The Ariel Helwani Show - Reaction to Dana White x Donald Trump, latest on Conor McGregor, plus Brandon Moreno, Katie Taylor and Bam Rodriguez

Episode Date: November 6, 2024

Ariel Helwani and The Boys In The Back break down the UFC's future with Dana White's close ties to incoming U.S. President Donald Trump, the latest in Conor McGregor's sexual assault case, UFC Vegas 100, and more (04:24).Katie Taylor discusses rematching Amanda Serrano on the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul card, criticism of the Tyson vs. Paul fight, concern for Tyson, landing on a U.S. stadium show before competing at Croke Park, fighting at a catchweight, potential retirement plans, and more (44:21).Brandon Moreno discusses his vintage UFC return against Amir Albazi, braving the Edmonton cold, his hiatus from MMA, having negative thoughts during his losing streak, his new coffee hobby, his focus on regaining the UFC flyweight title, and more (01:04:30).Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez discusses his WBC super flyweight title defense against Pedro Guevara, where he ranks on the pound-for-pound list, his first interaction with Eddie Hearn, Japanese McDonald's, Naoya Inoue, criticism of Saturday's matchup, why Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul isn't a real fight, and more (01:28:34).Ariel Helwani and The Boys In The Back answer your On The Nose questions about Conor McGregor's ongoing civil trial, controversy with Mysterious Frank's in-show drops, Sage Northcutt's bizarre career, WWE Crown Jewel, the difference between McDonald's in Ireland, the UFC's current lack of spectacular champions, and more (01:53:31).        

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R.R 2000 and 24 hello again everyone i sure hope you're doing well welcome back to another edition of the program it's a lovely wednesday afternoon here in new york city it's like 80 degrees outside fahrenheit that is uh i haven't done the math but it's lovely outside trust me you can see it right over there and it's great to be here on another wednesday almost approaching our one month anniversary since launching this show and uncrowned and all the other shows and so we appreciate everyone joining us on this crazy ride and appreciate all the support very much we have a lot to get to on this wednesday a lot to talk about a lot to dissect digest We love to shoot on Wednesdays. As you know, on the nose Wednesdays, we'll get to all your questions or at least as many as we can. A bunch of people have already sent them in. ariahawani.substack.com is the place to be. We'll

also get to the super chatters if you want to send us any questions over there. Hello to the chat. Thumbs up to the chat. Thumbs up to the chat. Thumbs up to the chat. Today on the program, we've got royalty. We've got royalty in the world of mixed martial arts. We've got royalty in the world of professional boxing. You know how I feel about Katie Taylor. I think she's the greatest of all time as it pertains to women's boxing. She's returning to action next Friday, November 15th, live on Netflix all around the world. 270 million subscribers, approximately, give or take. A few 10 million or so. Anyway, she'll join us at 145 to talk about the big rematch against Amanda Serrano. This time it's happening at 140. Last time it was at 135. That was at Madison Square Garden in 2022. Yeah, 2022. One of the great fights that I've ever witnessed live.

An unbelievable scene. And now they do it again, five pounds more. Katie's belts on the line, the one that she won against Chantel Cameron in the rematch almost exactly a year ago. That, of course, the co-main event to the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight. So that's royalty number one. Number two, Brandon Moreno. one of the greatest of all time as far as the men's flyweight division is concerned in mixed martial arts, coming off that great win over Amir Abazi. Announced back in March, remember,

that he was going to take some time off, that he had reached his limit mentally, physically, emotionally. Comes back and looks fantastic in Edmonton. Looked tremendous against Abazi. Back in the mix at 125, of course. Title being defended on December 7th. Let's see how he fits into that picture.

And then after him, we've got one of the best male pound-for-pound boxers in the world. Jesse Bam Rodriguez. Undefeated super flyweight champion. Returning to action this Saturday on DAZN. The chief support, if you will. The co-main event to Jaron Boots Ennis. We spoke to Boots last on DAZN. The chief support, if you will, the co-main event to Jaron Boots Ennis. We spoke to Boots last week on the show. Today, we speak to Bam Rodriguez for the first time.

An absolute stud, an absolute force, and a guy who a lot of people think by the time it's all said and done can very well be number one pound for pound overall. That's how good he is. So looking forward to those three individuals, looking forward to on the nose, looking forward to getting it to it all with all of you.

And of course, the boys in the back. Now, we sit here on Wednesday, November 6th, and I gotta be honest, we said goodbye yesterday and we were talking about the election. We were talking about the United States of America and all the emotion and all the passion and all the tension in the air. I think a lot of people thought, yeah, there wouldn't be a resolution to this particular election until maybe the end of the week or even next week or even in two weeks. But we wake up on this Wednesday, November 6th,

learning that Donald Trump will in fact be the 47th president of the United States. Now, before you get crazy, we're not going to break that all down. I told you it's a very emotional topic. We wish it wasn't, but that's the way it is. That's the way politics have become, not just in this country, but all around the world. And so we don't have to be naive about all that. But it is somewhat of a mixed martial arts story. And I will explain why if I need to. Of course, Donald Trump, long been a supporter of mixed martial arts, long been a supporter of the UFC. And we saw over the past year plus him showing up to a lot of UFC events, getting the grandiose

entrance and whatnot. We've seen Dana White campaign on his behalf in 2016, in 2020, and for this particular election. And there he was last night at Mar-a-Lago after Donald Trump, you know, comes out and has the victory speech and lets the world know that he is going to be the 47th president-elect come January. You know, there's a couple of people who speak it's president trump it's uh jd vance who's the uh vice president-elect it's maybe one other person and it's dana white who would have thought like honestly who would have thought your allegiances aside it's kind of wild it's surreal that the president of the UFC, Dana White, is up there speaking in a moment like that. Like, it's one thing really to speak at the GOP convention.

It's one thing to do interviews. It's one thing to campaign. But in that moment, the victory speech, that moment, Dana White, I mean, it feels like we're not that far away from him being a part of some cabinet. Like, he's going to, you know, is he going to leave? Is this the route? It's a wild thing. And this is not me, you know, editorializing. It's actually kind of, it's kind of wild.

Not only that, throughout all the broadcasts last night, you're hearing people specifically credit Joe Rogan and his endorsement of Donald Trump. And the fact that Kamala Harris didn't go on his show and all that stuff that happened over the past two weeks or so as being a major factor as to why so many young people and so many different kinds of people voted in favor of Donald Trump. These are two very important figures. Obviously, Rogan known for much more than just his work as a UFC commentator, but how about the UFC and how

about mixed martial arts having that much of an impact? I have no doubt that Dana White's, you know, campaigning and influence and popularity leads to people wanting to vote and be a fan of Donald Trump and the same with Joe Rogan. And so it's a wild, wild thing. In case you missed it, here's the moment as Donald Trump, the the brand new uh president-elect not vice president-elect president-elect the 47th president soon to be of the united states of america giving dana white a shout out last night late last night and then dana white coming up to the stage to say a few words as well we also have a man d White, who has done some good. He's a tough guy.

So Dana started UFC and came to me. Do you mind if I use your... Nobody wanted to give him a rinse because they said it's a rough sport, a little rough. And I helped him out a little bit and I went and I said, this is the roughest sport I've ever seen. But I began to like it and he loved it. And nobody's done a better job in sports.

And you know, he's a very motivational kind of a guy, what he does. He gets these fighters and they really go at it. And it's become one of the most successful sports enterprises anywhere at any time. It's doing so well. I'd like to ask Dana just to say a couple of words because people

love to hear from him. This is amazing right here. We haven't seen Dana this passionate in years. Look at this. Nobody deserves this more than him, and nobody deserves this more than his family does. This is what happens when the machine comes after you. What you've seen over the last several years,

this is what it looks like. Couldn't stop him. He keeps going forward. He doesn't quit. He's the most resilient, hardworking man I've ever met in my life. His family are incredible people. This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this. They deserve it as a family. I want to thank some people real quick. I want to thank the Nelt Boys,

Aiden Ross, Theo Vaughn, Bustle with the Boys, and last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan. and thank you america thank you have a good night train by day i mean this is remarkable stuff you have to admit it is who would have thought a piece of work 10 a real piece of work 10 or so years ago uh dana white up there as as the brand new president of this country is giving a victory speech. It's a surreal thing. It's a wild thing.

And there's a lot of connections, not just Dana, not just Joe Rogan. Stephen Chung, who used to work in communications for the UFC, is one of the key members of the Trump team. He's his, I believe they call him his campaign spokesman. He works for him. He has worked for him for quite some time, 2016 and 2020 as well. Used to work for the UFC. So there's all kinds of ties,

not to mention all the fighters who have weighed in on this particular topic. I have no real issue with all this. It is what it is. We've seen it for a very long time. I do think it's supremely interesting how Dana loves to, and he'll never admit this,

and he says it about me, he loves to make himself and the people around him into the victim. This is when the machine comes after you. This is karma. This is this and that. Like, man, it was a victory. Take the victory lap.

Thank everyone. Thank the podcasters. Thank the other hosts. Thank the people that you you work with you know spare me the the the victim mentality and and i know people will be like ah this is rich coming for mariel he makes himself out to be the victim all the time i don't know what what what karma he's talking about i don't know there was an election one time someone won there was an election another time another person won it is what it is and i hope i i truly truly hope because he goes on

these on these on these podcasts now talking about how the how the media is dead and how journalism is dead and how podcasts are the future and the only way you can get the truth is on podcasting like it's a thing that just started a year ago podcast just started a year ago he found this thing called a podcast and it just started a year ago and this is the place where you can speak your truth podcasts have been around for 15 20 20 years. What are we talking about? But apparently someone told them that podcasts are the place, the only place where you can get your truth out. In any event, I've already weighed in on this subject. So just remember what I said a couple of weeks ago. Here's my point. My point is this is an incredible country.

This is the place I always wanted to live. This is the place I used to dream of living when I was a kid. I wanted the American dream. I wanted to be an American sports broadcaster. I wanted to come live here and raise a family here and be a part of this country. And I only hope and pray that now that all of this is behind us, and I know this may be a very naive take on all of this, I hope and pray that some way, somehow, the United States of America can become more united, that we can move on, that we can be in a better place, that it can be all about red, white, and blue, not what team you're on red or blue the division the vitriol the hatred it would be so great if we can go back to how we were in the summer you know in the summer

when you're watching the olympics you see everyone rooting for america you see everyone kind of push you know that they're rooting for the basketball team to win there's no one saying ah you know this that can't we get to that point is it possible possible? Is that naive? I don't know. And I'm not suggesting that there was once a time where everyone was in favor of whomever the president was, or there was one single party, but it would be a lot more refreshing as a parent, as someone who's trying to teach his kids right and wrong and about what's to come and why you should be so proud to be an American if there can be less division, less hatred, less vitriol, and more support for whomever the president is, whatever the party in power is, and we could go back to it being a little bit more boring. Again, I know it's naive. I know it's a very simplistic way of looking at things. But the last eight years have been very intense, very tension-filled, very vitriolic at times. And I just hope with this new regime, we could get past that

and hopefully maybe come together as one. I don't know. Should we sing Kumbaya? Should we do that? Who, me? I don't know. Do you know what i'm saying frank i dreamed of living in this country and i and i wanted to go back to at least in my mind the um the camelot that i dreamed of yeah i think that's actually a really good way of looking at it and

it when you were referring to it earlier today, it was quite the positive message, and I'm glad that you brought it up. Thanks. Thank you, Frank. I appreciate that. How surreal, though, to see Dana White up there, huh? I still can't believe that happened. It's crazy.

And the shout-out to the podcasters is pretty funny. The Nelk Boys getting a shout-out. Nelk Boys, Aiden. Aiden. Aiden. Aiden, you know? Joe Rogan. Who is it? Bustin' with the Boys. Yeah, Bustin' with the Boys. Shout-out. What did you guys think when you see that? pretty funny the nelt boys getting a shout out boys aiden aiden boys you know joe rogan who is it busting with the boys with the boys shout out what do you guys think when you see that yeah it's crazy we're so used to seeing dana up at podiums and like now he's put on the world stage for for

all to see it's nuts i would argue guys that that's the most passion that we've seen at a dana white on a dais on a platform like that, at a press conference, if you will. I know it wasn't a traditional press conference. Since 2017, Mayweather-McGregor, second stop in Toronto. Do you remember this moment? This is Dana White in his true form. What's up, Los Angeles? Ladies and gentlemen, the reigning, defending, 155-pound champion of the UFC, so yeah that was la he did the same in in uh in toronto as well i mean he that was

peak dana white and i would say sat, excuse me, not Saturday, yesterday, Tuesday, was not quite as intense as that, but pretty darn close. And look, that's why people love him. The passion, there is, when he is invested, when he is all in, there is arguably no greater promoter or hype man in the world. When he's truly invested, invested when he cares which he does on this topic which he did mayweather mcgregor uh that's what that was the first thing that i thought of when i uh when i saw him up there yesterday it was vintage day in a way was it not rick it felt like a it felt like the the passion the energy was there and i definitely had a flashback to the notorious and him turning red and and those moments and the raining the raining is the best part of all that screaming raining in his um face is beat

red you just it it immediately like seeing dana white there is a bit of a shock even though now i guess i've become more used to it right we see trump coming to the ufc events we know how close the relationship is we've heard him speak at at the Republican convention and we know that there's this relationship there. But it is just jarring to still see the first person who speaks after Donald Trump in his victory speech is Dana White is just still like kind of like jarring to me because I've seen Dana White, you know, from the beginning of his time and getting into the ufc and is now like this close to power of that um level and magnitude um still is bizarre even though again i've seen it a few times now um but it's still kind of like startles me to a certain degree like he he doesn't just have a relationship with the now president of the united states like he is boys with them like he was like one of the first people he wanted to go yes to speak and like give thanks and everything afterward what's the line by the way at uh me getting deported come january i mean what are we setting this at you're a citizen

now baby yeah not and i get deported as a citizen how does that work i feel like i feel like you're good now i feel like you're safe i mean i survived 2016 actually there was a greater chance of me getting deported First time First time Because I wasn't a citizen yet Right So I think I'm good Right

Now you're one of us But are Dana and Trump Closer now You know He pulls his trains Calls in a favor Let's not put this Why are we putting this

In the universe anyway I mean it's just It's out there It's the elephant in the room Hamza title shot Check Kamar Usman Title shot

Check It's tough Till back in the country I was going to say Darren Till comes back To the UFC Check Masvidal back in the UFC Kamzat, title shot, check. Kamar Usman, title shot, check. It's tough. Till, back in the country, check. I was going to say, Darren Till comes back to the UFC, check. Masvidal, back in the UFC, check. Masvidal coming back, yep. Helwani deported, check. Do we get a 3-10 walkout?

Oof. Or a 3-09 walkout, 3-09 walkout. Yeah, you mean MSG, right? Yeah. I could see it. Or was he using it as like a campaign strategy like get the hype going no because i mean i i think we might see it i think he does place is gonna go no it could be a victory lap tour i don't think you see him as much a because he'll be way busier but i don't

think you see him as much at these events not inaugurated yet though like what is the what's the what's what's it like now for the next two and a half months? Is he just chilling, waiting to start the new job? Is it like you get the new job and then you get laid off? How does that work? I have no idea. Is he just chilling until January 20th? There is a transfer of power. I know, but that doesn't happen until January.

Well, yes, but there are things that need to be done. Does he start moving into the Lincoln bedroom? Does he start moving a couple things in? He's just like, what's up, Joe? He's about to get on out of here, brother. He's not booting Biden yet. but uh yeah he's got work to do he's got to deliver on all the campaign problems i look i kind of hope he's at 309 wow no one else huh i i was just trying to process it i was just trying to process it

i know you know what i was actually thinking a million times you might as well just do it one you know what i was thinking of in that moment Is it awkward today when they're having their morning meeting Like Joe's like man You let me down Or is he happy I don't know Joseph Benavidez I'm talking about One of those guys

It's all very surreal What are people saying about it What are your thoughts Pete You've been quiet I stayed up till 4am Watching the It's all very surreal. What are people saying about it in Ireland? Yeah, what are your thoughts, Pete? You've been quiet. Yeah. Wow, I didn't realize you were so upset. I stayed up till 4 a.m. I stayed up till 4 a.m.

watching the election. I stopped getting messages in our group, so I just moved on, singled out Frank. He knew nothing. I guess the thing, I was watching it for what, like maybe five hours. And where were you watching it, Pete? I watched, I went from Prime, and then we don't have many options.

We have CNBC or CNN. So I was kind of jumping between the three of them. In that five hours, not one mention of Hamzat Shumayev's visa status. I mean, what was I staying up for? Absolutely ridiculous. I mean, I thought that was one of the core principles he was running on. That's what I was told. Yeah, I don't know. I think If there was an issue we still don't know if there is an issue But if there was an issue feels like it's something

That will get addressed Relatively quickly and I could See the comments now this is not A commentary on this person Winning or this person losing You just have to admit you have to admit if you're a long Time fan of the sport It's pretty wild

And that in itself is not really a commentary Good or bad That he's up there I don't think he ever thought that he would be up there In a scene like this if he's being honest And so again it's one thing to campaign on behalf But to be in that moment The victory speech moment

Is a remarkable thing Just think back also also like the the on these shows i was watching the discourse about the joe rogan effect yes everywhere you know like we can't like the one of the first things that dana white said when he when he took the stage and he was doing the victory speech was like crediting joe rogan like it's it's crazy to me you know this sport that was struggling for so long, for the majority of time that we were covering it, has been struggling for a mainstream footing. And then that's as mainstream as you can be. The president of the United States, the president-elect has just won this election and there's Dana White and he's referencing Joe Rogan.

