The Ariel Helwani Show - Paddy Pimblett’s moment of truth, changing of the guard at 170 , Ilia Topuria big enough for 155? | The Craic

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Petesy Carroll and Chuck Mindenhall are joined by Drake Riggs, who is on site in Seattle for Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong, to discuss a crazy week of news in the combat sports world.First, they look at Ilia Topuria vacating the featherweight title, leading to Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes competing for gold in the UFC 314 main event (06:12), before the conversation switches to Paddy Pimblett’s biggest fight to date against Michael Chandler (22:16).The discussion turns to the welterweight shake-up that saw Jack Della Maddalena granted a title shot against champion Belal Muhammad (40:32), with Sean Brady stepping in to replace JDM against Leon Edwards in London.Reacting to yesterday’s episode of The Boys in the Back, the lads consider NewYorkRic’s comment on the obvious size difference that will exist between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria should their clash happen (48:51).Finally, Riggs gives insight on the biggest storylines from Seattle (1:00:00) before Mindenhall discusses whether the short notice replacements have affected Saturday’s boxing blockbuster from Riyadh (1:07:00).Join us on the bike: avironactive.com/uncrowned

🎵 Welcome back to the crack, you beautiful crackheads. I mean, my god, you got your money's worth over the last few days out of the Uncrowned Network. The boys, three-hour show plus yesterday. Two breaking news spots for Mario Luani. So much stuff going on since Wednesday night. It's absolutely incredible. Honestly, I woke up Thursday morning.

I had missed everything. Meanwhile, the rest of the Uncrowned team are working through the night, gathering all the information they can. Me, just a good old nine and a half hour sleep thank you very much i'll wake up all the work's done but i'm having heart palpitations i'm going through it all i'm like okay ilia's ilia's vacated the title in miami uh volk is gonna fight diego lopez patty pimlett's gonna fight michael chandler then we had the the montreal book, Bilal JDM. We had Valentina V Firo. Then they switched up the UFC London main event. So, you know, I've probably missed things as I'm talking here, but we're still gathering our breath. And then suddenly what happens over in the boxing card, Dubois is out, while the boys are on the show pretty much. And once again, I managed to get away completely scot-free.

But here I am today, Pete Seagal for the crackheads on the crack. We have some great guests. You might know them. Chuck Mendenhall, a regular of the crack. One of the hosts of this stage, let's be honest. And we have a debut. Young Drake Riggs over there in Seattle. Absolutely wrecking the place.

That man was over there to cover the event. And he still had to do all the breaking news articles again while I was having my nine and a half hour sleep. But before we bring the boys in, let's get over to our partners at Averon. And I've been absolutely wrecking myself on the Averon lately. Your workout routine shouldn't feel like a grind. That's why Averon makes exercise more fun and easier to stick to using gamification. Yeah, you can play actual video games while you work out. Powered by their award-winning Averon World software and paired with industry-leading hardware, Averon's rower, bike and treadmill deliver some of the most fun and effective workouts ever. Jump into a session and before you know it, you're locked in,

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forward slash uncrowned and get an extra $50 off. Go to A-V-I-R-O-N active.com slash uncrowned to bring an end to boring workouts. Thank you so much, Averon. Well, lads,

let me bring in the two boys. There we are. There we are. We were hanging in the green room waiting for this. Hey, man. There we are. I know. I didn't want you to be able to just feast on the spectacle of me doing the Averon read

before I bring you in. Chuck Mendenhall, how are you? Forrest Budd, Detroit hat on today, I see. Yeah, I like Detroit. You know, they're doing good things over there with the city. Great green room over here, by the way, man. You guys met my rider. All green M&Ms.

PDO Light. Thank you very much for that, PC. I appreciate it, man. Honor Jordan was picking through them M&Ms for days just to make you happy. So we're so glad that you could do that. Drake, welcome. Your first ever appearance on The Crack. I'm sorry.

That's my fault. My fault for waiting so long. Thank you for the whole double shift thing. I'm sure you were told. Listen, mate, when you go to Seattle, don't worry about it. Pete's going to hit all the breaking news that comes out. I can only apologize, my friend. But congratulations on some great work on Wednesday.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. I'm quite disappointed, though, Pete. So you waited until I'm not all set up in my studio and everything to have me on the show here. We're makeshift from a hotel room. Still happy to be on, though, my favorite of the three shows on our network. So I'm glad to be here, man. Oh, here we go.

Listen, kicking up some rivalries already. I love you. You're going to bring me on. Yeah, exactly. How is it over there, Drake? I mean, the buzz seems quite, like, it's a very strong card, I feel. There's been a lot of buzz throughout the week it feels a bit better from some of the fight night offerings we've got recently yeah no it's it's uh definitely feels like you know everybody's treating it as a bigger deal than your typical apex card which is not a high bar to kind of surpass of course but

you know seattle in particular has been deprived forum a ufc event since it was 2013. i didn't realize it had been 12 years john moraga demetrius johnson i believe was the last event here it was one of the dj ones because they put him in Seattle, if you remember, for a couple of those Fox shows that he had. And essentially, that is what prevented them from coming back here. At least that was Dana's excuse. So we threw that blame onto Mighty Mouse, which is not very fair. But yeah, no, this week feels good. I think that the main card in particular is very solid and a lot better than some of the offerings that we are typically getting.

Again, with the apex cards and honestly i think the main card for this event is better than what we got with 312 from like overall top to bottom uh certainly more ranked fighters and kind of ones with more impact to their fights that they have so um yeah and there's more media here than kind of you would expect i think people want to see people have been very excited to see Seattle, I think as much as the fights that we have. But it's, yeah, it certainly feels like everybody's really enjoying what we have lined up so far. Yeah, I can't wait to pick your brain on all this towards the end.

But as I said, we have to get some of your guys' takes on all this madness to happen i know the lads got into it in great detail yesterday between breaking news segments that was um but 314 we get this news that tapuria is stepping away and volk and diego lopez are now going to fight for that vacant title um chuck i, I guess my first question is if, if Volk wins back this title, is the conversation, will it,

will it be, will it be tainted by the fact that it's come on the back of Ilya, the guy who's beaten him vacating the title, or do you think we'll be back rejoicing in Volk? And obviously one of the fan favorites out there. Do you think he will bypass that whole critique? No, I don't think he bypasses it.

I think that it will exist. Um, it's, you know, it's almost like, well, the landlord is out, right? Like, so that you can throw the party or whatever it is. I feel like if Volkanovsky regains it, it, there will be a certain amount of like, wow, this dude, that is pretty crazy that he could, uh, reascend, um, and end up in that spot. But we would know the situation. At least anybody who pays attention to what's been going on would know the situation. The guy that beat him, and Handley, is no longer there. He's no longer warden.

So you're sort of like, okay, there will be a tiny little asterisk on that. But I think that with a guy like Volkanovski, who ruled that division for something like over four years right it was like four years and change it's it's almost like it doesn't really matter does it his legacy is so set if he goes and wins it if he wins it a another time where he's holding the belt again i feel like you can you can put whatever asterisk you want on it he's already kind of set in terms of the legendary status in that division do you like that matchup for the vacant title drake like when it when it came through are you like this makes sense as we mentioned vulgar legend of the division is it perfect for the ufc to have a guy you can slot into a situation like this obviously

we're preparing for a rematch but obviously diego lopez now his opponent in this case what do you think of it it's really fascinating uh i love the matchup i think you can't really go wrong with a lot of the potential ways you can mix and match people at 145 right now and from a business perspective it makes all the sense in the world and volkanovsky is of course a guy who has undeniably earned his place not just in history but if anybody's going to get an immediate rematch or an immediate shot back at the title like this is one of those guys and we're going through very similar cases to you look at what happened with jose aldo uh back in the day when this is very similar to that where he got his chance to fight for the title again vacant title with the frankie edgar fight at ufc 200 the rematch there this feels a lot like that to me um and from that sense you look back at that time i don't think people gave aldo the full

credit because he didn't end up getting it back over connor who beat him but you know people kind of forget about that after so many fights that he continues to defend because the community can be a little goldfish uh goldfish brained at times um so we'll see how it could play out here potentially if volkanovsky does the same thing i think it's a super fun fight and ultimately whether or not it was the right move just kind of depends on your perspective again business-wise i don't think there there's really a question about it because of just who volkanovsky is and again his legacy But in terms of meritocracy You can make the argument For Mobczar, Ibloov too

