The Ariel Helwani Show - Merab Dvalishvili, figuring out the UFC lightweight title picture, Plus, viral sensation Max Holzer, Phil Davis, Thad Jean

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

Ariel Helwani and the gang kick off the show with a lively discussion about the UFC's lightweight title picture (05:37).Undefeated featherweight Max Holzer discusses his viral win — and celebration — at Oktagon 69, the backstory behind the chaos, what happened afterward, his unique walkouts, his MMA dreams and more (29:50).Merab Dvalishvili discusses his UFC 316 title rematch against Sean O'Malley, why he feels bad for the former champ, adjustments he's making for the second fight, nearly falling off a cliff and more (1:05:51).Phil Davis discusses his PFL first-round tournament matchup against Rob Wilkinson, his experience in the Bellator-to-PFL transition, why so many of his fellow Bellator fighters abandoned ship, his longevity in MMA and more (1:37:04).Thad Jean discusses his first-round knockout of Mukhamed Berkhamov in the opening round of PFL's welterweight tournament, his road to MMA, his crush on Dakota Ditcheva and more (2:01:14).EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/uncrowned Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Errrya Hawaii Show! Back in your life! On this Tuesday, April 8, 2000. And 25, hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is a frigid Tuesday afternoon in New York City. So happy to be indoors. So happy to be doing another show

and you know we love Tuesdays around these parts. Why? Because we play too. Today we have a jam-packed show. Four guests on today's A8 show and then at 5 p.m. Eastern it's myself it's Ade Oladibo over on the Dazon Boxing YouTube channel gaining some momentum over there and we'll have the big man Fabio Wardley who returns to

action on June 7th at Ipswich town Portman Road against Big Baby Miller we showed you that face-off yesterday we'll talk to him about that and a whole lot more. A ton going on in the world of boxing tomorrow, my friends. I'm very excited about this. I will be hosting the press conference at the theater at Madison Square Garden right next door. Second time I get a chance to host a press conference at MSG. The first time was literally inside MSG. That was for the ill-fated Jake Paul versus Haseem Rahman Jr. fight.

This time at the theater. They're expecting around 1,000 or so people there. Open to the public. I do think you have to sign up. Presale for that card, which happens on July 11th. Of course, the big one, the trilogy, Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano III starts today. Tickets go on sale tomorrow. I think they're expecting a sell at like within minutes is what I'm being told. And some announcements as well.

It's a pretty big deal. I disagreed with Andrew Schultz last week who said that he felt like the all women's card was a gimmick. I really dig it. And it feels like the natural evolution of their rivalry. If you will, first time two women headlining MSG for the first time. That's a big deal. Second time, they're going to sell it. They're going to sell it. They're going to sell it. They're going to sell it. They're going to sell it. They're going to natural evolution of their rivalry, if you will.

First time, two women headlining MSG for the first time, that's a big deal. Second time, steal the show from Jake and Mike at a massive venue. This time they bring all their friends with them. It's all women card. I dig it, I dig it. So I'm looking forward to doing that.

It's been a minute since I hosted one of these. The last one was back in November. So have to dust off some of that, you know, some of that dust, brush off the dust, dust off the dust, I don't know. Get less rusty, if you will. So that'll be tomorrow at six. If you're in the area, come see your boy, come say hello, looking forward to that.

Today on the program, back into the show, we're gonna be talking to someone that I'm very excited to talk to for the first time. He on the program, back into the show, we're gonna be talking to someone that I'm very excited to talk to for the first time. He is the pride of Haiti. Porto Prince, stand up. Thad Jean, now his name is Thad Jean.

That's how he's calling himself. I do believe it should be Thad Jean, or Thad Jean, because in Haiti they speak French and I feel like Jean is really Jean. We're going to talk to him about it. He's one of the bright young stars in PFL. They need more guys like him. He was incredible on the microphone after his win on Thursday. Next up for him is Jason Jackson and I really think they have something special with this young man. Undefeated. I'm looking forward to speaking to him for the first time. It has been a while since I spoke to Phil Davis, Mr. Wonderful, the multiple time UFC title contender, former

Bellator champion now on the BFL. Let's catch up with Mr. Wonderful Phil Davis will do so today on the program. Yesterday, we spoke to Shugashan O'Malley, or as he likes to call himself. Sugar Shane. He'll return to action on June 7th against the champion. he likes to call himself Shugashane. He'll return to action on June 7th against the champion Murab Diwale Shvili, his frenemy. Today we speak to Murab and so looking forward to doing so at 2 o'clock

and at around 1.30 a rising star out of Germany will be stopping by Max Holzer who we spoke about yesterday. He had that insanely viral moment after his win over the weekend at the Octagon event where he kissed his opponent, humped his opponent, and then got pushed out of the cage. Yes, this is it right here. Look at this. Look at this moment right here.

Holzer, the kiss, the hump, and then the falling out of the cage. I mean, just pure insanity, which has been covered everywhere. Like if you Google Max Holzer's name, every outlet under the sun wrote about this. So I'm actually gonna tell you a little bit more about Max in a moment,

and we'll get to learn a little bit about him. He's a big time prospect, undefeated, out of Germany, and we'll do so before getting into the chat with him. So a little something for everyone. We'd like to shine a light on the big names and the up and comers. I feel like we are doing that in the vets as well. Uh, very well on today's program. Uh, do want to wish a hearty congratulations to the Florida

Gators and all their alumni all over the world. I know one person who went to Florida, both Rick and I worked with her back at the ESPN days, Reva Kingsbury. I think of her when I think of Florida and vice versa. What a win yesterday. And we really like that young man, Walter. My son and I really like him and a lot of people think that he could be a top pick in the NBA draft coming up in June. Anyway, they beat Houston in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The reason I bring this up is we here at Uncrowned, in partnership with our friends at Yahoo Sports, had a little bracket mayhem tournament, and I wanna wish a congratulations

to the winner of said tournament. There it is, there are the standings. I don't see my name or... Yeah, I'm not on there either. Who me? See his name, Rick Jordan? Rick Close, Close, 16th. 16th is freaking nuts, by the way.

How many points is 16? I think I had 147. I mean, I was doing pretty good. 16th is freaking nuts by the way. How many points is 16? I think I had 147. I mean I was doing pretty good. That's pretty freaking great. The winner 175. I just wanna give a shout out to my collaborator Vishal. You know we were in the lab together. We were in the lab together coming up with the strategy,

the formula that got me 16th place. I mean all things considered, I feel like 16th's pretty good. You know, much better than all you chumps obviously. I was 236 but I had Georgia going all the way so. What are you gonna do? I mean, all things considered, I feel like 16's pretty good. Much better than all you chumps, obviously. I was 236, but I had Georgia going all the way, so. What are you gonna do? I was 251 or something like that.

Shout out to Kel though. All business Kel, baby. Let me see that final four. What'd he get? Did he get them all? He got them all, yeah, all the ones. He actually had all the one and two. Listen, you say that, but it doesn't always happen.

When was the last time? 2008 or something like that? Yeah, oh wait. You still have to roll the dice. You still have to go with it. Yeah, he got Auburn, Florida. He got Duke, Houston. Well, shout out to all business, Kel,

not to be confused with our very own Kel Dansby. Maybe he is Kel Dansby. I don't know. I don't think it is Kel Dansby, but if it is, I'd be very glad. That would be incredible. Well, if it is Kel, we'll send you some merch and we know how to reach you.

If it's not Kel Dansby of our actual team, we're going to reach out to you and we are going to send you some merch. It's just, uh, you know, we'll be in touch. Yeah, we'll be in touch. Our people, your people, uh, PC, get a haircut. What's going on over there? Yeah.

I got a haircut today. Yeah. You know yourself, you're looking nice. It will be tamed I'd say for a good three days. And then the mound, which appears here, will be back as immortalized in GC's PFL draft pictures. It is there in fairness, like I can understand why he looked at that.

That looks pretty much like Pizzeria most of the time. So, completely understand. How much does it go for, haircut these days? Inflation ever since the tariffs made 300 quid. 300, so that's a little less than Frank. Just a little. Yeah, no seriously, what is a haircut? Cause we talk about the price of a haircut.

30 quid, 30 quid. Okay, 30 quid is what? What were we talking, 40 dollars? Yeah, 40 dollars, probably 35 dollars, something like that. Yeah, alright, that's not too bad. Well you look fantastic, you look radiant. You look fantastic. You look radiant Wow. Thanks I believe that literally glowing and we can't wait to have you here in July Of course, we'll talk many times between now in July

But I was thinking of the fight tomorrow the press conference and all that stuff a few things that I wanted to talk about guys as we inch closer to UFC 314 and one of my favorite cities in the world Miami what a scene and What a card they are bringing to Miami. They have, they've done a great job of bringing big time cards to Miami. You know, they, they went like, what was it? 15, 16 years without doing a single show in Miami. And now it's just, it's become a staple March, April. They're always doing cards around this time.

We talked about the poster yesterday. There it is. Not as good as the Montreal one, although it's become a staple. March, April, they're always doing cards around this time. We talked about the poster yesterday. There it is. Not as good as the Montreal one, although it does seem like it's the same type of format with the four box.

I don't know if that's a new thing. Anyway, saw an interview yesterday with Patty Pimlet. He was talking to the Nelk Boys and he was talking about Armin, Armin Tsurukyan, who's become somewhat of the forgotten man man weirdly enough, going from the number one contender 24 hours away from fighting for the belt. Of course we know what happened in January as he was getting ready to fight. Islam had to withdraw. Paddy took a bit of a shot at him and then Armin this morning responding to

Paddy Pimlet via social media saying, says the guy who got the easiest path to the top in the UFC just because he's got a funny accent and budget Beatles haircut. I dare you to call me out if you win and we will see who will shit his pants in the octagon when we meet clown Patti the baddie. The shit his pants line is in reference to Patti saying that essentially Armin shit his pants and didn't want to fight Islam. In response to that we had

Mateus Gamrot who knows a thing or two about Armin, quote tweeting it saying, stop looking for easy fights especially with a clown. Man, Patty catching a stray here. Without ambition, you will never be a champion. You got a chance to revenge so accept it. So Mateus insinuating that there's an offer on the table to fight Armin Tsurukian and I do believe there is some truth to that guys. Are you buying or selling the idea of Armin versus Mateus too? Does this interest you? Armin Tsurukian going from 24 hours away from fighting for the belt. And, and a lot of people thought he had a nice solid chance against Islam considering what happened in their first fight many moons ago and considering the fact that Armin took that fight on short notice and went the distance with him.

Or do you think that Armin deserves better? What do you say, PT? I mean, yeah, I can, I can see where Armand's coming from here. He probably be a bit pissed off, you know, so close to that title. And it does feel as though he's been completely removed from the title conversation. Especially with Gamra coming off a loss to, to Hooker. I feel like that's going to be, he's going to take some disrespect from that, right? Like he's going to be like, right. So you're going to allow this guy to try and rebuild his own total aspirations off me. It's not exactly a hot fighter, a guy who people are like, what, when are we going to see Gamrot

next? It's a tough situation. And I think, I think obviously Patty saying this about him will hurt even more because, and look, he's saying it like, you know, you get the easiest path, but this is what happens when you're a guy that is polarizing, that is captivating, and that can do to an arena what he did in Manchester in July at 304. You know, that is rare. That is an X factor that a lot of people don't have in the UFC. We constantly talk about the need for stars, you know, the lack thereof, and Patty could potentially be one of those guys. And

when you're one of those guys, things happen for you a lot quicker. So imagine he's very annoyed with that kind of offer, but really what can he do? Because they really haven't bent over a barrel here. He just needs to compete and try to get back in that total conversation. Go ahead. I agree with Pizzi that he's in a bad spot, but if I'm Danny Rubensian, if I'm managing, I do not take any fight unless I'm assured that it moves me back into the number one contender spot, that it moves me next for the title.

I can't, like, I know you don't have many options, right? Because obviously Dana White is pissed off, and when that happens, you can put yourself in a bad spot. But as we've said before, taking fights and then options right because obviously Dana White is is pissed off and you know when that happens like you can put yourself in a bad spot but as we've said before taking fights and then putting yourself potentially on the sideline let's say you fight you get hurt whatever it is if you were just waiting and standing by and an opportunity arose that the other guys weren't ready to take I think that cooler heads will prevail and you could potentially end up with that opportunity so I think you have

to be cautious and not just take any fight against anybody because there's also no guarantee that that puts you back in good standing. You beat a Mateusz Gamrot, they don't maybe go, ah, all's forgiven, you know? You beat Gamrot, all's forgiven. You have to have some kind of assurance from the UFC before you make any next move. And if that, if they tell you you beat Gamrot, you're back in that spot, take on Gamrat, no problem. But you know what, like GC, this makes me nervous for Ilya. You know why? Because I feel like if they're offering Armin Mateusz, Armin to me should be fighting Charles Olvera. And if they're

offering Armin Mateusz, that means Charles is getting Ilya, and then what happens to Islam? To me, it should be, it should be, look at the rankings. It should be Armand versus Charles, it's right there. And it should be Islam versus Ilya. At worst, Gaiji. Yeah. Like, Armand should not be fighting Mateusz Gamroth, and why would he really want to?

You mentioned Forgotten Son feels like Armand. The Forgotten Son really feels like Mateusz Gamroth. It feels like he's always trying to work his way into these fights. He can never get him. He's 24 and 3, he's number 8 in the division, no one ever talks about him. So I just don't see why Armin would have any interest in doing that unless to Rick's point he was guaranteed a title shot off of it and I can't imagine that would be the case when you guys when you have guys like Gaethje waiting in the wings, Charles waiting in the wings, whatever's gonna happen with Ilya, I just, I would not advise that as Armin.

Is it possible Charles and Islam are what they're targeting? Does it have to be Charles versus Ilya? Sure, but either way, Ilya's getting the shaft. Oh, no doubt, no matter what. Ilya should be fighting for the belt next, I'm sorry. I agree with you. He was the featherweight champion. He gave up the belt. He should not have to work his way back up.

That's what happens. I mean, I know he didn't hold the belt for as long as Alex did, but he beat two of the greatest at 145 pounds convincingly. Oh, yeah. So convincingly. Like they've never been beaten before. I know Alex was coming off the loss to Issa, but you get what I'm saying, at 145.

He did what Connor did. He did what Connor did. He came in and blew the doors off the guys. That's what's bothering me about all of this heading into Saturday. He's an undefeated champion who is also a star moving up a division. I think he should fight for the belt as well.

Not for nothing, lads. It's a nightmare fight for Sarukin. I know he's won before against Gamma, but Gamma's so hard to look good against. This guy is so decorated. Like, I think he won the ADCC. He's a brilliant- No, no, no.

Gamrot won that fight. That's what he said. Excuse me. Sorry. Oh. Yeah. But that's what I mean. It's, it's, it's a, you know, even if you were to say, right, Rick, in the situation,

the stipulation you put forward, like, you will get a title shot off this win. You know, if you don't go in and set the world on fire, like, you know, you know, you will seek to retract the situation like that. Like they're not going to, it's very hard to look good against Gamera. Um, as GC just corrected me, he's lost to him before. I think it's a very, very tough way to put yourself in the toil mix, but beaten a guy that nobody is talking about, as GC said. To play devil's advocate though, is Charles Olivera or Justin Gaethje not a tougher fight? Are those not guys you would consider? To me, that feels just as risky, if not riskier.

I do not want to fight Charles Olivera. And this is why, if I was Ilya Taporyev, I would not want to fight Charles Olivera. That's a hefty job to get done to guarantee yourself a shot at Islam Makachev. If I was Armin Tsaroukian, I would not want to take another opportunity against Charles Oliveira. I would rather fight Gamroth. Oh, it's Charles.

I don't know if you'd want to fight Gamroth, because it's probably going to be super close. It's probably going to come down to the wire, and you might lose again. And if you lose to Gamroth, then you're out of the title picture. This may just be my own feelings on it. On which you say on this series.

I feel that Armand is significantly better than where he is. Than the 2022 matchup. When he fought Gamrot. Sure, but he needs that high profile win. He was right there. And it seems like he's being punished, to be honest. And this is happening.

Oh, he's clearly being punished. He's not getting the title shot. This is, I mean, yeah, but it's one thing to say like, all right, we're not giving you a title shot. You have to fight Charles. It's another to say you have to fight the eighth ranked guy. And I'm not trying to hate on Gamera, but Gamera is coming off a loss to Dan Hooker almost a year ago.

