The Ariel Helwani Show - Ryan Garcia, Tom Aspinall vacates, Michael 'Venom' Page, Michael Chandler, Ade Oladipo, news & notes, weekend recap

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by reacting to Tom Aspinall vacating his UFC heavyweight title, delivering a timeline of events leading to the announcement, discussing Aspinall’s future, and more (08:00).Attention turns to what next for interim champion Ciryl Gane (38:45) and TKO’s weekend takeover, including the aftermath of Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn (49:44).WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia returns after stealing the show this weekend, talking about his newfound maturity, the brutal knockout of Conor Benn, overcoming mental health hurdles, what it was like to work with Dana White and Zuffa Boxing, Oscar De La Hoya not attending the event, having one fight left on his Golden Boy contract, his rivalry with Devin Haney, a potential rematch against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, and more (1:30:45).Michael "Venom" Page is back to discuss his UFC exit, feeling disrespected by the promotion, finding out he wouldn’t be re-signed, how he reflects on his UFC career, potential landing spots and offers he’s received, and more (2:02:02).Michael Chandler returns to talk about his experience on the White House card, handling recent struggles, being motivated to continue fighting, training at the WWE Performance Center, still potentially fighting Conor McGregor, his opportunities outside the cage, and more (2:33:30).Old friend Ade Oladipo stops by to recap Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn fight week, including his conversation with Dana White, Garcia’s knockout of Benn, Benn’s future, Garcia’s star power, Garcia potentially fighting Terence Crawford, David Benavidez getting in the ring after Jai Opetaia’s win, White’s continued rivalry with Eddie Hearn, and more (3:08:06).Ariel and crew recap more action from the weekend, including Jean Silva’s submission of Jose Delgado, as well as impressive wins by Brandon Moreno and Tommy McMillen at Noche UFC, Dana White’s vitriol for Francis Ngannou, Conor McGregor reflecting on the Max Holloway loss, and more (3:48:23).The show wraps up with Super Chats (4:23:09).

Lazy! Welcome to the Earth Monday, September 14th, 2000. And 26, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is great to be here on a lovely Monday afternoon in New York City. New York City is sort of the epicenter, at least for one day, of the MMA world, because later today, at 6 p.m. Eastern, Scott Coker and his crew, a lot of them some old faces who's been working with for quite some time, who he's had on his team for quite some time, from the K-1 days to the Strike Force days to the Bellator days and everywhere else

in between at 6 o'clock. So in about five hours from now, they'll be formally announcing their new promotion, some of their plans. I don't think distribution. I don't even know if any fighters will be announced, but I do know that some old friends will be there, some you know, legends that he's worked with in the past. The likes of Fyodor Emilianenko, I know in attendance, I think Tyrone Woodley in attendance. Names like that, but I don't know if these are going to be fighters who will be competing for him come 2027.

My biggest question is distribution. We'll see if we get that answer later today, but I'll be in attendance. I'll go from here to there later today. So it feels like a big day in the world of MMA, especially here in New York. It was a massive weekend in the world of combat sports, especially for TKO.

And we're going to talk about every single, component from Triplemania to Noce UFC to of course Ryan Garcia versus Conner Ben. We have some massive, massive breaking news to get to at the very top of the show. So stay tuned for that. We have incredible guests today. So much to discuss. We've got about 90 or so minutes off the top of the show to talk about all the news and notes.

So if you're a fan of just the banter, this show is for you. I just got back from Montreal last night. I was there for Rosh Hashanah. If you celebrated, I hope it was a great holiday for you. I'm wishing you all a happy and sweet New Year. Even if you don't celebrate, I'm wishing the world a happy and sweet New Year. Anytime I go home, I feel re-energized. I feel refueled. Most of it due to my mom's great cooking. I just feel high on life. And that's the version of me that you are getting today. My heart is in a great place. My mind is in a great place and I can't wait to get into today's program. I want to let you know. Off the bat, today's show, as always, always brought you by our good friends over at Kalshi. You know we love Kalshi around these parts. There's the QR code. It is an exchange where you can trade on what you actually think is going to happen. Sports, politics, culture, whatever is on your mind. You're going up against other traders directly. There's no house setting the odds. It's just people putting their own opinions on the line. Trade $25. With the code Helwani right now, they'll throw in another $25 instantly

trade responsible. Kalshi. K-A-L-S-S-A. H-I, K-A-L-S-H-I. Let them know we sent you. Use the code Halwani. Appreciate them very, very much. Oh, in addition to those good vibes, Forrest with the Big Win at Villa, Bills with the Big Win at Houston.

Oh, my God, what a weekend for your boy, Halwani. It is a great time to be alive. Back into the show, Adela-Dipo going to join us. He was in Las Vegas for Garcia-Benn. he got to interview Dana White. Maybe a sign of your boy getting to interview him one day in the near future. Oh, we should be so lucky.

He got to sit down with White before the fight, I think on Thursday. He was in attendance. We'll talk to him about Garcia Ben. I'm going to talk about it as well with the squad front end of the show. Prior to that, we're going to be joined by the great Michael Chandler. I've been bothering Michael Chandler for quite some time about his future. His whereabouts. Didn't speak to him before the White House fight?

Didn't speak to him after the White House fight? As far as my dealings with Michael Chandler, this is actually one of the longest breaks. He usually comes on. He wanted to lay low. We'll talk to Michael Chandler at 3.30 Eastern at 3 o'clock in his first interview since parting ways with the UFC. You know by now six fights with the UFC,

five and one in the organization. Juan is last four in a row. Michael Venham Page is now a free man. We'll speak to MVP at 3 o'clock. clock. So stay tuned for that. And this has just come through the wire. Am I good to say this, Rick, or am I not good to say this? Feels like we're good to say it. I feel like we're okay. Ryan Garcia going to join us at 2.30. That just added. So it may not be on the graphic, may not be on the thumb, but that's what they're telling us. So let's see. That is tremendous. Now, you see, we can recap right over there. John Silva with the big win over Jose Delgado. What a fight. What a performance. What a submission. You saw the Tom Aspinall thing to the right of that. I will get to that in a moment. But before I get to Tom Aspinall, let me speak about the one sort of sad bit of news that we received over the course of the last 48 or so hours. In my opinion, one of the greatest Canadian fighters, and I stress fighters, I don't distinguish between

MMA or boxing in this regard. One of the greatest Canadian fighters of all time, George Chavallo passed away over the weekend. And if you are unfamiliar with George Chavallo, let me tell you a little bit about him. I wrote some stuff down. As I said, great Canadian fighter, five-time Canadian heavyweight champion, two-time world heavyweight title challenger. He was most famous, perhaps, for his fight against Muhammad Ali, in which I have the poster right over there, March 29th, 1966. He fought Muhammad Ali at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. You see it right over here. That's how much... There it is, right there. And there he is. Ali's right there. That's been in the studio since we got here. And the reason why I picked that poster, obviously I wasn't around in 1966.

If you were a fight fan, and I wish Russ Amber was here today to talk about him, if you were a fight fan in Canada, you knew and respected George Chavalo because he fought Ali, he fought Joe Frazier, he fought George Foreman. Did he beat them? No, but he had 93 professional fights and was never knocked down, never knocked down in 93 professional bouts. It's really remarkable when you consider the fact that he fought as a heavyweight and he fought against those kinds of heavy weights. One of the greatest fighters of all time, unfortunately, throughout his life just absolutely decimated with tragedy. Three of his children, wife, all succumbing to drugs and suicide throughout different points of his career.

He tried to be a beacon of light, tried to be a great example for the youth, for those who had been suffering with addiction, with mental health issues, and he passed away at the age of 89 on September 12. So just two days ago, I wanted to send my condolences to his family, to his friends. That man is an absolute legend. Never had the honor of speaking to him or meeting him, but if you grew up in Canada as a fight fan, you knew George Chavallo, you respected George Chavallo, and you loved the fact that one of our own went in there toe to toe with the likes of Ali Frazier and Foreman and won the Canadian heavyweight title five times. May he rest in peace. May his memory be a blessing. And I would be remiss if I don't start today's program without giving him

some kind of acknowledgement. There's been a ton of great stories and articles. Shouted to Steve Simmons, wrote a great one that I read yesterday, written about him, and I urge you all to check it out and learn more about one of the all-time greats. We stick with the heavyweight division, and we stick with heavyweights, and we stick with someone who I do believe will be an all-time great by the time his career is all said and done. But by now you probably have heard, and you probably woke up to the news, that Tom Aspinall is no longer the UFC heavyweight champion. It's devastating news, it's heartbreaking news, and to a degree in many respects after what has happened over the course of the almost one year since his injury

and the double eye poke against surreal gun, it's tragic news because here's a guy who has his whole career ahead of him, has his whole future ahead of him, and really had to be very, very patient to become the king of the UFC heavyweight division. And then, and disaster struck. And so we have a lot to get into here. First things first, I want to read to you, in case you missed it, what he posted early this morning, now nine hours ago. So early morning in the UK, super early here on the east coast of the United States. This is what Tom Aspinall wrote.

Anything you read in the media is simply noise. People are creating their own narratives. This is the truth. Ongoing complications with my eyes mean I cannot get medically cleared to fight. right now. I've had multiple surgeries, accidents, and infictions, and done everything possible to get back to competing. I had previously agreed to a fight date and was back sparring, feeling great and ready to compete when an accident caused further damage to my right eye. This means more time away from the sport, and right now, the timing of my return is unclear. I know there have been

questions about why I've been quiet. I've always followed the advice of the UFC and focused on my recovery while we've tried to make this happen. I've now made the decision to vacate. the heavyweight title. I've asked the UFC to allow me to make this statement because I don't want to hold up the heavyweight division anymore. I know what's, I know what it's like to have your career put on hold, and I want the other fighters to have the opportunity to compete for the title. The UFC and Hunter have been, Hunter Campbell, that is, have been informed every step of the way and have seen the tests, procedures, and medical information relating to my eyes. We have worked closely with different doctors and specialists to try to make my return happen, but unfortunately,

it's simply not possible right now. I'm absolutely gutted. I've chased this dream since I was 10 years old. I'm not done. Stepping away from the title is not stepping away from the sport or the dream. I'll continue doing everything I can to get healthy, get cleared, and get back to competing as soon as possible. What makes this particularly difficult is that many of the complications I'm dealing with are a result of fouls that change the course of my career. Fighters rely on officials to enforce the rules and protect us in those moments, and it's hard to still be dealing with the consequences today. Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this absolute nightmare. I'll be back as soon as I'm medically cleared and able to be Tom.

Now he also posted on his IG story. This, thank you for your continued support. I'll be stepping away from social media and letting my media team handle things for the foreseeable future while I focus on getting medically cleared to fight. I'll still be working with my sponsors and I'm incredibly grateful for their continued support. and understanding. Champion, and he puts out a couple of other sponsors there, CloudBet, Zappley, and there's one other which I can't read, see you all soon. And so there's the word from Tom. Truth be told, I actually reached out to Tom yesterday because I saw in the Post-Fight press conference for the Ryan Garcia-Connor Ben Fight that Dana White was asked about Tom Aspinall. And I felt like

the tone had shifted a bit and I felt like something was imminent. I'm not trying to be. I'm not to be the guy, say like, oh, I knew this for quite some time. But after seeing this particular answer from Dana White yesterday, it felt like something was coming. I'll explain why after you watch the clip. Valentina Shavchenko just vacated her title due to an injury. She's obviously going to be out for a while. Probably doesn't want to tie up the division. Tom Aspernel next month, it'll be a year since he last fought.

Do you think that he should maybe consider vacating his title or have there been any discussions internally or maybe stripping him until he's ready? Yeah, we'll definitely be talking about that. And, you know, it's one of those. Like Valentina doesn't want to tie up the division. And I'm assuming Tom feels the same way. You know, I don't know personally where he is health-wise with everything. But, yeah, we should clear that up soon.

So when he said we should clear that up soon, it felt to me like something was coming. And I reached out to Tom and I asked him, and he did give me a heads up that something was coming. but didn't give me much details. What he did say was he was not going to be doing any media for the foreseeable future, and there's no hard feelings there whatsoever. I totally understand he writes the word nightmare, and I can't imagine what it's been like. Forget the fact that he can't compete.

Forget the fact that he can't earn a living, the way he wants to earn a living. I'm sure he's being supported by his sponsors and he's doing just fine. But he's in pain. And he's not just in pain as we, you know, like, okay, my hip hurts, like, that's your eyes. That affects your relationship with your family. That affects being able to pick up your kids.

That affects being able to drive, being the best version of yourself. And of course, as a fighter, if you can't see, if you have problems with your eyes, that's a major, major issue. That is career halting, life changing. And so I can't imagine reaching the very top of his profession, reaching the very top of the sport, and then all of a sudden having to say, I need to walk away now, here's the belt. And so first things first, Tom Asperall deserves a ton of credit

because there are some people who would probably hold on to the belt as long as they possibly could, kicking and screaming, and say, look, I had to wait for this guy, I had to do this, I had to defend my interim title, I don't want to give this thing up

unless you force me to. That's not what happened here. Rest assured, that is not what happened here. In fact, what I was told was he wanted to make this announcement about three, four weeks ago and was told, just wait, just wait, just wait. And it was his decision. No gun was put to his head. No ultimatum was presented to him. He wanted everyone else to fight for the, you do your thing. I just want to be able to fight for it

when I come back. And I feel like that's a very, very fair deal, a very fair compromise. So I think he deserves a lot of credit for that. I think the UFC deserves a lot of credit for not usurping his announcement for once they let the guy make the announcement. And I think that says a lot about how Hunter Campbell in particular, who I know is the main one dealing with the Aspenols on this, I think it says a lot about how he, Hunter, feels about Tom and his father, who I know they've had a great relationship over the years dealing with him. I think that was a really, really great thing that they did for Tom. They don't always do that. We saw, you know, not too recently, Valentina. It's just sort of like a throwaway announcement at a press conference, and that's that.

Not the case here. They let Tom make the announcement. And for whatever reason, they didn't want him to make it last week, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, but they let him put out the story, put out the narrative. Now, I understand some people are anointing surreal gun as of right now the undisputed champion. The UFC has not commented on this as of this second. They may by the time this shows over, they made the next 10 minutes, 20 minutes. They have not commented on this. So there is a chance that they say, hey, Cyril Gine is going to fight either Alex Pereira or Josh Hoka. We suspect those are the two candidates and the winner will be crowned UFC undisputed champion. There's a chance they just make him the champion. Historically, they usually

make the interim champion the champion, but this is a weird one. It's a weird one because the guy who is the interim champion is also the guy who foul. the guy who was forced to give up this belt. I'm not trying to paint Surreal Gan as a bad guy. I'm not trying to say he's a dirty cheat. I'm not saying any of that. But the facts are the facts. In this fight in Abu Dhabi last October,

he poked him two fingers in the eyes. That's the injury that led to this moment. Of course, in the interim, he beat Alex Pereira in June at the White House to become interim champion. That's what makes this unique. When GSP became middleweight champion and vacated the title,

and Robert Whitaker was the, the interim champion, Robert Whitaker didn't force GSP out. When Tom Aspinall became undisputed champion, when he was interim champion because John Jones was going to defend any longer, Tom Asperall didn't force John Jones to walk away, so to speak. That's what makes this unique.

If I were to bet, yeah, they probably make Sorrel Gan the undisputed champion. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they say, okay, Serilgan's the interim champion until he fights so-and-so for the belt in November, and then the winner of that will become champion. And to be honest, last week, when I saw Alex Pereira come out

and really start to push for a surreal gun rematch, it made me think, does he know something that we don't know? Why is he doing this all of a sudden? Because if Tom was coming back, obviously Tom is next. There is no chance in hell

that they were going to do Pereira v. Gone before Aspinall versus Gone if Aspinall was ready. He started pushing this on Monday of last week, Labor Day, and I started to think to myself, does he know something here? Is there something going on? And so the big question is, when does this happen? November or December, it has to be? And is it Pereira versus Gan? Or is it Hokit versus gone? We could get into all of that in a moment. But let's talk about the Tom Aspinall situation.

You'll recall he got the injury in October. And he was very forthright. He was very transparent with everything that he had been through via his YouTube channel, probably more forthright and transparent than any fighter had ever been in the immediate aftermath of an injury. I mean, he showed us a lot. The hospital visits, the doctor visits, everything. And that might have been a blessing and a curse because it felt like some fans felt like he was trying to overcompensate

by showing us so much, by being so open with the process that they're like, what are you trying to hide? What's the deal with this? We've seen eye pokes before. Why is this one so bad? Why are you not coming back? Why can't you fight in two months? Why can't you fight in three months?

What's the problem here? Of course, not every eye poke is the same. You have no idea what's going on when a finger goes into the eye. You don't know what's being damaged, the cells, the retina. You have no idea. But this led to a lot of criticism. And it was never fair. It was never right.

But he had to take it on the chin. You'll remember that our own PTC Carroll was with him in February when he had double eye surgery. So that was the first time that he had to literally go under the knife to correct the issues that had been caused from the double eye poke on the right eye and on the left eye. I wrote some stuff down here because I want to get this right. So bear with me. So here's the timeline of what has happened to Tom Aspernel based on my conversations. And I would check in with him and his team quite often because this was obviously a really, really big story and a very, very serious one that affected not only his fighting career. but his personal life as well.