Or just Mobczar in there against Volk even like there's Different ways you could have mixed And matched that but At the end of the day just mentioning Mobczar That guy has got to be Hoping and praying that Diego Lopez wins because then it's guaranteed

that he's getting right in there has the storyline set up that's his hope if Volk wins I think it's still pretty possible but I don't feel as confident that he still might have to get win another fight against who knows who maybe even Diego Lopez like I feel very bad for Abloh though getting left out here because he totally deserves it but I get how we got here yeah can you imagine he has the victory over Diego Lopez obviously with an asterisk given the the nature of that being a debut and a late notice kind of situation but still you haven't lost since that fight or ever undefeated and you're you're the one sitting on the sidelines to watch the interim title play out it's just uh it's a pretty crazy situation i will say he he kind of

like i wrote about this a little bit he kind of um defaults into a good situation even not being part of this because i think either way it goes he's kind of the consensus guy right like he's got to be right there volkanovski if he does regain the title has beat what so he would have beat Diego Lopez who would be the the obvious guy but he's already beat Ortega he's beat um Holloway if he were you know he would turn like anybody like almost everybody within that top space I think everybody everybody in that top five except for Evolub so it would be one of those situations where i think he should be in the catbird seat regardless of who wins but you know the ufc has not shown that it's

super uh aggressive and trying to get into the uh the you know the mozar business yet you know what i mean so we'll see how it plays out what do you what do you guys think is better for the division at this stage and i don't mean this is any disrespect to volkanovsky but i i do feel as though if you put lopez in there it adds a bit of freshness to it i know volkanovsky is a brilliant champion i'm not putting this fight past him at all but just in terms of moving the division on from tapuria am i wrong uh drake and thinking that it might be a better move for the ufc to have a new champion lopez or oh that's a great question man um i think long term definitely because if diego can end up holding on to it which is still a big big question mark there because who knows he could end up having to fight volkanovski again as well like there i think is still a decent amount left in the tank for volkanovski but

you know i think we've probably peaked on his popularity as as popular as he has become overall and how willing to be that guy to step up that he is and it's kind of become somewhat of a meme where he's like you know i'll come in at welterweight if i need to and like all right slow down man let's not do that but um i mean in terms of always trying to break into the mexican market or you know the south american markets and things like that uh the latin american markets i should say you know diego lopez is your guy and he's become a massive superstar uh since he's gone on this run so i don't know if i could say it's one over the other in terms of freshening things up definitely with diego lopez for obvious reasons but um i think they're in a pretty good spot either way with either guy as a champion um maybe i guess i

would slightly lean towards diego if i had to had to go with one though i think at this point um you know just kind of broadly looking at it, that Diego would be the guy in the sense of he does bring a freshness. He hasn't really faced a ton of these guys at the top. This is almost like a completely expedited situation where he's being kind of not rushed in. I think he's deserved it the year he had last year, but he's being put in that position where there are plenty guys um out there which would be fresh matchups for the

UFC he's so fresh face and he's like he's still got that baby face right now too like everybody just kind of loves watching a fight he always brings it I think last year when they did that whole uh Dan Ige shuffle with Ortega and he was just willing to do it spoke volumes for the kind of you know fighter that he is. I think he would remain prolific for the UFC, just like Volk. I think that that would all factor into this. But, I mean, just that kind of youthful match, all the different matchups they could make, I think it would be Diego.

And I got to say, man, I met up with Diego. I wrote about this, too, in December. I think the piece came out in January. And just kind of hung out with him and his crew for the whole night at this concert and, you know, dinner beforehand and all that. And I was kind of like, at the time, you're like, what's happening with Diego? You're thinking it's going to be either, you know, Malvzar or it's going to be, you know, maybe Yair.

Like in Mexico City, this was kind of whispered about. And he was like, you know, this is fine. But you could tell that they already knew and were counting on, on some level, as plan A to fight Volkanovsky for the interim belt. This was before you really took, I wasn't taking it serious that Islam would actually make that leap. I didn't think he could. I was like, well, yeah. Ilya, yeah, yeah. He was business as done. So when they were talking about it, and they were talking about fighting Volk for the interim title, I was like, this seems like wishful thinking to me. Like, this is just a camp that's like trying to, you know, conjure something out of nothing. But obviously they knew some stuff was going on.

And I have to say, the only reason I bring any of this up, he was virtually licking his chops at that matchup. You know, it was like, and so was everybody within that camp. They're all like, that's the fight we want. That's the fight we want. Because they believe that they match. I think that they see the Volks probably on the decline and they see themselves as on the up and ready to roll.

And I think they love the matchup. So I think it's just, they see it as his time. And UFC obviously accommodated them perfectly for this. Hang on. So you're doing this and they keep on bringing this fight for this hang on so you're you're doing this and they keep on bringing this fight that isn't on your your list at all it's not even on there to the point where I'm like can I talk about this publicly like is this are we off the record here you know it's like one of those situations you're like because I hadn't really

put a lot of thought into that idea you know um I did mention it in the piece I was like you know ideally this is what they would like well one said that they love the matchup but i was sort of like i didn't really believe that they had inside insider information on it even though it's jason house and his guys and all that i just thought that was more like this is what we're lobbying for that sort of thing that is crazy man that is absolutely insane um you guys were mentioning evlo over here um am i wrong like if i am evlo as guys i'm like lads if patricio pitbull gets off to a good start we have we have another problem right like because obviously um ariel feared that patricio had played his cards right

like he played them out too publicly he was saying like i want to go to the ufc there's all this talk of like well well what if that doesn't happen he is getting his debut against yeah rodriguez who's come into a lot of criticism and i think rightfully to some degree after the ortega fight um it felt like it was set up for this guy like we've talked about this before chuck's got to see this guy in mexico city it felt like things were set up things did not happen and now suddenly you're against patricio pitbull and i'm kind of going evlo f you have a lot to worry about as drake said he has not been put in the spot here we have patricio pitbull who can make a big statement against yair despite some of the conversations that are happening around rodriguez people will still kind of say wow what an amazing debut i think gc likened it to dan hooker and chandler when he came in right

and all of the conversations that sparked that's what it's like yeah yeah but drake would you be worried if you were evlovis people and you saw patricio pitbull against ya rodriguez on the same card that the fucking title is being decided on oh yeah man i'd be sweating bullets dude i mean you got to think about this too fingers crossed knock on wood nothing happens with the title fight there but it's on the same card he's the backup man they're not giving it to yair uh i mean they could but like either way they're in that spot where it all lines up to that that kind of feel we love where it's an unofficial mini tournament right like where we can play with that as fans and all but um yeah a guy like patricio too who he got about as close to

what he could have what he was asking for you know he wanted to get right into a title shot ideally of course that was never going to happen but he can dream fair fair to him um but then he gets this fight with a top guy who's been around for a while in yair rodriguez and you gotta get out of pitbull everything you have left you're risking if he wins this fight with yair and putting him against someone else let's say even if it is evlo ever a non-title fight or something like that then he has a very real possibility of losing not that again people can't beat these guys i think he's still at a high enough level to do that but if you're the ufc and he gets this win over your rodriguez it's like well we know evlo is probably still going to be there afterwards whereas you're just time is a lot less with

pitbull so from that standpoint i feel like you almost have to and i'm saying this after i was just like man poor guy should probably be in the title fight but realistically i could totally see him getting passed over again so he's just he's just in a rough spot man does avaluev have a nickname because if not it should be chopped liver right like he's got like he's he's in that dude's all circumstantial at this point it's like i hope the miracles happen it's almost like the enclave thing right like because you're yeah they don't want to be in the magomed enclave business necessarily and especially when you have a guy like perera but there's a point in time when you're like we kind of have to give this dude the shot. It looks glaringly bad for everybody if we don't.

