The Ariel Helwani Show - Muhammad Mokaev, Caio Borralho, Jonathan Haggerty, On The Nose

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

Muhammad Mokaev kicks off the show by discussing his road since exiting the UFC, his recent run-in with Dana White, whether the relationship is repairable, his salary in Brave FC and more (05:34).ONE bantamweight kickboxing champion and former two-division Muay Thai champion Jonathan Haggerty previews his Thursday title defense against Wei Rui and discusses his future goals in MMA (38:46).Caio Borralho discusses the state of the UFC middleweight division, his continued surprise at Dricus du Plessis, training with Alex Pereira and Khamzat Chimaev, teaching math, plus more (01:03:32).Ariel Helwani answers all your latest On The Nose questions about  Aaron Pico's free agency, the crew's recommendations, relationship advice, hockey fights, the latest in the composting saga, wild hypotheticals and much more (01:50:29).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Erya Hawaii Show! Back in your life on this Wednesday, February 19, 2000. And 25, Hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. Welcome back to the program on this lovely yet frigid Wednesday in New York City. A lot to get to on this Wednesday as we inch closer to a massive weekend in the world of combat sports. Of course, the big one in Riyadh, February 22nd, this Saturday. Headlined by Artur Berberia versus Dmitry Bivol.

Part de Daniel Dubois versus Joseph Parker. Can't wait for that. And we found out while we were filming Ariel and Ade yesterday on DAZN that Floyd Schofield

out of his fight against one Shakur Stevenson. And we found out this morning that it is, in fact fact going to be Josh Padley who picked up somewhat of an upset win over Mark Chamberlain back in September at Wembley Stadium. He gets the call on three days notice. Crazy stuff.

And if you want to add to the craziness, you've got Floyd's father insinuating that his son was poisoned in Saudi Arabia and insinuating that it was Shakur's team that did it. All kinds of madness heading into this massive, massive fight card on Saturday. Same time we've got the UFC finally returning to Seattle. That card has taken all kinds of hits since it was officially announced. And we did find out yesterday evening that Austin Vanderford, yes, the husband of one Paige Van Zandt, the former Bellator title contender,

he's making his UFC debut on Saturday. Another very, very short-notice fighter answering the phone, taking the call, so to speak, and what an opportunity for him. Austin's a great guy, very happy for him, and curious to see how he does in his UFC debut in just three days time. There's also a big one championship card tomorrow in Qatar and we'll be talking about that on today's show and of course on Wednesdays.

We'd love to answer your questions. I took a peek this morning and I have to say there's some really good ones. There's some really good ones. There's some really good ones. So arielhawani.substack.com. We'll get to those in about 90 minutes' time, and I'm looking forward to digging in and answering as many as possible. At around 2 o'clock, we're going to be joined by Kaio Bohaglio,

one of the top stars in the UFC's middleweight division, a rising star, very likable fighter to watch, to listen to, to speak to, to follow. He is a part of that great fighting nerds team, an old school team, if you will. They remind me very much of like old school Team Quest, old school TriStar, old school Jackson Wink. Like they're just a unit. We don't have those factions as much these days. AKA back in the day as well and he's doing big things. We recently spoke

to Carlos Prachas after his last win. First time we have Kaio the natural on the program. He'll join us at 2 o'clock. The one championship bantamweight kickboxing champion Jonathan Haggerty is someone who

We have been Trying to get on the show and a lot of people have been asking Me to have him on the show he's very popular He's an English boy And he's been doing some massive things Over in the world of One Championship Not too long ago he was Their Muay Thai and kickboxing

Champion well just a few Months back he lost his Muay Thai belt heboxing champion. Well, just a few months back, he lost his Muay Thai belt. He defends his kickboxing title tomorrow, and he'll be joining us this evening in about 30 minutes' time. And so he has weighed in, he is good to go, and it's very rare to speak to a fighter the night before his fight. I really appreciate him doing this. He's over in Qatar, and honestly, that card is a fantastic one.

And so looking forward to speaking to Jonathan Haggerty in about 30 minutes time. But first, my friends, very, very excited and happy to say hello to our first guest of the day. It has been quite the journey with this individual between myself and him. We've had him on the show many times over the last couple of years. And then in October of 2023, I'm on Twitter and I see that he has proclaimed that he would never speak to me again and he would never come on my show again. There it is. I won't be doing any podcasts with Ariel Helwani. And this, quite frankly, took me by surprise. But around, I don't know, two months or so ago, we were talking about the UFC flyweight division. We were talking about who was next for Alex Pantoja. And I had

said that Muhammad Makaev should be next. Unfortunately, no longer in the UFC. All kinds of, I don't know, speculation surrounding that. And I saw him comment on that and that was fine. We have always tried to keep, you know, personal feelings aside from reporting and what's right and wrong. I've done this time and again. And then maybe a month or so later, he DM'd me and we talked about his situation,

and then just a couple of days ago, I extended an invitation. I said I thought it would be a great idea if he came on the program, and I would love to have him on the program, and perhaps there's a lesson and a message to be learned in all of this. And so without further ado, let us go all the way to Thailand and say hello to my old friend muhammad mokaev who is kind enough to join us there he is muhammad how are you salam alaikum my brother alaikum how are you it's good to talk to you it's good to have you back on the show thank you thank you um and it looks like you're in a nice location i do understand that it's uh one in the morning or so over there in Thailand.

So I appreciate you doing this so late in the evening over there, which is where you're training these days. Let's address the elephant in the room and then we get to your situation. Is that fair? That's fine. That's fine. Okay, that's good. Yeah. Is there someone there?

No, no, it's in the hotel Oh, okay, okay I'm sleeping in the daytime So I have more time in the night That's why it's a bit time different So I can speak to my family sometimes That's why I'm up late Okay, I understand and I appreciate it. Why did you tweet that in October of 2023?

Because what was going on, I saw you post about the Israel thing and I was supporting Palestine and I think there was miscommunication between

me and you. Like you support your people, I support my people. And I took personal effort you talking about everybody but I didn't understand what your words meant. And I appreciate that and I know this is a very sensitive subject and a very tough subject to speak about, but my stance has always been, especially on this show, I want to have people from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, from all religion. And I think that sport can be the common bond, right? We can talk about sport. We may not agree on everything, but we can be cordial. We can be friends. We can be professional and agree to disagree on things.

And so I'll be honest, I was a little bit hurt when I saw that because I thought we had a good relationship. But I do acknowledge that at that time, and let's be honest, still a year and a half later, it's still a very tense situation. And we may never agree on everything, but I think we can hopefully agree on this, that we just want peace and prosperity and no more killing and everyone to live a happy life is is is that a fair sentiment of course that's that's right i think olympics being created to unite people and sport is it should be like that way and then maybe like one and a half year ago i was a little bit taking everything personal. And now I've become more mature.

Even what I want to say now, I think about it before I say something. Interesting. Okay, well, I appreciate that. And we can leave it at that because I've always felt that you are a very talented fighter. I remember when your manager, Tim Simpson, reached out to me when he signed you. I believe you had just competed in the IMF. He said, this guy's a future UFC champion. He has all the makings. He's an incredible young talent. And at the time, I think you were still in your teens. And we got to see a lot of that in front of our eyes. You had a great run in the UFC.

You were undefeated. And then you have the fight in July, and then we find out that it's your last fight in the UFC and that they won't be re-signing you. You've had some time to digest this and to come to terms with it. Could I ask, why do you think that happened? Why do you think, we've heard Dana White speak about it, and I know you've done a couple of things, but why do you think they didn't re-sign you? Because historically, they always resign someone with your resume, with your undefeated record, all that stuff. I really, till today, I don't understand, like, a real situation. Like, of course, there was a beef in the hotel and stuff.

But I really don't know but I really I really don't know I really don't know maybe there's miscommunication between my team and

UFC maybe there's like people said he was talking to PFL which I never did maybe somebody did

whereas in PFL there's no flyweight division and being 7-0 and having negotiations with another organization that must be like stupid stupid thing ever anyone could do and I believe nobody don't die from my team and um another another stuff maybe maybe my style style wasn't as exciting as they wanted to see.

Of course, I tried my best to improve. Even now I come to Thailand to improve my boxing skills. Of course, they want to see highlights, which highlights bring the money for the company. And it's a business for them. Whoever brings the highlights, it's a business for them. But I'm still young and I believe I can develop my game to bring the excitement. You mentioned the incident in the hotel.

What are you referring to? Between Manoel Cape and me, which happened in Vegas and it's finished in Manchester. Okay and do you feel like you were in the right and the wrong in this? Can you tell us what happened from your perspective? From all the situation what happened now I regret what happened but at that time I was thinking I came to Mano at the UFC to shake his hand because he's manager with Ali Abdulaziz and we have a lot of close friends in between us who said can we squash the beef between you and Cape. I called the ball a couple of times because I want to fight the best in the weight division, not because I take something personal.

And then I came, shake his hand, he headbutted me, cut my eyebrow one week before Alex Perez fight. I have like seven stitches. And I was like, hey, I still need to fight because it was just right before Ramadan and I've done my full camp. That's why against Alex Perez, I was shooting on my knees, staying down. I know it's a shit fight, but I had to do, I just beat myself to come to that cage with all the stitches.

And then we scorched the beef. And then in the interview, he said he said again I'm going to do this to him again and then this stuff happened in Manchester again in the lobby in Manchester

I started first because once I got headbutted I couldn't sleep for many nights because you know if I lose a fight

it's no problem I'm a man somebody were better than me. But if somebody chip shot you and then they split you up, I feel bad in that situation. Did you know going into that fight in Manchester that that was going to be your last fight in the UFC? I felt something.

That's why in the post-fight interview I asked for the new contract I felt I'm on the last fight deal and I didn't show the performance that UFC wanted but fighting against ranked guys and high-level guys

like Manel Cape there is a beef between me and him in the past but I still respect him as a skill as an ex-rising champion. And when two high-level guys come in front of each other, it's either a knockout or it could be a boring decision. So it was a boring decision in my opinion. Yeah, and maybe there was a lot of expectation going into that fight because of all the heat between you two and it didn't quite live up to that once

you got into the cage and were able to fight each other. That's right. I think that too. Did anyone tell you or your management before the fight, we need something spectacular, we need a finish. If we don't get a finish, if we don't get a highlight as you say, we may not

be interested in re-s no no something like this I just knew I was on last fight deal with you see but definitely there was no no I didn't think that no gunnery Samia still I still they would give me a warning or something like this. But I just saw the news. They didn't resummon me. I felt bad that day. Yeah. Did you find out that night?

It was 4 a.m. I was fighting. 7 a.m. was the main event. And about 7 or 8 a.m., I found out the news. Post-fight interview of Dana White. white right and how did you react i was upset like realistically i was upset because this is my career this is something um i'm i'm going to fight the best in the world organization and this is dream and it's not like i'm 32 years old coming to UFC I'm still I was still 23 that night and and I'm thinking what's what's next gonna be for me Dana has insinuated

that the matchmaker said that you were difficult to work with what What is he talking about when he says this? I really don't know. Difficult, which way? Seven fights under two years, four finishes, never pulled out from the fight, never missed weight. Under 24 months, I think that's what other flyweights have done this. And now,

I have four wins over top 15 ranked opponents. And difficult to work with. What, what, I don't understand what. So I would imagine when you get the information, when you get the news in the immediate aftermath, it's like a little bit of a shock because here you are beginning of your career.

You were talking about being the youngest fighter to become champion, breaking Jon Jones's record. You had big plans, but then in the weeks and months later because this was back in july late july um how how are you dealing with this news because all of a sudden you know this dream that you had that was right there of being in the ufc is now very far away uh it's out of your grasp so how have how has it been for you mentally dealing with this uh of course it was hard for me but i i came to uk as a refugee living on five pounds a day so it's not something something worse can happen in my life than uh this is no worst part of my life happened, but it is a bump in my road,

which made me stronger mentally. I fly straight away to, I was actually, after that, I went to UFC event. Our team, Shamil Ghazi, was fighting. I was sitting in VIP box in Abu Dhabi with Sheikh Khalid, the Prince of Bahrain. And he told me,

where do you want to fight? And there was options like other organizations, and there's Brave, which he's owned by. And he said, how much are you getting paid by UFC? Last fight I told him this, and he said, you're getting three times more in this organization. Come join Brave, and then wherever they call you, we will let you fight back in UFC and he's always supportive.

He said whatever you support you need, you got us and he's more than like, he's a brother to me. Wow, so in Brave now which you had one fight for them and I know that was a rocky road too because you had the fighters pull out and whatnot but you finally got a fight in the win an impressive win there they're paying you three times more what you made in the UFC yes that's right that's right but it's still not make me happy why not because my dream is become the best in the world and my dream always has been like this even if I get paid even ten times more my dream is more more cost me for me price is more than the money right and have you tried personally to reach out to Dana White or to the matchmakers to clear the air?

I spoke to Hunter. I spoke to Hunter. He said, he said, he didn't say, you never come back to UFC. And he said, maybe one or two fights away and we will get back negotiations.

Maybe they won't see me get my confidence in my striking. Maybe. I don't know. I don't really know. So I just want to stay busy. I just want to stay busy. And it's really hard for me to find high-level opponents right now in this part of my career. Hunter's obviously a very important person in the company, Hunter Campbell.

He's pretty much number two to Dana. But I'm curious, sometimes I have found in the past when fighters speak to Dana from the heart, he tends to, you know, he tends to listen. And so have you tried to reach out to him? I spoke also to Mick. I came to him at the hotel in UC Abu Dhabi. I spoke to him. He was good.

He was good. I explained him the situation. I'm in Brave right now. So wherever you're ready to send me back, I'm free. Like, I'm a free agent. Like, Brave doesn't hold me up. Brave supports me. And I was with them before UFC as well. They treat me

really, really good. But I was at the Power Slap event and Dana was like about 10 meters from me. But I didn't want to be annoying jumping around and I was sitting in the VIP section just now

in the UFC Saudi Arabia and I didn't want to be annoying you know I didn't want to be like hello please tell me I didn't want to do this

they know my dream is to come back and I'm here that's it Can I ask who manages you now? My contract is finished with team

and it's not like something between me and team we're still talking still asking for advice and now I don't have a manager because with Brave I'm directly with the Sheikh Khalid and the President Shahid, Mohammad Shahid. And right now I don't have a manager.

Do you think that helps? I don't know. I don't know the answer. But do you think it's better to have a manager? Do you think it helps you? Or do you think it's something that is a non-factor in your situation? I don't

really know, Aaron. I don't want to I don't know. Some people say if you sign with this manager, he'll get you back to UFC tonight with some names I don't want to mention, but how true it is, I don't want to make mistakes

again in my career. I just want to stay quiet, keep training, stay ready, and maybe keep fighting under breath. They're ready to give me fights whenever I want. We see you staying ready. We see you training with the likes of Aljamain Sterling and others over in Thailand. Has it been hard to be motivated? You know, have you found yourself

struggling at times to stay ready? Of course, when I was in UFC, I was more motivated. And now, I don't know, like I was in UFC, I was more motivated. Now, I don't know the schedule. Like a goal, you know.

I always live with the goal. Every month in my life, I have a goal. And that's the purpose you wake up and go for it. I'm at this stage of my career like whatever I earned in UFC I invested everything so it's not if I end my career today I'm financially stable right now

and I invested everything whatever I had now I just can't sit and train travel around the world but of course I had more motivation when I was in UFC. When you look back, especially towards the end of your time in UFC, do you have regrets? Do you look back and say,

I wish I would have done this and that differently? Maybe kicking off in hotel, something that no needed. Maybe I was taking a little bit more personally. You know, like, my rap goes after fun sometimes. I had this stuff, like, take it to personal, replying to comments sometimes. Now I don't do this anymore. Now I just live, enjoy, And I think I learned a lesson.

A lot from this situation happened. Not like everything what it's new see. It's around how my life, I think it changed in a better way. How I look at the world differently right now. Specifically how? How do you look at the world differently now like even talking to you right now Mohammed I have to say like you seem a little more mature you seem maybe it's late there so you're a little more reserved but it does seem like you've grown up but

specifically how how how how do you look at the world differently now? no i have a i have a kid two and a half years old i have a family and um now i have to i have to like be careful with with stuff what's going on on the outside and i'm not i'm not kid anymore where where i can't i can't i can't just say sorry i'm young. Now I'm not young anymore. Now I'm responsible for myself, my family, my circle. I have my team, which also there's young guys who are looking up to me and understand that every difficult moment in life just makes you stronger. So when you're in Thailand there, is your son with you? I have a daughter. Excuse me, daughter.

Is your daughter there with you? No, they're in Dagestan. Because I wasn't supposed to come here. I was in Saudi helping our teammates. And then I fly here just before Ramadan just to stay in shape. And then I will go see them. Most times I'm in the camp without my family. That's because I want to stay focused.

And because when the daughter is next to you, I think it's hard to go and fight somebody. Yes. It makes your heart weak. I understand that for sure. When you look at the state of the flyweight division and Pantoja looking for opponents, he's talking about Demetrius, is that hard for you?

Because in an alternate universe, you're probably fighting him by now. Yeah. And I think I'm the only guy who can beat this guy in the, in this division. My style is, is like, I remember Alex Pantoja before Alex Perez.

He said, if he wins this fight, I will fight him. I will defend my belt, belt against him. And then when I beat Alex Perez, he said, I wasn't,

his, his win wasn't excited. I'm like, well, what, what do you mean? Because I trained with him, and I know his style, and I'm the only guy who can beat Alex Pantoja right now in this division.

We spoke a couple of months ago to Kaikar France, who might be next for him, and he talked about your situation. He said that you were boring, that this is part of the reason why you're not in the UFC. What is your response to that? When I joined UFC, if you see his interview,

Kaikara France said, I watched him, he was an IMF World Champion, and once he reached top 10, we can have a dance with him. And once he reached top 10, we can have a dance with him. And once I reached top 10, I think they all started hating me. And I remember even Manel was like in 2020, he posted a tweet about me. He said the future. And then when I come close to top 10, I start calling them out.

Calling them out calling them out only reason because I want to fight the best and they they took it personal because young guy coming taking

or they they couldn't take in past 5-6 years they've been in UFC and I have more finishes

than Kyle Franz in UFC by the way wow um do you think he beats Pantoja do you think he can beat Pantoja finish is Dan Kajka of France in the UFC, by the way. Wow. Do you think he beats Pantoja? Do you think he can beat Pantoja? No, Dan Kajka of France is a great fighter.

He's a great fighter. I think he has good striking, but Pantoja is like a dog. He doesn't have striking skills, I would say. He's just there to fight like a dog, basically. It's hard to stop his pressure. Okay, so you favor Pantoja? I would say Pantoja, like 70 to 30. A lot of people thought when you didn't re-sign with UFC that you would go to PFL. Have you had serious talks with them at all? They recently called me

about joining 135 tournament and I said no. Respectfully, I appreciate their offer. I appreciate their offer. We have a lot of mutual friends in Dubai, like twins.

But like I said, my dream is is is is to be best in the world to fight and if you see would say listen this guy never coming back he's banned from you see like Donna said about Paul Daly I will I would say okay I said I'm going and chasing, finding a new goal. And there's no something that they don't, they will never bring me back. There is a chance.

And I believe I will be back there. But you seem to have some sort of issue with Jake Hadley. You guys are going back and forth. Is that a fight that interests you? Is that something that motivates you? No. Okay. He lost to my three previous opponents.

So, before he called them Uber drivers, but now, no, I'm not interested. I'm not interested. I just want to work on my improvement, my striking. I do a lot of boxing, sparring right now. And I also saw Jared Brooks saying that you should come to one championship. Did you talk to them? One FC offered me a six-fight deal, and I said no to them as well. Because you don't have the same freedom that you do with Brave, right?

You wouldn't be able to leave. Brave is right now is the best option and they, like Ilya Toporia, Hamza Chimaev, Amir Abazi,

there's so many guys who came through Brave to UFC, they never had issues with the organization and they know rivalry

and I think in the future they might do something together especially like UFC coming to Middle East and they can be supportive like maybe on UFC 5 or something like this

I think it's a great organization which doesn't hold back the fighters they let you go Do you have your next fight yet for Brave? Do you know when you'll be fighting they have April Switzerland in Switzerland I want to fight there

and are there names that excite you there that are interesting, that motivate you or at this point perhaps it's not even about the names, it's just about you getting good wins solid wins highlight wins yeah you know before dimitri johnson for retired i want my dream to fight him and then i spoke to him he gave me good advice he said listen invest everything i spoke to him

he gave me real good advice he dm me about my situation, what happened, and he said, just keep stay focused, stay ready. They will call you. And he said, by the way, don't call me out. I'm leaving soon. And then he retired maybe like a couple months later. But I just want to fight the best. If it's not the best, I'm not motivated. Just fighting for money.

Sure. So what do you think? How do you think this year plays out for you? How many times do you think you fight? And do you think by the end of 2025, you get back to the UFC? What do you think, Arit? Well, I think you should be in the UFC,

but if I'm being honest, I don't know what happened. You know, like Dana keeps insinuating, oh, difficult this and that. But, you know, let's be honest, Mohamed, there's a lot of difficult fighters in the UFC. There's a lot of egos. There's a lot of drama. You mentioned there's incidents, Marab's doing this and that.

