The Ariel Helwani Show - Ryan Garcia, Eddie Hearn in studio, Jeff Molina breaks silence on betting scandal

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

Ariel Helwani and the gang kick off the show with the latest news and notes in combat, including Tom Aspinall’s tenure as longest reigning interim champion (6:33).Ryan Garcia checks in ahead of his return to the ring against Rolando 'Rolly' Romero on Friday to talk about the changes he’s made, fighting in Times Square, rematching Devin Haney in October, his feud with Bill Haney, his relationship with Romero, his removal from the RIZIN card, his status with Golden Boy Promotions, Tank Davis’ controversial draw, and more (14:20).Matchroom Boxing's Eddie Hearn joins Ariel in studio to discuss all things boxing, including the Eubank-Benn megafight; growing up around his father, who played a role in the history of the fight; and the status of the rematch. Hearn also hits Garcia’s return at the star-studded Times Square event, the UFC’s recent stagnation, Dana White’s TKO Boxing plans, the potential of Fury-Joshua, Taylor-Serrano 3 headlining an all-women boxing card on Netflix, and more (34:11).Jeff Molina tells his side of the story following his three-year suspension for his role in the James Krause betting scandal, including Darrick Minner’s injury controversy. Molina opens up about dealing with dark times, Krause’s legacy in the sport, his release from the UFC, the rumors of federal intervention, the support he’s received since coming out, signing with BKFC, and more (1:38:15). 

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Err-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- And 25, hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is great to be here on another lovely Tuesday afternoon in New York City. We play two on Tuesdays, five o'clock. We've got the Aaron Adde program on DAZN. It's a big week here in New York City with that Ring Magazine card on Friday night in Times Square. We'll be talking about that on

this here program and I'm sort of I'm sort of dying inside right now. I'm struggling because an all-timer just happened to me seconds ago, seconds ago. So you know on today's program we're gonna be joined in studio by the great Eddie Hearn of Matchroom. He'll be joining us for another chat. I always look forward to these. I think you all do as well. And you also probably know that there are these factoids in the bathrooms here at Uncrowned HQ, I've referenced them in the past,

I try to drop the nuggets here or there, they usually know where they're coming from, they call me out on it, well, in any event, go to the bathroom very quickly before the show and the thing's right in front of you. It's all very strategically placed. And I happen to see that I do believe it was 78 years ago this week that the Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to ever be advertised on television. And I thought, okay, that's a fun factoid. Also, they sold the parts, but not the body.

It was the, uh, it was just like the hands, the eyes, this, but the body, you actually had to use a real potato back in the day. That was part of the charm. So I thought, okay, this would be good. I don't want to forget it. And against better judgment, with my left hand, I take a picture. But here's the thing, I'm very anal about all this, like I'm very anal, like you gotta wash your hands, I don't touch anything, but I'm like okay, and the whole thing

felt off, and so there I am standing and I take a picture like this as I do it all this is at the urinal at the urinal and I know from the beginning the whole thing felt off why am I doing this why am I pulling your camera out in the bathroom also they're pisser facts we we have trademarked that name it is pisser facts that's our not down that's our not that but I fell off about all of it. Also I could remember all of this. I don't need to take a picture. I don't know why I take the picture but I wanted to remember I wanted to pull it out just in case you guys push back on any of the fact toys. We go to the same

bathroom as you. As I'm taking the picture, corner of the right eye I see someone emerge and stop and be like, mate, bathroom selfie? And it's Eddie Hearn. Look at that. Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! I've never seen a bathroom so I'm not taking this off. I'm like look look at the thing and now it's a whole commotion His guys are there. I'm like look at the side. It's the potato head

78 years It was awful people to walk in fifth grader in that moment any freaking hern Stops and looks at me, and he thinks I'm literally taking a selfie of myself like it looks like it You sound like a man making excuses for being taught making a selfie. I wanted to melt inside. I felt like a melt. I felt like a sausage. It's like an episode of Curb.

Yes. Pink. Is it a pic? Is it a scratch? Is it this? Seinfeld as well. Oh, I feel I'm rattled at this point. This happened six minutes ago. I am shaken to my core. So anyway, I will never do that again, and I'm sorry But this was just because I wanted some content for the program 78 years ago this week Mr. Potato Head did you know that you had to actually put the things in your own? Yeah, I think it was 98 cents or something

Oh, yeah, yeah to repeat that phone call you gave me the other day, when you're here, you're representing all of us. Yes, that's right. So please be on your best behavior. Oh my God, I am so embarrassed. In any event, we will work through that and never again. Later in the program, back into the show, we're going to be joined by Jeff Molina. And I do believe his first interview since, well, since all that drama surrounding the betting accusations, the subsequent suspension, 36 months. He found

out that he's able to return in, I do believe, November. Derek Minner as well. He could come back in June. So there's a lot there. It's the whole James Krause thing, the Minner fight back in November of 2022. Molina hasn't talked about it since and he'll be joining us back into the show to talk about what happened. Prior to that we'll be joined by Eddie Hearn in studio, obviously to talk about this past weekend at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Connor Ben, Chris Eubank Jr. Where do they go from here? I still can't stop thinking of the fight and I still can't stop reliving moments. That 12th round, the 11th round was incredible. The walkout, the reveal, all the post fight stuff.

Junior and senior haven't said much in the aftermath, couple of tweets and things of that nature. I still can't quit, can't get over it. Like even those clips from back in the day from the documentary, I was talking about it yesterday, calling it poetic and emotional. Really the best word, I think, to describe it all is Shakespearean. I mean, the whole thing felt like Shakespeare.

Father doesn't want him to fight, guides him in the early days, they have success, they go their separate ways. It's an ugly, bitter breakup. Words are exchanged. Unfortunately, there's tragedy involved with Junior's brother, Senior's son, Sebastian, a broken family fighting for his father's legacy, fighting for his name. Father reemerges. I mean, it's just, if you wanted to,

if you try to script it, you couldn't even do that good of a job and how it all played out. Obviously, for the matchroom team, they wanted their guy to win, but other than that, I'm sure they are still very delighted, very happy. And we're getting another stadium show, July 19th, at Wembley. It's unbelievable what's happened to boxing in the UK.

It's not an overnight thing. It's been going on for quite some in the UK. It's not an overnight thing. It's been going on for quite some time, but just the difference between the way the sport is viewed and celebrated there as opposed to here is really amazing. And of course that July 19th fight is, uh, Alexander Usyk against Daniel Dubois too, justice for the big goose, Joseph Parker. I still say he should be in there, but alas, I digress. And prior to that, hopefully in a matter of moments, we're going to be joined by Ryan Garcia.

Ryan Garcia going up against Roli Romero in the main event of the three-fight card that's going down. I think there might be some prelims that are geared towards New York. It's happening in the middle of Times Square. Still a lot of details, still a lot of sights, sounds, pictures up in the air, yet to be disclosed, yet to be revealed, but it's an amazing thing and it's an amazing three-poch, pardon the pun, of fights. Garcia Romero, they have a great backstory and chemistry.

Let me fix this, it's bothering me. And then, Devin Haney against Jose Ramirez. We presume if Haney and Garcia win, they'll be fighting each other later on this year. And also, Arnold Barbosa Jr. against Tiafimo Lopez. Barbosa coming off that big win over Jack Cattarall in February. Tiofimo is always box office. I mean there's a chance if Ryan Garcia, if he slips and falls and Haney slips and falls

or if one of them wins and the other loses that they'll still fight in October. They have such a history and such a backstory that you almost don't even need it, although you would love to have it. You would love to have them coming off wins at this point. So let us see. Let us see. And I'm looking forward to talking to him, hopefully in a clip of Dean Thomas talking to, I think it was Mike Bond saying that he predicts that he'll return international fighters in the next five years. And I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.

I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think I saw a clip of Dean Thomas talking to I think it was Mike Bond saying that he predicts that he'll return international flight week. I mean that would be a rabbit out of their hats because I haven't seen anyone suggest that. I mean he haven't heard any sort of any sort of talk around that. This the situation is getting a little bit wacky at this point. And, and I think it, it ends.

I think we, I think we will get some sort of resolution hopefully by the end of the summer. So that's not tomorrow, but it's a, uh, it's a dubious achievement. And I'm sure it's one that he is, you know, not really focused on. He's not counting the days per se, but I know his dad is frustrated. I know he is frustrated. know, not really focused on. He's not counting the days per se, but I know his dad is frustrated. I know he is frustrated. The guy just wants to fight.

And there's one thing that I disagree with as far as what George was saying. George was brilliant on the show yesterday, George St. Pierre, in many aspects. The thing is, like, I don't necessarily think that Tom Aspinall is obsessed with the idea of beating John Jones. I don't think he's obsessed with the idea of being the one to beat John Jones.

I think he would like for that to happen. I think he would pick that scenario first if a bunch are presented to him. But ultimately, I think the guy just wants to fight. I think he just wants to create his own legacy. I think he just wants to move on with his career. Think about how many people have fought multiple times since Tom fought in July in that fight that took like a minute. Like think about that. Bala Muhammad was booked in one on that night, he was booked in December, and then he didn't fight but obviously was booked and now fighting again in May. Alex Pereira fought in October, he then came back in March and he's probably going to fight before him again and fighting in August.

That's three times. We could go down the line. Drikus. Drikus fought in August. Fighting, or he fought in February. He's probably going to fight, I don't know, in October. He might beat him to the punch if they want to try to save this for New York. Three times. Three times since this guy fought. This guy fought for 60 seconds in Manchester. Three times. I'll keep going. Islam. He fought in June. He's not as active. Fought in January. Okay, once. Does he fight again in June? It might be twice.

Murab. Fought in September., fought in January, fighting in June. Three times for him too. Pantoja fought in December. Maybe in June. At least twice. I mean that's crazy. So if you're John, excuse me, if you're Tom and you're seeing all of this, you're seeing these guys get their fights and you're not getting your fights, if you're Tom, and you're seeing all of this, you're seeing these guys get their fights, and you're not getting your fights, you've got to be frustrated.

At this point, it's not about being the first one to fight John Jones, or being the first one to beat John Jones, or being the first one to dethrone him, or anything. I think that's all gravy at this point for Tom Aspinall. I think he just wants to fight. If it's John, amazing, even better. But I think if they told him, hey, we're taking the belt off of John and you're gonna be the champ

and you're gonna fight Sorrel Ghan, he'd say, sign me up. Tomorrow, I'll fight him tomorrow. So it's kind of a shitty situation. And like I said last week, and I remain in this camp, I don't necessarily think the UFC is to blame. Now, if you want to say that the UFC is to blame for not like telling John, hey, should I get off the pot? We're taking your belt away, then that's fair.

But in terms of their intentions, in terms of them trying to do everything in their power to make this fight, I do believe that they have done that. And as recently as this weekend, Dana White himself has said, I think it's happening. Well then we got the ESPN MMA tweet this weekend as well about John Jones becoming the second longest heavyweight title reign. He's only got like a hundred days left till he has the longest ever. That's crazy. Does he just hold out till then and then vacate the belt? That is crazy. No I hope not. I really. What is a hundred days from now? So 30 days in a month approximately so that's like a little over three months right? He is now at 787, Kane was 896. Wow. So like. So if they fight in November. Yeah he'll have the longest ever. Wow.

And that's one title defense right? Yeah. Amazing. Against Steve Ipnich. Right. Who had not fought in like three years. All right without further ado we were just talking about it this weekend. Massive show this Friday Times Square. Let's not waste any time Let's say hello to the aforementioned Ryan Garcia who was kind enough to join us on this very big week. There he is my guy Ryan How are you sir? What's up? There? Oh, it's good to talk to you. It's good to see you. Can I can I say something Ryan? I've consumed You know strip away all the BS break the fourth wall. I've consumed all the content I've watched everything and when I look at your face, when I look at your eyes, when I look at your hair, when

I listen to the way you speak and I compare you to the guy who was in my studio March of last year before the Haney fight, you are a completely different human being. It's like it's night and day. Am I accurate? Yeah I mean I would say you're accurate. Just not drinking, I guess that's what could do to you. I don't know. You know, I'm just a just have a whole different mindset this time around and kind of prepared myself as you would as a professional boxer. So that's what it is.

When's the last time you had a drink? A while back, like way before training camp. So Yeah Do you like this version of you better? I mean for myself as a you know professional boxer for sure That's how you have to do it You got to be professional got to be on point with everything if you want to be the best fighter in the world. So you know, it worked for me once, but can't keep doing that.

You can't sustain that. But when you look back at some of that stuff from around this time last year, how does that make you feel? Just part of my story, bro. It's like one of those moments where, you know, I was just kind of, you know, dealing with whatever I was dealing with. But honestly, I don't really regret anything. I don't regret nothing in my life.

I just take everything as like, okay, I learned from that moment. Like, that's not the way to go. It's not a way I want to represent myself. But I don't really like to say regret. Okay. Well, that is certainly for I I'll be honest in the aftermath like I was a little concerned for you in that You were saying a lot about a lot of different people I thought like someone was gonna cut like maybe try to like jump you or attack you or something like that You were upsetting a lot of people. Did it ever get to the point where you were feeling?

unsafe, you know, like that your safety was compromised No, not really, you know, you know this this day and age, everybody's saying a lot of crazy shit. You see all the streamers saying whatever they want. Like it's just kind of the day and age we're in. But it's not a way that I want to go about how I handle myself. But that's just kind of the generation we live in. Everybody's saying stupid shit. And, you know, for a long time, people said a lot of stupid shit about me.

And then I started saying, you know, I played the game they were playing. And, you know, for a long time, people said a lot of stupid shit about me. And then I started saying, you know, I played the game they were playing and. You know, I guess I played it too hard, but, um, at the end of the day, I just. Don't want to go down that route though. I just kind of want to keep myself more professional and try to be the best fighter I could be and not get caught up in that trolling game. Yeah. So many would do. Um, I know you said you don't regret anything,

but as far as like maybe some of those things that you said, do you regret any of that? Do I regret any of that? Of course. I mean, there's a lot of stupid shit you say with everybody around you, you and your boys, if everybody was, you know, with you guys recording, you know, every conversation,

you're gonna say some stupid shit. So yeah, in that regard, yeah, I do regret it because a lot of people look up to me and they may take what I say out of context or think I'm that type of person and I'm not. So in that regard, I do regret that part. This card is such a big deal, it's so unique. We still don't even know what it's going to look like.

Like, do you have any idea how they're actually gonna to pull this off? Times Square is one of the most busy, like the busiest intersections in the world. Do you know how they're going to actually do this? Uh, I think I may have a baseline, like, you know, kind of idea of how they're going to do it, but again, I'm kind of, you know, I'm kind of in the back seat as well, I'm just, I'm just getting ready to fight. They, they got, they said they got everything locked up.

So I guess we just got to wait and see. That's it. Like just curious, like when you, when you're preparing for a fight, you're in a locker room, right? And then you do the ring walk and all that. Where's the locker room in Times Square? Like, you know, where you'll actually be getting your hands wrapped, warming up, things like that. I think we're gonna be in like a place, you

know, a couple blocks away and then we're gonna get to the fight via taxi cab. Wow, that is unbelievable. I was a little surprised, I thought maybe you'd never want to come back to New York because you were disappointed in the aftermath. Did you consider that as well? Like man, I don't want to deal with these people of this commission again. I mean, yeah, but when you have an opportunity to create history and fight first time ever in Times Square, it's hard to look past that. Yeah, I was kind of mad how they handled my case,

but at the end of the day, no hard feelings. It is what it is and just keep moving forward. I also get a little bit worried when you have an incredible rematch. You have two fighters and sometimes the timing doesn't work. One guy fought in February, the other one's fighting in June. The stars don't align and you know how it goes in boxing. Best laid plan, someone slips, someone gets knocked down, someone gets hurt and then you don't get the big fight. Here you guys are fighting on the same card, and I was thinking like, why don't they just have them fight each other?

Why are we tempting fate? Like everyone wants that rematch. Why do they need to get by other dudes to fight each other again? What's your explanation? I mean, we've been out of the ring for over a year. I think both of us kind of wanted to get a touch up before we get in there with each other.