So I feel like Evlo may be in that kind of spot, which is kind of crazy. Drake, I think you agreed with me on this. The dude, I love watching his fights. Every time he fights, it's fascinating to me. I don't understand the kind of critique and scrutiny we put on that guy. I feel like every time he kind of delivers in my mind. No, I mean, I think i was one of the few of us on staff when we were doing our year-end awards i thought that was one of the fights of the year him and sterling i really enjoyed that just because we never it's so rare that we see those just complete like a wrestling match in mma that delivers with just, you know,

that beautiful technique that we saw from those two. Of course, that's never going to win the popular vote, right? But for the sickos out there like us, it can be great. It can be a great time. Just his problem is he so desperately needs a single finish, just one finish. Every fight's next. If he can go out there and let's say

cruise mizugaki him i'm just throwing that out there because dom's been in my mind this week of course uh i'm missing him but um something like that especially since he was to be on your event he was supposed to be there exactly yeah kills me man but um he needs to start somebody right and he's in a spot now where that's going to be tough for considering the opponents he's going to get. So if he would have went out there and finished Sterling, let's say even at the end of that great fight that they had, we might not even be having this conversation right now. Well, fellas, just bear in mind that I had one big bold prediction this year.

And what was it, Pete? Do you recall? I had too many. It was that Evlo would be The champion come the end of the year So somehow, someway That is a bold prediction We're sitting here talking about his obstacles

They're introducing him to this point They're like throwing, hey what about Pitbull over here You know I didn't even think about the backup element Until Drake said it Patricio Pitbull could end up fighting for the title Dude, he's 37 You know what I mean the backup element until Drake said it, Patricio Pitbull could end up fighting for the title at that event. Well, dude,

he's 37. You know what I mean? What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that, Joe? Is that your age? He's 37, and if he doesn't, you know,

if he's going to be viable as a challenger, if you want to have him in there, you're going to have to do it sooner rather than later, right? Like, especially if he gets by a year.

It is set up for him to, even at four and three, I think he's only four and three in his last seven fights, but even given that information, if he gets by a year it's it is it is set up for him to even at four and three i think he's only four and three in his last seven fights but even given that information if he goes in there and he does this ufc kind of loves to do this um this type of situation when chandler came over that is a good comparison because when chandler came over i think he was 34 years old it seemed like he was older because he'd been around forever but he was only 34 for that hooker fight and um it has a similar feel you know what i mean like you feel like they kind of get a little bit of special treatment you feel like

the ufc has always kind of liked them that's different than say mvp who came over and they're like there's a little bit of reluctance to kind of give him the shine yeah um the subject of our thumbnail which we know is very important business in this video environment uh was patrick pimblitt also known as potty also known as the baddie pimblitt uh he's getting this big fight against channel and he teased it a few i want to say a month ago i think he used the the chandler see you at the top line um i don't know if you saw this we've got a we've got chandler playing around here as well don't we uh jordan we've got uh we've got chandler's attempt to taking the piss out of the

young scouser look at this i mean oh man wow this is these guys are fighting words top heel these days isn't it oh yeah i mean he's looking in great nick i'll give him that much he always does but i seen him i was i was talking to a few members of staff about this and they were kind of like oh this moment of truth for Paddy Pimblitt and stuff like that. I've been covering the guy since his teenage years. I'm fairly confident he has a good skill set, and I was always confident of that.

I know he hasn't put on some... I know he's put on some fights that people were very critical of, but do you see it? That shook like this is one of them fights where it's like, if he can get through Chandler, then we'll, we'll know he's legit.

this was, this reminds me so much of like back in the day we did the MMA beat and Jeff Wagenheim, the guy, the man in the shirt, this Hawaiian shirt, he would always sit there,

he'd always sit there and be like, every time Conor fought, yeah, but I got to see him against, you know, this or this, and all the way up until like,

I think he got through Mendes and, you know, Aldo and others, like, all right, all right, all he got through mendez and you know aldo knows all right all right he's good you know that sort of thing i already feel like we were having this discussion man we were already having this discussion with king green i know that it was i know that he's not a top 15 like top 10 type of guy but they had bad blood and we were like don't sleep on green i mean this is one of those things you got him all motivated he's coming in

there he's very dangerous he'd had a little bit of a resurrection as you know, down the stretch. I felt like we were kind of like if he gets if he goes through Bobby Green, you know what I mean? He goes through him easily. I think that would tell me that he's where we think he should be, you know, whatever it is six and oh, whatever and he did. So I don't know. I do think this is an escalation. This isn't Tony Ferguson again. This isn't the exact same thing. Tony was on a true skid. And I think we could see just how compromised his reactions were and stuff to getting hit. Things like that. We were seeing it very much. I don't really feel like Chandler's like that. Chandler's just been more hell-bent on like, dude, I'm going to go out guns blazing every time.

Win the bonus and get as many endorsement deals and take the biggest spots i can take you know what i mean like he's he's seizing the moment so i feel like it's a little bit different now will he accommodate patty and leave his chin open for business probably but that's what makes it fun absolutely absolutely he's gonna do it jake what do you think of it? I love it, man. I think it's perfect from every aspect in terms of the step up for Patty and then, you know, a very winnable fight for chance. Have we lost a Drake sound there? I have.

Drake, you still there? I felt like a sound went up for me too, but I was like, that's probably just my computer. Yeah, I was doing a normal face. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a great point, Drake. You know, we'll figure it out. Drake is getting calls from editors and stuff like that.

He's a very important member of the team. So things like this happen to him. He is a hardworking fellow. I just don't answer. Never answer. So I don't really know what they say, but we'll get Drake back as soon as possible. Are you getting an element of the selective

bookings here, Chuck, off this? Because I saw people talking about this online. Like, are the UFC protecting a potential golden goose in this guy? I don't know, man, because that didn't seem that way to me. Did it feel that way to you? No. Like you got ferguson it felt a little bit like that yes then green that was a vulnerable fight man like it was a dangerous fight and i feel like

this one is obviously a dangerous fight it's not michael chandler's been fighting just absolute beasts man and he's been hanging with all of them it's not like this is it's not like you're throwing some dude who's um you know what i mean like just can't take a punch anymore anything like that this is a guy who's a bit is still a buzzsaw um and if he ever chose to just start wrestling a little bit again like even just a little bit where he just kind of mixes it in more rather than just putting on a show um you know i would i should be favoring chandler but as it is i'm pretty pretty, I think that Pimblitt showed us enough, you know what I mean? Like over the, to actually take him seriously now. So I think it's

a good, it's the proper escalation. It's a guy with a name and it, where Chandler has been playing in those top spaces, you know, all the guys in the top spaces, if Pimblitt beats him, where should that land Pimblitt? It should land him in those top spaces. So I feel like it's the right fight. Yeah, absolutely. And I know that Padilla has So I feel like it's the right fight. Yeah, absolutely. And I know that Paddy has his critics and he has had his whole career. Like he is the kind of guy who wants to make people, he wants people to make people react. And we know that's a very important thing to have in this sport. And he's been doing it since he's a teenager.

Like I've captivated by this guy, not through his fighting ability initially, but through his interviews, like back in 2013, 1414 he's calling out McGregor while McGregor hasn't yet even made his full ascent he's giving it socks after winning like a regional title that's how I first uh fell in love with the guy he was he was being interviewed by Severo Amay back then but here's what you gotta look at like he gets through Chandler right like he gets through Chandler and then it's like, you know, this is what I'm saying.

Yeah. Ilya and him, like he's been almost like kind of planting that seed forever. Hasn't he? Yeah. I mean, it's just kind of, I was at that event where it kicked off.

It was in London. And I think, I think, uh, to pour you a fat Joey Herbert, it was a Dutch, you know, five from a 55,

just because of joyous size. And we'll talk about Ilya and his size compared to Islam rick made some good points about that yesterday on the boys in the back but to your point say if aspen and jones doesn't happen and we have i know dana recently said like oh everyone relax it's gonna happen but say that happens right and then you have brady which is a way worse matchup for leon edwards i feel than jack dallas madalena say brady goes in and just flattens, you know, just wrestle fucks the shit out of Leon Edwards and wins that fight.