Among many, many others, way worse than that. And so it is very surprising to me that a 23-year-old, now 24-year-old, who's undefeated in a weight class that needs contenders was just let you know walk out the door like that um so i don't know exactly what happened but i i believe that you will you will end back in the ufc you'll end up back in the ufc the the question is does it happen this year or does it have you know one thing i will say about about dana in particular like he does dig his heels in when he makes a a decision, he makes a decision. But as far as you're saying, Hunter has said to you that it's not never,

it's just maybe down the line, right? Yeah, Dana has always been good to me. You know, like, even, like, like, Dana has always been good wherever I see him. He's always, like always good to me.

Maybe he's not aware of all situations. I don't understand. I don't know how the business works. I'm still new to it. And maybe they just want to give me a lesson to become more mature. And I think they give me more than a lesson. So, I have my only two pieces of advice. I do think that it helps

if you have someone advocating for you, whether it's someone who has a friendship or relationship with the UFC, could be a manager, an advisor, a consultant, but it's always helpful when you have someone speaking and working behind the scenes so that it doesn't seem like you're, as you said, like begging to come back. I think that's a very important thing.

And I have seen people have success when they try to speak directly to Dana, not saying that you should go over Mick's head or Hunter's head because they certainly can make decisions on their own 100%. But sometimes as tough of a person as he is, he does have a soft spot, I do think. Mick's head or Hunter's head because they certainly can make decisions on their own 100% but sometimes as tough of a person as he is he does have a soft spot I do think and I do think that there could be some good results for you with that I had the idea to go

talk to him at the event and same time same time same time like I said I just didn't want to be annoying you know and I remember

I asked after Jafele Philho's fight I came up to Dana I came up to Dana I asked Stephen Reed security I said

can you take me back can you take me back of arena I want to meet Dana I never met him in my life. I've never talked to him. And I was on my coaches after. I remember my leg nearly got snapped.

Yeah, yeah. And the first time I met Hunter and Dana there, I said, Dana, I'm not asking for a new contract, not asking for money. I just want to ask you for a top 15 and he said he said recover your knee first and you will get your ranked opponent and then then I got Tim Elliott Tim Elliott of course Mick Maynard also who is who is the person who signed me to UFC and you know because they didn't resign me

they gave me a platform to fight seven fights there I put my name on the map I built my

brand and I showed the people that I can fight against the best in the world at a young

age I didn't achieve the youngest UFC champion but I came closer than anyone could

before John Jones. I cannot hate them or talk bad about them because they didn't cook me. They just didn't recite me. their reason from their side. And then because of, you know, usually people do a lot of good things to a person and then if you don't do it once, it becomes bad, right? And I don't want to be from that side. I'm still thankful for whatever they've done to me.

I'm glad to hear that because you should be. They did put you on the map and you did have a great run there. And you're one of the best fighters at 125 pounds in the world. And you're still so very young in your career. So I do think it's all going to work out for you. And I do suspect we'll see you back in there. That's just my two cents.

Most importantly for now, Mohamed, I'm very happy to have you on the show. I appreciate you coming on. And hopefully, maybe, I don't know, this could be a symbol for other people that everyone from all walks of life, despite different opinions or beliefs or ideologies, religion, whatever, can be friends, can come together and can have good conversations.

And maybe sport can be the thing that can unite us. Of course, sport always should unite us and, and, and we should stop people to spread the hate. Amen. Thank you, Mohammed. I look forward to talking to you again soon.

I wish you luck out there. Thank you so much, Aaron. I appreciate it. Take care. There he is. Mohammed Makaev, kind enough to join us from Thailand and really, really happy to have him on the show. That was a great experience. And honestly, he does deserve to be in the UFC. 7-0 between March 2022 to July 2024. Wins over the likes of Manel Cape, Alex Perez, Tim Elliott, and Charles Johnson. He did have that win in Brave.

But it is important to note seven submissions. He had a submission back in December. He is actually third in the UFC for most submission wins in the flyweight division behind. One, Demetrius Johnson and Alex Pantoja. And he is joint second with Pantoja for longest winning streak in UFC flyweight history. So it's quite the resume. And we'll go from, uh, Thailand to Qatar,

and then we'll, uh, we'll, uh, make a left turn and end up in, in Sao Paulo where Kyle Bojalio is going to join us in about, uh, 22 minutes time.

But, uh, Jonathan, the general Haggerty is the current one bantamweight kickboxing champion, and he defends his title tomorrow at 1 171 which you can watch beginning at 9 a.m eastern on watch.onefc.com and the one youtube channel it's a fantastic card and he's one of the top fighters competing on the card we had rich franklin on last wednesday to preview it and I've wanted to have Jonathan on,

uh, for quite some time, a, a, a rare, uh, Muay Thai slash kickboxing champion hailing from London, England, uh,

not the norm, uh, but an incredible fighter with a, a big fight coming up in less than 24 hours time. He's kind enough to join us. I don't want to keep him waiting too long. Let us go to Qatar and say hello to Jonathan Haggerty. Hello, Jonathan. How are you? How are you, mate? You okay? And I'm riddled with guilt because I know you're fighting in the not-too-distant future in less than 24 hours.

And so I'm sorry to saddle you with one last interview before a big fight on Thursday morning here in the States, Thursday evening in Qatar. But I really do appreciate you coming on. Thank you. That's no problem at all. It's a pleasure to be here, mate. Thank you for having me. Well, you're an incredible fighter. It's a joy to watch you compete. And you have helped put Muay Thai and kickboxing on the map, certainly in one championship. This is a big fight for you because you're defending your kickboxing title coming off the Muay Thai title loss just a few months ago. And so could I ask, less than 24 hours before the fight, how's the confidence? How's the mental? How are you feeling heading into this kickboxing title defense? Yeah, I'm feeling very confident, thank you. Obviously, the loss wasn't so good, but we were right on the wrongs,

and we're ready to get in there and compete to defend the belt. So we're very excited. We've left no stone unturned. And we're up against a great opponent, and it's just exciting to be back under the bright lights again. Is it common, and I will admit, I'm not as well-versed in the world of Muay Thai and kickboxing as opposed to mixed martial arts and boxing. Is it common for someone in one to compete in Muay Thai and kickboxing at the same time, or are you a unicorn in this regard?

Yeah, so one championship, they have loads of disciplines, you know, and you a unicorn in this regard yeah so one championship they have loads of disciplines you know and you can fight in all sorts of disciplines so it's um it's amazing and so which do you prefer most muay thai or kickboxing so muay thai is my first love um i love the elbows but obviously i'm the kickboxing world champion now and i've been working on my craft and I've been enjoying the journey so it's been great it's been fun and it's just made me a better person as well you know learning two different sports. I understand your father used to be an MMA fighter John Haggerty senior and you've sort of you've talked about it you've thought about it you've dangled the carrot of also going into mma is is that on the horizon yeah 100 i've always uh but wanted to do mma so my dad had a gym and

growing up i was always in the mma environment so i've done a little bit here and there and it's always been on my mind but obviously having the big main events defending the belts the multi-fights my mind's obviously been occupied on that. But as soon as one championship are willing to give me the chance, then I'm happy to cross over to MMA. I think it will be great. Do you think it happens this year? I'm hoping so. I am hoping so.

That would be tremendous. What's interesting to me is that you are from London, England, and historically not a lot of Muay Thai fighters come out of England. And so why did you initially choose that path with the gym, your father having the gym, being an ex-MMA fighter? Why did you choose Muay Thai as opposed to MMA off the jump or kickboxing off the jump? I think it was really down to my father. He took me to a Muay Thai gym, Kedal's gym. And then ever since then, I just fell in love with it. I started competing, started competing against adults.

And I just fell in love with it, like I said. And then obviously I got the opportunity to fight for one championship, which I'm very grateful for. And I took the opportunity with both hands. And it's paying off and I'm enjoying the journey so far. I do believe back in 2018, you sent the One Championship Instagram page a DM saying, love your show, would love to be a part of it. And you got to make your debut in 2019. So you really did kind of like shoot your shot with them, right? Yeah. Yeah, 100%. I shot my shot and I hit it. Yeah so that was amazing that was amazing as soon as i

went in the gym uh my coach christian noel said to me they've offered you a fight and i was just like i was like buzzing with it so training started from then and it was just onwards and upwards um in in in the uk boxing is so popular mma has gotten very popular do you get the attention and respect that you deserve in your opinion being a two-sport world champion helping to put the UK on the map in these disciplines? Do they cover you?

Do they talk about you like they do the boxing and MMA champions? I wouldn't say it's as big as the boxing and the MMA. I would love it to be. It's a brutal sport. We put our heart on the line all the time. It's a very hard sport.

But I'd say I'm very well known in Thailand more than I am in the UK. But it is getting bigger. And hopefully we can bring the one championship to the UK. That's the plan. You know, I've done my job. I've won the world title. So we're just waiting for the opportunity now to bring it to the UK. Has that been discussed?

I think there's been talks. There has been talks, and I'm just sitting back, and I'm just waiting, and I'm just waiting for that day to come because it will be a dream come true. Why do you think that it doesn't get the attention of, say, the boxing champions and the MMA champions, what you've done? Why do you think that is? I'm not too sure. I'm really not too sure. But if you do watch one of the one championship Muay Thai fights or the kickboxing fights, I can guarantee you'll be a massive fan straight away. So

if you are hearing this, then just tune in because it's amazing. Yes. And that would be tomorrow, 9am Eastern here in here in the united states uh that is uh 2 p.m over in the uk there's the poster right over there uh it's it's a great card and uh there's a lot of big names on the card um as you can see some of them there in in addition to that roberto soldich kade rutolo uh one of their best cards in in quite some time um i am curious, the decision to defend this title coming off the last fight, which was a Muay Thai title fight, was that your decision or did they say

okay, now we want you to defend this belt as opposed to maybe trying to go back and win your Muay Thai belt? How did that all go down? Did we lose John? Okay, we'll reconnect with John Haggerty, who's kind enough to join us for a few minutes, over in Qatar.

I actually spoke to Oban Elliot today, who is in Qatar as well. He is a training partner of Roberto Soldich for this particular fight, and he's going to be cornering Roberto. And this is a massive fight for Roberto Soldich for this particular fight. And, uh, he's going to be cornering Roberto and, and this is a massive fight for Roberto Soldich, who of course was, uh, was coming over, uh, from KSW. And, uh, there was a lot of talk about where he would sign and who he would sign with. And he ended up signing with one championship. I believe it was in 2022. He made his debut in

December of 2022. And I believe he signed early in the year. If my memory serves me correct, it was like March or so, but I could be wrong. His first fight ended in a no contest and the second fight ended in a loss. So he's trying to get back on track. And this is almost two years in between fights for him. So very curious to see how he does in this fight. Josh Pacheco, Pacheco, excuse me, going up against Jared Brooks for the flyweight title in the main event in mixed martial arts.

We have this bantamweight kickboxing title fight. Now in Muay Thai, in one championship, they use MMA gloves, but in kickboxing, they use more traditional kickboxing gloves. Soldich on the card. Ong Lang Sang on the card. Martin Nguyen on the card. Bibiano Fernandez in his retirement fight on this card as well. Canadian Jake Peacock on the card

Cade Rutolo In his third Pro MMA fight we've had him on a couple times This program and the MMA hour as well also on the card So a little something for everyone And if the main card Starts at 9

Or maybe the prelim start at 9 If it's a prelim Card that starts at 9 Or maybe The prelims start at 9 If it's a prelim card that starts At 9 it might Bleed into the Boys in the back maybe a little watch party action there On the back end is Jonathan there Oh he's back Sorry about that

I made a little technical difficulty No problem no problem How is it over there in Qatar Their interest in One Championship and the different kinds of martial arts that are on display? Yeah, it's amazing. You know, One Championship's great. We've got some great athletes over here,

some great up-and-coming fighters as well. It's just been amazing being a part of One Championship. You know, we're here in Qatar now. The atmosphere here is amazing. The atmosphere here is amazing. The country here is amazing. Hospitality has been great. And I'm just very grateful. And I was talking about this when you went away.

I just want to be clear and hope I'm accurate to the audience. When you're competing in Muay Thai, you're wearing more like MMA gloves. But when you're competing in kickboxing, it's more the traditional kickboxing gloves, right? Yeah, so the Muay Thai is 4-ounce gloves and kickboxing is 8-ounce boxing gloves.

Which do you prefer? I'm a fan of the 4-ounce gloves, I'll be honest. The MMA gloves, definitely. Yeah. A little more impact on the punches? Yeah, just more damage. Makes it more exciting, that's the main thing yeah um i i was asking and then we lost you um was it your decision to defend this title uh coming off the fight would you have preferred to go uh and and try to get the belt back and stick with

muay thai like how did you decide that okay this next fight would be for for your title but in kickboxing so one championship gave me the fight, the title defense. I feel like I've held the kickboxing division up for a little long now, so I thought it was only fair I defended the belt. The Muay Thai division has got some stacked fighters on there now,

so there's a few more fighters coming through. And there's also Superlek versus Nabil that has to play out for the Muay Thai belt. So I thought I'd just let that play out a little bit and then see how that goes while I defend my kickboxing belt and then we'll get straight back to the drawing board and we'll just see what's what. I saw a great little mini doc on you and this was this was shot I believe by the Mulligan brothers I believe is their name I hope I got that right and this was after uh the losses to

rotang and you talked about how gutted you were how devastated you were and since then you've got back on track and you won belts and whatnot but i'm just curious the difference between uh you coming off the road tank fights and and the super like fight your last fight the title loss how you're dealing with it and uh if you've if you've changed as a person if you've handled the loss in a different way yeah I've definitely handled the loss in a better version because you know when I lost the belt against Rotang I was down in the dumps I didn't really know what to do I was doubting myself where I'm gonna get the belt back but then obviously I managed to get the belt back I trained as hard as I possibly could back to the drawing board and then um so after losing against Superlek losing the title I just told myself you know

I've lost it before and I'll definitely get back and get it again so the mentality there was that I'll go get that back again uh your your your family very much into fighting in the martial arts so we talked about your dad your Freddie, also a one championship fighter as well, correct? Yeah, correct. He's a killer. And is this your younger brother? Yeah. Is he also a thespian too?

What's a thespian? Like he's in the theater business. He's an actor. Broadway, right? Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. So growing up, he was in the theater. He was in the West End Theater.

He was in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, et cetera. Wow. So I think he wanted to be known as a fighter, so he pursued the fighting career. Okay. And does he corner you in your fights? I think he might be cornering me for this fight. Funny you said that. Okay.

This will be the first fight. This will be the first fight. And I do believe this is footage of you cornering him, right? Yeah. I mean, all cornering tactics went out the window. Pure passion here. Pure passion. And so why is this the first time that he's cornering

you? I mean, I don't have my corner man here because he's obviously going to be fighting very soon. So he's in training camp at the moment. So we've got young Fred in the corner this time. Oh, I love it. Keeping it in the family. Is your dad in your corner, too?

Yeah, dad's in the corner. We've got Christian Knowles as well, my main coach. Wow, look at this. I love this. And I do believe you recently said that your girlfriend has expressed interest in fighting, too? Yeah, she's always training beside me. My girlfriend, Kenzie, she trains beside me day in, day out.

She motivates me. When I'm in fight camp, she's in fight camp. She's not a fighter, but she's a grafter. She trains really hard. She's by my side all the time. But yeah, she wants to have a fight so i'll support her in that i'm not sure if i'm gonna enjoy watching her fight but if she wants to do it then then go ahead you know let's see how it goes uh that's a tremendous photo there your outfit

is great the the gold there is that is that what you're wearing for tomorrow's fight yeah that's what i'm wearing tomorrow championship colors i love it thank you i love it i've also heard you talk about um you know just the nerves in that same uh doc that mini doc that i watched on you um you talked about and you you described it so well the nerves before the fight waking up um sometimes like losing your your speech because you're so nervous getting to the arena the smells the walkout things like that now that you're you know a few more years in and and we're speaking to you the night before i believe it's 9 53 p.m over in qatar now um are the nerves the same does that ever go away um the nerves have got better you know as i've got a little bit more experience the nerves have

got better obviously taking out names the likes of Nongo um fighting against the best in the world competing against the best in the world I've got a little bit more confidence in myself and my ability so confidence is there but there's always a little bit of nerves um I feel like the last fight was super leg I was a little bit too eager back room I feel like I was warming up two hours before the fight, which, you know, my coach was telling me, just relax, just relax. And I was just like, I'm ready to go. So this fight week's been a little bit different. I've been calming myself down a little bit and then just waiting to unleash when the bell goes. Instead of fight week being angry all fight week, I'll just do it when I'm in the cage.

I got to be honest, I can't envision you as an angry person. You don't seem like you have an angry bone in your body. I mean, fight week, you get that switch. You get that switch. You see all the fighters around you. There's loads of animosity. It's the fighter's hotel. You're just locked in and you're ready to go.

So something just switches. Yeah, and that's why I appreciate it. the fighters hotel and you just, you just locked in and you're ready to go. So something just switches. Yeah. And, and, and that's why I appreciate it because I know the night before, like typically what are you doing at this hour, the night before your fight? How are you spending the time after you've weighed in successfully? Um, obviously I had a bit of dinner. Um, I'll probably be chilling now in bed, uh, watching a vlog or something on YouTube. So, um, we're all good. I'd rather be here though with you, mate.

I appreciate that. I also know that you are I believe you're a Chelsea supporter, but did you grow up around, or did you fight in... Am I correct? I'm still learning. Bolton? Did you compete in the Bolton Stadium, or am I crazy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I competed in the Bolton Stadium or am I crazy yeah yeah I

competed in the Bolton Football Stadium but um I grew up around the the Mirrool area so I used to go to the Mirrool football games but yeah I am a Chelsea fan that's correct so what would be the dream location if you get to to come back now as a superstar and and and fight in the UK what's the dream venue you know it's a hard one because I used to grow up going to Millwall and it's literally right on my doorstep. But I feel like it's got to be Stamford Bridge. Oh, wow. Where Chelsea plays.

Yeah, I thought you were going to say the city ground, but I guess you have no connection to Nottingham Forest. That's my club right here, as you can see. No, no connection. No, no, nothing. I mean, I guess I really did think you would say Wembley. Isn't Wembley the dream? Well, yeah, 100%.

That's the biggest and that's the one that everybody wants to fight and compete on. So that will be the dream. Yeah, and I've seen Chachri talk about potentially trying to bring you to Wembley, which would be incredible for not only yourself, but one championship as well. Do you foresee a day where you just pick one discipline, where you just stick to either kickboxing, Muay Thai, or maybe even MMA, as we discussed? Or do you like the idea of switching?

I mean, the final goal is MMA, if I'm totally honest. You know, full-time MMA. So we'll see how these few years play out and then uh hopefully you'll uh see me as the mma world champion i love that um i i absolutely love that and and and when you say the final goal um do you know you're just 28 so you still have some time are you are you actively training are you doing are you doing jujitsu are you doing wrestling or is that a mistake until you actually have a fight and decide to make the switch?

I was doing a few bits of MMA training, obviously down at my dad's gym. But I've been so occupied now and so busy with defending the belts. And it's just completely gone off my mind now. So once this fight's over, we'll go back to the drawing board and we'll start training some MMA again

and we'll see what happens. In one and maybe in the circles that you run into, certainly here in America, it's the case, but I'm wondering if it's the same over there. Do the MMA fighters make more than the Muay Thai and kickboxing guys

or because of the way one is structured, is it a lot more equal? I think the MMA fighters probably are earning a lot more money than Muay Thai fighters, but I'm not too sure on that, if I'm quite honest. So maybe I'd have to check. Yeah, okay. Well, we can look into that.

Obviously, MMA on a worldwide stage, I would say probably a little bit more popular as we discussed. So I see that being the case. I saw actually, I think it was yesterday, DJ Demetrius Johnson sat down with you, posted an interview that I think you guys shot a few weeks back when he was in Thailand. Did you get a chance to train with him over there in Thailand? I actually didn't, you know, and I was a little bit gutted because I see you went down to a Rotang's gym and done some training with him. would have loved to have done some i would have loved to

have done some training but maybe next time did you get to pick his brain at all i mean that's one of the greatest martial artists of all time did he did he tell you anything off camera um nah nothing we just had a great chat on the podcast you know i remember watching him just sitting on the sofa with my uh with my dad at like 6 a.m as a young kid watching him watching him fight so it was just an honor true honor to be next to him on his podcast um if if someone has never seen jonathan hagerty fight who would you equate your fighting style to i'd say I don't know it's a hard one because I've got some mixed

I've got a mixed style I'm not sure if you've ever heard of Roman Deckers yes of course from back in the day yeah 100% we've got a little bit of Roman Deckers there as well I like the way Adesanya as well so I'd say yeah a mix between both seeing these guys like Adesanya and we're So I'd say, yeah, a mix between both. Seeing these guys like Adesanya,

and we're looking at some footage of you here, just blistering stuff, incredible violence, incredible technique. Thank you. And power as well. Seeing these guys have great success coming over the likes of Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira, Cedric Dumbé

from the world of kickboxing. This has to be of great motivation to you, right? Yeah, 100%. It's always in the back of my mind. Seeing them all do great. It's up to me now to see what level I want to go to and what I want to do. We'll plan wisely.