I don't mind it. I mean, last time I thought that way, it kind of backfired on me with Tank Davis. I let like a year go by before I fought again and I didn't feel as sharp. So this time I kind of had that mindset where I've been off a year, let me get in the ring and fight. I'm confident in my skills and my ability that I should be able to win. But like you said, in boxing, anything can happen. So I got to be as sharp as I can.

And he does too. So I mean, there is some risk, but I mean, the survival professionals, I mean, if we call each other the best, you know, you got to be able to be everybody that gets in your way. So I got to be able to handle Rowley's and he needs to be able to handle Jose Ramirez and that's just the truth of it. Initially I thought all right they both have to win in order to fight each other but is there a case to be made that if something happens, let's just say for the sake of this conversation, he loses, he gets upset. Is the fight still big

enough between the two of you where it doesn't really matter. You'll still fight in October I mean It just kind of depends on how the fans feel honestly, I mean they got a That's their I feel like that's their call if people still want to see it if he loses let's do it Okay, I don't care. All right again There's no part of you that would feel like his stock has now been diminished and he's not as interesting of an opponent for you.

Like I said, it's really up to the fans, it's not up to me. At the end of the day, the fans are gonna want what they want. If he loses, then they might not want it, and that's just the truth. Do you think he wins? Yeah, I feel like he should win.

I mean, he seems like he's in shape. He seems like he's focused. I think Jose Ramirez is just, you know, maybe a step behind him as far as, you know, skills and speed and all that. So I think Devin could get him, but just depends. Is Devin coming back the same fighter or is he coming back a little weaker?

Have you had any sort of interactions with him? Have you seen him this week or a couple months ago when you guys were here, like away from the cameras, any sort of chatter with him? I had a little something with Bill yesterday, but other than that, nothing with Devin. Devin doesn't really talk, he's really his dad. Devin, I don't think Devin has ever really said anything to me.

He doesn't really talk. It's really his dad. Devon, I don't think Devon has ever really said anything to me. That's how I started off with his dad. So it's never him. Can I ask what happened? Oh, he just said, I look smaller and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, I'm gonna do him worse. Next time we started shouting at each other.

But he's trying to say like, oh, now you're not on PEDs, whatever, blah, blah, blah. But that's what he was trying to say. At this point, it sounds like the dad annoys you more than Devin himself. I think that's just what it is. I think that's for everybody. I think, I think Bill gets everybody going, but it's good for boxing. You know, Bill, Bill gets us going.

And, uh, you know, I guess Devin takes repercussions for his daddy's words. Right. How do you feel about Rowley as a character? I saw your face to face. I know you guys have a history with the sparring. It's been played a thousand times. I almost get the sense that you're like sort of amused by him,

that like there's some sort of like comedic nature to your feelings. I mean, even here yesterday, like with the dancing and all that, how do you feel about him as a person? Not so much as a fighter, but just as like as a character. Right, as a person, he's hilarious without trying to be funny.

And he's just a guy that, I don't know, I just, I kind of would like being around him. He's just funny dude. And you know, he, I don't know if I just, I kind of would like being around him. He's just funny dude and you know, he, I don't know if he's trying to be funny half of the time, but he cracks me up. So I would be friends with him outside the ring, I think, but inside the ring, I'm ready to destroy this guy.

But yeah, I think he's cool and I think he's funny. Were you ever friendly? Was I ever friendly with him? Yeah. We never hung out outside of just, you know, I never hung out with him ever, but I wouldn't mind, why not? Sure, sure.

It felt like, you know, with the sparring footage and all that stuff, this is a fight that he's been asking for for a long time. Has this been in the back of your mind, or only now, once it was presented as this sort of like tune-up fight for the big rematch that it came on your radar? Honestly, it never really crossed my radar too much, except initially when it first happened, I was like, man, I'll fight you in a real fight.

But as our careers progressed, you know, I just kind of blew him out of the water. He wasn't even near my stratosphere as far as performances and whatnot. I mean, he's only had what, 16 bites. So he doesn't really fight that much, to be honest. So there's not a lot to go off of him. It's just, for me, this was the best option

because Pitbull didn't agree to the fight, which we were trying to get down. And then, you know, Rollies is kind of a, he's a name in boxing. So for me, this was the best option. Can I ask, you know, the last time we spoke was in December, right before that press conference, you were supposed to be on the Ryzen card.

And you remember you were gonna fight be on the rise in card and Remember you were gonna fight on this card on New Year's Eve and then like an hour after the interview Oscar tweeted the like hey, you're not gonna be a part of it We didn't sign up for this and then surely thereafter you were removed. Was it because of Oscar or was it because of an injury? No, I had a legitimate injury and You know after that moment, Oscar, Oscar, I had already said that we didn't really care what Oscar said, to be honest, that was, that was so separate from the whole situation. Okay. And I got, you know, camp with Derek and everybody,

you know, when I was training and sparring, that's when I was, my hand was really messed up. So, uh, that's what happened there. Okay. Okay. Do you think you'll ever fight for them? Is that is that something you want to do to fight in Japan? Oh, yeah, for sure. I would love to fight in Japan that's always been a dream to fight internationally and You know if that opportunity presents itself again, we're gonna do it and I think we're you know, I'll be getting to do it So I don't care. Let's run it. How are things with Oscar these days and Bernard? Oh good, everything's good. It's nowhere near how it was for that door tape fight.

Everything's kinda passed us, and we're just moving forward as a team, and we're getting things done. Do you think you'll ever be at a point where you're big enough to where you don't need a promoter where you can just be your own promoter? Like, like a Floyd was. For sure. I got that potential.

You know, I got what? Two more fights with golden boy, I believe. And after that, I mean, I, I don't see why not start my own promotion company and start, you know, running my own business. I feel like that's the natural progression in any superstar boxer's career. You know, I mean, Oscar did it. Loi did it. Everybody, you know, canal is pretty much doing it.

You know, he's not really signed to anybody. Right. And that's the natural progression. That's just what it is. And if the promoters get mad, I mean, they're really being hypocrites in a way. So that's the goal, right? Yeah, for sure. That's the goal. Your head trainer for this fight. Is it Derek James? Yes. Yes. How come you went back to him? Well, one, the dynamic in, you know, Eddie Renoso's camp, it just wasn't going to work out.

One, Jaime Magia is fighting day after me and Canelo as well. So our schedule is into me and that was a huge part of it. And obviously Derek and myself, we have a great relationship and it just a very easy transition to get back to working with Derek. A big problem was all the things that I was working with, which was my therapy and all the things that I was doing to better myself was all in San Diego. And Derek, a lot of times he doesn't want to move out of Texas. So that was like the initial issue. But you know, we worked some stuff out and we're back together.

Love it. Two last quick things. Can I ask your thoughts on the Tank Davis controversy here in New York in the same venue? Do you think, do you think he got away with one there? For sure. He did get away with one right there. I think all the professional boxers have already spoken on it. It's pretty clear he got away with something.

He took a knee, got wiped down by his corner. He cannot do both of those things and didn't get punished at all for it. So yeah, he got away with something. You think Rol- excuse me, Lamont wins the rematch? No, I don't thinkont wins the rematch? No, I don't think he wins the rematch. He takes it more seriously this time? I think he takes it more serious. I think he now is in the ring with him and I think he beats him much more clear.

Okay, last one. I've been dying to ask you this one for a whole year. We didn't have a chance to ask you last time. My favorite thing about that whole fight last year was in the aftermath, like you wake up, it's an unbelievable night, we're buzzing, like, this freaking guy, in the moment, I'll never forget you looking at us in the corner, I think after the third round saying, I'm like that, as you're just like blowing, you know, blowing him out of the water, like you were in such a zone.

But then you wake up and there you are on the New York City subway, looking at a map, and I'm like, this freaking guy, like he just shot, doesn't look like you got a punt, like it doesn't look like there's a scratch, you're looking fresh as a daisy, I don't know. So the two questions are, who are you talking to and where were you going? I don't know where we were going.

We were just taking the subway, we wanted to take the subway for some reason. And we were just enjoying life, bro. We were just on a like we were just on a great high. And it was my friend, Ajay. He was recording me. And yeah, man, we were just having fun posting whatever. We just didn't care. We just like I didn't even like.

I really had the mindset where I could just beat his ass and just like say to myself, like, yo, bro, watch this whole my beer. Yeah, like that was the mindset I I could just beat his ass and just like say to myself like, yo bro, watch this, hold my beer. Like that was the mindset that I had going into that fight. And I just stuck with it the whole way through. Like I just was like extremely confident that he cannot beat me no matter what happened, no matter what he did, no matter what drama, no matter what anybody believed. That was like my self-confidence was on another level. And I just believed it, and then when I did it,

I just, it was just one of the best moments of my life for sure. It's one of the greatest fights and performances I've ever seen, and I'm so happy that you're back, and I'm so happy to see you're in such a great spot. So congrats on that, and good luck on Friday. Can't wait to see it. Thank you, Ryan. Appreciate it as always

There he is Ryan Garcia kind enough to join us live from New York He'll be headlining the card on Friday in Times Square Against Rolly Romero. Like I said, Devin Haney's right below him in the the co-feature if you will going up against Jose Ramirez and Tfema Lopez against Arnold Barbosa Jr. I can see that, by the way. They're gonna be in a taxi cab. They're gonna go straight to the, whoop, they're gonna go straight to the ring. It's gonna be nuts.

It's gonna be a scene. We have been subjected to a lot of great scenes recently. We go from Tottenham Hotspur to Times Square. There's obviously the card in Riyadh on Saturday night here in the United States, Sunday morning in Riyadh to accommodate this part of the world. And then Sunday, you're getting Naoya Inouye in Las Vegas. What a weekend for the sport of boxing later in the show We're gonna be joined by Jeff Molina to break his silence

On everything that has happened over the past couple years for him his team the betting scandal Where he goes from here is he coming back to the UFC or not? In a matter of seconds, we're gonna be joined in studio by Eddie Hearn. You guys let me know. Okay, so in a matter of seconds we're going to be joined by the great Eddie Hearn who of course was there front and center on Saturday at Tottenham Hotspur stadium that is. Look great, those stadium shows are great. I wish we could get some of them over here we probably will get one in September if all goes well for Canelo against Terrence Crawford that is the plan we are getting another one in in July at Wembley Stadium Wembley is a little bigger than Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but the FA Cup semi-finals were happening on Saturday

and Sunday, so they couldn't do that, but it was perfect, it looked fantastic. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is one of the nicest stadiums that I've ever been to in my life. Here in America, NFL stadiums, MLS stadiums, it's just beautiful. It is so nice. They did such a great job.

Unfortunately, the team isn't so good. But they do- That's the only trophy Tottenham will win is their stadium. Yeah. One day. One day. You do have Brendan Johnson. So, you know, there is a lot to be excited about.

But it is fantastic. If you ever have an opportunity, by the way, it would be great for pro wrestling. For WWE, it would be fantastic. It would be fantastic for WWE. Like a big WWE show, they should definitely do that. I'm sure they have thought of it. It would be amazing. But for boxing, it's great.

Dana White doesn't like it. UFC has officially announced some new fights for the Atlanta card I'm seeing here. Obviously the, uh, the main event is Kamara Ousman versus Joaquin Buckley. That's June 14th at state farm arena, Miranda Maverick against Rose Namiunas in the chief support, Michael Keisar against court McGee.

Ooh. Emin Shabazzian against Andre Petrosky Alonzo Menafield against Omar see Cody Brundage on there. So you're getting a good one. All right, let's not waste any time Let's say hello to the man himself the head man over at matchroom He was there front and center and he's kind enough to join us once again in studio. I'm so I'm so embarrassed. I have told the story. I said it at the top. I didn't think you were a selfie

at the urinals individual if I'm honest with you. I love the way you say that by the way. Urinals. Do you know what? It was so funny. It was like, I know that you were taking a picture of this thing, right? But I've come around the corner

and you're like standing there. Yes. It's awful. Ariel. I want to die. No, I was just, I swear. I was just taking a pee. The thing is, the moment I did it, I was like, I shouldn't do this. Someone could walk in, like everything about it felt wrong.

And of all the people to walk in. I'm just glad that your trousers were zipped up. There's otherwise people to start talking. I'm not even a urinal guy, but I needed to go quickly before the show. Like, I'm very. When you say you're not really a urinal guy, but I needed to go quickly before the show, like I'm very. When you say you're not really a urinal guy, you don't use the urinals? I have OCD when it comes to cleanliness.

So like I don't wanna be, I don't want your, like I just, you know? Spray him. Spray him, I just, I wanna. Understand. I like to wash my hands multiple times. It's a problem actually. It is actually.

It is a problem. So anyway, for you of all people to walk in, golly. It was just your face. I'm sorry So great to have you. Thank you for having thank you. Thank you. Well, wow amazing I like it to the guys I said still no fee. I mean oh for you. Yeah, okay coming on the show Yeah, it's like hold on. So still no fee. We've established that it's not aerial Yeah, it's good exposure and then you come into a new building into a new building that where clearly the show's doing very well financially, and yet you still, I mean, as a promoter,

if all of a sudden we're seen to be taking advantage of fighters, you know, there's these people. Oh, you're doing this? And now it's like you guys taking advantage of the talent. You do like six interviews with the same outlet on Fight Week, like I literally go on YouTube and it's like, Eddie, and by the way, it's always like you like this, and like fires back, and then there's nothing of that sort in the interview. I know, well Carl, I just did IFL in the green room, right? I'm sure.

And they're like, we just commented on the U-Bank Ben fine, he's like, oh, I've got to think about what the title can be. I went, can't you just say Eddie Hearn reflects on the weekend? Yes, yes, no, no, no. No, no, it's got to be Hearn slams Eubank. I didn't slam Eubank. What are you saying? Yes, you're mad about that. Just like the internet and Twitter and like,

I think in the end it's like, it's just gonna drive you mad. So like, it's like that, you know, like Saturday night I came on the big screen at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Like the thunders of booze. Do you know what I mean? And it's like, you just have to go into WWE mode and sort of just, you know, lap it up. But obviously you'd rather be cheered, but it is what it is.

And there's narratives and it's just, you can't get mad at it. You just got to roll with it. But I think it can, you know, I think it can, especially for fighters as well. I think it's quite unfair for fighters get mad at it, you just got to roll with it, but I think it can, you know, I think it can, especially for fighters as well, I think it's quite unfair for fighters, I think they're different, I'm designed to absorb abuse and stick and narrative and you know, drama and positivity and negativity, whereas a fighter, they're just giving it 110%, like they're not, they're not really designed. And it gets in their mind, they start questioning themselves. Yeah, you know, and I think especially when a fighter loses I think sometimes

that's why fighters are you know that oh that we talk about is because they just think that but if I get beat you know the fans are gonna turn on me or you know the promoters might turn on me the broadcaster might and I can't afford to get beat whereas look I mean Conor Penn's a great example of getting beat you never want to get beat you should never want to lose but when you lose like that it can actually take you to another level and that that's really

what's happened with Conor. You feel like that's what's happened? Oh, unbelievable, like you know that we all know what happened with Conor the last two or three years, he's been through hell, right? There's no point trying to justify him. I stood by side because I know the man, I 1 million percent believe him, he's a great kid, great man and like it's just so pleasant to see. Even the naysayers go, alright well, you know, I still don't like what happened but like, wow. Because

that's all you can ever ask for is someone to give 110 percent. Especially when you in the trenches, especially when, especially in 11 and 12, where you're really taking a bit of a beating from a much. That was the problem for us was as the fight went on, the size was going to become a real problem. And that's basically what happened. But what fans love is someone that's in those trenches. And I was watching him up against the ropes and he's just like bang bang bang and you just see him like take a gulp as if to say you gotta go and it's like one one one one and it's like he never stopped trying to win the fight and that's what fans love but he wasn't trying to survive and hold he was trying to knock you bank out in 11 and 12 whilst he was

taking a bit of a beating in those rounds. And it was just, it was just like everything, the fathers, the buildup, the moment, it was like the greatest fight that I've ever seen. I'm still emotional about it, and my perspective is different than yours. You're his guy, you're his promoter, but I said earlier, it was Shakespearean.

It was, yeah. It was, it was, I mean like, no WWE personan. It was, yeah. It was, I mean, like, no WWE person can script anything better than this. And the moment, and I know you have your issues with Chris and senior and junior, but like him emerging. Oh, unbelievable. And then the walkout, the walkout to me, I think I've watched it a hundred times.