And then your big win for the UK in the first half of 2025 could potentially be Paddy over Chandler. Like that propels him as one of the biggest draws from the UK. I think it puts him up there with the likes of Aspinall and Leon immediately, pretty much, if he does it. It's weird because he already went like this almost beetle esque like moment i think it's in part because it was hair and all that but like he way before

he fought in the ufc ariel was having him on the show people were talking about patty pimble in the states it almost cooled off um as he went but i feel like if anything was going to kick back in into its full potential like in terms of uh seeing this guy at the biggest moment it would be that i do believe that he has the a moment i don't feel like the it's almost like the way people have turned on him if they have at all is in such a weird way that has nothing to do with caring about his fights, you know? And I feel like as long as that is in place, and he would force us to care about his fights if he puts himself into those situations, it'll come roaring back times ten. You know what I mean?

So I think that all of that is still in front of him. It's a very interesting spot, given we were on that phone when leon won right like when we can't when we did that post-fight show and leon it was i've never heard you know countrymen call in crying like that and just kind of associating you know what i mean it was just bizarre so like you kind of think about that in terms of um you know what patty might mean to people over there and everything so i think that there's huge potential if he does get that bar. Yeah. And one thing I will say, like all,

you can see all the chatter on online and like it would almost like, I know a lot of people argue that it's not the real world at all. You know, social media, what you're seeing on there is just, it's like an echo chamber to some degree. But when he walked out in Manchester that night,

it was one of the biggest pops of the night. Him and Aspinall. Now Leon got a big one while he walked out in manchester that night it it was one of the biggest pops of the night him and aspinall um now leon got a big one while he walked out but obviously the fight with balal didn't go the way the crowd wanted it to so the atmosphere changed significantly significantly but um paddy coming out it was like a fucking oasis concert or something like it's crazy man it was just people see i'd like to see that at some point if it gets to that point where he's kind of headlining a big event where that would be fun to see i love when you can hit an atmosphere at its absolute peak you know what i mean like where things can't get any better for that moment i've got to see him fight when he was on the regional scene too and he's made for headline moments he he is he has made, he has built himself that way since he was a very young fighter.

So I fully expect him to get through Chandler. And I believe we have Drake back. Do we have Drake back? Is it the return of Drake? Not quite. I can't get him. His beef with Lamar is still going on.

Well, we'll try it again in a few. Are we there? There he is. Oh, hey. All right. we had an epic conversation there we had an epic conversation i don't know if you missed it but me and shook were absolutely killing it we were destroying the place best stretch of podcast we've ever had oh man in all podcast history um we're just saying about uh Paddy's kind of star potential. I know he's hit some rocky roads and he's had his critics,

but we're just kind of saying, like, if he gets this win over Chandler, like, he feels like a ready-made headliner for the UFC, particularly in the UK, right? Yeah, no, certainly. I think that's probably what the UFC would prefer, you know, in terms of the outcomes here. And again, if he's beating a guy like Michael Chandler, then they have every justification to put him in a bigger fight. But at the same time, my mind still goes to we're missing out on that Moicano one potentially by getting this one. But at the same time,

I think being Michael Chandler might prove a little bit more and the Moicano fight should still be there afterwards in terms of if it's bigger or not. Doesn't really matter because Patty has that option to be a headliner. Not that he couldn't by now, you know, but getting a win over Michael Chandler here, a guy who has been around for so long, the hardcores know him and, you know, the casual a win over Michael Chandler here, a guy who has been around for so long, the hardcore is Noah,

and, you know, the casual is Noah by now. Just for having the series or the saga with Conor alone, forget about him fighting. You know, people know him about being the guy who didn't fight at this point, which is kind of crazy. But, yeah, no, I think that a win here for Patty would, I mean, I don't know how much it would really boost him in terms of significantly because he's already in such a great spot.

The problem with him, I think, is we haven't, we're not seeing him as much. You know? I think if Patty maybe gets a little bit more active, but as we know, all these guys, once they reach a certain point that slows down look at chamaya for a prime example when he was looking like he was going to fight every weekend for a moment there when he burst on the scene in the ufc but um yeah i think this this guy is really the limit with uh it's really about the like the the kind of fixtures of the top of the division because that's where chandler has been you know, with these guys fighting these guys.

And I think that it's just that, right? Like you kind of, you beat the guy who's been in that spot and been holding that spot for a long time, and it puts you into that spot. So I think that that's kind of the, I think that that's what's at stake for him. It's just now I can enter the upper, you know, rarefied stratosphere of like this division,

and I can see how i can do against the best of the best you whatever the case was if he beats chandler especially if he goes through him like he did with green i think that uh that next fight will be that we won't be having a discussion of whether it's kind of you know preferential treatment or anything like that because it'll have to be a monster at that point yeah it's uh you mentioned the ilia thing um chuck and i'm listening to to what drake is saying about like you know in terms of is this what the ufc want by matching patty with chandler right like and that is a conversation that's certainly happening is this selective on their part my question is if somehow ilia if i know there's a lot of hypotheticals here boys i'm

going to apologize okay but say. Should I be taking notes? I'm trying myself. Keeping my train of thought here with this little pen. If Ilya, right, say there's a situation where Ilya ends up as the lightweight champion

and Paddy is coming off a win over Michael Chandler. And we know there's so many people between them, okay? I'm acknowledging that. This is the point of the thing I'm trying to ask him. Everyone else turns into Mozart. I know where you're going now.

They all turn into Mozart at that point. That's what I'm trying to say. Do you think so, Chuck? If that happened, if they could have that. He is a big enough draw to be put in this situation, no? I mean. No, I'm getting it. Tell me if I'm getting it.

The other thing is like You're hammering home like a fight That you may not get otherwise And then this would be more toward the It would be more toward like the doubt That Paddy could hold his standing Long enough to be a legitimate contender You know versus Ilya

Being able to hold it down long enough for Paddy To get to him I think Ilya is that good He's able to do it so If enough for Patty to get to him. I think Ilya is that good. He's able to do it. So if you are really UFC and you're like, well, this might be our one shot to just kind of vaguely justify putting these two guys together. Dude, we've seen them do crazy things like this in the past. I mean, they could do that.

Hendo Bisping. I mean, just playing it out. Oh, yeah, exactly. So it wasn't as stupid as a point as I think it was, Drake. Did I just, did I put some shirt on people? You blew my mind. I did not expect that. I'll tell you that much.

Out of all the, I mean, there's been so much happening, Mr. McGregor, I guess, but that never crossed my mind until you just said it. I mean, where was Khalil Rountree in the pecking order? I don't even know in official rankings when he got a shot. I mean, you could point, not that that's necessarily the same thing, but sometimes. You're not one of these going to say sean o'malley was kind of you know was kind of shot through a cannon up to the top wasn't he like it's almost like it just depends on if the ufc

wants to try to justify that or not i want to circle back though real quick to uh to chuck saying how you know if patty goes out there and submits michael chandler which can we agree is that's that's his best path that would be a good way to do it yeah i think he can knock him out like i know he's not the most technical guy but as chuck was saying earlier if chandler does what he tends to do and which he will put himself straight into a bull you don't need that hypothetical we know how he fights paddy can certainly plant his feet and throw powerful shots i don't think he's the most technical guy in the world i think he's brilliant on the ground but i i think that's a possibility too sorry drake i'm cutting you off there you go ahead what were

you saying yeah well i was just gonna say i think we gotta realize how insane it would be actually if patty was to submit him because michael chandler is a guy who's only who has only been submitted one time and it was against dustin poirier after the war that they went through. You can argue that the submission wasn't as impressive as it still was, but Michael Chandler is a guy who survived on the ground in his last fight with Charles Oliveira, and in the first fight, he's done it twice, and then he survived Goichi Imachi and Bellator Brent Primus like guys who are legitimately terrifying for their grappling

if Paddy Pimlet was to become the guy who actually caught him in something I mean like you could justify it alone off that PT so I'm helping your case here man listen we've all made great points here today but our collective one on this one i

think is it is it is he yeah yeah but get ready right this is gonna be interesting because as i was saying i don't know if you heard this um drake you're away at the time but paddy has had like this course to fighting connor his whole life so he's the next guy in that well not the next guy directly i don't think but he's the next big star of Cage Warriors after Conor goes to the UFC in 2013. Cage Warriors kind of came back in around 2014. Paddy becomes the face of the brand. He takes the featherweight title. I know I sent it to the lads on the show the other day. There was a picture of a famous promotion they did in Ireland. The biggest bookmakers makers here is called paddy power he's like a bookie and they did this promotion where it was five to one for paddy to beat mcgregor by 2020 or something like that now wow since then since then

they've made friends like paddy and molly have shown up in the black forge and stuff like that but mark my words, Conor's not going to be able to help himself. If Paddy beats Chandler and the whole Chandler and Conor thing happens, I can suddenly see that being the fight that everyone's like, oh, Paddy v. Conor, they both talk with funny accents.

