The Ariel Helwani Show - Merab Dvalishvili, Darby Allin and Hornswoggle all in-studio, Charles Oliveira vs. Max Holloway next?

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Ariel Helwani and the Boys in the Back begin the show by reacting to Charles Oliveira's big win at UFC Rio, and discuss whether Max Holloway should be his next opponent and if the UFC can make it happen in Hawaii. Plus, more discussion on Jose Aldo's retirement, the rest of UFC Rio, Dave Allen coming up short, and Jaron "Boots" Ennis' successful debut at 154 pounds (09:56).AEW superstar Darby Allin joins Ariel in-studio to give a taste of his extreme lifestyle, talking about climbing Mount Everest, the development of his character, how skateboarding in his youth prepared him for life, knowing he needed to go to AEW and reaching out to Cody Rhodes to get it done, previously being homeless by choice, and more (58:12).UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is in-studio with Ariel when news of him headlining UFC 323 breaks. The pair react to Dana White's announcement, look back at his win over Cory Sandhagen, including the five sparring rounds he did on fight day, and discuss his current relationship with the UFC and potentially training with Mark Zuckerberg (1:55:59).Dylan Postl, a.k.a. wrestling legend Hornswoggle, sits down with Ariel in-studio to look back at his career, including his start at 17 years old, his relationship with Vince McMahon and others from the locker room, and his new nostalgia deal with WWE. He also talks about being a dad, running his own promotion, and his beef with actor Peter Dinklage (2:54:10).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Eriya-Hawani Show. Back in your life on this Monday, October 8, 2023. Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani. Welcome to the program. It is cold. It is rainy. It is pretty gross. outside, but inside, physically in this studio, inside my heart and soul, I have perhaps never felt better than I do right now, never felt more happiness, more positive, more peace, more excitement than I do right here and now. I remember two years ago on October 9th, 2023, I sat in this chair in a different studio talking to you all about how sad, how depressed, how heartbroken I was over the things that happened over in the Middle East on that weekend. And so that's why I say today's

October 8, 2023, because for the first time in almost two years, more than two years, two plus years, it feels like a whole country. It feels like a whole nation. It feels like a whole people. It feels like humanity can move on. That's how I feel. That's how I'm choosing to feel. After what happened over the past 24 hours, what happened since we last spoke, there is a peace treaty there is hope, there is prosperity, there is a ceasefire, all the living hostages have been returned, there is a deal in place, there are several phases in place, all the dead bodies have not been returned, so not staying true to their word, the terrorists, what a shock, but hopefully that comes in due time, and as we sit here today, there are meetings going on with the most

powerful people in the world, the most powerful presidents and prime ministers of the most powerful countries in the world all together in Egypt, hoping that they can all come together to bring peace and prosperity, positivity to the world. And so I feel like for the first time since October 8th, I can breathe a sigh of relief that I can exhale because it has been a very, very, very dark and depressing and heartbreaking two years. Seeing the scenes of people being returned home has been very tough. And there have been times where I've sat here in this chair, in this studio, doing the show where I've wanted to talk about everything else, not sports. It felt selfish talking about sports. It felt selfish talking about combat sports. Seeing especially in MMA, in combat sports and

an MMA in particular, for some reason, a lot of things were okay to be said over the last two years. But I hope now you realize that it's a dawn of a new era. I hope you pay attention to those who are still spewing venom, hate propaganda, protesting. And I hope you pay attention to the ones who are trying to spread peace and hope throughout the entire region. I hope that there is peace and prosperity and respect amongst all the neighbors.

I'm hoping for the best, for the people of Palestine. I hope that they are freed of their nightmare. I hope that they can begin to rebuild their lives into a better life that they had before, I hope that everyone who was murdered, everyone who was killed will never be forgotten. I hope that the lessons that we learned over the last two years will never be forgotten and that the history of the last two years will never be forgotten or distorted.

I just hope for peace and prosperity. I hope that I wish that none of this ever happened, but I can't tell you how happy I am to be sitting here today looking at these scenes, feeling the hope, feeling the hope, feeling the good vibes that we can all move on from this because it has been a very, very dark time. Please pay attention to who is trying to move on, who is trying to rebuild, who is trying to make the world and that region of the world a better place. And please pay attention to those who are still holding on to hatred, to venom, to propaganda. Please pay attention to that. Three weeks ago, I was in Montreal with my family. We were at Atwater,

market, if you know what that is, we were in line to get some food. We happen to be getting some falafel. Love falafel with the hummus. What's better than that? And then all of a sudden, to my left, I saw these people who are protesting, who are chanting, who were doing, you know, who are doing their thing. And I looked at them and they're shouting, upset. entities, they're swearing at us, they're getting in our face, all because we're in line just to buy some food. And I always wondered, like, what is going on here? What is, what is fueling this? Where are these people coming from? What are their true motivations? And as they're, as they're swearing at me and my kids, I calmly asked one of them, can you just, can you just stop

swearing next to my kids? My kids are here with me. Can you just calm down? And one individual takes out their phone and puts it right in my face puts it like this close to my face and says I know who you are I know what you're all about Ariel why don't you use your platform for good

why don't you stand for what's right and I I tried very hard not to lose my cool the moment he put his phone in my face that actually made me calm down because I knew exactly what he wanted he wanted to bait me

and all I said to this guy was I am standing for what's it's right. I am on the right side of history, and I believe that in my heart, because I believe that the people that I associate with, the people I identify with, my people want peace, one harmony, they just want all of this to end, all the hatred. And so I'm proud to sit here today and say that we are hopefully moving on. I'm proud to say that the hostages have come home. I've never been prouder to be an American. I've never been prouder to be living in this country, this country that didn't turn its back on my people, on like so many other countries, I'm just really,

really happy and proud to be here. And two years ago, and in the subsequent days, I was so depressed, it was hard for me to talk about MMA. Today it's hard for me to talk about MMA because I'm so excited, because I'm so hopeful, and I can't get enough of all the scenes. I just pray for peace and hope and hope that everyone's able to move on and rebuild. And I hope that the people of Palestine are able to be free and able to have better lives. And we can once and for all acknowledge that having a terrorist organization run your country is not good for anyone. Hopefully we can all come to that conclusion. So let, let happiness and freedom wash all over us, let peace and prosperity wash all over us, and let us be thankful that we are alive, grateful that we are alive,

and let us all respect each other, let us all love each other, let's all hold each other to a standard in which we want to be held. Respect your neighbor, respect your friends, respect your countrymates, respect everyone. And enough of all of this, enough of all of this hatred. All right, I had to get that out of the way. It is, of course, October 13th, 2025, but in my heart, it feels like October 8th, 2023, and I know a lot of people feel the same as well. We have a lot to talk about on today's show. Today's show is going to be a great show. It's going to be a great day. The Blue Jays are going to win later today to tie up the series. It's Thanksgiving. In Canada, it's Indigenous People Day in America and in Canada as well. So happy Indigenous People's Day here in America and in Canada all over

North America. If you're off today, thank you for joining us. Thank you for tuning in. If you're not off today, thank you for joining us. Thank you for tuning in. If you watched UFC Rio, we have much to discuss. If you watch Dave Allen, we have much to discuss. If you watch Boots Ennis, we have much to discuss. We also have three in studio guests. Three in studio today. At 2 o'clock Darby Allen is going to be joining us in studio, a fascinating individual, a star of all-elite wrestling who climbed Mount Everest several months ago. This guy is just a deep thinker with a deep soul, a really interesting guy that I'm really looking forward to having in studio. He was at New York Comic-Con over the weekend, did a little thing with John Moxley. He's

going to be going up against John Moxley at Russell Dream this weekend in St. Louis in an I-quit match. I'm looking forward to having Darby Allen. Fascinating, fascinating guy with a fascinating backstory. At 2 o'clock will be Darby Allen at 3 o'clock. The reigning, defending UFC

bantamway champion Marab, the machine Diwali Sheli in studio to talk about the big win over Corey Sanhagen. Talk about the future. Is he fighting in December against Peter R. Yan? What is going on? UFC officially announced that card December 6. in Las Vegas, the final ESPN pay-per-view, looking forward to having the machine in there.

And then Dylan Postal, aka Hornswoggle of WW fame, swaggle on the indie scene, legend of the game. An actual WW legend will be joining us in studio as well. So three in studio guests today. Look at that. What a time to be alive. A little something for everyone on this October the 13th. 2023. Now, this past weekend, Charles Olivera, what was the big story going into this fight

against Mateo Scammeron? Well, first, it was supposed to be Charles versus Rafael Fazeev. Then it was Charles versus Mateus. But to me, the biggest story was, all right, is Charles making a mistake? Is he coming back too soon? Why is he rushing? Is the only reason that he is back? Is the only reason that he is back is because this card was happening in Rio? In other words, if the October 11th card was happening anywhere else in the world outside of Brazil. Is he coming back so soon? I don't think so. And so there was fear there. There was trepidation. Is he making a big mistake? He did not look like a guy who had just got knocked out less than four months ago, three and a half months ago. He looked like a man possessed. He looked like a man who was supercharged. He looked like a man who

was out there to remind us all that he's still the man. Multiple submission attempts. in the end he gets the submission he gets the dub he gets the big celebration with his family he gets to show his son off to the world like he's Simba

look at that shot right there beautiful scenes leader in submissions leader in finishes leader in finishes leader in bonuses in UFC history tied for second most wins in UFC history

with 24, just three behind. Jim Miller. He also ties Miracle Crop for most finishes in UFC, WEC, pride, and strike force with a combined 21. DuBronx is alive and well. What a win.

What a performance. You feel for Mateus Gamerant. You're happy for Charles. He says, I want it. Everyone is happy. Thank you. Obrigo, let's celebrate. Gamrod was out there like a freaking rocket comes out of the tunnel

and barges right into the barricade. That walkout was intense. His coach, Mike Brown, posting on social media, essentially we swung for the fences, we lived to fight another day. We went together, we lose together. I'm truly heartbroken for my friend, Mateus Gamrod, but I always admire his courageousness.

Gamron is not afraid of big challenges and taking big risks. He landed in Florida three weeks ago to start his training camp for a UFC headliner scheduled on November 8th. We told you about that last week. His second day in America,

he heard the news of Fizia pulling out of his fight with Charles. So like the soldier wanting to go to battle, he campaigned hard for the opportunity to fight Brazilian legend. A few days later, he secured the fight. Mateus trained hard for 12 days,

jumped on a plane to Brazil, took his shot. It's always a gamble every time you step in the cage. And this time, the gamble didn't pay off. The fight didn't go, way but Gamrod still maintains that same warrior spirit and his passion like no other truly one of a kind my point is I still believe in Mateus and still believe he can be a champion one day it was a tough loss and a hard pill to swallow but we all but all we can do at this point is get better

we can always get better he'll be back UFC loves when guys take fights on short notice like this they will reward him I think with a big fight but Saturday was about the homecoming for Charles Olivera undefeated. I think it's 18 and 0 7 and O in the UFC fighting in Brazil and putting himself now once again in line for a big fight.

Who does he want? He wants Max Holloway. White House. Aloha. Everyone wants to fight on the White House card. Heck after today, I want to fight on the White House card. I'm just kidding. Aloha. And Max was watching. He was watching Do we have that clip? I don't

remember if we have that clip. No, we don't have that clip. Oh, no, we do have that clip. It's on, it's on the list here. Oh, okay, okay. Anyway, Max was watching and, um, he, he, he, he said they fought. There actually seemed to be like a tiny bit of bad blood, I feel like, because they fought back in Saskatchewan back in the day, and I feel like he insinuated some stuff. Anyway, I think we all kind of agreed that that was the fight to make after the Tuporia fight. Now he gets a win, now his stock is back up and it feels like the proper fight to make for both. BMF title. There it is. Even Dustin agrees. Charles versus Max for the BMF is a great fight to make. Well, thank you, Dustin. There was even another really, speaking of Ilya, there was another

really interesting thing that I saw. Every person who fights Ilya, everyone, you know, always wonders how people will respond or whether these people are over the hill, past their prime, up is the win as impressive as we think it is. It seems like every single person that he fights in their next fight, they actually look really good. Charles wins. Max wins. Volcanowski wins. I think Emmett won two, right? Emmett beat Bryce Mitchell. I think Bryce Mitchell won two, right? Bryce beat Dan Igay. I think that's pretty interesting. So he's not necessarily fighting cans or over the hill guys

past their prime guys he's fighting really good guys speaks to his his skills his talents as well but that's the fight to make and wouldn't it be nice if once and for all after these meetings in Hawaii after the flirtation

which has lasted longer than Croke Park longer than Cowboys Stadium. The original was UFC Hawaii, dating back to BJ Penn. Wouldn't it be nice if that fight happened to Hawaii? Charles versus Max in Hawaii. Why can't they figure it out?

I understand it's a little complicated. I understand it's not ideal conditions. But if Bellator could do it, if Elite XC could do it, if Rumble on the Rock can do it, everyone who's wanted to do it has done it, why can't the UFC do it? By the way, is there another great Hawaiian fighter in the pipeline right now?

I'm sure there's more coming. But is there a great one in the pipeline right now? The level of a max, the level of a BJ? I don't think so. Now is the time to do it. There's not going to be that many more opportunities. Wouldn't that be great? Charles, Max, where are you going to do it?

Aloha Stadium? Great. Why not? Blaise? Just do it. What's there to lose? swimming in cash swimming in success

you want big events Paramount CBS you need people to tune in you need people to sub just do it that's what I say let's talk to everyone about this

and everything that transpired this weekend is everyone there we're here uh yes the boys are back in town gc how you doing do we leave I'm doing good man how about you

I was doing better until I saw that t-shirt. Yeah, Monday Night Football a night in the A. Bill's going down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was talking to respected

and noted Falcons beatwriter, Mark Mundy about this. About this game. How's he was trying to get some insight into the enemy, but he wasn't giving up much.

It was like he was talking to, you know, Fort Knox over there. But that's a big game. It's going to be a great day. Five o'clock, game two, eight o'clock, Monday night football.

I think we're like 715 because it's a double header. Oh, right, we're earlier. Yeah, 5 o'clock first pitch tonight? Yeah, Thanksgiving. Oh, Canadian Thanksgiving? Yes, the huge deal. Shout out.

One o'clock, Alouettes, red blacks. Actually, it's starting right now. You got some money on that, P.C. CFO kickoff? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Thanksgiving special. Huge.

Who's your bet on, Pizzi? Al's. The second one? The Al's, no, the Al's, bro. Yeah, the Al's. Did they do? What's the dishes on Thanksgiving? Oh, it's the same thing.

No shit. Spaghetti from the orange. It's the second Monday in October. It's turkey. It's mashed potatoes. It's sweet potatoes. No one's working right now in Canada. No, it's Thanksgiving.

It's a national holiday. Wow. And we got Blue Jays in the playoffs. Isn't that crazy? It's amazing. Shout out. The game last night was tough. First pitch home run.

You guys see that? First pitch home run. George Springer, Springer, Dinger. First pitch home run. Didn't get another hit for the next seven innings. Yeah. Cal Raleigh. Big dumper.

That's a big dumper. That's his name. Out to the fan behind him. My kids saw him and they're like, wow, he's got some cake back there, huh? I was like, that's how they call him the big dumper. What a time, guys. What a time. Charles O'Ovara Max Holloway, that's the fight, yeah?

Yes. Can they do it in Hawaii? Why can't they figure it out? Seriously. The money. Rick. You know Hawaii better than any of us. The money.

What does that mean the money? Why does every fight have to be attached to? Like, just do this thing. Why? Mark Shapiro says it on every conference call. You ain't paying us. We're going to go find someone else who will. Let's do this one. Come on.

Wouldn't it to be a shame if they don't do one Hawaii fight with Max? It will be because, as you said, right, there's not this, like, hot Hawaiian prospect in the pipeline, right? There's some good Hawaiian fighters, but there's not the one that you go, oh, this guy can headline, like, it would have to be a stadium, right? because I can't see them doing Blaisdale with Max Holloway, right? You want to put this in a bigger arena. You want to be able to sell expensive tickets for this.

So it would have to be a Loja Stadium. So it would have to be a fighter the caliber of a Max Holloway. But I just don't know if, I don't know if they're going to be able to get the economics worked out, unfortunately. Yeah, I mean, y'all are saying, like, what, you know, there's potentially a Hawaiian fighter's coming or, like, there's some good fighters. There's no one even in the same universe as Max Holloway when it comes to the Hawaiian fighters right now. Like you have to capitalize on this if you're going to ever do it. This was a very interesting quote. What was that quote?

That's from his stream on Saturday, the one that we just put up. We fight on my terms, brother. We went to Rio. We did that with the King of Rio. Now it's my turn to have a say. I'm telling you, man, I don't think it's like all nicie-nicy between these two. He was even, you remember what happened in Saskatchewan? You remember that fight where it sounded like, I think the report.

report was that Olivera hurt his throat. Do you remember that? Yeah. I think it was like an esophagus injury. Yep. It was a Sunday night in, what was it, Saskatoon? Yep. G.C. was locked in back then. I really only know this because of the face off pictures and behind it, you can see Saskatoon or whatever it is. Ptzee's looking at us like we have eight heads or at least, or maybe his... Why not just do the rematch in Saskatchewan? Yeah, oh, fuck, that's a great idea. That's what the people want. Yeah, yeah. On Canadian Thanksgiving. Yeah, oh my God, could you imagine a Monday. Wait till next year.

Skip over the White House card, all that. Wait till next year. Did you guys see that clip of Max talking about it? Yeah. He sort of, right? Am I wrong about that? He says, you know, good fighter. And then he's like, eh, like, he like changes his mind.

Yeah. There's some, there's something there. I don't think Max is super fond of Charles. I mean, he went to New Orleans to fight Dustin Porier. Charles is coming off a fight in Rio. I think he wants his fight in his hometown. I would love that. I just don't think it's possible at all, though.

I'm thinking of being completely honestly. It is possible, but will the UFC be willing to do it? It's not their business model anymore. You know, like, so we have a brilliant fight. Why can't we just say, do you know what? Do you know what I like brilliant fights? You know? Let's just fucking make the lads fight wherever, you know?

Like, wherever it makes, you know, whoever's paying your lads, that's grand. Because it's going to be class with these fights. Vegas is ninth island, though. Ninth Island, it'll be fine. That's right. That's correct. Okay, so, Pizzie, you're saying enough of the Hawaii talk. Abu Dhabi.

you're saying enough of the Hawaii talk I Abu Dhabi do say that yes I mean look does anyone have a better idea in terms of the matchup or is that like the what is it?

That's the fight yeah no it's definitely the fight they just feel like they're the same prestige and it's rare to have two lads at the same prestige just kind of sync up perfectly and meet like this

we we aren't going to be rushing either of these guys into a title situation anytime soon but we know that the icons this sport builds can transcend championships and rankings and things like that. And I think that's exactly where Oliver and Holloway are. I didn't know if Oliver was going to come out like that. I did not know the fact towards about Ilya Tupuria's fallen opponents, Ariel.

I may have felt different knowing that. I thought it was a really, I thought that was a really tough fight on short notice. But he really went through Gamrod so well. I think we're in a perfect position to make that fight. And I don't think we will be again, if I'm being honest. I think everything is just lined up perfectly. So it has to be now. He's like a bow constrictor on the mat over there.

You know, like he doesn't let you breathe. And when Gamrod came out, Gamrod was like prime ultimate warrior running out of the tunnel over there. Do you see that when he ran into the barricade? I'm like, I think this guy needs to chill out just a little bit. I mean, that's always kind of been his thing. He's always like high energy and super intense. But I was worried that he was too intense. And the scenes were amazing for Charles all week.

like he really truly came across as a superstar open workout ton of people there oh my god the elevator look at this right here yeah come on me i mean he looks like the freaking emperor coming down look at this the kids call that aura farming don't they what he's doing there just i can never i can never decide is or a good thing or a bad thing is it a compliment or is it an insult i don't know i don't they don't know on that level i just thought it's when you're standing there looking cool and everyone can see you that's farming aura yeah i just don't know like i always felt like g you see am i right there? G.C. knows he's. Honestly, I can't. I don't know if it is an insult

or a compliment. You know what? The bottom line is, he has aura, right? That's the compliment. Farming, when I feel like you're farming, it means like you're trying to you're trying to consciously. Yes, yes, exactly. And it feels like there's a negative connotation.

But he came across like a star. He did what he had to do and any doubt of him, you know, losing a step. And it was a good, it was a good opponent for him. Let's be honest. In the end, the switch, I think, benefited him because Gamera wanted to take the fight to the ground, and he did get a takedown, but this was playing into his hand, as opposed to if he'd fight a striker like Fiziev, perhaps that chin is tested, perhaps, you know, the damage that Ilya inflicted on him is tested. That wasn't the case this time. So I thought it was a really impressive win, and honestly, I had my doubts.

I'll be the first to say it. When I heard that he was coming back in October against Fiziav, I was like, why is he? he doing this and the only reason why he's doing if this card was anywhere else in the world other than brazil he's not fighting on this and and i don't think that that's always you know that that's a bad reason to fight but credit to him he did the job i think that gamrod is just an unbelievable grappler like to see him do that to him is crazy to me like this goes that when he was ksw champion here he was fighting atycc here winning all the time um i think he i think he last fought in a dcc he went out to gary tonin or something like that like he is really really high level and

see Charles do that to him, just dominate him on the ground pretty much. It's crazy how good he is, honestly. And I thought the opposite. I thought, uh, for Ziaf, he's like, he could take him down. He could have his way with him on the ground. I didn't think he'd be able to do it, Gamrotton. Egg all over my face. He looked absolutely sensational.

The other big story, uh, speaking of Brazilian legends. And by the way, Brazil, it feels like Brazil is, is kind of back, right? I mean, you've got, uh, you've got the champ, Pantosia doing his thing, Oliverer doing his thing. There were some nice wins. How many Brazilians won on this card? Davis-Figueredo won. Okay, a couple lost over here. But I'll drop off there before.

Jeff L'Fel, Fielio won, Vitor Petrino one, Bia Mesquita one, Lucas Hosha won, Julia Polastri won. I mean, there's a lot of wins, but yes, there were like three losses in a row. Still, it feels like there's maybe a bit of an upswing right now. Jose Aldo retired and it feels like perhaps

this is the final retirement there had been others and he left the UFC he went at the boxing but this felt like the proper send-off really happy to see the UFC do this I mean no one deserves it more than him unbelievable fighter

unbelievable champion unbelievable human being and I always go back to that loss against Connor McGregor in 2015 and the shot of him in the last locker room, absolutely distraught, absolutely destroyed, broken, 13 second knockout, loss, embarrassed after everything that was said leading up to that fight, and that could have broken him. And not only did it not break him, he ended up winning an interim title, he ended up having

a successful run at 135 pounds, when a lot of people thought that he wouldn't be able to make that weight consistently, really truly one of the greatest fighters of all time. And I was really happy to see the UFC do that. We need to do this more for the legend. just because our legend isn't fighting on the card, it doesn't matter. Celebrate them. And there doesn't have to be a fight in which they get killed off. Give them their moment. Give them their stage.

Give them their flowers. Give them their platform. Give them the video. Give them the walkout. Let them put the gloves in the cage. Sometimes after a loss is not the best time to retire. But the last time you fought was back in May. So it was five months ago, the somewhat controversial loss against Amin Zhabi.

had trouble making weight there. I'm happy to see Aldo retire. Aldo made his MMA debut, his pro-M-A debut in August of 2004. So that's a little over 11 years. 32 and 10. He retires with a pro record of 32 and 10. He's in the Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame back in 2023. Two-time Featherweight champion. He was the inaugural champion as well. Seven successful title defenses in his first reign. Like I said, interim featherweight champion as well. Most successful title defenses in UFC featherweight history, seven. Most consecutive title defenses in UFC featherweight history, seven. Most title fights in UFC featherweight history, 11. There were times where he was considered, in my opinion, in the conversation for pound-for-pound

best fighters of the year, sorry, best fighter of the year and also pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. There were times where he just absolutely annihilated the competition, especially in that early, you know, those W.C. days, the Mike Browns, the Uri Fabor fights. Like, he just absolutely ran through everyone with a very well-rounded skill set, amazing take-down defense, great jiu-jitsu, great striking, great kicks, great boxing, great, great everything, great ring IQ. So I was really happy to see him get that moment.