The songs, their demeanor, Chris's face, the dad. As a father even, just thinking about it from that perspective, what a night. Can you appreciate this? Like, can you appreciate it? Even though you guys came out on the... I mean, the guy to the right is a guy that from the age of 10 in my life has been a massive part of my family, really.

My dad went on a run with Chris Eubank Junior, a senior, sorry, to the World Championships from a guy that had had a handful of fights. They carved out a plan for him to become world champion. They were inseparable as a partnership. Right. Chris was, had a major role to play in Matrim's development in boxing. My father was best man at Chris Eubank Senior's wedding. I was at the wedding. I mean at Chris Eubanks Senior's wedding.

I was at the wedding. I mean like that Eubank was like a hero in my household. So it's all a bit strange for me sometimes in respect because kind of I've never really got on that well in a professional sense with with senior and junior as well. But you have to respect what happened. And I knew that it would be very difficult for senior not to be there. He loves the big moments, right? And also it's his son. So you'd hope that there was an element of that as well. But then I found out that Turkey at a Shake

was on the case on Friday. And I thought in that case, he'll definitely be there. What does that mean? He wanted to make sure Eubank was there. You know, so. Was he paid to be there? I don't know, I mean, I think that I'd like to, I wanna just believe it was the romance, you know,

and I'm sure there isn't, you know, that there has to be an element of that, right? Because I was sitting front row next to his excellency, and Nigel and Chris, bizarrely actually, were sitting next to each other right on the apron and I'm just sitting there thinking like they're there, right? And I'm thinking I actually can't believe what's happening here. How much pride must you like be bursting with now? I know that if that was me in the ring and that was my dad my dad Would not stop showing people videos and pictures of that night for the rest of his life, right?

He would be and I know how proud Nigel was and senior must have been so proud there, you know That some some families are warmer than others some summer cold something Chris is a you know Senior is an interesting character. You know, and I think, like one thing I've just learned over the years is that not all families are huggy-huggy, like, you know, and I actually come from that kind of family as well. I was brought up around love and support, but it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't like cuddle, cuddle, you know, it was just like Right dad's out working all the time. This is and and I think that was the same for junior and probably Connor as well. So Yeah, I just think like

You couldn't have written a script like it. It was just unbelievable. And you know, I was just in the ring was just unbelievable. And, you know, I was just in the ring pre-fight, just like looking at senior, looking at junior, looking at Nigel, looking at Connor. And, and it was tough for Connor because he's still a young man. And I think the occasion was mega for him. And I said to him, and I said, he'll be there, you bank. I was actually quite pleased that senior came two hours before the fight. Cause I think he would have popped up on the ring walk, mentally, that's quite, you know, when you're in the ring and you go, yeah, you know, but even when it happened, you see the iconic pictures of Connor and his dad in the change rooms watching.

Yeah, yeah. I skipped the co-main event. I said, I've got to go back and see him because I just, you know, I know that that's, you know, and we did, the whole team did an amazing job of getting him in the moment. And that was another thing I was really proud for because he could have melted, not just because of that, but when you walk out, like we're in a ring, he was pacing around.

I said to him, look at that. And there's a bank on that stadium that just goes up and up and up and up. I was like, look at that, they're here for you. And he was like, yeah. And he was ready, like his performance was amazing. Yeah, you said that you thought he was gonna be there like 10 days prior, he's calling his son a disgrace.

And he said in the ring, I was always gonna be there. Like, do you think he was working us this whole time? No, no, I think that- When he said the disgrace stuff. I think he was, a lot of it, U Bank Senior has to be front and center right he he lives for moments like that and I think that I presume that he was not sulking but he was angry that he wasn't involved do you know what I mean and I think one of the things that Junior did

probably that he probably doesn't get enough credit for is a couple of years ago I think he said to his dad I want to I want to make my own decisions now because all throughout his career senior was there he was making the decision he was negotiating the fights he was the one making the decisions about who to fight and you know the final say and I think Junior just come out of the shadows and went dad like I want to be making those decisions now and I think Junior just come out of the shadows and went, dad, like, I want to be making those decisions now. And I think that's probably why they fell out, because that wouldn't have gone down well with senior. It's almost like. Are you humiliate? It's humiliate.

No, I'm your father. I know this game, you know. So I don't think the stuff that he said in the buildup was part of him turning up on the night at all but I think it was just You know I looked over At turkey ala shake, you know when the when the images came up of him getting out the car And I was sitting front row and I was like wow and I looked over at turkey and he sure looked me Just say I did that. Yeah You did call him in the locker room I think you said he was an effing lunatic and this has kind of gone out there and people are upset about it

What were you referring to when you said that I mean look the guy is or he's always been very Out there do I mean and and this I remember growing up like you know he he morphed himself into this character When he was fighting. I mean, when he first teamed up with my dad, you know, he was fighting in Atlantic City. He really, you know, he's just a normal guy and then kind of molded into this character that wasn't a character in front of the camera as it became this new character, you know, where he would go with my dad down Bond Street and he would buy like a monocle and Jodhpas and boots and a cane from Aspery's, which is the Queen's jewelers for, I don't know, six figures and start sort of wafting it around. I mean, we were like, you know, so that that

expression that I use, it was kind of a reflection of what he's always been. Obviously, I know that he's had his problems. And to be honest with you, I was in a changing room at the end of the fight, trying to big up Connor Ben. I wasn't really thinking about my language at the time, if I'm honest, but we live in a world where everything's filmed and we actually put that out. Mattron, thanks guys. But you know, yeah, so, but he's, yeah, the choice of words are, you know, right or wrong, but he's always been like just not normal in that respect. He's a character and he's a character that we love,

you know, and we need characters like that. But, you know, I've watched this over the years, like, and it's, a lot of people have this persona in public and then behind the scenes, they're not actually really like that. He just became like that. You know? Yeah. So...

First time I ever met him, he was reciting Rudyard Kipling's If to me, like just... But that just... Like that wasn't when, you know, he didn't walk into my dad's office... Yeah, yeah, yeah. ...for their first meeting and go, Good morning, Baba. How are you? Like with a cane and all this kind of stuff. He was just like a young fighter.

But it was amazing what they carved out together and the whole thing, I mean, he would buy this massive, he bought this massive truck and he would just drive it down Brighton Seafront at like five miles an hour, just going on the thing. He bought, you know, I remember my dad was telling me the story, he bought this certificate,

I don't know, it was like a quarter of a million or something like that saying that he was officially the Lord of Brighton. And he phoned my dad up and he went, Bather, you're not gonna believe it. I'm now the Lord of Brighton. He's like, what are you talking about? He goes, look, what's that?

He says, I bought it. But he was a one-off and he's like, he's a bit of a national treasure, you know? Like I say, I haven't always seen, my dad would never say a bad word of him. They don't really talk that much anymore, but they went on a journey that you can never, you know, take away and like, you know, Matrim and, you know, I'll give the props both ways. You bank played a big role for Matrim as well, but we've done a brilliant job with you bank. And, you know, it was one of my great, it was one of my dad's biggest achievements really is the way they positioned

him. They made him a pay-per-view fighter, huge deals with ITV. They signed him to Sky After and he went on this world tour, which I always joke to my dad, which sort of consisted of Cardiff, Glasgow and London. And I think there was South Africa in there as well, but, um, you bank, my dad said that you bank had a couple of rules. Number one, no opponents under 25 and two, no Southpaw's and he was, they were very careful.

I mean, my dad included, if you look at you bank's record, like my dad, my dad just wanted to just get him easy wins. And that's what U-Bank only ever wanted. They never really, you know you look at the fighters that were around at that time, James Toney, Michael Nunn, even Roy Jones, those kind of guys, they never, they were like, swerve them, we're doing our own thing. And commercially they built an incredible brand with U-Bank know, he was he's a He was a great character. Do you see that footage that emerged on Sunday of 13 year old? Yeah, amazing. Yeah credible, right? Yeah, and

You know, I think one thing they deserve so much credit for is they both grew up in a Privileged or wealthy household right and the perception in boxing is always like you can't come from wealthy household, right? And the perception in boxing is always like, you can't come from that background and be tough. You can't come from that. And although I don't always get on with Eubank, one thing that he is, and I said it in the buildup, he's incredibly tough. And his dad was unbelievably tough.

But they both but they both have unbelievable chins and they both got unbelievable heart and I think that I'm the same in the way of my dad you know I've grew up around money my dad was successful himself he made it out of nowhere and I think that I've always said that if you have a passion in your heart and you want something so bad that's much more dangerous than where you come from and that those two are a great example of that because you see that video of Eubank you can see it there but it's the hunger to step out of your father's shadow, do you know what I mean?

And even that young Chris Eubank Jr. is almost like, Dad, I want what you did it, why can't I do it? I want to be like you. Everybody wants to be like their father. Connor Ben trains harder than any fighter I've ever met. Ever. And a guy grew up in a mansion. Right.

Right? Jr. wanted it bad and he grew up in that kind of environment. Don't underestimate the one with fire in their heart. That's why what you witnessed on Saturday, it's quite amazing to see two kids from that background show so much grit in the trenches. And that's what was just exhilarating about that fight. Have you seen the clips of when they're talking to each other? Oh yeah, it's brilliant. It's brilliant. It's a movie.

Weak, weak, weak. You think I'm weak? You're easy work. I mean it's just like, they're just scrapping. And you know the thing is as well, it just shows you about the product. It wasn't two unified world champions fighting for undisputed because I feel like sometimes in those fights it's almost like you've got too much to lose you know and it's like bit of a chess match isn't it because it's like oh so there's

a lot on the line those two were like bing bing let's have it and it actually shows you although I do think they're two world-class fighters the levels aren't the be all and end all the narrative the desire the heart the competitiveness of the fight and you know there's a lot of talk about the way and this and that kind of stuff we all got it 100% spot on because look at the fight. Was your dad there? Yeah he was there. When you have these fights and it's sold out Tottenham Hot like does he tell you that he's proud of you does he I know you said he it's not like the lovey-dovey type

Of thing but obviously he's very proud of you like you you you made that you you yeah You pulled this off a lot. I mean, you know my For me like I've always been taught two things You work till you can't stand up anymore and you win and they're the only two things you need to worry about right so my upbringing a lot of people don't get it but that's just how I was built right so for me the only way I could win was to do something beyond what he'd ever done and now I've built a resume

myself of those big fights and iconic moments that you know I think he's the first to admit a way surpassed anything that he ever done but I got a leg up do you know what I mean I'm Barry Hearns son so I should be doing much better than him because if I just did what he did that's not that's not winning really like he he did the greatest thing the thing that I'm probably most envious of Which was make it from nothing? I never got a chance to do that so the hand that I was dealt was well you need to do something much more extraordinary than your father

And that's like you know growing up around a successful father. It's not like don't get me wrong I've you know I had a great upbringing, but it's not to come out of that shadow it's very difficult especially when you're talking about Hugh Banks senior and and Ben senior but yeah my dad's a Hall of Fame promoter but he's only a promoter with all due respect if you're watching you know those guys went in there in fights and I feel like those two that was the night where they emerged out of their father's footsteps. They become great fighters and warriors in their own names and in their own rights.

And that's an incredible achievement in itself. When you've got a great like Nigel Ben who was just then we talk about those fights like Nigel Ben went over to the US he fought Iron Barkley you know he fought Gerald McClellan in one of the most brutal wars of all time. You know, he fought Gerald McClellan in one of the most brutal wars of all time to be able to say tonight son you stepped out of the shadows and You made it in your own name. That's that sometimes means more than victory Very ready, but I haven't actually been upset. I hate losing hate it

Especially when I've got like the beef between you I've not even been upset that the moment that bell went wasn't I wasn't bothered about score cards but it's like that whatever happens when I lose here I was so proud of what I just saw you know and it was just it was just unbelievable and the response you know you always want your fights to win but the second most important thing it's very close is I need the paying customer to say, I can't believe what I've just seen. That was amazing. I need 65,000 people to leave Tottenham Hotspur Stadium saying to each other and their friends,

I can't believe what I've just said. That was the best night I've had at boxing. Or people tuning on their own. What great value for money. And that's what makes me, that gives me the buzz. And you know that everyone's talking, you see it in England, honestly, right now. I mean, people talk about around the world,

but it's like, it's just the biggest thing that's happened for boxing. And sometimes you need something that puts a little bit of faith back in this ball. We will never stop having faith in it, and hardcore fans won't. But you see those guys that come out every now and again for AJ or for Ben Eubank, they'll come next time.

And they might come to the smaller shows now as well, because they realize how wonderful boxing is. You were projecting over a million pay-per-view buys domestically, do you think you got there? Very close. Okay. Very close, yeah. Do you know what the number is worldwide?

They will take a while to trickle in, oh well over a million worldwide. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, Dizome did extremely well, Sky Sports, obviously a great platform as well. The rematch is on another level. Okay, so is that the plan? Yeah, I mean we all signed a two-fight deal.

Right, but I did see you say I don't want him to go through this again. Yeah, because like, in the moment when you're in a press conference, I mean His Excellency pulled me up on that, those comments, you know, at the press. I just said, look, I don't want Conor Benn to have too many fights like that. I need to look at my fighter. He's, you know, he's, he's still in his late twenties. He's 147 pound fighter, but he could probably box at 54 if he needed to, but he's up at 160, but he went in the ring at 165, the other guys nearly 180 in the

ring, it's like, and you saw in the final two rounds particularly, he's got a mountain to climb in that, you know, but at the same time he's like, I think Conor Bend said something like to me, if you think that fight was a war, wait till you see the rematch. I was like, he said, he'd been out for 14 months. The confidence that he had from the occasion, everything, he's a young man, he's ready to go. I don't know whether Eubank will take the rematch. I mean.

So how does it work? Contracted to. He's contracted, what if he doesn't want it? He may retire. So his next fight has to be against Conor? Yeah, it's signed to, yeah. Wow. That was the whole essence. Unless everyone agrees together. Yeah, I mean, yeah, but you guys want it. Yeah. I mean, again, as much as everybody loves to see fights like that, you do have to worry about your fighter keep going through fights like that. And I know that the next fight, Connor will be much better prepared for the next fight but it's still gonna be a war it's still gonna take miles off the clock and like the aim for Conor Ben is to win world

championships but you can't one we've signed for the rematch anyway but to the pressure of doing that rematch like the British public are just like you have to give us number two you have to okay that's time for yeah I mean yeah so we're the same deals like is it is it 160 yeah the one every pound rehydration is the exact same Tottenham Hotspur I believe his excellency in the ring after the fire on Saturday said end of September Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that's where we want to do it so obviously that you bank only came out hospital yesterday right you know the injuries he's knows just I mean we were told they broke his jaw yeah apparently it's not broken I mean his face look you

know his cheek yeah you know but also just exhaustion and and I sent Connor Ben down there and all the team I said just run him down there just go there's there's you know you really need to some it's very easy for every fighter, he goes, no, I'm all right. You know? And that could be one of the biggest mistakes that it's ever made. So if you've just had a 12 round brutal fight, go to the hospital, get scanned over,

and leave and go to sleep. That's what Connor did. They were three beds down from each other. In the hospital. Did they see each other? Yeah, I believe so. Any interaction? I think so.

I don't think it's ever gonna be. You don't think it'll be one of those? Junior's not really one for the interactions, you know? But I hope they respect each other now, because I think Junior said after the fight, I didn't expect a fight like that. Right, and is Connor okay? Yeah, he's fine.

He had a quick scan, he was training. He went back to the gym on Monday. I mean, he's just mad. Crazy. I know Yeah, he's fine. He went, he had a quick scan, he was training, he went back to the gym on Monday. I mean, he's just mad. Crazy. I know. But he's... Connor's just like, he's so emotional. You know, he's like, I want it, I want it. And he's already saying, he's coming this week, Wednesday, like, his excellence, he's flying him out.

