having me again. So what is it like? Can I ask? You just had a moment. We don't know the exact numbers, but we know for sure tens of millions of people

were watching on Saturday night. You made history. Three weight undisputed champion, the first male to ever do it, the second after Clarissa Shields, of course. You beat a guy who was fighting some say three weight classes above you. and you did it in virtuoso masterclass fashion.

I never thought you would top the Errol Spence fight, and you did. 48 hours later, what does it all feel like? I feel great. You know, I'm just sitting back and enjoying my victory and just having my downtime to relax and just sit back and decompress. Is it hard to decompress? I'm assuming you were on an all-time high on Saturday. Is it hard to come down?

Like, did you even go to sleep on Saturday night? To be honest, I went to. sleep like at six o'clock in the morning and woke up like at eight because everybody kept hitting me up and you know coming in my room and things like that but you know everything else was it was cool would you say that was the greatest moment of your career on saturday oh yeah it definitely was one of the greatest moments of my career one of them for sure definitely one of them but does it you know take the cake does it top them all uh uh I don't know. It's tough. It's tough. You know, because like I keep saying, you know,

becoming a world champion was so special to me. That moment, I don't know. You know, this moment was huge, but it's something about that first one that, you know, feeling that, you know, this little poor kid from Omaha, Nebraska, you know, set his sights out to be a world champion. I had to travel all across, you know, the world to go become world champion, you know, and one night, all his dreams came true. So, you know, those two moments, you know, it was definitely special in my career. What about that sentiment that I was just talking about, the validation, because it was well documented.

You know, when you left top rank, there were things said. You were not getting the fights that you wanted. You weren't getting promoted the way, which you thought you should be promoted. Did you feel like Saturday was validation, was the opportunity to prove everyone wrong and to prove yourself right, and do you think you successfully did that?

Absolutely, absolutely in all areas. You know, to be a fighter that they say can't sell or they lose money on and they say don't have no personality and they try to, they try to, hurt your career by saying these things, you know, it definitely was a great feeling to see the turnout, you know, and see all the supporters for both fighters and, you know, the history-making, you know, numbers, for sure, it definitely was a great feeling. Did you use that sentiment as fuel in the build-up to the fight?

I'm going to show these guys, I'm going to prove them wrong once and for all. Do you think about that sort of thing? No, it wasn't a sense of me not knowing that, you know, I could sail because of look at all the fights that I didn't fought since, you know, being with Taubran. You know, it was a sense of me proving everybody wrong and think that I couldn't win. You know, they was trying to put this narrative out in the air that it's not possible. that it can't it can't be done nobody's never done it before the bigger man always beat the smaller man

so I remember telling Max I said who came up with that in my eyes the smaller man always win oh he was cooking right there we'll get him in a second here did we lose him okay looks like the internet paused on us as he was cooking right there because there was this

this thought this this this prevailing thought that the smaller man always loses to the bigger man this was repeated time and again time and again throughout the fight week and he proved that that's not the case again i hope you all recognize this was a a 168 pounder fighting a 147 pounder. He had one fight at 154 last August was the undisputed king at 147

beating Arrow Spence in July of 2023 came back the following year fought Israel Madreemov at the soccer stadium in Los Angeles and then did everything he could to get this fight played his cards

the right way. And there he was, standing face to face. Against Canel Avras, who did seem for the longest time, like he didn't want to take this fight, and because there was great risk involved, because not only is Terrence Crawford, one of the all-time best fighters in the history of the sport, he's smaller than him. So a lot of people would be like, of course you're going to be the smaller guy, right? But I think Canello recognized, yeah, he might be smaller, but he's that damn good. Like I said, switch hitter, boxing on. IQ higher than most, if not anyone in the game. Canello 100% understood the risk. But there was so much attached to this. And there's still so much attached to Canelo. I don't

subscribe to the notion to the theory that Canelo Avarez is shot, is done, is it never was. And quite honestly, Canello, not a never was, shot done. Of course he was. But quite honestly, Canello can now go out and do whatever he wants because he's not tied to the belt. Let's go back to Terence, there he is. You back? Yeah, I'm back, I'm back. You were cooking there for a second about the thought of the smaller guys, not being able to beat the bigger guys, and then we lost you. Yeah, I was just, I was just, you know, referring to when I had a conversation with Mac earlier this week, I said, who came up with that? He said, I don't know. I said, right.

I said, everybody's just listening to everybody. They just copy and pacing, copy and paste it. and they just running with this narrative that the great big man always beat the great little man. I'm like, can we look at history when we look at all these great fighters that moved up in weight? And it was smaller guys that went into bigger divisions and beat the bigger guy. You know, so, you know, I just think that people just hear things and they just run with it. and they don't do their research. Can I ask, how much do you think, or maybe you know the answer to this,

how much did you weigh on Saturday night? I don't know. I didn't even weigh myself. Okay. What do you think you weighed? Probably like 175. And what do you think he was? I don't know.

How did your body, obviously you fought brilliantly, but did you feel okay with the extra weight? Of course. I felt great. I felt strong. I felt, you know, fast. I felt like I was in lower way class, like I normally do. You now have opportunities, massive choices to conquer at 168, at 160, at 154.

Hell, if you want to go back to 47, you have great choices there. Where do you think you'll stay? Now you're at the undisputed champion. It doesn't mean you have to stay at 168. Where do you think you'll stay? I don't know. You know, like I said before, I'm a... talk with my team, family,

and then we're going to make that decision, you know, and then we're going to come back to you. You were asked in the post-fight press conference, which, or not the press conference in the ring, which kind of surprised me because the thought didn't even cross my mind, if this was possibly the final fight of your career.

And to me, like, I know you just conquered a great mountain, but you're so freaking hot and so good right now, why would you walk away now? Can you say definitively that you will fight again? I don't know. really it's still up in the air still up in the air wow there

there is a chance that was your final fight could be are you just playing coy with us right now I'm just saying it could be it may not be you know I don't want to say you know that that it is and it ain't I want to say that it is

see you get a lot of respect and love for being a great boxer great IQ I don't know if you get the respect that you deserve for being a great businessman because this is Terence the businessman talking right they got to pay the cheta to make it better right for sure for sure all money ain't good money so you got to know that okay fair enough um i hate to use the word easy but at times it did feel like you were you know having a really easy time out there were you expecting it to play out that way listen it's never

easy you know uh boxing is it's hard you know we we train so hard and you know for this fight we actually We've been training for some years, you know, preparing ourselves for Canelo Alvarez, you know, it's never easy. It's never easy. How about just the way it played out? Was that sort of how you were expecting? In a way, yeah. You know, we train for, for, we train how we fight, you know, and training was real hard eyes, real tough sparring. And, you know, everything that we put. and to preparation came out, you know, for that one night. Did you happen to see that clip in slow-mo of you hitting him and him making that face like, damn, man, I don't know if I have any answers for this anymore. You know the one I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, I know. You know, uh, sometimes he was frustrated in her, you know, he was basically

like, damn, like how I get hit with that shot. Yes. Sometimes, you know, us fighters, we get frustrated and, you know, he was was frustrated. He couldn't figure me out. When did you start to feel like you had figured him out? Early, in the early rounds. Because it's often said you take a few rounds to just kind of dissect and download the information, but I felt off the jump, you had his number. Yeah, for sure. You know, I just, I just think that, you know, like I said, our

preparation, me and my team preparation led us to, you know, where we was at this Saturday, you know, knowing what Tonella likes to do, what he don't like, and the things that works on him. Oh, no. We're fighting through it, like working through a Terrence Crawford attack here. Do we get in, like, four-minute spurts? It's like going three rounds with them, and then you need a minute to, uh, to dissect it all, to digest it all.

And then you have to go back out there. That clip of him nailing Canelo with the shot and then Canelo making that face, like, what the hell? How am I supposed to react this? Oh, he's back, he's back. Okay, I was saying this is like fighting you. Like you have to fight through the elements,

you know, for three minutes and then take a minute to, to digest it all. He said afterwards, you are better than Floyd Mayweather, and I know you don't like those comparisons. I know you don't like when people pitch you two together, but when you heard that, what did you think? How was, you know, how did that feel to hear that from someone like him?

I just, I just was like, well, you know, it's his personal opinion. He was in the ring with both of us, so a lot of people, you know, they can say what they want, but he's actually been in the ring with both of us, you know, one where he felt like he was at the best, you know, another where he felt like he was at a discipline. when he had a rehydration clause and he was younger. So, you know, I don't know, you know, I don't go off of that. You know, Floyd is the best fighter, you know, in his era.

And I felt like I'm the best fighter in my era. One thing that I thought was really interesting about the fight, I always love watching you switch stances as effortlessly as you do. You didn't do that a lot in this fight. You didn't have to. Were you expecting not to have to? No, I felt like I could have, but, you know, why do something when something else is working? Easy, easy answer.

Do you still hear me? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Can I ask you, Terrence, one thing that I love about you, you always have the same guys around you. and I wanted to ask you about Wayne Sullivan because I love this dude showing up with the Nebraska hat and the suspenders and the bow tie

you know the guy who's always by your side with the belts of course who is Wayne and what is his connection to you that's my little brother you know that's one of my best friends you know that's my brother you know

you know no you know bigger than that you know he's always by my side I'm always by his side you know you're going to be at every fight with them, suspenders on, rep in Nebraska like he always do.

When did you meet him? Oh, we met us, you know, teenagers. We, it's funny how we met. You know,

we was in the church playing basketball. It was actually about to fight. We was going to fight in the church. You know, and then we just both sit down and look at each other and we just started laughing. And I was like, man, you're a cool dude. You know what I mean?

You was like, yeah, man. And I was just like, we just got close. You know, once we started kicking it, it was just like we knew each other for years. And, you know, we was with each other every day, every day, every day, every day. You know, from fishing, a dirt bike ride, a four-wheeler, and it doesn't matter what it was. You know, he was always, you know, by my side, I was always by his side. I love that he's always there as a part of the entourage.

I'll ask you one more thing and then let you go. One more topic. Obviously, we're paying close attention to you and Ilya, the back and forth, the tweet, tweets and then you walk out to the song that he usually walks out to, you were asked about it, he then responded yesterday via Twitter to you walking out to the song that he usually walks out to. And I know that you were asked about this, but this was his response. First he calls me drunk, then he walks out to my song. Crawford, whenever you want, I'll teach you how to dance, the mariachi in the ring and Canello, I'll save you around after him. Um, honestly, you walking out

to his song. Did you, did you not know that that was the song he always walks out to? To be honest, I never even ever seen this dude fight. I ain't even going to lie. You know, I'm not worried about that guy at all. It's crazy how, you know, things work, you know. I didn't even know who he was. When he's seen me at the UFC, he came up and shook my head. I said, what's up to me?

I didn't even know who he was, you know. But then I see him online talking about. here knocked me out and in the first round and this and that that is. Well, if you wanted to fight me, you had an opportunity to tell me like, hey, man, I want to fight you. What's up? Like, that's fate. You know, if I don't like somebody, if I want to fight them for whatever reason, I would have

been like, hey, what's up, man? What you think about me and you fight? I'm not going to go hide behind, you know, the keyboard and things like that. And then you're like, oh, I knocked this dude out this. 99S. I think that's faith. Do you think he actually wants to fight you, or do you think as the kids would say, he's just trying to

clout chase? I definitely think he's trying to cloud chase. I think he would definitely get in the ring with for the right check. You know, that's what we all do it for it. But at the same time, you know, I think, you know,

he's, he's I don't know, what the fuck he's there? Oh, though, what do you think of this way? You know, I will, Ain't even nothing to talk about. Do you, now that this has become a thing and you see the interest, do you have interest in fighting him?

For what? Money. Listen, what money would I get out of fighting him? Tell me how much I'm going to get out of fighting him. Well, I know Floyd made a lot, obviously, to fight Connor. He's not nowhere near on a level of Connor McGregor. Let's be real. Stop it.

Don't ever compare him to Connor. Connor was here. He's here. Like I said, I don't know this guy. I never seen this guy fight. And I watch a lot of MMA, you know what I mean? Maybe, you know what I mean? I'm slipping.

Maybe he's a good fighter. You know what I mean? I don't know. But I honestly never seen this guy fight for sure. You know, and I've seen Connor McGregor fight a lot of times. I'm just saying. Okay. And Connor, like, it's night and day.

It's night and day. So you say that. You know, it's night and day. Don't ever try to say they on a second level. I'm just saying right now, you can make the case that he is one of the biggest stars in the UFC. Okay, so how much we're going to make? How much we make? Tell me how much we make.

Um, am I going to make more with him than I made with Connello? Probably not. Am I going to make clothes? Probably not, but if we're talking about like a bival or someone? What are we talking about? What are we talking about? We ain't talking about. I think you'd make more than like if you fought a bival or someone like that. We're not talking about that. I'm just saying compared to people not named Canelo.

Listen, to that guy to, you know, keep up the good work in his career. I wish him to embrace. Fair enough. when do you think you'll know if you'll fight again I don't know I'm just chilling and relaxing you know enjoying my

hard work pay off did you see the Nebraska tweet they changed it to your face no I didn't this is this is the Nebraska Husker's Twitter page and that's you yeah

it's my team yeah You know, I rep Nebraska every, every fight that I ever had. You know, I rep Omaha, Nebraska, you know, as a city, as a state, you know, as a whole. You know, and it's great to show that they, you know, support and the rap meeting, you know, the same. Yeah, the homecoming is going to be fantastic. Congratulations, Terrence. Thank you so much for coming on.

Really appreciate it. And what a joy was to see you do your thing on Saturday and to see you make history once again. I appreciate it. All right. Much love my man. There he is. Terrence Bud Crawford, the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world. Just defeated Canelo Alvarez. If you haven't watched it, go on your Netflix right now and watch it because it's an unbelievable performance. It's one of the all-time great performances that we've ever seen. All right. Still to come, Eddie Hearn, Y'O Romero, Gable Steveson. In a matter of moments, we're going to have Tris Dixon. tremendous boxing scribe, boxing journalist, long-time boxing journalist currently at boxing scene has been a member of the boxing beat for many, many years, the editor of boxing news back in the day, which is a very, very, very prestigious boxing outlet and has also written for the Ring magazine and the Telegraph and many more and has written several books, including

damage the untold story of brain trauma and boxing warrior, a life of war boxing and redemption, the road to nowhere in the company of kings, and most importantly for these purposes, Ricky Hatton War and Peace, which came out in 2013. Someone who has covered Ricky Hatton for the vast majority of his career and then wrote this book with Ritie Henn about 12 or so years ago, wanted to have him on to talk about the one and only Ricky, the hitman. Han, he's kind enough join us on this Monday afternoon. Hello, Triss. How are you? I really appreciate you coming on, and I'm sorry that it's under these circumstances, but we thought no better person than you to eulogize and remember Ricky Haddon, so thank you so much for the time. Yeah, thanks for having

me, Ariel. It's been a tough 36 hours, and not just for me, but, you know, my heart goes out obviously to his family, his close friends, and, you know, I think of his son, Campbell, I think of his brother, Matthew, and all the guys that came through with him, like, friends of his for 30 years, people like Matthew Macklin, Paul Smith, Anthony Farnell, there was a whole crop of guys from Manchester and Liverpool came through at the same time, and they were all great friends together, like they've been close to Ricky for 30, 35 years, and yeah, I mean, British boxing, boxing on the whole, there's absolutely reeling, you know, I've never, I've never seen, I don't know, it's hard to, it's hard to think of the public, uh, outpouring of grief that matches

this. And could I ask on a personal note, how are you dealing with it? Because correct me if I'm wrong, not only did you cover his legendary career, Hall of Fame career, but I do believe you were friends. He was a good friend of yours. And you wrote this book and I saw the, the beautiful message that he wrote to you, uh, in the book as well, uh, which I thought like, it just screamed Ricky Hatton because he was thanking you for just being a good friend. Um, how are you dealing with everything over the past 36 hours. Yeah, not good at all. Not good at all.

I think I cried for like eight or nine hours yesterday. And, you know, I'm not like, not trying to be a man's man, but I'm not a cryer. But it's funny, you know, I spoke to, I'm sure he won't mind me, said, Jamie Moore. I spoke to all those guys today and they're all the same. Like, no one can stop. And our messages, oh, God, but you get messages on it, Instagram, we never met. and stop crying and they didn't even know him and it's you know just it's touched so many people

I just you know it's completely blindsided me not not just losing him but the emotion I just don't even know where it's come from but it just seems to be getting everybody well I think I kind of know where it's coming from he meant so much to so many people and he connected with so many people on a personal level because what has always been said about him was he was the every man he he represented the UK so brilliantly he never put himself above anyone those stories of him at pub hanging out with people at the, you know, the local, as you would say, and just being one of the lads made him almost feel like your best friend, but also someone that was doing superhuman things on a superhuman level. And so can I ask, in your words, because they're much more impactful than

mine, why did the UK and why did the boxing public adore this man so much? Why did he seem to connect in a way very few star athletes are able to? Because he had time for everybody about it. He made time for everybody, you know, even just looking through social media, everyone's got pictures of him, you know, countless pictures of it, slides, you know, people who, you know, a cursory cast members in his life have got 10, 15 pictures with him. You know, you go through social media and everyone did, like, and, you know, it was known that, you know, he would obviously blow up between fights in terms of weight and stuff. He was going down the pub and drinking with everybody. And after the fights, you know, he'd meet guys in the pub and see all his

see all his friends and family and he you know he's just so accessible and i think that's the thing you know you know when we started to write the book you know ricky wanted to be really really involved with it wasn't where you get three or four hour into a three or four hour interview and then the rest of its cuttings like me and rickie were we were basically spending every a little bit so but for about six months i was going through a divorce at the time so So I was going up there, like on the weekends where I didn't have my kids, I'd go off and see Ricky. And we'd sort of sit and do a long session on a Saturday, maybe break for lunch. And then, you know, I'd go back to to crash on them.