Well, not almost a year ago, but August of last year. So it's not like he's on like a seven fight winning streak or anything like that. He's not on the same type of role that Armin was on against top level competition. Armand beat Charles Olvera at 300. I think that Armand can have more of an impressive performance against Gamrot than he can against Charles.

We saw the Charles fight. I think it goes pretty similarly, but I also think there's a world where Charles can win that fight. I think against Gamrot you get an opportunity. Now granted, to Pizzi's point, even if they say to you, hey, all's good. Don't worry about it.

You get the win. That expiration date is the moment they left their mouth and then it doesn't apply anymore. They could just lose that. But I think he has an opportunity to go out there and finish a Gamrot and really look impressive. And then you go, Armand Sarukin is back. I don't think it's that much of a bad thing but I would need that assurance. I

would need you to tell me all is forgiven for this pullout let me move on with my career I want to be next and if that's the case I would fight Gamrock. Here's the flip side. Paddy wins on Saturday. Does he call out Armin? Yeah hell yeah. Well that's the fight. If you're Armin, you want that fight. No, but no, no, no. Does Patty call out Armin? Yeah. Why not? If you're Patty, you want the Armin fight? Fastest track to the title.

He would be jumping up to seven. Like who else would he be fighting? He's not going to fight Poirier. He's not going to fight Harle. Charles. Charles is a better matchup for him. If Patty wins, if Patty wins, that's, that's like, it's perfect. Like that, that is, that is a great situation for both of us.

Patty versus Armin isn't a great matchup for Patty. Patty versus Charles, a way better matchup for him and Charles a bigger name. If I'm Charles, I'm going to be a better matchup for him. If I'm Charlie, I'm going to be a better matchup for him. If I'm Charlie, I'm going to be a better matchup for him. If I'm Charlie, I'm going to be a better matchup for him. If I'm Charlie, I'm going to be a better matchup for him. If I'm Charlie, I'm going to be a better matchup for him. If I'm Charlie, I'm going to be a better matchup for him. If I'm Charlie, I'm going to be a better matchup for him. If I'm Charlie, I'm going to be a better matchup for him for both of us. Patty versus Armin isn't a great matchup for Patty.

Patty versus Charles is a way better matchup for him and Charles is a bigger name. If I'm Charles, do I want to wait around for Patty's next fight though? Probably not. But I'm just saying- Charles thinks he's getting a title fight. Charles thinks he's getting a title fight.

Or maybe, by the way- Or number one contender. Is it possible? This is all coming to me now. Is it possible? What a conundrum. Are they saving Ilya for Patti for fuck's sake? I said this months ago, but it worked.

If it's not for Patti, play it back. If you're Ilya, that is rough. No, but that means Ilya is not fighting for almost a year. His last fight was in October. Here's the thing. If you're Patti, okay, not if you're Patti, who do you guys think Patti will call out if he wins? You think he's calling out Armin?

I don't think he's calling out Armin. The Armin one is right there. You just shit talked him like to insane levels on a podcast and then got into a Twitter back and forth. It will go more viral if you call out Ilya. He's calling out Ilya. It will go way more viral. Or Charles.

Yeah, Hans sanitizes the boy. Or Charles. He's got options then. But he's got options. He could do multiple. He could do multiple. That's funny. He could call out multiple.

List them off. List all three of them off. He doesn't need to call out multiple. List them off. List all three of them off. He doesn't need to call out the person that he's actually going to ultimately end up fighting because he carries name value. He'll end up with a fight with one of them. He doesn't really need to be that surgical, right? It doesn't need to be just like perfect call out. Ilya is the name.

Ilya is the name you throw out there because even if you don't get it, you're saying, oh, I'm not scared of you. I'm still game. Come show up hand sanitizer boy. I'll tell you, I'll tell you, we won't call it. Mattias Gamra.

He's definitely not calling out Gamra, especially if he moves up above in the rankings by beating family. That's what makes this part so good. There's so many, there's so many big names and there's a lot of questions about what these people are going to do next. Now we're starting to get reports that this Mosar Evov versus Aaron Pico fight was never true.

And you know what? Shame on me. In my old age, you start to check less, you start to trust people. There's too many of these outlets out there not doing their due diligence. And so apparently it was wrong. I don't know. Shame on us for even bringing it up. I actually apologize to the audience. I should have done my due diligence, but it's just such a thing to check and this and that. But no, that's being lazy.

So shame on me for that. And apparently they're gonna wait for the title shot, which makes a hell of a lot more sense. Movstar Evelof should not be fighting Aaron Pico in his debut. Pico shouldn't fight Movstar and Movstar definitely shouldn't be fighting Pico in his debut. Movstar should be next for the title fight. He should be fighting the winner of this fight on Saturday. But again that's what makes this so interesting

and we're starting to get more and more content as the week rolls on regarding UFC 314. Did you guys see the shape that Alex Volkanovsky is in? He looks absolutely shredded. He looks incredible. All this talk about him being over 35. Look at this guy. He's ready to roll. Not bad. He's ready to roll. Holy shit. That's the best shape I've ever seen of him. Now, be happy. That's the best shape I've ever seen of him. Now, shout out to Mike Bond of MMA Junkie. He does a great column before each big show, pre-fight facts, if you will.

This one caught my eye. Alex Fulkonovsky can become the first fighter in UFC history to win an undisputed championship. Is it undisputed though? Yes, it's undisputed. The belt has been vacated. After back to back losses, he's the seventh fighter to compete in a title bout after back to back losses

with Randy Couture getting the lone victory to claim an interim belt. So not only is he battling the 35 and up demons, he's battling the back to back demons as well. Did we happen to know what the other names are? I'm curious who fell short. Is that in there? No, it's not in. Yeah that's that's an odd one but it does show like this thing's not a meritocracy. It's just two losses you're

still fighting for a belt doesn't. Well perhaps it will be the the new shorts that will get it done for him. He is he is going to be rocking these. What do we think of this? By the way at first glance glance, at first glance, I was like nah, but now that I look at them more, they come in the color way of like the Australian athletics, the green and yellow. I like that you got the nickname on it. You don't see that too often in the Greek font. You know, I didn't love them at first. They might rank fourth for me on custom shorts. Is that a ripoff of the Versace boxer shorts, that kind of waistband on those?

I think it's just supposed to be the Greek appeal, I think, you know? Alexander the Great. More MS Paint bullshit. Ilya number one, probably Drekis two, John three. Pereira had to go. Pereira's number one. Pereira four. Holloway. Wow. Holloway five, Volk six.

Feels pretty good in those rankings. Four and five I think that I thought. To me Ilya's are the second. Ilya's are the second. I'm a red, black and gold kind of guy. So my question is regarding the Greek you know theme because Volkanovsky was born in New South Wales, Wollongong. His father was born in Yugoslavia, now North Macedonia. His mother's from Greece. Okay. So he's honoring his lineage. Greek heritage.

Yeah. That's actually really nice. You love Greek guys in Australia. I thought it was just all Alexander the Great. Yeah. So, okay. Yeah. Not for So, okay. I thought for nothing. How many, what about, right?

If Pico is not fighting Eveluev, can we put him against Laron Murphy? We were thinking about who to match him with. That's the fight. You think Laron would do that? Yeah. Yeah. Top five matchup. If we went, if we weren't going crazy about like Pico getting straight in with

Eveluev, why the hell would you be mad? Like if he's a guy that's going to, that could potentially shake up the division and make a big impact. I think that's a great fight. Okay. I, I, I agree with you. He just didn't seem to be, he seemed to be someone who was talking about the established dudes. My, my feeling is that he would say like, why should I have.

Why should I have to fight a debutant? Why should I have to fight a guy who hasn't won a single fight in the UFC? I should be. Oh, I'm sorry. You were suggesting Pico Murphy, uh, pizza. Yeah. Why should I have to fight a debutant? Why should I have to fight a guy who hasn't won a single fight in the UFC? I should be getting- Oh, I'm sorry. You were suggesting Pico Murphy, uh, Pizzi. Yeah.

I was, I thought you were suggesting Murphy Evluev. Sorry about that. No, no, no. Yeah. Oh, no, I like that. Oh, Murphy Evluev is the only fight that makes sense.

I love that. For, well, for Murphy, it's tremendous. I get it for Evluev. My question is Evluev has the same wins in a row as Murphy yet he's way higher ranked. Is it because he has the wins over Lopez? And he has he's more high profile. I think he's nine. So he has nine wins and and and Murphy is 8-0 and one. So he has the one draw. Higher profile, yeah. He's got the Aljo, he's got the Diego Lopez. Arnold Allen. The Arnold. Yeah yeah yeah. The three top 10 opponents.

Pico's gonna be high profile, man. Pico's gonna be high profile when he comes into this division. The thing about all these conversations is we end up in the same spot, which is the UFC doesn't have to rush to do anything because these fighters are at their mercy, right? That's right. An Evov, a Murphy,

they're just gonna tell you to hurry up and wait. You just sit there. You sit there, you just wait until we have the, we figured out the puzzle to potentially either knock you off from your perch and let somebody else rise up, or we've given a fight between two guys like an Evluev and a Murphy where one of them knocks off and now we only have one problem on our hands. There's just, it's a difficult situation when you have people like this. And then sometimes what happens, inevitably, is you get like a Bilal or Leon where they claw and scratch and finally make it all the way up beating all those guys that were put in their path and get to the top but only

one of these guys it's going to happen for. That's true. There's nothing there's nobody's in a rush to do it. Okay more 314 talk to come in a matter of moments we we are gonna be joined by Max Holzer of Germany, of Octagon fame, and of viral video fame. We showed you the clip at the beginning of the show and yesterday. Here's the fan view of what happened on this Saturday night.

At that event where he won, poof, blew the kiss, and then did the little dry hump. Hysterical. won, blew the kiss and then did the, the little dry hump. Hysteria as he defeats German boxing champion, Denise Ilbe via rear naked choke in the fourth round of octagon 69 in Dortmund. And I do understand Pizzi that you have more information as to why Rick assigned you the task of finding out why this happened. Yes, when the EP makes you do something.

Yeah, you did some digging. I did, I did. I contacted Rick a mere 30 minutes ago I'd say and I said listen I've gone on to Sean Denny a man with encyclopedic knowledge of Eastern European MMA. This guy goes to the events, works for Svira MMA, fantastic guy. Biggest OE hard you'll ever meet for octagon KSW. He told me Ilbaez Da was talking some shit in the corner. And this is what spark holds her into action. And he also told me that viral moments are not a rarity when it comes to this undefeated German prospect.

The man has walked out as Buzz Lightyear. Oh, he has walked out. Oh, look at this. Oh my God on our Jordan. What he has walked out. Not only is Buzz Lightyear, but also as Batman. Oh my God. Look at this.

And in a stadium show recently, he came out on an electric scooter and threw condoms out to the, the to the sexed up crowd it would seem. Wow. He needed some protection. But yeah, look at this guy. He is tremendous. A showman.

23 years of age. I mean, the people love him. Yeah, I think I'm into Octagon now. I think this is the guy. I think this is my guy. This is the guy, 23 years young. And by the way, we did not plan any of that. Well done on your part and the team's part as well.

Five and O in Octagon, two wins via KO, seven via sub, two via decision, five of his seven of those subs have come via RNC. So, uh, that seems to be his thing, but he gets, he gets big time dubs as well. I mean, he is a exciting young man and someone that I think, uh, Octagon should probably get behind. I mean, he think Octagon should probably get behind. I mean, he is clearly someone that they get behind. Do we have any of the footage of his victories? Yeah, there we go.

Imagine how much Condom Depot would have got back on the back of this guy back in the day after that entrance. You know what I mean? Those classic sponsors, they love this guy. Look at that. We haven't seen this type of excitement out of Germany since the great Nick Hein or Dennis Siever were in the UFC. Right?

What a man, the detective who also beat the shit out of people. Love that guy. Not for nothing. Um, hack for us kind of represents Germany as well, to be fair, Afghanistan slash Germany. He he's out of Hamburg. So yeah, like how you say not for nothing. Um, yesterday you were saying that KSW is still number one over

But what are you doing? What are you doing? Why don't you stir it up here? I know see you Did you not do that? I can't believe everyone. I said forced going to my head prestige levels with KSW That's what I said, Ariel You can't just do this to me before you invite my guy my new favorite fighter Max Holzer show. Max, listen, you're my guy. I don't know what he's talking about. I don't know why he is making me do this. I both love Octagon and KSW. There's enough MMA in the world for us all to love together. I don't know what we need to pick. They've got a big stadium show in Prague later this year. They've had 50,000 fans in attendance in their four shows over 2025. Three in Germany, one in Czech Republic. They had that massive show, when was that?

Last year in front of 60 fans at a football stadium in Germany. So they are doing big things. And one of those fighters who is doing big things for them is Max. I do believe he goes by Stifler in honor of the great Stifler from the American Pie movie fame. Let's talk to Max Holzer, the 23 year old undefeated sensation who everyone is talking about. Hello Max, how are you? Guten Tag. Guten Tag. Is that, that's how you say hello in German? Yes, yes, yes, that's right. How's it going? Thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, yes, yes, that's right. How's it going?

Thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, I'm very grateful to be here. Well it's great to have you and we just looked at some footage of you. You're a very fun, exciting young fighter, but of course one of the major reasons why we wanted to have you on today was because of what happened on Saturday, which has blown up and everyone's talking about this finish right here. There you are winning via fourth round, we're going to naked choke, kissing Yilbe and then

humping him and then falling out of the cage. Yeah, that's not funny. Yeah. So what happened here, Max? Why did this all go down this way? Yeah, the problem was that in the fourth round his corner was assaulting me and screaming like things in my direction. And even before they said like let him go and crazy things. I don't even know why the referee didn't do something about it. I think because of the speech barrier

and yes it got me very angry because it was a personal fight too. We did not like each other so I did this and I have to say it is one thing to do some disrespectful move like that, but it's another thing to try to punch the other guy after the fight. I think that cannot be done. So the reaction in the aftermath, I know because I saw a lot of it, I tweeted it, was a lot of people saying what you did was disrespectful, but you think that what you did was nothing really all that bad. Him going after you and trying to punch you think that what you did was nothing really all that bad.

Him going after you and trying to punch you was really crossing the line. No, no, I have to say what I did was not good too but they did not know the backstory. When you watch the stream, when you understand German you can hear like all day assaulting me and yes that was the reason for that. And I know there was a lot of bad blood between you and him. I saw you guys did a face-off. I don't speak German so I couldn't understand what you were saying to each other but I saw there was a lot of attention surrounding it. Can you tell us why there was so much bad blood? Yes, he was always like, yeah, you are too young. You are a guy who was forcing the attention. You lie. You do like what you do. You don't mean really seriously. And yeah, I was angry about that and yes he was even lying about things I was

saying he was like yeah you assaulting my family and I would never attack a man's family and his father was like riding under every picture of me and then I shook his hand and said yeah yeah, it's all good. And he continued to do something like that. Wow. Yes, that's a reason. So obviously you're relatively young in your career, just 23, 11 and 0, but is this the most kind of emotional you've been going into a fight? Is this the most personal fight for you?

Yes, of course. It was very personal but I have to say after the fight it was even when he tried to punch me it was all good. I wanted to shake his hand and I apologized at the press conference but he did not accept it and yeah the crazy thing was even that they had to bring me out of the arena with many security guys and they said to me you have to leave your hotel you have to leave the city they will try to attack you. I don't know I don't know if that is the truth but the security told me they want to take me with people they brought me out like with 10 10 securities out of the cage and out of the arena and yeah i don't really know what

is the deal with the guys his father was in his corner and was knocking out a fan so i don't know fan. So I don't know. I know what I did was very disrespectful, but I could not think about my team knocking out a fan, a guy who's making us able to do our job. The fans have to be always safe, in my opinion. And yeah yeah that behavior cannot be accepted. And is he from that area? Is that why they were coming after you? Yes yes. Okay so you were the outsider. Yeah yeah you could say it like that. Sure and and and and just curious why kiss him and do all that like what prompted you to do that if you're mad at someone you don't usually try to kiss them. Yeah, it was a little bit like a joke. I don't know what was in my head in this second.