He's... Coming to the fight. Yeah, media everywhere. I mean, it was a big, big deal. And he's just like, I'm ready. This rematch, I'm gonna be better, I'm gonna be... You know, he's just charged up all the time and... Yeah, he's just like, I'm ready. This rematch, I'm going to be better. He's just charged up all the time. And yeah, he's a great character. Do you get the sense now that the British public

is behind him? Because there was a shift. Yeah, I mean, they both got, they said, who do you think is going to get booed on Saturday? And I said, both of them. That's weirdly what we do as Brits. I mean, you think one would get booed, one would get cheered. But they both got booed.

But there is always going to be people that you know live that kind of life that just want to you know fuel you with negativity. Connor emerged as a hero on Saturday night and that's one of the things I was so proud of as well because you can't not respect it but even his harshest critics went wow fair play that was unbelievable and you know it's difficult for a young fighter you know the social media reading all that response and that's what it nearly broke him I mean you know he's he talked about that you know and you really have to come off that those platforms because if you if you were a fighter if you were if a

fighter asked you you would say don't use it at all don't have not don't use it but you could you can post and you could but everybody has downtime and a lot of young people these days particularly fighters will use that downtime to scroll yeah read responses right I mean if you go to any YouTube video and read the responses, it's like these are the dregs of the dregs. They're people that don't have the ambition, the backbone and this is like, you know people say oh you shouldn't talk about people like that. No I will talk about people like that because it's

the cesspit of society. Like you got people that are chasing their dreams, you got people that are working as hard as they can every single day, you know, and you want to knock those people. I know that everybody, you know, it's a platform that wants to give people, give people opinion. I get that. You can say, I think you bank one, you can say I don't like you, but you know, like I just, it baffles me and you read those comments you just think You got you got no chance you like and I don't think that when you have a dream and when you have a passion Why would you let someone try and doubt your fire?

Like who you would never I mean that you know I heard something the other day on social media or something like why would you ever? would never, I mean, you know, I heard something the other day on social media or something like why would you ever listen to criticism from someone you would never seek advice from? But you are letting someone affect your energy and your passion and your dreams of where you want to go. It's not worth it. And I think every young fighter should learn about that. You know, there's, we've got a young heavyweight, which is signed called Leo Tang. Yeah. Like this kid. It's basically the next Anthony Joshua 18 years of age

And I was talking to him the other day and he like he's put out his announcement I mean bear in mind this kid's 18 years of age and it's like he's won the world under 19 All of his social media is like go Leo You know, we're so proud of you at the local club and you're our hero and this and that and all of a sudden boom He's announced as isn't you know new mattress signing it and it's like oh I bet he's overrated. What a load of rubbish all hype like that and the kids saying to me god How'd you deal with that? I said mate unfortunately This is the sign of life and the sign of the times more than anything anyone that's successful anyone that's making their moves

The ones that don't have that energy the ones that don't have that energy, the ones that don't have the fire in their heart will always try and bring you down. So if it affects you, come off it. You can post, you can interact, but it can't not affect you. That's how I've, I mean, I did the same. You know, I ran my own social media accounts for years and years and years. And you just get to a point where after a show I go back to my hotel right and I watch a lot of the fights back which is quite sick in itself but I just love

to and there would be a stage where I would just be scrolling through Twitter now that's my life that's my product that's my all my energy goes into those shows so why do I want to read some geezer telling me it was shit or some guy telling me you're this you're that you know you don't you don't need that negative are you off it now I'm not I'm not I'm on Instagram the guys run my Twitter account because we've talked about yeah but I just I thought I've just got to a point where I'm like I don't need that energy much yeah it's intoxicating yeah and it's not like When people say it doesn't affect me, I disagree like

At some level it can affect you and if you're about performance if you're about being a hundred percent For what you do the job that you have and the ambition that you have in life Why on earth would you let someone that has absolutely no involvement in that at all just switch your energy up? It's like and since I came off Twitter My energy has been completely different Wow you don't even go on at all No, some people sometimes people send me stuff if you say this on Twitter, but I'll say to Scott I'll tell him you know right I want I want you to post this post this post this and they do it But I just and the time the extra time that it's given me,

because like you look at your screen time, and it might be like an hour, two minutes of Twitter in a day, I'm thinking, so now I've got an hour and two minutes back of my life, where I might be able to, I don't know, go to the gym, see the kids, play with the kids, or whatever, or work harder, do you know what I mean? So yeah, I think people really need to ever think about

the social media time and consumption, especially athletes and fighters. You don't need that, it's tough. When Connor failed those tests, he was on social media. And honestly, like I said to him, mate, off now. Delete them from you you because when you don't see it and you're not fed that negative negativity it's it's completely different you live a completely different life and that

negative energy that creeps into your life it's actually so derailing for where you need to be same with you like I know you you're active on there but and you get a lot of stick sometimes as well. Like, whether you, some people have got bigger resistance, resilience barriers. I'd like to think mine is massive, but it doesn't, I still get, don't get me wrong, when someone, you know, I went on my Instagram after you banked, right, bundles of abuse.

This, I hope your family dies, I hope this sort of stuff, and you're just like, whoa. Like, I don't need that, don't read. Don't let it consume you and don't let it infiltrate you. That's the key. Because it has to, in some respect. That was my... I appreciate that.

Kind of like, yeah, but because you... I feel like you're talking to your fighters as well, but also just society. Yeah, but also, but to anybody watching this. If you work hard like you're talking to your fighters as well, but also yeah, but also bad to anybody I say anybody watching this Yeah, why if you work hard and you have a dream and a passion for something why on earth? Would you let someone try and derail your mindset? Just the key to life is energy. Hmm Right, you know when you're around someone that has great energy how that makes you feel it's like if I'm around

AJ or Canelo, I'm like, I come out of that room, I'm like, I'm buzzing. You know why? Because they're winners, right? And it's just, they don't like that, their energy brings you up. So why would you let someone bring you down? Especially someone who you don't even know, especially someone that could never walk in your shoes

or doesn't have the Doesn't have it in here in here and down here to do it because ain't easy, you know, but This is life kids. I mean now we're going really deep This is a massive problem with kids even my own daughters like it's just so much it's it's it's a cesspit out there it's a huge I have a son who's turning 13 tomorrow he's the last one left of his friends without a phone mmm and I'm holding out because of that I'm very well but you know I think there's pros and cons of that I mean this is a this is for a parent podcast but it's like you know mine have had their phones a little bit longer so they've kind of been around it all so they're a little bit more wise to it now,

you know what I mean? But every now and again, I'll check their phones, because I think every parent should. It's like, you know, you could be reading like a group chat or whatever, and you know that age, it's like, that age, you know, 13 to 18 and beyond, those kind of ages can really change your direction in life, and I come back to that fire being dampened.

But all I ever want from my kids is just to have an unbelievable passion for something. Could be for matchroom. I don't know, could be for playing sport. Could be a boxer, I don't know. It could be, oh, I don't care what it is. I just want you to live a life of passion. That's it.

I want you to mope around, and you'll find it some way. But if you keep walking into doors that are closed or you keep walking into negativity or people that tell you you're this and you're that and you can't do it, how are you gonna break through? And that's the key is you've got to be resilient

and you've got to have that never say die attitude. Whatever gets in my way I'm running straight for it but all those barriers of negativity and energy and especially as a kid I'll go what you want to do that for come do this or you yeah well you're this you're that like my my oldest you know like people know she's my daughter like local it's not easy so you're gonna get criticism you're gonna get negativity and that's life. And that will make you resilient actually. But I worry about kids of this generation.

I think it's, you know. So good, we should do a parenting podcast. Yeah, yeah. We can do anything. I'm dying to know more about Friday. We just had Ryan on. Yeah, he looks well. What's that?

He looks well. I mean, it's a different guy. It's a different thing. I'm so happy for him. I mean, again, like when- He looks fresh faced. Around the Devin Haney fire. I actually couldn't believe what I saw Yeah, I couldn't believe he was in that fight Like the first press conference I had for Haney Garcia. I

Left there going What I've seen fighters You know Lose their mind. Yeah, right through through again probably a little bit of social media yeah you know might be nights out could be other substances whatever it is I've seen the signs and I can see him quite early I saw it with him at that press conference and I was like he ain't right he's in it and it

got worse and worse that buildup was wild. Yeah, like him on social Yeah, and you know, he made his mistakes. He paid the price But there's something really heartwarming about seeing someone like Ryan Garcia who is just such a asset to the sport of boxing and such a fresh-faced athlete and like, you know To see him back in that state after what he went through I think he should be unbelievably respected because he was done I mean I was actually looking at him thinking I don't think you'd ever

fight again you're gonna something I actually thought something terrible was gonna happen to you yeah yeah because and I thought someone's gonna try to kill him or take his own I mean like in that stage Anything can happen right and I think he should really be applauded for how he's come back He's a great fighter, but he's a great asset to the sport But most importantly the Ryan Garcia that I used to know was like this young happy fresh-faced kid and it's again It's the same thing. It's the pressures I think that you know, he's a kid that was sitting on Twitter all day

Right reading this that I've seen this this or this is happening here. This is happening here You're this your dad and it's just next thing it's you know, it leads one thing after the other but really good to see him back and Time square this Friday's gonna actually go down. I mean, you know, this is a ring magazine event with Turkey I'll I shake it Matt you guys are yeah matter Yeah, we're promoting it. We're running the logistics, which is you know, shout out to Frank Smith Helen moxon Sean All the time doing them. This is just probably one of the biggest jobs we've ever been involved with But this is the vision of his excellence here. Turkey Ella shake and she was just quite incredible

Which is I mean, don't forget. This is a fight that could have done a 10 million dollar gate show. But Tio Fimo Lopez against Barboza, Devin Haney against Ramirez and Ryan Garcia against Rowley and what they said was no we want to create something iconic, we want to create something visually that has never been done before and I said to him as I say with most things that he does you're crazy And when it comes around I go that was brilliant That was genius You know talking about one in July 12 the next one

I mean, there's been a lot of talk about Alcatraz and stuff like that like we had the conversation the other day boxing right now Yeah, I mean MMA and you know those toes toes. It's a relative, you know, like and it's never really been that way. UFC running the Royals and listen, I'll never criticize UFC, I think it's an unbelievable brand but it's not their fault really what's happening. I'm sure people will feel like they could have done some things different. It's all cyclical and obviously with Turki Al-Ashaik's investment, Saudi Arabia's investment in boxing, you're

seeing bigger fights, bigger nights but also more thinking outside the box and that comes really with spending money. I mean you look at these promos, you look at the closing of Times Square, you know this weekend on The Zone you've got Friday night in Times Square with Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney and Tia Fomal Lopez, 24 hours later you've got Canelo Alvarez's debut in Saudi Arabia for the Undisputed Championship that's within 24 hours. You've just come off the back of 65,000 people at Spurs July 12th, wherever that's going to be Boxing's on fire right now, on fire

it's controlling all the narrative digitally across social media on a far different level to MMA and UFC right now and I'm just you know I'm delighted to be a part of it I think part of the problem is the UFC got so big that like I like I referred to it last week it's become McDonald's so it's all very rinse repeat they're all wearing the same thing every event looks the same do you, it's become McDonald's. So it's all very rinse repeat, they're all wearing the same thing, every event looks the same. Do you think it's lost some of that magic,

some of that soul? Like look at this weekend. Friday will not look like this past Saturday, and this past Saturday won't look like Saturday night in Riyadh, it all looks different, big. There's a spectacle involved, there's pageantry. I miss that. You know it's interesting,

when you meet with these brand guys, like we've got meetings at the moment about kind Of like the revamp of matchroom boxing okay, but you always got to keep evolving Yeah, you know the logo this the look of the you know the press conferences the ring the ring walks all this kind of stuff one of their arguments is Your artwork you know that you create or your visuals They every looks the same as everybody else you know like you create or your visuals they every looks the same as everybody else you know like top rank could do a poster and you wouldn't know

if it was top rank or match room or golden boy you know I said so what what you're saying that you want the artwork and the visuals to be the same for every event no you know well I said that's what UFC do. Yeah, I said you put for me I'm a storyteller, right? So every show has a narrative. Yes. It's not I don't it's not this is not matchroom 36 no This is boots and it's against Danny Onis back at the ball ball court Atlantic City making history in a unification Well to weight matchup for the ring magazine championship where the former winners were Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather. Do you know what I mean? I need that artwork and the press conference and the promo to reflect the story that I'm telling and that's what

we're seeing at the moment. Do you know what I mean? Where it's different because sometimes it does get monotonous. Oh it's another another show oh who's on this week and then all of a sudden you've got like Ben Eubank and like this crazy video game advert and then the fathers here and then next week you're shutting down Times Square the product whilst it's the same sport it's different every week and I just feel with I don't think you have I think it it's just cyclical with more with the talent do you know what I mean if I don't think if they all of a sudden had these massive fights happening and Connor was fighting and all this kind of stuff we'd be talking about it's a bit samey and they're all

wearing the same stuff I don't but but you can I was gonna talk about a saying there but it doesn't. There's a saying and this is not reflective of the UFC at all but sometimes it can be reflective of products in general. Polishing a turd. This is what the UK, we say in the UK, right? Which means that you take something and you just give it a polish. Turd's probably not the right reflection for the UFC because it's a brilliant product but

you know you just, you've got to revamp it a little bit, you've got to remodel it. And sometimes you do that. If the talent wasn't quite there, you need a different look and a fresher look. Like if they had, I don't know, Conor McGregor fighting, if Khabib was still around on a bit of a casual, forgive me. But you know, if Aspinal was fighting John Jones, you know, we wouldn't be sitting here saying, it's just a bit tired, isn't it? It's really down to the actual product, which is the fights.

And I just feel like they haven't got, like if you said to me now, name me six UFC superstars, I couldn't do it. I could give you the ones that seem to keep losing quite a bit and then just come back. Do you know what I mean? But again, was that just a period with Khabib and Conor and like those kind of guys? As you said last week, it is cyclical, but look at how people reacted to the walkout on Saturday. They refused to do that. They actually tell the fighters you're not allowed to do that. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? And so to me, what drew me to the

fight game was Tyson wearing all black with the towel and the boots like and what drew me to UFC was Chuck Liddell had shorts with you know icicles on it and T door tees had fire like I like the characters I like pro wrestling and so when it feels like that when it feels larger than life I'm drawn to it even if it may not be undisputed title fight but when it all feels the same and when the brand becomes bigger than the fighters and the fights yeah I agree I agree I mean for me in boxing yes matchroom boxing is a brand and top rank is a brand but the brand is the fighters and they have their own individual brands right and you want that to resonate with the fan base so

they understand that you know and I always say to it to a fighter when we got to build their profile I don't want you to be, you know, fake, like be yourself. And it's up to us as the promoter to build you as a brand, because that's how the fan base tunes in. Yeah. I know Conor Venn, he's the destroyer, you know, yeah. You banks, the guy that walks around with his dad, AJ's the clean cut guy, you know, Tyson Fury is just this character that's out. Like they're the characters.

And like you say, it's like WWE without the script boxing sometimes. I feel like UFC, the problem is with UFC is I always feel like they always want the brand to be bigger, their brand to be bigger than that of the fighter. And when a star like Conor McGregor comes around, everything changes. And I don't think they really like that. And I think Dana coming into boxing is gonna be brilliant for boxing. But I do think that-

Do you really though? Do you really? Yes I do, because it's gonna be great profile, and also why- I felt like on that day you handled it so well, the next day I think you announced the Johnny Fisher fight, right? And you were hit with all these questions.

But internally, they're coming in and saying, you guys are shit. Your thing is dead. You handled it, I thought you handled it I handled it really back yourself right I you know and you know this is just me because I'm call me deluded or whatever but those guys in my opinion won't be able to lace my boots in boxing promotion now as a business as an an organization, as UFC, unbelievable, but this is different. When you go to sleep as a boxing promoter, when you wake up in the morning, nothing is ever the same. You have to sleep with

one eye open every single night. But won't he say the same, I just did that in MMA and I'll do it here. No, because you can't, this is different. Like, you have to, if you think you're gonna control this world, which is what they really, that have done in MMA, and I think that's a similar model they'll try and bring into boxing. Pro wrestling too they've done, right? Yeah, I don't think it's possible.

