The Ariel Helwani Show - Merab Dvalishvili, Arman Tsarukyan, Renato Moicano, Randy Brown & Ilia Topuria leaving featherweight?!

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Randy Brown reacts to his controversial UFC 310 loss to Bryan Battle and Battle's viral comments after badly missing weight for the bout, calls for judging reforms in MMA and more (09:04).Merab Dvalishvili, the UFC bantamweight champ, vows to slap Umar Nurmagomedov after UFC 311's wild kickoff press conference, previews the title matchup he never wanted, explains his explosive altercation with a UFC 310 attendee and much more (36:41).Arman Tsarukyan previews his UFC 311 title rematch against Islam Makhachev and discusses grappling Khamzat Chimaev, what it's like to have Khabib Nurmagomedov sitting in Makhachev's corner, a potential Charles Oliveira rematch and more (01:05:53).Renato Moicano vows to finish Beneil Dariush at UFC 311 and discusses all of the latest MMA news, from Ilia Topuria teasing a lightweight move to his prediction of Belal Muhammad upsetting Shavkat Rakhmonov and more (01:31:15).Finally, Ariel and The Boys in the Back answer some YouTube Super Chats, including the Fight Feasts budget, chicken shop rankings, and more (02:10:41).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ariel Hawani Show! Ariel Hawani Show is back in your life on this Tuesday, December 10th, 2000. And 24. Hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. I am super, super, super, super excited about today's program. A lot to discuss on a very busy Wednesday. Wednesday, Tuesday.

We play two on Tuesdays. We do this show and then we do the DAZN show with Adi Oladipo at 5 p.m. Eastern. Look outside. I mean, it is a dream. You can't even see the Empire State Building. Look at it. They got rid of it. to be inside and it's a great day to talk combat sports and it's a great day to talk combat sports with my good friends you know everyone in the back over there i do feel like we've been we've been in the trenches i mean we have been working hard rolling up our sleeves is we you know we have a bit of a break coming up and we'll tell you about that next week our traditional kind of holiday break if you will but it does feel like are you guys familiar with the show the real world yes might have heard of it uh there was a tagline that they used to use

like the real world where people stop being polite and start getting real the real world that's where i feel like we're at right now i mean i come in there there's just daggers being thrown at me there's people fighting talking you would come to work on time, the honeymoon phase. Wait, so you prefer a world where you're not getting anything real? You just want the fake? No, no, no, this is good. I just feel like we've now turned that corner. I mean, there was once a time where On Air Jordan was the

newest member of the team and everyone was being polite around him. Now I just see fighting, people just like, I like it. I feel like this is a graduation of sorts. I actually think you've pointed to something interesting, which is that this all started with Ane or Jordan, and maybe he is to blame for the environment. See, this is what I'm talking about. This is a joke that probably wouldn't have been said a month ago.

I mean, we were logging, you know, back in the prior iterations, we were logging, what, maybe like 10, 12 hours in the control room a week? Now we're logging. I mean, 30, 35, it's smaller Closer quarters Blood's gonna boil Do you feel like we've reached that point? Oh for sure, yeah

Since before we started This is just what you see Are there stuff that we need to discuss? I'm glad that you mentioned it What do we need to discuss? What's on the table? First, there's been an unofficial baking contest going on. I'm from when I'm over it.

It's me either making official or... You feel like everyone's trying to one-up each other. Yeah, and it's like... Wow. And Frank actually doesn't appreciate baked goods at all. I was going to say that. Everyone's hyping up these cookies. They're all right.

I'm like, wow, Frank. That's unbelievable. Andy took some time out of her weekend to bake us all, I think it was like a box of like 11 or so different types of cookies. Two different kinds of cookies. And Frank complained about it. He's minimizing it still. I ate the entire box.

I ate all 11 in like a five-hour span. There was 11 cookies, Frank. Baker's dozen. Baker's dozen. Oh, it's 13. Yeah, whatever. This is the Andy's dozen. They's dozen. Oh, it's 13. Yeah, whatever. This is the Andy's dozen. They were delicious

and now we just know nobody should do anything nice for Frank. We just got a trash can installed back here. That is no way to talk about me. I have a name.

I have a name. I have a name. Okay, and then in addition to that. It's literally a paper bag. Trash can installed. Wait a second. In addition to that,

I found out that you guys had chocolate cake for the watch party and whatnot. And he's literally a paper bag Wait a second in addition to that I found out that you guys had chocolate cake For the watch party and what not And he's unhappy with this He was pissed because Jordan made it for his wife And so he thought That Jordan was crossing Crossing boundaries Oh wow

You could have asked me first Wow see there's a lot There's a lot to get through here There could be an own show on the control room Frank is everything okay? You know we'll have to offline about it Circle back Is there anything more annoying than when someone says like

Is everything okay? What's annoying is is everything okay After they've done something to piss you off Wait who's done something to piss you off? Is it more annoying when someone asks If everything is okay when everything is actually okay or when something is clearly wrong? That's a good point.

Both are equally annoying. I think they're both fine as long as you actually want the answer to if something's okay. If you're just asking as a gesture, then you can kick rocks. That's the differentiator. All I'm saying is if anyone has an issue, if anyone feels the need to get something off their chest,

it's eric.jackman at yahoo.com. yahooinc.com. I don't want to get... Y'all really just gave out the full email. No, that wasn't the full email. It was a difference there. Frank corrected it to the correct... Make sure you get those emails to the right spot. Frank, you said the wrong

one and Frank literally corrected it. This is where the trim... this is where we trim this. Yeah, this is it. Oh, speaking of which, I do want to let everyone know, some of you are very upset that our YouTube, I guess yesterday's show on our YouTube channel was blocked for, I think it was like three, four hours. That was because of our good friends over at Fame MMA.

We did play a clip from their, I guess, their two-on-one thing. You remember that with the whole Brian Battle situation yesterday? Why don't we play? No, I'm just kidding. The father-son fighting the guy who misweighed, all that. Instead of what is, I think, standard procedure, which is like you get demonetized or something they just blocked the whole freaking clip a 10 second clip then the 10 second clip

led to the entire four hour show getting blocked which seemed a bit extreme i understand it's an automated thing whatever uh so that's why it was blocked it's now back up and uh i just want to say to our friends at fame mma we'd like to apologize uh for absolutely nothing we didn't do anything wrong and you should all chill out you know there are people that play like they take like like 45 minutes of our show and do deep dives on the full interview and we've never done anything about it. And these jabrons are going to block the whole show for a couple hours? Golly. It's the last time we're ever going to have any sort of reference of them on the program. Well, I can't.

I can't promise that, but it was a little bit annoying to wake up to that. In any event, let's talk about today's program, my friends. Like I said, a lot going on, a lot to discuss, some big hitters. Back into the show, we'll talk to Renato Manimoicano. He returns to action at UFC 311. That, of course, in Inglewood, Intuit Dome, big card. Him versus Benil Darius, important fight. He's won four in a row.

He's climbing up the ranks. We thought maybe we'd get him versus Paddy Pimblitch, not happening. Or as he says, Paddy Pimblitch. I think he says Pimblitch. Not because he's calling him a bad word. I think it's just the Portuguese. In any event, always great to have Money Moe kind of on. And in reality, I just wanted to have him on to talk about Bitcoin. You know, I hear it's going up.

Or as Frank explained to me earlier, it's actually not going up, but the US dollar is going down. It was a meme. In any event, we'll also be joined, speaking of 311, by Armin Tsurukian, who will be fighting Islam Akhachev

for the lightweight title in the main event. Can't wait for that fight. Rematch of a fight that happened some five or so years ago. Going to be tremendous scenes. And the man defending his title in the co-main event,

aka the chief support, is Marab Dualishvili. He's been all the talk of the MMA world. He will join us at around 1.30 to talk about the fight against one Umar Namagomedov, what happened at that press conference on Friday evening, all the drama. And then, of course, what happened on Saturday as well. He was in attendance to corner Aljamain Sterling and there was some activity afterwards and whatnot. So all that, plus a whole lot more. We got to talk about Ilya Teporia saying that he's perhaps done at 145. I'm

not sure if I believe that, but he did say this in an interview recently. So that and a whole lot more to come. Later later by the way on the ariel and ade show we'll be joined by joseph parker who is going up against daniel dubois on february 22nd for the ibf heavyweight title one of the great guys my uso the great joseph parker joining us from samoa i think it's the first time we've ever had a guest join us from samoa i can't wait for that that will be at 5 p.m. Eastern on the DAZN Boxing channel. First things first, let's go to our first guest of the day. Yesterday, you'll recall we had Brian Battle on the program,

and it was a controversial weekend for the Butcher. He missed weight by four pounds. He came in at 175, which is four pounds over the non-Wel weight title limit of 171 and then he ended up winning a a somewhat controversial split decision over Randy Brown uh we got his side of the story yesterday let's talk to Rude Boy about his side of the story now he's our first guest of the day he's kind enough to join us hey Randy thank you very much for the time. Appreciate it. Hey, what's up, Ariel? How you been? I've been great, my man. I understand it was a very, very frustrating and upsetting weekend for you. And so here we are, you know, three days later, two days later. How do you feel?

And we'll get into it, but just in general, how do you feel about how everything went down in Las Vegas this past weekend? It is what it is, you you know but i don't feel great about it you know given all the work i put in you know just uh money spent um you know you just feel like you don't get a fair shake you know what i mean especially given where i'm at in my career i feel the what was at stake you know what i mean brian and i've been the streak i've been on it's just it just sucks you know it's a shitty feeling but that's about it it's a lot of things that weren't that weren't fair i think but it is what it is um when did you find out that he wasn't

going to make weight i was literally about to get on a scale that was the one of my big issues was like he knew he wasn't going to make weight. You could have told me the day before, you know, he never said anything to me. They just like showed up and let me get there. Cut, let me cut the weight. Let me suffer. Let me go through the, the, the, you know, the trials and tribulations of a weight cut. And then when I got there, the commission's like, he's saying that the commission is telling him that he's not, he can't cut anymore because he's not feeling good.

So he can't cut anymore. I'm like, bro, I'm looking at his chest. I'm looking at his body. I'm looking at, he had more, he's, he got some fat on him. There's more he can cut. But if you know, you're not going to make the weight, just tell me the day before. So I don't have to continue to cut. They let me cut so that they can get a little advantage. You know, that's, that's the game. And that's what these dudes do. 30% ain't shit. So we'll take a bite of bullet and take a little bit of 30% cut You know what I mean? Just so he can have an advantage in there. And then if you look at the way the fight played out That's what he tried to use that weight He was much bigger than me and he used that weight to try to push me against the cage, you know the whole time

He wasn't even trying to fight So so I asked him that specific question like if he played that game I asked him this yesterday He says no he said, you know Friday game. I asked him this yesterday. He says no. He said, you know, Friday morning, I was still trying to cut the weight. It sounds like you don't believe him. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, Ariel, I've been in this game for a long time, bro.

I get it. I know what these dudes do, man. There was no reason for him to not tell me. If that was the case, why wouldn't you just tell me? You could have easily just told me the day before, hey, call my team, reach out. We're not going to make the weight. Can we let's just make it a catchweight or something? You know what I mean?

But no, continue to cut the weight. Continue to let me cut the weight and just show up. I literally sat right when the official weigh-ins, I'm about to walk up on stage. That's when they tell me that he's not going to make the weight. John comes up to me and tell me, oh, he's not going to make the weight. He's five pounds over. What am I supposed to do in that moment? How am I supposed to feel in that moment?

I think that the commission should have forced him to go cut the weight, but the commission doesn't allow them to go back and cut the weight. I think that's bullshit as well. I think the commission should force them to go back and cut the weight. Okay, so then what happens then? So you step on the scale, you make the weight weight he steps on the scale he's 175 do you consider saying i'm out what happens to get us to the point of you agreeing to fight him i can't because and i heard him say that too i heard him say oh you took you took the fight so don't don't i don't want to hear it you took i wouldn't have

took the fight but you took the fight so i don't want to hear it. You took, I wouldn't have took the fight, but you took the fight. So I don't want to hear it. And you took money out of my pocket. So I don't want to hear it. That's bullshit because you know, I'm at that point, I have to take the fight, man. It's, it's pressure on me to take the fight. It makes it seem like I'm in putting a position where I've spent so much money between training partners, recovery, just my whole camp, you know what I mean? Travel. You spend all that money and you're put in a position that you know I'm not going to say no. And especially, I'm prepared. You put in all that time. It's like

most guys are not going to say no. They're just going to fight. And I was put in a position where I had to fight. So I fought. And if I didn't fight, you know how it is. I would be made out to be the bad guy. I'd be made out to be this punk or the pussy that couldn't fight. You know how it is, right? So I had to fight, and I fought. And, you know,

it is what it is. Yeah, so when I heard him say that, I think a lot of people felt the same way, where he said, like, if it was me, I wouldn't have fought. How do you react when you hear that? When you hear, you know, the guy who missed weight, who then ends up getting the nod over you, say, if I was

in your shoes, I wouldn't have accepted it. It's a slap in the face. It's a slap in the face. And it makes, and how am I not supposed to feel like that wasn't strategic? Look at how he's handling it. Look how he just like, I don't give a damn. It's like, well, you took it. Oh, well, you know, especially when you got gifted a decision, clearly you didn't even win the fight. The judges, oh my God, all night, the judges are just, that was just heinous judging, bro. That was just ridiculous. Everyone I spoke to, I felt that. If you look at us standing there, when our hands are getting raised, I'm more confident.

I'm like, I did enough to get it, even though I still feel like it wasn't my best performance, but I do feel like I did enough to get it done. Look when they raise his hand, he's completely shocked. he's he's just like oh damn all right great you know he's just relieved that he got it but i don't know man i really i'm i'm kind of at a loss for words i really don't even know what to say but it's it's just it just is what it is it's shitty bro shitty we all kind of assumed that that he got um he had to give up 20 of his purse to you but then yesterday he said it was more than that so and then you just said 30 so was it 30 or was it even more than it was 30 okay but the money doesn't matter the money doesn't matter at all what it is is that you have to you have to show up i agreed to show up at that weight

at a professional i showed up at that weight at the professional. I showed up at that weight at the day and then he didn't. That's all it is. He did not and I think that he purposely didn't. Do you regret taking the fight? Not at all because I beat his ass. All he did was try to hold me. There's not one

moment that you can find in that fight of Brian having a great moment of just throwing shots or anything like that he just pushed me and used that extra weight to just grind me against the cage i mean i i think i had i had a better moment he oh he went over six on takedowns um i heard him i landed the more shots you know i took him down twice yeah it's just i i don't get it but three times i took him down actually you know i just don't get it um the people who score the fight for you it seems like they scored one and three in your favor do you do you agree with that yeah i agree i agree

i'll give them two just because of you know there wasn't any action really there. It was just him pushing me against the cage. But one and three was definitely my round. I spoke to Dana. Dana said, hey, I thought I had you winning the fight. Sean Shelby thought they had me winning the fight. Everyone had me winning the fight. I just don't know what the judges saw. Yeah, I thought it was supremely close as well.