When you fight, it's always like crazy emotions. When you hate each other and going on each other's nerves. We had this... I don't know how to say it in English, but we were angry at each other for half a year. I tried to get this fight for half a year and it was going back and forth. He said, my manager doesn't want the fight, my father doesn't want to fight, this guy, this guy blaming other guys. And yeah, that got me really angry. I said, just let this, we finish, let us finish this in the cage and that's it. But yeah, it was not enough for him. Did he connect when he came after you afterwards? Did he, did he land a punch on you? Did he connect when he came after you afterwards? Did he land a punch on you? I don't really know. I was even thinking about staying and brawling with him.

But in my head it was like when you punch him, they will dequeue you. So I was thinking, yeah, just go right okay, so because I I had already won and in my opinion if I would be get knocked out from him. I will I would be like yeah He was a better man and that is but yeah, I don't know. Did you fall out of the cage? Did you hurt yourself falling out? Did you fall out of the cage? Did you hurt yourself falling out? I have back pain right now, but I don't really know if it's from that.

It looked like you fell on your back right there. It was a deep fall. Crazy. Afterwards, I think the promoter of Octagon, the owner, Andrej Novotny, he was yelling at you and then he apologized. Yes, yes. I think it was because of it's not his first language. Of course, he is speaking Czech and not German. So when I started my interview, my opponent was trying to get back into the cage. And they had to pull him off the cage.

And yeah, he was thinking that I was assaulting him. And that was not the reason. I just want to say that they were assaulting me out of the corner. And after that, I said that I have respect for him and his father and his family, but I don't know. Crazy. Were you nervous that you would get attacked? Yeah, of course.

They said to me they want to beat me up with many, many course. They said to me they want to beat me up with many, many people. They came in and said that they are waiting for you. You can't get out. You can't get to the dock check. I had to wait with my cuts bleeding inside the cage. And yeah, of course, of course I was nervous about that. And so where's your home base? Where did you go to? Hanover. Okay, so did you leave that night?

Yes, yes, I had to leave. And even upcoming of the fight, he said he was like two times on the way to my city to beat me up. And I don't know, this guy always said that he is a fair sportsman and I am not because I make jokes and my entrance and something like that. But I don't know, I think he really has shown his true face and that he is not a fair sportsman. I don't want to blame him and I don't really like to say something even

after he's down right now and have lost. But I have to say, yeah, what he and his team, I don't want to say his team because it was him and his father. What they did has nothing to do with sports for me. In the aftermath, since Saturday, and this has blown up, what has your life been like? Yeah, it got really big in the social media, but yeah, it's like always. I try to recover from the fight,

and I try to get back into the training as fast as possible. Okay, have you gotten a lot of messages about it? Yeah, of course, of course. My Instagram has doubled. Like I had 70,000 followers before, what was very much for me. And right now it's 140,000. Wow. Positive messages or bad messages or? No, only positive.

Okay. Only I really, really, I just got like why you even apologize to him. And the people saw the videos on TikTok and said, yeah, we, we could hear the screams from his father from the corner. Sorry. Yeah. Okay. So, uh, do you think that they're going to try to do a rematch?

Cause the fight got so much attention and are you interested in that? Um, I won every round dominantly dominantly and I don't think he deserves a rematch. Okay. So yeah, that's fair. So I said then, where it gives a rematch when someone is clearly winning every round. Sure, yeah. Usually the rematch doesn't happen. We've gone to learn a lot about you.

I love the entrances. What has inspired you to come out like that? And, and, and how do you come up with what you're going to dress up as before your fights? It's always, um, because of the opponent. This time. So, so yeah, I've been something. No problem. No problem.

Do your thing. Yeah. Here you are coming out. I believe this is a Jurassic park themed. I mean, just amazing stuff. So I did this, I did this because of my opponent. He said, I'm very childish and I'm green behind my ears. And so I put on green ears and come on the dinosaur and the dinosaur is my little brother. Ah, amazing. But he looks like a freaking freak. Yes, he does. But it's a great look.

It's a great look. So when you come out to Buzz Lightyear, what is that about? My opponent, he has face tattoos and I said to him, you look like Post Malone. And he said, you look like Buzz Lightyear. Okay. So I came out with a Buzz Lightyear costume and we were waiting backstage at the same time and his whole team was really laughing about it. So that got really... and that's my opponent's walk-in. I steal his walk-in to make him angry at me that we can fight and yeah one time I yes I had the opponent that looks a little bit like Superman so I came out like Batman and we saw only Batman can beat Superman what about the scooter? The scooter was I don't know if you know we have in Germany many like these kits with the Gucci things on and they always call them talahun.

And I came out like something like that. It's like a big trend in Germany. Wow. That was at the stadium show. 60,000 people. Yes, yes. 60,000 people. And I was pulling out condoms and giving them to the people.

Why the condoms? Uh, just because it's like, uh, you have this back and full of condoms. I love it. I love it. Yes. And, uh, is it true that your nickname is Stiffler because of American pie? Yes. Why, why that name?

My, my trainer was always like always like, I behave like him. He said that. And yes. You're a real character. Yeah. Many people say that, but I don't try to make it up. I just try to be like myself and I like MMA and it's like my only real passion. And I try to put everything towards this goal.

Did you grow up in Hanover? Yes. And my understanding is you grew up like kind of in a tough neighborhood? Yes, a little bit. So we were doing a lot of shit but the spot of MA brought me out of that. You got into trouble a lot. Yeah, I got really much into trouble. Most of my friends got to jail then. But I could turn.

My trainer really helped me to turn my life around. I'm very grateful for that. So I always try to stick with him. He's always a good role model in my whole life. He helps me with everything. Did you go to jail as well? No, no. Never, okay. How did you get into MMA? Like what introduced you to it?

I was a B-Mix driver and I always did a little bit like fitness got on the football place and throw up a little bit with gloves on and we grappled. And then I started fighting and never looked back. Do you remember the first UFC fight that you saw? The first UFC fight I saw, I think it was Pettis against Huffield-Dos Angeles. And I'm a very big fan of Huffield-Dos Angeles. This fight was in 2016. Yeah, UFC 185.

I believe that was 2015. Ah, 2015. Ah, 15. Yeah, I started in 16, so it was a very new thing. But I love to watch fights. I watch every UFC event, I watch every fight that can get my hands on. And I learned English actually about watching UFC.

Okay. So my English is from watching UFC. That's it. You didn't take any lessons, nothing like that, just from watching UFC broadcasts? I was in school, but I did not really do the English lessons. Okay. Did you finish school? The training was better. Did you finish high school?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I finished school. Okay. But I don't have the highest degree. So are you happy with Octagon? Are they treating you well? Yeah, I'm very happy with them. We work good together and I try to make the sports bigger here in Germany and they have the same goal. So yeah, I really like it there.

Is your goal eventually to go to the UFC? I think every fighter's goal at the end is to go, but I will see what the Octagon brings me next. Sure. Why? Is your contract up with them? Yes. brings me next. Sure. Why? Is your contract up with them? Yes, this year I'm signed to Octagon and next year we will see what happens then. Do you think you're ready to compete

with the best in the UFC? I was many times in America and I think when this year is over I will be ready to compete there. Okay. When you say you were in America, do you mean like you've trained in America? Yeah, I trained at the American Top Team and Extreme Couture. Oh, wow. And yes, yes. Yeah.

And a couple of times. And you've been able to sort of like gauge how you stack up against some of the American fighters or the UFC fighters. Yeah, but I like it very much to train there. And yeah, it's always a thing to stay longer in America. I really want to stay longer this year. And I will, I will try to maybe get the place in the room. So you know know American Top Team has bedrooms upstairs but they most of the time only let you sleep there. But right now I'm on your show so I think you will help me to stay there.

Yes, we can ask Dan Lambert. That would be great. Yes, yes. A lot of great fighters there. And I understand Octagon is blowing up. I was told that 1.3 million viewers watched your fight on the German broadcast partner, the RTL Plus platform, which is a record for Octagon.

I know about the 60,000 fans in attendance and whatnot. Can you tell us, I've never been to Germany, I've never been to an Octagon event, how big is Octagon? Is Octagon more popular in that region? I know Czech Republic as well But is it possible that it's more popular than UFC over there? Of course one. I think it's more popular here than the UC because I really get recognized very often since I am an octagon and yeah, it gets very very big that people love it here and the shows

are very very loud and always sold out and everybody is talking about that so right now yeah I think they really have a great show here in Germany they do a great job and and you're part of a generation of fighters based in Europe and in Germany in particular you didn't come from a single discipline you're part of a generation of fighters based in Europe and in Germany in particular. You didn't come from a single discipline. You're just an MMA fighter, right? Yes. Like your entrance into MMA was MMA? Yes.

You didn't do any martial arts before? I did a few months of Lutalivra. It's like no-gig wrapping. Yeah. But I continued right away with every aspect of the game. Where's Dennis Siever these days? Is he around? I never meet him. I never meet him.

He's a German legend, German MMA legend. But, but I know Nikhain. Nikhain right now he's, he's hunting predators. And yes, yes, crazy. what kind of predators like people like animals no no like pedophiles oh my gosh that's what he's doing yes yes yeah he's hunting them what come on yeah he's like like a real super superhero wow in Germany yes in Germany yes Yes in Germany. Wow Channel, yeah big big big YouTube channel and they

They are being them. Yes, it's and then what did he do? He beats them up No, no in German you can't do it like that. Okay, you have to Yeah, he's just he was a former police officer and yeah, but he tries that they get what they deserve, but yeah, he does not beat them up. Okay, good, good, good. Yeah. But I mean, that's a great service for the community. Yes.

When do you want to fight again? I have to look after my body right now but I think I will like I don't really know like two or two fights more this year or one fight I had four four fights last year and I did them all on short notice and I think right now I'm in a good place to only make like good shows into the Octagon. So when we have something big, we will do that. I also understand that the featherweight champion is also the lightweight champion in Octagon and he hasn't defended his title since December of 23. So maybe title fight next.

I feel like that would make a lot of sense. Yeah, of course, of 23. So maybe title fight next. I feel like that would make a lot of sense. Yeah, of course, of course. Yeah, that would be a great option too. What do you like better, by the way, MMA or chess? I like chess too, but I like MMA more. I heard you're a great chess player. Yeah, who said that? I can play chess, but I would not say great. Okay, that's what the streets are saying. They're saying a lot of good things about you.

Your chess, your walkouts. Yeah. You like American culture though, right? Yeah, of course. Comedies, things like that. What do you like from America? What is some of your favorite stuff? Which shows?

I really like just the people. When I'm there it always feels in America like everything is possible. When I was there I really got like every time more open-minded. It was like the people was not walking around like the things are impossible. There was like, and when they saw a big car, it was more like, yeah, great guy that he made it and not like, or this fucker why he has what I don't have. And I really, I really like that because I like people that have built up themselves from nothing. And I really like when people have something I don't I'm never like a jealous guy. Sort of like yourself you like people that build themselves up from nothing? Yeah of course of course yes I want to do that myself and I want to make like a good to all model for other people that yeah

just never fits into in the school they Or they they always say to me, yeah, you will do like a shit job and you will not never have anything. Wow. And yeah. Who said this? Your teachers? Yeah, like, like, yeah. Oh, that's not like, yeah.

They told you, you do a shit job and that you wouldn't amount to anything. No confidence. Yeah. Why? I don't, I don't know. I don't know. And I, Yeah, of course. No confidence? Yeah. Why? I don't know. I don't know. I was very loud.

I have to say that. But yeah, it was like, I don't really like the school system here. I have to say that. Yeah. Because, yeah. So now that you're having all the success, you're famous now, is there a part of you saying, yeah, who's laughing now? Who is right? Me, you're famous now. Is there a part of you saying, yeah, who's laughing now? Who is right?

Me, not you? Yeah. Yeah, but I have to first make like enough that I really can say. Sure. Yeah. Sure. And I really want to come over to America over the sport. I really see this as opportunity.

I like Germany, but I would really like to live in America. Okay. You talk about your coach who's made so much to you. Would you, would you leave your team to come train here? What would you do? My, my coach, uh, it's not like a guy who was saying, uh, stay here. Okay. He's, uh, he's, he's just training the professionals right now for us.

He don't have to do that. He has a very, very, one of the biggest schools in Germany, when not in Europe. So he is not living from professional fighters. He is just doing that for us. He is spending the time he should spend with his family to train people like me. I think he will be lucky when I go. Yeah. He's already sending us out and looking that we can train over in the States. What's his name? David, David Palukai.

His name. Okay. Yes. Based in Hanover. Yes. Based in Hanover. And even when, when the first times I got to the U S I could not afford it. So he, he was giving me the money.

So yeah, he's really a great guy. He did so many things for me. He's like a second father for me. Incredible. By the way, I kind of don't want to see you leave Octagon because I love the walkouts so much. And in the UFC, they don't really like walkouts like that. No?

No, you see it in the events. You don't see anyone coming out as Buzz Lightyear on a dinosaur or on a scooter. They will allow it for me. You think so? You think you'll convince them? I will make the WWE into the UFC. I love it. You watch WWE, are you a fan? I don't really know many of the characters, but I watched a little bit. My coach showed it to me in America and then I was really understanding how to play the

game. You have to be a showman. You know Gunther? No, no. Walter, he's the big guy. He's from Austria. He's close to Germany. You don't know? No, no, sorry.

Yeah, it's all right. But you have that showmanship. You know what I mean by showmanship? Like you understand that it's entertainment as well. Yeah, of course, of course. You have to entertain because I really, it's always for me the same when I watch a fight and there's a build up and the story to the fight it's always just a different thing. I don't say you have to force it like Covington and assaulting everyone, his family and something but it's I think a fight is always like you want something and the other guy wants something so I can't like this guy after the fight too, but we want the same thing. So we have to fight for it. And what is in the end of the day, we try to beat each other up in the cage.

So what we say is not harder than what we do. So in conclusion, you feel bad about kissing and humping him, but you don't think he should have punched you. They said some bad things to you. The team, the father, said some bad things to you. You fell on your back, which was, I mean, could have been very, very scary and serious and dangerous. And ultimately you're moving on.

No rematch, you're not doing this again. On to bigger and better. Yes, of course. Yeah. All right. Well, congratulations on the win and on becoming a of course. Yeah. All right well congratulations on the win and on becoming a viral hit as they say a viral sensation and congrats on all the success that you've had in your career. Yeah thank you. At such a young age it's amazing to see and we're looking forward to watching

you grow and evolve as a fighter over the years as well. Thank you very much and I want the room at the American top team. Okay, let me call Dan. I'll call Dan right now. You are a very, very famous guy, so you can do it. All right, I'll call Dan for you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Max, and all the best to you.

Have a nice day. Same to you. There he is, Max Holter. What a nice young man he is, and I feel like a name that we shall be talking about for years to come. Perhaps, like we once introduced you to a young man named Patty Pimlet, he could be someone like him as well. When Patty was fighting in Cage Warriors. Max Stifler Holter. A lot of American influence in this young man.

And those walkouts are great. What I didn't know about the walkouts, I thought he was just doing them for fun. The fact that he's doing them to stick it to his opponents is like next level stuff. That's a whole other level. Usually someone comes out, you know, they've got a gimmick, they've got a get up,

this, that, and the other. It's about themselves. He's've got a get up, this, that, and the other. It's about themselves. He's walking out and dressing up like this to make fun of the opponent before the fight. Psh. He's playing chess while they're playing checkers. And he's a big chess player, I don't know if you heard that.

Oh, of course. Yeah. Also, I don't know if you know, I picked him on my pound for pound, like boys in the back several weeks ago For walk out. Did you really which one which one I forgot about that one. Is that true? He was on your radar Yep, Wow old Max Holden Colter The tea is silent. Yeah, and and and did you tell him when he when he connected? No, I did the usual

Can you count the five? You know? They get it. Did he do how do you count to five you know they get it Did he do how do you how do you get the five in German? I ain't fine. I'm here Wow look at you, Frank I don't know what five is Doesn't actually even need that he just asked people can they he's like can you count to five? Oh, yeah information and they oh Thank you loves octagon man. Yeah, I didn't know you were a closet octagon guy Frank He's going to Prague, him and pizza.

For the big one. For the biggest one. In the stadium. I love when you were like, you know they won't let you do that in the UFC, and then you're like, well then I'm not going to the UFC. Well I think he was more like, I will convince them, to be fair. But tomato, tomato, really. I'm just really impressed that you know to count to five or four in German. Have you ever been to Germany?