Let's get them in there to sort this out for good. I could totally see that. The more I think I'm sitting here thinking about that, I could totally see this happening. You know they're going to be chirping anyway, but I could see see that. The more I think I'm sitting here thinking about that, I could totally see this happening. You know they're going to be chirping anyway, but I could see this happening 100%. And that would have to somewhat be an inviting fight for as much of a fight that you could look at of a guy who has that kind of juice in that spot, right,

that I think that McGregor could look at and be like, I could beat him, you know? Yeah. That would be the guy. And Paddy definitely feels that way as well. Like there's no way Paddy's like, I'm worried about 36-year-old Conor McGregor. There is no way? Yeah. That would be the guy. And Paddy definitely feels that way as well. Like there's no way Paddy's like, I'm worried about 36 year old Conor McGregor. There is no way.

Yeah. Yeah. Just prepare your buddies for that one is all I was trying to say there. It's like such a circus with Paddy too. It's like, this is what's fun, right? Like you just don't know. It's like, it's a bunch of wildness too. It's crazy.

And dude, like, you know, you, you were mentioning like he was on Ariel's show and he was since about 2015. He's been on that show. He went away because his because his career was over. People were telling him his hand was broken to the point when he was fighting Sauron Bacta, don't fight. You literally cannot grab anything with that hand. And he's like, oh, I'm going to throw myself back in here.

Severe depression and everything too, right? Yes. Yeah, some dark times there. He's overcome a lot, man. He's got a wild story, and I'm sure he's going to lay it out for us all one day. I know he's already got documentaries on BBC and stuff like that, but when it's all said and done,

it's going to make for a hell of a show. One UK guy to another, Leon Edwards' opponent switched. Who drew the short straw here, right? Because I saw the lads yesterday saying, Jack de la Maddalena, balal will you know if he can get this guy down it's a nightmare but leon coming off the balal fight is preparing for a striker and now it's like oh guess what mate sean brady's with the cold tweet down it's all leon's

belt and his opponent oh shit oh shit. Oh, shit, Bilal. Drake, what do you think? Who drew the shortest straw here? Is it Jack de la Maddalena or is it Leon Edwards? I, man, it's, this whole welterweight thing is super, I don't know about bizarre, but it still has my head spinning right because i love how ball was playing with it like that because yeah he did exactly a thief in the night if you will um i mean i think leon i think leon i think the style change is going to

be something that could affect him maybe more than bull all uh in terms of what he'll have to prepare for now and a guy in sean brady who just perfectly well-rounded in every area like i think he can give leon a lot more fits maybe in multiple places than let's say a jdm could have whereas you know of course jdm would have gave him a lot of problems in the boxing and on the feet striking like that not that brady can as well it's just leon is going to have to think more right and the preparation to get ready for a guy like sean brady i think more time would serve him better whereas opposed to you know the other end of the coin there a guy like balal he's going to go in and do the same thing no matter who he's going against so jack has his hands full there and it's pretty close but i think

leon is kind of uh the odd man out in this case i think it's leon 100 man that's a 25 minute sentence he just received like you look at what brady you know just his last couple of fights you know with like gas salon and burns wasn't it was it was a burns and i think that i was looking this up at some point in those two fights 12 takedowns 20 minutes of control and he just makes it such an existential hell like right and i mean so leon just now i was like was supposed to be a bounce back and like um in this big way where i think he had a pretty good match up there to be a bounce back and like in this big way where I think he had a pretty good match up there to be honest it goes into something else

and this is one of those things you're like oh because you can see a scenario where he is just completely nullified of what he wants to do we've said this about Leon before there have been a couple times especially when he was fighting Usman where he actually holds his own in ways that you don't believe he will be able to i'm just not sure man this is two tides kind of going different ways

here and that's the problem with it right i think that brady comes in he's like this is my this is a huge opportunity and he's gonna i think he shows up ready to do work you know so i feel like this is a horrible draw for leon we used to discuss this on a on the ringer show we were doing me you and ariel where there was this clump of welterweight prospects ian gary shavka shavka rackman off um sean brady jack de la maddalena and and of course now you have joaquin bookie of carlos pratchett in there as well but this feels like a massive changing of the guard year for Welterweight, right? Like, potentially, right?

Look at the way they've matched this. It's Leon v. Brady. It's Bilal v. Jack de la Maddalena. We know Shavkat's sitting in the spot to basically fight the winner, you'd imagine, of JDM v. Bilal. Ian Gary is there. Joaquin Buckley as well.

It just feels like, for so long, right, and we'll all remember this from covering the sport, Welterweight was just Kamaru Usman cycling between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington. Now, what we have here... Occasionally Wonderboy popping in.

Hey, fellas. Come on, guys. Give me a goddamn opportunity. Even, look, Carlos Pratchett. We forget how many fights have been announced on tree 14 carlos pratchett as we jeff neal on that card as well like this is a monumental changing of the guards as a nut drake if it happens it has potential to be i should say i mean it's already been slowly happening right with these guys who are in there now, the Buckleys and the Garys. And I mean, even the Shopkots just reaching the heights that they have.

And with Carlos Proches' last year alone, by the end of this year, it can look a whole lot different. If you look back at even, let's say, 2023, I don't remember exactly what the rankings were, but I'm sure they looked pretty similar to the guys you listed off right there. So it's like it is really going through a big wave of changes and depending on how some of these these fighters get booked uh in particular the ones that are still hanging around like the colby's and the oosmans who i don't know how many more colby will have i mean he's a one fight a year type of guy anyway and then assuming maybe whether they want to book up uh book ian against buckley rebook that one coming up soon they'll still be in the rankings regardless and then it's just a matter of if they can like flush out oosman but yeah it's a really

fun time um it's a really fun time for welterweight which has always been one of those kind of premier glamour divisions a little bit like i always think historically of light heavyweight and welterweight is those ones where you're like there's always something going on with a great legacy being built by somebody and we're kind of now in that point of all right who's the next guy but while as as great as he has been to get there like he's he's too late i think in his career to become one of these guys even though he's tried to make the arguments a little bit about what i think he said he's the second best already behind gsp or he wants to be the gsp it's just father time is gonna catch up man and he's

he's on the wrong end of it so we're looking at the shopcots and these guys that we're all mentioning here so it's uh it's going through the cycle for sure. And I'm very excited. I will say that Bilal, it's crazy, man, because I think his is such a quiet sort of tyranny. The dude just doesn't lose. But like we kind of always are like, oh, these other dudes, you know, I think we've circled Shafqat forever, right? And that was going to be fascinating in its own way. Just like, you know, this is you're going against a guy who makes your life hell in Bilal. Like this is not going to be a cakewalk for Shavkat, but now obviously like it changes up. But can you imagine if by the end of the year we're having this conversation and Bilal just keeps holding court, you'd almost be like, this is kind of nuts. We're really focusing, because we've, I've done this the whole time like you focus on other guys and uh you don't really pay attention to below but if he's able to like say that he's able to get through uh delaman alana and then all of a sudden he beats shopcott you'd be like this is insane because nobody is beating that caliber of guys again and again so

i agree with you on whole in theory i guess with drake but i'm like at the same time i do believe that below will have something to say in this. If he wants to have that laser, if he wants to come near it, he still has a big say in how he does that. Right. Yeah. And we just got a note there from,

uh, the great on air Jordan saying Anthony Hernandez, Mr. Fluffy probably yards from where the nickname means. It means a little bit. Yeah. Right. Like,

is that what it means? It means you're a bit chubby yeah just call me fluffy carol man and that would also it could have come from my back hair too you know and my hoofed of bullshit on my head um but anthony hernandez what how long does he have is it an extra does he have an hour and 15 minutes drake or is it just at the top of the hour it's over here? Do you know? It should kind of depend on, I think it'll depend on up to him. He should have one hour left if he wants to try and still cut it. But there's a 12-minute window.