And throughout the whole day of the votes being counted, they're talking about a bro vote, believe they're calling it and they have people people um being swayed by rogan it's incredible honestly it's absolutely crazy this subculture i was thinking back the same way but not even necessarily in terms of like the mainstream acceptance but it was not that long ago we go back 10 years and the ufc and mma in general were fighting for legalization and Dana White and Joe Rogan are on the front lines railing against politicians and people who are preventing this from happening imagine the power that they would have had if if this was happening now like the the alternative universe where they are the ones who are closer to power than any of these other politicians is kind of a wild like blowing my brain out thought just where we've come from where ufc mma dana white joe rogan were to now is just insane the journey

is ridiculous even the joe rogan thing where it was like oh the fear factor guy worked for the ufc now it's arguably the most influential and and powerful host not just podcast host period just so happens to also be a ufc color commentator yeah that i mean i was watching abc or something last night and one of the dudes was at arizona state i think it was and it was like what's pts saying he was like yeah a lot of people are saying they're out for you know abortion a lot of people saying they're out for border control things like that he's like but the most by far that people have said they're out here for is because they listen to the joe rogan donald trump interview and i'm like ufc commentator joe rogan yeah this is crazy so uh let's see how it all pans out i i think we can all share the

sentiment that we just hope that it's a uh a for all of us in the new year and that the world can be a happier and safer place. Now, yesterday, there was also some massive news regarding one of the biggest stars in the sport, Conor McGregor. His lawsuit, as he's facing a civil lawsuit, his trial had kicked off at Dublin's High Court on Tuesday. And this is a story that has been brewing for quite some time and it finally kicked off and wanted to see how day one played out. Day one has played out and day two in the books as well. I want to read the report that we have up on uncrowned.com as you're looking at Conor McGregor and his lawyer, Karen Kessler, his father, Tony McGregor in the photos as well. I want to read this report

and then get more intel on how day two went. Here it is, courtesy of uncrowned.com. Conor McGregor was present at Dublin's High Court on Tuesday to face a civil lawsuit pertaining to a sexual assault that is alleged to have happened in December 2018. Nikita Hand, 35, claims that she was sexually assaulted by McGregor and another man, James Lawrence, in a penthouse suite at the Beacon Hotel, Dublin, and is claiming civil damages from both. McGregor and Lawrence have both denied the accusations and the former UFC champions lawyers say Hand is attempting extortion. The trial began on Tuesday. As members of the jury were sworn in, Justice Alexander Owens told jurors that it is alleged that the man had, quote, in effect raped her, end quote. Justice

Owens also clarified that it is not a criminal case, but a civil case, meaning that if it is determined the assault happened, it is a civil wrong, and therefore the plaintiff is entitled to compensation. John Gordon's senior counsel for Hand said Tuesday that his client knew McGregor as she is from the same area and is in the same age group and shares mutual friends with the UFC fighter. The court was told that McGregor collected Hand, a hairdresser, and a friend from their place of work on December 9th following a Christmas party. Hand understood that they were going to another party. They later went to the home of Lawrence who joined them in the car. In the back of the car, Hand alleged that McGregor

shared a bag of cocaine with her and her friend. McGregor, Lawrence, Hand, and her friend, McGregor's security team and others went to a penthouse suite at the Beacon Hotel. Hand told the court that the group had been drinking and laughing. At one point, Hand claims that McGregor told her to, quote, suck on that, end quote, as she was walking by a bathroom he was using. Later, Hand recalled being alone in a bedroom with McGregor where she alleges she stopped him as he tried to make advances on her. Hand also claimed that she was on her period at the time of the alleged assault. Quote, I said, no, I don't feel comfortable. I know of Dee. I know of her family uh hans said referring

to mcgregor's longtime fiancee d devlin later gordon told the court that his client hand alleged she was quote completely unable to push mcgregor off he said jurors will see quote pictures of her hands and wrists which are black and blue you will see that her left breast also has a bloodied scratch the scratch is there because she was wearing a watch and had her hands up to protect herself. She was pressed down and the watch scarred her breast. There is much more about the details on uncrowned.com. You can read it right now.

It's up on the website. Day two in the books as well. Pizzi is in Dublin. This is obviously a huge story. What, if anything, can you tell us about day two, Pizzi is in Dublin. This is obviously a huge story. What, if anything, can you tell us about day two Pizzi? Today, Han continued her testimony.

Yesterday, they finished at four as she was just getting into the alleged assault. She was describing the encounter that happened. Again, she went into detail on that today. She alleges that, you know, as she was being pressed down, she was choked a number of times um she eventually bit McGregor to stop the attack she said her head was the only part

of her body that could move and she recalled thinking that she was never going to see her daughter again um after that we went through a lot of communications that hand had with her friends they were shown to the court and after lunch there was a lot of cctv shown basically mcgregor's movements hans movements lawrence's movements all throughout the day and she was later cross-examined by one of mcgregor's counsel and the main crux of what they were saying before it was adjourned for a day it will be um see it again tomorrow I believe it will start around 10 a.m or so Irish time but towards the end of the cross-examination McGregor's counsel was taking back taking hand back to some testimony she made earlier in the day, stating that initially she didn't tell her partner what had happened.

She was frazzled after the ordeal. She can't remember a lot of what happened afterwards, the encounter that she references with McGregor. And basically she said she hadn't told her partner what had happened. The council were saying, well, you've lied here. It seems as though they're trying to, you know, underline the fact that she hadn't been truthful with her partner what happened the council were saying well you've lied here it seems as though they're trying to um you know underline the fact that she hadn't been truthful with her partner a lot still here to play out again mcgregor and lawrence deny all accusations that hand is putting to them and again this is a civil court there will be no criminal sanctions handed down

regardless of the verdict hand also outlined that she was let down by the dpp which is the director of public prosecutions you'll remember a new york times article in 2019 ariel kind of saying the dpp were investigating this and she said she was let down by it they said they didn't have sufficient evidence to prosecute at the time that is why we are at this point pursuing civil damages as opposed to criminal damages. And that is a question that I see being raised a lot. Why civil, not criminal? Is that the sole reason? They just felt like there wasn't enough evidence to pursue criminal charges? Yes, the burden of proof would be on the DPP at that stage.

And this is, as far as I know, this is quite a commonplace when it comes to this kind of assertion, you know. I completely understand that you're not, you know, you're not a lawyer. This isn't your usual beat, but how long do we expect this to last? Up to two weeks, I believe. I think there is some hope that it will you know be dealt with swifter than that um there's a lot of testimony to be said it's very meticulous uh i've been particularly staying glued to paul healy who's doing a remarkable job for the irish mirror there he's actually tweeting a thread every day giving updates as they happen i've been sharing them out every day and if you want to keep on top of it blow by blow um he is a great man to follow for this

and and is there um is there a chance that mcgregor testifies yes yes as far as i know as far as i know um i've spoke to lawyers around the situation and they believe he will. Um, I obviously can't say 100% that is going to happen, but the feeling is that he will, um, take the stand at some point during this. And, and, and have they said, uh, what kind of damages they're, they're, you know, seeking? What were like, what, what is, what is at stake here for McGregor? Council for Hand at the beginning, um, referenced the beginning referenced that a million in damages. I don't know the exact number. It has not been said much beyond that, but that was the initial claim from Hand's counsel, I believe, when they were basically saying that McGregor's lawyers feel

this is all an extortionortion they're trying to extortion extort a million out of him for this um he also said you know they think she's a gold digger things like this at the very beginning of proceedings on tuesday how how is it being covered in ireland what is what is the you know what is the mood with temperature from the media and also from the public um i have just been blown up constantly since it started you know it's all over all of the newspapers um it's been on six o'clock news it's regular radio bulletins everything um you know it is big big news here and it will be no surprise to any anyone who's listening to this show that you know mcgregor is one of the most

famous irish people ever at this point and a situation like this is going to be massive and and he hasn't um he hasn't said anything right like there's no there's no sound of him walking out and and you know sometimes they'll speak to the media he hasn't said i've seen the photos and the videos of him walking in and out but i haven't seen any comment from him or his team no i think i think um we will hear his side of things as things progress here. The only claims, you know, the only people who have spoke to their side of things so far is Hans Council. So it will be disingenuous for me to say, this is what they think.

This is what they see the situation as. All right. Well, appreciate that, Pete C. It continues. I suppose it's uh 6 30 over in dublin now so day two is over right it's finishing most days at 11 a.m your time okay when the court finishes so and basically as you guys are going to get your lunch it's it's done for the day and again if you go to irish mirror and you go to pa Healy's articles, at the end of every day, he will have a full rundown of what's happened and the key moments from each day.

I think it's a very valuable resource during this court case. All right. I appreciate it. I think there's a question or two in On the Nose on this, so we'll tackle that when we get to On the Nose. Thank you very much. Let's see how that plays out. Another story that has been brewing for about two years now, finally, it seems, came to an end earlier today. of Connor Benn and Eddie Hearn and Chris Eubank and even Frank Warren yesterday on the program. And then all of a sudden we get a good afternoon tweet from Connor Benn. And then we get a statement from Connor Benn. Quote, I am thankful that after an incredibly challenging two years,

the national anti-doping panel has today finally cleared me of any wrongdoing. The past 24 months has unquestionably been the toughest fight of my life, a rollercoaster period within which the WBC had already decided that I was innocent and the NADP decided in the first instance that there was no case to answer and I was free to fight. As someone who is so passionate about boxing and an advocate for a clean sport, I hope now I've been cleared. It can be understood why I have maintained my innocence so strongly throughout. I'm relieved to finally close this chapter and I'm excited to get back in the ring to realize my ultimate potential. Who wants it next? Also, Eddie Hearn weighing in after he posted this, after Conor Benn posted this statement.

Eddie Hearn weighing in on Twitter as well, saying, after a horrendous two years and a full hearing, so happy Conor has finally been cleared of any wrongdoing by the NADP. Get ready for one hell of a comeback. Now, we also found out that UCAD, U-K-A-D, has also weighed in on this, the UK anti-doping agency. They have weighed in on it and their spokesperson said, quote, UCAD notes that professional boxer, Mr. Conor Benn, has made public comments today

regarding the outcome of proceedings before the independent national anti-doping panel. UCAD can confirm that it received the decision of the independent national anti-doping panel this afternoon. The panel concluded that it was, quote, not comfortably satisfied that UCAD had proved that Mr. Benn had committed an anti-doping rule

violation for the use of clomiphene. The provisional suspension previously in place has been lifted and the charge against him has been consequently dismissed. UCAD will now carefully review the panel's decision in accordance with its appeal rights under the UK anti-doping rules. So it appears as though he is now free to resume his fighting career in the UK. He has fought a couple times in the United States and that has brought upon, you know, some blowback from the UK fans. I've said this before. I've talked to several of the best and top, most respected commissioners in the sport here in the United States

who have all said we have no issue with him fighting here. But now here it is. And that leads me to two questions. And let's ask our Conor Benn, Chris Eubank expert, Mr. New York Rick, this question. Yes, please. Now that it appears that it's a clear and it's free for him to fight, it seemed like they were leaning towards

this fight happening in Riyadh, right? But there was a little detail that was being overlooked, which is the fights in Riyadh under Riyadh's season are sanctioned by the British Boxing Board of Control. So if they have an issue with him in the UK, why would they allow him to fight in Riyadh? Now that that appears to be no longer an issue, do you think this fight happens in Riyadh or does it happen at a stadium in the UK? The most money to make would be at a stadium in the UK. Plus we've seen Riyadh season

sponsorship of events that are not based in Riyadh. So it would make all the stadium in the UK. Plus, we've seen Riyadh season sponsorship of events that are not based in Riyadh. So it would make all the sense in the world for this to happen in the UK. I will admit I was celebrating when I saw Connor Ben's statement and Eddie Hearn's tweet.

And then I got a little apprehensive when I saw UCAD's statement that they still have 21 days to appeal this and muck this up even more. Not making me feel great about uh what's going on but hopefully that ends up not coming into play and and he is truly free and clear at this point you have to do this fight in the uk there's there's no alternative i think it would be crazy

if this fight doesn't happen in the uk you're talking like legit 90 000 people at one of the stadiums or at tottenham hotsotspur, 67, 70,000. In Riyadh, it's just another fight on a card. The atmosphere is going to be worth not just the ticket prices, right? Not only are you going to be able to sell the tickets for this event and profit the gate on this. You're going to get the energy, the atmosphere, the fight week, everything being built in the UK with that atmosphere and those fans there is going to be completely different than if you shifted this anywhere else, including, you know, Riyadh. So it has to happen here. And

quite frankly, I'm, you know, I am the lone holdout. I have this fight at the top of the bill and I would die to see this fight. There's nothing I want to see more. It has to happen soon. Now there are no hurdles. We have cleared the biggest hurdle, which is this doping violation. With this out of the way, I don't want to go back and forth on the weight. I don't want to go back and forth on the timing. I don't want to have this drag out anymore or even I will start to lose interest. Let this be the next fight. Let this happen.

Okay. So let's see how that one pans out. There's another story that is brewing this morning, and that is the state of the Michael Chandler-Charles Oliveira fight, which is happening supposedly next weekend here in New York City at Madison Square Garden. Woke up to a couple of tweets saying that the fight was in jeopardy. Then saw a tweet from Renato Moicano saying like, you know, put me in coach. Then saw a tweet from Charles Oliveira with the thinking emoji quote tweeting one of the tweets saying that the fight was in jeopardy. Then saw a Dustin Poirier tweet saying, I'm in. Based on the conversations that I've had, the fight is not in jeopardy. I don't know if

there's smoke to the fire right now. I reached out to Chandler's team and was told news to them. I reached out to a couple people and they said news to them. Now, typically when something like this happens, there does seem to be smoke to the fire, unless it's one of the crazy, you know, fake, you know, Twitter things. But as of right this moment, I have not heard that the fight is off. You know, if it would be off, this would be devastating, obviously, for Michael Chandler in particular, because he's waited so long. It'll be two years since his last fight, the McGregor saga, all that. And then some then some hopefully it doesn't happen I don't know how Dustin Poirier would jump in on a week's notice I don't doubt that he would want to but would that be smart I don't know but as of

right now it does not seem let me just check my phone here it does not seem like it is in jeopardy I don't know where this originated does anyone know i saw like a couple of accounts here there but nothing really it didn't seem like anything really concrete or or reputable reporting this right anyone see anything i didn't see any any specific reporting what i did see was the fighters reacting which to your point sometimes you know the smoke does become fire on that right the the energy around that tends to turn into something but no i i've not seen anything on the report again all right uh so that is another item that uh has been oh let me see uh no uh another item that has been crossed off There is some unfortunate news regarding the

Stacked Apex 100 card That is going down This Saturday and there's going to be a full breakdown Of that card on the boys in the back Tomorrow yes This is what we're expecting Yeah absolutely I mean it's an Apex themed show

Apex mania Are we still holding I hope Are you going gonna hop a flight if you get last minute yeah last minute credentials they never gave me anything back though all right unfortunately the cody garbrandt fight against miles johns is off uh it has been reported first reported by bjpenn.com and confirmed uh via multiple other outlets That the fight has been Scrapped Garbrandt the reason for the scrapping He's been forced to withdraw

From the fight It's unclear as to what happened It is the second time these two were Expected to fight And second time that it has been scrapped So that is a bit of a blow I was looking forward to that one That was a huge blow

In the last 24 hours it's lost two of its better fights That's right The Dolby fight And this fight Damn Yeah As of right now We're still

It's looking apex-y out there Apex 100 man It's looking apex-y Do you think they do that? Kovalevich, Denise Gomes And the Comane? Yeah That's apex 100 right there

Carlos Prates minus 750 against Neil Magny. That is Apex 100. Oh, Dane White. Been cooking in the politics this week. Been cooking on Apex 100 as well. This is, oh, Zaleski's staying on the card. Zach Scrogan, undefeated prospect. Zach Scrogan stepping in yeah was this breaking news i don't know i'm just seeing it on topology uh yeah just fought an fac uh just won the vacant fac welterweight title uh decision so i mean yeah it's it's coming together i mean we're staying afloat here to me the most interesting front of the card is rdr versus meerscha just because of course the right debut of if they lose that okay that would really be the the cherry on top of this apex 100 sunday yes um they did uh you think they'll do some sort of i don't know celebration

of sorts like bring out like the the top 10 best apex fighters no i think it'll be in apex tradition and it'll almost go unmentioned that the 100th event it'll be just very like understated yeah you know we've technically already passed the 100th event at the apex because they had pay-per-views there during the pandemic yeah but this is like This is like the 100th Apex, Apex card. Because some people were counting those as the 100th, but you're saying, no, this is the true 100th. Yes, 100%. I'm talking, what was it a couple years back?

Dumont, Ladd, like those. Madden Hall Classic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're at the 100th of that. Do you not think they're going to reference Saving the World from COVID at all Oh they're 100% going to play that Aren't they supposed to start renovations

I think this might be the last Apex card for a minute Because they're doing renovations Oh wow wow wow This is breaking news Is this what your Apex sources are saying Oh did I lose No I think this has been in the plans That they were going to do renovation.

I just like that the apex seems to be your beat. Like, you know all the comings and goings. We lost you again. Yeah, Rick's got to talk to the Zoom guest. Oh, I understand. I understand. But, you know, there was, I will admit, I have not verified this.

I really couldn't be bothered to go through it, but I did see some tweets of them Apparently people saying that they posted A video about the greatest moments And didn't include Ngannou's knockout of Stipe Now do we think if this is true Do we think that this is because Stipe's fighting next week

And they don't want to show him in a negative light Or do you think it's because they don't really care that much about Francis Maybe it's just not one of the greatest moments. Maybe that's the thing, Ariel, right? Maybe Matt Dumont, maybe that was one of them. Did that make the cut? Brandon Hall would definitely make an argument for it to happen.

Ferguson v. Gaethje, right? That was in there. That was in Jacksonville. If you're going to talk about the great... I don't know anything about the Apex. I told you I stopped watching them. Honestly. I'm not watching this weekend. You just make a point you don't watch.

I'll have a look the next day. You know what I mean? I'll do a bit of a Twitter recap. Especially when you took my boy Dalby off the card. You know what I mean? He would have had my attention. Alright, well, much more to come as far as the apex uh centennial event is concerned and all kinds of other stuff but for now uh let us go to our first guest of

the day it is always very special it is always a massive honor when we have royalty on this program when we have the greatest female fighter of all time as it uh as it pertains to women's boxing and she returns to action on november 15th nine days from now on netflix in front of the world at at&t stadium in arlington texas she's one of our own she's one of our own katie taylor she's one of our own hello katie how are you great great to see you, Ariel. Thanks so much for the nice introduction there as well. Of course.

And it comes from the heart. We mean it. It's great to have you back. It's been a while. It's been a year. And so let's get into it because this is such a big deal. We thought it was going to happen in July when you found out that it was being postponed four months.

And I know you trained so hard and you're so you know single-minded focus how did you react to that news i was obviously initially very disappointed i was deep in training camp when that phone call happened where i heard i was going to be postponed but um it wasn't a big deal in the end i just got back to the gym got back training and then said set in shape there's nothing really you can do at that stage um obviously initially disappointed but you just get all the things in the end and I knew what was going to happen eventually at that point and this is such a big stage and such a big platform for you guys was there any talk of maybe you guys fighting on July 20th just not at AT&T stadium on a different platform something like this or maybe

you just fighting someone else in the meantime to remain active? There were talks that we were fighting again in the meantime, but in the end, we just thought it was best just to keep training in the gym and stay focused on the Serrano fight. We knew it was going to happen again. We knew it was going to happen um again we knew it was going to happen um

yeah quite soon after july 20th so we didn't feel a lot of the need to get another fight in between i don't think we just um set fit in the gym and um kept up the sparring and um i'm feeling in great shape now how do you feel about your your body because uh i know you like i said you train so hard and uh you don't seem like the type of person that takes their foot off the gas and so uh was there any concern about over training about you know tapering about you know peaking at the right time because all of this is a science right yeah no i think i do obviously train very hard but i do train very smart as well i've got a great team of people around me, a great coach around me. So, um,

I was never an issue. I was training too hard over peak and we know exactly what we're doing. We know what to push it, what to set back. And, um, I know my body very well now as well. I know I went to take a break here and there.

Um, I know when I need, I need a day off or whatever, but, um, no, I think we're very, very smart people.

And, uh, I've got a smart coach around me as well. So I was never, ever worried about that. The fight's nine days away and I feel in great shape. I can't wait to step in there. I'm feeling just super right now. So I'm just excited to step in and showcase what I can do.

The first fight at 135, this one at 140. Extra five pounds, does that favor you? I mean, the fight's actually at 138. It's a catchweight. Oh, is it? When did that happen? That was always in the contract. Wow.