I'm not sitting there scoring, but just like the Volkov fight, I just don't know what the judges saw. Yeah. I thought it was supremely close as well. And, and, um, I'm not sitting there scoring, but before, just like the Volkov fight, um, I thought he won the fight and, and the show was like, I think Randy's got this 29, 28.

Um, and I was like, okay. And then I was even more surprised with the Volkov fight. And I know you're referring to the judging all night being a little bit, um, suspect if you will, but this is,

this is the game, right? I mean, it doesn't seem like they're changing. It's the same characters showing up to all these fights. There isn't much being done to change judging. How do you feel about the state of judging? Do you feel like this is the first time you lose a split decision? So it's not like something that has been plaguing you throughout your career, but just the state of MMA judging.

How do you feel about it? I think something needs to be done. I think they need to retrain them. It's an old conversation that we keep having over and over. We're talking about three guys that are untrained. Maybe we should get fighters in there to do it. I don't know. I don't have the answers, man. But I just feel like, I feel like things need to be different. Things need to be different. And the judging is something

that's been plaguing our sport for a long time. And we need just properly educated people in there. That's really it, you know? I understand where you're coming from. I'm wondering if you have a thought on this. Some have said, you know, know if you miss weight a percentage of your purse isn't enough uh maybe it should be a point deduction going into the fight it should be something at least harsher stiffer do you have a take on that um i i can see that i like that but honestly dudes can make weight. Dudes can make the weight. I don't care what you say.

You're a professional. You can make the weight. I think what needs to be done is, I think hit them with more than, hit them with like 60, 70% of your purse. Gone. And I bet you, I bet you motherfuckers make weight. I bet you things change. If they start losing their money, if you start feeling like you're fighting for free i bet you everybody makes weight or start fighting in their proper weight class because even even with this dude you look at a guy like brian i mean he was big in there he was big you know i present big but i'm not as big as people think it's just i'm tall and i have skinny legs

wide shoulders right but i was no more than about 186, 87 pounds in there, man. I know Brian was way bigger than me. I know he was heavy and I felt how burly he was in there. I asked him yesterday, he said he was in the low 190s, but I think I saw you right that you think that he was around 200. Had to be, had to be. You felt it, you felt a difference. Of course, of course you feel, and it's not even like a strength difference it's just a burliness that is just a heaviness that he had you know and and you know you mentioned that about the um the 50 the 60 percent um it is it is it is a very strong point because uh ultimately you know it is the prize fighting business right if they're going to take money out of your pocket, that is going to perhaps deter people

from not doing this. Do you think that some fighters, not saying specifically Brian, but do you think as an issue that some fighters are playing the game where it's like, you know what? I'll give up my 20, 30%. I'll come in heavier. He'll be killing himself the night before. I'll get, I'll be able to rehydrate to a bigger weight all like you really you think that fighters are doing that whole math in their head and are just

willingly giving up the 20 in order to get the w absolutely look at for brian this is a huge moment for him man i'm i'm the biggest the biggest uh name or the most experienced guys that he's fought you know this is a huge moment for him for him he feels like this was his time to progress with his career. So it's an investment in yourself. You know, you, you, you bite the bullet now, but then it'll pay later, you know? So of course people are dumb and these guys aren't as dumb as, you know, people try to make them see, you know what I mean? People know what they're doing. This is all tragedy in there and gamesmanship, you know? So, you know, cause even when we reached out to his manager and his managers, you know,

his manager said, he was like, he'll take the fight or not take the fight. But he doesn't want to take the fight. That's his problem. Damn. That was the energy on it. Right.

There was no like, you know, trying to negotiate or have like a, you know, try to figure this out. They didn't give a damn, you know, that's just what it is.

So I don't know man for me i feel like i regardless of anything i feel like i won that fight and i feel like you know that i i still should be fighting you know for a top 15 opponent next time because i i had the option to kind of opt out and not fight this dude you know earlier and i like to stay active so i decided to go in there and keep fighting and um you know, took the risk. And now here I am, the judges fought me. So, you know. After being in there with him,

you know, he's had some momentum. What do you think of his skills overall? I think he's a bum. I think he's a bum. And I know that may come off as me being salty, but I just don't think he has nothing for me I just don't think he I'm not impressed with his skill set

Let's just put it like that I'm not impressed with his skill set at all He got a lot of work to do You know, considering the fact that You said Dana White said that He thinks you deserve to win Do you think that they will kind of book you As if this was a win

And that you will Because you were climbing as if this was a win and that you will, because you, you know, you were climbing the ranks, you were putting it all together. I can understand why this will feel even more frustrating considering the role that you were on. Do you feel confident that they will book you in that manner? I would hope so. I would hope so. Um, UFC has always been pretty good to me, you know, and, we have a great,

great working relationship. So I think, I would think so. I would think so, you know, but you never know. So I'm just, I'm just waiting to see what happens.

Were you supposed to fight Carlos Paredes on this card? Yes, I was. Was there talk of it? I was supposed to fight him. And, and what happened? What happened is,

uh, he said he couldn't fight on this date because he, uh, he was, on this date because he had a holiday or something like that. So he wanted to fight in New York. So he wanted to fight earlier. I couldn't fight in New York and he couldn't fight on this date. And this was the original date that was offered this past weekend. And he couldn't make it. So he was trying to force New York to happen and New York couldn't happen.

So they kept my date and gave me a new opponent okay and just just curious why why new york couldn't happen for you why couldn't new york happen for me i mean it was what it was what like three four weeks out okay you know i just didn't have enough time got it uh i thought maybe you know you'd you'd want to fight in new york but if the timing doesn't work i would love to yeah i would love to fight in new york is that a fight that you'd want to fight in New York, but if the timing doesn't work... I would love to. Yeah. I would love to fight in New York. Is that a fight that you'd like to get in 2025? Absolutely. Absolutely.

I would love to fight that guy. You know? And him amongst many other fighters in the top 15. Honestly, I just need to move along in the rankings. You know, I've always been adamant about fighting guys like Jeff Neal. I think that my style matches up well with a lot of the guys in the top 15 and the top 10. Um,

but you know, trying to get there. That's the issue. Yeah. By the way, have you been impressed with Carlos? I have been, I haven't,

I saw the media did something the other day, make it seem like I said that I wasn't impressed, but that wasn't the case. I said that, I said that I am impressed by him. he has a great skill set but they like to push these guys really fast let's see where he's at in the next three years i've been here putting in my work putting in pain let's see let's see where these guys are at it's not easy to stay where stay here you know what i mean so let's see what happens and by the way can i ask what's what's the issue with you and Michael Chiesa? It seems like maybe you're not a fan, and what's going on there?

Oh, man. Chiesa just did some shit that I didn't like. That's it. Chiesa did some shit that I didn't like, and we're good now. We spoke recently, actually, but what makes you think I'm not a fan of Chiesa? Correct me if I'm wrong. I think you said F Chiesa at the presser last week. Am I wrong about that? That usually implies that you're not a fan. And then he was asked about it, and he's like, yeah, I don't know.

I like Randy. I think he doesn't like me. So, I mean, all that from last week made me feel like you're not a fan. Am I wrong? Last week. No, you're not wrong fan. Am I wrong? Last week. No, you're not wrong. I don't want to rehatch it. I just wanted to know what the beef was, what the issue was. Nothing.

He just told me we were going to fight back then. I'm not interested in fighting him now. I mean, I know he's doing his thing. I'm doing my thing. But at the time, it was just one of those things where he told me he was going to give me a fight. I didn't come out publicly and do anything. We just had a conversation and then, uh, multiple times. And then, you know, he just said, he said some other things. Then he went on a broadcast and just said some other shit then that I didn't like, you know what

I'm saying? I'm like, bro said, we're going to fight now you dissing me in a way. So I didn't like that. Okay. And, uh, that's it. I could, I could see actually that, I mean, he's on a bit of a role now that you don't, you don't think that's a fight that's it i i could i could see actually that i mean he's on a bit of a role now that you don't you don't think that's a fight that would make sense i just gotta sit with my team and see what's up like i think there's bigger fights and better fights for me and fights for me to move i don't have i don't have time to waste man yeah that's like you see where i'm at you know i just i feel like i'm soreciated in the division already as is. I can't afford to have stupid hiccups like this. I need to keep moving.

Running into shit like this and stepping back or sidestepping, I don't want to do none of that. I just need to keep fighting and get my win so I can continue the role that I've been on. Can I ask, why do you feel like you're underappreciated? I don't know. I just feel that way From the fans, I feel like I'm a little underappreciated From my skill set And just where I sit in the rankings I'm unranked

Guys getting ranked You know what I mean, from beating me And I've just still been grinding You know what I mean, I've been grinding for a minute That's all it is But that's the game bro, I gotta keep grinding I ain't complaining about it, I've just still been grinding. You know what I mean? I've been grinding for a minute. That's all it is. But that's the game, bro. I got to keep grinding. So I ain't complaining about it.

I'm just saying. That's just how I feel. I just got to keep grinding. You know? Do you feel like it's because maybe you don't talk trash, you don't have a gimmick, you don't do all that sort of thing, and so then you don't get content? I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is. But maybe that's what I need.

Maybe I need a gimmick or something like that. But who the knows man you have to stay true to you though if it's not if it's not who you are then it's not gonna work i'm not a clown bro i'm here i'm here to fight i'm here to get shit done you know what i mean i'm not here to play around with people so um yeah that's really it that's really it but all in all i came here to talk about the fight man and tell you that this fight in particular i feel like i feel like I was robbed overall. I felt like that was some bullshit and something needs to be. That's really it. So can I ask you this?

If they call you up and say, yeah, we agree, we're going to run it back right away, are you in? Yes. Okay, you want that. Is that maybe what you want the most? Yeah. I don't see that happening, but yes, that would be ideal. If we could run it back, let's run it back right away. Let's go.

Let's do it one more and make the weight this time and let's see what happens. And why don't you see this happening? I mean, typically that's not what happens in the UFC, right? Yeah. Typically those are not things that happen. I even asked for a rehydration clause when it happened. I was like, yo, let's get a rehydration clause. Let's make sure he can't come back at one o'clock

before the fight. He has to weigh in at 186. What happened? Nah, they don't do that. Is that, is that the UFC doesn't do that or he didn't agree to it? The commission didn't do it, nor would his management agree to it.

Well, I mean, the Nevada commission does do that sort of thing. We saw with Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia. Maybe that's just a rule that the UFC has. Cause you don't often hear about rehydration clauses in the UFC in particular, or for UFC fights, I should say, but commission, you know, California does it, Nevada does it, but it feels like more of a boxing thing for some reason. Yeah. Maybe that's what it is because the commission, they weren't open to it, nor was his team open to it, you know? So that's another thing that leads me to believe that it was intentional. Yeah. I can understand why he wouldn't be open to it. I actually think it's a

great idea for the commission. If you miss weight, then there has to be, but again, this is what I always talk about. Like if there were, if there was some sort, and now we're going deep into the weeds here, if there was some sort of collective bargaining where all these things were discussed beforehand so that you didn't have to negotiate it on a friday afternoon with your your opponent's manager or whatever where there's a set rule where it's like hey if you miss weight you can't be over by x amount by the next day and you have to give up x amount of your purse and this like all this i think we've reached a point in mma where all this should be agreed upon long before. You know how every sport has a collective bargaining agreement where everything is broken

down, how much you get tested, how much you have to do this and that, and how much cut of the revenue. All this should be agreed upon long before you guys even get to Las Vegas or wherever you're fighting. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I agree. I agree. I should be the president.

No, I'm kidding. I don't want that, John. I don't want that job i don't want that but i feel for you man i really do and um i hope that you're able to get back in there and and if it is seeing that fight again i don't i don't see how anyone would be against that so uh keep your head up thank you for coming on and and saying your peace and and good luck and happy holidays as well uh hopefully this doesn't ruin the holiday season for you so i appreciate you for having me as always and um yeah brian don't be a bitch bro stop that stop talking shit and fucking acting as if you know you did something right you know have some accountability and just be a little humble you know that's it thank you r, Randy. Talk to you soon.

All right. There he is. Randy Brown joining us. Yeah. He's, he's referring to Brian on the show yesterday saying if, if he was in Randy's shoes, which cuts deep, no doubt about it. If he was in Randy's shoes, he said he would have not taken the fight. This is what Brian said at the end of the interview regarding Randy's general

sentiment. And it's the same type of sentiment that we saw in the interview that just happened. Some of the things that he said online, this is what Brian had to say. Randy, he's an incredible fighter. You know what I'm saying? I got better just being in the cage with him. But with that being said, you know, he did take the fight. You know what I'm saying? Like, all the, I feel zero guilt, zero remorse. You know what I'm saying? Like, because, you know, like, he still was very capable of beating the shit out of me

on Saturday night. You know what I'm saying? He was still throwing hard shots. It's whatever. Man, I got to tell you, between that interview yesterday and this interview today, I wouldn't hate seeing them run it back.

And Randy is right. Historically, the UFC doesn't do that sort of thing. Is there something going on up here? You all right, man? No, I don't know what's happening. Did something pop? No, give us more description. No, I don't know.

I was just kind of looking up. I don't know if there were lights. I don't know. Was it something you heard or something you saw? Maybe both. There's a clip from the watch party on Saturday right before Bryce Mitchell gets his finish, and I look around in the studio

and I'm like, did anybody else hear that? Bryce Mitchell gets the finish so we never addressed it. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what it was. That studio might be haunted. Just keep us abreast, please. Do you think it's a drone? No, it's not a drone. I don't know what it is. Did that go over Montclair? The New Jersey drones that have been...

No. What are you talking about? Do you think it's an alien Oh definitely an alien Who's on the floor above us I have no idea Oh above us I was like who's No Zuck up there Stop it bro

Pull up I was talking to my My son's friend who's 12 And I was like oh I didn't know you were coming over today. He's like, yeah, I just decided to pull up. I'm like, I don't think you could say that if you don't drive. Sure you can. I guess I never thought about that.