But, you know, prove us right. But if Turkey's involved. That's okay, but Turkey's involved with us. Turkey's involved with other stuff. But it doesn't matter who's involved you've still got to come up and be the System the opposition if you think that people like me people are Oscar de la Hoya People like Bob Aaron people like Frank Warren are gonna roll over and go. Oh, well, it's been a great run, isn't it? TKO's in there, so, I don't know, it ain't going to go down like that. So it's going to be interesting how it's all positioned. I think what they're trying to do could be actually a good, I don't

really think it will infiltrate the boxing world just yet. I think they're going to come in, create this league, young prospects, some guys that are ready for 50-50s. Are you starting to hear them reach out to people? Yeah, like and guys that I mean we had the situation the other day we had a fight where we had a fight that was fourth on the card and it was a B-side fighter and they said oh I'm not gonna be available for this fight now because I'm Simon TKO. I'm like with all your respect I don't mean to be rude. You! But that's but that kind of shows me what they're trying to, I don't think Dana wants to go in and deal with these guys that he'll perceive and probably are overpriced to the business model. Right.

I think you want to go in and do the business right. Can he do both though? Can he be the president of UFC and the president of this promotion? I don't like the word league. I think it's more of a promotion to be honest, but can you do both? Yeah, but it's just, you know, maybe MMA and UFC is at a point where that needs 100% of focus. So if you start diverting, what's gonna happen there? I mean, you know, before you know it, if you start losing attention and focus there and

swivel into boxing, someone might come over here and switch things up. Do you know what I mean? So I don't know. Look, Dana's a great guy, very intelligent. The business is an incredible business. They're not going to come in and fail, in my opinion, but it's just the size of what they do and achieve that's going to be very interesting and you know I don't I'll be honest I don't really fear it I don't what about the Ali act stuff yeah I mean there's who knows the truth of

what's happening you know the Ali act is there is designed to defend the fighter and protect the fighter. So if there are going to be variations of that and a kind of strategy to remove it or alter it, I don't know. For me, that's something where a fighter would be going, hang on, the Ali acts there to protect me. What do you want to change it for? What do you want to change it for what do you want to move it for you know I don't know I don't really know the truth of what's happening in that respect do you think they might be the reason for the Shakur eventual split he spoke today I saw an interview where he said after this fight I'm a free man so it seems like we're leading towards a split between you and him. Maybe I mean the type of fighter

Do you think they want no? Why not because I think he's very expensive and rightfully so he's a two divot three division world champion He's 27 years of age, but for me Listen, I don't know is the reality but I just feel like these guys have a certain way of running their business and like how can you have a situation where you've got two businesses, the UFC and boxing and one guy who creates the same revenue as I don't know call it Shakur Stevenson is Making a million dollars and Shakur might be making five. I don't mean that's gonna go down well If I'm honest with you and you know, they'll as I understand it Dana will and TK will be promoting Canelo Crawford

Even though that will be a Riyadh season event that'll be like there'll be there'll be fun That'll be a great start from them, but that's going to be interesting. You know, again, like the similarities between the two businesses, I think, I don't think they're going to want to go too deep on those fighter purses, if I'm honest. I mean look, if they're promoting Canelo Crawford you know that the combined value of those purses is I don't know call it anywhere between a hundred and twenty and a hundred and fifty million dollars but are they paying because you know Mark Shapiro when he had that investor said we're not gonna be they won't be that

will be a Riyadh season right yeah but still what I'm saying is if you're fronting that up and you're the promotion and that that fight does a million and a half buyers or whatever it does Does that mean when a UFC fight does a million and a half buys they're also gonna make a hundred million No, I don't think so. What about AJ Fury? Will they be involved in that in what well cuz now oh It's gonna go to Netflix AJ's exclusive to design. Okay, so there's no chance. No, and he's, you know, we know he has a career long contract with us and no, there's no conversations around Tico for that fight.

Okay. It's a fight that, you know, we're just leaning on or waiting for Tyson Fury. So he said he's back with a sugar hill. I did see that. Yeah. What does that mean? I don't know.

I mean, it was also, he did it on the same day that it was announced that Usyk's fighting Dubois so but this is this just comes down to Tyson Fury probably reaching out to AJ I think when you got two guys at that level I think sometimes it's just a little DM saying do you fancy it? At some point you want to move on with his career right you don't want AJ to wait so when's that deadline? So AJ's had a little injury that he's been he's been dealing with so we're not kind of like rushing back to the ring he'll fight this year but at the same time AJ's got somewhere between one and three fights left like

who who are you really gonna fight like he could fight if Dubois beats Usyk he could fight Dubois for the undisputed. That would be great. But. What about Parker? Yeah, maybe, but. Parker got screwed, by the way. I just want, he should be fighting Usyk.

I agree, I agree. What happened there? All of a sudden, Dubois doesn't turn up and he gets the title shot? Yeah, I mean, well, Dubois is a champion already, but he's now fighting Usyk for undisputed. I think Joe Parker deserves a world title shot more than anyone. AJ quite likes that fight, but I caught a look at it and go, well, we beat Joe Parker

once. I know that was a few years ago. He's not a world champion. It's a pretty tough fight. Money's all right, but what's Fury going to do? Right. Do you know what I mean? And it's not like we, it doesn't mean we sit there for two years and just go, come on Tyson. But for me, I think sooner or later, fury is going to go, I think fury is the kind

of guy that would have watched Saturday and gone, let's do it. I mean, that fight as big as you bank, Ben is fury AJ. He's just, you know, and I just hope, I believe that Tyson will want to give the fans that fight. And you know, we wait in anticipation, but it's over to him. We can't do anything about it. Can I ask, and we'll let you go in a moment.

You were up there at the press conference on Thursday before the fight, on Saturday. And I believe it was the COO of the ring. Yeah. A gentleman named Rick Reno and I'm seeing like now every time like the outfits are getting more and more outlandish and it felt like he was talking about you up there. I know you did a scrum afterwards and you were but like what's going on? I don't know. I mean what's what's happening here? I think that you have to look at why is it so confrontational? I think His Excellency loves like drama and like characters and I think you know so I saw

Rick in the head-to-head yesterday and I was like what's cat but I think that probably comes from his excellency to be honest with you saying this is we've created up little character now like I'd loads of people going who on earth is that guy in the middle and it's like but I think I took it very differently to how some older promoters would have taken it but before that presser Rick came over to me he's like look I'm gonna say a little bit of shit about you and Shalom you know like and I just presumed it would be like I don't know where we don't you know it's a rivalry and all that kind of stuff and he's coming out

this stuff and I'm like looking at it again like if that was Warren Frank Warren or that my dad or some or Aaron they would have just their heads would have fallen off and like you know and then Rick came up to me after he said what do you think I said I think you're a prick what do you mean I said you because you have to understand one thing fun and games is nice right and right or wrong, you see this what I do, it's my entire life right, it's my company and it's my family and it's something that has been created by my father. I couldn't be more passionate or more emotional about matchroom, boxing and our company, our fighters, and our employees.

So when you want to take a shot at that, especially publicly trying to be clever, you're not going to see me rant and rave, but it just can't go away. So actually, I look at those moments, sometimes it's more of a blessing, because every now and again, you need a little bit of a rocket up the ass. And all that done to me, has made me go, all right, no problem. Tomorrow we work harder.

Do you know what I mean? And it's like, you need that motivation. So I don't mind it actually, but it's all, you know, fun and games and like, it's a crazy world at the moment. Well, what I didn't like about it is that this is your family business, as you said. But you can, Chris, listen.

You've been placed that you're just a guy, like you're in two different roles and to turn up and say those things about like, this is in your DNA, it felt a little off, right? Yeah, listen, but you can, I had no problem with being criticized, but also whatever you think about me or me, what you can't ever take away is the job

that we have done for the sport, right? Especially in British boxing, right? And I've given everything, you know, we made a lot of sacrifices for this sport. So that's what I'm saying, like, and when you're criticizing my product our product and you're trying to position it that you know the broadcasters not happy and all this kind of stuff which is total rubbish but you can't just expect me to go that was

great I said to him nice okay but you know and but again same kind of thing you can either be friendly or you can just play another game. But that doesn't mean we're going to fall out, it just changes the dynamic of everything. But that's, I don't always like it to be friendly. You know, you've got to fire me up sometimes because we go every single day and as a competitor when I hear something like that, it just revs me up. And it just sits in there. Last topic, we could talk for hours,

but I just want to ask you very quickly, all good with MVP? Yeah. Lawsuit's over, it's been settled, I suppose. I was at the presser, the Katie, Amanda Presser, I've never seen Katie Taylor speak like this, the fire, the intensity. Is there any part of you that in the swan song of her career, not being involved in this,

does it bother you, does it annoy you? No, I mean that's something that when we made the decision to do it, we all had to acknowledge, you know, and it's not that I don't want to be pushing MVP and the fight I think the fights incredible I think the events gonna be incredible but be there yeah of course I'll always be there for Katie but that you know Katie's been a Dizone fighter for a long time and of course my job is for Dizone I'm a you know you've you know I had a design tattoo recently done on real yeah on your chest yeah what not really oh no okay I was gonna say it's the kind of

thing that I would do to be fair would you my now you have any tattoos no but I'm thinking about it just tattoo yeah no so I haven't got design tattoo but I'm very passionate about design zone because I launched the zone boxing. Yeah, I remember. And for years we fought and we convinced it. I told everyone this is going to be the home of boxing and now it is undoubtedly the home of boxing.

So Katie Taylor, you know, the zone invested a lot of money in Katie Taylor. And one thing that I really like about the zone and the people they work with, they kind of acknowledge opportunities for fighters, right? So in this situation, I phoned up the zone and said listen, Katie Taylor has been offered a huge amount of money to fight Amanda Serrano. This is the second time? Last time. Okay, yeah. On Netflix, right? And they're like, but like, you know, could we not do it? And I said,

to be honest with you, I don't think you pay this kind of money. And I can't not see her get this opportunity. So I'm asking you, we really need her to move forward with this. And they said in response, which I think is very fair, no problem, but I don't want you pushing the show or Netflix and tweeting about it all the time like you need to be pushing our stuff. I said that's 100% agreed. So I made the decision and I don't think Jake and Nakeita want me up there anyway.

So it kind of suited us well that we would give Katie the opportunity. She wins the fight. Now they offer her much more money than the last fight. Again like breathtaking money. And I'm like, there is no way I would not like, you know, and they're same again, same model, right? We're your promoter, we'll be there, but we won't be involved in the promotion of the show.

She's like, she's not worried about that really. As long as we're there and we're supporting her. Sometimes I feel like they're just trying to you know I sometimes watch the stuff and think I would quite like to be there actually to defend her right now and like about you know the rounds and minute rounds and all this kind of stuff and thought the narrative of the last fight was this unbelievable robbery where everybody in the world thought Amanda Serrano won. She's just not the case.

It's just a fight that could have gone either way, you know? Um, but it's a brilliant fight. Two legends of the sport. She did an incredible job at that. I loved it. Yeah. She defended. Well, I went for dinner with her after the presser and I was like, I

loved it. Where's this come from? She's like, you know, but, but she's got come from she's like you know but but she's got you know again like AJ she's got anywhere between one and three fights left like how do you feel about them going all in on on women's boxing they just signed Ellie Scotney and yeah a bunch of others seems like that's yeah I mean it's a bold move you know this all-female show I've got say like I said to Katie at dinner I said said, a couple of years ago, I went to Katie Taylor, probably about three or four years ago, I said, I think International Women's Day, we could do an all female card.

She was like a little bit lukewarm to it because for me, it's like, it's not about that. It's actually about the women's fights sitting alongside the men's fights but having priority because they're bigger commercially that's a better sign of equality than just saying it's gonna be all women. I get it as well at the same time it's a powerful movement and all that kind of stuff but actually I feel like when we did Taylor Serrano won at MSG it sat above Liam Smith against Jessie Vargas, Amo Williams, a load of our UK talent. There's some other female fights on the card as well but it seemed to work very well. When you're selling a ticket for a all-female card it's a different kind

of audience than a normal fight. That's just fact. So I think it's a tougher sell if I'm honest I think women's boxing again is cyclical I think the big fights in women's boxing are as valuable as ever and I think the entry level for young talent coming through is also still you know firing it's just the middle level stuff like where we've struggled a little bit, it's kind of like your third, fourth defense of your world title in a fight that's just not grabbing the imagination.

That's nothing to do with men and women. This is actually the same with the men. If you're in your second or third fight, defending your world title, and fighters like I saw earlier at the weekend, I said, I'm so happy for, because I kind of had done everything I can with Ellie and Now you've got a kind of move to the next level of money because it just goes that way and she deserves it

And I think this is a brilliant opportunity for her because I'm not sure what more we could have done Again, but Ram like all those they're all great fighters and I think for women's boxing, what MVP are doing is incredible. Love it. I love it, Eddie. I love what's going on this weekend. By the way, it's not just Friday, Saturday, also Naoya Inouye fighting on Sunday as well. So what a weekend for the sport.

We're getting a similar situation in July, although we don't know where that July 12th card will be just yet. Maybe in Central Park. Maybe. Watch this space. Watch this space. Thank you very yet. Maybe in Central Park. Maybe. Watch this space. Watch this space. Thank you very much.

Appreciate you very much. Good luck this weekend and congrats on this past weekend. Really unbelievable stuff. All right, there's Eddie Herr. We're gonna take a quick break. Jeff Molina is gonna join us for now. Classic interview with Nick Diaz all the way back in 2011. Do not go anywhere.

All right, there's my conversation with the great Nick Diaz. From back in 2011, that was prior to his fight against BJ Penn, I do believe off the top of my head, UFC 137. That's a long one, that was like 25 minutes, and one of my favorites with him. So if you wanna watch it, it's up on the channel right now. Thank you to Eddie Hearn, we appreciate his time very much, always great chatting with him. So if you want to watch it, it's up on the channel right now. Thank you to Eddie Hearn. We appreciate his time very much. Always great chatting

with him. I could have gone another two hours with Eddie if I'm being a thousand percent honest with all of you. I had so many other topics to get into. I wasn't expecting us to get into parenting and phones and whatnot, but that's what I love about these conversations. They flow in many different directions and yeah, that was a fun one. So I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Uh, we move along now and go to our final guest of the day. And as I said, at the top of the show, I do believe this is the first time

that he speaks in quite some time. It has been, uh, obviously a roller coaster ride of a couple of years for him. And I really do appreciate him coming on. We got some, I guess, some, some, some, some conclusions, some finality to his situation. We know that he'll be able to come back later on this year. I do believe in November he'll be free and clear to return, but there's a lot to get into with Jeff Molina. He is kind enough to join us. So let us say hello to him right here. And now there he is. Hello, Jeff. How are you? What's up brother? How you doing? It's good to talk to

you again. Thank you so much. Am I correct in saying this is the first time that you're talking about all the stuff that's happened over the last couple years I'm speaking brother. I figured it well. Thank you so much for coming to us. It does mean a lot How are you doing? Just you know, if I can ask like I said roller coaster ride, I would imagine would be putting it mildly Um, you did get some sort of like finality to it all and we'll get into all the details, but just like how is life? How are you doing? Life's good, man. You asked me the same question a year ago, a year and a half ago. It was looking grim. Definitely roller coaster emotions is saying it, like you said, mildly. Yeah, but I'm doing well now and got a lot to talk about.

Okay. I was thinking, where do we start? Because there's there's such a story here. And I saw you just tweeted, you know, a few things about, you know, the betting and the Derek Minner fight. And I think the kind of the simplest place to start is here. How long have you been betting on MMA? Let's see, I had my debut April 2021 on, am I pointing the right way? There it is, yes. 261, fight of the night, don't forget it. Yeah.

So because I got the bonus kind of similar to a well maker, I was able to quit my job. I was working like 30 something hours a week at T-Mobile, slinging phones, and it was paying well. My employer, my coworkers were all super cool and awesome. They'd come to attend my fights and knew that the goal was to get into the UFC and eventually quit that job and kill it in the UFC. It's been my goal and dream since I was a kid, since I was 14 years old.