Rick, favorite Jose Aldo? fight? He stepped out. Ptzee favorite Joseo Alto fight. Mendes, Mendes, come on. Nandez in Brazil. It's a brilliant fight. Yeah, he's just, this

guy is incredible. He reinvented himself so many times. I can remember when he became champion WEC just at that time. So we used to have to go, what was the name of that website you used to have to go and watch the points on illegally the day after WEC over it? MMA

tracker or something, you get them on. bro why are you uh why are you adding yourself it's gone i'm not i'm not look it's gone it's dead now i don't want them come at your house dana whites at the uh the day is saying we got him he turned it on spitz it's rich it's garris this is before you own wccc okay right oh wow okay come at me don't even come at me um when bravo had we were showing ufc here and then they start showing wc just when became champion and it was just he was the best man oh i january thought he was the best for in the world uh for for for for some time i I think that run was it Mendez, Edgar, who did he fight after Edgar, he fought Korean zombie?

Like, he wasn't, I remember people were getting upset because he wasn't finishing all these guys. Obviously, he had that great finish against Mendez. The reinvention at Bantamway, the fact that Gilbert Burns, not so long ago was like, he's actually 45, I think. He is not the age he says he is. So many layers to him, a true icon, a guy who people in Brazil have just loved the whole time he's been there, always represented him so well. I've never heard anyone other than those horrible fans in Ireland

screaming at him. I never heard anyone actually say a bad word about Jose Aldo and you see him and Connor now they had this bitter or every he worships the guy too. Honestly one of the greatest furtas of all time and honestly this is the perfect way as you say. The UFC do

need to do this more often but there is no better example of them needing to do it often than with Josealdo because he is the guy to do this with right. He gets very emotional when you get at this man's career. As we saw with the Hall of Fame, I was like, does anyone enjoy retiring more than Jose Aldo?

That's what I was thinking when I was watching it. Could you have done this with, say, Robbie Lawler? Hit Robbie Lawler's music. Is he going to give you the same show? He did give us emotion when he retired. Fair enough. But he's not going to quite give you that Aldo level. So not only a legendary legend of fighting,

legend of retirement announcements, I would say. Wow, wow, wow, wow. Those are big words. Congrats to him on a great career. Really nice to see that happen. What's your favorite, Olive White? You know, the first one that always comes to mind is the Mike Brown fight for several reasons. The way, so I was there, and that was his big moment in the title fight, and if you recall, Mike Brown as champion in WEC, was so freaking strong, right?

And he beats your eye of favor, and it looks like he might have a long rain. And I just remember the hips, the takedown defense and the game. the hips. The way he sprawled, for some reason, always stuck with me. And then the next day, we were there for UFC 106, I think it was. And so it was like a Thursday night WEC card. And then it was Forrest versus Tito Ortiz. And I remember the next day we gathered, it was funny because we gathered in a restaurant at the Mandalay Bay. And here he is the new champ. He just won. And you never really, you don't get those opportunities, right? When someone wins a belt or has a big title fight on a Saturday. We usually all just kind of disappear on the Sunday and go back to our

respective cities. It's very much a boxing thing to meet up with the person the next day. You'll always see these boxers like hanging in the hotel or doing media and stuff like that. But the fact that we were all there for the UFC event on Saturday, we were able to meet with him because it was a midweek card. It was a Thursday. So it was a Friday morning that we got to to meet with him at this restaurant, and then the weigh-ins were later than the day. This is before they had the morning weigh-ins. And I remember him showing up with the belt, and he was so happy. He did not speak any English, didn't understand.

Now you can tell he understands what we're saying when speaking to him in English. But what also stuck with me is that I didn't realize, and it wasn't really known that he was an Ed Soros guy. And Ed, at that point is, you know, Anderson's guy. And he's like, if you're a Brazilian fighter, you're managed by Ed Soros. And he's there translating for you. And then he shows up with Ed Soros to this. media gathering after he wins the belt

and you're like, oh, this guy's really got his finger on the pulse of every single, you know, every single Brazilian fighter who's doing anything of note in the UFC or in the sport in Zufa because that was WEC. So that one comes to mind. I always talk about the

video of him buying the suit in Michigan before. I mean, it's just the best. It was so innocent. It was so beautiful. I know these are not actual fight moments. I mean, the Brown fight was a great one. Him against Mark Harmonic in Toronto was amazing. UFC 129.

Hominix heart was unbelievable, the hematoma. Remember that? Yeah, Jesus. Christ. Like a second person on his face.

Yeah, it really was amazing. And then I, you know, the run on 135 to me is really interesting because I felt like he was putting his body in, you know,

in danger. Like, this was not very good for his body, his health. And the fact that he stuck around, like, how many fights did he have at Bantamweight in the end? He had, a lot, man.

He had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight fights at bantamweight. Lost to Marlon Marais in his bantamweight debut, fought for the vacant bantamweight title in the next fight some way somehow. Then went on a little run beating Marlon Vera, Pedro Munoz, Rob Font, and then lost to a guy named Marab Duolishvili. In the end, his last win, at least for now, unless he comes back, will be against Jonathan Martinez in May. of 2024 in Rio. So you'll recall, he was kind of, that was a bit of a weak card, and he was sort of the people's

main event of that card in Rio. That was the one that was headlined by Pantosha versus Erseg. And so, great to see that he got that moment this past weekend. Speaking of Dustin Porier, I just wanted to mention this tweet because we showed his tweet

talking about Max and, and Charles. Someone asked him, around the same time that he was tweeting about all this, this was yesterday, How much do you miss fighting? And he writes, every day, the moment my eyes open, I've done it for two decades,

dedicated my life to it, a part of me has died. Very sad to read that. And I understand what he's saying. And it is true. It's a chapter closing, but the way in which he writes that, coupled with the tweet recently to Nate, hey, let's do a boxing match, Zupa Boxing. PT, does it not feel like Dustin is having

some, not second thoughts, but we always knew that Dustin is a fighter's fighter, and we always knew that he loved this, and we always knew that a part of him was sad about having to leave, but he wanted to leave because all the reasons that he talked about. He wanted to be healthy. He wanted to be there for his family. He didn't want

the game to kill him. He wanted to beat the game, so to speak. It does sort of feel like he's, I don't want to say, struggling with it. He's also brutally honest guy, so he's going to tell you how he feels. But I don't know, it pains me to read that a little bit. Yeah, but it's kind of a mixture of reality as well. As you say, like this is a guy who speaks in fact, like he's never showed away from telling

the truth. And I know I mentioned this, maybe it was on the crack. Well, that is what it is for athletes when they retire. It is a death. They die twice. They die as a sports person and then they die as a human being. but like that's essentially what it is and I do feel like nobody nobody in sports are lion eyes like fighters are like their men put them on especially on a pedestal for their

bravery their courage with everything that they absolutely deserve this is why we're so transfixing this sport all the time but um I do think that they really struggle beyond retirement to forge an identity without the sport and I think I've used Tony Ferguson an example of a guy I think you really struggles with the idea of not being a fire I think B.J. Penn, evidently, I think Connor McGregor right now is in that same situation. So yeah, I completely expect him to be back in there. But I also think it's it's something that they need to learn to deal with. And we only spoke about it a lot in the passing of Ricky Hatton. Is it an addiction to the adulation? Is it just a way for you

to exercise demons? And all these things are really, really important. things for people in everyday life to have an outlet like that. But unfortunately, I think it starts to become very dangerous to later on it gets, you know. And I think you need to find a new way to exercise those demons or a new way to get that adulation. I think Dustin's completely capable of that outside of the ring or outside of the cage. By the way, speaking of Hatton, did you see those scenes of the funeral? Man, what about Adam Smith? Did you hear his eulogy? I didn't. I saw everyone talking about it. His eulogy was unbelievable. It was outstanding. expected to be he's he's unbelievable he is so good he is really really i mean and and it came from

it came from the heart he's a very good friend of of uh rickies he's he's talked about it everywhere on this show as well um but yes uh you're we don't realize just how hard it is for these fighters to just kind of shut it off um and and dustin's not that old by the way he's he's still in his 30s and he's still so good right yeah when it gets dangerous like like you know what's the one that's won too many. And that is a real, real thing in combat sports. So that one really struck me. As far as the rest of the results are concerned from this past weekend, was there any, and this is for PT, this is for GC, I don't know if Rick is back. I'm here, baby. Oh, there he is. Any results really stood out or performances? Davis and

Figuereda with the win. Joel Alvarez gets the win over the second. I thought that fight was weird. Tell us, tell us. I mean, you get the eye poke in the first. round that actually should have been a knockout, and then they review it, and they determine that it's legal, but they still continue the fight. And then you have this second round where he's sort of mauling Vicente Lucay. It looks like they're going to call it. They don't call it. He's having trouble getting off the stool and, you know, coaching team, talk him out to, talk him into going back out there. And it felt like Joel Alvarez in the third round just almost felt bad for him. And it was just like, this guy has nothing to offer me. So

took him down and then just literally sat on top of him for like four minutes. And the The ref was not like, come on, we need some action here. Like, you just sat there the entire time. It was a bizarre one, man. It really was. That inverted triangle position for four minutes. Just like a couple, like, soft punches here and there on his back. But, like, other than that, and, like, I mean, we've seen, like, guys, like, actively grappling.

And, like, Herb Dean stepping in and, like, come on, we need some action. We need some action here, guys. I thought the ref really fucked it up, like, honestly. Osiris Maya, by the way, is that. Yeah, several times. It's like, he was prompted. to, you know, to stop the fight in that situation. A fight ending sequence was stopped because

Luke A prompted him to, like, I was failed here. And it gets weird at that point. And I was having these conversations with coaches the next day, like talking about this specific situation. And like, how do we stop this from being a thing? Like, how can you stop a fight in a fight ending situation like that only for it to be found that nothing happened? And, you know, we start talking to, do you introduce challenge flags in MMA?

But I was like, well, then every time you'd be finished, you'll be trolling. Like, you're on the verge of getting finished. You're trolling a challenge. Like, I don't know. It's just there. I feel like the officiating has been in the spotlight last few weeks. And it's making us think absolutely wild things. But I agree with GC.

It was a bizarre situation in that fight. Well, the only other way that could play out potentially, right, is if he lets it go and then says, okay, it's a TKO, and then they go to the tape and let's say it is an eye poke. And we don't get the result of that fight. Are you comfortable with that? Are you okay? if ultimately we don't see the fight and it ends due to an eye poke.

As in you let the... You let it play out. He calls it a TKO in the cage. They go back to the tape. They say it was an eye poke and then you can't restart the fight so it's just no contest and we move on from the fight.

But in this situation though, was it not like... Luca essentially stopped the fight himself at that point is it not like, all right, bro, that's a TKO, man. That's what I'm saying. You called for the fight to be stopped so it's over.

The ref calls it a TKO in the cage, but then let's say they review the tape and it is an eye poke. We don't see the end of that. You know, we get no resolution to the fight. It's just a no contest. Are you okay with that outcome? If so, my inclination is let the fight just go on and see what happens because that could have been a TKO. I'm saying like once you reviewed it and like the ref was like, oh, it was legal.

It was legal. And then still gave Lucke time after that. That was what was so weird to me. Did this happen recently? Why do I feel like this happened recently? I'm thinking of 10. It is. I did.

I'm trying to think of it as well. Was it the Iron Turtle fight where the ref called it off but it was actually in a legal knee and then they had to resume the fight and then he was able to come back and win it. Are you talking about Matthews and Magni? It was a little bit different, but...

Yeah. Well, Matthews and Magne was like that was... Or maybe I'm thinking of Tank and Lamont and Rocha obviously a different sport. But I feel like we talked about this playing out and how there are no real right answers. Yeah, I mean like... The Jake Matthews one is a decent comparison.

Like, he won by first round finish. If the referee did not see... Whatever happened with that, by the way? Didn't they say that they were going to do something about that? Yeah, they appealed it, right? I don't know if they have a resolution. Nothing really happens. If the referee did not see the eye poke,

that should have continued and that should have been a TKO. Yeah, that's where I'm... That's what should have happened. I don't mind that real, though, Rick. Like, the one that you're kind of flouting there, though. I don't... I'm not completely against that. Like, in terms of... Let it be a TKO, review it.

And if it's not, it's a no contest And then we just move on Then on top of it that second round Like Alvarez was punishing him And then I think Luka set on the stool He was like, I don't know if I can keep going Sohudo Songya Dong Is that the one?

There was an eye poking. Was there a brutal eye poke in that one too? Yes, yes There was a very bad eye poke in that one Yes, on Air Jordan With the shout out there Yes, that might be the one that I feel like We were talking about this recently

I guess that was what February? Yeah, Seattle To me the issue is Rousse Hudo, was that not a weird one as well? Which one? Dom Cruz? That was just, that was just, that was just, that was just, uh, Don Cruz saying that, yeah, he felt it was, uh, Peterson had too many smokes in the back, you know?

Peterson's taking too many shots on this show. Let's just leave him alone. Well, I could have used no nonsense in that, in that fight. Yeah. Be careful what you wish for a minute. Yeah, there wasn't much nonsense, no nonsense in the, uh, Paul Hughes fight. Mario Pinto would the win. That was going to be my name, by the way.

Oh, in English? Tell us, tell us, tell us. Yeah, great promo. The promo was incredible. He's so, he's low enough on the card that nobody knows whether he actually speaks English or not. And then he just pulls off the best swerve of all time. He also speaks like solid Portuguese because he like reps the Portuguese flag. What's that accent, by the way, that he's got?

London. Yeah, I was going to say, it sounded like he was from London. Okay. Is that, is this the next guy? Honestly, give him a title shot, man. After serial, I'm down. Or book him. Book him for him, Ante DeLia.

Pici, do you know, like, he reps Portugal, right? Oh, no, I was so confused. I know, so how? He flies the Portuguese flag, but he definitely has spent a lot of time in London with that accent. Yeah, he trains out of London. No, I know, but like, how long? Did he just go there and pick it up? Don't be doing that flag shit to me, all right?

Like, this is, this is too confusing. Now I feel, like, as soon as he starts speaking, I was like, oh, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This exact situation is going to play on Monday, and I know nothing about this man. Tell us, tell us. Tell us more about his background, Pttttie. Why don't you tell us? Where does he train, Pt, where does he train?

Arsenal 5? Who are his team? But it was an incredible moment. It was incredible because those interviews can, you know, especially at that point in the car, just be boring and, you know, forgettable and exactly the same. I'll take whoever the UFC gives me. And he turned it on its head and I absolutely loved it.

To the point that there were some people saying like, oh, he speaks perfect English. Yeah, he speaks. Like, that's the point. Like, it's not that he's been training his English. He speaks English. Fights out of London, fights on London. It was incredible.

He's now two and own the UFC, one win on Contender Series. Every time I see his name, I think of Pinto Ron. Do you guys know Pinto Ron? No. Oh, I think of Pinto Bean. Pinto Ron is a character at Bill's Games. He's the one that gets... I watched him last year.

He gets doused with the... Incredible theater. They say a prayer beforehand, saying, like, we wish the people who couldn't be here with us to watch the game. and they're like, oh, no, they're just talking about anyone in general who can't be in Buffalo for the game, and then they have a Bill's legend, like squirt him with ketchup and mustard. He takes a ketchup and mustard shower

in Toronto legend. Khan Offley, with the submission win over Icaro Hamos, Michael Aswell, over Lucas Almeda, Jafel Filio. See, I told you a lot of Brazilians won. Vitor Petrino,

with the win over Thomas Peterson. That was a crazy knockout. Peterson's head like he hit him on the way down and then it seemed like his body was turning the opposite way. Did you see that? It's like it's scary. It's very weird fall, very, very weird fall. And Michael Aswell one was kind of interesting too against Lucas Almeida. A lot of people noticed it looked like Lucas Almeida had like a broken hand at the way ends. The lion moved from like minus 130 to like minus 290 and then he gets the first round finish. Nah, nothing to worry about. I thought it was interesting. Nothing to worry about. Are you saying it was suss? these people are pointing out how he's got the broken hand. The commission doesn't notice, and then they put him out there and then he gets finished in what, like a 90 seconds? You tried out right hand? If I believe people on X

were telling me he did not. Yeah, I actually think he did not throw a single right-handed strike. She just put that thing in his pocket, man. Nothing to worry about. Keep it moving. That's the commission nuts. Everyone very high on BMiskeeta saying that she could be a player at 135

Jituitou legend. Our friend Guillermo Cruz spoke to her about 11 years ago. He posted an article on MMA fighting from 11 years ago talking about her potentially going, if you're a Brazilian fighter at some point, Guillermo has spoken to you about the potential of coming to MMA. And there it was.

I see people storybuilding, similar to Izzy Alex, I think it's McKenzie Dern versus... Yeah, but she's 135, no? Or am I wrong about that? They'll figure it out, you know? Is she 135? This company builds stories, man.

Yeah. No, for sure. You're saying Dern wins the belt at 115, moves up to 35, comes down to 25 to win the third belt. Jumps the division. I saw someone post a picture of them at a jiu-jitsu tournament. Yeah, no. This is going to be the women's Izzy versus Alex.

Okay. Lucas Hosha, Julia Polastri, got a fight night bonus for the third round stoppage, and Luan Larserda over Simon Olivera. Polostri beat Kovalkevich from COVID-Pov. Did you see her face afterwards? Yeah. Yes. She got beat up.

She said, Rio, I hate you and I love you at the same time. So them's the results. It was a very busy day as far as combat was concerned. Earlier in the day, over in Sheffield, the man who I said was the closest thing that combat sports has to one Mick Foley, the every man, Dave Allen, who Eddie Hearn did such a great job of building up on Wednesday when he was in studio. That was a really great chat.

I enjoyed it very much. He went up against the somewhat intimidating Arslanbek, Mahmoudov. And I was watching this fight. I love watching the afternoon fights with my kids. And they were like, whoa, that guy is very scary. And he fought a great fight, Mahmoudov. The walkout was great for Dave Allen. I did it my way.

But in the end, there was no, there was. is no storybook ending. Although I feel like people are behind him. I feel like even if he fights again, you know, obviously he's not going to get an Anthony Joshua or anyone like that who they were talking about going into this fight. I still feel like they have something on their hands here with Dave Allen, right, PT? Like they know who he is. They know what the ceiling is, but I still feel like they can promote something here with him. Yeah, I think people really like going to his fights. I think he represents the work in class. I think people always get behind guys like that and he's just an intriguing dude you know everything about him

is relatable the unsweet bathroom story that eddie told you obviously has been doing the rounds for a while um but yeah i i think that was a very tough fight i don't think anyone for a second thought this would be a walk in the park for him i found a frustration to watch because you know what he's capable of and you kind of thought he's after absorbing a lot of shots over the first four rounds i thought He lost probably every round of the first four. And I was like, it's time from the press on now. I don't think you really got going. I don't think you really felt that pressure until probably around round nine.

And we saw him get going there. But he ate a lot of substantial shots like his chin, his absolute granite. And he just is a very entertaining way of putting shots together, I think. Like he swings hooks from his hip. You know, he is a very kind of a boisterous boxing style. And he's slick as well when he wants to be with a jab. He does, he did seem very undersized in the fight, to be absolutely fair to him. But I agree with you.

I do think there's way more interesting fights. The amount of heavyweights playing their trade in the UK, you're telling me you can't think of one captivating match to put him in. No, they can. There's loads. There's loads. And if they're selling 8,000, 9,000 tickets in Chetfield, I don't know why they wouldn't be putting their heads together

and trying to figure out who's next from. The night ended over in Philadelphia with Boots Ennis, scoring a first round TKO win over Wisma Lima in a WS, WBA interim super welterweight fight, he moves up to 154, and maybe everything that they were saying about him was true. Maybe the weight cut down to 147 was depleting him. Maybe he is that much better at 154. It's just seven pounds, but it can make the world of a difference. And afterwards, Eddie Hearn cutting a tremendous promo, showing why it's so important to have someone like that in your corner, because let's be honest, if you can't cut good promos,

For yourself, on behalf of yourself, the next best thing is to have your promoter, and sometimes even better is to have your promoter. Do it for you in the ring. This is something we don't see often in MMA, but it obviously happens a lot in boxing. In case you missed it, here's Eddie on the microphone. Line them up and he'll piece them up. Virgil Ortiz will get destroyed by Geron and his. I will bet the house on it with Oscar Dolohia.

It's the best fight in boxing in America. It's a beautiful fight. He's a great fire. But this guy is another level. I'm telling you, you have got eight, ten years. years of greatness from this guy. He lives the life. There is nobody like him in boxing. He's going to go up. Anyone, Ortiz, Mertzalaya, Fondora, Abu, Zayas. He will destroy them. Bring him on. Great stuff. Love when he gets fired up like that. Love the promo after the fight in the ring.

And so, yes, let us finally see him in one of those big fights. The fight that everyone wants to see is him versus Virgil Ortiz. Let us see that fight. The Fondora fight got canceled, the one that's supposed to happen on October 25th against Keith Thurman. Let's see these big fights. Enough already. I'm tired of seeing Boots Ennis fight these sort of lesser guys and everyone say, no, no, he's much better than that. Okay, that was a great win. That was a dominant one-sided win. And his last win over Stanionis was a great one too. But let us see him in big-time fights. It is time. It is absolutely time. By the way, shout out to the WWE. They were over in Perth as well for the Crown Jewel event. And there was Paul Levick chief content.

officer, aka Triple H. Hunter Hurst Helmsley, meeting up with two very notable UFC fighters. Did you guys see this? Hey, the boys. He saw you play, I'm trying to think where I see. Miami, maybe, Miami in April? No, man. Hey, I saw you. Big, love.

Love you. He definitely thinks JDM is like Volk's cousin. He's headlining Madison Square Garden, baby. The boys, the That was a nice little rendezvous. Very cool to see. These are some of the moments that you get now that WWN UFC are under the same umbrella. You also get UFC superstars and former champions.

wrestling superstars. Did you guys happen to see our guy, Driggis, have I seen it? I've watched it eight million times. Interviewing Dwayne, The Rock Johnson. Take a look.

Hey, buddy. How are you? I'm great. An absolute pleasure, Dwayne, the Rock Johnson, the man, the meth, the legend. So amazing to meet you

and to be able to do this with you. This is a first for me, too. But I'm very excited for this. All right. Here we go. Me too. Oh, man. As you know,

course I'm a I find the UFC I live and breathe this sport I my whole life is revolved around this sport hold on a second holy shit I didn't know it was you I thought for a second wait is that big guy wait what oh okay no one told me I didn't know I didn't know chief was on the phone no I was like god damn he looks just like and then he looks just like he looks just like oh brother hey it's it's great to see you and talk with you man you you've done such a tremendous job man, all of your fights. Chief, man. Boss.

Such a big... He told him every single thing but his name. Listen, I'll say this. He's got a lot going on. Who knows if he can even see him? I don't know. Someone should have told Dwayne Johnson that Drick's Duplessie was on.

Absolutely. They left him with his hands down. Yes, yes. He's looking around. He's going, he's going... I can't believe it. I thought he looked like the guy. What is his fucking name?

It was a master class by by Dwayne there. I know. Do you think, Drickis realized that he kind of knew but didn't know? I don't know, man. In hindsight, Trichis gave him the full toilet. Dwayne the Rock

Johnson every single time. He was so happy to be there too. We've all been on the side of you can't remember someone's name so you hit him with like a what's up, man. What's up, man? How you doing, bro? Here's the big fella. But we, I have also been on the side where I can tell someone doesn't remember my name and you're like that person has no idea what my name.