We're on the countdown right now. Oh my God. Well, on air, Jordan will keep us updated. Yeah. I'm looking forward to that one. I hope it doesn't fall through. I know, right? Yeah. Do you know, Fluffy is one of those guys, air Jordan will keep us updated. I'm looking forward to that one. I hope it doesn't fall through. Do you know, Fluffy is one of those guys, I'll tell you what, we're going to talk

about Seattle in two minutes. We just have to get through this. We just have to get through this Tepuria thing. Because I was very interested yesterday, Ariel's on the boys in the back talking about it. And the lads were prodding him the way I would have. Because I think everyone saw these announcements, right? And Dana didn't say specifically anything about it.

But in all of our heads, the subtext was, oh, Ilya Tupury is fighting Islam Makachev. Like that was a subtext in our heads. Ariel explained it very well. And it made sense. He said to the boys, like, do you really think Tupury would put himself in this situation? Like he would vacate a title with no guarantee

that he is fighting at the 155 pound champion i think i think that makes sense to some degree right like at least he was given some assurances where they happen i don't know but i do believe that ariel is correct in that like he would have had to get some kind of guarantee if you say i can't make 145 now is this the case or not like that i cannot i simply cannot make $145,000. This means that you are not necessarily volunteering and vacating so much as you're saying, I can't. And they're saying, well, you can vacate and move up. You know what I mean?

Like, I agree. That would be the, on the surface, that should be what's going to happen. That would make sense. But if he can't make $145,000, there's a little bit of me that's just like, well well he kind of had to force himself out of there then and i'm not 100 sold that he'll get it like you know what i mean like i i feel like it could go another direction i agree i agree like mostly like i i don't know why they would play around and not do that because he is a you know a reigning champion all that stuff but it's weird right because it sounds like his circumstances also kind of forced him out it wasn't like he was just like i've cleaned out the division this is it i've done all i can do

and there's no such thing as a guarantee in this sport is there drake like there's no there's no way you can take someone's word one day and three months later you're like oh that's still good right we're still good with this that's how i feel anyway yeah i mean to kind of circle back to colby covington, and I mean Tony Ferguson. These guys used to be interim champs, and then they had their belts taken away from them. That's right. Remember this?

Yeah, true. Nothing, even though there's a physical guarantee, is still not the best guarantee. I don't know about you guys, but I don't for a second really believe that he can't make 145. I don't believe that at all. I think it's all been a negotiation kind of ploy that he should play here. That's what I mean.

If it's on that terms, he's like, okay, let's just say this is what we'll say. Obviously, he has to get the shot. But if he really believes he could, it sort of forced their hand. And so that's all I'm saying. Yeah. No, I think you're right. But what I was going to say is, like, that is where the conversation went. Like, we saw Shaheen's tweet.

I think the lads had it on their show yesterday. We might have it here now. Basically, Shaheen just kind of lined out, like, you know, if he is. So here it is. Ilya Tupurian. He ripped me off. He stole my tweet.

I tweeted this before him. Yes. That is typical Al Shadi. Typical Al Shadi, to be honest with you. Here's what Shaheen tweeted after seeing Drake's tweet. Can we just get that back? Sorry, Jordan. I didn't get it.

I didn't get it. Thank you, mate. Ilya Tepurian knocking out Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, then jumping up in division and dethroning a prime Islam Makachev would legitimately be the greatest three-fight run in MMA history. And look, fair play to him for echoing Drake's sentiments there with that tweet. And we also had a Ben Folks article, which was largely, in my opinion,

it was just an elongated version of Drake's tweet as well. If you want my opinion on this, there it is there. There's a book coming out about Drake's tweet at some point this year. Yes, yes. It should be. Damn it. And we also, right, so we got all this and basically we're all in the same thing going,

oh, this is going to happen. Then we had Islam's manager put out this tweet and I suddenly got very worried. Here he is, Rizvan Magomedov. To pour you a V Dustin or Charles contender fight to prove he's legit lightweight. So we don't have to defeat another small featherweight in quotations. We need big fight that makes sense for everyone. We already gave chances to featherweight in quotations. We need big fight that makes sense for everyone. We already gave chances to featherweight champ. That was raining for a long time. Now, uh,

I love how they're always resistant. It doesn't matter who, it doesn't matter who's coming out. I'm saying, I don't know, man, did they deserve it? You know, we did have this though from submission radio. I forgot to shout out the boys.

I used one of their clips last week and was like, here's a random video. Um, the great lads of submission radio uh we have javier mendez who's done an interview here let's let's have a quick listen to this if we can jordan because it it might settle our settle our concerns if it was international fight week for you javier is that good timing to prepare for someone like anelia tapura yeah of course i mean anybody i mean all islam needs is two months to prepare for anybody. He's not going to care who he fights. You know, you make 155.

You know, we all have the same attitude. We fight. You know, you pay us. This is who you're offering. He's not going to say no. If that's who they offer, that's who's being worked out, who's on the table for Islam, that's what Islam's going to do. That's the table for for islam that's what islam's gonna do that's just the way he is he's a true warrior he's not somebody that's gonna say no no no give me

somebody else no he's gonna fight that's the way it is you know we're not we're a champion we're number one for a reason we're not supposed to reject any any any person they throw in front of you you know he will do what a champion is supposed to do. Now, it was actually the great On Air Jordan who brought this point up to me because we knew we had the tweet. He then sends me the Javier Mendes thing. And I was like, oh, well, this is very promising. And I don't know if you mind me saying this, On Air Jordan, but you can't speak directly to me right now,

so I'm going to go ahead and throw you under the bus. He was like, well, isn't that exactly what you'd expect from a manager first of all saying like oh i don't know about this like why would you want us to do this like as in probably giving himself a negotiation leg to stand on when he's there well if we're gonna fight this feather the beep of the binks truck boom struck and then we have on the other hand you have javier mendez a guy who was only in this to win titles um yeah but yeah look it's an interesting situation and we should probably actually talk can i just say real quick go ahead if they do fight right like if ilia challenges islam and i know people are like oh

my god this is insane this is crazy it would be but would it be so different in your minds when volk was on his streak and he went to challenge like Islam I think the biggest difference is that we have a bigger uh appreciation for Islam now than we did then and part of the part of that appreciation was built by Volk by Volk going up there and him handling Volk but it to me it feels like almost a very similar type of situation yeah like does it feel different to you guys I know that we've like we wherever it's in front of us is what we're like oh my god this is huge but sometimes you look back and like you know we kind of did this once it was a recency bias isn't there yeah because he's the hot shit now no you're right though remember how fired up we all were for folk oh man it was huge it was huge it was a

battle and i mean the fight the first fight obviously panned out in such a brilliant way that it was like you know volk starts coming on late it actually kind of boosted his stock i remember having this whole discussion about it you're like wow volk is better than we thought even in a loss it's just i feel like we've kind of been through it um but it does make ilia like it if he's able to go in there and actually win it it would then transcend that because i think that you'd be like okay now this dude actually went up and actually accomplished what volt couldn't do yeah yeah it's um it's a wild one are you shocked by the lion lads it's um let me just pull this up here minus 280 islam plus 220 ilia taporia is that weird for any of you guys make sense i think it'd be a little bit a little bit closer maybe minus 200 at worst.