Yeah, like technically are driving when you're pulling up. Yeah, I mean like. We'll pull through, pull up, you know. Right. That is funny though. I also like that you were just like, I didn't know you were coming over. Did you take his bike? After school? What are you doing here, man? Yeah, and he's like, nah, I just decided to pull up you were just like, I didn't know you were coming over. Did you take his bike? After school?

What are you doing here, man? Yeah, and he's like, nah, I just decided to pull up. I'm like, what? What are you talking about? Are your kids big weekday hangouters? Oh, this has been a huge problem. Oh, I'd love to hear this. I'd love to hear this.

This has been a huge problem. They're like, can we have a play date? And I'm like, what? Play date? It's Tuesday. And my middle and youngest, they still say play date. The oldest has now graduated to like get together or hang out. Chill.

You know, it's not really a play date anymore. That's not cool. But I was always brought up with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Like we're, Friday's different. But Monday through Thursday, there's no hanging out. I was the exact same way. Yeah. Yeah. Man.

After school activity is great, but a play date? Nah. Yeah, that's a little bad. Until I got to high school and I could drive myself, it was, yeah, Monday through Thursday. Maybe a rare, rare Thursday one, but Monday through Thursdays, it was no go. Did you guys work through high school? No, I was a spoiled brat. I worked as a busboy.

Wow. Well, high school for me was 7 to 11. What? Yeah. Oh, okay. I thought you were saying... 7th grade to 11th grade? That's high school.

Yeah, we don't have middle school. How old are you when you graduate? Well, 11th grade. So what are we? 1999 I graduated, so I was just about to turn 17. 99. Yeah, man. There wasn't a 12th year at all? You were 16 when you graduated. Technically, yeah, because my birthday's in July. So in Quebec, elementary is first to sixth,

and then high school is seven to 11. And then there's something called CGEP, which is two years of sort of like junior college, and then three three years university so it ends up actually being the same because technically then that's 12 and 13 and then the 13 is the first year but like when i got to syracuse i was technically a sophomore interesting did you i had to convince them though to take those credits from year 13 my second year cjep to apply them so that i wouldn't have to stay you know four years and then be a year older than the graduating class so you went cjep to apply them so that i wouldn't have to stay you know four years and then be a year older than the graduating class so you went cjep into syracuse exactly canada to syracuse montreal yeah is that a is that like expensive to go out of country yes you mean you mean as a canadian yes it's the same as like out of state yeah like out of state tuition Oh yeah I don't really know much about that but yes

I was I believe Student visa and all that stuff I was the only Was I the only I would say I mean my graduating class wasn't that big It was probably about 400 60 max

Is this CGEP? No high school Graduating class CGEP is much bigger There's only. Is this CGEP? No, high school. Oh, okay. Graduating class. CGEP is much bigger. There's only like two English CGEPs in Montreal. So you either go to one or the other and they're right next to each other. High school graduating class was about 60, maybe 65. And I don't know if more than 2% left Quebec.

Wow. To go to university. It was a very rare thing. And that was part of my problem. I mean, we're talking is I've gone to therapy because of this, if I'm being honest. I was extremely homesick. All my friends were together living in downtown Montreal, having the time of their lives, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And I'm in Syracuse, New York, sitting in a, you know, five by five foot dorm, or at least it felt that way. And pretty much just sitting in my room watching pro wrestling and UFC. It was a very depressing time. Let's go orange. It was the most, I hope it will forever be the most depressing time in my life. It was three years of this. This is what it was. All three years it was like that?

All three years. My best stretch was like the last two weeks when I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel and I was done. I mean, we could do a whole three hours on it. You did the three years? I did five and it was like... last two weeks when I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel and I was done. I mean, we could do a whole three hours on it. You did the three years? I did five and it was like... The best time. Yeah, it was like the greatest time of my life.

Go Dawgs. Go Dawgs. All right. Well, now that we've opened that wound, let's talk to the great Marab Dwalishvili, who of course returns to action on January the 18th, UFC 311 in Inglewood. I can't wait to talk to Marab. There's a lot to talk to him about so let's not waste any more time and say hello to the champ himself hello Murad how are you let's go I'm great how are you Murad maybe the most talked about man in MMA right now you are

uh always in the news these days so there's a lot to talk to you about let's get into it can I ask you my friend we saw the press conference but i want to know how we got there because for the longest time we were hearing you say march we were hearing you talk about peter we were hearing that you know you weren't interested in fighting in december and january how did we get to the point where you agreed to fight on january 18th against umar they got what they want and they still not appreciate. They still talking trash. How it happened? Yeah, I was gonna take my five months, and I was going to travel a little bit. I had some work and I was going to enjoy Christmas, New Year's. I had plans to go to Spain and spend time with Iia and his family and uh uh and january 10th is my birthday and i was

gonna celebrate first time ever my birthday i was going to my country and um ufc was uh asking me if I was interesting in January. So basically UFC needed me in January because they needed Umar to fight with Islam. And I step up, I'm a company man, and I go to the office and yes, I said, okay, okay, you know, I step up. And I said, okay, I'm just tired. And then, okay, we can fight. Even though I was coming from injury, I was taking antibiotics, whatever.

And, you know, like I said, I was helping Aljamai Sterling in camp. And, like, I wasn't not going to fight before February. But, yeah, I changed my mind. I'm a warrior and I'm a company man. I give favor to Umar and Islam too. They will fight both in the same card. Before I was fighting both, I was thinking, when I become champion, I can fight every six months. That would be great. I will know when I'm going to fight. And what I was waiting for first, respect. Since I became champion, it was a lot of drama and a lot of toxic talk, which I don't appreciate.

I don't deserve this. I work hard and I earned everything. I was just fighting best of the best. All I ask is just respect. I understand you want to fight for the belt even if you're not fighting top contenders but just be humble and be respectful for the guys who have been here and who are fighting best of the best

I understand that you say that and you talked about that in the press conference and I want to ask you about the press conference in a moment but when you speak about respect can I also ask are you referring to the UFC as well? because let's be honest some people have fought

before your fight against Sean O'Malley and they're not being asked to fight in December and January and so is there any part of you that feels disrespect from the organization that is asking you to come back so soon? No, I understand you know, sometimes they I mean, for UFC

I think it was the best also like Umar and Islam will fight same same same day and so Islam will defend his belt Omar will have a his chance to fight for the belt and I mean this is It was good good good opportunity for UFC I understand this but you see don't push me anything, you know, but they just ask me, you know, but no, from UFC, I feel respect and love and, no, I'm

grateful. I'm grateful for UFC. That's why I'm doing this, you know. I'm doing because I'm a company man and yeah, I'm grateful for UFC, no problem. But only, I don't appreciate Umar, you know. UFC, at least they are very, you know, appreciate when I take this fight. Even Dana White, when I go to the press conference and I shake his hand,

Dana White tell me, thank you for taking this fight again. And, yeah, yeah man that's all that's all I want you know as long as UFC respects me and UFC appreciates me I'm good man and but yeah when you met with the UFC did you make the case

hey I think other people deserve it more than Umar did you have that discussion before ultimately agreeing and what what what happened yes I like you know I like to speak truth and what I think and that's what I said you know because Ian is active fighter you know and he I watched his last fight. He was looking very good. You know? And especially March. March was good, you know? So, March was good because... So, let's say, after my fight, when I go to my country,

I did the interview and I said I was ready to return maybe after five months in February or after six months in March But since I say that umar That's where he started respect me. He said Oh March is Ramadan, you know, I'm not fighting the abroad. It's not I have no idea when is Ramadan Always change and it's not it's not my problem, my friend. You have to wait. And then I was thinking,

oh, since Umar can't fight in Ramadan and he doesn't want to fight, I don't know, Bilal Muhammad is fighting in Ramadan. So if Umar can't fight in Ramadan, I will give Yan a great fight. And Islam is fighting rematch too

against Saruki so I don't see why they see the rematch oh they say oh he beat already Peter yes but that was

two years ago and after yeah Peter has a great fight and and I was thinking to stay busy

and fight Peter March and then O'Malley wants to fight in April and I was going to take a quick turnaround, fight O'Malley in April and then if O'Malley wanted to fight in May and I was going to fight and I was hoping that he was going to fight, and I was hoping that he was going to fight one more. Like maybe against even Song Yidong. But he's not fighting him.

He's bullshitting us. You know, that's how I'm like, I'm tired of his lying. He's being disrespectful, arrogant, cocky, and spoiled. You know, that's all. And when I was watching the press conference, Marab, you know, you're a fun-loving guy. We've known you for a long time. I was wondering and maybe a little bit worried

that you were too emotional in the press conference. You seemed very upset and you were very, very emotional. It was a side of you that we don't often see. Do you feel that way now looking back on Friday? Do you feel like you were too emotional yes i agree i was mad and you know i don't like this drama i don't like fight when i was fighting omari i was kissing i was smiling you know i don't like this bullshit i don't have nothing to prove man i'm a i'm a professional fighter and i don't want to fight outside even even this Umar's fans one one guy in Paris he tried to disrespect me

that was Umar's fan and then I was gonna just walk away I just show middle finger and I was gonna walk away but my friend to have my back and I now I know of course I was gonna fight in the same thing this guy like you know the the last, the guy hold me and he wants to disrespect me in Russian language and he was typing me video and he said, do you understand, right? Do you understand? And he was talking me trash, Umar's friend, somebody. And so what happened was, to press conference, when I met Umar, Let's go back. Once Umar starts tweeting disrespect me, and of course I was mad as a man and I wanted to punch his face in the street. In

the fight and in the sport it's different, but I wanted to beat the shit out of him. But unfortunately I don't see him outside and I see him in the T-Mobile Arena building and it was UFC security and all the cameras and I don't want to punch him because I don't want to make trouble for UFC. They don't like this kind of stuff. And I don't want to be the guy who whatever. And then of course I was asking Umar, why you disrespect me? And he answered me because I wanted. And when I asked him again, said what are you gonna do about it and this is fucked up answer and then and after we had compressed confidence of course I was mad about this you know I wanted to punch this guy's face in industry but I

wasn't able to you know and and he said oh merab i never disrespect you i never disrespect you and he like 20 minutes before he say i disrespect you because i want it and what are you gonna do about it and then two months later he even tweet you can google and he say oh i'm sorry merab if i disrespect you somehow, I apologize. And then this guy changing, this guy lying. And I was so mad about this. And that's why I lost a little bit, like, myself. And I was very mad, you know, because, you know, because every time I fight somebody,

if I lost against a respectful opponent, I won't be mad. I will be happy for my opponent, you know, because if I lost even against any top contenders, hey, you know what? You win. Congratulations. Good job. But Omar is just a disrespectful guy I think you were referring earlier to the clip that has now made the rounds after the Aljamain fight when you were walking out, is that what you were talking about where someone tried to videotape

you and then you've posted a video now I guess saying that that person was a part of their team and so could you tell us your side of the story, what happened there? So as you see the video I post on instagram and x um so i was walking back with aljamae sterling and some guy grabbed my shoulder my hand and and then he had a phone and he was filming video and he was disrespecting me in Russian language.

I mean, my Russian is not good. I don't really speak Russian, but I know the bad words that he was cursing on me, cursing my family. And also he told me, I know this word which means do you understand right do you understand right and he was cursing on me i'm like and then you know security was there i really want to punch his face but in the security security also realized that he was cursing on me and he he can security can tell this guy was talking trash and security hold me and like it was so hard man. I'm a man. I'm a fighter I'm a I know first of all, I live in a respectful way and then I you know some some stupid dumb ass disrespect me, of course, I will fight, you know, I will fight and

and So I wasn't able to you know, go close to the guy because of security. But my friend got my back and he slapped this motherfucker. And then this motherfucker, a couple hours later, so the UFC security told me later, oh, they kicked him out from the arena. But I go to his Instagram and he was somewhere else watching fights no problem and then me I leave this I UFC asked me to stay when I record like to shot me and Umar I said okay no problem but after they finished this I left because I wasn't in that mood because these provocate people and so

this guy even after the fight he was taking picture with Umar and then even Umar sharing pictures and saying his story oh we got him or we like he was proud of this provocate guy you know Umar was proud which is he was proud of this provocateur guy, you know? Umar was proud. Which is he was supporting some provocateur fan which tried to provocateur me. And this also shows provoke Umar or touch Umar or try to fight with Umar, I will never support this. I will tell my friend or whoever it will be, hey, you know what? It's not your business. You should not mess up with professional fighters. It doesn't matter if it's Umar or anybody else.

But Umar was supporting this guy and uh yeah he was taking picture with this uh guy was taking picture with uh uh islam and other guys and you know yeah in in the post-fight press conference dana white was asked about it and he called you his mini Sean Strickland um that sometimes you can't control yourself in these moments we've seen you come to your friend's defense do you do you agree that you need to do a better job of of not engaging fan spectator I understand that this guy you say is a part of the team but just because you have so much to lose you're a UFC champion and there are going to be people who are going to try to come after you or say things to rile you up. First of all, thank you, Dana White, for supporting me. And even the journalists ask provocative questions like, oh, how about Merab?

He's getting in trouble all the time. He's doing da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. But Dana White defends me. And thank you for that because we know that everybody believed in the right and if then i say anything bad about me and all the media will start negative talks about me and thank you then i for that and uh second hey i'm a man first and then if you come to my face and if you disrespect me, you're going to get slapped. And don't try that, you know, because I'm a man and I will never forgive you. Even if I have to go to jail, I don't care, man.

I don't care. I have so much to lose. I don't care this belt. I don't care this money. I don't care this legacy. I'm a man. I live respectful way. And that's all I will leave.

I don't care. I don't care this you know and uh yeah especially now i'm a u.s citizen like you know i can fucking fight bitter share of these motherfuckers and i don't i have no problem to pay uh the b you know whatever ticket or go jail i don't care because don't disrespect me that's what what i'm gonna tell you that's it okay um is there any concern on your part your team that as we get to january 18th that once again you will be very emotional and you know sometimes when you're emotional in a fight you don't fight smart, right? Are you concerned about this? Just in his presence, the press conference, fight week,

there's going to be a lot of drama probably, right? And so how are you going to try to avoid getting too emotional? That's a good question. Now I realize that he's really a piece of shit. I will move on because I don't want to trouble with UFC and I don't want to beat Umar before

the fight because he will make excuse, he may cancel fight and I don't want to affect this fight. I'm a company man and I will not do anything bad. Not bad. I will not do anything that what's going to affect fights and I'm going to ignore these losers and Ouma is a good fighter, but he's not a good man.