Like I said, MMA will be the final goal for me. I love it. I absolutely love it. What are we thinking? In about 20 hours time, how does this fight end? You know what? I don't like to do predictions. I've had a good feeling

about this one. I've been having dreams and I'm going to say round two. I don't want to sound overconfident, but I believe in the work that I've put in this fight camp. I believe in my coaches.

We've been training real hard for this. We've been in Thailand for the last eight weeks. So we've left no stone unturned. So just tune in because it's going to be fireworks. Well, we will be doing just that. Very much looking forward to this. Pleasure to have you on the show. Good luck to you and looking forward to more chats,

especially as you make this transition over to MMA. That's very exciting stuff. So all the best, Jonathan. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. A pleasure. There he is. The general, Jonathan Haggerty.

Eight and three, three knockouts in one championship. By the way, I failed to mention this. Yesterday was his birthday, February 18th. Is he still there? Can you wish him a happy birthday, Frank? I just let him go. Fuck. You blew it.

Yeah. Well, you blew it! What's this? What's this? Is this him getting his gear? Oh, birthday surprise! It was his birthday yesterday! I freaking blew it. Can we call him back? Jeez Louise, Ariel. Look at this guy. Is that a cake, by the way?

How can he eat the cake? Oh, it's a wedding ring? He got a wedding ring? he got he got a vlog he got a camera look at this no he's got the chocolate yep jonathan happy i mean i feel like such an asshole now can i call him real quick this. Oh, he's got the chocolate, yep. Jonathan. I mean, I feel like such an asshole now. Can I call him real quick?

No. Don't call him? Oh, on your telephone? Sure. I'm gonna call him real quick. I mean, it was like the first thing on my list. Could you believe that? Dun-dun. the first thing on my list. Could you believe that? I mean, it's just kind of rude, I think.

Aren't you the one that says, though, like, if you don't say it by 10 a.m., it doesn't even matter. Oh, you're right. You went the whole interview, didn't even mention it. I didn't even mention it. Let's see if he picks up.

Oh, here he is. Yep, it's ringing. Can you guys hear that? Loud and clear. Do you think he picks up? Oh. Hey, John. Hey, Jonathan, we're still on the show.

I just wanted to say I feel like an asshole. I didn't wish you a happy birthday. So a belated happy birthday. Oh, that's okay, mate. No worries. Thank you very much. Okay, you're the man. Talk to you soon, Jonathan

Appreciate it, mate No worries, see you Bye-bye See, there you go We did it Thanks for doing that Yeah, you know what? This is a feel-good show today

And I feel much better about that Do you guys feel better? Absolutely Again, you represent all of us So when you do something like that It reflects on us Well, I thought maybe when you said goodbye to him, you would have wished him a happy birthday. I didn't know it was his birthday.

All right. That's fun stuff. I'm looking forward to the One Championship watch party tomorrow. You guys doing that? Yeah? Yes, sir. Solditch, Haggerty. It's going to be a good one.

Bibiano, Cade. The list goes on and on. Again, you can watch it tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern. That's watch.onefc.com and the one YouTube channel. Two title fights on that card. There you go, over in Qatar. All right, looking forward to talk to our next guest. He has become one of the rising stars in the UFC,

specifically the UFC, specifically the UFC middleweight division. Oh my God, this guy, I think might be one win away from fighting for the belt. And he's coming off a win over Jared Kananir. There's been some talk, maybe Nasuldin Imavov fight. He is one of the faces of the Fighting Nerds squad, which a lot of people thought was the team of the year in 2024. He is Caio Bojalio, a.k.a. The Natural, and he's kind enough to join us from all the way in Sao Paulo. Hello, Caio. How are you, my friend? Bom dia. Boa tarde. What's up, guys? Boa tarde. Yes, boa tarde.

You said my name so good, man, because everybody says Bojallo, Bojallo. You said Bojallo the right way, brother. Thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you. And it's a real pleasure to have you on. You've been doing incredible things in your career and in the UFC. Life must be very good for you, right?

It's all coming together. I feel like you're on the cusp of a really big year. Yeah, definitely, definitely. feel like you're on the cusp of a really big year yeah definitely definitely i said since my first fight in the fc that i that i thought that 2025 could be the the year of the belt you know so i'm getting ready for that you know i'm i'm just you know attracting that you know working hard every day and i think this is my year for sure i think i might be one fight away for the title so i'm just getting ready for this fight. And then after that, I think about the belt, you know.

So a few fights have had to play out at 185 over the last couple of weeks. It's been a big month for the 185-pound division. Do you have any sort of sense as to what might be next for you? Actually, you know, I think there's only two options now left for me into the division. I think it's all the Robert Whittaker fight or Ima Vov's fight. I think it's just the two guys that I have now to face. Ima Vov is, I think, five or six straight victories. And Whittaker, I think he's coming off a loss on Hamza.

So I think the only two guys to fight is these two. And I think Imhovov is a better fight for me because he's the only guy who is with me running to the title. So I think it makes sense for both of us to face each other and see who's the next one. So if it was up to you, you would prefer Imovov? Yeah, I would prefer Imovov

if we talk about, you know, the belt and all that, you know? But stylistically, I think me and Whitaker, we could do a way better fight than me and Imovov, you know? Were you surprised that Imovov beat Izzy? No, not surprised at all, you know? I think Imovov beat Izzy? No, not surprised at all.

You know, I think Imovov is a very tough guy. He's very well-rounded and all that. But I was surprised how fast he was, you know, like in the beginning of the second round and all that. And Izzy was doing good in the first round. So the way that happened may be surprising me, but not the victory, you know. I know Imovov is a tough guy and young and all that.

What about Jared Kananier, who you have a win over back in August of last year? He came off a nice win over Gregory Rodriguez this past weekend. Were you surprised that he was able to do that? No, I wasn't surprised. Actually, on my YouTube channel, I do some fight analysis and all that. And I said that this fight would definitely go for KO. It can be both guys, you know. But I thought that Jared could get it, you know, because he's more used to five rounds and all that.

You know, Robocop is very, very good. But I think he didn't adjust well to five rounds, you know. So I think Jared was going to do what he did, you know, going into the fight slowly and getting bigger and bigger inside the fight. And he did it, you know? He's a tough opponent, high-level guy. And I look forward to see what's next for him.

Okay, so I keep asking you about middleweight guys, but I want to put a pin in the middleweight discussion in a moment. And I want to learn more about you because you are such an interesting person. First of all, your English is fantastic. And I understand this isn't like a new thing for you. You've been speaking and learning English for a very long time, right?

Yes, yes. I did some English school when I was young, you know, when I was in elementary school and all that. I did some English school until I was, I think, like 12 or 13, you know. And then I got into the first time to the America. I went in 2021 to do some photos, photo shooting and all that to my Contender Series. And then that is where I realized, like, oh, I can speak English, you know. Since then, I'm improving a little bit better.

When you did the photo shoot for Contender Series, that was your first time in America, right? Yeah, my first time. Wow. Your first time in America was Las Vegas. Yes. What was that like? I love the city, you know.

It's my dream city. It's the city that I fulfilled my dream, you know, to go into the UFC. Because I come from northeast Brazil in a place named Maranhão, you know, and then I had to move to Sao Paulo for like 11 years ago and then pursue a dream to go into the UFC. And then I only got to the UFC like seven years after. Wow.

So it's been a long road for me, you know. Was there ever a point where you thought you wouldn't get to the UFC, where the dream wouldn't get realized? No, no. No, actually, maybe, you know, like I had big injuries on my shoulder and my knee, you know. I have like three surgeries on my left shoulder and two surgeries on my left knee, you know. Wow. So that was some down positions, you know, that you come to yourself and you ask yourself, like, what if, you know? Like, do you think it's going to happen?

Do you think it's going to work out, you know? But I was just focusing on developing myself as a human being, too, you know, and then getting better day by day and think about, you know, day by day. And then I got into the too, you know, and then get, getting better day by day and think about, you know, day by day. And then I got into the UFC, you know, but I never stopped, stopped believing, you know, I never, I never, I never stopped believing. When was your last shoulder surgery and when was your last knee surgery? Actually, they were both on the same day. Oh my gosh.

So yeah, it was in 2017 when my last one. And then after that, I started to do more, you know, strength conditioning. And I started my physical training with my strength conditioning coach, Italo Villardo. Then I started to do some physiotherapy every day with my physiotherapist, Mateus, you know. And just a little bit of my nutrition and all that and then I got rid of these injuries, you know. Since 2017 I haven't done any

surgeries when it comes about injuries, you know, like overtraining or, you know, you train in the wrong way, you know, so since 2017 free of this. Of the many things that I find interesting about you is that your first introduction to martial arts was judo, right? Yes, six years old I was.

Six years old. And actually, I'm surprised that there aren't more people who have judo as a base when they go into MMA because I feel like judo is a fantastic base. We've seen some over the years, of course. But you did judo from six like all the way i think to to 19 19 yeah competing everywhere you know and traveling and all that i wanted i wanted to be an olympic athlete you know and why not but it didn't work out very well i think it's my fault you know i think i wasn't much mature enough to know what what I had to do to become an Olympic athlete.

So maybe I wasn't mature enough. Because after I stopped judo and started doing some MMA and all that, I came to Sao Paulo. And then I really realized what would be the cost to be a UFC fighter and all that. How hard I would need to work and how consistent I would cost to be a UFC fighter and all that, you know, how hard I would need to work, you know, and how consistent I would need to be, you know. So I just wasn't mature enough when I was like 18, 19 in the judo, you know. When did you start thinking about going to MMA and UFC in particular? Because when you're young doing judo and then you're thinking about the Olympics,

at some point you make the crossover. So when did that start to happen? Yeah, I think it was a little bit, maybe I was like 16 or 17. And then my father showed me, it was a videotape of Fedor Emelianenko versus Rodrigo Minotauro. Wow. You know, and then it was my first fight at all that I watched on MMA. And then I watched that. I think I got this inside of me, you know and then it was my first fight at all that i watched on mma and then i watched that i think i got this inside of me you know since i was young like since i was a kid i was like to watch uh action action movies you know from bruce lee jen clovenham jack shen and all those

guys i was always like fascinated about these movies and all that and then after i saw this fight from emily ninkle and uh minotaur i was like maybe i'm made for that you know maybe i wanted to test myself for that you know i need to prove myself that i'm not like just a kid that's full of fears and all that so i wanted to prove myself something you know and then uh i went i started mma i went i was like uh 19 maybe 20 uh and and did you go to any of those ufc events in brazil when you were younger no actually no actually no my first ufc event in brazil that i uh been part of i was a guest fighter on 2022 i think on rio de janeiro okay yeah i was a guest fighter on 2022, I think, on Rio de Janeiro. Okay.

Yeah, I was a guest fighter on there, you know. And then my second one was me fighting in Sao Paulo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you look like you're a big guy, you're a tough guy. You grew up doing judo. How were you bullied as a kid? Yeah, I wasn't a big guy at all you know actually i got i got a little bit taller when i was like 17 it was like right away you know like real fast i got a little

bit taller you know but because actually the moment that i was bullied it was from like 11 to 15 or 11 to yeah 11 to 15 that the the the time that I stopped doing judo. So I did it from 6 to 11, then I stopped like for 3, 4 years, and then I got back with 15, 16, you know. So that was my dark time, you know, the time that I suffered a little bit with this bullying and all that shit. How bad was it? I wasn't getting, you know, beat in the school. It wasn't like that, you know.

It was more like with some, you know, some bad guys in school, you know, they want to just bully you and all that and make fun of you in front of everyone and all that shit, you know, like because you're not that big as them, you know. And then doing the same, you know, the same grade again and again, you know, the shit, you know, like, because you're not that big as them, you know, and then doing the same, you know, the same grade again and again, you know, so that, that was more like

that, you know, I didn't go beat up or anything like that, like, like real bad, you know. Do those guys know what you do now? Do they know about you now? Ah, they definitely know. They definitely know. They didn't talk to me, but they definitely know what I do. Okay. I love that. They will look at that, you know. Maybe someday I can find this guy somewhere. You know, like I can see this guy.

I can see Kyle and I did that to him, you know. They're going to live with that, you know. Yes. That's all. So the fighting nerds idea idea like is that accurate like would you consider yourself a nerdy kid growing up were you were you that type of youngster yeah i think so i think so i was uh actually people don't know that much but i was i was teacher when i was young you know since my feet i was 15 i was a math teacher and chemistry teacher you know wow i

grew up from 15 to i was until before going to sao paulo until i was like 2021 that's the way i was like making money here over there in my hometown you know i was teaching kids mathematics because i wasn't teaching the guys from my college chemistry and all that you know wow so i was a nerdy guy you know did you did you want to be a professor like what did you want to go far with this or is it always just kind of something you did to make some money yeah actually i was doing uh a college of uh industrial chemistry you know so i wanted to be a chemistry, you know, so I wanted to be a chemistry guy, you know, because I always liked it, you know, since I started studying chemistry. But my grandpa is a math teacher, you know, so I started because of him,

just to make money, do some classes with kids in the neighborhood and all that. And then I liked it, and then I started making a little bit of money on that you know so but you know I think I always had inside of me that I wanted to compete you know even could be in judo or MMA or you know anything like that I always want I was I always had this inside of me you know so for sure I like it when I was you know know, like teaching and all that. But I always had the things about competition inside of me, you know. So I always knew that I was going to do that. Who came up with the Fighting Nerds name? It was Pablo. Pablo Sucupira.

Your coach? Yes, my coach. Yeah, he's the founder of Fighting Nerds, you know. What year was that? 2019, I think. I think 2019. Yeah. And so why does it seem like just in the last maybe year or two that it's really getting the attention on a worldwide stage? Is it because you guys had to grow and develop as fighters? Yeah, exactly. We need to put at least one guy in the UFC to get this bigger platform

to talk about the team and all that. So I was the first guy that we put into the UFC. And now a lot of more guys come. So we needed the time to grow up as martial artists, as people. I think so. And officially, how many members of the Fighting Nerds team are there? Oh, a lot.

I think over like 15 teachers, you know, like coaches. Yeah. 15 coaches or something like that, 15. And I think around 40, 45 athletes. Okay. And my understanding is the name that he thought of, it was between Fighting Nerds and another name, right? Yeah, it was MMA Big Riders. Thank God you didn't choose MMA Big Riders.

I mean, that doesn't have the same type of spark to it. Exactly, exactly. I think Fighting Nerds is a genius name. It's just two things that are opposite reuniting together you know fighting there's you never think about a nerd guy when it comes about fighting you know and there's the nerd they never think about about fighting when you see a nerd guy you know so these two words they complete together you know i think it was a brilliant idea from god pablo as soon as he told me like I think it was a brilliant idea from Pablo.

As soon as he told me, like, I think it can be fighting nerves, I was like, that's the fucking name, man. Let's do it. That's the one, you know? And was it his idea as well to have the glasses and all that? Yeah, yeah. Actually, it was his idea. I was the one who was always wearing glasses, you you know since i was kids since the three years old but the actual idea was from him you know he came with that you know do you guys always just

have the glasses on you because we see like elon musk with the glasses we see john jones with the glasses everyone always has the glasses wherever you guys are there's glasses everywhere here's elon at madison square garden do you guys just walk around with a bunch of glasses? Yeah, everywhere. Every trip that we go, at least one of us bring, you know, like 100 glasses or 150, something like that. My last one to Australia, when I went to Australia, I brought with me like 150 glasses, you know. Really? So people, when we do the walkout, we throw at people and all that. People love the glasses, you know.

Everybody wants the glasses, you know. So it's fun to have it. It's fantastic. And I love the paintings in the gym with all like the famous people wearing the glasses as well. Like you guys have done a great job of marketing yourselves. And I said before the show, and I don't know if this will resonate, but your team reminds me of like the old school MMA teams where we used to hear about like Team Quest and AKA and Jackson Wang. Now there's a lot of guys who are just kind of all

over the place, but you guys seem to be like a real unit, which I think is great. Yes. Yes. That's one thing that we appreciate in our team a lot. The people that come to our team always feel that, you know, that union. I think it doesn't matter how big you are. If you feel like top five, top ten or anything, if you're a champion or anything like that, you're the same as everyone. Everybody needs to understand their rights and understand what they can do and all that you know so i think we're we're very uh there's a lot of union between us you know and no ego at all you know i think everybody can work together as one you know i think this is one of the most beautiful things

in the sport you know that we can have like a team of 12 people working together and there's no ego on it. I think this is something that we really appreciate on our team. Now I do have to say, we have had Carlos Prachas on the show as well. He doesn't strike me as much of a nerd, Carlos. Is he a... Yeah, not as much. He's a nerd of fighting.

This guy is a lot, you know? He's always trying to perfect his moves and all that, you know? I think he, you know, speaks English and all that shit. So I think he's a nerd of fighting, you know? Okay. And does he smoke around the gym as well? We keep hearing about him smoking packs. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

When we get out of training, we're going to lunch together. He always, you know, he smokes one, and then when he of training, we're going to lunch together. He always, you know, he smoke one and then when he comes back, he smoke another one, you know. He likes. Does he influence you? Does he make you want to smoke too? No, no. I actually did smoke a little bit when I was young, you know, but it was never my thing, you know.

Okay. It was never my thing. When did you get your first tattoo? My first tattoo, it was, I think I was like 18 years old. My grandma was with me. It was the one with my chest. Okay. It's judo.

Let me show you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Judo. So this was the first one. i was like 18 years old and uh and then after that i did the other ones when i came to sao paulo after i was 21 when did you get the neck one the neck one was 2019 2020 2020 yes. And what does that represent? Free spirit. What are you trying to say with that? Yeah, there's a bunch of things, actually.

With the injuries that I had in my career, you know, I had some time that I was anxious, you know. That was the time that was asking me, like, if it was going to work or not, you know, so I was really anxious have some uh anxiety crises you know out of breath and you know all that shit you know and then there there was a song that was the only song that called me used to calm me down in the name of the song was free spirit you know it's a song from khalid. And as soon as I started my breathing thing and all that, I put this song and then I was calming down. You know, so there was a song that really marked me a lot. And I always believed I was going to be in the UFC.

So I wanted to pass a message with this too, you know. So, you know, being free spirit is doing what you need to do, being disciplined and all that. And I think you need to be yourself, you know, because nowadays people always want to be like the other guy on the Instagram, the other guy or these famous people and all that. And they forget to be themselves, you know. So you're never going to be a free spirit in this world if you want to be another person, you know. I love that. You need to be yourself, be disciplined, you know. The true freedom is when you do what you need other person, you know. I love that. You just need to be yourself. You need discipline, you know. The true freedom is when you do what you need to do, you know.

You're not a slave of what you want. You do what you set up that you're going to do. And this is the meanings, you know. That's brilliant. I love that. How much did it hurt to get it on the neck, though? It fucking hurt a lot. Oh, there you go.

Did you regret it? No, no. No regret at all. Okay. Actually, my God. Did you regret it? No, no. No regret at all. Actually, I love tattoo. That's my favorite one. I don't even imagine myself without it, you know? So I love this one. And my tattoo artist, he's a nice guy.

He spent like just one hour on it, you know? So it was actually pretty fast. One hour? That's it? Wow. Yeah and one hour that's it wow yeah it must have felt like 10 hours in the moment right yeah i felt like an entire day yeah when i when i when i when we done with the tattoo i just screamed so loud you know it seems that was you know just want to fight you know you know it was the same like feeling we saw you out in sydney with uh sean strickland before the fight how did you develop a relationship with him so sean sean actually is a crazy story because when i fought in the contended series

yeah nice training session this one so when i fought the fought in the Contended Series, I fought Aaron Jeffrey. And Strickland was the one helping Aaron Jeffrey in his training camp. So when it came to the fight into the Contended Series, I won the fight. But Strickland spent the whole fucking fight screaming like crazy

over there. And then when the fight stopped, I came like that and said, who's the fucking meeting where they scream you know the whole fight you're so you know it's so bad man and then we had this back and forth between us and he and he was like let's fight in the parking lot and was like man i don't fight for free fuck you you know i was actually was the first thing that we said to each other was that and then after that after that he he invited me to train and then i was like this guy wants to pick up a lot of guys from the gym wants to beat me up you

know i'm not going to train with this guy you know so i was thinking about that and then after i went to train over there before my first fight in the ufc and then i was in the extreme and he was the nicest guy you know we trained together we you know tried to kill each other in the training but he was the nicest guy very true you know very honorable you know and then we we kind of started to develop our relationship you know and then after that I think I went back to extreme like five seven ten times more and we were we were always training and developing and actually all the extreme guys and strict and courteous and all that they're like you know big brothers to me you know every time

i was in town even not being part of their team and all that they uh separate the octagon for me if i have a fight schedule they always you know put me in the group so I can know all the training times and all that. So they are really nice, solid guys. I love those guys, you know, so really nice guys. So that's how we start to develop our relationship, you know. So after being with him and training with him leading up to that fight, and then you saw how the fight played out, were you surprised? Yeah, I was, man.