Yeah, that seems more... That does seem kind of high. That seems like they're not giving Ilya much of a chance. Is that the size thing, Pizzi, you think? Or is it... Obviously, he is coming up, but is that straight up... He's also fought at lightweight before, though, you guys. We got to...

That's true. The UFC. Joey Herbert, he went down in that fight. Look, and Joey's a great boxer. He's very slick. He put him down in the first round of that fight, and Ilya came back. Ilya's weird because what is he, like 5'7"?

So I think the tendency is to think he's a little smaller, but when you see him, like, he's thick, man. Big aura. He's got a wild aura to him. That aura weighs at least 20 pounds by itself. But I was thinking about this when Rick actually went through a crazy basic diagram he had put in

place in his mind for what Volkanovski looked like against Islam I think Tupori is an inch taller than Volkanovski so he's kind of saying do you remember how crazy that looked when Islam and volkanovsky

start fighting and you're like jesus christ these lads look three weight divisions apart that's it's gonna be pretty much the same thing you'd imagine so i think that's a factor definitely especially against a grappler like once there's a bit of fucking size in the difference there it's like being on steroids like you can absolutely manhandle dudes when you're bigger than them um so yeah look it's interesting. I'm sure it's going to be tied with Aspinall and Jones for the topics that we... Dana says it's coming. Just hold on there, PC.

Hold your horses. I already fucking put the article out last week. Fuck. Hold your horses. Shit! Things can change so quickly. Tell us, please, Drake. We have you in here to give us the juice on Seattle. We had a shitload of stuff to get through there before

on. We don't even know if Andy Hernandez is fighting here, for God's sake. He's just been bumped up to the coma. He made way. Come on, the fuck. That is good, man. I did not want to lose that fight. That's actually the one I was thinking about.

I did a piece. This should be coming out today at some point on on fluffy so make sure to check that out boys that's a piece but yeah tell us tell us what's uh tickling your fancy over there drake is there anything that we might not be seeing that you're feeling now that you have your finger on the pulse of seattle my goodness uh yeah there's there's a lot to like on this card you know top to bottom uh as we kind of discussed earlier um the main card in particular is is really solid but then even out throughout you look at the prelims we got these freaks like iwan kutilaba's back against ibo aslan in the the last five of the prelims which that should be a banger andre feely's on this card i mean ricky simone you look at this guy was headlining against Song

Yedong who is still headlining this card a couple fights ago he's on the prelims too like they stacked it out pretty good at least with notable names and he's going against Javid Basharat too so that's a that's a great fight and then we get the surprise uh Mr. Van Zandt making his debut just on day's notice by the way you guys austin vanderford in the most roundabout way possible i would say to get to the ufc i mean he's here baby bellator's gone we're in seattle so he's on the card that should be a fun one i guess uh nikolai varetnikov um but man we got a double dose of gian's gian's john matsumoto and uh Silva going back-to-back on the main card, you guys. And both of those should be great.

Matsumoto, of course, filling in for Dominic Cruz, which never going to meet the expectation there. I was so hyped for just seeing Dominic Cruz. I'm very biased in that case. But I think it's a great test. I mean, could very well be too much too soon for matsumoto and on short notice especially i guess the guy like rob fawn who i think people are obviously have doubted him in the past and they're still doubting him in this position which i find kind of weird because he's like i believe he's a minus plus 200 underdog they the the odds makers are actually very in favor of matsumoto

which you know undefeated on an absolute tear right now but it's again a big experience level difference which uh i think is going to show up in the fight i do think font's going to pull this one off but there's money to be made there because of the lack of belief in rob font just i guess is the veteran guy here and you know I don't know whatever it may be in that case and then of course Gian Silva one of our favorites from last year fighting nerds on a tear one of the breakthrough fighters at least one of the big contenders that we could have spoken about and uh yeah with with Fluffy like we mentioned too that's a rematch you guys I think a lot of people don't realize they fought for the lfa title like right before it

might have been right before fluffy got to the ufc it was just catapult right before the conundrum series yep yeah so so there's that to look at um a little fun backstory and then of course the main event i'm super hyped for and we can talk more about that too but uh there's a lot to like you know and i'm not just saying it because i'm on boots on the ground this week and it's in my my neck of the woods but uh it's a better offering again circling back to the beginning of the show than what we get in the apex that's the best way i can put it there's a lot of uh kind of um conversation about this potentially being the end of the cringe era this might be the last fight of the great henry suhudo um you know obviously it's it's been two losses on the bounce this is a guy a success his whole life when it comes to combat sports what's your impression over there drake are

you getting any feeling one way or the other i know fighters generally won't come out on the week before and say this is the last one l lads. No matter what fucking happens, I'm backing it in. But what's the vibe check like? So I, first of all, I believe the great Ben Fulks will have a piece coming out probably today if it's not out already. But did you tweet it already? That's what I want to know. Is this based on the

premise? I don't know if I tweeted this one. I fucking knew he was doing something. He was always too good. I was like, you know what? I fucking got you now, folks. He was always too good. I was like, you know what? I fucking got you now, folks. Yep. He had some ghost tweets, we could call them there, from your boy, yours truly, over here. But no, there was something very interesting that stuck out to me at Media Day on was talking about, you know, at this stage and you look at kind of where he was at after losing to Merab and what he made that very bizarre kind of

random call out of Rob Font. You guys remember this? He was initially angling for more of a guy around, I guess, his age level and experience, if you will um so he spoke about how he actually butted heads really hard with hunter campbell in negotiations for this fight because he was wanting to stick specifically to more of legends fights or guys with the legacy like maybe even a cruise rematch he did talk about possibly being something but then he came to the realization that if he actually does want to make this run for the title and continue to pursue the whole reason he came to the realization that if he actually does want to make this run for the title and continue to pursue the whole reason he came back for in uh what was it 2023 may 2023 against sterling that he should take on these guys like song yudong who are going to be

around and he should be able to beat them anyways and solidify that place so when he was talking about that it made me think okay well he's always going to have that mentality that he had becoming an olympic athlete and then getting to the championship status but it made me think all right i guess he is probably a little bit serious and i thought he would have been after this and maybe in his own mind he was going through that acceptance of i'm probably not going to get back to a title especially at bantamweight there was a possibility of flyweight which he also teased right in this this time between now and his last fight but i think he's committing and realizing all right

well i also don't want to cut way we'll get rid of the flyweight part my last chance is here beats on your dong and i don't know how many more you'd have to win after this but i think he is taking it very seriously i think it's a very tough matchup for him i'm actually not expecting him to win this one you can uh see why over at uncrowned.com because uh it should be out now um yeah but i think if henry loses, there's no coming back from that. He absolutely needs to win this one, and because of the indicators I just laid out right there, I think he's treating it like this is kind of do or die for him, for sure. Do you think he gets the respect he deserves, Chuck Cejudo?

Anyone else who's won belts in multiple multiple divisions i feel like they're automatically in the conversation as one of the greatest ever i can remember i was having this debate possibly you and ariel once and we were getting a load of comments like how could you possibly even discuss like henry seudo in this situation um but i i think it's fair to say that anyone else who's won two two divisional titles is usually in that conversation and he would be if you if you stack the guys who've won uh titles in different you know divisions like that dual champions he would be the last one considered i don't know why it is i guess it's really just a flyweight thing it is kind of strange drake was pointing this out that the flyweights always end

up in seattle like some of the greatness is like displayed up there but it's not generally perceived that way um and it's a very strange thing because remember when like when suhudo basically retired the first time i think he expected because single-handedly he brought back the flyweight division from almost near extinction right like it was going to go they were trying to kind of phase it out he he kind of keeps it alive by uh you know resurrecting and bringing some people through all that stuff but it didn't really feel like he got the response he wanted when he retired the first time you know and if it was if the ufc was going to like you know i think he thought he had the ufc a little bit and he found out he didn't and

then unfortunately that's just kind of the perception like for whatever reason man i've been to multiple of his fights and i have to say on fight night he brings it like people in the arena like really respond to what he's doing whether it's good or bad but it's just a strange thing in our sport man some of the guys who are that good just don't get the recognition they deserve you know i think the problem with henry's legacy in particular is that it was too short. I think that is his biggest issue. And maybe the willingness to give up the flyweight title, how he did. But really, when you look at kind of the vacuum, I guess, of his career, because at that time, when we were looking at it, I was like, yeah, I mean, there's a solid case.