It's tough. That was legitimately an it's tough moment. And in case you're wondering, around this moment, is when Frank would say it's tough or at least would play the job he's not here today we hope to have him back tomorrow

but we do miss him No I think he'll definitely be back tomorrow I think he's just straight up playing hockey today Oh he's observing Canadian Thanksgiving Yep All right Yeah I think this is just a last minute Last minute vacate day for

I would have used it I'd have known it was Canadian Thanksgiving I would have tried Well get locked in on the Al's Red Blacks game And let us know how it goes PTA right No it's happening right now I'm doing for the bills Atlanta man I can't

Two of my favorite players in the league Bejohn and Josh Allen Love them both. We're rocking the throwbacks tonight too? Yeah, yeah, can we?

That'd be great. Can we? All right, guys, we'll answer some super chats and pick up the rest of the

new stuff on the back end of the show. Three in studio guests today. It's a tremendous day at 4 o'clock the great Hornswaggle

is going to join us at 3 o'clock the reigning and defending UFC Bantamweight champion the pride of Georgia. Marab Duolishvili is going to join us

cannot wait for that. But I am very excited let me put this on here because last time I didn't put it on and Frank got mad at me even though he's not here today I don't want him to get mad at me okay

hello hello super excited super excited to have our first guest in studio here he's absolutely crushing it in the world of AWOLLEet wrestling he's got a massive I quit match against John Moxley going down this weekend

October 18th at Russell Dream in St. Louis he's done so many incredible things just a few months ago He climbed Mount Everest, for goodness sakes. He's Darby Allen, and it's a great honor and pleasure and privilege to have him in studio right here and now in the program. There he is. Oh, yeah.

How are you, sir? This is great. Yo, what up, sir? It's great to meet you. How are you? Thank you so much. Please have a seat. Here's your microphone.

Came with the face paint, too. Yeah, I don't go anywhere without it. Is that true? You don't do, I saw you do some media. You were... I'd rather not. There's a lot of times I'll just show up to the airport with it. Is that true?

It's because I don't take showers. Okay. All right. When was the last time you did take it? It does look like it's a little bit, it's like breaking here, right? Yeah. Dude, there's no method to the madness. It's literally, it makes me like, it takes literally two minutes to put this on.

Is that true? Even when you're on TV. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You do it yourself. Oh, yeah. They don't have someone to help you out. No.

What do you think this is? I don't know. They don't have like a makeup lady back there? What do you think this is? No, all right. Well, it's great to have you. It's great to meet you. I'm a big fan of what you do and everything that you're about.

And you know what I'm really looking forward to talking to you about? You know, I know you've done some media recently about climbing Mount Everest and all that. But I just, I love, you come across as a very thoughtful, a very introspective human being. You're not afraid to kind of speak what's on your mind and your heart. And I appreciate that a lot. So much respect to you. Thank you, sir. You just had a little moment with John Moxley this past weekend at the New York Comic-Con.

There's a little moment. Yeah. How did that come about? Just whenever you get the chance to show the world What wrestling is all about Because we do that panel with DC A lot of those fans don't know What they're getting themselves into

And here you are breaking a glass vase over a homie's head Okay so that's what that was I couldn't quite tell in the video That was a glass face Yep Wow You like glass don't you huh I do this you can't really tell

But like oh geez This scar right here Oh yes I could tell That's from Sting's last match That was the one Yeah my insides were hanging out the refs like after i fell through the glass the refs like looking at me he's like how are feeling i'm like i'm feeling pretty good he's like oh shit your insides are hanging out we got

bring you the back i'm like i can't get to the back this is the last match i got one more spot so if you see me pop back up i'm duct taped like my side's completely what really did happen like what came out oh nothing ended up coming up but you could see the inside serious yeah yeah how many stitches uh i can't remember i can't remember why do you do this like what why do you go to such an extreme why do you put your body through this Oh, because I love it. Like a lot of the fans say, Darby, you don't have to impress this anymore. Like, don't go crazy.

I'm like, I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for me because I'm literally breaking down mental barriers in my mind. Every time I do something crazy, I'm always breaking down. Thank you, sir. Yes. Thank you, Rick. Appreciate that. Oh, yeah.

Okay. Wow. Okay. I'm breaking down mental barriers in my mind. Why did you just do that? Okay. Okay. Breaking down mental barriers in my mind every time I go out there and do something

crazier because it's coming from a life of just being told you're not going to amount to shit and you spend your whole life believing what those people are saying so you're like oh I guess I'm just going to work at a fast food job the rest of my life a lot of standing on my feet working for somebody else and you believe that but the moment I started doing crazy shit it made me feel like anything was possible so I go out there and just go crazy in high school jump off a roof into a bush or something. I'm like, oh, I'm getting mentally stronger. So the crazier I get, the more confident I get. That's why I do the things I do. Wow. So you were doing this even before you were into wrestling. Oh, yes. Yes, that's what I'm saying. I will do this stuff with or without a

camera, just for fun. When you were a kid, like, did you ever get to the point where you were like seriously hurting yourself and someone was saying, yo, man, like, you're doing a little bit too much? You don't need to do this? Or was no one out there kind of reeling you in? No, nobody. No. You were just doing crazy shit. Did you watch Jackass and all that stuff? Oh, yeah. Okay. Did you want to be one of those guys?

Yeah, I was like, now I'm like friends with Bam and I saw you with Steveo. Travis Pistrana, Steveo, all these people. Yeah, it's like a full circle moment. And so here you are with Bam. I think over the weekend, right? That's at Comic Con. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Oh yeah. That's, yeah. You're like actually friends with them. Yeah. Before I climbed Everest, he came over to my house for like a week and we were just skating and it felt like just middle schoolers hanging out and just having a good time. It's cool to be around those type of guys. Because I honestly don't hang out with a lot of wrestlers.

I really don't have a lot of friends in wrestling. I think you don't, like I heard you say, and correct me if I'm wrong, you don't really like the culture surrounding wrestling. Is that accurate? Oh, yeah. Why is that? You know, to me, it's just like it's a 15-minute ride. That's all it is.

It's a 15-minute ride. And a lot of people believe their own hype, but at the end of the day, someone else is control of your destiny. They're either going to make you the champion or make you the guy at the bottom. Someone else is control of your destiny, and I have such a problem with that. So that's, like, a big reason I wanted to climb Mount Everest is to really prove to myself that I'm capable of anything. And, yeah, it was like a, it's a whole thing.

I just don't, I don't like ego. That's what it is. I just don't like ego. I don't like when people, it's like, because the wrestling world is just going to chew you up and spit you out. And then if you believe you're hype and it spits you out, you're literally living your life for somebody else. That's like my whole thing is,

but that's what's so beautiful to me with AEW. Is they're like, all right, just do you. Focus on what makes you happy inside the ring and outside the ring. It's like the best of both worlds. So it's just a great experience. And the fact that they let me climb Mount Everest in essentially the peak of my career. Yeah.

It's like you never get that. You never get that because you're just a hamster on the wheel and it just keeps spinning and then once it spits you out you think that the wrestling world can't go on without you and then you realize how fast everybody moves on without you

and that's the thing is like I have no ego if it ends tomorrow, fuck it. Do you think there'll come a time where you don't want to partake in the politics of wrestling having someone control your fate decide how great you're going to be

that this is going to be short-lived ultimately that you will move on to do other things? As long as I'm having a good time in the ring from when the moment the bell rings to the moment it ends that's all I care about. And I feel right now I'm having the time of my life in that ring,

performing, and everything I do is literally from my soul. So it's like I'm not, you can't create Darby. You know, you can never create somebody like me. It's just me. And that's what the, I'm so grateful for that. Okay, so if we could take a step back if you don't mind. And I know you've talked about your life, but never before with us on this show.

So I hope you don't mind. I learned that the reason why you paint your face is because of the car accident you were in when you were five years old. Is that accurate? Yeah. And that's why I got nothing, you can't really see it, but nothing's over till you're underground tattooed on my chest

because I just, you should never give up anything you want to do until you're literally dead. Just being around so many people that get so complacent so fast, like, oh, I'm too old for this, I can't achieve that. I'm like, why?

Like, why? I'm just curious, you know? And then people, they just, they listen too much to other people's criticism. And, you know, that's the thing is people always told me, like, you can never really be the face of AEW because you're too psychotic or whatever, you know, liability. You know, you're just going to get yourself killed on Mount Everest. They think climbing Mount Everest was irresponsible of me. But I think the exact opposite.

I'm willing to go places for this company that no one's fucking willing to go. I will go to the summit of Mount Everest with the AEW flag and wave it from the top of the world because I'm so passionate about what this place is. gives me. Wow. And then who's going to argue with that as the spokesperson for a company? So anybody that says it's stupid because I'm not doing it Mount Everest for a publicity stunt. It was never about, ooh, Darby's crazy. I was literally on a self journey. And it was the most. When did that idea come to mind? About two and a half years ago. Yeah. Just because I, you know, I just, I felt like this wrestling world, man, it just, I see people that never want to get out of the spotlight. clinging for that attention and they never want it they're pay attention to me and they're so

desperate it like scares them what life's going to be like when the world forgets about them and i was like i never wanted to be that guy i want and there's nothing more humbling and grounding than risking your life on mount ever so it literally just made me so centered and just appreciate now because that's the thing is like you got so much things going on in life you're like oh what it's like just focus on now and be grateful to just be here and that That's like the biggest thing. And I really wanted to see who I was going to become on the other side of that mountain.

I presume when you decided you wanted to do this, you had to talk to Tony Khan about it. Absolutely. What was his reaction? That's sketchy. And it's going to be a horrible, horrible PR if I die on that mountain. But I explained to him why I wanted to do it.

And I explained to him that like I literally just want to show the world what this place gives us. because so much I feel like in entertainment as a whole you live your life for so much people accept yourself you're trying to make everyone happy except yourself

in wrestling there's no off season so it's literally all year around you're like am I good enough am I good enough is this performance good enough am I making this guy happy it's like fuck it all just worry about yourself

and that's that's where I am so grateful for Tony Con in AEW. They're like, just do you, man. So, yeah, but I think he was super stuck that I survived. As he should be, as I'm sure everyone was. Do you want more water, by the way? No, I'm good. Okay. Can I ask why you did that? Because it's funny. I got to, I literally got to wake myself up. Okay, I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure if you just missed or if you... Oh, you think I'm that bad, Andrew? I don't know. I don't

know. Oh, did it get on your pants? No, I don't care. Okay, all right. Yeah, I mean, you fall on a freaking stack of glass. Yeah. A little water's not going to. to bother you right before you're about to go the first time you break your leg right my foot yeah break your foot two weeks before i was supposed to leave from mount everest the first time and everybody's like that's a sign that you shouldn't climb the mountain i was like no what it is it's a sign that i should really stop and appreciate the journey as a whole because i was so fixated on making it to the summit all i was the summit i wasn't thinking about the whole journey so the moment i broke my foot and i had another year i had to wait because you have to wait there's only two months out of the year you can

climb mount Everest which months uh it's may and april april may yeah so the weather yeah yeah it it just just works out like yeah yeah and then i was like man i was so pissed at first but then i was like no no i got to really take this all in and appreciate this whole ride so i in that time i was able to go to poland and train with wimhoff met up with him and with your dad too you brought your dad yeah he didn't know what he's getting himself and because of the thing is like i had my dad retire because, you know, just with AEW and, you know, the money I was able to make, I'm like, I'm like, just retire, dad, just be my personal assistant. He's like, well, what the hell is your personal assistant mean? And I'm like, oh, are you going to fly to Poland and climb

them out on your underwear and sit in a frozen waterfall for 30 minutes? It was just, it's incredible, but just to have these moments with, you know, close ones like your family and everything. It's just, yeah, it's just, it's been an amazing ride. So when you're about to go, you said it was two weeks before? Yeah. there's like a mental hurdle that you have to get over to say, okay, I'm going to do this. And now all of a sudden you have to take a step back and say it's going to happen in a year, not two weeks. Did you go through some sort of like depression saying like, I want to do this now? At that point, you're probably ready to go, right?

Oh, yeah. And so now you have to be like, oh, man. And you clearly came to the conclusion this was for the best and that, you know, you're not fixated on the summit, the journey, all that stuff. But was it hard to take that step back and have to wait a full year in the initial stages of finding out you broke your foot? No, no. You realized right away it was a blessing. Yeah. Okay.

Because I was, like I said, so fixated on the summit. Yeah. It was like, no. You usually take someone some time to get to that conclusion. No, instantly, I was like, as it happened in the match, it happened in the very beginning of the match. So the whole match, I know my foot's broke. So I'm going, I'm thinking during the match, I'm like, who do I got a call and say that Everest has to wait? It was a lot to happen, you know, but it all worked out.

And like I said, I think it was all for the best. When you did the training with Wim Hof, you talked about like literally climbing mountains in the Polish winter in your underwear. That's legit. Yeah. Like you're just wearing boxers. Yeah. And the wind's like just smacking you in the face. It's cold.

It's no joke. It's no joke. Did it ever feel like you were close to breaking mentally? No. No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. That's why I wanted to make it so public that I was going to climb Mount Everest. Because at the end of the day, all you have is your word.

Right. You want to be held a camp. Yes, absolutely. And if I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. So when I said I was going to bring the AW flag on top of the world, there was no turning back. I would die on that amount before I turned back. Really? Yes, absolutely. And you saw dead bodies, right? Yeah, lots of dead bodies. And that's the thing is, they asked you right when you first get there, are you willing to die for this? Because if you're not, go, leave, go home. And I was like, no, absolutely. Why? Why would you be willing to die? Because I, that is,

the ultimate definition of living. Even if it cuts your life short. Yes, absolutely. I have, the way I live my life, I feel like I've lived more in one year than people do in their whole entire life. And I really believe that. So I'm just grateful for everything.

And it's just, like I said, it's a self journey of like who you're gonna become on the other side and what this is gonna teach you about yourself. Because like I said, there's nothing more humbling, then sitting there and looking at these bodies and knowing that could be you. And every day, you're just fixated on surviving. It's just, there's no distractions.

Because on a daily life, you say if you run into a problem, you're going to, like, pull out your phone and, like, scroll and, like, just distract yourself from your problems. Whatever it is, there's no distractions up there. You can't have your phone. You can't even have a book. I'm staring at the wall and just thinking, oh, well, I might die tomorrow. So there's nothing more grounding than that. What did you learn about yourself? That I literally have to be present and appreciate the now

and quit thinking so much in the future and being so fixated on, you know, because when you get into AEW or you get onto any national TV level, you get so fixated on like, ooh, I got to, you know, I'm the fame, I got to try to be a celebrity. Like I don't, you see how empty and hollow all that is.

It doesn't mean shit. it doesn't mean a damn thing the fame doesn't mean a thing and it's just so empty and it just made me appreciate the real human behind the camera and being at peace with yourself once the cameras are done rolling did you feel like you were not at peace with yourself beforehand did you feel like you were fixated on the fame you were intoxicated by it did you feel like these things were happening and you didn't like it yes and no yeah I just see like every hurdle or thing where people like doubt you should be you should be so stoked about this moment and you realize well I'm not you know and then to put so much energy into you know what's the word like a superficial thing it's like

you shouldn't you know it's like you shouldn't be so focused on how much followers you have on Instagram you shouldn't be so focused on how much likes you have on anything you should just be focused on the people in your personal life and making everybody around you happy like that to me was the true essence of because I wasn't getting anything anything out of being a champion in wrestling if I would say if I won a championship I didn't feel a single thing from it performing in front of 81,000 people at Wembley next day I didn't feel a single thing wow and then I was just like no I need to do something about this so I don't just be like oh yeah I'm so happy everybody like I'm because everyone's like you should be stoked I'm like I'm grateful for it

but it wasn't making me happy. So that's like, that's the thing. I was like, man, I just need to focus on my own life. And, you know, because that's why I think, you know, if you live your life for somebody else, this whole journey and then the wrestling world spits you out and you're like, fuck, the last 20 years, whatever years, like,

was all meant trying to make someone else happy. And you're like, I wasn't even doing anything for myself. So, like, that's like, I'm so grateful that I'm at the mental spot. I'm in right now. I guess this early in my career. Yeah. So I'm not like, yeah. So it's great. From start to finish, how long does it take? Two months. Two months. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. It's a wild thing, man, because people talk about Mount Everest, like almost like a cliche, you actually did it. And you had nothing, like you said, you didn't have a book. You didn't have anything to pass the time. You're just trying to survive, basically. You're breathing. You're with your thoughts. Was there ever a point where you thought

you wouldn't make it. I know you said you would you'd rather die than turn back but was there ever a point where you were worried? Dave, the summit I felt like from Camp Fort to the summit

because you're walking up and all of a sudden there's this traffic jam and there's a we didn't move for over an hour we stood on the side of the mound for over an hour because there's a traffic jam

and then you see people start running out of oxygen in their tanks and their adrenaline stops so they start to freeze so I see people clipping themselves out of the line being like, screw it. I'm not, I'm not climbing ever this year. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to

die. So that's the thing I was like, oh, damn. And then once you see new dead bodies on the trail, you just feel like, that could easily be me. And what you feel is like, oh, I'm tired. You're like, am I tired or am I actually dying? I can't, you know, you can't tell because you're at like 15% of your health capacity at that point. Wow. You're just so confused. You're like, you know, I was like, everything's like a fog, and you're like, oh, like, am I dying, or am I just needing to take a five-minute break? It is, like, crazy. Wow.

And the bodies, like, how, without sounding, like, crass, like, how recently do you think they, is, like, people who died, like, yesterday? Oh, absolutely. Really? Yeah, absolutely. So, like, you could see the people. Yeah, I see people convulsing on the way to the summit. They're, like, on the side, just going like this, and you're like, oh, he better get down now.

That didn't spook you. No. At that point, I was so fixated on the summit. It was like, yeah. But on the way down, you see all the bodies that weren't there even 10 hours ago. Wow. So you're like, oh, this is, yeah, it's pretty real. Yeah. You didn't go with your dad. No. Okay. I wouldn't put my dad. Yeah. My dad would not climb ever seen. Did your parents, did anyone in your family, did your friends, loved ones, did anyone try to convince you not to do it? No. My mom actually came to base camp with me. Wow. My mom and brother came to base camp with me, and they hiked.

And the hike to base camp is even no joke. So my mom, like, came with me. And then I remember she was leaving, her and my brother were leaving. And then I just started crying. I was like, whoa, is this going to be the last time I see them? This isn't hardly because it becomes real fast. So, but it was, she's like, whatever happens, just thank you for everything you've done for our family.

Wow. So you're actually saying that, just in case. Yeah. damn you did the kickflip up there yeah so so i heard you say like no space for books or anything like that but you took a skateboard with you yeah only only to camp two okay so here so here you so how high is this right here this is a little over 21,000 feet so that's that's still considered camp yeah camp two camp two so it goes base camp hall camp one camp two camp three camp four so so four is the top yeah uh then yeah camp four is the top yeah camp four is

was right before the summit. Okay, okay. Yeah. Golly. So then you just let it go at that point? You just got it. No, we just kept it there and I brought it on the way back. It was still there?

Yeah, yeah. Okay, wow. Yeah, yeah. Wow. And was that something you wanted to do to make it the hot, just because you're a big skateboarding fan? Well, big skateboarding fan. Plus, I was climbing Everest for Tony Hawk's charity, the skate park project because we're going to build a skate park in my town of McDonough, Georgia.

Okay. And there's a link in your Instagram bio for this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's like the main link. The only link right now is just because I wouldn't be here without skateboarding. It taught me so much about myself.

And I just, the fact that near me, the nearest skate park to my town is 30 minutes. And no family is going to drive their kid 30 minutes after work. So I was like, we need a skate park in this town right now. So talk to the city and they agreed for it. And we're in the middle of doing it all. When you say I wouldn't be here without skateboarding, what do you mean by here? Oh, just in wrestling, just general. And shaped who you are.

Oh, absolutely. How so? Just like the discipline. And everybody's like, how can you take this type of beating in wrestling? I think it's from years of falling on concrete with the skateboard. And it just taught you so much because you don't need a coach. You don't need teammates. It's just you and the board.

So it's a very independent thing. And then it just taught me just discipline, you know, because I would, even as a skateboarding growing up, I would do some crazy crazy skateboard stunts. Did you try to become a pro? Yeah, but I was trying to go more of the evil can evil route where I was like, oh, I'm just this crazy

you know what I mean? Because I was never good enough to become pro. But I wanted to just like find a different like route where I was like, oh, I'm willing to go do things that no other skaters are willing to do. So then I just put that energy into wrestling. And now you're kind of friends with Tony Hawk, right? Yeah.

Is that surreal? Yeah, it's cool. He's like him and guys like Travis Ostrano, the most humble dudes ever. You wouldn't even know if you just met them and you didn't know what they did. You wouldn't even expect them to be like these type of, you know, the Michael Jordan's of their said sport.

But young you could never have even imagined that, right? No, absolutely not. Young me can't imagine anything that's happened. It's been a trip the whole time. Going back, if I could, that carxon, your uncle was under the influence. Yeah, yeah. Right?

How old are you, you're five, but how old are you when you realize what you survived? Do you remember someone explaining to you what you survived? Yeah. Because when you're five, you probably don't really understand, or do you? Yeah, you don't really understand alcohol at that point. Yeah. You don't really understand what it is that why they couldn't drive. Right.

And you were in the car with him? Yes. How, why were you in the car with him? Because he was picking me up and we were driving. Okay. Just, yeah, he was picking me up because we lived in. Seattle, and he was up in Tri-Cities area. Wow.

So we were just driving. And did he have a seatbelt on? I can't remember. No, I know, but I don't know if anyone's ever told you. I'm just curious, because you're a kid, if he's not putting it on, maybe he's not telling you to put it on, maybe you don't survive. I don't know. Oh, at that rate, I feel like seatbelts for second nature.

Okay. Just for me. Okay, okay. Yeah. Even to this day, I still have a seatbelt. No, of course, but if someone's under the influence and isn't thinking, who because you were the only one with him, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, that's an incredible, I mean, it's just a shocking thing to overcome, to survive. Yeah, I honestly don't know if he had a seatbelt on. Right, right. I'm thinking about it. And so do you feel like that kind of like forged who you are as a person? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Without even.

Just makes you really, I don't know. It kind of made, like, to a degree, like, antisocial in a way, where you're just like, you don't trust a lot of people. okay you know but it also made you feel like you're that close to dying so what's the you know like what's really going to scare you at that rate but it's like that mixed with i don't know it's just like being told that you're never going to amount to anything and then you just start like i said believing everybody and you're like yeah yes my whole life's just doomed even but but we're not even out of high school here.

Yeah, I don't know. People told you that when you were in high school. Why? I don't know. I really, I... Do you give off that vibe as someone who didn't have dreams or aspirations? Well, when I graduated high school,

I was 119 pounds. And I told everybody that I wanted to do this pro wrestling. And everybody, I was like, get real, dude. Like, there's no way. Like, even my dad said that. He's like, there's no way. So I was like, all right, I guess so. And then they're like, literally,

not my dad, but other people, like the principal, the high school and everything's like someone like you is literally going to be working fast food your whole life. Wow. So you're like, you hear these older people say it and you just start to believe it. You're like, huh, I guess so. That's why like with anything, any message that I have for anybody who's younger watching, you know, A.E.W. or myself, any interviews, whatever, I'm like, literally don't stop believing in yourself. And I know it sounds cliche, but fuck, it's the truth. You can't listen to anybody so i just want to make anybody feel like anything's possible so that's like my whole my whole goal with anything is i became the hero i was looking for growing up so and that's what

that's like the best thing when does wrestling get on your radar when do you start to get i've been a fan forever since you were a little kid oh yeah okay ever for who are the guys that you looked up to like who were your favorite honestly i i feel like i don't remember life before wrestling okay always been there and i'd say it was guys like sting mcfoli jeff hardy all these type of guys that and i just i remember just being in love with it my whole life but i never had the confidence to actually do it so it's and i was going to film school and then i dropped out of film school and then i started doing the pro wrestling because i went to an independent show in arizona and it was so bad it was so bad And I was like, all right, if people were paying to watch these guys,

and maybe I have a chance. Wow. So that kind of gave me enough confidence to go and try this thing. You go to school or something? What's that? You went to like a wrestling school after that? Yes. Yeah, when I dropped out film school, I moved back to Seattle.