We'd reconvene and do a session on a Sunday. And then we go out to lunch nine times out of ten. And, you know, and, you know, I live a long way from Ricky. But when he was doing speaking engagements down in this neck of the woods, we'd meet up. And where I'm going with this is wherever we're sat, obviously in a public place, like, forming to see him because he was so recognisable, his voices, look, everything about him, you know. And this goes back to what we're talking about in terms of his popularity. You know, he had time for everyone and we'd be sat there or he'd be, you know, people would just

queue up to take pictures with him and do selfies and have things signed and he just made time for everybody. You could tell like sometimes it's like having his head down, it's like, it's not going to happen. There's it for him. Next thing you know, one person's seen him, everybody's seen and all hell's breaking loose and he entertained everybody and did his thing and you know and he was just so you know that sort of speaks to what we were going what we were talking to or talking about earlier in the sense that that's what he was like that process of writing the book with him because he's very open raw honest i've only interviewed him once and i was blown away afterwards at how open he was about everything he had been through and that was in a 25 minute conversation

to get that firsthand, and this is his book, this will be the definitive life story and now is, to hear the things that he was going through battling, having to overcome, what was that like for you as the writer? Two things. One is it was obviously deeply sad,

and the other thing is just, you know, I was also deeply privileged. The fact that he would confide in me and, you know, select me to do the job. You know, so, yeah, I mean, It was like that, really, Ariel. It was just torn, you know, just so privileged to build that relationship with him over the years to the point he's like, yeah, you're the guy, you're going to do it. And then, but to hear the real stuff because, you know, the book was, you know, that's the paperback edition that I've got behind me that you showed on the one with the gold cover with that brilliant Castillo knockout finish there.

Like, that's all his words. Like, it's all first person. And it is an autobiography, like, it's, it's, it's, it's not a cuttings book. It's Ricky. And, you know, in fact, that was one of the things that Ricky always said to me, you know, people would always go up to him, you know, this is just trust me, it's not a sales pitch, but say, like, I could hear your voice in the book. And I'm like, that, that's, it is his voice. You know, that's what it was like. And so those, those were the conversations that we had. You know, it was very thorough and, um, uh, very personal. And it, and it was his story. And he was proud of it. Hence that. And he was proud of it. Hence that. that he wrote you know thanks for writing a good book and or whatever he called it um you know it was it was ricky and i hope you could do hear his voice because yeah i mean such a wonderful book um yeah it kind of takes your breath away when was the last time you spoke to him tris well we would swap messages pretty messages pretty regularly it was about a month ago uh when we swap some messages you know he'd announce this come back in dubai we swapped some messages

we swapped some messages then and then like randomly i would just check in on him uh and and and yeah and yeah so it was about a month ago um think he's been to tenerife on on holiday since and um but we would always check in and you know what like because obviously when you when you lose someone like this you scroll through your messages and you look and you know some of the stuff that he would send you know it was like you know he always asked how you're doing and he always say I've seen you doing such and such on Instagram like looking looking good or like how and he'd always ask after you like it was always very two way do I mean it was never like it was never like me asking him picking his brains and just saying it like he'd always fire back like

how are you doing hope you well like every every time even if I'd message him and you know Campbell's just had a fight and I'd say oh Campbell that's good and he'd be like yeah Campbell's coming on bit by bit how are you doing wow you know he'd always he'd always he'd always he'd always fire back and, you know, just, just going to what we saw yesterday as well. Like the, the grief through the, through the nation was just outstanding. You know, early on, so I got a text from Brian Peters, Katie Taylor's manager who said, he sent me a link to, to the magistrate in the news saying the news. And, you know, Ricky's so famous that you think it's one of those fake news things, you know, and I saw it. I thought, you know,

I can't believe that's going around. I was driving, so I put the phone down, face down, and then, like, about 15, 20 seconds later, I was like, oh, no, I know. And then it just sort of hit me. And then I thought, you know what, I'm not going to look on social media. I'm not going to go online.

And then, you know, a couple of hours later, I looked, and then I actually started to take real comfort from the outpour and I kind of wish to saw it. And then I purposely tuned into the, Manchester City Man United game where obviously everything came to a stand still in his honour and you know you're such a man city fan but you know for friends of mine who support Manchester United were there yesterday one of them said you know I'm pleased that they won because it's what he would have wanted not sure he quite meant that um also he said like he'd never felt such a united

atmosphere at the derby before and you know you saw pep guardio pep guardio close to tears and and everything else. And, you know, it's just so hard. It's just, you know, it's just, um, just wish he knew and I hope he can see. And then you saw the individual stuff. Like I got such a kick out. Like there was, there was some major A listers leaving tributes to, to Ricky. But then you see like his idols, like Roberto Duran posted about him on Instagram and

his great friend Marco Antonio Brera and I was with them both in, uh, Canastota last year. when Ricky was inducted into the international boxing hall of fame and they had this sort of brotherhood and then saw Ricky's great favorite footballers and his favorite singer like Liam Gallagher and Vince and company all the people that he would have wanted to have been sort of seen

not seen to be for but all the people he was friends with who he really looked up to and idolized he meant so much to them you know it wasn't just it wasn't just like it wasn't a one way thing it wasn't like where Ricky was like a fan of these guys like they were a fan of him. It was just nice to see some of those those tributes. And you know, I saw a statement from the family earlier and they said the same thing. And that's Ricky's home there, the heartbreak.

And that's where we recorded most of the book, you know, where we spent so much time. And yeah, it's just, it's, it's, it's been an incredible outpoint. In fact, I spoke to Lou DeBella a couple hours ago. And, you know, I said, like, can you think of any other human who would do this? like who could take 30,000 fans to Las Vegas who sort of united everyone and the only person and I'm not comparing them as fighters but the only one that Lou came up with

was Muhammad Ali like who would do who would take 30,000 fans to the other side of the world to for anything it's just hard to fathom like how much he was loved what was it like being there

for that Mayweather fight the buildup was amazing the 24-7 you know Ariel I didn't do that one I was in I was in, so I was the number two at Boxing News at the time, I was in Switzerland covering Wayne Elcock against Arthur Abraham. Wow. So, yeah, that night I wasn't there.

You know, I covered, you know, I covered lots of his fights from, I was there in 2000. I think it was like a 16th or 17th fight when he fought on the Mike Tyson undercarly against Julius Francis. And then obviously I covered the Sincenko fight where it was sort of in the dressing room,

just me and him after the fight. And that was in the middle of writing the book. And, you know, I thought, Ricky was going to be really down, and I was like, I just, I remember, like, he was looking at himself in a picture in the dressing room, sorry, in a mirror in the dressing room, and, and he looked himself, and he's like, well, no, it's not there anymore. And I was like, he seems to be taken this well. And he did, like, at the time, it gave him, like, closure. He's like, you know,

I would have beaten this guy in my prime. I'm not in my prime. There's no point. Like, I've got the answers I wanted. And I really felt like there was a period there where he sort of really sort of let go. I think the thing was he always kept a foot in it. He never fully embraced life after boxing. And, you know, I've been thinking about this a lot last 24 hours or so. You know, we will never understand, obviously, what it's like to walk in Ricky's boots and to have that level of fandom where, you know, everyone knows him. everyone wants to be with him everyone like it's it's so on you know we've got these superstars in the sport today but no one is accessible or as relatable as rickie was so like he was obviously

when he rode that crest of the wave real life was a real challenge because it was so different whereas i think a lot of fighters keep business and pleasure separate ricky's life was and his identity was being the fighter and being this every man and you know and i think it was he couldn't shake that identity he didn't want to shape that identity like he wanted to be that guy but you know time comes to us all where we have to either change or adapt or reinvent ourselves um and and i think he i was just sort of thinking about this like he he trained his fighters he went into promoting he's done bits. He's obviously worked with his, and helped Campbell, he's

working with his, his nephew, Jack, Matthew's son. And he never got to step out. He was always in it. And I think he always wanted to stay in it. But, you know, it's tough. I remember speaking to former world cruiserweight champ, Johnny Nelson a few years ago, he said, like, when you retire, you need five years out of the gym just to detox, get out of your system. And, you know, Ricky was never sort of afforded that. And he wouldn't have wanted it. He didn't, you know, he was a

boxing guy through and through and, you know, hence I mentioned Duran and Berera, like, they were his guys. If there's someone watching this right now who maybe didn't live through the Ricky Haddon era but wants to try to get a sense for why it was so special, which fight would you recommend they watch from beginning to end, walkouts included? Would it be the Costa Zoo fight that everyone speaks so, you know, so glowingly about it happened in the middle of the night? It seemed to be his coming out party to the rest of the world. Would that be the one or would there be another one that comes to mind? Yeah, I think, you know, that was his

to find a night, you couldn't go with anything but that because it's sort of encapsulated everything that he was as a fighter. But if I was saying to go and watch anything, I were probably, I heard you talking about earlier, you know, go and watch the Hatten Mayweather Award winning 24-7. Like, you know, it's great, it's great viewing. And, you know, everything, you know, I watched the Netflix stuff with Crawford and Canello last week and I thought it was really good, like the buildup, the two shows they did. I thought that and it reminded me a bit of the, the Ricky Mayweather stuff, but when you look at the personalities of Floyd and Ricky, like everything's

tried to replicate that, but without those personalities, you know, you'll find a tough battle to try and make TV as engaging as that. The closing segment of that final episode is some of the best TV and some of the best fight

promotion that I've ever seen. I went quickly found it on YouTube yesterday, and I think I've watched it 10 times since then because, again, the juxtaposition of their two personalities, but for some, they were magic to together and by the end it seemed like there was a genuine mutual respect there it's it's brilliant stuff um as of right now you know i've been doing the show now for a few hours so i haven't checked do we have a cause of death do we know what happened it's not been released

yet so um yeah no it's uh it's not there i'm sure it'll be out in the next couple of days do you have any idea how he was doing i saw darren barker did a sit down with him just a couple of days ago and he was talking about this comeback do you have any sort of sense as to how he was doing over the last few weeks. Yeah, I asked Darren, because I was with him in Belfast. We were at Crocodonovan together over the weekend. With your man, Pizzi, actually. It was good to see.

Yes. But, yeah, I mean, I'd be really into stuff. You know, I think, you know, Ricky looked in recent stuff, like, on the heavier side for me. And, like, I'd be really into stuff. But from what I hear, he was, he was Ricky. and I wasn't necessarily really happy with how he looked and because I think that his self-worth was sometimes tied into how he looked but the thing is Ariel and this is the thing and Ricky was such a big advocate for this when it comes to mental health is it didn't

matter what we all saw because he was you know I'm loath to use the tears of the clown thing I'm just trying to think, you know, Ricky was the life and soul of the party. We didn't see, he wouldn't show us anything. It was, you know,

he'd go out for meals with us, he'd go out for drinks with his friends and he'd be around his loved ones. But when the door closed at the heartbreak and it was just him, we don't know how he was and how he felt. And, and I think that's where he struggled,

away from, ironically, away from the crowds. and on his own. That is a heartbreaking thought. You've done such a great job of remembering him, but I would urge everyone to go check out the book. I would also urge everyone to check out your podcast,

which I had mentioned to PT last week, your conversation with Carl Frampton. I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed your conversation with Dan Canobio. So I'm a subscriber and listener of the Boxing Life Stories podcast. You do a great job with that as well. and also of course on boxing scene.com

can I ask you in closing how do you think and how do you want people to remember your friend Ricky Haddon when it's you know when we're looking back on him in 10, 15 years I know he was asked recently by Darren

about his legacy but I'm curious from your perspective how do you want people to remember the hitman yeah I think I think there's two things right he was the man of the people and he was a hell of a fighter And, you know, I know he said in that Darren one, you know, one of Britain's finest, then he's definitely one of those.

And, yeah, I mean, his legacy, and I know you've asked me to put it into words, but it really speaks for itself, right? Like, he was just ridiculously popular, you know, hugely adored and could fight his ass off. Well said. Thank you, Triss. I'm so sorry. I'm really sorry. It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a measurable loss, not just to the boxing community, but I know UK, the whole country, the whole country is grieving right now. And just a great guy who, as you said, despite his trials and tribulations, always did such a great job of trying to advocate for looking after yourself for mental health awareness, for trying to be the best person that you can be. And in my opinion, he walked the walk and talk to talk. So my condolences to his family and friends such as

yourself, I know it's not an easy time. So really thank you for coming on and talking to us about Ricky Hatton for a few minutes today. Thanks, everyone. There he is. Tris Dixon of boxing scene.com wrote the book on Ricky Hatton. Has a great podcast called Boxing Life Stories that I highly recommend you check out as well. Some great conversations with legends of the sport,

people who cover the sport, and sort of a refreshing look on the sport of boxing. So do check that out. And later in the program, we will also talk to Eddie Hearn, who did not promote Ricky Hatton. he was a Queensberry guy, but obviously someone who has been a part of the UK boxing scene for a very long time, who I'm sure will have a few thoughts. It's been amazing to see how he has been covered and talked about over the last 36 or so hours. Like this is, I don't know who I would

compare him to here in the United States. Maybe we could think about a little bit that that question, but he was beloved, beloved in the UK and in the boxing community. No one said a bad word about Ricky, even his opponents, just a great guy, and every man, really, in every facet of the world. All right, we'll talk to Eddie about him in about an hour's time, but wanted to speak to our next guest about his big weekend. He finally had his MMA debut on Friday at LFA 217, and as expected, he was very successful when Gable Steven won the Olympic gold medal and was a two-time national champion at the University of Minnesota. I said, this guy is a future MMA champion. And he made us wait a little bit.

He went the WWE path. He went to my beloved Buffalo Bills. But now he's in MMA. And I hope it's for the foreseeable future because I do think that he will be if he wants to be an MMA champion. Let's talk to Gable about his successful MMA debut. There he is. Hello, my man. How are you? Great. How are you? I'm doing great. Congratulations on the win. Now, one and done, you're able to move on. You got it out of the way. What is it like knowing that you're an undefeated MMA fighter? It's good.

You know, I went out there and did the best I could and came out with a dominating performance as predicted. So just it feels good to go out there and get locked into the cage and you feel the real thing. And so you've competed on big stages before. This was new for you. Correct me if I'm wrong. No amateur fights, right? You went right into it.

And so how were you feeling? Were you nervous, more nervous than, you know, as a wrestler, even doing the NFL stuff? How were you feeling? Just real confident. You know, I had a lot of good people around me. We prepared really well without any amateur fights or any pro fights leading up to this. So just having that confidence that I've always had and being able to go out there and show out and just be dominating is amazing. So we felt good.

Obviously, big butterflies. You know, you locked into it in a cage with someone that wants to. to take your head off, but you got to do it first to them. Yeah, the whole fight lasted 98 seconds, so it was very dominant, as you can see by these photos here. By the way, any of those tattoos new? Because I feel like there's some new ones there. Back one.

The back one. Ghali, what is it? What does it represent? It's a half skull with a diamond in his eye, with diamond teeth, kind of showing like, you can not have everything internally, but have a lot of things in those worlds, such as money and fame and jewels and stuff like that. and the other side is the angel face where it's kind of dying and can show that you can have a

healthy life but also cannot be kind of complete you know kind of my own-no story okay i like that and and i dig it um when did you decide that this was going to be the path again we had all been wondering when you would go down this path when did you actually say okay i'm doing this um i decided probably right when ncAA season came you know after ncd a's i was going to put on the gloves and and make that run and i stuck to it and i'm going to keep sticking to it okay so this is this is your thing now yes and and the decision to go down the LFA path as opposed to maybe some other paths how did that all come about um LFA is a great promotion you know a lot of the best fighters come from the LFA promotion they put guys where they need to go and

I believe that um we can we can create the same path for myself so LFA they did a great job with me this Friday and they gave me open arms especially in my own in my home city so um just amazing um do you think you will fight for them again sure i would like to okay i would like to get i would like to get back out there and keep so on the world what i made of um as you saw the the big take down to the ground of pound but but man there's so much more and i'm excited for people to see yeah i was wondering about that was there any part of you that was like yeah i love the fact that i finished this guy 98 seconds but i kind of wanted to show a little bit more and are you eager to show a little bit more of course i'm very eager

to show a little bit more i just want to each time i want to add a little bit more to the to the game plan to the process and show the world, there can be a completeness with me. But the first one has got to be a big takedown. It's got to be what the people want to see. But also, I had a plan on standing up and going out there and showing the world that I have hands to. But the leg was there. You've got to take it as a wrestler. Deep down, you got to take that leg and finish a shot and win that fight. Did you enjoy the whole process, the fight, but also the training camp, like everything that goes into being an MMA fighter? Yeah, it's a lot different than wrestling. wrestling, you prepare for one seven-minute match.

And in MMA, you compare for 15 minutes straight of just going out there and brawling with somebody and someone's going to fall. And that day, thankfully, it wasn't me. So it's different. It's a different rush. It's a different thing. And it's amazing to be a part of something new and enjoy it and go out there and be free. Night and day from pro wrestling, right?

Both are great. I just mean, you don't have to worry about promos and all this. If you go in there, do the job, no one cares if you say anything. I mean, you got to do a job in both things. You know, you got to do your thing. And pro wrestling, you got to do your thing, and I'm a man, and I'm going to stick to that. Okay, fair enough. To have guys like, I mean, that picture there, you have John Jones in your corner, you have

Brandon Gibson in your corner, Greg Jackson in your corner. I mean, like, this is like a Hall of Fame corner. What is that like? Oh, man, it's just a blessing to be able to work with those guys. You know, Brandon Gibson, I met with, I met when I was at John's camp, man, Greg Jackson, too, and I've been knowing John for a while just from social media, and then he reached out to me in October to come help with the steep camp. So it's one in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of those guys and kind of see their model and see how they do things backstage before

fights and hearing them in the middle of fight and also way before and being able to kind dissect great minds. You know, it's amazing. Those are some of the smartest people to ever be involved in MMA. Greg Jackson, Yoda. Everyone loves them. Brandon Gibson can't say enough. One of the nicest human beings that I've ever met. And obviously all really nice. are really nice and john obviously one of the greatest of all time if not the greatest in many people's eyes so are you are you going to be training in albuquerque is that is that going to be your spot for training camps yes that would be my plan you know i i i enjoy my time there like i said i enjoy those guys man it's um just just to be around greatness you know i've been in i've been

in wrestling a long time where we have great teams and have great programs but it's um it's new to be around guys that you've never really been around and then they really know the the statue and magnitude of what you can be so man i believe in them that i'm not They believe in me, and I'm honored to be with them. I'm assuming no injuries after this fight, right? No injuries, thankfully. And so how quickly would you like to come back? As quick as possible.

