The Ariel Helwani Show - Merab Dvalishvili, Tyron Woodley, Gregory Rodrigues, Jordan Burroughs, massive weekend recap, news & notes

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by recapping a busy weekend that included UFC Sacramento, PFL Tampa, and Amanda Serrano’s 50th win (12:36), before getting into the drama surrounding Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury and Eddie Hearn’s reported list of demands (25:56). Merab Dvalishvili returns to reflect on his match against Henry Cejudo at RAF 12, then discuss his upcoming UFC 333 trilogy fight against Petr Yan, dealing with a longer than average layoff, winning the belt back being secondary to beating Yan, being an underdog again, his beef with Umar Nurmagomedov and his team, training with Mark Zuckerberg, Ilia Topuria’s recovery, and more (1:05:03). Tyron Woodley joins to recap his win over Joaquin Buckley at RAF 12, returning to his wrestling roots, his relationship with Buckley, expecting an “easy” match against Khamzat Chimaev, his messages to Sean Strickland in defense of Din Thomas, and more (1:40:07). Gregory Rodrigues is back on the heels of his win against Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez in the UFC Sacramento main event, detailing Hernandez’s toughness, the middleweight title picture, and who he wants to fight next and when (2:01:46). Ariel reacts to Dana White doubling down on his comments about Ian Machado Garry and OVO’s collaboration with UFC (2:23:50). Jordan Burroughs breaks down his RAF debut, discussing how he landed on Sean Brady as an opponent, originally looking to face Michael Chandler, the success of RAF, wanting to wrestle Islam Makhachev, Arman Tsarukyan, and Georges St-Pierre, believing RAF’s format can prolong his career, whether he’ll ever compete in MMA, and more (2:37:30). Ariel then covers news and notes, including some social media posts from Conor McGregor, Teofimo Lopez winning a title in his third weight class, and more (3:17:17). The show wraps up with your Super Chats (3:39:03).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the area, Hawaii. On this Monday, August 24, 2000. And 26, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is great to be back on a lovely, lovely Monday in New York City, the penultimate Monday in August of the great summer of 20, 26, which will go down as the greatest summer of all of our lives. What a time it has been.

What a time it has been for so many different reasons, of course, kicking off back on June 13th when your Nicarbockers finally did it. And then on and on it went. International Fight Week, Vegas was tremendous. We had so many memories created, and they continued to be created. A big weekend in the world of sports, big weekend in the world of combat sports. Of course, the Prem is back. I don't know if you guys saw it, but the Barclays.

Premier League is back and our three collective teams, meaning Forrest, Man United, and Tottenham scored a collective zero goals over the weekend. Awful, awful showing. It all started with Hull City defeating Man United away first time in their history. PT, any words quickly on that? It was, you know, it's the usual. look as I told just last week was not full of optimism but ahead of every season you do become delirious with optimism and another crushing defeat at the start of the league campaign

but look we finished toward last year might not have had any European competitions to work about to worry about even so I'm reluctantly optimistic heading into the big tie against Ipswich this weekend another newly promoted team that's hope we can get the job done you versus Arnie Enough about me. What about Brentford? 3-0 against Spurs on air? I think sports been...

Sorry, go ahead. It's not good. It's not good. And then we had our hearts ripped out of us over at the world famous city ground. Thought we were going to get the draw against Leeds. And then, of course, in the dying second. So a rough start for us. But there's so much to be excited about, so much to be excited about, so much to be grateful for. And it was a very busy weekend, guys, in the world of combat sports.

It really all kicked off on Friday with MVP's debut on TikTok. Yes, I was locked in. Some other of us from the crew here locked in. We had the stream up there. The chat was popping off. The emojis were popping off. Our own Dan Kenobio of inside boxing fame is hobnobbing with the likes of Sophie Rain, which everyone seemed to know a lot about.

I was unfamiliar with her game. G.C., tell us more about Sophie Rain and her. You were unfamiliar with her game. you were the one who was all hyped up about it. I said, who is this? You guys are talking about school supplies and all this stuff? Don't minimize her contributions. She is out there fighting for teachers.

Contributions. Canobio was just, I mean, he was being sandwiched. She's paying for the school supplies. Her number one contributor last year. Oh, oh, that part of her. Oh, okay. I heard on Inside Boxing that she made more money than LeBron James in 2025. That's correct, yeah.

An entrepreneur. She's got an incredible career earning. you know, she's probably a Hall of Famer at this point. But yeah, don't minimize the things she's doing in the local community. Much respect, peace and love, peace of love. Actually, it was a pretty fun broadcast. I mean, it was different. They tried something different.

They were really hyping up, obviously, the TikTok premiere. And of course, Mandus Rano fighting in the main event, Pichanga, by the way. They were at the Pichenga casino. And they were trying to will a knockout into existence so that she would break Christy Martin's record. She did get her 50th win. She did not get a knockout. She got a decision. Some thought it was a little dicey, dicey. And afterwards, the sentiment was, you know, maybe it's time for a little bit of a break. It has been quite the schedule for her as of late. Then on Saturday we had matchroom. George Litterd winning a domestic title earlier in the day here on the East Coast. That rolled into the UFC in Sacktown. More on that in a moment. That rolled into PFL. in Tampa, which rolled into the RAF anniversary show in Cleveland, which ended the night on a show in Vegas, a boxing match, Teofima Lopez against Roli Romero, T-Mobile, DeZone, PBC, Amazon.

It was quite the jam-pack Saturday. There was a lot. I like, there's something to be said for the Saturdays where it's like UFC 330 and there's one massive event. And then there's those other Saturdays where there's just a hodgepodge of things. It was a brand risk, if that's your thing. There was a lot going on. TNA last night as well. Never a shortage. There's no offseason when it comes to combat sports. And I know I'm talking about multiple different sports here, but it's just never quiet.

And especially with so much going on around the world and streaming, all bringing it to us, it's just wild stuff. So today on the program, we'll recap all of it. So by the end of today's show, you will be up to speed. And then we'll also have four great guests joining us. into the program, arguably the greatest American wrestler of all time, six-time world champion, gold medalist, I mean, the resume is absurd. If you want to hear about Jordan Burroughs' resume, I can read it to you very quickly. Twenty-12 Olympic gold medalist, six-time world champion,

two-time NCAA Division I gold medalist champion, three-time Big 12 champion, four-time U.S. Open champion, nine-time Pan Am world champion. I mean, legend, and in some people's eyes the goat, he made his RIF debut on Saturday defeating Sean Brady

11-0-0. I want to ask him about this, this R-AF thing, people have tried to get him to do MMA. He's 38 now.

It's not going to happen. One of my favorite fact toys about Jordan Burroughs is that he is married to Thurman Thomas's wife's niece.

I love that. Prior to that, we're going to be joined by Gregory. It should be Rodriguez, but he goes by Rodriguez,

Joyce screws me up. He's Americanized it. He's anglicized it, if you will. Massive win for Robocop in the 9-16. More on that in a moment. We'll talk to him at 3 o'clock. 2.30. Shout out to T. Woodley. Tyrant Woodley defeats him. Wachian Buckley gives down 8-1. Defeats him. First combat sports win for Tyron Woodley since 2018. He beat him at R.A.F. And then at 3 o'clock, excuse me, at 2 o'clock, the great Marab Dwellishvili, who's returning to action on October 24th in Abu Dhabi, Piorariang trilogy. He too was in action in RIF.

RIF had a great show against Henry Sudo. He lost in 36 seconds after beating him back in July, the big comeback. We'll talk to him about that, the title fight, everything else going on in his life. There's your four-pack right there. Love it. Can't wait for it.

It's an amazing time to be a fight fan, to be a combat sports fan. And shout out to uncrown.com. Uncrown.com was all over the gaff, all over the gaff this past weekend. We had coverage of every single one of these events. And I don't know, I think everyone probably saw it. Maybe Pizzi missed it in the chat. You probably saw it. I don't know. Frank definitely missed it. You're more of a, you're more of a reader, Frank a skimmer. Yeah, like a light skimmer. Like of the top five events this weekend. Did you see this text, Pizzi? This

Because I know Rick and G.C. weighed in. What drew the most traffic on uncrown.com? Did you see this text? No. Okay, perfect. Okay, so these are your choices, all right? MVP, I'm going to go in chronological order. We didn't really have, like, live coverage of match-room.

So MVP, UFC, PFL, R-A-F, the boxing. Tiffy Mel Lopez against really Romero. You see, because I get snippets that some things that we don't expect to do so well doing amazing. You know, so I'm going to use that as my guide and say, I want to say, I'm going to say the boxing. Roly and Teel. Yep, you're 100% right. That was number one. What's interesting is didn't get a ton of coverage, you know, from the mainstream media.

crowd wasn't great at T-Mobile. It's driving me nuts. The pay-per-view thing is driving me nuts. Like, Mosetama this weekend against Phil Perkovich, how are you going to get people to know who most of the time is if you're putting in behind a pay-per-view paywall? It's absurd. It's absurd what they're doing.

They're killing the sport by doing this. Like Tiofima Lopez versus Roly Romero should be one of those TNT cards on broadcast TV. Like great title fight, not massive draws in terms of pay-per-view. Most of Tama should be on linear television, or at least in front of a damn paywall. Anyway, Tiafima Lopez, yet, number one, number two? I'm going to say, number two, R-A-F.

Nailed it. Did you see my text? I swear to God have it. R-A-F. On Reggie's life. Marab, Henry, Tyron Woodley, Jordan Burroughs, Sean Brady, a lot of big names there. So yes, R-A-F number two. Number three.

Cyborg. Sorry, I lost my list. Cyborg. Chris Cyborg nailed it. Supposed retirement fight. They built it as a retirement fight when they announced it

and then every step of the way she refuted it and then in the cage after beating Caitlin Vieira who missed weight by seven pounds on Friday. Worked for her very well. Yeah, it was a tough fight.

She did what she had to do. Cyborg, that is, calls out Kayla, who was gone by the way. Kayla came to see her friend and teammate, Dakota Bush fight earlier in the night and left. So she wasn't even there when she was calling her out.

Clarissa Shields, who I don't know if Clarissa was there. So she very clearly isn't retiring, but that was the last fight on her current PFL deal. So does Scott Coker call up his old friend, Chris Cyborg? We'll see. You are right. Number three, Chris Cyborg, four? Ah, here, we're doing four.

Yeah, top five. So what's left? Well, there's only two left, MVP and UFC. UFC. U.S.A. Wrong. Amanda Serrano number four UFC got the least

of all the events as far as traffic on uncrown.com That's crazy It is crazy That is actually genuinely insane Now fucking break Now you could say All right

Lopez and Roli have a fan base RAF had the names like Marab and Henry etc Cyborg is cyborg Amanda is Amanda There was no massive name on the UFC card Fine

You look at the event that crowd was amazing. Let's talk about the UFC card. Let's actually start with the one that drew the least. Because maybe our audience over on Nunkron.com, maybe there's a theory.

Maybe they were watching it and maybe they're not searching. I don't think that's the case, by the way. I think it's an SEO thing and I think that people are drawn to big names. By the way, before I get into all of that, let me give a big thank you

to our good friends over at Kalshi. They continue to support us. And I get too excited about the Monday show and so I get right into things. My apologies really quickly. This episode is brought to you by Kalshi. It's an exchange where you can trade on which you actually think is going to happen, sports, politics, culture. Whatever's on your mind, you're going up against other traders directly.

There's no house setting the odds. It's just people putting their opinions on the line. Trade $25 right now with code Helwani. That's H-E-L-W-A-N-I, and they'll throw in another $25 instantly. Trade responsibly. Please support K-A-S-H-E because they support us. That's K-A-L. S-H-I.

That crowd in Sacramento was amazing. And I mentioned on Twitter, the UFC has been on a heater as of late. Like the amount of great cards as far as action and entertainment are concerned has been actually palpable. Like from Serbia to that Apex card, headline by Quillin Selkilde and Mateus Gamera. This card. It's first round finish, first round finish, second round finish, crazy finish, great fight. One after the next. it's really a great product in terms of like entertainment.

The problem is there aren't a lot of stars on the cards. There aren't a lot of names. There aren't a lot of people that you're like, oh, that's the next so-and-so. It does kind of feel like just like a smorgasbord of fighters. And you kind of have to remember like, oh, this guy fought, yeah, is he a contenders here? You know what I mean, guys?

Like the crowd was hyped as hell. They were on fire for that main event. Fluffy. Fluffy. It wasn't quite Uriah Faber in June of 2008 fighting Jens Pulver on a Sunday at Arco Arena, Blue Cage, but you got Joe Martinez there, which I thought was brilliant having Joe Martinez in Sacramento. Like to me, Joe Martinez is W.C. Sacramento, Uriah Fabor.

Youraya Favira. Like the way he says it is brilliant. Perfect. The crowd was hyped, but it's like nothing feels like it's jumping out. Does that make sense? It does, yeah. Absolutely. Do you know what I was just thinking when you're saying that?

as these fights are happening sometimes, I'm like, I don't really notice, dude. Has he fought in the UFC? Yeah. And it makes me feel like a casual. And then I start checking up, oh, he's fought twice.

He's off contender series, he's been in there twice. But you have this crisis of identity watching these events where you're like, should I know way more about this dude who's fought once on another apex card? I mean, it makes me feel very insecure

in my profession if I'm being completely honest. Yeah, we've moved away from long-term storytelling, right? It is just week to week churn, get you to the event. By the time you're there to like celebrate, like, we're going to react. We're going to celebrate Gregory Rodriguez's huge win. By tomorrow, it will no longer be a topic of conversation and everything will move on to the following week. And there's just this constant cycle that we are just in where we can't get excited about anything that's happened and we can't anticipate anything because there's not enough time to like really sit down and get excited about it. it's just the nature of the beast in 2026,

but I do wish it was different. Yeah, so on the one hand, sorry GC, I'll just say very quickly. On the one hand, the action's amazing. It's entertaining, but it just doesn't feel like anything is jumping out.

Like, that main event was unbelievable. That main event was amazing. It was highly entertaining. Fluffy was great. All action, highs and lows. He's digging down deep. Robocop, you know,

enemy territory, four in a row now, quietly putting together a very nice winning street, calls out Drickus Duplice, afterwards. We'll talk to him about all of this later in the program. And then you're, okay, there's an RDR here. There's a Vitor Petrino here. I don't think I'm eloquently stating how I'm feeling, but it just kind of all feels there. And on the one hand, it's like, okay, it's entertaining. But on the other hand,

like it doesn't feel like things are breaking through, G.C. Yeah, I think Rick made the best point about how it feels. It's just churning so fast that it feels like you forget them. And especially these guys on the prelims to Pizzi's point that only have one or two UFC. fights and you're just like, oh yeah, they did fight on that apex card, like on the prelims, like six or seven months ago, now here they go again, but they're buried so deep on the card that by the time, you know, the main event and everything happens, and then you're already on to Shanghai. We got Omar versus Song Yidong coming up this weekend. They're like, by the next time they fight. And in March of next year, you're kind of like, oh, yeah, like,

that dude, yeah, he fought on the Sacramento card last year. Yes, I remember that. And like, I feel you, Pizzi, on, like, the casualness of it. Because it always feels like I know every single fighter on the card. But man, there's a few of these. these guys who have like six professional fights and they're coming off a Dana-W Contender Series. Sometimes you're looking through the prelims and it's just like DWCS, DWCS, D-W-CS, and it's just like one fight in the UFC, one fight in the UFC, lost their debut, everything like that, that it feels like there is this forgetability with how quickly it moves. I was thinking about this when we had Edson on after his retirement and off the top of your head,

you're like, UFC 123, you're fighting Mike Lulo, the leg kicks. I also, I was in the building. I saw that. I remembered it. We don't have the, those moments anymore. There are not guys on the prelims that are standing out in that way because by the time that fights finished, we're already moving on to the next week. There's no time to marinate. There's no time to get excited about anything that's happening. And all of a sudden, it just kind of gets lost in the wash. Now, I will say, part of this is by design, right? Like, it is a symptom of the larger issue, which is that there are many, many hours for the UFC to fill for their broadcast obligations. And they continue to do it. They don't, like, the

care that there once was in terms of how a card was constructed on what they have to put on is not there. Now, granted, we must acknowledge, USC is still putting on the best MMA product around, and there's no close competitor at the moment, but it's still okay to say that the care and the respect that was given to this kind of process in the past has no longer, is no longer there. Yeah, it might be because, like back in the day, in the early days of Fox, there were this many events, but it felt like, There were less, I don't know, I have to look at the rosters, but there's just so many new faces being introduced all the time that, like, people aren't fighting three, four times a year so you don't get to be familiar with them. They get, like, there was, there was...

The roster had to have expanded over, since the inception of Dana-Wy Contender Series. There's just no way that it hasn't. Anthony Wint, I'm like, Anthony Wend, Anthony Wend, I know this day. Oh, yeah, he just fought two weeks ago on a contended, but it just all gets... It all gets... Two weeks ago on Contender Series

and now he's fighting a guy in Terrence Chapman that he's a minus whatever gigantic favorite to so how could you even know Terrence Chapman at that point? They would never put on these types of fights.

And this is on the main card. 10 years ago. Yeah. And his opponent was, beat an 18 and 16 going to get into the O.C. It's wild. It's wild.

1816. Vitor Petrino, looking good at heavyweight, defeating Sergei Spivak. RDR, looking very good at light heavyweight. Moving up. That was a great win over Roman Delizze, said he was killing himself, moving down to 185, and so it seems like he's

going to stick with 205 for now. So in the last few months, you got RDR, you've got Robert Whitaker, both moving up to 205, some fresh faces, if you will, not necessarily like new faces, but just some new blood at 205. Markel Medeiros with the big win over your boy, Mason Jones, Pizzi. Shocker right there. Great fight, I mean. Yeah, it was a good. A classic Mason Jones. fight where it's just like, yeah, I'm doing well here. Let's just throw caution to the win and let's see if this guy can bang to. Turns out he could. Very entertaining fight. Went out in his shield as he always does, but great win for Madero's fair play to him. I thought it was a really, really entertaining fight. In fact, I was looking at that and I was looking at Fluffy in the main

event and I was like, this is the type of fighters that Dana White just loves. You know, like just complete reckless abandon to to Fluffy like it looks like he's been hurt badly to the leg or badly to the body but just swinging in and hell or high water just trying to give it to Rodriguez I thought it was absolutely brilliant

Carly Judeas absolutely brilliant as well we're big fans of Carly beautiful body kick to the well to the body kick to the body and she wins once again first round finish she is a name to look out for she won the 100K bonus, among others.

Anthony Wint, as we said, first round submission win for him over Terrence Chapman. Jamal Emmer's first round win over Larian Douglas, who's a big-time prospect. Cupswanson tweeting that Douglas broke his orbital. Shamil Gazeve, everyone loves him. First round went for him over Kennedy and Zichuku. Your boy, Chris Padilla, G.C.

Coach Taco in the house. Big win over Nasrat. A great one, especially in those last two rounds He really came alive Was he a dog? It was like very, very close in line And then he gets to tap in the last second A fantastic performance

Yeah, that was a very entertaining one as well Marcio Barbosa With an entertaining first round knockout I mean there was a ton of first round finishes Hey, one note on Carly Judice Yes That was her fifth fight in the UFC So now she qualifies for the UFC

Stats books most significant strikes landed per minute in UFC history. She surpassed Josh Van. Serious. Dead serious. Golly. Good for her.

And by the way, there's some new blood coming in with the women. Chanel Dyer once again, looking good. First round, excuse me, third round win for her. She's very fun.

We met her on the show. Yeah, she's great. Great striking. So there's some new blood. There's some new blood. But the crowd was great. The main event was great. The chanting for Fluffy.

Fluffy was amazing. Now two in a row. as far as losses are concerned for Fluffy. So a tough year for him after he was on some kind of role. And overall, if you watched that, if you watched R-A-F, if you watched the Cyborg fight, I don't know what's going to happen with Cyborg. I was asking around, no one seems to know.

But a legend of the game, obviously, and someone who is worthy of all the praise, it's amazing. Her longevity is just unbelievable. The fact that we were watching her in 08 on Kimbo cards for Elite XC on CBS against Shana Basler, and then, of course, 09 against Gina Carrano. and the fact that she's still doing against Caitlin Vieira.

Like, Caitlin Vieira is a very good fighter. It's a very good fighter. She missed weight horribly. Seven pounds is absurd for a title fight, but she's a very good fighter, and that makes the win almost that much more impressive in some ways. So the fact that she's still doing it against the very best, and yes, I know there was the infractions in the past,

and yes, I know there hasn't been the deepest talent pool to choose from at 1.45, and yeah, there were the attempts to go down to 40 and 35, but still, like, hard to argue. Is Chris Cyberg the greatest female fighter of all time in MMA? 100%. Even though she lost to Amanda Nunes. Again, I...

He's got a short circuit. I am because it's so dumb. I get that that was a significant fight. It's those two, right? That's the argument, yes. But like, one head-to-head win can't be the determining factor. Amanda Nunes has lost the people head-to-head. Yeah, but if you're debating between the two of them, if you're debating between the two of them.

It's cyborg and it's not close, man. the longevity that Cyborg has had, and don't get me wrong, I will 100% acknowledge the level of competition that in her prime Amanda Nunes was facing is higher than the level of competition that Chris Cyborg is facing. But the longevity to be fighting as long as she has and to be as dominant as she has, and to your point that you just made about her defeating Ketland Vieira now on the back nine of her career to be able to beat Larissa Pacheco and Ketland Vieira, actual really good, fighters at the back nine of her career, it doesn't really feel like an argument for me. Like, I get what Amanda was able to do. But that was in a very short window of time in the UFC. She has the head-to-head win. But I think Cyborg's body of work is unassailable.

Yeah, I guess if you are in favor of Amanda being the goat, you will use that as the example. If you want to talk about the entire resume, yeah, the longevity, the lack of losses. I mean, she's been dominant from the get-go. At the very beginning of Nunes' career, she wasn't. as dominant. So I have no problem with you calling. She lost to Katzenegano. She lost to Alexis Davis. Are they the goat then? Is it head-to-head wins?

And that's the only thing that matters? It doesn't make any sense. What about the infraction? Well, we talked about this when we were having our conversation about Islam and John Jones. If somebody says to you that people who have an infraction do not qualify for their list, I have no argument against it. That's your prerogative. Totally okay if you want to go that direction.

And you should have your list the way you want to have your list. I personally don't have those stipulations. I think John Jones is the greatest fighter of all time. I think Chris Seiborg is the greatest female fighter of all time. I'm cool with it. By the way, one note on this MVP card on TikTok, BBC reporting

that 3.4 million total viewers on TikTok for this event. Now, do they write how they calculated that? I don't know. That's just people that

clicked on the live at one point? Yeah, is it concurrent? Is it they clicked on it for 0.1 seconds? I don't know. Definitely was not concurrent. Yeah. Because I did hear my boy, Dan, a couple of times. There's two million people watching.