That's my problem. But now, yeah, I just realized he's a piece of shit and now I'm good. I'm not going to fight before official fight and I'll be cool. Okay.

Okay, just one more time. I'm going to correct this. So, yeah, before the fight, I'm just going to ignore him or his fans because I don't want to affect this fight. Because I'm a company man and make sure UFC has these fights and we'll see after. He may get a slapped after the fight. The fighting in acting is not a real fight, it's a sport. Sure, sure. So you're saying even when the fight is over, the fight may continue.

The real fight may continue. Yeah. If Umar does not apologize with me, it's going to happen. And could I ask... Even if I have to go to Dagestan, I will go. Hey, I love Dagestan and I have so many friends in Dagestan and I respect Dagestan people and they are good people but Umar make big mistake with me and Umar has to pay this but I

know my my support and my love for Dagestan people and I I still respect Habib's team and Islam and everybody else. But I have a problem only with Umar. So I don't want to fix this problem before the fight, but after the fight, I'm going to fight him. Can I ask Murad specifically, what did he say that you want him to apologize for? So, okay. First, he, after I said, oh, I'm ready for fight in February or March, he,

since I said this, he blamed on me, oh, like, Merab, you know, it's, you, you ducking me, da, da, da, okay, that's, you know, ducking me, you know, because it's Ramadan, and after, oh, he called me so many like so many like so many bad words i mean you can just go like in uh in google and say what he he tweeted about me and so and then and then he he he disrespect me online uh on x and yeah like i said when i met him he said why when i asked why you disrespect me he said because i want it what are you gonna do about it okay what i'm gonna do about it i'm gonna show him you know if he say hey i'm sorry it was just because i want to fight with you da da da da da and i'm sorry my friend i already apologized on Twitter because he did apologize on Twitter.

And if he says the same thing, hey, sorry, I apologize. If I somehow disrespect you, I will forgive him. But he gave me even a different reaction. He said, yes, I disrespect you because I want it. What are you going to do about it? And then I tell you 20 minutes later, he lie in the press conference. He say, I never disrespect you.

I never disrespect your country or your nation. He's a liar and then he's a piece of shit and he has to get it. I do have to say, Amrab, because I was saying you were very emotional. You did have a good zinger, as they say, a joke in the press conference. The Jewish line was a good

one. I think you got them with it, although he said he wasn't. But that was good stuff. You've come a long way. Let me tell you this. So they grow up together. Like maybe more than 20 years

they know each other. And when Jordan is asked him, what's your best memory together? And they like both, they don't have memories. And they was going to say, oh, the best memory will be,

we're going to fight together. And I'm thinking in my head, bro, how you don't have any good memories like together, even like a positive, like you guys all in taking shower in my head, bro, how you don't have any good memories together. Even like a positive, like you guys all taking shower in a little jacuzzi. That was, I think, good. And that's why I tell him I help him to stay positive or just give some good memories. But Omar said he wasn't there.

Maybe he was taking picture, huh? I don't know. I don't know i don't know uh can i ask rob is part of the issue that you have with him you had to win 10 fights to get to the title fight you had to beat everyone legends is that ultimately the issue here you feel like he is getting a title shot a lot sooner than say you who had to really work through the ranks and and beat every single top contender um i mean yes this is the fact of course but i'm not i'm not mad because of that if no when ufc uh text me after my fight hey you fighting woman next and uh you want to fight this day of course I said I don't care

I just don't want to fight come back in December and January but I will fight whoever in February or March I'm fighting anybody whoever wants and I see the news that Umar was fighting January Song Yidong and I

said that was the right thing the right move to do from UFC and from Umar to fight one more before me that was good but and that's why you know I was thinking oh he's doing good maybe one more fight he wants to stay

busy but I guess he's bullshitting everybody that's my problem he's bullshitting everybody he's blamingshitting everybody that's my problem he's bullshitting everybody he's blaming me and blaming everybody nobody wanna fight him he wants only fight for the belt but bro how you fighting belt only guy you beat it's Corey

Sanhagen anybody else wasn't ranked or some people has a debut and like everybody like there is Raul Rosa, the guy is killer if they give him title fighting maybe 45 or 35

he may become champion you know, that guy is the killer but why we don't give this opportunity Raul Rosa why we don't give this opportunity Bautista which is coming 7-5 win streak streak that is Jackson I forget the tall guy his name Jackson uh maybe you know his first name and this guy also has like a

good run maybe five five win you know something but he's you know so there is so many good guys and they don't have this opportunity so uh my my problem with him is he's bullshitting everybody. But when UFC said I'm fighting him next, I said yes, okay, no problem. I never say no. Whenever UFC offered me to fight whoever, I would say always yes. How do you see it playing out on January 18th? How do you envision the fight playing out? So it's gonna be good

fight and it's gonna be tough fight for both of us and as a fighter he's really good fighter and I you know I always respect my opponents and I treat them like killers, and that's how I'm going to treat this fight too. And I don't know exactly how it's going to go, but it's going to be a good fight. And yeah, I... All right. I can't wait for it. One last question before I let you go.

You were obviously there with Al Jermaine, and I saw on his podcast yesterday, he said he doesn't know if he's going to keep fighting. He doesn't know if he wants to work his way back up. Do you want to see Al Jermaine continue to fight? I do, because Al Jermaine just fought a very great fight against Mo Salah El-Ohaim, just fought a very great fight against Mozart Erloy. And it was the last two minutes that caused the Aljo fight. You know, before that, I think Aljo was doing very good.

And I'm sure the next fight will be different results, you know. And Mozart was... Mozart is a great fighter, but some positions he was on top and he looked good. So anyway, next fight I'm sure will be different results between them. Mozart, how I know, he will fight for the belt. And if Ilya moves up, Mozart is next champion, I believe. And Aldo can have a rematch with him. So let's see if Ilya is champion. I don't think anybody will beat Ilya, to be honest. But if Ilya moves up, the Mozart will become champion and Aldo either has to fight one more

and fight for the belt or just straight to the rematch because you guys will agree that was a very close fight and good fight. Murab, you're the man. Thank you for the entertainment. Great job. And good luck. And don't be too emotional. You have a job to do. And we look forward to it and wish you the best on January 18th. I appreciate you.

I really know I'm a positive guy. I like... I know, I get it. I like making jokes. I like making skits. But what I'm going to do with this guy, Umar, man,

I cannot joke with him. He's not a man, you know. and it's okay, I'll be fine, I'll be fine, you know, hey, it's okay, you know, I'm a positive guy, don't worry, I move on already, you know, like, once I realize he's not a man, he don't respect, no, he don't deserve my attention that way, you know, it doesn't matter't matter if we talk to him. He doesn't understand. I guess he's a piece of shit. God is good.

Life is good. January 18th, it's going to be a good fight. Make sure to tune in and buy Pay-Per-View. Let's go! Yay! Thank you, Murab.

Good luck to you in training. Thank you so much. Thank you. Let's go. The great training thank you so much let's go the great marab davali shvili uh the pride of georgia and the bantamweight champion he'll be fighting in the co-main event on january 18th into a dome main event is a massive massive fight you'll recall this time last year my prediction was by the end of 2024 i predicted on the ringer mma show that armin srukin wouldin would be UFC lightweight champion. It almost came to fruition, but the fight didn't happen.

I might be a few weeks late. We'll see what happens. For now, let's say hello to the pride of Armenia, the great Armin Tsurukin. Great to talk to him again. Hello, Armin. How are you? Can you hear me, Armin? You hear me?

He doesn't hear me. One second. Okay. He saw me waving though. We'll get to Armin in a moment. And he, of course, is fighting in the main event against... I'm here. Oh, Armin, you hear me?

Yeah. Okay. Hello. How are you? Hello. How are you? I'm great. It's great to have you back on.

Thank you for coming on, Armin. I don't know if you heard me before uh but I was saying that at the beginning of the year and I've told you this before my prediction my bold prediction was that you would be lightweight champion by the end of this year but we're a couple weeks off because the fight is happening January 18th we thought it was going to happen in October and so can I ask were you disappointed were you were you ready for October and then disappointed that you had to wait a few more months? I was ready for October and then they sent me December 7.

And then they moved to January. For me, it's okay. So I keep learning, keep getting better. And I'm still young and I got time. So happy that it's going to be January 18th. It's pretty soon. Yes. And also, as Islam said, there's a massive Armenian population in Los Angeles.

Obviously, he's a very big star and he's been champion now for a bit. Do you think you will actually be the bigger fan favorite in L.A. more so than him? Oh, for sure like 90 90 percent is gonna be my my fans. Are you surprised that he agreed to it because of that? That he would agree on this? I was surprised because I was surprised because it's not his territory and I thought he wants to maybe fight in Saudi Arabia or Dubai or somewhere else, but not in California because California is an Armenian town, you know? By the way, you mentioned December 7th.

Why didn't it happen on December 7th? He got injured, so he couldn't fight on December 7th. Okay. We had heard after what happened at 300 that you were going to film a video, a PSA and they would allow you to then fight if you filmed it but then it got moved and we thought

is he still going to film the PSA? There were a lot of people who wanted to see this video did you ever film the video? yeah I trained in my home you did it in your home? yeah by myself on my home. You did it in your home? Yeah, by myself, on my phone. How long is it?

A couple minutes. And what did you have to say? Don't show me middle finger. I'm going to break it again. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But did you have to film something and send it to them? No, no, no, no. Okay, it's over.

I haven't done it. Oh, you haven't? But you still are going to? I don't know. If they want me, I will do it. Okay. So the fight gets signed, and then we get this press conference on Friday,

and we just had Murab on. What did you think about the press conference? So press conference was fun. I was laughing. And just for me was fun press conference between Murab and Mark. So we just was listening how they talk. It was very, you could say,

emotional, right? There was a lot of tension. But it seems to me that between you and Islam, there's for the most part a lot of respect. Would you say that's accurate? Yeah, of course. I don't have something to say to him. I just want to get his belt and for me it's

like a sport and we don't argue or we don't have some drama and just uh we want to fight and uh to see who is the best in lightweight division he did say that he thinks that you're the most deserving, but that maybe since your first fight in 2019, there isn't much that has changed about you. Do you agree with that assessment? Do you think you haven't evolved as much as him? And if not, what is your response to that? I feel like I'm a completely different fighter right now.

And now I have everything to beat him. What about him? Do you think he has changed a lot since your first fight? Yeah, for sure he has changed a lot. He improved his striking, his clinch, and his elbows, knees. So, he's good on my type. But, like, wrestling skills, it's the same.

Will you watch that first fight a lot in preparation for this one? I know it's just a month away now, essentially, but I'm just wondering if you will watch it a lot because, you know, you can get some sort of sense of what happened in that first one. Of course, I watched a couple times. But like, I already know how should I fight.

It's a couple of mistakes I did that fight. Can I ask which ones? What are the mistakes? Yeah, I spent a lot of energy when I wanted to take him down, so I shouldn't because he defended very well, he defended very well and I should like mix striking with wrestling so I should more strike that day than wrestle

I did see this mini documentary that was put out on YouTube and you said that you have some tricks some surprises right for the fight and I know you were asked about the tricks at the press conference and you said well why am I going to tell you it's not a surprise if i tell you right but um well this isn't the press conference now so no one's really watching what are you referring to with the tricks and the surprises should i tell you yeah yeah no no one's watching yeah I don't know

is there really something? it was a joke nah I don't believe that this is mind games it was a joke and everybody think what I'm preparing for that and now everyone's wondering yeah so it's working

that's true people like when we talk a lot so you can say yeah so it's working that's true people people like when we talk a lot so you can you can say whatever you want

is there is there like an alliance between you and Murab because it's like you know Islam and Umar they're

they're the same team they're family whatever so do you feel like it's you and Murab against Islam and Umar for sure you feel that way yeah I feel like you and Murab against Islam and Umar? For sure. You feel that way?

Yeah, I feel like me and Murab, we're together and we got to beat them. Because he's Georgian, I'm Armenian, I was born in Georgia. And we are close, you know. So we know each other very well we trained so hopefully

that night we're gonna celebrate with Armenian and Georgian dance oh nice is there an Armenian dance I've seen the Georgian dance I've never seen the Armenian

it's almost same okay so it's almost like team Georgia versus team Dagestan yeah we have a same a similar culture. So it's almost the same, Armenian and Georgian.

Do you spend time there in Georgia? Of course. All my relatives are there. And I was born there. I go there more often than in Armenia. Oh, wow. You spend more time in Georgia than Armenia? Yeah, right now, yes, because my relatives live there. So my uncles, my cousins, you know, and I go there three, four times a year to see them. But now you're in Florida, right? Yeah, I just came to Florida

a couple days ago and started my training camp. I mean, I started in Russia. Okay. Buffalo, police. What's happening? Someone's talking? No, my chef is making noise.

Oh, you have a chef? Yeah. I saw you had a massive meal of chicken. And I think you're wearing the hat. Is it the hat from the restaurant that you're wearing right now? Yeah. Are they sponsoring you? Oh, yeah.

I'm trying to get a contract from them. They should. Look at this meal. Dave's Hot Chicken. Yeah. Like six million views. They got to send me a good contract. How much of that did you actually eat?

I had maybe five of that burgers. Five? Yeah. Legit. Really? Yeah. And maybe five or six the chicken wow is that your first time having it yeah it's my first time uh i've never so what would you say one to ten how good nine and a half wow really is it spicy uh yeah it's spicy. Okay, I like that. So you're wearing the hat, you're saying you're open for business. Come sponsor me.

Yeah, I want to get contract, so they just have chicken. Let's go. Danny, Syed, they need to hook it up. Sure. I was going to ask you, because you were talking about where you were living. I saw a video of you in a car in some snowy mountains or something like that. Where is this? It's in the russia where i had my training camp okay i spent one month in russia in the in the mountains so get used to train there and was the best place for training wow where like where specifically in Russia is this? Elbrus. Elbrus is the most, this is the most highest mountain in Europe and in Russia. It's like 5,600 meters.

Wow, so good for cardio, elevation, all that stuff. Sure, sure. My cardio gotta be very well for this part. How cold is it there it's not that cold like minus five minus fifteen like sometimes minus ten minus fifteen in the morning sometimes minus fifteen but like i'm used to live there i'm i live in russia all my life so yeah and in georgia where where i live in georgia it's cold too too. It's a mountain place as well. Which climate do you like better? That climate or Florida climate?