I would like to stay active. I would like to keep being me. I would like to keep someone the world who I am. And you only get better by being in there, and I want to keep being in there. So fair to say, you're going to fight again this year. I would love to, yes. I can understand why a UFC, a PFL, any organization under the sun, like if I was running them, I would say let's just sign this guy.

now let's bring him in right now are those conversations happening or do you want to take this slow um i would like to take this slow i would like to go where i need to go i'm one and oh i'm focused on being two and no nothing else okay so you don't want to like john you're not one of those guys who's gonna say like put me in the ufc right now or put me in the pfl right now i'm ready to go um the last guy that um took a couple needs so no okay okay uh how far away do you think you are from field like How many fights do you think you'll need? Man, if it's there and the UFC looks at me or the PFL or whoever, you know, my goal is be UFC champion.

You know, I want to go out there and be with the best. I want to look the best in the face, and I want to go out there and show the world what I'm made of. And I know I can do it. If those fans think I'm ready and they want to see Gabriel Seifson and where he needs to go, of course. But in my eyes, do I have things to work on? Of course.

And I would keep working on those things and keep showing the project as we go along. Have you ever met Danny White? No. I have to have. Really? I met Hunter Campbell, just not Dana White. Okay. And the Hunter Campbell meeting, was that like a business meeting or just like a hi, hello, how are you? It was a very nice meeting with good intentions. Okay. Was that recently?

April, yes. Okay, so not that long ago. No, not that long ago, yeah. Would you be okay if they asked you to go through the contender series first? If they look in the eyes and say it, then you got to do it. Okay. You don't feel like you're above that or anything like that? No, you've known me for a long time. I've never said anything bad about any places. I've never tried to jump the gun. The younger version of me, I'm 25 now. If I was 21, I might have said, hey, man, throw me out there and let me see the charts. But right now, I know where I stand and I know why I can be. And I'm honored to be in a spot with great people around me, John Jones, Brandon Gibson, Greg Jackson, and I have a good team with me. And when they say the time is right, we'll be right there. I was wondering if before or after the fight, if you heard from your old friend Brock Lester

who had a great run in MMA, did he reach out? Did you hear anything from him? I heard from Brock after his crazy, surprising WW return at SummerSlam. Man, the crowd goes crazy for him. They love him. Whenever I see him, it's just a rush of like, wow, that's my favorite athlete. But that's about all. Okay.

Would you be interested in training with him for this? for this endeavor? Man, I don't know. I mean, if Brock would like to, Brock would be a great person to learn from, of course. Yeah, well, he had a great run. He was very successful. He was.

You were pretty young, though, when he was in the UFC. Did you watch at that time? Pretty young, man. Brock was the beast when I was there. You know, I'm just seeing him and kind of seeing him in person and just seeing the model that he's created for a lot of athletes is crazy. So, man, truly one of a kind. Could I ask, how much should you weigh on

the Thursday before the fight? About 260. Okay. And I wait in 69. Or 259, sorry. Do you think that's around the weight that you'll fight at or do you want to be lower than that?

I am working on getting lower. I've been getting, it's been, when I remember when he talked to me about Buffalo was about 300 pounds. So I would like to maybe end up about 250 walking around, maybe 245 and then stick with that from there on out.

Did you have to cut weight for this? No. Okay. And just like competing for the first time without shoes. What was that like for you? Fun. You know, you like the shoes because you can kind of grab. You can take an ankle pick and kind of grab the shoe.

But man, this really shows that you have to be ready in our areas. I could take a low single shot and a guy could slip out. And that just shows me that I got to take high-end shots with high-end opponents and really blow through those shots and get down. And no problems. I'd be remiss if I don't ask you about Craig Jones because you were in the news. We were supposed to compete against them. We've heard from him.

We haven't heard from you. And so I'd love to know your side of the story. Why didn't that match happen at the end of August? With who? With Craig Jones. Oh, yeah, that match was, we came about in February. Match was going to happen. You know, we met up a few times.

Everything was all good. Long story short. A couple funky stipulations around there that we didn't agree upon. they wanted to keep it I got turf toe and and wasn't there okay can I ask what those stipulations were what do you mean by that um there was a look in the eye of saying hey can you can you can you do something for me and that's about all can you do something for me what do you what are you trying to say what does that mean you know what I'm trying to say can I ask what you're trying to say yeah of course are you implying that I'm just

trying to keep it as nice as, I'm trying to keep it as nice as possibly because when I, when I, when I came out of that match and I, and I had turf toe because I wrestled the whole NCAA season with a bad surfto, um, which I got like the second duel of the season. And I went through the whole season with, even the NCAA finals and everything. Um, so it was lingering. But when it came back, I was like, I can't have another mishap of me falling to someone in, in a way that's not, not possible. So that's why I had to pull out. But before that, If you really want to ask, want to know, there was a look at the eye of saying, hey, I'm going to retire after this match.

I don't want to take this loss. Can you do this for me? And we'll leave it as that. Okay. So in other words, you are saying that he asked you to basically lose to him on purpose, like to work the match? And you didn't want to do that. And so did you get hurt before that or after that?

I was actually lingering the whole time. And so I was kind of baseline and then just stepped wrong and you know turftoe like Joe Burrow just got turf He's out for the few months. It could just pop up whatever and and I was dealing with kind of a lingering battle and just tough When you were when you were approached with this idea and the reason I'm asking you all of this gave-bo is because as you know He's very outspoken on social media and so he has said a lot about you even in the aftermath of your win So I just want to be able to get your side Did that ever come up in the build? up, like when you signed in February, did it ever come up that this was going to be asked of you?

No, I was looking at an exciting match. I was looking at a match that we were going to go out there and sell tickets for and go out there and put on a good show. Eventually, the question did come along. We sat, we thought, we disagreed. We went back to them. As time got closer, just popped up with a bad injury and just had to focus on my next thing. And my next thing is putting the gloves on and making sure that I could take care of what I need to take care of. There was an implication that the reason you didn't compete against him was because he's at odds with the UFC. Did that come into play at all? No, I'm sure the UFC does not care. I mean, the UFC has UFC BJJ. They got to take care of their own business and this is another person's business that we're

talking about. So I don't believe so. I have no recollection of that either. And you stayed pretty quiet as all this was happening in the buildup to his event. Was that difficult for you as you're seeing all of this probably? No. Man, you've talked to me so many times. I personally did not have any ill intention with pulling out of this match. You know, my foot, like, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to go out there and just limp around and not look good for anybody and make sure everything just runs down a hill that it doesn't need to be run down? I stayed quiet because I'm a man.

You know, I'm not going to go out there and speak bad about somebody because something's wrong or something didn't go my way. I look at things in a different way. Maybe he doesn't because he hasn't accomplished anything in his field. He's lost to Gordon Ryan about three, four. times. His team, the B team won the Craig Jones Invitational, but probably shouldn't have. So that's a weird thing too. So I think he's got a lot more digging than weren't about me. Okay. And is this something you're interested in exploring with him in, like, do you want to

compete against this guy because it's gotten a little personal? No. Okay. The way he needs to be. And if he never brought this up, would you have still gone through with it? Meaning if the request, as you're saying, to maybe work the match was never brought up. Would you have competed? Sure. I was ready to go out there and do business with the way business need to be done. But as time went on, I just flare it up. I can't walk a couple of days. And it's just not been the best interest to do something like that with what I'm really trying to accomplish with myself. Last thing on this, ultimately was it because you didn't want to be involved

in a work match? You felt like it was being sold as a shoot, as they say, and you didn't want to do something like that? Is that the reason why it didn't sit well with you? Sure, it's a shoot, but I mean, I'm hurt. Yeah. I don't know what else we can get at, Ariel. Okay. How is the toe now? Good.

You know, it has times where I go and I maybe step wrong in a wrestling room or on the wrestling mat or on the jujitsu mat and I kind of tweak a little bit. But as time goes on, it gets better. But it's just a lingering thing that just if you ask NFL player, it just doesn't really go away. You just got to keep maintaining and taking care of it. Going through, like you didn't have shoes on, right? So you had no protection. Were you worried about that in the match on Friday?

that he steps on you, he kicks you, something like that? Sure. I mean, I was worried about more that people in the comments saying I might lose by toll hold. And that was my biggest fear. But, of course, I'm worried. But I think the adrenaline was pumping and I was in the right spot. My feet felt good. My body feels good.

I'm rejuvenated right now and I'm happy to where I am. You said earlier that you're focused on this MMA thing, which I think is great news. And I'm very curious to see how it plays out. But at the same time, this real American freestyle wrestling promotion has popped up like the first real time in a very long time that someone's trying to, you know, build a promotion around legit freestyle wrestling. Did you see their first event? And if so, what did you think of it? I thought it was a great first event. Man, rest in peace, Hulk Hogan, first of all, man, just a WWE legend and a real legend of that entertainment

business. But I saw the first event. I thought it was great. I mean, I think everyone wrested really fantastic and good for them, very good for them. Do you have any interest in competing for them um right now no right now i i i had the biggest rush of my life putting on those gloves and getting that victory i want to keep it that way okay because we have seen you know like bow nickel competed for them and holly home so we've seen people cross over but you want to shout out to them yeah you want to stick to mma i want to stick to mma i want to take it one day at a time i want to be one i'm one and oh right now i would like to be two and oh um three and oh four and oh and then just keep it going and man just believe myself you know um you got to focus on one thing and i want to

focus on this. And could I ask able, because it's been a minute since we spoke to you, the match against Wyatt was a shocker, right? I mean, everyone just thought you were going to win again. How long did it take for you to get over that and to just kind of move on from that? You know,

there's bumps in the road always. You know, there's always going to be whether anything you do. That loss didn't really internally kill me because I was set on ready to do my next thing. Did I wish to go would have win another way of course. But hats off to him. He did a good job and hopefully he keeps doing his thing.

Do you have any interest in competing against him again? You know, if the world's lined up, the worlds may collide and, you know, there may be a chance, but I know he just went to the world championship and he didn't bring back a medal for USA. You know, that's going to be tough on him. I feel like he's got a lot of other things to worry about and set up a matchup with me. Okay. And one last one, and maybe this is an opportunity. obvious, 2028, is that a possibility, or are you done with the Olympics? I think the Olympics would be great, especially since it's in L.A., but like I said, my eyes are on keeping the gloves on and keeping myself in that cage.

Is there any chance we see you next month? Like early in someone's career, they may fight once a month. Is it possible we may see you that quickly? I got a little thing about November, so I'm hoping around then or just before the New Year ends. Okay, love that. Well, congratulations on the first win, getting out of the way. Looking forward to watching your career progress and to see you on the big stage in, I think, a very, very short amount of time. It's going to be fascinating to watch. Thank you, Gable. And again, congrats. And by the way, I understand you're expecting a child, right? When is that? There is a third. Thank you. Congrats. Look at those nice pictures of us. I appreciate it. It's beautiful, man. It's beautiful. Congrats. And I hope everything goes smoothly. And, you know, obviously.

so you have a lot to be excited and grateful for so well done. Well, I appreciate you taking a sign. Thank you. There he is. Gable Stephson, kind enough to join us. Former Buffalo Bell. Fascinating stuff. Fascinating stuff. How long before Gable Steven's in the UFC? I mean, obviously

the path is right there to go to the UFC. He's got the people behind him. If I'm PFL, I'm signing him yesterday. Like, you remember when PFL signed Aaron Pico before he made his MMA debut? You sign that guy yesterday. And you give him all the money in the world, in my opinion. Are you kidding me? Like he is, that's a generational talent right there.

Two-time national champion, Olympic gold medalist, four-time, four-time, Big Ten champion. You sign that guy yesterday for the PFL. But I think he wants to be in the UFC. I mean, he said it himself, fascinating stuff for Craig Jones as well. We're going to take a quick break. After the break, Y'O Romero, Eddie Hearn. Much more to come.

Pete, he's going to join us. talk about the White House card, Molly McCann, YOL Romero, BKFC, Mike Perry, Jeremy Stevens. What a day it has been so far. Much more to come. Don't go anywhere. All right, back on the program. A matter of moments will be joined by Yol Romero still to come. The great Eddie Hearn. I can't wait for that one. PTC will join us back in as well. By the way, Yul Romero made his successful, speaking of debuts, BKFC debut on Friday. Did you guys happen to see the Wayans, the Yo-O. Romero Wayans? Yo-O. Romero, may I remind you, is 48?

What in the world? It's so crazy because if I wasn't looking at his face, I would think I was looking at myself. I mean, it's just crazy. It's crazy. April 30th, 1977 is this man's birthday. Look at this guy. The soldier of God. No forget Jesus.

Look at that! That's an action figure. That's an action figure. You know the action figure where the... When the abs look like they're bricks? That's an action figure. Golly. The knockout was something else.

We have the knockout here. We could show it from our friends over at BKFC. Look at this. Knocked down. Oh. Here comes a nice little uppercod. Oh, yeah. Parting shot, baby.

Shout out, rest of peace. Good one, Frank. I like that one. Oh, my God. I'm being taken into a different era right now with this music. Chills, up and down my spine. Wow. Vicious stuff.

They've got something here with you all. the ageless wonder Joel Romero what a guy they had another crazy knockout in bare knuckle where the guy like stiffened up

did you guys see that one that was scary on the ropes like the guy just stiffened up it was it was nuts um

yeah I have a feeling this this story between Gable Steepson and Craig Jones is not going to end it's just my hunch that is just my hunch

that is just my hunch my friends can we also just quickly talk while we're getting you all unless we have him okay the Terrence and Ilya portion of the conversation I thought was really interesting him just like being like keep up the good work sport like he just finished his first boxing class

down at the local wreck and just to be clear do we believe him that he's never heard of him? He claims that he watches a lot of MMA and says he's never heard of Ilya Teporia I find that hard to believe. I was back here, I was like, all right, Terrence, chill out.

He's like, I watch a lot of M.A., and I've never heard of him, dude. You know, between Eddie Dana, Gable, Craig, and now Ilya Terrence, the passive aggressiveness right now is on another level. Yeah, I love Gable. He's like, we'll just leave it at that, and then went on to explain precisely what happened.

But also the, well, the B team shouldn't have won and Wyatt, you know, lost in the world and all that. I would imagine if Craig Jones gets eyes on that interview, he'll probably have a rebuttal. Well, based on my WhatsApp, I think he has eyes on it. Well, I will leave it at that. I will leave it at that. Will you leave it at that, or will you pull a gable and tell us? No, for now we'll leave it at that. We shall leave it at that.

I did mention Mike Perry and Jeremy Stevens at the B. KFC event, which you all Romero won. Check out this little tete-a-tete with the two who will be headlining here in Newark, well, across the river. Here it is. Can we have audio on this? Oh, geez, in the neck. Oh!

Let's go a louder, Frankie. This is, oh my god. Mike really wants to get it. Look at this. Mike's fighting it off. Oh my word. Oh this is great. I can't wait for this. What a day October 4th is gonna be. Yo, can you bet on BKFC? Are there BKFC lines? Yeah, we'll get some. Does it exist?

Oh, yeah, for sure. It'll usually come out a week of. Yeah, I was betting on Knucklemania back in January. Who do you think is a favorite in that one? You'd have to imagine Mike Perry. Man, Jerry Seasons look good. I mean, he's looked good, but if I'm not mistaken, Mike Perry's still undefeated in BKFC.

He is, yeah. Bigger also, historically. Although we learned by this past weekend, bigger doesn't always mean better. Speaking of heavyweights, We didn't really speak about it. Actually, Gable, so I could say that. What about RICO and Tom going at it at the beautiful champion training center? I do believe in Manchester.

I mean, this is, without a doubt, the nicest gym in all of MMA. These two guys going toe to toe. I'm talking about RICO Verhoeven and Tom Asper. Look at this. Look at this right here. Look at this right here from Rico. Take down! Does he land it?

Oh, what is that, Tom? What is this? You got the takedown. Ah, Thomas screwed. Cyril Ghan's going to see that. And I have to say, the champion gym, it feels like Tom Aspinall's beat the video game and like he's at the end of it

and he's got the custom gym now and the sponsorship and everything. That gym's unbelievable. It's really something else. It really is. It's in Manchester, right? I believe so. Look at that.

Wiggin proper? I don't know. I haven't quite figured it out is Wiggin in Manchester I'm not sure yeah Thomas has been happy about the the Derby

yeah he's a big city guy now he's going as well his son was happy Bowden back on track Manchester is blue what about our forest I mean not exactly the best it was nice to see you watching it

you and Jake were watching it this time I was up at 730 a.m. I try to catch all the games but you know Angball not exactly translator right now it's a great success I mean, you had something.

You had it. You were perfect. Why did you mess it up? I got faith in Edge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, the guy had one training session and they play Arsenal. Maybe the best team in the Prem. Maybe.

Second best? At worst? 80% of the training session was just the intros too. Hi, hello. How are you? Hey, guys, I'm Ench. My favorite color is purple, you know? Just getting to know each other, really.

Have we figured out what the, the nobody's sausage situation is? What is this? You sat down with the man and you didn't even ask. Can I tell you, I swear to God, I was going to ask the tool question, but then I swear. So you're saying the...

But Rick then told me we had to wrap, and I was like... That's the perfect time to do it. No, I don't want to... I don't want to get on their bad side. Here's the nobody sausage. How much is nobody sausage paying for this? 1.7 million views on this tweet,

109,000 likes. Yeah, what the hell? And then we got the video. What's the video? What's the video? I don't know, bro. I don't know what this is. Yeah, this is.