I'm like, are they watching right now? Or is it? It's like the Twitter one that like it accumulates over the course of it. Because every time that I checked in on it, I wasn't continuously streaming it. The number was higher and higher. Okay, okay. I'm curious to see if they'll keep doing it. It seems like it's something, I mean, it fits with their brand.

It fits with what they're all about with the younger audience, Jake Paul, all that stuff and more. So I appreciate the, I don't want to say the risk, but the attempt to do something a little bit different. Yeah. In a sport that doesn't often see that. I agree with you. I think it was a good, nice stuff. And there was a YouTube stream as well that was just like straight normal boxing, but they didn't really promote that. They really wanted to push the TikTok stream.

Okay. All that's well and good guys, but we have to get into the biggest story of the past week. since I said goodbye to you all from this chair on Wednesday. And that is the saga. That is Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury, Matchroom and Eddie Hearn versus TKO and Dana White and Nick Con and everyone involved. And oh, by the way, this massive company named Netflix in the middle of it all, it has turned into a saga and a half.

And quite frankly, the last time I sat here in this chair, I was talking to you all about like, yeah, I feel like this is fed up completely. I feel like there's some, you know, performance going on. Like, yeah, they all know what's going to happen at MSG, but Eddie's trying to be Captain UK, and it's already signed, it's already a done deal. This is all part of the process.

I don't feel that same way anymore. I feel like we are not quite on life support. Gun to my head right now, I still feel like it will eventually get sorted because there's just too much at stake. There's too much money at stake. There's Netflix involved, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But it is, I mean, it is not.

trending in the right direction. So can we just recap it for the last, you know, for those that missed it last few days, because it actually has been fascinating and the latest culminated this past Saturday at that matchroom event headlined by Mr. George Litterd. So, all right, Thursday, Thursday, Lance Pugmire, a boxing scene comes out with an article and it sort of like shakes everything up because in this article, it's staying. that matchroom, which Eddie said he was going to do this a couple days prior, has sent an addendum to the contract that they signed back in April for this fight. And the addendum, the reason for the addendum is because when they signed the deal back in April, it stated

that the fight was going to happen in the UK. And now very clearly, the powers that be want the fight to happen in New York City at the world's most famous arena Madison Square Garden on Friday, November 20th. And so Eddie and Anthony Joshua, Eddie kind of working on behalf of Anthony, obviously. He's not the promoter of the event, but he's this guy, sent an addendum to Sella,

aka the Saudis, saying, all right, if we are to move forward with this, we want these things to happen. Now, what was interesting, I just want to read the article very quickly, Lance Pugmire boxing scene. Shout out, shout out. Where is it? Where is it?

I should have had it before. Eddie Hearn. There have been reaches. Where's the damn article here? Eddie Hearn List of Man's. Here it is. Thank you. So it says in the article that they want certain fights to be on the undercard.

in the addendum, it has all boxing related items. They want a Jesse Bamrodriguez and Christian Medina fight on the undercard. They want Jack Catterall versus Kishon Davis, Murad Gassiev against Jarrell, Big Baby Miller, Taramana, Taramana on there as well. They want these things. They also say that they want certain items that are outstanding between the two sides, Sela and Match Room, to be cleared up before they can move forward with this. And, you know, one of the items that I reported as well was that they want AJ to be paid for the Christian Pranga fight.

My understanding is that the Saudis always pay, but sometimes it's a little, you know, it's a little tardy, let's just say. It's a little late, but they always pay. But they want all these things to be cleared up before they move on and agree to this. And one big thing that they continue to say is they really, really, really do want this to be in the UK. but if they are to agree to move forward with, you know, the venue change and the location change and the country change, they want these things. Now, what was being positioned to the wider media and boxing media was that not only was Eddie and Matchroom asking for boxing related items to be cleared up, to be agreed to in this addendum to the contract that they signed back in April, but they were also sliding in some non-boxing related items, such as, this article and per other reports as well. All money's payable to match them across all future darts and snooker events be paid immediately. International promotional fees plus deposits for

World Series of Darts and 167 reed season events. Formal confirmation that the Ronnie O'Sullivan Academy, Snooker Academy, will be renewed for a third year and that those future invoices will be paid as well. What was being positioned to the American media and to a lot of the boxing media was that all these things were on the same sheet of paper, the same email. And in order for AJ to agree to fight Tyson Fury in New York City on November 20th, darts invoices and snooker academies and snooker events and darts events had to be agreed to and we're not moving forward.

And isn't this some slimy, slimy stuff on the part of Matt room and Eddie Huron? They are trying to squeeze in some darts and snooker items into something. that has nothing to do with any of that. Okay. What I ended up seeing was people that never, ever, ever weigh in on boxing, starting to weigh in. I see this tweet from John Orand, who's a great media reporter. He's been doing this forever. He worked for Puck. Prior to that, SBJ Sports Business Journal, the Tyson Fury Anthony Joshua megafite could be getting held up over Eddie Hearn's darts and snooker business. And I'm like, John O'Randie reading boxing scene on a Thursday afternoon. Like, that seems like a little bit of a slanted POV, if I'm being

honest. Here's Ryan Glassbeagle. I like all these guys very much. Another media guy, American media guy works for front office sports, formerly New York Post. Say this for boxing. It is the only sport where a massive event can get gummed up because one of the fighters' promoters is allegedly demanding money for his darts and snooker businesses as a condition. Again, disingenuous. That's not the issue here. As Eddie Hearn has said time and again, they signed a contract to fight in the UK in the third, fourth quarter of 2026. Now the terms are being changed.

And so he is taking this as an opportunity to be like, all right, I want X, Y, and C. I could fully understand why someone would look at that and be like, yo, man, you agree to the fight, just like with the fight. But I could also understand and be like, no, that's good business. You know, you're seeing an opportunity. There's a chance to negotiate. Now's your chance to strike. Now's your chance to strike. I could see someone being like, all right, it makes sense if it's boxing related things

that you're asking for, but not so much if it's snooker related things and darts related things. I could also see ones to me like, look, you've got a snooker and darts business and you are in business with the Saudis. So why not try to slide them in? Now, I called Eddie Hearn after all this. And I asked him specifically, are you trying to like group all these things together. And he said, no, these weren't on the same sheet. These weren't in the same email.

These are two different conversations, different issues. There is the addendum with the boxing related items, and there are these other things that we're doing business with them on, and they are outstanding, and we're trying to, like, move the ball down the field. Someone else might say, well, they're kind of being sent that around the same time, and it does sort of feel like, hey, if you don't agree to this, we're not going to agree to this, and if you don't agree to this, We're not going to agree to this. And it's all kind of, yeah, sure, it's not on the same sheet and same email, but it does seem a little too close and a little too coincidental that it's all being presented at around the same time. So there's a fascinating tip for tat.

Sitting here right now, there is no really right and wrong. It's all public negotiations. It's all this kind of mess of a situation, which I thought was really done deal last week. And now I sort of feel like, hey, there might be a chance where Netflix is saying like, you know what, we don't want this egg on our face. anymore. Like, this is playing out in public. It's messy. It's clumsy. We've promoted it dating back to April. We're freaking Netflix. You don't, like, you guys figure it out and, like, leave us alone at this point. I don't think we've gotten there yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if at some point we get there, because it's all really playing out in the messiest of ways possible. And so this starts playing

out. I'm like, okay, it's very clear what happened with the media reporters. Like, this was planted. This was told to them. They have no idea what they're talking about, but it's like, hey, just write this and like, thank you for the favor. It's very clear where, you know, that email came from originally. But this is all like all's fair and love and fight promotion. Everyone's doing their thing. I'm not saying necessarily anyone's bad, good, right, wrong, but it's all playing out. So then Eddie Hearn, actually, Rick Laser comes out.

There's a character on boxing Twitter named Rick Laser. And somehow he has like anointed himself as, you know, the mouthpiece for Turkey Al Shake. And he's writing to Eddie Hearn in this sort of like letter format. Eddie Hearn, your ridiculous demands in holding up Fury Joshua in New York isn't about Anthony Joshua or the UK. It's actually all about your personal gain demands for you. By the way, in this case, I really do feel like Anthony is sort of like driving the train per se. If Anthony told Eddie to stand down, I feel like Eddie would listen to him. That's just my feeling on the situation.

I could also hear someone, this is as an aside, saying like, yo, you guys have fought outside of the UK. Like, what's the big deal? And then I can hear someone saying like, well, this is a UK fight. I understand all the points of view. It's just so messy as it's playing out in front of us. Anyway, Rick goes on and on saying you aren't putting up any of the money. You're simply piggybacking off of Turkey Al-Shake in the ring. You're taking no risk, making huge demands.

I mean, it is this fighter, after all. Like, there are contracts for a reason. You don't make this fight as it is. If you don't make this fight as it is, I will personally highly recommend that Turkey-Hashake cut you off entirely. For now and ever, I have that ability, whether you think so or not. not. I mean, this is a real threat. Anyway, Eddie ends up replying to this guy, Rick Glazer, and he says this on Twitter, I wouldn't normally reply to you, but just to put your insignificant

P-Brain to rest, our addendum sent to cell includes not one of the points mentioned in your tweet. And so you see what's happening here. This is like game of tit for tat, and it's, and it's becoming quite messy. In case you're one, like, here's the bottom line. I think everyone came to the realization. that this is a big time UK fight, and if you put it in the UK in the fourth quarter of 2026, on a Saturday, you're going up against college football. And that's a problem. College football will murder it.

And I know it's a UK fight, but the biggest audience is in the United States. You can't have a Saturday afternoon fight in November going head to head with college football. So then you say, all right, put it on a Friday. Well, you can't have a Friday afternoon boxing match because people are working, and no one's watching boxing on Netflix on a Friday afternoon.

So what's the answer? It's either Saturday night, still, you know, you're going up against college football. And oh, by the way, you're not going to put a Saturday night Eastern time fight in the UK because that's in the middle of the night and there's all these curfews and all this stuff. And so the answer is Friday night in America at the world's most famous arena. I get that as well from a business standpoint, the amount of money that's at stake here and the amount of money that's being invested in the fight, it's really a bit of a mess. If this was a disowned fight, they would just put it on a Saturday and everyone would be done with it.

That doesn't necessarily make sense to Netflix. Eddie Hearn gets on with IFL and you could tell he's all kinds of fired up. Here's what he had to say. What I'm saying is what Lance put in that story, which is correct, is that none of those points, not even the points about the fight. There's also a point on there about fights on the undercard, which we said, and Turkey-Ela-Shake said, we want matrim fights on the undercard, and we put forward three fights that we would like to propose for the God, Gassiab against Miller, BAM against Medina, I think the other one was Key Sean against Jack Catchel.

Right? So there's nothing in that email that was sent that is like anything new. We're not asking for anything new. We're just asking for our contractual obligations to be honored. Now, what Lance did put in that article, which was correct, the reason that I went off at Glazer, who is actually one of the most, I mean, I won't even say it's that relevant. But he's like, he comes out to, this is not about a venue. This is about personal gain. You're saying that Joshua will only fight in America if you get the darts played.

if you get the snooker, but absolute bullshit. If you get these fights on the card, bullshit. The addendum requesting the changes does not have one of those points on raised in that apparent leaked email. Where's it come from? It's come from people that want to try and dress up a situation to people that are trying to spin a story when the story couldn't be more straightforward.

We signed for a fight. Honor the contract. That is all we're saying. And the contract states the fight must take place in the UK. And this is not about trying to get any. anything out of it because if I wanted to, I'd put things in the addendum to, you know, that would be or could be lucrative to Matron. Anthony Joshua and his lawyer, see the addendum, they approved the addendum, and the addendum has been sent.

It does not feature any of the points on an email that's actually not even correct in its entirety, but certain points were raised regarding outstanding issues between Matron and Seller. So I'm sorry, Mr. Glazer. You're wrong again. Glazer, I don't know what, Rick, fucking whatever you name is. You're wrong again. because the addendum is sent and has nothing in there regarding that at all. And that is what I wanted to come on and clear up to that. Now, the big question is, how are the Saudis perceiving this, right?

Because the Saudis could be like, look, these two things, you know, like the non-boxing things aren't in the boxing addendum, but like it's happening at the same time and you're trying to point the gun at us, and there's a lot of things being said there. Are we seeing the end of the relationship once and for all between Eddie Hearn and Turkey-Al-Shake? It felt like it was always inevitable that we would get here. Turkey's so closely linked to TKO and Zufa owned 60% of Zufa boxing. Eddie's on the other side. He's signing Connor Ben to go from here to here.

Johnny Fisher going from here to here. Like it was always, I mean, it felt a little bit far-fetched. I know he likes to sort of live in chaos, but the thing that they were going to remain the best of friends with him in the middle seemed a little bit pie in the sky, but it feels like it's all coming to a head here. It really does. And so, man, Eddie's fired up, right? Eddie is fired up.

Anthony is saying, or he's saying on behalf of Anthony, like, hey, I back this. I'm on board with this. So Eddie's working in, you know, in concert with his guy. TKO not saying much, Turkey not saying much. But here's Nikisabedarian. What was that? What was that? I was just saying, well, it would seem that TKO are, you know, involved slightly in the story.

Publicly, right. I just mean no front-facing person. Certainly not Dana White. I don't think he was really asked about it on. Saturday. But here's the Kese Bidarian, founder of CEO saying this reminds me of a similar BS story around Kinello versus Jake that was planted by guys who shake your hand but place stories behind your back. Who's he referring to? They placed lies that claimed MVP wanted Jake Paul to be treated as the A-side versus Kinello by having him walk second at two of four press tours and for

Jake's image to be made bigger and promotional items. Totalize. This whole matroner narrative is being placed by dirty actors. That's the truth. To make AJ look bad and to try to pressure him into agreeing to terms not in his contract. Okay. It's very interesting and you may recall they were at the like goal line with Canello Jake. What was it two maize ago? And then in the end he signs with, you know, with Turkey, Sela, all these people and ends up fighting in a fight that no one really watched in the middle of the night in Saudi Arabia. Then Friday morning we get a classic Tyson Fury rant on the elliptical. I mean, classic. How many times have we seen a version of this rant at this point? I mean, I think in the last 10 years, we have seen

this rant 50 different times. This is the one from Friday. Quick update for you. Doesn't look like they're going to sign the fight and it doesn't look like it's going to happen or because Eddie Eernan and that want more money. They've already had that much money off of Turkey in the last few years Eddie and AJ they've had boxing deals they've had darts deals they've had snooker deals they've had everything

yeah and yet they've got the audacity in cheek of fleeting rats to ask for more money from old turkey that's give you everything combined

in the last couple of years I'll tell you what it's disgusting money thirsty pieces of shit it is what it is say more cliche a decade later keep running you little cowards

the audacity and cheek of flea bitten rats it's always so like specific he continues here's more from Tyson's great this is great I've bent over backwards to make this fight happen

first of all it was in England then it was in island, then it was in America. I said, I'll go anywhere. I'm not interested where the fight is. I just want to fight. I'm much fit. I've had two fights this year. I'm ready to rock and roll, baby. Will you go to England? Yes. Will you go to America? Yes. Will you go to Japan? Yes. Will you go to the moon? Yes. I will. Because I want to fight. When one man's willing to fight, he gets shit done.

When another one don't, they always make excuses. Excuses, as always. But it's only for a few more quid that you've already got, you little rat bastards. More, more from Tyson Fury. And another thing. This is a great one. This is a great one. Yeah, this is the best one.

And another thing. Yes. As for all these promoters, saying Dana White's nothing to do again. Dana. Dana's not like that. If Dana White wants to be involved

you come up on my side. My side. Yeah, I don't have to deal with him or anything. Get in, Dana. Get in, Donna. I don't know your name, but get in. You come on my side. Be an advisor.

Be an trainer. Be your manager. Be whatever the fuck you want. Whatever you want. All these wankers. Wankers. Saying he should do it. He should do it.

Welcome you all. All the promoters He's cutting all checks. Come to me. Yes. Join my team. I don't care. It does not matter who's involved.

Bob Aaron, Don King, Frank Warren, Eddie Earn, Diana White, T.K.O. Nick Carr. Donna. All of them. All of them. All the dudes cutting checks. Great.

More than merry. Let's get it on. Let's get it on. No problem. One more from Tyson. I didn't see this one. I'm very excited. And another thing.

And another thing. You're coming on my baby. Netflix. Oh. They're my baby. Three seasons of our home under Fury. A documentary of the King dropping in November. Oh.

Three of the documentaries surrounding my fights. You're coming to my show. So let's go. I'm even willing to put you out on my show. I ain't bothered. Let's get it on. If you don't want to get it on, I'll fight somebody else in November. It doesn't matter.

I won't think any birth of you than I already do. I only think you're a little rat cowards, so it can't get any worse than that really, can it? I won't think any worse at you. It is what it is. I'll move on. I'll fight somebody else. But just know, you never had the guts to fight Tyson Fury, ever. You little coward.

AJ is a bus. The best part about that might be, he's clearly on like an elliptical and someone is on the treadmill in the room with him and he is just screaming at his phone for who knows how long. I didn't think of that. I didn't think because that sound there. Yes, you're right. AJ has said nothing. But then on Saturday at the matchroom event, here's more from Eddie Hearn before the event on his own. And it wouldn't be an Eddie Hearn interview if you're not asked about Anthony Joshua versus Tyson.

Tyson. We've probably been the same line the same story for the last 10 years. Saw your interviews earlier this week. Is there an official latest update on? proceedings? The update's really quite simple. We've signed the contract. You know, we're waiting for a date. People keep talking about, you saw Tyson Fury on the epilictal trainer or whatever he does on the, you know, the cross trainer stuff. Why do you have so much trouble with that word? Shouting and screaming. There's nothing to shout and scream about. The fight's done. The fight's

signed. No one can pull out of the fight. You can't, you can't just pull out of a contract. So we're waiting on the date. Now, we know everybody and his dog involved with the fight wants to do the fight in America. We don't. And we've told Seller and the team, if you want to do it in America, these are the terms that we can move forward with, but we'd rather not, please.

So there's the option, really. The contract sign, if they deliver on the contract where they have to legally, the fight's happening in the UK, and we'll be very, very happy. But there's no suggestion that the fight's not happening. No one can stop this fight from happening. The only way it can stop from happening is if they actually breach the contract.

We have a contract to fight Tyson Fury in the UK, and that's what we expect to do. So no concerns about the fight happening, the longer this goes on. We've signed. We can't pull out of the fight. They can't pull out of the contract. So, you know, everyone's getting their knickers in a twist. We're in. We've signed.

We're ready. Give us the date. The issue is he's not waiting for the date. He's waiting for them to agree to the terms in the addendum. And if they don't, then he may just say, hey, you're not agreeing to the contract. we signed, you're in breach of the contract, and this is going to turn into an even bigger mess. After the event on Saturday, and this is the big one,

this is where it feels like, man, after watching this, this whole thing may be blown up, and we're never going to get this fight, because I feel like if it's not going to happen on Netflix, it's never going to happen. Here's Eddie addressing the media at the post-fight press conference. It kind of baffles me that it's like, it's on us. And it's like, come on, Eddie, don't fold.

It's like we shouldn't have to fold. We signed a contract and it's so mentally destroying to try and explain to people who, like I don't want to be disrespectful to people's intelligence but it's like you're listening to a geyser on an ellipical trainer

or wherever those cross-trangers are called right? Who let's be honest doesn't really have the best track record in terms of Instagram posts and not telling porcupies and the reality is

is no one's really acknowledging that we've signed the contract. People are saying, oh, the fight could fall through. It can't fall through. Well, can't. Unless Seller and Saudi want to breach the contract and not stage a fight they've signed to stage, which wouldn't happen either. Pause it right there. And see Joshua. Unless Sela and Saudi want to not stage the fight.

You see, there's a lot of jabs being thrown now. And I can understand the frustration. I can understand his frustration. I could also understand their frustration to be like, yo, we're paying you millions upon millions of dollars. Just fucking fight wherever we want you to fight, you know? It's a crazy thing happening here. One of the more unique battles that we've ever seen play out.

There's more, there's more. He wants to walk away from the fight. We can't walk away from the fight. We've signed a contract. So like, we're in. All we need is for Turquilla Shake on Netflix to call us and say, Wembley Stadium or wherever in the UK, this is the date.

We'll have the press conference this week. It's done. But what they want to do is they want to pay Anthony Joshua less money because that's how it will work out with the difference in location. Taxes. They want a load of him to do a load of additional stuff. And I'm not going to blow things up, which I could do so easily, but there has been breaches in AJ's contract already,

which we've let slide because these guys are our partners and our friends or were. But there's a game being played at the moment where some of you guys, and a lot of people who aren't in this room are being fed emails and information to try and dress things up to spin a narrative that's just not true. And I'll address that now. Lance Pugmeyer phones me up, you know,

and I had a number of other calls as well. Oh, this email has just landed on my desk from you. Firstly, that's a plant. That's what is known as a plant. And it was sent by TKO to journalists to basically try to try to, a number of journalists to basically try and, you know, I actually was told by a number of people that they are actually financially incentivising people to repost Tyson Fury's story.

What? Of him trying to spin a narrative. It's absolutely wild. That's what's going on. And it's like the email that was sent was an email between Matrim and Seller detailing outstanding points that we want resolved. The addendum that was sent to seller regarding the changes that we want to the contract, if you want to do the fight in the US, did not have one of those things from that leaked email in.

So it's just, it's a mental game. And I can't believe these people are actually going to these lengths. It's unbelievably flattering that people, in their position, with their power, want to do things like that. but it's a dirty, dirty game. And I'm just shocked at the way it's playing out because we don't breach contracts. We never have done. When we sign up to something, when we agree to something,

when we shake hands on something, it's done. So, yeah, it's disappointing. But, you know, I don't, this whole... Joshua's ducking out of the fight. Eddie Earn wants to load more money. Well, no, we don't. Now, we get a lot less money if we take the fight in America

compared to the UK. Was that fair? Having signed a contract? So like I said, I'm still in the hope. And all this stuff over the last couple of weeks has only, you know, not intentionally, but it's only grown the demand and the size of this fight. If Turquilla Shake and Netflix come back now and say, the fight's happening at Wembley, November 21st, imagine the country would go nuts.

Netflix should be looking at that saying, yeah, you know what, this story is quite incredible. incredible. Imagine what Britain would do if they now landed that fight. A hundred thousand people at the national stadium. Like listen, if it's in New York, we'll all go and I'm sure it'll be great and we'll be looking around. But let's be honest, everybody in this room, standing in Wembley Stadium with a hundred thousand Brits looking around as Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua ring walked. I mean, I could fucking retire on the spot.