I went to this place called the Buddy Wayne Academy in Seattle. And it was in his backyard and his garage. The roof was so, like the ceiling was so, so tiny. But I, first day, I walked in. I said, I'm either going to make it as myself or I'm going to fail. myself but i'm not changing a single thing and then at that time it's really intimidating because you think of the wrestling world you're like oh everybody's like playing a character or they're being told how to act or told what to do or say so it's like oh my god am i what am i going to have to

sacrifice to make it to the top but i didn't have to sacrifice a whole lot of changing myself at all and that's why i'm really grateful from where i'm at right now but it wasn't it wasn't easy getting here. When do you start to believe that I'm onto something here like this can actually become my life? The moment I heard AEW

starting. Oh really? Absolutely. So this is like 1819? Mm-hmm. The moment I hear it, I hear the word, uh, creative freedom

and there's this new company starting and I just started to be like, that's my shot. That's the only way I'm going to make it. I don't even care about anything else at this point. I'm like, I need to be there. And then I literally wouldn't stop. So what do you do?

I blow Cody's phone up. How'd you get his number? I was wrestling at this independent called Northeast Wrestling. And the promoter said, hey, yo, Cody wants to know if you're a free agent because they're starting this new thing. And then I remember being all like, yeah, could I have his number? And he's like, sure. And then I just blow him up like crazy. Oh, my gosh.

Does he respond? Not right away. But yeah, he definitely ended up responding because I was like, dude, I need to be in this company. Like, because at that time, a lot of people that were offered to go to WW or AEW, a lot of them were like, oh, I'm going to play it safe. I'm going to go to WW.

I was the exact opposite. I was like, fuck that. I got to go to AEW. I heard the word creative freedom. And I was like, dude, that's my ticket. That's my ticket. Were there any conversations, flirtations, with WWE, did you go down that path

or at least try to before all this? No, when that was the only game in town, essentially, yes. Yeah. Because I was part of their sister company at the time called Evolve. Got it. And that was like, I was part of that, and then I saw the writing on the wall. Like what? 205 live.

I saw the writing on the wall. And I was like, where my money is is the David versus Goliath matches. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, like, that's, I was like, I was playing that thing. And then the moment I heard AEW starting. I was like, nope, I got to go. I got to go. Do they put you through some sort of like tryout or interview process? Do you meet with Tony? How do you they, how do they go from

like, okay, you're interested to we want you? We're going to sign you. I think he's just seen my work, my body of work on the independence at that rate. It was, it was very, it was pretty easy. It was like a really mellow process. Once we got the ball actually rolling, it was pretty like mellow and then i had a match with a john moxley at northeast wrestling which is that same independent that uh cody first saw me at um but i had this match with john moxley it was his first u.s indy match since leaving wwee and then at that rate like tony saw that match and was like i get it i get what this kid brings to the table wow so and he's put you in some massive spots yeah i mean like you were punk's first opponent sting's last match you like you you you you you

You tagged with Sting. Like, I feel like they always put you continuously in these big spots. Do you ever have moments where you're like, why me? How did I end up here? Am I worthy of this? No, not even more. Did you have that? You're with legends in there.

No, surprisingly not. I just was just like, all right, man, this is a business. I got to literally just put my head down and knock it out of the park any chance I get. And I felt like I had a lot of confidence at that point that I was willing to go places. No one's willing to go. go in this place. So I felt like in that rate, because honestly, if you're willing to die for a place, there's not a lot that's going to intimidate me at that point. How would you describe the vibe around the company right now? Because it feels to me like there's a lot of positivity.

No, it's amazing. I'm not just saying that. But like, say like a few years ago, it was like, you definitely felt like this tension. But now it's like everybody's on the same page. Let's make this place as good as possible. And I feel like a lot of people truly have to understand how good they have it. Because Tony doesn't just, he wants everybody in the ring and in their personal life to be happy. And you don't, that's a really good energy where it's like, hey, just everybody, be the best versions of yourself. And I feel like it's like right now more than ever, everybody's on the same wavelength. Everybody has the same goals. What do you think the difference was? Like what changed?

The cancer got cut out. Which is what? Just egotistical wrestlers that don't want to lose. Are you specifically talking about one person or no just the groups of people? Like there's a lot of people and that's the thing came in. Well that's the thing is like that's what I saying earlier with wrestling. I with with climbing Mount Everest it's like it kept me so grounded and level-headed and at the end of the day this is all staged.

It's the greatest thing in the world but it's staged so if you're going to have an ego about that get out of the fucking sport go be in the UFC go try you know what I mean like don't be bringing that shit here

this is about having fun this is about like just putting on a good energy and like it's like come on man just stop and that's like the biggest thing with me is like once all that got cleared up, I really felt, okay, cool. Let's rock. But I just don't like, I don't like

egos. I can't stand them. Can't stand them. And a lot of people have come through the company over the last, well, you've been there since the beginning, right? 2019. Yeah. Was that the case in the early days too? No, I feel like in the early days it was a different. I feel like the early days was all about throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what was stuck. Right. You know, because this is a new company and half the people that was on the roster were never on national TV. So we're like what works on the Indies is it going to work on national TV? We'll find out Yeah, so it was a lot of just throwing stuff at the wall and scene was stuck So you know and the fact that we're able

Essentially in six years to do what we do as a company is incredible I think people really don't stop and think oh my god 81,000 plus people at Wembley like that's no joke yeah, that is no joke Yeah, that is no joke it's crowd for a wrestling event. Yes, yeah think about that yeah six years in it's insane and that's like and i feel you know i don't know i'm just really happy to be a part of this ride when you talk about the cancer can i ask specifically who you're talking about no no i mean i could ask but it's pretty obvious it's just who has the egos i don't know i've never been back there no like who literally has the egos who doesn't want to do what's best

for this company it's about doing what's best for the company you can print it's it's It's pretty obvious. Well, I mean, the name that comes to mind is punk. No, he was, no, he was. But I know you're friends with him, right? Yeah. You're straight edge like him. So I actually don't know.

I mean, no, punk's, the whole punk thing was just his own thing. It wasn't about wanting to win or lose. Yeah. That's the thing. And honestly, I feel like at the end of the day, some people work better in WWE, some people work better in AEW, some people work better in TNA, some people work better in MLW, New Japan. But that's the beauty of it. I'm not one of these guys.

I got to be like, there's one game in town, blah, blah, blah. Like, I don't care. I do not care. I just care what's best for AEW as a whole. And right now, the energy that we have is what's best for this place. And that's what the best part about it is right now. Because, of course, you're going to have those growing pains and you're going to have those stresses.

And, like, people are going to come in the company and think what's best for business is what's best for them. but that's so not the case. I'm a guy who's willing to go out there and do anything that this place needs me to do. I'm willing to lose to whoever, I do not care. I just want to have a good time because we are so grateful and like just to be doing this for a living.

That never ceases to amaze me that I'm in the spot I'm in. You love what you do. I enjoy this. Absolutely. There's never a point where you're like, man, I don't want to be on camera. No, no.

Leave me alone. No. Yeah, no. And I'm also at peace with, like, not changing, because I was, like, homeless in the car. And when was that? 2017. Homeless. Yeah. Where were you living? Like, which state? The parking garage in Atlanta, Georgia. Okay. Why were you homeless? Because I didn't want any excuses.

You chose to be homeless. Yes. I didn't. You could afford an apartment. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. Okay. But I just didn't want excuses. It created a good work ethic where, In the middle of the summer, the sun would wake you up in the middle of the Georgia heat, the humidity,

and you couldn't sleep in. You couldn't kill time just scrolling on your phone. You had to get hustling and moving. Wow. So it created a good work ethic, and I said, I don't deserve to leave this car until I make it in wrestling. Wow. So I didn't want to leave.

How long were you there for? It was like only four, five months. That's a long-ass time. But it created just, I don't know. Because to this day, I can't sit still. I can't just, like, chill out and everything. thing. I'm always on the move, always doing so much. Because like I said, growing up and staring at this wall in Seattle, being like, God, my life's going to amount to nothing. But if the moment I get a

taste, I'm never going to let up. And that's kind of like to this day, I still have that mindset that it could all end tomorrow. So I have to ride it till the wheels fall off. So the 2017 you're living in your car, you say four or five months, but you make it to AW in 2019. So why did you decide to move out of the car? honestly it's because i was i do you have enough of the car at that point well yes and no but i just thought at that point i was like i need to really i don't know like think about your body yeah yeah you can't i mean you're a pro athlete essentially and that it was a toy at camry so it wasn't it wasn't anything comfortable you feel like you had to suffer oh yeah okay yeah

is that part of why you do what you do to yourself now yeah yeah yeah yeah Yeah. Because, like, you know, last week on the show we had Raven on, you know, Scott Levy, Raven, the legend. And, you know, he's in, he's in tough shape right now. He has early onset Parkinson's. He did some, some gnarly stuff in ECW, the chair shots and all that. And you see what happens to all these guys.

You don't need me to tell you. You're around them. You see them all the time. Is there any fear that when you're 60, when you're 70, this is going to be waiting for you if you don't take care of your body? Because you're kind of a throwback. Yeah, but I, but I, I, People don't know my physical recovery regimen.

What is that? I am so strict with it. I'm good friends with DDP. So he's got me on the latest and greatest technology for recovery. I got the ice baths. I got the saunas. I got the acupuncture. I got the yoga.

I do everything. I do the TM meditation. I do so much because if the mind goes, then the body follows. So I keep my mind very, very sharp with everything. And yeah. So it's, I feel, I feel great. My body, I physically feel so great mentally.

I feel so great. And, it's scary sometimes. Like, that fall with the glass, that was scary shit. Yeah. It's scary to see that. Yeah, but I, but honestly, I do feel amazing because everybody's like, you're not going to be able to walk when you're 30. Well, I'm 32. And I feel fun.

Yeah. So it's just keeping that up, you know. Has there ever been a time where you said to Tony, like, you want to do something and he's like, no, this is a bridge too far? Yeah, absolutely. And, and do you, do you fight him on that or does it? No, no. Okay. It's like just during the pandemic,

I wanted to get hit by a car, and he's like, we don't have enough people right now. We can't lose you. Yeah, he's like, we can't lose you. And then I was just,

why did you want to get hit by a car? Because it sounded. It just, it sounded interesting. Okay. Full speed? However fast, it looks convincing.

Just for the story. Yeah. Man. I just don't want something to happen to you, man. You seem like a lovely guy. You know, I know you're fearless, and that's what you know,

you say Jeff Hardy, you come from the same type of school. he was fearless that's why people loved him but um you know things can happen but you're not bother but you're looking at me like yeah and yeah no big deal uh you're in this feud with uh moxie right now i quit match on saturday uh is october 18th saturday or is that sunday sunday um no it's saturday it is saturday wrestle dream which is a great idea in its own right right forbidden door there's the uh there's the match are we expecting crazy things in this one I quit, match?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's big, fully. That's, he's a guy that's never going to say I quit. I'm definitely a guy that's never going to say I'm quit. So I'm really curious to how gnarly we can get it. Do you like wrestling, Moxley? Absolutely.

Yeah. Absolutely. He was a guy when I first started wrestling that I would see when I first started wrestling. And I would see his early promos way back when, when he was John Moxley on the independence. And that guy spoke to me. as a performer because when you first enter you see all these you know the athletes the guys that look like quarterbacks and you know sports guys and you're like how do i fit into this whole thing but then you see a guy like moxley that's like so real and rugged and like raw and just gritty and you're

like that guy speaks to me as a performer so i uh i definitely like looked up to him a lot so it's the the work that you did was sting how did that change you oh His thing is showing me to be as humble because he's so chill. Outside the ring, I feel like he forgets he sting half that time. Wow. He's so, like someone that was in his position, he doesn't even, you wouldn't even think that he's sting

because he's so chill and he's so giving to everybody. So it taught me to like really keep a level head on and like just be humble and nice to everybody in that aspect because it just seems like, you know I don't know the ego like I said goes back to that yeah yeah of course yeah he taught me that like you can have peace after this is all said and done um you you you are friends with his son right are you training his son yeah is he is he gonna go into this is that the plan he had his first match last week oh last week wow I wrestled him in a tag team match how to go it was good

yeah for his first match yeah it was good first match yeah I was it I had an art gallery down here in New York that's right yes yes so we had that we had a match then I saw that um what was it called steve k was telling me about that uh who i believe you work with as well right he's your manager or agent yeah um it looked amazing what was the name of it again 52 hard way yeah yeah so it was like in an art gallery incredible he's teaming up with raymond pedibone and if anyone doesn't know raymond pedbone he's the artist behind the black flag logo okay so and and what is um forgive me uh steve uh steve board and uh steve boardin that's why yeah yeah yeah what is his his persona

he just goes by Steve Boyle he just goes by Steve Bourne okay does he paint his face okay so he's just does he look like his dad out there oh yes absolutely absolutely and what's what's the ceiling here

how far do you think he can go as far as he wants to take it okay as far as he wants to take you're actively training him right now wow back in Atlanta I got a ring up my house okay so we train in the garage wow and like are you his main coach

yeah not his dad No, not at the moment. How did that come about? Honestly, he was in Sting's last match, made an appearance, and he told his dad, like, I want to do this. And I said, if you're serious, I got a ring at my house, come over, and then he's been coming over. So we've been doing a training a little over a year. So, yeah, the whole thing is, I don't know, I think at the end of the day, Sting gave me so much. So I kind of, like, want to repay it for his son.

Oh, man. so it's fun. That's amazing. I heard a story, and correct me from wrong, did you like link up with your high school sweetheart? Is that your partner now, your girlfriend? Like you used to see this girl on the bus? Well, she wrote, I'll tell you the story. Okay, yeah. She used to ride my school bus and I had a crush on her, but I had no confidence. You didn't talk to her. Well, I talked to her as a friend, but I had no confidence to ask her out. Got it. I was like, and then she started dating this want to be gang member. Damn. And then I was like, damn, how did that guy get her? I was so confused

and then they were walking on a trail one day in Washington and then they ran into another wannabe gang member and then her boyfriend started to talk crap to that guy and the guy pulled out a gun and then he put her behind him and then he's like you're gonna talk

you know you're gonna disrespect me from my girl like that the other gang wannabe gang member guy shot him went through his neck into her head no way yeah so holy crap yeah survived what she survived? She survived I'm dating her.

Okay, I don't know how recently that was. I mean, okay. I'm not dating her. That's just a hard thing to process. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, they both survived. It went into her head and she survived. Yes. Jeez, Louise.

So I thought, I was like, oh, my high school crush is dead. This was in high school. So this was like, in high school? 2010. Yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah. Sorry, sorry, sorry. So I literally was like, oh, my high school crush just got murdered.

You found out about it. Yeah, because she just wasn't on the bus one day. Oh, my dear. Yeah. It was pretty gnarly. And then fast forward all these years later, she sees a video of me jumping off this waterfall. She's all like, oh, that's so cool.

You're doing the same stuff from high school. And I was like, yeah. And then I was like, you know, one thing led another. And here I am proposing to her on top of Mount Everest. I made a video, proposed her on top of the Summit of Mount Everest. That's right. It was a cool moment. Did you get married yet?

No. I'm going to get married in June. Okay. So you like sent in the proposal, right? Yeah. Because she wasn't there with you. Yeah, no, she definitely was. No.

So when you're recording it, how long after until she sees it? Oh, when I fly back. When you fly back. Yeah, I fly back. Okay, so you can't sit on that for a while. Yeah, well, I was like, I was like, I'm not going to, I can't send it to her until I'm actually survived in this mountain, so. Is there any sort of like health complications as a result of getting shot or is she

totally okay? She's good. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah. And did the guy who got shot in front of her survived too? Yeah. And he's okay. Yeah.

To the best of your knowledge. Yeah. Wow. geez louise yeah it was talk about like some near-death experiences in your life well that's what made her want to become an ICU nurse so she's an ICU nurse now wow so it's like how does she feel about your shenanigans yeah for lack of better work she's cool she's cool with it but she's definitely you gotta be careful I can't make any promises wow so she tries she tries she tries but doesn't really work yeah no not at all and and you were once married right yeah why is this the right

moment for you why is she the right one oh because it literally it reminds me i don't know i feel she's not a girl who's she's not trying she's like doesn't care about the entertainment world she's like wants to be out of it right so i felt like at that rate it just feels really um it's like opposites attract yeah she's like a a good christian girl oh wow and i'm not so it's a but it's like it's like opposites attract at that rate because like it's just she's such a caring person and it's like so and it just reminds me of you know like because sometimes when you're on this ride people are only talking you because you're who you portray on TV yeah so the fact that like I knew her from forever ago is right it's like a fun it's it's it just feels good and we can literally travel all around the world and she's down for

anything so she's religious or are you no nothing no so does she try to get you to go to church with her? No. She won't even ask. No. When you meet her family, do you have your face painted? First time I met her dad is when he came to Sting's last match. Oh, wow. What a match to go to. Yeah. And how are you with them? Good. Okay. Yeah, yeah. No, everything. Everything's great. Amazing. Yeah, yeah. I'll have him come over to the house because I got 14-acre compound in Georgia, and we just go off crazy jumps with cars and stuff like that. So, I don't know. I think he's entertained by the whole thing. I love it. I think he's entertained by it all. But we're at this, we were at this

there was this thing on Friday my buddies from the band Haywire, it's a hardcore band they set up generators and they playing on the Brooklyn Bridge Friday night and then it was like

blown up fireworks flamethrowers people mosh in but then this one guy got jumped at the concert and got his face stomped in pretty bad and it was like

there's blood everywhere and it's just it's like lawless because it's not a club it's just in the street and then she was like this is too much for me I can't be watching people

get their face stomped in so it was uh yeah it was but she has her limits but it's yeah for the most part she's down for whatever I saw you do the thing where like you were on a blob and you were tied up

you know you were like zipped up yeah we have this and you get shot into the water yeah this is here sumo wrestler send me launching right there and I'm in a body bag yo why

yeah we were Travis Pistrana in this group called I believe they're called Sick Dudes I don't know They're like a It's like a YouTube group Okay

But yeah Whenever you go hang out With Travis Pastrana You gotta have some crazy Does someone come and fetch you Or do you have to get out? Oh the bag actually floats Okay

Oh yeah Yeah and the zipper broke So I was able to Just get out Yeah So you like testing the limits Obviously Absolutely

Yes Are there things like Okay now that Everest is off the list What is next In terms of something That you can test yourself with Honestly I just want to stop and smell the roses.

Okay. Yeah. I want to do what's, you know, the best I can do for this company, like AEW, to, you know, just push the limits inside the ring right now. And I don't know. That's kind of like where I'm at right now.

This is your focus. Because you've only had a handful or so matches since you've been back, right? Yeah, I've only had, I think, four matches. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they've all been crazy off the wall. Anything goes. So I haven't, you know,

I kind of missed the technical wrestling at this point. I just want to lock up. But what's coming across to me is just how loyal you are to the company, like how much you want it to succeed. Do you feel like a lot of people in the back share that sentiment right now? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Right now, I feel like people are like slowly starting to understand what this place gives us as human beings.

Because sometimes you're just like, oh, I want to be as famous or as cool in pop culture as possible. But then the more people realize how really doesn't matter at the end of the day, it's like, oh, no, now we can, you know, just focus on our own what makes us happy in life. And that's, I feel like a lot of people are starting to experience that more than ever. And just be like, yo, I'm able to do this with my personal life. I'm able to get into this, you know, and it's cool. Because I feel like Tony Khan at the end of the day, he's an entrepreneur. He has his hands in so much different things. So it's cool to, you know, he embraces that for us performers. the best thing in my opinion to happen to the wrestling business was AEW coming along because I think that rising tide lifts all boats like in MMA I cover MMA as well are you an MMA fan I don't really know anything about it there's one dominant promotion and there's no one challenging them right and so when you're at the status quo it's like you remember wrestling back in like the early 2000s when WCW went away and TNA hadn't quite cut on absolutely it felt like

the WB product was very stale they were just kind of figuring things out and there was like some weird angles, and then all of a sudden I feel like ever since AEW came, you have that, and I think the WWE product got better, so it's better for all. But then you see people, especially online, fighting, the tribalism as people talk about. MGF talks about it a lot. Do you partake in any of that? Do you look at any of that? Do you read it? Do you subject yourself to it? Honestly, like when I was on the summit of Everest, you realize how small. Stupid all of that is. Yeah, how small it really is in the grand scheme of life. And I was like, dude, like I said earlier, some people do better in AEW. Yeah. Some people do better in

WWE, TNA, you know, all these places, like literally, it doesn't matter. All that matters is you're happy as a human being. And if you're happy being somewhere else, cool, go do that. It doesn't matter. So, like, I, you know, I just know right now, I love AEW. I'm grateful for everything. So I have no complaints on my end. I just worry about myself.

Who's the leader of the locker room? Is there one? I don't know. I think it's just anybody that pretty much leads by example, and it sounds kind of strange, but I think Moxley is that guy. Okay, I believe that. I think Moxley is that guy. You know, he's a dude, you know, when everybody was like,

can someone else become world champion? This guy is at every show. He's there when it starts. He's there when it closes. He's got no ego. That's why I see myself on him a lot still. and it just you've got to lead by example

and he literally will do anything he's there all the time so it's just it's great but unfortunately I gotta make that guy you gotta beat his ass

do you think you're misunderstood no no not at all yeah no I wouldn't I don't I don't think so okay so like when people see

the way you look you'll go on the plane like this yeah with a little less face pain I'll just kind of start. Sure. Yeah. But you don't think people, like, judge you, you know. Oh, I don't care if they do.

You don't care. Yeah, it don't bother me. It does not bother me. Amazing. Yeah. What a fascinating guy you are. You're very complex with a lot of layers. How many tattoos you have all over your body?

I don't know. Now. Are you done? No. You're not done. No. There's no more on the face. Right.

Yeah. Why's that? I don't know. You're just done with that. Yeah. Like, it seems like it hurts, like, around here. No. No, surprisingly not.

The fingertips. we're like the worst like right here by the nail that was the absolute what happened your your fingers i don't know i just literally taped it up while we were talking oh wow okay nothing just right now you got tape in your hand this whole time why is that i don't know i thought maybe you sprained your finger no no no no no yeah no i don't there's nothing okay all right i'm just sitting here and tape my and no drugs no alcohol no nothing no not even pain pills not not aspirin etc or nothing really you're sick not even a Tylenol

headache wow yeah for how long it's been a long time now wow it's been a long time now was there ever a time

where you were heavy into that not heavy no not heavy but like you know high school you'd be like I'll try to drink or smoke weed but it never got past weed and any particular reason why you stopped I think a lot of it was just people

you know using that as an excuse to why they didn't get to where they wanted in life okay I would have been this if it wasn't for the beer or i would have done this if it wasn't for the weed and i was like i don't want anything like nothing to blame at the end of the day if if something if i fail it's my fault yeah you know what i mean so like that's like the big thing i was like i didn't want any excuses to why i didn't get to where i need it in life so congrats on all your success yes sir congrats on everest congrats on everything uh w wrestle dream this saturday you versus moxley main event dude i have

no idea. I would love to think so, but, you know, who knows? They don't tell you. Not right now, no. But I would love to because I want to tear that part in the ring apart. I just want to go crazy. That's right. I'm going to rip it apart. Dynamite on Wednesdays. You'll be there? I should. Where is it? Kansas City. So you're leaving here today? Okay. Good luck to you. Really great to have you. Oh, there we go. Special face-to-face. So I hope you're going to be there. It would not be as good. Look at that. Really appreciate you coming in. Great to meet you.

Like I said, congrats on all your success. There we are. Just looking at the skateboard up there. Oh, yeah, yeah. That's a dent. You want, no wheels, though. So we're kind of posers.

I wear Nike SBs. Am I a poser? No, dude. Do whatever, man. They're kind of comfortable. I don't care. If you put me on a skateboard, I fall and break my head,

but I just like the shoes. I don't know. Yeah, they do seem pretty comfortable. Much respect to you, man. All the best to you, and good luck this weekend as well. There he is. Darby Allen going to join us.