So they got to kind of watch me have these regional fights, attend them to contender series to then have a debut. Get the bonus. Because of the bonus, I was able to quit my job. But so I had that debut in April, and then I ended up quitting my job, I think late July, early August, around then. But I was freaking out, man. I was scared to quit my job, but I knew it needed to be done. I knew I needed to be

able to. I was training full-time, but it's tough when you're getting off from practice, then you're going to work and then you're waking up six hours later, you don't want to run and practice again. So it's just a lot easier if your full-time gig is fighting, especially at this level. But I was terrified to quit my job. So I went to my coach at the time, James Krauss, and I was like, Hey, I think it's time I quit. But I'm fucking scared that I'm going to tear my ACL next week during practice. And then I'm out of luck that there's no way to make money. And at that time, he was like, Dude, don't worry. there's no way to make money. And at that time he was like, dude, don't worry.

He was like, there's ways to make money. And I got into betting on MMA August of 2021. It started off with like a WhatsApp group chat with like four or five people. And if you know Krauss, he's one hell of a coach, man. That's what sucks with all this is that his legacy is forever been tarnished. But ask any fighter that's been trained under James, he would have went down, I think he would have been the first Hall of Famer coach. He was that fucking good. So obviously a mastermind of the sport could break down fights very well. And it started with just making a couple extra a hundred bucks, uh, a month, you know, which helped for, uh, a guy that wasn't working a job and training full time.

Did you ever bet on your own fights? No, no. Uh, my second fight in the UFC, I thought about it, but I was like, I got so much shit to worry about, man. Uh, you know You know, yeah, no, never bet on myself. Did you ever bet on your teammates' fights? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Did you ever bet against them? Yeah, yeah. But it was never like people that were,

we have a lot of people coming from out of town. So it was never, one name comes to mind and I don't mind saying that I bet against a former teammate and he would come across training and do like two or three weeks of his campus. It was never like really his own base. Joe Holmes, I remember betting against him. I just didn't think he looked the best. Yeah. But that was my own personal decision. There was, yeah. But, uh, was there ever a scenario where you knew that someone was hurt? I'm not talking about Derek

Minner here, where you like saw someone like twist a knee and you're like, Oh, this guy's going to get smoked. So let me bet against them. No, no. Okay. So that's, so you're, you're saying this starts in August of 2021. Yeah. The Derek Minter fight happens in November of 2022. What happened? Yeah. Uh, so eventually the WhatsApp group chat like turns from five people to like 20 people

to like 50 people. And then, uh, And what's going on there, by the way, is it just people like sharing opinion insight and is it all on the team or is it just like random? There was, it was random people. Um, there was like ESPN journalists and, uh, again, I started off like five people, uh, uh, and it was just simply like, hey, I like this guy this weekend. And, um, and then it turned into a more, uh a more systematic thing where it's like two units on this person and this and that. And eventually it turned into a Discord group

where Krauss was breaking down the fights and it was a paid subscription. And before you know it, it was like a paid group, just like a lot of these sports betting cappers have. And he'd break down the fights. James had a podcast. Again, the dude is mastermind of the sport and it really sucks how this all played out because he was this super well-respected guy and because of the appearance of what this all looked like, it really tarnished his legacy and yeah, it sucks. But nevertheless, yeah, he was killing it. Paid Discord, had a podcast, break down fights, even for the UFC, he had break down fights. Excuse me. And he was doing well. He was doing really well. And I was making, you know,

I went from making a couple hundred bucks a month to like a grand a month, 1500 bucks a month, which again, for a guy getting ready for his like sophomore appearance in UFC, the pay scales lower, that helps a ton, man. Helps a ton. I'd be remiss if I don't ask, you mentioned ESPN journalists are in the group, who is in the group as far as media is concerned? I'm not gonna name drop, Ariel,

but like nothing shady was going on. Everyone was allowed to bet at the time, and it was just like, hey, if fucking Randy Brown's fighting this weekend, I'd like him to win two units on Randy Brown. And it was free. It was literally a WhatsApp group chat and it was friendly. I'd get roasted a lot on there.

James being my coach and we'd just shoot the shit. But yeah, eventually it turned into a more like organized group. So, so, so the Minner fight in early November, 2022, organized group. So the Minner fight in early November, 2022, he's fighting Shaolin, Nerd and Becky. And then all of a sudden, right before the fight, it seems like there's a ton of activity

and he's now a massive underdog, right? Yeah. Did you bet against them knowing any insider information about the state of his body going into that fight? Yeah, yeah. So prior to the minute fight, I would say about three weeks, there's no he's in the gym. We're going live, I think it was Wednesday, because it was like a grappling, like a grappling day, we were going live. So it's full of grappling with submissions. Um, and, uh, I remember, or maybe it was, I don't, it was a lot of practice, meaning

you're going live at the end. It's five rounds, 25 minutes. And uh, the whole room stops because we hear the loud scream, right? There's nothing, there's not a worse sound than a grown man screaming in agony. Yeah. It just like makes you cringe. Uh, you know, I've dealt with it since I man screaming in agony. Yeah. It just like makes you cringe. You know, I've dealt with it since I was like in wrestling high school.

People would like post their arm and their arm snaps. Then you just hear a grown man screaming at the top of his lungs. It's like, ah, so the whole room stops. Obviously something happened. He's grabbing his leg, grabbing his knee. The room stops for a couple of minutes and then we kind of just continue. They like put them to the side and I didn't know if he was in a fight or not. That being said, I'm not saying this like I know there was a narrative like,

oh, he's only saying this to try to make it look better. Completely being honest and no bullshit. I also had money on Minner. If you look at Minner's record, he's a first round fighter and I thought, hey, he's actually going to fight with this knee. You only get paid if you fight, right? And you only can, a lot of fighters do this, but the UFC, obviously we don't have insurance, but the UFC will cover any injury post-fight.

So many fighters go into fights injured because of this. I've never gone into a fight healthy. And then it's kind of a joke amongst fighters that after the fight, they asked you, Hey, what hurts? Can you say head, shoulders, knees and toes? You know, everything hurts. And even the Dr. Davidson with the UFC, he'll like joke about his, Oh yeah, this hurts. Like even knowing like it doesn't, but we're going to get it checked out. He's like, how about this? And even the Dr. Davidson with the UFC, he'll joke about his, oh yeah, this hurts.

Even knowing it doesn't, but we're going to get it checked out. He's like, how about this? Does this hurt? So knowing Minter's mindset that eventually I learned that, yeah, he's going to go through with the fight, I was like, oh shit. I knew it was going to be a kill or be killed type thing. If you look at Minter's record, every single one of his wins is in the first round, besides the Charles Rosa fight. And that was when

he started working with us and Krauss was going to be like, I'm going to make it to where he can go a full 15 minutes and still win. But I also had Minner in the first round. I thought, Hey, his best chance is to, he's going to try to get this dude out of here. He knows he's compromised and he's going to try to win. It wasn't crazy money. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary that I wasn't already doing on every prior event. I had money on the rest of the card, probably two grand in total on wagers on that card. And two weeks prior to that event, it was completely fine to do that. And then we got an email two weeks prior to the Minter fight and it was like, hey, UFC

athletes are no longer allowed to wage their own fights. And I made the mistake saying, hey, this is an email. How serious are these guys? How serious is this? You know, it was a way of me making money on the side. Turns out, Ariel, they were very serious. Obviously what followed and even the bedding line going crazy and out of proportion, made it look like something fishy sketchy was going on.

And yeah, that resulted in my suspension. So how do you explain that part? The bedding line dramatically changing? Did the group then find out that he was heard and all those people, you know, because it's one thing for you to have insider info and being like, yo, I'm just gonna like put 500 on Nurnabecki.

What contributed to the title wave? Yeah, I would think word got out. Obviously there was lots of people in the gym that saw the injury. We had about 16, 17 UFC fighters in the gym on top of just your regional pros, your average joes in the gym. I would think that word got out because I think for a line to be that manipulated, a crazy amount of millions and millions and millions of

dollars perhaps come in to change the line. That's the only explanation I can think of how a line would move that drastically. And obviously if the line never moved, nothing would have came from this. Nothing would have, you know, it was just, fighters are still actively wagering off fights. They tweet about it all the time. just, fighters are still actively wagering off fights. They tweet about it all the time. I fucked up. I should have stopped when the UFC said stop. It wasn't worth the fucking thousand dollars I won that night on that card. Yeah. I think something happened behind the scenes to where word got out, Hey, this guy has a torn ACL. You know, obviously it wasn't known that his ACL was torn till, you know, he got it.

Yeah. I know he had surgery on it after the fight and whatnot, but that's a, that was the case, you know, and it resulted in a three year suspension. Did the discord channel know, like, did it get out there to the best of your knowledge? No, no. Uh, James, uh, would never talk about our fighters when we were fighting.

So that was something he wouldn't cross, whether he wagered on them on his own, who knows? But he would never talk about like, if Julian was fighting or if I was fighting, he would never say, let the house of Jeff Molina and like, sure, sure. To the best- Especially us being present in the house with Jeff Molina and like sure now to the especially us being present in the group you know right right to the best of your knowledge

did Derek Minner throw that fight? Absolutely not. Okay. Go watch any of Minner's fights. He is a killer be killed type of fighter. The whole situation surrounding this like couldn't have been shittier right. JK going on your show and almost being a little braggadocious about the betting thing. He was trying to do what good marketers do is promote his channel and it was completely legal and it's completely fine. The whole situation surrounding it couldn't have gone fucking worse and making it look

like what people say. I tweeted back at one person because it bothered me, but he was pretty much insinuating that I was this criminal master. I was a 23 year old kid and I was this criminal mastermind, wagering millions and millions of dollars and set up a fixed fight. It's fucking ridiculous, Ariel. If I made millions and millions of dollars, I would be on a yacht in Mykonos right now, having the best time of my life. That's going to be farther from the truth. So no, definitely not.

Yeah. I don't have contact with the Minner. We were never super close, super tight. We were friendly at the gym. I would teach a kickboxing class at the gym and sometimes he'd take my kickboxing class and he was a teammate. But we were never grabbing drinks after practice and stuff. So did you corner him in that fight? No, no.

Were you there? No. Okay. Um, and, and, and to the best of your knowledge, did he bet on himself to win or lose? Uh, I don't, I don't think so. Uh, we never discussed Betty, uh, for my knowledge, I don't think he was ever in the discord. Um, so why did he get suspended? Great question. Oh, I don't think he was ever in the discord. So why did he get suspended? It's a great question. Oh, I know, actually, I know his failure to disclose. That was the reason for his two year suspension, man. I have a hard time believing that if only I'm not an aerial fighter, your point like

they write, they fill out these forms all day. No one's going to say, like we've heard about fighters like, Ariel, imagine Moekano having to disclose that his shoulder's blown out, or his collarbones fucked, and then beating BST, Dillashaw, his shoulder against Aljo, like every fighter fight's injured. That's why he got punched. I've never been-

Why'd you guys get lumped together? I've never had a single fight where I was healthy. What was that, brother? Why'd you guys get lumped together, though? It had a single fight where I was healthy. What was that brother? Why'd you guys get lumped together though? Seems like two different issues. I think it was appearance. I think it was like, no one's ever seen a line movement like this.

This is fixed, this is this. And then, but if you backtrack a little bit, Kraus talking about the discord and it just all fucking looked terrible. And I think it was just strictly off appearances, like fighters fight injured literally every single time. No card could be kept together if we all had to disclose our injuries for sure. So yeah, ridiculous, man. And if we're talking about the commission, dude, they couldn't have, I don't want to say the commission. I don't know. It was so much.

Dude, they couldn't have... I don't want to say the commission. I don't know. It was so much... So the only communication I've ever gotten prior to October was an email on December of 2022 informing me of my suspension because of wagers made on the Derek Miner fight. So that was in December. In January, I get informed that I'm indefinitely suspended. Another email. Because investigations taking place until the investigation is over, I'll be unsuspended. So then I had wrist surgery, I think in July. So I couldn't fight anyway. I was out for a year.

That's the only communication I've ever had with the commission. I think at the time, attorney general Joel Becker was the one that was writing these emails. Okay. So first year, I can't fight anyway. I've had a surgery. Whatever. Year number two comes around. still haven't heard a thing.

I'm asking for updates. Last March I asked my manager, I said, hey, can we reach out to commission? What's going on with this man? The hand's feeling better. I've done my rehab. I can train. I'm training all the time now. What's going on?

He reaches out to the commission. The commission, I think the commission director said, hey, investigation is still ongoing. It kind of sounded like he felt bad for me from, you know, I got it. I heard this from my manager, so I'm kidding it secondhand, but it kind of sounded like he felt bad for me. He's like, yeah, man, unfortunately, the investigation is still going, but I hear it's wrapping up soon.

All right, cool. That was March. I asked him in the summer, no update. Now I'm like, dude, I'm in the prime of my career. Yes, I made a mistake, but I've been suspended for two years now. What are we doing? So I hear nothing and I take it amongst myself to reach out to the attorney general, Joel Becker, I believe is his name. And I simply just go back to the emails from 2021 or 2022, excuse me. And this is in October. And I give them a call. I track the phone number down at the bottom of the email and I give them a

call. And I get no answer. I write a couple of emails to them and they all get forwarded back to me saying, like, this email doesn't exist. So then I look up the attorney general's office in Las Vegas, give them a call, I speak to an assistant, I say, can I speak to Joel Becker? And like, yeah, yeah, one second after like five minute, 10 minute wait, he goes, actually, Joel Becker no longer works in the state of Las Vegas. And this is the guy that's in charge of my, uh, my case, my hearing, my commission, whatever, uh, my suspension, I guess. Uh, and I was like, uh, okay, can I get whoever's in that role now? Uh,

he's like, yeah. So I get in contact with the attorney general, Matthew Feely, and I want to give him a shout out because he's the man. He literally did something in a four or five month period that I was waiting on two and a half years for. So I spoke to him and I said, hey, this is what's going on. I've been suspended for over two years, haven't heard jack shit. Like, what's going on? Do you have any update for me? So he pulls up my case.

He's like, yeah, give me a sec. He pulls it up and he's like, have you been contacted by anyone? The gaming commission, the commission, like anything? I'm like, nothing, man. All I got was an update back in March saying, hey, you're still suspended indefinitely because the investigation is still going, but it should be over soon. But fast forward six months and I don't know what soon means to people. But six months, I would think it would happen a lot sooner. But he's like, Wow, man, let me get back to you. I think we had a conversation like a day or

two later. And we went into full detail. I was like, Hey, this is what happened. I fucked up. I got an email that says, Stop gambling. I continued to gamble. There was crazy line movement on a fight. It looked terrible. And now I'm suspended for over two years and I haven't heard anything. So he's like, All right, I'm gonna get on this. He's like, this is crazy. He apologized. He's like, I got a bunch of cases put in front of me. Excuse me. But I'm going to get on this. So I think November, December time, we sit in contact emailing and every now and then

he'd call me. And basically, I think in December, he said, Hey, we're going to do what's called a settlement. And a settlement is basically both parties agree to it, meaning the executive director of the commission agrees to a settlement with you. We both sign it. And as long as the rest of the commission, I think it's like a board of six people. So if they all agree with the punishment on the settlement and the terms of the settlement, then you're good. He's like, right now, it looks like your suspension will go to November. But yeah, this is good news. And I was ecstatic. Oh, let's go.

Like, finally something. So I was supposed to have a hearing in January that got postponed to February. And then the February one got postponed to March. The February one got postponed because, and I quote, the commission didn't want the media attention at that time. So, but the attorney general said like, hey, it doesn't matter because it's not going to shorten the time of your suspension anyway. On the last phone call I had with them prior to the, it was like a week before the hearing or maybe two weeks before the hearing.

Yeah, it was because it was supposed to be March 15th. Maybe I'm supposed to be sometime in March and it got postponed like a couple of weeks in March. So it got postponed like a couple of weeks in March. So it got postponed like four times in total. But basically I was like, how does this work? Like do I have to be there? Like, because I already signed the agreement. And he was like, you don't have to be there.

You can be on the call if you want to. But I was like, hey, I've been thinking about this. Uh, but is it possible to like, is this negotiable? The suspension date? Like, can't I just like be free to go now? Like, uh, isn't like two and a half years enough for wagering on fights, you know, something that was allowed to do for, and people think when I bring up like, Oh, all the fighters are betting on fights and people make mistakes and serve the punishment that I'm like downplaying what I did. I fucked up without a doubt. There for sure had to be a punishment. It's just, you know, the punishment has to match what I did. And I thought over two years, plenty of time

for suspension. Like I learned my lesson, man. Trust me. So, I was like, hey, is this negotiable, the date? And he's like, oh, yeah, it was. But we already came to terms with the executive director that it's November 5th. I was like, oh, okay. But basically in the settlement, you can negotiate the fee, what you're supposed to pay, the suspension date. And then the other five people in the commission have to agree with the settlement, right?