Actually, I was. I think he underperformed, you you know i don't know what he had with him you know i think you know it just it just seemed that he wasn't there he didn't show up you know and uh i was a little bit intricated by that so surprised for sure because i thought he was very well prepared we did a good training session on Monday. We did a good training session on Tuesday. We did five rounds sparring actually on Tuesday. He was looking good. He was there.

He was flowing. His weight was good. His weight was smooth. I didn't know what happened. He just underperformed. On the other side, we need to congratulate Drakus too because I think he did some adjustments inside this fight if if you compare with the first fight, and I think he did very good. So do you think that fight was more about what Drikus did or what Sean didn't do?

Both. Yeah. I think both. Yeah. 50-50 both, you know. Have you talked to him since? No, no. I didn't talk to him actually but you know we we cannot take the credit away from rickus but we definitely know that that's not that's not

how sean always fight you know he fought the best guys in the world and he did very good in and he had great performance in his career. So we all know that there is more shun than that, you know. Drikus, slowly but surely, is approaching Anderson Silva territory. Nine wins in a row. He just tied Chris Weidman. Soon there's Izzy and then Anderson. Is he surprising you?

Did you think that he had this in him? No. Actually, I'm very surprised. Actually, every time the Drakus fought, I was thinking the other guy was going to win. Wow. Every time, like Dorian, Brunson. Because he's so strange, you know.

He's so awkward, you know. He misses a lot. He has a lot of mistakes on his game and all that. But he makes it work. This is the crazy thing. This guy makes it work. Nine wins, nine straight wins. He's the world champion.

So he deserves all the credit. He deserves hats off all the time. That's the kind of guy that I want to test myself against. What do you think people aren't doing against them that you would do against them? I think people aren't controlling the distance, or if they are controlling the distance, they get tired of doing

that, and then they stop controlling, and then they get knocked out, you know? Like, there was a few people that was actually, you know, pissing him apart on the striking, you know, Darren, and Brunson a little bit actually you know piss him apart on the striking you know darren and uh berson a little bit you know um adesanya and then they they stopped to control the distance because they got tired of being you know when you fight drinkers you need to be in this fight for the five

rounds you know you you cannot get a lack of concentration no you cannot get away of the focus you know you need to be focusing for the five rounds in the intervals to in the rounds to you know so I think those guys they get tired of being you know in the fight all the time in the name two or three rounds they get tired and then they stop controlling the distance and that's when he gets he's getting bigger and bigger inside of him he managed to do different it's definitely uh i can focus for five rounds we can see how how we did that with canon here very dangerous guy you know i think I can be focused for five rounds

and I think I can control the distance as much as I want. And then he gets tired and then I start to piss him apart. That's my game plan. I appreciate it. I appreciate the analysis and the game plan. It does appear as though Hamzat is next for him.

How do you see that one playing out? Who do you think wins? You know, maybe, I think Hamza. I think Hamza wins, you know. But, you know, every time that I doubt Drikus, he won't, you know. So I don't know what to say about this guy anymore, you know. I think he's very awkward and all that, but he makes it work. And who knows if he's going to make it work against Hamza. I think Hamza wrestling is on another level,

but I think that can be a great fight and so you broke up a little bit but you yes did we lose you? do you see me? yeah so no I see you

I see you okay I missed just a little bit there. You say that you think it's Hamzat, but you also acknowledge that every time you see or you're about to see Drakus fight, you think he's going to lose, so you wouldn't be surprised if he wins again.

Yes, exactly. Because, you know, Hamzat wrestling is so good, but that's not an area of the fight that I think Drakus is uncomfortable. I think he's comfortable with the grappling scenario too. So who knows if this guy is going to make work against Hamza too. Who knows?

But I think it can be an interesting fight. Because you are so close to fighting for the belt, do you have a preference who wins? Would you like to be the first guy to to beat uh drek as his champion or would beating hamza be of greater interest to you no i think i think i i i prefer to face draco's you know like uh hansa is a hell of a competitor you know that and but actually i know i can beat him, but he's a kind of a friend of mine, you know, not that close friend because we train, we train together. I help him with his fight against Nate Diaz.

That was supposed to happen against Nate Diaz. So I was there in Sweden and then we, we fly, we fly to Vegas to finish his training camp and all that. So I was there helping him. So I approached it a little bit from him. When I was father, my son was born, he came to me and said congratulations and all that. So that was kind of our friendship that we have.

So with that being said, for sure, I prefer to face Dricus. How did that come about? How did your friendship with Hamza come about? It came because of Block Asset you know yeah so they just came to me and asked if I want to help Hamza on his training camp against Nate Diaz if I want to go there with you know everything paid to Sweden and help him and all that and I said yes right away you know I was just self-becoming guy with like two

fights in the UFC so I wanted to get better and I still want to get better but you know I was like wanted to get better young in the game and all that so definitely want to go there to learn from these guys and actually learn a lot from the guys on the all-stars when Hamza used to train there and Andreas and Alan Finfo his trainers and all that know. So it was good. I like to see you training with all these different stars. Alex Pereira, Hamzat, Sean Strickland. Is there anyone out there that you wouldn't fight? Because you have all these relationships and you're open to training with all these different people. Is there any fight that you would say no to?

You know, like when we come in the top of the sport, we cannot say no to these fights, you know like when we come in the top of the sport we cannot say no to these fights you know like if you fought the belt i would fight strickland i would fight hamsat i would fight enough these guys for the bell you know you know for big things do you still got me yeah Yeah, we still see you. Yeah, do you hear me well? Yeah, yeah. Sorry, buddy. So, yes, if it were for, like, big things, you know, big paychecks or, you know, for the belt and all that, I would fight Strickland.

I would fight Hamza. I would fight any of these guys, you know. But I think there's one guy that I maybe will never face, you know, because he's such a nice guy. He's a big friend of mine. He's in the same division. And it's Michel Pereira, you know. I don't want to fight against him, you know. I think our path almost crossed, you know, because he was doing good, and then he lost to Antonio Hernandez and all that.

But, you know, I don't think I will fight him, you know. He's such a nice guy. I like this guy so much. Okay, Fair enough. I appreciate that. When do you expect to fight again? When do you expect the, the fight date will be? So I want to fight as soon as possible.

Maybe the April card, you know, or May. I think maximum, maximum June. I want to fight until June, you know, because my last fight was in August last year.

So it would be, if I fight in June, I know, because my last fight was in August last year. So if I fight in June, I will be like 10 months with no fighting. So it doesn't make that much sense, you know. Why so long, by the way? How come you haven't gotten anything since? Yeah, you know, because the division was too messy, you know, and they wanted to see how it's going to work out

against, you know, Imavov and Adesanya and Drikus and Strickland and how Hamza will be with Whitaker and all that. And now I think they have the answers and the plan that they want. So I think the next, like, one or two weeks, we might have something, you know. Let's see. Okay.

And how many kids do you have? One. Just one. Liam. A little boy, right? Little boy, Liam. how old is he well he's one year and five months now there he is yeah the best thing in my life man that ever happened to me you know i love it well uh enjoy and uh such a great such a great pleasure to to talk to you you're you're such a likable guy and uh a guy that's so fun to root for and you're

doing great things. So I wish you nothing but the best. Thank you so much for coming on, Kyle. Great to have you on. Great to meet you and looking forward to a massive year for you in 2025. At the end of this year, at the end of 2025, where are you at? What do you have? With the belt.

Definitely with the belt at the end of this year. That's what I've been planning my whole life and since I got into the UFC and all that. And I think everything is going to line up together. I'm working hard and then this title shot is coming this year and the belt is coming this year.

I look forward to it. Good luck. Thank you for coming on. Obrigado. Thank you so much. De nada. Obrigado, irmão. There he is. Caio Borralho. He is kind enough to join us and really one of the top stars. And you talk to him and you look at him and you say, this guy has it.

The English is great. Obviously, the Portuguese is great. The fighting style is great. The look is great as well. What a guy. The glasses, the tattoo, the fighting nerds. The whole package is great. The look is great as well. What a guy. The glasses, the tattoo, the fighting nerds. The whole package, man. He really does, right?

Yeah, like I'm a fan now. Like maybe like borderline crush? I mean, I don't want to make it weird. Yeah. But it's a little weird. Also, is it not Paul Acosta just like cosplaying as somebody else? Like that was my first thought wow like a bit of a grittier yeah paulo costa right costa doesn't i don't think costa has tattoos

i feel like that's the thing maybe an intellect yeah an intellectual but it's it's the the juxtaposition of the intellect and the tats you know like it's as he said it's fighting nerds right exactly it's a little bit nerdy, eccentric. Bro, you're wearing the shirt? You didn't tell me. This whole thing? Bro. This whole thing right here?

How many times did I say? I have mine on, too. If you're wearing the merch, tell me, and we do the split screen. I know. This was actually a last-minute change. I had this in the control room, and I realized this. Oh, my God. Look how good it worked last week with Teporia.

I know, I know, it went viral. And there was another moment too. Me and Moses Satama. Yes, no, no, but weren't you wearing someone's shirt? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. Was it Aspinall maybe? Nah, no, Aspinall is always in the text. Yeah.

It was someone else, it was someone else. I had someone else's shirt on. I did have to point out though. Use the heads Nah, no, Aspinall is always in the text. Yeah. It was someone else. It was someone else. I had someone else as my friend. I mean, I... I did have to point out, though, like... Use the heads up. Yes, yes. This kid looks amazingly cute, right?

Yes, yes. When the kid gets older and is like, hey, Dad, I'm going to take the car and go do this thing, it's like, no, no, you can't. You're grounded. It's like, but, Dad, you literally have free spirit tattooed on you. Ah. I'm going to take the car.

This coming from a father, right? Of a teenager. You keep the free spirit down the back, from a free spirit. Oh, from a free spirit. Hey, Frankie, free spirit. Free spirit. You do it around the navel or on the lower back.

You don't want to put it on your neck because then you just look like a hypocrite if you have to lay down the law. I do have to say, it looks good on him, the neck tat. It really does. Yeah, when you're a fighter. Yeah, fighter in insane shape, 200 pounds,

probably like 6'2". At that point, you get that tattoo, you're pretty much saying, I'm not going to corporate America. Although in this day and age, it's a whole different ball. You remember there was a period of time, Frank probably would remember,

in the 90s, there was a certain type of frank probably would remember like in the 90s there was a certain type of person that had a tattoo now it's everyone now it's like almost weird if you're a cool ceo and you don't have a sleeve i think his intellect his looks his ability to speak multiple languages would speak more than his tattoos also probably not coming to corporate america corporate brazil is that a thing I mean, he could. This guy was a what did he say? A chemistry and math teacher? Math teacher, was dabbling in some industrial chemistry. I mean, he's just amazing.

Feels like a guy with a tattoo free spirit on his neck. He probably doesn't want to work for someone that isn't going to hire him because of tattoos. Oh, I can't get your job? Well, you can't have me. Yeah, F you. Did anyone catch the no regrets line? Oh, the shout out to We Are the Millers?

Yeah. Nice. Do you have any regrets? Yeah, I don't think he's going to be playing for the Yankees anytime soon. No, no, no, no, no. End of this year, is he a champion? No, no. Is it because he hasn't gotten the belt yet?

I don't think he's fought. Hasn't gotten the fight yet. Yeah, I don't think he's fought for it. Hasn't gotten the fight yet. Yeah, I don't think he's fought for it. It's because probably Hamzat is... Yeah, Bahar Hamzat Shemaev is going to be the champion. No, but I guess realistically, if that fight happens in October, let's just say, there ain't no title fight.

No. Whitaker or Imhovov? Imhovov. I'd like to see the Imhovov. That feels like a proper number one contender fight. Yeah. What do you say, PT? Yeah, and I'll agree with the boys.

That's the one. We were even saying it before you had him on there. That was the one to make with Hamzat being the next guy. So, yeah, it's actually really exciting. A lot of new blood at middleweight. All of a sudden, yeah. What a month for the middleweight division. Izzy on February 1st.

Title fight on the 8th right And then this past weekend you had Jared Cannoneer Nothing really of note on this weekend's card But what about our guy Austin Vanderford Getting the call Bringing life back to the middleweight division Fluffy's this weekend though

Fluffy Anonymous Isn't that the most fluffy thing ever I know. That's my bad, Brandon Allen. Now bumped up to the chief support. I remember thinking like,

wow, every single card this month. Is there a UFC on the... I don't think so. No, there is no 29th. It's March 1st.

So this would be the last Saturday of the month. Every single card had an important middleweight fight on it. Yeah, Fluffy. That's my bad.

Is he the favorite in that one? Yeah, he's like minus 260. Yeah, I see minus 285 on topology here. Plus, yes, but Austin Vanderford, I do believe fighting at, I think he's fighting at 170 in this one, the gentleman. Shout out. Slight underdog against Nikolai Varetnikov.

Never got that Luke Trainor fight? The Gentleman versus the Gentleman? Yeah. Yeah, I was really hoping for that one. Never say never. Never. 34, Austin. I saw Danny Rubenstein, manager to the Stars,

upset that his guy Lance Gibson didn't get the call because he's around. He's from the Vancouver. He made that whole video being like, sign me for UFC Seattle. It's the one. Gibson? Yeah, he made a whole thing about it. Is he from Seattle?

I think he's from Vancouver. Yeah, I think he's just from that area. I really wanted to fight on UFC Seattle. What's Frank talking about? I don't know, bro. He's just yapping back. Yeah, man. What's going on?? I don't know, bro. He's just yapping back here. Yeah, man. What's going on? You know, we got to work back here, too.

It's always the excuse. Put yourself on mute. Except there's never any work going on back here. Frank has been banging the drum to see this Adam Sandler. Did you really have to do this? It's a comedy special on Netflix. So last night, well, last night I said to myself, okay, I mean, I got home. I was so excited.

But my kids had homework they didn't plan very well. I wanted to watch this Court of Gold documentary, this doc series on Netflix following Team USA, France, Canada, and Serbia in the Olympics. And the trailer, the clips that have come out, I mean, this is just right up my alley. It looked fantastic. And so we put it on right before bed just a quick little 10 minute taste and i felt like i was i felt like i was nibbling on like the most like uh like like the most expensive and and rich chocolate bar of all time and i just i wanted to savor every single bite because it was so damn good just let it melt in your mouth oh my god i

was loving it and then i said guys we have to go to bed And they're like no just five more minutes I was like eh one more minute But then it's like no it's already like 9.55 You have to go to bed we're gonna Feel this tomorrow but it looks fantastic And um And I can't wait I'm like legitimately excited to go home tonight

At least you know cause you know me I like to watch my movies in like You know 15 part installments 10 minutes at a time And then I'll fall asleep and then I'll have to rewind it. But this one, I'm all in on. And then I get to bed and I'm like, okay, well, Frank keeps talking about this Adam Sandler thing, and I'm the biggest Adam Sandler fan of all time. And 10 minutes in, right before falling asleep, I had to just say, okay, Frank, maybe we'll agree to disagree on this one. You know what? Yeah, I think as, maybe we'll agree to disagree on this one. You know what?

Yeah, I think as gentlemen, we should just park it here. Let everyone else decide. They can go watch it if they're on Team Frank or Team Ariel. My favorite part is that he's pushing so hard for this. Yeah. And it came out like six months ago. Have you seen The Killer? That's what I was just thinking.

Another one that said the one where he plays a few songs. I'm sorry that I just watched it and was asking people if they've seen it and then recommended it. It's normal office banter at the water bottle. He came in here. I'm sitting here. Oh, my bad. Because the control room is like a 10-minute walk from here. It is quite the trek, yeah.

And he comes in here, closes the door. I'm sitting after the show, and I think he's about to tell me something very serious. We're going to have a talk. He walks in with his laptop. I did tell us something very serious that night that apparently you don't remember uh he's like uh hey man um there's a doc series or a doc or whatever the hell it is a comedy special uh starring adam sandler that i really think you should watch i was like this is it this is what you came nobody else nobody else was there just close the door behind him doesn't allow us to to talk to him.

Frank also, he throws out recommendations left and right, and then he hounds you and hounds you on whether or not you've watched them. And then every once in a blue moon, maybe every two years, I give Frank a really sincere recommendation. Hey, man, I really think you'd enjoy this. I read this. This lines up perfectly with your personality. I really think you'd like this a lot.

And then he'll never watch it. He'll never read it. You started Project Hail Mary yet, Frankie? You said Atlas Shrugged, right? Nope. Nope. Read a great book. Right up Frankie's alley.

It's perfect for him. Perfect for a rainy day. Now that I think about it, I gave Frank a movie to watch, and he hasn't watched that either. Now that I think about it. Sincere, real recommendations. Not just like, oh, I watched this thing, and I liked it. Now I'm going to spray this recommendation to every single person I know, and I'm going to hound them until they watch some of it. Sincere, real recommendations. Not just like, oh, I watched this thing and I liked it. Now I'm going to spray this recommendation to every single person I know and I'm going to hound them until they watch some of it.

Personalized, really sincere recommendations. Didn't recommend it to anyone else. Just to you, Frank, because I know you'd like it. He never takes you up on it. I got to be honest. At least I'm consistent. I watched, I binged Court of Gold yesterday. Wait, you finished it? Whole series, all six episodes? Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's crazy.

You're a freak. How good? Don't spoil it for me. I don't want to know who wins. I was going to watch Frank's Adam Sandler recommendation, but now I feel like I'm a little bit iffy because there's no reciprocation. There's no reciprocation.

I recommended The Raid, which is a fantastic movie. Oh, I forgot to tell you. Yeah, okay, Frank. Yeah, we know you haven't, Frank. We know you haven't. You're trying to find more shit to recommend to us that we're not going to watch. He sends me random YouTube videos and then hounds me if I watch them. And I've actually watched all of them because I take something like that seriously.

To GC's point, it feels like it's coming from a place of, hey, I want to share this experience with you. Now I'm starting to rewind the tape and question and think, should I ever watch Frank's recommendations until he reciprocates the feeling? It's going to be a little bit of a tough watch, Court of Gold, for you, because you can tell that they were trying to nail it to really thread the needle to get the final four teams in. Unfortunately, no candidate. Oh, I was waiting for the punchline there. No, listen, we were happy to be there

They covered Canada pretty extensively For sure they were hoping that was going to be a plan 14 That was the plan Not even close to true I know the people who produced it Trust me they didn't want to follow Germany With all due respect to Franz Wagner Dennis Schroeder

Not quite the same as Shea Gilders And by the way And by the, we were one year away. You're lucky. You missed us. If the Olympics were this year, was Shea doing what he was doing? It would have been lights out for everyone. Come on, man. You guys got hockey.

There's some pretty great Canada and some pretty great specifically Shea and RJ moments in there. I can't wait. It serves the Canadians. You know about this PT. Is it available in Europe? Yeah, yeah. I can't wait. It serves the Canadian fan well. You know about this, PT? Is it available in Europe? Yeah, yeah, I saw the ads. And then I saw you saying LeBron's not in it because he's trying to make his own last dance.

And I was like, that's a bit... Okay, well, first of all... That was me speculating. And first of all, that was like private text. Yeah, don't say that out loud. Like, jeez. Oh, I mean, it was someone else I was talking to. Deep, deep speculation.

You can't just say this on the program. I just dropped stuff into the chat and now Pete's just reading them out. He turned me off. And attributed it to me. He also said it was you when I said it. Ariel Hawane reports LeBron James opted out of Court of Gold due to wanting to do his own thing. Yeah, I was really excited, and then I saw Ariel's message. I was like, you know what?

Fuck this. Oh, yeah. Marshan is already writing an article right now. I love it. Pin it to Ariel. I don't give a shit. All right. So we know anything in that chat, Pizzi will throw at me.

Thanks a lot. I'm just going to start putting disinfo. I'm just going to start putting bad info in there to see what Pizzi does. Here I am trying to include Pizzi, you know, the non-basketball guy, the non-hoops head in the conversation. He throws me under the bus. Appreciate that, Pizzi. Thank you so much. No problem, man. Always good to talk to you. Time now non-hoops head in the conversation. He throws me under the bus. Appreciate that, Pete C. Thank you so much.

No problem, man. Always good to talk to you. Time now for everyone's favorite segment of the week. It is time. It's time for All That Knows. Yeah.

Tremendous stuff. Thank you, Frankie. Really, really good stuff there, and I'm looking forward to getting into these. This is nice. No more guests. We can do our thing here, and we start off with Kyle Grant.

A quote GC has mentioned before, I wish there was a way to know you're in the, quote, good old days before you've actually left them. Who said it? Who said it? Andy from the office? Yeah. Andy Bernard.

Got it. Ariel, you appear to be in the peak of your career in this uncrowned era. But as we've heard many times before from the UFC champs that have come on the show, the belt doesn't always bring the happiness they thought it would. As they say, heavy lies the crown. When were you the happiest in your career? When were your good old days? Golly, I mean, this is deep. We're going to get emotional here off the bat. and I ponder it and I pause for a moment because I do wonder if I say anything but now, that's a lack of appreciation for now, but I understand what you're implying. And I don't want to insinuate that like the apex has already happened because I'd be very disappointed if that happened. But I do feel like 2010, 2011, 2012

was fun for a multitude of reasons. 2010, you know, I got to go to that Abu Dhabi card, got to start to travel. 2011, I felt like the, you know, the career and the show was really coming into its own. 2012, I get the opportunity to be on Fox and it felt like everything was kind of like off and running. You know, getting to be on TV and MMA fighting as a site was doing great. And a lot of my, you know, I think more memorable walk and talks and interviews happened in that era. As we started to get closer to like 14, 15, 16, that's when a lot of the troubles start to arise. And then there's a different feel post 16.