No. Anyone back there ever been to Germany? No. Anyone back there ever been to Germany? Let me just move on from me. No, no, I just wanted to know. I haven't been. I made you to go. Oh wait, I have been to Germany. What am I talking about?

I have been to Germany. You forgot? I forgot. It was that memorable. No, well, it was very quick, I'll say that. What was it for? I came in and out, glory. Collision one, Rico versus Bodder was in Germany.

Let's go to Oktoberfest this fall. And I went to the Christmas market. I'm there. And it changed my life. It was quite good. So yes, it actually was very memorable. I'm just old and have a bad memory. Which city?

I think it was Dusseldorf. I forget. No, Oberhausen? I think it was Oberhausen. That's crazy that people wanted to beat up an actual fighter and he had to leave with, what do you say, like 10 security guards? That's right.

Crazy, crazy, I mean unbelievable. What a time, what a time. All right, well great stuff there for Max. In a matter of moments we will be joined, hopefully by the UFC bantamweight champion Marabdou Ali Shvili. Earlier in the day we told you about this little factoid that was brought up by Mike Bon of MMA junkie about fighters who have lost two in a row.

Well, we have found some of those fighters, fighters who have lost two in a row and then fought for a title. Uh, Randy Couture is the lone Victor, but he won an interim title. That was at UFC 43. Good job by Jordan here, On Air Jordan, for digging some of these up. Tank Abbott has won UFC 15. Lost to Maurice Smith on a two fight losing streak. John Loebber at UFC 17 and a half.

Lost to Frank Shamrock. That was actually his only UFC fight. And Frankie Edgar at UFC 156. Lost to Jose Aldo. So Alex Wolkonowski is trying to buck the trend as they say because the interim one doesn't count. Interim's a weird one. I hate interim titles,

unless it's like truly, truly necessary. Like I saw that Fabio Wardley and Big Baby Miller are fighting for the vacant WBA interim title. What does that even mean? Vacant? There is no such thing as a vacant interim title. I know this is more boxing than MMA. We've never seen that. Certainly not in the UFC. A vacant inter... It's either an interim title or it's not. It've never seen that. Certainly not in the UFC. A vacant inter... It's either an interim title or it's not. It's such a thing. So is the interim title like its own thing?

Its own division? There's a vacant undisputed belt and then you'll fight for that or you'll have an interim title because for whatever reason the undisputed champion cannot fight, but to fight for a vacant interim title is the most insane thing I've ever heard. What does that even mean? Now you're just creating a second belt. The WBA is creating a second belt just for the sake of calling it a title fight. What does that mean?

I don't get it. Vacant interim WBA. What the hell? Any sign of our guy? We're working on it. Is he there or do I need to text? No, no, he's here. We're just sitting. Okay, all right. All right, well, in a matter of moments, we are going to be joined by Marabdowali Shwili. Thad Gene, back into the show, Phil, Mr. Wonderful Davis will join us. Yesterday, we had Sugashon O'Malley, June 7th, Newark, New Jersey, UFC 3-16. I was going to say it's a 14.

I don't know why these 14, 15, 16s are getting all jumbled in my brain, but this is a big-time rematch of a fight that happened back in September. That of course happened at the sphere Noche UFC on that night. Mirab won the belt. He has since defended the title against Umar Namaga-Madoff successfully. It feels like he got a ton of respect following that win. Finally, he's on a 12 fight winning streak, by the way. And 11 of those wins are at bantamweight.

And that's the longest streak in bantamweight history. Most decision wins in UFC bantamweight. And that's the longest streak in bantamweight history. Most decision wins in UFC bantamweight history, most strikes landed in UFC bantamweight history with 2,902, wait, 2,092, not 902, 2,092. That's over 400 more than Aljamain Sterling, who's in second place. Of course, we know, we talked about this back in January,ain Sterling, who's in second place. Of course, we know, talked about this back in January, most takedowns landed in UFC history, 92 in total. That's two more than GSP.

And most takedowns landed in UFC bantamweight history was 79, that's over 30 more than Ricky Simone, who's in second place. Three wins via decision, excuse me, via finish, one via submission, 15 via decision. Finish, I mean stoppage, KL, TKL. That's crazy. 30 more than second place. And he's getting very close to Anderson Silva's record of most wins in a row in UFC history.

I do believe off top my head that is 16. He is the pride of Georgia. He is the machine. He is Marabdou Ali Shvili. And he is kind enough to join us right here now. There he is. Hello, Marabdou. How are you? Very good. How are you? I'm great, my friend. It's always great to talk to you.

Thank you so much. I always love your setup as well, the logo, everything that you have going on. It's an amazing time for you. And we just found out you're coming back close to where you called home for many years, Long Island, New York, Newark, New Jersey, not too far. So I'm sure you're very happy about that,

fighting close to your adopted home state. You're right. I feel like I'm fighting you're very happy about that, fighting close to your adopted home state. You're right. I feel like I'm fighting in my home. Right now, I mean, you know, like you said, I pretty much grow up in New York and New Jersey is like my home. And lots of Georgian community will be there

and lots of my New York friends will be there, lots of my teammates will be there. At this moment, it's not possible to fight in Georgia and have a UFC there, but in New Jersey will be like home for me. By the way, have there been any talks of an event in Georgia? I know because yourself and Ilya and Roman

and I see the big stadium and I see how popular it is on Setenta. Are there any talks of this to the best of your knowledge? There is talk actually, my friend David Natroshuli is trying to bring UFC to Georgia David Natroshuli is trying to bring UFC to Georgia and I think Gigache got the start to restart everything like to have a UFC in Georgia and of course I you know I have some conversation too but yeah at this moment it's hard, you know, like you gotta stay in line. And you know, and also like now we are two champions

and we can't fight anyway in Georgia. So it has to be fight night and hopefully we can put together this already. I remember leading up to your last fight against Umar. Obviously you were a little unhappy about fighting him. You didn't think that he had earned it, this, that, and the other. This time around, going into this fight against Sean, are you content? Are you happy?

Did they make the right choice for your opponent in your second title defense, in your opinion? Yes, I am happy. Yes, I am happy. I think even lots of people criticized Omalis getting a rematch. I think he will make adjustments and he will change game plan and it's gonna be totally different fight and if not like O'Malley say if you don't like it don't watch it yes but I think it's gonna be it's gonna be good fight because I'm going to make some adjustments too because I know O'Malley will come with different game plan. I know he will attack me from the beginning with the body kicks and striking. I want to test my striking too.

When I was fighting for the title the first time, I was more smart, more game, but this time I'm champion and I will go for it. And it's gonna be great fight. So what is your response to people who say he doesn't deserve it? What do you say to them? I mean, I understand people what they say but I think I'll be busy anyways so I'm going to fight O'Malley.

Me I don't look at the easy fight O'Malley. We know he has a knockout power. I'm not look this fight easy actually because everybody tell me, oh, you got this, it's easy, it's in your pocket. No, it's not like that. You know, I don't want to forget I was game and O'Malley he hits hard even he He just touched me a little bit. I felt his power. The guy can crack so and I had to be Smart and I had to be patient in this fight and and like I tell you I'm sure he will make adjustments.

He will defend the takedowns better, and then he will be going forward this time, and it's gonna be a totally different fight. You know, we saw rematches not always go like first-person fight, you know? It's gonna be different. Do you believe him when he says he'll be 70% better that, you know, the groin, the injuries, all that stuff really stopped him from being at his best. You, do you believe that you will see a that much more better version of

Sean when you fight him in June? Yes, I do believe and I have to believe in because, um, uh, yes, I am a champion and one thing for sure, I do believe and I have to believe because yes, I am a champion and one thing for sure I should not relax. Oh, I beat this guy already. I beat some other guys. No, I should not forget that I got here because of hard work and I got to continue hard work. And I believe him.

Yes. He said he will be 70% better. Yeah, that's good. And then I have to work hard too and then I have to be better than myself too, you know. So I am accepting good fight, yes. And you know, sometimes fighters thrive when there's animosity with their opponent. But I think you saw, because you commented on it, both Sean and his coach, Tim Welch, were speaking very highly of you

when they put out their podcast last week, saying how much they like you and respect you. And you tweeted something to the effect of like, go back to shit talking. Here it is, cut it out, go back to talking shit. I need to be mad about you again. And so when you heard them being so nice to you and friendly and complimentary, what did you think? I need to be mad about you again." And so when you heard them being so nice to you

and friendly and complimentary, what did you think? Yeah, it was weird because they were talking so nice to me and like I was laughing and of course everybody likes compliments but it was weird feeling. I feel like friendly with them and even Tim, you know, the guy I don't like it. But now like when he was talking nice, my heart warm little bit. I'm like, no, no, don't do this. Don't do this guys. I need to be mad about you. You know, that was weird feeling, you know, like even I don't hate Sean O'Malley. I just want to fight with him. And Tim, you know, he didn't make big mistakes.

You know, he should be a professional coach, but he's not a professional coach. He tried to cheat, you know, he's a cheater coach. And he tried disrespect, and that's why I was talking trash. And that's what happened. But I'm a professional fighter, That's why I was talking trash. That's what happened. But I'm a professional fighter and I make this mistake only one time when I have a debut

in UFC. I look at my opponent like I don't want to punch him. And after I get some kind of controversial laws, like this, and after I learn, I learn, and then I don't think I'm gonna make mistakes, even if I like my opponent. I will not, yeah, I will be professional, and I'll be same guy, and I'm gonna fight hard.

By the way, why do you say that Tim cheats? Is it because he was talking to you or for another reason? Yes. So when you're coaching your guy or your student in the fight, you should be focused on to, or in training, you should be focused how to hit hard how to wrestling how to do submission not like a coach other guy like and then the cheat and make make him upset make him reaction make him he do do like a mistake like he was trying to do against Aljama and Sterling.

He was trying to do with me and also usually when they interview coach or when they ask opinions coach, coach say the realistic how the fights will go but when they asked him, he said, oh, I have a big nose and Sean will punch me all the time in my nose and I'm like 5'3 or 5'2 and he was making fun of my height. You know, this is not his job to disrespect me, you know. He should be focused on to make his fighter better fighter and then how to defend, take down, how to punch me, to knock me out, how to submit. He should be focused on this, not disrespect me and then not cheat from the corner because nobody does this shit. And then, okay, like I said before, right, Try do same thing in basketball, try to talk other team, try to talk same thing in football, try,

they will do this quality idea. And then also, but you know, he's like, acting like a little guy, you know? Be better man, you know? Just be like a real guy and just do like real guy should do, you know? That's all I have to say. I saw you ran into Sean at the PI. What was that like for you?

That was so cool, like you said, man, all positive. And I always liked the guy, you know, like I don't follow many many 135ers on Instagram and I follow him and he's funny he's cute and he's good fighter too and you know like I know I have only positive feelings other than like he was talking stupid about my friend Aljama

Sterling and like this. Yeah, it was cool. Man, I feel bad actually for this guy. I stole his jacket. I stole his belt. I stole his pants. I stole his pants and you know, like I make him humble like that's like you guys like you know he's he's definitely different guy now and that's good good man good for him and good for me too like how everything happened life is, God is good and I'm grateful for

everything. But I am always telling myself I should not forget I got here for hard work and I have to continue hard work and I have to continue getting better. That's what I'm trying to do. It's really hard, you know, because now there is so many opportunity to like having a good time, like training, but I have to training more hard than to get better. By the way, I know you guys are doing a press conference later this week in Miami. I suggest you use that line. I stole his jacket, I stole his belt, I stole his fans.

This is good stuff from you, Marab. So, so well done. Weren't you also in the hot tub with him as well? Did you just that? Okay. This is you in the hot tub with Sean, right? You were in the hot tub with Sean, right, Murab? Yeah, yeah, that was it.

Were you guys just chilling? Just talking about life? Yeah, we have a good time. This is amazing. What were just talking about life? We have a good time. This is amazing what were you talking about? Actually we have like nice nice conversation like no you have like just friendly nothing nothing bad we were just talking about everything actually. But I did tell him, you know, you can talk about me, you can make fun of me, you can say whatever you want because we're gonna fight and we are fighters

and after the fight we will always shake hands and we will give each other respect, doesn't matter how fight will go but your coach Must be be careful because I'm gonna kick his ass. That's what I tell you So if you saw Tim Welch at the PI you wouldn't be friendly with him. You wouldn't shake his hand or be Like Sean said I live in PI and I go every day there and I don't want any cause any trouble in PI I will never fight in PI, but maybe I will tell him hey come outside and I go every day there. And I don't wanna cause any trouble in P.I. I will never fight in P.I.

But maybe I will tell him, hey, come outside. Wow. Beat the chair. No, no, no. I don't wanna fight with him too, like listen. Ah, man. I mean, like right now, like... I will talk, I will talk.

Like I'm not a kid anymore. Maybe I will fight him like when I saw the first time he was, what he was saying about Aljo in the fight and when he was talking trash online for me that time I was mad if I saw him I was smashing but now it's been a long time already and he he he understand he realized and he's talking nice now he I think he's humble too but no not not fight now right now I'm okay okay I want to ask you about something you just brought up prior and that is you know all the the things coming your way everything, everything that comes to you when you become a champion, the byproduct of becoming a champion. Do you find it difficult to, you know there was a famous boxer named Marvin Hagler who said it's hard to wake up at 5 a.m. to go running when you're sleeping in silk pajamas, meaning when life is so good and now you're famous and rich,

are you starting to feel that? And you have incredible work ethic and no one would ever question your commitment, but because all these nice things are coming your way as a byproduct of all your success and hard work, are you starting to feel at times you're getting pulled out of the gym? Yeah, of course a little bit, but I'm still working every day, training every day, but

this is just... No, if it's a new opponent, I will be like same hungry, same motivated because I, I, yes, I am champion, but I don't, I'm not gonna stop here or I'm not gonna relax here. I don't, I don't feel like this. I'm same guy. I'm even more humble, you know, I'm even getting better everywhere. But because of I'm fighting same guy, Sean O'Malley. It's hard. It's hard to motivate because I already beat him, you know? And it was easy actually first time. And now I have to remind myself and I have to trust Sean, he will be 70% better.

So I have to be sharp again. I have to work hard. I have to make sure I got to be sharp again, I have to work hard, I have to make sure I gotta put work in and I have to be better version of myself because yeah, so I cannot relax, you know, because I should not forget I got here because of hard work and that's only thing. But otherwise, yeah, I'm like even more motivated

and I even wanna like training even more hard, but it's important to have to train smart, not only hard. And I don't know if you heard, but he's made a lot of changes, no social media and trying to be a lot more focused. He talked about some of these things. I think you and Aljo made a video, maybe about some of the changes in his life.

What do you make of all the changes that he has brought to his life in preparation for this fight? So this video Aljo made himself and Aljo was making kind of this video. I am sure you remember like even 10 years ago, he was making kind of this video. I'm sure you remember like even 10 years ago he was making like this video and I'm just new this game making skits and videos but Aljo is he's high level and me I have a camera guy but Aljo don't have don't even have a camera guy he's making by

his side he's he's editing everything. Wow. So Aljo is the best yeah yeah he's making by his say he's he's other thing everything wow yeah he's the best he's really professional with everything like you know like how he talks how he looks how he fights you know everything he's high level um so yeah let's talk about uh shonen mali's changes um Yeah, it's really interesting and it shows how disciplined he is now, how he wants to get back. And I remember myself when I lost, all I was thinking about was how I lost and I wanted to get better. And as everybody saw, after I get so much better I wasn't making same mistakes what I make this fight. That's why I'm keep saying it's

gonna be different fight because fighters like me and fighter like Sean O'Malley we make adjustments after loss and we make lots of changes. And even myself, sometimes I'm afraid only one thing because I'm keep winning, winning. And I don't want to be relaxed. You know, sometimes I don't want to forget this. When I lost, how painful was this? How head pull was this? And I'm like, sometimes I'm afraid to, I'm winning too much and I'm like sometimes I'm afraid to I'm winning too much

and I you know I don't want to get relaxed here you know and then like I said sometimes this loss makes you even more hungry and more smarter and more motivated so and I have to recognize that and yeah, I respect I respect whatever changes he make and For me it's impossible to stop social media and Like everything else I'm not gonna change my life because Yeah, this is my life working Yeah, exactly. Yes life. It's working. Yeah, exactly, yes.