I didn't point it out, but some people have been pointing out. Is that it's a sausage? The chest on the sausage is wild. What is it? What is it? It looks like Bobby Lashley. Yeah, I guess Bobby Lashley has got a huge chest. Wow, it is wild.

Yeah, that's not. The chest is great. Anybody can be nobody. now can I ask you a question Ooh that's a cool little collab Should it be? This has got a pretty cool logo Should it be nobody can be anybody?

No I think the whole thing is like It's cool to be nobody Why is that cool? Because they're different bro Oh Actually we keep asking Why don't we just Why don't we just Google it real quick

Nobody's sausage It was also on his shorts as well Him being kidded out with Offoyed all week is also sick Yeah that's big time Oh it's a musical artist it says. Let me tell you something. My son even was, both my sons were like, we want to stay up. It even broke through to them. That was the crazy thing about this.

So I think nobody's sausage is just a viral character? 7.6 million followers on IG. 3.3 million subscribers on YouTube. I think the issue is, or the thing is like it's, I think it's like a vegan sausage, right? Oh man, I don't think it has anything to do with being an actual sausage company. Really? Yeah. I thought it was like, wait, what is this? What is this from?

Just want to make humans laugh. Nobody's sausage originated as a fictional TikTok character created by Kale Gabrell known for surreal humor and absurdity. I thought it was like Impossible Burger. What? Nah, bro. Serious? Yeah, it's just like a YouTube character.

I've seen it before. I've seen it before, yeah. Wow. That's a cool collab, man. Yeah, I know. Got us talking about it. We got their mind. Artificial and talent, but rather virtual animated character

created by Brazilian creator, Kail Cabrell. Wow. Who knew? Anyway, by the way, did you guys see this tweet from Balal Muhammad regarding Jared Gordon? Jared Gordon lost on Saturday. and afterwards Belal tweeted

Jared got hit by a car yesterday popped his knee he didn't want to pull out and fall like a warrior what the hell and he was in fact wearing a knee brace in the fight

yeah crazy Notcha UFC flew under the radar and I was kind of going back and forth there was Lewis Crocker there was my son's soccer game that I was at

there was prelims that I was curious about regarding the ring card I didn't see a lot of like Mexican love letter to Mexico Like we saw at the Sphere Carter Even the first one Did you notice that

You were locked in on Georgia Tennessee as well It was locked in on Georgia Tennessee Had noche on a side TV Until like three fights to go I mean they had the ring girls And the custom kits The ring girls were cool The custom kits were cool

But I didn't see like packages And all this stuff No no no no But I don't really remember it being that Even Joe Martinez wasn't even there Yeah which was a little crazy Crazy. Was it that for the first one that wasn't the pay-per-view? I know they had the- was a little bit more. I know Alexa Grasso got the custom belt and everything, but

Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, I don't know if there was that much. Yeah, I don't know if there was that much. Anyway, David Martinez with a big win took the fight on very short notice He's sick. He's sick. He's very good. Second fight in the UFC Rob Funk growing his hair back out. Yeah, you don't like that. A little fucked up, man. Oh, geez. I mean, he joined the bald beard brand posts about it. Yeah, that's true. You know, like We followed each other on IG. You were chatting about it? Oh, we're being friendly. We're part of the Brotherhood.

Now no more. He walks out there with a full head of lettuce. I was like, all right, Rob. Rafa Garcia beat Jared Gordon in a fight that I thought maybe went a little bit too long, a little late on that one. But a big time win for him. And if Jared really did get hit by a car, and I don't know why Bilal would make that up, that's crazy.

And what the hell happened? Speaking of going too long, the Rob Font fight, literally went too long. Literally, yes. That was crazy. Dan Mergliata missed the horn. Now, I think it was just because it was really loud in there, right? Yeah, but I mean, you've got to have some sort of awareness on how much snide has left.

There's got to be some timers that he could have gotten his eyes on it. Yeah, that was bad. I think it went, like, I think they, like, honked the horn twice. Martinez had to have landed like six or seven shots after the horn. What about that pop for Diego Lopez when he walked out? kid's a star Now some people said it was the And John Silva's walkout was great too

But Lopez came across like a superstar And then he put on that performance And then he hopped up on the cage Gave the double birds I mean that was That was Right now it's my fight of the year Diego Lopez has a little

A little Dominic Mysterio to him With that mustache and the hair Yeah He's a big time star as well He competed on Friday At the World's Collide event I mean there's so much going on But no he is really coming

into his own and the place absolutely loved him and he was able to connect with the Mexican audience as well because of course he lives there now and trains a whole team there yeah he he came across as an absolute stud Kelvin Gaslam did not have a great weekend yes he got a win over

Dustin Stoltzvus but he missed weight by five pounds which in a day and age where we see people turning down fights like credit to Stoltzs for taking it who knows why he did five pounds coming in at 191 a 186-pound fight, I mean, is

just egregious. Right? I mean, that's bad. Yeah. At this stage, guys had issues making away, like, what? 191 is crazy. What about El Gran Chango? I mean, what a revelation he's been. What a turnaround for Alexander Hernandez. Big win for him.

Second round stoppage against Diego Ferreira. Very impressive. We'll be joined by El Gran Chango. I enjoy his, well, what does that? line the cut of his jib I enjoy his style Chango

yeah I think I actually mentioned on Thursday I enjoy the cut of his jib you said it like that the exact I bet on Alexander Hernandez solely because I enjoy the cut of his jib I probably

I was listening no thanks for watching man now we appreciate it I literally was a reference I wanted to know if you got the reference yeah Santiago Luna defeated Kwong Li

Kwongli excuse me via first round knockout Dusko Todorovich beat Jose Medina. I think the Mexican fighters win 6-0 on Saturday. It sure did. Joaquin Silva split decision win over

Claudio Puez. Wait a second. Peru. Yeah, should have known. Should have trusted myself. Tatiana Suarez beat Amanda Lemosch. Jesus Aguilar beat Luis Garul.

Zach Rees and Serge Dumas ended in a yeah. That was kind of tough. Dumas said that I think he said he couldn't feel his right ball which is kind of my nightmare to have that happen to me

Daniel Donchenko won the ultimate fighter finals congratulations to him Mozart Rendon beat Alice Pereira everyone was enjoying that one it seemed like because they were pushing Pereira she's the youngest women's fighter in UFC history age 19 19 man

19 is very young and Alden Coria beat Alessandro Costa all in all a good show which on a regular weekend would have given us a lot to talk about but it was just

completely overshadowed right just kind of tough when like the face of the UFC is not there and he's at another event but you get it you get it do you think the fighters cared

do you think anyone was like man it has to be a level of understanding on the size and the impact of the events this is a fight night and this is one of the biggest boxing fights in history. Wow.

Tell that to Diego Lopez. All right, Diego. All right. Still to come, Eddie Hearn, Yoh Romero. I do want to talk more about other news and notes that happened over the past week. Obviously, this White House story, Dana White has asked literally about the White House story every single interview he does. I almost feel bad for him, but he doesn't seem to mind.

mind, Dana White was on the Zach Gelb show. Zach does a great job, knows his stuff, asks pertinent questions, and ask Dana White about John Jones, and in that conversation, Dana White said something that I thought was very telling regarding John Jones. In case you missed it, here it is.

You said John Jones called you, and he apologized. What was that conversation like? Well, it wasn't a conversation. He reached out, he wrote, you know, like a text, saying, listen, sorry, how this all played out or whatever. you know um i want i want to fight at the white house i'm serious about that and you know just one of those type has that changed your view no no not at all so there's no chance he's going to know i appreciate it i appreciate him reaching out and and doing that but i need i need people i can count on

for this for this uh for this fight and i know who they are i know who they are not gotcha well and so dana white revealing that john jones apologized to him to me is extremely telling. What is he apologizing for? I'll tell you what he's apologizing for, as I've said multiple times, and by the way, has not been refuted by anyone. At this point, you'd think someone, if it wasn't true, would have refuted it. John Jones wanted a lot of money. The number that I was told was 30 million. The UFC said no, then they said yes, then they got the money. They said, we got you the money, let's go, you versus Tom Aspinall. He said he was in, took a few days, said he was out. I've told this story a million times.

now. No one has refuted it. By now, you hopefully believe me. And Dana White alluded to this when he made the announcement that John Jones had retired and they were stripping him with the belt or he was vacating the title, whatever semantic you want to go with and Tom Aspinall was now the new champ. He said he gave us his word and he backed out. And now John Jones is apologizing for doing that, or at least it has been revealed that he apologized for doing that. And what I think is very telling about this is, as I said last week, that interview that he did on the red carpet with his PR person, John Jones has buyer's remorse, or at least, what is the opposite of buyer's remorse? He didn't buy anything. He has some kind of remorse. You know what I'm saying? FOMO? Maybe FOMO is the word.

Thank you, Frank. You're welcome. He does not want to miss out on what's happening next June, next July. It sounds like June at the White House. And he realizes he should have stuck around. And so he has apologizing. And look, I'm not saying that Dana White won't do this. He seems to be pretty damn steadfast on not doing it. Here's the thing, though, they may need him. Donald Trump may ask for him. Like, there's other factors involved here, no doubt about it. I also know from Dana White, he can hold a grudge. And when he says that he feels a certain way, he tends to stick to that. And so this is all very telling. But if you're wondering why he's apologizing, it's for that reason.

He said he was in and then he said he was out. And I think Dana White doesn't like to come out in front of the media and say this is 100% happening and then look like he was a liar. Because I think he believed that if we got him the money, he was going to do it. And they did. And he didn't. And he'll remember that. And now he knows how much he wants to fight on this card. And so he'll say, no, you want to fight on another card?

Great. Let's get a $25 million gate at the T-Mobile Arena. My big question is, do we think that this is going to be the International Flight Week event? Or are they going to do this event and also an international fight week event? I wonder. Because part of this thing with T-Mobile is they have an event usually in June, July. They've said 5,000 people is going to be at this event or are going to be at this event. They will be missing out on a lot of business if they don't do a lot of business.

of Vegas, like people aren't going to be able to attend like they want to attend a UFC in the summertime. And so I do wonder if they're going to just replace it for this particular year or do a back-to-back. I wonder. One guy who wants to be on this card is Connor McGregory. He has made that very, very clear. Dana White said that once they start to put together the card, he said this to Wade Plem, once they start to put together the card in February or so. If Connor is available and if he believes he could fight on the card he is interested in having him on the card he was very very very positive towards connor saying that he could always count on him saying that he never has let him down all this stuff and more and uh shortly thereafter

Connor spoke to adam glen who does a great job of finding famous athletes and people all over new york city and this is what he had to say about the white house card both A UFC's coming to the White House. Are you excited about this? I mean, have you thought about it? I mean, it's a pretty cool thing. I'm ecstatic. The Macca's back.

And what better event than to grace the White House long for a strainer? What I do best. I'm very, very excited, very eager, very motivated. Bring it on, baby. Do you think that's when you maybe come back? I mean, what about come back for you as far as fighting?

I'm very happy. I'm very happy that it's June. It was on in July. Now it's a Monday earlier. Even better. Bring it to April. Why not? Let's celebrate the birthday early.

celebrate my birthday months in advance. So we could potentially see maybe possibly White House Connor McGregor. That's definitely. That's definitely. That's awesome. For sure. That's my event. That is your mind. That is. For sure. So there you have it. He is fired up. He's revved and ready to go. Celebrates his birthday a few months earlier. It says, do it in April.

We'll see. I think there's a lot of people who are saying, eh, I don't buy it. I think they'll try to make it happen. like I told you they were going to make the White House fight happen. I think they'll try to make this happen. Does it ultimately happen? I don't know. But I think this would be the ideal scenario for them. Now, if you're wondering how this will affect Conner's plans to become the president of Ireland, he has, as of I do believe, this morning, officially withdrawn from the race. How am I supposed to read that? No, I'm kidding. Just squint your eyes

Wait, I do have to tweet somewhere Yeah, it's right up on the screen No, I can't read that Unless I walk up to the screen Wait a second Oh, here it is I recently announced my Oh, I wish we had

Pizzi here to read that first line I just skipped I recently announced my sincere and genuine intentions Very passionate Gail take great pride in our country. This was not an easy decision. Following careful reflection, after consulting with my family,

I'm withdrawing my candidacy from the presidential race. I will not contest this election. My commitment to Ireland does not end here. So I think there was some sort of like vote or something. We need PT on here to explain to us how this all works. I will continue to serve my people by using international platform to promote Irish interests abroad, to strengthen our economic opportunities, and to advocate for transparency, responsibility, and public life at home.

This campaign has sparked an important conversation about democracy in Ireland and about who gets to stand, who gets to choose, and how we can ensure that the presidency truly belongs to the people. This is a marathon, not a sprint. I will continue to serve my people on the global stage lobbying for Ireland's best interests socially and economically. Of that, there is no doubt. So there you have it. So I guess he's freed up now. So let's see how that plays out. Does Connor McGregor fight on the White House card?

What are we saying? What are we putting the odds at right now? Probably not a billion to one like John Jones, but it feels unlikely. John Jones is actually negative a billion to one. Well, a billion to one that he won't compete. Yeah, billion to one that he won't compete. But I asked...

still taking $5 bets on them. I'm saying, what, where? Oh, in that clip, that's right, that's right.

Give them $5 if John Jones fights on it you'll get $5 billion back. There's almost like two lines here. There's, are they going to try to get them on the card? I think it's like a minus 500. Does he fight on the card?

Is the question? I'll have it at like a... This is Connor you're talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll have it like a minus 175. He fights. Yeah. I've always said,

every interview that I've ever done, I've always said he will fight. again in some way, shape, or form. Would that be in a fight against the KSI or Jake Paul? Would that be a bare knuckle? Would that be a White House card? This seems to be something that would motivate him enough. You know, the question is against two, this, down, and the other. There's only one answer. And what is that? God bless. Connor McGregor! Like, I mean, there's only one guy. See at the top. I do, we've been unfair to, that's right, Michael Chandler. We've had to switch things around, so Petey kind of got screwed.

But hopefully we'll still hear from him back in. He did text me. He was due to be heard by counselors this morning and pulled out before it didn't even make an attempt. So. I think he fights on the White House card. Yeah, me too. I think so as well.

I think John Jones does too. Wow. John Jones and Connor McGregor. Yeah. Do you think they fight each to a big? I don't know about that one. I think, I think, I think Dana is actually telling the truth and sincere in saying we can't risk it.

We can't have egg on our face on this one. What would you line it at? But why is John Jones reliable but Connor McGregor is reliable? I don't understand the logic. John just screwed him like literally two months ago. Okay, but that doesn't answer my question. What have you done with me lately?

Okay, what would you line it at? Either of those guys is reliable. What would you line it at for either of them to fight on this card? So you're getting one or two of John Jones. Oh, minus a thousand. Wow. you're getting one of those guys wow okay

yeah the truth is if you're not getting one of those guys like what is worthy of a of an event that bit well you could always do the like UFC 300 where it's like you're never going to believe this and then it comes around and you're like we did our best by the way I heard you guys actually talking on the BITB about Kayla Harrison

and Amanda Nunes I don't think that's the plan I don't think Kayla Harrison is going to wait till July or June I think the hope is that she beats Amanda Nunes and then fights on that card Interesting That's fine

That works Do we have what Kayla Harrison Rockout Pennington On that card Payne your rematch maybe Norma Dumont Now we're talking

Yeah Now we're talking White House Bring Aspen Lad back Hey Where is she now Oh she's in BKFC So you say right now

Breaking news What are you guys You're saying right now Connor and Jones Are Fighting that's that's Rick stance as of one of those guys will fight okay all right sounds like he's

let me change my and and Connor what's your stance uh you say minus a thousand that we get one of them I'm gonna say like minus maybe like minus 175 wow you have to you have to put one of there's only two names that move the needle

in the UFC at the moment it's just difficult to get these guys in the octagon as of like but yeah but that's why I also know in the like Connor versus John like neither of those guys. In fact, John's shown up more recently than Connor. So what is Connor's reliability? I don't understand that part. Like, I don't understand why he's the rock solid guy versus John who has shown up and fought for you to, like, what was it, last November? Yeah, it was last November. Yeah. So why is... What have you done for me lately?

Ilya, Terrence Crawford. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Yeah, no chance. Yeah. And M.A. No chance. Make it a... A UFC card? Listen, Terrence got great wrestling. He's got great hips. The Terrence wrestling has been inflated to the point of absurd. There's one video. There's one video of him on someone's lawn. Yeah, he's wrestling. And then it's like, Terrance Crawford almost made the U.S. Olympic wrestling team.

I don't know if you guys know this. No, he did make it. He just decided to rock wrestling his drunk uncle. Yeah, yeah. Now, I don't know you guys know this, but he was actually a four-time Big Ten champion. He just never publicized it. He doesn't talk about that at Nebraska. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Big MMA fan. No idea who Ilya Tabori is. The Terrence Crawford lore is unbelievable. Nobody's sausage. Is it vegan sausage? Is it not? Also, we'll never know. Credit to Terence Crawford.

We got a, uh, it's stuff out of him. Did we? Oh yeah, you asked him something. He was like, stuff. Wow. Well played. Jared Gordon has tweeted about this, uh, car accident. This past flight week was weird.

Two hours after Wayans, I was standing in the street while a car was backing out behind me. I was looking down the street away from the car. The driver was looking the other way as someone is helping him back out, waving him on. The front end of the car started turning and the right wheel ran my right foot over as bumper started turning

and buckled my knee inward, spraining my MCL? I thought about pulling up, I decided not to. Was it the wrong decision? Maybe so after a hard, good camp I didn't want to pull out. It is what it is. I'll move forward. Sorry to all my fans for the performance. Golly, that is some bad luck. And Jared Gorn has had some bad.

lot most notably the petty pinwood fight damn yeah that's insane that's crazy poor guy poor guy yeah you told anyone within the organization that's a good question probably not at that point right i don't know if they'd let him i feel like yeah why would that one under wraps because if you tell the commission or something like that they're they're going to pull you from the fight the wanes are over so you don't have to meet with them or anything like i feel like i feel like i had a friend in high he'll get his foot run over by a car and it like broke his foot. Yeah, I could see that. That's awful.