So he gets the double eye surgery back in February. Following the double eye surgery, he got an infection on the right eye in which he had to take antibiotics and medicine of all kinds for six weeks to try to correct that. Then he scraped that eye by accident, obviously. An infection reoccurred

and he had to have another surgery on the right eye to heal the infection. So that was now his third surgery, second on the right eye. In the meantime, the left eye was getting a lot better to the point where now I'm told the left eye is perfectly healed and good to go. The right eye is the problem. In June, as you know, Cyril Gan beats Alex Pereira. He becomes interim champion. You'll recall in the immediate aftermath, Aspiram was coming out there saying I want to fight him in September in Paris they said no

UFC said that's not going to happen and we all kind of knew that wasn't going to happen because you know they're not going to have a heavyweight title fight for a fight night the next one was Abu Dhabi a year later let's do it UFC said they had the two final two title fights booked it felt like that was going to be enough

can't have three title fights what's the point they said no to Abu Dhabi the latest plan was Madison Square Garden, which we all were kind of thinking was going to, I remember when they announced MSG is like, all right, if it's not going to be Abu-D, it has to be MSG. And let's be honest, MSG, if it's Aspenol versus Gunn, and then a week later for TKO, it's Fury AJ. When we thought Furyy AJ was a done deal for MSG, made all the sense in the world.

So they all kind of agreed on MSG, and my understanding was everyone was in a great place. By the way, in case you're wondering, the Eddie Hearn stuff really hasn't come up all that much from what I'm told. Meaning, Eddie Hearn is not on the phone with Hunter Campbell or Dana White or anything.

It's more of a, you know, from a sponsorship standpoint. The way it was really presented to us and from a consulting standpoint, but as I told you from the beginning, the UFC can pick and choose whomever they speak to.

And because Hunter has always had a very good relationship with the Aspinols, I suspected that I was going to remain the same in terms of the lines of communication, and that was the case. So as he's starting to prepare

for the November date at Madison Square Garden, he's preparing, he's sparring, he's training, he gets hit. The eye starts to act up. And essentially, for all intensive purposes, the right eye goes all the way back to square one. Now he can't train, can't see periphery, black spots, mess of a situation. Informs the UFC. Chills for a month, goes in for a scan. Scan was very bad. results were not good goes in for another scan ufc is is aware of all of this they're even helping to facilitate the appointments and whatnot doctor refuses to clear him says you are not 100% that eye is in a very very bad spot goes to get a second opinion relatively recently doctor says i cannot

sign off on this this right eye is is a pretty big problem uh the health the the the the cells have to rejuvenate, they have to heal. Left eye is good, as I said, the right eye, which has had two surgeries on it at this point. Second one caused by the infection after it was scraped, needs to heal. They're now telling him that he needs to come back in January, that he just needs to wait. He needs to let the eye heal, rest up, don't get hit, don't get scraped, don't have any issues, come back in January and hopefully that's enough time for the cells to rejuvenate, regenerate, and get back to 100%. If they don't, that could mean a fourth surgery and a third on the right eye, which would

obviously be devastating. It feels like there is hope, there's confidence that at some point next year he can return. But it also felt like just take it. Take this thing. Take this belt. Do your thing. Figure it out. Once the belt is yours, the questions can hopefully go away. The spotlight goes away. Let me just get back to 100%. And then as the uncrown champion, I come back and I fight the champion. And so as I said, no ultimatum, no gun being pointed. And at some point, you knew the UFC was going to have to make a decision of some kind because they need titles to be defended. I give Dana White a lot of credit as well. In that moment when he's talking at the press conference, He knew what was up. He could have blurted it out. And perhaps he didn't want to blurt it out because he didn't want to overshadow the great night that they had not only in Vegas, but Glendale as well. Perhaps he didn't want that to be the talking point coming out of Saturday night because it would have been the biggest new story coming out of Saturday night.

And so maybe he just kind of, if you read between the lines there, like something's coming. We have to make a decision. Tom doesn't want to hold up. You see, he knew exactly what was up. This decision had been made before that press conference. It didn't get made yesterday or this morning. But I give him credit for having enough respect for Tom for allowing him to make his own announcement.

That's the way it should be. He's the heavyweight champion of the world. And so I'm happy they did that. So credit to the UFC brass, credit to Hunter Campbell, Dana White, and credit to Tom for saying, I don't want to hold up this division, this weight class. Here's the belt. Let me go back to 100%. It's heartbreaking.

It's tragic. But it's the right thing to do. It's been almost a year. It's been almost a year. He won't be better by the time it is a year and then some. And so the division can move on. But do you understand now how serious this was? I know.

I know that there are people online that will never believe this. I know that there are people who will be naysayers. But it's like I always say, the people who you go into the comments on YouTube, you go into the comments on Instagram and you see the trolls, the naysayers, the people are being like, what about this? What about that? This isn't true. You're a wuss, whatever, whatever.

and I always think to myself, have I ever been compelled, even when, even when I have disagreed with something or someone, have I ever been compelled to leave a comment on YouTube or Instagram? I'm not trying to disparage those who leave nice, positive comments, but to troll, to be negative, to just like say like, oh yeah, you're a wuss, you massive 265-pound man who got double eye poked to the eye. You're afraid of getting hit, even though you've devoted your entire life to this since you're 10 years old, and the idea of becoming. you're going to willingly give up the title because he just got poked in the witty-bitty eye? No, of course I would never be compelled to do that. And so it just speaks to the type of person that would be compelled to do that. And that's why I say to Tom Aspinall and his team, don't pay any mind to those stupid comments. Taking a break from social media, taking a break from YouTube, taking a break from media in general, doing interviews, totally understand. And I think that takes a lot of strength and maturity and much respect for doing that.

but I hope that anyone who thought that he was like a little bit faking this, that this whole injury was a little bit suspect, that it was a little bit weird. What do you mean you got poked in the eye and you can't fight in three, four months? I hope you now feel some sort of way about this. And I hope you now fucking believe the guy after all this time that he was dealing with a nightmare of a situation. Not all eye pokes are the same. And if you want to end up like certain other fighters who can't see out of their right eye, then God bless you.

But clearly Tom Aspinall doesn't want to be one of those guys. and if your doctor and a second opinion doctor doesn't want to sign off, well, then you're fucked. Now you can't do anything. If doctors aren't going to sign off on you, and I guess you could lie and make shit up, but he doesn't want to, and I think that's the right move, now you can't get clear to fight. No commission will allow you to fight. Unless you're going to go fight in a jurisdiction where there isn't a commission and it's a little bit com si com sa. And those certainly exist. He's doing it the right way because of his family.

because of his life, because of his way of life, and all that stuff and more. And so there's the timeline, and there's the story. And so let me bring in the other guys to react to this as well. We have much to discuss. Pizzi, Rick, G.C. Pizzi, you were there in February. You were there, bird's eye view, front row seat, double eye surgery. You were the only one there from the media.

Your reaction to all of this. Yeah, I mean, you covered in terms of the reaction of pockets of this fan base, mostly online, I'd say mostly on X as well. People who were disputing that this has happened. I genuinely question, you know, obviously we know where it came from. There was kind of some comments made earlier, but I'd agree with you that I think Diane has handled this very well over the last couple of weeks when it's been brought up. I think, like, let's be selfish for a moment and think about us, the M.A. consumer here,

this is terrible. Like, Tom Aspinall is an incredible talent. And we were looking at him as a guy, who could redeem this division. This is a division that's been fraught with situations where the champion cannot defend the title. This guy is praying to fight, is begging to fight, is taking short notice opportunities to fight,

and putting himself in danger, basically, to prove that he is the greatest warrior in this division. Obviously, this happens, and now we don't know when he's coming back. And when I wrote that article back in February, I can remember talking to you on the phone and said, I really don't know. Like, it's way more serious than I thought it was. He couldn't dry.

his kids to school. There was two immaculate cars in his driveway hadn't been touched. Charlie coming around to pick him up his assistant, the guy who works on all the videos with his podcast, etc. He basically became his right arm during this time. So it's a terrible thing for us, people who consume the sport and people who watch the sport because this guy's amazing. What is worse on what you've pointed out here and what we've known about since February is the amount of false dons, that they had where they thought everything was coming together and it was they were about to fight. And this happens with all kinds of things. But for example, my uncle has had a hip operation a year ago.

He's been back in hospital three times getting it done again and done again. When you have a procedure like that on a part of your body, it will not react as it normally would. And unfortunately for Tom, this has been the case. The infections that keep coming back, it's devastating. It's absolutely devastating. All they want to do is put this behind them and get back. in the Octagon and it just continues to happen. I think it's novel what he's done.

I think the UFC have been very noble in the way they've received the news too that he's going to step back and let this play out. But again, like, I put it up today. Like, do you believe him now? And I still have the same people. He didn't get fucking LASIC surgery. We've talked about it at nauseam at this point. He was basically getting scar tissue blasted off his fucking eyes by these lasers.

It's not LASIC. And I'm devastated as a good. guy who consumes a sport. I'm devastated for Tom and Andy and Charlie who've always been so open with us and as you said, who were more transparent than anyone has ever been with an injury in this case. And look, let's

see how it plays out, but I think it's absolutely devastating news for MAA in general. Rick, what do you think? Yeah, like Pizzi, you know, a very similar progression of thoughts, right? Like, you know, can't imagine the feeling of Tom being in that position,

knowing what he's going through, seeing the sentiment online in the early days of it even now and wondering, like, do I, do I even want to come back to this? Thinking about, like, what is this all for when this is the kind of stick I'm getting? And I'm the one who is on the receiving side of the foul in this scenario. And then I go to selfishly like, you know, to this point in the heavyweight division, we never got John versus Francis. we never got John versus Tom

who knows at what point if ever we get Tom versus Cyril again like the whole thing has just been mucked up by this very unfortunate circumstance and all these things and then I return and then you circle back to just feeling for Tom and wanting him to be able to live his life

and be his best like Tom fighting again is probably the last thing on his mind and at this point has become the last thing on my mind like we've all tried to will of Tom Aspinall versus Serilgan rematch into existence because we all want it so desperately. And we all want to see the resolution. We all want to see this egregious kind of thing righted, whether it be Tom wins or Tom loses. But we want to see it not be the way that it is. And unfortunately, we just have to sit with that discomfort, much like Tom does. We have to just sit in this

and recognize that this is our reality, our unfortunate reality. And so it sucks. It freaking sucks. And the UFC's heavyweight division has never been in a weirder spot. But we must move on. But yes, like number one, first and foremost always hope Tom gets better for his life. Forget the fighting part of it. G.C., I'm going to ask you in a moment what you think about all this, but Rick just alluded to it. So let me just quickly remind people about this particular journey. November 11, 2023, Tom Aspernel wins the interim title here in New York City at UFC 295 with a first round knockout of Sergey Pavlovich.

He then defends that title, July 27, 2024, middle of the night. in Manchester. November 16th, 2024, so what, four months later, John Jones beat Steepi Mietich. And we think, okay, is he going to fight? This is 2024 we're talking about. We're talking about almost two years now since that John Jones fight at Madison Square Garden. All this time, he could have been champion. All right. June of 2025, John Jones retires. Aspinall becomes undisputed champion. You remember the 30 million? Yes, I'm in, I'm out. Yes, I'm out. That whole nonsense. October of 2025, Aspernel Gan, fight to the no contest, double eye poke, you know what happens then. Gun wins the interim title, June 14th, and then today, September 14th. So it's almost

three years, minus two months in between that interim title win all the way to today. Four hundred and 50 days. Tom vacates the title after 450 days and one title defense, the no contest. John Jones held the title for 840 days with only one title defense against DiPayevich. Pretty crazy. And that's, you know, we could get into like the whole history of the heavyweight title from Francis to John and prior to that. The amount of Brock Lesnar, it just feels like for now that belt, that belt. It feels like that belt is cursed. Yeah, I mean, I couldn't agree more with you. Add on to the back end of that timeline, July of 2022, he blows out his knee against Curtis Blasey. That's right. In just a year, gets a win over Marcin Tibera and then steps in on short notice for that Pavlovich fight. I remember him talking about how scared he was going into that. He's like, Pavlovich, his run now is different than it was going into that. He was on like five straight first round knockouts. He steps up, super short notice, gets it done in a coin flip fight at that point. And with all that said, I just add to what you guys said, you just feel for Tom. You deal with the Curtis Blades injury. You come back. You become interim champ. Then you deal with the John Jones saga, all the drama there not being able to fight. Then it's like, okay, we're fighting Cyril Gan. Here we go. It's time to rack up defenses, become potential. one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, and then you get the double eye poke, and now we're

here where we are, and we have no idea when he's going to fight again, and it's just a huge bummer for a guy that had such, such high potential, and now, you know, as the days goes on and as the years go by, it's just like, man, is he ever going to be able to get that run going? Dana White has a chance to control the narrative here, and I think so far so good. At some point, he's going to do media, and I hope he doesn't disparage Tom, because when Tom eventually does come back and hopefully, I don't know, if he can get this scan in January and get cleared, maybe he comes back June, July, who the hell knows? Could you imagine return at International Fight Week?

That would be great. Or maybe in London in March. Who knows? But he could tell the world about everything that Tom Aspinall had to go through, all the ups and downs, all the roadblocks, and how badly he wanted to come back and how he voluntarily said, you know what? I don't want to hold up the division. Dana White made a point over the course of the last week or so

to let the world know that Connor Ben was the most professional fighter that he has ever dealt with and I was thinking of that. I was like, man, if I was some of the great fighters that Dana White has promoted over the course of his past 26 years as president of the UFC and the ones who truly were professional and I'm not saying Connor Ben isn't,

but it's easy to be professional when you're making $10 to $15 million per fight when you're not like championship level just yet and I think that was proven on Saturday. It's very easy to be professional when you're making that kind of coin, the likes of which that I would dare to say 99.8% of UFC fighters have never even sniffed. Easy to be professional when you're getting paid that much. Sure you're going to show up to all the media obligations. I can assure you, Tom Aspernel, very professional.

I can assure you GSP and many others, extremely professional. Never missed a media day. Never missed a workout. Never missed a press conference or a face-off or any type of obligation. I can assure you. And so I hope that he has afforded that same type of respect, despite the fact that he doesn't get paid. 10 to 15 million. And Dana White comes out and says, don't shit on this guy. This guy will be back. He did the right thing for the business. He didn't want to hold up anyone's dreams. He didn't want

to hold up the weight class. And I can assure you the moment that he is good to go, the moment that he is cleared, he will come back and that return will be incredible. He can do that or he could say, man, I don't know, this, that, he chose to do this. Yeah, he didn't listen to us there. He could have kept fighting. Whatever that line was that he said at the press conference that I've now erased from my brain. I'm very curious to see. But he could erase all of this in his next media availability, in his next interview, whenever he speaks to some sort of media member,

anyone, streamer, whatever, content creator, he can erase all of this. And I feel like it will be a clean slate for Tom. The division will move on, and the comeback will be great. And I hope that's what happens because he deserves that. Because this has been a nightmare for him. It has been an absolute nightmare. Could you guys imagine what it feels like to get multiple surgeries on your eye, for God's sakes?

I can't imagine. I can't imagine. So my heart breaks for him and his dad who have been at this for so long together, who have tried to do things the right way, who have not tried to cut the line. Even in the course of the John Jones saga, yes, I know he would bring it up

and John was trying to make it out to seem like he was a bad guy. What did they do wrong? They just wanted their chance. They wanted their opportunity. They wanted John to do what he is doing today, which is the opportunity to become a disputed champion. And what do he say time and again?

It's not about John. I just want to be the king and he's holding that up and he is the guy holding that belt well now I have to fight him my dream isn't to beat John Jones my dream is to be the king and he finally got to be the king

but as I said here John Jones wasn't too active two fights in 804 days as the king of the heavyweight division not great and so he got to be the king but unfortunately this disaster struck

and so let me ask you guys this what do you do with Surreal Gun PT what do you do with Surreal Gun is Surreal Gun? Is Surreal Gun going to be named undisputed champion today? And regardless of that answer, who is fighting Cyril Gun? And I'd like to think that fight is going to happen at Madison Square Garden because as we've discussed, there aren't a ton of great options for November at this point.

What do you do with the big Frenchmen? Yeah, it's interesting that Tom alluded to this in the post too. And, you know, I can imagine it's a very emotional situation that they're going through and to watch Cyril kind of go through Pereira. And now these conversations are happening. I can imagine that being very difficult for him. I think if you think about it, had this announcement come out earlier

and the Pereira fight hadn't happened, that fight would have been for the vacant title. I don't really have a problem with him being the champion going in and defending it. That's, I think he pretty much proved that with the Pereira thing. Is there a need for

a rematch? If that is the case, if he is now the undisputed champion, do they need to do the Pereira rematch? So maybe from the UFC's point of view and from a selling point of view, it's better to make this for the vacant title. I don't think it adds much for us,

but I think it adds for a kind of a casual viewer that I'd be tuning in. I like the Hoka fight too. I really like that one. And I know Hoke, it's been the breakout star of 2026 so far, like him or love him. He has definitely generated a lot of headlines, which he did over the weekend, of course, again.

But I don't have a problem with Cyril, Gan going in as the undisputed champion in this situation. Okay, so if you're the UFC, what are you booking? I'm probably doing Gan v. Pereira again. Okay. Rick? I think, I mean, I think Gone should be made champion immediately. I just don't see any reason not to. There's really no justification that I could come up with that would make that more appealing

to not have him be champion. Like, he is the current interim champion. He should become champion. as far as booking, I don't love, I like, there's no real intrigue for me in the, in the Gahn versus Pereira fight again. Like we,

when you headline Madison Square Garden with Gond versus Hokit. Yeah, that's my, yeah, yes. That's my thinking. Absolutely. Hocit star is rising. It's for the undisputed heavyweight title. You can headline it.