So that's what the hearing is about. The executive director has already agreed with the settlement. I've already signed it. And now the other five people have to agree with the terms. Can I ask though? No. If you never brought this up, like would you just be sitting there? Yeah, 100%.

You think this thing would have just dragged on forever. If you just said like, I'm done, or I don't want to call, I'll wait for them to call me. They would have just let you. And that's what I was being told to do. That's what it was just like, I was tired of waiting, man. In hindsight, I do think I wish I would have... The thing I wish I would have done differently, obviously, other than not fucking wager on this card and just took the email I got from Hunter Campbell and said, hey, all UFC athletes

stop wagering. Right. Uh, wish I would have not wagered. Um, and I'd still have all that time back and, and, you know, uh, things were on the up at that time and I was ranked number 13 in the world. Uh, nevertheless, um, the only thing I wish I would change is I was so eager to sign that once I was like, oh, you said November 5th? That's when it is? Sure.

I'll sign the settlement. On there, it took everything I had said to the attorney general as far as like, this is how much I wager. This is what I had other bets on my card. I bet on this, on this one, on this one, on this one. I wish I wouldn't have been, one. I wish I would have negotiated the suspension date. So I didn't know that was the thing I was presented with. Hey, you're suspended till this date. I wasn't sure. I didn't know that was negotiable to I wish

I would have negotiated the lingo that was used. It did bother me that and this was on the settlement so I can't be too upset. But it said I had a significant wager on the fighting question, meaning the men are fighting. If you're calling $300, $350 significant, that's insane. And it makes it sound terrible. It makes it sound like, again, I'm this criminal fucking mastermind that had millions of dollars on this fight. So I wish I would have negotiated in the settlement to say, Hey, we're not including that lingo. You can say he had a wager on it, but it wasn't significant. That's subjective. What

do you mean significant? And I think it just makes them look better. We're spending it for three years because of this. And I was just so eager to sign the thing. It's like, Hey, you're spending November. So I was like, Oh, cool, let's go. Finally, something in the last two and a half years that gives me a conclusion to all this shit. And so how did they find out that you even bet on this fight? Like, how did they find out? That's a great question.

You have no idea. No idea. Really? All I know is that in December of 2022, I got a call from a manager that was like, hey, you're suspended from the UFC or you're suspended from the commission. And your fight with your fight with Jimmy Flake is canceled until your suspensions. So to the best of your knowledge, did any other fighter get suspended?

No, no, I think all that stuff's public. So I think it was just me, Minner, and then Krauss got his like cornering license suspended because he was not a active fighter anymore. Right. And he's banned for life, right? Like he can't corner anyone in the UFC. I don't know about banned for life. I think the commission is trying to do something similar with him as far as like a settlement. Okay.

You think he might be back. Him and I don't really see each other as we used to, like as much as we used to because again, he used to be my head coach. I'd see him every day. Yeah. But he seems to be killing it and what he's doing man, he's killing it in real estate. He coaches Judith a couple of times a week at his gym. I don't think he has a want or need to go back to fighting, especially with, I really

do think that the whole MMA community as a whole owes him an apology. This dude, fucking standup guy, I'm forever thankful for all the lessons he ever taught me. I put myself in this position as no one else's fault. I wagered for all the lessons he ever taught me. Um, I put myself in this position as no one else's fault. I wagered on fights after the UFC said stop. He could still wager. He was not an active fighter. Um, this dude was a mastermind of sport. What it went, what it went down, I think it'd been the first hall of Famer that's a coach like legit, any fighter that's trained underneath them would tell you the same. Like this guy is a fucking wizard and it sucks that his legacy got tarnished.

Do you know if he bet on his fighters? Uh, I think, I think he had, like, I think he, there was fights that, uh, and he wouldn't tell us, right? Like he wouldn't put extra pressure on the fighter. Like, you know, I have X amount on you, but yeah, I think so. To lose? No, no, never that, never that. Did he bet on Derek to lose? No. Do you know if he bet on that fight at all?

I don't think so, no. Okay. I'm just wondering how the huge swing happened. Because again, like if you're doing 500 and this dude's doing five, even if 20 of us are betting $300, that's not moving the line. Even if we're betting $50,000. So who did it? It takes a huge.

Do you have any idea? How did it get to a point where it swung that dramatically? I think for that to happen, the war needs to get out. Like, hey, this guy is hurt. He's fucked up. And to get out to the point that there's dudes, like not Twitter dudes, like guys with millions of dollars.

Right? Yeah. It has to. Some like random apex fight. Yeah. And then somehow they find out that you're one of the, the people who in like in this massive pod of millions of dollars being bet on a fight,

your 300 gets called out. Like, I guess how do they find you? Was it a DraftKings thing or like one of those? I'm not sure. I was using like a local book at the time. So all those things are trackable. I'm not sure if, yeah, I'm not sure, man. Either way they could see the amount I was wagering. Um, so do you think, but I do think for, for a line to move that big, it does have to be where it has to get out to someone that could afford millions and millions of dollars on a sports bet, you know? That's why I think the insinuation is it was an inside job that it was thrown and

all that, because who else is betting that much money on such a random fight? Yeah, no, I see the appearance of it for sure. Especially that it was an ocean and this but it couldn't be farther from the truth, man. Like especially knowing the situation of, you know, like where Minters at now. Do you know where he is? What is he doing? I think he's coaching at his gym and. I think he's looking to fight regionally again. OK, because his suspension is up a little bit before yours. Yeah, this is up now.

He can fight whenever I think. Yeah. And and are you still a member of the UFC? Oh, the. I've asked for my release and they're going to honor it. So, OK, why? I had a conversation with Hunter and. I have no bad blood with the UFC men that they changed my life. I'm actually forever grateful that I got to fight amongst the best.

I was ranked at a time. But with the conversation, I understand that they pretty much said, hey, we can't go forward with you under the circumstances after the hearing and we wish you the best in your future. Okay. And that they, if I asked for my release, they'd grant it. So I went ahead and done that. You know, there was a lot to dig in a lot to think about during that.

Yeah, I've been drug tested like every other month for the last two and a half years. I still get my supplements. I've gone to the PI in the past throughout all this. So I thought that... Because I think the UFC was founded on that principle of like, hey, if you screw up, you get your punishment. And people have come back from And people have come back from running over pregnant ladies, I on coke and done terrible stuff. They do the punishment, they come back. And so I thought my two and a half years was enough and I'd be able to come back to UFC. But I get it. I get it.

I think they're in talks with the new broadcasting deal. I don't know if they don't want the attention and whatnot, but I'm in the prime of my career right now, man. I'm 27 years old. I'm ready to To fight again. I'm ready to get back in that in other words Do you think if you were a superstar champion right now that you'd be welcome back? 100% I would have fought a year ago. Does that piss you off? I've had a lot of time to think about stuff, Ariel.

Yeah. Like I said, I went through a dark time around this time last year. Like depressing thoughts, terrible thoughts, dark thoughts. Just... I'm in a much better headspace now. I'm much, much happier. That saying that cliche like things happen for a reason was tough to believe back then, right?

With all this shitty stuff's happening. But you know, a lot of things wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't have met the person I'm with now. My partner had I not got outed, I would have, if the suspension never happened, I would have never got outed because I would still, a lot suspension never happened, I would have never got outed because I would still, a lot of stuff that, like I'm in a good place now and you know, cry I never spilled milk isn't gonna help me in this situation.

And I'm able to compete again, man. Maybe it'll do what I love and I'm ready to do that. How did you get out of that? Because I was thinking of this. I remember the last time we spoke was in March of 23, when all of that happened to you and you came out and addressed everything. And I thought in a very admirable

and just a commendable way, an inspirational way, like you didn't hide from anything. There was nothing to be ashamed of, but it's like a lot, right? That wasn't on your terms. And then all of this happens and you're in the prime of your career and you're sitting on the sidelines and you probably think there's a double standard, right? Other people get away with a lot worse in your opinion.

And so how did you get out of the dark thoughts and in, in, in this kind of state here, how, how, how did that happen? Yeah, it wasn't easy, man. Uh, like I said, there, there was a very dark, dark time where I don't know if I was going to come out of it. Depressing dark thoughts of, you know, everything you can think of. It's not strictly somewhere right now, jerking off to the thought of someone else going through a struggle. Yeah, dude, it was tough. Yeah, it sucked. I think training helped me. I realized I had a direct correlation when

I was most depressed and when I wasn't training, I'm fucking laying in bed all day. And then obviously, I got outed. So I actually met my partner, the person I'm with now through Twitter. Being in a healthy relationship and getting to be myself. Obviously, back then, the worry was someone treating me different. The people I care about treating me different for something I can't control. Like that idea was terrifying, would make my stomach turn, but that didn't happen. And I know so many people that don't have the same experience that you get treated different that the people they care about and love treat them different. And that sucks, man.

That's terrible. That's the thing. And I do appreciate you having me on back then, man. I didn't know what would come from that, but it was nothing but a good thing as far as getting hundreds, if not thousands of DMs saying like I'm a role model and it's cool to have some representation amongst the elite organizations of fighting. Just that I was breaking down stigmas and barriers as far as people think of a gay dude and they're like, oh, they have to dress a certain way, they have to talk a certain way, they have to paint their nails, they have to wear dresses.

The messages and support I got made what I was going through all worth it. It was like, okay. At the time, I thought my life was ending. I was like, everything I love, my career is gone. Something I suppressed and feelings that I felt for so long. And I buried. I come out in the worst way possible. And it was terrible. But I think coming on your show, Ariel, and getting the messages I got, and hundreds of messages from other athletes, and actors, and like, like C-list celebrities telling me they're in the same spot where they're afraid to

come out and that me coming out, uh, help them in some sort of way from married men with kids to 16 year olds in high school with similar feelings and telling me that I've helped them in a certain way meant, uh, that's a lot. Wow. Uh, so I think that helped. And then obviously finding my partner who actually I met through Twitter, you know, he DM me after I came out and, you know, fast forward now we have a house me after I came out and, you know, fast forward now we have a house together. We're happy and yeah. Wow.

He's a great guy and I wouldn't want any other one. I'm really, really happy for you. I do have to give you props as well. Cause I see some people, you roll with the punches very well. They crack jokes on Twitter and you give it right back and you know, you laugh it off. Like there's some stuff that I think some people would be maybe offended by or whatever

and you just let it roll off your back. So kudos to you. I'm in. Thank you, brother. That's the way to do it. I think I'm getting more and more comfortable being who I am, right? Again, it's something I suppressed for so long. And I know so many people in the same boat would rather be quote unquote normal, right? Because

life's easier that way. If you don't have to deal with the stereotype and the way certain people think, unfortunately still in this society, it would be easier, right? I want to have kids in the future. And I hope, and it sucks that I have to say this, but I hope my son isn't gay for the fact that he wouldn't have to think about what other people might say. And I hope that society turns one day into something where it doesn't fucking matter. It's just, it's nothing. But people try to justify it with religion and other stuff, except, you know, we're all humans, man. We're all just trying to be happy.

And it shouldn't matter who, uh, who you lie in bed with. No. Um, so, uh, that being said, I'm becoming more and more comfortable with who I am. And, uh, yeah, uh, I still shoot the shit with my buddies. That was one worry I had was like, I want to still crack the same gay jokes for making like, I don't want anything to change. I'm shoot the shit with my buddies. That was one worry I had was like I want to still crack the same gay jokes We're making like I don't want anything to change. I'm still the same dude And none of that changed for me. So Yeah, I try to keep a sense of humor with it. Who's your team now? Like who do you train with? Yeah, I train at ignite

former glory location when this all happened that we had three there there was three Glory gyms and they all kind of branched off and changed their names. So this is formerly known as Glory Northland. It's now known as Ignite and Zach Cummings and Jason High are the coaches there. Okay. So Zach Cummings, ultra UFC vet, Jason High, UFC vet, BFL vet, everything that, um, there, there are coaches and they're awesome, man. They're, they're amazing coaches. And the Casey bandit, they see bandit. Yes.

Look at you, Ariel. Come on, man. I, I, I love Jason. Hi. So, so, and, and James Krauss not involved at all? No, no. Okay. Do you think there'll ever be a day where he is coaching you, cornering you? I don't think he wants it with the way stuff has like unfolded. Yeah, I don't fucking blame dude. That's why I say I really do think. So why is he why is he blackballed? Like if he was just giving. He caught the brunt of it.

And I think again, one because of the way stuff looks, the discord, him coming on your show and saying, oh yeah, I make good money. It looked terrible, dude. Like the FBI could paint the picture. No, dude, there was all this. I never realized, you know, the whole fake news narrative. Yeah. How fucking true that is, dude. Like until you're involved in it, journalists, like quote unquote journalists were tweeting Jeff Molina's house got raided and his computer is taken and Not none of that stuff ever happened Yeah outrageous not so no one from the FBI or from the the feds anything like that called you Investigated him

There are people there. I'll be honest. There are people calling me saying like he's's going to jail, all this stuff. None of that happened. No. Wow. No. Yeah. So this wasn't as big as it was being sort of made out to be. I mean, as far, I mean, I got a three year suspension from it. I think that's pretty big, but yeah,

I know what you mean, Ariel. Like jail time, like that's scary stuff. No. No. I mean, it's not, it was, I guess the code of conduct from. Like jail time. Like that's that's scary stuff. No, no. I mean, it's not. It was against the code of conduct from the UFC for me to wager on fights, but it's not legal to wager on fights. Sure.

And I'm sure there was an investigation done. But as far as I know, I've never got a call from anybody, any party. If anything, I had to make the calls to try to get this resolved. So do you think someone threw you under the bus? Possible. Yeah. Do you think so? I don't know. Like I said, I've had a lot of time to think. I've lost a lot of sleepless nights over this man. It's good to have a conclusion. But no, I don't know. Probably. I mean, I've also tried to do exactly what you're doing. It's like, how do you get involved in like, I've ran every possible thing through my head

and yeah, that's a possibility. Yeah. How did you, how did you make a living over the last couple of years? Hasn't been easy. Yeah. Just a little side jobs here and there. I was fortunate enough that I used the money I was making fighting smartly. James Krauss was my mentor, father figure. So my first bonus I put immediately into real estate, had multiple properties. So I was smart for

my money with my money, excuse me. And then doing a little side jobs here and there, coaching. But yeah, that's how I survived these last couple of years. Since you're not in the UFC anymore, has that has that a release like been official? Has it been finalized for all intents and purposes? Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Will you continue to bet on fights? Now that's open now.

Now that now I'm able to do that. If I decide to do that. Uh, and, uh, funny enough, I kind of have an act for it. Okay. Uh, so yeah, probably, um, were you betting on fights while suspended or while waiting your face because I thought I was still in the USC. Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it.

But that's the only thing is I wish I would have, you know, the drug test of this to that. Like I wish I would have known this. It would have helped me have some closure a while ago, but yeah, I'll probably now that I'm allowed to. I remember when I was actively betting on fights and it was perfectly allowed, I would spend 8 to 10 hours a week watching film, breaking down fights. I love the sport, dude. I'm obsessed. I've been obsessed since I was a 14 year old kid. All I do is watch fights. So I remember I'd watched 10 hours of film on fights. I'd watch low-level women's MMA fights, maybe for contender series or

something. It makes me want to scratch your eyes out watching some of these fights for hours on end. And it's not the highest skill level. And it's just to try to find an edge and find who's going to win. And then at the end of it, you're like, I don't know who's going to win still. So I would spend a lot of time and effort and I'd make notes and I was getting really good at it. And it was a good way to make money, man. Because like I said, this is all I know. Like I dropped out of college a semester before graduating to do this full time. And I've literally been obsessed with the sport since I was 14 years old. And that means watching tape every day, watching fights every day, just learning about the sport anyway I could on and off the mat.

You bet on other sports? No. No. No. I don't know anything about those sports. This is the only thing I know kind of in life. Well, I was gonna say like, now I'm even, I was gonna say I was like slightly offended. I'm even more offended.