So also 2012, I become a father for the first time, family starting to come together. I've talked about that. I think I've talked about it on this show, but I remember vividly, I get chills when I even take myself there. I remember vividly a Friday night, first week of May, 2012. I'm folding laundry while watching Bellator on, I do believe MTV2.

And it's a Friday night and we're living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And I'm hearing people walking outside, partying, uh, the weather, you know, there's no better time in, in, in New York than the springtime. Everyone's happy. And, uh, the window is open and I'm folding laundry, watching MMA. And, and my son who is about to turn 13, unbelievably at this point is a week old, if not two max, is sitting in the, or sleeping in the bassinet to my left. I could see the whole room in front of me. And I remember in that moment saying, this is the dream. This is everything I ever wanted in life. I'm a father,

I'm a husband, I'm working in sports, I'm a broadcaster, and it's a Friday night and I don't have to go anywhere because I never really liked going to bars and things like that. And I'm folding laundry and life is good. Everyone's healthy. And I remember in that moment, and so maybe that was it. Maybe that's the answer to this question. But I hope, and I actually read something maybe yesterday, earlier today, sometime this week, where someone said instead of, you know, instead, and I don't know if they were joking or not, but instead of, you know, waking up and wishing you were 16, 17, 18, when perhaps life was simpler and you didn't have a care in the world and you could go out and party and do whatever the hell you were doing at that age. And that's some 30 years ago. Think about how you'll feel, God willing, when you're 75,

you'll be praying for today. You'll be praying for your, or longing for your early forties. And so I'm content. I'm very content. I'm very happy. But that's the constant, I feel like constant battle in life. For me, the teenage years and the early 20s were a time of great turmoil. And I felt like once I hit 30 and then post 30, and now even in my 40s, I feel a lot more comfortable. I feel a lot happier. I feel a lot more content, but I will maintain if it all ends today, I'll be very disappointed. This, this to me is not the endpoint. This to me is not the mountaintop. This is not, well, when I talk to people, they'd be like, oh my God, you made it. I did not make it. This is not making it in my opinion.

We're, we're on route to something hopefully, but this, but this is not the end. I do appreciate the question. California Kid, two hard hitters that you will most likely shy away from answering. I love when people say that. You say it's so distasteful for Dana to publicly shit on fighters such as Armin. Did I say that? In any event, I have said that a promoter shouldn't demote and should promote. I don't think he, did I say he shat on our men?

I really don't remember that, but fine. But then here you are fishing for Nixick to publicly shit on Strickland because it benefits you in the show. Not to mention you've been on a shitting on Strickland tour. All right, let's talk about this, California Kid. Number one, I am not Sean Strickland's promoter. I'm a journalist. I'm a host of a show. So you're equating me and Dana White as the same thing. We are not the same thing. Sean Strickland doesn't work for me. I don't pay Sean Strickland. A. B. Did I fish for Nixick to publicly shit on Strickland or was I just asking him questions? Eric Nixick agreed to come on the show. I reached out to him. He said yes. He was saying things. I asked questions. He could have said, no, I don't really feel this way. Or no, I actually

thought he fought great. Or no, he answered the questions. I don't think that they were leading questions. I don't think that I was trying to trick him. I don't think that I was trying to get him to, to shit on Strickland or anything of that nature. So I disagree and I'll, I'll refute your stance. It doesn't, I don't like you, this idea that it benefits me in the show,

whether he came on that day or not, we were still be sitting here, still doing the show. No one will remember it in six months. Not everything is about today's show and show And today's hits and today's views You may think it's that But to me I'm in the relationship business

I wouldn't still be here 16 years after Starting this show This show started in June of 2009 Started my career in 2007 My first show was in 2001 in Syracuse University If I didn't value relationships And so if someone doesn't want to come on

If someone's not comfortable If someone's unhappy I'll be honest with you I saw some of Nick's interview on his show The Versus Pod with Randy And I thought he did great The one thing that I didn't hear And that's totally fine

Is that I felt horrible about the aftermath And I checked in on him multiple times Because the last thing that I didn't hear, and that's totally fine, is that I felt horrible about the aftermath and I checked in on him multiple times because the last thing that I want is for any sort of stress, any sort of anxiety, any sort of dissolving of a friendship, of a relationship, of a business relationship to come as a result of my show or me. I don't want that. And so I asked him if there's anything I could do, if there's any sort of statement he wanted to put out. I didn't ask him to come back because I'm not trying to capitalize on the situation. And the only time I talked about the situation was on the Monday after, didn't tweet about Sean's video, didn't tweet about anything else. We spoke about it for seven minutes on Monday's show. And that was it. I didn't ask Dichus about it i didn't ask kayoba about it so this notion that i'm trying to capitalize on it for the show is is ludicrous also this shitting on strickland

tour is ludicrous as well and i see people say oh it's because he's a lib he's a mad lib by now i hope you realize that sean strickland and i believe it or not actually have a lot more in. And if we want to talk about the Middle East situation, Sean Strickland is one of the very few UFC fighters that has actually spoken in support of the state of Israel defending itself. And you know my stance on that. So you guys, you sound so dumb when you say this shit. And you want to have your own sort of narrative, this self-fulfilling prophecy that i'm this or that when in reality you're not paying attention so just to clarify that the other hard hitter that you have let's hear it california kid uh pt just said he hasn't had a drink in so long including all of january but he was drinking a cocktail on the award show in january what do you have to say to yourself? P.S. Still the goat. I'm not sure if that's you or me, Pete C, but what's your response?

Pretty sure it's me. Pretty sure it's me. Non-alcoholic Negroni sent to me by your good friend, John Beer. Thank you very much. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So I would say that's a swing and a miss two times. Bad luck, mate. Parker. Sup, Sigmas? My question is a hypothetical for you guys. If Curtis Blades got the win over Tom Aspinall last summer, how do you think Jones would have approached that fight

during his last fight week? Hard to believe he'd be talking as much smack and ducking that fight like he did the Aspinall fight. However, it's hard to tell because a version of Blades that beats Aspinall should be a scary fight. P.S. hard to tell because a version of Blades that beats Aspinall should be a scary fight. P.S. Shout out to Pete C.

He is the goat. By the way, I love this thing where everyone spells your name differently on the show. Yeah, I like it too. Yeah, it's fun. You can see it on his face. He loves it. Actually, no one ever spells it right. It's quite a common thing. Maybe I'm spelling it wrong. P's quite a common thing. Maybe unspelled.

P-E-T-E-S-Y. That's incorrect. Yeah, no, that is accurate. It's a faulty premise. Yeah. Faulty premise. Yeah. Because it presupposes one that John Jones is not taking a fight with Tom Aspinall because he's scared of him.

And as we have made clear infinite times, it is not a fearbased uh negotiation that's happening um it's it's purely a money thing second of all curtis blades i think offers danger without the upside whereas tom aspinall i think offers a lot more upside uh even though he is more dangerous in my opinion it's a higher risk fight but it's also a higher upside fight for john jones curtis blades is a is a medium risk low upside type fight he doesn't have a huge name he's lost before in the past it wouldn't be significant for tom for john to stop tom that would be worth the risk if they can make the money work so the scenario just doesn't really like work at all but it's also on a faulty premise that John Jones is scared of Tom Aspinall. Couldn't agree more. And, and, and he's allowed at this stage of his career to be, to be calculated. He is allowed, I get it. And he's also allowed to say,

show me the money. He has earned that right. Risk, compensation. Yeah. If they're not equal, if you're still not have to take it it If you're still banging the drum that John Jones is afraid of any human being on the planet Like come on what are we doing Lex Hey Ariel I see Makaev is on the show today I remember last year he said something like He won't ever come on again can you please explain

To us what happened a little bit Yeah I mean I touched on it a little bit at the Top there He said that I was disappointed when he said it. I didn't really lose that much sleep over it. Not the first guy to publicly proclaim that he wouldn't come on the show

and also not the first guy to publicly proclaim that he would not come on the show and then come on the show. The likes of Ben Askren and Tito Ortiz and many others have done that. Rampage Jackson as well. He did that in the midst of the, you know, the real aftermath of October 7th. I think it was like two weeks later. And if my timing is correct,

he did it some 12 hours after I posted a video of people just invading the Dagestani airport looking for Jews, like literally looking in plane engines, propellers, all over the place. It was a wild scene. It was out of a movie. And I just reposted that without commentary to shine a light on it, because I would imagine there's a lot of people who don't see the things that I see, given the way this algorithm, Meshugas, works. And it was literally a few hours later that he posted that. We did not speak once since that tweet. I talked about him deserving to be in the UFC and probably should be next for Pantoja. He reposted that.

He said, I didn't expect this. And my response was, why not? I think, I would like to think that I have proven time and again that I'm able to separate personal feelings from fact, fiction, reporting, non-reporting, bias, whatever. Then he reached out to me to just ask my take on the situation. We spoke a little bit. We left it at that. There was no talk of coming on the show. And then I got to thinking of it. And again, I see people saying, oh, you won't have these fighters on. You won't have Bilal on.

You won't have Muslim fighters on. And it's all bullshit. It's all lies. You're all projecting. I have said time and again, that's not how I operate. And I've proven time and again, that's not how I operate. And I've proven time and again that that's not how I operate. And here I am proving it again. I do not care. I do not care. And in fact, I relish those opportunities because in everyday life, someone like me and Muhammad Mokai probably don't cross paths, but here we're able to cross paths due to the fact that we both work in the same world, in the same industry. And I think it's important to show

people that you don't always have to agree. You don't always have to be from the same world. You don't always have to be on the same page. You don't always have to believe in the same things. That's okay. But we can hopefully come together and agree on one thing. The world is a better place when there's peace, when there's harmony, when there's coexistence. And when people from different walks of life are able to communicate and bond and connect in public platforms. I don't wanna live with hatred.

I don't wanna live with animosity. And so that's why when I say things like, I extend the invitation to this person, this person, that, I mean it. They don't mean to live with animosity. And so that's why when I say things like I extend the invitation to this person, this person, that, I mean it. They don't mean it. I mean it. And that's to show people and that's to show the world that this can happen, that this can work. No other reason. I don't care. I don't care about the't care i don't care about the views i don't care about the hits i don't care about anything i got great fulfillment out of that and i feel better about life and humanity after that and and i'm happy that he said yes and uh i would welcome

all those conversations and i wasn't having him on to debate. Like, we're not going to agree on these things and that's fine. It's complex. I may feel a certain way. He may feel a certain way. As you said, it's a very emotional topic. I understand that. We may never agree, but I'm happy that two people from two different walks of life can come together and talk about his career, about the sport, talk about growth, talk about feelings a little bit and move on. And so I don't want to hold those grudges. And I would like to think that those that have been watching and following for the past 16 or so years recognize that by now and don't fall for the bullshit that other people try to spew. Mr. Mystery Balls. Shalom, Ariel.

I'll start with the elephant in the room this week. How come there's no Helwani vision for the last crescendo? DAZN screwed the pooch. There wasn't really talk of that. We didn't really pitch it, to be honest. We can join us for a watch party. But there is going to be a watch party beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern, yes?

That's correct. There it is. Join us, would you? Join us. Right here on this channel. Right here. So, no screwing of the pooch. All good. Speaking of elephants and pooches, it's time. It's time for the A.H. Show to become a true talk show, and that will only happen

with real, live animal expert in studio. Talking with Olivera about horses, Cannoneer, and Fluffy about chickens is fine, but we need a real, live animal pooping on your desk, licking your Grick Scout, and challenging Frank to mic it up properly. I recommend

Jesse Knetsen Castaneda from animal wonders love the show jesse it's not a love the show dash jesse uh suggesting himself to come on oh is it him no but it sounds like a commercial for for this gentleman because that makes absolutely no sense why would we have an animal expert on the show yeah Yeah, you're right. Shut down. A lot of lads getting shut down. That's just a miss. Just loaded up the gun. Yeah, that's what we need. We need an animal expert.

No, we do not. We absolutely do not. Now, would it be fun to send GC to Brazil to ride some horses with Charles Oliveira? That'd be pretty sick. Fucking sign me up. A little horse riding and then some acai afterward? I'll do it with Kyle.

Yeah, maybe he does that too. Mr. Rat, hello Ariel, the Four Nations concept seems fitting for International Fight Week. That's a good point. Do you think the UFC will ever go back to making International Fight Week more than just any other pay-per-view? I was actually thinking of this when

I think it was Drickus when he was talking about International Fight Week and I'm like, there really isn't anything different about International Fight Week anymore. just any other pay-per-view. I was actually thinking of this when some, I think it was Drickus, when he was talking about International Fight Week, and I'm like, there really isn't anything different about International Fight Week anymore. I guess there's the Hall of Fame, there's a little expo, but you young kids don't remember when there were three, then two fight cards that week? Thursday, Friday, Saturday, then Friday, Saturday.

There was a point where it was Saturday, Sunday in addition to Hall of Fame and all that. Now it's just a Saturday card, which is fine. But maybe they spruced it up with a little grappling on Friday or something like that. One time they had Invicta on the Friday. Anyway, maybe a decent fight night the Wednesday before. Yeah, or that. Any suggestions you and the crew would have to upgrade International Fight Week

and make it more of a WrestleMania for the UFC other than stacking the card with great fights? P.S. I think Brian Campbell would post you up on the court. Yeah, right. I mean, come on. I mean, please. Very, very nice thought, but let's not get crazy here. One thing that would be cool that I've suggested in the past is like other organizations, why can't an LFA just do a show in Vegas that week? You know, one of the cool things about WrestleMania is that you'll have multiple other smaller, you know, Josh Barnett's Bloodsport or Ring of Honor here,

and Joey Janela's there. Like, other smaller indie promotions do shows that week, giving people things to do. What if an LFA does a show? An Invicta does a show. A Cage Warriors does a show. A Cage Fury does a show. I donicta does a show. A Cage Warriors does a show. A Cage Fury does a show. I don't know. Something like that.

Give people a whole bunch of stuff to do that week. Have them come out on a Tuesday and spend the whole week. That'd be fun. CE. Hey, lads. For the younger generation of fans, can you describe to us what your experience is of UFC 229 fight week?

Just how intense was it? By the way, boys in the back, keep up the good work. Your show is off the charts RN, which I believe stands for right now. Look at you. Yeah. I thought registered nurse. 229 was nuts. To me, 229 starts in August of 2018.

I'm personally two months into my time at ESPN. We're in Los Angeles to cover the Henry Cejudo, Demetrius Johnson card. They do a kickoff press conference for the upcoming shows. That's the one that was highlighted by Dustin Poirier versus Nate Diaz that was supposed to happen at MSG, which never came to fruition, but they did do a face-off. At the end of the press conference, they play the promo for this Conor McGregor versus Khabib Nurmagomedov fight, which is happening in two months, right? It was October. Here we are in August. When they play the promo, Nate Diaz walked off, if you recall. Everyone's going gaga, going crazy. We're saying this is going to go nuts.

Two million buys, all this stuff. Shortly thereafter, they have the press conference in New York. That's the one with the meh, meh, meh, meh, meh, and all that stuff, and the where's Noah and all this, and that was a crazy one. The crowd was nuts. Chris Dasporzingas was there. We aired it on ESPN2, I believe, and did some post interviews. We were supposed to get Conor and Khabib in the aftermath of the press conference, but they both left. But they were late. It started late, so we had to kill time on air. I remember that. I remember the week of of the fight We had Conor and Khabib on the Monday show You remember this Rick?

We had Conor and Khabib on the Monday of that fight week On the Ariel Helwani MMA show You don't remember? I said I do yeah Oh yeah that was nuts That was a crazy one And then we get to Vegas And there was a ton of buzz

There was the other crazy press conference, which I think started late as well. And some wild things were said. And then weigh-ins, nuts, Saturday happens. That Stephen A meme Of him sitting at the desk I'm sitting right next to him You know that one of him sitting at the desk in the arena Where he's like making the face And he's looking somewhat like down Certainly GC knows He's certainly used this meme before You know who I'm talking about right Stephen A sitting at a desk in an arena

And he's like You know the one You've 100% used it. I think you've actually, I could see you using it with like a UFC hat on his head. You know what I'm talking about. This is it right here.

I just typed in Stephen A. Smith meme and it's the second picture. It's actually the first picture when you go to images. Yeah. You know the one. All the time, all the time. You're saying he's looking down he's more so

like looking shocked he's looking sad shocked whatever i'm sitting right next to him it's chale on one side and me on the other yeah sure enough you can see the ufc there it is yeah that's so good he was unimpressed yeah anyway um they were coming to us live on sports center in the in the aftermath, and the brawl is happening behind us. And I remember saying it was like one of the darkest days, and it was like one of the worst days for MMA since the Strikeforce brawl in Nashville. And why does it always seem like when the spotlight is biggest on the sport that something like this happens? It was a crazy time. I thought that we were like we were this far away from that thing igniting and just spreading all across

T-Mobile. Like that could Las Vegas police and T-Mobile security do not get enough credit for squashing that and keeping that contained. That could have gone way worse in my opinion. It could have been like Riddick Bowe, Andrew Gulotta back in the day.

They did a great job. And I know it did get ugly, but it could have gotten way uglier considering the people involved. Were you at that one, Rick? I was not. Were you at that one, PT? No, that was the first one. That was the first time in my fight at Connors that I'd missed

in the UFC run, I think. So, no, I wasn't there. Earthquake out there in Blanchard's, huh?

Yeah, what's going on? Is there an earthquake? This is my desk, well. I thought we were getting a category five out there.

It would be the first in Irish history, but it's just this desk. I still haven't got a bigger one. I really need to start that up. Please keep speaking.

I also was not there just for the record just wanted to make that oh it was just after joining mma fighting wasn't i no no no that was the year before the mayweather one um and my contacts within the mcgregor camp had all but droid up at that stage unfortunately uh i also did not attend. Okay, cool, cool. Thanks. Speaking of Frank, the next question is directed to you. Hello, Uncrowned Crew. Question from Mysterious Frank. When you first started working on the show with Ariel, were you surprised? Or did you expect having so much on-air time just being the quote-unquote audio guy?

Did you like it? Or did it take some time to get used to? Thanks, as always, for the great content. P.S. I also went skiing this past weekend, and I feel your pain, Ariel. It's just starting to go away, believe it or not. Unbelievable. I mean, I've gotten really old, I guess. Frank, what about it?

To answer the question, no. It was another gig of mixing a show, doing some editing, talked to Ariel a couple times. He got used to me chiming in on his ear to say different things and then he asked if i wanted to be on air and i decided like yeah let's do it and to be quite honest i'm still not completely comfortable with it oh stop it but uh you're a natural yeah but i

do enjoy it i do enjoy being a part of the team and that's how that happened do you remember the first time i do you were prompted really well there was a couple i remember um when i started to get a little bit more loose with commenting back on things that you said someone made like a reel on twitter and i was like oh there's some traction to this like the little smart-ass remarks that i can give you might actually resonate with some people so i remember a couple of the first jokes that that's really what it comes down to. Okay. Well, you're, you're a valued member of the team and it wouldn't be the same without you. I thought maybe at the beginning when you were talking about all that, you were like, oh, I'm mixing, I'm engineering, I'm doing this. Like, it's just a lot to handle. Is that what

you were implying? No, no. What I want to do is make sure that other aspiring audio engineers know, you know, it's like you, you got a gig, you're expected to do certain make sure that other aspiring audio engineers know you know it's like you got a gig you're expected to do certain things and this was not something that we had talked about beforehand but i have embraced it since do you feel gotta make sure of that for sure do you feel like uh it was basically you like kind of being talent and not being compensated for that i think you're reading way too deep into this, but now that you mention it, yeah. I did send an email to Jerry. Okay, all right. Perfect, perfect.

We continue. Hey, guys. This is from Connor. Connor from Canada. Hey, guys. The other night I had a crappy meal at a restaurant, which I considered sending back, but decided against it because there was nothing objectively wrong. It just wasn't good. So my question is, which of you guys would send food

back and which just smile happily when they ask how everything is? My guess is Ariel and Frank Wood. You couldn't be more wrong. I don't think I've ever sent food back. I just kind of bite the bullet. I don't, I have too much, I don't know. I like, I don't have the chutzpah to send food back. He continues, GC and Rick Wooden. PC doesn't have this problem because he just drinks when he's out. Wow. Jesus Christ. Have you guys ever seen...

The alcohol focus today is... It's almost like you've curated this image of yourself that people are identifying. Yeah, I don't mind. I had a piece of plate in my food once in Nando's and I didn't even bring it back. Like just a wedge of plate and we're just like, fuck it. Plate? Like a glass plate? Ceramic?

Like porcelain, yeah, ceramic plate. Porcelain plate. Wow. There we go. Yeah, probably sending that one back. Most other stuff I'm just going to eat. Yeah, I would one back. Most of the stuff I'm just going to eat. Yeah, I would eat it. Not to worry. I'm just going to eat it and be like, well.