That climate. More than Florida? Really? Yeah. Come on. I like mountains more than ocean. Really? You want to be cold?

You like being cold more than the sun and the heat and all that? Yes. That's crazy. Because I can do snowmobile, I can snowboard. So a lot of different things. So why do you move the training camp to Florida? Why don't you just stay there the whole time? Because you can't be in mountains a long time.

You got to be there 21 days and then leave. How come? mountains long time you gotta be there 21 days and then leave how come it's like it's like specific training it's like uh olympic olympic teams does like this so you go there for three weeks and then after three weeks you gotta you gotta leave the play because you shouldn't stay there more than three weeks because it's it won't make sense after that. Okay. I don't know if you saw this, but I think it was yesterday or the day before, Ilya Teporya said he may be done at featherweight and he wants to move up to lightweight.

Have you seen these comments? Yeah, I've seen it. What do you think of that? I'm happy because new name in our division and his staff, he's a champ in 145 and uh it's always good when you get new name in your division and especially like you later pooya would you have any issues fighting him i mean it's a business of course uh if I'm going to be a chairman, he wants to fight for the belt.

Of course, I'll fight. But for me, to be honest, it doesn't matter. I just focus on Islam right now, and then we'll talk about all fights. Sure. And do you think, obviously, you think you're going to win. Because he's popular and he's held the belt for several fights now, are you expecting it's going to be two fights against him now? Do you think that they'll do an immediate rematch?

With this one? Yeah. I don't think so. You don't think so? Yes. I mean, it's going to be Ramadan, and I want to fight as soon as possible. You want to fight right away after this one? Yeah, in May would be great.

Wow. Because I got to make money. After the belt, I'm going to make money. Yeah. And maybe in 2024, you didn't get to fight as much as you wanted. Yeah, three fights would be great. Three fights? Yeah. Who do you think is is the next guy

like you win who do you think your first title defense will be against oliver for sure you think so again yeah this is this is gonna be good fight five rounds five yeah he's a former champion and new champion so great fight really much what did you think of his performance against michael chandler to be honest i didn't watch that fight why not i was in russia i was in my camp so i don't want to wake up or like go to sleep very late because i have a very important fight coming up and i just got to be focused on islam Islam and then this is the most important fight right now and then because of time different as well okay were you expecting him to win of course I told everybody he's gonna win I thought

he could finish him the leg I heard he's dominate all four rounds. Yeah, the fifth round was Chandler's best round. Yeah, but I heard that Chandler looked good as well. His cardio was good. Yeah, in the fifth round he was great, which would suggest that. Charles has said he'd be willing to be the backup fighter for January 18th. Have you been told that he is, in fact, the backup fighter? No, I haven't heard about it. But I heard he got injured.

I don't know. Oh, okay. So do you think there should be or have you been told there's someone else who's the backup fighter? I don't know. Hopefully we don't need the backup fighter. Right. I noticed when you did the face-off with Islam,

were you trying to make him laugh? Because there was actually some laughing there between you guys. I mean, I don't know. When I saw him, it was like this reaction when I saw him. You were smiling at him, and we never see you smile. Because we had a long story, and we had a long story and we know each other. We fought with each other. So it's like when I saw him, I didn't see him a long time and I just wanted to smile.

Because I was happy to see him, you know? Yes. Finally. Finally. Like a fighter who I who's gonna fight next i'm gonna ask you a maybe a tough question but uh your humble opinion who's the better fighter now islam or khabib right now no not like right like at in at their peak the best of is best of Khabib it's tough question it's tough question because I'm deep happy for me is a different different level fighter

not just like a fighter like a man you know so I like more Habib than Islam why is that? because when I was young I watched all Habib's fights and for me he he's a god in our division right now I don't remember

maybe you probably remember 2019 was Habib in Islam's corner? when you fought him the first time no he didn't the abdul manab was javier mendez and one boxer coach the islam's boxing coach was uh habib was uh was uh was there but he wasn't a corner okay this time it sounds like he's going to be so you're gonna be fighting against them Is that it's gonna be good. Is that is that is that an honor for you? Is that weird? How would you describe that? He's gonna get me more energy It's kind of

If I beat Islam, it's like kind of beat have you seen me now? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah By the way, something just occurred to me in the face-off with Islam. Are you wearing the Dave's Hot Chicken jacket too? Yeah. What's going on here with this company? I feel like there's Dave's on your jacket, Armin. What's happening here?

I don't know. I'm just trying to get big contract. Where are you getting all this merch from? It's nice stuff. I bought it from David's Hot Chicken. I don't know if I believe you. I feel like there's something going on. I like it, though.

It's smart. No, really. I haven't got any dollars yet. But you're giving them a lot of attention. Yeah, that's why I'm trying to make money. Why them specifically? Because I tried and I like it, so it's going to be good if I'm going to have a free meal. That's right, but it's not good for cutting weight.

It's okay. Once a month, it's okay. Cheat meal. Cheat meal, yeah. That video, was that the first time you tried it? Yeah, and there is a lot of use of six million something like that yeah i know they should hook you up i mean it's like love at first sight you tried it you loved it so much you bought the hat you bought the jacket anything else

not yet but maybe they're gonna send me a glass that i'm gonna follow this i like this this is smart i like this very much uh by the way um at ATT, you have Dustin Poirier, who fought Islam, has a history with him. Is he around? I know he lives in Louisiana, but is he around to give you any pointers on Islam, about the recent version of Islam? Because he just fought him in June. No, he's not around. But we have the same course, and they're going to help me. How should I fight with Islam?

Okay. To be potentially the first Armenian fighter to win a UFC title, does that mean... I know you've spent time in Russia and obviously Georgia, but it feels like you're most closely linked to Armenia. Correct me if you feel is that is that a big deal for you because I'm Armenian and I want to be first Armenian champion the wall and it's a big deal for me and I want to represent like Armenian fighter you know yeah you know? Yeah, you know it'd be cool if Carl Parisian is there. Do you have any contact with

Carl? We have, I don't know him personally, but like I have friends who knows him very well. He was supposed to fight for a UFC title, but then the champion got injured and he never actually got a chance many, many years ago.

So he almost had the opportunity. And I know he lives in the area, right? He lives in the California area. Yeah, I was so young when he fought. So I didn't watch his fights. Sure, sure. By the way, a video just emerged, the grappling match that you had with Hamzat.

That just, I don't know, when is that from? Is it in Abu Dhabi or something? No, it was in Thailand, Phuket. Phuket, okay. When was that? In the summer. Okay, a few months ago. And what did you think of grappling against him? He's obviously a middleweight, you're a lightweight. He's tough, strong, big.

But my... I just... It was like a submission only. And I just wanted to not give him submission and just to be a draw. And that's what ended up, right?

Yeah. So you win. No, it was a draw. No, but for you, it's like a moral victory. Yeah, but if you're going to count the takedowns and control, he got more than me. Okay. Well, that's

humble of you. Was he as tough as you expected? Yeah, he's tough. He's really tough. I thought he knows wrestling, but not like this. How much do you think he weighed in that? He was 98 kilos.

It's like maybe 2. 2.16. 2.16. And what about you? I was 183. Oh, 183 pounds. Yeah. So he was like 30 pounds more than you.

Yeah. What do you think will be a tougher test, that match against Hamzat or fighting Islam? Grappling with Hamzat. Oh, wow. Okay.

By the way, when you go to sleep at night, do you think about what life is going to be like if, and when you become UFC champion, are you allowing yourself to dream of, of a potential new reality? That's a little over a month away. Sometimes,

but like, uh, for me, I don't know why right now. it's not a big deal for me. Before it was crazy. I thought if I'm going to be a champion, life is going to change. But right now I'm so calm and just I need the belt and I don't think where I'm going after when I get

the belt or what's going to happen. I just want to see Rondana like get me a belt on my waist. And why do you think that is? Why do you think you're not thinking about that? Because you're so close. Yeah, because

it no make sense where you're going or what you're going to do. It's the most important thing to win the belt and then you can do whatever you want. And obviously you think you're going to win. What do you think? Do you think it's 25 minutes? Or are you expecting something else? No, I want to finish him.

It's a goal to finish him and not let judges to judge me. Yeah. Well, I can't wait. You never know what happens, you know. So now it's sometimes the close fight they give for the champ. So that's why we got to show show that that we are uh way better than him yeah you can't uh you can't leave it to the judges leave it to chance all that stuff so you make it emphatic

uh armin i'm very excited about this this this this card these two fights and the rest of the card fantastic what a way to start uh 2025 for the ufc and finally you're getting that title shot so i'm very happy for you uh Congratulations on getting the title shot. And of course, good luck in the next month as you prepare for the great Islam Makhachev. Thank you so much. And good luck. I gift for you.

I have a gift for you. Oh yeah? What is it? Is it chicken? Oh, I have a toy. It's my face and I want to give to you. I want you to put it here. You have a toy.

Yeah, I'm going to ship you. Please, it would be an honor. I'll put it right here next to all the champs. Deal. Deal. I love it. Thank you, Armin. And good luck with the chicken. Getting the deal done. If your managers can't get it done, let me know. I make a few

calls. No problem. No percentage. I take get it done, let me know. I make a few calls. No problem. No percentage. I take 0%. No, no. I'll give you 10. Okay, fine. Listen, whatever you want.

I don't need it. It's my pleasure. But if you want, you want. Yes, I want. Okay. Thank you, Armin. Good luck to you. Talk to you soon.

Thank you so much. Okay, bye-bye. There he is, the great Armin Tsurukian. What a guy. I love talking to armin no nonsense and a massive massive fight coming up on the 18th of january in inglewood technically it's inglewood it's not la but it's all kind of the same brand new arena and like i said that card is tremendous uh yuri prochaska versus jamal hill and another fight that we just found out was added to that card. We found out about this back end of last week. A massive one.

Also at 155, Benil Dariush against one of our favorites, Renato Manimoicano. And he's kind enough to join us to talk about this new fight booking. Let us go to the wall and say hello to Manimoicano. Hello, Renato. How are you, my friend? What's up, Ariel? Very good. How about you? What's up, everybody?

Everyone's doing great. It's great to talk to you. By the way, what do you think of this fight here? This is your weight class and a teammate of yours, right, Armin? What do you think? Armin versus Islam, how do you see it going down? Tough fight. Two wrestlers, two guys that are very powerful. I think it's going to be a fun matchup. Yeah. Do you have a pick? Do you have a prediction? Tough, tough. I was watching the interview. He said he wants to finish Islam Makachev.

That's going to be very hard, but on his last fight, Islam Makachev, we could see some holes on his game, right? Dustin Poirier did a great fight against him. And I think Armand is a very good fighter, a very good wrestler. Let's see. It's so tough to see where this fight is going because Makachev is so good at wrestling, you know. And I think Dustin, he did good because he's a great boxer.

So I don't know if Armand has the same level of boxing of Dustin Poirier. So that's why I'm not sure. But for sure, it's going to be a fun matchup. Yeah. Do you train together at all at ATT or separate training? No, we're training together. But Armand, usually he just comes to ATT to do like the six weeks, right? The training camp.

So I don't train with him much, especially because if he gets the belt, I will have to beat his ass one day. So that's why. It's nothing personal. I don't hate him or anything, but it's just business, right? No, I understand. All right, so let's talk about your fight. How did we end up with Benil Dariush?

I don't know. I don't know. Like, what happened is after my fight with Benoît Saint-Denis, I said to FC, hey, I'm getting old. I need to fight as soon as possible. If you want to give me a fight for November, December, January, I will fight anybody. But, of course, I was thinking about an easy matchup like Paddy Pimbley like I was saying but that's up to the UFC and actually UFC offered me to be the main event on December 14 this fight that that next week and of course I said okay I don't know about the opponent because I don't

care about the opponent you know. Who was the opponent? I don't I think it was Dariush, I think it was Dariush that's what they told me they told me hey we need uh we need a main event for UFC Tampa I think you will be nice because you're doing great you're doing your thing uh we we wanted to to to have you fighting the card who do you think will be a good opponent? And I mentioned, like, a couple names, and they say, hey, these names, they are all book and stuff. Let's try to make the fight against Benil Dariush or somebody else.

And I say, okay. But I didn't have the response, you know. And after a couple weeks, maybe a month, they offered me January 18. And that's it. I don't have too much time to lose. So Dariush, he is a tough fighter. That was not what I was expecting.

And I don't think that it was what I deserved. But who gives a fuck, right? It's a fight. Everything can happen. And I don't care who I'm fighting. I just have to be competitive and keep showing up. If you had your top choice, would it have been Paddy or someone else? Dan Hooker, Easy Money.

I saw the show that he was talking about that, ah, you know how it works, but it's not like that. If UFC offers me a fight like Dan Hooker or somebody on the top five, of course I will take. But it is what it is. I don't have much choice on How that that stuff works, but I'm pretty sure UFC knows what they doing especially fighting on the card on the same day like a big car huge card on the same day as the

Islam Akachev in Armand, Surukin my plan is go over there dominate that you see finish him and Get the mic and make my case for a title fight oh wow you're gonna go straight to title fight why not i don't know why not exactly why not i if you look into it if you go to the uh to topology or if you look my my uh my record right now on the lightweight division i have 6 fights I am on a 6 fight win streak on the 155 with 5 finishes who else has these stats on the

on the lightweight nobody nobody 5 finishes on the last 6 fights and 6 win streaks on the lightweight division people keep talking about the RDA fight that was 165 till they noticed that was not5 till they noticed that's what that's that was not 155 so uh say uh just try to to see if there is somebody else on the top 15 on the top

10 on the top five that is six consecutive wins with five stoppages i don't think nobody has these stats right now how would you feel if they give it to Charles again? I would feel, I would feel okay, you know, because like I said, that's not my call, you know, that's UFC. I just, I just want to be active, you know, but eventually I just have to keep winning, you know, I just have to keep winning, doing my thing. And eventually I will have my chance for the belt. And if I don't, okay too i'm making money you know i'm being happy and i live in my dream it is what it is you know i'm just i'm wondering also yeah was there any talk of the paddy fight that that's the one that i want to see so badly i feel like that could headline was there any talk of like were they considering it did they ask him was he unavailable or was there any talk of it? There was no talk about Paddy.