You say you don't know anything about other sports and you come on my show wearing a Boston Celtics jersey. Jeff, what the hell, man? I hate the Celtics. What is this all about? I love the Celtics. I watch other sports. I just don't bet on it.

Okay, all right. Celtics are my team. Why? Why are they your team? I know you're a huge Knicks fan, Knicks fan, Ariel. And you know, we all make mistakes. Like I've said, well played, played, but hey, good luck in the, in these semis, yeah, that that's going to be a, that's going to be a doozy.

Um, so the, can you, by the way, can you do, cause you know, you can fight if you're suspended in the U S until November, you could fight overseas. You can, you could probably do grappling and stuff. Are you going to do anything between now and then? Yeah. So I've had a couple of grappling competitions throughout the suspension. And actually I can fight in the U S just just you know, some states do follow the Nevada fight a condition suspended under Nevada some don't some do their own thing. Um, so that being said, oh, I am super excited to announce I'm signing with BKFC. What?

Really? Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know this. I had a talk with Feldman this morning and I'm stoked man. Have you ever been to a BKFC? I have not but uh, they're smashing it. Yeah, yeah. I didn't know this. I had a talk with Feldman this morning and I'm stoked, man. Have you ever been to a BKFC, not Ariel? I have not, but they're smashing it.

I would recommend, man. It's the experience. I've been to dozens of UFCs. Some of the biggest cards. I went to the Sphere show. I've been to a bunch of UFCs. And I've been to probably four or five BKFCs. Nothing compares to BKFC. And I'm not just saying that because I've been to probably four or five BKFCs. Nothing compares to BKFC. And I'm not just saying that because I recently signed. The entertainment factors through the roof. There's nothing more exciting.

They had a guy shooting t-shirts like they do at a basketball game. And I thought that was so corny at first. And the next thing you know, I'm trying to reach for a shirt. The experience is super cool. The fights are as raw as they can get. I've always been fancied as a striker. I love grappling. I was at jiu-jitsu practice this morning.

That would be the only downside to me doing bare knuckle is I won't grapple while I'm in camp. But I think my style is perfect for this. Um, I think I can be the face of bare knuckle at 25 and even 35. Um, yeah. Uh, I really, I think I was made for the sport. Uh, sir, these fights can be pretty brutal and gruesome. Like I said, I've been to a handful of bare knuckles in LA, Denver, uh, here in Kansas city, Omaha.

Um, but I commentate with Sean Wheelock. He's a good friend of mine. He used to train his daughter when I was like 16, 17. Um, and he's been trying to get me to come over for awhile. Um, we, we commentate for show called FAC. Obviously he's the commentator for, for bare knuckle and, um, he's been trying to get me to come over. He thinks I could do really well over there and then after some time I was like yeah, fuck it, let's do it. I really think I can

be a two division champ. Like I said, I'm still, I'm 27 years old. I'm in the prime of my career. I've been training throughout this time and I'm ready to go. So when's your debut? Do you know? this time and I'm ready to go. So when's your debut? Do you know? Not yet, man. Not yet. Like I said, I had the talk with Feldman this morning and yeah, we came to terms and I'm excited, man. I'm ready to get back in there. Will you fight before November for them? Not sure. Not sure. Like I said, I know they go to like they have a Mohican song card. I could for sure fight in Connecticut. I could probably still, I could probably fight in Texas, you know, it's separate commission. I know I like out of respect, some commissions follow, uh, the Vegas commission, but these guys are going everywhere, man.

Bare knuckle I think is, uh, the future of, of combat sports. Uh, they're blown up. They were just in Dubai. They were in Florence last week. Um, yeah. Are you done with MMA now? They're blown up. They were just in Dubai. They were in Florence last week. Yeah. Are you done with MMA now? Or is this just like the bare knuckle chapter? That's a good question. Yeah, I don't know. Obviously, MMA was my first love,

but I think I could do some serious work in bare knuckle. I really do. I think I can be a two division champ there. So I've never been in a boring fight. I think again, my style suits bare knuckle and yeah, uh, who knows? I might, this could just be a side quest where I get a belt or two and then jump back into MMA. But right now my full focus is on bare knuckle. What's their, uh, betting policy. Do you know? I don't even know if there's a, you can bet on bare knuckle. What's their betting policy? Do you know? Will you let them bet on it? I'm not sure. I don't even know if there's a,

you can bet on bare knuckle. I don't know either. I don't know either, but just make sure, okay? Just do me a favor and make sure before you do anything. Yeah, I learned my lesson there. If you can, just ask them first if it's allowed. We don't want, you know, all this craziness to happen again.

This mess you guys have told me once. Yes, yes, exactly. Was there anything that we didn't cover that you wanted to get out there in this first chat. Yeah, told me once. Yes, yes, exactly. Was there anything that we didn't cover that you wanted to get out there in this first chat about all of this? No, bro, it feels good to finally be able to speak about all this. Again, I didn't know if I was gonna compete again

in the UFC or what it was, so I tried to keep my mouth shut. I did respond to one person on Twitter, but it was just because it bothered me the way you- I saw that. Jason actually, he writes a lot into our show. He's a friend of a show, I try to keep my mouth shut. I did respond to one person on Twitter, but it was just because it bothered me the way you insinuated that. I saw that Jason actually, he writes a lot into our show. He's a friend of a show, I would say. And I think he said that you deserve to be banned for life. And I saw your subsequent, which again, even in here,

here's the tweet, like you didn't call him a name. You didn't get to defend, like, I even thought your response was, you know, it was very level-headed. So I can imagine a lot has been said about you and to you kudos on handling. I mean, he's saying you should be banned for life and you're just coming back at him pretty even keel I thought. Yeah. Yeah. I think saying I should be banned for life for making a wager that is far from life changing.. It was crazy to say, it's like,

hey, isn't a three-year suspension enough? Saying I should never be able to do the sport that I love and sacrificed everything for, I thought was a little out there, especially knowing the mistakes that other people have made and have come back and had success. Again, I just think the way this all played out, the way it looked, the stuff that happened

like a month prior as far as being on the show, being on your show and talking about bets and all this stuff, I think it made it look fucking terrible. And I think that's why stuff unfolded the way I end up folding. Yeah. Well, I am sorry that this all happened. The last couple of years sound like they were very, very trying. And I'm sorry that you were in that tough spot, as you said, with the dark thoughts, but it seems like you're in a great place now. You seem very happy. You seem very content, very excited about the future. And that's the only thing you can focus on.

We had someone on our show, who was it? I don't even remember at this point. Oh, it was Lex Luger, the great Lex Luger, who said you could either be a front shield guy, what is the word that I'm looking for? You can either look when you're driving this way forward or you can look back, you know what I'm saying? Rear view mirror guy or a forward guy.

And it sounds like you get what I'm saying, right? You wanna be a forward looking guy. So kudos to you on that. Good luck. And I appreciate very much you coming on and talking to us first, breaking the silence and hopefully now you can move on from all of this. My man, thank you, Ariel. Once again, appreciate you having me on. You had me on, again, one

of the darkest times where people were not only attacking my character because I was this gambling mastermind, but on top of that, you know, stuff came out on the internet about my sexuality and whatnot. So you had me on during probably the toughest time of my life. And I appreciate that for, yeah, I appreciate you for that Ariel your genuine mentioned once again. Thank you. Thanks my man. All the best you and congrats on signing with BKFC as well My man, there he is Jeff Molina coming on to talk about a crazy story and Look, I'll be honest. It still does feel like there are some questions that need to be answered and those perhaps would be best directed towards Derek Minner, James Krause. They would be the key figures,

but there hasn't been any type of incident like this since that I recall. Have there been any crazy line movements? GC follows this stuff a lot closer. Not the way that it happened with the Derek Minter fight. Yeah. Your reaction? Yeah, he seems to have accepted the punishment

that he was handed down, and now he's moving forward with it. Yeah, I'm curious, I'm curious about what James does, and it sounds like Derek is going to fight as well. Sometimes I know about breaking news on the show. I did not know about the BKFC. That's big. I didn't expect it either. He's not too far off with the saying BKFC events are the most fun to go to. Did you get a t-shirt? I purchased one. Oh no, like from the gun? No, no, no no I bought a knuckle mania one though. Oh that's right You also can bet on BKFC so. Can or cannot? You can. Oh yeah.

Yeah, Tread lightly. The most, I believe Jeff Molina. Yeah. I think he was a relatively small player in this certainly He had his hands in kind of the running of it with with James Krause and things like that I think he was a small player in terms of this specific bet. The shocking revelation to me is that there was no federal investigation or anything that he was involved with. Now, maybe there was one that took place. Maybe this involves James Krause and others, but he is being treated as if he was a principal player in this. It almost supports his idea that I was not, you know, some front

man for this whole thing. The fact that there was no contact with him on the federal side and the fact that this was kind of just sitting there until he took the proactive measure to do it makes me think it just kind of like came and went. Nobody really cared in the way that the initial reaction. I'd also love to know how did the the line swing? That's the part. A big or multiple big ones. Whales were coming in. No I know but how did they find out? I think someone within the team told massive betters and probably got a portion of the winnings. And do we think Derek threw the fight? No. I don't think he

threw the fight but I think everyone knew that he was he was gonna lose going into it. I don't think you have to throw the fight you know. I think everyone knew that he was gonna lose going into it. I don't think you have to throw the fight, you know? I think when your knee or whatever it was is gonna compromise. There's a big difference between being like, I'm gonna give this a go, and I'm gonna fight my ass off on one leg, and I'm just gonna go and roll over. To be totally honest, man, it was very similar. It was worse, but it was very similar to the TJ Dillashaw...

But he fought his ass off. He clearly never tried to give up. He was just done and compromised. This was so quick that you could say like. Well, Rick asked me, he was like, did you have any money on this one when the line moved? And I was on Derek Minner money line pre-fight and then I had him at like, I don't know, plus 150 or whatever it was.

And then it skyrocketed up to like plus 300. I was like, that's probably not good. And then the fight started and it was just like, oh yeah, he's. Did you cash out when it moved? No. No. You rode with your boy. Respect.

If you're, I guess, I guess. It's a fucking dead on arrival bet. It was a complete donation. The reality is anybody could walk into a UFC fight and just decide, I don't want to fight. Anybody could, you don't have to be compromised. You don't have to be. But it's the two, it's right, it's the big swing.

As he said, the optic. Well, the big swing is because of the bets. And the big swing is because somehow somebody had knowledge that he was not, that he was compromised. But anybody on any night could walk into any fight and do that. And so there has to be enforcement and regulation and things in place.

And I would expect that this is a teaching moment for, hey, we should have investigated this. The fact that Jeff Molina was not in any way contacted by any federal agencies or anybody to do that is kind of startling to me. There's a few startling things. Also, like Nevada just ignoring him. The guy leaves

office and the attorney general that he was dealing with his office and he is just in the wind. What about him getting released now? Like why didn't he just get released from the beginning? Well that part I don't know. It sounded to me the way he described it that he asked for the release. I don't know if they were intending to release him right? He said he talked to Hunter and asked for it so maybe neither side had kind of come to that conclusion yet But it's kind of irrelevant because he was not gonna fight until November November anyway

Gentlemen we talked more about this, but we have a heart out of 348 so we got to get go. Oh wow alright. We got Golly gets me every time Suda know, GC, heartbroken over your departure from the UFC, oh, yeah. What's this, what's this? Yeah, he's out. Yeah, he's gone. Golly, when did this happen? One of three, last four, last night, last night.

Missed it. Played the taps. Well, commiserations. Yeah, it's fine. And we look forward to him. We can fight our way back. Yeah. Oh, because he wouldn't be bad.

Sean Brady's boy and because he was Georgian. That's right. That's right. No, no more jokes. There will be another bald man with a beard that'll join the OC in short order. And I'll just still have that ref. Yeah. We still will always have the ref.

What else? Louis C says, hi Ariel. Are there any women wrestlers outside of the WWE and outside of the WWE's main roster that you'd like to interview? Oh, yes. There's Toni Storm, she's tremendous in AEW. Maria May is tremendous as well.

There's a few in NXT, uh, Cora Jade is great. Uh, the Rock's daughter. Does that count as WWE? I guess it's NXT. Uh, TNA has some, some good ones as well. TNA just signed Indy Hartwell. Am I impressing you guys with my knowledge here? I mean, I could go deep.

So yes, of course. Yeah, for sure, man. James Tuhunan. Oh, fuck. Shout out, shout out to the big man. Your knowledge knows no bounds. Yes, thank you, thank you. What else?

Mo M, favorite NYC neighborhoods and how to make friends in city. How to make friends in New York City? I have no idea, I have no friends. Book clubs. Shout out. Gym, maybe. Sometimes people don't wanna be friends at the gym.

Try to get on like one of those New York urban professional leagues. Rick and I used to play, no, why, why? The only way to make friends in New York is you head nod somebody, and then the next day you head nod them, and then eventually, after enough head nods, now you're friends.

They place you on a team, you hang out with them. Stand on the subway platform and says, who wants to be my friend? Yeah, that's a good way. You go to a bar. I was gonna say, you go out and drink, and you'll meet them. Just make sure you bring the pocketbook.

New York is a drinking city. Meet the locals, but you head nod enough times, you'll drink and you'll meet. Just make sure you bring the pocketbook. New York is a drinking city. Meet the locals, but you had not enough times you'll finally become that person's friend. Best neighborhood though, West Village. Love it. Wow. I'm more of an Upper East Side guy myself. You're a Staten Island guy. Oh. Okay.

What else? Lastly, California Driving. What's a song you love but are embarrassed about? Oh, so I did my, it's funny that this individual would ask, I did my vlog for my trip to Green Bay, and I mentioned in one of the videos that I actually referenced you, Frank, in, because I wasn't wearing my lav, and I referenced-

What's yours now? I referenced that I love listening to Avril Levine and I got some stick for that which one why you gotta go and make a thing so complicated I feel the way you're acting like is I'm gonna else mother be frustrated when you go when you show. We just got a DMCA too. Love Avril, but I'm not embarrassed of listening to Avril, so. And yet when that question was asked,

that's what came to mind. Well, because it was just a thing that came up. I love listening. You think you should be embarrassed? No, no, proud Canadian, fantastic. I'm a fan of the goo goo dolls recently really yeah Big metal blade records attendees. Yep. Yeah, I'm a big ABBA guy ABBA's great That's my embarrassing wait this one that's a bear

That's Vanity Silva song sandstorm That's like that's like an iconic. Let's take a song. Let's take you to a There's no need to be embarrassed. That's like that's like an iconic MMA song. Let's take you to a Metallica enter Sandman I was I was thinking Virginia Tech does the sandstorm before the game Dorian Strong shout out 40 Yes, that's by the way you you reference that song in MMA circles you're alleged like you're you know ball It's different around these, you know No, all right Gentlemen, thank you very much for the questions. We do have to go We have a show coming up five o'clock on the diso boxing YouTube channel

Seems like the song came in like mid song almost to save time I do want to let you know very excited about tomorrow's show. Why why or perhaps I should say what? What the rattlesnake himself. You talk about your John 316, Austin 316 says I just whooped your ass. Stone Cold Steve Austin on the program, not just Stone Cold. The big man Eddie Hall on the program, not just Eddie Hall. My old friend Quinton, Rampage Jackson, a banger of a Wednesday. Others as well going to join us.

Oh, yeah. The aforementioned Patrice Evra, former captain of Man United in France, the captain of the entire country going to join us about to make his PFL debut. Patrice Evra, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Eddie Hall and Rampage. That's a banger right there. Wow. Talk about about a what is it what does that thing called when people say that oh you be passing you the the pass you know it's the the puff puff pass what is it called

named after the guy talking about little circle named after Ben no not the Venn diagram on vent the puff puff you say Dream blunt rotation Someone out there has that Patrice Evra rampage action so close to the wall I love how they're making a circular motion with your finger means blunt rotation. It's a circle. It's a circle What a day was today on the program. Thank you to Jeff Molina. Thank you to Eddie Hearn Thank you to the great Ryan Garcia as well. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to all of them. We're back in a little over an hour. Go check us out there until the same time. Peace. I'm out of here.