I wonder how much you think of this. The record for most wins in a row in UFC history is Anderson Silva, 16. There is Islam out there who has 15 in a row. You're at 12. Is this a record that you would like? You're getting close, and obviously we don't know what happens with Islam. He's even closer, but is this a record that you would like to hold? Oh this is nice of course but to be honest I'm not thinking like that you

know when if if now it's that time but if times comes to maybe I should take some superfights some other weight class or something. I would like to step up and take some risky fights too, you know. Yeah, record is good, you know, winning streak is good, but same time our fans deserve the good fights, so I'm super fight some risky fights and when times comes and I will take some good fights, good, excited fights. And I think how I'm going to fight against Shono Mali, I'm going to take some risks and I'm going to show my striking too. That's what I'm thinking right now. Let's see, in a fight maybe it's going to be different, but that's what I'm thinking

now. Yeah, like, you know, you guys know I'm, you know, I sometimes I'm a little crazy. So then some fights I'm going to show my craziness too. By the way, when you say like a super fight, a fun fight, what comes to mind? What would be a super fight that would interest you? Yeah, I don't want to say names now but big fights, if they need an opponent for some bigger guys, bigger weight class guys, and then some super fights, if they need an opponent and then if they need me to fight Him I would like to step in because even I'm champion and even like, you know, even Whatever. I you know, I don't mind to take a risk, you know

By the way, what about your friend Ilya? He has to fight for the belt next, right? There's some debate is he gonna fight for the belt or not if he if he vacated the 45 belt He has to fight for the belt next, right? There's some debate is he going to fight for the belt or not. If he vacated the 45 belt, he has to fight Islam, no? I agree with you. So yeah, that's only fight. We're all interested to, Ilya has to fight Islam Makachev, especially he vacated his belt. And he's not anymore 145 and he is the best deserving contender for the 155 belt but somehow Islam ignoring him I'm sure you guys everybody remember that Islam told me only one word in press conference, Marabha, I respect you, but when you have a tough contender, you should fight him. And I said, okay, I'm fighting.

But now he has a tough contender as Ilya Topuriya, but he's not fighting because he's saying some other things. And we all agree that Ilya deserves this fight more, and hopefully this happening. And but yeah, nobody criticized Islam like they was criticizing me. Yeah, and so do you think that, or maybe I should say,

were you surprised that he gave up the belt? Because sometimes we have people moving up and keep the belt. He gave up the belt without this fight announced. Were you surprised that that happened? I wasn't too much surprised, but I was surprised. Uh, this happened in Abu Dhabi. Ilya's fight day, couple hour before Ilya was fighting Max Holloway, Ilya told me, brother, I'm done with this big weight cut and I'm going to go up in 155 division and I want to of course belt, but if they don't give me belt fight, I'm going to fight super fights. And I was like surprised

what and I was listening you know I don't wanna you know of course he has fight day and then nobody talks about this is before the fight usually people talk about this and after the fight but Ilya told me this one before the fight wow and then and then that's why I wasn't surprised because he's genius man wherever he he has a his mind he's doing it and He's different. He's special that's why he is a Legend and I know I will I love him and I will support him wherever he is Doing do you think if if Shawn loses this fight, that'll be 0 and 2 against you, do you think he'll then move up to 45?

Because then he'll be stuck, it'll be impossible to get another shot at the champion, or do you think that he's too small for 45? Sean O'Malley? Yeah. Like basically a lot of people are saying this is a big risk because you could be oh and two against the champion.

Um, sometimes you want to get a fight to build yourself, your confidence back up and then you fight the champion again. You know what I mean? Yeah. Uh, no, no, this is good fight for Sean because, uh, like I said, he's fighting same guy, he will make, uh, adjustments and, uh, you know, like it's, he's fighting same guy, he will make adjustments and you know, like it's like, you know, he's gonna, he remembers everything from the last fight

and now, you know, if he fights somebody else and he will focus somebody and he come back, it's gonna be too much for him. Now all his head will be just me you know he he has a nightmare like my stopping my takedowns punching me hard like kicking me and like this and then this is I think good good for him I think I think this is good good chance for him to Revenge his loss and and

I would forget I was gonna say something It's alright, yeah, so can I ask you about this video? I saw this video recently. Did you almost fall off this cliff here? You were in Monaco dancing? Not almost. I fell. I ran there. I ran up top of the mountains. Come on! Is that real? Mara? Of course I am. That's why I post. I was not going to post this, but you're crazy. I posted because I, I, I, I thought. You're crazy, man. You're always doing crazy things. And then I saw you wrestling with Gable Stevenson on the beach. What was that like? Look at how much bigger he is. He was go easy on me of course like you know he's

very much better wrestler than me you know and He he he take care of me. You know he's good guy, and I tell him too. I want to take him into Georgia because also like every Georgians knows him because in Olympic final he beat my friend and my brother and Georgian hero Geno Petroiaschuli. So my friend Geno, he was winning and then Gabi beat him, you know, like last second, like he, he, he, like that was crazy, like very controversial win or like it was very big upset, you know, and especially, yeah, so that's why all the Georgians, we know him and we're going to take him Georgia and we're

going to have a, give him good times. We're going to show him Georgia hospitality and, uh, uh, uh, we're going to show him the big love. Yeah. And I also saw you wrestling a fan or someone, someone who was some random guy. No, who's this guy? Some, some, some stupid guys posted Instagram, man of wrestling with a fan. That guy wasn't fan. That guy was college student wrestler.

Oh, guys. Heavyweight wrestler, big guy, somebody and then Gabby is coaching him, the guy too. And respect my wrestling. People you can't trust anyone. respect my wrestling. People, you can't trust anyone. I mean, you know, I think I'm not, you know, like, I'm getting smart and I'm not going to fight some random guy. You know, that guy was wrestler, that's why I want to challenge myself.

And then, you know, when you fight somebody, you know, good wrestler, high level wrestling, like the big guy, like, you know, I'm not scared because we know, we know where to stop and how, when we have to go hard and not get injured. So, it's okay. It's like a training. What do we have in store for Sean on Friday? You have something in store for him at the press conference?

You have a surprise, something planned for him? Maybe, maybe. But like I'm saying, number one will be, I'm just saying for general, this is gonna be good fight guys like I said Sean will make some adjustments and I want to show my striking skills too and my goal will be to stop him you know like TKO him or knock out you know and it's gonna be great fight and I'm excited for it. I'm looking forward to it as well.

Always great to talk to you Marab. Thank you so much for the time. Good luck this weekend with the face off and the press conference and of course good luck in preparation for June 7th UFC 316 in Newark. It's always a lot of fun and we appreciate your time very, very much. Thank you so much, Murab. Thank you, I appreciate you.

There he is, the great Murab Diwali Shafili. Always great to have him on the pride of Georgia. He returns to action in less than two months. Less than two months, two months from yesterday. Rapidly approaching. So exciting things coming to this area. Less than two months two months from yesterday rapidly approaching So exciting things coming to this area now in Less than a month our old friend Phil Davis is back and it's been a while since we talked to him He'll be a part of the PFL world tournament May 1st light heavyweight tournament going up against Rob

Wilkinson in the very first round and like I said, it's been quite some time since we talked to him. Of course, multiple time UFC title contender, former Bell Tour light heavyweight champion made his debut back in 2008, that long ago. And he's still around. He's still doing the thing. He's still a force. He's 40 years young and he's kind enough to join us on this Tuesday afternoon.

Is he there? Phil Davis, there he is. He's still a force. He's 40 years young and he's kind enough to join us on this Tuesday afternoon. Is he there? Phil Davis, there he is! What's up? What's happening man? Long time no speak. I know. Where you been? Where have you been? I've been here. Where you been? I've been here too. It's been a while. That's on me. That's my bad. But I'm happy that you're part of this tournament and I like that you're still rocking the Bellator gear I see. Absolutely.

You're doing this for Bellator. I actually got Bellator tattooed on my chest. That was the last thing I could do, support the brand. Okay, well that's very nice of you. You're a loyal guy, but this is interesting because you're going into this tournament this this sort of like, you know This new PFL if you will they've changed the whole format some happy some unhappy Some of the belt tour guys unhappy we saw Ryan Bader, you know, just got his release. Where do you stand?

How do you feel about everything going on? You know there was definitely some some contract restructuring and, uh, you know, that didn't make everybody happy. Uh, you know, that was not what I would have chosen for me, but at the same time, uh, I think that the PFL, um, they, they, they did try to, you know, make all parties, uh, as comfortable and as happy as possible. And that's really at the end of the day, that's, that's kind of what you're

looking for is, uh, you know, some sort of like give and take. And, uh, I feel like they've put forth a little bit of, uh, a good, a good amount of effort to try to make sure that was there. What, why did the contract have to be structured? I do not know. It's over my pay grade. I don't know. That's what I was gonna ask you

because you always be having a scoops area. And so I was gonna ask you, that was on my list. Okay, let me check that off because you don't know. But yeah. Well, maybe I do. I mean, to a degree, I would imagine they acquired all these contracts and it just given the format,

especially with the tournament and whatnot, and they say, okay, if you win this tournament, you'll win X amount, they're probably telling you, it'll pan out in the end, if you win this and that, it all kind of comes out in the wash, but I know a lot of the fighters, as you said, weren't down with that. You know, Patricia Pitbull, another one, he wanted to get paid what he was supposed to get paid

Musasi another one so it seems like a lot of the vets weren't happy and you would fall into that category as well and so I was curious to see if you were going to stick around and you are I'm not going to lie. I may have been a beneficiary of strong bellator talent that said, I'm not going to take this and then left. Be completely honest. But then again, I don't really do any of that stuff. I have great management and I don't really do any of that stuff. I have great management and I

Don't I don't really deal with any of that but um, do you mean by that by the way? They will be very I'm very upset that um, you know We don't have those those sort of names under our under our umbrella. But at the same time You know, I can only speak for my situation. And when you say that you were a beneficiary of it, do you mean like because there were these unhappy fighters, they tried to do right by you and you didn't speak up? Is that why?

Not that I didn't speak up. Well, I mean publicly. I didn't like, yeah, exactly. Yeah. I can only speak for myself. Yeah. I don't really do a lot of social media and especially not negative social media so I can that's all I can really say but the end of the day I felt like all parties involved in my contract negotiation were trying to be as fair as possible.

You didn't fight last year. Your last fight was in 2023. Why not? It was a mix of, Ariel. What? What, come on. You have to know the scoop on everything. No, I mean, mean I'm asking you that's why you're here No, no, honestly, it was a mix of so many things a

little bit of injury on my part and and then By the time I was healthy and able to go It was just poor timing and At the same time, I think there were some growing pains between adding Bela to our two PFL and just trying to make those two companies jive together. I think it was definitely one of the more difficult years in the in the history of PFL, but there were some missed shows and I don't know. I've got ready for so many fights that didn't happen and so again, like I said

PFL I think has been trying to They've've been, they've been doing the best. I think, I think they can. And it has not always worked out for me, but I will reserve judgment to say they they've been doing a good job. What's the motivation at this point? Like I said, you've been fighting for about 17 years, 40 now, you've- Changed. It's a long road. A lot of those guys that were fighting back when you were

in the UFC and prior, aren't around anymore, as you know. Yeah. What's the reason for continuing to do this? Well, number one, I love to compete. I just love to compete. I just love to compete. And I have to say, like, I imagined that my body would be like so much worse off by now. I've never had a surgery, I've never broken a bone.

That's wild. I just imagine me falling apart, you know what I mean? And that's not the case. And so I don't know, man, I'm having fun. I love what I do. I love what I do. So what gets me up is just enjoying where I'm at and enjoying just continuing to learn the sport and everything that is mixed martial arts. I remember when you came into the sport and then when you made your debut against

Bryan Stan in 2010, like you were, you know, you were the hotshot Penn State guy. You didn't, you didn't think you'd stick around 17, 15 years, right? Like was this a part of the plan? 15 years right like was this a part of the plan? No bro no I mean not at all. What did you think? Just a few years I'll do this for a bit and then I'll move on to something else? Yeah I'll have some fun. And I'm still having fun. Yeah. Why leave the party? It's still fun. You know how that goes, Ariel. Yeah, well, it's still fun, although I bet if we spoke last year,

you weren't having a lot of fun when shows were getting canceled and whatnot. No. Yeah. No, we would have had that taught last year, and I was, I have to admit, I was definitely like, should I move on? And I'm not exactly sure what tip the scales one way or the other, but here I am.

I definitely was close to moving on last year. It just, everything was off. Everything was off, but I don't know a little bit of prayer and hard work and here we are What does move on look like for you? Like eventually you're going to move on What do you do after fighting? Um, probably more coaching and I have a Interesting opportunity to to do some I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of,

I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, I'm doing a lot of, Or is it athletics or? Athletics. Okay, that's fun.

Athletics. I don't wanna, I can't say too much. You can't say too much, okay. Is that coming soon? Do you see the end of the road soon? Could be. Okay. I don't know how much fun I have.

Yeah. But right now I'm having fun, Ariel. I love it, I love it. I can see that you're having fun. I can it. I love it. I can see that you're having fun. I can see. Did you watch the first leg of these tournaments last week? PFL's new format. Did you watch it last week? I did not. Okay. Why not? You don't want to check it out? I mean, it's your new home. You never fought for them? Can it be bothered? I got a you know what I have my things I have my my family my kids just all of all of these things that I have to manage on a daily

basis and it takes a lot to bring me out of that daily routine so no I didn't I didn't get the gym to watch them. Wow. How many kids do you have now? Two. Two, okay. How old are they? 12 and eight.

Damn, look at you, all growns up. Our boy girl? Two boys. Two boys, are they interested in wrestling, competing, falling in their old man's footsteps? Kind of, but mostly no. Okay. Mostly no.

I say kind of because it's like, they make like a, they make an attempt. Okay. They're somewhat interested in wrestling. And so they wrestle they you know, they wrestle my club and Right now I'm just like spoon-feeding them because wrestling is a brutal sport And I don't want wrestling for someone who doesn't want it for themselves they give you don't if you don't want that life, I don't want it for you because it's

It's a hard sport and it is occasionally painful. So I've just been kind of like spoon feeding them and lately they've been getting more into it. But are they athletes? Do they like other sports? Yes. They like flag football and soccer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We did some good stuff.

We went to the San Diego FC game this past Saturday. Had a lot of fun. Are you still based in San Diego? I was gonna ask you that. I am. Okay, so where do you train out of now? Because Alliance is no more, right? Alliance is no more.

So now I'm at a gym called Estecca Boxing Club. Okay. So, uh, uh, we have quite a few of the, the central members of Alliance. Dominic V Dominic, the dominator crews will, uh, he'll come through when he's in town, uh, Jeremy Stevens, Angela Hill, Jessica Penne, uh, um, uh, you think who else that you would, uh, remember from that time? I think it was in the late 90s, early 90s, early 90s. And then in the early 90s, early 90s, I think it was in the late 90s, early 90s. And then in the early 90s, early 90s,

I think it was in the early 90s, early 90s. And then in the early 90s, early 90s, I think it was in the early 90s, early 90s. And then in the early 90s, early 90s, I think it of those cats that, he's just such a hard worker. He's an incredibly hard worker and, man, I mean, I'm happy for him because he has so much to offer the world outside of just being inside the out the gun. outside of just being inside the out the gun.

And you know, he's a great, great analyst and he's funny too. I don't think people understand how funny Dominic is. We should get him on a regular podcast. I think he started one or maybe started it already. Good, good, good, good. So you see how out of loop I am? I mean, like you, you know, not you. Do you watch any MMA?

Just a couple, just a big cards. Like the big ones. Yeah, you couldn't be bothered. I see you got a new hairstyle and everything. I mean, it's not that new, but it's getting longer. What inspired this? You know, COVID really, I got the. You haven't cut your hair since COVID? Since COVID. Uh, you know, COVID really, I, I got the,

you haven't cut your hair since COVID? Since COVID. For real? Yeah. What are you protesting? I don't even know yet. That's a good point. I am protesting something.

So much to protest right now. Yeah, there's a lot. You know what? Just life. This is it. It's like Tim Duncan. Have you seen Tim Duncan's long hair? Uh-uh.

You probably don't even know who Tim Duncan is either. Do you know Tim Duncan is? Yeah, I know Tim Duncan. Okay, he's got hair like yours. Really? Yeah. Wow. It's quite nice.