Yeah. I just, yeah. Unless, I mean, honestly. How bad are we talking? Like, if it's inedible, I just won't eat it. I would never send it back. But if it's edible, I'll eat it.

What would have to happen? Like, what would, what type of state would have to be in? You know what, you know what kind of irks me a little bit? I see sometimes

people saying, oh, this isn't cooked enough. They'll eat a piece of steak or a piece of salmon and say it's not cooked enough.

What are they doing then? Are they taking that piece that you have eaten already and putting it back on the grill? Because if so,

that's not very sanitary. No, they're just spitting in it and then coming back and buying it. What are they doing?

They walk into the kitchen, they spit right in it, and then they give it back. Well, it might not be saliva on it if you use a fork and knife. They don't chew on it. What is that? What is that? That's a straw. Everything's through a straw.

Eat it. One bite. Another bite. How many bites are we taking before this is well undercooked? You're going to get halfway through the thing and be like. Two, three. Two, three. Ah, look at this.

Look at this. I thought maybe it was the outside. No, come on. Wait, what if you find a hair or something? Then do you send it back or you just pull it out and you're like, oh, man, I didn't see it. Honestly, if I find a hair, I'm just done. I don't want to partake in this meal anymore. All right, so one time I was in Brooklyn at a horrible establishment.

I can't remember the name right now. If I could remember it, I would actually air them out on this broadcast. Me and my roommate at the time were getting some breakfast, and we're halfway through the meal, and two pieces of toast like this, he opens them up, roach in between them dead smash. Jesus Christ, man. It was absolutely horrible. They wouldn't give him his money back.

We had to just leave. And then a few weeks later, a guy we used to work with, Alex, was like, oh yeah, I went to XYZ. And I was like, no, no. Please tell me you didn't. I did the whole thing. Google reviews, pictures left with it

and everything. It was the worst thing. Google reviews, pictures left with it and everything. It was the worst dining experience I've ever had. Such a traumatic experience. Sanitation department probably came for them. I'll find the name right now. It was October of 2021. Deserves to trot him under the bus, to be fair. No refund is wild.

And the worst part is the waiter comes over and was like, man, I've been telling them their sanitation back there is horrible. I'm just like, thanks, bro. Get me out of here. God. That's horrible.

Thanks, bro. You could have given me a heads up when I walked in instead of serving me roach meat. That's all he said to your mate, GC, when he's like, there's a roach between two pieces of bread. He's like, I know the situation's bad. I can't deal with this. It's making me sick talking about this. Hold on. I actually feel nauseous right now.

I think I found the place. I'm seeing if I can find my picture. What you have to be sure of is if you have found the place, because if you say the wrong place, that's very not good. I'm going back through it to find my picture. Of the roach? Yeah, the picture of the roach is on the reviews. This is from Ryder.

This is from Ryder. What's up, Ariel and the crew? In this uncrowned era, you guys use the phrase working through the kinks a whole lot. My question is, when does the working through the kinks period end? Any word on 314? You know, it's a mindset. That's the thing you have to understand. It's a constant evolution.

We're constantly working through the kinks. In fact, just today, we were working through more kinks. So, you know, I don't know if it ever ends, because I think that if you strive for greatness, as the great LeBron James once said, you never stop working through the kinks. Damn right. Yeah. Now 314, 314. That would be Miami. And I'm not sure, but I think it should be soon. Any day now. It's going to be, I mean, we're past the two-month mark. Volkmeister.

Well, Ariel, last week you mentioned that the Bilal Shafkat fight could happen at 315 in Quebec. Yeah, I'm not sure about that anymore, if I'm being honest. I understand that he could be popular with the fans over there. However, if that happens, would the UFC be missing out on an opportunity to have him and Juliana on a pay-per-view in Chicago? Seems like a no-brainer. Listen, these days, they're going where they're getting paid. You notice all those tourism ads? You know, like, cities are paying top dollar to have ufc events there that's how hot the

business is that's how hot the company is and so if for example a chicago isn't paying they're not going there because balal and and juliana rip chicago they're doing just fine without it so it's not really a dropping of the ball uh matt Chawiwis, hi Ariel, with Austin Vanderford signing with the UFC and he debuts at UFC Seattle this Saturday. Are there any more ex-Bellator fighters who are coming to the UFC that maybe you know about but cannot disclose yet? Not really. And I'm pretty sure Austin has fought since leaving Bellator, if I do believe. The big one right now, of course, yeah, he fought on LFA in October.

The big one, of course, is this Aaron Pico story, which is making the rounds. And oh, by the way, I saw today that someone said that Patricia Pitbull has signed with UFC. That is inaccurate. I did talk to his team yesterday and today. They confirmed inaccurate. Talk's moving along, but nothing to report and nothing is done.

So stay tuned. And there's a lot of inaccurate stories these days, I feel like. Aaron Pico is upset because he wants out of his... Well, his Bellator deal has expired. And I saw that he said in an interview with Luke Thomas that he signed, I think it was a six fight deal in a 30 month period. And he got, or maybe it was a seven fight deal and he got to five fights and they still owed him two fights. Now, usually when you sign those deals, it's whichever comes first. So he was

implying that they were breach of contract, but it's usually whichever comes first. It's either the term comes first or the fights come first. Meaning, if you sign a six-fight deal in a 30-month period, if you get to six fights in 18 months, now you're free. Or if you get to four fights, but you hit 30 months, then you're free. So I haven't read the contract, but that's usually how it goes. So I wouldn't necessarily say it's breach of contract. What he's saying is that they're holding onto the matching rights. He wants to go to the UFC and they're holding onto the matching rights. He just wants to be free and clear. This is a little bit silly

because contracts are contracts. UFC has matching rights. They don't waive those just to be good soldiers, especially for young fighters. And so why should PFL do the same? Now, the thing is the UFC can offer a lot more that the UFC, the UFC can offer a lot more that the PFL can't match. If the UFC puts in all these clauses in a contract, like you're going to fight on pay-per-view and your first four fights are going to be on pay-per-view and you're going to co-headline this, whatever it is, because of the way the PFL is structured,

they can't actually even match that because they don't do pay-per-view as often as the UFC and whatnot. So it's very easy. What he's saying is, like, I'm waiting for the UFC to make an offer, but you know, PFL is holding me back. Not really. As Don Davis said on Twitter yesterday, the UFC can offer him a contract. The exclusive negotiation period is up. They can offer him a contract. Then it would be up to PFL to match or not. As he said in his interviews yesterday, they haven't offered him a contract yet. So there's nothing to match. Because of the pit bull situation, everyone thinks that they

could just like complain and get out of their contract. There will be a mutiny. You can't run a business that way. Now, did the pit bull one make sense to just let him go outright? Yeah, at that point, maybe there's nothing to gain. He's been in the organization for a long time. But in this him to get a deal and PFL can either Decide to match or not And if he doesn't want to go through That process he has to wait for that matching period To end By the way Francis had to do the same thing Francis had to wait a whole year

Before he could talk to other organizations And then it took him 5-6 months Just to sign with the PFL So That's just how it goes. Hey, Ariel and crew, this is from Irish Lad. I loved your four nations MMA tournament idea, but hypothetically, who would be on your all-time teams

for USA, Russia, Brazil, and UK? I mean, this would take a long time. Or could there be a dark horse all-time team that could win it all? I fancy a Brazil team of Antonio Nogueira, heavyweight, Anderson Silva, middleweight, Hoist Gracie, welterweight, Charles Oliveira, lightweight, Jose Aldo, bantamweight. I mean, yeah, once we go all-time, it's a whole different ballgame. But we were trying to be somewhat realistic. Jordan Saucer.

Hey, Ariel. When you're not busy being the greatest sports journalist of all time and have some time to yourself, what's your favorite hobby to pass the time? Golly. I mean, these days there's not a lot of free time, I have to say. The weekends are pretty packed with all kinds of sporting activities. These days it's a lot of soccer and basketball. There's a little gymnastics on Thursday as well. And so we're

doing a lot of things of that nature. My son is getting ready for his bar mitzvah. That's a big thing. And we're just trying to survive. You know, hopefully when the weather is better, you know, there's a little beach action here or pool action there, more time outdoors. But I really, really do, like if I could tell you like a hobby that I enjoy, I mean, obviously love spending time with my family, with my kids, love watching sports with my kids the best. We've reached an age now with my two sons in particular where they like really love sports and this is everything I dreamed of

and love basketball. Like they're so into basketball now. It's so freaking great. I come home sometimes, like on Tuesdays I'll come home. By the time we come home after doing the second show, it's 8.30, 8.45. And they have figured out how to find the next game

and they know when it starts and they know when they're playing, when they're not playing. And I come home and they're watching and they tell me about what I missed. Do you realize what that is? Do you realize how that is the dream? It's an unbelievable thing.

So I love that. You know, work out, try to work out at least five times a week to some degree. You could always do more. Definitely do more on Thursdays and Fridays. Try to do it once on the weekend. And on and on it goes. Are those considered hobbies? I'm not really sure. I don't do anything like kind of off the beaten path. There's just a lot right now, but it's all good. Shooter McGavin, Ola Ariel, and the boys

in the back, does the list of the 2024 highest paid athletes from last week hurt the Jones versus Aspinall negotiations? Also, do you know if he is negotiating a new multi-fight deal or just renegotiating the terms of his current deal? I they're going one at a time i don't think it hurts it but i do think it's like for the people who say that boxing is broken boxing is dead and mma is this and that like it is quite alarming that there are no mma fighters there is it not six boxers on it and anyway anyway was um i think it was 82nd on the sport to go list that we're talking about and he had earned 48 million so that like is that not crazy like for all the mma fans think about how much time you spend watching these products how much money you spend watching the ufc even

alex pereira a guy who was like the savior of the promotion last year didn't make 50 million that's crazy to me for many many years, for multiple years. Oh, yeah. Not compensated properly. Three fights. Yeah. And three massive ones, right? Short notice.

Yeah. And by the way, are we under any illusion that Jon Jones, even if he were to get whatever number he's asking for, would put him into the range of these lists? I don't think so. That's right. I don't think he'd even sniff the list. Yeah. Yeah. It's a bad sign at times.

Is Conor the only person that's been featured in it when he sold Proper 12? Is that the only time we had people in it? And it wasn't really necessarily MMA related. Yeah, wasn't it always boxing lists and other business things? Sorry, boxing fight and other business things? And also, think about what the conversation

is in the US about in a way. And it's an accurate one. He hasn't had a big fight in the business things. And also, think about what the conversation is in the U.S. about Inouye, and it's an accurate one. He hasn't had a big fight in the U.S. yet. He hasn't had one of these huge fights that has the world's attention yet, and he's earning nearly $50 million. The dynamic, the paradigm has completely shifted. There used to be a time that

the UFC fighters never made these lists, or MMA fighters in general. It's not specific to the UFC, right? Because there are other promotions out there. Francis Ngannou is a free agent, was a free agent, signed with the PFL. There are other promotions paying money to top stars. So let's just make it an MMA conversation. There used to be a time when the conversation was, well, the MMA fighters at the top are not getting compensated fairly or in comparison to the boxers, but we're getting the fights

we want and boxing just doesn're getting the fights we want and boxing just doesn't make the fights we want. And so we're going to have to deal with this system. And it's okay if they're not getting compensated fairly. Well, guess what? We've reached an era now in 2024, 2025, where the boxing fights that we want to happen are happening and they're getting compensated. So there is no excuse anymore. It's nonsense. There is nothing. There is no reason left why a guy like Alex Pereira, who generates enough money for the UFC to be on this list, isn't being paid that amount of money. It just make it does not make sense. It no longer makes any sense. There is no argument to be made that due to the UFC's practices and MMA structure that we are getting some kind of

net benefit as fans of the sport because we're seeing it now. The boxing fights that we want to see get made are being made and the fighters are still getting compensated. In fact, the point of those fights being made is that they're getting compensated the highest. You saw both Usyk and you saw both Fury near the top of that list. And so what is the excuse now for Alex Pereira and other stars to not be compensated in this way? The only one who I could think of that even sniffs it, even gets close to it, is Conor McGregor and the rare opportunity that he does fight.

The dissenters, the dissenters will say, this is the problem with boxing. They're getting paid too much, but. Problem for who? Who is that a problem for? Oh,

it's part of the, uh, the model. The model is broken. There's, there's too much power in the, uh, in the fighters hands. They, they, they, they, They don't have an incentive. They make $50 million. They so they're holding out for a number that's never going to happen. And we're never going to see these fights, but

guess what? We are seeing these fights now that, that no longer is valid. There is no, there is no downside. There is no incentive, uh, preventing these fights from being made. I, I, I quite frankly, don't understand it. I'm not sure what it will take. I don't imagine that the fighters are motivated any more now than they were years ago to collectively bargain and figure out how to enhance their sport as a collective. But if you are an Alex Pereira and you look at Alexander Usyk calling you out, that definitely feels attractive when you consider what you're going to make

for your next title defense as opposed to taking that fight. Can I just ask, Ariel, the only people who really benefit from the fighters not being paid are the UFC. The valuation on that company, how much do you think that has to do with how little they pay these guys, the lack of

a union, the lack of collective bargaining which would make them have to pay these guys a certain amount or give back a certain amount of revenue? How much do you think that plays into the valuation of the UFC? Oh my god, it's fantastic. You can own a whole sport. You can own a whole, like it's one of the few entities

where you can actually own the sport for all intents and purposes. I think we have to be fair in just pointing out that there are other MMA promotions and they don't necessarily pay any differently. The gap between them? No, I'm not arguing that they're equivalent. There is no equivalent to the UFC.

Bar none, I don't care who's quote unquote number two. You're number infinite because it's the UFC and everybody else. But there are also opportunities for them to be paying higher wages as well, and they are not. And in addition to that... They don't make the same kind of money, but yes, fine. Again, it's not the same.

I'm not saying they are equal. I'm saying that there's opportunities to pay more. And we see the GFL now coming out and saying, their business model is we're going to pay you 50% of what we make. So again, there are things that can be done. But also in boxing, if you compare the middle class or the lower tier, there might be differences. The UFC or equivalent fighter might be making more in that regard.

It's the top where the inequality is the most drastic. Because there might be a boxer who is kind of in the middle tier who's unknown and their comparable counterpart in the UFC could be making more, or even at the lower tier, right? When they're coming into the UFC, they might be making more than a boxer who's at the same level. But at the top, the cost savings that they are experiencing by not paying those high purses,

you know, the purses that these boxing cards are paying out could support an entire UFC card times three. Like it is, it is a huge cost savings to the point you're making PT. Like it creates efficiencies. And again, I think it's also important to say like,

this is good business. If the UFC is able to do this, this is good business. the ufc is able to do this this is good business and no i i'm not saying they should stop if they are not being incentivized to stop but something has to change at a certain point uh let us continue el peruano ariel one of the funniest segments up there with helvani and pts tux reveal was the dahlia story. Do you know if she ever heard about that or is even aware of you? Well, she's definitely aware of me, but I do not know if she...

I know someone told me recently that she saw her, and I won't say her last name because I don't want anyone to look her up, but I do not know if she knows about the... If somebody sat Dahlia down with an iPad and had her watching it and us recording her, I don't think I can think of content that I'd want more than that at this moment.

You think if you saw her now, she would still attempt to bully you? No, I think she'd be horrified. I honestly think she'd be horrified. I hope so. I mean, it's like me and Kyle. We both went through traumatic bullying experiences as youngsters.

He turned into a great fighter and I turned into this. If you haven't seen it, I'm sure if you Google Ariel Hawani Dahlia, you'll be able to find it. Karmie's reaction is just unbelievable. I was crying when we were watching that. Those were the was crying uh when we were watching that those were the days by the way maybe those were the good old days yeah maybe those were the guys uh actually yesterday weirdly enough we were we were reminiscing looking at videos and photos from april may of 2020 um which was such a weird time but my kids were so young and there was something so kind of pure about it like we were my son's birthday is April 30th. So we were watching how we celebrated his birthday that, that year. And we made like a, I got, I, I, I ordered from party city, like movie stuff, like a red carpet and popcorn. And my kids were, so we made it seem like we were at like a movie premiere And there was some You know there was no party There were no friends

But there was something So like uniting about it Just like You only had your Immediate family Very depressing time Horrible time But there was some sort of

Like sweetness to it If I don't know if other people Feel the same way Definitely Definitely not Alright fair enough Pain

GC Where is the weekly Betting recap you promised to bring back? I feel like we're bleeding units in 2025 and you're not being accountable. Bleeding units? Bullshit. Not accountable. Get out of here, man. We do the third-party tracking on Better MMA Tips.

Yeah, we're not doing spectacular, but we're still up units on the year. Bleeding units, not being accountable. I mean, how many years in a row do I have to win units year after year after year, profitable MMA gambler, profitable boxing gambler year after year to prove to these people that I can do this? Like, it's just, it gets tiresome. How many slips can a guy post? How many winning weeks can a guy have?

Like, it's just, the disrespect is just, it's never- ending. I love the bleeding units. Yeah, bleeding units. I'm scared. The streaks that I've been on, I mean, in summer of 2023, I was down like 34 units, came back to be like up 38 by the end of the year, no big deal.

But it's just like hiding accountability. I mean, I've gotten hosed before and then come on the show the following Monday. Kai Kerafrance and Miro Bazzi lost like 12 units on that card. Was 10 toes down in my chair that following Monday, letting the people know, accountability. Get out of here. I had to Google

William Byron, by the way. Don't bring it back now. Oh, Daytona 500 plus 1700. No big deal. Yeah, nailed it. Based, Ariel. Hey, Ariel, I've been thinking a lot about religious topics lately, and I was curious to hear your thoughts as someone who follows the Jewish faith. What are your views on Jesus? Have you ever considered the description and idea of the Messiah that's mentioned in the law and the prophets? Do you see any connections between the descriptions of the

coming Messiah and the life and teachings of Jesus? I'd love to hear your perspective. Oh, yes. Well, first thought is, you know, Jesus was a Jew, one of us. Great guy, never met him, but have heard good things. Probably one of the best uses of great guy, never met him.

I was expecting more of a pop on that one. Think we're going to let you cook on this one? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is all you. This is all you. You just do what you're going to let you cook on this one. This is all you. You just do what you're going to do here. Love Jesus. Love a good Jesus fish on the back of a car. Have no problems with anyone who believes in Jesus.

I'm not as well versed in the New Testament as I am in the Old Testament. But I've always loved Christmas. In fact, I've told you all how I listened to Christmas music in July I was that big of a fan when I was a youngster

and certainly love Christmas movies who doesn't eggnog things of that nature and so I'm not sure if I'm answering your question about the law and the prophets sounds to me like you're saying you're down with JC is he trying to say that the Messiah about the law and the prophets. Don't think you're a mate. Don't think you're a mate. Sounds to me like you're saying you're down with JC.

Is he trying to say that the Messiah is Jesus? Because who am I to say otherwise? Might have been implied, yeah. Might have been... All right, cool. Okay. I hope I'm around. I hope I'm around to see it all. Also, did you say GC or JC, Frankie?

He said GC, but he meant JC. Yeah, he meant JC. You know who my real Christ and Savior is. By the way, there's a whole section of religious questions here. He said GC, but he meant JC. Yeah, he meant JC. You know who my real Christ and Savior is. By the way, there's a whole section of religious questions here. Let's just hit them all. Why not? Hey, Sean8888.

Ariel, a recent health condition has required me to wear a portable defibrillator unit in my day-to-day activities in the past. You mentioned a religious tradition of wrapping your arms with a cloth and the mindset that you adapt while doing this. Forgive the vague memory. I am hoping you could share about this ritual again as I hope to inherit that same mind state best. Well, God bless my friend and I hope that everything works out. Not necessarily a cloth. It's called tefillin and it's a leather case that a scripture in it that you put on your head, and there's two things that come down, and then you put one on your arm here that's supposed to go near your heart, and then you wrap it seven times, and then you wrap it around this finger

as well, and then you do some prayers, and you're supposed to do this every day other than Saturday. And the mindset that I think you're referring to is that my father is a man of very few words, but he one time had to give a speech at our synagogue. And he was talking about, you know, putting on his tefillin and, you know, then going to tackle the day. And he puts his tefillin on very, very tightly. And he said that he always likes to look at his arm as he's going to work or at work, and he would still see the marks on his arm. And he viewed that as his armor for the day as he goes and takes on the day. And that was one of the most profound things that I've ever heard my father say, who's been an incredible inspiration

to me in an amazing amount of ways, some that he knows and some that he probably doesn't know. But I've always thought of that, especially when I'm on trips and I'm in foreign countries. I'm in Abu Dhabi, I'm in Brazil, I'm in Ireland, I'm in England, I'm in God knows where, Japan, and I'm putting this on and there's something that's kind of grounding about it and a reminder of my heritage, my foundation, my history, and it puts me in a good space. And I think about that armor and all that stuff, especially, you know, in a period where I was feeling a little bit uncomfortable and unwelcome at events, um, that would give me some, you know, some kind of courage. Um, so perhaps you can view this, uh, defibrillator unit as, as your armor and your protection and, uh, and turn that, this experience into a positive one and into, um, a motivating one. So I wish you the best, Tayshaun.