So your belts aren't on the line? They actually are on the line, but we made the flight at 138. Wow. This is breaking news to me, and I'm working the event. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

I don't know if it's an advantage or disadvantage, to be honest. I feel like we're kind of the same size. I don't feel like Amanda Serrano has looked too well at 126 for a long time. So I think she looks a lot better, I think, at this weight. So I'm not sure if it's an advantage or disadvantage for either one of us to be honest it's just two pounds but i'm just curious what why 138 uh i don't know um i'm not too sure that was just something that they wanted to think and i was happy to sign off on that okay did they try to push for three minute rounds as opposed to two

um not that i know of uh i don't think so um i don't really get too involved in the the nitty-gritty uh contracts so if i'm just uh i just signed a contract when i see it and and that's it i one of my favorite moments from the press conference back in may in harlem was just seeing how excited you were to be sitting next to mike tyson and then you telling the story about you know what kind of a dream it is to be on the same Mike Tyson and then you telling the story about you know what kind of a dream it is to be on the same card as Mike Tyson something that you never thought whatever happened just given the age gap and and so could I ask like what did Mike Tyson mean to you as you were coming up through the ranks well I think Mike Tyson is everybody's icon in the sport

isn't he he's um every single person the whole world of boxing has watched him fight on some stage he's known as the baddest man on the planet um he's just uh he's loved winning the boxing world so uh just to have a chance to sit next to him and actually speak to him he said he has such a knowledge of the sport as well um a real historian um i also love um i just love the fact that he's so loved the sport and um i never thought in a million years that I was boxing on the same card as Mike Tyson. So this is a real piece of me moment, to be honest. It's amazing. Backstage at that event or the next leg in Dallas, did you have a chance to speak to him and pick his brain about anything related to boxing?

Yeah, I was actually in the, before the the press conference in dallas i had um i talked to him for maybe like 45 minutes or so and wow um amazing he's such a gentleman and uh just a real great boxing man just great to speak to um yeah it was just amazing that i had a chance to sit down and talk to him he was uh he was so great to me like are you asking about technique stuff or about stories from yesteryear what kind of stuff uh i was just asking him how he felt about the jay paul fight uh how he's feeling about about his own fight and um i was letting him know that i wasn't a big fan of press conferences and then he was saying that's where all the money's made um it was just great to have a chance to speak to him about some of his old fights

as well, just an amazing moment for me, just having a chance to speak to the one and only Mike Tyson a real icon and legend of the sport, this is amazing Could I ask you, how do you feel about the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight? I obviously

have my concerns about Mike Tyson but just because I have such respect for him I don't want to want to see him getting hurt or anything I I think uh Jake Paul is a great athlete he's uh he's improving as a fighter as well and he's a young fresh guy and um I just have so much respect for mike tyson i just i i would hate to see mike losing someone like that to be quite honest um but um this is an amazing uh jake ball is an amazing businessman as well and i think it's amazing why he's done for the sport he's one of the biggest names of boxing but nobody would have ever taught that really you know there's a fascinating juxtaposition here, Katie, because

to me and many others, you represent the purity of boxing and boxing could sometimes be a little bit, you know, toxic and filled with negativity, but your career and your demeanor and your personality is so pure and you represent all that is good in the fight game. And this fight against Amanda represents all that is good. That fight in 2022, one of the all-time great fights in the history of the sport, regardless of gender, Madison Square Garden headliner, all the history that comes with it. But the main event, you know, people feel a little bit weird about it at times. It's a very polarizing fight, if we could put it that way. And so it's polarizing because of Jake and it's polarizing because of Mike's age and the matchup is polarizing. And so I could imagine people have come up to you and said, you know, how do you come to terms with that because i would

imagine katie taylor the fighter and also the fight fan uh is in favor of all things pure when it comes to fighting and and this fight doesn't present all those things yeah but i think it's it's amazing that myself and amanda have this amazing opportunity as well where um a new audience on netflix and new people going to see women's boxing maybe for the first time and I think the fight in Madison Square

Garden was very very historic and inspired a lot of young girls into the sport but to have a chance to fight on Netflix with a huge audience

millions upon millions of people are going to be watching this fight they're going to see women's boxing at its best and I think

both myself and Amanda are very very grateful for this opportunity to be honest and even though there might be a bit of controversy over the main event but myself and Amanda are pure fighters. We're here to win, we're here to fight and we fight with our heart and our soul and we're going to do whatever it takes to actually win this fight and people are going to see such an amazing battle again um so i think uh i for for one is just very very grateful for this opportunity i'm also wondering if there's any kind of pressure that comes with that that you're putting on your shoulders you've had so many moments where the spotlight has been on you and you've been sort of forced to rise to the occasion from the olympics to the rise in your career msg etc and and now

here you are in front of the biggest audience ever to represent women's boxing, to represent boxing in its purest form. Do you feel like there is extra pressure on you guys to do that to the best of your capabilities? I don't think there's any extra pressure. I guess regardless of whether I'm fighting in front of millions of people or 10 people,

I still want to look my best anyway. So I'm just out there to be myself and to showcase what I can do. I train her for this fight as I always do for every single fight. So I'm just ready to step in and actually perform at the stage. There's something that bothers me about all this, if I'm being honest. How is it possible that Katie Taylor is going to fight in the stadium in the United States and not back home at Croke Park? Who would have thought, right?

Who would have thought that would come first? Isn't this annoying? It is annoying. We were talking about Croke Park for years and boxing in front of 100,000 people. But at least I got a chance to fight in front of 100,000 people in Dallas, Texas. So I can't complain too much. But yeah, I don't know what to say about that anymore. Is the dream dead?

I mean, we've tried a few times and it just hasn't happened. So I mean, I'd like to say I've been hopeful about the opportunity, but I don't know how realistic it really is to be quite honest. You know, this will be the first time in your illustrious career as a pro that technically the event isn't being promoted by Mattroom and Eddie Hearn, right?

He's been by your side since day one. We know about the story of the DM. You're, of course, still a Mattroom fighter, but this is fully an MVP event. Is that going to be a little bit strange for you on fight week? Do you think about that sort of thing? It's not going to be strange at all. All i'm concerned about is the actual fight on fight night so um i've been around the mvp people uh for a few press conferences and they've all been fantastic to deal with but i'm just focused on the actual fight the most important part

and i'm just focused on that and actually winning that fight and so as long as there is as long as there's a ring in the stadium that's all I care about I just want to step in and perform have you spent a lot of time watching the first fight in preparation for this one um yeah I spent a bit of time watching that my coach has as well obviously um so we've been talking about the first fight We've been talking about what's worked for us and what we need to change maybe. But I'm feeling pretty good about it. As you watch it now, what is your assessment of your performance in that fight? It was a very good performance.

I think it was a great fight. But I actually feel I'm a better fighter now than I was two and a half years ago. And so I actually take great confidence in that going into this fight. Could I ask, why do you think you're a better fighter? I think I'm a smarter fighter. I'm a more experienced. I'm, um, um, I'm more disciplined.

Um, I think, uh, I'm just better, um, in every way really. Um, so I think I have made the, uh, the right adjustments over the years. I tried to kind of, um, obviously after every fight you try to analyze and then see how you can become a better fighter. And I feel like I have done that over the last couple of years. And I definitely feel like I am an improved and better fighter. As devastating as the first Cameron fight was, in retrospect, did that help make you into a better fighter in your opinion? I think so, yeah.

You obviously learn so much from your losses, unfortunately. Your force analyze things a bit more, and that's where all the growth happens as well. Obviously, a devastating loss. I'm much more prepared to be sitting here as an undefeated fighter, but it's all part of my journey now at this stage. And I'm so happy that I was able to rectify that in a rematch. And here I am.

I feel like I definitely am better because of that. And she fought very recently. She continues to bang the drum wanting to fight you. Do you have any interest? I know you're focused on Amanda, and I'm know that's part of what you will say here but is that one that you think needs to happen the trilogy between you two i think so i think that's always going to be on the radar um the trilogy does need to happen it's far more between the two of us so it'll be shame to uh to see who the real winner of that is. So I think that would definitely be something

that I would absolutely love to have the trilogy in a big stadium, hopefully. But one fight at a time, obviously you're right, all I'm focused on is this round of fight. But I definitely would be interested in the trilogy as well. By the way, speaking of a shame,

the word is 2028 Olympics, no boxing as of right now. Isn't this crazy? It's crazy. It's what an absolute shame. That's going to be so detrimental to all the amateur boxing clubs, every fighter really. I can't imagine myself growing up as a young kid, not being a bad team at the games. That was everything for uh as a young kid not not dreaming about doing the games that was everything for me as a kid so that is absolutely devastating yeah is there any chance based on what you know

to salvage it or is it a done deal that it won't be a part of 28 um i think there's still uh it is definitely a done deal i'm not too sure whether it's it's completely done or not but if there's anything i can do i would love to help in any way i can but um i'm not sure sure whether it's it's completely done or not but if there's anything i can do i would love to help in any way i can but um i'm not sure about how much pull i would have i think you have a lot of pull a lot of people credit you and rightfully so to get a you know women's boxing into the olympics back in 2012 so i wouldn't sell yourself too short yeah well if there is anything i could do i would absolutely love to help because I think that would be an absolute shame. One last one for you, and I'll leave it at the very end because I feel like it will come up next week.

There is no chance this is your final fight, right? Win or lose? No, no chance. Yes. We love it. We've got more work to do. We've got to win multiple belts and multiple weight classes, maybe go back to the Olympicsics win another gold medal there cement your place as the greatest well i mean there's a lot more i'm thinking you're in a video game now you're like a bit you know there's much more to do right

absolutely there's always so much more to do and so many many big fights out there for me and it's definitely not good to be uh stepping into a fight thinking this is going to be your last fight anyway i think that that's bad psychology so i feel good i feel strong and um i'm excited for what's ahead can't wait for next week thank you for the time as always i know you don't love doing the media katie so it's always a great treat when you come on the program uh best of luck in these final few days and looking forward to seeing you out there in dallas yeah me too ariel thank you so much all right all the best to you there she is the great katie taylor the greatest of all time the olympic gold medalist and the two division champion and we found out that this fight is at 138 did anyone know that

i didn't know that i i've not seen this anywhere let me let me see katie taylor amanda serrano i guess I missed it. 138. She said it in an interview two days ago. Oh, seven days ago. New catch weight set. On November 15th. Katie Taylor. I guess it's just happened. Breaking news, Frank. Seven days ago, I'm seeing all these stories. Well, thanks for the update, guys. Thanks for the heads up. Yeah. Appreciate that.

What a delight. What a delight. How are you feeling, Frank? Katie? You know what? She talks a good game. But I think Amanda's got this one in the bag. How dare you? How dare you uh it's gonna

be great what are your plans for uh fight night november 15th um i'm actually going to be hanging out with the boys ah yeah you're gonna be busting with the boys gonna be busting with the boys yeah you know yourself frank uh yeah they'll they'll be doing a um a watch party for kat Amanda too. And then also Jake and Mike. Then a post show next Friday and then a 309 watch party and post show. Is that correct? That is correct. We got some cots so we don't even have to go home. Wow.

We can just go right from one into the other. It's going to be a lot of fun. This feels like a grievance that you're sharing with all of us. Yeah, I think you might be projecting a little bit of feeling bad for us. but no we we love these things and you just have a cot i got a hotel wow there's a lot of great told me we could only budget for the cot so well i look forward to that uh that wouldn't it have been better if one of them was this weekend and the other was next weekend yep the friday saturday doubleheader is tough, right? It is tough, yeah.

It's tough. No, but I like when there's one big event that you can react to. I don't know. I love the double. Oh, you do? Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay.

Are you saying Friday-Saturday or both on the same day? No, Friday-Saturday. Yeah, I guess this is better than both on the same day. Commit Friday to Paul Tyson, Saturday UFC. Yeah, if it was the same day. UFC doesn't start until late at night. You got your whole day on Saturday. That's true.

Then have a good day, settle in and eat. How do you feel about this being on a Friday as opposed to the traditional Saturday? I don't mind it for my own schedule. Honestly, if I'm like a normal money through Friday 9 to 5 or 2, I feel like it's not bad. Main card starts at 8. Go home. Throw a party.

Pop on Netflix. Charge people $10 each. Be like, I bought the pay-per-view. If you guys want to just throw me $10, no worries. Venmo. Cash app. Apple Pay. Yeah.

I take everything. So yeah, if you guys want to just send me 10, no big deal. And yeah, you have a good night. All right. Well, that is November 15th. And then of course the MSG card on November the 16th. This past weekend, the UFC was in beautiful Edmonton,

Alberta, Canada. Ah, what a delight. One of the great malls in north america is in edmonton and we had brandon moreno and amir albazi in the main event and what a performance from the assassin baby it was vintage brandon moreno he was incredible he took a bit of time off he announced back in march that he was going to take some time off and we spoke to his head coach on monday safe saoud who said a couple times he tried to come back early and he said, nope, you're not coming back early. And so what did we get? We got, as I said, a vintage performance from Brandon Moreno. Incredible stuff. With this win, he moved to

number one with most time spent in the octagon as far as the UFC flyweight division is concerned, four hours and 43 minutes, 28 seconds. And number one, most importantly, in most significant strikes landed with 1,131. Vintage Brandon Moreno, tremendous performance from him. He's kind enough to join us right now on the program. There he is. Hola, amigo. How are you, Brandon?

Hey, man. What's up? How is your Spanish going it's a mas o menos it's a poquito right now but uh that's fine we're working on it that's cool brother that sounds good by the way how about all the mexican fans in edmonton did you expect that man i wasn't expecting that so i hear uh canada has the is the second country with more Mexicans out of Mexico, obviously. Wow. The first one is the United States, and the second one is Canada.

So I was expecting something, but not like that. That was magical. I feel like I was fighting in Mexico City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas. I don't know. I am from Canada, and I didn't even know this. So this is a surprise to me. Edmonton is a very interesting place. What did you think?

Cold, right? It was snowing on Saturday, I think. That was really cold. So all my coaches was telling me during fire week. I mean, normally in fire week, I spend all the time in my hotel room. I don't like to go out or whatever. But all my coaches told me like, man, it's cold as fuck. And then after the

fight i spent a few days at the city i went to the hockey game uh today's wednesday last monday and yes man it's very cold yeah with my with my daughter with my my older one amazing how you say the mascota, the pet? Yeah, the mascot. The mascot. Hello? Yes, can you hear? Yeah. What did you think?

Oilers, what did you think of the atmosphere? Man, it's very cool. They're very passionate for the sport. So hockey is like the national sport in Canada, right? Yes, that's correct. So for us, for the mexicans is soccer is football uh but yeah man i feel i i felt all the passion there i saw you guys i think it was on thursday you guys did the face off and you were outside and it was very it looked very cold and very fall like it was there you are, like just like next to the famous bridge over there.

But I was like, oh man, poor Brandon. It's not like this in Tijuana. It looked just very gray and cold, right? How did you feel out there? Man, and if you are, we were like cutting weight, like all the cold feels on the bones, you know, inside of the bones. But yeah, it was cold. That day was like really, really cold. But the weekend, like Sunday and Monday,

was like really cold. Can I ask, Brandon, you know, in March, you put out a video and a statement saying that you were going to take some time off, that you were just kind of at your limit, you said. And you did say in the video that, you know, you're not retiring. You're going to come back. you're going to be better, but you just need some kind of break. Some people were worried though, you know, you hear this from an athlete that maybe they don't come back or maybe they come back in two years in that moment in March, late March.

Could you tell us, uh, because you didn't really, you know, I, I didn't see any interviews with you afterwards. You kind of just disappeared for a little bit. Where were you at mentally and what led to you to make that kind of announcement? Man, I was just very tired, you know? Very tired to all the responsibilities, to be always in the main spot. I have like two, three years fighting in main events, four titles. It's always important fights in my career, which is what we are fortunate in my goals. But all the pressure, all the responsibilities

at some point was maybe too much. You don't even realize all the pressure you are holding in your back until you really feel it until the end. That's why I decided to take the little break. Actually, a lot of people thought I was done. I just tried to retire and see what

happened in my future. But no, everything was very clear in my mind. I just need to rest. I just need to be with my family, with my daughters, and stop flying and traveling for training camps. And that's what I did after the last fight in February with Roybal. I stayed at home, like very, very short amount of travels. And I spent time with my family with

myself with my collections and whatever um and that gave me another perspective of life like helped me to remember why i started this sport and why i really loved to do what i what i do know which is like fighting in the octagon uh and that's it then my goal during this fight was because a lot of people asked me like hey uh how you feel now whatever and i always say like man i feel amazing i feel great uh but i wanted to back up those all those interviews and all those words with with an amazing performance and i think i did it this weekend yeah and and the performance like i said it was vintage brandon more It was one of your best performances. Looking back now, it's been a few days.

How happy and how proud are you of how you fought on Saturday? Man, so I was watching the calendar and my last victory was in 2023 in January. So I kind of forget this amazing feeling when you win and you spend time with your coaches, with your teams, with my wife. And we are around the hotel just talking shit each other and making jokes around. It was very cool to remember all those good moments. And that's the thing.

When I feel good, I know good things are going to happen with me and my loved ones around me. Was there a point where you started to, I don't know, question yourself or your confidence? You say it's been 2023, your last win, January. So that's almost two years ago. Did you start to feel like maybe you can never get back to that old Brandon that we saw on Saturday? Man, you always have those negative thoughts when things are not in your way. For sure, I was thinking like maybe that's enough for me. Maybe the competition is more at this point of my life, and maybe I don't have enough.

I don't have the necessary to keep fighting at the top in mixed martial arts. But, man, I got a lot of support from my coaches. I got a lot of support from my wife, from my daughters, you know, being around with my loved ones. And remember myself like, hey, man, you are amazing. You have to believe in yourself. You have to believe in why you are where you are. I mean, and that's it.

It was hard. I can't deny that. I can't deny that part. But at the end, I think all the fires we pass for those kind of moments, you know, when we doubt ourselves a little bit, but all the greatest find a way to

go out of that dark situation and keep going. Did you, when you took that break in March, did you take a break from training as well? Like just a total break from the sport? Yes, man. Wow. I don't remember.

I don't remember the last time I was spent like one month out of the gym. You know, I was completely out of the gym. I wasn't even lifting weights or running or whatever. I spent just the time with my family and was weird. And so you tell me, uh, you was talking with,

with, with safe. Yeah. Um, you know, my coaches, my family, and everybody. Tell him, like, hey, you have to wait. You can be back to the competition now because you said you're going to rest. And you did it. But, man, when I made that video and said, like, hey, I'm going to take a time,

like two weeks, three weeks after, I was like like a crazy trying to get a fight again you know like but because that's the only way i know how to live my life you know i started this sport at 12 years old i started my amateur career then i turned professional then going to the ufc so all my life is being in competition. That's the only way I really know. So what's kind of weird to me, just being in my home. So how did you stay sane? Like, how did you scratch that itch and stay out for that long?

Oh, man. So, you know, again, like me with my family, with my wife, with my daughters, spend time with my hobbies. I find new hobbies, you know, that people know me for my collections or my toys or whatever. But I start to get a lot of knowledge about coffee. I start to do mountain bike. And that's it. I start to talk with myself.

What kind of coffee knowledge? I love coffee as well. What are we talking about? So I just start to read about coffee, you know, the preparation of the espresso, how to use the espresso machine correctly, the grind, the size of the grind of the bean, and all that stuff. So I start to read, I start to learn.