Speaking of the main event on that night, Alex Volcanowski did react to it in case you're wondering how he's feeling about everything. Here's what the champ had to say. Incredible performance from Diego. What is next? A lot of people are going to ask me, who's next? I think the UFC will wait and see what happens with John.

Silver and Diego. I know Lorone Murphy's obviously one guy that are coming off a big KO against Pico. You know, I obviously said to that one, yes, see you later. But then we're waiting around. So I'm guessing we're waiting around to see what happened with this fight. So I don't know. Does Diego get a rematch? Crazy win like that. Wild fashion again, doing what he always does. I know the UFC absolutely love him. Whether they push for him, we'll see we'll see what happens. But either way, you guys know me, whoever it is, it is, you know.

So I'll just sit back, see what the UFC say. You know, obviously I just fought Diego. Does it make sense to just rematch straight away? But you never know what the UFC won. I'll have a chat to him. I know Lorraine Murphy's there. Let's see what happens, eh? I think his head is in the right place.

I don't think that they're going to. a run-a-back with Diego. Seems like Lorone is there. Mosar has no momentum behind him. That seems to be the fight. What a guy that Alex Volcanowski. What a freaking legend. But that seems to be the fight, 100%. And he did tweet after Lorone knocked out Aaron Pico back in August. Let's do it essentially in December, right? He said, see you in December. I would love I would love to see that fight in December Also this weekend

Match Room had an incredible show at Windsor Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland Our own Pizie Carroll was there We'll hear from him Did a great show A post show for the crack podcast Audio only

Go check that out Whenever you can It's a really nice look back Has a great conversation With Gavin Casey as well Of note Among the many great performances On the card

came from our very own Molly McCann, her pro boxing debut, and I have to say she looked fantastic. Her opponent, Randomska, even threw a kick her way, tried to create some space here, said, get the hell out of here. And she was unbothered,

not phased by at all. Look at that. A little teep, a little Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort. Referee didn't even notice it. but look at this scene and then she gets the knockdown there in the fifth and eventually gets the stoppage here the referee jumps in there are a couple of quick stoppages there on

the night but molly mccann now one and oh thrilled for her seems to have found something eddie behind her the fans are behind her let's see where she goes bantam weight super bantam weight a lot of options there pat brown who i absolutely love, doing great. Once again, the guy just hits like an absolute truck. He looked fantastic, winning once again, remaining undefeated, the former G.B. Olympic team member, big time signing last year for Matrum. He remains undefeated. And then in the main event, it was the big grudge match between Lewis Crocker and Patty Donovan. And in the end, it was Mr. Crocker on the left getting the dub. Knockdown here in the third. Great fight. Not obviously as

controversial as the last one. Here was another knockdown, flash knockdown. The crowd, the atmosphere, phenomenal. Despite all of this, I still thought Patty won the fight. You see him doing some work here in the ninth? And this is the end of the fight. And I thought it was elementary at this point. Crocker gets the win and you see the emotion afterwards. Look at this scene. At Windsor Park. Outdoor show. There was

some talk of there was some talk of potential storm coming through. I don't think it rained. There was one shot. Oh, I forgot to grab this. There was a shot of Pizzi. There was so much to grab. Pizzi sitting behind the

commentary table with a massive grin on his face. PT was having the time of his life out there. It was great. Great, great stuff. A great scene, a big show, and what turned out to be a great day of fighting. From that show, then to Notcha UFC, to, of course, the big show over at Allegiance Stadium, if you would have asked me at the end of the night, at the end of that very busy 12-hour stretch of fighting, who was the number one person I wanted to have on this program?

Without a doubt, easiest answer. If I could have picked anyone, anyone on the planet, any one. anyone involved, from the biggest names to the smallest names, it was this guy. Mr. Eddie Hearn, the face, the head of matron boxing, kind enough to join us on this Monday evening. Oh, repping Monaco, I like it. How are you, Eddie? I'm good, thank you. How are you, mate? I'm doing great. We have a lot to talk about Eddie, so I really appreciate the time. And it's been a minute since we last spoke. How are you doing? Everything okay?

Yeah, well, good. I mean, very busy, you know, a great night in Belfast on Saturday. Scoric scenes, crazy scenes. And obviously a great night in Las Vegas as well for boxing. Ben Eubank, Presser, this Wednesday. And then just gearing up for the next show, thick and fast. You know, it's red hot times for the sport of boxing. Obviously, as well, you know, saddened by the loss of Ricky Hatton. It was kind of after such a great night on Saturday,

it was just such a brutal blow for the sport and so many that knew him and loved him. you know which was pretty much everyone whom his life blessed and so i'd be remiss if i don't start there before we get into all the the business so to speak i know you didn't promote him he was a queensberry guy but obviously you have been in this game for so long and obviously knew him when you think of rickie hatton and his legacy and why he meant so much to the british public what comes to mind just um a real honest working class hero i think that's the best way to describe him I mean, he was a fighter that was really the last of his era who wasn't built or didn't care

or because he didn't really exist in terms of social media. You know, I mean, so many people now, you know, that their key is to build themselves on social media and become famous on those platforms. This was a guy who just built himself through being who he is and built himself in his own city from just being a genuine individual. I mean, crazy to think, Ariel, that he had the support and following that he did,

even in the days before social media. And that was because of him as a person. You know, this was a guy, you know, to his detriment sometimes, in his boxing career, he would literally finish his fights. And that was it. He was one of the lads. He was out with the boys. He was in Tenerife.

He was in Manchester. He was in Las Vegas. But he had time for everybody. You know, he never came from an era of trying to, you know, do good gestures whilst everybody's, you know, watching it unfold on social media or have a content team behind him watching him do this and watching him do that. He did it with a clean heart. And, you know, I got to, I knew him well over the years, but I really got to work with him closely with his son Campbell, you know, who we promoted, you know, for a dozen or so fights. And

Ricky just had time for everybody, you know, and I think probably, although he often, and needed to work on himself and help himself, he was always more interested in helping others. And that's a mark of the man, you know, a real selfless individual. And someone that, you know, I said earlier in an interview, you know what boxing's like. Every combat sport, every sports industry is very fickle. I've never heard one person say a bad word about Ricky Hatton.

Oh, Ricky's this. I don't like Rick. No one ever said it because he gave the same amount of time to, you know, someone with extreme power to the same amount of time he'd give someone to a young kid in the gym. He was a lovely, lovely man and it's really, really, really sad. And you know, you can see and feel the response from the boxing industry, particularly in this country. It's affected everybody. It really has. And there wasn't, like I said, there wasn't anyone that didn't know him and there wasn't anyone that didn't love him. The tweets, the tributes, everything that everyone is saying from legends of boxing to even, you know, the Gallagher's and footballers and

stuff like that, and a measurable loss, really. And I appreciate you talking about him in such glowing terms. Allow me to transition to your event, if I can. We were just talking about Molly before you joined us. Molly McCann, obviously, great UFC fighter, beloved UFC fighter. If Ricky's in every man, she's sort of in every woman, right? Everyone loves Molly. Meatball Molly. A bizarre second round if you would have you know maybe place some odds Eddie on on who would have thrown a kick in that fight maybe we would have said Molly but she

received the kick what did you think of her performance overall I saw your thoughts in the ring you talked about her switching stances maybe a little bit too much but now that you've had some time to digest and probably talk to her backstage your thoughts on her performance and the ceiling for Molly McCann I think there was massive pressure to be honest with you I mean I spoke to her in the hotel after she was

like relieved that she's got a victory you know I mean firstly she's coming off defeats and she goes into a new sport, if you like, really, if she gets beat at that stage and she thought with someone that, you know, we could have chose a lot easier opponents.

It wasn't an opponent that's going to do any damage on the world scene. But still, it was an Irish girl, you know, who was definitely coming to fight. And I was pleased with her performance. I think once she settled down, I said, look, sometimes you're a bit keen, you're switching stance.

You can fight orthodox and Southport. But, you know, once you're getting into a rhythm in the orthodox stance you really don't need to be switching to southpore and you know she's she's she has significant experience in boxing through the aBAs but this is in the amateur code you know almost probably a decade ago so switching back is is difficult you're doing it in a stadium you know in front of 18 19,000 there's a lot of pressure a lot of eyeballs and I think she's going to be good you know I think she's going to really settle down she can punch um and she's going to need those probably six fights that we plan to give her in 12 months and after that that's her that's her

opportunity to learn she's she's free after that to spread her wings and try and challenge for a world title i'm convinced she will be at world championship level and i'm convinced she'll be challenging for one within 12 to 15 months and then it's over to her but now we just got to give her the ring time and you know molly she's like you said about rickie she's really is just just an incredible person and everybody loves her and um you know she's got a massive fan base she's extremely popular and she can fight and and she will keep on improving in boxing i thought patty donovan won the main event i'm not the only one who'd you have it for i feel like more people thought paddy probably edged it than lewis but i think sometimes people don't quite add up the score

cards given the knockdowns i mean someone said to me to that oh paddy won that easy and i said really I said, how many rounds did you give Lewis Crocker outside of the knockdowns? And he went like, only two. I was like, okay, so you gave him two rounds plus two, 10, eight rounds. This is a very, very close fight. And, you know, I'm the same probably giving Crocker two to three rounds, probably three. And if you give him three plus the knockdowns, I believe he wins it by a point. So I think, you know, whoever lost that fight was going to be kicking themselves.

because Paddy Donovan at the turn was a million miles behind. Now, there is an argument he won virtually every round at the back half. But for me, he should have been trying to force the stoppage once he got his legs back. And it was a big knockdown in the fifth. And for Lewis Crocker, if he would have lost the fight, I think he would have been kicking himself for not putting his foot on the gas from the sixth round. You know, like I said, that was a very, very heavy knockdown to 10, 8 rounds. I think Lewis was probably coasting a little bit, thinking, look, I'm miles ahead here.

But Paddy was dominating the back half of the fight. So, you know, honestly, when the bell went, I'd no idea who won. A lot of people were split ringside. Some had Paddy winning by two or three, four points. I don't see that at all. I'll see the winner of that fight by literally one point either way. And it could have gone either way. Did you stay up to watch the Netflix card?

No. quite amazingly, I actually went to bed within probably like 45 minutes or an hour of getting back to the hotel which is quite unusual for me because you're so pumped from the show but I had an early flight in the morning and I was quite shocked at how late the fight was because I think I woke up at six or quarter past six UK time and I went straight to Netflix and put it on

and I think it was round seven or eight so I managed to watch the fight from I think eight or nine through to 12 and I didn't really know where I stood because the you know you've got the Netflix commentary can be extremely biased one way or the other I don't think that they had an agenda or anything and you know when I turned it on the the narrative was that Bud was miles ahead and you know I watched 9 10 11 12 and you know Kenello was really forcing the pressure but Crawford was just just too sharp and too good and I kicked myself really because I thought from the get go Crawford would win this fight comfortably and then just the last two or three days I just got caught up with

the way in and everything I was like no it's Canello you know he's the guy he's the bigger guy at 68 and yeah I'm not a betting man but if I was I would have been kicking myself because you know I really felt like Crawford would use his skill to dominate the fight and that's what he did. Did you go back and watch the whole broadcast? No, no, I haven't, no. Okay, I was curious your thoughts, but obviously you didn't see it. Is there any part of you that thinks, because we had Terrence on earlier, and he's playing coy as to, you know, what his future holds? Do you think he's done? Or do you think there's no way he walks away from this? I mean, it's really what, 38 now, is he? I mean, he's, what, 38 now is he? I mean, you know, he's dead. Oh, yeah,

38 and Canello's 30. 38, yeah. So no spring chicken. And, you know, he's, the thing is with Crawford is his CV has never allowed him to achieve what I think he could have achieved if he had better dance partners. I mean, before the Canello victory, like he always says, you know, to me, he says, my best win was Ricky Burns. It was our fighter at 135 pounds. But he's never really beaten a lot of. elite guys and champions, even though he has all of the ability to beat them.

I rate him as a generational great fighter. And I feel like the Canelo fight was the first flagship fight, maybe Spence, but I think Spence was slightly damaged goods in that fight, where he could show his true greatness. And the greatness wasn't that he just beat Canello Alvarez. The greatness was that he went from 135 all the way up eventually to 168 and dominated the fight up there as well. So he's a guy that can hang with any generation of talent.

You know, Floyd Mayweather, you know, even the Four Kings of, you know, that period with Leonard Hagleherns and Girard. You know, he really is a superb fighter with a tremendous IQ. And, you know, what's next? I mean, the only kind of division he hasn't ruled is 160, if you like, in between the 54 and 68. I am biased, obviously, the fight that I believe is the best fight in boxing right now for him to be involved with is Geron Boots Ennis. I really feel like these guys are quite similar in terms of their skill levels. And I think that Boots is actually the guy to take over from Crawford moving forward.

I mean, Boots is just 28 years old. You know, Crawford is 38 years old. But if Boots wins on October the 11th, he becomes the mandatory challenger for Terence Crawford's 15th. I know that it's unlikely. We'll see him return there, but for me, there isn't really any challenges for Crawford at 160 majorly. I mean, Yannebec's a great fight, but I don't believe he's going to take that fight, but he may choose to go there to try and win another championship. And I don't know who's there for him at 68, if I'm honest, with you. I mean, Crawford is all about fighting for money now. And obviously, he's had the Errol Spence fight, even the

Madrimov fight was extremely well paid for and obviously probably received a massive paycheck on Saturday, who's going to deliver him that kind of money again? You know, and I don't see a lot of megafights. I mean, I heard a lot of people talking about Dimitri Bivol at 68 or maybe even 75. I mean, Bivol's obviously our guy and Bivol Crawford is just an unbelievable fight. But, you know, I think it's going to come down to money and it would be a great way to bow out. but he also proved that he still got plenty in the tank because it was a great performance.

There was so much to take in and digest over the course of the week, but to me, the most interesting story of the week, and I'm not going to pit it Eddie as Eddie Hearn versus Dana White, but it was Eddie Hearn and Dana White. Because you know what's going on here. There is, there's competition,

but both of you continue to preface your comments with compliments, but there's something that we've never seen with you guys, guys like I see I we just did a whole 30 minute breakdown on every single clip of you guys talking about each other last week and it was there was a lot of passive aggressiveness there there's there's something going on here between you two and so can I ask what is the state of your relationship with Dana white right now oh honestly our relationship's good like I've never had any kind of falling out with Dana I can't stress enough the respect I have from I've done it on this show many times before um I feel like he is you know I mean, certainly the greatest MMA promoter and arguably one of the greatest combat sport promoters of all time. The business that they've built is absolutely incredible, the team of people they have there are first class. But you can't expect me, a guy who's extremely competitive, to not want to roll up my sleeves and see who is the best in boxing. Because I believe I am the best in boxing.

I mean, we're the only global promotional company in the world. and I believe I'm head and shoulders above everybody as a promoter. Call that delusion, called that arrogance, or call that the truth. But that's what I truly believe. And, you know, I'm excited to cross swords with Dana. There'll never be any disrespect, if I'm honest. And you're never going to see me slagging him off or talking down about him. I'm excited by the challenge because I think it's a real challenge.

I don't expect Dana and TKO to come into boxing and just, you know, know, sit in a corner and, you know, deliver some decent numbers for shareholders. I think they're going to want to have a presence and try and dominate the sports, the ego that they all are blessed with, you know. So, yeah, I think people like it, you know, and it's good for me in many ways. It's good for me personally to have that competition. It's good for my profile, I guess, if it's Eddie V. Dana, and I'm more than happy for that strap line.

But it probably will be. You know, if he really has ambitions to try and dominate the spool, it is going to be me and him, duking it out. And I don't think that's bad for boxing, honestly. You know, and he probably believes that he can dominate boxing, dominate me, dominate everything. And I feel the same. So you've got two guys with a lot of ambition, with deep pockets, and big egos.

So in a pleasant way, let battle. commence. When you hear the things that he says, two of the three biggest fights, I will have the only deal, the zone does some fights, but no one has a deal like I'm going to have. When he talks about these things, when he talks about coming in and changing boxing, you take it personally, right? No, no, because he has to think like that. He's a winner. You know, he can't come in and go, oh, you know, I'm not sure whether we'll be successful in boxing. You know, I'm not sure whether we'll be successful in boxing or, you know, we're going to give it a good go. He's going to do exactly what I would say. Look at me when I got my DeZone deal. I came out, bullet. I mean,

sometimes, I look back now, I think I might have even got it wrong, but it's the only way I know. We're coming to dominate. We're coming to take over. We're coming to put everybody out the game. And it's taken us five years to get in a dominant position in America. You know, right now we sit as the boxing promotional company that has the biggest budget currently in boxing in America. You have all these major boxing promotional companies with dozens of world champions and a roster of great fighters

who have no broadcaster. They're completely on their ass. And we are in a fantastic position. So, you know, I think that when he talks about he's delivered two of the biggest fights of all time, I mean, if you really want to come into boxing and call Mayweather McGregor, one of the biggest fights of all time,

Please. It was an exhibition. It's not a fight. And by the way, Crawford-Connello was not Dana White's fight. It was Turkey Al-Ashek's fight. And he was invited to be the promoter. Well done. Good. Well-played. I'm sure you made a few quid. But let's not get it twisted. The work that Turkey-A-Lashake has done in boxing has paved away for Canello Crawford. Without Turkey-A-Lashake, Canelo v. Crawford never would have happened. In fact, it wouldn't have even been a fight that Dana White would have been considered or thought of making. So, well done to Dana, well done to TCO, but let's give the credit of Canelo Crawford to Turkey Alashake, the man that truly paid up for the fight, the man that truly had the vision for two generational grates to meet in the ring. Because I didn't believe that fight could get made. He went out and made it, and yep, Dana turned up and sat in the front row and went to the press conference. But, you know, if you're taking credit.

for Mayweather McGregor and a fight that ultimately someone else paid for there's a long way to go do you think

they'll be able to co-exist who Turkey and Dana working with Turkey O'Shea is a wild ride a wild ride

and I look you know Bainer works at a high level at Mark Shapiro

Nick Kahn, all these people. I mean, they're very, very good at what they do, they're very smart, but they're also, they also like to do what they do and what they want to do. And Turkey out of Sheikh, I'm just being straight. He doesn't really allow you to do what you want to do. He does what he wants to do and you follow.