You know what I mean? And I know that I'm going to go to New York and listen, we'll do our job and all that kind of and stuff, she's not going to be the same. And that's why we're fighting so hard. People think, oh, they're trying to get out of the fight. No, we're just fighting to do the fight in Britain. Some people get it, and then they're very thankful, and other people think that it's like this plot.

I mean, Garifay Davis. Oh, I mean, fuck me. Oh, yeah, I just signed a contract. Yeah, it's like, what the fuck? What are you talking about? Oh, what it is, Eddie's trying to get another fight in between. Who said that? You haven't even spoken to me.

we have zero interest in any other fight. AJ don't want another fight. We just fought a fight. He got dropped twice in the first round. My asshole is still in Jeddah. Right? We don't need another fight. We want fury.

We want what we signed for. We want what we shook on. We want what you promised us. Give it to us and give it to the public. End of. My word. By the way, I mean, everything he says there makes a lot of sense. but then when you consider the fact that if you do it on November 21st in the UK,

you're going up against. And tell me if these are notable matchups, G.C., Ohio State, Nebraska, Georgia, South Carolina. Arkansas, Texas. Arkansas, Texas. Indiana, Washington? Yeah, these aren't like premier top ten matchups. LSU Tennessee? LSU Tennessee is a – all of these are great matchups.

These are conference play has started at this point. It's not Georgia versus Tennessee State. they will, like you said, smoke a mid-afternoon boxing match. They're not, no doubt about it. Doesn't make sense for Netflix, and they're the ones behind it with Turkey. I don't know. True or false this happens. Man.

False. False. True. It's going to happen. I was concrete when we were in Vegas. In early July, I was like, this is happening. I think they're both going to win. And then when they both won, I was like, this is definitely happening.

now I'm not convinced. It's a game of poker, and I don't think Eddie Hearn has the best hand, and he's ultimately going to have to fold. That's where this is going. And you're saying it's happening? It's happening. And ultimately, what do you think happens? Does he get anything that he wants?

Yeah, Anthony Joshua gets a little more money. Okay. And then happens on the M.SG in November. See the other things, though. Like, when you can look at the Saudi imprint and sports, like the big story, in the summer at the start of the summer was how they're withdrawing from all these events. Live golf sold 70% of Al-Hal, the football team that Ronaldo plays for. There was tennis events there.

They no longer seem to be pursuing. From a business point of view, if you're a matrium, and as you've said, as Eddie has said, like these were separate things. They were selling very close together. It's in the midst of this dispute. But if you're seeing Saudi get behind TKO, Zufo boxing, all this stuff, is it not your prerogative at some point to be like, let's get this boxed off? Like there is money out here,

users are going in a different direction. We need to get this sorted. I mean, I think that's business, right? I suspect TKO would do the same if there's outstanding invoices to be paid and whatnot. It's just, it's very deflating, it's very disheartening. It's kind of fascinating. Like, I haven't reached the point, by the way,

from this vantage point of being like, I'm over it. Anyone who's saying that who's a true fight fan is a liar because you will be watching if they do, in fact, fight, but to see these entities like TKO and all the players there, Matrum, all the players, Netflix, who aren't saying anything, by the way, Sella, who aren't really saying anything. But like, these are, these are the giants of media and combat sports all involved in this one particular fight. Man, there's a great documentary to be made when it's all said and done if this does happen

on the, on the making of this fight, dating back 10 years ago. Crazy. I find it most fascinating that Eddie, it's almost like Eddie Hearn versus the world a little bit. He's positioning it as such in a very smart way, in my opinion. Yeah, I think... The position is, and he's happening in the UK? Is that the position? That's the position, yeah.

We're team UK. What five years ago was he telling people like, it's happening in Saudi Arabia? Yeah, well, that's what the other side will say. He's playing the only hand he has. As I said, this is a poker game. Eddie has a hand. He has a losing hand. Eddie's hand is not the winning hand.

He just doesn't, he doesn't have the leverage. The other guys have more money, more resources, more power. They control it. His leverage is that he has Anthony. Joshua. So he's playing his hand as best he can. These are the things that were promised to Anthony Joshua. This is the contract that we signed. Anthony Joshua needs this. He's playing that best hand he can. But at the end of the day, they're going to be able to squeeze him into a position where he's going to have to hold Anthony Joshua out of the fight and prevent Anthony Joshua from making a

life-changing amount of money to fight Tyson Fury if they want to dig their feet into the sand. I don't think he's going to do that. It's not the right thing to do for Anthony at the end of the day. And so they're going to keep twisting the screws and put the pressure on him until he ultimately folds, and I think he will have to fold. I do think he will get more money for Anthony Joshua. I think he will get the difference in those taxes or whatever he's kind of angling for, but I don't think he has a like to stand on in terms of being able to say, it's either in the UK or we're not fighting, because I don't think Anthony Joshua would be of that position.

I understand what you're saying. I agree. And ultimately, I think the deal is just too big to walk away. away from. I do wonder if this is the end. Like, the Saudis may view all of this, these words, this other email, be like, you know what, we're not going to, they don't have to play by the same rules. We're not going to pay you for any of this stuff if you don't do this because it's now going to be egg on our face. And maybe we'll deal with it afterwards. Maybe we won't, maybe we won't do any new deals with you. It's going to be very interesting to see if in fact

this happens or doesn't. What becomes of the relationship come 2027? and beyond. I'm just, I'm fascinated. And by the way, who's going to be promoting it? Because Dana kept saying, we're going to be the guy up there.

If in fact it does happen. Like, there's just a million different things here. Those press conferences, if they happen, my God. God, it's going to be wild.

And I really did think Wednesday of last week when I was sitting here, be like, this is all just for show. Now I don't, I don't think. Is it worse than ever right now? Does it feel, it feels more vitriolic than it's ever.

100%. 100%. I thought of it was. That's where I'm kind of like, yeah. I think it's. I thought it was just all part of like, not pro wrestling stuff,

but like I thought it was all just going to sort itself out. It's nasty. Now it's getting to the point where Eddie Hearn is like, they're lying on my name. Yes. These things that they're saying are not true. So it's going beyond just like, uh,

you know, this person's a, you know, is anybody a bigger business guy? Now it's just like, okay, now you guys are lying. And yeah,

he's talking about how like people are promoting these stories that aren't true and they're being paid to do so. It's like, it's becoming very, very dramatic. But this is why, this is how you can identify who has the leverage.

If they can lie on his name and he can tell the truth on their name and he's still the one getting the slings and the arrows and the heat, he has no leverage. It's very clear. Well, Sella feels like these, the real power brokers in this

and that they're not saying anything. They're just sort of these like shadowy figures that are just like, well, we'll see if it happens. I'm waiting for the statement from the Ring magazine, you know? They'll know the insights. Yeah. Could we get that?

Where's the statement? I need the... Ring magazine has found out. Yes, yes, yes, exclusively. What was that, PT? I think someone's about to take that ball and go home here. Like, it feels like it's getting nasty. I think the only one who would do that is Netflix.

Yeah, and Eddie, Eddie's about to promote this Taylor Foote. Like, that's what I'm kind of looking at this. Look at the difference of what he was like speaking at the press conference initially and then the OFL interview. Like, this is a roller coaster of things. It is this massive event coming up in less than two weeks' time. it must be crazy being Eddie Heron. It's fucking insane.

I mean, that week alone, he's promoting Andy Ruiz in New Jersey, I think on the Friday. Jesus Christ. Before the, I think he's got like four events in the next two weeks. My asshole is still in Jeddah is. I'm going to have to put that in the repertoire. Oh, my gosh. That's a great one, yeah. What was that, PT?

I said that was a great one. The asshole still being fed. No, what you were saying prior to that, I don't know if you remember. A lot has been said. No, it's gone. No, it's gone. All right, well, let's see. Let's see what happens here. In a matter of moments, guys, we are going to be joined by Marab Duolishvili, the former UFC bantamweight champion. We have not

seen him since December of last year. Would you believe it's been 10 months? By the time he fights, it will be 10 months between fights for him. This is a guy who fought four times in 2025 alone, and now it's going to be 10 months in between fights. But he really did need that break. He has been busy. He pops up all over the place. He competed in Georgia for RAF in July and had an incredible comeback win over Henry Suhudo. And then over the weekend at the anniversary show, it didn't quite go his way. Sehudo ended up pinning him in just 36 seconds. I do believe we have some of the B-roll here. Yes, here it is. A beautiful technique there. Single-leg ankle pick, I do believe. I'm not a wrestling expert, but look at that. Wow, from Mr. Henry Sohudo, and he gets the pinfall here.

Very shortly two seconds away, there it is. And he even mocked them a little bit with the Georgian dancing, a little Georgian dancing from Henry Sehudo. We could show you that here, and it seems like they may run it back. I would think that they should run it back. Both matches very, very, very entertaining, different reasons. Marab coming back, you know, with the comeback in Georgia. Oh, here they are, both dancing. Okay, so he wasn't really mocking him. They were doing it together. My apologies. Gable Stephson, by the way, was on this card. They had a who's who on this card, and he looked great once again. Gable's a beast. R.A.F, man, they really got something going. Those events, they fly by.

fly by a lot of notable names the action is fun they've really figured it out and I would think there are a lot of people who didn't think that they would figure it out now they have to stick to what got him here like MVP Schlomenko I feel like might be a little bit

off the beaten path I don't hate it per se but I could see some fans being like hmm but for the most part getting guys like Jordan Burroughs And then having them be so active is really impressive. Like, Jordan has his next matchup early September in Russia. Tyron Woodley has his next matchup headlining against Hamza Chamaev in Russia. They keep them moving.

They keep them moving. Let's go to Marab Dwellishvili now, who returns to action October 24th against Peter Riyan, the highly anticipated trilogy for the Bantamway title. There he is. Hello, Marab. How are you? friend. Very good idea. How are you? Good to see you. It's great to see you as always. And, you know,

I have to say, I reached out to your amazing assistant, Sherry, to have you on the show before your match against Henry. And then there was a part of me that thought maybe, oh, maybe you wouldn't want to come on the show, but she said that you're a pro and you'll always show up. Can I ask you, how do you process that? Because you want to win your competitor. This isn't your bread and butter. Henry's an Olympic champion. You did beat him. How do you deal with with a loss like that as opposed to a loss in M.A? Just fine, because for me,

you know, lost against a respectful opponent and good person, like, especially I was in the same hotel and I saw his family and then I get to know Henry in person

and even since beginning when I accept this wrestling match against him. I know it could be a challenge even. We was going to wrestling before here, United States, and he pulled out. And then we go Georgia, and it was a big responsibility

for me to wrestling against Olympic wrestling. But I love challenges. And I know it was risks since when I was wrestling against him first time. And especially it was risk when I beat him

in wrestling and then now he was the one who called me and then who asked this wrestling match it was weird but I know he was preparing something I know he was going to study me

and I don't have time for like like really training for wrestling like this you know I'm focused for my fight always you know I just usually how I do and I have a wrestling match in I am like usually like week before I start preparation like as a second training you know

maybe go a little details but but um yeah I lost this much and then I was smiling if you saw me then I was happy for him for I was happy for his family he deserved he beat me you know I'm not mad you know it's a sport and the sport has a risk you know you can win or loss But as long as I will lose against respectful opponent, I'm fine, you know, because, but that means I'm not going to try my best. I always will try my best and then I will not regret. That moment in Georgia in July, the comeback win, I know it was in MMA, but like the crowd seemed amazing. You were so happy. Like, would you say that the feeling that you experienced on that night in front of your people was up there with one of your title victories?

It seemed like such a great, great moment for you. Absolutely. I won't say maybe like a title, UFC title, but it was such a great experience to make all my people, Georgian people happy. Especially, of course, the arena was full of Georgian, but also the whole country was watching this wrestling match on TV. It was a good time, evening time, and everybody really watched it. Everybody was proud, and that was such a good sweet moment. And yeah, that was a great moment, one of the best moment in my life, yes. I know you have a big date coming up on October 24th, but at some point, do you want a third match against Henry? Yes, why not?

I like challenges, and I love RAF. And, yes, when I will have a time to maybe focus wrestling, absolutely, I would like wrestling against Henry. it's no problem. But now the focus, of course, is Peerra on October 24th, Abu Dhabi. By the time this fight happens, Marab, it will be over 10 months in between fights for you. And that's crazy because in 2025 it was four fights in one calendar year. So as of right now, it's like a little over eight months. How has that been for you?

I know you're competing a little bit, but it's not the same as those MMA fights for the UFC for the title, the layoff. Would you say it's been good? Has it been much needed? Are you like going crazy? Itchy knuckles, as they say. How has the layoff been for you? The layup was, okay, I was just waiting.

And then it was a little bit weird because I don't know when I was going to fight. I was waiting for him since springtime because, like I tell you before, Hunter told me right after my fight same night. He told me I was fighting against Peter next, but when I don't know. And then the UFC also tell us that our fight not going to happen in the White House. And I was hoping maybe before the White House, like before June, because... And then his... your show, I remember I watch your podcast of Always. and then Peter was

interview with you and then he said he was ready for White House but I guess he wasn't ready and now he is he's finally fighting with me in Abu Dhaban. Was there ever a point where you were worried

that they would go in a different direction? Sean O'Malley, someone like that. No, because first I was competent. I did enough in this 45 win-trick and I already beat Peter and

then UFC also hunted tell me his word like he told me and I was trusting and I think that was the best option for UFC and I was I was confident this is UFC one of this fight and

then I was competent. It was just time. And everything okay, the nose, like all the bumps and bruises. Would you say you're healthy as you begin this training camp? Yeah, like, crazy thing is this after my last fight, I was just injury free other than my nose a little bit, but nose is fine. I can break in a fight and keep still fighting.

No, no. I'm not cancer as a big injury, but everything else was fine. Other than also maybe the same injury what I had last fight, but that's no big deal also. But yeah, I was like injury free and all this time I had no injury. I was just healthy waiting for this fight and it was weird all these months waiting for a fight. And I, you know, I like to be busy, but God willing, I'm going to do everything for win, and I believe I will win this fight, and I will stay busy, and I will be a busy champion. You were a very busy champion the last time around. I'm wondering what means more to you, Marab.

Is it to become champion again? Like, you genuinely miss being champion of the UFC and being treated as a champion, or is it just the competitor in you really hates the way that last fight went, maybe recognizes it was a lot in one year, and you want to beat him. You just want to beat Peter Yan because of the history there. What means more? Is it possible to say? Yes. So I'm a fighter and I love fighting. And to be champion or not be champion is I already win the belt four times and I'm fine with that.

Like, you know, of course, but I always do one most. So now I'm fighting for the belt and it's another fight for me and it's against the Piterion, which I beat, and I will beat him again, and the fight is for the belt. And the belt is like, I want to win the fight against Piterion. This is most important for me. The belt is secondary.

And it comes with the belt. It's nice, of course, but I'm a fighter. I want to win my next fight against the best guy in the world. This is my goal to win. my next fight against the best guys and then that's how I'm sometimes that they ask me also who I want to fight after I want to fight the best guy who are really who deserved the most and whose same rank

with me or like I always want the best guys you know like sometimes they ask me if I want to like I'm frying Tj Dillisho I said no you know because it's it's not it's not realistic it's not You know what I'm saying? Like I always want to whoever he's the best, just whoever you should match me, then I will fight. You know what I'm saying?

How does that fight in December sit with you, Marab? Because, again, it was a lot in one year and you were so dominant, you looked so good throughout the year, and then it was a completely different fight in that last show of the year. And so, like, now that you've had some time to digest it and think about it, how do you feel about it? Do you think about it a lot?

Does it bother you? Are you over it? How would you describe your feelings towards it? I am who I am. I always like to take a risk. I know I was taking risk because, yeah, I was busy and whatever. I know I was taking risk because I was taking such a short time against top opponent. And without pretty much, I would say, without big game plan or something, I was just willing to fight, staying active.

But I don't want, I never, I take it and I lost it, I'm fine with it. I don't regret or I say, what if, if I wait, what if I fight in split time? No, or what if I don't have this and I don't, I had this. no, this is who I am and this is the sport we are taking risk and then sometimes, you know, I was worse conditioning first time when I beat him, you know, I was with broken hand, but I still beat him. So, but, um, sometimes you never know, like sometimes, you know, um, you know, so, like, um, yeah, so, okay, I lost the fight and I accepted.

And now it's one and one. And now I can wait to fight him again. And when he will come back, he's the top opponent. Very good fighter. And like I said, I want to fight for the best. And we will find out who will win this fight. I was looking at the odds, Marab. And the odds makers have Jan as the favorite.

and then we were looking at our friends over at Kalshi and they have them as the favorite as well, 57% as you can see right over there. Are people sleeping on you? Did they forget how good you are? Where's the respect for the former champion? How do you feel about all of this? To be honest, I like this.

I like to be underdog. I like when people think I'm going to lose. This is actually I need this, I think I need this. I was always underdog. Nobody was believe me. That's true. I'm like, I show you guys. I show you guys.

And then they finally, everybody was talking about, like, I want to, I want somebody, I want to tell me somebody, like, nobody was telling me, oh, you got this man, it's easy, or you already beat him, everybody, or even everybody. And then I need to hear from, like, okay, at least I will see these odds, and then, yes, so I will see the Arden Dog myself, and it gives me a little motivation. I need this. This is good. Okay, so you're not bothered or disrespected by it.

It actually helps you out. By the way, later this week, as you know, Umar versus Song Yadong, important fight in your way class. Who do you like in that one? It's a fight. A ball has a chance, but I think Umar going to win this fight.

But, of course, Song Yidong, we all know he hits hard. But Umar has a great chin. Yeah, if you ask me, I will say I think Umar going to me in this place. Can I ask with those, we were actually with Aljo in Vegas doing our show over there before International Fight Week when all the stuff was happening with you in Georgia and I think there was a slap and Team Umar and it got really heated. What happened there? What, what ignited all of this?

So, okay. I have to tell everything. Please, please. Yes. So it was another competition week for me. You know, I was wrestling against Henny Sehudo. But, and then this wrestling match was in my country. But it was just another week, you know.

U.S. is my country and, you know, Canada. You know, I feel calm. wherever I go and especially when I have a competition I'm like you know I was staying in a hotel and then I was super chill super relaxed and and and then we was doing press conference and then I did my interview and then it was break between we do face-off and then I was sitting playing with my phone super relaxed super chill and then and then somebody came and grabbed my neck and pulled me over and started yelling at me Russian language which I hardly understand I know only few words Russian and most bad words

but I do understand he was telling me something very strong like but and he's mentioned Umumar and uh but I don't know I don't know I I don't exactly understand what he told me, but how they wrote down later, I guess he told me, before I'm here, don't talk about rumor. When I go, you can talk or something like this. But take me a couple seconds to realize, like, who is this guy? I don't know this guy. Why he yelled at me, and then, yes, I talk about.

woman but um um woman starts first disrespect me and then i i talk about him in a pratt of him in press conference and public and then after fight i shake his hand he continued cry he made me mad and i still talk trash and then we fight people we're gonna fight eventually and then this is me and him this is this is natural i don't really like this guy but who is This guy telling me to what to say about him, you know, it's about me and Umar. It's not, I respect Umar's family, uh, Nurma Gamedo's family so much, you know, you know, Abdul al-Badoumado, I have pictures, I post many times with him and then Habib, Islam, I have so much respect and the whole team, you know, I, I have many friends from Dagestan,

like a long time and I'm cool with them and I have so much respect for all the Dagestan people, especially fighters and the only guy who I don't like from Dagestan that is Umar and he's a sneaky manager his name is Rezwan the guy who was I find out later who was I guess helping Umar to disrespect me on X and threats to road all the bad disrespectful things for me and they even mentioned my country for disrespectful ways and this this Rizwan, he's sneaky manager, he's been in Georgia, he's been treated welcome, he's been treated very well there, but even after that he disrespect me, he disrespect my country, he's sneaky guy and then, you know, and uh, and uh, and uh,

Yeah, there's those two guys I don't like and I've always been honest, you know If I don't like somebody I'm not vasiling, you know, I always say I'm true, you know, I'm not trying to make Like everyone, you know, I don't want to you like me so I am who I am I'm not gonna fake it, you know, I'm talking Truth about humor, what I think I think he's a spoil he disrespect me I'm mad I'm hurt and And every time he has a chance, he always disrespect me. Even recently they asked about him how me and Peter Ian fight will go. He said, Peter Ian will beat me my next fight. And then he even said some stupid excuse,

I beat Peter Ian first time because he had an injury. So imagine like he even did this. disrespect my win against Peter and he even don't respect. I have a win against Jan. You know, every time, woman has a chance to talk about me, he always disrespect me. And him and his manager or right-hand guy who's this Rizwan guy. So these guys, the only two guys who I don't like from Dagestan. Now I see somebody from coach from Dagestan also talked about me.

He said, I hope Peterian will knock out Merab. Merab will go unconscious and then referee break his leg to not stop this fight. And Peter can't kill him. Jeez. This makes me laugh because, you know, there's some guys. And then also I see some wrestling coach talking with the little kids 12 years old. And then he was told him in shade Marab is the bad guy. Hey, I'm a man, okay?

doesn't matter if I'm in Georgia or if I am in America or in Mexico, if you come my face and provoke me, I will slap you on your face and I will react like every man will react. Okay. And then they also, even Umar was also saying, where is the hospitality? You know, this guy was in Georgia. So if you come in Georgia, you have to be disrespectful. and if you come as a guest, I will treat you as a guest.

But if you come as an enemy or you disrespect me, that's what happened. So, but the guy who has an accident with me, who pulled me over and who, who provoked me, I have no problem with him. Maybe, maybe he's a good guy. I don't know him in person. But what happened after? So after the, this incident happened between me and him, you know, he, he, he told me something disrespectful and he provoked me pretty much and then I slept but I'm not proud of

this that I I slap him but this is I'm a man and but I don't regret you know this is how I'm gonna do it and then but after that I realized I was in my country especially all the teenagers all the young kids wanted to fight fight them the this guy and then whoever will um will support him. And then all my friends, especially even wrestlers, I was surprised. Like my friends, who are the Olympic champions and a very good wrestlers from Georgia, they also want to fight the guy, you know, if they have a problem. And, but, you know, me and my other friend Lado, we tried to push to find this guy,

shake his hand because I don't want this incident continuing my country because we are, We are a lot in my country. I don't want to fight in my country. You know, I don't want, you know, like, you know. So anyway, I, I, we find them, and then we shake hands, and then we are cool now, like, you know, not now. Like, same night. We, me and this guy who were, like I said, we had a car accident and I do it,

I shake his hand and everything is done now. And then, yeah, like I said, I don't continue in my country because I don't want to, like, you know, bad things happen, you know, like I said. And that was everything. And, yeah, like, I guess now the little people continue talking trash, like, you know, if they don't understand life, they can, they all have all judgments. But the real people, that's how we do it, you know. Can I ask you, Marab, you tweeted, you disrespect, this was back in June, you disrespect the dedication and hard work to the sport that every fighter puts in when you talk shit, win or lose, we are all warriors and deserve respect.