So you're saying, you're saying go with that, G. I feel strongly about that. We just saw Pereira in June. I understand he's making the claim of the back of the head shots, but, me that fight did not go his way. It did not look good for him. I don't want to see a rematch of that. I also agree with Rick. I think you have to make him undisputed champion immediately. He's the interim title holder. It's the exact same situation as Tom Aspinall when John Jones retired.

But yeah, I think it should be Sierra gone Josh Hokit. You have potential of a rising star in Josh Hokit that is making a lot of noise to potentially become undisputed. And if he wins, then you can book Alex Pereira versus Josh Hokka. I know you guys are going to bristle at this. I'm ready to bristle, bro. I know what you're going to say. I'd rather see Hokit versus Pereira and winner fight. Like, that's the fight. I don't mind that either.

But you guys always say you know. When I say that that should headline MSG, you guys are like, oh my God, you're crazy. But I don't think it's crazy. But we're talking to the UFC's point of view. We're talking with the UFC's point of view. That's where I said, I think they'll go with Pereira again. I think they see Pereira as a bigger commodity.

I think they see Hokkaid as a loose can, putting them in MSG, the way they did in the White House, what could happen. I personally agree. Like, I'd like to see that fight more. based on what happened, as G.C. said in the first fight with Pereira. I just think it's too big of a marquee bout to put on for the UFC in this circumstance. I don't think they're worried about Hokit being a loose cannon.

They put them at the White House, for goodness sake. So I don't think they're worried about that. I feel like when, and especially now knowing how the story played out, I feel like Pereira coming out last week and saying, this is what I want. And I feel like him doing media this week in Glendale around Notche UFC and saying, this is what I want. I feel like he was told this is the direction we're going.

And Dana White also being like, oh, you know, that's not a terrible idea. Like all the signs, the T-Leaves are there. But Hokit versus Pereira to me solves all the problems, right? It doesn't put Pereira

back into an immediate rematch with Cyril Gaun following the way that one played out, right? If he can get past Josh Hokit, then you go, okay, look, he proved himself at heavyweight, now we're going to see him against Cyril gone.

And for Gaon, it doesn't put him in there against one guy he's already in his mind beaten pretty thoroughly. Now, granted, you know, there is some controversy in that one, depending on which side of the fence you sit on. And then with Hokit, he's now got a huge win in Alex Pereira that he could ride into a fight against Cyril God. I think it solves everything, but to your point, I do believe that they will probably go with Gone versus Pereira too. What if it's just the same result?

With Gone and Pereira? Probably will be. That'd be very bad. I'd be very bad for Pereira. If I were managing Alex Pereira, I prefer him as a light heavyweight. you know what I mean I just think his body is better suited for light heavyweight but he's done so much for the UFC he saved their ass a bunch of times UFC 300

the Connor Chandler card and other times I feel like they're gonna they're gonna do this that's what it feels like right now and by the way you know what like Hokkits

he's gonna fight for the belt there's no doubt about it he's coming off a win over Derek Lewis is it the worst thing in the world if he fights a Volkov or a Pavlovich like one more fight I don't agree with you I would love to see

Hocut Pereira, but I think the way it's lining up for MSG, you now have an undisputed heavyweight champion that should theoretically be ready to fight having last phone in June. It's the no-brainer. It's a headline the MSG card. He is coming off a win over Derek Lewis. How can he needs to be in the card? How can he needs to be in the card?

Because it'll just regenerate the division immediately. Oh, he'll talk mad shit. He'll sell it. Yeah, 100%. Or at least around it the way that Tom was around Now, put him on the card. No, I know. If he's not ready, I don't know. If it's not for a title, maybe he doesn't take that opportunity. From his Twitter account, it seems like he's ready to go.

Yeah, it seems like he's ready, but that's for the title, right? Like, who knows? I'm not saying he shouldn't be. He should be. And you mentioned that, you know, he's only coming off a win over Derek Lewis. Two things I say to that. One, in this heavyweight division, that's as good as goal because nobody's really doing shit. And two, Alex Prair is coming off a loss to Cyril Gahn.

So it's not like the contenders are a plenty. Like, we're looking at some bad options. No, but it's more of a lifetime achievement award for it. Yeah, for sure. But to your point area, he's not approved. commodity at heavyweight yet. He's a bigger star, no doubt. Josh Hokka is not in the territory of Alex Perrera yet. And if you're going to headline MSG, you could do a lot worse than putting Alex Perr in that spot. I think we all agree with that. It just doesn't feel like it's

like a resolution to this issue. It just, it feels heavyweight division feels out of sorts. It feels messy. It feels sloppy. It feels not like a clean transfer of power, all dating all the way back to Francis Sangano. Francis Ngano is the last guy that I looked at and was like, this feels right. He's the heavyweight champ. He beats Steepay. Here we are. This is the guy. He beats Cyril gone. After that, it all fell apart. And this doesn't feel like it's even, this just feels like a continuation of the mess. Cyril gets the belt because Tom vacates it. He beats a guy who potentially, if he beats Alex Breyer, he beat a guy who he already beat, it just makes this messier again. It's just a mess. Man, if it's the same result, it's not a good look for Alex Pereira who's

turning 40 next year. And it's just not a great look for the UFC. because everyone will just be like, why the fuck did we do that? Why did we need that rematch? Yeah, I think it's likely to go that way. I think that's how rematch is going, MMA, honestly. There's been a bunch of those over the years where it's like, why do we need this back to back? You Walter Walker and Hoke it in the common event or something, let the boys talk match it. Not Volkov or Pavlovich.

Let's just make sure Hokeet's up. Honestly, we need Volkov in the title. He beat Serogon last time he fought him. Siragone's run to the title. paper but we lost to John Jones knocks out Sergei Spivak split decision against Volkov that a lot of people say How many interim title fights are you? I poke to Tom Aspinall

and then beats a guy who's a former middleweight and now he's an incredible champ. It's a hell of a run. They're partying in the streets of Paris. Is this the first if the UFC names him? Is this the first undisputed French champion? Oh yeah I mean who else? And this is how they get it. Yeah. Wow Crazy. If he does get promoted, he would be the third interim UFC heavyweight champion to be promoted to full-time UFC heavyweight champ. Ander Alofsky was promoted in August of 2005. Tom Aspinall was promoted in June of 2025.

And now, Cyril Gan, about a year later, to be promoted to UFC undisputed heavyweight champion, although that has not been made official just yet. It's a very, very unfortunate turn of events, but you had to think once he wasn't booked for Abu Dhabi and once there wasn't a ton of noise surrounding MSG, it felt like something was coming. And then the Pereira thing on Monday and then the Dana thing on Saturday night made me think, man, something is up here. Is Steve A. v. Francis the last time the title changed hands in a fight? Yeah, five years ago. That is insane, right?

They were fighting in the apex because of COVID. Yeah. Crazy knockout, too. Yeah, devastating knockout. Days of yore. Yeah, unbelievable. What was it? 20-21, right?

Yeah, March of 21. Yeah, fuck. Five and a half years ago. Crazy. We need somebody to grab hold of this division and solidify it. Not as crazy as the lightweight title, the last time it changed hands in a fight 10 years ago. Eddie Connor.

Well, but up until Wait. White House. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay. That's crazy. Hang on a second. Ten years.

We were talking about this in the aftermath of Tuporia. But I mean, the stretch, I don't know if there's a longer stretch. That's crazy. I guess maybe, no. All right. Well, is there anything else we need to say about this?

It's a crazy thing. Hopefully we'll talk to him at some point. I don't think it's going to be anytime soon. but obviously wishing Tom and his team the best and curious to see what the UFC does here. If I were to bet, we're going to see Sirel Gahn defending that title either November or December. But right now it doesn't seem like

there are a lot of options for November, so it could be Madison Square Garden. All right, let's talk about this weekend, and we can talk more about this if more stuff comes up as the show goes on. I want to talk about the boxing. And first, let me just take a step back. This to me, since TK.

became a thing about three or so years ago, this to me feels like the first time that we saw TKO in full force. Like the true dream of what TKO can be, could be, wants to be, is going to be, and then some. Because as we talked about late last week, you had Smackdown in Mexico City on, on, no, yeah, You had Smackdown in Mexico City on Friday. You had Triple Mania night one in Vegas on Friday, which was a huge deal for them.

That's their Lucha Libre company that they bought. You had Nocha UFC on Saturday afternoon in Glendale. Record fight night gate, all that and more. Sold out, big deal. Garcia Ben, Saturday night, Vegas, T-Mobile, Paramount Plus, back-to-back. And then Triple Mania Night 2. last night and then Raw in Mexico City tonight. It just felt like more than three massive events across pro wrestling,

MMA and boxing, Crem de la Crem on a massive combat sports weekend, Mexican Independence Day weekend. It just felt to me like the culmination and certainly not the end of what TKO has been striving for over the past three or so years. As far as the boxing is concerned, this to me felt like the dawn of phase three of the Turkey era. Phase one was the freak show fights. What could we put on in Saudi Arabia

to make some kind of impact? Remember Frank Warren telling us in July of 2023. What are we going to do? It's going to be a game changer. It's going to be something that we've never seen before. And that ended up being Tyson Fury versus Francis Ngunu, which no one saw coming. And it was headed up by Turkey O'Shea Shake.

And then that was followed up, of course, by Francis versus Anthony Joshua, but it was just sort of like these fun one-off fights. That was phase one. Phase two was, let's buy Ring, Ring magazine, let's put on these ring events, let's put on Better Be A Bibel a couple times, let's put on Fury Usset couple times,

let's put on big time boxing events, let's put on the fights that fans have always wanted to see. Let's put on the types of dream matchups and dream cards stacked top to bottom. Remember Better Beaville was stacked top to bottom. It was like, what, eight fight deep? I was like, holy shit, this is not. this is what we see in the world of UFC, it's not what we see in the world of boxing.

That to me felt like phase two, but the vast majority of those cards were taking place in Saudi Arabia. Saturday felt like the dawn of phase three. And what I mean by that is, yes, I know he's partnered up with Zufa. It's been a little over a year and the TKO brand and whatnot. But to see Ryan Garcia, who isn't a Zufa fighter but did have this deal with Turkey, go up against Conner Ben, the Zufa fighter that they took away from Eddie Hearn. And to see Jaya, who's the Zufa fighter, but then to see this being in Vegas, to see it being on Paramount Plus, not DeZone, at least here in the United States, I know worldwide it was on DeZone.

And to see everyone there in attendance, David Benavides, Tiafima Lopez, want to be a part of this. It felt like a really, really big deal. It felt like a really big moment for the sport and in what they are trying to do with boxing. It also felt to me like the signal that there has been a shift in what Zufa boxing is going to be at least for now. About nine months ago, we're not dealing with the WBC. We're not dealing with the WBO, the IBF, the WBA. We're not dealing with the sanctioning bodies. We're going to change the Ali Act.

We're not going to co-promote. We're not going to work with anyone else. We're going to be defending the Zufa title and maybe the ring title as well, and that's it. And then on Saturday, you see different players involved. You see a guy like David Benavides who has one fight left with PBC at the event as well, flirting with Dana White. You see Tiafima Lopez wanting to storm the ring, wanting to be a part of this thing. He has no dealings with Zoufa. In fact, he said it on our show he didn't want to sign with Zufa.

You see at the press conference on Thursday, Dana White doing the face off and then saying, wait, we have to do one with the WBC belt. And here comes Marisio Suleiman, who, you know, back and forth, Dana White, Marisio Suleiman, Nick Kahn, Mrisio Sulam wasn't treated well a year ago. Kinello Crawford. Now he's being put into the spot there holding the belt in the ring afterwards. Doesn't seem like any bad blood. In case you missed it, very, very, very significant.

moment right here. Here's the face off. Back and forth, back and forth. I'm good. You can get some freaking for you. You can't tell you weak. You ain't got that size no more. Actually, we never do.

One more. One more. That's significant. Suleiman in the middle, Dana walking off. WB.C. Belt in the middle. middle. No energy, no more, huh? Of course, never really promoted as a WBC title fight on the broadcast.

They kept saying world, welterweight title, and a little bit annoying. And I know that's a credo from the top. I know that's not Kellerman and Tessitore doing that on their own. But just call it what it is. That belt means something. And I think the thing that the brass didn't suspect when they took over was how much those belts mean to the fighters. It is going to take years, decades.

to reprogram fighters' brains. Even Jai himself who happily signed with Zufa was like, wait a second, I want to be undisputed. I want that IBF title.

I want that WBC title. I think they thought that every fighter would just be happy to have that Zufa title because that's the way it is in WWE and UFC as well. They just want the promotional belt. But boxing has been around for 100 years

and those belts mean something. I had Adiola Depot on my show. The beginning of the end of my relationship with Turkey Aal Sheik was when Adiola Depot was on my show, and we talked about, well, what about these belts? Like, they're just going to get rid of them. Like, what does this Zufa title mean? And he was quick to remind us, like, hey, I own a title that's 100 years old. And that should have been a sign to

the brass as well at TKO that, hey, those titles mean something. He was very quick to remind us, and he was 100% right that he owns a belt that's 100 years old. Well, these titles are just as old, and they mean something to these fighters. And none of them want to give up that dream. And so I think they've had to, to their credit, evolve, adapt and say, you know what, we are going to play ball with these guys. We are going to put on these title fights. And slowly but surely, we'll try to re-educate the younger guys, but a Garcia and a Ben, a Ben of Benavides, and a Tiafima Lopez, and a Shakur Stevenson, and a Terrence Crawford are going to want those titles. They're going to want to be undisputed. They're going to want to be unified. And that's why when Ryan Garcia wins

the belt, or wins the fight on Saturday, he says, give me Tiafima. I want to be unified. And then I want to be undisputed. I don't want to fight for the Zufa title. And I feel like that's not as much of a thing. It's kind of funny seeing Jai holding it because it's like, what does this thing mean? He's like the only one who has it at this point. But, you know, give him credit he was the first one to sign on the dotted line. It felt to me like the sign of this new era with Turkey where he's going to be the money man. And let's be honest, TKO could do this all on their own. But it's great to have someone else, you know, help essentially fund 60% of the business and get to put on these mega events and get to put on these deals. And oh, by the way,

He does have relationships with these guys that are already standing. Ryan Garcia has one fight left on his Golden Boy deal. But Turkey is a part of that one fight left as well. And so they conceivably can put on that Cinco de Mayo fight against anyone, Tiofimo or anyone else, and still promote it. It's not like he has to do a December fight with Golden Boy and then come around and do a May fight, if you get me. Benevides has one fight left with PBC. He has to go get that fight out of the way. that's not a turkey fight,

and then he could sign and fight Jayaoopataya on Saguayana. That would be gigantic. Benevita's Opataya, cruiserweight title, and Garcia-Lopez, and Lopez, by the way, not a Zufa fighter. Lopez is the guy who came on this show and said, I don't want to sign with Zufa. I'm signing with DeZone. And so if they do that, let's see if they do.

But that's probably part of the reason why, by the way, they didn't let Lopez go into the ring. They're not going to let a non-ZUFA fighter get in the ring. YouFC would never let a Belator or Strike Force fighter or a Pride fighter get in the ring or cage if they weren't signed to them. Benavides has one fight left. They're probably going to sign him. You know they like him.

A little bit different. And you can see they didn't really want to put them in to begin with. Lopez just signed with his own. And he openly disparaged them. They can't trust them in the ring. And so I didn't necessarily blame them. As hokey as it seemed, as kind of clunky as it seemed, I didn't blame them for not making that happen,

even though I wanted to see the insanity of it all. That would be great stuff. Point being, that felt like a really big deal. It felt, and this is the best compliment that I could give it, it felt like a UFC boxing broadcast. It was quick, it flowed, there wasn't a lot of lag time in between fights. I saw some people complaining, 45-minute delay at the top, podcast, as Dana White calls it at the beginning of a boxing broadcast.

I commented on it. I didn't necessarily even critique it, but head of production for UFC, producer extraordinaire, my old pal, Zach Candido, replied really to Jedi who was replying to me saying, we were waiting for Noce UFC to end, timed it out, and so we wanted to kick this off when it was over so that we wouldn't be counter-programming ourselves on Paramount Plus. Now, I would say the first fight of the main card

going up against whatever was left of the main event, not necessarily a counter-programming. I don't know if there's a big crossover between those watching John Silva versus Jose Delgado in the first fight of the main card, but fair, you don't want to have any overlap all good. Afterwards, you really can't say anything. It felt big. It felt smooth. There was, I mean, let's go to the desk for 45 minutes to kill time and then go to the locker room and then go cage side. You had none of that. None of the stuff that we are used to seeing on any of the boxing broadcast was apparent on Saturday. And in my opinion, the UFC does combat sports better than anyone. And it felt like a UFC combat sports broadcast. The camera angles, the jib shots, the lighting, the entrances, everything about it, but just a little boxing-a-flight. Keith Conley being, you know, in the ring.

You'd never see a manager in the ring before a fight. Keith Conley being at the press conference on Thursday, you would never see that. And so they are adapting to the sport, to the customs of the sport, but they're doing it the UFC slash TKO way. And it's working. And you're going to see a lot of fighters who are going to recognize and say, wait a second, look at how they're treating these guys from a media perspective. Look at the PR. Look at the professionalism. And we're going to get paid this much because, like I said, Conner Band got more on Saturday than 99.

0.8% of UFC fighters ever, period, for that two-round fight. I know there's a training camp and all that. But he isn't at the level of these UFC fighters, but got it because he was a byproduct of this war with Eddie Hearn. And also because the UFC is on the offensive, or I should say TKO is on the offensive when it comes to boxing. TKO, you even see it with Dana, like, when's the last time we saw Dana be like, I want that guy?