And for a good reason. Have you heard about the rumors of Paddy Pimblech and Benoit Sandini? Have you heard about that? That they'll fight each other? Yes. Have you heard about that? I have not, no. Yeah, so I don't know if it's official, but I saw on Twitter, you know.

Maybe that could be some bullshit. Like people just trying to spread their fight or stuff. know if it's official but i saw on twitter you know maybe that could be some bullshit like people just yeah uh trying to to to spread their fight or stuff but if they end up doing paddy pimbley versus benoist and then he will be pretty clear why they didn't put me against uh paddy pimbley right because uh possibly i beat benoist and then he 10-7 on the first round. I just beat his ass. That's the truth. And then they're going to put him against Paddy. What that means?

That means they know Moikano would destroy Paddy Pimbley. Yeah. Simple as that. Do you think that would be weird? After two knockout losses or two finishes that they would then put him against Paddy? I think that makes sense. I think UFC is, they are very smart.

They are very smart. If they do that, that is very smart if they do that That's very smart because you get a guy like Ben Watson then he that he's good. He is very good He's very aggressive and he was coming off five five finishes, right? So he was very entertaining but to do that to put him against Dustin Poirier and then against money more conicano that is just crazy that is just too much I don't think they are I think UFC learn with their mistakes and they're not gonna rush Paddy Pimbley like they did with Benoit Sandini so that's why they give him Benoit Sandini because

if he beats Benoit Sandini he beats a solid guy a good fighter a guy that everybody recognizes as game you know everybody says he's game. And if he beats Perry Pimbley, he gets all his hype. And he's European, too. So we have to remember, UFC in France is still young. They want a star, you know. We saw that with Cyril Gagne, too. Cyril Gagne, his last fight, I think Volkov got robbed. But I'm not telling UFC has something to do with the referees or the judges.

But they need somebody to represent MMA in France. And I think they know Cyril Gagne is not the guy. So I think they are trying to save Benoît Saint-Denis all the time. Because it makes zero sense. You beat Frevola and then you fight Dustin Poirier. That makes zero sense. And then you lose to Dustin Poirier and you fight Manny Moicano

that is coming off several wins. And now he's fighting Paddy Pimblitt. But if you see on the business perspective, this is very smart because whoever wins is going to get all the other fighters hyped. You mean Alexander Pimblitt? Yeah, Alexander Pimblitt.

Paddy Volkov. Paddyatti Volkov that was funny you know yeah you were on by the way you were on fire on Saturday your tweets were incredible yeah I don't know I it's just I just like to watch fights you know before a fight I'm a huge MMA fan I like to watch the fights I like to do predict video if you like predictions video go to my channel monimoicano.com I do a lot of prediction video in MMA I am a fan I'm a true fan of MMA so I'm ready I'm really blessed to be able to do MMA and and to go on Twitter and talk to people go to YouTube and talk to people and and especially be here with you that is a huge figure in mma and especially on social media about mma so uh i just i just enjoy you know i'm just enjoying you had a great one

about um them putting movsar and aljo on the prelim so we can watch crone pull guard oh there it is right over there i mean yeah what did you think of that man the numbers speak for himself 14k you know why because people recognize that people say hey this guy know what he's talking about you know i like i say before a fighter and before works for the ufc i am a fan and to have avloev and and aljamo sterling on the prelim card and Kron Gracie and Bryce Mitchell on the main card is just unbelievable. Because remember, I am a grappler too. You know, I like jiu-jitsu, I like wrestling.

And the exchanges that they did, Evloev and Sterling, the way they fought, I think that is one of the best uh oh yeah grappling matchups of all times in UFC I think the fight that was better than than that one on grappling was Armando Sarukian and Matheus Gunnroth five rounds that was that's a that was a huge grappling matchup but Evloev and Sterling there was there was there was something else because Alderman Sterling, that was something else. Because Alderman Sterling, very good at take the back. He's like the human backpack.

But Evloev is so good that he was like getting off and holding his hand and getting on the front headlock. That was a very fun matchup. And I think everybody was talking about, ah, that's going to be a boring fight. And then that was a very exciting grappling match and in the other side fucking crone grace was pulling guard on the main event you know he was coming off two one or two losses he doesn't win uh over five years like five years no winning it was just because the name Gracie that's the fucking true

so that's why people like the twitch you know by the way what about that scene when uh Bilal was trying to get into the cage it's just it's just and I love Joe Rogan and even though he's a comedian in stand-up artists I think that was his best bid, you know. Even if he doesn't did on purpose, it was just funny because Belal was trying to get on the cage and Joe Rogan, hey, they don't get him to get on the cage, they don't know he's the champion. I was laughing my ass off on the couch and

that's extremely disrespectful to Belal because in the end of the day, even if people don't know him, he is good as hell. He is very good. And I think he's way better than Shakivac and Rachimachov. You think he wins?

You think he wins after what you saw? 100%. My money is on Bilal Mohamed. Really? Like you, yeah, 100%. I think Shavikach is not the boogeyman, like they say. And I think Bilal Mohamed will make it look easy. Wow. Maybe that's just Ian Gary is so good. Maybe he is the boogeyman like they say and i think bella muhammad will make look easy wow maybe

that's just ian gary is so good maybe he is the boogeyman but ian gary is closer to him than we thought i don't know i don't know about that if you look at his record young gary and even who are who are the best fight who are who is the best fighter that they face? Probably Jeff Neal, right? Yeah. They both fought Jeff Neal. Michael Van On Page, he is good, but he's not UFC level. That's the truth. He doesn't have wrestling.

He doesn't have jiu-jitsu. And he's old. So, I don't know. I think he looks good because he finished all his fights. But Bilal Mohamed is good on what he does. What he does, he is a complete MMA fighter, you know? He's very good. People don't give him the credit,

and, but disrespectful or not, that was funny as hell. Joe Rogan call, calling the security guard zone, you know? By the way, just one last thing about this past weekend. Just curious, your fellow Brazilian, Pantoja, is he top five pound for pound in your opinion now? Not in my opinion. This is why I love you so much, Moikana. You never sugarcoat things. You never sugarcoat.

But I'm not sugarcoating. It's just because I was talking to, I have to look up the rankings right now. How many screens do you have there, by the way? You have multiple screens? I'm fucking trading crypto all day. No, I'm joking. Come on, son. I'm working.

Get down there, son. What's happening? Oh, you're a little guy. Yeah, he's trying to play every day. He doesn't want to play. Let me check the pound for pound list. So I don't think Pantoja is in a situation that he's better than Islam Akachev, Jones, Pereira, Topuria, or Belal Mohamed. So that's why I cannot say he's top five.

But in my opinion, right now he's better. He should be on Tom Aspinall's place at least. So six? You know? Maybe eight. Oh, wow. Because it's Dricus Duplessis, you know? Yeah. And I think you have to be

like to be pound for pound it has to be in who you face right he faced Kaya Sakura and like he say I'm not gonna let a Japanese come over here and take my belt so no UFC record the Japanese guy and uh like you him or not uh Dric duplessy beat adesanya right and beat sean strickland so a very very good guy so that's why but i like that pantoja got his main event and he did a great job on the fight that looked easy and uh i like him calling out dj i think that was a smart move i think people definitely have to recognize him Pantoja is one of the most well-rounded MMA fighters of all times we can argue that he that is better strikings maybe better wrestlers but with his striking with his wrestling with

his jiu-jitsu his power to finish fights with with knockouts or submissions and his grit you know he's aggressive he he always fight like he's a contender he doesn't fight like like a champion tell me a champion that fight like Pantoja so that's why I recognize him like couple defense I think he's going to be on the top five and eventually even on the top one. But right now, I think he still needs work to do. And it's not his fault. UFC needs to find contenders for him, you know? I saw your boy Gilbert Burns was saying it's bullshit that he's number nine. He's upset.

He thinks he should be higher. You saw that? No, I didn't see. The level of disrespect, better but not enough. Your thoughts? I don't see the level of disrespect better but not enough your thoughts I know I don't know Gilbert has his his own thoughts about that one especially because he's so close with Pantoja they are very close but I try to judge that like an MMA fan not not as a Pantoja friend you know yeah yeah so so so that's why I think it's very hard to have a conversation on MMA because it's so subjective, but it is what it is.

Don't put me on a bad spot. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Can I ask you about Benil Dariush now? We'll go back to him. You know, he hasn't won in a couple of years, but you look at the guys he lost to, Armin and Charles, like these are the top guys, right? And so where do you rate him right now?

Do you subscribe to the idea that he's past his prime? Or do you think it's just a matter of the fact that he lost to two of the top guys? Yeah, somebody on the Show Me The Money, the podcast. Yes, shout out. Yeah, my podcast with Burns and Maddie. They did a post, me very young and strong and him very old, do that they did a post me very young and strong and he very old right they did that yeah the post but I but I say to them brother we are at the same age if you call him he old I'm old too my brother

so I think we are in different moments on the career you know so definitely he is top level but I don't know if like what is his reaction time. You know, I don't know what he's doing with his training camp, with his recovery. I don't know. I'm feeling my best. I'm 35, but I'm feeling good. And that's why I want to keep fighting, you know, to take advantage of my prime right now. And to be completely honest with you i don't think i'm not thinking too much about that to me uh even though even if i think he's not on his prime i will train and prepare myself to the best version of dariush because i know he he lost

couple in a row and now it's time it's time to to go for him you know? If he loses that one, he's going to be in a bad situation. And I have something to say. You will be in a bad situation because I'm not losing. I cannot afford to lose. January 18, I'm going over there and finish dominating and beating Benil Dariush. And I don't care. I don't care if he's good, if he's bad, if he's in a good situation or a bad situation.

I care about Manny Moicano, and I want to win. By the way, it is unbelievable that you're the same age. He looks like he's like 10 years older than you. You're calling him older. No, but it just looks. The white hair, the white, I don't know. It's just something, I don't know. He looks a lot older than you.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's true. No, yeah, that's what I I don't know. He looks a lot older than you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. No, yeah, that's what I say, you know. I'm taking care of myself in the meaning that I'm not getting too much beat up on the training. And that's what I was asking. I don't know how he's training, if he's doing a lot of hard sparring, if he's recovering well. But to me, I got in a point that I know how much training I have to do. I have to focus a lot more on like cardio, on like drills.

And of course, I spar once a week, sometimes two times a week. But back in the day, when I was young, I was doing like three, four rounds every week and just training too much. Now, let's fight on the fight night. I don't want to fight in the gym. I want to be healthy and strong so I can get to the fight healthy. By the way, I feel like there's going to be a lot of drama in LA that week.

Jamal Hill's on that card, Marab Umar, Islam Arman. I feel like there's going to be a lot of drama how do you feel about all of that I feel that's going to be a good opportunity you know to to sell the fight to promote the fight especially because I don't think Islam Akachev and Ahmad Sarukyan even though they are uh they are on the main card I don't think they're gonna sell much the fight so let's see you know i'm over there to to beat dariush that's my my my priority you know go over there talk my shit and and back my and back my stuff on the fight night you know go over there and and put on a stamp and get the mic and take

advantage of the few minutes that I will have to make my case for a title shot, you know, because I feel like I was disrespectful. I was disrespected on my last fight after a performance like that. Like I said the last time, imagine if i did that if paddy pimbley that that did on the same night on bsd he will be on five on top you know and i want the same i want to be on at least on the top five next next on my next fight so i can fight for the belt let's see what happens that was an incredible fight obviously uh the the skills on the microphone after were

incredible as well and you know we have our awards coming up and one of our awards is promo of the year like someone on the microphone and i feel like it's come down to you and brian battle from the same night why should you win and not him he had a great moment and you remember that but saturday he had a tough you know he had a tough weekend missing weight and maybe that i don't know it shouldn't affect but why why why should money Moikano win this award and not Brian Battle? Motherfuckers has to remember that I'm doing this in my second language and I teach English to myself. What's harder than that, bro? That's true.

You go for that, you learn a language on your own, and then you can talk shit and be funny at the same time. That's not an easy thing to do, bro. That's a good point. I deserve that belt. And you're talking economics. You're talking politics. Can I ask? I don't know anything about any of this stuff.

I have a single mind. I just talk about sports, fighting. I'm not a very smart person. You're way smarter than me. I can't do that in one language, let alone two. What's going on with this Bitcoin lately? I see people going crazy. It's going up.

It's going down. Can you explain it to me like I'm a stupid person? Yes, of course, 100%. Let me tell you something. If Bitcoin is keeping shooting up like he is doing, I will retire rich, my brother. But the thing that I'm doing is like, it's very obvious that,

let me do a little bit of analysis. I'm going to ask you. So government, they have a budget, right? Yes. To pay people, to pay like the army and to run the country, right? But since a long time ago, since 1971, they are using the credit card and paying the debit with Another card, you know, this is like they don't have enough money to run the country So that's why they have debt and what's the debt they get money from people like on bonds, you know Or even in countries and they have to pay the interest of these bonds. So right now

the the debit of United States is one6% of the GDP. That means that the budget is not matching. So they make less money than they have to pay. So exactly this, they have a credit card. Let's say you have every month, you make like 10K, right? spend 15k how you do how you do the difference you go to your credit card next month same thing next month same thing when you cannot use your card anymore you just apply for another card and pay the card that you are in debit with another card like of course this is very simplistic but like i say i'm telling this on my second language but the thing is eventually the going to run out of money.

And that's why they lowered the interest rates on September, because they cannot pay the interest of the debt right now. So they have to lower the interest so they can pay people that they lend money. What that means? That means possibly on the next years, we're going to have hyperinflation and inflation on the dollar. So that's why all the money is going to stocks. All the money is going to Bitcoin. All the money is going to houses. That's why we're supposed to have a crash. But the stock market keeps going up and up. This year, the stock market grows up 30%. That's unbelievable.

I think four times in the last 100 years, the stock market grew like that. And at the same time, the GDP is not growing. So what is that? Speculation. Because people that have money, they are putting money on the stocks, putting money on the house market, putting money on Bitcoin. And even though President Trump say he's going to cut the cost, he's going to relieve the debit. And Elon Musk is talking about that. So cutting the expanding will be very hard to cut health care, will be very hard to cut money for the government and for army and all that stuff.

So I think the debit of the USA is going to grow every year, every each year grow, and they're going to lower the interest rates so they can lend money to the Federal Reserve. And the Federal Reserve is going to pay to a bond that nobody will pay, like a half a percent. And that's how they print money. And that's why hyperinflation could be something that will happen on the next couple of years. And that's why I will invest heavily on stocks, on index funds, on Bitcoin, or even on properties. Because like I say, properties, people cannot afford, but the prices are not going down.