Matt Moe, I did see this one a couple of times, so I'll address it off the bat. A bit of an embarrassing one. And Matt Moe, very quick to point out my deficiencies. What's up, Ariel? As someone who touts themselves as a proud Canadian with the Canadian flag sitting valiantly to your left, I was shocked and dismayed when on Monday you called Labrador a territory.

That is true. I did, and I apologize. I would like to correct the record. Newfoundland and Labrador is one province in Canada. The three territories are as follows. Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunav it. Yes, I screwed that up. I hope that helps. Thanks for all you do. I appreciate that. Tyler, hi, Ariel. I saw you on Bo Nichols' podcast. You're a fantastic interviewee, just as you are an interviewer. Thank you. Which do you

enjoy doing more, giving back to the community and being interviewed or interviewing fighters? Well, I kind of view both as a form of giving back, if you want to put it that way. But no, I enjoy interviewing more than being the guest, not because I feel uncomfortable, but because I like, you know, I like meeting a guy like Kyle

and learning more about him and asking questions and all that stuff. I love that. But Bo and his crew ask great questions and I was happy to do it as well. And I would like to think, because I've done so many interviews at this point, I kind of know what makes a good interview, and I know what people want out of a good interview. And so when I am a guest, I do try to have fun and bring energy

and tell good stories and make it worthwhile. So I appreciate that. Jimmy, a life question for you guys could help me and a bunch of others in the same situation. I'm 21 years old, full of ambitions, but just been through a bad breakup. I really wanted her to be the one and I changed so much for her, and I'm completely heartbroken. What should I do? I'm having a lot of success in life, but it feels like no matter what good is happening around me, the thing that actually matters to me

is no longer there. Thanks, guys. Damn. Yeah, that's a tough one. You want to tackle this off the jump? Yeah, why not? Go on. Have you ever been through a bad breakup? Not really, I'll be honest Perfect guy to give the advice

You know what? I'm not going to give the advice then I feel like this will be good advice Oh, now you guys want to hear it No, no, no I said I wanted to hear it from the jump Here is my advice And it applies to anybody And that no. I don't want to hear it. I said I wanted to hear from the jump. Come on. Go, go. Here is my advice and it applies to anybody

and that's why I feel like it is good advice because it is good advice. You always give good advice. It is not just to this person but I think it will help this person which is to say that

that is unfortunate and it can be extremely tough and I feel bad that you are in the position where you felt like this person was the person that you wanted to be in your life and they do not reciprocate that. For one, I feel like if they do not reciprocate that, that's unfortunate. But there's nothing to be done, right?

You cannot force that. If they do not want to be there, it is best often to just let them go. And the other thing I would say is to derive your value. You talked about how you've been successful in life and continue to be. Celebrate that. Fill that bucket. Fill that bucket that you are finding success in right now is the bucket you should focus on. This bucket over here, the relationship bucket that this one is feeling a little bit more empty because that person has left your life, maybe pivot your attention. Like that bucket can be filled at a later point. That bucket could be filled tomorrow if you find the right person. But for now, pivot to these other buckets, pour yourself into it. Think about those successes that you're having. Focus your energy there.

Wait for the right moment to fill that other bucket again. And then one day all those buckets will kind of be filled. You can find it all. There is a way to find it all. But for now, refocus, refocus that energy, refocus that effort. Instead of feeling bad about this one situation, think about the other things that you are being successful in. Chase that, crave that, focus on that. And then when the time comes to fill that other bucket again, this relationship bucket, when you're feeling not

as vulnerable and you feel like there's an opportunity to find somebody to share that with, find that, chase that, and then pour yourself into that. And maybe that other bucket is the one you pivot away from and take the energy and attention off because it's kind of self-serve. So figure out what your buckets are, figure out the things that fulfill you and focus on yourself, think about yourself and enrich your life without that person and then find a new person down the line. Well said. Very said uh i i will say this you're a very sort of like pragmatic and and kind of logical logical person um unhumble i i and a fan of buckets i'm i i i think i think we're very different in this regard i'm i'm a very sort

of emotional person get in my head get in my feelings like you are you are able to compartmentalize things and make things very black and white i think um let me know if you disagree yes uh and so i think this is great advice but if this person jimmy is more like someone like me i don't know if i could do that i like i i've been i've been been through Breakups and I get in my feelings I get in my head and I get Down and I start questioning Blah blah blah blah blah blah So I understand where he's coming from

And the truth is like you have to Try to find things that give you joy You know he said he's 21 So you know maybe it's Exercise helps, going to the gym helps Things like that but it's exercise helps, going to the gym helps, things like that. But it's also time. Time is really, and that's not the best advice, I know, but time does heal.

And time, at some point, it's all going to work itself out. Time is going to help him a ton, and time is also on his side being 21 years old. He may think that this is the one, but give it a year, a year and a half, you'll meet someone else, and your opinion on this will change. Learn what you can from this, take that with you, and try to improve in the next relationship

that you are in. But I'm with Rick, like, spend the time improving yourself. Don't run out and try and find a new partner. Give it time, improve on yourself, learn from the past mistakes that you made in this relationship, and improve in the next one.

The next one you meet might be the one. But 21, you are fine, my brother. You are going to be just fine. I promise you. It's a blessing. It's a blessing, if anything. And just a short-term one, right? The lads gave you this fantastic kind of a forecast for the next year. Right now,

don't do anything crazy. Don't send a stupid message. Don't do any of that. Just keep the distance. Distance is very important here. You're going to be kicking yourself for the rest of your life if you're trying to get this person back and send a lot of messages. You're going to regret it, man. She'll see you're in a nightclub some night and go, oh,

Jesus Christ, I have to leave. Also, biggest point that Rick made that I agree with, you can't force it. This is not something that you can go and force and will into existence. If she doesn't want want you she don't want you it's time sorry register away in here even if you were trying trying and and to peter peter why did i just call him peter that's his real name it was the blanched batman got me all messed up uh shout out to the uh the the the instinct to like force it and feel like you can fix it is just based on the comfort. It's the comfort of that relationship. It's the comfort of you recognize yourself when you're

with that person. You feel like when I'm with that person, this is the best version of me and this is how I feel. Unfortunately, they don't feel the same way. And so you have to figure out a new way forward and adjust to that. Find ways to make your your own identity find ways to find yourself outside of that relationship because that relationship will be gone and it is not useful to pizzi's point to like try to force anything make something silly happen and and uh change that focus on yourself find happiness there are lots of other things that can fulfill you um lock in bro we'll see you in that's it lock it yeah write us write us next year when when you're in, bro. We'll see you in the gym. That's it. Lock in. Write us next year when you're in a new relationship,

when you're making millions of dollars and you're crushing life. And by the way, worst thing you could do and easier said than done, I know when you're in the thick of it, don't feel sorry for yourself. Don't lick your wounds. Woe is not you. It's just

one thing That happened The world is your oyster There's plenty of other People out there You are a great person You are Someone with a great future Like the worst thing

You should do Is feel sorry for yourself The world is not out To get you The world is not Closing in on you This is just a little This will be a great story

In ten years For sure FTB Yes What's FTB? Right Oh yes Gabriel Hello Ariel and crew i couldn't help but notice the sincerity and love between you and bruce buffer in your recent interview salt of the earth for sure no doubt my question is what other individual in the mma community is a true mensch maybe one that people would not expect a fan in bakersfield um man well i mean

like joseph parker to me is one of the nicest human beings. I've said this a bunch this week. I freaking love that guy. Mench of all mentions, but I think you would expect that just by the way he comes across. Who's a mench? Who's a mench that you wouldn't expect? Chilpy. Chilpy

is a mench. I think we've established this. The gangster is actually a pretty damn good guy, especially like behind the scenes, loyalty, all those things. Who's a mensch? Who's a mensch? Unexpected though.

There's loads of mensches, but unexpected is the hard part of that. Yeah. Like. Oban Elliott, mensch? He seems like a great guy though. No? Chael is one of those guys who like plays up

the gangster, the trash talk, but, uh, you know, doesn't, doesn't party, doesn't do things of that nature. Uh, certainly does PEDs, but, uh, is, is, is a great human being. I will say this all these years, and I think all of you would agree, there are way more good people in MMA than bad.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Way more like true, great human beings. That's been the best part. Like meeting these people from all walks of life who are just great people. Jericho, hello, Gangsta Juanis. Question for Rick and GC. Rick, would you be down for an old school game of MTG?

Each put up a card, each put a card up for bet. I run pre-2000s cards mostly what the hell is mtg magic to gather oh jesus i'm in for whatever send me an email let's figure out something to do the problem is i only play alchemy which is the most the three most recent sets um because i like the the variety of it it makes me kind of change my decks all the time. So pre-2000s is going to be rough. But, I mean, that's when I was playing in my prime. That's the junior high school years when I was throwing out nightmares and all the big swing black cards. Oh, the flying horse. You went and played with actual brick-and-mortar cards?

100% physical cards. Tournaments too? No, not tournaments. Just me and my buddies in the lunchroom. I used to run Yu-Gi-Oh! tourneys. Player One Games, shout out. Atlanta GA. Yeah, I used to run them up one, one, not tournaments. Just me and my buddies in the lunchroom. I used to run Yu-Gi-Oh! tourneys. Player one game, shout out. Atlanta GA. Yeah, I used to run them up one, one, one time.

It was an all-time moment. But yeah, let's play. Shoot me an email. We'll figure it out. He won't even play against me. Frank, I recommended how many things now? You've never... Yeah, I was trying to talk here.

Would you be down, GC, to com check Chase and Status out at Movement Festival in Detroit? My group dresses in matching Tiger tracksuits and go hard. Everyone is invited, by the way. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Detroit. Chase and Status puts on a great show. Check off Motown off the old bucket list. Maybe catch a

Pistons game. Tiger? Yeah. Miguel Cabrera still playing? Uh, not sure about that. Shout out Motown. YFG94 from 1 to 10. Rate your level of confidence to come out glorious and victorious. Ariel, New York Knicks

winning an NBA championship, but you have to win a game of darts against Prime Mike Tyson. Yeah, I could do that. Wait, I'm confused at what the game is here. I don't really know, but I'll do it. Knicks winning and then Why does Prime Mike Tyson always get brought up? Eric, front row tickets to Ben Eubank, but you have to be GC in the

Averon Bike Challenge. You ain't never going to Ben Eubank, I'll tell you that much. Only gotten better since our last meeting. I'll buy it, and I've only gotten worse. I'll buy it. There's a question here from Tyler about Jim Cornette and his podcast. Would you ever want to have him on? Absolutely. I love Jim Cornette

and his podcast. He's tremendous. I'm a big fan of him back in the day. One time when I went to No Mercy with my friends in 2000 in Albany, we saw Harvey Wimpleman, and one of my friends asked him where his tennis racket was. He's like, that's Jim

Cornette, you asshole. But anyway, Jim Cornette's a legend. Anyways, he says, here's to both the Kachuk brothers being injured. Love and peace from the murder capital of Canada. Interesting. I don't know what the murder capital is. Wait, so aren't those the guys who were in the hockey thing? They got injured in the fights? No, he's saying, like, I hope it happens.

Oh, okay. Got it. Big one tomorrow, guys. What do we got? Who's the favorite, by the way? Canada, he's saying like, I hope it happens. Oh, okay. Got it. Big one tomorrow, guys. What do we got? Who's the favorite, by the way? Canada, US? Is this the finals? Canada? Slightly, slightly US favorite. Minus 125 or something. Is 47 showing up?

Hopefully. 47 to make it 51. Yeah. Oh, that's good work on your part. What is going on there? They have in Canada? What's the crack? Yeah, they're trying to take crack.

Wait, is it here or in Canada? It's here. It's in Boston. Got it. Wouldn't make any difference all the United States. No, that's what

Connor was saying. 51, we're going to... Got it. I'm aligned now. Jordan, this is for Frank from Jordan. Sorry. Happy Wednesday, gang.

This is a question for the parents' favorite mysterious Frank. Having watched Requiem for a Dream, how do you think a man of Ariel's disposition would cope with watching such a film? For example, after I watched it, I spent about 10 minutes hugging my knees and sobbing. I think it could probably be similar to that. Yeah. Just for the record, I'm not recommending requiem for a dream to ariel however ariel is a fan of aaron fonsky am i pronouncing that right aronofsky yeah uh who did pie which is where the wrestler and the wrestler and black swan and all that requiem for a dream is a rough one for sure but uh to answer

the question more pointedly yes i do not think that ariel wouldoning for a Dream is a rough one for sure. But to answer the question more pointedly, yes, I do not think that Ariel would receive that well. It is an emotional rollercoaster. It's no Adam Sandler special. I'll give you that. Jack, very long time watcher, first time questioner. Welcome. Firstly, love the crew. You so often make me

smile, Ariel. You the goat. Rick, keep it logical. My brother, Frank, keep it high level. One for GC as a diehard gooner over here. Can you talk me through your abandonment of Arsenal this season? See you boys in London. Let's hit up the Emirates. Peace.

I don't know where he was going with the gooner thing. Abandonment? I'm still supporting. He was just picked up for the year? Yeah, it was just a future. I just laid a future down for them to win the league. They're not looking that great. What do you want me to do? I still watch the games.

Them and Forrest. Those are the two that I lock in on. You used to have a sign behind you, no? Arsenal sign? Yeah, it's somewhere. But that was the season he had this season. That's like me and the American football. You pick a team at the start of the year.

You pick a team at the start of the year. It's all good. It's all good. Chris, hey boys, two-parter here. Rick, how much were you screaming inside last week when Hawani was mulling over answering the trouble getting WWE guys on the show? Then you discouraged it, and he was like,

nah, fuck it, I'm answering it. Not much because it happens quite a bit. Did I do the mystery silhouette? No. Hey, guys, I don't know if you saw the thumbnail. There's a mystery silhouette. It worked out. It. Hey guys, I don't know if you saw the thumbnail, there's a mystery silhouette. It worked out. It worked out.

It happens frequently enough that I don't really, I'm like, well, there goes that and then I just move on. Second is more of a statement on the fans being priced out.

I have to agree with Rick. I tried to get tickets to 312 and it was 650 for seats in the nosebleeds. That's shit seats in the upper deck for you Yanks.

Sorry, mate. Odette. He thought we didn't know what nosebleeds. That shit seats in the upper deck for you Yanks. Sorry, mate. Odette. He thought we didn't know what nosebleeds meant? I don't know. Yeah, weird, right? Is that $670 Australian dollars or USD? Yeah, Australian dollars is like half the dollar, right? It is a big difference. Yeah, it's like five bucks.

Oh, jeez. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Odette. Hi, Ariel. Besides adding yourself to the celebrity game, yeah, what would you do in order to make the NBA All-Star game interesting? I don't know, man. I see this one-on-one stuff. I don't know if I'm down with that. Which player is going to want to do that one-on-one? I feel like none of them are going to want to do that.

None of them are going to want to do any of this crap because they don't want to be embarrassed. We've gotten into a point where Nobody wants to give a genuine effort And be vulnerable because they're afraid Of getting dunked on Because of the internet culture It'll be replayed over and over and over So nobody wants to take a risk Nobody wants to have any fun

I think it's broken, just scrap it Who gives a shit, give them a week off Well, he does add I think that US players versus the world players Is probably the option Will they play hard? No. East, West, give them some sort of incentive.

East, West is the best, but they screwed the pooch. Mike Oakley wrote 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 paragraphs on essentially me calling Labrador a territory. I'm sorry! Damn, you effed up with that. What is the issue there? What is Labrador? Labrador a territory. I'm sorry. Damn, you effed up with that.

What is the issue there? What is Labrador? Labrador is like a little part of Newfoundland. It's like right at the top over there next to Quebec, and he's going through the whole history. I'm sorry. He felt disrespected. I screwed up.

What is the issue? What is the issue? It's not a territory. Now he's going to explain this, and then he's going to get in trouble for the explanation. It's a state? Let's just leave this. Newfoundland and Labrador are provinces. Oh, province.

It doesn't matter. It's all going to be one state soon. They're coming for you next, GC. They're coming for you next. So good. You're done. You're cooked. Wait until we take their hockey over tomorrow. I can't wait. I can't freaking wait. You can't lose. You can't lose tomorrow, lads.

We're not going to lose, baby. Favorite segment of the week. Patrick, Ariel, last week you mentioned Tatiana not coming on the program because of her new management. Does that go for Jorge Masvidal as well? I sure hope not because I love your guys' talks. Nope. We've already talked about this.

Jorge's his own man. The revolting blob happy wednesday crew quick follow-up for ariel from last week's discussion on the lack of wwe talent on the show as of late why do you need to contact the wwe to get wwe talent when you presumably don't uh there's a thing i don't know what for ufc he's saying i'm reading fast sorry uh there's just a thing where they can't go on unless it's approved. Oh my God. There's a long one here about my wife's compost situation, but we don't have time for that. We do need an update.

It's non-existent at the moment. It's too cold. This guy is saying that he sympathizes and had the same problem And um He said I even went as far as to leave pitchforks Sticking out of her pile of onion food

In case she came to her senses about the whole thing During your show last year my wife happened to be Bringing me a coffee during your composting story I scrubbed it back and had her watch the bit again All whilst I lost my shit for a second time. My wife was stone-faced, not amused,

and like your wife, even after input from the boys in the back, still saw no issue through what she was doing. My wife, who was respectfully apparently delusional,

defended your wife and insisted that they are both doing it, that they are both doing it correctly. Fast forward three weeks, for the first time ever, we have a bear

come right to our property in broad daylight after coming out of the wood directly behind the compost location. We have pets, kids, but she still insists the compost has nothing to do with the bear venturing through our yard, just moseying around. She, to this day, continues to surmise that the compost has nothing to do with the bear because it hasn't come back. The thing is, the bear hasn't been back because I have been forced to place a radio outside playing music 24-7 to ensure the bear and other predators don't come around the house

in search of the rotting food pile at the edge of our property. I have videos of the bear on my security cameras from August 8th. If you are interested in the footage, let me know. I wouldn't mind the footage. This is incredible. This is incredible. This is incredible. I thought he was going to say he was going out there and getting rid of the compost himself. Yeah, me too.

I thought he was sneaking it away. Listen, I thought I had problems. That's bad. Bears are coming. I wonder if it was a grizzly or a black. Bears are coming. Which one are you supposed to act like? Black bears you fight, grizzlies you lay down. See, I'm not going to remember that when it actually matters. I think if it's polar, I think if it's white goodnight,

that means it's just going to maul you. White, you're screwed. White, you're screwed. Blake, hi, Ariel and crew. I think this is my first question I've actually submitted. I was wondering, is there any way we could get a pre- or post-pay-per-view show from 3Pac? I really love Chuck's ability

To put big moments Into words And P.T. has very good Takes and humor Would love the three of you On the pre or post shows Thank you guys I really appreciate

The boys in the back P.T. Shall we address this Or no It's like the Beatles We all can't be In the same room With each other anymore

Unfortunately Yeah we fucking Hate each other This is torture for me. The truth is, Pizzi was dying in front of my eyes doing that show. I mean, he was dying. There was a few wild nights.

There was a few wild nights there. You were dying. You were doing the show at 6 a.m., not going to bed. It just wasn't right. Do you remember the show where we just were hysterical? We were at that tour and it was a really bad event and we just didn't stop laughing and then your mate texted you after and said,

that was the worst hour of broadcasting you've ever done in your life made me laugh more that was great that's my favorite memory of journalism you remember we would do the uh the spotify live so we do like the post show and then an hour of taking calls and it was fun connecting but like by the end we were all done and i was five hours ahead of you or no you were five hours ahead of us There was some seriously fucking hardcore ones Let's be honest There was a few like

It was tough By the way tip Hi guys never thought I'd be the one to write something like this I just went through a breakup We were together for five years Lived together for four And I moved to our hometown six months ago To pursue a new career

Any advice on how to handle this situation when I basically have nobody I am close with nearby? We have lived together for three. Got some good news for your brother. This one's much tougher. What about this last line? By the way, what about this last line? We have to live together for three more months.

You need a big bucket. Then are you really broken up? Untenable. I've never had to do it. Get a room. Stay somewhere else. You need to big bucket. Then are you really broken up? Untenable. I've never had to do that. Get a room. Stay somewhere else. You need to get away from her if it's actually over. Yeah.

Five years. There has to be another option. There has to be another option. Rent a room for a month. You move to her hometown. The fact that he didn't say the city means it's probably some podunk town too. That's. You got to get out there, buddy. You cannot live there for three months you can't get out of dodge delete the number

move on with your life yeah agreed um gary's asking i'm canadian my kids are american who are we rooting for in the four nations final of course canada now my kids claim they will not root for canada because they're like, what? We're born in America. I'm like, you have 100% Canadian blood in your body. How could you not? Who's the star player for either team? Well, Sid the Kid for Canada. Connor McDavid.

The team is full of stars, baby. Stars and stripes. Are you going to watch, Pizzi? Are you in? Yeah, I'm going to watch tomorrow, yeah. I feel bad. I missed everything. It's going to be insane.

Has it been enjoyable? Have you guys enjoyed it? It has been outstanding. It's our answer be insane. Has it been enjoyable? Like, have you guys enjoyed it? It has been outstanding. It's our answer to the Six Nations rugby tournament. I believe. Yeah, rugby sevens. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In Vancouver.