Check it out. Okay, okay. Have you been watching collegiate wrestling? Cause I understand Penn State killing it. Yeah. I watched a little bit of wrestling, a little bit of wrestling. I do keep up with wrestling. Bo Nicol.

Bo Nicol, keep up with Bo. The man, another, have you been to his spot in Happy Valley, his ATT? I have not. Yeah, they weren't quite set up, I think the last time I was up there. Okay. But yeah, no, that's on my list of things to do.

Really want to get up there and kind of train with them, mess around, see if I can get in with Anthony Kassar. Yeah. And you know, Carter Srirachi. Do you think Carter will go to MMA? I don't know. I don't know. He's talented.

He is talented. Five titles, right? Five titles. Yeah, that's insane. May never be done, cause of COVID. I mean, I don't see a reason why it would ever happen again. Right.

With another COVID level event, right? Right, right, right. And then we would need another Cardis de Rache. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I just don't see that happening again. That's a one and done. Like it's incredible. Are you familiar with your opponent on May 1st?

Have you heard of him, Rob? Oh, I thought we were gonna talk wrestling for the rest of the show. Oh no, I feel we should at least talk about that. May 1st, Orlando? Yeah, May 1st in Orlando. Because I know you don't watch. You're fighting Rob Wilkinson.

I don't know if you know about this. I will say this. This is the first time I'm seeing the bracket all laid out. This is crazy. Did any names jump out at you? You got Simeon Powell down there. He was great on a PFL Europe, Karl Moore, Antonio Carlos Jr., former UFC fighter.

There you are at the top of the bracket. So it works just like any other tournament. You win your fight, you fight the winner of Kali Nunes. Yep, that should be a good one there. So there you go. I feel like you know most of these names, no? I do. I've heard of them.

I do, I do. Yeah, I do know most of those names. Yeah, no, it's a good bracket. I'm excited. Rob's a big boy, although he did test positive not that long ago. Any concerns about that? Am I concerned about it? Yeah. Why would I Any concerns about that? Am I concerned about it? Yeah.

Well, would I be concerned about that? Well, you want to fight clean athletes, right? I mean, I want to fight clean athletes, but the, you know, the fact of the matter is people are gonna do what they're gonna do. Oh. And one of my ongoing grievances with MMA is when someone tests positive and

They have won the fight the fight gets turned into a no contest You have a two-person Athletic event and when one person gets D, the other person is not the winner. No, you gotta, you gotta change that. Right. So what are you suggesting? I suggest if somebody fails drug tests, other person gets declared the winner. Why wouldn't I want that on my record?

Did I not go in there and take the risk against a person who was in fact disqualified? It doesn't make sense. and go in there and take the risk against a person who was in fact disqualified. It doesn't make sense. If there's a two person race and one of them gets disqualified, somebody has to win, Ariel. I'm not making, am I making sense? No, no, I think you're making sense. Yeah, I mean, I guess the,

I don't know what the line of thinking is. I guess the line of thinking is the person didn't actually win, so they can't declare him the victor. Yeah, but the other person didn't actually compete, did they? Well, they did compete, but they technically competed with assistants. Right. So if one person cheats and they are disqualified, the other person wins. They showed up, they wait up. Yeah, they wait they competed They win yeah, no, you're right. This is good. This is this is a good thing to stump for I see yeah So my point was going back to a mr. Mr. Wilkinson. Um

No, my job is the same my job is the same. My job is the same, show up, kick ass. Because the rules as they are now only benefit the person that wins. So that's my job. And that's whether someone is taking performance enhancing jobs, I mean drugs, it's out of my control. Why even worry about it?

By the way, this is what Tim Duncan looks like these days in case you wanted to know. We have a photo of him. Oh, wow. My hair actually looks better now. You think so? Yeah. It's very zen-like.

He does kickboxing. Does he? Yeah. Who did he play with? There was a dude, I think he's French Canadian. Shoot. Oh, which player? Yes.

Tony Parker. Parker, yes. He's from France, not French Canadian, from France. Oh, my bad. No problem. What about him? I don't know why, for a second I thought that's who you were talking about.

Oh gosh, so you didn't know who Tim Duncan was? No, I know who Tim Duncan is. Yeah, you thought he was Tony Parker. Not even, but you're thinking of somebody else. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Well I'm happy that you're back, I'm happy this got sorted. You return on May 1st, I'm looking forward to that, light heavyweight tournament, we've got another two brackets kicking off this week

for PFL and so we wish you the best. Let's get that money. GDP, get that paper. Yes, let's get that money. Yes, you already know what it is. I know the lingo, I know the lingo. I'm cool, I got kids too. We're gonna talk to one of the rising stars of PFL

in a moment, Thad Gene. So I'm looking forward to that. But for now, we say goodbye and good luck to you. Thank you so much, Phil. It was great to catch up. Yes, thank you for having me and great to catch up. I'll see you around. All right, man.

There he is, the great Phil Davis, Mr. Wonderful. He returns to action on May 1st. Last week, Bell Tour, excuse me, PFL may have found their next big thing in the form of Thadjeen. He is 9-0. They refer to him as the silverback. His win was supremely impressive. He won in the first round against Muhammad Berkhamov, a first round victory. But afterwards in his post-fight interview with Dan Hardy, and yes this is Dan Hardy, he just lost his voice, I thought he really showed the world that this is someone that PFL can get behind.

In case you missed the post fight interview, take a look. Ladies and gentlemen, your winner, late replacement, a beautiful first round knockout. Now tell me, were you looking for that finish? You look like you were trying to slip for that right hand all night I'm looking for every finish honestly but I know you had a good one too so I'm always ready to counter I'm a counter fighter but if I have to put the pressure for you to throw something that I can catch you with then I would do that and he's my opponent like you guys say he has a lot of experience but I do not care about the amount of fights you

have in this cage I don't care who you are, what your name is, what your record is. I don't care if you are the main event or if you are starting to fight south but kicking them off. When you're in a cage with that gene, the silverback, I'm going to win. I'm going to put you out. I'm going to do what I got to do. Rules. Let's go. Look at him, look at him, look at him. You've got some incredible support

in the building, my friend. That must mean a lot to you. I mean, look at them. Listen to them. Make some noise for Vagation! Yeah! That's... Hey, man. That support system is what's getting me to go further and further.

Last time you asked this question, what was the limit? There is no limit. There is absolutely no limit. Listen, all glory to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. I didn't say my Lord and Savior, I said our Lord and Savior. Honestly, he put me on this. It's God's plan. I was supposed to be here two years ago, I thought, but I wasn't ready, of course. I'm here here now I told coach I was gonna make this spectacular coach where's coach at where's coach was this spectacular I got you brother where's Ian where's Ian Ian love you brother listen we are here and I'm not playing and by the way where's Dakota Ditchie why is she not here no never mind don't say nothing I want to see you June 12th Nashville I'm not playing and by the way, where's the color ditch? Why is she not here?

No, never mind. Don't say nothing. I want to see you June 12 Nashville. I'm not saying anything though come hey So be through the finish told me through this knockout Thank You Papa He kept You know, you got gotta get warmed up. I wasn't warmed up but I was seeing his punches in the beginning. He brings the hands back very slow and I know that with my explosive power all I had to do was be patient.

I seen the punch, boom, you see how his hands stays there? I'm throwing that hook. I don't have to wind up, I'm throwing it. It's already cocked up, it's already in position. The bullets in the chamber and I'm ready to shoot. Let's go baby. Are you fresh? You got no injuries?

No injuries. What's your message to the next guy? You're the main event now. Cause I'm going against the main event, right? Main event. You're the main event now. You're gonna be going against the real main event. Very soon.

All respect to both of you. I'm excited to see who wins, but the worst thing about it is that you have to face me next. And I'm gonna make sure you understand that you're facing Thad Gene, and I mean it. I truly do. I'm not playing, I'm not just talking. I truly have confidence in all the work that I'm putting in,

all the studying I'm doing, all the fans that I have here, all the supporters. I love them, and you'll see how much I love this game. Congratulations, brother. Ladies and gentlemen, Silverback Nation! Yo, what a scene. What a scene. I've been there before, Dan Hardy. I know what it feels like. Way to power through.

But what about that crowd? What about that atmosphere? What about that response at the Universal Studios in Orlando? Let's talk to the man himself, thefeated silverback nine and oh and now very much a Name that I think people need to start paying attention to and certainly a rising star in the PFL That gene is here repping high T now that I gotta ask you in Haiti. They speak French my friend I speak French as well. Okay. Oh, yes, okay. Oh, that gene ain't that gene. It's that Jean, right? Isn't it Jean? Well, full name is Tatomi Jean. Jean, but I don't like this gene. Why are we going with Jean? It's Jean. Go with your name. Make the people know how to pronounce your name correctly.

Exactly, exactly. I mean, raise it America, you know, they ease your way for everybody say last name was Jean So I just want what it but it is actually Jean. OK, so what's your full first name? Tadomi. Tadomi. OK, I love this. But you were born in Haiti and when did you move to America? Oh, no, no, I was born in America. You were born in America. All right. So maybe you are that gene then after all.

Yeah, I was born in America. So, I mean, I rep, I say that I was born in America. So my heart is American, but my blood, cause it's from my parents, is Haitian. So I like to say like, I'm a dog. I have the best type of machinery going for me. But I like to rep Haiti because everything that's going there, they need some hope.

So, I mean, America has too many champions already, so Haiti needs one coming out. Well, I gotta say, I know that wasn't your PFL debut, your five and O now in PFL, but it feels like a coming out party, and maybe this is the beauty of this tournament, because now you're fighting a guy like Jason Jackson and the face off afterwards was great.

It feels like last week was a turning point for you. Do you agree? Yeah, I would say last week, I feel like every fight was a buildup to this one, but yes, last week was definitely like the blow up, I would say last week I feel like every fight was a build-up to this one But yes last week was definitely like the the blow up I would say and so we're now on your map like now I'm on I mean people's own people's radar the mic skills were great. How come I I don't know I didn't get it I didn't see it like that that that post fight interview was tremendous. That's how you get people behind you Thank you. Thank you. I was saying it before I was saying to all my friends

you get people behind you. Thank you, thank you. I was saying it before, I was saying it to all my friends and my family back before I even started. I was like, I'm done being nice. I'm gonna start talking my shit. Oh, sorry, I started for Christmas. No, talk away.

But yeah, I'm gonna start talking my stuff, you know? I'm tired of being nice. I'm tired of being a nice guy. I'm gonna start being who I am and, you know, forget this PR trading stuff. I'm just gonna start being Thad Gene and Thad Gene talks to his talk and I'm gonna start doing that from now on. And I'm not talking start being Thad Gene and Thad Gene talks his talk and I'm gonna start doing that from now on.

And I'm not talking out of arrogance, I'm talking because I have full confidence in my work and in my game. And it's putting it on display. This is great. Now afterwards, you did the face off with Jason Jackson, you referred to the main event, he wanted the main event. What did you guys say to each other here? I love this.

Man, he was talking about how he's going to be real super bad. I was like, shut your mouth. I'm going to show you. And then he was talking about his flight. I was like, be quiet. I started getting a little controversial. I was like, we gave you your freedom. And then he got mad about it.

He started talking about how one of their guys came through, but definitely not Haiti. I was like, then I started giving him your year and then he got upset and then he pushed me. Yeah. I'm in his head already. I'm living in his head already. So it doesn't really matter to me. It seemed like originally like at the, off the jump, it was somewhat cordial with you guys. And then he switched real quick.

Bipolar. Crazy. Yeah. What did you say to get under his skin though? Honestly I was just saying how how Haiti gave Jamaica their freedom. Oh I see I see okay that would do it. That would do it. Yeah man I don't care I'm in your head this is the fight game you know this is the entertainment business so I'm gonna do what I gotta do and what I gotta do is win this fight. And already I'm winning the battle of the mind game. And so, you know, he's a name in the promotion, former Bellator champion. Obviously this is the biggest fight of your career.

He would be the most, you know, well-known opponent that you've faced thus far. And you're still relatively young in your career. I'm, you know, it'd be stupid for me to ask you, are you ready for this? Obviously you're gonna say yes. and you're still relatively young in your career. It'd be stupid for me to ask you, are you ready for this? Obviously you're gonna say yes, if you weren't ready, you wouldn't even tell me. But do you recognize this as such? Do you feel like this is the next,

or maybe the biggest challenge, and this is the one that really gets you noticed? I don't know if it's gonna be the biggest challenge, but I would say that I'm not gonna discredit what he's done in the past. I don't know what the biggest challenge would the biggest challenge, but I would say that I'm not gonna discredit what he's done in the past. I don't know what the biggest challenge would be because I look at every opponent as, okay, they're gonna be the biggest challenge,

and I go in to the fight camp and I go crazy, but he has fought some good people, he has some good people on his resume, but it just makes it more better for me that once I beat him, I take who he's beating, I put him under me as well. So me being young doesn't mean anything if I'm being people who've already been paving away from me.

How did you get into MMA? It was crazy, it was actually an injury that I had sustained from football. And just completely, I was praying to God on my knees because I cannot stand staying in school, doing whatever, how to do. I was like, God, give me another way out. And one day one of my brother's friends told me about going to Jiu Jitsu.

And he said it was Montiel brother was really Monkayo brothers where I first started off. And I went there I trained hard for probably six months started randomly some random guy came in and said he did Muay Thai taught me how to do Muay Thai within those six months. I got my first Muay Thai fight and then I won. And then it just, from there, I just never stopped, never looked back. Which position did you play in football? Running back. Running back, okay. And did you have dreams, goals, aspirations to- Oh, for sure. I wanted to be the. I wanted to be the best, I mean,

I grew up watching Walter Payton as being my favorite running back end, people like Reggie Bush and Adrian Peterson. So I wanted to grow up and become an amazing NFL. I mean, like I said, I was born here in America and the American dream, I would say for me, is either baseball or Football and I grew up playing football

So football was my dream to be an American star and I had talent for it until I destroyed money By the way, you're born in 96, right? 98 98. Okay. Okay. So you're you're you're 20. What are you 26? Okay, that's that's where I screwed that up And and Walter Payton was your guy. You're an old what are you, 26. Okay, that's where I screwed that up. And Walter Payton was your guy, you're an old soul. Oh bro, I love Walter Payton. It's because of my brother Barry. My brother Barry would always look up Walter Payton highlights,

because playing football as a kid, I would always just, I never, I could never sit through watching an actual football game. So I would have to settle for watching highlights. And my favorite highlights to watch were, and I love people who get grimy who get Into it who really want to go head up with someone and Walter Payton was that guy so watching Walter Payton was like Watching a super just a superhero on the field and where are you based now?

For a lot of L. Okay, and who are you training with? At a fight sports different beach with right with, uh, right now, Jay-Z, Kamukante. Uh, legend, legend of the game. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I never knew who he was, honestly. Oh gosh. Really? You knew who Walter Payton was, but not Jay-Z? I only watched football. I only watched football as a kid. Yeah. And then I went into it and everybody started telling me who he was. I was like, oh shit, I guess I got, I got the right school.

So I mean, Jay-Z is an amazing coach. I have another coach, Daniel Menezu, who isn't currently here, but they are just amazing coaches and, um, I mean, they're, they're, they're method of creating, creating athletes and just fighters is, has proven to be really good. Just our fight team itself is on a rise. And so, you know, what's interesting. The reason why I asked you where you train out of is, you mentioned Dakota Ditcheva.

I thought maybe you were an ATT guy cause you're based in Florida. And so I'm wondering why did you mention Dakota in your post fight interview? I think she's hot. I was, I was thinking about it I was thinking I feel like a loser right now. It's saying it. No, I've never really actually spoken her but your shot She's not for sure. I mean why not?

No, I think she's hot and like if I if I do get a chance, so I do see her I'm a lover. I would love to get a chance to just Wow, just talk to her. Have you Just talk to her and just take her out. You know what I mean? Have you reached out? No, no, not yet. I feel like it's cringy to reach out on social media to DM people pretty personally.

Yeah, well maybe this is a form of reaching out right here. Right, yeah, I'm doing my reaching out on like bigger platforms. Yeah, I know. Now, Errol Hwani, so how do I say your last name, brother? Hellwani. Hellwani now, Errol Hoani. So how do I say your last name, brother? Hellwani. Hellwani.