I really like coffee. What's your, what's your, what's your favorite type of coffee drink? Like, what do you, what kind of guy are you? Well, me,

I always, I, I drink those just two kinds of coffees. I drink the espresso, a double espresso. And I, and I drink Americano in the morning. Wow.

Okay. So no milk. Sometimes. Cause Americano so no milk. Sometimes. Because americano has no milk as well, right? I mean, you can take americano with milk. Or water, right? Exactly. It's the water with the double espresso

coffee or wine, I don't remember well, but you can add the milk. In the morning, I just like to drink black i look i i when i when i wake up i'm so excited to drink a cappuccino i look forward to it it's like it's like the highlight of my morning it's fine but i mean you add the milk then you add the sugar and all that stuff and the sugar is not good for you brother yeah no i don't i don't have sugar and you know what i have breaking news brandon I used to be very into almond cappuccino,

almond milk cappuccino. I've now removed the almond milk and now I'm doing whole milk. This is big news. Whole milk cappuccino. What do you think of this? No sugar. Whole milk has more fat, I think so, right?

I mean, it's fine. Yeah, but it's healthy, but it's healthier because they don't add sugar like they do with the almond milk or the 2%. They add sugar. The flavor and texture is much better. Yes, yes, yes. Okay, this is fun.

Is coffee popular in Mexico? Because I know in Colombia. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, they have, okay. At the south of Mexico, Veracruz, Puebla, Chiapas has a good lance of coffee. Was it difficult for you to watch the Noche UFC card and not be a part of it? Yeah. So, first of all, UFC offered me to fight there.

And I had to say no because I wasn't like 100% ready. I had a few injuries. I had to leave there. And then, so they made the offer. I had to say no. And they told me, like, all the amazing things it will be, like, all the, how do you say, the production, the fights, all the scenarios, the atmosphere.

That will be very cool, but I had to say no. And in the moment, you know, at Noche Huepese, came this weird feeling where obviously you want to fight, but at the same time I was enjoying just the moment, you know, watching everything, you know, watching the fights, you know, watching. So I know all the Mexicans who fought in Norte Uyghur Pese. So I was enjoying every single fight of the night. So I don't know.

I had this kind of weird feeling where I wanted to fight, but at the same time, I was just enjoying the moment. The UFC is scheduled to go back to Mexico in February. Yes. Would you like to be on that card? Man, let's see what happens, you know? Because what I hear is they're trying

to do even two events in Mexico. I don't know if that is official or not, but if it's not in February, I would love to fight maybe Not Your Welfare Stay in September or whatever, but man, I'm very focused to get the title back.

I'm very focused on that. So I have to talk with the UFC. I don't know what they're thinking right now. The top five of the division is kind of... I mean, we're in a good way because Brandon Roybal is winning. I won the last one. I won this weekend.

Kai Sakura is coming. The division is very fresh right now. Over the weekend after the win, you said that maybe one more and then you fight for the belt. Have you changed your opinion? Do you think the performance was so good that your next fight should be

against the winner of Pantoja Sakura? No, I'm still thinking the same. I would love to say like, hey, my performance was fantastic, so I think I deserve the next title shot. I mean, if the UFC called me today, tomorrow, and said, like, let's go, I mean, let's go to make it happen. But, I mean, Roybal is doing an amazing job.

Kai recently won. I mean, I understand the position of the division right now. So, man, maybe a rematch with Brandon Roybal would be nice. That's a tight-ass day. I mean, he lost with Brandon, but I don't know. A lot of names are coming. Manel Cape said my performance was terrible last weekend or something like that.

He said, I don't remember. Who said that? Who said that? Who said that? Manel Cape. Yeah. So, a journalist told me that at the post conference.

Yeah. After the fight, he say, Manel post something. I don't know if it's Twitter. I don't have Twitter. So, that's why I don't know.

Good for you. I don't know. Let's see. Let's see what happens. I know that Twitter sucks. Yeah. He's fighting in December. So, maybe if he wins that fight, you'd fight him. Yeah. know, man. Let's see. Let's see what happens. I know, man. Twitter sucks. Yeah. He's fighting in December. So maybe if he wins that fight, you'd fight him.

Yeah. Yeah, man. I don't care, man. I'll be ready. And I know you were asked about this over the weekend, but if you could tell us your thoughts, a UFC rookie, a guy who's never fought in the UFC, Kai Square, getting a title shot in his first fight. How does that sit with you?

Man, so I'm going with with the same thing i know it's not my opportunity for the title right now uh so why is like but don't you do it right now i don't care i don't care you know okay he can he can fight with whatever is that i i'm i'm getting my next opportunity for the title. But it's good for the division. I think it's good for the flyweight division to get Kaya Sakura. He's good. I think I trained with him like two years ago. Oh, wow.

Good striker, very fast. I think it's going to be complicated for Matoya. He has to put a lot of attention on him. A lot of people were very excited about your shorts over the weekend. Did you have any say in the design? Yeah, they asked me. They asked me like two months ago, like two or three months ago, like, hey, we're going to do a custom shorts for you.

So do you have some idea or something like that? I say like, I mean, first of all I love the the green color shorts because they are like very Mexicans but the Mexican flag has three colors is green white and red so I want to use red for this one and second one oh maybe they are the Aztec calendar but UFC and a lot of different stuff use the Aztec calendar to represent Mexico. So I want to change that a little bit. Sorry, I'm a little bit sick. No problem, no problem.

I want to change that a little bit and maybe we can use another one. I mean, we can use Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl is an Aztec god. It's very popular, too, but at least it's something different for the UFC. So I asked for Quetzalcoatl, and like one month before the fight, they showed me the different designs.

They showed me like two, three different, but that one was like, man, that one is beautiful. I want that one. Their reaction of the people when they show it last week was very impressive. I mean, I can't be neutral with the shorts because it's my shorts, you know, it's my custom shorts to be are beautiful.

But the judges are going to be like you, the journalists, the people at the end. My team is telling me that the poster behind you, I'm not a big anime guy if I'm being honest, but I'm told the poster behind you is the Kame House

from Dragon Ball Z. Is that accurate? This is good. What is this? Can you tell me why it's so significant? So this is the Master Roshi House. It's where Goku and Krillin start trading in Dragon Ball. Wow. the Master Roshi house is where

Goku and Krillin start trading in Dragon Ball. Wow. And where did you get that? Internet. You can get everything on the internet. What about that sword next to it? What is the sword? The other way. There it is.

Right there. Actually, they gave me that one as a gift for my office when this office is kind of new I have like two or three months with with the office I did a renovation so when we finish with that they say today they saw wow he told me I put out your office

it's very it's gonna be look very cool there and I did it it's an amazing gift from him. And your relationship with him now, I know that you guys were kind of thrown together because the dissolution of your last team and it takes some time to get a chemistry, right? And to get a vibe. How do you feel now about the chemistry

between you and Safe Suud? I think it's always been really good and really amazing. Just like you say, it was kind of hard at first to try to put all the minds together, right? Because I have my boxing coach, Jorge Capetillo. I have my Muay Thai coach, Pedro Joya.

He's from Vallarta. My wrestling coach, Israel Silva. He's a really good wrestler from California, from Fresno. And so all these guys are new working together. So everybody was on a different idea. And they tried to put all those ideas together to work for me, you know, to make me a better fighter. And Fierce was kind of hard.

But with the passing of time, the evolution of the team has been really good. Right now, I think the team, yes, all the team feels amazing together, working together and talking and collaborating together. And that was very important with the result of this last weekend. I saw a couple of months ago, you were with Canelo Alvarez at the gym. Can I ask what, what is, what is your relationship like with Canelo?

Cause I think I've seen you with him in the past as well. I mean, I consider him like, I mean, a friend, I don't want to say like I have his number and I can call him right now. But so normally when he's fighting in Las Vegas, he rents my boxing coaching for his own private workout in the mornings. And I have the opportunity to train around him, you know,

not just train with him, but meet his team and talk with Che Porreynoso, with the coaches, and talk with him a little bit. Obviously, I'm trying to be always very respectful, and I know he's in five weeks, and I don't want to be there like talking and, uh, and bother him,

uh, because he's focused, you know, because he has an important fight coming soon at that moment. But if, if he give me an advice or whatever, I'm trying to just listen, listen to him because man,

he's a really good, uh, uh, athlete and an amazing human being. And whatever he can show or show me or teach me or advise me it's amazing to me i'll ask you one more question they'll let you go because i i see that you're struggling a little bit and i i don't want to make you uh feel worse um i i i saw on the post fight interview on on saturday and the post show all that, you were talking, you alluded to it right now before. You said, you know, when I first got to the UFC,

everything was so exciting, so fresh. I wanted to do all the interviews. I wanted to do all this stuff. And then by the end, it was like, oh, you know, it's a bit of a drag. It's a lot because, you know, you were getting tired. Do you feel like that passion that you had when you started is back?

Is it impossible, in your opinion, to go all the way back to that same wide-eyed person who is just coming to the UFC? How would you describe how you feel about your place in the sport now? So maybe, I mean, I think it's impossible to replicate completely the same feelings when you start, you know. But you can get something from that, maybe a little piece. You know, just the desire to talk with the media, to show your name to the world, you know, to show your face to the world. It's very exciting.

It's very exciting in that moment. You know, I remember when I was younger, when I think I made my UFC debut when I was 22 years old, eight years ago, almost nine. That's crazy, you know? That's very crazy. But at least right now, the energy, man,

just the energy, I feel fresh. I feel renovated. Just to talk with you, just talk with the people around, just enjoy with the UFC staff during the five weeks, that's very cool. So maybe it's impossible to replicate all the feelings around just enjoy with the UFC staff during fire week but very cool so maybe it's impossible to replicate all the feelings we just start but at least if you can get a little piece that it's really cool I love it I love it well

welcome back Brandon it's great to see you back what a performance congratulations I hope you feel better and I'm happy that you had a great time in my home country of Canada I'm happy that everyone treated you well then everything the people is so kind very cool like you asked me about the interaction with the fans with the crowd at the arena that was insane and i wasn't expecting that all the yeah the amazing support that i got from from edmondson wasn't it's gonna be in the bottom of my heart for forever. And I'll take that for a little Mexican kid, for sure. I love it.

Thank you, Brandon. All the best to you and congrats again. Awesome, brother. All the success in the next projects. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. There he is, the great Brandon Moreno. What a guy and what a performance on Saturday. This Saturday in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center,

we have the return of one of Philadelphia's own Jaron Boots Ennis. We had him on the program last week, massive opportunity for him. Once again, he made his homecoming in the Wells Fargo Center back in July, his first fight under the matchroom umbrella. This time he comes back once again under the matchroom umbrella, but he's bringing some reinforcement it's uh it's you know one of the best fighters in the world pound for pound certainly on everyone's top 10 pound for pound list there is jesse bam rodriguez currently he's the wbc and the ring super flyweight champion he's held uh championships in both these super flyweight and flyweight divisions look at

look at this resume right here 24 years old unde, undefeated, 20-0, 13 knockouts, U.S. National Youth Champion in 2015 and 2016, silver medalist in the Junior World Championships in 2015, made his pro debut in 2017, just two months after he turned 17 years young and he has remained undefeated. He returns to action this Saturday in the co-main event in Philly on DAZN, and he's kind undefeated he returns to action this saturday in the co-main event in philly on the zone and he's kind enough to join us right now from philadelphia there he is

bam rodriguez hello jesse how are you good how are you man uh does anyone call you jesse or is it just bam at this point i feel like it's just bam it's very rare some people do call me jesse but for the majority it's it's bam it's kind of weird when I hear Jesse, but I mean, it is what it is. By the way. Uh, I don't know. Are you, are you an MMA fan? Do you know who Brandon Moreno is? I mean, I've heard of him. I've never seen him fight though. Do you watch MMA at all? I do. I watched Sean O'Malley, but that's about it. That's your guy. That's my guy. Why him? I don't know. He just, he has a swagger that not many fighters in general have. So, I mean, just watching him, it's cool.

Do you think you have a swagger? Is that something that you think you have or want to have? Yeah, I feel like I do have it. I don't, I'm not, you know, I don't like to brag, but I mean, I might have a little swagger. Yeah, you're the freaking man. You should brag. Nah, I'm not. I've never been the one to brag. don't like that shit so i don't do it i respect that when i say top 10 pound for pound do you agree with that uh definitely uh but in the most humble way of course where can i ask where do you put yourself right now um i would say number six okay who do you have as number one uh who's sick and then two

uh i would put anyway and then three crawford crawford yes sir but it kind of always like moves right i feel like every time one of them fights it kind of like if usic fights and he gets the pole position and then if anyway fights for a couple weeks he but i i agree with that i think some people would put crawford over anyway butye, but I think you're 100% right. Usyk, Inouye, Crawford. Yeah, yes, sir. And you're climbing the ranks. You're well on your way. I'm wondering, when you made your debut as a 17-year-old, did you think you would have this much success this early in your career? Were you envisioning all of this, or have you exceeded your own expectations?

No, of course, I've always envisioned it. it was just a matter of getting an opportunity to go out there and show everyone who i was and once i did finally get that opportunity that's when people really started recognizing my talents and the kind of person i am and ever since then my career had just skyrocketed to another another level how old were you when you first met eddie hearn i was 21 and what was your i mean you're you're a kid from uh san antonio right what was your take on this this posh englishman who uh talks a big game and is very very bombastic right what did you think of him early on oh it was it was funny because the first time i met him it was at press conference i believe for one of my fights and he actually

thought I only spoke Spanish so whenever he introduced me he said that they had a translator on site but I didn't even need it so it was just um it was a funny interaction but I mean Eddie's a cool person if it weren't for him I wouldn't be where I'm at today so um just having Eddie in my corner means a lot as as someone who is incredible in the ring, but perhaps a little soft-spoken when it comes to doing media and whatnot, it's great to have someone like him banging the drum in your favor, right? Doing all the press and talking you up, because then it takes a little bit of the pressure off of you. Would you agree? Yeah, for sure. I mean, Eddie, he talks a good game, so it makes it a lot easier for me to just be myself. What was your reaction when they, you know, proposed this idea for you to be the co-main to boots in Philly, come fight on the East Coast?

What did you think of it initially? Oh, at first I thought it was a little weird just because I've never even been on the East Coast. So to come out here and fight as a co-main, it was, it was different for sure. But once I thought about it a little bit, it was a, I realized it's a good opportunity for me to go out there and expose my career to the East Coast fans and just different boxing fans in general. So I heard you say this on the Matchroom YouTube channel when you first did the media stuff there. And initially, I thought you said that you had never fought on the East Coast. But then I went back and listened to it and you just said it again. You had never been on the East Coast, period, prior to that?

Yeah. That media day I did was my first time on the East Coast. Wow. That is crazy. So what do you think of the vibe? I mean, it's different for sure from where I'm from, but I mean, it's cool. There's a lot of nice land that I've seen so far as far as I've been here, but I mean, I haven't done too much. It's just been strictly five week stuff. So it is what it is, but I'm just here to fight and go home, to be honest.

Yeah, no, I understand that. Have you been to the Rocky statue? I haven't. I haven't been. Any plans to do that? Maybe if Mattroom has it, you know, in the schedule, then I'll go.

But if not, then I'm chilling. You're very businesslike. You're not there to have a good time. You're there to work and go home. Yeah, exactly. Right now, it's just um focusing on november 9th and just putting on good performance and it's not like you're you're not well traveled i understand you love going to japan right like it's one of your favorite places to to go visit yet the east coast just never was a part of the itinerary yeah i mean uh japan Japan is just, I mean, Japan,

Japan, if you've been there, then you know what I'm talking about. But I mean, the East coast, I've never really even thought about coming here. If it weren't for this fight, I probably would have never stepped foot on the coast.

To be honest. Can I ask, what do you like so much about Japan? To be honest, man, I like the food, the food. I mean,

it's good out there. Sushi? Nah, McDonald's. What? For real? They got a different menu from the U.S., so. Come on. Yeah.

You like, when you say the food in Japan, you're talking about McDonald's? I mean, not just McDonald's, but, I mean, that's probably, like, one of my favorites to go out there and eat. Wow. What is so different about it? Like, what do you get over there? I get a teriyaki chicken sandwich or like a teriyaki burger wow they have teriyaki burgers over there yeah but even out there it's just it's a lot fresher than the u.s like for the they use real egg and um i feel like it's a lot cleaner than the u.s are you a big fast food guy um honestly yeah man like i whenever i'm not in training camp i eat out

a lot like too much really too much yeah at some point that's i mean you're you're pretty young now but that's going to catch up to you yeah yeah for sure i gotta i gotta chill out on that um i mean i kind of already did after my last fight i didn't you know go too crazy with the eating but i think now from after this fight and now on i'm'm just going to control it a lot more. What's like, but like if you could go like all out, fast food, bad food, what's the ultimate meal for you? And like, what are you ordering? To be honest, man, I'll probably get like a 10 piece with upside drink from McDonald's. 10 piece, that's it?

I thought you were going to say like 10 different things. No, I mean, like I eat a lot, but like in one sitting, I can't eat too much because then i'll feel sick right right um your opponent on saturday uh i believe you were you were eight years old when he made his debut uh he's been around i wasn't even boxing yet yeah um is it is it weird for you to fight people who are that much older than you uh it's i mean nah i mean you know that's how boxing is you if they weigh the same as you then you're gonna fight them i mean estrada was 34 so you know it's nothing new to me i just any other fight really uh he is your mandatory right and and and same type of situation with boots and and fans were like yeah

this isn't the fight that i want for boots and to a degree some said the same with you what is your level of motivation going into this fight obviously you want to win you want to show out you want to have the best performance but did you need to you know kind of get up for it because maybe this wasn't the sexiest matchup on the horizon for you uh well originally i was gonna rematch estrada and i was already about a week and a half training for that so whenever he he put off from the rematch, I just kept that same mentality, you know, to work my ass off like I was going to rematch him. So just every day in the gym, it was keeping that same mentality and working as hard, working just as hard as when I fought him the first time. Especially now with my baby girl, I want to go out there and perform, you know, each night and just keep rising the rankings. Your girl is six months old, right? at this point seven months now yeah yeah first one

first one what what is that like it's amazing man it's just yeah like that picture right there means a lot to me that's probably my favorite picture of us but um wow just having her around it's a blessing it's changed my life, changed my mentality, made me a better person, not only inside the ring, but outside the ring as well. And just, I love that little girl to death. Does it change the way you approach your fights and the, you know, the professionalism and what's at stake now? You're not just fighting for yourself, right? Yeah. I mean, now it's all for her. Whatever I get out of boxing now, it's all for her. It's all going to go to her for her future.

So I want to go out there and perform and just keep getting these big fights and just putting myself in a good position once I retire, not only for myself, but like you said, for her and for my family. We were talking about Young Bam. You posted recently some photos and videos of you as a youngster, and the caption was, keep going. I don't know if you remember this, but can I ask, cause like, it's incredible to see your, your speed, your movement, your technique at that young age. We're showing some of it here.

This is courtesy of your, your Instagram. How old are you in these, in these videos? I was, um, shit, surprisingly I was 12. I looked small, but I was 12. Wow. And at that point, how long had you been boxing for? Only like two and a half years, three years, maybe. Did this kid know that he was going to turn into a pro? Was that part of the dream or were you just doing it for fun? No, at that point, I already knew what I wanted out of boxing. I knew I wanted to become professional and win world titles.