Why? Because there is too much money on the market. And eventually, in the next years, if the interest rate is going down, we will have a lot more. So if you care about your country, if you care about your life, try to understand Bitcoin

and why people are buying Bitcoin. Don't buy Bitcoin just because I'm telling you. Because eventually eventually if the price is dropped, you're going to sell. That's why you have to understand how the blockchain works, how you can store, how you can have a cold wallet and do the store by yourself. So you don't rely on government. You don't rely on social welfare. And you have your hard money. Bitcoin is hard money, and I love Bitcoin. And it's shooting up, to make a short answer,

it's going up because the price of money is getting destroyed by inflation because too much debit in the government and because government have no incentive to preserve your money. They no incentive to preserve your money they have incentives to destroy your money this is i i mean i'm at a loss for work two years ago i said it was the greatest answer in the history of the show i think you just topped that answer the the ludwig von mises one this might have topped it how do you do how do you know all of this? Because it's like a bubble, right?

I went on Bitcoin because I want to make money. But then I realized there is something very wrong with the legacy system right now. The legacy system is make, is design, and it was designed. And I know that's going to sound like conspiracy theories, but look into JP Morgan and how they made the Fed. What is the Fed? The Federal Reserve, central banks. Back in the day, 100 years ago,

if you ask to a regular citizen if they support a central bank, they would say, are you crazy? Are you giving your money to the government? You know, and that's what happened because bankers and lobbies, they make the case to the presidents and they create all these agencies. They want to control the market, you know. They want to fluctuate the interest rates. And that way they think they're going to do better for the economy.

But it's not like that. Economy must be free. America was successful because we, America, start as a free market society with Protestant values. So you cannot rob the other. You have to agree. And if you have the contract, you have to follow the contract. But America is all about government not interfering in your business.

So I start to read books. I start to talk to people. So I have a lot of intelligence friends that we talk. I study economics almost every day because, like I say, I want to spread the word so I have to be prepared for that. And let me – that's going to be too complicated for me to explain. What do you mean? I mean, because I want you to understand why government wants to destroy your money.

Do you have a mortgage? I don't know if you have a mortgage, but let's say in 2019, I had a mortgage, you know, a home of $200,000, right? The home was $200,000 before COVID and before inflation. I bought the home. I pay a mortgage of $1,000 every month, you know. And after that, we had the pandemic. So we had all this money going to people and all this money returned to the rich people because they spend the money the rich people get the money and invest the money and then the price of the houses

you start to to shooting up so my home was 200 now it's 500 right but my mortgage is still 1000 you know so right now it's easy for me to pay the mortgage because back in the day in 2019, 2000, they were worth more. Now, $1,000 is worth anything. And that is the same thing with the government. If the government lowers the interest rates, the interest rates are very, very low. And if they lock people on this bond for 30 years if they they get inflation that's good for the government because now the debt is less than it was can you understand that yes yes the same

is the same thing with the mortgage but but the whole thing the whole scheme over here of governments are the federal reserve because they low the interest rate and they put interest rates like two or even less that like half percent and then the central banks buy the bonds you know because i i am smart with my money i'm not gonna buy a 30-year bond that pay me half percent but why central banks do that why the fed does that because that way he can create money. He buy the bonds that nobody would buy, and then they give that money to the government that has to pay the debt in 30 years. So what they're doing is pay the minimum of the credit card every month. And eventually that's going to destroy the dollar.

If people don't do nothing about that, they will destroy the dollar because inflation is the increase of the supply on the money. It's simple as that. That's why stuff costs more right now, because they keep imprinting money and devaluing the currency. A very good book that I would recommend you to read about Bitcoin and understand about the financial system is the Bitcoin standard. Talks about how they produce the money, how humans start to produce, how the gold is superior to silver, why America and all countries

that had the gold standard for 1931 to 1971, was the best time and the best time for producing for societies. It's just a very good book. And I keep reading, I keep teaching myself and talk to the others so I can spread the word, you know. And if you like money and if you like to keep your money and if you love private property you definitely should start be should start to learn about bitcoin i'm not telling buy right now because it is in is on the like all-time highs right but get exposed

buy a little bit more most important most important of having Bitcoin is understand Bitcoin. You have to understand and then you start to buy because you have to believe on that. It's like anything in life. You really have to believe. I saw this whole thing about the, did you see this about the Hak Tua girl with the pump and dump and all this? You saw this. What's happening? Yes.

That was a scam 100 because uh i i'm not gonna say it's a scam allegedly it was a scam because i don't get i don't i don't want to get sued but this is what happened when you buy like many coins you know because they feeding on the popularity of the person and they say hey we're gonna launch this coin and this is going to be amazing everybody gonna gonna like that but eventually what i i i was watching coffee zilla a huge influence that yes that talks about that and he was telling that they did the pre pre-sale so they sail before the launch and when they launch uh people start to sell everybody that boy that that bought bought the coin lost all their money. They call that rug pull.

So they rug pull a bunch of people. So that's why you have to invest. Don't invest your money on anything. Don't invest your money just because you like the person. Try to study. See what makes sense for you. You have to understand how old are you. Because I invest in bitcoin but

i know bitcoin could could go zero because there is nothing like people say stuff has value value is not intrinsic we give value on stuff so bitcoin is whole is worth 100k dollars because people think it is you know it's like gold it's like houses your house doesn't doesn't the value is not 1 million 2 million you know the value is the product that you put you know the neighborhood it's a lot of stuff to consider on the price and it's the same thing with economy and with bitcoin that's how that. That's why you have to understand and not fall for every scam on the internet. Okay. By the way, right next door to us is something called Yahoo Finance. We share a building with them.

I need to tell them we need the Money Moicano Minute where you come on and educate them about finance because you're too smart. You're too smart for the MMA show. You need to be talking to those people. No, it's not even smart i am not smart but it's it's like the market you know what is the market the free market should be you try if you if you succeed is good it's just that i am trying to watch the reality you know i like the reality of things. And that's something that interests me, like private property. But the huge problem is economy is tied to politics. I don't like politics, but if they can, if they can devalue your money, this is about politics too. If they can lower and get the interest up, they change your life. The way you're going to buy a house, the way you save your money,

and try to learn about that. The whole financial system right now, the way it was built, was just so people on the top, they have more control of your money. And that's going to happen like us or not. Eventually, like the dollar bill, we're just going to have the digital currencies. And then when that happens, the government will control all the transactions. And it's going to be very hard to live and be self-sufficient if you don't have Bitcoin, if you don't have the hard money that cannot be produced and that cannot be stolen from you.

Because even the digital dollars that you own in your bank, eventually they can tell you that you are a bandit and they can lock your accounts and they can lock your money just the way Trudeau did with the truckers in Canada, right? They are trying to protest and they say, hey, get the money off this motherfucker. So with Bitcoin, if you have self-custody, they cannot do that. So that's why I recommend Bitcoin because it's something to protect yourself from the tyranny of the government. Yes. Amen. Amen. One last thing on, and then I'll let you go. It seems like yesterday,

Ilya Teporya did an interview saying he's going to move up to 155, that maybe he's done at 45. Let's see what happens. But how do you think he would fare in your weight class? To be honest, I think he would knock out a lot of people. He is very good. I think he is very good. But in my defense, I think I would finish him because I'm not a striker. I'm a grappler. And if I get his back, I can finish him 100%. But if you try to strike against him, he is a solid striker.

The fight against Max Holley was just incredible. The guy is good. But, to be honest too, I think he's very small for the division. I don't know. I think he should stay on the 45. Maybe that's the move. You win and you say, hey, Ilia, you want to come up? Let me welcome you to 155.

Easy, man. I'm going to show you 155. Money Moikani. You are the man. Renato, you're such a joy to speak to. Really. I enjoyed so much. I'm going to show you 155. Money Moicano. You are the man, Renato. You're such a joy to speak to, really. I enjoy it so much. I love when you educate us, and I love how honest you are. Even talking about some things that maybe are uncomfortable teammates,

you always tell it like it is, and that's very, very impressive. So I urge everyone, once again, to go to moneymoicano.com, go to the YouTube channel, and also check out the Show Me the Money podcast that you're doing. You're doing a great job. Let me put some promo over here. Yeah, go ahead. If you want to support, you know, if you want to support, Money Moicano t-shirt, moneymoicano.com. I don't know if you can see, but there is a t-shirt over here.

Next time that I have everything set up, I will ask you for permission to do whatever you want. Some marketing over here to take advantage of your show and your audience. And thank you so much. If you like me, moneymoicano.com, buy some stuff, go to my YouTube channel. And I'm not trying to educate nobody. I'm not saying I am smart than anybody. I just do things for me, you know. I believe.

And if I'm wrong, future gonna tell, you know. So it's not financial advice. And thank you so much for having me on your show and giving me this huge platform. Of course. And good luck in training. And can't wait for your fight next month. See you soon, my friend. Thank you so much. See you soon.

Thank you so much, Ariel. There he is. The great Renato Manimoicano. Adore speaking to him. What a joy. What a pleasure. And I love, I was so excited. I just wanted to ask him about Bitcoin and let him cook.

And cook he did, did Frank Cook he did That was tremendous stuff Really really enjoyable Okay few items to get to before we have to wrap it up Number one Regarding UFC London We've been talking about that We were talking about it with him

I see a couple fights added Number one Big Mick Parkin has been added to the card against Marcin Tybura. Even more notable than that, Jan Bochovic against Carlos Alberg at 205. Two fights added to the March 22nd return to the O2. There was once a time where we had breaking news and we'd get breaking news.

Listen, it was just automatic. That was the one that I never had to call for it was automatic and uh unfortunately those days are long gone it's unfortunate but uh them's the breaks i'm also seeing here we were talking yesterday about muhammad mokhaev um and how he is competing this weekend in uh brave And I see here that just three days before his fight, his opponent has withdrawn because of health issues. So that's a tough break for Mokaev. There appears to be some talk that, you know, maybe if he can figure things out, he could get back to the UFC and maybe he could be the one to fight the champion Alex Pantoja again. I understand he has changed management. And I even saw yesterday that he reposted me talking

about him and saying that he should have never, he should have never left the UFC. And I say that not because he wanted to leave. I know he didn't want to leave, but that they should have never parted ways with him, not resigned him. I don't think that that was the right move. He's a very talented fighter and that they should bring him back. And I saw him post something that I thought was really interesting. He posted, I didn't expect this from Ariel, but I appreciate it. And so I will ask, why didn't you expect it? Have I not had Muhammad Mokhaib on the show multiple times? I'm not the one who went on Twitter and said, I will never speak to Ariel Hawani again after I posted, simply without commentary, a video of people bum-rushing the Dagestani airport, searching in engines, searching in nooks and

crannies, searching on the runway for Jewish people. I'm not the one who said I would never speak to Muhammad Mokhaib. He's the one that said I would never speak to Muhammad Mokav. He's the one that said that about me. So why wouldn't you expect that? Again, I will continue to harp on this and prove to you all, we keep a reel here. I don't care what religion you are. I don't care what your politics are. I don't care how you feel about X, Y, and Z. When it comes to sport, when it comes to MMA, I keep a reel. All the other guys don't. And so of course I would say, because that's the right thing to say. And so of course I would say, because that's the right thing to say. And it's the accurate thing to say. He should have never left. He should have

never not resigned. They should have resigned him and he should be brought back to fight for the belt. Could not care less. So maybe I didn't expect you to post that, but don't be surprised when we keep a reel here. I will leave it at that. Another thing that has come up is the Ilya Tepuria talks, him moving up to 155. Guys, my interpretation of this, and we have the tweets and the translation from Danny Segura, the great Danny Segura. He says, quote,

I'd like to move up to the next weight class. And since Islam is fighting in January and he won't be ready for April and May, I'd like to fight against the number one contender right now, who's Charles Olvera. And then, when talking about it further, yes, very likely you saw my last fight at Featherweight.

Do you guys believe this? What do you guys think? There has to be the Volkanovski fight, right? Yeah, I don't believe it at all. I feel like he's just chatting shit. Yeah. Just getting us riled up, getting us to talk about him. He was chatting shit, by the way, about Cristiano Ronaldo, which we expected. Everyone stop chatting shit.

Thank you, Donovan. What do you think? What do you think? We've done this already. This was ahead of the last fight. It was about, oh, I'm going to fight Conor. Like, this is what he does, and it works. Do you have any interest in Ilya being a full-time lightweight,

or is there still work to be done at 45? No, absolutely not. Ilya Teporia versus Charles Oliveira is a fight I'm tuning in for 10 times, if you put it on 10 times. But no, he only has two title defenses. No, he only has one title defense. No, there's the Diego Lopez fight, the Alex rematch. No, there's still fights to be made at 145.

No interest in him going to 55 until he finishes up 45 work. Yeah, I'd like to see that fight maybe, I don't know, April, May. You know, there's some big ones coming up. Pereira, obviously. The Teporia fight is big. Let's see about Jones and Aspinall. Like, there's a lot of weight classes right now where we know it's not like who's going to get the shot, right?

Like, at 125, the conversation is who's going to get the next shot. At heavyweight, okay, maybe that's a little bit up in the air, but we know there's a clear-cut guy who should get the next shot. At 205, we know there's a clear-cut guy who should get the next shot. At 85, we know the fight is booked. At 170, we know there's a clear-cut guy who should get the next shot. At 55, the fight is booked. At 45, we know there's a clear-cut guy who should get the next shot. At 55, the fight is booked. At 45, we know there's a clear-cut guy who should get the next shot. 35 is booked.

So it's really just 25 as far as the men are concerned. It's really just 25 at this point. And we know about 115 as far as the women are concerned. We know about 135. Peña and Kayla, we don't have a a date But we know that that is the fight And 125 Dana White said on Saturday It's Valentina Manol Like everything is very nice right now

It's really just 125 when you think about it By the way we haven't had Zhang Weili On the show in so long And it's partially because She's often on the other side of the world Right now she's training in Thailand. But I did get a voice note from her, which I was very happy. I was very happy to get a voice note from her.

And unfortunately, sleep is of great importance to her. So at 1 p.m. Eastern, it's 1 a.m. in Thailand. So it's almost impossible. But we'll get her on one of these days. And it was nice to hear from the great Zhang Weili and looking forward to that fight very much. There was a poll put up about Zaporiana Oliveira on our chat. Yeah. I just wanted to let you know 59% of those polls said, I'd like him to defend 145 pounds or more.