Yeah. Hellwani. Yeah. We're learning how to say each other's last names. There we go. I just love the fact that in this incredible moment for you, you thought of her and then you wanted to say something, but then you said, no, I'm not going to say it. Yeah.

My teammate was like, no, dad, slow down. Stop it. Stop it. So I was like, all right, all right, all right. This is your celebrity crush. Right, exactly, I would say. Everyone has one. What did you wanna say? Honestly, I can't remember now, cause I was touching the moment

and I do get crazy when I'm in the moment like that and sometimes I can say something that I may regret. But most of the time I say what I want, I probably was gonna say, damn, I honestly can't remember. But I would have said something outlandish for sure. Okay. Yeah.

Maybe like asked to take her out on a date or something like that. Something along those lines, probably a little crazy. Okay, a little crazy. Wow, okay, so you say that you're tired of being nice. Yeah. Now you got, you know, you did say by the way that you were tired of being nice. Yeah. Now you got, you know, you did say by the way that you were tired of being nice

and then two seconds later apologize for swearing. So I'm not sure if you're fully there. No, I don't know what your platform's like. No, you're not quite a bad boy just yet. You're working your way to becoming a bad boy. I'm tired of being like, you know what I should say? I should say I'm tired of like just holding in my words or holding in just being too humble in a way of

it's things people think that they can, I'm not someone to look out for. I mean, I feel like I've been too nice in a way of, okay, he's just that, I mean, you got Jason Jackson saying that Chris Brown, my last two appointments exposed me and it's every time he says that, makes you want to just take his head off. But I mean, Chris Brown, I don't know if you know who he is, he's just super an awkward fighter and I think he would expose anyone on the feet. But he didn't expose me. I was able to knock any way that Jason Jackson would ever come close to

doing. I feel like Jason Jackson is a weathered, rusted sword and I'm up and coming, I'm gonna slice right through him. And I feel like everybody's gonna see that. I love being, if I am the underdog, which would be stupid, I love being the underdog because I love shutting people up and I'm gonna shut him up and I'm gonna shut anybody up that thinks that he'll beat me or could beat me. Jason Jackson's just 34, he's not that old.

You think he's weathered. I don't give a damn how old he is. He's not me and I think he's weathered because of the amount of fights he has, how many championships, champs he's gone against. I feel like he's doing really good. He's done really good, he's done really good. But he's done all that for me.

That's how I see it. Did you see his fight, his win over Koreshkov? Yeah, and I don't think he has high-Q. I don't think he has good high-Q at all. What do you mean by that? You won via submission, right? You look great. He struck, I mean, why, he was doing better

than Koreshkov on the feet. Why do you, this is the thing I don't understand about mixed martial artists. Why are you going into grappling when you're destroying somebody on the feet. Why do you, this is the thing I don't understand about mixed martial artists. Why are you going into grappling when you're destroying somebody on the feet? Why? What's the point of grappling someone when you easily, it's a mixed martial arts game. I know you can do it, but it's there if you need it. You don't need it. So why even go into it? So I feel like someone like Jason Jackson is scared of someone's power. That's what that showed me. You're scared of power or you're you're not really

in tune with the fight from an outside point of view. You're too tuned in and you're too tunnel vision and tunnel vision fighters get beaten all the time by smarter fighters like I. So I think his IQ wasn't there all the way because he did unnecessary things. I mean he took him down, which he did, and he took advantage of them on the ground, but I feel like it would have been an easier finish if he stood up with them. He was much quicker and much stronger. Okay, so you think he has a low IQ, low fight IQ.

Low fight IQ. Okay, and you're gonna expose that June 12th, Nashville. Nashville, Tennessee. Pretty quick turnaround, two months. You cool with that? I love that, I love that. I love that I feel like the long the quick turnaround is keep me Keep me warm. Keep me in the cage. Keep me excited. Keep the fans excited

You know keeps me ready to go. I'm I mean Gets me more. How should I say more comfortable within the cage so that I can be able to do more things So yeah, I definitely love the quick turnaround that I can be able to do more things. So yeah, I definitely love the quick turnaround. And you were a late replacement for the tournament. When did you find out that you were going to step in? Probably eight days before. Damn.

Days before. And what kind of shape were you in? I was always in great shape. I was already, I was fight I train year-round I'm always ready for a fight, but I also was supposed to go against Joseph Luciano the one that went against Logan Storli To place as who would be the the primary alternate for the fight So I was already in shape because I was already getting ready for the day. So Going into it as soon as I heard that I would just be replacing someone to go

against Mach Man, then I was like, oh perfect, let's do it. I don't care, I'm ready to go against any of them because personally, Luciano got, he got, I don't know what it was, but it was sad to watch him against Logan Storley, Hump Man Storley. It was definitely boring, bro. It's not someone you would want to be your champion. Or just even in a title fight. What do you think about the other side of the bracket? Yes? All right, all right, let's keep this up.

Let's keep this up. All right, let's be- I wanted to see your face. I like that smile. But yes, keep going, keep going. This is crazy, let's keep this up. Let's keep this up. All right, let's be on. I wanted to see your face. I like that smile, but yes, keep going, keep going. This is crazy, let's be honest. This, as soon as, I would say the toughest part, the top bracket is the toughest bracket itself.

Sure. I mean, once I get past Jason Jackson, I feel like the tournament is mine already. I mean, of course I have to fight in the finals, and God bless whoever my next opponent is after Jason Jackson, but after Jason Jackson, it's it's a for sure win I mean Logan Sturley is hot Logan Holtman Sturley. That's his name now. Holtman Sturley is definitely not going to I mean he won but has a belt or title, but he's not a threat at all and

the I mean, he won, but has a belt or title, but he's not a threat at all. And the Japanese or Korean, whatever flag that is. Leave that to Japan. Japan, the Japan dude, I mean, he's good, God bless him, but let's see if he beats Dorley. Here's the thing, Thad, if I could shoot straight, as you know, this has been a rough stretch for PFL, right? Like the PR hasn't been great, you know, just like the vibes around the company, you got legends wanting out. They have something special in you and they have a lot of

fighters on their roster who, for whatever reason, especially with the fans here in North America, just don't connect. They're kind of just like faceless, not the most exciting fighters. Let's just be honest. They have something special. Do you feel like they recognize this? Are they treating you as such?

They haven't done the best of jobs in building up, dare I say, other than Dakota recently of building up homegrown talent, Dakota is a superstar and will be a superstar. You could be in my opinion, that guy. Like you're right there. You have everything. You have the fighting style. You have the charisma. You got the mic work.

Do you feel like they are treating you as such? I feel like they're starting to see that I am another homegrown star like Dakota Dichpa. So I believe that they are starting to build me up in that way. And I think once I, once I win this tournament, it's, it'll solidify me as one of their homegrown stars. And I would say a superstar within them MMA,

mixed martial arts world itself as well. So I think, I think pass wise, I feel like the PFL has been trying to figure out how to do it and it's not been the best so far, but I mean I think they will get get it down pack Eventually and it makes it easier when they get people who who are easy to market and I think personally I am easier to market Than a lot of the other fighters like Like the fighter you just had on here, I forgot his name. Bill Davis?

Yeah, he's not a marketable guy at all. I mean, he's been around since 2008. It's first time I've ever heard of him. You're kidding. Yeah. Mr. Wonderful. Mr. Wonderful. For real, you've never heard of him.

I'm not even joking. Do you not watch MMA? I do, not as much, but it's the first time I heard of him. He just didn't see his charismatic as- No, well, I mean, that may be true, but you fought in the UFC for many years, fought for a UFC title. He's been around.

Yeah, no. No. All right, who does impress you? Who do you think is like a superstar in MMA right now? A superstar in MMA? I think that's, and be marketable. And that's what I think is the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the key to being a superstar.

And I think that's the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the key to being a superstar. And I think that's the blueprint for anyone who wants to be, you don't have to be a douchebag, but be confident and actually show up and be an exciting fighter. I think that's and be marketable. And that's what I think Conor McGregor did for everybody with the blueprint.

I think some people take his, his method to the extreme of, Oh, I got to be a douchebag, but you don't got to be a douchebag. Just be confident in what you say, be serious about what you say and, and come out and deliver on what you say. Just like he said, because when you talk and you don't deliver on what you say, just like he said, because when you talk and you don't deliver on what you say, you just look like a retard or just look stupid and people love to bash a shit talker. So, I mean, either you're gonna come to watch me win

or you're gonna come to watch me lose. And most likely just gonna come to watch me win. Do you see any superstars in PFL? In the PFL, I feel like currently I Do you see any superstars in PFL? And the PFL, I feel like, currently I don't see any superstars in the PFL other than me because you don't really see the PFL fighters as you would see in other promotions. They're not really marketed as much

as you would want them to be like to, okay, who's in a PFL? You don't really know who's in a pfl until they're actually fighting that day you know what i mean so um i feel like You won't know who a star in a pfl is is until the day that person is fighting in the pfl I understand by the way, you should have said dakota. I mean, you know, those i think dakota's yeah

I think she's already a superstar. Okay, that's already Are there any PFL superstars you said none and now you said she's already a superstar well, which is no I thought you meant like up-and-coming. Oh, I get it. Okay, fair enough Yeah, no, I think Dakota's already is a superstar with it in herself Like I feel like she is the best female fighter. Honestly, I feel like in her division. She'd she'd be able to go over to bigger big promotions and defeat their fighters as well. So I think Dakota is a great athlete. She's very pretty. She's very charismatic. She's a great person to watch. She's just, she has it. Yes.

She has it. Look at that smile. Can I ask you this? There's a part of me that almost hates asking you this, but you seem to be a straight shooter, so I'll ask it anyway. Do you want to go to the UFC? Is that the dream? I don't know what tomorrow holds, but right now I just want to be a champion.

I don't know what tomorrow holds, but yeah, thank you for asking, but I don't know. I want to be a champion. That's it. And I want to hold a title in a big organization. And right now I'm in a PFL. So I do want to hold the title within the PFL. I want to go against Musa, I think his name is. And I think personally, the PFL welterweight champion is better than the UFC's welterweight champion at the moment. So I feel like once I destroy this guy, I mean, if we can have like cross tournaments,

like how they deal with the Bellator against PFL, I know it's because PFL owned Bellator, but I would love them to have like cross championship fights like PFL versus Bellator, PFL versus UFC against one championship, things like that. And that'd be awesome. You know that, that, and I would love to represent the PFL in such a, such a case, so I love that. Let's do it. And, and, and when you hear these, these guys openly complain about the PFL, do you feel some sort of way about it?

Do you, do you, are you, are it? Are you proud to represent PFL? Does it annoy you? Yeah, I mean, it does annoy me because I feel like the PFL could do better when it comes to things like that. Because like you said, the UFC, I mean, UFC has a blueprint on how things, how to market fighters and how to just be a great show in

general. And I feel like the PFL is still trying to find its own way. And that's cool. The PFL definitely should find its own way, like any organization that wants to be its own big thing. So I mean, I just feel like, because you have people's careers and you bought out another people's lives, careers, because you bought out another big organization

that at this point it should already be established what the blueprint should be in the organization. So then there would be no room for other people to talk. How many fights left with PFL? I'm in for the year. Okay, so what happens if you win the tournament? There's no room for other people to talk. How many fights left with PFL? I'm in for the year. Okay, so what happens if you win the tournament? Hopefully I get to fight the- Did you get extended though?

Like if you say you're in for the year, tournament ends, what happens then? Oh, we go on to negotiating. Oh, look at you, all right, this is good. So there's a lot at stake here. I think you win 500K if you win the tournament, right? Yeah, yeah. That's significant?

That's correct. Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, you wouldn't, I wouldn't, if I was in the UFC, I wouldn't be winning that at this point. Sure, sure. Where are you now, by the way, with the flags? In my room. Okay, I like how you're representing.

Yeah, I like to hold it, I like to look at it, look at my flags when I wake up. Like, this is what I'm doing. Gotta go to training. Let's go. Have you ever been back to Haiti? Oh No, not recently we like Haiti is really enough. It's a tough snow, but even in your life. Have you ever been? Oh, yes, of course. Okay, but it's been a while. Yeah, you have family and friends there Yeah, I have a couple of family members. I got a sister over there, some nieces and nephews, some cousins there. Friends, not so much as people I'll call friends over there,

but yeah, definitely got some family over there. Are they okay? We're here a lot. Yeah, no, no, they're great. We're good. Okay. There was a fighter named, I don't know if you're familiar with him.

You didn't know Phil Davis. Ovin St. Perou, he represents- Yeah, you're familiar with him, you didn't know Phil Davis, Ovin Saint-Pierre, he represents Haiti. Yeah, OSP. OSP, you know him. Yeah. He's probably like the most, I would say the most famous fighter to represent Haiti, right, in MMA? Yeah. Would you agree?

Yes, yes he is. And you're the second coming. I'm second coming, I definitely gave him his props and everything. I wish he was more of an active fighter, but he's definitely getting up there in age. But yeah, OSP is is definitely the biggest mixed martial arts fighter for Haiti He's he I would say he was he was one of my inspirations growing up to not growing up but getting into this getting into this war to martial arts because Someone else is I mean,

you never, you don't see a Hades flag. You don't see Hades flag when it comes out in MMA. So seeing his flag in such a huge organization like the UFC, I was like, all right, yes, I'm going to be the next big thing. So, uh, definitely giving, uh, OSP his flowers for sure. Former football player as well. Yeah. Just like you, a lot of similarities.

Yeah. You know, and he's huge. He is. He's a big boy. Um, what's the message to Jason? Jason watching right now? What do you, what do you want to say? Is he watching?

You better get ready brother. I mean, I'm in your head already and I'm going to stay in your head and rent free, no taxes and you're going to see June 12th, just like the rest of the world's going to see June 12th. I'm going to put you out and Not because it's not something You didn't know already, but it's it's inevitable at this point It sucks that I had to be your opponent. I wish I was your opponent in the finals, but

It is what it is brother. It is what it is. Keep doing your thing, man It's it's a lot of fun to watch and I thought you stole the show on On Thursday you were the show on Thursday. You were the star of that show. Wait a minute. I think, uh, Haitian Sensation. Is that what we're going with? No, Neil Magne, also big up there. Did he rep? I don't feel like he was repping as much as OSP was. I thought he was the Haitian Sensation.

Was he the Haitian Sensation? Yeah, I think I thought he was the Haitian sensation. No. Was he the Haitian sensation? Yeah, I think Neil Magni as well. So I want to get credit to him as well. Yo, shout out. Neil Magni's a legend. Yeah. There's another one. And perhaps you will surpass both of them and have a... And he had an incredible, I mean he has an incredible career, a lot of wins in the UFC, but I feel like you're well on your way my friend so yeah keep it up congratulations good luck on the 12th of June we'll be watching and good luck with Dakota as well all right all the best to you there he is that gene representing both Haiti and America he He's got that thing.

He's talking the talk, he's walking the walk now. And that face off with Jason Jackson was quite spicy as well. And it looked like Jason got pretty pissed off. It is a finals worthy type matchup, but you're getting in in the second round. So let's see how it all pans out. But he is talking a big game. There's the bracket right there, June 12th in Nashville. Honestly,

we've been talking about Neil Magni for a long time. I don't recall him ever being known as the Haitian sensation, but I see it on his Wikipedia right now. Do people call him that? Yeah, that's his nickname. The Haitian sensation, Neil Magni? Yes. I have no recollection. It's actually Neil, The Haitian sensation, Neil Magni? Yes. I have no recollection. It's actually Neil the Haitian sensation, Magni. They have said this in fights. Like when Bruce Buffer announces them. I don't know what Buffer says, but... I see it on his topology.

Yeah, probably. I don't recall. And his name is actually Utnia Jacques Magni, which is also news to me. Yeah. I always thought he was Neil Magni from Brooklyn. Yo. You just had your mind blown.

When Bruce Buffer announces Neil Magni, he calls him Neil, the Haitian sensation Magni. We've been watching him for how many years? I'm confirming right now. That G just blew your mind. Yo, his UFC debut. Oh my gosh, you gotta scroll down all the way well Ultimate Fighter 2012 2012 2012 debut 2013 we've been watching this guy for

12 years let me ask the chat Chad are you familiar with this? Let me see what the chat is saying. This is a bad recipe. Everybody's gonna be like yeah of course we're familiar. I remember it many times. The raspy voice. We did get a super chat that someone said Neil Magni is Haitian. Oh gosh. All right, well listen, I'm not from Haiti. He's from Haiti, he's the one that's supposed to know, not me.