F anyone talking what they don't know, come say to my face. Who are you referring to there? That time, that was for when people was disrespect, Ilya. Okay. Yes. So many people, that time disrespect Ilya's hard work. And Ilya, we all know that in the Ilya go war, you know, since first round he was broken. He was fighting with broken arboros.

And then, and then, you know, if somebody breaks this, this bone, they cannot even write down them name. You know, Ilya was fighting the Hego war four round after this. And he even broke the second one. And then what Ilya has done, and then some people find a moment and they disrespect Elia. So, and then fuck those people who the disrespects Elia, my brother or any warrior, you know. Even we are fighters, yes, sometimes we lost. Sometimes we win. This is the risk what we are taking, but we just need respect, you know.

like maybe somebody can say good fighter that fight that like in a bad fighter but like this respect make fun of fighter which like this is not good. How is he doing?

I'm assuming you've talked to him recently how is he feeling? Like as you guys all see he's having great time he's enjoying life he's always been like this he's such a happy guy He is a very lower big heart with friends and family.

And he's doing very good. And he's fine when he will come back. He will get back the belt and he will beat everybody. Nobody can stop him. And yeah, he is the best. And you guys already know, but he's going to prove it again and again. By the way, along those lines, I did see that you did an interview where you said that you kind of were giving up on the dream of being, you know, married and all this

stuff. But then I saw another video, Marab, where you were, like, helping these nice young ladies, like, put things on their walls and building stuff for them. So it seems like you're still putting yourself out there. You know this what I'm talking about. Yeah, you were like, you were like an incredible contractor for them, like your old life. Listen, to help the young ladies, I will always do that. Okay. Always. I was doing always and I will always continue. But yes, right now, I take a little bit break for like searching white because I realize where I am now in Vegas, where I live, here will be very, very tough to find a white material moment. And then also, maybe I'm not taking my time to go somewhere like maybe country here or in.

even in my home country or like really, I need to dedicate time for that to find a good wife and maybe. And then also I'm very busy, you know, I'm always focused. And also I'm not an easy person too. I understand my life. You know, I'm always busy. And then, yeah, as you know, I don't have a, you know, I don't have a beautiful face.

I've been taking pictures with beautiful ladies too, maybe some good girls don't like me, you know? How could they not like you? Maybe you have to go back home to Georgia and meet one of your own when everything settles down. For now you're very focused, and I see your training very hard. You're out there. I think you were in Hawaii with Mark Zuckerberg. Was that in Hawaii?

You almost went off into the water there. That was a little bit scary. Look at this. Yeah, that was good training always with Mark Zuckerberg. He goes hard on you there, there. I see this from Mark. Look at him. Yeah.

He does, actually. Let me tell you what, he's very, see, like his takedowns good and everything. His technique is good, and he's taking serious this. He's training every day, wakes up in the morning, and then first thing he does, he works a little bit of course from the online, and then comes the training. And he's getting better and better. Yeah, so this training was from Lake Tahoe. Okay.

Yeah, Hawaii, I was before in December, right after my five. Remember when we sparring? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. That must be, what does he do? He just says he calls you up and he says, Marab, come on down and need some training? Yeah, yeah, I have time and yeah, you should training over. Yeah, he tell me if you have time each come. And he also invited me in, right after I last fight, in Washington, too.

He was there, too. And I met him again, we're training in Washington, too. And, yeah. So he likes to learn. He likes to get better. He has always a lot of questions. He knows everything. He watches everything, like fighting.

And then he's very passionate about MMA Jiu-Jitsu wrestling. Love it. It's incredible to see you out there with him. I'll let you go in a second. What are you feeling? October 24th, UFC 333, the trilogy. By the way, one of the very few trilogies in UFC history, I don't know if you know this,

that one of the fights wasn't for a title and the other two were for a title. The first time you fought a few years ago, non-title fight, second one title. It's like Leon Edwards, Kamar Usman, Gray-Maynard, Frankie Edgar, non-titled, then titled title. So, you know, good company.

What are you feeling as far as the way the fight goes. I feel ready and I love this fight. You know, Peter is the most dangerous guy in my way class right now and I'm very happy and grateful for fighting this guy. I have tapest challenge and usually I do, I do very good when I know that I have a top upon a top challenge. And, like, I'm working very hard, but now, like, I'm trying to be smart too.

You know, I was working also hard, like, even last fight, but I was not taking break. I was just training, burning myself. This time I will take some time off. I will just relax a little bit more and then think about more. And so I'm very good. And, yeah, so we will have this great match. And, yeah, people will watch this fight. So, like, so like sometimes, see, like, sometimes, you know, how I should I say.

So let's say, when I was fighting Jan, people were saying, oh, I already beat him, I was going to beat him again. Why they make him despite? And I knew that that was challenged for me. You know, I knew the Petarian never will be easy fight for me. And then, see, even I knew, even surprised me how good it is and how soon he hits. And if I don't really preparation really, really well, he would beat the shed at me again. So same thing against Henry Sehudo.

when I beat him in wrestling and when the Henry called me again and he he he he he make this wrestling again and and then people will say oh Merav already beat him you know how many times when he has to beat him and I also knew there could be a challenge like second time you know go against him you know he will have a different plan and I still accept this and then I lost now but so but so this This time against Peter, now I will prepare very good. I'm right place mentally, and I will be best placed physically too, and life is good. I'm in joy.

I'm grateful for life. Thank God. I'm live, and then everything is good. I love it. And I love how your setup continues to improve. It feels like every time we talk to you, the background gets nicer and nicer every time. So that's an indication of life being very good. I have my belts, yeah.

I see them. Yeah. And then, yeah, so this is, this is living room. What a life. What a life, Marab. Amazing stuff. Congrats on getting the fight. Good luck in training.

Can't wait for it, October 24th, UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi. Thank you, as always for coming on. We always appreciate your time very much and looking forward to seeing you in action in exactly two months from now, amazingly. So good luck to you. Thank you, Marab. Thank you, sir.

Yeah, yeah, I appreciate it, too. You're the man. There he is. Marab Duolishfili, two, he's got two trilogies. He's got two trilogies in the oven. He's got the one that's actually signed, the Pejordor Yan fight, and then, of course, a potential trilogy with Henry Sehudo in RAF. Number one, as far as UFC, bantamweight division rankings are concerned,

in both the meta and media rankings. Eight pound for pound. He's obviously won 14 of his last 15, the loan loss, the one that just happened. And he's got two career wins via CO, two via sub, 16 via decision, the absolute machine.

And one could argue one of the greatest bantamweight champions of all time, if not the greatest, in terms of that schedule that he had, pretty damn remarkable. Still to come, We've got Jordan Burroughs, who a lot of people leave is the greatest American wrestler of all time.

Gregory Rodriguez, who had the big win over Anthony Fluffy Hernandez on Saturday in Sacramento. What a crowd. What a scene. Joe Martinez on the mic. It was tremendous. Tyron Woodley going to join us in a matter of seconds to talk about his win. His first combat sports win since September 8, 2018. a win against Darren Till. What a time. And I do want to let you all know that we had to start a new link on our eBay for the poker felt the top of the table there that was signed by the people who joined us International Fight Week. They took down the link because we had a link to the charities that we were going to donate all the proceeds to. You know all this. So unfortunately, we apologize to every.

everyone who bid on it. And we ask you to bid on it again. The link is live right now. There it is. We just had to start it. This is the one signed by all the fighters, Robert Whitaker, Mayhem Miller,

John Kavanaugh. Everyone who joined us, Yanni and Jacek, and then all the proceeds will go to those two charities, Yonis charity, Cancer Fighters as well. And it's right now in the chat pinned.

So we're sorry about that. Apparently there's a rule. in the world of eBay where you can't have a link to a charity, so they took it down, and now we have to start over. It's going to be live for a week. Let's try to blow wherever we were out of the water and donate all that money to two very, very, very good charities. All right, without further ado, the chosen one is here. Our old pal Tyron Woodley, Fresh Off, his comeback win over Joaquin Buckley Saturday at the Raff Show.

What is that, is that hot or cold right now? It's just freezing. It's 38 degrees. Oh, my dear. How long have you been in there? I just got in here. I figured we're going to take 15, 20 minutes, so to take my mind off of it. So I just got in right before we died up. You could stay in there for 1520? You're going to watch me stay in here for 1520. Oh, my dear. You do that when? Like, every day?

Every day. You're kidding. How long? This is what the athletes that don't take PD do when they get 40 years old. They got to have chiropractic, a massage therapist. motion coach Pilates, hot yoga, a lot of recovery because we build a lot of the skills and the mental toughness coming up as 25-year-olds. When your body gets older, it starts to react a little bit more.

Shit, half of my training is recovery. Holy crap. This is a first for us, but I love it. What's the longest you've gone? The longest I've gone is 30 minutes, which you shouldn't do. Okay. It's freezing parts of my body that should never be frozen. and I feel like three minutes you get benefit

up to 20 minutes top so I just do the math which is 20 minutes Okay okay how does the body feel after Saturday Yesterday it was Soros Hill I just did um hot I did a hot tub sauna hot tub chilled out And I got a chiropractor adjust in my body

Then I did um sauna again And I did an ice plunge last night And I went to do Pilates and um Like a manor stretch Then PT Then I just got done wrestling a minute ago. So I'm right back. I'm right back on it now because I didn't think past Joaquin and I didn't look over him, but I knew it was a very similar style as far as like pressure and power. And I was

using it. It's just like if I wrestled in the Big World Championship and then NCAAs was in two weeks. So I kind of trained it and used it as a training phase. So I should be in better, shape, more condition, and a little bit sharper when I go against Ham's side. Okay. So first of all, you sign up to fight or to compete against Watkins. in RAF. This was their anniversary show. Why did it take you so long to join? It feels like this would have been

a natural for you. You got the relationship with Ben. Chandler's been a part of it in the past. Why so long for you to join? It feels like it would have been something that you would have jumped all over in the early days. You know, Ben was hustling me

and hassling me about doing it before even RAF won when they was thinking about it. I said, man, you should wrestle in his lead. And I was like, man, I'm not down wrestling. When I finished wrestling, I finished wrestling. I didn't watch it.

I didn't coach it. I didn't study it. It's such a grueling sport that when I was done with it, I was really done with it. But to be honest, when I watched Ben come back after that double lung transplant, my son's a senior in high school. Those are the two things that really made me do it. You know what? So I said, you know what? It motivated me.

It motivated me to do it. So I went back out there and I started training and I fell in love with the sport. I can't ever really say I was in love with the sport of wrestling. I just used it to get a college degree and I used it to grow my family ahead. I thought I loved it until I started this training camp and realized if I loved it the way I feel about it now, I did love it when I thought I did. Okay, so what was it like? Being back, wrestling, singlet again, those old moves. What did it all feel like?

It was like a refresher because I got in positions and I started forgetting, damn, I know this position. Damn, I used to do this. Damn, I remember this move. So I started remembering moves that I forgot I even knew. and they just, I'm in control of my training. Like when I was in college, our coach was a Nazi, and he just literally killed us and tortured us.

And it was an over, over training, like mental breakdown type of training, and we didn't have control over it. So I started my first day at camp, thinking of how Joaquin Buckley would wrestle me. What would he do looking at my, you know what I mean? I guess it was VHS when I was wrestling, but look at any video that he could potentially watch me,

how would he game plan to beat me? And I started day one, with that. And I feel like that's the difference of the college training and then becoming a professional and doing it yourself. What did you think of RAF as a promotion? You've been in the game for a month? I had already been as a spectator.

Twice is big lid. I feel like I'm glad they finally put a pimped out three-piece suit on wrestling. They packaged it up. The product was crazy. It was five a month ago medalists, a couple silver medalists. So many national champions, I can't even count the number. U.S.

champions. And it was 10,000 people in her screaming and yelling for wrestling and we've never seen that. I think wrestling is the hardest sport. It's one of the first, if not the first Olympics sport. And it's just never really gotten the tension that is getting out. And one time for RAAF, Chad,

Izzy, all of the guys over there, they did a great job this year. And I feel like they're only going to go up. Down 8-1 to Joaquin, who you have a history with. What are you thinking at that point? You know what? To be honest, I can share a little bit of this because of

matches over with, but I had game plan a whole different game plan for Joaquin, and I was expecting him to do something completely different. So I prepped a game plan based on that, and then I went to the University of Missouri to wrestle on Aiden Sinclair, you know, a young goat named Peyton, so one time for those guys. But when I wrestled live with Aden, he asked me first, he said, hey, do you want to just do a technical drill? You want to go hard. And everybody was trying to like get him to calm down, you know, because this kid, he just, he just, He won the war championship, too, by the way, U-20. But he was like, I said, I didn't come here to go light with you.

I didn't come here to beat you. I came here to let you be yourself. What I saw of you having fun, and that was the most important thing. He was smiling and having fun. I never remember wrestling being fun. So I wanted him to be himself. And he said, I said, so when you came over here to talk to me, what's the first thing in your mind that you wanted me to do?

And what would you do? He said, go hard. I said, let's do it. He shook hands. He set the time of the. the 10 minutes, we did one go. And just the lesson I learned, I didn't win, forget scoring a point. I didn't have a dominant position the entire 10 minutes, but I never gave up the thought that I would get a dominant position. I never stopped trying to take him down. I never stopped

trying to escape from positions. And my cardio was off the chain. And it was, it felt really good. I never felt so good getting my ass with by a young kid before. But he told me something. And he said, I don't think he's going to rush you like this. I think he's going to wrestle you like this, touch and go, try to hit you with double legs. He's not going to be hanging on your main head. He's not going to be relaxing its eyes. I think he's going to be acting like you,

like an electricity defense and touch and go. And I did eight weeks of a whole different game plan. I got into that second period, and my coaches were talking to me, and I don't know what the hell they were saying, because all I was trying to do was breathe, and I was looking at the clock to see how long it took for me to get back to my breath.

In camp, it took me. 22 seconds to get back to where I was ready to go again. I look at the clock, it was 18 seconds left, which means it took 12 seconds now. So that's all I remember, and I remember saying, this young kid just told me a week ago he was going to wrestle me like that. And if you saw the match, I changed the game plan in between the periods. I came out with a different map. I mean, I started walking them down a little bit more. I started making them make mistakes. And I just, piece by piece, broke him down. And area for me, that's the first time in my life. Now, I career life that I've ever been down on the scorecard ever got taken down first I've ever lost

the first round and I came back and won so for me like as a career forget wakene buckleys didn't have a collegiate background he came out ready to wrestle he threw me a couple times that I was definitely trying to defend and I came back and I just stayed composed and I won and it felt so good you know what I mean to see the underdog on top to see the comeback season and full play Incredible. Now, can I ask a lot was made of the fact that this was your first combat sports win since 2018. Do you view it as such? Does it feel like a monkey is off your back? A little bit, but the monkey was never on my back because I know why I had those years of lessons. You know what I mean? During my title reign, I had seven years of just being on fire for God, reading, praying, training three times a day, eating healthy. It was no rap music, no bling,

no women. It was nothing. It was focused. So what I was doing when I won those five titles and I went on that crazy run, I was picking the harvest from the seeds I planted before. But during that run, I was planning fleshly seeds in the ground. So then I had to eat shit for years until it expired. And I really, I caught it, as I was saying, like, I'm training the same as I trained when I fought Robbie and Darren Till and Carlos Condon. You know, and no disrespect to my opponent's after Darren Till, but I feel like the guys I beat before Darren Till were the killers.

And the guys I lost after Darren Till were people that would have never even won a second against me, you know what I was locked in the focus. So I knew that it was so in the reaping. So then I started, even while I was going through lessons and even though why I was not getting the things I was getting before, I started planning Cs of just humility, seas of just giving back, seeds of just compassion and love and, you know, me accepting responsibility and being accountable for my actions, now it's time to harvest those seeds. And this time, as I'm harvesting, I'm going to reflect even more spiritual season to the ground. So that's what I feel like

it's the comeback season, and I'm excited about it. You would Buckley good now? Me and Buckley was good in the beginning, but I already knew Buckley was not like, oh, you know, I'm just trying to get some reps. He's from St. Louis, man, we're a big braggy city. You know what I'm not?

Not a lot of people who leave St. Louis. They usually stay here most of their life. So for him to say he beat me would have been huge for him. He's always been in my gym. You know what I mean? He was at the gym, St. Charles, in the May I was training that. We've been around each other so many times.

We've only moved around once and twice. And I feel like he kind of took disrespect and me saying, no, I don't want to go sparring around with you because at that time, Erie, you know I was fighting Wonderboy and Darren Teal and Damien Mayer. There's, there's like specialty fighters. So I bring in training partners and mimic those guys to a tee. And he just didn't, he didn't look like anybody I was going to fight. So I didn't want to go on her with,

with a young kid that wanted to prove himself against me and risk getting injured, because sorry ain't going to do it if I can't go out there and fight a war's out of fight. So now I think he's cool. Now I think he understood that. But he came out and he brought the fight to me, and I appreciate that in him.

I think down the road you'll see me, I don't want to say mentoring. There are a couple small things that I know I can help him with that I feel like he can win a UFC championship. You know, I understand what you said earlier about the seeds and all that and about all that expiring. But just on a one. You know me, man.

You was around me during that time. No, I know, for sure. But I'm just wondering, like, on this Monday, after a big comeback win like that, it has to feel great to be, like, to. Man, my body feel better than it did in camp, right? You know what I mean? I'm just so, like, I'm in an exceeding place of gratitude, man. I've been walking around. One time for my doctor, Aaron Coy, that walked me out.

It was a song called Usher in the Spirit. Because that car, I kicked off the show. When we get to Russia, I'm closing the show. So I just wanted to bring the Spirit. and I want to bring the excitement to the show. And I'm fans of these guys. I watched Jordan Burroughs and Gabriel Seeson and all these guys. So I, for once in my life, was not the co-main event or main event where I can go

and do my job and go out and StanS and really just watch wrestling. And it felt really good. So today I've been, man, I haven't came off to high, to be honest. Like I told you before, I did Pilates and I did like a manual stretch. And then I did physical therapy. And I just finished wrestling. Now I'm in a cold lunge when I get off here. I'm gonna go fucking get a massage.

I'm right back in camp, you know what I mean? So I feel really good. I'm very thankful for the haters. I'm thankful for the naysayers. I'm thankful for the people that supported me, the people that was on the bandwagon, jumped off, got back on. It all is a lesson and it's all part of the journey.

And I'm just, I'm so thankful and I'm so excited. And I'm going to take out constant. I'm going to take him out. I promise you. For real. Mark my words. Many people thought Joaquin Buckley was going to be the easy match. My gut tells me that's going to be the easy match.

match. Come on. In Russia, you're in his prime. Seriously. Robbie Lala, the killer. Two fighter a year, back to back, boogeyman, Tyrone and a father's 60 months. Darren Teal, don't care about his kids. Way big and Tyrone. Way punch hard. The Tyron backs up. Watch what happened.

I'm going to beat him like a drum. What do you think? Like, how does it play out? What do you see? Let's see. Why so confident? Because. Why not be confident when you believe in God and you train your butt off. This is Hamzad in his prime, just fought he was a champion.

He was a champion in NCAA? No. He's Olympic gold medalist? No. Okay. He's a great, he's a phenomenal exceptional wrestler in MMA. He's a good wrestler and regular wrestling. He's the boogeyman.

Yeah, we heads up in this match. Wow. Do you like going to Russia for this? No, 92% of my followers of men. 40% of that 92 is from Russian. Wow. Really? So they don't cheer him, but they're not going to boo me.

Okay. I like this. By the way, I'm blown away by the fact you joined... I'm not dealing with it. Disrespect of the culture. Disrespect could be. I'm a very respectful guy. I think Comstads are monsthing. That's kind of the reason why I want to match. You know what I mean? As he was

fighting and working as well up the UFC, I always started my mind. Like, if I had to fight this dude at Walsaway, this mother would have been a problem, right? So I'm going to always give him his credit, and he is going to be a tough match. It may come down to the last minute. It may come down to the last take down,

but I just proved to myself that I can do it. You know what I mean? I scored 14 unanswered points, you know what I mean, and came back for victory. And really, if you look at the clock, I really pinned Joaquin. It was time left. They stopped the match.

And I was still trying to smash him and pin him. If you look at his back being flat, it was still three-tenths of a second left, so technically I pinned him. I love what RAF has done for guys like you and these matchups and giving us stuff to talk about. By the way, can I ask, all right, the Dean Thomas situation. I saw you and Sean Strickland. That's your guy. Can you tell us what's your take on?

Every me and me, you don't disagree much, but I disagree with you. Tell me. I disagree with Strickland, and I disagree with most people that see, they see attention being granted to it, right? And then they piggyback on and give a deal. different perspective because we all like, ooh, he's smart. Ooh, that was a good one. Ooh, I never thought about that way.

We so love attention these days. Like, I feel like freedom of speech is freedom of speech. What I had done it during that moment, I wouldn't have done it. I can 100% say, I may have never done it on television. I may have taken her side and said it to her. I may have done it in a different way. So I, but I also cannot disagree with the way he did. I don't know what went through his mind.

I don't know if he got something in his mind or heart or spirit and said, do it right now, but he got the freedom to do that. And when I reached out to Strickland, I didn't, I didn't go around the bush. I reached directly out to him during the end. If I had his phone number, I would have called him. If he was near me, I would have said it to his face. So I said what I said to him, but I had to catch myself because guess what? He also has a freedom of speech to reply back to Dean however he wants to. He got the freedom to post our message, which he didn't post the entire message. He posts my first comment, his little small. Alec and Mark, and he's of this clout world.

I'm not of that world. I'm off the real world. So what he did show is the complete message that ended in respect, where he was calling me a legend and saying he was surprised I messaged him, and he respects me for taking up for my coach. Because I said, if somebody says something about Eric, you're going to let it slide? He said, no. So what do you disagree with me on? What do you disagree with me on?

You didn't think he should have done it either. You thought it was... Yeah, but that sounds like we agree on that. No, no. I'm saying I wouldn't have done it, but I can't disagree with somebody else for doing it. But if you wouldn't have done it, and I wouldn't have done it, then we agree that the timing was awful. No, no. If you would have done it, it would have been out of character for you.

It would have been against what you felt from integrity at the same point. Now, I agree on that for you. Me and you seem to have the same integrity and we feel the same way about it. But I don't agree what's wrong for him to do. do because I don't know what his line is. I don't know what made him do it. But you know him enough to know that minutes after a title fight without speaking to her first going on.