I want that guy. Oh, yeah, we're interested in that guy. We haven't heard that from him in 20-something years since he was showing up at Rumble on the Rock events in Hawaii because he owns all the guys. He has all the guys. Yeah, he'll want the odd dude from Bellator's Strike Force, but he's never had guys like Benavides,

Garcia, Tiofimo, Shakur Stevenson, Devin Hate. Like, he hasn't had those guys to pick from. And so to see him on the front foot, so to speak, to see him on the offensive is actually kind of fascinating. All this is fascinating. But I think to see them adapt and to say, oh, yeah, we're going to work within the confines of boxing is a breath of fresh air, is the right thing to do,

and will only make them more powerful and more successful. Because now all the fighters are going to be like, okay, this isn't so bad. They aren't trying to redefine. I don't have to give up my belts. This is good. I like this. And I don't know about you guys.

Seeing Benavita is there. Seeing Tiafima Lopez there. Seeing Shakur there. Seeing Ryan Garcia front and center. You know what it struck me as on Saturday, guys? It felt to me like, man, it is incredible. how many more superstars there are in boxing right now compared to MMA. Who's on the level of Ryan Garcia in MMA?

Like, Ryan Garcia is a superstar, and he can become that much bigger of a superstar. Fury and A.J. and Ussick and Crawford, and in a way, like global, global superstars. And I know there are big deals in MMA as well. But did it not strike? Like, it felt to me like there were so many more bigger deals on display on Saturday and even those who weren't there. And like, I don't know if it's a byproduct of the UFC model, the UFC system, but UFC feels like it's so far away from dealing with that type of super startup. You know what I mean, Rick? Like Ryan Garcia comes off as a legit mega mainstream star.

How many of those do we have in MMA right now? And in the UFC in particular, not many. Not nearly as many as boxing. And there's, I mean, there's some very, like, obvious practical reasons, right? There are many championship belts across the sport of boxing, right? so everybody can kind of stake claim to certain titles. And in the UFC, that is a finite resource that then gets protected and people don't necessarily take risks to put on the fights that need to happen. Whereas in boxing, there are kind of mandatory bouts for all those titles.

And then there's the elephant in the room, which is the pay. The pay for these guys is significantly higher. And when you are of that caliber, when you are a top tier professional athlete in the way that these boxers are and you're compensated as such, it feels different. When Ryan Garcia walks around and looks at his bank account, it's different than when a UFC champion walks around and looks at their bank account. Hell, when Connor Ben walks around and looks at his bank account,

it's different than when a UFC champion looks at his bank account. So it's just a different thing. The prestige, the status, what you are as a top-level boxer cannot be compared to what you are as a UFC fighter from a brand recognition, from a star power, from an earning potential, except for maybe Connor McGregor in UFC history. That's about, maybe Ronda Rousey.

Ronda Rousy and Connor McGregor might be the two that ever sniffed something like this. Do you see, I don't think people realize how big of a deal Ryan Garcia is. Like, Ryan Garcia was that one guy. Like my kids know who Ryan Garcia is. They know Jake Paul. They know Ryan Garcia. Maybe Fury, maybe Ussick because I told them about Ucic. And that's pretty much it.

Ryan Garcia, if he can stick to this version of himself and not go off the deep end and not do what he did two years ago, this is the face. Like we keep talking about the Crawford, Shakur, Haney, who's, this is the guy. This is the guy. Not just the face of American boxing, he could be the face of boxing period, in my opinion. I mean, he's still only 28 years old. It feels like the last six fights have been real tests, and now he's doing things like knocking Connor Ben out in the second round. I think a lot of that super stardom feel comes from the swagger, the way that he carries himself, the way that he shows his personality, the sort of like, to Rick's point about like the paychecks and boxing and everything. He sort of has this mentality. He doesn't owe anyone anything except for himself in this game. He's not showing up to the, to the faceoffs, he's just like, I'm just going to do me. And I think that attracts people.

It attracts attention. And when you pair it with results like you had on Saturday night, the only answer is superstardom. I mean, I was with a bunch of guys who aren't really combat sports fans over the weekend. And the only thing they wanted to watch was the Ryan Garcia fight. To your point, he is a recognizable name. He is a recognizable face in this sport that feels like it sort of needs superstars back in it. But Ryan Garcia definitely has potential to be that face, that stamp.

And the fact that he got the fight on Mexican independence day weekend, as opposed to Canello, is massive. And delivered, got the stoppage. It was not an early stoppage. I don't, like, I know Kellerman said that in the moment, but if you replayed it, and he did walk it back a little bit, I don't think it was an early stoppage. He obliterated Connor Ben. He is so fast. He is so long. The left hook is lethal. He ended him with the right, as he did Mario Barrios back in February. He is evolving into a true grate. He's not a pound for pound grade just yet. he is evolving into one of the best fighters in the world. And he went out like, P.C., like he had this aura about him. Like the way he was standing there in the corner, like you could just tell this guy was owning the moment. And you know what's so interesting about it?

How often does the UFC promote people that feel like they are bigger than the UFC? Dare I say, it's Connor. Now they're in a world where the personalities are bigger than the entity. And they're having to adapt. And it's nice to see them having to have. to adapt. It was really interesting to see them give the UFC fight week spin to someone like Ryan, to someone like Connor, to guys who are used to kind of doing it the sort of boxing way, now being like, oh, this is interesting, this is different, this is professional, but this is,

this feels good. Like the UFC knows what it's doing when it comes to promotion. I don't know. Something about it was just so, so interesting and so, so interesting to see like the UFC box being put into the boxing circle and seeing how it all fits. And so much more eager, right? That they feel like they're eager to please the audience, which we don't see as much anymore in the UFC.

Like having the moment with Tia Fimo there for Ryan, having Benavides there for Appetia, these are things we're crying out for it in this day and age as UFC fans. We get a few and far between. You know, I thought it was interesting. Dana White made a comment that I'm sure a lot of people scoffed at the post-Foy presser

when he said that Connor Ben was worth every penny. of that big $15 million story that came out initially before the Pro Gray story before the pro grey fight. This could be a fantastic chess move by TKO. If they are correct, you reported last week as well

that Ryan has one more fight with Golden Boy. If he gets out of that and then he signs for TKO and they've made him an even bigger star with this Connor Ben match up, I think that would be a great bit of business for them and I think Ryan Garcia really liked it. Like all week he was glowing about

the UFC, sorry, TKO, how they handled everything. So I can expect that to happen. And also say, like, another sign of, of their eagerness and they wanted to show what they can do, having that kid, Damazian, Van Hout, on the undercard and him having this brilliant knockout, the heavyweight, I thought it just felt like the old growing days of UFC, where they can't, they can't stop showing you things. Oh, look at this. You thought this was cool.

Look over here. Look over here. Really, really enjoyable event. Main event walked at 1115 by the way, which was tremendous. That was pretty nice. Consider the power dynamic. In the sport of MMA, UFC's brand is bigger than all but maybe Connor McGregor, and at this point, it's probably drawing closer to even.

In boxing, Ryan Garcia dwarfs Zufa boxing by, it's beating up babies, right? Like, it is not even remotely close. The brand recognition of Zufa boxing can't even begin to sniff somebody like Ryan Garcia. And so they have to, right? Ryan Garcia is the A side of every single fight that he's going to be in that Zufa boxing might be involved with. With the UFC, they're the brand. They're the ones that come to town. And everybody else kind of like, you know, is a bit player in that scenario, even the top, top, top headliners, even the Iliot to Poriz, even the Islam's, even the Alex Pereiras. Those guys are still number two to UFC and many times even to Dana

a white. In this new space, Ryan is king. Ryan dictates the rules. In this new space, guys like Shakur Stevenson, Terrence Crawford, other names that could potentially be involved in these types of fights are the ones that determine this. And so it's a new world. Now, I imagine that they have long-term plans to upset that a little bit. I imagine that they have long-term plans to maybe mold that and draw closer and maybe Zufa boxing becomes the brand that it has in MMA. But, but But for now, Ryan calls the shots, which is a very fascinating thing to see. Yeah, man, if they could put that together, Cinco de Mayo, those two fights, holy smokes.

What a... Huge fights. Oh, my God. What a... Ryan... Ryan and who? Ryan and Lopez. And Tiafimo.

Now, I'm curious about that. They'd have to play ball with the zone. Now, they are playing ball with the zone. This fight aired on de zone. So it's not like they have to play ball with another promoter. I suspect that makes it easier. Hayney some people want to see that

I want to see that of course but that's the one that Ryan asked for Hayney it seems like is going to sign that has never been really made official with Desone but it's not like

it's another matchroom fighter and by the way speaking of that people were saying like man what a waste Connor Ben was has a so-so performance against Regis Pro Gray and has this performance against Ryan Garcia

that was not a waste they wanted to shoot Eddie Hearn in the heart and they did that they took away his guy, the guy that he did so much for. They wanted to shoot him. And they did that. They did that very, very well. And so he has given them what they wanted. They're very happy working with him, all that. But like, that was, that was a shot. And Dana White said this. I wasn't going to mess

with him. I wasn't going to, do you guys see that media availability on Thursday when he spoke to the media? We were all talking about it. So, of course, you saw it in our group chat. I had not seen that version of Dana White in years. The version of Dana White, where he's out there being like, We are not the same. And he's talking about things in the world of boxing that I don't even know, like, names and fights and matchups. He is so much more locked in into the boxing business right now than the MMA business. The MMA business is on autopilot.

The MMA business is just kind of running itself. Mick, Sean, Hunter, they're doing their thing. He is way more needed in the world of boxing and in the world of Zufa boxing. And you could see it. I think he loves the fact that he's got all this new media coming after him. He loves the fact that there are new faces there. it was funny him saying that like Eddie Hearn doesn't want to stop talking and doesn't want to stop doing interviews. Meanwhile, I've seen Dana White everywhere over the course of the last week, and that's what promoters should do.

Eddie He had two massive fights in Newark and in Dublin last week. He should be doing a million interviews, just like Dana should have been doing a million interviews last week, and he did. They probably did the same exact, and yet for some reason Dana was mocking Eddie. This is great. All this is great. Combat sports needed this. The world of UFC needed this or needs it. TKO needs this. Dana needs this

we need this I love it I love everything about it it's phenomenal sign me up for more when's the next one Johnny Fisher the copper Bosch

September 26 I'm there also another big part about Saturday just throw it on on Paramount Plus so easy so good

no paywalls sign up for this sign up for that it was so good I opened up I actually scrubed out of the Noche UFC

damn there it is Front page, Ryan Garcia versus Connor Ben, I was like, this couldn't be any easier. Yo, first of all, I know some people still don't like the fact that you can't get the full event on Paramount Plus. The replay. Yeah, the replay. Hopefully they'll fix that up. But the update where you see like the matchup and the stats and then that other tab with the highlights, tremendous.

They've corrected the PIP. You're welcome. And then you open the app and it's like, oh, do I want to watch Noce or Garcia-Benz? no ultimate nonsense, no pay-per-view nonsense. This is the way all big fights should be presented. No more pay-per-view. We're done with that. Stop charging people $75 for these events.

We're getting charged enough for all these streaming platforms. This should be the future. I would say the loan, if we want to call it that, the lone sort of negative coming out of Saturday was, what the hell happened with Oscar Deloia? What happened there? What was the story? As we predicted throughout the week,

Oscar was not going to be involved in this one. He was not the promoter. He was not Ryan Garcia's promoter for this fight. This was a turkey fight, if you will. And so he was not going to be on the dais. He was not going to play ball. Dana White says, I don't like him. He doesn't like me.

But then some reports started to come out that he was going to be at the fight. And then some reports started to come out that he was going to walk Ryan Garcia out. And then none of that happened. He didn't show up to the fight. He didn't walk him out. Marco Antonio Barrera and Ray Mysterio.

And how about Ray Mysterio, and how about Ray Mysterio, Did you guys see that with the neck brace? He got slammed by almost at AAA the night before and he showed up wearing the neck brace, Ray Mysterio. Pro. Keeping Kay Fab alive. I loved it.

Pro shit. It was so good. Ryan Garcia like mean mugging the camera and then Ray just in the back, neck brace up. So good. Here's Dana White was asked about Oscar Deloia. And if I'm being 100% honest, I have no idea what he's trying to say here, but here's what he had to say. Was Delaware here tonight?

He wasn't. And I heard there's some rumbling. Let me explain something to you. I do not like De La Jolla and De La Jollaoya and De La Jollaoya does not like me. Got it. We would never, I would never disrespect him and say, oh, he shows up here and we treat him like shit. I would call him on the phone and say, hey, don't fucking show up at this event because we're not going to treat you well. That was not the case.

Why he didn't show up, I don't know. So which happened? Did he call him beforehand? Did he not call him? Was he invited? Was he not invited? I was told he was invited. I was told that he was going to be given access to show up, front row,

VIP entrance, all that and more. But he was not going to be a part of the entourage. He was not going to be in the ring. And perhaps he didn't like that. Now, it was said that Ryan Garcia wanted him to walk him out, wanted Oscar to walk him out. And Ryan discussed this as well. Let's hear what he had to say.

No, you have one more fight left on your Golden Boy contract. Oscar wasn't here. Dana said he could have come if he wanted. I guess it was Oscar's choice not to be here. Does that bother you that your promoter that you don't have to go back to work with didn't come to your fight? I thought he was going to be here. They told me that he had a seat. And I actually invited him to walk out with me.

I thought that was going to be iconic. Everybody was asking where he was. And then just to have him walk out with me, I think it would have been special. But it is what it is. You know, it didn't happen. I'm here just to do my job. I don't really try to think of that too much, but, you know, would it been cool to see him there? Yeah.

Yeah. And so I was told he was invited, and I don't know why he didn't show up. I did ask to have him on, not available. His head of PR, Jane Murcia, did tweet this in a tweet that kind of went viral. I want to clarify this because there seems to be some confusion. And it genuinely makes me sad to think Ryan is under the impression that Oscar did not want to walk him out. Yes, Ryan invited Oscar to walk him out along with him. with Julio Cesar Chavez's senior.

That was the big surprise. Oscar Delahuea teased on his IG. The morning of the fight, however, we received a call from Ryan's team informing us that Ryan had changed his mind and no longer wanted Delahoeia to walk him out. We were told he wanted Ray Mysterio and Marco Antonio Barrera to walk him out instead.

So there's, like Ryan didn't necessarily say that. She's saying that. I was told he was invited. And so that's that. I don't know. I wasn't expecting him. I think it would have been pretty cool if he was there, but I could also understand him being like,

this is in my fight. I'm not going to show up. It is where he lives. Who knows? Is it that big of a deal? Well, if that was communicated to him, right? Ariel, like, if his PR person is saying that he gets a call in the morning, to saying, like, no, we don't want you to walk here.

I can imagine him feeling disrespectful with that. You know, I can imagine him being like, well, what's the point me going, you know? So if that was the case, I can kind of understand where he's going from there. Yeah, I'd love to hear his side. And if we do get Ryan on in the next few minutes, I'll ask him more about this. It's not the biggest part of the story

because, again, it wasn't his fight. If it was a golden boy fight, if it was his fight, his guy, then I can understand why it would be an even bigger deal. But I think a lot of us just wanted to see, like, okay, what would happen here? Dana, him. All the luminaries were there, by the way.

Mark Shapiro, Ari Emanuel, Dana White, Nick Con, they were all there. And by the way, for people wondering like, okay, like what is in it really now for Turkey and the Saudis? They're not putting these events on in Saudi Arabia. They're not getting the same sort of like glow. They're not getting the same sort of glow that, you know, the previous events in Saudi Arabia received because it's like, oh, live from Saudi. I think what the Saudis have always wanted was to be linked with the absolute biggest and best. in American sport and entertainment, right?

I think that's what they always really wanted. And so now here's Turkey and them being linked to Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro, Nick Khan, Dana White. That's the biggest and best in sport and entertainment. And, you know, we'll get you this guy to show up, we'll get you that guy to show up, we'll send, but this to me feels like the perfect end goal for them. Putting the events on in Saudi doesn't make sense financially. You can't sell the amount of $8 million gate and the amount of seats and all,

all that stuff, the Allegiance Stadium fight, but you're now linked with them, you're doing business with them, guys will come over, they'll make appearances, you're in the foxhole with these guys. Remember, when he did Tyson and Inganu, they weren't with these types of guys. They were, they were with the Brits, they were with the boxing guys. Now they have reached a point where they, you know, where they were like in the foxhole, they are in the foxhole with the American stars, the American entertainment, sport, power players. And that's, I think, the big benefit here. And so I don't see this ending anytime soon.

Unless they can't all coexist and be pals, you know, and I think there's enough, like, I could see a world where maybe Dana and Turkey don't always see eye to eye because they're, they have big egos and they want to be alpha males. I could see that. But there are enough power players behind the scenes, Nick, Ari, Shapiro, who don't need that spotlight, who don't care to be. in front who will fix things if they come up, like if issues arise. It feels like they found the secret sauce for now, is what I'm trying to say.

And I feel like we saw the byproduct of that on Saturday. PC, did you want to say something there? I may have cut you off. No, no, you didn't call me off. I made my point and left the conversation. I was going to say something. Two things. One, we saw Ryan Garcia on X then confirm what Jane had said.

He says, this is true regarding the account. she had about the Oscar de la Jolla thing. And then regarding... So what does that mean when he says this is true? This is true that he changed his mind? Yeah. Yeah, that's how I took it. He literally quote tweeted the...