He knew. Yeah. He threw it out there, he said Neil Magni, Haitian sensation. I mean after the fact. We mean after the fact, he said it. All right, all right. After what fact?

Okay, only very recently did Neil start calling himself the Haitian sensation, thank you, R.I. When he says Okay, only very recently did Neil start calling himself the Haitian sensation. Thank you, R.I. When he says recently, we're talking a few years now. It's not like. Not his whole career, come on, Ariel. Okay, that's what I was saying. I've only known Neil Magni as the Haitian sensation.

Yeah, like, Connor's era, he's been the Haitian sensation. Army veteran, Haitian sensation, always LOL. Stop it. Listen. I'm fine, we learned. We live, we learn. It's been plus years. Listen. I'm fine. We learn. We live, we learn. It's been plus years.

Ariel only follows PFL. Well, there it is. Thad Gene. That dude's built different, huh? He's a little bit different than most of us. I still say he should go with Jean, but who am I? Who am I?

He's born here. I'm cool with Thad Gene, the American. There is something about Thad Gene, like you can't just call him Gene or Thad. Nah. It has to be Thad Gene, right? Just one word? It flows, it's the syllables, yeah, it's perfect.

Thad Gene. How about him in Dakota too? Yeah, let's see. Maybe we did a Shidduch, guys. I'm actually, a what? A Shidduch, you do three of those, you go to heaven. We talked about this with Andrew Schultz. What is it? A shirach. You do three of those, you go to heaven. We talked about this with Andrew Schultz. What is it?

A shirach. I don't know. I don't know if that was the... You do three of those, meaning a matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match. It's not just, in my world, it's not just Sean Shelby matchmaking, Joe Silva, McMaynard. We're talking about love here.

I'm watching. I know, but we've seen, you know, need I remind Derek Lewis, we're Ronda Rousey fine ass. Like, you know, we've seen the in cage. He wasn't disrespectful like that. No, but I just don't feel like that is the forum. You know, like, I don't know. We'll see, look, I'm wishing the best.

The man's in love, what do you want him to do? Different. I just don't know. We'll see, look, I'm wishing the best. Man's in love, what do you want him to do? Different. I just don't know if that's the best way. By the way, to his credit, he did stop himself. He said our name, but. Yeah, he was like, and then he was like. I'm the one who asked him. Yeah.

No, he was respectful. Yes, and a very good fighter, and I like that trash talk with Jason. What were you saying, GC? You were gonna say something. I'm watching him finish Mike Mulatt, and I was really hoping John Anik was gonna be like MAAATION SENSATION!

Alright I'm going back to when when Bruce is in the dream. Let's get the buffer. Honestly have no recollection. What year are we talking? What fight is this? This is this is last year. This is last January 297. It's the last time he fought on a pay-per-view card so it's just easy to get to. I'm almost there, I'm almost there. R.I. is saying that he debuted the nickname at UFC 250. That wasn't that long ago, by the way. It's 3-4-2. Here we go. Sorry, what?

250 is not that long ago? Yeah, I mean, 250 is just a few years ago. Here we go. Ariel. Let me hear it. 250 is 2020. Nah, that's not that long ago. What?

Here we go, I'm about to find out, 297. He started. For the podcast He started in 2013 if he debuted it so that's nearly half his career Which event this is Neil! Which event? Which event? This is 297. This is truly the moment I have been waiting for. Just back me on this.

You guys have no recollection of this, right? Can I play it over the air? No, very clearly know that his nickname is the Haitian Slack. You knew this, so why did anyone write it? Brian showed it up like he was getting out of bed in the morning when he was like, Neil Magne, the Haitian Sensation one. Stop. By the way, if I miss something, someone writes it in the morning when he was like, Neil Magni, the Haitian sensation. Stop, I don't, by the way, if I miss something,

someone writes it in the Slack right away. Haitian sensation, Neil Magni. No one wrote it. So either you wanted me to drown or, Or we forgot Neil Magni was the Haitian sensation. Okay, so you did, you did forget. Yeah, forget is not the same as never knew, Ariel. Those two are not the exact same thing.

Oh yeah, Neil Magni, the Haitian sensation. Yeah. Wait, careful. All right. Mute it, mute it now. I have no recollection. That sounds like AI, if I'm being honest. No, Allen Iverson, he's the answer.

Yeah. Not, not- Hey guys, some breaking news. Speaking of basketball, I just saw this come through the wire. Is this actually true? Did the Denver Nuggets fire their head coach, coach who won them the championship two years ago? NGM.

NGM? With four games left? This is crazy. We just had the Memphis Grizzlies fire their coach like a week and a half ago, Taylor Jenkins. And now Michael Malone is out. I love Michael Malone. My great story with Michael Malone is

one of my last sideline games for ESPN, Nuggets Thunder, we're sitting in the room, it's myself, Ryan Ruko, Doris Burke, he walks in and he goes, I understand you guys all have a lot of questions about the game, it was a big game, they were jockeying I think for second or third, but he said, I gotta ask you a couple questions. Is Connor gonna fight Khabib again?

I was like, wow, Michael Malone, the son of Brendan Malone, former Knicks assistant, former Pistons assistant, former Raptors head coach, his son knows who I am, eventual NBA champion, why'd they fire him? And who is the new coach? Is it some assistant? Yeah, it's an assistant. Is it Russell Westbrook?

No, it's not Russell Westbrook. And the GM. And the GM. That's insanity. Well, apparently, okay, so I saw this on Twitter, or X, Om Young Misuk, Misuk? I've never heard of it. Yeah, Om Young Misuk, my guy.

Yeah, the notorious OHM. Sources say ownership felt like the team needed a jolt in the hopes of still making a run, and that vibes had not been good. There was an expectation things were likely to change with, were likely to change with either Malone and or Booth after the season due to what sources described as a quote unquote cold war between the two.

So they were locked in a cold war and neither side won. They both lost. They're currently in fourth place. Yeah, it's a crazy move but it sounds like- That's gotta be the latest a coach has ever been fired for a playoff team. Not for for I mean The Grizzlies just fired their coach to like yeah, but this is later

This is not later, but to me it's a tight a potential title contending team That's the crazy part. I mean Grizz were in the same spot by the way. They were like fourth or fifth as well They've now do you drop to eight you would you would put the Nuggets chances ahead of the Grizzlies? Oh, yeah, they've got Nicole Yocic I think that's like the craziest part is, this is probably the second best team in the West by my estimation, right? You got OKC and then you've got them.

Rockets. Don't think so, don't think so. I mean, that's the time. Either way. Yes, yes, no. They're also just a few years removed from one team. Two, two years, yeah. Crazy.

23, I think it was. If things are as dysfunctional as described by Ohm, like, I guess, why not? Where's the man in the hat when you need him? Uh, do we, we got some, this is the man in the hat right here from on air Jordan. Hey, Ariel wants an instant reaction video to the Malone firing. Hey man.

Uh, I'm boarding a plane. Can't do it. Besides you want to see a grown man cry? Actually, I would love that. Wow. Jordan, if I knew this was going to air, I would love that. Wow, Jordan. If I knew this was going to air, I probably wouldn't have wrote that back.

Well, you put it. You're the one who put it to air, by the way. You put it to air. Oh, no, I gave this to Connor, and he did that. Oh my gosh. But I do have good news out of all this. It sounds like Mike Malone might have some free time to come on the show, talk about MMA,

break down the Knicks chances, you know. We have an amazing hearing. Come back to the Cavs, be an assistant for the Cavs. Uncrowned, latest contributor. You remember when they won the championship and at the parade he was very, very drunk it seemed? It seemed like he was loving life. Yeah, he was having a great time.

Yeah. I was awesome too. I'm a big Mike Malone fan. I don't get this. Man, this is crazy. Fire tibs bringing Mike Malone. There's been a lot of good coaches fired in the NBA and I I don't get this. Man, this is crazy. Fire Tibbs bringing Mike Malone. There's been a lot of good coaches fired in the NBA and I just don't get it.

I really don't get it. Yeah. Well, look at two of the best teams in the East. Cavs. Hawks. Atkinson shouldn't have been fired from the Nets. Should not have been. Detroit, Bickerstaff,

shouldn't have been fired from the Cavs. Okay, but he got fired from the Cavs for Atkinson. I know, but it's a weird thing, right? All these good coaches. Oh yes. Bickerstaff's gonna been fired from the Cavs. Okay, but he got fired from the Cavs for Atkinson I know but it's a weird thing right all these good coaches Oh, yes, it's gonna be the coach of the year probably Nick nurse like there's tons of these coaches Yeah, what you're gonna say Nick nurse not a good coach Like these guys win coach the year and then like later they're fired Dwayne Casey didn't Mike Brown would coach of the year twice And then get fired twice? Yeah, that's crazy.

Because he got fired from the Cavs, right? He got fired from the Cavs after winning coach of the year too. Nuts. One of my favorite gimmicks on Twitter is John Ewing of BenMGM. He'll always do like, what a team's odds were before something happened.

And so he wrote, Nuggets odds to win the NBA championship plus 2000 before firing Michael Malone plus 2000 after yeah that's good stuff that is good stuff so got Nicola I mean legend I did text Chuck he said he he has a sick feeling Malone has been everything to the franchise Malone's great and do him this way. Four games left. Let the guy finish the season.

Let the guy play this out. Unless there's something truly awful going on behind the scenes, let the guy play it. Well, remember how weird it felt when Ime Odoka got fired and then everybody was like, and then the story came out and everybody was like, oh, okay, there's more to it. Yeah, this seems different.

No, I'm not saying it seems very different. I saw a video yesterday, I think it was, of Westbrook doing one of those Marshawn Lynch Yeah, post game interviews where he's like, yep. Yeah. I'm just here not to get fun. Yeah. No, I don't know That sort of thing. Anyway, we don't have to deal with that in the world of combat sports coming up at 5 o'clock Over on the Dazon boxing YouTube channel be myself Adel Adipo talking all things sweet science Fabio Wardley gonna join us as well. We got a lot to get to, so stay tuned for that.

I also wanna tell you that tomorrow we have two in-studio guests who I am very, very, very, very excited about. We have Saraya, formerly known as Paige of the WWE and formerly of AEW. She has come out with a new book, which is tremendous, an incredible life story. She'll be joining us in studio, and prior to that,

we'll be joined by the ring general himself, Gunther, formerly known as Walter the Man, World Heavyweight Champion, WWE on the road to WrestleMania two in studio guests in addition to that Brandon Moreno will be stopping by so we've got a star-studded show on the nose and speaking of questions super chats we got to get to them quickly before we go thank you for reminding me Andy as I was very clearly wrapping things up Frankie had one job you're supposed to tell me. Oh.

Well Max writes in, should the UFC assign Dan Vakadov instead of Pitbull? Why does it have to be one or the other? Ah, that's not how this works. It's not like a conversation. Sure, sure. Uh, no, Pitbull certainly deserves it. And I'm very excited about, by the way,

I'm seeing some of the stuff, like the media veils. Just seeing Pipple rocking the UFC shirt is weird. It's like this guy was such a fixture in Bellator for so many years. Chandler S. Weirder to see, Pipple or MVP? I don't know if I could say one or the other, both kind of weird. Like they were staples. Honestly, Chandler. Chandler, MVP, and Pipple or MVP? I don't know if I could say one or the other, both kind of weird, like they were staples.

Honestly, Chandler, MVP, and Pipple, they were the guys. And Phil Davis. That gene had never heard of Phil Davis before, how's that possible? The disrespect. Yeah. Kind of makes me sad. Maybe he doesn't recognize him with the dreads, what else?

Ryan Maddox writes, been watching for three years and never looked up pics of Frank. Wow. You have to keep the cave fave going. I'm sure there are pics out there, but it feels wrong. Yeah. Don't even bother.

Respect, Ryan. It is wrong. Yeah. You can find pictures of Dominic, or Rey Mysterio, but you don't need to go do that. Yeah. I don't, can you find pictures of Frank online?

Sure, yeah. But it's not a challenge. It's just we're having fun here. We're having fun, guys, all right? Lighten up. What else? Adrian Ramirez writes in, lastly, GC, will you be wearing a VOLK shirt on Saturday?

Need to know if the t-shirt curse will balance the Nina drama curse prior to placing my bets on Diego Lopez. What other curses should I look out for? You know unfortunately I'm not I'm not certain if I'm gonna wear it or not I think I might go Miami Vice get up on Saturday. Vulture will be worn at some point this week so do with that information what you will. Trying to get Rick in at least a Hawaiian shirt but my efforts are not going well. Why Hawaiian? Just, you know.

The vibes. Beach theme. Sure, sure. Yeah, probably not. Yeah. Beachy out there. What is the Nina Drama curse? I have no idea.

I think I saw some people saying that if she did an interview before or some shit like that, the person lost, I mean, doesn't she talk to everyone? Yeah, I was gonna say, yeah. I was gonna say, yeah. It's weird, there used to be a Haewani, there was a- There was a Haewani curse? In the ESPN days, we were doing those,

you know, everyone was doing Zoom interviews, but there were a select few fighters that we went to a studio. Oh yeah, Stipe and Gungeon. Stipe, Izzy, Connor, and they all lost. Oh yeah. So then there was like the curse of those in two. How did it break or did it break? Well, no, then I left.

Oh, so it's back to that, the embedded haircut. Always got to look into. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have to say, I went down, like I've said before, part of my process when I know a guest is coming, I'll try to look at some of their recent interviews, and I was watching, I think it was Magomed, I think it was actually before Pereira came in studio,

it was Magomed and Nina Drama. She does a great job. Like I don't know if there's haters out there, I don't pay attention to all of that as far as her. She really does have a unique thing. And she brought, like I was captivated by the interview, and I don't think I've ever said that about a Magomed on Calliope interview, just because you don't really see have a unique thing. And she brought, like, I was captivated by the interview. And I don't think I've ever said that about a Magomenon Kalei interview just because you don't really see him in that light.

Now, part of the thing is, we used to do the one-on-one interviews. A ton of other people were doing them as well. You just don't get to see those as often. You know, it's just kind of people at the dais, and then they'll do like a DC interview, or a Bisping, or a Her, et cetera. So you don't really get to see the fighters in a one-on-one setting. She's been able to corner that market

and she does a great job. I really do have to say, I have to give her props on that. So well done. What else, what else? Oh, that was it. Oh, that was it, all right. Yeah, I told you who's coming on tomorrow. I told you of a show later today. I told you about the press on tomorrow. I told you I have a show later today.

I told you about the press conference tomorrow. Hope to see some of you there. I think it's time to go. I come alone, fired, kind of shocked. I love how your slack was like, holy crap, nuggets is how I read it. Oh yeah, meaning like I needed to get some nuggets? Yeah, it was like, holy crap, nuggets.

Holy crap, I got new nuggets. Holy crap, I'm hungry. Meaning like I needed to get some nuggets? Yeah, it's like, holy crap nuggets! I got new nuggets. Holy crap, I'm hungry. Are you though? I'm not that hungry, no. I've been trying, this has been a... I remember seeing you eat lunch earlier. Yeah, it was a quick one.

One of my big things, so we used to do the show Monday, Wednesday, right? For the past three years. Tuesday would be, you know, a good workout day. And then Thursday and Friday would be good workout days. Now it's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. By the time I get to Wednesday night, I feel like a bit of a, a slob. You know what I mean? And part of the reason why is I get so hungry

at the end of the shows, I tend to overeat. So I'm trying to battle. I'm trying to retrain my brain to not overeat Hence the almonds. I don't know if you guys how we doing on that feed bag of almond is I got a lot of almonds Because I've noticed that the almonds curb your appetite yeah you ever notice that mine is with cashews cashews, huh Salty or not so so unsalted but you know unsalted a crown Yeah, so anyway if anyone in the chat has any tips on how to curb your appetite I I would love to hear it

We're gonna catch this right We're gonna do the cakes. I was just pondering. Eggs? Protein? Anyway, thank you so much to all our guests. Thank you to Marab. Shrimp. The Wale Shvili. What's that? Shrimp. Shrimp. Thank you. Oh yeah, shrimp cocktail. Thank you to Phil Davis, Dad Gene, Max Holter. Thanks to you, thanks to them. Back on Wednesday, same time, same place, same time.

Peace. I'm outta here.