Can I be real? If I can be real with anybody, I can be real with you. I feel like I'm the reason why he doesn't want to coroner anybody anymore. Oh. Cornered me was he had to be a psychiatrist. He had to deal with all the extras. He had to deal with the weight cut, which I was killing my body to do. He had to deal with the traveling.

It wasn't just we were standing still in one training camp. I was popping out doing a TV here. I was doing a movie here. I was doing a muse there. I was at a red carpet here. I was at a party here. I was at a celebrity basketball, football game. The women, everything that caused me to be champion, he had to sort through it all.

He was way more than a coach. Gillian's easy. But it's been a minute. It's been a minute since all of that. So why do it now? I know. But it's still wearing tearing your body. He's getting into film.

He's getting into other things that he may want to put his intention into. So I feel like everybody that got something to say, like, we all have the choice to do things our way. For sure. We all can vote for who we want to vote for. We can all say what we want to say on air. Like, think about the things that Sean Strickland says. He's the most tone-deaf fighter in the roster. And we laugh about it and we joke about it.

But he technically can say whatever he wants to say because he got their free will. So how is he out of anybody going to step up and say something? No, listen, Sean is Sean. but I'm just saying, I wish they would have spoke beforehand, keep it to themselves, announce it down the line. I wish Dean wouldn't have apologized. Really? Why is that? Why is that? I wish if he really felt that way,

he really at that moment felt like it was the time to do it. I really wish you would have stood on it. Do you feel like he feels bad about it? I think if his apology that he granted was one of which that was just genuine, then I feel like, Maybe yes, he should have took a deep breath, thought about it, and then went directly to her. But if he's doing an apology just because so many people have got something to say about it and he want to quiet down the noise, then I think I wish you would have stood on it.

So I haven't spoken to him then. I did tell him that, you know, you didn't ask me to defend you. You didn't ask me to say anything and have your back. I don't know how you feel about that dean, but I just can't see somebody saying some shit about. about me to Dean, him not stand up for me. No, no. And I respect that relationship very, very much in that friendship. But what about then saying, yeah, and I'm going to corner Sean Brady?

Can I be real with you? I just blocked it out after that. I blocked out, not because of that statement. Once I realized that I was falling into hypocrisy, like saying that Dean can say it whenever he wants to, then I'm jumping down Sean's back for him saying that. I just really had to just step back and just mind my business. Sure.

So I didn't really think too much about the Sean Brady part. I did see Sean Brady at the RAF, and we decided we're going to train together, but I don't know. Yo, it's been 21 minutes or so since you've been on. Are you okay? I'm shaking a little bit. Yeah. Is it time to get out? No, I'm good.

I'm staying for a little bit longer. Come on. serious? I mean, if I step up right now, and I got on these little trunks, it ain't going to be a good representation when the water de froze me. So what you're saying is

I need to wrap this up so you can get out. Yep. Okay, fair enough. Thank you, Tewood. Congratulations, my man. So happy for you, and good luck against Chamsad. Can't wait to see it. Really, really appreciate it.

And good luck. You're the man. Thank you, Tewood. There he is, Tyron Woodley. Joining us from an ice bath. That's a first and loved it. The connection was great. That was tremendous.

Had to wrap it up so he could get out. That was amazing. All right, let's go to Sacramento now. Main event, Fluffy Hernandez, Sacramento's own. Crowds going crazy, fluffy, fluffy, Joe Martinez, 916, Golden One Center. Formerly, Arcoe, back in the day, they moved to the Golden One, amazing. And there's Robocop, Gregory Rodriguez, coming out. amazing fight, steals the thunder, steals the show,

gets on the microphone after, calls out Drickus Duplessi, big-time stuff in the 185-pound division. He's kind enough to join us to recap it all on this Monday afternoon. There he is. How are you, my friend? Parabins, congratulations. Thanks for joining us.

Thank you, man. It's a pleasure to be here, my brother. I'm still recovering. A long flight from California to Florida. arrived yesterday, taking my time, enjoy my family. But yes, man, I'm really happy what happened this last weekend. War, real war. Fluffy Hernandez is a tough guy.

Was there in his crown. But there was a great experience for me. You know, I couldn't ask for more. That was an amazing fight. I think that was necessary in my career. The place I want to go and to reap my goals, I think that was a big task for myself. And I'm glad, man, I like you.

So now I just need a little bit of time to recover and start to climb this mountain again. Can I ask Gregory, how is your body feeling? Because as you said, it was a war, and it did seem intense. and I saw you guys afterwards, you were in the chair, you were on the crutches. How are you feeling after a flight like that?

And after a flight like that, here you are after the press conference. Yeah. My body feels good. Just my right foot is really bad. It's still swollen. I will, after here, I will go to my doctor to check it if I broke something. But, but that's, man, like, that guy,

The guy is a tough dude man And I kick his leg so bad I think his leg Is worth my foot But yeah I just will check it My face is okay

Just a little bit Like Something on my eye Nothing crazy But yes man like I said Five rounds It's not for It's not for

and everyone, you know, like it's, and especially against Hernandez, the gas machine. I think I did a good test with a good guy. He don't get tired, man. I was talking with my coaches. When the first shot, he

did it, he put me on the cake and I feel his power. I feel his strength. He's not the strongest guy ever. I ever fight. But the first

take down he attended to the last one, his power and his energy is still the same. I always get tired but he was the same guy

I was surprised I said, bro, this guy is crazy, man. And, but I couldn't you know let me break on my mind so I was there.

I hurt him in the second round and the calf kicks, but in my mind, I said, man, I need to save energy. I think these fights go longer. I saw all of his fights and

his game playing is always like that. I saw some guys hurt him bad and he take it, he got back, and he's smashing everyone. So I said, man, okay, I need to take my time.

I don't need to rush. But yes, man, it is where it is. you know, I like it. I'm glad to fight the five rounds. And with a guy like him, there was an owner for me. There was a tough fight. And I'm happy, man. Now I need to look it back again.

I watch a fight a one time when I was in the airport. I need to look it back again. I watch it again and see everything. I can learn it from that and change them myself and be ready for the the next challenge I will face it. You just alluded to this a little bit, but I'm just wondering throughout your career, have you ever been in there with someone where maybe the thought goes through your mind in the midst of the fight?

Like, what do I have to do to put this guy away? Because I'm watching it and thinking, like, what does Gregory have to do to put him away? Because it seemed like you were hitting him with everything, and he just wouldn't quit. He would keep coming. He would have his moments. Ultimately, you won fair and square. But are you ever thinking that during the fight? Yeah, definitely. But, I was in this position before when I fought Kenoneer.

Same thing, man. I hit him bad in the first round, get a good shot, and he came back. In my mind, said, oh, I showed everything. I got tired, a little bit frustrated on the fight against Kanonir. And against Fluffy, I saw myself in the same position, right? So, okay, I'm here again, and I will do this different. You know, I know we have three more rounds to fight. And then that's everyone, you know, they said, oh, man, Gregory couldn't finish him and this and that. But, man, in the end of the day, bro, if you never step inside the octagon, you're never going to see it. You don't know what happened inside this doctor.

That's crazy, man. The thoughts come in your mind. And the other guy, you know, is really prepared. Man, if you see, if you look back about Hernandez, he finished eight-win-strip. He just lost to the champion. He's a really dangerous guy. And then when I got in that moment, you know, when I tried to finish,

because I hurt him on the leg and he fall on the ground. So I was trying to find another place to hit it and hurt him and make he quit, but I couldn't find that. And then he came back on top. I was a little bit, a little bit tired, and then he suited to softball.

He hit me with a good hand, and the end of the second round, I was in the cage, and we changed some punches, and the round was over. And then I got back to my corner, and then on my mind said, okay, take this.

third round to recover because I have like, you know, two more rounds, the championship rounds to put it on my game in again and back to my game. And then, like, man, during the fight, it's more mental than everything. So if you're breaking in your mind, you're over. But I didn't break it. You know, always I was there and I get back. every time when the round started he was his smile to me and I said bro you're there but I'm still here man we're gonna fight

but yeah like I said I'm glad to fight the guys like like like dad you know he's a tough guy I just proved that I belong in this position and and I will change what I need to change being better improve myself I'm still learning I'm still growing I'm not going to stop I will get back and better than ever. Clearly they were on his side, the crowd. But did you enjoy it? Because it seemed electric.

It's a loud chance of fluffy. That was crazy, man. Did you enjoy being the enemy, so to speak? Bro, that was loud, man. The arena was fantastic. That was a great experience. But everyone was against me. That was unbelievable.

And then, bro, I don't know, but if that fight was, outside of his place in another, I don't know, maybe he would give up. But I saw, man, the crowd like back, like, are taking back, you know, like, rise him up. And then I say, man, come on. And every start like fluffy screaming his name. But there was, there was amazing, man. I think I think that the kind of experience was good in my journey, you know, to learn.

and how to handle that. And I think I did so well. I'm proud, man. I'm proud of myself. I'm proud of my team. And that was amazing. That was a great experience. I love it.

You should be. You should be very proud. And the interactions between you guys after the fact in the back were very nice, very cordial, very respectful. And I saw those. But then I saw his post-fight press conference

and I saw some comments that he had to say about the way in which you fought. And so I was curious to get your reaction he did say, quote, the fucker he called you, was cheating and grabbing inside of my gloves. And I told Herb Dean that. You did cheating, man. I fight clean.

So it is what it is. Maybe I should be more dirty. I told F and Herb, this mother effer grab my glove like four times. And I was like, hey, he's grabbing my gloves. Hey, stop. He told him, hey, stop. But I mean, whatever, don't take a point. Whatever.

You know what I mean? F it. I guess people like to cheat. So it is what it is. What is your response to him accusing you of grabbing the glove? AKA cheating as he put it. Oh, man. You can say whatever he won,

you know, like, the fact I beat him was the leg kicks. I punched him. He didn't take me down. He didn't do nothing, you know, like he put a pressure that was good, but I didn't cheat him. He didn't know that. But everyone, everybody can say whatever they won.

It's still the same, man. I'm a lot of respect about him, like I said. And then I saw his family right there, His son was crying in the front row, you know, like, it's crazy, but that's the sport, you know. And I always, like I said, I tell my wife in my training, bro, if I can, I'm going to buy the guy. I buy it. I'm going to do everything. I'm breaking my bones, but I'm going to do everything I need it.

But I didn't cheat in. And during the fight, we fight, we fight good. It was a dog's fight. Everyone saw that. He would try to kill each other every moment and every round. Like if that was clear, probably Herbert Dean will say something or everyone's going to see in the TV or whatever. Sometimes involuntary, my hands grab his gloves, but it's not, was nothing like that we'll change the result of the fight, you know. And in the end, I'm still the same, man.

A lot of respect by him. I know he's a warrior. He's a thrust guy. I think he will bounce him back. It's going to be hard, like, to hold him in his game. The guys who fight him need to be really smart. And, yeah, the end of the day, just my respect, and I would still be the same, man. The result, we saw the score.

I saw the fight and they beat him. That's the fact. Just curious about that last point. Are you surprised to hear that? Because it seemed like you guys were so respectful and cordial in the back, then afterwards him saying that, is there any part of you when you hear this or read this? Do you feel a little bit surprised, offended? How do you react to this? No, I'm not offended. I'm not surprised.

Okay. That's not going to change my life. No, I know. But did that happen? I don't care what people stay, you know. Did you grab onto the gloves? Yeah, I think it's one time when it was in the cage and then my handle wasn't his glove. And then it's all there is his glove. And then I take it out. And that's it.

Just that one time. Yeah, I think one or two times and that's it. But that didn't change. We know what's on the ground, we're just going to hold it short on the cage, right on the fan. Afterwards, you called out Drickus DuPlessee. I loved it. Do you feel confident that you will get that fight? Yes, man, like a man, I like that guy.

Dr.C., we trained, he trained in here in Miami for, For a long time, yeah. I think he was almost a year he was here. In the beginning of his career inside the UFC, I respect him a lot. I think he's an amazing fighter. He proved that he became a champion. And I believe we can do an amazing fight,

May and Hand. I think he won the belt and probably he deserved that. He's right on top of that division. He just beat Camaro, the legend. But yeah, man, if he say yes, I would be really happy. And I think he's going to be a great show, you know, for both of us. And Imavov is the next for the title.

He earned this position. He, Drickers and, He's trickling. He fought twice already two times. So, like I said, Imovov is an ex. And I don't know if he will, he want to wait for that long. If he don't want to wait for that long, I'm right here and I want to fight him. And I think that's not disrespect, not beef, no nothing. I respect him, like I said.

And then I think if you look it up in the division, I think Joy Pfebruy will fight Brennan Allen, that's to be a great fight. Bohalo, he's come back from a surgery or he was injury. And then it's just Drickers, man. Drickers right there. If you want, I'm here. We're going to talk. I'll talk with my manager.

I will talk with the UFC. And then they choose in the end of the day, right? They know what's better for the company. And then I think that's a great match. Me against him, both guys really strong. a lot of action and then that will be great for the fans and probably we're going to be right there

close to the title shot and I think that's make a lot of sense you mentioned Imov but it does seem like they're leaning towards Hamzad versus Strickland 2 which will delay everything because I think merit-wise Imov deserves it next

because Strickland got it before him and then he wins it created a mess of a situation why do you think they're going to give it to Imov next I don't know I think Hamza was talking about to move up right

to 2005 but I believe I believe he's the next man he's he's a beast I train with him for this my whole camp for Hernandez

he was here in Miami and I think he will come back to do his camp here he's the next man he deserved there he was there for a long time He's up up the division. Drick was, I think, going to wait a little bit.

And that will be good for the whole division. The division is changed, you know. All the new blood is coming, new guys, tough guys coming. And I think that's the future of the division. Imov and Strickland. Drickland is there. I'm here. And then I think that's the best matchup for us.

of the division. Joey Pfeiffer is another guy who's coming. He's strong. Brenno Allen, my boy, he's there. And, you know, like a lot of great fights, man, can happen. And I'm just need to be ready. Do you feel like you get talked about as much as some of these other names that you're talking about?

Like you've won now four in a row. I believe it's seven of your last eight. You're knocking people loud. If not, all your fights are exciting. Do you feel like you get talked about enough as one of the best middleweights in the world? Oh, man, I think I'm doing a great job, you know. Like I said, I still growing, I still improve myself,

I still changing and learning. But yes, man, I put my name. I put my name on that division. I fall with the best. Everyone knows who their last guy I beat. Hernandez is a tough guy. I put in my name right there. Everyone know about Robocop,

and I'm just in the beginning, man. How long do you think, I mean, assuming you're a little banged up here, we probably don't see you until next year at this point, right? Considering it's the end of August, it would probably be best for you to take some time. Probably. We never know.

Anything can happen. Yeah. I guess you'll find out later, but probably you're done for the rest of the year, right? Maybe, yeah, maybe yes. Maybe you guys are going to see me next year? But it would never know. Anything can happen. I mean, like I said, man, I will take care of my body right now. I need it. The camp was really hard. A lot of the stuff is going on right now. But yes, man, I'll be ready. And soon on late, I'll be back in the octagon and do my show. By the way, first time you go 25 minutes, how did that feel? And in an incredible fight as far as the pace was concerned and the action, you must have been, I would imagine, pretty exhausted after Saturday.

Man, 25 minutes, it's crazy. But that was like a normal 25 minutes. Yeah. That was a war. A dog's fight, man. We try to kill each other for real. But I'm so happy. You know, we can't handle that.

We got a fight off the night. We deserve that. But yes, that was fantastic, you know, like the pace we put it on the fight during the fight, man. I hit him so hard, man. This guy, he's a Mexican hat. The guys never get knockout. But yeah, I'm really happy, man. I really enjoy every moment of during the fight.

But, man, I'm crazy like him. I want more. One of the best fights of the year, no doubt about it. And there was, I think it was it the second round or the third round where I was like, what is happening here? It was just like this unbelievable roller coaster. Back and forth, you guys went. He's got a crazy style. The calf kicks, as you mentioned, the crowd, everything.

One of my favorite fights of 2026, no doubt about it. Can I ask you about something, Gregory. I saw one of your coaches wearing the infamous Derek Moneyberg shirt. Are you training with him these days? Oh yeah, yeah. Derek is our boy, man. He's an amazing guy. We love him. Henry always with that with him. Is that Henry Hooft? I couldn't see. Yeah, he's a Henry. Oh, okay. My eyesight is bad. I couldn't tell. Henry. Henry is always there with him. Is there a guy? Have you ever rolled with him before? No, never, man, but I won. Yes, definitely I won. We text each other. I like him. I like his devices.

Yes, as soon I will be there with him. Okay, he was on my show like 10 or so months ago. We had a very interesting chat. I don't know if you saw that. Very nice guy, man. Yes. Very smart guy. I love him.

Black Belt and Jiu-Jitsu. He is. He's real. And he loved the sport, you know? I like it. I like the way he invested on himself in the sport. And he do for real, man. The real guy.

Okay. Not fake like we saw it somewhere. No, no. He's a real deal. Because some think it's fake because it took him three years in his 40s, get his black belt. Yeah. Yeah, man, if you like him, you know, he think he's very seriously in anything he does,

you know, about money and about the sport, about anything. And, yeah, he's a, I learn a lot for him. And I like, I like to see he's talking about the business and everything. So I love it. He's a nice guy and I respect that. It still trips me up because I want to call you Gregory Rodriguez, because I was always told Portuguese, the R is an H, but they keep calling you Rodriguez.

It screws me up every time. I keep like tripping over myself. Rodriguez, Rodriguez. Yes, but on the broadcast, they kept saying Rodriguez. And I'm like, it should be Hodriguez, right? Yeah, Rodriguez. Rodriguez. Did you tell them to say Rodriguez?

No, but he's hard to say Rodriguez. to American guys. Hois Gracie. We don't say Royce Gracie. We say hoist gracie. Hoisgracy. Right? It's easy, right?

Yes. Rodriguez. Rodriguez. Now say my name in Portuguese. Okay. Gregory. Gregory. Rodriguez.

You got it. Gregory. You have to roll the R there. It's a little tougher for us gringoes, right? Gregory Rodriguez. Gregory Rodriguez. Gregory Rodriguez. You got, man.

Oh. Hey, come on. I love it. I love it. Well, congratulations on the win, Gregory Rodriguez. We need to tell the broadcast to get it right. That was amazing stuff, and I'm glad we cleared everything up. And thank you for coming on before going to the doctor. We really appreciate it as well. Thank you, always, man. When you call me, I will be here, man. That's a pleasure for me. Thank you. Thank you for the show. And I'll see you soon, man. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. All the best to you and congrats again. Parabence to Gregory Rodriguez, Robocop. Kind of to join us. Or shall I say hobocop? You could say hobocop if you, you know, the R is, you know, H. What is that called the fact that they H-S-S-I's the R?

Anyone know? Hmm. No. Maybe not. You're on your own on this. I think Hobocop's going to stick, though. You know, a horrible cop. Do you hear the things that come out of your mouth sometimes?

One of the nicest guys in the game right there. I mean, not a blessed word. about Derek Moneybird. My favorite moment from Saturday wasn't that fight, wasn't Joe Martinez in Sacramento, it was this picture of Dominic Cruz, Uriah Faber, and T.J. Dillisha.

I mean, could you imagine, what, 10 years ago, these three guys, all with issues with each other, right? Dom and Faber, Dom and T.J. T.J. and Dom. T.J. and Faber and Dom. Faber and T.J. I mean, is this not a love triangle? This is something. Legends of the game. NorCal, Solcal. I mean, amazing. That warm my heart. I love that. That was incredible. The UFC did announce some news on the broadcast. We should get to this.

UFC 334, which is amazing because it's John Stark's Charles Oakley. or Patrick Ewing, Anthony Bonner. Anyway, it's happening at Madison Square Garden when, November 14th, New York City, home, of course, of your 2026 NBA champions. But what was interesting about it is, look at Top Left, Top Left. They're dubbing it as Polymarket UFC 334. Yeah, it wasn't just on this poster.

Every tweet, every Instagram post, it all was hashtag. Even when they said it. Yeah, UFC 334. I think they've done that once before, right? there was another event that had like a sponsor attached to it. It was the sphere. Read season. That was the first time.

Is this the first time that there's an actual company attached? It's not often that they do this. Since then for sure, yeah. Yeah. So there you go. And then again, could you imagine if six days later at MSG, TKO has another event, Tyson Fury, AJ, we went over all of that. As of right now, still don't know who will headline.

Could we get Tommy on there? For the love of God, could we get him? Tommy on there. Tommy versus Surreal Gun, Britain versus France in New York. I mean, it would be incredible.

So let's see. And then they also announced the last PLE slash NE of 2026 is going to be UFC 335 in Vegas,

T-Mobile. I mean, there's a lot of these that are kind of yearly at this point. So there you have it. And as you can see

at the top, there's no sponsor attached to UFC 335. It's just UFC 3305 or 335. or 335, 335, whatever it is. So there you go.

They announced those two. We did get a Dana White Post-Fite press conference afterwards, which was pretty uneventful, if we're being honest. But he was asked about Ian Gary and his take on that fifth round and not going for it, all that stuff and more. Here's what he had to say regarding last weekend's title fight. You know, you get this opportunity. You've worked your whole life to get there.

and you come out in the fifth round after you do all this great work which I thought he I literally said to Hunter when the first round started Islam had him up against the fence and was holding on to him and trying to I said if this is a game plan for five

fucking rounds Islam's going to be in big trouble in the fifth round in my opinion and I thought that Ian Gary did good work leading up to the fifth round and I'm assuming that was the game plan and you want to come out and start hugging and shaking hands

and, you know, tell him how fucking great he is when they're putting the belt on you. It's just you, he might never have that opportunity again. And probably we'll never get the opportunity at Islam again, who is going to go down as, you know, one of the all-time greats, if not the greatest, by the time he's done. So you have five fucking minutes. Every second of that round counts. Don't waste 10 seconds telling this guy you fucking love him.

Tough one there because he does say similar things to what he said last week, but what was new was, you may never get another crack at a belt again. All right, maybe he's referring to injuries or just, you know, things happen, losing streaks. But probably not against Islam. And that's immediate. And to me, like, I watched that fight on Saturday of last week and I was like, I would love to see this again. I love that fight. Sounds like it's not happening.

So is that Dana White upset about the performance? Is that the relationship with Ian, Matrum, all that and more, is that him saying, hey, you know, there's often been an unwritten rule. If you're a challenger who loses in a title fight, you don't get another crack. But let's be honest, they have gone against this in the past. And so I'm curious. Like when you guys hear that, do you think that's him upset at Ian? Or do you think that's him saying, like, look, hypothetically, I don't think we need to like, take his words verbatim.

But it was striking to hear him say initially, when I first heard that first line, like, all right, yeah, you never know. Look at Shavkat. Shavkat was on the cusp of a title shot. Hasn't gotten it yet. T.J. Grant, very famous cases. But then the specific reference to Islam makes me think that there's nothing that he could do even three, four, five in a row to get back at Islam if Islam is still around.