I might put him at like five all the time like as high as five but because of what he was doing and how he did it like i think he's definitely doesn't get enough credit for it but again you look at longevity it's kind of what you value more i think and especially with him yeah i mean some crazy he beat juiced up dillashaw and everything this year i mean it's crazy it was like a 20 second fight or something, wasn't it? It was very quick. And then there was, there was obviously

the Cruz one as well where people were like, this is an early stoppage. Then you had, I even remember when he beat DJ. There was lots of people like DJ won that fight. It was like the Nick Diaz

and the Civil War of Diaz v. Condit all over again. One, two, five, baby. But look, it's going to be a great card. I need John Silva to win so much. You got a lot of money on him? No, I've just keep fucking losing.

I just keep. Oh, this is your little thing you do. I can't fucking win. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, exactly. The little thing that they've asked me to do and then have just abused me every fucking week.

What you want to do is not be conspicuous in those situations, PC. Just pick the right guy. That's what you me to do. And then have just abused me every fucking week. What you want to do is not be conspicuous in those situations, Pete C. Just pick the right guy. That's what you got to do. Oh, shit. Why didn't I? I wish someone had said it to me earlier. For fuck's sake. This guy fucking picks golden picks over here.

And then all for fuck's sake. It's just no trouble for me. But I know how it is for some people. It's okay, man. I'm just going to text you and say, listen, who the fuck should I count as? What do we got? What do we got? Got the big boxing card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia tomorrow as well.

Look how you snuck that in at the very end. That's crazy, man. I know. I talk about it. It's my shame. We had this big boxing card, and it suffered a couple of casualties this week. The most recently, as I said at the top,

was during the lad's show when they found out that Daniel Dubois is not fighting and then Martin Bacoli... Although that's a good... That is as good as you could expect. I think that's really dangerous for Parker by the way. Big time.

We actually have a little clip, don't we, of Ben Shalom Jordan talking about how this was put together as Riyadh season as you can imagine it was if we have it there i was up there on the press conference i couldn't concentrate i'm not talking i'm not even looking up and i apologize if that looked rude i was trying to make the fight and we're trying to get it over the line and uh came off out press conference, spoke to His Excellency a couple of times. The deal was done in about 15 minutes. Yeah, well, talk to me about that.

When did you know De Waal was pulling out? When did you know McCauley was in? When did I know? To be honest, I just saw the news that you saw around Daniel. I wasn't absolutely sure whether it was um it was 100% or not um obviously at that point everyone's putting the names forward we felt like the only 50 you know this card is about a historic card this is about a 50 50 card and and for me that was the only fight to make if you're trying to do this but for me everyone deserves a lot of credit

everyone's taking a lot of risk but I hope Martin Bacoli gets the appreciation of every boxing fan because to do this on two days notice, a top five heavyweight like that with a final eliminator around the corner for our entertainment to add to the greatest card I believe of all time. He deserves absolutely every... You know, I believe that

Deep Pockets helped that situation quite a bit. What? Whoa! What the fuck are you talking about? These allegations keep throwing around it's crazy to me like i did a little uh you know primer on this whole card the seven title fights you know that was uh that was slated and it's just crazy to me that it was almost it was almost set up like a big time ufc pay-per-view although with way more titles because there's more titles in boxing in general but like there's way more title fights, but you never see this in boxing.

But then you get the thing that's the bane of the UFC's existence, which is guys falling out at the 11th hour and them handling it like the UFC does, which is like calling up somebody last second and getting them to fly in for this. This has the feel of a big-time MMA fight at this point. Like a big-time MMA card, you know? Yeah, absolutely.

And look, I think they did great with with parker uh to get him fine but coli's great i think shakur stevenson he's also got an opponent flown in probably not the same appeal as the piccoli uh situation but alas he is staying on the card and just wondering chuck has it has it made you feel because this is a card that we had we had seen coming from a long way out this is going to be huge and we've been talking to drake about how great the the seattle card is has this impacted the card very negatively do you think the dubois and parker fight not happening because it was i mean there were there were some people um who i think looked at it including i think the principals themselves

as maybe it's the real main event and it sometimes in a big time heavyweight clash like that it swings in my mind it does change it alters I don't think it really takes away a ton because they did a good job salvaging it but at the same time the stakes on that fight kind of change in a weird way for me and I know that we're just listening to Shalama like kind of pointing out the other way but Dubois could already wait out Yusik right like he could he could um he's already kind of there so he was the one giving Parker a strange chance to just kind of you know usurp him those in that pecking order type of thing so it changes a little bit because now if Parker loses who picked you know to basically win the fight but that didn't involve him in the co-main event I mean it's just one of those things. And that way it's very MMA, where you get some kind of chaotic, you know, monkey wrench thrown into the whole thing. But if you embrace the chaos, right, like if you embrace the sort of scrambling and then like I've learned to do with MMA a long time ago, I think it makes the boxing event that much more fun in a weird way. Like it makes it, if nothing else, it adds this wild element to it, which I appreciate.

Well, it is going to be a world weekend of combat sports, my friends. I mean, it's going to be, I think it's going to be like 14 hour stretch or something of, of from when the Riyadh card fights to the, to the Seattle card finishes. I think it's going to be like 14 hours,

which is me just seeing my life. My Saturday just disappear in front of my eyes. That's what I'm saying. But I'm looking forward to it. This is the, which is me just seeing my life, my Saturday just disappear in front of my eyes. That's why I'm saying that. But I'm looking forward to it. Sacrifice the Saturday. This is the life we chose. But thank you all so much, crackheads, for joining us.

Round of applause, Drake, for making the big debut on his favorite show on the Uncrowned Network. I mean, he said that. His words. We have been folks ripping off this guy's tweets.

He said that about my show My show Chuck Chuck Our show I should say The show we do every Friday My god At this point

Lads enjoy it Pray If you're near a church Light a candle for John Silva I don't think I'm gonna ring in sick on Monday If he doesn't win Honestly

I'm just gonna be like Oh Go with an itchy throat there Ariel I can't I can't fucking get in But I'm very excited for it Can you be, go with an itchy throat there, Ariel. I can't fucking get in. But I'm very excited for it. Can you be relegated from that group, Leggy? I hope so.

Like, I mean, I should have been relegated last week. I think, yeah. So if it's possible, I'm open to that. Never too late. I'm open to, you know, Drake, do you want to be in on the picks? Jump in. It's all good for me. Jump in.

Hey, I already make them every week too. I mean, you don't go under the scrutiny. It's like in the X-Files when they used to point a light at someone when you come on the show. Like, Petey, you fucked it again. And I'm like, listen, I know I did. But we're going to sign off now. And we all know I struggle with this element of it. I can only tell you all that I love you.

It's just so hard to say goodbye to all you beautiful crackheads. Enjoy all the fights. Again, if you're near a church, go in, light a candle for John Silva and hope he massacres whoever he's fighting on this big card. We need this to happen. I don't even look at the opponent in case it freaks me out beforehand. You're telling on

yourself as to why you're so bad at this, my friend. You've been looking at the opponents? What is this? Come on. But anyway, I'm going to try and go. I love yous very much. Thank you to Chuck Mendenhall.

Thank you to Drake Riggs. A sensational debut. Thank you to Oscar Loseff. Thank you to On Air Jordan. I mean, even throwing in some vocals today. It's absolutely amazing

what this guy does. We will see you. We will see you tomorrow. Well, Eric and GC will. Mysterious Frank, I'm sure On Air Jordan is going to be there as well.

He's so excited. He's giving me a big thumbs up here, a big smile on his face for tomorrow. Enjoy that. Enjoy whatever else is coming your way. And we'll talk to you on Monday where hopefully I have turned around a three-week skid of absolutely bullshit picks. One heroic one for John Silva. I love you very much. Mwah.

Mwah. Mwah.