Yeah. No, I saw that, but I wasn't sure which part he was referring to. So is he saying that, like, I changed my mind? So then why at the press conference did he not say that? This whole thing's a mess. Yeah. But the other thing I was going to say was,

if you are Golden Boy and Oscar, every week you're going, you know, out and... and saying some not nice things about Dana White and Zufa boxing, I would understand if this is just a situation where it's like, we're on this side, we're on this side, stay on this side for now, and then figure out what to do as it becomes a Golden Boy event. This is true.

Yeah, this is true. I mean, we can ask him when he comes on, like what he is confirming there. But because, I mean, I wouldn't put it past Ryan to have one thought and then have another thought and do all these things. But anyway. Dana said that they wouldn't disrespect them, obviously. They're going to treat him well.

But like there is a part of Oscar Day LaHoy that has to be like, I'm probably not like that wanted there. I'm not the promoter. Right. And then when Ryan calls up and is just like, yeah, I'm going with someone else. I kind of understand being like, I'm going to sit this one out. Do you guys agree?

He probably thinks K.L. Foking with him to some degree there too, when Ryan suddenly changes his mind like that. Maybe. Maybe. You know? Do you guys agree, though, that this version of Zufa boxing is actually the most dangerous and powerful?

The Zufa boxing that says, Yeah, we'll play with all of you, but we're going to do it our way, and you'll have to sign with us. But we're open to playing within the sort of boxing constraints, if you will, and old guard. This, like, as opposed to, like, when they come in in January and they're trying to reintroduce new bills and all this stuff, it's like, oh, my God. Eliminate the belts. This is seismic. Now, this version, it's like, oh, this is actually. And by the way, a lot of these dudes are going to start coming up.

Benavita's one fight left. Tiafima Lopez was a free agent. They couldn't sign him. Shikor, they signed. A lot of these dudes are going to become available. They're going to be able to, if they're willing to really throw around some coin, they'll be able, these other guys aren't going to be able to compete, in my opinion. Yes and no.

Yes, with a caveat. Yes with a caveat. And the caveat is, if that becomes the case, you then end up being a boxing promoter in the same way that all these other boxing promoters are, right? You are not, your leverage, your ability to kind of be different when, from the UFC perspective and what I imagine Zufa had in mind at the beginning was we're going to control the whole thing, make these leagues and we're going to control it. Now when you're playing nice in the sandbox, you become match room, you become Frank Warren, you become all the other, you become Golden Boy. You are now just a player in that larger ecosystem. You're now you're a massive TV deal and. Oh, no.

They have advantages. The purse. That's their advantage. Turkey's money, Saudi money, going toward their fights is their advantage. But there's fuckery, right? We're now looking at Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury. And this is what boxing is. This is the sandbox that you're playing in.

It's Eddie Hearn being like, I want it in the UK. I don't. Now that you don't control everything, you open yourself up to these other things. Now, do they have more power, more leverage, all the other things you're talking about? Absolutely. I sat on the MMA beach. shout out, watch that on Amazon Fire TV, and said that I was blown away by what Zufa Boxing has been able to do in such a short amount of time. They are quickly becoming a huge power

player. But if you are playing with all these people, you don't have complete control, and that opens it up to fuckery. Okay, here's Ryan Garcia on Saturday talking about how impressed he was with the TKO machine and working with Dana White. Dana, obviously, you know, he's acknowledged that you have, you know, one fight left with Golden Boy, but it's no secret that he's a big fan of, you know, what you bring to the sport of boxing. So I guess how was it like working with him this week? And would you entertain talks if he comes to you once that fight runs out? I was very, very impressed.

I think that they did one of the best jobs with coordinating things with making sure that everything is regulated. I love their process. I know I sound like I'm glazing, but I'm just giving to the truth. Basically, like, man, they were on top of everything. The media, the way they promote, the, it's like, I can't keep saying how many good things. Just really great things. And let's just say I'm very impressed. Nice little sort of, I don't know, when you try to make a good first impression,

it's a rare opportunity to try to impress someone, even though they're not under contract, to let them know, like, this is how we do things on that. this side of the fence. Anyway, Dana White was asked about the role that they are on right now from a boxing standpoint. Here's what he had to say. Boxing has never had a problem with putting on big fights. The problem has been the consistency in between those big fights. How does Zufa come in and kind of solve that a little bit? And are you where you think you're supposed to be or you plan to be at this point in the year with the promotion? Well, I mean, we've been doing this nine months. How many fights would be done?

10? 11? Anybody? 11. 11 fights in nine months. That's pretty consistent. The bigger problem that boxing has had, it's not about putting on big events and shit like that. It's about not killing the golden gooses that, you know,

help support the sport, whether it be the networks, the sponsors, the casinos that do it. Boxing comes in like a going, out of business sale and grabs as much money as they can from everybody and doesn't give a shit if anybody else makes money off the event or that's just it's not how we operate we want everybody to win the network the sponsors the fighters um the venues that's the difference between us and everybody else in boxing he has said that going out a business sale line maybe 500 times in the

last nine months and probably very well he has said it's so many damn times i feel like i could I can like almost pinpoint when it's about to come. He was also asked about Tiofima Lopez not being allowed into the ring. One of his own fighters, Richardson Hitchens even said, like, come on, guys, let these fighters in. I understand why, especially if it's not a Zufa fighter. I understand why. Here's what he had to say. It seems like Tiofima also tried to get in the ring to face off with Ryan.

Was that just the case of all the mess going down there and they didn't let him, or was that something from your guys' end to not do another face off? This thing's working great, Lene. Oh, perfect. Yeah, I'm right on. Oh, he was mad about the AI. thing not working wasn't happy yeah not happy yeah we're trying not to let guys you know and you know my position on that with the ufc we have a cage we it's easier to keep people out of the cage but uh yeah

first of all whoever wins tonight you know ryan garcia goes out and does what he says he's going to do in spectacular fashion and then have somebody else jump in the ring and you know for a fight that isn't set up it's just no it's not what we do even the benavitas thing jio peta has started going back and forth with him, and it was a mutual thing. So we ended up letting him in, but we weren't going to let Benavides in either. Yeah, Benavides has one fight left and seems to be a big fan of theirs. There's that picture of him as a youngster meeting Dana White, you know, looking a little bit different than he does now.

Of course, he was a youngster, but a little chubbier, let's just say. And they were just like openly flirting with each other at the event. It was crazy to see. It has been so long since we've seen. seeing Dana in that position, Dana in the position of being like the, hey, come to our side of the yard. Hey, come work for us. Hey, we want you. It's just, it's a fascinating shift in, into a guy that we've been following and covering for so long who feels like for the last few years has kind of lost his, his, his, his, his panache. He was in his prime, the greatest

promoter of all time. In his prime, I'm talking like 0.4, 05 to maybe, I don't know, 16? Yeah, probably the sale. Maybe the greatest promoter of all time. And for various reasons, just kind of lost that fire. Won the race, won the battle. And now it feels like that old guy is back. It's nice to see him back. It's good to be seen, as Chil once said.

It's nice to see you again. You know that commercial when you guys go into a New York City cab, and there's a Smith and Walensky commercial about the Steakhouse in New York? You guys ever see that one? And they say, come get a gorgeous. Rogonzola. Not that one.

But they say, like, it's nice to see you again. That's how I want to greet Dana White the next time. That's the old day away. Yes. Clock's ticking. Some of the works? It's in the works? Me and him?

Only a matter of time. Zero percent chance. Could have shot him in a little commiserations text about the Patriots staring at one. Ah, you know yourself. You know yourself. That was some kind of performance. No, it's all good. Listen.

Humble and hungry. One and no. Massive win. take this for granted. Yeah, yeah, yeah, listen. We're just, you know, we're one and no. We're one and no. Shout out to Coach Brady first win.

Incredible game. Shout to the defense game. The fumble. Jets want to know as well. Just want to know. Giants want to know. We're all. Congrats, Jordan.

We're feeling good. We're feeling good. That's a big win on the road against Texas. Love you with the Super Bowl contending. A big win. DJ Moore number one? Yeah, I think he's number one.

Josh Palmer, shout out. You know, you almost have forgot. Okay, okay. Guys, back into the show. Adelaidea Lidipo is going to join us to talk about everything that transpired in Vegas. Prior to that, we're going to be joined by Michael Chandler. Talk about his future. Where is he at? What's he doing? He's not ranked anymore. Prior to that, Michael Venham Page, going to be joining us in 30 minutes in what will be his first interviews since parting ways with the UFC. But breaking news, Frank,

breaking news. We are being joined right now by the reigning, defending WBC welterweight champion, the man who stole the show in Las Vegas this past Saturday, second round destruction. of the destroyer, Connor Ben. What a performance, what a week. What a time to be Ryan Garcia, and he's kind of to join us right here now to talk about it all. Yes, sir, yes, sir.

What's up, Ariel? How are you, my man? It's great to see you. How are you feeling? How are you feeling? I want that energy out there. Come on, bro. Bro, I am hype.

I am hype. I am hyped. You feeling under the weather? Because I'm not. Have you gone to bed yet? Yes. I finally got some sleep last night. You know me.

I was really excited. I had to let the energy out. I still got energy. So we're just happy and we're blessed and I'm very grateful and I'm ready to do it again. What a week for you, man. You know, for those that have been watching you and covering you and talking about you for so long, Saturday and last week in particular felt like the culmination of everything that we thought you were going to be. From the way you handled the fight week, the media, the performance.

Like you, I remember, I saw you in the ring before they made the, you know, the announcements and all that, the intros. And the way you were moving there, you were so freaking locked in. And then to see the performance turn out to be what it was, I don't think we've ever seen that version of you. Is that accurate? I think you had a glimpse of it with Mario Barrios. But this fight definitely was just a forward progress of the focus that I have right now. You know, I gained a lot of experience throughout my career. and I think everything's coming together now.

So what's the difference? What's the difference in this guy and Haney Fight Week? How did it all change? Maturity. You know, there's the things that are called for in the moment as well, you know? Haney expected one thing and he got another thing, you know? So you kind of just have to be in tune to really see what game you're going to play. And I think that's just really what it is and maturity, you know?

Everything happens at the right time, you know, when you're. walk with God, the timing's always going to be on point. There were a lot of people who said Connor didn't deserve the title fight, didn't deserve a crack at your belts. Did you feel any pressure to try to prove that point, to prove the point that I got to get this guy out of the way because he's not on my level? I don't have to prove it. I just know I was going to show it.

That's basically what I was in my mind. I mean, you know, he's, I mean, still true. He's not on my level. And for me, it was just like, I'm going to do what I do. and I know that's going to show. So it was not me trying to prove it, just kind of like, my mentality was like,

if I am who I am, it's going to happen. Okay, what are you feeling in the first round going into the second round? Because I saw the Post-Five press conference where you said, all right, you knew he was going to rush at you, he was going to be a little erratic, you were going to feel him out, but then everything seemed to kind of slow down.

But man, you were on point. Like, the speed in which you were throwing those punches in the first and second was a blistering pace. What were you feeling from him? Well, I mean, I'll let you a little bit into my mind where I was at. Basically, in the back room was protect yourself. That was my mindset, the first round. Protect yourself.

He's going to do whatever he wants to do in this first round and just move and protect yourself and everything will come together and you will strike at the right time is really what was in my mind before I went out there. So if you see me hype, it was like, okay, let me watch what he's doing. let me evaluate him and hit him when you can and then after that the fight is yours. And you hit him with the right again and it seems like everyone always talks about the left

and obviously the right was there against Barrios and now it's there against Connor Ben. What are you seeing in that final sequence? Because I don't think people recognize how difficult it is to throw the left, not connect with the left, but then have the ability to sort of stop on a dime and have the power to hit him with the right.

Everything's about repetition and practice, bro. Sometimes you don't think in there. You're just doing. And I think in that moment I was just doing. I wasn't really thinking. I kind of more so just was fighting in flow. And when I caught him, I just said to myself, okay, it might be the time to finish the job. You know, he didn't look like he was okay at all.

When I was hitting him on the ropes, he was somewhere else. He was in a different world. And I was like, okay, a couple more punches. the ref has to stop it because unless you want to seem unconscious broadcast said in the moment early stoppage what is your response to that

well that's because they're watching from the crowd if you're if you were right there you know he was out of it he didn't even throw punches back where did he throw back he didn't throw back he was he was moving his head out of desperation

but he was cooked you know any bit longer do you want him to suffer real damage for like ever, you know? That's the question people should ask themselves. How bloodthirsty are you really, though? You said in the post-fight, like, you were still processing it all. You were still, like, locked in.

How long did it take for you to release that and be like, okay, that happened? Now I can let my hair down, so to speak, and have fun. Because you were zoned in there. Yeah, I mean, you kind of don't even know when it kind of goes away. I'm still kind of like locked in, but I think, you know, after a few drinks, so you have to get it out of you, you know what I mean? You can't keep that because then you become weird and antisocial.

I actually, you know, I had a, I actually did have a conversation with God like, please help me. I don't know how to stop to be locked in. Wow. And then I put worship music on because I was actually getting scared of myself. And I was like, I need something to really calm me down. And I played worship music. But yeah, bro, it was hard to.

come down. When you're really that locked in, it's kind of scary. Have you ever felt it like that before? That locked in? I think Luke Campbell. Luke Campbell was the closest thing I could remember to this. It was like, after the fight, I felt weird. I did not know what to do. I was like, I'm scared. Like, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to act. I was like, but that taught me this time where just, you know, what, go through the process, you know, celebrate how you're, like, everything has a reasoning, you know?

So, I had a couple of drinks and then, you know, things started flowing. Did you have a moment at any point, I know you're super locked in to smell the roses and say, it's Mexican Independence Day weekend, one of the most important dates in boxing. It's T-Mobile. Sorry. No problem. Can you still hear me? Yes, I can.

It's Las Vegas. All like these major power players in sport and entertainment are, are rings, celebrities are there. You're the guy. You're the A side. You're the WBC champion. They're all there for you. You're no longer the what if. You're no longer the social media kid. You're no longer any of these things. You're that dude. Did you have a moment to tell yourself like, man, we're here. We made it. This is it. Now comes the fun part. You have made it. I don't think I've had that moment yet. I think, you know, there's moments that I get like a little bit of happiness, and I can grasp it and I look at the post and it's all great. And it

Everything is great. I think that I'm just shielded right now. I think that it still demands some focus, you know? And, you know, because you never know, bro. People want to hit you and get at you at certain moments where they feel like your guard is down. Right now, I don't think I could relax. You know, we're still doing interviews. We're still talking about the fight.

So I think maybe a week after this, I'll have that time to be like, good job, Ryan. Good fucking job. There was once a time where I say what if, where you had the mental health issues that you were very open about. And that took a lot of courage. You don't talk about that as much. I'm wondering if do, like, do those issues ever rear their ugly head? Do you ever feel like you're still going on with that battle internally? You know, I don't really talk about the stuff because I don't like to look back.

I know everybody likes to focus on these things that have happened and they try to make a big deal out of it. Like, yes, I had mental health issues. Yes, I came back from it. What do you want to know more about it? It's like, why do you want to continue to talk about it? For what? What are you getting out of it? You've already asked me this a million times, you know, in my head.

I mean, it's not going to change. I went through that. I found my way, and that's it. To be clear, I'm not talking about the past. I was wondering if you deal with it today, even when it seems like... Oh, right. I mean, you know what? Every day, it's always spiritual warfare, bro.

You're always going to have battles throughout the day. Whatever the day presents itself, you have to battle it no matter what. So do I struggle with it? No. Does it always come back and maybe try to test what I got going on? Yeah, of course. But with love and experience, you get through everything. You were very positive about the experience of working with Dana White and Zoufa and TKO last week.

Can I ask specifically, what did you? like so much about it? What really resonated with you? Their ability to be so on playing with timing and studios and just so like they're on it. They're the ones that are on it the most. They understand social media. They understand it all. They got their shit together. So great company. Dana's smart as fuck, and that's what I could say about that. Okay, and so would you say as far as like a fight week goes, it was one of the smoother ones, if not the smoothest of your career? I'll say it's probably the smoothest.

Okay, wow. Yeah, the sharpest. I'll say that. It was the sharpest. One interesting thing about the evolution of Zufa boxing and Dana as a boxing promoter is seeing him at the face-offs, at the presser being like, oh, we need to get a face-off with Mauricio Suleiman and the WBC, seeing them sort of play ball with the sanctioning bodies,

That belt right there, acknowledging it. Why do you think it changed? And do you like the fact that they've now changed their stance towards those belts and sanctioning? You can't deny history, bro. That's the thing. You cannot deny history. The WBC has a long history of boxing. It's the most beautiful belt in boxing right now.

You know, you see it and you know what it is. You don't even have to be a boxing fan to know that when somebody's holding the green and gold belt, he's the champ. So, you know, when you have to, you have to. process, hating on it does nothing for you. So, you know, I think that's where he played his cards right. Okay. Can I ask the Delahoya situation? I'm a little confused as to what happened. So can you tell us your side of the story here? Why wasn't you there? You know, in the beginning, it was Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. that was going to walk out with me. And I wanted to get maybe Oscar right there. You know, I think that would be iconic. Oscar's a Mexican-American. Julio's a legend

from Mexico. I just thought it would be cool, but honestly, nobody wanted him there. And that's the God honest truth. When you say no one, who do you mean? You know what I mean? The TKO brass? Nobody wanted him there. Okay. Did you want him there? Yeah. So shouldn't that supersede their wishes? Sometimes you got to pick your battles. Yeah. I said, it's not a battle I really want to pick right here, you know? Right. Like, all right, I don't really care who walks it with me or not, type of thing. So, so I wish, I'll say this, though.