And let's be honest, given how quickly Ian likes to fight versus Yen. given how not so quickly Islam likes to fight. Ian could get to three, four fights in the span of one, two Islam fights. It's not a crazy thought. It doesn't seem like he's interested. Yeah, I'm with you. I feel that there is something to the language that he's using. And if nothing else, we've seen that Dana White sometimes gets certain mentalities, fights, things stuck in his head, right?

There was one that always jumps to mind for me. is like after a pretty regular, decent Mavala fight, he's like, ah, it was so boring. He's got this idea of Mavsara's boring. With this one, it's like, Ian was too respectful. I guarantee if Ian does anything, that's even remotely respectful in any of his fights, be like, ah, you know what?

I've been talking about it. He's too respectful. He kind of gets on these, like, paths and cement something in his brain, and then it just never leaves there. Colby versus Camaro is the greatest fight that anybody's ever seen. Like, he just, he picks one thing and he sticks to it. I would have some concern if I, I was Ian.

If I'm not mistaken that, the Moussparry you're referring to as the Arnold Allen one, which was actually like a tremendous fight. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, I mean, I would definitely be concerned. We've seen it with not just guys like Mowalsar and Leon Edwards and Bala Muhammad

and a lot of these guys where they go on massive win streaks and they have to do so much to where you essentially can't deny them the title shot. Now Ian's gotten that title shot and he's lost to Islam Makashev. I would have some concerns about getting back to that title shot now, especially in such a deep division like 170. It's the combo. of the matchroom stuff

and also him clearly being unhappy with the way he handled himself in the fight. Yeah, we're hearing about it a week later now. Yeah. Although,

we just had fights in Sacramento and it's like, you know. In fairness to him, he was asked. Sure, sure. In fairness to him, he was asked,

but he's not backing down and Dana's a pretty easy book to read and you could tell. Like, he was annoyed by all of that. And also in fairness to Dana, he has said this in the past

about other fighters and fights. He hates that stuff. There are certain things that he has, consistently hated on for his entire career as president of the UFC. Number one, he does not like the wacky hijinks at the way-ins, the walkouts. He hates that stuff.

And this is another thing that he hates. He has said this before. He also hates when fighters don't want to fight. He's teammates. Like, he has been consistent. He hasn't wavered on a lot of these things. That coupled with all this Eddie Hearn matchroom drama, I think it's going to make it very interesting for Ian. And we haven't really heard much from Ian. He didn't do the post-fight press conference.

He hasn't really put out much that I've seen since the fight. So I'm curious how he's internalizing all of this. A couple other things. And in a matter of moments, we're going to be joined by the great Jordan Burroughs, which I cannot wait for. This is going to be a great chat. I think I've had him on once before in the ESPN days, but it has been a minute. Colby Cumberton has signed with hype. So speaking of RAF, it seems like a lot of these guys are bouncing around here. Colby and hype, it's happening. I do, you know, like hearing, hearing Tyrant talk about what this has done for him. It is really amazing.

And by the way, for us, like, imagine we're doing this show on a Monday, August 24th, and there was no RAF this weekend. That means we're not talking to Tyron. That means we're not talking to Jordan. Maybe Marab, maybe not. They've just given us a lot to talk about over. the course of the past year. And I'm very, very thankful for that.

That is great. We love these things. And the website, the traffic, the interest in it. Amazing, and I'm sure Fox, very happy with it as well. Some good news regarding Anthony Smith. He is back home. He posted this on Saturday. Happy to be home with my household full of wise.

I'll be able to tell my story someday soon. Until then, you guys just keep making it up as you go. Character is revealed in chaos, he quotes. And there you see his lovely family, big smile on his face, and certainly wishing him nothing of the best. You know that it came out that he had to stay away from his family, from his wife in particular. So that is good news in its own right.

And he still has to, you know, wait for the whole process to play out. Let's see how it all plays out. But definitely wishing him the best and wishing the entire Smith family. the best. We did see this news regarding OVO, doing a little co-lab, as they say. Maybe I stress the word O and co-lab too. Like, it should have been like collab, right? Collab. Yeah, not colab. It feels like a, like a colon blow or something, you know, like a colonoscow. Nobody else but you was going there, but it does just sound unc as fuck. Colon blowout. Have you scheduled the colonoscopy? No, yeah, 45, 45, all right? We're getting there. Yeah, that's what they told me. Anyway, I saw this. I was like,

All right, Amin's a hobby. You did it. We didn't get White House, but we got the co-lab. And then I... Collab. Okay, that... The Amon grows hair out. That doesn't look like Amon.

No. No, that... Mikey, we're happy for you. Face of Canadian and M.M.A. We're happy for you. But can we get an Aman? Shout out. Can we get...

I mean, he was really driving that train. Wait, is that a Hazvila? No way. What? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Where? Right there, bottom left. Oh!

Yo. What? He got it. He got it, and Aman didn't? Yo. That's... What? Stop.

You thought we were going to get an OVO Amin Zahavi shirt? I don't even know if we got an OVO an OVO Mike Malach shirt. Yeah, it's true. I'm looking at it right now. You got GSP versus Nick Diaz, UFSI8,

Habib Conner, 229, Makashev. 158, huh? That's fun. Hasbula. Fuck, that's it. That's it. It's just Makashev 229, 158, a hoodie, and...

Where is this on the website? October's very own.com. Damn. I got a sweet hoodie, a Canadian basketball hoodie, but, like, you got to have Aeman on there. Amon was the guy. He was pushing this more than anyone. You're saying to model, correct? Yeah, I mean, just give him a shirt.

Give him something, no? No, I don't think so. I think they were just going with, like, Big time, big time names. The Islam one feels a little bit like a polar bear. The Hasbullah is polar bear. It's $82. $82?

God, the Islamakashev won is $158. Who's rocking that? Oh, bless. Let me get one of them, Hasbullah. I got to say, the GSP Nakeda is. That one's. 98 bones, if you want it. 98?

98. Long sleeve. 228 for the hoodie. Golly. All right. Well, there you have it as far as, maybe, you know, Maybe this is just like the early rollout, right? Like this is just, it's coming.

Yeah, he was the hobby drop coming soon. Well, before his next fight, before his next fight. This is such a great pleasure. Very, very excited to say hello to our next guest. I mean, absolute legend. Like I said, many, many, many consider the greatest of all time as far as American wrestling is concerned. Just to recap the credentials once again.

Pride of Camden, New Jersey. Shout out, 2012 Olympic gold medalist, six-time world champion, two-time NCAA national champion, three-time. time Big 12 champion, four-time U.S. Open champion, nine-time Pan Am champion, University of Nebraska Great, has done it all, has seen it all. And then on Saturday at the RAF one-year anniversary show went up against the UFC's Sean Brady and Juan via Tech Fall 11-0. He's the great Jordan Burroughs, and he's kind enough to join us right here and now to talk about the experience. There he is. Hello, Jordan. How are you, my man?

Hey, yo. What's up, brother? I'm well. Good to talk to you again. Appreciate the time very much. and congratulations on the win. You know, when I saw that they signed you and that you were going to be a part of the one-year anniversary, I was saying this to Chad Bronstien last week on the show. I would never call myself a wrestling expert. I'm an MMA guy, combat sports guy. It's just so much to cover, but I know Jordan Burroughs

and I know everything about what you've done. Like, to me, you are wrestling, you are American wrestling, your NBC Olympics, you're all that and more. I feel like it was such a big coup for them, such a big deal. How long had they been courting you, flirting with you because I felt like this was the one that was missing, the one that was eluding them, and then they finally got you for the one-year anniversary show.

Yeah, it had been quite some time. You know, I met, I've known Izzy for years, for years and years. He's been, you know, a staple in the wrestling community for a number of years, and he transitioned in an M.MA helping to coach John Jones and a number of other fighters, Holly Holm, etc. But I had just recently been introduced to Chad and he talked about this professional organization that they were creating, but I heard it all, right? These things are a dime a dozen in wrestling. There have been so many professional sports leagues that have been tried and failed.

So there's no continuity. There's very limited resources. The paydays are small. The talent pool is small. The arenas and the venues and the risk of injury. For me, I haven't competed in two years. I'm like, if you're going to get me up off my couch and out of the comfort of my home and being able to wake up and have breakfast with my viability?

kids every day, it's got to be worthwhile. And it's got to be a premier event against someone who is going to help me grow my brand. And it's got to remain true to the authenticity of wrestling. I didn't want it to be a gimmick. I didn't want it to be a publicity stunt. I wanted to be real wrestling. And they were able to capture all of those elements and much more. So finally said yes, and it did not disappoint. Do you remember when it clicked for you when you were like, all right, I'm bought. I'm bought in. I see it. I feel it. I see what they're doing. I see the vision. It's legit. Yeah, it was in Philadelphia, which was this winter where, you know, my wrestling club we have is all I see is gold academy. We're in Merchantville, South Jersey. So we're 20 minutes from the city. So we had a large group of our wrestlers that went out to the event. The very next practice, that Monday evening, they came back. Everyone had R.A.F. Singlets and RIF T-shirts. One of our kids even got selected to walk Kyle Snyder out from the stage to the event.

And it was just the buzz was palpable, right? You could feel the energy that still lingered, the residue from the event. And I'm like, man, they're generating real greatness and really cultivating a heart of love for the sport at the grassroots. And then when they started to introduce the next gen element of it where you guys, got an opportunity for kids to wrestle alongside the senior level athletes. It was really special. So, like, this weekend, for example, I coach my son and I wrestled as well. He coached me. So he was in my corner. I was in his corner. I got to watch him compete. He got to watch me compete. Like, where else do you get to compete alongside your children in the same venue on the

same platform? We were both streamed on Fox Nation on the same weekend. It was really cool. Wow. That is special. How old is he? He's 12. Wow, how do you do? He won. Amazing. It just made it even better. It was just kind of one of those special weekends where I'm like, man, I won.

I took care of business. My boy, he wrestled some really high-level competitors and did a really good job taking care of business. And so he won the gold medal on Sunday. And then we came home yesterday and watched the stream with the rest of our family who missed it. So it was really cool. And how did we end up? And is this your son right here? My boy, Beacon.

Is he your older? He's my oldest, yep. He's our oldest. He's 12. So he's the next gen, quite literally. Yeah, yeah. He's falling in love with wrestling. He's getting better.

I didn't really push him. He started at 8, so he's four years in now. And, you know, he's improving. He has a genuine love for the sport because he's a dugout kid, right? He's hanging around professional athletes. It's all he knows. He's been to the Olympic Training Center, Beat the Streets, Final X, World Championships, Olympics.

So I think for him, it's just kind of the nature of, like, you know, you see Steph Curry sitting on Del Curry's lap on the on the baseline at an NBA basketball game back in the early 90s uh you know that's kind of how my son is he's just grown up watching the sport and so he picks up a lot through osmosis but i think he's getting better just because he's got a genuine affection for the game how do we end up with Sean Brady as your opponent originally my original opponent was was who i was hoping uh to wrestle and him and i have history We wrestled in a dual meet, my junior year of college. We also wrestled in the finals of the Big 12 championships my junior year, and that was in 2009.

And he's been one of those guys who takes great care of his body, his mind, and has had extreme levels of success. But because of the history, it just made a lot of sense. We're remotely close in size and weight. We're the same age. And he's had sustainable excellence for a long period of time. But after his performance at the White House, I think he just took a little bit more damage than he clearly he would have hoped. And I think he just kind of wanted to relax and spend some time with his family, recover and figure out the next juncture of his career and the season of life for himself. So he pulled out and that kind of left this wide gap of, okay, who's next?

You know, for me, what makes the most sensible product from my perspective is I want to wrestle fighters with unique brands. with the unique element of charisma and who have some sort of grappling or wrestling background. I want to prove that elite freestyle wrestling is the best martial art. And so it was originally Michael Chandler, but there's not a lot of guys who want to wrestle me, to be honest. And clearly after Saturday night, you can kind of see why a lot of UFC fighters are like, yeah, I'm not doing that. I'm not wrestling him.

And so we had to kind of go down this laundry list of guys that we were trying to, to say, hey, will you wrestle J.B.? Will you take the chance? Will you be courageous enough to take the risk? And finally, Sean Brady is like, I'll do it. And so major kudos and props to him for saying yes to the challenge and taking me on, and especially this deep into his own preparation for his fight in November. How did that feel, that moment right there?

It was cool, man. And, you know, I had to kind of size them up because I had never met him. Like, we have mutual acquaintances, but I've never been in the same. space as him. And so, you know, when you shake hands with someone and you kind of give him a hug, I'm like trying to feel his lap. So how big is he? How strong is he? And, you know, he made a catch weight of 185 pounds. Well, I walk around at 180, right? So he weighed in at 184. I weighed in at 180. And I think he did a little bit of weight cutting to get down to that 184 pound weight class. But I know he's a welterweight. He fights at 170. So I'm like, how big can he really be?

but you know we're fairly close in size there's no weight in the wild right when i go to wrestling practice i'm not asking like hey how much you weigh i'm a much you weigh now you're too big you you know you just grab a guy and you roll um so i knew i had the skills adequate enough to to go in and manage the differential in size but you know it was it was a great matchup um i thought it made logistical sense for the organization for myself and i think uh shan couldn't lose He got paid well. He got to elevate his brand. You know, he got the badge of honor for going in and saying yes and stepping into the wrestling

realm. And I think he gets to now to go back to his training, a richer man because of it. So now that you've been there, you've competed, you've seen how the show was run. Like you said, like I remember when Chad and Eric and the late Hulk Hogan called me about this, and I got to be honest, in the back of my mind, I was like, there's no way. I remember real pro wrestling back in the day with King Moe and Daniel Cormier in like 05. There's no way. This isn't going to work.

Everyone talks about this. And I got to say, like, I can't say enough good things about the product, blown away by what they've done in a year. You were there. You were maybe a little bit wait and see with it all. What do you think? Yeah, I love it, man. They've done a really good job.

I think the problem is in wrestling is, you know, especially in this era of celebrity influencers, fighting one another, you know, it can kind of muddy the waters of the pure essence of whatever martial art you're practicing. I think one of the things that's been difficult and has hindered wrestling's growth and development is the best wrestlers, including myself, we've been gatekeepers, right? If you didn't really get it out the mud and start in the trenches of self-development and refinement and then reach the peaks of excellence within the sport, we don't really, we're not really hospitable or accepting of others who come into this game. And I've seen it.

And I've seen guys try to keep out the influencer and the fighters and the martial artists and the and the marketers. But I think they've learned how to bring all of the major elements of the WWE and the UFC and bring them into the fold of wrestling while still maintaining purity. I think that was the best part of what we were able to create. So I'm happy with what they've done. You know, Chad and Izzy basically called me and they promised me like, hey, listen, we're going to, this is not a gimmick, this is real. Not only we're going to preserve your legacy, we're going to enhance it. We're going to put you on a big stage in front of 10,000 people.

We're going to honor you. And we're going to make you have a damn good time doing it. And there were no lies told. And you already have your next assignment, right? You're on the Moscow card? Yeah, I'm going September 5th to Moscow. So we leave on the first. We wrestle in Moscow.

I'm wrestling, Karban Aliyev, who was a, a world champion at the weight class below me at 70 kilograms or 154 pounds in 2016. And so a solid opponent, a great wrestler, he's one of the coaches of their age group national team now. And he's been around for a long time. So someone I'm well acquainted with him and I have never gotten an opportunity to compete against one another, but it should be a great matchup. And so like you were telling, this is the poster right here.

The main event is Hamzaa Chamaev against Tyron Woodley. We just spoke to T. Wood about it a couple of minutes ago. go, you were telling us like, okay, this is the requirement here. You want someone with a name and a fighter. He doesn't fit the bill. So why does this one make sense? Well, because we're in Russia. Okay. Right. And there are a few guys that I have a list. I've really made a list of guys. Can you share the list? Can you share the list? Yeah, yeah. So for number one is I would like to wrestle Islam, right? I think that's the top of my list. And I want to see, you know, there were a few years ago in an interview, he was like, man, J.B.'s just got a double leg, brother. Like, I'm from Russia.

Russia is the premier wrestling program. Well, let's see. Um, so he's number one. He's at the very top of my list. Number two for me is Armani, Suruki. And I really want to wrestle. I think he's, uh, he's got a great, a great name, a great brand. He's a really good wrestler. Um, he's someone I have tremendous respect for and someone who's really going to sell the event. Um, and so I'd love the opportunity to wrestle him. Um, I, number three is Colby. I'd love to wrestle Colby Covington. I think, you know, again, another guy that Prisma, Spunk, but also championship pedigree, right? He's, he's been the number one contender for a number of years at the Walterweight Division in the UFC, someone I'd like to wrestle.

I think a couple people, a couple other people, honorable mentions for me on that list. I'd love an opportunity to wrestle with Michael Chandler if he could get back to it. Another guy who's kind of like an outlier is Aaron Pico, I think, would be a great matchup. he's a wrestler left early but came back into RAF. He spent some time in the game and someone who's got a great style for wrestling and for mixed martial arts. I love the chance to wrestle with him. And then I'd say the last one I would be interested in wrestling is Georgio Poulis.

I think it would be a lot of fun, man. He says no one can take him down. He's always offering big bread to take them down in public. How about we doing on the stage? So I think it would be a lot of fun to wrestle any of those guys. You hit me with a crazy curveball at the end there because you're going through the list I'm like, okay, it's coming. The name is coming. The one that I want. And then you hit me with the and I'm like, there it is. And I thought George St. Pierre, that was the one. Well, that's,

that's number. I mean, he's, I'm saying of guys that I believe we actually have a shot at. Yo, why not? I would love it. I'm a huge fan. I met GSP for the first time in 2012. And it was, we were getting recruited by the same potential apparel sponsor. And he was, one of those guys. He's got iconic status in my heart and in the sports and combat world. But he's, he's parlayed his success, taking great care of his body. And he seems unbothered by the game, right? Like the problem for me is I'm like, man, if the UFC couldn't get him back and he retired so significantly early, how could we possibly get him? George, if you're out there, I would love to compete against you. I'd love to wrestle you. I honor you. I honor your legacy. And I don't

want to embarrass you. I don't want to humiliate you. I just would love to share the stage with you. And so he's number one. He's at the very top of my list, but he's a guy that I'm not really sure that we can get. So a lot of people have called him out, Colby and whatnot. I feel like those don't interest him because it's MMA, TFC. I feel like if I could speak on his behalf, and I do agree with you, he is unbothered. He's living a great life. I think he has no real strong desire. Someone like you, I think, is the type of person, the exact type of person that would pique his interest and especially that that's the one yes p george if you're out there and you're watching this show come on make it happen los vegas october 3rd oh do it me and you right away damn you have a date

already yeah bro you got a month and a half that if you six to eight weeks to six weeks to six weeks to really prepare your body your mind if not if you don't feel ready by then you let me know i'll i'll acquiesce to any of the requests that you have for me i would just love to share the stage with you. Chad and Izzy and Eric Bishop, they pulled some rabbits out of their head. This would be the biggest one. You versus GSP would be gigantic.

That would be absolutely in. Yeah, let's do it in Montreal. We got to do that in Montreal. It would please me. Yeah, that would be great. Let's do it. Let's do it. Toronto, Montreal, you know, any place.

You can have fierce in your corner. I would love to share the stage with George. He is in my goat, one of the greatest combat sports athletes of all time. Okay, so George is here. You did say Islam, who is active just for the record and for the audience who may not be familiar. I just want to play the clip of Islam talking to D.C. Yeah, here it is. About you.

Here it is. You have to bring some Olympic-level guy to a.k.a. I want to wrestle. Jordan Burroughs. Jordan Burroughs. It's going to be a good match, man. What? You think it would be a close match between you and Jordan Burroughs?

Of course. Islam. Please, brother, why not? You can't possibly believe that. Of course. He's a six-time world champion. This guy, the greatest rest of all time. I respect him, brother, but this guy have just double leg. I'm going to defend the double leg.

No, he doesn't have just a double leg. And how he take point? He go double leg, everybody defends, he push everybody. But in AKA we have role, he cannot push me. You agree? No, you just won the world championships again. So you know how special Jordan Bros. Congratulations, but this is not like, I know, I, okay, we don't have, what it is, like, circle.

Circle, wrestling. But okay, we have a roll, cage. Maybe hit the, of course. Yeah, that's the thing, right? So just a double leg, he says. What do you say? Yeah, I mean, I, he, he is walls, cage, you know, so I can definitely exploit the point system, right? I know that I've mastered the game, how to manipulate the points and how to be engaged in the system.

But, you know, for me, my offense is very diverse, clearly, right? Clearly. I don't have to even without a statement. But my double leg is so good. And what's unique about the UFC competitors or they have to worry about kicks, punches, and chokes. right they don't have to remain they don't have to maintain a wrestling stance um and so you know the movement and the way we the dynamicism of our movement is is really really unique right so sean brady i got a chance it was a really cool moment and i hope we get to share this in our

in our blog that we're going to be releasing soon but i got to see him backstage immediately after our match and he's like here was my plan right so he's like i'm going to come out with a heavy stagger and I'm going to feed you my left foot and I'm going to force you into a single leg and I'm just going to crowd you and eventually I'm going to be able to get my hands on your dig under oath but if you just go back and watch the match you can see every time he grabbed my collar

I elbow past and it sent him on ice right he was trying to figure out how to grab me how to get a hold of me and I was faking so often he had to respect it and then eventually right you kind of lull him into this sleepy phase and then you sting him right And so these guys have not really seen it for a long enough period of time to really have the muscle memory and the mental capacity to track it.

They can't really trace it. So, yeah, from his perspective, it's only a double because he's probably got a great sprawl. And he's a solid wrestler. But I also watched him. I was at UFC 330. I watched him wrestle Machado Gary or fight Machado Gary. And I watched Machado's sick corner on a couple of the high crotch and single leg attempts that he was. had and Gary is not a great wrestler and he was sitting corner and defending and

countering some of those positions. I'm like if Islam gets on my leg that way, I'm going to send him for a ride. Oh, man. Were you thinking that as you were watching it? 100%. 100%. You know, wrestling, wrestling and MMA wrestling, they're completely different. They're totally different.

Now, I respect the game. This is why I'm not fighting. listen, I'm not fighting these guys. I'm going to be the first to say that I'd wrestle Islam, wouldn't want to fight them. I'd wrestle Chimae wouldn't want to fight them. Russell Chandler, Armand, wouldn't want to fight them. And so I have a ton of respect for their craft and their game, but this is real American freestyle.

The REF and the F stands for freestyle, not for fighting. Right. And so they have to step into my domain where I. I have excellent in the game that I've mastered, which gives me a heavy advantage. So I'd love to see any guys, any of these guys in a wrestling scene with. Have you shared these names with R-AF? And are they going to, like you versus Islam would be gigantic. Have they said that they could.