It's something I had at that age already envisioned myself, you know, carrying the belts and being in big championship fights. So it was just a matter of time, like I said earlier, before I got my moment. Who was the one that kind of, you know, sparked this dream in your mind? It was my brother, really. Before I started boxing, I didn't watch boxing. I didn't care for it at all. But since he was younger he always cared about it always watched it and he always wanted to do it himself but my mom never let him and just

from one day to the next she gave him the opportunity to go to the gym and he was going for about two weeks and at that third week I tagged along and just stuck with it and here I am today did he stick with it uh now he's retired but when he was a good when he was a fighter he was a good fighter he was a world champion himself and so um would you say at this point you have surpassed him as a fighter? You'll probably be humble, but have you, uh, have you gone further already than he, than he did already at this point? I felt like I've, I felt like I've had a longer pro career. I think maybe by a few months he might be ahead of me but i mean i i mean i have done more but you know my brother didn't really have the managing that i have or the promotion

that i have so i feel like if he did have what i have now he would be a lot bigger than he was uh prior to this fight correct me if i'm wrong were you a a free agent as far as who your promoter was and you chose to resign with Matroom? I'm not sure on that. I do know before this fight, I just renewed my contract with him. Okay. Did you consider talking to anyone else or did you talk to anyone else? Did you consider looking at anyone else as far as your promoter?

No. I mean, Matroom has always treated me well since they signed me. So I really had no other way know, no other way to go. And they made me feel like home. So there's really no reason to go and sign with someone else. We talked about pound for pound earlier. We talked about Japan. You probably know what the question is.

The dream fight is you versus Naoya Inoue. Do you share that sentiment? Yeah, I mean, that's been a fight that's been brought to me, you know, spoken about for a couple of years now. People want to see it. They're very interested in it. And the performance of performances, both of us have been putting on, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. But realistically, it's not a fight being made anytime soon. He's already at 122.

I'm still at 115. So I believe, you know, three or four years from now, it's likely to happen more than now. Okay. So I was, my next question was going to be how far away do you think we are from it being a serious thing? Do you think three to four years? Yeah. I mean, right now I think that, but I mean, anything can happen, you know, my body can

change and maybe I won't be able to be able to make more 15 as long as I want. And I have to jump up to one 18 and, you know, there's a lot of fights there as well that can be made. So it's just, I think realistically like a good three years if everything goes well how how um how hard is it to make 115 at this point oh it's really not that hard my last fight i made it very easy this this fight week as well has been going well my weight's good so i mean it's really just a matter of you know me growing and getting bigger yeah um getting to at Wells Fargo, did you see the scene when Boots fought there in July? How hyped everyone was?

Yeah, man, that thing was packed. That's another reason why I was, you know, able to come out here and fight out here in the East Coast, just because I saw his turnout from last fight. So to be a part of something like that with a fighter like Boots, and it's a huge opportunity for me to explore my career. And I saw you guys do it, like the promotion for this fight, the poster and some of the stuff that they had you do when you came the first time, very high quality.

I think Mattroom is the best at it, to be honest, when it comes to boxing, the promos that they do, the posters. It seems like you got to spend a little bit of time with him as well. And I feel like his personality is a lot like yours. Like he's not a very, you know, outspoken, colorful. He doesn't talk a lot of trash. Did you mesh with him? Did you vibe with him?

Yeah, I mean, that was not the first time I met Boots. I met Boots in 2016, I believe, at the Olympic Training Center. And out there, we talked a little bit, but, you know, we didn't know much about each other at the time. But now that we met up for that media day, it was, you know, it was cool just having him around, being around him and doing media at the same time. He's a cool person. Like you said, he's me. He's like me, not very outspoken.

But, I mean, just I feel like since we have a similar personality, we're able to click and just have a good connection. Your fight is this weekend next weekend is mike tyson versus jake paul can i ask what's your level of interest in that fight uh i mean as far as that fight i really don't care about it um i know it's i mean i really don't i don't think it's a real fight to be honest mike tyson's he's he's old and he can get hurt so i don't think paul's gonna go out there and try to take his head off. Do you like the influencer fighting? I mean, it's cool.

I mean, it is what it is. It's good for boxing in a way. Yeah, it brings a certain level of spotlight and attention to it. Yeah, exactly. What do we think about Saturday? What's the official prediction? I know for sure my hand's going to be raised at the end of the night whether it's by decision or knockout my hand will be raised looking forward to it thank you Bam all the best to you nice to meet you and good luck on Saturday thank you man

appreciate your time all right there he is uh the great Jesse Bam Rodriguez like I said 20 and 0 13 knockouts and he goes up against Pedro Guevara who is uh 42 four and one and uh he is looking to unify the super flyweight titles and uh he was eight years old when guevara made his pro debut he has never been stopped guevara that is in 47 professional fights boots in the main event we spoke to him last week and so you've got Apex 100 And you've got this matchroom card In Philly on Saturday On DAZN when we were talking about Japan

And the food I thought for sure he was Going to talk to me about you know Sushi or steak or something like that He breaks out the McDonald's And right away I get this message From New York Rick. We, all caps, need to talk about international McDonald's on the back end of this interview.

And so the floor is yours. Why are you so passionate about this topic? Yeah, well, I just feel like, you know, you revealed yourself as uncultured by not knowing how exquisite McDonald's is outside of the United States. But more just like maybe like regionally, like even in Hawaii, they've got, you know, noodle.

They've got Simon. And then internationally, they've got different things. McDonald's in Thailand was pretty bang, bomb. So was... You've been to Thailand? I've been to Thailand, yeah. When? I went to Thailand for like a summit

when I worked for Glory. Wow. i went to thailand uh for like a summit uh when i worked for glory wow to japan and had mcdonald's um international mcdonald's slaps like bam is right way better it's it's yeah for one yes i feel like and andy and i were speaking about this the other day like in other cultures like some of these american chains are more upscale like they are viewed as like a dining experience as opposed to now. I'm not saying McDonald's universally, but like Pizza Hut, I know, is one of them that like becomes a dinner type thing. And so there's a higher quality, but also the menu items are different, which is the key. Like you're not just getting hamburger, french fries, chicken nuggets.

Like they don't have a quarter pounder with cheese? Most of the time they do have those, but they have additional items as well. But I mean, they use the metric system. Oh, you're saying that it wouldn't be called a quarter pounder. Yeah, I don't know about that specific burger. I went in Italy a couple of years ago

and like instead of being red with the golden arches, it was like this beautiful forest green. And when I walked in, it was like this fresh bakery. Like they were bringing out all these different pastries and everything. It was, it was quite good. I also like McDonald's in the States too, but, uh, yeah, it was, it was, it was good in Italy. Do you guys eat McDonald's here? I don't eat it that much.

But I don't shame it because I know if I ate it, I would love it. Oh, sure. I mean, if they'd like to sponsor the program. If they want to sponsor the program program I'll eat McDonald's every day I'll do the Super Size Me We'll do a new 2024 age of Super Size Me If that's what we want to do

I definitely My kids eat a lot of McDonald's You drive through you get the fries And they're all about it Where's Pete's when you need him What's the Mickey D's like over in Ireland We can ask him Oh he's the Mickey D's like over in Ireland? We can ask him?

Where's the cricket? Oh, he's not there. McDonald's sounds like an Irish restaurant. I've definitely been to McDonald's overseas. The only one that has stuck with me is the one in Israel because it's kosher. It's the only kosher McDonald's. So the meat is actually kosher and religious people

are, you know, those who keep kosher McDonald's. So the meat is actually kosher and, and religious people are, you know, those who keep kosher are able to, to eat it. Um, they cannot do so. Was there anything different on the menu that you remember? It's, I just know when I was, when I was in high school, I was kosher and, um, meaning I, I only ate kosher meat. I don't do that anymore. And so when I went in ninth grade to Israel, we were all so excited because my friends were as well to try a Big Mac. Right. Because I had it when I was a little kid, but it had been so long and it was such, I mean, you would have given us that or, you know, like the most expensive steak or whatever. And we would have chosen that.

Like it was all we talked about. Like we need to get to McDonald's and try this Big Mac. And I remember. Did it live up to the hype? Well, I mean, I just like, it's like, it's like, it's like, bam. I mean, it was a hamburger, you know? I just can't, I can't say that it's the best

hamburger I've ever had. Disappointed. Did you know that there was a teriyaki option in Japan? Is there a teriyaki option here? No. No. Oh.

That's cool though. They've got the chicken Big Mac now. Yeah, we should all go try some chicken Mac sometime. So hungry. Here's my pro tip. 7-Eleven. 7-Eleven.

International. In Hawaii. Okay. It always goes back to Hawaii for me because that's where I, you know, that's where I want to be and always want to thrive. 7-Eleven in Hawaii is like fine dining. It's cultural experience. Wow. I heard convenience stores in Japan are top. If you know, you know. 7-Eleven in Hawaii is like fine dining. It's cultural experience.

Wow. I heard convenience stores in Japan are top. If you know, you know. 7-Eleven in Hawaii. Yeah, I've heard in Japan they're great as well. Uh, in Brooklyn, I can confirm, they are horrendous. Uh, let me check notes here. Yep, they're horrible.

The one, the one by my apartment, uh, like it, it literally, like it, I don't know what it smells like, but it smelled like cancer when you walked in. Oh my gosh. It's very specific. Something is wrong in here. The Asian influence. So 7-Eleven International wants to sponsor the show. 7-Eleven, come.

Have you ever had the hot dogs there? No. No. Do you know why it's named 7-Eleven? No. The hours used to be 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Wow. Right now it's 24.

Frank's full of them. Is it 24 hours now? A lot of them here are 24. Yeah. By the way, guys, earlier we were talking about the... See the guy behind you cleaning the windows? That's so crazy. Where, where, where?

He's like on a... At the top. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Stay right there. Just... The dark, see the dark? Just right by your head.

Look at the water. You're blocking him again. You're blocking again. Move, no, this way. Stay right there. This is so frustrating. Water tower at the top. You see it?

Yeah, he's cleaning it right there. Wave at him. Wave at him. Hello. Is that a guy over there? Yeah, he's waving back. He can't see you, but. That's incredible.

Oh my God, he's. What do you mean he can't see me? Of course he can. It's far. It's a far distance. He had a telescope. Oh, he has a telescope? We were talking about the elections earlier.

I just got some odds, courtesy of betonline.ag. I was just looking at the. On, uh, on who to, who, who do they. Okay. So I was going to play the game with you guys, but you looked at, did, did, uh. That name is not on this list that I'm seeing. I literally thought that, uh, Rick sent them to you. We were just talking about them back then.

Ah, so you both saw. I only know Dana White's though. Okay. Well, currently. Is that plus 10,000? Uh, to win the 2028 u.s presidential election jd vance is three to one josh sapiro four to one gavin newsom is seven to one gretchen whitmer is eight to one and then we go down down down down the next interesting one is 20 to one donald trump

senior which would require him changing the actual rules right yeah because you can't be more than a two-term president. Term limit, yeah. By the way, if he would have lost yesterday, could he have ran again? Is there a limit on how many times you could run? Yeah. No, I don't think so. Wow. Wow.

I saw someone tweet the. Money is usually the decider for that one. I saw someone tweet it. It was like the John Cena versus the Rock WrestleMania. And it was like Donald Trump when he removes the term limit and obama comes back and runs against donald trump i mean the memes that were getting off on twitter were absolutely insane this well speaking of dwayne johnson he's listed as 25 to 1 um john cena is on here as well wow what's john cena yes you have to go you have to go a little bit down for him um wait wait wait. I lost it.

Wow, they have a lot here. The last one is Dana White at 1,000 to 1. Charles Barkley is also 1,000 to 1. Wow. Barkley and Dana White have the same odds. Tom Brady, 500 to 1, tied with LeBron James, also at 500 to 1. I love how there's no up-and-coming politician.

There's a few at the front, but then it's just like all celebrities. Howard Stern, 500 to 1. Somebody can just play all these and, and we'll, you know. How can, how can John Oliver be a candidate? He's not born in Egypt. Yeah, he can't. Well, this whole thing is.

Yeah. Anything is possible at this point. We might as well throw Helwani on there. Joe Rogan, 200 to 1. I'm surprised that. 200? Yeah. I might throw something on that.

I feel like he could win tomorrow if he wanted to. Elon Musk? Not American. Born in South Africa. 100 to 1. Yeah, it doesn't... And that Joe Rogan money. Now, you know what's crazy about this? Probably most crazy? The guy who interviewed

Yoel Romero, shorty man in DD Boxing. Bill Murphy. He's 66 to 1. I love how you've been able to break Rick so many times. It's always going to get me. It's always going to get me. It's a genuine break. Where is Pete C. Carroll?

We need to know if he's seen this clip at this point. Michelle Obama, 25 to 1. Ron DeSantis. Mark? We need to know if he's seen this clip at this point. Michelle Obama, 25 to 1. Ron DeSantis. Mark Cuban, 20 to 1. Did I say that? Maybe not.

I don't know. See, I get these. These kind of make sense, but Joe Rogan feels like if he wanted to, he could win tomorrow. Donald and Melania to divorce?

Yes, plus 350? Well, that's a little bit depressing. J.D. Vance is a favorite, plus 300. Wow. All right, great stuff there. Appreciate it very much. Now, my friends, it is time for everyone's favorite segment of the week.

It is time. Could we, just for old time's sake, Andy, could we change the camera shots? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is Can we change the camera shots Yeah Yeah This is what people love the most Yeah they love it Oh we're going to get so many complaints Stop changing the camera You should put an epilepsy warning

If we're going to do that No stop it Oldest first Arihawani.substack.com is the place to be Okay, we've got some time here, my friends Let's sit back and relax and answer Some questions Zarian

Combi, hello Ariel And crew figured this could be a stressful Couple days for a lot of us So wanted to ask about something light and humorous Does anyone have any embarrassing stories From when they were a kid? I recently remembered when I was in middle school and me and a couple of friends were jumping over chairs to impress some girls.

I remember farting super loud as I jumped that I made up my mind mid-air just to run home as soon as I landed without saying goodbye. Let's hear some of yours Thanks always for a great show Gosh That'll stick with you And he just

Did he ever address it? I want to know more I want to know what ended up happening Yeah we need more Did you address it the next day Or did anyone address it with you? This is our new Church leader guy

Oh yeah Whatever happened We need more We need more context to anything come to mind was it just most embarrassing yeah ah man I've yeah I've farted in a bunch in front of a bunch of people and not meant to and you're just like oh I can't believe that just happened and then either they address it or they shame you yeah it's pretty embarrassing like make the facial expression

eating shit in front of everyone like like literally no i guess you know transitioning like obviously falling like wiping out wow a couple people this weekend at the wedding i was at they were all dancing up on some ledge and i watched two guys step off the ledge i guess it was a slippery spot legs just came right out from underneath them. You know, tailbone injuries. They tried to play it off, but there was no coming back. So, yeah, I mean, anytime you fall, trip. There's a lot of, like, little raised sidewalks in New York.

Literally just happened to me when I was running. That's right. You took a spill. Yeah, but nobody's around for that. Catch the big toe on it, and you just kind of you don't even follow the way you just take one of those big steps and halfway fall and everyone's like are you okay like yeah i'm fine you didn't see anything you didn't see shit yeah keep walking i've definitely said some dumb shit nothing's coming to mind like specifically because it probably happened so frequently but i've definitely said

something to embarrass myself this might be a surprise to you guys, but I've got one. Yeah. Yeah. I fell off of a loading dock. So I was behind a building that I worked at, and there were some pallets stacked up, and there was a giant carpenter bee. I don't know if you've ever seen those.

A giant what? Carpenter bee. They're like these big black bees. They look like almost an inch and a half. It was just huge. They look scary, but they're not. look like almost an inch and a half. Like it was just huge. They look scary, but they're not. I didn't want to mess with it. And it came right at me. And I took a back step and then I fell off the dock. And nobody was there except for there was an MVD or DMV next door. And this guy was like, hey, are you okay?

And I was so embarrassed. I got up. I was like, yeah, yeah, there was a bee. And he was like, oh, I thought you fell. And I'm like, I knew that I was okay. Like I didn't have a head injury because I was like, well thought you fell and i'm like i knew that i was okay like i didn't have a head injury because i was like well i did fucking fall like i didn't make that part up like you just watched it happen but i knew no head injury because i was still smarting off so i figured i was all right so do you think he thought you were like trying to attack the b you were trying to chase it down instead of like i did evasive maneuvering or something i don't know like i was so annoyed by him what thought you fell like that that did remind me of one i recently i wasn't embarrassed because it was in front of my kids and it was

more funny than embarrassing if it was in public it would have been embarrassing i was wearing very like slick socks and fell down the stairs and oh those are the words my daughter goes why is daddy sliding down the stairs she thought she thought i was like sitting on my butt Like going down the stairs like a kid would do She thought I was like having fun Meanwhile I'm tumbling down the stairs I come up with like bruises all over my arms And legs like it was horrific But because she made it so funny

I was just laughing Like it wasn't really embarrassing because it was my kids That reminds me when my kids were young We were in a pool at my Brother's in-laws house And they were young that we were in a pool at my my brother's in-law's house and uh they were my kids were in a pool and there was a floaty like a big floaty thing that was um my son was two and it was starting to like come to him and i was afraid that it would go over him you know like those big unicorns or whatever it was and so i bent over to try to move it. And I happened to be standing on a loose tile.

And in the most slow motion way possible, I literally bent over and I can't even tell you how slow motion all of this felt. Fell head first into the water, fully closed, phone in my pocket, wallet in my pocket. It was just like, boom, head first. My other son was like on the other side of the pool. And according to my wife said, my beautiful daddy.

Oh no, my beautiful daddy. And I just went, yeah, actually. My daughter was laughing at me. If you guys ever fall in front of me, I will laugh. I remember it was a Sunday. It was the night of Game 7 2016. I probably talked about it on the show, Cavs Warriors. And so then I had to drive to Yonkers to get a new phone because I was afraid that I wouldn't have people's contact info for the show on Monday.

That's how much the show means to me. Another one, I think I was afraid that I wouldn't have people's contact info for the show on Monday. That's how much the show means to me. Another one, I think I was 10 years old. We were in Egypt on vacation and something went through the family. And I remember being on the tour bus. I was wearing a Snoopy Detroit Red Wings shirt. And I'll never forget it. And you know, it's just something.

And I let one rip. Got out of the bus. And my brother said to me, what happened to your shirt? No. And it was just. Shut up. You shit your pants? What the hell, Ariel?

On vacation? It was completely... Of course, now I know why you remember the shirt. Your shirt? It was completely... How did I get to the shirt? I didn't realize. It was completely...

I went... I can't believe you didn't realize. I can't believe... Why was it all over your shirt, too? How did I get to the shirt? How is it all over your shirt? I don't know. I'm wearing pants?

It was so bad. Whatever happened. How did they not say something sooner? How did they not smell it or whatever? When we went to the airport. The real shit don't stink. A day later, we went to the airport. I kid you not.

We were flying from Egypt to Israel. And because my family is from Egypt and Lebanon. Same trip. No, not the same McDonald's. We were flying from Egypt and Lebanon. Same trip. No, not the same McDonald's. We were flying from Egypt to Israel and they stopped my parents because they had to speak to them, ask them questions. Where are you from? Where are you coming?