And I've learned over the years of working with him, you know, your advice mainly falls on deaf ears, but I've also learned that he's definitely not an idiot. He's a very smart guy. And there's a method to the madness, but the traditional ways of going on sale through tickets or announcing the press conference or even announcing the fight is just not the traditional way with him. And I think they're going to clash.

But money's money, isn't it? I mean, you know, it depends if sometimes you're prepared to keep your mouth quiet and do as you're told. I am. Are they? I mean, that's the difference for me. You know, I feel like sometimes I know what side of my bread's buttered on. You know, and I'm not too proud to say, sometimes I will do as I'm told with these guys because it's a massive opportunity for my fighters for the sport and for our business.

I don't always agree with what they do and by the way I won't keep my mouth quiet I'll tell Turkey and I'll tell the team around him that I think you've done it wrong whether they want to listen or not it doesn't really matter but let's be honest

look at the progress that the sport has made since his involvement you know everybody's been better off in the sport of boxing the fighters the broadcasters the promoters

the fans So, you know, I don't know. I don't know enough. I don't really know enough about those guys to see if they can stomach it. But it's different. It's very, very different. It's fun. It's tiring.

You know, I mean, when you wake up in the morning at 4 o'clock in the morning and you've got six missed calls from Turkey and three text messages going, why aren't you picking up the phone? It's not for everybody. When you say it's been great for the fighters, the fans, the broadcasters, you can add the media to that as well. Credit to you, credit to Frank Warren, credit to a lot, you do media with everyone. Sometimes we've joked that maybe it's too much of you with all these websites, but you answer questions and you don't shy away from them. I wish I could say the same.

The old Dana White did that. The new Dana White, not so much. It doesn't have to, although this past week you did see him do a lot of media. That interaction at the press conference was quite telling because I thought they were. legitimate fair questions and he he viewed them as being an asshole and showboating when you saw that interaction because you know all these characters you know the boxing media what did you think i mean look firstly when you're taking the floor you know questions from the floor which is something that sometimes we do sometimes we don't because because after the press conference i will

do every outlet individually basically for three hours after i don't really take questions from the floor, I allow them to ask them questions to my face away from the press conference, which enables them to ask a broader range of questions. So I have to be honest that, you know, the pressing of that question, whilst it was a very good and valid question, is not necessarily relevant to the Crawford-Canello fight. The issue is, is that Dana doesn't do all those interviews. He doesn't give the media access like that. So when they get their open floor, they want to have their opportunity to ask the questions that people want to, want to hear. You know, the issue is, is, you know, if I'm, is it Sean, I think Sean Zittel from

fight hype. If I'm Sean Zetel, I'm now firing in the email to go, you said in front of the world to come and talk to you and question, you know, and do an interview with you. When would you like that to take place? You know, I will say as well, Ariel, you know, They are a stock listed company. It's not, for me, you know, I've got nothing to worry about saying nothing. It's on me, right? You know, when you, when you have a company that size, I think corporately, you do have to be a little bit more careful. And I think Dana's pretty good and honest in most of his replies.

He's pretty straightforward and blunt. But this is a very sensitive topic when you're talking about the Muhammad Ali Act. I mean, you know, not knowing. in the full details, the way it's being reported is that TKO are trying to have the Muhammad Ali Act altered or abolished, which is an act designed to protect the interests of the fighters and to make sure ultimately that they aren't taken advantage of.

So the question is, why are you trying to get that act changed or removed? and the strange thing about that act is is that on every show you have to declare to the fighters on the card the revenue of the event which is quite unique I mean very unique you imagine that you've got every fighter on the card gets to see the revenue of the show and clear there isn't really a problem with that in the boxing world because a significant proportion of the revenue is paid to the athlete, the talent, the fighter. So maybe when there's a bigger TV deal, the split of that revenue is not paid accordingly with the probably with the tradition

of the industry. And I don't think they're going to go with the tradition of the industry. I think they will think that fighters are overpaid because they are in relation. to the UFC and MMA talent. So how is the model going to make the money they need it to if that percentage portion of revenue is given to the talent? And you won't know what that revenue is without the Muhammad Ali Act. So, listen, I would love to see a sit-down interview between Sean Dittel and Zane or Dana White.

I hope that they can do it. It will be great, great view it. But they don't really need to do it. That's the reality. I mean, when you're going into a new market or you're trying to establish yourself, you want to sit down with the outlets and you want to talk face to face with fans

and tell them what your mission statement is, what you're trying to deliver in the sport to the fans and for the fighters. They're not interested in that. They don't want to put their point across. They don't want to canvas, you know, the strategy in boxing, they just want to say, we're going in there, we're going to dominate, we'll have a massive TV, we'll do, we'll do whatever we want. That's it.

And maybe, again, boxing is a very strange world that there is that access area. You know, like you can effectively turn up and get accredited to fight. I don't know. I mean, I'm literally going down a row of people, probably 70 or 80 percent, I know, because they're, big outlets, but the other dozen people aren't told me. I've never even seen them before. It's a new outlet here, but you've got to give people their opportunity. You know, every Coogan Cassius, every

Charlie Parsons, every Sean's itself, every fight hype started as a startup channel at some point. And you've got to give these guys the chance to get access because they're there to support the sport as well. Would you benefit from the fact that the LE Act gets abolished? Would you, would you like for this to happen? I mean, I've never once thought, oh, I could really do with getting

rid of the Muhammad Ali Act. I do find it quite fascinating that you're disclosing the revenue of the show to the fighter. But if you haven't got anything to hide, I don't see why that's really a problem. I mean, the margins that we work off are, I think, and clearly fighters think as well, because they've never had an issue. No one's ever raised. No one's ever looked at the numbers on the show and gone, oh my God, I can't believe how small the purses are

in relation to the revenue of the show. So we haven't really got anything to hide. So I've never, you know, I must admit, when I started working in America, I was quite astonished that that does happen. But at the same time, it doesn't bother me because I think what we do is extremely fair. And the purses that we pay are extremely fair.

in relation to the revenue of the show. Sometimes too high, I think, but it is what it is, and that's the market. And don't forget as well that if this league comes, I expect the prize money or the purses to be quite conservative. Yet, what's the TV deal? I mean, you just said there, we're going to come into a massive deal. It's going to be bigger than anything before. yet you might be doing a league where that that doesn't even that that whole card doesn't

even cover the main event of a standard show because of the cost and the market rate and value of purses for championship fights does that make sense so you know and and that was that's probably what it smells like to some people but I don't you know I don't know what the league I mean It's been a while now since it was announced. And I don't know what, you know, they were talking last week that it's more like a contender series, is it or something like that? And, you know, I never said, I think Dana said in his interview, oh, Eddie Hearn said it's going to fail. I never said it's going to fail. And I'm sure it's going to be a big success.

I just don't think it's going to change the sport. I think fans want big fights, championship fights, great 50-50 fights. You know, can we build stars in a. league format. Yeah, I'm sure they can. I'm sure they can build stars anywhere. But it's not changing our strategy. And we're very focused on the continued global expansion. He said in an interview last week that they have already 70 to 80 fighters under contract. Any fighters that, you know, had a fight left with you or at the end of your contract that you want to say where you were now looking at negotiating against them? Did you hear of anyone that was once on your stable? I mean, I know

probably half a dozen to a dozen fighters that have signed with them. And there have been a lot of fighters that are, you know, we've been looking to use as opponents, you know, in the third, fourth, fight down and, you know, good exciting guys who will fight anyone and I'm sure there'll be some undefeated guys as well. But I think they want, and I don't think it's a terrible idea, I think they want talent that are prepared to fight anybody. and you're not going to get that from elite talent that are trying to strategically maneuver a career up the world rankings

and are also receiving significant purses as well. You know, I think these guys are going to want people to come in and say, yeah, just tell me who I'm fighting and I'm up for it. And that's going to be exciting as well. I'm not knocking it, but it's just very different. Do you think there will ever be a point where Turkey only works with them? my gut feeling no but who knows who knows what the future holds you know who knows what the long-term strategy is for turkey al-a Sheikh and Saudi Arabia I mean they've brought some tremendous fights to the kingdom

I think with Turkey one thing that people don't realize is I mean he's he's ruthless but he also has a extreme passion for the sport of boxing. You know, he really cares about the sport. He cares about the fighters. He's got a tremendous engine, you know, of work that he gets through. I mean, don't forget, boxing's only a small part of re-ed season. And, you know, but it's definitely the thing that he has the most passion for. And Turkey will do what he wants to do.

And I'm not sure whether he'll exclusively align himself with anyone, if I'm honest, because I think he likes working with a number of people. And I think he wants to keep people on their toes. And, you know, I think that he likes to have that versatility to do different stuff. You know, you've got Riyadh season, you've got ring cards. You know, you had the underdog series the other night, which he's just launched. You know, you've got, I mean, you got Ben Eubank coming up as well. You've got the league.

So I don't know, unless he just decides to find. focus on one thing particular, I fully expect to continue working with it. And I think if you've got a roster of fighters that are of a high quality and a high level, he's going to want to work with you. But, you know, our business, Frank Warren's business, all these people, you know, but they will go in great pre-read season. They're just going better now. And, you know, it's been an honour working with these guys.

And I think that, yeah, for me, if I didn't like working with him, It would be very different, but I do, and I think he's very funny. I think he's got great energy. Will we fall out? We fall out all the time, all the time. But it's quite brief, and it's quite fast. And, you know, he'll be over for the Ben Eubank Presser on Wednesday, and we'll catch up with him and see what they're thinking.

Last question on this particular topic, and I'll just sort of re-ask a question that I asked prior. As you said, you're competitive and you're a proud guy, you've invested and devoted your life to boxing your father as well. And by the way, I do want to urge everyone to check out your series that premieres on Netflix this Wednesday about that particular, there it is, Matchroom, the Greatest Showman. Can't wait and very excited that it's airing here in North America because I saw it right under the module. I thought it might be a European show.

So this is very exciting stuff. Very, very much looking forward to that. The reason I asked if you're taking it personal is because you live and breed boxing, there's a level of hubris on that side of the fence that is like, I'm going to come in here and I'm going to show you guys what's what, and I did it there. And you see Max talking about how he's the savior and all this stuff. There's got to be a part of you that's like, no, you're not. Right? Like, you're defending your turf. That's the way I'm reading it. Am I wrong? I mean, I, you know, I saw it all. I heard it all. And, you know, I like Canelo's comments

particularly, but I can't tell you that I listened to anything that was said and said, and you know, the stress levels went up and said, no, you're not. I'll show you. I mean, I just, you know, I just, I don't mean it disrespectfully when I say, I think I'm on another level in boxing. You know, you can see that on the deliverance. You know, like when Dana delivers his UFC stuff and his MMA stuff, it's the same kind of passion that I probably have inside for boxing. I can't go into MMA and just, deliver it in the same way. You know, whether you think that you've got a history in the sport, it's just not the same. It's 24-7, 365 days a year. Live, breathe, boxing. I mean, I don't know. There's nothing I don't know about my fighter's careers, the opponents that have faced.

You know, box wreck is the king of my browser. I've been sitting, watching, learning the sport for 40 years. And, you know, it's just, it's different. When you come into that, but what they do have on their side is very smart people and excellent contacts to deliver significant TV deals for a lot of money that would enable them to be successful in the space. And as I've said before, they will not. not be successful in the space.

They're too good. They're too smart. And like I said, Eddie v. Dana, Dana v. Eddie. There's nothing personal about it. I just love the sound of it. I mean, even since those, I saw those interviews, I can't tell you the level that it's sort of just buoyed me to. I'm buzzing.

You know, I'm on getting up, I got up earlier this morning. I mean, it's, you know, it's nearly 11 o'clock here now. I've got about another three interviews to do. I've done about 40 interviews today. I thought this was an exclusive. I thought we were. No, obviously. I always do you last, right?

But, you know, I'm fired up for it. I'm excited for boxing. And his inclusion is fantastic for the sport. Fantastic. Because they're serious players. They're going to be making an investment. everybody's talking about it. Why is Dana White getting involved with boxing?

Because boxing's red hot. We've had this conversation for the last six months. It's much hotter than MMA right now, in my opinion. And great times. Great time. So, yeah, you're not. I mean, I'd be very, I'd be shocked if you saw me over the next three, six months slagging off Dana White.

Because I always treat people how they treat me. And I've told you dozens of times, he's been fantastic to me. over the years. You know, I've never asked for it. He's always been extremely hospitable. We've got on very well. I think we'll continue to get on well. But I do think it will be a rivalry that will be great for the sport.

And, you know, we're both fairly young men. Hopefully we've both got a lot of time left in the game. And I'm up for rolling my sleeves up, working harder than ever and competing. And I look forward to it. Okay, a couple more, and then I'll let you go. Thank you for this very much. You said maybe 10 minutes ago, when you came in with DeZone, there's maybe a few things in retrospect that you got wrong. I rarely hear you say that, you getting something wrong. What were you referring to there?

I just feel like, you know, we signed a billion dollar deal over eight years, right? And it was a massive, massive deal. And sometimes I think to myself, could I have. gone in quietly, you know, spoke quietly to fighters, tried to build the stable, or was it right to sit there at the press conference and say, this is the biggest deal in the history of boxing, we're here and we're going to completely take over the US market, you know, I don't know the answer to that. All I can ever tell you is that was me and that was me being me. That was me being real and I, you know, I can't change and I can't fault myself for that.

But maybe now with a bit more experience, maybe I could have done it a little bit differently. The issue that we had was we launched with a new brand, a new broadcaster that no one could even spell or pronounce, let alone, you know, as watched before. And, you know, I was joking today that, you know, I was sitting down with fighters. I remember, you know, meeting with Mikey Garcia and he says, so. So what is an app? I'm like, oh man, you know, and you've got Hayman telling these guys you're getting double, but, you know, are you going to throw your career away by fighting on some app streaming? What is that?

And I'm saying, I truly believe streaming is the future of live sports. And a lot of those promoters, you know, who joked and, you know, laughed about the platform and what we were doing. I mean, some now have no broadcast deal. and many are right into that platform and asking if there's any chance they could get a TV deal or dates or some

who are completely out of business and I don't think they've done a show for two or three years. So I have to be honest I'm really proud of what the zone have done and the zone is something quite personal to me as well because there's a lot of great promoters on the platform and the content is second to none,

but it's been five odd years of really hard work to build to this position. And I've given a lot to the platform. I've pushed them a lot personally. I've gone above and beyond to help. And their success is not all down to me in Matron, that's for sure. But I am, you know, I truly believe I have to be up there as one of their great ambassadors

because I believe in the product. I've always pushed the product, even when people were talking down about it, even when people were laughing that, you know, this, you know, dead zone and, you know, and now it's sitting there as an extremely profitable part of their business, fantastic numbers in all key markets, and a schedule that has never been seen before in the sport of boxing. What are the chances Ben Whitaker's next fight is under the matchroom umbrella? Well, we'll have to see. I mean, I think, you know, for me personally, we won't get involved with a fighter that's not contractually clear.

I think Ben Whittaker is a fantastic talent. I think he has it all. I think that he is probably has all the potential to be one of the big stars or biggest star in British boxing. And I think he's a guy that can make significant noise globally as well. And we have the opportunity to do that. I mean, obviously our relationship with his excellency, but more so the ability to fight him on major cards in major cities in the US. You know, and I look at someone like Ben Whittaker and go,

that's easy work for me. Easy work. I can make you ten times bigger than you are now. So if he was a free agent, I would be extremely interested to talk to him about his future. And I like Ben a lot. You know, he was actually very close to something. signing with us.

I'll actually tell you a funny story. I don't even know if this has been told. I'm sure it's not. We actually filmed a promo with Ben Whittaker. We pretty much agreed terms for he's signing when he turned pro. And at the death, Boxer came along and pulled up some extra cash. And he went with them instead. And that didn't even leave a bit of taste in the mouth.

it just you know every time he fights i just go and um we've flirted with each other a lot over the years without ever speaking and you know if that that opportunity presents itself i'd like to finally make it happen what a story wow okay something to look forward to potentially i saw you and katie and brian peters together what can you tell us about her future lovely lunch we really had a lovely lunch i mean she's a very very special person, you know. And Brian is a, you know, a really good friend of mine. I mean, every manager should be really annoying. And Brian and Sam Jones, two really annoying people that just call you,

call you, call you, but that's their job, you know. And we just kind of sat there and had dinner in, we're in a place called Carlingford in the middle of nowhere in the Republic of Ireland. And we just talked about the whole journey. And it's just the most special journey. um we talked about her fighting again we talked about what's left what you know what what what on earth is there to tick off any kind of box um and the answer is we just don't know you know i think time will be the key decision maker in the process and she's definitely not going to fight this year you know i think any fight would be spring summer of next year look a croak park fight. I mean, we've talked about it

forever, haven't we? But that's definitely, of course, something that would still be of interest to her. She may never fight again, you know? And if she walked away now, part of me would be unbelievably happy, you know?

I think she has such a, you know, a lot of these fighters, I think they have so much to give to the sport. You know, I said to her, was you ever coached, oh, I think I'd be a terrible trainer. I said, what, how? You know, and not just that but you know she turns up to support the other female fighters and you know tier eight and one of our young stars she was championed her the other day and i don't think she sometimes

realizes the effect that she can have not not just even on young amateur fighters but even professional fighters because everybody's hero from that code is katie taylor so i don't know how the story will go from here but it's been one of the great journeys certainly of my career and she's just a tremendous individual. Would you like to see her fight again? I mean, if the opportunity presented itself at Croke Park, I think that would be something that would just be so historic. And I know how much it means to her.