I think they're going to try their best to go find these guys. But we all have a lot of pride. You know, all over all, we're all alphas. We all want to win. But at the end of the day, these guys, they don't mess around. they want to get paid. They want to make sure that they're safe. They want it to be on a big stage and they want to help grow their brand. No one that's coming out of their house for free and no one's going to let me double leg them for free. Right. So I think at this game is predicated

on symbiotic relationships on mutual synergy and is it beneficial for propelling their careers forward. No one's just going to go out on a stage and get double legged. unless it's going to benefit them in some way. So we got to find a way to make it enticing and to also make it a fruitful endeavor for them. And if we can do that, I think then why not? You mentioned a few minutes ago, you have not competed in two years.

I'm wondering if this has sparked something new in you. Like, did you think you were done? And now of a sudden, you know, your creative brain is going crazy. The juices are flowing. You're thinking about all these possibilities. Do you feel something has been renewed inside of you? Yeah, I do. I do because there's just so many possibilities. It's like it's rare in wrestling. You never prepare for a single matchup for one particular individual. The last time I wrestled just one guy in one night was in 2019 against Ben Asker at the Hulu theater. It's it's rare. And in tournaments, you got 40 guys in your bracket. You're going to have to wrestle four or five of them to navigate your way through the championship. And so it's really hard to pair for any ones in one and one. And one in the tournament. You got 40 guys in your bracket. You're going to have to wrestle four or five of them to navigate your way through the championship. And so it's really hard to pair. And one. And one. And

individual. You're trying to refine your skills where you've mastered your own approach and your A game is better than everyone else's. But in this space, you get to kind of rig the system where I know two months in advance exactly who I'm going to compete against. I know their tendencies, their tactics, their strategy, and I can really break down an opponent. But after having 10,000 people in the arena at Rocket arena and Cleveland it gave me so much more perspective on what RAF could really be and how I could prolong my career by wrestling in these matchups that generate tons of excitement right my all I've only wrestled in one world championship on state soil and that was Las Vegas in 2015 so all of my worlds and Olympics they've been in London and Budapest in Serbia and Norway and so a lot of

people, they don't get to see me. They don't get to see me unless they wake up at 4 a.m. To watch me on flow wrestling or on some sort of streaming service. So, so these guys don't get to see me. We're wrestling in prime time. We're starting at 8 p.m. Eastern, on a Saturday night, when the world is awake, and we're wrestling some of the biggest names in the entire world on the planet. If we could do this with, and we're doing it with consistency, right? There's been 12 R-AFs in a year, there's one a month. There's little consistency in wrestling. There's one important tournament every single season. It's the World Championships or the Olympic Games, and that only happens every four years. This is something entirely different, and I think it's something that

not only diehard wrestling fans can relate to, but the casual fans can also relate to. It's something truly unique and really special, and I think the sky is the limit. Yeah, I could see actually the excitement and the just like the hope for all of this oozing out of you right now, like the twinkle in your eye and the smile on your face is very noticeable. I'm wondering if a lot of people reached out to you because I could also feel like there's a trickle down effect for kids. Like usually, you know, for youngsters, you go to college, try out for the Olympics and then you have to decide, are you going to be a fighter? You're going to maybe coach. I'm wondering if people, you know, in their prime younger are reaching out to you

or are, I say, like, what was it like? Did you like it? What do you think? Because I feel like if you give them your vote of confidence, now the doors are opening and there's going to be a flood of people and there's going to be a whole new generation of people that will be able to shoot for something. Yeah, for sure. I am, I'm slowly engaging in being intertwined into how this scene moves and operates and navigating management and trying just to be a quality partner for, for RAF as a whole. You know, anytime I partner or establish a relationship with someone, I want to serve them and I want to serve them well. You know, I think it's, I think it's truly unique. And, one of the hindrances of wrestling has always been the fact that if you're not the best in the

world, Olympic champion or world champion, no one really knows you. In the NBA, in the NFL, you can coexist, right? Think about it. This past season, Carl Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson won their first championships. And these guys have been in the league for a long time. They're phenomenal players. And they've done a great job. They've been on all-star teams and they've made multiple millions of dollars, but they've flown under the radar because of guys like Kevin Durant and LeBron James and Steph Curry and Janice and Ticombo and, you know, all of these amazing players. But in the NBA, you don't have to make it to the playoffs or win the championship to be a star. You're star in your own city.

You can still establish a maximum contract. You can still have your own shoe. you know, in wrestling, if you're not on the team and if you're not the best guy, if you're not wrestling in prime time, no one knows you. No one's heard about you and no one has the capacity to really follow you because of lack of consistency. So you can go an entire season and never really get streamed, never be on TV. You just don't know who the superstars and the heroes and the storylines behind our best

athletes are. And I think that's what RAF is doing. I think about the stage that I shared this week. And we have five Olympic gold medalists on the same card. And that's not even including guys like David Carr and Bo Nickel and Masanusuki Ono and Ben Devino and Max McAnelly and all of these incredible wrestlers that were on the card. Like it was something there for wrestling fans, the traditional fans, some for casual fans, some for fight fans. And it was really, it was really special. Are you going to try out for the 2028 team?

Is this a thing? I don't, I'm almost 40, Ariel. like I'm significantly past my prime. So I'm unsure. But I still feel good. I needed to just get back into the lights. My body feels good, but your mind starts to get tempered.

Your fanfare is fickle, right? All the things that come with it, you know, having a keen eye to your training, your diet and healthy habits. Like those things, they start to wear on you mentally and emotionally after time. But this weekend, it reinvigorated something within me. But that's a politically correct answer of saying, I'm not sure.

But you are thinking about it. I'm not sure. This may have sparked something that will lead to you feeling sure. I'm not sure. Oh, my dear. That's not a no. That's not a no. It's not a no.

I mean, I can't say no. What a story that would be. In L.A. You say you want to compete in America? Yeah, that's right. I haven't left my shoes in the middle of the middle of my. You'll know when I'm retired. I promise you, you'll know exactly when the time is that I step away from the sport for good.

Wow, okay. By the way, can I ask, what do you think of Gable? Stevenson. Yeah. He's incredible. He's incredible, man. I mean, he gets a lot of heap. He gets a lot of flack from the wrestling community because

he he's like the he's the handsome boyfriend that that leaves the small town and and leaves everyone behind we're calling him we're trying to pull them back by gable wrestling loves you you can be a hero here you know we'll we'll honor your greatness and you could be and i'm not even saying this like ingest he could be the greatest wrestler not only american wrestler he could be the greatest wrestler that has ever walked the planet. Wow. But he's, he's so talented and so athletically gifted that he's going on crazy amount of side quests in such a short period of time.

Like literally, he's been in the NFL, in the UFC, in the WWE, and he's won the Olympics. Yeah. And he's 20, before he's 30, right? He's 25, 26 years old. It's unbelievable what he's been able to. to do for himself in such a short window. It's a testament to when God built him, he spent a little more time on him than the average human being.

And so he's extremely special. And I'm thankful for what he's given and delivered to the sport of wrestling. You know, selfishly, I'd love to see him staying wrestling. But, you know, he's got a way about him. He's got that X factor. He's got that superstar quality. And, you know, when I see him, you can feel it. You know, you ever meet someone that they just feel like a star?

Yeah. Just the way they move, the way they smell, the way they look, the way they talk, the way they present themselves. He's just a star. He was born to be a star. And so I'd love to have them in wrestling. Unfortunately, I just feel like our tank, our fish tank is too small. He needs to be able to spread his wings and go achieve excellence at the highest level.

I believe the kids call that aura these days. Yeah, he's got a lot of aura. He's got it. He's made the move to UFC's second fight coming next month. I know you've been asked about MMA and UFC a bunch of times, but I'm just wondering, was it ever close? Was there ever a time where you actually? Really? It was.

Yeah, you know, it was close, and then I stood next to Joaquin Buckley this weekend. And I was like, all right, maybe I'm not cut out for this, right? You know, there were three guys that were there this weekend who all fought at what I, my weight class, what I would have fought was 170, right? I won two world championships at 174 pounds, and I won five at 163 pounds. Well, when I started to show interest in the UFC, there were a lot of people telling me that I should be fighting at 155 pounds. I'm like, there's no chance.

When I'm at 163 pounds, I'm literally 2% body fat. I'm not going down 155 pounds. It's impossible. So I'm like, what's the next weight class? We're like a 170. But I stand next to Buckley and Woodley and, and, and Brady. Like, these guys are massive. You know, Buckley is weighed in at 194 pounds.

I waited at 180 pounds. We'd be fighting in the same weight class. It just doesn't really make sense for me. And so that was kind of a big deterrent for me was the size differential. And I'm like, well, you can do a catch weight. Well, if you do a catch weight, it's pure. nearly for the money and it's not for for the glory and the honor of pursuing a belt. And so that was kind of one of those things where I'm like, well, does this really make a

whole lot of sense? I'm getting older. I'm getting close to breaking the record, being the winningest American wrestler in history. You know, this sport knows me. They love me. And I haven't really taken a ton of damage in my career. I should probably just stay in my lane and perfect my craft here. But I was close.

I think in 2020, I really considered it, like heavily considered it. I'm like, I'm going to win the Olympics. I'm going to transition. But that was a time where the game was just different. And, you know, it was a time where I'm watching a lot of guys from wrestling. I feel like that was the best time ever. From between 2012 and 2016 was the best time ever for, if you were American wrestler,

former wrestler. You know, Chris Wyden and Johnny Hendricks and Ben Asper. And Kamaro Usman and Daniel Kormier and all these guys and Henry Sohudo watching these guys transition and freaking kill people and make tons of money doing it. And I'm like, man, I could do this. I can do this. I could win. I could be a champion. But it just wasn't, it just wasn't for me.

One of the hardest parts about growing older, Ariel, is that you have to let dreams down. And there's certain things that when you're young and when you're hungry and you're fit, you're talented and gifted, you believe you can do it all. I'm going to conquer the world. I'm going to go after this and I'm going to do this and I'm going to do this. But as you get older, you start to realize that, man, this may have passed for me. This ship may have sailed and I may have to now reconcile with the fact that I'll never step into this form that I once really dreamed of competing within.

And so it's a bit of a death, right? because I think I could have been great at it. But I also honor those guys. And I never ever, the last thing I ever want to do is, is demean or belittle the work and the focus and discipline that these guys have to put in to be exceptional in that craft. I'm not that guy. I'm not just going to step into that space. I would have been a champion.

I could beat him. I could take him down. but I think my skills would have translated really well into into mixed martial arts but you know I'll leave you with this the last the last thing is you know what was at the heart of why I wanted to go to MMA was

it was the glamour it was the celebrities ring side it was the big paydays it was the global recognition and it wasn't it wasn't the purity and me being a Christian me being a man based in spirituality and, and, you know, honoring Christ in my walk,

I thought that that transition would be more about what I could get than who I could become. And I just don't think it would have been good for my faith, for my family, for my marriage. It just that lifestyle would not have been healthy for a family man. I appreciate that answer very much. Did Dana or anyone at the UFC ever even try to convince you or talk to you in any which way or form? No, but you know who I talked to? Ali, what's the sports agent? Yeah, Ali Abdel-Aziz.

Abdel-Aziz. Yeah, Ali, I spoke with him for all many occasions. And he seriously, you know, was like, hey, if you want to do this, let me shop you around. Who do you want to fight? We can do a catchweight. We can make this happen. Let me, let me guide you, let me lead you. I represent wrestlers and some of the greatest fighters in the UFC and the history of the sport.

Let me help you make a lot of money for your family and become a household name. And so that was kind of as deep as I got into it. And I started training striking. I went maybe a two-month span where I was training striking a few times a week. I was doing jiu-jitsu and doing a bit of grappling. But I had to really just kind of sit down. and it was a turning point in my life. I had to pivot and say, okay, is this real?

Will this work? Does this make sense? And if not, I can't be half into wrestling and half into fighting. I have to go all in on either. And it just made the most sense to stick with what I already knew very well. You made the right call. You will always be MMA's white whale, I feel like, because we've been talking about this for so long, but it all worked out.

Yeah, I would hope, I hope this. You know how they always have like, man, who would have been the greatest prospect that never did it? I hope that my name is always on that list. You're on mine. For all time. Like someone was like, man, name someone the top five people that you think would have transitioned well to MMA that didn't do it. Like I hope that my name comes up on everyone's list. That was satisfied me personally.

Oh, well, you're on mine. For whatever it's worth, you're on mine. And it's something I would have always loved to see, but I love to see you compete again. I think you're perfect for this, and I love that you're remaining active. And please, if we could put it out there, you versus Islam, you versus GSP, golly. That's pay-per-view stuff right there. That would be incredible. That would be incredible.

Congratulations. Welcome back, Jordan. Thank you for the time. Really, really appreciate it. And good luck on September 5th. This was great. Yes, sir. Thank you, brother.

Appreciate you. There he is. Jordan Burroughs. Man, I mean, talk about, for me, ORA, charisma, you know how I feel about the Olympics, what he did in 2012, what he's done for wrestling. Man, I can't say enough good things.

Look at what RIF is doing. A year ago, they had no shot at Jordan Burroughs. No shot. But they consistently stayed with it. Is he doing his thing. They've got a great three-headed monster there. Izzy is wrestling. Israel Martinez has wrestled for years,

has his own club, obviously has, you know, the likes of John Jones who have trained under. him, Holly Home, et cetera, et cetera. Ye'i or Rodriguez, so many. And you got Eric Bischoff, who's the TV guy, the production guy. And then you've got Chad Bronstein, who's got the relationships, he's the marketer,

he's sort of the business guy behind it all. Brilliant, the three-headed monster. And as Jordan said, they are consistent. They're putting out like three cards at a time. And the great thing about it is it's a lot like pro wrestling as opposed to MMA where you can have Jordan booked for. August 22nd, but also a book for September 5th, and maybe even for October. It doesn't matter.

The losses don't matter as much. These fun sort of dream matchups, if they could get Islam in there, could you imagine that? Golly, that would be incredible. This thing's going to succeed. I mean, they had 10,000 people at Rocket Mortgage. 10,000 people watching freestyle wrestling on a Saturday night. That's where the calves play. That's not, you know, some tiny, you know, college arena.

And they've gone to those, too. Now they're going to Moscow, Georgia, you start opening up that. I couldn't be higher on their prospects. If they can stay with this and be smart and not grow too fast and not make bad investments, they are going to be around. And I hope they stick around. Wrestling needs this. Think about all the kids now coming up who are in high school, then college.

Now they have a UFC to think about post-college, post-Olympics, and NBA to think about. They never had that. It was either you go fight, you coach, you find something. else to do. Now you've got something else. Stick to what got you here, write fun kind of matchups. Don't get too crazy. Impressive, very impressive. So congratulations to everyone involved. Okay, more news and notes. More news and notes. Let's go back to the UFC. Some Connor McGregor updates, sort of. Maybe. Here's Max Holloway talking about via his YouTube channel about some of the things that Connor has said since the fight.

It's just crazy, you know, for, I know, for that dude, be talking about how it was slippery because of the dry ice, whatever. I don't know, I don't know what he's talking about, because I didn't fall. And him talking about this generational beating, dude is delusion on, because to me, he felt slow in there. He felt slow.

He looked old. If there was going to be a generational beating, it wasn't going to be on his end. I'll tell you that much. It wasn't going to be coming from his side. Had the man weakened the knees from the beginning, I guess. Man. different Max kind of interview.

Usually we're seeing him with the kick streaming setup. I don't think Connor liked the looking old line. Here's what he had to say on social media. There's no way the most punched on face in UFC history, check the stats, is talking this way. What the F happened to this guy? And then I guess he asked Chat ChpT, who looks older? And then Chat Chepti or some kind of AI thing said Max left looks older in this foot. He is a more weathered, lived in face with deeper lines around the eyes and a slightly rougher texture under the lighting.

Connor right still has a tighter, more polished look, even with the full beard. And that's Connor on the right from July 11th, the fight, and Max on the left. So he didn't like that one. We did show you the commercial, the Mac Energy commercial, where Connor's shooting guns or whatever that was, like the social media clip with Ashton Hall. he has repurposed that footage to give us this tweet, F the F and Diaz brothers. Just out of nowhere.

Both brothers, by the way. And, well, here is, Conner McGregor, I do believe, yesterday, last night, yesterday afternoon, I guess getting hit by some kind of rainbow and talking about parallel dimensions. Take a look. Look at that rainbow's this. right away

Kelly Fox. Wow. Ah! I can see true in a parallel dimension here, you know? Wow.

Frank, I feel like we have a couple drops there. That opening line was something else. This one. The opening line where he didn't really say anything? It's so good.

Just kind of mumbled it out. What is happening? in a year. He posted these, by the way. This is not us. You know? Is he lying down? What is he doing? He's lying down. Yeah, it's amazing. It's incredible. Reminded me of the moon. Why is that? When he saw the moon, he's on the yacht. He's the giant moon. That's right. That's right. That's right. That was incredible. So there you go. The war of words continues. Max did talk about title shots as to that. I feel like he's angling for a 170 pound title shot. I feel like this is what he wants. 170 pounds, Islam.

I don't know if he's going to get it. I feel like he's a better chance at 155. He was talking about that too. You don't know that he's going to get it? You don't think Max is going to be next to line at the Walterway title shot? It's a weird one because you would think he would actually be on the short list for 155. Yeah.

He has a win over Gatchie where he slept them in one of the most like... They could just like replay that over and over and over again. The problem is, is he going to leapfrog Armin if he wins? Is he going to leapfrog Ilya? Wait, if he wins? If Armin wins. Oh, if Armin wins. That's what I mean.

If Armin wins, does Max leapfrog him? Does he leapfrog Ilya? No. Do you think Ilya's next fight is for the belt? No. No. You think they do Ilya Patty? They should.

I'm really curious what they do with Ilya. I know we just went from Max to Ilya here and they have nothing to do. Illia Patty. Is Ilya Max the fight? It's got to be the biggest non-title fight that you can put on right now. Ilya Max is not the fight. No. Yeah, I don't want to see it.

Do you think they do it? Why not? I feel like they keep dangling these paddy fights. and not delivering on them. Paddy has everything to gain. Ilya has everything to gain. The UFC has everything to gain. There's not a good reason.

I can't think of one good reason not to make that fight. It's a perfect fight. No, I know. I know. I just feel like we get very excited about potential Patty fights and they don't deliver them.

Patty versus Ilya. What do you think they do with Max? I can see a scenario where Max just waits for Connor, to be honest. Max is in this weird spot because of getting out grappled by Charles back in March and then the Conner stuff. He also had two quick fights back to back.

He's definitely not fighting this year. And then all of a sudden we get to like January, February. I could definitely see them saying like just wait till July. Maybe they try to coax him into a Quill and Sal killed type situation. Nah, he's not doing that. I mean, I would love that, but he's not doing that. No way. No way.

Then yeah, just sit and see how it plays out. What about this Namo Fazil getting jump story? Yeah. Is it not weird? Like, okay, so Dylan got banned. Are any of these people going to get banned? It was a little more public on the floor of MSG. I know.

This can't be happening. There can't be like... No, this is... It's a bad precedent. Cutting weight and getting attacked by 15 people. It's insane. Makayev got cut. Now, granted, you know, that fight was a bad fight after the fact that they hyped it up and did that.

But, like, yeah, like, stuff happening around the vicinity of the fight game, it's sending a bad message. It's not good. It's really bad. Really bad. Everyone hates this guy. Yeah. Yeah, man, they came out of the woodwork.

Yes. He lost. Golly. By the way, back to RAF for a second. Yeah. You guys, notable haters of RAF now are you on board or no? No, no. They converted me a while ago.

Okay. They converted me a while ago. Chad Bronstein in last week. Yeah. He didn't say anything. You were like, no, no, no, no, this guy's not a hater. This guy's not an hater. Yeah, it was a guy.

I was saying the other guy is he hated. The other guy's the hater. Me and Chad talk. By the way, Chad in the interview was like, you know, somebody on your team. He's referencing you.

But backstage, me and him had already been talking about it. So you're good? You're good now? I'm 100% honesty, shocked by their success. Yeah. And a believer in their success

to the ultimate degree. Like what they have done. Jordan Burroughs is talking about them. Like you see the smile on his face? Everybody talking about them. The wrestlers who compete for them, the fighters who compete for them, they are loving what they're doing.

They're filling arenas with people who are rabid for amateur wrestling, which is something that nobody's been able to do before. They found this secret sauce. They have a seemingly great broadcast partner. They have lots of people involved in it who are advocates for it. They have combined all these elements

into a perfect storm. There's no reason not to believe in REF's success at this point. I agree. Now what about MVPFL? We're inching closer to that new era They had their final summer series show on Saturday, Chris Cyborg. Caitlin Vieira, like I said, Caitlin Vieira, seven pounds over. Cyborg wins.

It was billed as her retirement fight. It doesn't seem like it's a retirement fight. She called out Kayla Harrison, not happening. She called that Clarissa Shields, maybe. I don't know, but that would be in boxing. The Scott Coker give her a call. I don't know. This was a tough fight.

And Ketland is by far the toughest opponent she's faced since Larissa Pacheco. and in her last 10 fights, she hasn't faced anyone like Kitlin Vieira, like it's Pacheco. You know, there'd been a couple of names here and there, Katzangano, but this was a tough fight. This was a very tough fight. Very tough fight. She had to dig deep, and it wasn't a done deal. By the way, kudos to her for actually taking the fight. She could have said no, but I think she wanted to finish out the contract.

It feels like boxing, right? Like, it feels like the biggest fights she can get now in boxing. I don't know You don't think so? The biggest one's in MMA I just don't think she's going to get. She's not going to get Kayla. She's not going to get Ronda.

She's not going to get Amanda. What else is left in MMA to get? Yeah. And that was win number 30 for her. Crazy. Pretty amazing. She got win number 30. Amanda Serrano got win number 50.

Incredible knockout here. Luke Traynor against Roland Dunlap. Luke Traynor, we've talked about him before. He was actually an honorable mention way back of the day. Look at that. An absolute gent. Hands completely down. Couldn't possibly be more down.

And just get head kicked. Look at this. Oh my God. Can you imagine how that feels? That's old school Anderson Vitor, Machita Couture. Look at that. Look at those long, like, what are you doing, man? What are you going to jump off the cage?

What is happening? Now, were you saying how does it feel for Luke Trainor? How cool that must feel? Or how terrible it feels for. or Dunlop. Both, both. Six in a row now for Luke Traynor. Only lost once, a name to remember.

What about, I wish we had pizza here for this. Eon, Ian. I think it's Ian. What's going on? Thanks, Pete. Ian Sheridan, Flying Knee Knockout against James Vake. Look at this one right here. Mmm.