All this stuff. They always get stopped because of their background. They told me I had to go call my brother because we were about to cross through customs. And I go into the bathroom and I kid you, he'll hate me for saying this, but it was the same trip, same issue. There was a trail. Jesus. From your brother. This is horrifying.

What the hell did you guys eat? Oh, my God. This is horrible. I'll never forget. I even remember what the floor looked like. God. I was like, what the hell is going on? It was a trail.

Now, did your parents get affected? It was just me and my brother for some reason. It was really, it was tough. That sounds tough. I mean, yeah, I think I could think of about a dozen situations like that. I'm just going to keep going. Yeah. I think we've conquered most of them.

I mean, good for you. Kudos to you for owning up to that. Victor is asking, he wanted to ask about the possibility of an event in Chicago. Obviously, Bilal and Peña are champs right now. United Center has been great. Two Chicago champs fighting would make a lot of sense.

I have not heard anything about Chicago, but Dana White has said that, you know, they want to go back to some of the places that they were going to pre-pandemic and so yeah let's see i mean they've they've held a lot of big events their pay-per-views and non-pay-per-views fox events the last show there i think was in 2019 i recall because we did a uh we did a trivia show afterwards which was great with derrick lewis and others. No, Derek was in the Vegas one. I think Stipe was at that one.

In any event, yeah, Chicago is great. I'm sure they'll go back. And yeah, now that they have two Chicago champs, it would certainly make a lot of sense. Carson. Hey, Ariel and the Uncrowned crew. Congrats on the new show and platform leading the pack in combat sports news. As always, here's my question. What are your thoughts on Sage Northcutt's recent announcement that he and 1FC have mutually agreed to his release from the organization?

Where do you see him potentially going next? I doubt the UFC would sign him again, although I could be wrong, but would love to see him fight in karate combat. Interesting one, or the PFL. As a fan of Sage for several years, do you also feel that one has limited his potential and wasted many years of his career? Thanks again for all the great content. Much love and God bless. P.S. Frank, can I get a chi-wee-wee? I learned before the show that Frank is now deleting some of the drops so he doesn't have them all.

Yeah, he just let out the largest sigh I've ever heard. Chi-wee-wee! Why are we doing this, Frank? Why can't we just have a system where all of them... What's the point of having all these drops if we can't use all the drops? No problem, man, yeah? Yeah, okay. But now what I'm starting to notice is you're starting to use the same ones over and over again.

And that's probably because you're starting to transition away. He doesn't want to... He was trying to explain it to you earlier, but he didn't really quite get it out. He is reorganizing them so that they make sense, right? He wants them to be in the configuration that that makes sense to him right he wants like certain ones to be in this quadrant so he can quickly access them in this and he's in the middle of that process so now he's embarrassed and doesn't want to say it but there's like lots of blank space he's trying to he's trying to reorganize so that they they they are coherent as an entire panel for him.

I have reached out to Sage and I've reached out to Mikey Musumechi, who also announced over the weekend that he has parted ways with one. Both got back to me, both very nice, both saying right now they don't want to talk about it. And so, yeah, I mean, I would say the Mikey news is probably bigger for one. Important to remember Sage Northcutt just 28 years young. He's still very young. But to Carson's point, I mean, the fight against Cosmo Alexander did him no favors and certainly set him back. It definitely leads to questions about one in terms of like, you know, a lot of these American fighters that they were signing

over the last few years, Eddie Alvarez, Demetrius Johnson, Sage, Mikey's at the top of the list, one of their most popular athletes not being there. Are they transitioning away from that? Are they just going to focus on the Asian based fighters? I don't know, but i don't think this is the end of sage um i would be surprised uh but i uh i don't hate that karate combat idea as well given his background but as of right now he hasn't talked about what is next matt good day ariel and crew with wwe crown jewel in the rear view mirror what do you think about the ple in general and where do you see them going towards the end of the year for survivor series this month and saturday night's main event in december thanks and have a great day ps would you ever think about starting a small weekly wrestling pod once a week for like an hour yes that is in the works uh not hosted by me

probably but definitely in the works as far as the uncrowned offerings. So stay tuned. Nothing in the immediate future, but definitely in the future plans. Crown jewel is fine. I have no problem with it. I'm not a huge fan of creating a crown jewel belt. I don't think that's necessary. There's already a lot of belts as it is. It was a fine pay-per-view, had no issues with it. I just think like, and I know they're paying a had no issues with it. I just think like, and I know they're paying a lot of money for it, so I get it, but Gunther versus Cody is enough.

Don't really need a belt for that, in my opinion. Survivor Series is coming up, War Games. What they've done to resurrect Survivor Series, I mean, I was at Survivor Series in 21 in Brooklyn and the brand, and it's classic pay-per-view, one of the big four tentpole event.

It was dead. The most anticipated match on the card was Becky Lynch versus Charlotte Flair. And that was the opener. And even it was Big E versus Roman Reigns in the main event. And then the rest, like the Survivor Series matches,

all felt very flat. One thing that I would love to see them do, and I know they're probably not going to do it, but there was once a time where Survivor Series was actually on Thanksgiving night, on Thursday night. And that was super cool because it was a rare Thursday night pay-per-view. Now with the NFL and, you know,

I'm not trying to advocate for people to work on Thanksgiving, like the wrestlers and the crew, I'm not trying to advocate for people to work on Thanksgiving, like the wrestlers and the crew. I'm sure they hated it. But there was something special about a Thursday night pay-per-view. That would be fun. That being said, they've done a great job of resurrecting it with war games. So I'm looking forward to it in Vancouver. I don't even know if they've have they announced anything so far as far as matchups uh i don't think they have no doesn't look like they have we're getting close to the uh the netflix debut and of course uh i was at one of the most famous wwe pay-per-views which happened to to be Survivor Series back in 1997. The infamous Montreal Screwjob. What an exciting time that was. First pay-per-view. Shooter McGavin. Hola, Ariel and the boys in the back. Before my question, just wanted to say as

an Oakland native, thank you for the love you gave the Oakland Roots. Yes, shout out to them. They even hooked that one tweet. sent me a jersey they sent me some some merch lovely people and what a nice logo i would say top five best logos maybe there's something about the tree and the roots that i like the tricky trees would love for you to come out for a game next year when they play in the oakland coliseum former home of the a's i know it sucks anyway on to my question i wanted to get your take on the potential Max versus Dustin matchup while stylistically it would be great I don't see why the UFC would want to risk Max losing the BMF belt to someone on the way out I mean there's no lineage to the BMF belt

they just created it and moved it on to someone else so does it really matter it doesn't matter do you guys think that Max Holloway will defend the BMF title in his next fight? Yeah. I don't know. Oh, hey, PT. You might as well. PT, is McDonald's good in Ireland? I mean, it's fantastic.

Where is it bought? You know what I mean? I've had it all over the world. Fantastic. You guys got any special menu items? We get, like, we used to have this thing on patrick's day where you get like a mcmore more means big in irish and gaelic so the mcmore was this kind of like massive burger that bali malou relish was a very nice relish that we have over here fantastic obviously the shamrock shake orland etc what is the shamrock shake

it's like a mint claire would love it it's like a mint uh shake yeah it's here in the states during uh during march i'm looking at y'all's menu right now double big mac get your kids more fast food ariel mini hash browns descended from greatness those kind of look like my friend lee my friend lee uh he i know it was collie my friend Collie Morrisrow, shout out Collie Morrisrow, shout out Pornbrook. Um, he, he actually had the mini hash browns the other day and he told me exquisite. Oh, y'all got the chicken wraps still, man.

Those are the snack wraps. Those are fantastic. Well, I mean, it was, it was, you know, it's, it's a side dish, you know, get your main thing. Yeah, yeah. And then you get a wrap on the side. Yeah. I'm on the same wavelength as you.

The McSpicy looks good The McCrispy Deluxe Looks insane Fried chicken patty Bacon I mean You got lettuce I don't go

I don't go My favorite thing About McDonald's Overseas And in the UK In particular Halloumi fries Have you guys had

Halloumi fries At McDonald's Yeah Fantastic Fantastic I had it with my guy Raj As we were driving back From Manchester To London When we went to see Forrest Fries Halloumi fries at mcdonald's yeah fantastic fantastic i had it with my guy raj as we were driving back from manchester to london we went to see forestry halloumi fries i mean that's those

halloumi fries nando's halloumi fries is tremendous crazy they give you the sweet chili dip ah fantastic so freaking fabulous oh yeah they have these in the uk huh yeah look you need to get over gc you're you're trying to find an excuse We're at the stage now where he's looking at the McDonald's menu And being like, I need to get over there Ireland 2025, we'll go to McD's McD's and the Whatever Inn We have two in Blanchestown

Would you believe, that's how disgusting we are They gave us two Did I ever tell you about the Krispy Kreme We got the first Krispy Kreme here And it shut down Blanch It was crazy i had a guy like in the queue like i went like two weeks after it was open the queue was still out the door and some some guy was like trying to wedge his child in front of me like to skip

me in the line absolutely not good how good though incredible fabulous i only like the glazed ones sorry go ahead no no no it's good it's just making me so hungry. El Peruano. Hello, Ariel. You and the crew made me do a spit take recently with all the window talk and other hit takes. Agreed that adding Pizzi was a brilliant move and looking forward to the vlog when GC visits him. Oh, there you go.

Wow. How about that? In case Andy hasn't covered it, action song Salvaje means... What does it mean, Andy? Do you know? Spanish village. It's a Spanish village. In case Andy hasn't covered it, action song Salvaje means, what does it mean, Andy? Do you know? Spanish village.

It's a Spanish village. Salvaje. S-A-L-V-A-J-E. Savage. That's right. That's what he says. It is savage. Did you say PT village? I thought it was like a Spanish village.

I just went down on a limb. That's the song where he says Shavkat Rachmanov. This week, I'm wondering, is the limb. That's the song where he says, Shavkat Rachmanov. This week, I'm wondering, is the UFC devaluing the women's divisions? Seems that their title fights don't come as readily, and the champs don't get pussed as much. A women's title fight seems the best solution

to UFC 310. 310, 310. Oh, that's December 7th. What's the fight, though? What's the fight? Valentina Shevchenko versus Mano Fioro, she's not fighting. And Fioro's team was not happy that I asked her about Zhang Weili. And I've said time and again, Mano Fioro is the number one contender. I was just wondering if that was discussed or offered or whatever. Anyway, Zhang Weili, who's the number one contender in her weight class? 115. There isn't one is it is it going to be tatiana

suarez she just withdrew is it virna janjiroba i don't know and then 135 we know is caleb versus juliana and that's not happening on december 7th so i don't know if it's them devaluing i just think maybe i don't know there's there's there's not a lot of big fights right now um do you guys have a take on this uh it just it kind of ebbs and flows there's not really lot of big fights right now. Do you guys have a take on this? It just, it kind of ebbs and flows. There's not really. How significant is it that we're talking about devaluing women's titles on the week that the Iron Lady Jermaine Durandamy retires?

I mean, let's not forget. Sure. This woman won the featherweight title against Holly Holm. And she was asked afterwards, do you want to fight Cyborg? She said, you know what? I'm actually injured.

I need to get this sorted. And they were like, wow, that is not going to fly here. The Iron Lady, of course, had to wait a long time until she was back in the octagon again. Eventually lost to Amanda Nunes. But yeah, I mean, I got the feeling at that time that they were devaluing a champion, but not so much recently, I will say.

By the way way what about the revelation that uh taylor serrano 2 is at 138 did you know about this no um yeah i don't even know how it's a super lightweight title fight if it's not at 140 well it's katie she can do what she wants yeah she can do whatever the fuck she wants uh jay billing hi ariel i'm looking to break into the sports media industry. What's one piece of advice that you have from your time getting into the industry and now being a mainstay in said industry? I mean, there's a lot, but the first thing that comes to mind is look at what everyone is doing. Look at what everyone is doing.

Look at what's out there. And it's okay to take from this person and that person and that person. Look at them all, but then create your own voice, your own unique take on things. Don't try to copy anyone because they can just go to that person. But if you find your path, your lane, like I've said before, I felt like interviewing was my thing. I felt like it wasn't being done at a super high level, especially in the fight sports, especially in MMA. And so I made that my thing and I, and I, and I stuck to that and I focused all my time and energy on just that, not, you know, and then of course other things came along and breaking news and the hosting and all that stuff, but that was

my thing. So look at everyone else, look at what they're doing. Okay. To take influence, but ultimately, you know, have your own voice and, you know, have a unique, fresh take slash perspective so that people come to you and want to work with you and hire you. Juan Sanchez, hello, Ariel and crew. My question this week is more of a comment for the boys in the back specifically. I can't express how much I've been enjoying these pound for pound rankingsings of things That you guys Have been doing

As I was watching The Halloween candy One last week And New York Rick Mentioned that Reese's shapes Were near the top Of his list

I realized That I had some In a jar on my desk I ripped open The pumpkin shaped Reese's And oh my goodness It was exceptional

What a great shout And attention to detail On Rick's part I'll be looking out Every holiday For the shaped Reese's From now on Great show boys Love tuning in was exceptional. What a great shout and attention to detail on Rick's part. I'll be looking out every holiday for the shaped Reese's from now on. Great show, boys. Love tuning in. I mean, a man of culture, a man of taste.

I was wondering where he was going to go with that. I was kind of hoping he was going to be like, it's BS that he chose Reese's twice just based on the shape of them. No, they're different. They're very different. Good call. Good shout. As a little tease, a little preview tomorrow's pound for pound rankings

apex predators tomorrow's pound for pound rankings will be apex predators so be on the lookout for that apex theme show boys in the back boys in the back a little earworm there I like it.

Uh, Craig, hi, Ariel and crew. Can we assume that Conor's lack of fights on the horizon, despite supposedly being healthy is very much connected to his current court case in Ireland? Perhaps it's more of a question for Pizzi. Excellent addition, by the way. All the best, Craig. Do you think, do you think Pizzi, there's a

connection here? I don't actually. I don't either. I don't. Because when this was, in 2019, as was referenced in court today, is why I'm able to speak about it. The DPP were investigating this. If they had found grounds to prosecute him,

that would have been a much bigger deal and they were happy to put him you know in fights with serrani all that kind of stuff at that time you remember mark romandy asking the question and being booed at the press conference so no i don't i actually don't i don't think it has anything to do with that also he was 10 days away or so from fighting june 29th you know what i? So that was on the book. So I don't think one had anything to do. Like, I don't think he was removed from that card or withdrew from that card because of this. That fight would have happened

if not for, you know, the toe injury. So I personally agree with that. This is from Johnny. Hey, Ariel and Co. First of all, huge fan. You guys are awesome. Secondly, it's kind of baffling to me how Hamzat isn't getting an immediate title shot. I mean, whether it's destroying Kevin Holland or breaking

Whitaker's jaw, this dude has been absolutely unstoppable. Lastly, I kind of just wanted to know your thoughts on the current state of the UFC and their champions. Well, first of all, who says Hamzat isn't getting the next title shot, meaning the next time he fights, it's for the belt. It still hasn't been made 100% clear whether or not it's Strickland next. It seems that's the direction they're leaning towards, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do Strickland, then Hamzat. I wouldn't be surprised if the next time Hamzat fights, it's for the belt is basically what I'm saying. As for the champions, I got into MMA slash UFC back in 2016 when Conor was the face and strikers were thriving. Now, if you look across

the weight division, divisions in the UFC, most of the champs are grapplers besides John Jones and Alex Pereira. And honestly, I find it quite boring. Do you think there's anything the UFC can do to fix this issue? I mean, just like women's MMA, it's all very cyclical. And yes, you're right. Right now, the UFC has several champions who aren't exactly the most, I don't know, don't have the most flashy style. They're not spectacular. Yeah. Is this true, though? Like, I'm looking at these names.

Like, is Ilya Teporia not exciting? Obviously, there's one, but there's… Is Alessandre Pantoja not… Like, even… I know we get a rap, like, Islam comes from Habib's lineage, but, like, Islam's a finisher. I don't know. Drikus Duplessis is an absolute shithouse just coming straight at people. Like, of these champions, I feel like there's nearly nobody who I'm, like, is kind of, like, even Murab, hisab his style is like it can be grinding but like

he's shooting 15 takedowns a fight to try and get it like i mean i heard from a lot of the equivalent of mma crackheads though like we are we are strong i hear from a lot of sean o'malley like like all my nephew's friends are o'malley fans and like oh man this sucks you know bam rodriguez o'malley fan i yeah how about that shot of the bam i get that but but I don't see a boring one amongst them. I'll be honest. Not one. Am I like, this person is boring? No, I think we'd all agree with you as well.

Honestly, it's just we're watching it through a different prism than people who might not watch every event and they're only tuning in to pay-per-views when a champion's on the card. And then, you know, they have more means to be upset when they've put their money down and they're expecting something and maybe it doesn't go the way they anticipated to i don't know it also is a very good point like rick you have to admit like you are not being asked to pay for pay-per-views you're not a working man who has to pay 75 and decide whether or not dodgy bucks rick yeah but uh those fighting words but how about like that's fair point i i can acknowledge that and concede that part of it but like if you do on the off chance get to then watch a guy like ilia taporia a guy like alex perera when john jones is fighting a guy like ddp even even somebody like zhang weili like i don't

know it feels like a special time to me. I get it. Not just the champs, the contenders underneath. I have no issues with it, but I certainly get it. Right now, the biggest star in the UFC is the UFC, and they're on fire, and there aren't a lot of superstars at the top. There's only one. There's only one.

And who's that? It's Conor. Yeah, he hasn't fought in three and a half years. And so when you compare it to 2016, when there were five pay-per-views that did over a million buys because of Conor, because of Nate Diaz being active, because of Ronda Rousey, because of Brock Lesnar coming back, like those were super-duper stars.

We don't have that at the moment. Ilya's on his way. Alex Pereira is on his way. But we're talking a time, 2016, where these were gigantic names. Not as many of them. I would argue the names were bigger, but fight styles, like, is Brock

Lesnar box office? The fights themselves, I don't know. I feel like the level is so high right now. And even the guys who are grapplers like like let's consider islam makachev a grappler like the dude's a an exciting fighter for me marab i find his style exciting i could see how maybe somebody wouldn't but like i don't know i'm i'm all in right now

i feel like it's it's never been better it's it's like the skill level thing that you mentioned i absolutely agree with you i think it's better than ever rick but you even apply that to a different sport like a premier league football and it's a city game and they're playing arsenal and it's nil all they're they're technically brilliant but it's not exciting do you know what i mean like i think who is boring i i get out of here who name them say it i want to hear a name i i'm not saying okay let's we're viewing this is a my point of view this is not my point of view i'm saying for people who don't haven't been watching this for as long as we have there's not many people who have being honest like the

sports in a completely different place and when we started watching it they're watching it now just for pay-per-views um and they're tuning in for a spectacle and grappling i love grappling it's it's it's not a spectacle who were these filthy casuals the they're filthy casuals what pz just said the people who don't associate i have watched i've watched many fights with these people that are not ufc fans and then they tune into the occasional big fight and then when grappling starts they're just like just get up just get up like where are the knockouts this is so boring this sucks these these are the people who are not actual fans of the sports it's the casuals tuning in every once in a while i don't know who are they watching that they're saying that about look i don't i watched the valentina shevchenko grasso people hated that

last year the one the one that ended in a draw and people thought that was... People hated the Shevchenko-Grasso fight? Yeah, and people thought that was incredibly boring. This past one. I mean, listen, this may surprise you. I don't think Bilal's boring. Neither do I. But a lot of people do. I think if you have a grappling...