I agree. I agree with those individuals. Speaking of the chat, thank you to all our great super chatters. Let's hit some of them. I apologize. I missed them yesterday. I will never do that again. I want to let you know that we appreciate the super chats and we try

to get to them at the end of every show. Tomorrow, of course, on the nose, the thread for the questions should be going up in uh in a matter of moments but as far as super chats here's what we missed tech said we need an 800 budget for fight feasts now uh i did see a lot of people saying and something just flew did you see that was a bird that was a drone i think that was a drone um you're right a lot of people saying last week's fight fees, the best one ever. Have you guys seen this?

That's what I was seeing too, man. Yeah. I agree. And you know what I like? I like the inclusion of EJ in there. I like that he made a cameo. It wasn't like a lot. I don't even know if you spoke.

He did speak, yeah. Okay. But it was very minimal. I just like that the bit players were there too. He downplayed his own involvement. Yeah, I like that he did. We should mic you. He's like, oh, because I'm adding so much to the production here.

No, I thought it was good. Now you're proving the point. I want him to join in more. I will say the biggest thing on my mind afterwards was, was your palate burnt? Because it seemed like you were struggling. It was hot. There's nothing worse than when it gets all sensitive after, after when you have like a pizza or it almost goes like

numb yeah yeah yeah the noodles you were like noodles set the tone you were you were struggling there the noodles set the tone did it burn oh yeah and then the pumpkin uh the pumpkin dumpling was a lot man it was a lot your reaction to the pumpkin yeah well and then like we're in the middle of filming the dessert segment and then they drop down the kazakh tea and i pour it and it's like steaming like a volcano i'm just like this has to be like 400 degrees inside this cup but we have to drink it now because the camera has already started yeah um next one so so for now people are asking it's a pay-per-view only thing right typically a pay-per-view only thing, right? Typically a pay-per-view only thing You know, the biggest thing Everyone keeps saying how it's better

Our man Frankie has done the really big legwork He has now upped the game On not only the camera but also the audio equipment It's the best it's ever been We've left the phone in the dust We have this crazy high quality camera Supplied to us, so shout out to Frankie for that Next one I actually think is going to be Ukrainian food

The Ukrainian village is right For Usyk Love that uh, supplied to us. So shout out to Frankie for that. Next one I actually think is going to be, uh, Ukrainian food. Ooh. Uh, the Ukrainian village is right, uh. For Usyk. Yeah. Love that. Oh, so we're getting one for a boxing pay-per-view. Yeah, I think so. It's, it's just right there for us.

There's a Ukrainian restaurant just around the corner. It's going to be great. What are we thinking? Oh, I know that one. Oh, that's going to be great. Well, now we got to go to Dave's Hot Chicken for. I know.

Well, is, is that what we're thinking for LA? I don't know, but I mean, even if we just did a nice little mini fight feast just for Armin, we actually, Well, is that what we're thinking for LA? I don't know, but even if we just did a nice little mini fight feast just for Armin, we actually, I went on the Dave's Hot Chicken website, and it's signed like, oh man, we made all our dreams come true, and it's like, Nick,

oh, Dave Armin, there's a guy named Armin, and it's spelled the exact same. What's happening? I don't know if he's got ties, or if that's him himself, like he actually is a founder. I feel like he was messing with me He was wearing a Dave's Hot Chicken jacket At the face-off That'd be a hell of a lot of promo

For just trying to Just hoping to get And he only gave him a 9.5 out of 10 If he loved him that much, you'd think he'd give him a 10 out of 10 Can I be honest? When you were writing about the Dave's Hot Chicken In the chat while he's speaking I was having a hard time not laughing.

And I was so happy. I was like, please don't show me on camera right now because it was just, he says it so deadpan and he's so serious that he's wearing, and then you're like, holy shit, he's wearing the hat. And then we play the face of it. He's like, he's wearing the jacket. I don't think we realized that he was wearing the jacket.

Okay, so yes, that's the thing is that before the show, we watched the clip of a meeting and we're like, God, he must really like this food. like this thing went viral on his social media and then as he's getting framed up he's just like wait hand me the puts on the hat it's a dave's hot chicken hat i was just like wait what the fuck and then for the first time i realized he's wearing a letterman's jacket for dave's hot chicken at the face off with his song yeah i feel like we have to try there's one just a few blocks up. So it's a chain?

I've never even heard of it. Yeah, it's a chain. We're going to have to go try it. Dave's Hot Chicken. Maybe that's where our holiday party is. Oh, that would be nice. So it's Chick-fil-A. What's the other one now that my kids always talk about?

Raising Cane's. Raising Cane's. What's the power rankings? I haven't had Dave's Hot Chicken before. Have you had the other two? I've had Chick-fil-A, Cane's, but actually in between Chick-fil-A and Cane's is one in the south called Zaxby's that I like better. Dave's Hot Chicken before. Have you had the other two? I've had Chick-fil-A, Cane's, but actually in between Chick-fil-A and Cane's is one in the south called Zaxby's that I like better.

That's a chain? Yeah. But that's regional. Regional chain, but it's a chain. These were regional for a while. Now we're starting to get them. Calvin Johnson used to have his own fried chicken sandwich at Zaxby's, and it was better than Chick-fil-A.

For some reason, they discontinued it. All right. By the way. Those fighting words shout out to dave sponsor us too yeah we'll take a cane sponsorship or a chick another we're trying to go chicken bro yeah bro we can't be like actually i made an alternate thumbnail if we want to use it that says dave's dave's hot chicken send contract okay uh it doesn't it doesn't have to be an alternate it could be the thumbnail uh ia's saying Ariel don't avoid the question

Is the budget for Fight Feast now $800 I don't even know what the budget is What is the budget You know where they're getting this $800 from right No From your trip in Vegas Oh I didn't get that

This is what happens when we don't read them When they come up Yes No absolutely not I was going to say I feel like we don't read them when they come up and they start to lose their... Yes, yes, yes. No, absolutely not. Although... I was going to say, I feel like we don't need an $800 budget. I feel like we're kind of close to it already. If we are ever in Vegas, that would be

an incredible fight feast. That would be because of the presentation. It'd be great. You eat three pieces of sushi and you're just like, all right, how's it? You guys would film me eating it. It would be amazing. That's when you can Finally join us Yes

You can find all of our offers Sign me up for that one The real thing That we want to take To the next level That like we've talked about Behind the scenes Is like being able to film

Them cooking it Like getting in the kitchen With the chef Now that really takes Can I tell you the dream Can I tell you the dream Tell me the dream The dream is a fight feast

Starring special guest Action Bronson A thousand percent That is a dream that is And I feel like it's attainable One day it will come true It will come true one day We gotta up our level

Manifestation Oh my god Yes exactly We're trying to up Our production level So then we go to action And be like Can you tell me when we're ready

So I can make the ask We're getting there No no no We're not ready yet We're not ready We're almost there Once Frank masters the B-roll I think we'll be there okay all right what is the b-roll the b-roll he offered me up for the kazakhstan one i was like frank could you get us some scenes of the

restaurant oh i think you said jill oh yeah no you gotta anything you gotta start you know you gotta film stuff i mean we'll get there by 2025 this is digital bro fuck that's delicious x oh my god that would be incredible. Sign me up. All right. Paul Cassidy. Why did nobody ask Dana, Uncle Dana, at the UFC 310 post-fight presser about Turkey Al Shaikh's thoughts on Jones versus Francis? It's impossible for me to answer.

Would have been interesting, but he probably would have said that's not the fight. Big Turk asks, if we can have Gout Gout, the teenage sprinter on the show, and will New York Rick commit to paid sponsorship for this young man? I'll toss some money Gout Gout's way, but I feel like on Boys in the Back, if somebody, here's the thing,

he's a 16-year-old kid. I don't, if he has a manager or something, tell him to reach out. Somebody find him. What nationality is he? He's Australian. Oh, so what is the conversation?

What's up, Gout Gout? Everyone laughs. You're named after a disease that Rick doesn't have. How is his name? Oh, he does have a manager. Gout Gout's manager, James Templeton. So we gotta find James Templeton and see. Again, I go back to what the conversation is. You could do legit 10 minutes on

why is your first name the same as your last name? Why is your first name the same as your last name? He's gonna be like, it's like family traditions that date back I'm actually curious We'll do the research I'd love to interview him But he has to fill out first name last name So they just copy paste it

We're for sure getting blocked now We have a courtesy of That's the thing that blocks it We're done God Gout Gout is obese That man does not have gout The conversation can be two guys that are linked to gout that definitely do not have gout. Okay, so we'll workshop that.

Paul asks, if Chris Weidman wants a retirement fight, should the UFC bring back Luke Rockhold? He said it's crazy how both their careers went following the fight back in 2015. I don't see them bringing back Luke. i would be extremely surprised if they did uh shout out to mk anderson who became a knows it all member uh thank you very much to him shout out to aquiles jr who asks how many times brian battle said you know what i'm saying in his appearance yesterday i don't know i don't know we should maybe set the line. Some people say, I mean, I think he's entertaining as well.

I love, I love, we're, we're, we're blessed to have all these different characters. I mean, look at today's show and look at yesterday's show. There's just so many different characters in this sport. Don't take them for granted because we could be covering other sports.

I'm not going to name names, but there are some other sports where the characters are not so interesting. Like where else? Every other sport? I mean, going to name names, but there are some other sports where the characters are not so interesting. Like where else can you get? Every other sport? I mean, where could you? God bless hockey players, but they ain't given you Money Moicano interviews like that.

Is the NBA or NFL or any of these other leagues doing it? They're so PR trained. Nobody says anything. It's so boring. Everyone's afraid of the blowback and saying the wrong thing. Like these dudes.

When you covered curling, were they? Oh, they were fantastic. Yeah, they were amazing. The bird watchers were pretty animated. Bird watchers, you know. I'm just saying. We've covered a lot of things. We've covered a lot of things.

There's no doubt about it. Jason Carney says, if DJ did come back to the UFC, it should be at bantamweight, not flyweight. I don't think he wants to fight at flyweight. I don't even know if he wants to fight at bantamweight. And most importantly, I don't think he wants to fight a flyweight. I don't even know if he wants to fight a bantamweight. And most importantly, I don't think he wants to fight, period.

I think we're past that. Shout out to Jason, who also gifted five memberships to our crew. Appreciate that very much. And Malik1976 asks how Dana White would react to Ian Gary saying no to a main event with Leon Edwards in London?

Listen, I understand where Ian's coming from there. I really do. Now, if he's getting a monumental opportunity, okay, maybe he considers it. But I understand. He's Irish. He wants to fight in Ireland. And he says, until they come back to Ireland I'm not fighting in anywhere else in Europe and I'm happy that he reiterated and clarified he actually lives in London so it's not like or he has a home in London so it's not like he hates England it's not like he hates London

but he wants to represent for his people and I don't think that's the worst thing in the world. But yes, I'm sure if they offered him something insane, maybe he would consider it. Although he did seem pretty adamant. That's going to be a really interesting one. Shout out to this one. Have you guys seen this one? It's amazing. Ariel, Rick, GC, and Mysterious.

We probably should have had Pizzi on there too, but this was made before all of this. You can get it over at arielhawani.com. There it is. Yeah, you've got one too. We still doing a holiday sale? Yeah, just because Ariel comes back here and just throws his shit around,

so it just can't confirm. Yeah, it's a big problem. There's no chairs back there for me. Everybody just throws their junk on my table. No place to put my jacket. You come in, you take a knee, like you're talking to the coaches. I need it a little more comfortable.

I need maybe like a plant, some espresso. the where's the setup for us in the studio oh there's so much come in there you do whatever you want what do you guys think about the new addition to the uh studio i think it really ties the room together yeah old edition we just decided to put it there it is what is uh statue of liberty's actual name uh lady liberty oh there we go. You know your stuff. Thank you. I want to let you know that the thread is up right now on ariahawani.substack.com for

tomorrow's On the Nose. And speaking of tomorrow's program, we're going to have a really interesting announcement. I'll leave it at that. An announcement that I think a lot of fans will be interested in. It's not a personal announcement. I'll leave it at that. An announcement that I think a lot of fans will be interested in. It's not a personal announcement. It's not an announcement about the show or anything like that. But it's a bit of a breaking news

edition of the program. Yeah, there it is. Where an announcement will be made. And so I'll leave it at that for now. We'll also be joined by the reigning defending UFC flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja. So tomorrow should be a very fun edition of the program.

Ariel, point over your left shoulder and then replay. I don't understand. Ant is telling me to point over my left shoulder. And in replay, there will be a link to your merch. Okay. I think I probably wasn't supposed to read that. But the link to the merch is going to be right over there. It'd be real weird if you just started pointing like that.

Yeah. I mean, like, well, how am I supposed to do this? It's going to be right here in the replay. The link will be right. Do you think that works? Yeah. I think that'll be good. And this will be memed forever.

So we'll have a cut out of this. I said on Tuesdays we're trying to go to like 320, 330. It's 329. For you, this is pretty solid. This is not bad. I'm actually proud of you. And why is that? Because you did it.

No, no, I'm saying why are we doing that? Because we're back in an hour and a half for the Ariel and Ade show, speaking about all things boxing. Last week on the program, we had Turkey Al Sheikh just call in from bed. So who knows who will be stopping by. I do know for sure that the big oos himself, Joseph Parker, joining us from all the way in Samoa. It's like, I think they're like 16 hours ahead of us. If I had a

bucket list of places that I haven't been to yet, I would say New Zealand, number one. Samoa, number two. Then Portland and Austin. And then Portland and Austin. Wow, so it's already Wednesday for him. Oh, it's already Wednesday morning, yeah. Crazy. And of course, he'll have some thoughts, I presume, on the Alexander Usyk

Tyson Fury fight fight which we are just 11 days away from believe it or not and uh and then he returns to action on the 22nd of february to fight the big man daniel dubois for the ibf title there's a lot to talk about as far as boxing is concerned some rumors of boots ennis and tiafofimo Lopez fighting in an ESPN DAZN co-promotion pay-per-view. Have you guys seen this? It's the Wild West in the sweet science. So we'll get into all of that. Fun show.

Really enjoyed it. Big day tomorrow. For now, thank you, Murat Dovalishvili. Thank you, Armin Tsuruki. And thank you, Renato Moicano. Thank you, Randy Brown. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to all of them.

Back on Wednesday, same time, same place. Peace. I'm out of here.