Coming up in a matter of seconds, the UFC reigning defending. Bantamweight champion Marab Duolishvili will be in that chair. Don't go anywhere. We'll say goodbye to Darby. Be back with Mara. Okay, back on the program. That was my conversation with Raven from Wednesday. One of my favorites in a very long time. This is my water bottle with my Yahoo stickers on it. Go check out Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. I'm in a basketball league with my kids. That was Darby Allen. That was a fascinating guy. please, MMA gods

please tell me Darby and Marab cross paths back there in about an hour Hornswoggle is going to join us in studio it's a great day here on the program

the vibes are high there's great positivity there's great hope in the air and so let's not waste any time what a great honor it is to be joined

by one of the very best fighters on the planet you want to know you want to know how great 14 fight winning streak fourth in UFC

history moved above John Jones GSP, Mighty Mouse, Habib, and Holloway. Kamar Usman and Islam have 15 in a row. Anderson, number one, was 16. He's two fights away. Longest winning streak in the Bantamweight Division.

Most strikes landed in Bantamweight history. Most takedowns landed in Bantamweight history. Most control time in Bantamweight history. He is the pride of Georgia. He is your champion in mine. Meraab Deh de Wallyhvili. Yeah, my guy. Marab, how are you?

Which way we go on? How are you, my friend? Great to see you. Thank you so much. Did you see our guest out there at Derby? Did you see him with the paint on his face or no? Yes. Yes.

He's the wrestler. No, no, I don't see him. Okay, but it's better, it's better, it's better. How are you? We just had this wrestler on, and he had half his face was painted, and he does crazy stunts. I don't see that. Okay, because I was thinking, who's crazier, him or you? Because you jump in the ice, and he jumps on glass.

Probably only. He jumps on glass from the top of the... Probably he is crazy. It's unbelievable. How are you my, what's this aviation I see everywhere? Aviator, Aviator. Can you come closer to the microphone here? Yes, yeah.

Have you been in the studio before? Or is this your first time? This is my first time in this studio. This one. Remember, last time I was in Vegas. Vegas. You smell very nice. Really?

Yeah. Now that you're a champion. I noticed. I was smelling. You were good before. I noticed last time. When, Fight Week, you had nice hair. Like your hair was perfect.

The beard was perfect. They're a champion. Yes. Yeah, man. Like I said before, I'm getting better everywhere. Yes. Even this nice jacket you have? Look at you.

So, yeah, Aviator is my sponsor. Okay. They are actually sponsoring lots of guys in UFC too, and they are sponsoring UFC. And I don't know if you saw, they gave me nice Mercedes G-63, G-Wagon. Wow. beautiful gift just as a gift yeah wow after after my fight wow yeah just like that just like that but they the owner is georgian david natrashvili yeah georgian yeah and what is the company clothing no like i think um they have games in different uh like um internet it's a game like

you you but you are pilot it's a game but you are pilot you okay amazing yeah he's georgian He's Georgian, yeah. Maybe he can help bring the UFC to Georgia. Oh, yeah, he's trying actually to... Oh, is that true? Yeah, he's actually talking to UFC to bring UFC to Georgia. But, yeah, with a sport minister also. And then they're working on, really.

They really work on this. And, yeah, he's also my friend. And, yeah, so hopefully it will be better. But I don't think now I'm a champion. I'm planning to be champion. I don't think I can fight in Georgia but still it's gonna be great because we have like

Giga Chikaze, Roman Dollyze, Alexander Toppuria I don't want to forget A lot of great fighters Yeah, a lot of great fighters Yeah, so and then And of course we have Ilya But you know he's not gonna fight also in Georgia

But also we can add it Like we have other great fighters Like Otari Tanzilo Amirangogalaze Levan Choheli Like Ziyaaziz Shrily and many, many other guys they can add it, you know, that would be great.

I saw Ilya, I think he's in Georgia right now. Yeah, he's right. First time, I think, in a while. Long time, yeah. After, when he win the belt first time, he went straight to Georgia and, of course, of course. And now he's like, second time. Big reception for him?

I didn't see any videos yet. Yeah, I guess he go maybe now. He's nothing, nothing. he don't make an announcement like a week of defense yet. Yeah like I think just more more family more some business more like you know some like

more more family okay okay I don't know I haven't talked to him like last couple weeks but yeah okay congratulations on the win appreciate you another great win 14 in a row for you

another title defense third this year which is remarkable now that we're a week removed from the fight a little more than a week how do you feel about the fight how do you feel about your performance I feel good I mean, I'm just grateful for all the fights I have in the UFC because this is my dream.

But now, especially I'm a champion. Now I'm defending my belt. I'm more grateful. And now I'm a champion. I find this. I can push the fights and they can keep me busy, you know. this is also another good things to be champion because when you just regular fight there

you just wait you have a fight you're just sitting like if you get fight in six months this is the best you know two times two fights in a year you know otherwise and you just wait you don't know but now I can call now I want to fight just keep me busy and this is good Are you really fighting in December?

I want to I go to Hunter's OPs in the UFC and I talk to him I said hunt Please, if he's any chance, after my fight, I go to his office. I tell him if it's any chance, I want to fight. And whoever deserves more, I think Peterian deserves more. And then I think also he's ready. I'm sure you did interview. Yes, yes.

I watched this full interview. Okay. I'm going to ask you about it. I'm going to ask you. And then I ask him, and then he said, okay, he will try his best. And then he also mentioned, like, oh, Peter's, we're. We don't know if you... Yeah, because I saw in the comments you wrote

if you get your visa. Yeah, that's how I know that his visa wasn't done. Okay. So, and then, but I'm hoping I will get this. If he doesn't get his visa sorted, do you want to fight in December

just against someone else? Yeah, if somebody is... Who would be the next person, in your opinion? I don't know. Maybe two guys. Two guys. Because there's Mario Batista coming up, but that's end of the month.

Yeah, I don't think you can... Too quick. Yeah, yeah. And then there's Zahatiasta. Hobby this weekend. Yeah, I don't know. Against Cheeto. Yeah.

Umar against Batista. Those to me are the four contenders. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Pigerado did call me out. I said, I'm ready for him, but I don't think he needs one more. What are you doing? Yes, yes.

I think so, yes. And I think he knows that too. Yeah, yeah. He says he has to work. Yeah. But I saw you reply to him. Yeah, that's what I did. You know, when I said, I'm waiting for you, I think he needs one, like a good win.

What do you think of his performance? Good. His opponent, Montel Jackson. Mantle Jackson, very top of him. I was, I was, you know, I watch his lot of, he's very good, like, very tall. He has knockout power and also wrestling, whatever. I think Piggerado did good against top opponent because the guy, oh, yeah, actually that fight, I first lived, I watched first time.

And then I wake up and fight us away, they raised Piggerado's hand. It wasn't super exciting, in fairness, to you. Okay, but he win and also against the guy who was coming six-fights streak. Yeah. So I think he needs one more good, like a spectacular win, and then, yeah. The desire to fight in December, is it because you want to be the first champion to defend four times in a calendar year? to be honest not because of that more I just want to be busy I love fighting and I do very very good when I when I am busy you know because when I don't have a fight a lot of distractions

you know I'm traveling I'm going everywhere I'm and I'm not focused but when I have a fight I'm very focused. I say no to many things what distract me. Like, you know, for example, like if friends invite me somewhere, I will go. But if I have a fight, you know, maybe I still go,

but I will say I have a fight. I go, I don't eat like crazy. I don't drink. Right, right, right. And then, although I'm not, I'm not, if I have fights, I don't, I'm not going to say to know to travel to even if it's sponsor

or anything, I'm going to say no. Okay. So it's to keep you sort of focused and in the gym. Yes. But you go, I mean, like, you said after the fight, the 25-minute fight against Corey, you said you do that three times a week. And even Khalil said in the back you did five rounds. Is that true?

Yeah, it's true. How do you do this, man? How is this possible? You did five rounds before your five-round fight on the same day? Yes, I did sparring five. Full sparring? Full sparring, actually. I sparring against Cameron.

My teammate, upcoming UFC fighter, he's like... Simon? Yes. Yes. Yeah, Cameron, Simon. And then there is Artem, I don't know his last name. He's, I believe he's a Russian guy. Like, he's just moving in Vegas.

Okay, not Lobov. Not Aram, Lobov. No, I can... I loved my phone. His name is Artem from Russia. He was Peter Ian's train partner as well in Thailand. They've been sparring. And then I sparring with him the fight day.

So I go three round with Artem, first three round. And then after last two round, I finished with Cameron. Yeah. It was like full sparring. Why? So usually you and me, Aljo, we all do, like we call the morning shakeout or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so we usually warm up morning like, like warm up, like it's like a kind of sparring, like drilling, wrestling, da, da, da, but but this is usually we go in a hotel like, you know, it depends on where it's the fight, right?

Usually we are staying in Fighters Hotel But this time Fight was in Vegas And I was lucky enough Then of course I go my gym And we have an acting on there And then So this is in the morning

Yeah it's morning And then we have a clock And of course like I use like a timer Five in a round So it just And your opponents The two teammates

They're going They're going 100% Are you wearing headgear or anything No I don't First round I believe I believe first round, Artem was wearing headgear, too, I guess, for my safety.

Yeah. And then he don't feel comfortable because, of course, you know, my style, I'm, you know, take down, make them tired, break them. And then he take off. And then next two round, he go with me without head gear. And then Cameron was a fresh guy. And then he came, and after a round, he was smoked, too. He was tired. I beat, like, those two guys.

Fresh guys. Yes. And then you went and beat the number one contender. Yes, yes. Does your coach, so like your coaches, John Wood, the guy's in your corner, they're okay with this, or they would rather you not do this? They're okay with, you know, they trust me. Wow. Yeah, my corner was John Wood, Shane Shapiro, Algema Sterling, and Ray Longer.

Yes, and then you spar five rounds three times a week. I do, yeah. We have a sparring on Tuesday, Thursday. and Sarde it's option it's open sparring but I always go and then I sparring

also Sarday as well you know I like Five rounds each Five rounds Five rounds But I change the spy partners Like usually I go with Sometimes two rounds with somebody

Two rounds with other guy And then one round maybe other guy Sometimes three rounds with somebody And two rounds with other guy Okay Yeah As far as the fight itself Yes

you almost finished him in the second round does this bother you that you didn't finish him no actually don't bother me and let me tell you why because after the fight Corey Sagan came and he was such a cool and respectful

and like because during the camp he was saying some stops and jokes and I'm like maybe he's not a nice guy that was my head you know but what do you say that bother you um I don't remember exactly.

Okay. And then, and then also he was like in even, I think we met in an elevator somewhere and he was, he has mean face. And then I'm like, this guy want to knock me out. And I also heard his interview. He was my belt. And I'm like, no, no, no. We can be friends after, but not now. And then after the fight, yeah, he was cool.

And then respectful. And then I'm like, I'm glad. we went five rounds and no finishing because that would be a bad look for him and then the second reason and when I heard I break another record and I got 20 takedowns

yeah that I take that you know saying yeah finish is good but like I say before like when I finish Shono Mali I was missing something this next two rounds didn't destroy how many takedowns I can do how many highlights

I can make you know you know I mean, of course, I'm going to name my next fight. If I get a fight against Petterian, I'm going to look for finish, of course. Because I asked your coach John Wood about this, and he's like, yeah, about the idea that maybe sometimes you, as they say, play with your food. Do you understand what I mean by that? And he made a face of like, yes, like sometimes he wants you to go to extra gear and just get out of there. Yes. Do you think you could have done that?

Against Corey. Corey. Were you trying to finish the fight towards the end? It was one moment when I was holding darts, and then I should I know when I think I should go for it, you know, because I'm good, like, and now I'm getting very good on chokes, you know, and I should go for it, and maybe,

but it was like 30 second left, or that's why I was smiling and, like, I just, like, you know, I don't go for it. Like, when I, only I regret that, you know, I should try to choke him. but everything else like I try knock him out and then he survived I'm like no way I should not like

you know like oh you know when I drop him should if I moved and inside I start wrestling with him then maybe I can finish but I'm good like I'm happy how it went and I just

posted video on my Instagram too before like today I also tell Margada I tell every referee you know like before my fight I tell if I get hurt, if I get dropped, knocked down, please don't stop me. I want to let me, let me give you, give me chance, like let me fight end of, you know, my lights go off. And that happened.

I did same thing before Mara Moray's fight, and I tell same every referee, you know, before the, you know, when they come. Sure, sure, in the back. Yeah. And so when I tell this Margada yeah he Corey happened this situation like he need in extra

do you understand yeah of course yeah so I'm glad he gave Corey a chance to respond and you would want the same to be done

for you yes okay and it did seem I saw the the interaction between you and Corey in the back

it seems like there's only respect between you guys here it is you guys talking after the fight yes absolutely all good

I have so much respect for this guy and Yeah, it seems like you guys like each other. Yeah, I like him. I like him and he's a really good guy and yeah. It's a tough spot because that's his dream to be a champion and you're the guy who has to kill people's dreams.

Listen, they have to training hard like I train hard then maybe they can one day. Was there anything about him that you didn't expect that you saw anything? Yeah, it was hard to take him down. You took him down 20 times.

But I figured out. You shot at 37. Wow. Yeah. But it was still hard to take him down. Yeah, it was hard to take him down. And like, you know, as you know, I have many ways to take people down.

I have many techniques. and then like some technique wasn't working against him and then I have to use some other technique to take him down and which is like I was expecting this technique the less because this so Corey as we know he attacks leg right and the technique that I was using like a blackie's leg and take him down this way it's take down this way not good against the leg like guys you know sometimes they attack your leg

you know so but like I have no choice and I was prepared to like leg lock you know I was working very hard to like defend my like leg locks and everything I was but Cody pretty much he never attacked my legs because I guess I did a good job too but even if he attacks I was fine and preparing very well I spent a lot of time with Cody still he's a UFC fighter he helped me a lot to leg lag defense in this camp. I spent a lot of times to leg locks this camp. And it all worked out. He won, I think some people thought he won the first round and the fourth round.

Fourth round, I don't think so, but I guess first round, yeah, the judges did give him. And, yeah, I'm fine with that. You're fine. Sometimes I feel like those early rounds you're okay with. Yeah, I don't know why. I start slow. You and I did warm up with Aljo and Shane Shapiro in the locker room as well. And I did go some rounds with them, you know.

But in the fight, I start slow. And then after three rounds or four rounds, I'm waking up. And I need a 10-round fight, you know. Do you think you could do that, truly? Oh, easy. 10, 5-minute rounds? Yeah, or like two guys. Two guys.

Yeah, five-five. At the same time? Oh, easy. I actually kind of believe you. Yeah, I mean. Yeah. Actually, actually, I'm good with five rounds. Do you run a lot?

I do run like now. So now, since my fight, I only training once yesterday with Aljo and other friends, like, James Gonzalez. In New York? Yeah. And, yeah, but, like, I, other times I just run, you know, because, like, so I run when I travel only, when I don't have training partners, when I don't have, like, a punching bag or something, I run. That's what I run. And same thing, if I have, like, little injuries in Vegas, let's say, or if I have a stop infection or something, I can't train, that's where I run. but most of the time I try to get better in striking jiu-jitsu wrestling and like I like more live rounds

yeah I like and then and I don't do striking conditioning yeah strength and conditioning I don't do that because it makes me tired at all I do my own like when I have time like sometimes I training morning morning practice every day. But as a second training, I live optional. It depends how I feel. Most of the time I go to jiu-jitsu as a second training. And sometimes also I work with

my coach, John Wood, and maybe some other guys like Cody Steele or some other like training partners. Maybe Paljo have a fight or something like that. And also sometimes when I'm like tired to I don't feel like go jiu-jitsu. That's where I go to

U.S. gym, fitness gym, or some other gym, and I do my own, like, lifting, running, and if I have time, I swim to. The reason I asked, like, you know, there's the New York City Marathon next month. I feel like you could do the marathon without even training for it. Oh, yeah.

Easy. Yeah, I can. I can, yeah. You should do it. It'll be great. Maybe I'm not going to be winner, but I can. You could do it. And not win it, but just do the whole thing, no training for it.

Like if it was tomorrow, you could do it. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, yes. Because I do run once, I mean, I'm in good shape and I run, you know, very often. Because of like, it always happen a little injury, always travel, always go somewhere, you know, like stuff like this. And I like running too. I enjoy it. Yeah.

Did you see what Peter Yan said about you not being able to finish him? I asked him about, you know, the second round. against Corey. Did you see that? Oh, well, I don't know. I asked them about, like, your technique. I don't have the clip here. I wish I did.

Right, right. The technique, and he just talked about you not being able to finish. He also said that when he fought you, he was at like 40%. You saw that? I saw that he said, how many, 50%? Yeah, yeah, yeah, 40 to 50, something like that. Yeah, what do you think of that? What do you think?

Yeah. So same thing, like John O'Malley said, he will be, 75% better and I finish him so same thing it's good for me like Peter said he was 50%

and it's good listen I have a as a fighter I know he's dangerous he's top and he's a good fighter and then we all know that he's coming very good winning streak

he deserved the most now I'm taking quick turnaround and it's going to be great fight and then we all know know one punch and one little mistake can change anything, especially against Peter Ian, he's a dangerous opponent, you know, and I'm just going to training hard, and I will be ready for worse, but I think, I believe I can make it look easy, you know, I believe. But we all know, like...

Look easy? I think so. But it's a fight, and we all know. So we saw Pereira against Anka Laev, first fight, we saw what happened. Second fight, we all saw what happened. So it's, even me, every training session is different. Every sparring session is different. Sometimes, oh, yeah.

So, you know, I always keep saying, like, Aljama is telling, he's beating me, like, when we. every time we do jiu-jitsu or whatever. He's better than me. You know, he's sparring every time. But after his fight against Brian Ortega, he was injured. Like his hand was, like, swalling something. And he was vacation, traveling, drinking, eating, whatever.

And I was in the gym, training very hard. And I was in best shape. And Aljo did two rounds with me. And he made me tired. He took me down. hold me in windows two rounds and I was surprised like how how did this you know sometimes um so what I want to say is like sometimes like every sparring session is different you know saying like sometimes when you relax you're going to get humbled you know so I me I will be

I will be training hard and I will I will be preparation worse pitarian and we will be all going to see so this is very exciting Maraup exciting that we have you in studio. What a great honor. Thank you for doing this. But as we as we sit here right now, breaking news. We have breaking news right now because Dana White just went on Instagram. They're telling me in my ear. And he just announced that you are the main event. Ah! Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Let's dance, my friend. Let's dance. Yeah. How do we do it? How do it?

How is it? How is it? How is it? The main event of UFC? I don't know. Let's dance. How's the dance? The dance? What's your dance? You have a dance. You have a dance. What's your dance?

I always see you with Valentina. Okay. Okay. Come. Go back. In front of the desk. Come in front of the desk. Do you tell me, what's the dance?

I want to know the mirab dance. You're the main event of UFC. You're going to be four title defenses in 2025. Never before has this happened. I'm like, I'm so excited. You have a dance. You show me that. What is the one with you and Valentina?

I mean. That is like, okay, that is, I don't know. You're shy? Shy, I'm sorry. You're not shy. I see you with everyone. With Nina Drama, you're not shy. No, you are.

Marab is the, gonna be the Bantam Boy champion for successful. I have to talk into the microphone. They're getting, Maraub, you got shy on me there? What happened? I don't know, but. What do you mean? The dance. You just told me the fight news.

I'm excited for you. This has never happened. Yeah. Why did you take off your watch, by the way? going to move to my right hand and you just told me the fight news and I got... Do we have the video, guys? Do we have the video of Dana announcing? Let's see, let me try to find it. We watch it together. How about this? Did you know this was happening right now, Mara? No, I have no idea. Last time you were on my show, you were telling me, oh, I should fight in New York,

doesn't that? And then I find out, you already knew that you weren't fighting in New York. You remember that? You keep a good secret. No, this one, I don't know this news. No, you don't know this news. I don't have the video. Is there a video? Oh, amazing. So you're the main, do you not know this? Well, I have no idea, I promise.

What do you mean? They don't tell you this before? No, they never guarantee you, you know? No, so I, like I tell you, he said he will try his best, and he told me the Peter, you know, have a visa, and that's what they told me. So you really didn't know? I don't know. Danny didn't tell you.

But, so, okay, how it works with UFC, you tell... You say you're willing? You said, yes. And then that means that, you know, that's it. And then you find out. Yeah, find out. In the media. So if you were at home right now on your phone, you'd have just found out like us.

Right. They just want to your, like, they ask you if you ready, if you won. And then they wait. And then even Shona Mali fight, first fight when I get title fight, they know, of course, I want to fight for the belt. They announced, I had no, they just called me. And then congratulations, you are fighting for the belt. and then like one hour later they announced, you know, that's it.

That's unbelievable. So I just broke the news to you. Yeah, you just... UFC 323, the last... I think your phone is... I think someone's texting you on your phone over there. Of course, my phone will be blown. I think that I lived there.

Okay, here, we have... Should I grab my phone? Go get, grab it. No problem. We're live. I just feel bad about our horrible dancing, Mara. We have to do... Let's go, brother.

Let's go. Let's go. Yeah, there he is. Yes, that's the Marov we know. Yes, yes, look at this guy. The pride of Georgia, the pride of Tribilisi, the pride of the Bantamweight Division. December 6th, UFC 323,

T-Mobile Arena, main event, four title defenses in 2025, rematch against 50% Piorian, co-main event, Pantoja Van, Thank you. That was amazing. That was amazing. Wait, we're not done.

We're not done. Please sit down. I'm going to shake your hands. I'm excited. I'm excited. This is great. I think we made it happen. I think Dana saw you on the show and said, you know what?

I want to give him a gift on the show. Amazing. You have to come more often. Beautiful, man. By the way, this isn't less than two months. Yeah, but I'm going to start training. I'm going to go to Vegas tonight and start training. Is it enough time?

Of course. Are you at a breath now from the dancing? I thought you had a good party. See, I haven't, I haven't training eight days. Too much drinking at the... You have two phones also. Yeah, I have two phones. That's good, that's good.

One for business, one for the ladies. Both for the ladies. How's that going, by the way? Because I heard you say after the fight, you need to find a wife so that you can time your kids with Aljo. But Aljo's ahead of you now because you just got married. Yeah. Unless you get married, like, next week.

Do you have a girlfriend? No. You're just kind of playing the field because you're a superstar now. I'm sure you can get any girl you want. Oh, yeah. I mean, I can have many. I mean, girlfriends is no problem, but I just want to find a wife. Wife.

Yeah. What are you looking for in a wife? More old-school, wifey material. And then smart and, of course, like, also has to have a personality too. Okay, sense of humor, supportive. Yeah, oh, that's, yeah, of course, that's. Independent also, hardworking?

Yes. Family, you want to have a family? Family, yeah, for sure. But like main thing is, of course, like these all the benefits, of course, it's good. But the main thing is, like, more traditional. Do you want her to be Georgian? That would be best.

That would be best. But I'm not saying, you know, I mean, it can be any nationality. It's like, but, you know, Georgian would be best, you know. But, yeah, we'll see. I'm working on it. Okay, I like it. Yeah, yeah. How was the wedding, by the way?

Oh, beautiful. You really went the next day, huh? I do. And then, you know, when the wedding ceremony, when they have a speech, you know, Rebecca says speech and I'll just say, I cry two times, you know, because I cry on Rebecca's speech. And I started to cry, I'll just speech too. That was a beautiful wedding.

And outside, I called for, like, beautiful view to Vegas. And then, like, all the Alju's family, friends, beautiful. And then after, yeah, it was, like, table, food and dancing. And it was crazy, you know. She's very supportive of his wife. She let her husband corner you the night before their wedding. Yes, yes. And now, Aljo, he is in New York, and he's working on movie.

He's one month, he's here. And then Rebecca. I saw him there. He looks different. He looks 56 years old over here. What's happening? Because of the mustache. Because of bear, right?