No, it's rugby sevens, but I think it's Six Nations. Yeah, yeah. That was, what? Okay. Yeah. Anyway, guys, this is from Matt. A couple more. Ariel, which universe would be more torturous for you?

Permanently stuck in your freshman year at Syracuse with you shitting your pants while on vacation in Egypt every weekend. Jesus Christ. By the way, this is a hardcore fan. Yeah, they know the real. Or. He's shitting the pants story. You remember that one?

Oh, we remember. Yeah, the wet fart. That's how you know. That's how you know. Or Pacers beating the Knicks in the playoffs every week and Chiefs beating the Bills in the AFC Championship every Sunday for the rest of your life. Every week?

Jeez. Imagine you just forget, and it all starts over with me being so hopeful on Monday and then Tuesday, and then a heartbroken Sunday night, and then it all just starts over. I guess if you don't forget, it's almost better because you could just disassociate at some point, right? Just like, alright, this is my existence. I will no longer care about this. I'd probably go for

number two because that freshman year was true misery. Nah, it wasn't. Freshman year with the misery and the pants shitting? Yeah, it was awful. Yeah, sports are what they are. I know, but there's so much joy you could have the other days of the year, right?

Unless I'm wrong. Correct me if I'm wrong. The choices were that you have to relive that year, right? Oh, for the rest of your life, though. Yeah, but I'm saying within that year, you can find joy, right? You shit your pants one day, but then it's like, how many pants have to be shit? That didn't get answered. Whereas this other scenario, every single weekend for the rest of your life.

Yeah, but at least you have that hope on the Monday and the Tuesday. But you don't have a free weekend. But you shit every once in a while. It's no big deal. You don't have a free weekend. Shit it in 364. You have to watch Nick's Pacers every weekend for the rest of your life? No, don't even watch.

Just know they lost. That's fine. No, but that's the thing you don't remember on the Monday. So you have to go through the rollercoaster of emotions. I have a good feeling about this, guys. Just shit the pants. Yeah, but that's what you're saying at the beginning of each

freshman year, too. You're like, I've got a good feeling about this. No, I didn't have a good feeling about the jump. My stomach doesn't feel too good. Austin, what's your favorite David Loiseau fight? Probably the Charles McCarthy one. That was a great finish. Spinning back kick, flying knee.

The crow, baby. Yeah. Sucker free, what do Ariel and crew, who will most likely shake hands first? Kendrick Drake or Ariel Dana? Kendrick and Drake. Yeah. Next year for an album collab.

I think so. Yeah, of course. Wow. Alright, two more here. And then we can get into the Super Chats. Oh, yes. Do we have a fun thing for the Super Chats? A fun thing? What do you mean?

Like a jingle, a transition. Wow. Oh, man. No, I don't. Alright, we'll add that to the list as well. Yeah, I mean. On the nose. Super chat. Super chat. Super chat.

Super chat. Super chat. Super chat. Super chat. Super chat. Oscar, after last week's discussion on WWE not appearing on the show, did you end up hearing back from WWE? No.

Interesting question. No, I did not. Probably not a good sign. It's okay. It's sort of like you guys talking about like the breakup story. You know, you just have to keep your distance, you know.

Bide your time. That sort of thing, right? Is it called biding your time? Yeah, you had it right. I think it's biding your time. Biding your time. Wait, didn't you say biding? But I don't think this applies here.

No, it doesn't. I don't think you're biding your time. He's not letting you say biding? But I don't think this applies here. No, it doesn't. I don't think you're biding your time. All right. He's not letting this one go. Sleepy Joe. Hello, gang. Question for PT. Do you listen to We Were Promised Jetpacks or Two Door Cinema Club?

Just a lad from Texas who wanted to know the Irishman's taste. P.S. I love the thin Lizzy cap you are off in. Jailbreak, top rock album all time. I have no idea what my foot was. Fantastic album. Yeah. I'm not sure if a couple

of those are real bands you know teodor cinema what did he say i don't listen to those bands i'm afraid no no no no revolving door cinema and teodor cinema club is that what he called them we don't have them over here uh can we show this tweet from song yadong what about this from song yadong this is incredible stuff. He's in Seattle. He's about to fight Henry Cejudo. UFC Social just showed me this. I was selling souvenirs outside of the Olympic Arena in 2008 in Beijing and Henry won

his gold medal. Henry, time flies. Look at that. That's crazy. I saw they ran into each other in the hotel. Yeah, he went. Cejudo said ran into the dong. He's not as big as I thought he'd be. And what about this Keyshawn Davis tweet?

Is he trolling here? Do you think he's playing possum? Jordan doesn't have a tweet. Oh, all right. Well, he quote tweeted something where Shakur Stevenson says that he is open to fighting Keyshawn Davis. This feels very much like Rashad Evans and John Jones back in the day and Keyshawn quotes

we do with send the offer then. I got the sense that they would fight. All I'll say is When he was in studio I got the sense. All I'll say is

before he walked in studio I got a text saying try to stay away from Shakur fight talk. Now, now in retrospect was that because it's a sensitive subject? Maybe. If it wasn't from Shakur Fight Talk. Ooh. Now, now, in retrospect, was that because it's a sensitive subject?

Maybe. Mmm. If it wasn't, then you wouldn't have to stay away from it, so. Maybe they're just tired of talking about it.

Anyway, Super Chats, what do we got? Yeah, so Chris Martin writes, can we please swap Strickland for Johnny Evelyn

and the Four Nations tournament? With a K, PT, with a K, no. No. Don't mind it. All right., PT, with a K. No. Don't mind it. All right.

He said no. Chris K. writes, Can we get Michael Cole on the show? Interesting, you both graduated from Syracuse University. I think you will have many stories to share. Yes, I would love to have Michael Cole on the program, whose real name is... Wait, his name is not Michael Cole?

No, you didn't know that? No. I didn't know that? No. Why would an announcer have a character name? Everyone. Jonathan Coachman is Jonathan Coachman. Todd Grisham is Todd Grisham. Old school, old school. Sean Michael Coulthard.

Coulthard. Okay, so he is Michael Cole. Well, sort of. Lost the Tard and lost the... Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulthard. Coulth Cole. Well, sort of. Lost the tard and lost the... Cole is C-O-U-L-T-H-A-R-D. Yeah, he's kind of Michael. Wait, how old's Michael Cole?

You should have it right there. No, I do have it. I have it, but I'm asking if you guys know. 62. I'm going to say 62. Wow. 58. In the middle.

Yeah. Would love to have Michael Cole on the show He was just on Impulsive Impulsive Yes he was just on Impulsive I think you owe me a Celsius

I went Hoy Because usually when people Ask you that Because it's like You know Oh he's actually really You know old So I went

No no You're right Good thinking Listen Kiltad You don't look 60 You don't look 60 You gotta go young And when they tell you 58

You act like you're mind blown. Oh, my God. Well, that's what they're asking. That's what they're asking. I thought you were 37. What else, Mr. Kool Tad? I saw Rick's brother-in-law the other week thinking I was 24. He was 28.

I was like, wow. I don't look 24. No, I think he was just yanking my chain. What are you, 24? 25? I'm like, what are you, stupid? Oh, wow. He's watching this right now. I'll never watch this, but that's great. I might clip it and send it to him. I was like, how old are you?

He's like, 28. I was like, you thought I was younger than you? By multiple years. Jake from Windy City writes, I've been loving the Four Nations face-off. USA Canada last Saturday was insane. I expect tomorrow will be bad blood. Maybe a line brawl to start the game.

Oh my God, can you imagine? What's a line brawl? I think everyone's just fighting. Like the whole entire line. The whole team is fighting. Wait, you could do that? Every time I see a hockey fight, it's always like one-on-one. I mean, they could all go crazy.

Have you ever seen the goalies fight? That's the best. Yes, but isn't that just like one-on-one? No, they need to start goalies tomorrow. Yo, that would be nuts. No, the atmosphere in Boston is going to be incredible. I can't wait. And this is a goldmine.

Now, the question is, are they going to do it every year? Probably not next year because the Olympics are next year so that's out the window but then afterwards, will it be in those three years between Olympics? They should and they should. Do they rotate the nations? Who else is there?

Ireland aren't ready yet. No. You got to get the boys ready over there. There's Czech Republic. There's You know, there's the boys ready over there. There's Czech Republic. There's who else? There's, there's Slovakia. Germany's not great.

There's, there's no, it would only be Russia. Russia are class now. Oh, Russia's incredible. But you know, everyone's kind of boycotting them now. What about free speech? Not us. They're allowed in our four nations tournament. Yeah. Yeah.

Czech Republic is, is fourth. Finland, three. Switzerland. Switzerland's not in our four nations tournament. Yeah. Czech Republic is fourth. Finland, three. Switzerland. Switzerland's not bad. Switzerland's fair. Love Switzerland. If everything was good in the world, it would probably be Russia and no Finland, if we're being honest. Japan, sneaky good at women's hockey.

Kazakhstan, 15. Maybe Shavkan on the ice? What else, Frank? Jordan writes, everyone has a friend like Frank who loves to give recommendations yet never wants to take them. Nothing more annoying than that. GC, I feel your pain.

Thanks, Jordan. That's on-air Jordan right there. Is that literally him? Is that true? His anime icon for sure. Cole B. writes, Pete C., do you think James Gallagher will debut with the UFC this year? Would you want to see him?

Who would you want to see him debut against? Ariel, any news on Aaron Pico? I don't know if James is in a good spot right now. Is he not coming off a loss? Did he not lose to Leandro Higa or something in in belfast like last last year at some point yeah so i don't know if he's in a great spot to get in there now but the thing is with james he's still so young i doubt what is he like 20 27 28 probably still i know he's done a few grappling events, but he's certainly a commodity. In Ireland, he was a big part of Bellator's coming here and selling out the terrarium so many times.

I don't think they could have done it without him. At the very start, he was the most important piece of that jigsaw, but I have no idea. I should actually reach out to him. I haven't talked to him in a while. I know he's training in Thailand, between Thailand and Dubai. Doesn't seem in a mad rush. He made an awful lot of money very early on in his career,

but I'm sure he will be competing against Siona. I just don't know where, unfortunately. Pico, I mean, he's making the rounds. He's certainly making the rounds. Personally, I think he's making the same mistake that Patricio Pitbull made. You may want to go to the UFC, but don't be so open about it because

you're just showing your hand. There's a negotiation here. So just say, hey, I want to be free and I want to go out there. But again, I don't think... I think they're trying to paint PFL as the bad guys here for holding on to their matching rates and the UFC does the same. Everyone does the same. That's a contract.

What else? It's bad business. Why is? Also, it's just, dude, it's bad business. Why is anybody expecting EFL to just release, like, an Aaron Pico, by the way? Yeah, Aaron Pico, a young star who could be valuable for them.

Pitbull is at the end of his career. You know, I don't want to put the guy in the dirt, but I'm just saying, like, he's on the back nine as opposed to Pico, whose best days are ahead.

It doesn't make sense at some point to pay his high salary to have him compete for you when you're trying to build something aaron pico is much more aligned with the timeline of pfl they should hold on to him they should hold on to patchy mix there should not be a reason for them to let these people just walk out of their door it's it's bad business the ufc wouldn't do it that way bad business what, Frank? Robert wants you to know that you would sell out any venue in Montreal. Do it for three months. Oh.

Let's do it. Yeah, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I'll make the drive. All the boys in the julep, baby. Sir. That'll be fun. Trying to get the skeddy.

I feel like family and friends alone you could sell a few thousand. Come on. What if I want to do it in front of family and friends? Come on. Oh, come on. A homecoming for Helwani? No, I don't want that. Road trip. I don't want that kind of attention. What? Nah, this is it.

Jew lip. I'm a hopping old red. No need to even fly. I'll just whip on up there. 04 Acura. Who's that? Oh, yours. Seat 7. Comfortably. The way you're describing it. Come on, baby.

It sounds like both believable and unbelievable. I'm not sure. 240K miles, still whipping. This is like your real southerness coming out. I'm just saying, man. Come on. Come on. 240.

Was pulling out of a parking deck a couple years back, scraped the side up. I was just like, well, what are you going to do? Keep on driving You said it was Big Red? Didn't even get out of the car What was the name of it? It used to be Big Red

It's now Old Red Old Red Yeah, in her elderly years She's matured a little bit 21 years old Classic car license plate If you see an Old Red whipping around with a classic license plate Know that that's me

Look for that on the streets of Montreal It's reserved for cool people If you see an old red whipping around with a classic license plate, know that that's me. Look for that on the streets of Montreal. It's reserved for cool people. It's a classic, though. Do you have to surrender that plate if a car? I think you have to start featuring this in the show. Can we get something? It's just you whipping up in the car. I'm going to do a whole photo shoot with it before I sell it off.

It's going to be an emotional day. Been through many, many evolutions of my life. What else, Frank? What else? Erwin Lopez asks, does DJ get invited to UFC Seattle to get inducted? That's a nice shout. I would love to see it. I don't have any knowledge.

That's honest. If I did in this regard, I knew DJ was going to retire six months before the announcement. Wow. Light flex. We literally had in this regard. I knew DJ was going to retire like six months before the announcement. Like, you know, DJ. Wow. Light flex, light flex. Like, we literally had the, we had the graphic ready to go. You know, like,

but I'm not stealing his thunder on this one. But I don't know, actually. So, it would be nice. Everybody loves Seattle, right? They don't typically do, they don't typically do those Hall of Fame

announcements there, though. They usually bring them to a pay-per-view and then have them sitting there as opposed to. Eh, if it's, if it's a local local guy i don't think there's any rhyme or reason um what else frank what else la mancha mma asks can pizzi comment on an article written about him being the missing dublin vigilante listen no comment what else frank what else hercules

disgraceful you guys went with the uk over the anzacs and the four nations yesterday justin taffa is greater than tom aspinall all day every day i did not feel comfortable saying that out loud do you guys have a trick i will admit at 42 years old i i still am not 100 confident in greater than less than okay and someone told me it's like the thing eating the thing. Yeah, the Pac-Man eating the thing. But like, okay, in this case, why is Taffa greater than Aspinall? Because Aspinall's eating Taffa.

No, but the big soy is beside him. Can we show one more time? No, one more time. The Pac-Man is eating the greater value thing. It eats the bigger, greater thing. It says juice and Taffa is greater than Tom Aspinall. Tom is eating Taffa. No, it's not Taffa.

No, no, no. I'm here to explain. Just the greater thing getsa. No, it's not Taffa. The greater thing gets eaten. The bigger thing gets eaten by the Pac-Man. The bigger thing. I don't understand. The mouth is open. Yes, Taffa is bigger and greater and is being eaten by the Pac-Man. Whichever one is

the greater one, whichever one is the lesser one is getting pointed at. Loser. Okay, I've actually never heard this before. Is the greater one? Whichever one is the lesser one is getting pointed at. Loser. Oh. Okay, I've actually never heard this before. I always thought where the mouth is opening, that means it's swallowing it up. Most concerning to me is that you described this as having a trick when nearly every child in every country knows this. Does anybody have a trick for this?

I just explained it. You were just trying to make jokes the whole time. No, that's the reason you're not learning is you think it's all a joke. This is very serious. What was the explanation? The Pac-Man, the eating face, it's the thing of the greater value.

I said this. You just said what Rick said. You're just saying what I said. Oh, wait. So this whole time, I always thought the bigger thing is eating, the smaller thing. No, no, no.

See, that's... Oh, my gosh. We need to move on and maybe just someone take Ariel to the soy later on. What else, Frank? Frank was a math teacher. Jesus Christ. Help him. Chase, if John versus Tom doesn't happen

at International Fight Week, then when? Doesn't matter. It can happen in September. Who cares? It's not like International Fight Week, then when? It doesn't matter. It could happen in September. Who cares? It's not like International Fight Week or bust. Prepare your buddy for that one, buddy, if that's what you're thinking. Yes, but I will say, the longer it goes,

the likelihood that Tom Aspinall's next fight is him does shrink, right? That is the part that is concerning to me. Yeah, absolutely. Tom might be in a risky fight against somebody else before it happens and that part concerns me but yeah if it happens in this year that'd be great fantastic anytime end of year perfect a couple more here so wani steakhouse my guy any updates on nick diaz so i want a a legend from the ringer days um that's right

nothing at the moment that that ksi talk was. That's right. Nothing at the moment. That KSI talk was legit, but other than that, nothing at the moment. And then our good friend Kowloon City wants us to know, my brother is the owner of a gaming cafe on the Upper West Side. Chaotic good. Check it out if you are into card slash board game and coffee scene. Seems right up your alley. It does.

It honestly does. Five stars on 65 Google reviews. I will patronize it and I will report back. Maybe we'll see Big Kowloon in there. What else, Frank? What else? That is the end of it. Ah, yes.

All right. We found my Google review of the Milk and Honey Cafe out in Brooklyn. Yes. By the way, by the way, you left the review. Left the review. I have only left three Google reviews in my life. Picture and all. Three years ago. There it is.

I can't. Did you pull it up? Breakfast on 10-22 morning. October 22nd, 2021. The podcast really loves this. Sorry. Oh my god, I forgot we were live. Want only refunded the food. The podcast really loves this. Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Oh, my God.

I forgot we were live. Wanted to like this place. Went for breakfast on 1022 morning and found a bug in the meal. Place only refunded the food, not anything else. I think that means just the toast and nothing else. Jeez. The waiter came over to apologize and said he's tried to warn them about their questionable standards,

will never be back, and hope you don't go either. Wow. Only time I've ever sent food back. And the other two reviews? I don't know what the other two reviews are. How did you find that, by the way? Still gave him one star.

Did you look in your profile or something? No, I went and found the place. Jeez Louise. I actually typed in best breakfast in Midwood, my former neighborhood and that was the first place they came up. Wow.

And it's still there. Like a pimple on a forehead. A lot of one-star reviews. Well, on that note, tomorrow, boys in the back What do we got, gents? What do we got?

What do we not have? What do we have? That's a better question A little boxing preview A little UFC Seattle preview A special additional fight For East UFC Seattle We go into the kitchen

Couldn't find any Seattle restaurants here So we made the food ourselves Can't wait for that one Bets? Picks? I guess we'll start doing the recaps since I'm a fraud. Parley Pals, can Pizzi right the ship? I've already received Pizzi's pick

for the week. I've already received it. Will it be a winner? We'll find out. Pound for pound rankings. Fantasy fight venues. It's a loaded show. Jam-packed. Full calls? We're working on the tech. We're working on it. We're working on the tech. Yeah, we're working on the tech. We're working on it.

Working through the kinks. Working through the kinks. We might have it, might not. We'll see. All right. Well, we look forward to that. God bless. And then, of course, the crack on Friday will take you home.

And then we head to the weekend where there will be a watch party for half the back end half of the massive card in Rio not Rio Riyadh that's at 3 p.m. on Saturday post show as well and then I shall be back on Monday to recap it all and of course over on uncrowned.com tremendous stuff there's a great story up right now by our good friend Kel Dansby on Dimitri Bivol. So many good things up there right now.

I mean, it's really all humming along. Look at this. The artwork is fantastic. A little Ben Folk's mailbag. Shout out to Darshan, who's killing it on the boxing side. Elliot, oh, excuse me, Kel didn't write it. Elliot Wurzel wrote it. Kel is obviously leading the charge on the social front, but also helps us out on the dot-com side. Elliot's a fantastic writer. Ooh, I can't wait to read this. Dimitri Bivol is a boxer from another time

and place is the headline. Uncrowned.com, the place to be for all, and Alexa Grasso added to that Montreal card, her first non-title fight since 2022. That happened last night as well. All right, it's time to that Montreal card, her first non-title fight since 2022. That happened last night as well. All right, it's time to go. God bless.

Oh yeah, we have power rankings too in pro wrestling. My favorite part of the power rankings is when all the Jabroni wrestling pages reposted and think they're my rankings and also don't understand what our criteria are. Like they think it's like our version of the PWI. Of course of course helwani would say this i have nothing to do with it it's not my rankings all right you think i'm just like sitting there and doing all this stuff on my own no we're spreading the wealth we're spreading the love here okay we're a team it's not just one person's thoughts and opinions crazy what do you think this is?

Anyway. The Ariel Helwani show? Yeah. Well, no, like this show is, but like it's, you know, we're a diversified attack, Frank. Love it. What a day.

What a day it has been. Great stuff from Mohamed Mokhaev. Enjoyed reconnecting with him. What do you guys say? This time next year, is Mohamed Mokakaev in the UFC? Nope. Wow. You think they never bring him back?

Yeah, I don't know. Damn. He doesn't do enough business to justify. Like, I made a bold prediction that I think Francis Ngannou will be back in the UFC, maybe even sooner rather than later. He does business for them. I don't see Makaev doing enough business for them to change the stand.

Dana holding a grudge? Never. I would definitely bet on Makayev over Francis. That's bold. Thank you to Mohamed. Thank you very much to Kyle Bojalio, and thank you and good luck to Jonathan Haggerty.

Check out one tomorrow morning. Should be a great card. Back on Thursday, same time, same place. Peace. I'm out of here.