Are we pretending that people don't say that about him? We're not talking about ourselves. No, I know, exactly. But let's not pretend that this isn't out there. It's not... Look at friends. They'll see a main event and they're like, I'm not watching that. I'm not staying that this isn't out there. It's not... Look at your friends. They'll see a main event and they're like, I'm not watching that. I'm not staying up until 6 o'clock in the morning to watch that. I'll watch Pereira. I'll watch Aspinall. That's pretty

much it at the moment. I mean, even people said Leon Edwards was boring. Right? Yeah. The performance against Usman, the performance against Colby was tremendous. Has boring become just not finishing? What is boring at this point? That's what I don't even understand.

The attention span has been eroded. The attention span is gone. If you can't finish a fight every time, if you're not Alex Pereira, you're boring. It's part of the reason why a lot of younger fans, I think, say boxing is boring. Yeah, that they're not just getting starched every time. Exactly.

And it's part of the reason why the UFC has had such success because it's all very snackable. Everyone wants a one-minute knockout. That's what they're... No one feels cheated. Yeah.

No one feels cheated. No one feels cheated when they get a one-minute knockout. I would say traditional boxing fans will feel like, oh, man, I was robbed.

I wanted to see eight rounds. I wanted to see nine rounds. I want to see 10 rounds. So it's just, you know, it's just the way. But at the home, we're joking ourselves here. If we don't think the model has changed, they invented contender series because sport wasn't good enough. It's exclamation mark.

That's what that is. It's the exclamation mark championships. You can go in there and be someone that's really good and they're looking for killers. That means we want to see guys being finished. It doesn't matter if there's a disparity in experience and they want a product where there's people being finished on their fights and then you've just got to listen to dana talking about power slap to to know that that is what they're aiming for it's a short snappy digestible content for the internet as opposed to solid fights, intricate fights, 25 minute fights with the best fights in the world. They want spectacles. They want highlight

reels. That's what they're pursuing now. Uh, let us continue Felipe. Hi, Ariel fan from Porto in Portugal. Congratulations on the show and the, to the team. You guys are amazing. I was very far from being an MMA fan. It all started during COVID and the lockdown. There are a ton of those. When by chance I watch an episode of your show and since then became almost addicted to MMA. I'm a big Charles Oliveira fan. My question to you and the boys,

if Dubronks wins against Chandler, is he next in line for the title or does he need one more if so against whom? Obrigado and keep up the good work. Hmm. Well, we presume that Islam and, excuse me, and Armin are fighting for the title in January. If Charles wins against Chandler, let's hope that that remains.

He's two. I mean, there's Gaethje out there. There's Poirier out there. Max is out there. I could see Max getting a win and then, you know, trying to put him in a title shot. No, it feels like Oliveira is in the mix, right? Do you guys agree with that?

Yeah, because of how close the fight with Armin was, I think you could easily sell that. He was already booked in the Islam fight. I think he makes a lot of sense as that contender. Yeah. Travis Borker. Shout out to Travis Borker Shout out to Travis Barker, the man Hi Ariel, anything goes It's election day, can you finally tell us

If you participated in the US election I know last week you said you were not sure if you would Also, okay I'm just reading this all Can GC Rick and Mysterious Frank tell us who they voted for I'm not going to put them on the spot I will tell you I didn voted for? I'm not going to put them on the spot. I will tell you, I didn't even say, I know last week, he says, I know last week you said you were not sure.

I said I wasn't going to, and I stuck to that. There was a part of me yesterday where I was like, man, you worked so hard to become citizen and you're not partaking. But for various reasons, I just could not do it. I couldn't do it. I was happy to watch it all unfold. I really do hope that we turn the page and that there are brighter days ahead, more unity.

I love the patriotism that I saw. I feel like the Summer Olympics, correct me if you guys feel otherwise, and I was in Paris, but I was watching everything and I saw so many Americans there. I feel like the Summer Olympics was a reminder and that was our first Summer Olympics in quite some time with fans post-covid of just like how great the country is and how great it feels to be proud to be american to fly the flag

all that stuff and it felt like everyone had just forgotten because there was a point where i felt like some people didn't want to wave the flag and some people are burning the flag and some people this is like what the hell happened to patriotism what the hell happened to the love of this country and that reminded me in august and july you know the the pride that people have for this country and uh and i hope regardless of how you feel we can get back to that come january that's uh that's really my hope um so i i was watching i like to watch and i can understand why people think that it's a cop-out and i don't need to get like so far into it um on this program here but like i was kind of disappointed in myself if i'm being honest that i didn't partake i just just couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it.

But I enjoyed watching the coverage to a degree. Like I liked watching what every network is doing. So I spent a little time here. I spent a little time there. I watched on Prime. I thought it was interesting. There were some things that I felt like they needed to improve on, but they're brand new to this. I thought the production of NBC is the best with the lighting and the set and just like the graphics. I like what they do there. This is the type of like nerdy stuff that I like to look at.

NBC's YouTube killed it. NBC had a live stream on their YouTube channel that had between 150,000 people watching. It was just a map. There was nothing else, just a map. CNN didn't have anything live. NBC then, in addition to that, had their own network airing live, not MSNBC, but actual NBC.

Fox News did as well. I don't know if ABC did. I don't think they did. And so I was just curious how everyone was covering it and what was being aired on YouTube and what was online. Honestly, I went to bed at like 10, 30, 11, and then I woke up and there's a lot of emotion and there's a lot of tweets and there's some people spiking the football and there's other people hysterical. Let's see what

happens. You know, America will go on. America will survive. I do think it is an incredible country filled with incredible people with incredible opportunities. And you would like, especially in these times where there's so much division and so much strife and so much conflict in the world, I would love to see this country come together as one. And honestly, I would love for there to be unity, even if you didn't vote for Donald Trump. There has to be unity. There has to be this, I don't know, this feeling that we're all in this together to a degree. I know not everyone is in the same position economically and socially. And I get that. I'm not trying to have this completely like, you know, naive, utopic view

on the state of the country and the state of the world, but it would be nice. It would be very nice. And I don't know in my lifetime when it was at its peak. When was politics so boring that this country was so unified?

Of course, I only moved here in 2001, but I don't know. And perhaps you guys have a, I mean, Frank, you're the oldest on the team. That's right. Would the Clinton years be the most, I mean, obviously- It got wild.

It got wild, but when he was, before all of that, when he was nominated, was that? we had the dot com boom like nah i think it was boring would be like garfield oh wow that far all right go back okay gotta go back a ways i'll tell you what uh as much as they're probably acting like they're upset like no one's happier than the cable networks and the newspapers and stuff like that that trump is back they they they love this shit they love it and and that's part of what i was talking about yesterday i wish that was

boring too i i wish i wish i wish news reporting political reporting was more like sports reporting as crazy as that sounds down the middle boring unbiased would that be nice just give it to a straight no agenda it would be nice because we're all it's all it's we're not talking about different countries here we're talking about the same damn country uh jamal 2020 justin the guy cleaning the windows behind you has completed his job oh yeah there you just wanted to give him a shout out. He looks super clean. Jamal 2020, did Turkey ever try to broker peace between you and Dana? No, that never happened. There was no talks of that. I'm sorry to disappoint, but it did not occur.

Why? I don't know. You'll have to ask him, but it did not happen. Ryan, hey, Ariel, when do you think it is likely for Conor's return? First Vegas show of the year, international fight week, or even later? It's hard to say at this point. Well, if you look at the calendar, like obviously he's not fighting in January. He's not fighting in Australia.

I hear they have big plans for March. I'm not sure what the plans are. April, maybe Spain, May, maybe Brazil. I don't know. I think there's a Canada in there as well. So it might be International Fight Week. That wouldn't be crazy, to be honest. Jeremy, hi, Ariel.

What's Colby's deal? Oh, there's another one. We forgot to mention him. He was there yesterday. I saw him with Dana White. Is he one of the most overrated fighters ever what no what does he do all the time how did he earn his money and so on i don't know about all that but uh he is not overrated i mean he he fought usman twice for the belts he fought um leon edwards he fought uh

he beat rda to be interim champion not overrated at at all. He just isn't as active. And I don't think he has many more fights left in him, but overrated is not, is not what I would call him. Cole, hey, Ariel and crew, Ariel, hearing you talk to Andy Foster about warnings in the back

before the beginning of a fight had me thinking in the case of a fighter missing weight, but the fight continuing, what's your opinion on the fighter that missed weight, receiving a point deduction slash yellow card? is that too much or is taking purse percentage enough i've heard people say this i think taking a purse percentage is enough uh i i feel like i don't know i feel like i feel like taking a point away already puts them i can understand i can understand people trying to to push that but for me, taking money out of their pocket is enough. Just to play devil's advocate, there's been a recent swell of people saying that, especially when it comes to big weight misses, that fighters are having an intentional advantage, right?

They are saying, I'm going to sacrifice 20% of my purse. I'm going to come in drastically overweight. I know chances are that my opponent is going to accept the fight and I'm going to use that to my advantage. I do think in situations where it's like a drastic weight miss, where it's clear that there wasn't a hard cut done, that a point could make sense. I don't hate the idea. I'm not sure I love the idea either, but I don't hate the idea. I kind of land somewhere in the middle, but money doesn't seem enough if somebody is flagrantly trying to just use, to say, I cut enough, but they're three pounds over and just really looking to bully somebody. Noah, what's up, Ariel and gang? Ariel, my question for you is where is your basketball podcast? Could we expect a segment like that or a show in the future i was really loving it so it was my wife i did that for showtime sports and then showtime sports went away

um and so perhaps we'll start to introduce other things here we're just getting off the ground we're not even a month old uh tomorrow was tomorrow was when was our first october 14th was was uh our first show right am i crazy or is. Yeah, so we're not even a month old. That sounded like Billy Madison. Was that a Billy Madison reference? Yeah, man, come on. That is correct. So I love doing it as well. It was a lot of fun.

It was very challenging. I certainly don't have the same Rolodex in basketball that I do in fighting, but I enjoyed it. The highlight was probably the Bob Costas episode. That was incredible for me. And so let's see. I love basketball. I'm a big fan.

Obviously, Nick's a little bit slow out of the gate, but we'll be okay. We'll be okay. So I do appreciate that. Yeah, I can't. Cavs look pretty good. I appreciate that. And let's see.

The world is our oyster here. Speaking of which, Adam, I'm loving this five days a week. I mean, a couple of other podcasts I listened to during the day have taken a backseat to the uncrowned crew, and I'm not complaining. Two things. I believe the boys in the back should have their own smaller, cozy set. Two, tell PT to take down that football over his left shoulder. That ball is as fake as it gets. I had to say something considering he's deep in fantasy football now, don't even replace it. Your thoughts, PT? This ball was gifted to me by a man I referenced earlier in the show, the great Colin Morrisrow of Pinebrook. He brought to my house for the Super Bowl. We were very intox intoxicated we had a great time

but gc has also commented on the ball and maybe the ball isn't good enough for you but it's the memory that is attached to the ball that is important to me my friend but i thank you for trying to help me out with my beautiful set here it's also a flashlight which i've pointed out before when i come to ireland i'm gonna hand deliver a duke can you at least inflate it yes yeah you know we played a different version of the sports um that fine noise i i love when pt does yes i love that that's my favorite thing right there like 1947 college quarterback looks like archie yes yes yes you look like you're wearing a leather helmet or a helmet with a single face mask I love when he does that Why does he have the handouts like this

It looks like you're playing At the University of Southern California In 1947 Stiff arming and throwing Now for the Rose Bowl Peter Carroll Just got back from World War II service Now the quarterback

University of Southern California It's 100% That's what you look like BT I wanted to try and do something where we have a ball We have a ball in New York and when I throw it Oh that'd be brilliant We gotta get two Dukes then We'll be calm

Oh my gosh that would be brilliant Danny danny breezy crew so happy to be part of the uncrowned community with the world-renowned apex celebrating its 100th show i'd love to hear each of your favorite memories from the era of the apex is it a magny decision a holland exhibition of trash talk countless to choose from mine is without a doubt darren till walking out to no music in honor of the lack of crowd noise we all absolutely love about the apex can't wait to hear your choice love from charlotte danny i do have to remind you uh the darren till fight that you're talking about was not at the apex that was in abu dhabi against robert he did a pizzi i did the same thing earlier with the gaethje yeah you guys all blended it together it wasn't july of 2020, but it was in Abu Dhabi. I mean, Francis, I would say, jokes aside,

best fight to happen there. In the early days, obviously, there's a ton to choose from because every event was there, or the vast majority. Like Poirier-Hooker, incredible. Yeah, that was... DC-Stipe, too, incredible. No, three, three, two, three, two. August 20th, 20. Wait, two or three? Three. Three, three, three, yes, yes. Stipe beat. Incredible. No, 3. 3. 2. 3. 3. August 20.

20. Wait, 2 or 3? 3. 3, 3, 3. Yes, yes. Stipe beat him in the ring. Francis Stipe. Francis Stipe 2.

Yep. I mean, Aljo submitting Sanhagen in 90 seconds was crazy. Aljo Piotr Jan was there too. Yes. It's not like a highlight. Yes, yes, yes. It's a memorable moment. Are you raising your hand?

Yeah, I'm just doing. No, I'm doing the Piotr Jantek. Oh. So there were a lot. Here's the thing. We joke now and we all wish that it was just being used

for the Ultimate Fighter and the Contender Series. But the truth is, and no one could have predicted what was to come, it's one of the greatest decisions UFC ever made was building that thing.

Frank, can you hit the button, please? You know which one. Who the F is we? There's one of us who never denigrated the Apex and thought it was brilliant. Nah, you can't admit. One of the best things that's ever been done and the epic moments

that have... You have to admit, it's soulless. Like now there's no reason for this to be still a thing. There's no reason. And it feels, if you take that, take that Edmonton card,

take that Edmonton card and put it at the Apex. It's totally different. Also, just a reminder, I started on this show in September of 2021 back on the MMA Hour.

And the first Apex event that we covered while I was on the MMA Hour. And the first Apex event that we covered while I was on the show was UFC Apex 38. Walker versus Santos, I believe it was. My God. So in just three short years,

we've done 62 of these fight nights out of the Apex. And I've watched every single one of them, baby. Every single one. God bless you. This is actually a good tease for tomorrow. Oh, yeah. What do you. This is actually a good tease for tomorrow.

Oh, yeah. What do you got? Not only are we doing the Pound for Pound Rankings Apex Predators in honor of UFC Apex 100, Apex Mania show tomorrow, we are going to do the most memorable moments in UFC Apex history. The last five years have shaped combat sports in a way that no one was ever able to predict, and we're going to cover our best moments uh and we also do have some breaking news regarding the crack this week right so we've been getting a lot of messages you know um oh ariel he said you said uh

he said it'd be live five times a week and we have been live five times a week because it's a live show after some events. Yeah. But after deep consideration and some, let's be honest, some painstaking negotiations we put Ariel through over the last week, this Friday for the very first time, the crack will be live, baby. Live, live. I'll be back. Shaheen Alshadi's going to be in the house.

It's a big moment. It's cost Ariel a lot of money, butadi's going to be in the house. It's a big moment. It's cost Ariel a lot of money, but I'm going to do it, guys. Me, Chuck, and Shaheen on Friday, baby.

This is an incredible development and I just want to say one day I want to hate something as much as a YouTube chatter hates a premiering show that

they thought was going to be live that they've now discovered isn't live, even though it has no effect on the content itself no effect but i mean the there's just a vitriol that they speak with when they cut when they come to realization that it isn't just earlier that moment when ariel read the question that referred to today is election day the chat was like oh this is pre-recorded oh what this is serious ariel what are you staring at man you are

zoned i don't know. I'm listening. What is he talking about? Did I say it was election day? No, you read a question on OTN. Oh, sorry. They were writing a question yesterday. I just zoned out there for a second.

Yeah, dude. I looked up at you, man. I thought you froze for a minute. No, I was reveling in how great this is. So, look, the way I equated it was you know back in the day monday night raw used to be one week live one week taped and and we were we were trying to go the tape route for various reason reasons and people people rejected it they they they what it was a it was a repudiation is that the the word? They repudiated it?

Is that a word? It's a word now. They didn't like it. But now it's live, live, live, live, live, live, live, live. And what I want you to do, PT, is to hold up a clock and a newspaper on Friday as you go live. The funniest thing was people were claiming that we were pretending it was live. People were like this isn't live and i was in the chat talking to them with my hands like this on the fucking show

i don't know why you thought that we were trying to tell you it was live but however it is live now um i think ariel zoned out there because he had a quick look at his bank balance because a serious dent put in that bank balance after this week's negotiations. Let me tell you. I'm excited. This is the evolution of the MMA beat and the ringer show. You are now carrying the mantle and it's going to be great. So that is this Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern

on the channel. Tomorrow, boys in the back. Mr. Rat, hello, Ariel. Can you and the team rank the following holidays in order? Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's, 4th of July. I'll go first fourth of july one because i just love july and i love the summer two thanksgiving three christmas don't celebrate it but love the basketball and all that on it uh jesus was jewish of course

new year's four uh new year's Four Gonna go bottom to top Keep the excitement and the anticipation New Year's like a far far far away four Fourth of July Third Though I love all these top three I'll do Thanksgiving two And Christmas one

Same list as GC Wow PT We don't have half of those holidays so Christmas Oh that's right that's right That's a good point that's a great point You guys don't celebrate New Years or Christmas huh It's really just Christmas for me Yeah wow

I used to love Christmas so much as a kid I bought the Time Life Treasury of Christmas The like the four pack CD And would play it all year long What were some of the bangers on there uh rocking around the christmas tree also um i like joy to the world oh silent night oh yeah that one's banging i like uh joy to the world look as a jewish kid i would i would listen to it all the time going out to ariel's for his birthday and he sticks on silent night i loved it time life treasury of christmas you

know like you buy 1-800-blah and you get the thing yeah i adored it tv christmas shoes anyone um no christmas clothes stevens day tracksuits christmas christmas shoes one of the saddest songs of all time and they play it endlessly. One of my favorites, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. That's a great one. I mean, it's just so cozy. We need to record this. Yeah. Movies, the songs, the fires, the food.

An uncrowned holiday album. We could get some Jewish songs. Oh, that'd be incredible. Ariel does the hits. Yeah. This ain the hits. Yeah. This ain't bad. Is there a favorite Hanukkah song that we've heard? Frank can produce? I feel like we're onto something. Oh, that was a

Mannheim steamroller version. And by the way, miss me with all the new stuff. Mariah Carey. That's an old song. She has like hundreds of millions of dollars off of that Miss me Give me Bing Crosby Give me Frankie Blue Eyes

Give me that stuff Jackson Foy had a banger Christmas album back in the day Yeah those are good New is kind of like relative right Like Mariah Carey's been doing this for A few decades now It's not exactly new There's the headline right there Printed in the papers Miss me right? Like, Mariah Carey's been doing this for a few decades now. It's not exactly new.