That's this weekend, right? Yeah, that was yesterday. So you're back to training. Yeah, that was my first time after my fight with training. I rolled with Aljo, James Gonzalez, and Damien. Yeah. So these are the fights that they announced. You versus Piotr-Yan 2.

Wow, amazing. Pantoja against Josh Van. Commandiment, I guess. Yeah, a flyway title. Who do you like? You think Van could beat him or? Oh, I like both. Both very nice guys, good guys.

I don't know. Pantosha has a great jiu-jitsu, great grappling. Van, how do you say his name? Van. Van, right? Yeah, he's a good boxer, great fighter. I mean, I like his style. I like his heart and a good guy.

But I haven't seen his grappling in jiu-jitsu, and I don't know. You know, we know that Patoja taking the market could be tough. What about this fight they're telling me here? Because this all happened right now. Henry Sohudo on the card against Peyton Talbot. I don't know who's the guy. Yeah, you know that guy. Who?

You know the guy. Oh, Buxet? No, he talked, the young guy with the curly hair. Buckser. No, more shy, the guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he has the tattoo here. Oh, he lost in January when you fought more, then he came back in one.

I know. He's a young guy. Yeah, but Henry will beat him. You think so? That's a tough, that's a tough matchup for him. Because Henry not wrestling much and not using his grappling. But even if he used it, he would get tired because he don't training much. You don't think he trains much?

I mean, I don't think, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Let's see. I mean, I'm hoping, of course, Henry Sehudo win this fight. Maybe you fight him. Who, Henny? Yeah. Oh, I already fought him.

I don't know, but I'm trying to find you. Because you're going through everyone. You're going through everyone twice. Yeah, but I'm just rooting for Henry Sehudo to win this fight. And I don't think even if he wins this one, he needs like two, three more. Sure, sure. And also, Jan Bakhovich against Bogdan Gustav. Wow, I'm a coach coming back

Yeah It's good You will be the final Fight on ESPN pay-per-view Because this is the last paper view Before Paramount next year Wow, good Very good

Yes This is a great honor for you Yes I saw your coach John Wood Do an interview last week And he said And I have heard this too But it was interesting to hear him say it

UFC You know initially they didn't want you as champion You remember they made you go through everyone That was before yeah I understand But now so much has changed changed right now Dana's saying you're the goat yes a lot of things change what change what do you think change how did the respect come where did it where did it

come from so yeah like I guess yeah I was winning fights but I guess I don't have like enough name or I don't know I was like not favor for because because I understand they have it as a champion Sean O'Mali and um i don't know like it made things change you know i'm winning i have records i people support me my friends support me and then uh you know they i mean i'm i guess i'm doing good and of course like you know i'm a champion you feel the love from them oh yes yes yes of course like never it's never been like um i don't feel love or something but i understand like they make me fight like everybody before i get the title fight before before before they have i was the last

choice to fight both i don't understand like yeah yeah so then they give me you know they they don't have other choice too but when i beat um um peter I did surgery on my hand, and I was number one contender, but when Shono Molly was champion, I was supposed to fight him, but they choose Chito Vera, and they make me fight to Henry Sehudo. That was a little bit, like, a little bit heartbroken, because I thought I was next for the belt, because I was the next guy, you know, like, because I was coming, like, a nine-fight win streak, and I beat Josiahado, I beat Pitarian, but they make me fight again another top contender

like Henry Sehudo. And that was challenged for me and whatever, but it's okay. I take it and I win and then I earn it, you know. So if all goes well on December 6th, that's 15 in a row for you. Wow. Yeah, wow.

That's crazy. That's one away from Anderson. Wow, amazing. I mean, I'm already grateful, but... Is that hard to process? You'd be... We're starting to talk about one of the greatest ever now. Not just greatest bantam weight, but one of the greatest ever.

Yeah, it's amazing. It's a blessing. You just passed GSP and all these guys. John Jones for most in a row. Wow. It's hard to process, right? Yeah, it's really hard. The young man from...

Oh, yeah. Georgia. Yeah, you know. I remember first time when you... When you have me on your show, they robbed me to UFC fights here in Atlanta City when I win against Ricky Simone and they take victory from me. And you have me on your show and we talk about, like, with my broken English, about like, how I was feeling what happened in the fight. And after this fight, I was thinking now I have two, oh and two, no, I had two loss in UFC. I was thinking, hopefully, they don't cut me, you know, I was the point, you know, but I was...

Were you worried? Oh, yeah, absolutely, because, you know, I lost two in a row, and I was worried. I hope you see don't cut me, you know. Sometimes they do this, you know, and then... But thank God, yeah, so my next fight, I win, of course, the fight was in Russia against somebody. And then my last fight on contract, that was against Brett Katon. I did say this about your show, I don't know if you remember. And when they gave me this underpirit guy, Brad Katona, in Canada.

And he was training with... Cabinnell. Yeah, Connor's team. Yeah. And I'm like, this could be my last fight. You know, like, because I have, I lost two. I win one. And now this is my last fight and my contract against ultimate fighter winner, the guy who beat Bryce Mitchell in the show.

And I already training with Bryce Mitchell. I know how good was Bryce Mitchell. If somebody beat Bryce Mitchell, the guy must be master. And then this guy's name is Brett Katona, Underfield 9-0. We are fighting his country. And this is my last fight. and well you know

I go were you nervous I was nervous yeah I was nervous did you feel like your career was on the line yeah of course but at the same time

I was still grateful and I I did make UFC and that time I did have one winning UFC and you know sometimes

yeah fighters little things make us proud and like happy you know I was you know I was UFC fighter

even win a loss I can tell my kids I was one day a UFC fighter, you know? That's it. Yeah, that's it. I saw a video after the fight of you, like, punching the wall when you were working construction. Yeah.

You know this video? Yeah. You kick the wall. You give the elbow. Right. Are you a UFC fighter at that point? Of course. That was, like, believe, 2019.

Yeah, I already have, like, either four fights in UFC. Yeah. Yeah. Because what happened was, so. How long did you do that for? So I did from since 2013 to 2020. Okay. Like 2020, like summer.

Yeah? When. Pandemic? Yeah, even pandemic, I was working. Wow. That's not that long ago. Yeah, that's why I'm growing, growing. You know, I stop working and now I'm just full-time fighting.

And then now I have a lot of training partner in Vegas and just keep going with training. So why did you quit? Work? I mean, no, you obviously keep me busy. I was booked and I was making finally enough money to not work. But before, I did make a good money in my second

fight and then I said no, I don't have to go work anymore. Remember, like after Ricky Simone, they gave me bonus. So first fight in UFC, I just changed my car and I still don't have money and of course I was still working in

construction, right? And then after Ricky Simon fight, they gave me $50,000 bonus and $10,000 for the fight. Now I have a $60,000 and I was happy. And I'm like, I'm not going back to construction anymore. I have a lot of money now. And then, so what happened was I take a little vacation. I go to Georgia. Of course, I spend some money. And not much, but I give my brothers like a little bit money. I give my coaches a good amount of money, like with a bonus and everything. my manager take 10% of everything and I buy other car and six months no fight of course I was spending

my money for training, eating, paying rent and bills and when my next fight came in September I owe bunch of money on my credit cards. I don't have no more money left. Oh, no. I was broke. First time, I was without money, and I was all money in credit cards. And I'm like, this is crazy.

When I was thinking I have money and I don't need to work anymore, that's where I was broke. And when I win the fight in Russia and I get $20,000 paid for win, and now this money, I used for pay taxes on my like money for what I get paid

I forgot to I was supposed to I don't know if I was supposed to pay taxes on this money you know oh wow and then yeah I was I had to pay taxes on this $60,000 and then also this $20,000 you know everything I have to pay taxes on it and of course like and then like since I win the fight and this money I put a bank for like poor taxes

and then I start working again in construction. And then after that, I fought 2019 in Canada in May. And then 2019, only one fight. And of course, I make some money, a little money with that, but I can't risk, you know, I can't leave the job and I was working, you know. It was construction still, right? Yeah, construction.

And then... Like residential construction? Like houses? and stuff. Houses, everything, like whooping. So you win a UFC fight and then you could be working on someone's house. Yeah, I win, I had six fights in UFC and I was still working. And then I, so when I was working in construction, like even 2020, like, so I usually what I was doing is I was taking one week off.

So when I, when fight week, I was taking off. Okay. I needed this, of course. First, you have to get there Tuesday, and also you need to cut away like a Sunday. Yeah, yeah. You're tired. That's great.

And so you stopped in 2020, and since then you haven't worked. Yeah, yeah, because, yeah, UFC keep me busy. I take one short notice fight against Gustav Lopez, and then I make some money. And I came back and I started working. And then, like, a couple days later, I got a phone from UFC. They gave me another fight.

And I'm like, okay, now that's time. I'm busy. I have enough money in the bank and I don't have to go back to work anymore. Because why, because what happened was, you know, I was fixing my documents and, like, stop like this. And then also, like, oh, my family was in Georgia and stuff like, you know, every. Yeah, of course. You have two brothers, right? I have two brothers.

Once a pilot? One is pilot. And he's retired now. Okay. He's older? He's older than me. He's six years older than me. Okay.

Yeah. He's a young guy. A young guy, he was pilot in the army. Oh, okay. Yeah, he moved here a couple years ago in New York. He retired from Army and he moved with wife. And he's bringing kids now in the U.S. He lives in Brooklyn here.

Oh, nice. Yesterday we celebrate his birthday. Oh, nice. And then what is other good news is my other brother also. He lives in Georgia with two kids, like Birupon, son. and the U.S. consul, they give the visa like a world family.

Wow. He was first time in my fights here in Las Vegas and we was... This one? Yeah, this fight. Amazing. Yeah, so all my family came to... Your father too?

No, my father and my mother, they live in a village now. They're in Asia and they're just watching TV and I don't want to bring them there because the U.S. is too much. It's good to see New York and stuff like this, their age they get tired

You don't want them to be in the in the arena? No, not in the arena. Too much, too much. Too much. Yeah, because... I love those scenes when they show back home

everyone watching. Yeah. All your family, it's amazing in the morning. Yeah, yeah. That's how they watch. You have a lot of support. Oh yeah, bro.

It's like all my country. Like, it doesn't matter. Every person is supporting me and it's a lot of motivation. And because in Georgia, we are a small country and then it's somebody's, It's, we treat, we support each other and we really care.

And if one Georgian doing good, we all country, we all pro, you know. Right. Yes, like the player for PSG. I can't say his name. I can't say his name, everybody. Legend from Napoli and then PSG, he's your friend, right? My friend, yeah. And then the player, I saw the guy on the Raptors give you love,

the Georgian player who plays for Toronto Raptors. Yeah, Mammaoella Shuli. Yes, I was going to say, I have his name here, but that's amazing. I feel like Georgian sports, even in the Eurobasket. Did you watch the Eurobasket? Yeah. Georgia beat France, eliminated France. Yes.

Yes. I feel like, oh, Georgia is doing well. Yes, Georgian. Like, last year was very good, like, sport for sport. This year, like, we lost soccer game against Spain and all countries are heartbroken, you know. Ah. You guys are like, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, always like David versus Goliath with you guys.

You're a small country, right, but you have great fight. Yes. Imagine like Georgia's small country, fly soccer against Spain. You know, Spain is a soccer country. Yes. And what about Zuck? Are you going to train with him? Oh, yeah.

He invited me. He said, please, like, after your fight, come, training together. And I said, yeah, let's do it for sure. But now I got fight news in your show. Let's see the video. you and Zuck over there in the locker room before the fight. You want to see the video of Dana announcing? Oh, yeah, that would be. Let's see it. Let's see it. Here we go.

Here's Dana White announcing that this man, Marab de Walshvili, is going to headline the final UFC on ESPN pay-per-view, December 6th, UFC 323. Now let's go to UFC 323 from Team Mobile Arena on December 6. The main event, the number three pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Marab makes the quick turnaround to face the number two ranked Peter Yan. On the Monday after Marab's title defense at UFC 320 came into the offices here and told us how important it was for him to break the record for the most title defenses in a year. Rob's on a 14-fight win streak and is looking to make an unprecedented fourth title defense in under a year.

Rob already holds UFC records for the most takedowns ever, but a win would move him into second place. for longest win streak, ever. He's got the most Bannonweight wins, most Bannamweight title wins. This kid is on fire. Oh, he's so nice. How about that? Amazing.

Thank you. Thank you. I mean, he says nice words for you too. Oh, I don't know about that. Yes. I know I watch also your reaction. You said he made joke, but I think he was serious. I think he was serious.

I think he was serious. You think we could be friends. Absolutely. Look at today. You see everyone coming together. Peace in the Middle East. Yeah. I think now we should all come together.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I, I, you know, I have, like, dinner with Hunter and some people. Hunter Campbell. Yeah, yeah. And then also I heard, like, Hunter, you know, it was, of course, they was mentioning your name. And then what I heard, like, you know, what I heard from him. I don't know if I had said, he was telling you, you were harder worker and very, you know. you know

a harder worker you know I think Hunter is doing a great job yeah I have no animosity I don't know but I love the sport I love the fighters without the UFC I have no job

yeah yeah of course you know what I mean so I want the UFC to succeed I want all MMA to succeed all the fighters respect yeah I just wanna yeah I heard these words he was mentioning

you think he was being sincere yeah like I don't know what is oh like I thought he was maybe Dana yeah no I don't know I think I believe and I want to believe

that he was serious about when he was saying nice I want to like He wants to be friends with him I appreciate it I want to believe that he was serious about that But like Yeah so I just want to know that what I heard from Hunter He was mentioning you are

Harder work one of the hardest worker Oh thank you I appreciate that So it must feel amazing to hear that from the boss right Yeah See the way he's he's promoting you Yeah amazing I love it

And then after this one Maybe you versus Volkanowski I have to win this fight against Piterion Is this a real thing though Is this something I almost poke myself Is this a thing you're thinking about No I don't want to fight against Wokanoski

But Listen I want to focus on my weight class now And I want to go Step by step You know I have a now Fight

Against Piterian And then we'll see who will be next if Bautista wins. That's beautiful. You know, he will deserve because he will be like 95 win-string, I believe. And then he will deserve most. And the fight against Bautista is going to be another challenge for me. And we'll see, keep going like this. And we'll see, I'm, okay, like, then I said before, never say never.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't want to fight against Wakanoski. You don't dream of 145 double champion. I don't dream. Is the cut hard for you or it's pretty good? Oh, it's hard. I hate weight cut. Actually, last time I was making weight.

You said that's it. I said, I said, I don't think I'm doing this 15 more years. And I first time I was thinking, maybe should I remove 145? Ah, that's how it starts. Yeah, but now I'm ready. This time next year, you're 145. You don't want to try for a second belt? Everyone tries.

Maybe. Maybe down a lot. down the line. But now you, because you said before the fight, you're going to go to 50. Now you changed? Before the, when I was carrying weight, yes. Now I'm good. Now I'm full. What are you now? What do you now, you think? Like 156.

Okay. Wow. So 20 pounds. Yeah, 20 pounds. How does it end December 6, you versus Jan? What do you think? Do you think you need to finish him to prove the 50% stuff is? Oh, finish would be nice. Yeah. That would be amazing. That's, that's, that's. Is it personal between you two?

Oh, no. I don't anymore. Like, before I was. like because he was bully guy like I said many times like when I saw him first time he was bullied and then even in Abu Dhabi right before his fight he point he was talking with Aljo I was I was away he's like this guy is nothing he's small yeah and and and I was like go stand next to him I was smiling like stuff like this and and he said this guy is zero yes I'm like he was giving no respect I felt like

at the beginning I felt when he was without I felt like he didn't respect you like he didn't think that you were on his level but I think now he respects you yeah yeah yeah so that's why I'm

I'm fine with him like as a fighter I give him so much respect and as also family man he has a beautiful family wife kids and he's a good father and good for him God bless him you know

and yeah hopefully he's a better person now but But yeah, but like, that's it. But it's like going to be a good fight, you know, he's a former champion. He has a lot of wins in UFC and then it's going to be fun fight and then I'm taking quick turn around and it's good. I'm busy and I'm willing to fight in also in like either March.

February will be in Australia, I don't think I'm going to give me this, but in March will be realistically. But don't burn out, because you remember, I feel like Alex Pereira, maybe he fought too many times, and then he, you know what I mean? You don't want to burn out. Listen, what's the rush? Take your time. Yes, but I'm not afraid to even lose something. Listen, I'm a fighter, and I'm just, yeah, I know that I'm not going to win all these fights, but listen, I love this. And like I said, when I have a fight, I'm more focused, I'm more, more, more, more, live more healthy lifestyle.

And, yeah, I want to just improve. God bless you, my friend. Thank you. Congratulations on the win. And now congratulations on the fight. Amazing. December 6th. We'll never forget this moment right here.

I never got to tell a fighter that he was fighting like this. It's amazing. This is amazing. So training camp starts tomorrow. You're flying back home now? Yeah, I'm playing. Like from this studio, I'm going to show you to the airport. Wow.

Okay. Yeah. And then you're going to be sparring tomorrow. It's syndicate. Yeah. Tomorrow for pool sparring. Yeah. Incredible.

I have to call my train partners now. Right now, right now. Okay. You have a lot to do. Thank you so much, Rob. Really, I appreciate you very much. I always say to people, there are certain fighters who just never change. GSP number one, he never changed.

And you are exactly like him. I'll never forget the first time I met you. You're the same guy as now. Same guy. And I have no doubt that you won't change. And it's nice to see even like Sean O'Malley give you props now. And everyone, no one says anything bad I feel about you. Yeah, I appreciate you, man.

Thank you, yeah. Yeah, thank you, Sean O'Malley. I saw his video and I was feeling like, like, you know, like, it was like. Respect. Yeah, respect and nice words from him. And then, yeah, I appreciate. And then even Corrie, again, everybody.

Somebody was saying there's some nice things about me. Mike Bispying and stuff. Yeah, yeah. everyone everyone who could say anything bad about you thank you so much good luck to you thank you and we appreciate you coming in safe travels home back to vegas we'll take a quick break hornswoggle you know hornswoggle no what is this he's a he's a wrestling character he's a good guy he's up next in studio we'll take a break we'll say goodbye to marab we'll be right back after this let's go okay back on the program that was pizzi and chuck

on the crack that was marab that's one of the all-time great moments in the history of the show Marab finding out via me live on the air that he's fighting, he's headlining UFC 323. There's great hope and positivity in the air. I feel like it's a new day. It's a new day. I feel like everyone's coming together. I feel like the stars are now aligning for all of us and humanity. I feel great hope and positivity. So that was beautiful. What a beautiful guy. What a beautiful soul. What a day it's been. Darby Allen, then Marab. And now let's end the day with another spectacular guest in studio. A WWE legend recently was named a WWE legend and was able to come back and be a part of the WrestleMania weekend.

You have probably, if you're a wrestling fan, watched him for years, even if not. He's one of those guys that transcended wrestling. His real name is Dylan Postal, but you know him as Hornswago. He was a part of WWE for many, many years, also TNA and has worked in the Indies and is still doing his thing. I'm really excited to have him in studio, so let us say hello to the one and only Dylan Postel who is here, aka formerly known as the one and only Hornswoggle. Hello, sir. How are you?

Good. Great to meet you. Finally meet you. Yes. It's so great to have you here. All of these. I'm adding myself. You're what? All of these toys.

Oh. Oh, that's amazing. Is this the DX one? It's the brand new one. Oh my gosh. Got that legends deal. We've got that legends deal now. Look at you.

That's an incredible one. Can I look at it? Yeah, I have enough ass. I don't need this, man. Okay, I don't know. I have a lot. You got a big booty. A lot behind it.

Okay, there it is. There we go. Well, thank you. This is great. Is this still surreal for you? Man, it is beyond surreal. It's for them to be remaking. I'm going to put it right here front and center.

Them to be remaking. um figures and uh i don't know be weirdly like back in the fold is i saw you i saw your post when you were going back to uh to ressomania yeah uh and you were very touched by it i never thought it would happen again um let me tell you also ariel hawani the smoothest voice in all of interviewing i don't know if that's true but it's the best thank you thank you man when i when i got a message from you i was like i can't I can't believe this is you. We've never connected.

Yeah. We've literally never done this. Now you're the freaking man in my life here on my show. There we go. I appreciate that. But no, the... So it was almost a year, it was last August of 24. Okay.

I was me and my son were on... Landon. The best. Yes. That's going to make me so cool. The coolest. Shout to Landon. I have three rules.

I have to mention Ashkosh, which is my city. My dad, because he's the best, and Landon, and land in every interview I do. Okay. Checked off one of them. We'll get to the other two, I'm sure, very naturally. We're on the way to Blinkgo 82, and I got a call from WWE saying, hey, we want to offer you a legend's deal, a nostalgia deal nowadays.

Out of the blue? A lot of the blue. There was no talking, no flirting with them, no messages. No. I mean, I did like the appearance at the greatest row rumble, the women's Royal Rumble, and that kind of thing. But just about 10 years, I've been away from the company. And it was such a, I literally pulled off the highway and I was just like, man, I called my dad. There it is.

Called my dad. First person I called was my dad. I said, hey, remember when you told me when I got released. Don't say a darn bad thing. I'm sure it's going to be tough because you want to. You want to be upset. You want to be angry. But realize how you felt when you got hired and how awesome that was.

and how much they gave you. You shouldn't have ever made it. As I always say, I always say I shouldn't have ever made it. I'm not six foot. I'm not 300 pounds. Thank God. So it's one of those things where I shouldn't have made it in WWE. They told me, when I got hired, it was going to be a six-month gig,

and it was two weeks under 10 years. Wow. So to be able to last, as long as I did, and then get released, and then be welcome back. with a nostalgia deal is, it's insane. It's absolutely insane. And it's something I think about. And then doing the appearance during WrestleMania week

and then during SummerSlam week for Fanatics is just, it's crazy to me. It's awesome. So what does that entail? What does that mean? When you get that type of deal, what does that mean for you? They can produce merchandise again, and they can have me out for signings.

and essentially whatever they want. And I love it. I absolutely love it. But also, I can still do independent dates like I am every weekend and loving life. You have one this weekend, I believe. I had two in West Virginia, Friday, Saturday. I was at New York Comic Con yesterday, here today, and then doing some more stuff tomorrow. Wow.

And next weekend, I am in Cleveland for AIW, and then a show in Dallas. Weekend after, I am in. and Michigan, and weekend after, I am in Paris for two shows. Paris? Paris, yeah. Which promotion is that? BZ wrestling out in Paris, and I talked to the promoters and said, hey, can you, I'm a huge Disney fanatic of all things Disney.

You go with your son, right? Yeah, every year. And I said, hey, can you bring me out a couple days early? I would love to see Disneyland Paris. They're like, yeah, I looked at Atlanta's football schedule. He's done. This is his last game this week. so I'm going to bring him with me

and do Paris stuff and it's just one of those things where I live now how I live now is let's do some really cool things while we can like while he still thinks I'm kind of decent

he's not too old to think all right I got to do this with my dad because he wants to like and if he does he hides it well but man it's just it's awesome and to be able to go to Paris with him and do a couple things is pretty cool

when you're doing these shows are you wrestling yeah okay so how are you doing because I did see an interview with you and Chris Van yeah a few months ago and you said that you couldn't feel your legs legs are feet are almost all feeling is gone

legs is like if you're on a leg I think they call it a leg extension or a leg press big gym guy where it's almost like my thighs feel like they're always stretched That's the feeling that it is It's not going to come back

So it's just lifeful No No It's they fall asleep It's like they fall asleep quickly And they get tired quick Okay I can still bite a good ass

What about taking bumps and stuff I never took bumps Right I never I mean I saw you a couple times Taking some bumps Yeah sure But I can I now I'm smarter about it

Okay I've learned So I never wanted to be I'm giving you the card for today I never wanted to be a midget wrestler just saw his skin crawl like always I never wanted to be that kind of wrestler

with the ass bites and the rough spots and that I wanted to be just a regular wrestler I got trained to be a normal wrestler and now I'm realizing at 39 I feel like I'm 59 at times it's smart to do the fun spots and I'm okay with that

I'm fully okay with that and they're okay with it too right the promoters are okay with it they want that as long as the people are happy that's what matters and who are you wrestling as swoggle swoggle yes but you don't wear the no the only time I will ever wear

that is for WWB stuff I did it at a convention last year as just a kind of a throwback thing just to see I don't want to be a shell of myself at conventions

if that makes sense. I don't, I want to be me. They gave me, WWE gave me the opportunity to sign my fake name all of these years later. It's insane. It's absolutely insane to think that. What they provided for me.