But at the same time, after the Serrano fight that we just had, you know, and she is approaching the, you know, there I say the 4-0 at some point soon. it was the kind of conversation where it was like it's been it's been unbelievable and if it ends here thank you you know thank you for everything and um you know it's just we were like saying that so much of what we've done is just a blur you know you have to remember when she turned professional at wembley in 2017 2016 in in november we got laughed out of town oh my god eddie and matrim are putting a woman on the car i can't believe it you know fast forward to wembley stadium millennium stadium you know philadelphia boston and of course headline in ireland madison square garden twice AT&T stadium i mean like we we we said we never ever expected ever in our wildest dreams to take it to this kind of level from from a from an interest

perspective and from a financial perspective as well she's made a lot of money and i'm really proud of her two last quick ones a j we saw the ig story the the fury thing and all that when do you think we'll have an answer to the question of you know when he fights again and against two when do you think that comes down you know i i don't think you'll mind me saying it but i i spoke to nekisa today i mean they they want to make the jake paul fight you know and i said to nekisa look look, we were right up for that fight and we would do it. But we can't take that fight without seeing what happens against Tank. Because if you get flattened by a tank, don't even think we can make an AJ fight.

But I don't know. I mean, right now, we're planning to return in January or February. And it's been well documented. We've had that approach, an offer from Ghana. And I think it would be the most tremendous thing for AJ to fight in Africa. I really do. I mean, when you look at what he's done in his career, I think the scenes are,

I mean, it would just be wild. And he needs that fight. You know, it's been a year now that he's been out of the ring. He need, if we're going into a fury or we're going into a, no idea, Dubois, Ouse it, whoever it's going to be. And there will be a major fight next summer. It has to be because that's what we're going to do.

He needs to get back in the groove against a top 20 guy that he can go in, blow the cobwebs off, look good, and gear himself up for the last big roll of the dice. So right now, I would say January or February in Africa is very, very common. And I would be looking to head out to see AJ next week to try and finalize some plans. Do you calm Femi, by the way, or do you call him A.J.? Okay. I guess inner circle calm Femi. I mean, you know, I've just always known him as AJ, you know. So, but I will say when I saw that IG story, I was over the moon.

Yeah, it does. Because there has been a lot of soul searching since the Dubois defeat. And the injury was a big blow because it was, first it was just heal it on its own, then it was no, it needs an operation. And that was like a three or four month period. And couple that with the kind of, you know, I just feel like sometimes people don't realize what a loss can do for a fighter especially for someone

who's not used to losing especially a loss on a massive stage you know and when you put so much work into something and it comes crumbling down it's personally

very very hard to accept and you know it definitely took him a while to get over that okay last one you announced you won't be at the press conference on Wednesday for venue bank to

you know me better than that You know me better than that. I mean, this is so funny. I mean, I was actually quite pleased that I pulled Chris Eubank Jr.'s plonker with it. As if Eddie Hearn is not going to a press conference for the biggest fight of the year. Never, ever, ever in a million years. I mean, I doubt I'll be able to get a word in anyway, but I'm never not going. You know?

So, roll on Wednesday. I'll see Mr. Eubank there and we gear up for Eubank Ben. too it's going to be a great fight the first one was one of the best we've seen and you know despite our differences i respect what you know what they both did but i respect what junior did in that fight because he had to show a lot of heart and it was a brutal brutal fight um and they're ready to lace them up and do it again okay so for the record he took the bait he tweeted your smart man edward you know if you show your face on the 17th i'm going to just embarrass and expose you again if I was you I wouldn't come to my press conference either breaking news you will be there

of course that was Coogan saying yeah well what you think I said I'm not going and then it just blew up wow Eddie's not going to the presser I thought guys you know me better than that love it thank you Eddie and good luck on Wednesday at the presser but also with the release of the series can't wait for it appreciate the time as always thank you there he is the great Eddie Hearn of matchroom boxing very kind and gracious with his time a fascinating chat about all the Cummings and Goings in the world of Matrum. And yeah, I did see that clip. This is the tweet from Chris Eubank.

He, I guess, took the bait and thought, in fact, that Eddie wasn't going to be there. But he is going to be there, which makes for must-see television or streaming, viewing come Wednesday for that press conference. All right, a few bits and bobs, or is it bips and bobs? I'm not sure. Bips and bobs? Bips or bits? I think either one. Champing or chomping?

Champing. Well, a few more things to clean up. I do want to let you know because I knew we were going to go along with Eddie. Yuel will join us tomorrow. Yule Romero will join us tomorrow. Just made a hell of a lot more sense

than to have him on at 5 o'clock. So stay tuned for that after his BKFC debut. The man who kicked off the hole and now we're allowed to say it. Eddie V. Dana Fight Week feud was the host

of the critically acclaimed podcast The Crack That was the guy who did it He was there at the presser Mike flagging off Yeah What a ton I mean

Someone has to ask the hard questions You know what I'm saying Someone has to get in there And ruffle a few feathers I don't mind being that guy As you all know Yes Oh yeah

I started a start a combat sports war It seems When the whole story is said And then When we do like a A one year breakdown With all the clips We have to start with that interview

that was the first that was the seed what do you think pt it was we we uh we weighed in you think something's happening here they always even now like it's a few shots and then it's a few compliments it's a few shots but it's it's a different vibe right is it not yeah when eddie said like i'll be very like i can tell you one thing in two or three months you won't hear me saying a bad word about dana why i was like really you know really is i think it's going to kick off these lads And I love how we broke it down. I love how we broke down the relationship with Turkey as well. Like he is, he's explaining how difficult that is.

He's explaining the needs on him to kind of take a backseat to some degree there. Like these are the things that we pointed to as soon as this relationship was first brokered between Turkey and Dana. Like these guys are two alphas. They want things to be run their way. And, you know, I know people are looking or not. You did a great job of breaking down Dana's demeanor. There was the situation at the press conference. And even the picture that's gone viral now of him sitting alongside Mr.

Beast and Jason State him at the event, it would say to me that there's not having a ball out there, you know? It's the one where it looks like he has a big, you know, a bowl of popcorn on his own. I didn't see that one. That's even the one I'm talking about. Oh, my God. He's like, oh, we're, that's the one.

Is it Did it not seem like Turkey, Jason, and Beast were having the time of their lives? What's staying his pose here? Like, everyone has a theme going. Mr. Beast's face does not look like he's having the time of it. No, Mr. Beast was part of the revolving

door. State. Um, was the surprising mainstay the entire card. Yo. Mr. Beast looks like a hostage. Bro, I've seen a lot of, I've seen a lot of Mr. Bees. He's having a good time. Oh, yeah.

That's his happy face. From the Mr. Beast expert. This looks like a Mr. Bees' body double. Yeah, this is not look like a guy. This is all my kids talk about is Mr. Peace. Like, he is there. Like, for me as a kid, my dream was to meet, you know, Patrick Ewing. This is their guy.

Dana, fair play to him. He looks like he hates these guys. That's the face that he's making. One more time, look at that. He's thinking, look at this corny-ass. When did Dana transition from the button-down shirt look to the t-shirt under the jacket look? There was a period where he would always have the hot. collar three buttons open now he goes and style is ever evolving yeah 2025 you got to keep up yeah

yeah yeah um all right well it's gonna be a fascinating story to follow uh how was windsor park pt oh it was it was great the way you don't even by the way they say a picture uh is a thousand words or whatever they say right we saw the way you look there look at that face look at that face what was so funny there what was happening there well what you can't see right do you see on the right hands i sawed this picture there's a certain gentleman wearing an orange hat here do you know what that is i can't see it is it is your good buddy and you call him al foran we call him al faran oh yeah he's been on your show was he hitting you with some impersonations right he was hitting me with never heard before impersonations that i'm not allowed speak about okay this is what's happening here right

and then he has his friend uh the person he was working was a girl called uh call kallian who was sitting directly to my left and what i'm laughing at there is there was a dude during the chief support of the night. Ishmael and Aguaka was fighting at Keevan. And there was a fella shouting, like, no matter what time it was in the round. So we had a big screen in front of us. This guy is the same line of sight as I have. And it would be like two minutes, 30 seconds left in the round.

And for whatever reason, every single round, this guy was just like going, Keeveen, last minute, last minute. And I know this doesn't sound funny, but when it happens in every single round and there was never an actual minute left in the round, it tickled me tremendously. And that's when I'm laughing at in that exact situation, I think. Well, it seemed like you were having a ball. Some of the boxing media royalty was to your right over there.

So you were full, I think that's Coogan, right? Isn't that Coogan right next to you? No, it's not Coogan. No, it isn't. But listen, I was there. Look, I'll tell you what, there is a boundary between the pure A-List media guys, like, at Aola Depot with the suit on. Like, I felt like I can't even approach this, man.

Like, we're in two different worlds here. I'm still, you know, back here, he was being brought. Like, we were freezing. It was, it was Baltic out there. And the whole meteorota gave us ponchos fair play to them. But, you know, we were just shaking there. There was lads dancing between rounds to try and keep themselves warm. Adi's getting handed like Starbucks.

Wow, all day. Yeah, Devo Depot. That's what we call him. And I was like, just throw some fucking boiling water on me here. Like, I'll take anything at this stage. But, yeah, you know, look, it's a tear system. Someday I'll make my way up and to be able to shake hands with Adde, you know, and that would be a massive day for me.

But honestly, all jokes aside, all the bit boxing media are so lovely, really accommodating all week to me. Matriam really accommodating as well, getting that spot with Eddie was great. But it's just great to see boxing in a town like that where everybody is transfixed on the fight. Like you mentioned you talking to friends in the lead up to this Canelo Crawford fight and you saying to them, them saying to you, like, what do you think of the fight? It was only one fight right for you.

It was Canello Crawford. Up there, I went in with a similar tactic and I told you about this. I was texting you about it. I was just saying to people, who do you think is going to win the fight? One in ten people mentioned Canello's name to me when I asked that question because the whole town was transfixed on Lewis Crocker v. Paddy Donovan. Wow. I love that.

And you did a great job with the post-show pod. You know I love those. So shout out to you. By the way, Molly, what do you think? Yeah, like, I mean, I was talking to the boxing media there. And, you know, her opponent, like, that is not a, that is not an easy fight that she got there. This is a very experienced opponent. I believe we saw this lady fight before on Katie Taylor's undercarb before.

She's had, she's a 10-fight veteran. They were very impressed with her in, in the fight. The kick was a bit wild. I mean, that's a, that's taking a chance against what is we can't do on that. Referee totally missed it also. Yeah, she's in great spirits. It's such, she, she's like a season vet. now. Like, I mean, I know this is our pro debut, but you could tell she's learned so much from her

UFC career because I remember that debut in Liverpool when she fought Gillian Anderson. And she was just so excitable. She was bouncing around. She wanted to, she was given the media all of her time. She was given every fan all of her time. She was full of energy every time you saw her. I saw her at the press conference and she was cooler than the other side of the pillow. You know, you could tell she was like, I'm not going to, I'm protecting my energy to a degree. And she went in there and she got the job done. I thought she looked very good. And I was speaking to people from Match Room, and they're very impressed with her. They're very impressed with how she's going about our business.

She thinks she's very easy to work with. So I think she has a good thing going there on Match Room. And based on what Eddie said, they really want to plow ahead and give her the best possible chance to fight for a world title. So that's everybody singing off the same hymn sheet. Oh, yeah. What a line that is, by the way. Singing off the same hymn sheet.

I love it. By the way, I want to ask you more about the differences between covering a major boxing event and an MMA event. This is a quick plug. Next week, we'll be debuting a new series right here on the channel. You know, a lot of people ask me about the MMA bead. Where's the beat? Where's the beat? I say, just go watch the crack.

That is the MMA beat, essentially. Well, I'll be hosting a bit of a roundtable with Pizzi, with Ben Folks, with Chuck Minnenhall. And we'll do this from time to time. Who knows? It might turn into a thing. It might not. and it's really focused on journalism media

we'll be calling it the beat reporters so a nod to the old days the MMA beat days and a nod to the the sort of the catalyst for that show which was the sports reporter show

on ESPN that will come out next week so stay tuned for that if you're a fan of this sort of thing media etiquette war stories much more of that to come and I am looking forward to it

very very much By the way, do you think Terence Crawford-Nilly-Dipure actually fight? What do you say? We all took a stab at this? What do you say? I was listen to him. I don't even think he's lying, man. I just think he was a fan of M-M-A when M-O-A was exploding over there with

Connor McGregor and stuff like that. I remember people used to be talking about Terrence's wrestling shops as well. This guy can shoot a beautiful double leg. He was a great wrestler in school. I think he was really probably taking a closer look at that stage because I believe it was around the time when he was having those contract situations. You were mentioning it with Top Rank. And I think he was just.

just looking to stimulate every angle he can. I, you know, being around boxing this week, and I know it wasn't, it wasn't a fight in Sin City, but there was nowhere I would have rather been. Honestly, it was great. They don't know shit about M.MA, you know? They rare, the bare minimum, I mean, they know, look, some of the guys like Lewis Thompson and stuff like that,

they cover both, but I'm talking about the pure boxing people, you know what I mean? They don't know an awful lot about it. So it wouldn't surprise me. if Terence didn't know that he also comes out to the Desperado song I would not surprise me at all All right, let's see

Fascinating times so much Tomorrow will be another great show We do have to answer some super chats I do see a tweet here From an interview or a podcast From Sugar Sean about him potentially fighting Song Yadong in December Not heard about this

but that would be a good one for Sean to come back to I do like that anyway do we have any super chats Mr. Frankie I certainly do Hunter tell Lope go ahead oh no

no all right there's a pause oh what was that that's Terrence Crawford saying let's hear it again which chance okay nice I like that Hunter tell Lopez he has

the next title shot okay okay which Lopez is he talking about, Tiofimo or Diego Lopez, who spells his last name, L-O-P-E-S, not Z? Please write in another super chat with clarification.

Yes. Thank you. Make it at least $14.99. Thank you. Slito says, I can't wait until Thursday to know can the boys explain what happened to G-C in the 12th round?

Camera cut to Rick's single shot for the rest of the watch party and ever once mentioned that G-C's absence. Do we have to wait till Thursday? I think we addressed it. I mean, it was... Already addressed it? Yeah, it definitely wasn't the 12th round.

It was like the 3rd. third or fourth round. And, you know, sometimes you just got to make executive decisions. The decision was, I didn't think I was going to make it to the end of the fight. And so I had to excuse myself. It's as simple as that. I apologize to Ricky. He did a great job carrying it.

Apologize to the audience, to Terrence to everyone. Yeah. I mean, when nature calls, when nature demands, you must take action. G.C. I'm sorry that you're having to. fucking answer this again. No, it's okay, actually. You actually are the one who asked him the question. You can have skipped

that one. No. He'll protect you from everything. He'll skip everything for you even if you don't want to skip it, but he won't. Well, they call him a D1. No, I actually, I appreciate addressing it here. Yeah, it was... Could I can I break the fourth wall? Yeah, please, please, please.

So, we had a very busy day on Saturday. We were all over the gaff, right? We were... Sam, Sam, Sam. And Busy day on. Sunday, you guys know, met life, you know, hanging with Dionne Dawkins with the boys, you know, bills. Scorcher of a day. Holy smokes. My skin is still frying from it. Anyway, we're watching the

event. We're very excited. We're watching a lot of fighting. We're very excited. And my kids were actually really into it. Now, Walter, the middle child, beginning of Ambili, out, just completely out. Didn't even make it to round one. Oliver, the older one, actually made it to Calum. Walsh and to his credit fast forward the next morning asked me did the Irish guy want so something about Callum spoke to him which I thought was kind of interesting now my kids have never shown

interest in a fight before I don't even know why not even like a Jake Paul fight this one crossed over for some reason beginning of first round I'm on the couch now what time did the the fight start like 1245 1250ish yeah I did the I did the classic move

I'm just going to go lie down and watch on my phone. That's always a great movie. That is a death sentence. How could you possibly have thought that that's going to work? If I had gone horizontal, even on camera. You have probably done that 50 times in your life and you're over 50. You've done it with us.

You've done it with us. This is the one. I put the pillow here and I sat up. Oh, yeah. Never are you going to make it. That's the one. You should actually do the inverse where you stand up and start pacing around with it on. Has anybody in human history ever?

successfully pulled that off. I don't get up warm in the room. It's never, never going to happen. Oh for 10 billion. Come the third round, I said, I swear to God, I'm actually telling myself this. I said, I'm just, I've listened to the radio in bed.

I'm just going to close my eyes. I'm just going to listen to this. Close your eyes. And they're never going to open again. Why don't you tell Terrence this while he was on? I do this shit all the time myself. I know exactly. Y'all are insane.

Why lie to yourselves? Okay, you know, enjoy the fight. It's easier than just quit. It's easier than just go. quit. Who the fuck cares? Be real. No, no, no. I was locked in. I mean, once the song started playing, I was like, oh,

this is incredible. End of the song. Just listening to it, yeah? Then I woke up early because I wanted to get us ready for the tailgate for the game and I saw a text from on-air Jordan which read, yo, GC missed the fight because he wasn't

feeling well. Any interest in joining the post show? And I read this set like six. Oh no. What did I miss? This is crazy. So I go into the YouTube channel. There's no post show there. I'm like, oh gosh. What happened? I go to the, I go to the watch party, and then I see, and then I see single on Eric, and then I see nothing for the rest of the show. No camera changes for the rest of the show. Oh my God. This guy die? What happened? All right, so like I, if you go back and watch it, if we're just going to give all the gruesome details here.

I like, it was having some indigestion and went and burped. Burped. Burped the throw up. Throw up in my mouth. This was like, this was before they were ever making the walk. I was like, whoa, man, that was, that was sketchy. And you can see it. I go and grab a, I go and grab like a ginger rail

or something to try and ease it. Yeah, yeah. When you started walking around. Normally I take a couple sips of that bad boy and I'm like, all right, I'm good. I'm all good to go. I got about three-fourths of the, like, through this thing.