Mmm. Hmm. Hmm. Here comes. Oh. Damn. Disgusting. mouthpiece out

completely stiff as a board folded over that slow fallover is just like there is nothing going on done crumple and is that he's completely out oh falls all on the head

scary scary stuff man a couple unbelievable finishes on that card can I say something about the pfl in the summer of 2026 there's something to the consistency of the product that I think helped them like the fact that I'm not advocating that they put on 43 events, but I feel like in the past they'd put on one and then they disappear for six

weeks. There was something about, look, they're getting buried on ESPN. There's no promotion. They need a whole makeover, the rebrand. I don't know, there's just, it feels like a tiny bit of momentum. I don't know, fights are happening. People are emerging. I think it was a pretty good summer. Yeah, I think it was pretty good summer. They've got some shows coming up. They announced Lyon. They announced Dubai. The own should be great for the crowd. Yeah. And yeah, you get a couple more in before the years out and then we go into the MVP era in 2027. Increasing the volume of events is very good for them, right?

Because as you said, it feels like they have momentum and you go, oh, PFL is back. But people have to tune in. They have to fix whatever the issue is for getting people to tune in. They need to develop the roster. They need to sign people that are going to get people to tune in and fix that part. But yeah, it's good to see them continuing to, you know, ramp up, but to what end? And highlights like this, hell. Yeah. Like I'm not tuning in for Luke Traynor, but if he's getting knockouts like that, it has me intrigued for his next fight.

Got more traffic on uncrown.com than the UFC. But I think that's because of cyborg people are probably looking. Did Cyborg win the name? I think there's a, there's a, when people are not necessarily watching things, there's a dot-com search that happens. There's a Google search that happens for results in a way that I don't think UFC necessarily benefits from in a huge way, because most people are locked into that. live. I'm not surprised that they're low on that list, although I am surprised that PFL still beat them. Yeah. Again, we'll see.

You need a TV deal as of right now. They do not have one. Or at least they have not publicly announced a TV deal. They may be close. They're kind of keeping their cards very, very close to the best. Did you notice that the cyborg fight was being advertised on Disney Plus?

I sure didn't. Yeah, I thought that was interesting. Wow. Wow. I actually brought it up to me. because to the point like maybe there is some more promotion happening Oh interesting So well you know

I'll be honest I haven't seen if they've done Because I know you can now watch ESPN Plus and Hulu on Disney Plus Yeah So I wonder if that was just a part of that Or if they went

That was what we took it as Like it's just the synergy from there Yeah I mean we're going to be seeing more of that This is good Yes this is good What are you tapping into Disney Plus for Frank Yeah

As I said This is Mysterious Game and told me I couldn't be bothered Oh shit She came running into the office She was like I like that I like that

I work for I get advertised You know what I'm watching these days The Jose Marino Netflix stock series Have you guys been watching That shipping away

Seven minutes every night But seven minutes It's so good Highly After one week You're one episode down Oh It's been probably

Like eight days And I'm like Wow Three quarters into episode one But it's so good You're gonna be so happy What don't we learn in the first three quarters of the... Have you seen it? Have you seen it?

No, no, not yet. Oh, my God. It's amazing. Just a glove at, are you passing out? And that's why you stop? I start to... So what happens is I start to doze off, doze off. And then inevitably, I'll fire it back up.

And then I'm like, I don't remember this. So now I go back. And then inevitably, I'll go back just to be saved to a part that I remember. So I'm really, like, only conquering four minutes, it seems like. And you just die on the hill. Like, it's just like, you start, and then it's just... He's so good. I love Jose.

Have you thought of starting these shows like earlier in the night? When am I going to do it? When am I going to do it? I don't know. I'm asking. I'm sure the boys would be interested. I can just see you coming too with it still playing and you just turn it off. Just chipping away.

Yeah. Fibbing away. No one bother me for the next five minutes. I'll be good. By the way, shout out. We kind of finished with the UFC. But could we at least acknowledge the fact that here I am talking about the spider last week, Kendall Grove, who has not been heard of?

or seen in what, seven years, and there he is in the front row at the UFC? It's pretty crazy. Come on. I feel like I manifested that. We're raising the board. Mentions of Hawaii. Yes.

Days had spent not mentioning. That was the first one. I know, but we thought you were going to be done with it last week. You know, I was going to get into it with Marab, because he mentioned Hawaii, and I was like, but then we were running out of time. Tifuma Lopez, Roli Romero, that was on Saturday.

Lopez third weight class in which he wins a belt this time the WBA Walterway title wasn't the best fight of all time this is fun here he did get cut open Lopez did it just it didn't produce the type of fight that they were selling it as

and especially in the back end Roli didn't do a lot feels like he could have had an opportunity or so to really put his foot on the gas did not happen it was interesting one again I don't think this should have been on pay-per-view you're trying to grow the sport grow the names.

The highlights, by the way, are making it seem like a much better fight. Tio's box office, 147 is box office. Ryan Garcia champion WBC. Connor Ben is in there. There are some names. There are some names. Lopez versus Garcia would be a big-time fight. Here's Amanda Serrano getting the 50th pro victory as far as boxing is concerned.

This was on the TikTok broadcast on Saturday. MVP. I like the white ring. And you see the TikTok premiere right over there? That was big. But this was a tough, tough, tough fight. And I don't think they expected it to be that tough. And she probably does need to slow down.

37 years young, she's been very active as of late. Lucrezia Manzure, her opponent, was very game. She had previously fought in May and El Paso, quick turnaround prior to that January. This is her third fight of 2026. The two Katie fights before that were absolute wars. Since the start of 2024, one, two, three, four, five, six fights, and she only kicked off 2024 with a July fight. So that's six fights in the span of two years.

That's a lot of activity. Afterwards, this is what Jake Paul had to say about the fight. Congrats all the fighters on our first ever TikTok card, led by. by Amanda Serrano and Lucrezia, Manzour. Am I saying that first name correctly, Andy? Lucrezia. Lucrezia. Lucrezia.

I knew it. Screwed it up. Great performances across the board to Amanda, the 50th win did not come easy, but greatness is not easy. I had Manzo leading for the first half of the fight, as that overhand right was finding its target, but you figured it out and started controlling the fight

on your own terms, body shots, mid-range, reading what the young challenger was giving you. If that fight was 10 rounds, different outcome, but the championship Browns made the difference. Fair play. You have given the sport of boxing 17 years of your life, and as their success and profile has increased, you have used it every step of the way to lift others and push women's boxing the most impactful of ways. Whatever you decide to do next, I'm in your corner. Here's Amanda Serrano after the fight. Wow, this was rough, L.O.L. Honestly, the mind tells you one thing, but the body does another. You can

fight anyone you want and squeeze out a victory, but father time isn't allowing too much of that. Thank you so much to all my fans. You guys are amazing. You're the reason why I dug in deep tonight. I'll talk to the team and make my decision. I love you all. So maybe she ends on that one. Could you imagine if she would have slipped on a banana peel? That would have been disastrous right before the 50th win. All right, so let's see. That is an interesting story to follow. By the way, speaking of boxing, Here's George Cambosus, who had the win over Tiofima Lopez, you may recall several years ago. Right here in New York City at the Hulu Theater, I believe it was called Hulu at the time. Yes, it has had many different names.

Here he is hitting Mitz with some MMA gloves. Look at that. Look at that power right there. Golly, one of those finding the target on the chin. What's he trying to tell us? What's George trying to tell us? The ferocious one. What?

What is going on there, George? Oh, a little Alex Pereira. Okay. Okay, George. I see you. Speaking of crossing over, remember Chris Mutino, who once fought Sugar Sean on short notice? Here he is in BKFC over the weekend. Golly.

That's a lot. BKFC in Fenway later this week. week. It's another big week. Another fun weekend coming up of some wild and wacky stuff. You've got that Dylan Dennis, Mike Perry, fight card in Orlando. We had the great face-to-face last week. That was a lot of fun. What else? You've got UFC in Shanghai. A big fight at 135. Umar and Amarga Madov against Sondya Dong. What else? You've got, um, oh, MVP over in the UK, probably their best women's fight card to date. Chantelle Cameron against Michaela Mayer. In fact, both of them are going to be on the show tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to that very much. Michaela Mayer, former Olympian, Chantel Cameron, who once beat Katie Taylor, what was it, three years ago now? That's a big time one. And Moses de Tama fighting next weekend as well against Philip Hergevich. So excited about all this stuff happening this weekend.

A little something for everyone. What about this news that we saw last night over in TNA wrestling? Avery Stiles, the son of the great A.J. Stiles, the phenomenal one. Not doing it right. Well, there he is.

The phenomenal son, Avery Stiles, has signed with TNA. Love this. His pops, of course, rose to prominence in TNA some 20 or so years ago. And now, here he is, the phenomenal son, playoff of the phenomenal one. He does something like this. I think he does like this or like this. He has like the gloves. Who's winning in the Fulham Chelsea,

match. That's happening today. Let's see. I think it's happening right now. Oh, three, two, Chelsea. Okay. Speaking of Joseo Marino. Cole Palmer on the board.

Oh, he's going to have a big year. Cole Palmer's going to have a big year. It's a revenge season for Cole after getting left off the three lions this summer. That is him and Morgan Gibbs White. And maybe a couple others. Trent Alexander? Nah, you go. I don't think you guys don't ball.

I got a ball. That's crazy. Like, you guys don't know. Alexander is crazy. It's crazy. Do we have any super chats, Frankie? Chats. Oh, yes. We do. Here is Jake from the Windy City. Gentlemen, what are your favorite chips or crisps? I love Jay's cheddar and sour cream and kettle's honey Dijon. What's the one that someone sent us a few bags? My dad's chips. What is it? What is it? My dad's chips. phenomenal.

All timers. Can I say back in the day, like the Primo chips, at least where I grew up, Miss Fickees? Love Miss Fickees, especially the jalapeno. Anytime I'm eating a sub sandwich. I didn't realize they had that much history. Oh, yeah. Miss Fickees were huge. In Canada as well?

Oh, yeah. I think they originated in Canada. Oh, shut up. Ruffles, Lays, Doritos. I'm not really a big chip guy. Oh, huge chip guy. This is not a bad shot, Frankie. It's not a bad shot.

Not for pound chips this week. Chip flasels. flavor or chip brand? I mean, this is, what do we count as chips? Are Cheetos chips? Yeah. Anything you got in a, like, in a, like a bag. Question.

Shout to intern Josh. Does an intern Josh? No, Interjack. Intern Jack has ties to the chip industry, right? He does. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I believe his mom is an executive. Frido Le.

Is that true? Yeah. Wait a minute. Now it, his name is Jack Frito. Oh, that makes Jesus. Oh, is that a Bamb? What is going on over there?

Is that an action Bronson? What is that? Oh, this old thing? That's new. Planet Frog? Yes. Is that new? Just came in, yep.

Oh, my dear. You thought he could sneak that by me? In fact, Rick was at the action concert this weekend. Sure was. How did he end it? How did he end it? I love for the Georgia O'Banks, too. No, no.

He ended it saying he was getting off stage to go watch Fluffy versus Robocop. He's a fucking sicko. Legend. And last time it was... Sergey Spivok versus who. Oh, if you can remember. August of 2025?

Hold on. Hold on. I thought he was going to end it for Spivak Petrino in the coming event. It was Spivok. Remember he's off Spivok. It was another like... Polar bear. Big middling...

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, what's the guy with the weird hair, the swept over hair? It's like half. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. God. Yo, Matt Damon.

Why am I blinded or not? Nah, no, no. Was it August of 2024? It was August. Spivak versus Marcyne Tibera. Hibera. Main event. ibora.

Spivak, armbardum in a minute 44. So good. Spivak, Tybora. So he's on stage. He's performing. Yes. And he tells everyone, yo, we got to wrap this up. He's not like rushing people out of the venue.

He's come to the end of his set. And he's like, all right, see you later. I'm going to watch. But it actually timed out. Like, how do you think he knows? you don't think this man knows You find it You think there's someone in his ear

Being like, yo, they're walking The Spirop's walking The fight God sent a message He is a, He becomes a vessel at that moment But yeah, it was a great concert Me and Holly finally got a chance

To get out of the house, what? Was he wearing a jersey? He was wearing a Vince Carter Olympic jersey Oh, I saw that, yes, I saw that Olympic Vince Carter. What did your wife think? That was her first action concert, right?

Yeah. She liked it. I mean, it was awesome. Action, and the band he always comes with, I don't know if he always travels with that band, but at the shows at Moch Hayes that I've been to, they absolutely smash it. It's just a great time. What a guy.

That is a nice final right there. Shut out. That is sick. Don't be fooled. This isn't going through it. It's just to the right of it to keep it up. None of these are going through. Yeah, yeah.

I was worried about that. Don't worry. What's to the right of it? Under the calendar. Oh, that's my certification. Certification of porn. Guinness in Dublin. Yep, yeah, yep.

Then we got the Sydney Swans. There's a little bit of controversy. Oh, boy. What happened? So, next super chat. Yeah. Okay. By the way, we were, we were, we.

I'm talking like the audience knows. On Saturday, who the fuck is we? My family and I were in New York City, visiting my brother, and who lives nearby. And we happened to park right outside the office. I know it. I know where to walk, this, that, and the other. it's tough to get bathrooms in New York City.

Not going to lie. Everyone's very tight with the bathrooms these days, all right? And we decide, before leaving, to use the bathrooms here, and it was kind of fun to show them around. There's no one in the office. So, you know, the kids are snooping around. There were some comments made in the control room. As I said to you guys, my daughter thinks Andy's the most important person on the team. She's the captain of the ship.

Accurate. She still doesn't know what Jordan does. Very, very proudly. That's why I can take so many things. Who's to check? Mention that. You got a pretty dial-in. She thinks Frank is just the guy who looks at the YouTube chat,

and she thinks you two just sit there and talk to me. There was a comment about your section, G.C. There was a comment about it being a little untidy on the floor. Why is there so much stuff? Every time I come in, I'm just like, I've got to clean this. I mean, we've got several unopened packages, because Rick just brings them in mid-show. We rip it open.

I just throw it down. Yeah. I mean, there's papers. There's Rick's hat back here. What even is this from? The Abe Lincoln show? Yes, yes, it is. It's just like, it's, I need to clean up.

We've got a, we've got some giant suitcase here from the live shows here. Like, when I get into my seat, I have to, like, suck in and squeak it. Like, you can barely get in. Why don't you tidy it up? Several hats. We got the Shavkat hat. It's a legendary. Soon he'll be back.

Official from Kazakhstan. We got our cork hat from Australia. That's right. We've got Rick's at. I mean, it's just... Well, there it is. Yes. Absolutely.

But why don't you clean it up a little? Look, man, I'm so busy. It's heading out. I got to get home. Yeah, I got you. I need to dedicate a Friday to come in here and clean it up. A Friday? I don't think you need 20 minutes.

30. I need a vacuum. Is it that? Yeah, that too. That too. Okay. Back to the super chats. Here's Sammy.

They carry on with these cheap digs. Joshua versus Fury. I agree with you. Ariel. Netflix will say, you lot, do you, we're moving on. We had 10 years of Hearn versus Warren beef and look where that got us.

Yeah, it's true. Frank Warren kind of staying out of this one, but it's sort of unclear what Tyson's relationship is with Frank Warren. Gives a blind fuck about Carl Frocker what he's got to say. Does anybody really interested? It's been a while since we heard that one, Frankie. So good. Nine seconds.

Here's Alfaro Danny, who says, you guys couldn't be any more wrong. My friend and us. were legit invested in more than half the card this weekend. All right, fine. And by the way, no gambling, right? Like, you're just straight invested. So is he talking about you guys?

Yeah. Because we were saying at the top, like, it's all kind of, it's great action, but what's breaking through? Yeah, that's a great question. Like, if you are not gambling at all, which fights were, like, you most excited for? Like, I really wanted to see Taco. I want to see Lehi on Douglas.

I know Rick struggled with that one. That was wrong. Carly Judis, I wanted to see. See? There were fighters on the card I wanted to see, but not throughout the entire thing. Here's, so I don't know when he posted this, but Laza, who says, that doesn't mean we all did that respectfully, but I, honestly, I don't know what he's talking about. I think that was in response to the previous super chat. Oh, all right. Here's Sion Kid, maybe.

Yo, boys, first time ever super chat, random thought, but as a Filipino, it's kind of unfortunate. We never got another Brandon Vera or Mark Munoz in MMOs. May. Yeah, it's true. Who's been a Filipino descent that has emerged as of late? It's a great question. It's a great point. It's a great point. I got to say all day, I'm saying like, last week, I couldn't shut up with so good. I'm just like saying drops all day. Like that one. It's a great point. Yeah, the UFC really hasn't gotten any. And a great point I use way too much in regular conversation and no one has any idea. Any idea I'm saying a drop. Filipino fighter. It's a great point. Yeah, there's it. And anytime anyone says, oh, well, I have to whisper to myself. Oh, congrats. 100%.

100%. I mean. It's almost like we're teeing it up here. You know, he's like, you want. Hello, hello. I'm good. How are you? No, the other one.

The other one. The other one. Oh, well, congrats. So good. Frank really likes the social. Frank really. Like the S on the front of it. How do, I don't know.

I guess, I guess you're right. There isn't anyone to be excited about. I mean. Nobody will ever even, like, scratch the toenail of Manny Pacquiao, so it's like, you know, you just ride the Pac-Man wave. That is true? And is he done? I mean, he got a draw last summer and then disappeared. A title fight.

Well, I guess he was supposed to fight Floyd in September, right? Yeah. We were supposed to be, like, weeks away. On exhibition. At the sphere. That one's interesting. That's a sphere. Yeah, fuck.

The whole Floyd saga. That was an official, too. Here's Lazoo says, how do you print a lot of it? pronounce hobocop or robocop again? I guess it's just hobocop. Here's Mighty Brook who actually says nothing. Thank you for $3,000. Myrd Bush.

Silence is definitely. Appreciate you. Here's Sammy who says, Jordan Burroughs, talented and humble love it. Jordan Burroughs. Ledge. Does a great job on the broadcast. Also, the NCAA championships.

Him and D.C. did a great job together. I enjoyed them. Here's Sammy once again. Latest on Kayla Harrison. Interesting you asked, Sammy. no date, but I did see her at the PFL event. She was very happy for Dakota. Dustin was there as well.

Did you guys see Islam? There was a fighter. One of his guys, his shoulder was separated, and he was like working on him in the corner. Yeah, Tiger Magamatov. Golly. That was crazy. Yeah.

And then our boy, talking about Doc? Yes. Dr. Brian Suterer. He was there saying like, he said on social, like, That's the exact wrong way. Thank you.

I can't even speak. If you want to do it. Thank you. You were like a married couple here. You can finish all my thoughts. And so that girl was just like, not. This is not it. But honestly, I mean, Tyre is a savage man.

And like the fact that he was even trying to still compete with it with a dislocated shoulder. He was just like, it didn't really look like it was like, I don't know if that's the right way. According to Dr. Souterer, it's not. But like, not for nothing. We have seen that. we have seen people's shoulders actually get reconnected in the UFC. I'm forgetting who off the top of my head, but there was somebody whose shoulder popped out,

and they did reconnect it. There was also Brandon Royval, whose shoulder got dislocated, and then they weren't able to reconnected, and he was in a hell of a lot of pain. But there was one person who got it reconnected. I remember this. Somebody will remember it in the chat,

but, yeah, it's... Chat? you're savage to even trying Maybe it's almost just like hoping it would go back in They were trying He just got back to the corner And they were like, did you get it back in? He's like, fuck no

No, that thing didn't go back in He's struggling He's struggling. They ended up throwing in the towel Yeah Yeah, of course Well, not of course They sent it back out

And then they're like, get back out there, kid A rare throwing of the towel, right? You never see those anymore. Are there any other ones? No, I think that's it, right? Okay. that is it as far as super chats are concerned it's going to be another fun week

here on the program we're two plus years old now guys so we're very very very old tomorrow on the show our old friend Ade Oladipo is going to be on anything to talk about oh yeah there's a lot of things I thought Frankie was going to hit me with the music no

that was the end of the show right I think that's when I would I would hit him with parting shot Yeah what is that The parting shot that's right I missed that song How'd it go again

Dun dun dunna Do you know the one I'm talking about Yeah Anyway Aday's going to join us Michaela Mayer is going to join us Chantelle Cameron is going to join us And Will Osprey

Will Osprey is going to join us Who is a massive massive deal In the world of AW He is someone who's going to be A part of the All In Wembley show this weekend, so stay tuned for that. There may be one more. Stay tuned, stay tuned, peace and love, peace and love. But I do think for now, we've said it all. Have we not? We've said it all. We've done it all. The summer wind came blowing in from across the sea. Baseball in the

in the final stretch here excited about the Blue Jays we're going to do big things but here's Kevin Vachejos saying that he's got he's 100% going to be fighting this year and it's probably against a top five guy

who's he fighting Vulcan most are obviously booked oh for a second I thought you were saying Volcano Osdem. Vulcan Alderman Sterling

Oh That would be fun Oh I see Oh Thank you Frank I appreciate that It was giving me a heart attack there That is that song

That is the old Ariel and Adide Oh we're starting over Perfect Ariel and Adet theme song I see on Crown Has posted

It's wrestling power rankings Nothing gets me more heat Than the wrestling power rankings Especially it's great because I don't actually contribute, but I love it. Because everyone thinks that I'm the one sitting there ranking these people. It's very fun. Number one as far as women are concerned.

Chelsea Green. Liv Morgan, Willow Nightingale, Jace Jane, Tiffany Stratton, Becky Lynch, Mercedes-Money, Eoskai, Stephanie Vakir, and Blake Monroe. There's your top 10. Who's number one as far as the men are concerned? Any guesses? That, of course... Roman rights.

Yes. Obafemi, CN Punk. Will Osprey. Move down for you. Three slots. Wow. Kevin Owens, L.A. Knight, Randy Orrin, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, Bronbra. I love the wrestling power rankings.

People get so mad about them. So mad. It's more about, like, what have you done over the past, you know, a few weeks? It's not like this is the best wrestler in the world per se. We have a whole explanation. Go check it out on crown.com. I didn't get a chance to ask Tewood about GFL. I saw him with Darren.

knowing. I think he's not that's why you're having a month. Wow. He started shaking and I was feeling like... I thought he was going to freeze in that thing. Yeah, I mean, 20 minutes in that thing is insane. And he was 20 plus minutes. I do 3 or 4.

I can't feel about it. 60 second tops for me. So shout out to him. Shout out to all our guests today. Jordan Burroughs. Gregory Hodriguez. Tyron Woodley. Maraubdule-Shvili.

Thanks to all of you. Thanks to all of them. Back to our same time for the system. This is a piece of me here.