And that's why I can never think, like, how dare they? Really. It's entertainment, man. everyone everyone no one deserves a job i truly feel that way no one deserves a job in entertainment was that hard though when you when you got the uh the release sure to listen to your dad and not say stuff uh um yes and no i knew it was coming i was not being used for about a year at that point uh i knew we're just sitting at home yeah but that's okay not even traveling I would do a TV here and there, but that's okay.

Looking back at it, that's okay. I had huge, huge moments in wrestling and on WWE. Again, they told me it was going to be a sixth month run. I cannot be angry about it. But when he said that, it was a definitive, yeah, you're right, I don't have anything to be upset about. I've been able to provide for my son and for myself

for a good amount of time now and not do a 9 to 5. A 9 to 5 scares me because I've been wrestling for so long. Did you grow up a wrestling fan? Loved it. Ultimate Warrior was my ultimate hero. Wow. He's my number one.

And I don't know. Things happen for a reason kind of person. I never got to meet warrior until the raw no way yeah before he passed he did his promo yes came back and I was like this is my only opportunity probably because who knows if he's ever going to come back for stuff who knows if I'm going to be on the road for stuff wow met him at the curtain I said hey my name is Dylan you're the reason I'm here because he was the only thing I cared about growing up I didn't care about

Batman or Superman I hate sports to this day I just don't care I cared about the ultimate warrior Wow. And that was because of, like, the crazy part is, is wrestling figures. My brother, he had wrestling. He had the original series of Hasbro's. I thought, being a little annoying brother, I'm going to take those, and I'm going to play with those. I stole his, so that my parents got me my own. And, man, that's how I got into it.

I didn't even know what they were. I just knew they were cool toys that my brother played with. Yeah. And then I found out those WWF figures fell in love with everything Ultimate Warrior. Man, that was just my guy. That was my superhero girl. out. So I told him that. I got to tell him that. And he goes, that really means a lot. He called over his wife and said, do you mind telling her what you just told me? And I told her the same

thing. He asked me for a photo. And then, of course, I asked him for a photo. And you still have that photo? In my office. Oh, my gosh. Every day. It's hanging in my office. Do you remember the reaction the next day when you found out what happened? Yeah, it was, it was surreal. Yeah. For those that don't know for the audience, he passed away the next day. He comes back. The next next day. He comes back. It appears. as though he has mended the fences with the company he seems to be at peace he gives this great years

years of such yeah it was like bitter bitter bitter on both sides both sides um and then he passes the next day shocking Tuesday and after like such a cool promo the promo was it was almost it was so real from the heart you were holistic I don't know if that's a word I might have just made that word up

yeah no I get it I get it I get it but it was just like man who would have thought and that was kind of my mindset of i am so that's why i tell i run a wrestling school in a company now uh out of ashkash and i tell all of my students take the picture i don't care who it is i don't care what the situation is take the picture no matter what because i don't know if it's going to happen to you or that other person if i wouldn't have taken that photo i would have never ever had a photo with the ultimate warrior and now that that would have been okay in all reality it would have been okay uh but that's a photo that i look at every day when i go in my office and i go man that's pretty freaking cool yeah and so okay so you grew up a wrestling fan

a whole life and then you go through you know you're a kid right when do you start to think hey let me try this like everyone in the attitude era yeah i was backyard wrestling okay as a teenager With my buddies, yeah, yeah. And then the local independent company knew we were like drawing 200 or 300, like people at our backyard shows. It was backyard, was it? Just a buddy in Appleton, Wisconsin that we met online. Wow. And then the local company came and Ken Anderson, Ken Kennedy.

He was part of them. And then they were like, you guys want to train to be real wrestlers? Sure. I got trained at 17. Okay. And so when do you get the call? So, yeah, they were looking for an extra for a backstage skit for a little person. And Ken put his name out there for me and said he's the guy.

I then, through the grapevine, heard that they were trying out little people to be with Finley. And I was like, hey, can I do this tryout? Great, sure. Me and Fit go in the interview room. And he goes, all right, you're going to be a manager, Irish accent. Here we go. I cannot do accents for the life of me if you ask me to do it now

I never do it again ever and it was so bad I remember walking out and going to fit oh how was it he goes wasn't great and I go oh God okay I'm done never again

I'll never be here again and that was it but then Ken put his name out there for me and said hey wait so they told you told you no good? No, they just said, hey, because all I was supposed to be that day was an extra for this backstage scene.

Got it. That was it? 05? 06. 06. March of 06. Because then, two months later in May,

I get the call saying, hey, we want to offer you a conge. I ignored six calls from, from, it ended up being Tommy Dreamer, who was talent relations at the time. But being a 19-year-old kid,

on with his girlfriend at the time, working at Target. I'm thinking un-a-blocked number. It's a credit card company. They want their money, and I don't have the money to give them. So I'm just hitting the ignore button. Finally, I listen to the voicemail. Dylan, this is Tommy Dreamer with WWE. We want to offer you a contract.

I would like you to call me back so we can give you. So I was like, oh my God, this is the coolest. So I called him back, and it was literally, off to the races. And was the original plan you being with fit? So that's what they wanted. So yeah, he had that idea in WCW never happened and happened in WWE. And who comes up

with the name? So my first name was Little Bastard. Wow. Yes. Yes, yes. Because, and then I think they quickly realized we can't put this on a toy toys or us. So it was a hornswoggle. Where does that come from? It means to cheat or swindle,

I guess. Okay. And yeah, but they literally go, yep, You're not a little bastard anymore. You're a horn swuggling. I go, well, that's probably better. Yeah. They make you go to school? Nothing.

Nothing. I asked. I remember, like, being on the road for, like, a few months to a year, I was like, can I go to OVW or, like, one of the developmentals to try to show you guys I would love to wrestle? No, you're okay. Okay. And I was like, I would really like to. Like, I'm just a young kid.

I mean, I have my family at home, but I don't have a kid at the time. I just live in the life. no you don't need to do that okay I was fine with it wow yeah it was I it was like a month or two into being signed we were going to the Philippines

I didn't have a passport wow they had a Russia passport I go guys where are the Philippines did you ever left the country I went to Canada for like a little person convention I went to Toronto but that was it it was the only time I ever left the country it was nuts it was crazy

was it surreal like you're there a huge fan and all of a sudden you're... Yeah, it was... What was your first day like? Do you remember? Yes, messing up. I messed up my first day. So the first thing is going to be,

it was Fit versus Paul Birchall, and Fit wins, he goes out, he's going to lift the apron, I'm going to come out, attack Paul Birchall. Awesome. We're rehearsing it, and Vince McMahon is running the rehearsal. He goes, all right,

there's going to be a green light that comes on. Fit's going to open the curtain, you're gonna come out awesome great first at once green light comes on I come out god damn it wait for him to lift the a okay okay let's go again by the way that sounded like Vince I was around him I was around him for a bit second time green light fit doesn't lift the thing I go god damn it wait for him to lift okay third time no green light fit lifts, I wait, because there was no light.

Yeah. Now, where are you? Where are? You told me to win. Oh, I'm thinking in my head, I've been here for one day, and this will be my last day. I'm done, I'm done. And fourth time, worked perfectly, and then it was just like off to the races. And it was just, I remember getting home.

So I don't think, I don't think anything truly, truly, truly, hit me until, like, the first WrestleMania spot with Ken Kennedy off the ladder. That and then the first time I really let myself, it's stupid to say, I let myself absorb what was happening was when I won the cruiserweight title and, like, getting home with the title and, like, showing my grandpa and my dad, I was like, oh, this, this is pretty insane. I shouldn't be here I always thought in that beginning I shouldn't

and then at the end in the middle part I was just there but at the beginning at the end I was very much like I shouldn't be here I don't deserve to be here

why did you feel that way I don't know I'm not the mold you know what I mean at that time especially like I said everyone was six foot two 250 but that you know there was the Ray Mysterios Sure. There was the punks of the world who were a little bit smaller coming up.

Yeah. But those guys made a huge name for themselves. I was Dylan from Ashgosh. Right, right, right. You know what I mean? So it's one of those things where, I don't know. I very much a lot of the time at the beginning at the end had the, okay, I don't deserve this kind of thing. That's imposter syndrome. Sure. Sure. Like why am I here? Yeah. What did I do to deserve this? I view it as, at the same thing. at times, realistic thinking, in my mind. In my mind, it's realistic to go, I don't deserve this, but it's pretty cool.

I am a therapist's number one client, I'm sure, because I have a very mindset of thinking negatively, so when something really cool does happen, I get really happy about it. Probably not a great way to go through life, but it works for me. Your glass half empty. But for me, it looks full. comedy

you talk to a therapist sure you do you do yeah okay I started to about a year ago oh the best recently though yeah the best what about during that period no I was okay you were just kind of going with the flow

yeah I was great I was happy I was very happy living my life living my dream I let myself be happy living that dream but I at times still felt I don't deserve to be here do you regret in retrospect no having that mindset

because I don't no one deserves anything but you may have earned it I didn't I didn't earn it I didn't earn anything I worked out of Wisconsin for a year and a half

I left the state to wrestle I was like a once a month wrestler I left the state four times in a year and a half I didn't deserve it no so why do you think it happened to you luck

Ken putting his name out there for me me I always say like man I lasted 10 years I was either decent or really good at hiding like that was one of the two and I can't quite figure out what it was and I won't let myself say I was decent I write a very weird line between ego like to me ego is a very very thin line believing in yourself and then believing yourself too much is that eagle line. And I, now, because of my son, he brings up all the time, remember when?

Remember he did it? No, I don't. I don't. I have a horrible memory. But because of him, I can, I finally started like going back and being able to watch things. Okay. Was there a period where you couldn't? I never.

I've watched four of my, probably in total I've watched maybe five matches at my own. I don't like to. Why? I don't like to. I don't know. That's the weird. I don't know. I pick it apart. I don't like how I look. I don't physically. I don't like how I move physically. I think, man, that could have been better. Stuff like that. I pick it apart too much. I was, we LC was the one I was able to watch the most. Because it's the most perfect thing I've ever done. And I will never do anything to top that, ever. but like even in my my scenes and like Muppets most wanted I look down because I can't watch myself it's weird wow wow it's just odd and so how does your son allow you to go back he brings it up he just brings it up to me and then I'll like YouTube it on my phone that night

or or you know turn on on peacock with him no oh I get weird about that that's weird to me why why why I thought you were gonna say no I can't I don't think I've ever watched a match of mine with him Really? No. Doesn't that make you proud? You want to show your...

He can watch it. Do you think he does? I don't know, and he won't admit it to me. Wow. I always say, like... I know I'm like cool to him. But this is his. This is his life.

Me at... His dad being Hornswoggle is all he knows. He doesn't know his dad working at Target. He doesn't know his dad anything else being what I've been. Because he's 17, right? 15, 15, excuse me. It's okay. 15, so he was born, what, in 2010?

Yeah. But he was five when you left the company, right? But all he knows is WWE stuff, YouTube, WWE stuff, and then my indie stuff. And so it's one of those things where it's like, man, all he knows is me in this life. And that's okay. But I want him to also be really cool with me as Dylan. I know he is. I laugh about it.

Yeah, I can get him at the front of the lines at Disney because of this. But it's one of those things where I want him to also like, I know he is. He'll never admit it because at 15 we don't do that. I never was like, of course, man, dad, you're really cool. but it's it's I don't know if I ever want to watch one of my matches with him I don't know how that would be

I think you're missing out maybe but it's also a weird feeling like to even think about to even think about watching it and being okay watching it like we'll see would probably be the only one I could watch with him

why do you think that was It was perfect. Everything worked, man. I call that the ultimate. I talk about it in my book. That was the ultimate shove it up their ass match to me. Put on the pre-show. Six guys, seven guys that were being used, but kind of not.

Booked in this gimmicky with many tables, many ladders, many chairs with a mini-referry, many announcers, mini ring announcer, the commentators getting fed lines, kind of just joking about the match. And like going into it, I remember like going into, go, guys, this is New Jersey, which is behind Chicago, the second most heel crowd in the country. I go, we got to kill it, otherwise they're going to boo us out of the building. And we got to just go crazy. And we did. Everyone did.

Drew McIntyre randomly just flips through a table from inside the ring to the house. outside. Heath takes the crazy bumps. Ginder takes the insane bump through ladders. The matadors are just going nuts. It was just, it was perfect and it was the most perfect thing I've ever done. And I remember getting to the back and like still being in my gear and Torito comes up to him. You good? I go, yeah. He goes, okay. And he changes and he's leaving and I'm still in my chair, in my gear. Like, you good? I go, yeah. I didn't get out of my gear till the main event then. Wow.

Because I was just like in the moment. Yeah, yeah. And I knew it. I knew we did something special. And I knew it was the only time in WWB where I got a standing ovation, getting to the back. Wow. And I'm okay with that.

I'm fully okay with that. But it was such a cool feeling to see everyone including Vince McMahon himself standing and clapping for us. I was like, man, this is awesome. It was just awesome. It was insane. What was your relationship like with Vince? Great.

He let me provide for 10 years, live my dream for 10 years, and then working in that storyline with him, was so great in that and, like, wanted everything to be special for the fans and for us, and we're perfectly, it was awesome. The biggest thing in my career, it's kind of odd now, like, with everything that's going on and everything that's happened, the biggest thing in my career sometimes

is odd to talk about in interviews but that's the biggest thing that ever happened to me in my career and I look back and go man what a what a crazy time for me I was the 15th anniversary Raw and I was on four or five segments

I started the show and I ended the show it was crazy and I had a match with Kali where Hulk Hogan comes out to save me and we do a pose off. It's just, it's incredible. Surreal. Insane how that whole thing just skyrocket. Is it intimidating being around him or these guys?

Like, do you feel like... I always joke about... I always joke about it. I wish I would have been like... I wish I would, because he was, for like, the backstage stuff and that, we always had, like, downtime before we went live or before we shot something. I wish I would always, like, asked him, like, random things. Hey, who thought of that warrior pyro?

Or like, all right, ring carts, who's a man? Like, I just wanted to ask him random things, but it's Vince McMahon. And he would have been awesome and answered everything. But it's still like, it's Vince McMahon. So I'm still quite intimidated to ask him those kind of things. I get it. But it's one of those, yeah, but it's, I weirdly wasn't on screen. Like, like working with him, working with him, I wasn't intimidated because he just made himself one of the guys.

in those shots did you ever feel you know you would be in a lot of comedy spots did you ever feel disrespected never uh so i always kind of think about it i think the the relationship i had with finley was very very father's son like what you saw on screen was just a piece of what our relationship was um and it was instant i would say literally like I felt that way a month into being hired where I felt literally like

his child and so I think people were worried to mess with me because they didn't want to deal with fit and I knew fit would destroy him and turn him into a house. So you didn't get hazed or any of that ribs. I'm so lucky. Wow.

I like I came in during the strong part of hazing and wrestler's court and all of that and I never dealt with any of it and I'm like I'm very very thankful for that I'm thankful for my relationship with fit. I laugh about it now because it's like I have two brothers in wrestling and David Finley and Brogan.

You know, David's killing it in New Japan and Brogan is in NXT and it's like, man, it's just so fun. Yeah, when you found out you were going to be a dad, didn't you hang up? I literally hung up. Man, this guy does his research. Come on, man. It's great. Come on. Come on.

And he told you to call her back. Yeah, man. I was, we were overseas. I called home from the production office line. She said, I need to tell you something. You're going to be a dad. And I go, no, I'm not. Wham!

I stormed out. Why did you have that reaction? Because I was 22, 23. I was living the high life. So you didn't want to have a kid? I wasn't ready. Okay. I'm still not ready.

I'm still not ready. I'm not ready for a 15-year-old. I'm not going to be 16-year-old. He's going to be a 16-year-old. He's going to be driving on his own in two months. I'm not ready for that. Was this your girlfriend? Yeah.

Okay. And it was, it was, it was, it was one of those things where I just, I love being young. Yeah. I loved the high life. I love just that. And now it's, so I remember walking the hallway and fit sees me. And he must have seen something. He was, what's going on?

And I go, I can't tell you. He goes, well, now you have to. Yeah. Like, you got to tell me. so we go off to the side of go I'm going to be a dad and he drops to a knee and he just hugs me and he starts like getting

welled up and I'm like I can't do this I can't do this he goes yes you can he goes firstly call her back secondly and fit behind the curtain

quite religious and spiritual goes all right let's say a prayer and I go wow oh this is not me and we did that and he goes now you're going to call her

and I go yes dad yes dad and I called her was she mad that you hung up on her if she was she didn't tell me she hit it okay she hit it pretty well

and how did that change you I always say so when when Landon came out which is such a weird thing to say came out when Landon was born when he entered this world when Landon was born

I always say like the world paused and I was like all right kid time to grow up time to get your shit together I don't know can we say shit yeah sure go ahead shit yeah were you there yeah so I because I've heard stories I was on the road I was on the road the day before for TV and I flew home and I as I was flying home she was getting driven to the hospital oh wow it's a long labor but I was there the whole like for it and so we got her tested six months into the pregnancy to see if it was going to be a little person okay I was very very worried about that health stuff bullying all of that yeah turns out he's obviously if you see photos of him

online he ain't no little person he's not a little person he's a big boy he's huge a great football player. He's doing awesome, man. There he is. God, man. I don't get, like, I don't get emotional about a lot. But he,

he's going to hate it. He makes me that way. And because I'm just proud of him, man. Like, he's just a cool, there's times where I go, I wish I didn't have a tall, good-looking, charismatic kid. Because it's going to get him in trouble.

But man, he, he, so we found out he wasn't going to be. And it was, that was, it was just a, I did a sigh of relief because I knew what I went through health-wise with back surgeries and ear surgeries and all of that growing up. And I never dealt with bullying. And WWU was actually awesome. When they had the BSTAR program, they let me be a big part of that. And I'm very thankful. because I always talk about how you counteract bullying

don't let them bully you make the joke before they can and I've always been one to do that I can fit in that locker you're not going to put me in it I can hide from class in that locker kind of thing like yeah I was the one to make fun of myself before they even could once you take that power away they don't have it anymore so it's one of those things like I never took myself too seriously when it comes to my stature how many how many surgeries I had I have now four back surgeries two ear surgeries, knee, shoulder, gallbladder.

Wow. Yeah. How old were you with the gallbladder? That was just, that was 2016 or 17. Okay. But the back, first back surgery was 1990, paralyzed me for six months. Then 92, they put a rod and a rib, fuse it in my back. First thing the doctor says is no trampolines and no contact sports.

Oh, gosh. And so then. Wait, 1990. How old are you? I was four and four for my first one. Gosh. And he cut me open and never did back surgery on a little person before. Hit a nerve and paralyzed me from the waist down. I was in a full body cast, knees to nipples, I say.

And then 92 I had the surgery, the one that worked. And so then, like a year or two into my being with WWE, the spine surgeon saw me. on that and email my dad see he didn't listen to me very much my dad just goes he didn't listen to me either and then uh my ear i had a tumor in my ear uh doctor opened it up never did surgery on a little person either hit an artery and i just started bleeding out my gosh patched me up and put this huge bandager on my head like literally lived in that for a few months how old are you then 1213 i think think and you weren't bullied nah I didn't let myself be okay kids didn't pick on you

no because again I was like I was I was like I didn't take it I didn't sell for him if they tried to I would great once you take that away yeah they don't have the laughs from others all they want is the pop from the others it's all they care for what about when you're home by yourself I don't care it's life it's life wow I've dealt with this my whole life going I can't wake up tomorrow and change this I have to deal with it what am I gonna get upset about why be upset you know what I mean like there's no sense to it your third second one fixed the issue but then totally fine but over the last in 20 years started losing hearing when in two years ago it's like

5% hearing. So I had to accept the fact that at 37 years old, I need a hearing aid and got one of those. And man, I remember getting the hearing aid and texting my dad as soon as got to the car, the world is so loud. It's just loud. And but it's, again, part of life. I love it. I love the relationship with your dad. It seems like... He's my hero, man. Yeah. He's my absolute hero. He, uh, I think we don't realize how cool our parents are until we get older. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Like as kids we're just like, they're our parents. As we get older, we're like, man, they're awesome. Yeah. And to see his relationship

with Landon is the greatest. Yeah. I live my life, especially with Landon, going, I just want to be as good of a dad as he was. I never will be.

Untouchable. Untouchable. I can try and I'm going to try. That's all I care about. And we still have such a cool relationship. My friends love him. My Hawke, Brian Myers, Kurt Hawkins, him and my dad are awesome together. Ethan Page and my dad

get along just because I've had them in as guests for ACW Wisconsin and that, and they love them. And they just they always say, how did, because I'm a undercover bully to people I get along. You're the bully. I'm the bully. Okay. At times. In a twist. in the locker room around my friends. You're pranking people.

I love just like winding him up. And the ultimate guy that... And minutes ago you said, thank God, I was not a subject to all of this. I'm going to start it myself. Yeah. I would pick on the Great Khali so much. Really? So much.

Just get him, I would just get him riled up. Just so much. And then one, he just would catch me off guard. He would come in the locker and behind me. me, get his hands on me, stop fucking with me. Yes, sir. That would have lasted a week.

But it was, it's, uh, Cali is the best human. I love Cali. Like, he's the ultimate diva, but he's okay with that. What do you mean diva?

He's a giant, so he has to be taken care of. That's right, that's right, yeah. You forgot he was a giant? No, no, but I just didn't know, like, is he asking for like green skittles in the back? You know what I mean? He just has to be taken care of, man.

Of course. It's, it's, uh, he's just the best. He's, he's, I love him. Do you still keep in touch? I saw him at a convention a few months ago. And it was literally both, when we locked eyes, our face, I felt both of our faces light up. Wow. We haven't seen each other in so many years, but man, what a guy. Like, what a guy. Who were your best friends back then? Uh, Hawkins and Kofi. Okay. They were my riding buddies. Uh, we, we laugh about it. We were, Kofi and I always called ourselves team dad. because I had Landon, pardon me, and then he had his first son.

And, uh, pardon me. And then me, him and Hawkins would be riding together. We'd go to a Denny's or out to eat or somewhere, put our order in, and then we'd leave the table to call home, leaving Hawkins by himself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He goes, guys, come on. Like, this is awful. And so, uh, we were all home after a loop, and Hawkins texts Kofi and I,

hey guys can I be part of team dad oh that's awesome it was about having his his daughters and it was a cool thing so what do you think of heel Kofi love it because it's the real Kofi is it yeah we always said he's the biggest heel in the locker room

no one knows it just wish the fans he comes across such a like wholesome guy he's the best but he's all he's like me he's an undercover heel where when he'll wait to pick his spot me I'll just wind up everyone he waits to pick his spot and just to get a quick jab in

that's the ultimate wind up but he's just I always say with Kofi if there's ever a negative thing said about him and I've never heard one but if I were to ever hear one it would be that person

it's that person's fault he doesn't have a bad bone in his body like a truly bad bone it's the nicest most caring most giving human on the planet he's when he won

at Kofi Mania I remember watching it with Landon, and I started crying. I was like, man, he finally gets it. What, like, what a moment, right? Like, I don't know if there was a more... That and the Daniel Bryan moment are very one and two. Personally, I felt way more emotional for the Kofi one, being a close friend of his,

and just knowing what he went through so much of, of like pushing and pushing and pushing and never being taken seriously. You know what I mean? Like, Brian was taken seriously but just never at that level. Colfey was never taken seriously as a singles guy until he started that.

Just to see it all kind of kick off was awesome. Do you still watch wrestling? Every day. Okay. Every day? You're watching everything? WW, A, W, TNA, NXT.