And I was like, whoa, I still do not feel. great. Kind of started having the laboring breaths, started getting a little bit sweaty. And then Frank, I knew it was bad now. Frank comes into my ear and he's like, Hey man, are you all right? You, uh, you don't look so good. I was like... Some labored breathing going on. I was like, no, I think I can make it, man. I think I'm all right. And then just like, as

the fight was going on, it was getting worse. And then I was like, yeah, just take Rick a single. So I had to... Army crawl. Stomach just bubbling. I'm having an army crawl under the camera. Listen, man, decisions had to be made. In hindsight... Yeah, you didn't have to do that, man. In hindsight, I do remember him going very quiet.

I was like, man, just he's not giving me much here. Whatever the last round that I was watching, there was moments where I was like, I don't think it was a third. I don't think I've said anything in 45 seconds. I have to say something. Joe, what it was? I was like, well, boxing's happening. We're writing the score down for one of the rounds,

and that's when it just went to the single. You know, you were doing the scores with Rick, and I think you were writing the score down, and then just goes to a single. And, of course, I did. After he said at the top of the show, I went back and watched it, and you could see it, like,

the indigestion issues and shit. I was like, fair play, man. I didn't pick up on that to be fair. It wasn't Gorgonzola, but it was it was Gorgonzola-esque. Rick on the drive home goes, how long did G.C. last? I didn't, you know, I was just talking to myself,

it felt like, and then all of a sudden G. G.C. was gone. Had no idea. By the way. No, no. It wasn't that I had no idea G. G.C. was gone. I had, I didn't crack the, the sweating ginger. Like, when he got the ginger beer,

I was just like, oh, G. G.C.'s just getting a ginger beer. He's relaxing. He's having a good time. I didn't realize he was in hell by that. If we're on air and I crack open a ginger beer, it means I'm in a problem. That's code. That is code for like, oh, he's not doing too good. Like, he's fighting through it.

And the worst part is I'm in the bathroom fighting through it, and I have Rick in my ear the entire time. Round five. Here we go. Well, I'll say, I'm happy you're okay. Massive props to rate. It's not easy doing that at 1 a.m. No, he killed it.

I felt so bad. I felt horrible. It is tough. I get that text. I reply to Jordan, but I'm assuming all of you are sleeping at this point because it was a late night and all that. I text you,

I text Eric, I text Connor, I text Jordan back, get nothing. So then I go downstairs. What do you mean? Get nothing? I texted you right back.

No, no. It took by the time I... I mean, I wasn't expecting you. I just wanted to, like, you to see it. Point is, I go downstairs and I watch the fight from the beginning.

Because I really want... I knew who won, but I wanted to see great to perform was I was blown away and I was actually happier to watch it like that just to be able to appreciate it. This is like, I wake up at usually like 6.30. 8.13 a.m. I get my first sign of life from the team and it's a text from Frank and it's simply a Reddit link. Behind the scenes of how an NFL team travels for a game at 813 in the morning. That's the text. and my reply is

is Connor okay this is my first sign of life and it's Frank sending me a Reddit clip I mean what are you getting out here but my point is it was great to hear from you and then we talk and then you say you're going back to bed

and so I'm still confused as to why you woke up texting me this and went back to bed slept yet you were up 8 a.m.? I couldn't sleep oh my gosh sometimes to stick through these how do you not

do these watch parties I just like shotguns and Yuramates and I even turn to Andy I was like well I guess I'm not sleeping until tomorrow night so good

you're crazy man I got home took a shower and then Pat like I got up at like noon yesterday and I was like Haldi's already

at MetLife like what the fuck is going on he real needs his bills content I was there to feed it anyway by the way did you see I sent you guys

watching Josh Allen throw football five feet fucking good. No, it's unbelievable. It reminded me of PT, like the way he was moving his body. Reminded you. It reminds me.

We use a very similar action. Yeah, yeah, for sure. It is, it is like jaw dropping to watch that man. Thank you. First of all, how tall he is. Oh, sorry. You know, how big and strong. It is really something.

I got James Cook, turning it up. James Cook was so close to us. And then at the end, Ty Johnson and Ray Davis were throw, shout out to them. They were both, like, throwing balls to kids. And then one of them said to one of, like, the Bill's guys, like, who should I give this to you and the dude like went like this like he pointed to my two kids like he did it subtly and and I think it was Thai he walked to them and then he walked to like a younger kid and I was like oh that would have been who took the pictures of you like the bill's official

photographer yes yeah those were like when they sent me quality I was like this looked like a studio shoot is crazy I couldn't believe it there were like a million people there and somehow yeah shout out to that I wish we had that ball situation play out on video because then me And G.C. could have broke it down on boys in the back. I would love nothing more than to see that. Like us not getting the ball? Yeah, there's controversies around the ball. I know, the breakdown.

It was very, it was very Luke Thomas, Luke Thomas Circa 2018 at the video wall. Oh, you guys are in trouble now that I got the laser pointer here. Oh, yeah. Oh, Jesus. Tremendous. By the way, shout out to the quote. Okay. What else?

What else? You know, I'm not certain on this. You got to bring awe to get awe. You do have to bring on it. You have to bring ass to get ass in reference to Max Kellerman's call on Saturday evening. Oh, yeah, there were some moments there. That's very kind. The post-fight interview was interesting.

Oh, he was thinking on his feet, man. What else? What else? If I was a UFC fighter, I would be disappointed that my boss has chosen to attend a boxing event ahead of my UFC fight this past weekend. Yeah, I don't feel the same way. It's tough. It's tough. It's his boxing event, and it's the biggest thing in sports. Play them back to back again.

It's tough. That's very good. It's tough. It's tough. It does sound like you guys are having a conversation. Yeah. What else, Frankie? What else?

You become best friends with two of these gentlemen, but the third hates you. Josh Allen, Jalen, Jalen Brunson, Howard Stern. Which two do you pick? Alan and Brunson. You just let Howard Stern hate you? Yeah, he's a little bit past my... Oh, those fighting words. He's a little bit.

little bit past my age bracket at this point. I've given him a lot of love of the years. Don't exactly agree with all the things he says these days. And I mean, I'm best friends with Josh Allen and Jalen Brunson. These days. The two men that are going to lead my teams to championships in the very near future. Are you kidding me? How old is Jalen Brunson? John Brunson is probably, I'm going to say, 29. And Josh Allen's in his 20s as well, right? Are you saying they're too young for me? You know, you want to have some 20-something friends. It's fine. Oh, wow, I nailed Brunson.

Yeah. Okay, okay, okay, wait. Josh, I'm going to say 27. I think I'm too. I'll say 28. 29? Also 29. Yeah, you got to, you know.

I love those guys. Josh, breaking his nose, getting the thing up there, back at it. Because he's 29, and it just bounces back. They carved up those jets. I mean, it was, what a time, what a time. I dreamed of days like this. What else, Frank?

What else? With the damage that Lopez caused to Silva, with those 126 elbows, do you think more fighters will take advantage of a new ruling? It would be used more frequently like spinning elbows. You laughing at the picture?

No. I'm laughing at Frank sounding like he's reading a second language. What the hell does that say caused? He obviously means caused. 126 elbows. Sometimes I don't know if my eyes are playing tricks on me or if they're really saying that. I just don't think you can read.

what else frank what else um you didn't answer the guy's question that whatever yes they're gonna use them so i struggled through all of that for you to they're gonna use them why wouldn't they use them forgot um you mentioned the polo tweet already i'm tardy oh yes i see apollo tweet right here thank you very much uh after shara pulled out i got some news somebody hurts in the main event so ufc called me to fight a top five in few weeks for five rounds to be fair i proposed three rounds due to short time and guess what he said no for three rounds what the heck coward It's going to expose them. My vintage version is back and people are scared.

Oh, wait a second. So he's saying Shara's out? No, no. He's saying one of RDR or Anthony Hernandez is out. No, he said after Shara pulled out, I got some news. I think he means like didn't want to fight me. Me to fighting and top five in few weeks for five rounds. After Shara said no, basically.

After Shara was hokey pokey, he said. But wasn't that fight like already announced? Who? Shara versus Polokos. It was never officially announced. It was it? It was mentioned by Paolo Cost. Yeah, I don't think that was a real fight yet at any point.

Really? Yeah, Paulo was just beating the drum for that. Well, he says he pulled out? No, yes. And also, what event was that? Was that real? He's saying someone hurts in the main event, but why are you assuming that RDR or Anthony Hernandez is the one that he's talking about? Because that's the closest to a top five middleweight clash that's coming down soon.

It's the only one there would be. no let's see try to ask his team yes all right yeah october 18th let gc know he dropped his pen in the lobby early sunday morning

he can find it at the front desk what do he think about the fight that's from your I haven't talked to him yet actually yeah I'll see him tomorrow morning but he he promised me Canello rounds five through seven take it to the bank I won't be able to pay the rent

at set apartment because I put it all on that Wow. Only kidding. What else, Frank? Lastly, felt more like Dana White was the Vanna White of ring boxing than it being his event. It's funny. All I could say is, let's see how this all plays out. I'm fascinated.

Shout out to Vanna White, too. Shout out. Yeah, she's a legend. She's still on the show, Wheel of Fortune. Yeah. She's still there. Yeah, yes, too. Wow.

Incredible. All right, well, a great day. has been had. We'll talk to you guys. Who's on Monday night football tonight, PT? Well, I guess Tampa Bay.

Yeah, Buck's Texans. That's right. And there's another game, isn't there? Charges righters, yeah. Wait, there's two games tonight?

Yeah, double header. Yeah. Let's go Texans. One at 3 a.m. my time. I think I need to, you know. Oh, I thought that

was an Atlanta top you were wearing earlier at GC. Yeah, it is, bro. Oh, sorry, I thought you said, let's go Texans.

I didn't know what the fuck was going on there. Yeah, let's go Texans. Atlanta, very good. Bejan, man. I was waiting for him. Did that defense last night? Yeah.

And my dogs on Saturday? It's good weekend. I didn't watch coach. All over that. I saw him. Speaking of Topps. Yes. You know, shout out to our boy.

PJ. PJ. From Fight merch. I mean, you know, says it. Great shirt. Says it all. Thank you for sending this. Are we allowed to wear that because it technically is someone's IP on there?

Someone's IP? Their name in text? Terrence, it's tough crawfers. is my new favorite fighter. His intellectual property is his name. Yeah. All I have to say is we are going to make a ramped up version of this. Okay.

More to come? More to come. The design is finished, but yeah. I did want to end on this note. Obviously, you know, we talked a lot about Ricky Hatton with Tris Dixon, with Eddie Hearn, spoke about him as well. Some of the tributes, we went through the tributes during the Tris one, but I did want to highlight a couple of them

just to show how much this legend was loved. Just go in the order and I'll read. Here's Anthony Joshua, RIP Hitman, one of the best to do it, our British hero. Amir Khan today we lost not only one of Britain's greatest boxer, but a friend, a mentor, a warrior, Ricky Hennon, as fighters. We tell ourselves we're strong, we train, we sweat, we take hits we get up but sometimes the hardest fight happens in silence in the mind he wrote more

there but it got cut off such a sad day for combat sports this is tom aspinall a sad day for great britain a sad day for manchester i remember as a young boy staying up late to watch his legendary career the original people's champion one of us rest in peace ricky hatton that gave me chills he really was the people's champion rest in peace rickie hatton from Connor McGregor. Eddie Hearn, everybody loved Ricky. May he rest in internal peace. Our deepest condolences to Campbell, Matthew,

and all of the Hatton family. Liam Gallagher absolutely devastated to hear the news about Ricky Hatton. It was an absolute honor to know him and carry his belts. Rest in peace, champ, live forever, LG. Mani Pachiao, who, of course, fought him over a decade ago, I'm deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Ricky Haddon. He was not only a great fighter inside the ring, but also a brave and kind man in life.

We shared unforgettable moments in boxing history, and I will always honor the respect and sportsmanship he showed. Ricky fought bravely, not just in the ring, but in his journey through life. He truly had a good fight, and we are all blessed to have been a part of his wonderful journey. My prayers and deepest condolences go out to the Haddon family and all his loved ones. May the Lord give you strength and comfort in this difficult time. May he rest in peace. Just a handful of incredible tweets, tributes. Sorry I wasn't there for you. Love Billy. Of course, that's Billy Nelson. And that hits like a ton of bricks. This is outside his home. The Man City colors on display.

The gloves on display. This is the tribute before the Man City Man United game yesterday. I tweeted out one of his famous walkouts where he walked out in the sumo suit. The Blue Moon, Ricky Fatton, the man who wrote that song actually tweeted me back, which was pretty amazing. In MMA we know about there's only one Connor Gregor, but it started with there's only one Rakey Hatton. And please, go watch that 24-7. If you want to try to relive what made him so great,

the build-up to his fight against Floyd Mayweather in 07 was so great. A man who was a part of all of it was Adam Smith, the great play-by-play man, then for Sky Sports,

now for DeZone. He was front and center. He'll join us tomorrow on the program to talk more about Ricky Hatton. But I wanted to end with this. Back in 2022, when I was doing interviews on the YouTube channel with the help of my good friend on there, Jordan.

We had an opportunity to speak to Ricky Haddon. The only time I've ever interviewed him, Aunt Evans actually hooked us up, and I'm eternally grateful for that. It was an amazing conversation, one of the best ones, one of my favorite ones that we did over the course of that year

because of how honest he was and mental health is a topic that I'm obviously very interested in and passionate about, and I've talked about, we all deal with mental health. We all struggle with mental health. And we use that term, and it can mean a million different things. But we all have bad days.

We all have doubts. We all feel down. We all feel like we can't get out of ruts. We all wish that we could go back in time and do things differently. And some of us deal with it better than others. And some of us deal with it on a global stage like he had to. And he was always very open and honest about those struggles. and in talking about them,

I viewed that as inspirational because if someone like Ricky Hatton, the hitman, superhuman, world championship boxer could deal with these things, then it's okay to deal with them and if someone like him can get over them, we could get over them too

because there isn't that kind of spotlight on us. And that's what made him relatable and lovable and the kind of guy that you want to root for. And so a large portion of that conversation, which was centered around the return fight against Marco Antonio Barrera in 2022 was about his struggles and about getting better and about being an inspiration and about lessons learn and advice that he could give to people worldwide.

And he said something that I went back and saw yesterday and I thought it would be a great way to end today's show. We talked about Ricky Haddon's live. legacy, Ricky Hatton's legacy should be about everything he did in the ring and outside of the ring, but it should also be about how comfortable he was in talking about these things and about the lessons that he tried to teach everyone who followed him, about taking care of yourself and about seeking help if you need help. And so without further ado, I wanted to play this clip from the late great Ricky Hatton, who tried to share some words of wisdom to anyone out

there who is feeling down and who is seeking some help. Best advice I can give to anyone is do what I did. I went and spoke to someone. I went and saw a doctor. I threw myself on my knees, put my arms around him. I said, I'm going to kill myself. I said, I can do anything in that boxing ring, but I said, I'm struggling with life and everything.

I said, I want to kill myself. And if you can't tell me what to do, I said it's going to happen. And bit by bit, that's where we are today, you know, come out of the other end and doing an exhibition with Marko of 43 years of age. When I looked back at maybe 10, 11 years ago, when I nearly wasn't here makes me feel very proud and he was proud

and he should have been proud and we don't know the cause of death and there have been assumptions made and I don't want to go there but he never shied away from his past and I love the fact that he would say that because it's very hard especially sometimes for proud people

for men for anyone from any walk of life to go seek help I know I struggled I remember my breaking point I remember when I felt like I could not function anymore. We all have those moments. And he had ups and downs. And it seemed in that moment like he was going to come out of it and be in a better place. And when he fought Barrera later that year, he looked to be in phenomenal shape. And he had plans to fight again later this year. And so the heart breaks for Ricky Hatton, for his family, for his Legion of Fans, for the country.

because he was a good man. He was obviously a man who had his demons, had his issues. But as Eddie Hearns said, no one ever said a bad word about Ricky Hatton. I will never dare say that I knew him on a personal level, but it was fun to watch him do his thing. And after that conversation, my respect for him grew tenfold.

So rest in peace, Ricky Hatton. May his memory forever be a blessing. All right. we could play the music, Frank. I said at the top of the show that we needed seven hours. In the end, it was four and a half. But we could have gone on. But the beauty of having a daily show is that we get to do tomorrow.

And I'm looking forward to it. A couple of things in the hopper. Oh, yes, I said, what did I say? I said Billy Nelson. I meant Billy Graham, sorry. Just like superstar Billy Graham. Billy Nelson is another involved in boxing. My apologies.

Thank you for that pizza. Yeah, bummer. Watch the fight. Got a little sleepy. Woke up just in time for the in-of-way fight on Facebook. That was really weird. I went on the top-ranked Facebook page, and it was just like in their story.

I was like, how is it possible? But you know what was annoying about it? knowing about it you couldn't swipe out like you know on Twitter when you watch a video on YouTube you could swipe out and the video still stays there you didn't stay there so you had to stay on the top rank YouTube page and see a bunch of like craziness in the in the comments there's like a running chat I didn't have Facebook anymore it's been a while and I had to and it was just there it said life it was very easy but it was very inconvenient and you couldn't stream it on your TV either not great not ideal we'll see what happens

of those guys. Hopefully in the near future we'll get some kind of word on their TV situation. A great day here on the program. A sad day as well. Appreciate everyone who stopped by today. Gable Steveson,

Tris Dixon, Eddie Hearn, P.C. Carroll. There was someone at 2.30 and I don't remember who was now. Terence Crawford. Of course. Who was after Terence? I usually have this in front of me.

Tris Dix. Driss. Okay, yeah. Thanks, Pizzi. Appreciate that. Well, that's it, guys. All right, see you, man. Frank, you want to play that music again?

Back tomorrow, say, time. Let's say, peace. I'm out of here. All they, by the way, like that.