I wish Oscar was there. I wish he walked out with me, and I wish he would have been ringside, no matter what. That would have showed his love for me the way that I imagine somebody that's been with me the whole time to do. You know, okay, they don't want to let you walk out. They did have a seat for you, though, and you didn't take that seat. For me, I don't respect that, and that disappointed me. So as Jane Mercia tweeted, your team called their team and said, can't walk out, and then he decided not to show up.

Yes, that's definitely what happened. Did they tell you that beforehand, or did you learn that he wasn't coming afterwards? Well, they told me beforehand that they don't want Oscar there. And I said, or I walked me out. And I said, okay, that's fine. I said, they're like, but that he does have a seat. So, okay. But he didn't show up.

Did you speak to him? not not at all i i messaged them on instagram inviting him to walk me out he said yes um you know it's just kind of sad that he didn't show it did you hear from him after the fight nope no congratulations none of that no why do you think he didn't show up because the the walkout offer i don't know who he i don't know why he's like that he just doesn't want to show for the people he you know he's supposed to love what's up with that You know, it's like, bro, like, I don't know. He's weird, bro.

He's missing a part of himself. I don't know what it is, though. It bums you out? Yeah, of course. You know, I mean, I started to the career with him. I looked up to him pretty much when I was younger. And just for him to let his emotions get like that, it's really disappointing. Like, it's like, where's your, like, where's your maturity?

It's not, something's off. bro, you're, he's living in the past. It's weird. Did you want him a part of the fight week, like the presser and all that stuff, or would you have rather? No, not really. I mean, I didn't care for him to be a part of that. Yeah. But I think how special would have been?

He's not there at all and then shows up on my walkout. Yeah. And so you have one fight left with him, but my understanding is that fight is also with Turkey as well, right? Yes, yes. So we have one more fight under the Golden Boy Band. We have another fight contractly obligated with the ring. Yeah. Basically, Turkey.

And that's where I'm at. That's the landscape now. So we'll see. I kind of want to get in the ring either December or January. That's kind of where I'm looking at. So just trying to understand the one fight with Golden Boy, is that exclusive from the one fight with Turkey? Or can they both happen and both be fulfilled on the same night?

For my understanding, it could both be fulfilled that same night. In other words, your next fight could be Cinco de Mayo, and that could be another Zufa event. Yes, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get into the ring before that. Okay. You think December? Yeah. Why not? You're good, right? You're not banged up? Not at all. I hurt my hand more so fighting somebody on Sunday night. Who's that?

The homie. He wanted that work. I still had interviews. I said, let's get it. What do you mean? What do you mean? Who's the homie? We just started brawling in the room. Like a friend of yours? Yeah. He just wanted the smoke? Yeah.

We was both lit and he wanted that work, so I gave him it. Bare knuckle? Bear knuckles. Who's the guy? Is he a fighter? Nah, but he wanted the smoke, though. Who won? What?

Who won? Yeah. I'm asked that question. Knockout? Yeah, easy work. Okay. And is your hand okay? Yeah, of course, bro.

A couple of scratches. Okay. It's all good. Who would you fight in December? Who would you want to fight? There's a lot of people out there. You got pit bull crews. I wouldn't mind rambling with him.

Angel Fiero. He sparred me for this camp. Wouldn't mind fighting him too. I won't call it a tuna, but it's... I just don't want to make sure... I don't want to get caught off guard. I don't want to wait until May to fight. Why don't have to wait to May?

I have no bruises. I have no hits to the head. Why can I fight? So I'll give the fans a little treat. Okay. And so you're not thinking like a T.O. Superfight type of fight or a Devin Hades. You're talking about as someone who's maybe a little bit lesser on the popularity scale. On the papers, right?

The papers will show that. But it's still going to be a great fight. You're always going to get excitement when I fight. So we'll be watching for everyone. but yeah, I'm looking to stay active. If it were up to you, Cinco de Mayo, who's the opponent? Seifima Lopez. Why him over Haney?

Because, you know, why not do it for underspeeter? Why not gamble at all? You know, I want to take everything from him. Right now it's a little premature, you know, let him get another belt. Let me get another belt and let's do it for it all. Like, if you really want to hire the stakes, let's do it all. Let's put it all in the line. everything you could imagine.

You didn't learn the first time. Let's do it the second time even crazy. For all the belts, straight up, 147, and I'm going to kick your fucking ass. I'm going to fucking destroy you. The next time I fight Haney, he might not fight again. I'm telling you, I'm going to predict that now.

Let this be known now. He won't ever fight again once we fight. He knows that. After that, the paycheck will be too pretty and his face will be too destructive. It's over. Did you see him and his dad at the fight? Fuck him, stupid-ass glasses.

They seemed impressed, though. Fuck them. How about that? Fair enough. I was just curious if you saw their comments. They seemed to be... Fuck them. How about that?

All right, all right. Fair enough. Fair enough. Okay, can I ask you this one? Tia wasn't allowed in the ring. Did that bother you? No, but what was he going to do? He took a page out of the WWE.

I knew what he was doing because he was nice to me before, you know? Going in my back room saying good luck. So I know it wasn't like that, but if he wanted it, it could have, I could have beat his ass there to be real. Teo, was going to be easy work for me. I'll get him out there by eight rounds. So he's signed to DeZone. He's not signed to a promoter. Do you think that makes it easier if you did do the fight with Zoufa to make this fight happen?

Because now they're willing to fight. I love fighting on Desone. I don't mind the zone. I don't mind Paramount. You know, it don't matter where we have to fight. Shout out DeZone, by the way. They do a great job as well. And yeah, bro, does it make it easier?

I don't know. Even if it wasn't, you know, easy, I'd make the fight happen. You know me. I've made every fight I wanted to happen. You know, so him, it would be no different. And, yeah, man, that's the fight probably I'm most excited for at the moment. After this experience, do you want to fight more with Zufa and have Dana White as your promoter? Let's just say that they impress me.

Let's just say that. Okay. I have a theory, Ryan. Everyone's wondering, like, what's the big fight for American boxing? What's the big Netflix fight, if you will? I think it's you and Terrence Crawford. I think that's the one. I think we're not there yet, but I think we're like a year and a half, two years away. What do you think?

Oh, I don't mind that. I want to avenge Canella's loss. I want to avenge... I just want to beat his ass to be real. I want that. He knows that I want that. I'm willing to test him to see where he at, you know? will he come back out of retirement?

I don't know. He knows he has to. Nobody knows who the fuck he is. He has to come back to boxing. He knows that. He could see that. The security didn't even know who the fuck he was.

That's a problem. Did you see him tweeting like, oh, do you want to see me in boots? It feels like we're slowly inching closer to him testing the waters. Well, like I said, let me get a thank you because I'm the one that pushed it out of him.

Like, bro, you know you got more on the plate. What are you doing? You retired for what? Like, I know what he's doing. Like, he knows that he didn't do everything he needed to do in the sport yet. So all I did was question, man. He knows this the truth, and that's why he's entertaining it. So do you think he's doing this so that people beg him to come back? I think that's a bit of his game plan. I think that he's not really, he not really retired in his heart. He retired on paper, but not in his cart. What is the genesis of the issue between you and him? Like, where did

this all start? He a hating-ass bitch. That's it. He picked Connor Bent to beat you. He don't like me. That's what it is. It's cool. Come get this smoke then. Fuck the not like you. Let's fight. But why doesn't not like you? What's the issue?

He's jealous of me. He knows that. He can't deny that fact in him. He's like, damn. I don't really like this fucker. Cool. Jealousy, motherfucker. I'll beat the fuck out you. I'll beat the jealous out of you. How about that?

Regarding Connor Ben, a lot of people have used this fight to say, like, you see, he was never a championship caliber. He will never be championship caliber. What is his ceiling in your opinion? I told you guys this was going to be the narrative. He was drained, blah, blah, blah.

You know, the haters always come out, you know, after the fact. But he's all right. I don't think he'll be, I don't know. Honestly, I'm not going to talk down on him. He did great. He tried very well. It's just a lot more work to do, bro. That's all I got to say, Connor.

There's a lot more work to do, get in the gym, stay savage. And yeah, he got a lot of work to do. Do you consider him a top five welterweight? No. Do you think he should leave the welterweight division, move up to 54 or 60? Yes. That's his best chance. Do you feel like the weight played apart?

No He didn't play a part at all Do you believe him When he showed on the scale That he was 178 No He was playing mind Okay

What did you weigh What did you? 155 What do you think he weighed Because he said he didn't I guess the reports Were he didn't want to step On the scale at the arena

Right I don't know Maybe because he was Protecting the lie That he put out Could be There's no way he was You can't gain that much weight

Bro That's about You would have to drink So much water And then Even when you you're drinking water, you're going to be peeing because you drink so much. It's impossible to gain that much weight. The talk is he made between 10 and 15 million for this fight. Did you make

more? You know that, but I don't like to talk about my finances too much. But yes, I definitely made a significant more than that. Okay, I don't know it, to be honest. I don't know it. That's why I asked. I mean, you should be making more. You're the A side, but I, you know. Yes. Well, you don't know that, but now you do. You know what happens when you assume, right? Yes, of course. Sometimes it bites you in the ass. But yeah, I made a lot. I'm blessed. What about the connection with the Mexican fans?

I heard you drop a Viva Mexico Carbrones. I saw you write Mexican-American. Here's the thing, man. Like I said, I love my Mexican people, even if they don't love me. That's all I got to say to that. But it felt like the pop when you came out was enormous. It felt like they were loving you. Because I try to tell you guys, stop listening to them fucking comments. You guys looking at all these comments saying, oh, the Mexican people aren't behind me like Connor was saying.

I said, bro, in real life, they are. You idiot, you know? Comments don't tell you the full story most of the time. And I was so loved and I felt blessed, man. Wow. They really loved me tonight. But you know how quick that could end. Right.

I just want to ask you about a couple tweets you put out. One was to Gervante Tank Davis. You just put this out like an hour ago. Jervante, cool, but you don't want the smoke. What's up with you? I went to 136. You can't come to 47. Don't be shaky now.

I need that if you want it. If not, there's nothing to be said. And so is this something you're looking for as well? I want that, man. I want to clean that up. He don't want it, though. He knows it. He knows I'm a bad man.

He don't want me at 147. So there's really nothing to be said. I mean, cool, you got me at 136. Get me at 147. Prove to me that you really like that. He doesn't want to prove to himself. He doesn't want to prove it to me. He doesn't...

He's a little bit of kind of scary. I ain't a lot. He's showing a little bit fear. Have you tried? Have you reached out to his side? Have there been any attempts to make this? There's nothing that really made me pull the trigger on it because he's like not giving me any

he wants it, you know? It's kind of like, I'll go to 140, but not 47. It's like, okay, bro. So you're basically like saying, I'm cool. I don't want to give the rematch.

And, you know, I'm going to escape with this, this asterisk victory is how I see it. When you fought him a few years ago, you were kind of trying to get what he had. Now it feels like the tables of turn. Now it feels like you're the A plus side. It's crazy.

You know, let's see how you react now. You know, I showed you what I was willing to do, you know, when you had the, you know, the sport by its balls, you know. So it's funny how tables turn, but, you know, if you say consistent, tables can always turn. What's up with Shady McCoy? Why'd you call him out of? What do you say? He's just a hater. Bro, started hating on me out of nowhere. Fuck him.

He's an NFL running back. Fuck him. He can. Continue running. Did he say something online? Fucking. Okay. Nah, honestly, it's just so weird.

He's just so biased. It's just disgusting. He can't tell the truth even if he hit him in the head. It's just bad with him. It's like, bro, be real. Stop being goofy. You biased motherfucker? Tell me about Saturday.

Let me live vicaracy through you. What did you do Saturday night? Oh, we lost him. Just as I was getting to the good stuff. Okay, we'll get him back. Shady McCoy drawing the ire does he talk boxing

is he like on a I know he's a former Buffalo Bill's running back he's on the he's on the ring show where it was yeah with Kellerman and them Shady McCoy

yeah I feel like we had this whole discussion when he got a note stop I was like why is he talking did he not draft him or something that's Shady McCoy boxing I'm pretty sure he's on the show Like Lashon McCoy former eagle and former

Bill? Inside ringshell. What are you talking about? He's a former running back. I can't tell if you're bullshit or not. Number 25, Buffalo Bills. Yeah, we know who he is, man. That's my guy. That's what everyone remembers him for. Bills?

Bills? Boutherst. I had a pretty good run during the non-playoff. Yeah, but he was nasty with the Eagles, bro. Yeah, that really was. I think he retired as a bill, right? It's just so random. It's like me being like F. Jamal Anderson. Shout out to Jamal Anderson, by the... Dirty Burr. Yeah, but he's saying that because he's on the show.

Okay, I didn't know that. So he must have just been talking shit. Yeah. You don't watch every week. I think, I don't know, when's it on? Is it on the ultimate package? Nobody knows. Yeah, Mike Oppinger, Max Kellerman, LaShawn McCoy.

Stop. You know you guys are trolling. You guys are crazy. Are we going to get him back or no? Here. Oh, is he here? Is Ryan there? Yes.

Okay. I was just asking, okay, you're back. This is the longest interview ever Let's get it Okay, okay, last one, last one Let me live vicaracy through Saturday night What did you do Saturday night after the fight? After Saturday night

I went to see my wife and the kids Had a toast of champagne You know, feeling good, talking about the fight You see me going back to the mansions at MGM chilling with everybody raising that toast up Then I was like, you know what? I want to gamble a little bit I gamble with just a little bit.

Then from there, we went to XS with Hugo. He's a good DJ, great DJ, actually. And then what else I do? Then I don't really remember. And then you just float into the Vegas night. That's it, man. Just let the clothes flow. Ryan, I'm very happy for you.

Congratulations. Well done. Love you guys. Hey, thank you for this interview. Thank you for everybody on this show. Thank you, Erin, for always supporting, showing love. I appreciate everybody. We the champ.

You see what it is. And I'll see you guys real soon. Much love. Thank you, Ryan. Congratulations. There he is. The man, Ryan Garcia, the reigning defending WBC

Walterway champion. Kind enough to join us on this Monday after a scintillating victory. And there you go. I think we got a lot of answers and some new answers as well. Wanting to return in December, perhaps as a little tune-up,

if you want to call it that, before we head off to a massive Cinco de Mayo showdown, potentially against Tifaima Lopez. All right. More to come. Adelaidea O'Dipo is going to join us. He was there in attendance. He also spoke to Dana White.

We still have Noce UFC to talk about as well, so stay tuned for that. For now, though, let us move along to our next guest. He was in the news two weekends ago. And then, of course, at the beginning of last week, he did have what we thought might be his final UFC fight, certainly the last fight on his contract, last Saturday in, in Paris, won that fight, fourth in a row, five of six in the UFC, a record that I think most people would be very excited about. And then on Tuesday, after the contender series event, Dana White confirmed, after we found that on Monday that he was no longer going to be included

in the rankings for the rankings committee, Dana White announced on Tuesday night that they were not going to attempt to resign Michael Bennett Page, offer him a new deal. They were going to go there as separate ways. And so we have been waiting very patiently to speak to the aforementioned Michael Venham page and here he is kind enough to join us on this Monday evening in the UK. What's up, MVP? How are you? I'm good, man. How are you doing? How are you doing? Are we letting the hair grow? Is this all part of the new year?

No, I was away. I haven't had been sorted out yet. I like this. I've never seen this side of you before. What do we got there? Let's see it on the side. No, there's not much, not much. It's a whole different you with the longer beer and everything. I don't know. I like this. It's a new version. All right. Okay, let's, if we can, like, just take a few steps back. Walking into that cage, walking out of that cage two Saturdays ago in Paris,

did you think that that was going to be your final UFC fight? I didn't. I guess walking in. Walking in, no, I definitely didn't think it was going to be my last fight. walking out I guess there was a potential of it being because again I felt like I didn't you know I wasn't able to perform

to the level of you know that I've been known to perform at but still you know I was I was thinking to myself I'm ranked number eight probably would have been pushed slightly further forward after after winning that fight as well

so you know there's likely they'll likely maybe still come back to the table potentially. So, you know, but obviously didn't go according to plan. This was probably the biggest storyline attached to the fight. Last fight, will you stay, will you go? Was it hard not to think about it? Was it hard to like not fixate on that? Or did you do a pretty good job in retrospect to say like, let's just focus on the fight and the rest will take care of itself? Yeah, like I'm, I'm pretty good at balancing the two with things going on outside the cage and obviously trying to perform inside the cage.

So yeah, like, you know, I'm happy to answer the questions and it's not really too much of a distraction for me. I know I need to go in there and do what I need to do. So, yeah, I feel like I managed that well. So, yeah, I don't think it was too stressful to kind of deal with going into the fight. What did you think of the fight itself, and in particular your performance?

Yeah, and again, I just know what I'm capable of. And for some reason, again, I don't know what it is. I still can't find exactly what it is, but I just feel like I'm just not pushing myself enough in the fights. And this is weird to say, because as you know, as you said, I'm winning fights. And it's weird that I'm winning fights and I'm not at my best. And it's just a shame that I haven't been able to really show my case or showcase my best.

and yet I'm still beating fighters that are at the top of their game so but yeah I just didn't feel like I was doing enough do you think it's a mental thing what you're talking about there potentially

potentially yes it could be like I said I realized I think second fight in where I was actually like oh actually I'm carrying a weight and I shouldn't be

and then it was a case of figuring out how to not do that when I'm going, you know, when I'm heading into these fights, having to not fixate on performing in the way that I used to and just enjoy the performance. Weirdly enough, in terms of feeling, I was going back to enjoying myself a little bit more in that last fight, and this is why I'm like, man, if I, a few more, a few more in there,

and I know I can show something. I know I can show something. have you ever talked to someone about this? A couple, one person, a good friend of mine, Jima Woodhouse, he actually deals with, he works kind of like as a therapy. Yeah. Therapists in that kind of department.