Everything. You have enough time for all of this? Some of its clips. Yeah, yeah. But you're aware of everything going on. Love it. What do you love right now? I love how much wrestling there is.

Okay. In general. Yeah, yeah. In general, I love how much wrestling there is. I love that whether you like something or you don't. You can find something that you like. Yeah. You just had Darby Allen in.

Yeah, he was asking about you. Did you get to see him? I did not. Okay, because he was saying, he was talking about skydiving. He was looking forward to seeing, Listen. Yeah, yeah. Where are we?

By the way, this wasn't on air. So if you want to set it, he asked me when we said goodbye. He's like, is Hornswagel here? Yes. Where are? Are we here? Number two. Right here.

You're three. You're three. Darby. So this is a real thing. He wants to go skydiving with you. He wants me to jump out of a plane. It's going to happen. Okay.

Why does he want this? I don't know. Okay. Because I think he knows. So what I was going to say is, you had Darby him Yeah, yeah, yeah My son texted me

He is in school Hey, I'm watching Darby You're right after him, right? You're in class Go to like, come on Darby is his But it's so cool Darby is his Jeff Hardy

Yeah Barbie is his hero His hero Darby to him His ultimate warrior to me Wow It's insane Fascinating guy man

And fascinating He poured water all over himself He's just a nutcase Like we gave him A cup of water And he just poured sitting right there. He's a nutcase.

He's a nutcase. But he's been so giving and so, like, caring to Landon. Amazing. It's been awesome. But, yes, he wants me. He wants me to jump out of a plane because I think he, like, we talked about Lennon and I go into his compound and just, like, hanging out and doing some stunts and just having fun.

Yeah, we get you to jump out of a plane. I go, I don't know if little people can jump out of planes. I don't know if that works. I've never seen it. I have to, like, I can't go by myself. I have to be with someone. But then it's like Carlos from the hangover where it's like a baby in a backpack.

You just got the mental picture of me. A horn. A horn, Bjorn. There we go. You should market that. What a great lot. But I truly don't know if I can do it. Like, how do I jump out of a plane?

I'm just attached. But I'm a real human. but I'm, like, heavy, but I'm not, like, I'm not long. I don't know how it would work. He's the only one. I think that's another thing, like, he's the only one I'd ever think of doing it with because it would be so cool for my son. Oh, yeah.

I'm putting my life out of lying for my son. Like, it's crazy. Who knows? Maybe it'll happen. Who came up with you in DX? It's a funny story. Is, uh, I'm doing this stuff with you.

Chavo, the storyline of Chavo. And then one week, they're going to have me like Chavo turn and save me and us like team, be good guys. But then it happened that week. And then the next week we're going to do something together again

and they come up to me, oh, that's canceled. They go, awesome. Another segment's canceled. And they pull me aside. They go, you're going to be part of DX. I go, excuse me? I go, yeah, you're going to be, we're going to be, we're going to be working towards you being a part of DX. And I go, okay, awesome.

And then I found out later that Chavo and I were in the ring and Sean and Hunter were together. And Sean, I forget who said it to who, but they're like, my kids really like him. And then I was like, Chavo? And they go, no, Hornswoggle. And oh, what if he was part of us? Kids love him.

He could be like our mascot kind of thing. And that was it. Wow. Off to the races. Did you enjoy that? Yeah. Yeah. I got to be X-Poc.

I was doing DX. Piro. It was the coolest thing ever. Like, I got a shirt. It's on a figure now. Yeah. Man, that and the Vince's kid stuff overtook my life. Like, it was just such a rocket ship kind of feeling of just, just like, just,

Man, this is insane. There it is. Ringside Collectibles is me so happy with that. Yeah. Use promo code swaggle, save yourself 10%. Oh, yeah. That's surreal stuff for, for, I use that word again, for a long-time fan, and now you're in there with legends. My life is that.

Yeah. I live by, my life is, a lot of should never happen. But it did. And then you get into a war with Peter Dinklage. Fuck Peter Dinklage Yeah I love that your camera guy Even loved that

That was an audible Yeah Man Like I don't know Maybe I shouldn't speak on it But I don't care Did you bury the hatchet with him or no?

No Because he hasn't responded back So You're mad at him No no No Now I'm gonna be mad at him Okay sorry

No no Don't be sorry come on Here's the issue So Snow White and the Seven Doors The Live Action version was coming out Disney was producing it Or putting it out Yeah

Peter Dinklage goes out a podcast And says What have I been on my soapbox for For fighting for Our community To get regular roles And this that and the other thing And I'm like

So Disney cancels it Disney then casts it as normal-sized actors, not dwarfs. What are we doing here? Yeah. Now I stand up for my community. Yeah. My issue is, when you did Elf, that check cashed just fine.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've done a lot of roles where it was made for a little person. Sure, have you done roles that weren't? Yes, and I'm very proud of you for doing those roles. but don't take it away from others now now let's think about this these are seven roles yeah made for people of my community not me people of my community of the dwarf community that we don't get the opportunity what would be a major motion picture obviously Disney never does small scale sure sure sure sure isn't it's huge seven roles now you're talking seven roles

now you're talking stunt doubles extras all of that you took those jobs away my other thing was why is he the voice of a community when I could argue I was on television for 10 years

sure why am I would argue a lot more people know who you are than him I wouldn't say that I get dinked what we call it is dinked all the time

and my son loves it secretly loves it millions of people were watching you every week sure but he was on man Game of Thrones was the biggest thing ever

okay you're talking to a guy who never saw Game of Thrones I haven't either but I've watched Monday Night Raw for God's sakes I knew I like you I get it's okay he was in that

my son was yeah he was the huge so you think he had enough influence to get Disney to change their mind I do wow because he was the voice it was the you think you could have gotten one of those roles were you in the running

I didn't go all for it did you hear any rumblings that they were looking at you no okay but you were just defending your people I thought it was community bullshit yeah

The voice, I thought it was bullshit that he got it canceled, and that he was the voice of our community. Yeah. Like, why? Why is he get to be that? Who appointed you, yeah. Yeah, King Dwarf. Why? What are we doing here? And then it got recasted.

And then CGI, it's like, can I go, what are we doing? What happens if you see him? Have you ever met him? Never. And I wouldn't be a dick. I'd just be like, hey, man, I don't appreciate. And I hope you can see what your. voice and what you said did.

That's all it is. I'm not going to be, I would never be outright mean to him or anything, obviously. I would just, I hope he can sit back and realize what's the speaking out that he did, even if it wasn't speaking out, what the comment he

made did for the dwarf acting community. Sure. Again, seven roles that are made for our community. Yeah, yeah, I know. And how many like how many opportunities? Never happens. Like for a different movie like that. Anyway, the movie flopped.

Did it not? Sure. Maybe it was a blessing. Nah. Nah, nah, I don't want anything to flop. Sure, sure, sure. ACW. Yeah, man.

You own it? I own it. I run it with an awesome, awesome group. ACW, Wisconsin out of Oshkosh. Going to start in 2013. There it is. That's it. Just had Brian in.

We're having Brian in. Show coming up? We have a show coming up November 9th. We have our anniversary in December. And you have AI wrestling this weekend? AI wrestling out of Cleveland. Yeah, man. That's next Saturday.

Me versus Danhausen, who is just... Have you had him in yet? I've not, no. He would be awesome. No, we're just getting into the AW guys now. Danhausen. It's one of my favorite humans. Okay.

I'm so happy to see... Yeah, he's a character. I mean, I've seen him a bunch of times online. He's hilarious. See the success he's had. And then in two years, Landon? That's what you said, right? Yeah.

Yeah, man. Has he shown interest? That's all he wants to do. Okay. He finally, like a year ago, out of nowhere, brought up to his mom and I, law enforcement. Oh. Because I flat out how to talk with him. I said, hey, let's keep wrestling as a backup plan.

Let's not have that as number one. That could be 1A. Let's have that be backup. Because it's not a guaranteed thing. I got lucky. All of these guys nowadays get lucky. Wrestling is crazy, isn't it, where you can be the best in the country? It's not like football or basketball or baseball where you're drafted number one.

It's luck. I truly feel getting signed is luck nowadays. It's luck and hype. If you don't have that, I don't know what you're doing. So let's have that be our backup plan. and he brought up law enforcement. He still wants to wrestle and he wants that to be his thing.

I won't train him until he's 17. He's already going to have enough battles to go against with me being his dad. But yeah, man, I would be lying if I were to say I don't want him to,

but I just don't want him to make it a priority. Like, I don't want him to live his life thinking I need to do that. Right. Well, man. What a dad you are. What a career you've had? I just want to be a good dad. I want to be a good human and fun. I'm finally, I would say the last year. Ethan Page. What a guy.

Canadian boy. Canadian boy. Ethan Page has really made me... He texted me one day. you need to love Dylan and I was like man I hate me and it was like it was really cool

and uh... Why do you think he texted you that? Because I didn't but what prompted it a lot of things just out of the blue no there were things that

I was messaging with him about okay I just wasn't happy okay I just wasn't happy in life got it a lot of life things where you just need to love Dylan.

And I was like, man, he's the best. And I'm starting to really, really like Dylan and be happier with him. That's good. And that's all I want. But it's just wanting to have an awesome kid and see him grow up to be awesome. And I know he will be.

He said, man, if something goes right for him in wrestling, I'm ready to hang on to those coattails. Because he's going to be great. I know he's going to be great. I just won't tell him that. I can't build that ego too much. You might be watching right now. You better be supposed to be a football practice.

They got their last game. Their last game is this week, man. And I hate sports. I've always hated sports. It's just never been a sports guy. Obviously, I don't have the build for football or basketball. But, man, being a football dad has changed me of like, this is awesome. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, congrats, man. Thank you so much for coming. This is the best. This is the best. Thank you. Thank you for reaching out. All the best.

And congrats on getting back into the WW family with the nostalgia deal. Thank you for this. What a great, nice little surprise. The centerpiece. Yes. I saw all the toys. Not toy. Yeah, they're toys.

I saw all the toys. And I was like, man. We even got these guys. You know these guys from a major? I was just with them yesterday at Comic Carver guys, yeah. The stuff that Kinnick and the boys are doing are second to none. Yeah, no. Literally second to nine.

This is the one I grew up on. You were LJN guy? Yeah, you grew up on Hasbro. So like when I saw this, like just holding it takes me back to being five. I hated LJNs because A, they're too heavy. You'll knock a kid out with them. And B, they didn't do anything. Hasbro's...

I know, I know, but that was... Oh, 100%... Childhood, yeah, yeah. That's the... I think that's the biggest, like, when it comes to wrestling figures, the biggest battle is L. Jan versus Hasbro. Absolutely.

And it's never been the same. There's your collection right there. Just some whatnot stuff. I love whatnot. Thank you so much. All the best to you, Dylan, and really appreciate you coming in and continued success.

Good luck this weekend with the upcoming shows. Good luck the next few months. And, yeah, you're welcome any time. There it is. Danhausen. Boom. Oh! Look at all these promos.

I just love it. John Thorne, you better pad that envelope, baby. We'll take a quick break, say goodbye to Dylan, be back to wrap up the show. Don't go anywhere. Thanks, guys. There they were, the boys in the back. Boys in the back.

Boys in the back. That was on Thursday. Good thing about having in-studio guests who can showcase all the other programs on the Uncrowned Network. We're inching closer to the world premiere of our very first uncrowned film what about what about what what what yes yeah what a day sometimes you know I'm a very

reclusive person so sometimes I think man three in studio guests how am I going to do this and then you do it and you just like where else do you get to meet individuals like this Darby Allen Marab Duolishvili Dylan Postal I mean it's amazing postal Brandon Moreno's back It's a Tzuro Tira Ooh, at 135? No, 125. Yeah. No, what was I thinking? Why did I say 125?

Yeah, they're stacking up that last card with phantom weights and fly weights. It's great. I am happy, thank you. That's a huge fight. Huge. Okay, if Van drops out, who gets the nod? Because you'd think that that's the backup fight, right? Man, Brandon Moreno is a bigger name, but Tatsuro Tara is the fresh face. Oh, I love that fight.

It's a fantastic fight. Probably the winner will get next. They do another Moreno Pantosia? Yo, give me Tatsuro Taira against Marab in Japan. Tatsuro Tara against Marab? Not Marab. Pantosha. It's been a long day.

Oh, that'd be incredible. In Japan. I was thinking Marab in the main event. I still can't believe that happened. Yeah. I really thought he was joking that he didn't know No even like yeah

Behind the scenes He was like Oh He like called his manager About his flight And they were like You see you got announced It's like yeah

I was live on I want Oh my god What Danny wasn't watching Shame on you Danny No no no Danny was watching No I know He didn't give his the alert

Shout to Ruby All All kinds of announcements here I see Sugar Neeks Has been added To the tank Jake Paul fight card against Amanda Gale

undisputed title fight so there you go what's all the laughing back there? I don't know no seriously I'm not the one laughing I mean who is laughing I don't know

the crowd of control room today man but I'm sitting there's a lot you're holding you're holding first pitch yet over in Toronto it looks like a ball oh wow literally no no okay wow I think they're doing the national anthem.

Trey is Savage. Oh, on, could you imagine? Nah, it's top first. It's open. Oh, yeah, but that old Canada hit big on Thanksgiving. Oh, my gosh. Farisiyam against Nasim Sarikov? Oh, down for that.

That's been added. The Ruby guy, no? Sarikov was supposed to fight Gamran. Yeah, in the main event on November 8th. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. What else? Has there been any other news? You saw Jan Blahovich

Bogdan Guskov? Yeah, said that one. Can we talk about the moment that Rick came in and gave Darby a cup of water and he just poured it on himself? Yeah. What was that?

I'm still not quite sure. He said he had to wake himself up. He's a bit of a nut, eh? No. And what about when he said that he didn't take a shower? Because it looked like his paint was cracking. Yeah.

Yeah, he probably just didn't take a shower. I mean, this guy was, he lived in a car by choice. What a fascinating dude, right? Pouring water on himself doesn't surprise me. And him talking about the Georgia heat, that's no joke, man. Like an August morning by 8 a.m. He would be sitting in there sweating his ass off. What a guy.

Chris Duncan against Terrence McKinney. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, did you guys talk? There's like eight fights an ounce for this card. Look, man, I don't have the whole list. Oh, God. Whoa, what? What?

Nothing, man No, what? Three-run bomb by the Mariners Seriously? Yeah, top one Really? Yeah, Mariners up three-nothing Against the kid?

Are you serious? I'm being that serious Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jordan had a no-hitter last time Yeah, yeah, Jordan just showed me. Julio Rodriguez, man, this guy is good Him and Jorge Polanco Yo, he was kid, wow, three-run bomb in the first? Yeah, it's tough.

Go, Bill. Let's go Buffalo You Buffalo Only a minus three and a half Yes dicey Coming into the A baby Hostile environment A town down

Mercedes Ben's tough place to play We're gonna be rocking the throwbacks Wow Yeah so are we by the way Just for the record This is my like real This is your Super Bowl Not the Super Bowl

But like this is This is like my real deal If we win this game I'm all the way back in On the Falcons Don't you have money on Bill's winning at all? Yeah, yeah, to win the Super Bowl.

I'll be supporting come January, February. Appreciate you. Yeah, of course, man. Oh, here's this from Ovin. Last UFC pay-per-view in the ESPN era will feature a flyway title fight, just like the first ESPN. I was thinking actually of this when Marab was in. So the first main event was Sohudo against T.J. Last one will feature a title fight at Flyway.

We'll feature Henry Suhudo. Wow, good call, Ovin. We'll feature Marab, who will break the most title fights in a count. calendar year will feature Josh Van, who can become the second youngest UFC champion in history, will feature both Marab and Van, who will fight in their fourth fight in 25, will feature Pantosia and Marab the champions with the most title defenses among active champions. It's not bad. It's not bad at all.

No, man. They could be doing a lot worse. It's not going to do a Millie pay-per-view vise for the final pay-per-view on ESPN, but I can't wait for it. What about that dinner with Hunter Campbell that Marab was talking about? Yeah. Did you miss that one? Wow. Welcome back, Rick.

Hi. Refreshment. He said he was at a dinner with Hunter Campbell, and he said Hunter admired my... Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm sorry. My hardworking nature. Yeah. And he watched the Logan Paul thing. And he watched the entire... He watched impulsive. He also watched the entire Pejorian interview, man.

He keeps up. He keeps up. Rick, what's going on back there? Was there any interaction between any of the guests? Because it's like three very different guests. No? A handshake between... I was hoping for a Darby, Marab. Co-lab? No. There was no Darby Marab. There was a

Hornswaggle Marab handshake, hello. Okay. Oh yeah. Yeah, right outside. A lot of fans outside for Maraub. A lot of, are they doing that thing, huh? Like outside the building? Yeah, he didn't mind it. How many, when we say a lot? Nah, you know. Eight or not. Why'd you have to be? I heard when they thought Connor was coming. There was a whole scene. Stop it, guys. Stop. Don't do this.

Some kid walked up to me. He was like, all right, you're coming from the Elwani show? I said, what's going on out here? He's like, is that Marat de Valleish feelings?

I was like, get the fuck out of here, man. Whoa, what's happening? What is this? I thought something else. I thought they hit another home run. All right,

let's answer some questions. We got some turkey to get to, right? You guys aren't having turkey? No, I don't celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in my house. Neither do I. Don't worry.

Let's see, let's see. You know what? We didn't even get off. You celebrated it growing up? No. You don't get school off? You said it was a holiday.

Okay, I'll explain to you. It's not a holiday? It is a holiday, but I went to a Jewish school. And because in September, October, like, my kids have had off at least three days a week since school started, because there's Rosh Hashanah, then there's Jem Kippur, then there's Sukkot, then it's Shemitic, then it's Simchata, you know all these. September's loaded. Yes.

So because of that, like, even. Even today for Indigenous People's Day, they didn't have off. Because they have off tomorrow and the next day. Oh, wow. For Shmini Aceras and Simchthoris. Oh, wow. It's just Orthodox Canadians that celebrate. No, no, no.

So it's anyone who goes to a, you know, a public school or a non-religious school, you get off. But, you know, we used to joke about it. Like, oh, man, in America, they get, you know, lions, cowboys. Here we get, you know, the rough riders against the alouettes, you know. We get a great CFL game. They get, you know, three NFL games, or back then it was two NFL games. It just was kind of an afterthought. I've appreciated it more post, you know, moving to the United States.

But even for the person who celebrates it, I don't think it's as big of a deal as it is here. Also, for example, the fact that it's on a Monday, you know, here it's now become like, Friday you have off, Black Friday, and then, like, if you subscribe to what Connor thinks, it's like the Wednesday before. There, it's just Monday. I thought you took the whole week off for Thanksgiving, no? In Canada? No, here. Rick, in school, did you have it? Or I guess anyone who went to school in, like, America.

It actually was, I know I joke about it a lot. We got Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off. I don't think we had Wednesday. No, no, no, no, no. There's no Wednesday. Let's go to the... I don't like that Tuesday before Thanksgiving. hits okay first one

Sammy well said Ariel peace upon the Middle East man I was looking at some of those I can't wait to go back and watch some of the stuff like there's this summit

happening in Egypt and it's literally like every leader of the free world together you guys see this like all together it's unprecedented anyone see this

yeah I saw it it's wild I saw Trump dapping up the French president. Macron. Yeah.

Give me that fucking hand. Yeah, he's like, come on in here. It's a, it's a new day. As the great

Kofi Kingston once said, I'm very hopeful. I'm very hopeful. I interviewed, this is also from Sammy, I interviewed five-time Swedish World Championship

winner in floorball last week. You guys inspired me to do that. Shout out Sammy. Sammy's the man. He's a long-time listener. We love Sammy. What's floorball?

Yeah, I don't know floorball. is a sport played with five players and a gold key oh you know what this is this is like uh no no no this is like uh this is like floor hockey oh okay got it yeah yeah i see it now got different sticks but it seems like the same type of wow is that big in sweden love it feels like that's the place it would be countries check republic Denmark estonia finland germany japan latvia norway poland slovakia sweden switzerland first played 1960 all right love it um zombie slayers could ufc do a hawaii card if w w w w go to hawaii does w w w go to hawaii i think so

yeah who knows california driving says fyi i loha stadium is currently rent is currently rent being demo demolished a new stadium being built blaisdell only holds 8800 fans instead of 50 at Aloha. Guess what? Charge your premium dynamic pricing for the 88 and everyone goes home happy. How about that? I don't think it's going to work. No? Elver says, I told BITB about a one-minute scraps Mailman Fight League,

collab slash uncrown, Doc to help spread the word. I offer the idea free of charge, but feel free to offer merch. Shout out to Isaac Diaz, who's probably listening right now. Shout out. Corbin says, a bit disappointed. We only at one Ilya, Volk and Kayla fight this year. As much as I like Ilya, not a very active champ,

but doesn't take much damage. I mean, he fought in June. So, they've got to be strategic. I suspect we see him maybe January. So then do you change your stance?

First Paramount, PLE. Come on. That's six months. Are we officially going PLE? I mean, what else are we going? Supercard? Numbered event.

Don't love number. Bird event, PLE. Doesn't roll off the tongue. Keep it all. What's the UFC going to call it? PLE. Numbered event. Like WWE.

No, I don't think they'll take it. Ariel, you got this from Shiv's. You got to get on prop quiz and avenge Chuck. What's that? Anyone know? We talked about, you know, the trivia show. Oh, is it called prop quiz? No, I don't think it is, but.

Yeah, it is. It is. Main Card Minute. Long Island Luke. Yeah, Main Card Minute. Prop quiz. Oh, okay, it is. I'm waiting to go against Rick.

I knew it as Main Card Minute. Wait, really? Maybe we could do it. Wow. All right. Soft, maybe. I didn't know you threw out the challenge. I didn't know it was like, we're just waiting on me.

We're just waiting on me? We've been waiting on you. Yeah, come on. All right. Tomorrow, guys. It's a loaded day here, but it's an even loader day tomorrow. Does that make sense? No.

Loaded her? No. Tomorrow we have OTN. Get your questions in. We're sticking with Tuesdays, at least for now. Ayrhawani.substack.com is the place to be. We'll be joined by Mikey Musimechi, Darth Riga Tone. Looking forward to that.

Polly Malinaji? All Italian show. Corey Sanhagen? And Ima Chattelgari. I mean, it's not a bad lineup. It's not a bad lineup. Wednesday's going to be great as well. Next week's going to be great.

Later on this week is going to be great. We've got a lot going on. Just rolling along here over at Uncrowned HQ. All is well. All as well. All right. It's time to go. Miss you, Frankie.

You think Frank's listening? No. I'm going to give a special code for... I heard. I heard that you gave it to him last time, though, so what's the point? No, no, no, that's legit. You just tell it to him. Okay, what's the code?

No, no, no. Wasabi, wasabi. Okay. Frank text the code. The code is before the show tomorrow, and we'll believe it. Rick, you weren't here before. What? Did Darby ask for the water, or were you just being kind?

He asked for the water. And then do you think that, why do you think... Plan to do that? Yeah. Yes. You're really blown away by this. I mean, it was just, I was sort of taken aback. Yeah.

Everybody back here was impressed. Like, three ounces of water. Everybody back here was impressed by how he avoided the equipment, right? Yeah. I appreciate it. A true pro, pro. Also, you know what? I kept thinking of, like, aren't your, like, undies wet now?

I don't think it was no water for that. I wanted to wipe down the chair and, like, it was completely dry. Yeah, how do he do it? How do he absorb it? On his body. Also, when he said the cancer thing, I couldn't quite figure out. But you said the chat had a couple of suggestions, right? Can I say it?

I don't know. This is what the chat said. Not us. Chat was guessing Rusev and Malachi Black. Yeah. I don't know. Were they that big of a deal there to where the morale would be that affected? I don't know.

I haven't the foggiest. We'll get on that. But it's great. Life is good. God bless society. God bless America. God bless the peacemakers. God bless humanity.

God bless humanity. this program. God bless our guests. Darby Allen, Hornswagel, Marab Dalishvili. God bless all of you. God bless all of them. Back tomorrow. Same time, bless us. A piece of out here.