There's the headline right there. Printed in the papers. Miss me. Helwani declares no to Mariah Carey's Christmas. Once you make the album, we can retire Mariah. So you need to get on that. So Frank, let's get some time in the recording studio. I'm healing the red dress.

I don't want to laugh at it. recording the red dress by the way also miss me with the nfl encroaching on the nba's encroaching yes they have completely blown the nba out there is no more no wait wait i don't like this i don't like this. I don't like this. NFL's king. Pitsy, do it. NFL's king. Also, the way you're moving is also like a hologram. Big Johnny U. I don't think I'm going to make it through the end of this. Not holding it by the laces. Stop like that. I said stop like that. Not holding it by the laces. This is Jordan's best work. That picture looks like it is from 1941.

This is Jordan. I can't even look at it. Oh my God. That is incredible. But GC's radio announcer voice, it was just great. It was great. Both of those were incredible. Oh dear. Oh my god That is incredible Oh my god But GC's radio announcer voice It was just It was just Yeah it was great

Both of those were Oh dear Oh my god Big money What up Ariel and crew Love the new phase of the show And appreciate all the weekly content After seeing Dana hanging out

With Trump last night Do we think it's possible For him to step away From his UFC duties To serve some sort of role On the presidential cabinet If so What would Slash could he do press

secretary advisor hype man and would hunter campbell be ready to serve as the ufc president and ceo as soon as january thanks as always and go bills no classes are fucking listen you know you know when dana uh sorry when when trump was president the first time uh he remember he had like a whole like committee with sports guys and i think he called them together for covid and they were deciding what to do i could see dana being involved like that to a degree but i don't see him leaving the ufc uh to to work in politics I don't think he has interest in that. Do you guys agree, disagree? The way he was talking last night. I don't know.

No, I don't see it. I doubt it. I doubt it. I'll be honest, the power slap thing makes me think he's bored with the MMA stuff. Oh, 100%. He needs a mission.

This could be a new mission for him. I could see it. I could totally see it. Scoops. Hey, Ariel. Thanks for all you guys do. Awesome shows. Love could see it. I could totally see it. Scoops. Hey, Ariel. Thanks for all you guys do awesome shows. Love the PT edition and the boys in the back. Please never change that theme song.

It is quickly finding its legs and becoming a star in its own right. I do agree. Random dad question. Will you teach Walter and Oliver to drive when they come of age sooner than you think? Yeah, man. Seriously. I mean, I'd prefer them go to an actual professional. Little known fact, I did need five tries to get my license.

You're shitting me. Five? I've definitely talked about this a thousand times on the show. Three times my permit, five times my license. That's three times to get the permit? Yeah. I thought you just had to go and sign a paper i don't think you're legally allowed to teach them how to drive i think you you are not like

allowed and i looked like i looked like freaking mario andretti out there i got a 99 on mine i will say this like that is this day and age with phones and and the the idea of my children just going out and driving is probably the most terrifying thought and i'm so happy i'm not what's that the uber accounts just get them an uber account happy but eventually it's going to happen forever eventually and that to me is terrifying like i get nervous when they walk down the block to go to the park the idea of them going in a car and driving with all the different stuff out there like i i look back i'm like how did my parents ever let me drive the cars themselves are safer

now so at least there's that right but yeah i'm like i mean i'm further away than you are but it also does scare me so no i don't think my dad taught me how to drive kind of and it's hard in that situation because well you have to go and get so many lessons from an official person before you can do the test. I think something like that. I think you have to get 12 lessons with like an official driving license person. But before that, like we're out doing donuts or whatever. No, I'm only messing. But he could get, because you know each other in a deeper level.

It can pour over. You know, emotions can get the better of you. So you're better off sending him to a guy like you said, like a proper license. The thing with the schools is you're not really learning how to drive. They're kind of teaching. It's like they're teaching you the basics. They're teaching you functional stuff, but it's not really driving. You really don't learn to drive until you get out on the road it's kind of useless you don't do it in the car you

don't do it in the car but it's like okay under best circumstances when nobody's trying to pass you you drive in the middle of the road here and then you pull over and this is how you parallel park when you have 20 minutes to try and get it right like it's kind of just like a, it's like a, it's like a mock. It's not really doing it. We continue. Gabrielle. Hey, Ariel. I find getting a good night's sleep hard to balance with work. What time do you guys go to bed at night? New York Rick seems like a guy who would have sleep apnea.

What? Oh, my God. It's getting hard out here for New York Rick. Yeah, what? He's a very lean, handsome man. Well rested. What is this? What? It's getting hard out here for New York Yeah, what? He's a very lean, handsome man Well rested, what is this? You did have labored breathing earlier I did have labored breathing

He has it all the time Contrary to that I sleep beautifully No apnea, no snoring I am one of the best sleepers you'll find I can turn out like a light. How about best sleeper? I think I've got Sean O'Malley.

How about you guys hop on the whoop and we actually compete at this thing? I was in bed by 9.30 last night. I'll lose every time. Wait, did you say 9.30 or 11.30? 9.30. What do you shoot for? I shoot for like, during the week I shoot for like nine. And then it always gets extended to like 10, 10, 15.

How do you get up? How do you get up in the gym? How do you get up? Oh, what time are you waking up? Oh, holy shit. Look at that. What time are you waking up? Six, but I'm going to start moving it to even earlier, like a 5.30, maybe a 5.15 in there.

Dang, to go to the gym. Yeah, I'm going to start the Aspinall 75 soon. Every day? Six days a week. What time do you go to bed PT's sleep schedule Is the worst Yeah I would die

If I was you PT Yeah You just casually Throw out 4am Like it's 9pm for us I was up till 4am Last night Yeah exactly

UFC pay reviews Near kill me I'll go to bed Tonight around 12 I will read a book To knock myself out I'll get a book to knock myself out. I'll get a good eight hours tonight. But then tomorrow, back up till 4 a.m. for the Tour de Nuit football.

I don't even know I was playing. I know I'm going to stay up. Friday, back to basics. You're talking 1 a.m. sleep maybe. Saturday, apex. I'll miss that, as Ariel would say. Then Sunday, all night or four. You know what I mean?

I hate to do it again, lads. But, you know, that beautiful thing. Yeah. What time do you get up at? Whenever. Usually, like, early, because Reg attacks the postman every morning at, like, 8 a.m., so I'm up then.

Most of your life, because of us, because of the sport, is nighttime. So you do probably have a lot of peace and quiet in the morning, right? No, because the dog's looting shit. No, but No but I just mean like when I was in Europe for a month Like from 7am to 3pm It was amazing No one texts you, no one emails you, no one really bothers you

You could see like the activity There's not a lot of news It must be nice The problem with that for me was I just got a message off you everyday going Isn't it nice that we're on this time and nobody texts you So I was like well there goes my fucking peace you know also he lives there right like it's different when you're visiting and people are on different time zone but like pt lit sure sure but i just wanted him to acknowledge that it was nice that's all oh next time you're in europe i'm

dropping the dog off at your hotel room and then you can see what it's like man that fella he's a full-time job you know what i mean i've heard some gross stories about him pooping and stuff. He shits all over. He's heard some stories about you pooping. That's true. That's a good point. Ronnie, do you have any more idea on why Matchroom slash Eddie Hearn

have no involvement in the promotion of Taylor Serrano 2? Yeah, it was part of the deal. MVP wanted full promotional rights, for lack of a better term, and it was too great of a deal to pass up. So I am curious if he's going to be there in any way, shape, or form. There is this ongoing lawsuit, but no, this is a full MVP event. Nothing more. We'll do a couple more.

Gabrielle, question for Mysterious Frank. Can you please name your favorite spot to eat in New York City? After listening to your detailed Halloween movie critique, I know you can be trusted for restaurant recommendations. A fan in Bakersfield.

Gabrielle. Oh, man. That's a good one. Quijotes? that's my favorite it's in the um oh god what is it the soho hotel okay yeah it's in the bottom and it's like the steakhouse that's spanish influence they have like lobster tails that you just eat by like the bucket. Oh, it's amazing. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And we're talking Mexican food? Spanish food. Okay. Yeah.

Wow. So a little paella. A little paella. I had Cuban paella this weekend. What did you think? I loved it. Seafood. How do they make the rice yellow like that?

Spices. Turmeric. Oh, okay. There you go Tyler Hello Ariel and gang Checking in from the Windiest intersection In Canada

All I have to say is How about those Winnipeg Jets Best team in North American sports Absolutely phenomenal That is all Alright Shout out

Formerly known as The Phoenix Coyotes The Atlanta Thrashers Oh that's right The Jets went to Phoenix And then the Phoenix Coyotes went to Arizona. And then they went to Utah. It's a weird one.

It's actually the Arizona Coyotes. They were never the Phoenix Coyotes. They were 1,000% the Phoenix Coyotes. Are you shitting me? Google that. Google it. Go ahead. It's being Googled right now.

I typed in Phoenix Coyotes. It corrected it to Arizona Coyotes. That is such a lie. This is for you. Hold on one second. Shut up, Bush! Here we go, here we go, here we go. They were renamed the Phoenix Coyotes when they moved on July 1st, 1996.

Yes. And then they were changed. And then they renamed as the Arizona Coyotes on 2014. So what did you just give to them, Frank? What was that? It was a suck it, and now it's- You're the one doing the sucking, Frankie. Hello, Mr. Helwani.

Frankie has filled in a lot of his rows here. He's the organizing happening in real time. Oh, that's great. Yeah, there it is. Can I ask a quick question about an old... I need to work on that for next week. Okay, they actually just announced the press conference. They just announced it.

That'll be hosting the press conference on Wednesday. How do I say it, guys? Can you tell me? Is it iron? Iron. Iron. I'm being serious right now. You're saying iron. Iron.

Iron. Iron. Iron. Iron. Say it. Say earn. Iron. Iron. That was it. That's it. I earn. Say earn. I earn. Say earn. I earn.

I earn. Iron. Yes. That was it. Iron. Yes. You did it. Iron. No.

Iron. No. Not iron. Not iron. Where does this pirate accent come from? Can you give us an R? All right. Yeah.

By the way, if you guys watch the press conference next Wednesday, just know In my mind, I am going to be saying Don't fuck this up I think you might fuck it up worse Alright everyone And now it's time to say hello To the baddest Man on the planet Iron

No, you did it right I'm literally thinking iron Iron Yes, that's it Iron Now you did it right That was good I'm literally thinking iron Iron Yes Iron Iron Iron We need to put an eye patch on you

And a peg leg Iron Give me the balloons We've talked about our level of excitement for the fight What about your level of excitement of being a part of this Event like this is going to be crazy No I mean I'm excited Texas Stadium

You're going to be in there Mike Tyson Again like on a stage In the ring Well yes that's later but I'm saying even before we get to that I'm excited for them to announce the whole team The whole broadcast team That was not today you said they announced No they just announced me doing the press conference Can you say your duties that like i'm excited for them to announce the the whole team the whole broadcast team that was not today you said they announced no they just announced me okay doing the press can you say

your duties uh reporter slash in-ring guy are you gonna do post fights hell yeah sick oh yes iron that's pretty good all right that's what you should be doing i always honestly not tooting your horn here but i always think you should be the. I always, honestly, not tooting your horn here, but I always think you should be the Poet D in Ring Guy. I think that's what you're great at. That's my favorite thing to do. When you're there, and, you know, love all the guys, you know.

Love that, eh? You got a little schmutz on the nose there. What's schmutz? Schmutz, like you got some schmutz. Oh, is that you calling me a roundhouse? The horn has certainly been tooted. No, listen, it's very kind of you. Look, big negotiations you calling me a roundhouse? The horn has certainly been tooted. No, listen. It's very kind of you.

It looks great. Big negotiations this week. That's all I'll say. I'll say no more. Jordan. Hey, Ariel. Who's the best person you know to eat wings with? There's two people.

My good friend, Jason Takifman, and my other good friend, John Beer. I would tell both of them I would pay money to watch them eat wings. They're the type of people who would put the whole thing in their mouth and it would just come out, you know, and they just attack it with such passion and vigor. I would literally tell them that I would pay pay-per-view dollars to watch them eat wings.

I enjoyed the process so much. You guys have friends like that? No, I really, I was actually shocked that you had like a rankings list. Please don't watch me. Yeah. I really enjoyed eating wings with him.

Jessica, do you or any of the boys in the back have investment in TKO stock? No, I don't. No comment. I had what was it? WME IMG when they went

public? Or was itG when they went public? Or was it TKO that went public? I forget. No. Yeah, they were public. And then I sold it immediately. It was like nothing. Two more.

Felix is asking if we ever consider doing On the Nose on Monday. I just feel like there's too many guests and too many things to react to. I understand why he is saying that. But I kind of like Wednesday. For a moment, I thought about doing it on Tuesday. I don't understand it. What was good about it? Like all the events happen,

so there's a bunch of questions. All right. No, this is the right spot. Let's get the good questions in. Let the chaff filter out, and we get to the good stuff. All right. And then one more here.

Joshua, morning team especially, Grand Pappy and New Gout Rick. All right. And then one more here. Joshua, morning team especially, Grand Pappy and New Gout Rick. Love it. I don't like how this is going. Those are some

deep cut nicknames. This is lore. Sleep apnea and gout. Pappy and gout Rick are go-tos. I don't like this at all.

Sleep apnea. I'm certain that the sleep apnea guy is also the gout guy and I'm not liking this. I don't like this one bit. I want to see how long he can go giving these just like elder diseases to Rick.

It seems like a thing. There was another one before. Congrats on all your success. I've been listening for years. Can we get full confirmation of a live show if we get UFC London? Seriously, all the best, Little Mermaid and friends, true giants of all sports coverage. Live forever, Joshua.

I can't. I cannot confirm confirm but i would like to do it that would be nice if they come if they come to uh london next year maybe we should try what do you guys think that would be nice that would be incredible that'd be a dream a live show in london are you kidding me and then we go and get the uh halloumi fries afterward Oh yeah I want to let you all know That there's a new six part documentary series Following Platinum Mike Perry Behind the scenes as he launches Dirty Boxing Right? Isn't that what it's called?

Dirty Boxing Dirty Boxing Championship A.K.A. DBX They announced it back in July It is launching in the coming weeks Dirty Boxing Championship, a.k.a. DBX. They announced it back in July. It is launching in the coming weeks. And on the DBX YouTube channel, premiering this Friday, November 8th at 2 p.m. Eastern,

is part one of the six-part series of them launching it all. And we do have a preview of said documentary series. Here is Mike Perry talking about his old pal Conor McGregor. What do you think about this? Conor and Mike. That needs to happen. Conor's old. He's chirping a lot. He fired Mike. I think that's my

thought. It's good for everybody. It's good for everybody. Go ahead. Chirp, chirp. I don't think he fights think he's not gonna fight no what's making me mad is everybody sucking his balls damn like he's already fought for them like hi did y'all forget that i'm the reason y'all are pumped up right now there it is all right so this friday at 2 p.m on the dirty boxing youtube channel their first event uh coming in a few weeks time before we move on though we have actually a message from our friend

mike oh yes to you oh what do we got yo what's up ariel it's your boy mike perry first of all i want to congratulate you on your new setup and the deal with yahoo sports you're making big moves now i'm also making big moves i know you were there at the launch press conference that's right and we moved on a lot since then but it's been crazy getting this thing off the ground i've had a documentary crew following me around filming all the behind the scenes of what goes into putting together a new promotion we put together a six-part series and the first episode drops this friday on the dirty boxing Boxing YouTube channel. Oh, yeah. Our first event is November 23rd, but it's underground. It's closed doors, invite only.

We'll have lots of special guests, so maybe I'll see you there. If not, maybe I'll swing by your show and see you soon. Yes, sir. Shout out to all the combat sports fans that are excited to see some Dirty Boxing in the future. All right. Mike Perry with a special greeting, a special message. Hope he's in good spirits. Hope all is well.

And, yeah, it sounds like the Chael Sonnen-Anderson Silva boxing match from a few months back. Like a black tie. That was televised. Well, actually, only televised in Brazil. But I'm curious to see how it goes and wish everyone there, his whole team, great success in that venture. We do have one super chat question, Frank. What is it?

Yeah, so this comes from Cole B. And they ask, we are 14 days away from the Mark Hunt's lawsuit. Oh, yeah. Thoughts? I mean, I'm not really sure. I've seen Mark's tweets and his videos and all that stuff. I don't even know. I don't even know what to make of it all.

This stuff is very complex. There's also the Johnson v. Zuffa trial that is still pending because they had the settlement for the Lee v. Zuffa case, but there's still that other one. So, you know, Mark seems to be very confident that it's all going to work in his favor and let us see. I did see Hamza Chamayev tweet something about Donald Trump, which makes a lot of people think that he will in fact be next for a title shot but who knows who knows right who knows um who knows how it's all going to work out but this isn't just like bluster by the way uh having the president of the united states in your corner helps uh darren till has openly talked about how he helped get him to msg i think it was

244 the kelvin gaslam fight right he made that happen which is remarkable so he's a big mma fan he's a great friend of of dana white and the ufc and i i don't doubt for a second that it will it will be of great benefit but um to what degree and in which capacity, impossible to say at this time. All right. Thank you very much to everyone for their questions. We appreciate it very much. Thank you to everyone for their continued support. We are building this up. We believe in it. We are working hard to give you guys live, live, live, live, live, live, live content five days a week. And we hope you enjoy and appreciate that. Tomorrow, it's the boys in the back with a special, special salute to all things Apex.

And then Friday, it's a live, live, live, live, live edition of The Crack with PT Carol and friends. Anything else we have to get to or did we cover it all? I think we have exhausted it all. We've covered it all. We've covered it all. Nodding and Forrest back in action this weekend. Will they move up even more? We shall see.

What? I didn't hear that. Who are you playing? We are playing... We are playing... I should know this it's hard now it does it gets it gets very difficult to stand up for this though no no no Arsenal's coming up it's Newcastle yes away or home uh home? Home. Home, home, home. Yeah.

I know Arsenal's coming up. Very good, man. Newcastle's coming up. Man City's coming up. There's Ipswich in there as well. Ipswich is like the only one in the middle. You're going to love Christmas football, dude. Oh, Christmas.

Boxing Day, Tottenham. Boxing Day, Tottenham. Stephen's Day. Stephen's Day. Stephen's Day. What, 26th? We were 23 or 26th? Stephen's Day. Stephen's Day. Oh, you called. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tottenham. Steven's Day. Steven's Day. What, 26th? We were 23 or 26th? Steven's Day.

Steven's Day. Oh, you called. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tottenham. The return of one Brendan Johnson. Come on, man. Can I get credit? Am I not a proper fan?

I could probably tell you the next five Forrest games better than the next five Bills or Knicks games. That's mental. What a signing Elliot Anderson has been. I mean, unbelievable. In the midfield. And, you know, one of the things that I've loved the most About what Nuno has done I don't know if you noticed, but they used to have five

In the backfield, he moved it to four Moved one into the midfield And it's just really opened things up And then you have the two forwards Callum Hudson-Odoi, Annalanga Chris Wood, superstar I mean, come on, isn't that amazing? How do you feel about United going to ruin this poor manager's career?

Like he beat City in his last game. Unfortunately, we're out of time. Thank you to all our guests, Katie Taylor, Bam Rodriguez, and, of course, Brandon Moreno. Back on Wednesday, same time, same place. Peace. I'm out of here. I'm out for it.