And so, yeah, we had conversations about it and yeah, definitely helped. But yeah, I'm just so, usually just so confident. So I feel sure that things don't stick to me for too long. And like I said, after speaking to him a bit, I felt good. And then every time I perform them, like, ah, man, there's still more, there's still something that's a bit of a blockage there that I need to kind of keep pushing through to perform better. When you left the arena two Saturdays ago in Paris,

did you have any sort of sense as to what your future was? Because even in the post-fight interviews that you did in the back, it seemed like you were still saying like you wanted to come back, you wanted to resign, you wanted to have a future with the UFC. Yeah, yeah, again, for me, I had goals, you know, to achieve.

So it was, and regardless of anything, I was winning my fights, which says to me, you know, you get to stay. That's what, you know, the premise of this game is success should breed, you know, more opportunities. So,

so I still, felt like, yeah, you know, we'll sit down the table. I felt like what may happen is they, you know, they sit around the table and they just say, look, you know, we can resign you, but it's going to be a lot less, you know, and then, you know, we work from there, but not, I wouldn't have expected it to be dealt with in a way that it was dealt with. I found that quite disrespectful, to be fair. Before I get to that, just curious, you didn't get the post-fight interview in the cage. How did you feel about that? Again, it's the same thing. It's for me, me, what is the harm in allowing regardless?

I've seen so, again, as you have, you know, your connoisseur of this game, you've seen fights that have been absolutely terrible and they still get to go on the mic and say their peace. So this is the second time it's happened to me. And I feel like, especially if you knew you wasn't going to resign me, what was the harm and even allow me to, you know, speak to speak to my fans, speak to the crowd, the parish crowd I was there, which were amazing. And I don't understand who makes those calls to know who I'd even go to, to be like, what's that about? When did you find out that the UFC wasn't interested in offering you a new deal?

At the same time everybody else found out. So when Dana went and, you know, said, you know, we're not going to be offering you. another contract. That is when it went out everywhere. I was just chilling on holiday. I see I'm getting messages from people. I'm seeing the clip being clipped on different channels and so and so forth. And I'm like, okay, I guess that's where we're at.

And so as you just alluded to, you felt like that was handled poorly. You felt like that was disrespectful. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I feel like for me, I'm always happy to have a conversation. Regardless, it could be a difficult one, easy one. And I just think being able to have a conversation can resolve a lot of issues before they even start. And even down to if I'm talking as if I'm the UFC now, I'm like, I'm not happy with, you know, the performances. They may have a conversation with him like, look, we're not happy with the performances.

The performances, you know, if it continues this way, you know, we're going to have to part ways. But, you know, we need to see more of this, this, this, this, this and this. and then at least it gives me a goal and something to really work towards and at least know where I'm exactly where I'm at, and where I stand with this partnership. So to hear nothing and have to guess all the time, I think that's annoying.

And then to even after the fact to not have a conversation to say, okay, look, you know what, thank you for your time here. You know, but, you know, we're not going to move forward and, you know, do any work together. hereafter. Again, it would just be nice to hear just before. And then he's like, okay, cool, thank you. And to be fair, I sent a nice message to the guys as well, because I, regardless

of this, I enjoyed my time, man. I always go on about the staff, the team there, they're great. I think I had a very good working relationship with everybody, like people used to say, the staff there would say, like, they love having, you know, when it's MVP's Fight Week, they love me there because, you know, I'm going to come with good energy and we're smiling, and what's happy. So, yeah, you know, I feel like, even with, that with your team saying that I'm so kind of well received there, I feel like it just just a conversation would have been nice. And to be clear, the message that you sent, who was that to?

Oh, Hunter, Hunter. Okay. Did he reply? Yeah, yeah, actually, you reply. Just to say that, you know, we'll have a conversation. But again, we've always had a good relationship. So from the beginning of, you know, when it was him that actually approached me to sign. So we've had a good relationship.

I've never really had a relationship with Dana at all. Right. So it's always been with Hunter. Did you have that conversation? Not yet. Not yet. So we'll go do. Okay.

And when you say you found out, like we all found out, so I'm assuming it's from that Dana White press conference after contender series. Prior to that, we saw on the Monday, a reporter John Morgan post that you were no longer going to be included in the rankings pool. Did your team reach out even after that and be like, okay, what does this mean? was there any attempt on on your team side to reach out if they weren't reaching out before that Tuesday night press conference to see like okay what's the status here guys yeah yeah but again things are just moving so quickly so um and obviously everyone's on different time zones so things things

usually move a little bit slower but um and as soon as we're you know the the reaching out process is happening then the day in a white video comes out and it's like okay cool I guess we We just know where we're at. So now it's like, I'm not one to, you know, cry over spilt milk. I'm like, cool, where do we go now? So literally the team's been getting together, sitting down and focusing on what's next for myself, and where do we go from here and so on and so forth. But yeah, so I'm like, yeah, cool, this is where I'm at.

Let's keep moving. I don't think anyone would ever deny that the UFC is the creme della cream as far as MMA is concerned. What do you think it says that a fighter who went five and one has won four in a row isn't welcome? They are not interested in resigning you. You're there. You want to stay clearly. You haven't talked dollars and cents, so it's not like a budget thing. But they have said thanks, but no thanks.

What do you think that says? I don't think it's necessarily the best message they're sending because I think what made or makes the UFC so beautiful is they say that we have the best fighters in the world here. And that's something they can brag about. And they've bragged about for years and rightly so. They've got such exceptional athletes there. But then if you're got athletes that are winning and you're not going to keep them,

then you're kind of going against what you're bragging about. You're kind of saying that, well, technically it's not just about being the best athlete. You know, there's other things to it. So I think you're kind of sending mixed signals for a lot of people. For me, like I said, I feel like if I'm winning

and there's no personal qualms with anybody, then there's no reason for me not to be in the UFC considering, like I said, in two divisions, not even in one, in two divisions,

I'm probably like top ten in both divisions, which says I'm one of the best in the world. And, yeah, for them to say, yeah, we no longer want to you hear. Yeah, I just find it interesting because if it's just a stylistic thing, then you could argue some of the, you know, the Dagestani wrestlers that have come in and kind of

taken over for a long time that was somewhat of a boring aspect of what people were seeing. And yet, you know, those guys get to stay and they've stayed and, you know, done really well. And right, and correctly so. And they've shown to be some of the best athletes in the world. So then why was I not giving that same grace regardless of whether everybody's, enjoying it or not, if I'm winning, like, fair enough if I'm losing, but if I'm winning, then 100% I should stay. And there's guys in the UFC that are losing regularly. And there'll be no mention of them leaving ever.

Dana alluded to the fact that it was the matchmaker's decision to not resign you. Does that surprise you? Do you think that's ultimately who it came down to? Again, it's hard to say because I don't quite understand how they make decisions. but I've never dealt with any of the matchmakers because I was signed through Hunter. So maybe that was an issue, potentially that, you know, they felt like they didn't have access to me, my growth, on what steps they could take. I don't know. I'm making up right now. But, yeah, I haven't ever dealt with them personally. So, again, I couldn't.

I'd only be speculating. that's an issue. I guess the reason I asked that question is because you were willing to fight at 170, 185 and you always told us that you were raising your hand to fight the top dudes and never turned down to fight. So it would seem, while I would never say like the last two fights would be the first fights that I would show people about the brilliance of MVP, they wouldn't be at the top of the highlight reel, so to speak.

I think we could both agree on that. It would seem like you would be like a matchmaker's dream. Like you're willing to fight at 70, 85. You want to fight all the top guys. It just surprises me a little bit. If it's the brass who say, like, hey, we can't sell tickets off this guy, then maybe I get it. But the matchmakers, I would be surprised, at least I was surprised when I heard that they were the ones based on what he said that vouch for you not coming back. Yeah, I don't get it either.

So unless it's because it's difficult to match me because people don't want to fight me. And if that's the case, it's like, it's like, I can't be bothered to have to, you know, do do all this work. to speak to so many different camps and people just, you know, letting them down for somebody that's maybe not performing the way they would like me to perform. So potentially is that, but I'm always ready to fight anybody. And I've been that way since I've got here. So, yeah, something doesn't. So I feel like something was, something more was wrong, but nobody's willing to kind of say. In retrospect, do you think bouncing from 70 to 80 to 80, ended up hurting you, sort of left you in no man's land?

Potentially. Potentially, again, the first fight against Sharra was opportunistic. Literally, I saw him calling out Izzy and I was like, oh, I feel like I could beat that guy. Let me just call him out. I didn't think anything was going to come of it. It did. But straight away, I was like, okay, that was just a one-off fight, guys. I actually do want to continue that world to wait.

and then it became difficult to get a fight a World to Weight, and then they end up offering me another middleweight fight, and I was like, okay, cool, but remember guys, I do want to go back down to World to Weight. I've always kind of kept that stance, but yeah, maybe the constant up and down and the constant misunderstandings of

where I should be, again, like you said, probably could have hurt me as well. Along those lines, do you have any regrets? Now that the chapter is seemingly closed, are there things you wish you could do over as far as this run is concerned, the UFC run? You know what? I have to always take a moment to look back

some skinny kid in West London to achieve what I've achieved to now. There's nothing to be regretful of and MVP was made outside the UFC. I've never needed the UFC for my brand and that

continues even now. I don't need anybody for my brands and I'm proud that I'm able to I have been able to do that and I'm just proud of myself for what I've been able to achieve and the influence around the world in the fight game that I've been able to, you know

gift to people all over the world like again I'm sure you saw the reception that I got in in Paris was amazing unbelievable reception and considering I'm not a local because literally

they only was really making that kind of noise for fellow French athletes but when I came out there it means that I've gifted something that people are like he's beyond the flags you know I've gifted people something that they just want to side with me

which is which is amazing and like I said I can only really be proud of myself and I don't like to be too regretful we learn from stuff We definitely learn from things, but I'll never be regretful of my career and what I've done. On the flip side of that, you posted something about, you know, like the Internet's opinions, like trying to, you know, fight them off. Here you go. We tried to handle the Internet's opinions.

What has that been like? Are you partaking in that? Because, you know, Ryan Garcia was just talking to us about the Internet and then real life two very different things. He's hated online, and then he goes and sells out T-Mobile and is a super-sacier-exam. star. And so how are you dealing with the internet comments? Yeah, to be fair, that was just playing. Literally, I was with my wife, was on holiday. Literally, you're going for like a hike.

I saw that kind of angled rock, and I was like, I'm just making a joke. Let me pretend I'm holding it up. And I was like, oh, Kapost that. And pretend like it's me struggling with what people are saying. I genuinely do not give a shit about the opinions of people that are not within my circle. when it's my wife, when it's my mother, my mother and father-in-law, my sister, my family, my brothers, when it's them telling me something and I'll listen. But the internet is like you said, it's just a joke, so I don't take it serious.

Has this dampened your fire? Has this made you less motivated? How do you feel about the state of the sport, your career after this experience? Weirdly enough, sounds weird. maybe it doesn't sound weird, but I feel free and I feel excited and remotivated. One aspect, and again, I'm not against the UFC in any way, shape or form. Like I think, like you said, they're the best, they're the best in the world in regards to MMA and their platform is just unbelievable.

But there are areas that I feel like they could just be better at, and I feel like it's those areas that I did struggle with. So being able to be able to express the true MVP comes with. the antics, the walkouts, the this and that. And I felt like I felt a bit suffocated and restricted on being able to express that. And I'm not saying that's the reason, you know, why my performances didn't go according to plan. But I feel like definitely those things have a part to play. And when I say I feel free now, I feel like I've had offers from absolutely everywhere,

which is amazing. But the exciting thing is actually I get to go back and put on a show. what I've always loved to do. I get to really have exceptional, memorable walkouts and finishes, and I can do so much more. So, yeah, weirdly, I feel free. I feel, and I feel excited to go out and just prove to everybody once again that, yeah, the MVP train is still going.

Are you free to sign with anyone today if you want, or is there a period of time in which you can't sign with anyone? I'm not actually, I haven't actually looked at it specifically, all these going through everything now and speaking to everybody. But the just offers are just flying in. Okay, okay. Tell us, who's offering you something? Tell us, let's sift through them together.

To be very honest, I don't think there's one place that I haven't got an offer from. Wow. Like name anybody you want. They've all put their hands up to be like, I know what he can do. and as you can see it has nothing to do with me not being capable as though I'm not getting the exciting finishes I'm still beating guys that some of some of these guys are 10 years my junior and I'm still faster than all of these guys he's still capable

so these guys are like no no no we want him on our show again I've just I've literally just got back and I've kind of put that to one side I said let me just kind of rest self-reflect be with myself and then kind of think about where I'm at, like you said, about motivation and stuff, and I'll come back, and I'm like, no, I'm hungry. I'm hungry to keep working.

So now I sit down with all the, sit down with my team, and we make a plan about where we're going to go next. All MMA or outside MMA as well? Everything, area, you know what me, man. I'm a martial artist. I know, I know. This is fascinating.

Okay, so let me ask you this. In the immediate aftermath, Jake Paul tweeted, time for MVP to come to MVP. And so I'm assuming they're one of the the organizations that offer you. Definitely, definitely, yeah. Are you interested?

Well, 100%. 100%. The show that they put on, you know, the day, exceptional. And again, it's a show. Again, I can already, I'm excited about the things that I know I can do on my walk out and this and that and I can visualize exactly how amazing and epic that's going to be.

So 100%, you know, there's nobody I'm saying no to right now until I figure out exactly what my goals and then who best are partner with to achieve those goals. So there's no frontrunner at the moment? No, no, no, no, I can't. I can't say there is because I haven't spent enough time actually looking. Like I said, I've literally just been away. It was a friend's 40th in Amsterdam. So I went to go and see him. I went away with my missus to South of France as well, where that picture came from. And yeah, now I'm back And now we get to work. We were talking about this last week.

No dog in the race. I'm not going to try to convince you, but on the heels of the Risen event, and Risen is on fire over in Japan, they had 50,000 people. I was just thinking, like, MVP with the Japanese flare and those entrances and the, is Risen one of them that's reached out?

Because I would love to see that. I'm not going to lie. They would, again, I understand. They're cool. Unfortunately, not unfortunately. It's more a case of like my fan base So the guess is more the western side, but I'd love to go out and create some noise. Yeah, yeah.

Obviously, even when I fought in Japan under Bellator, they're exceptional fans. They're so unique. They love the art. Yeah, great fans. And I'd love to go over and fight there again. So, yeah, like I said, nothing's, everything excites me right now. Nothing's off the table. But I do need to plan accordingly and not just be too reckless because the next fight, it still means

something because I'm making a statement yet again. Do you want to fight this year? Yeah. If I can fight again this year, definitely I want to be in there. Okay, so that is the goal to try to get something before the end of 2026. Yeah, yeah. This is, like I said, it was over for the UFC in terms of our relationship. Fair enough.

And again, like I said, I don't wish any, no negative feelings, no ill will. But that doesn't mean it's the end of MVP, by all means. I am curious. You know, later today in about two and a half hours, Scott Coker is going to make a big announcement regarding his promotion, your old pal. Yeah, and he's, you know, it's funny, you know, we still talk.

You know, he still messages me after fights to say, oh, congratulations and this and that and blah, blah, blah. So, again, yeah, another thing that's available to me. So I'm in a very good place, unemployed and wanted. I actually think your timing is phenomenal. A year ago, the landscape's completely different. different. Fast forward, being a free agent heading into 2027 in MMA with MVP, the other MVP,

most valuable promotions getting into the business with the new PFL, Koker reemerging with his new promotion, Risen on this run. There's way more options than a year ago. Yeah, there's so many. And it's great for us, a great time to be a fighter. Everyone seems to just love that live combat sports at the moment. It seems to be, you know, on the edge of everybody's lips when it comes to, you know, sporting events. They're loving it. So, um, great time to, for this to have happened. And, and like I said, this is why I'm still excited and so pumped. And, and don't feel like I've lost anything. And, you know, I just, like I said, I feel free now. I feel like I'm, I can actually, this is the opportunity. I can gain a lot more. You'll probably tell me everyone's, you know,

being considered, but you did have the one cup of coffee with BKFC, an incredible fight. Was that a one and done, or would you be open to a discussion with them as well? Are you interested in those guys? Right now, my wife is watching. Okay, okay, okay, so. She told me she's going to go down there. She's going to watch the interview, so I'm going to say no. Okay, all right, all right.

Oh, listen, if the wife says that's the only one you can't consider, you have to take that one off the table. There's enough out there. It was just such a great fight, to be honest. honest. It was just such a great fight. Like I said, I always tell people, weirdly enough, I really, really enjoyed that. But it's definitely, again, it put a lot of my loved ones to a lot more. So, yeah, I'd say, I'd say no for that one. Maybe run it back with Perry and MMA. Yeah, that would be great. You know what? I really like Perry just as a person. I think he's great. He's a great character. But that was such a great, an epic fight. I'd love to run it

back in MMA and boxing and whatever he wants to do. Let's definitely run it back if he's down to fight. But yeah, with all love and respect, man, because I'm a fan of him. Options of plenty, 39 turning 40 in April. Honestly, have you given a thought? How many more years of this? Yeah, not, not, yeah. Okay.

If I'm active, if I'm able to be active two years, two years, I'd say. Oh, wow. Okay. So we're nearing the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd say, again, I've been blessed. I have to have a lot of options outside of combat. As you know, I've gotten into the filming world, acting, but also producing films as well. And then family business and this, there's so many things. happening, which is amazing. It's a blessed place for me to be, but I'm still, the fire hasn't been

put out for fighting just yet. And because, like I said, I'm beating people that are 10 years my junior, I'm faster than those guys. I feel stronger than those guys. So that means I'm not, I'm not done yet. Maybe an appearance for a total combat. Oh, yeah, man. You know what? That's definitely one thing I want to do. You know, if I, if I give, depending on where I go, I definitely want to squeeze. a total combat fighting definitely. Two last quick ones. Derek Brunson out there trying to campaign for a fight against you. Do you have any interest?

Again, all offers on the table on a 100% game. If he wants to fight, if he wants that problem, it's better than most of the guys in the UFC. Most of those guys keep their hands down. So good on you, Derek. Okay. And, you know, we focus on the negativity, the trolls, the haters, whatever. What about those that have been supporting you?

I'm sure you felt their support. Man, what would you like to say to them? Just massive thank you for having that love, respect. It's been, it actually has, that side has been amazing. I've always been quite a controversial topic, which is why I feel where my brand grew from. Some people that are heavily, they don't like me and some people that heavily really like me.

But yeah, support has been amazing, like really has been amazing. And I thank every single person messaging positive things. Like I said, I don't pay too much attention. I know you see I get a generic of what's going on. But seriously, for all the loved ones around me that do, because they care for me so much, when they see that it helps them and that helps me, you know what I mean, seeing them, like, man, you got a lot of people on your side and then, you know, being supported for me, you guys are all helping. So I'm massively thankful for that support, massively. Love it. Well, you know, we support you here as well. Much love to you, much respect. Tremendous run. I think there's

probably 99.9% of fighters out there that would die for a five and one record in the UFC and leaving the promotion on a four-fight winning streak. So that is not easy. And you walk out with your head held high with class and grace, as always, with respect. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do next and not surprised to hear that you have an abundance of options waiting. Yeah, no, definitely. Good luck sifting through all of them. Oh, yes, it's going to be. It's a lot of work to now figure out. But again, Ariel, as always, man, thank you so much for the support you, you know, just having my back, you know, giving me the platform to be able to say because sometimes, well, I wasn't given a platform to say anything this last part. So, yeah,

I massively appreciate you, man. Thank you. Much love. Respect. And we'll talk to you soon. All the best you, Michael. Thank you, man. Take care. The great Michael Venham Page, five and one in the UFC, four in a row. Not surprised that every promotion is interested in working with him. And curious, the MVP one is interesting. MVP meets MVP. I mean, I feel like the marketing just sort of works itself out there. The Ryzen thing is interesting as well. Coker, it's a good spot to be in. It's a very good spot to be in. Okay, I've been wanting to talk. If you look at my text messages with our next guest. It's a lot of blue there. It's a lot of blue, probably dating back to, I don't know,

March, April when his fight at the White House was announced, blue, blue, blue. And I didn't take it personally, of course. He's given me enough interviews. If he doesn't talk to me ever again, no harm, no foul. He's been more than gracious, more than accommodating. But I was very happy to hear yesterday that he said, yes, we shall speak and we shall speak Monday afternoon. And so without further ado, let us say hello to the one and only Michael Chandler, who's kind enough to join us right here. And now there he is. Hello, Michael. How are you? Ariel, I will always talk to you. I just kind of disappear for a little.

I get it. It's just a lot of blue. It's a lot of blue there. I get in my feelings. You're right. And you have every reason. You have every reason to be in your feelings. There was a lot of blue.

I opened it up yesterday. I was like, that's a lot of blue. But, you know, I like to take a little hiatus here and there. And I got some things I'm working on. So thank you for reaching out. And we got it done. We got it booked. Here we are.

As always. How are you doing? I'm doing great, man. Just busy as all. always, like always, raising three kids, chasing my wife around while she's chasing her dreams. We're just enjoying, we've been enjoying the summer since the last fight. A lot of pool parties, a lot of hanging out, a lot of enjoying life, and recalibrating and recoiling the spring, so to speak, for what's next. So we're excited, man. We've been having a blast as a family.

So everyone, it seems like, who works in this MMA media space, former fighters, fighters, everyone's had a take on the state of Michael Chandler's career. And so part of disappearing as you sort of did, it allows those takes to be louder and more profound, boisterous, et cetera. But I'd love to ask you, in the immediate aftermath of the White House fight, considering everything that went into that fight, the long journey, all that, how were you dealing with it? Because, as I said, everyone had a take, but it's you. It's your career. That's not the type of fight that you want to have. We've seen you in such great fights. How are you dealing with it in the immediate aftermath?

As a competitor, obviously disappointed. You know, I put together a great training camp, had a great training camp. I got vested. And that's just the simple fact of the matter. The experience of the White House, though, was awesome. I wasn't able to, I guess, enjoy the experience as much as I wanted to. You know, you kind of, you catch yourself when you're looking around and realizing, okay, now you still got to go fight a guy in a cage who wants to take your head off.

So that was the unfortunate part that I wasn't able to like really enjoy the experience as much as I think a lot of people did, both viewers and people who were there in attendance. But life goes on. We, we shoot our shot. We go out there. As I've done my entire career since I was 14 years old when I first strapped on the amateur wrestling shoes, I prepared perfectly. I prepared the best that I could. I stepped into the octagon believing that I was going to put on the best performance. I could and that I was going to. And sometimes you come up short. With that being said, yeah,

come back home, lick my wounds a little bit. But I'm a very, very wealthy man, man. I got beautiful kids, my wife, tons of stuff going on outside of just fighting that I get to pour myself into and enjoy. And this road is not over yet. And this train still got steam in it. So we're just going to keep on going. Was Marisa Hoofee better than you thought he would be? I mean, you can watch him. I mean, any casual can watch him and say that guy's a puzzle. He's a puzzle to solve.

You know, and just, yeah, his movement, his length, his stance. It's one of those ones that are very hard to prepare for. You know, you just had my co-star in Roadhouse, too, Michael Venham Page on. Another very, very hard puzzle to solve. It's one thing to go in there against the guy as tough. is just Justin Gates year, Dustin Porreier, but they are a lot more basic savages and very

good and very world class, but they are brilliant with the basics, so to speak, and those are a lot easier to deal with than a guy like Hoofee, a guy like MVP. So, yeah, he was better than I thought. I thought I was going to beat him, but I didn't. And yeah, we just, we move on. And now I'm excited to watch him fight Armand

in a couple weeks, right? Actually, this weekend. Oh, that is this weekend. September 19th, yes. That's right. I forgot it's the whatever we are in the fourth or fifth or whatever it is. 14th. Did that fight, did that performance change the way you viewed the state of your career?

No. I mean, I think, and I think that's what's lost sometimes when fans or media look at it and you're like, it's a sport in which the styles really do make fights. And that, in a lot of ways, I thought his style would have been, you know my style would be the kryptonite if i was able to go out there grab a leg pick him up put him down dump him on his head um make him feel my presence right away i think i just gave him too much distance right away um tried to get on the legs one time didn't uh i haven't even go back and watch the fight quite frankly so um i don't think uh i don't think so at all you know and maybe

that's just my blind confidence my my unwavering belief that like i said this this sport is full of styles make fights and I still believe, you know, I'm one of the most electrifying guys in the sport, most entertaining guys in the sport. That was an interesting one. It was too short to show any of that. But no, it hasn't changed my mind on anything. Is that common for you not to watch a fight three months later or is this one that you have no interest in watching? I guess normally it does take me a little while. With this one, I just, I just haven't. I haven't watched any of the White House card at all. Really? No, I haven't. And I've seen it on the Paramount, the Paramount whole deal every time you pop it on.

I'm like, oh, maybe I'll watch it. I'm not going to watch it. But, you know, but I heard it was an amazing event. It was an amazing event to be a part of. And obviously it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. So it is a little bit, it is definitely a little bit different for me not to have watched one by now. But, I mean, ultimately, I don't know how much there is to watch. So we'll just keep on moving forward. We'll keep on moving forward. on training, we'll keep on getting better, and we'll keep on moving forward. That opportunity was such a big deal to you. You spoke about that. Are you able to have positive thoughts and feelings about being in the back, in the back in the freaking White House itself? Like, are you able to take away any sort of positives from it? Or is it all sort of masked by the way the fight played out? No, that's a good question. And I don't think it's a shocking

answer to say yes. I'm extremely pleased. I mean, we know what we're doing and what we're signing up for every single time we lace up the shoes or we strap on the gloves or we strap on the the sparring gear the head gear we know what we're what we're throwing ourselves into and especially when it's inside the confines of the actual competition we know what we signed up for um the wins and losses are going to happen they're going to they're going to end up being what they are all you can really control is how you do the thing leading up to it how do you prepare how do you show up the work that you put in. And I did everything that I possibly could leading up to that. So I'm happy with that. And I'm happy with being on the White House card, massive numbers walking out with the draped

in the American flag, getting to meet the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient right there, walking down with one of our first responders from 9-11, which obviously we just celebrated that a couple days ago. So tons of positives. And I've, I've been living a dream since I was 14 years old when I first started hand-to-hand combat. And I've been doing nothing but that. And I've taken a lot of wins and I've taken a lot of losses and I've taken a lot of lessons and I've cried some tears and I have licked my wounds and I've taken some injuries. But it's all been amazing, you know. So tons of positives to take from it. Of course, I wanted to win. Of course, it would have been awesome to be, you know, get my hand raised that night, but we didn't. So we go back to the drawing boards, and most

importantly, we just keep on living and we keep on moving forward. Not trying to beat around the bush, so I'll ask you directly, do you want to keep fighting? Yes. Will you keep fighting? Yes. The plan is to continue fighting. You didn't beat around the bush at all, man. You just went straight to it. Well, I mean, 11 minutes in, but, you know, that's the big question, right? You're hearing from a lot of fighters saying, it's time to hang it up. You've heard, you've heard, I've seen you, you probably seen a couple of clips, and they're saying that, you know,

and these guys, I'm okay with them saying it. They've been in that spot before. They've had to make a decision or two when to hold them and fold them. And so now you're potentially in that spot. You're deciding to hold them. That's where we're at right now.

We are, I've been a fighter since I was, what, 22 years old, got into the sport in 2009 after I was an All-American at Missouri. Yes, that is the plan as of right now. I still feel phenomenal. So we'll see,

you know i mean not to toot my own horn or look at my resume but i also have fought the who's who of the lightweight division from the first couple years that i got into the got into the ufc to patty and then patty fights for the title next now mariccio's and a one number one contender fight you can call me whatever you want you can say whatever you want want about me but you can't say chanler ever was looking for an easy fight um and i think i've been offered uh or at least they've beat it around the the bush a little bit like, hey, where are we going here? Who do you want to fight? What caliber of guy? Where on the car would you like to fight? And it's always been, throw me into the shark and

fettison waters of the UFC lightweight division. I want to be a good thing for your organization. Just like I looked Hunter Campbell in the eyes, our first meeting ever. And they made good on their promise. I made good on my promise. And it's been a very mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship thus far. And we've had a blast doing it. Is it hard to hear people weigh in on your career when it's your career? No, I don't think I, I don't think I weigh in as much as you think I do. Or I definitely not as much as you do because you're in the space. Yeah, yeah.

So I don't even know who you're not necessarily alluding to who is. Matt Brown, Dustin Porre, Dean Thomas, among a few just, you know, the people who have platforms. Yeah, I think I've seen that, the, yeah, Dean and Dustin. And obviously, both of those guys have been in that position as well as Matt. But yeah, we'll, you know, we'll see. We're, uh, I'm enjoying a little bit of time off right now. I have no plans of fighting, you know, this summer or anytime, uh, or anytime, not anytime soon, but not soon as we speak.

But body feels good and I'm going to keep on training. How does the, the losing streak wear on you? You know, like as someone who is so used to winning for so long, how does it, how does that, for lack of a better word, like mess with the psyche, the confidence, or does it not at all? Do you not even fixate on that? No, I don't fix it on it at all. And maybe that's, you know, maybe I'm sure people are listening saying, man, this guy's delusional. But, I think when you're throwing yourself fully into something, yeah, the results matter. But fighting just like life is all about continuing to move forward in the face of adversity, continuing to move forward in the face of your losses.

And like we said, it's been top, top guys the entire time I've been fighting in the UFC. So it doesn't wear on me. Do I wish I was undefeated? Absolutely. However, I have made a life and a living for myself and my family that I never would have thought would have been possible. And we've enjoyed every step of the way. All the good, all the bad, and it's all part of the story. I know you said you didn't watch your fight.

Have you watched MMA at all over the past three or so months, or did you need a break from that as well? It's a good question. I haven't watched a ton of it. And I don't really watch a ton of it in general. Love the UFC. Love them to death. But don't watch it. I've watched a couple big fights.

What was the last? I watched Islam versus Ian Gary. But yeah, not a ton of them. Me and my boys are into WWE, so we watched a lot of WWE. We went to SummerSlam a couple months ago. I saw you there. That was a blast.

So, yeah, it was, so we'll watch it in Mexico City tonight, Roman Raines versus Penta. Wow, look at you. You're all up to speed. Oh, I know, man. I know it's been fun my boys are into it big time

so obviously you know pouring into what they like to watch you know if I'm like hey let's watch MMMA they're like no I want to watch WWI I'm not going to force my boys to watch MMA and we'll watch a little WWE they like that way more than UFC

uh yes right now currently yes watch it watching it and obviously it's character building and it's you know they got all the little figurines and and all that stuff so it's it's uh and there's a lot more there's a lot more going on outside of just the wrestling, you know, on the stick and the rivalries and all that stuff.

So it's been fun to watch with the boys. Speaking of which, there was an internet report that you were seeing at the PC, the Performance Center. Is that accurate? I was seen there, I think. Were you actually there? Yeah, I was. What were you doing there? Just doing a little cross-training.

I mean, obviously, you know, with TKO group, may I've done some stuff with PBR. I'm not going to jump on a bull. I'll tell you that much. But I've done that my entire career. I've trained with NFL guys and NHL guy, trained with golfers, trained with breath, breath experts and swimmers. And got the opportunity to go down there and spend a couple days training and kind of see what they're doing and them asking me questions, me asking them questions. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch were there the week I was there.

I sat in a skull session, which is basically like a film study session with Seth Rollins and listen to him the way he was talking about the pacing of the matches with a couple of the NXT guys that were in there, breaking down their matches. The promo classes with Becky Lynch and watching those, watching the NXT guys and gals go through some of the promo stuff and just down there training and just seeing other ways and other modalities of professional sports and entertainment, if you will. So obviously, yeah, it was a blast. It was fun. You know, I love to train every single day. I don't care if it's, I don't care what kind of training is. I'm going to do some kind of training every single day. And that was a fun little trip to Orlando. Are you interested in testing the waters?

Are you interested in a WW run? I mean, never say never. We'll see. I mean, it's obviously, it was a lot of fun. I can tell you that. And obviously, would I be good at it being an amateur wrestler, turn to MMA fighter, turned professional wrestler? I mean, I think it's, I think I'd be, you know,

I think I'd pick it up pretty darn quickly. Am I afraid of the microphone? No, am I afraid of the bright lights? Am I afraid of, am I afraid of the, the big stakes and the big arenas and the big stadiums, no, of course not. So it's very interesting, but it was nothing more than just a little bit of fun training and enjoying some time with some other guys and gals who are pouring their full self into their craft. Anyone on their end say, hey, is this of interest? Do you want to talk? Was there any sort

of chatter regarding that? Of course. I mean, I think, well, I mean, of course it's like, Oh, this guy can do more than walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. He's been doing this kind of for the last couple decades. He's dedicated his entire life to moving his body and manipulating other bodies, picking them up and putting them down. But right now, you know, we're focused on just continuing to stay in shape, continuing to get better, head back down to Florida sometime here soon and get some more MMA training there, MMA training here in Nashville,

my home gym here in Nashville. But it was a lot of fun. It was fun to just, because that's also entertainment. And I think it's, you know, it's widely known that I'm an athlete, but I love to entertain. That's what gets my juices flowing, entertaining people, not just putting butts in seats, but putting butts on the edge of their seats, and then eventually getting people to stand to their feet and scream during my fights, during my performances. So it's been a lot of fun, man.

And so I asked you about the last few months, was wondering, did you watch the fight on July, 11th, Max Holloway, Connor McGregor, and if so, what were you thinking during all of that? I was. I was there. I was there, Cade's side, and it was, it was interesting, yeah, because I obviously I saw, I saw how the fight started and how he fell, but I didn't quite see, you know, which a lot of people probably didn't see how the knee buckled. Maybe a lot of people did on the, on TV. And then obviously the way the fight went. So gutted for him, obviously, you know, we all know how all that played out. But still, even though I wasn't the guy who ended up fighting him, still gutted for him,

I think he should be proud of himself that he was able to come back, step on the line, and actually go put it on the line. And it's just very unfortunate the way that that fight went down. I guess I was just wondering, while I was all playing out, was there any part of you that be like, that should be me? You know, I should be the one fighting this guy. A little bit. Or, yeah, like, hey, that would have been the easiest paycheck of all time.

He blew his knee out five seconds in, right? And then obviously the ref stopped it. But I've been on the receiving into that where your, you know, your ankle, my ankle went out and all that stuff. And it's just a tough spot to be in because your brain, I don't, I can't speak for Connor, but I don't know if he was feeling any pain, but he was feeling, you know, the uneasiness, the lack of foundation, the lack of footwork, the lack of being able to move, uh, mobily being able to actually move his body or his brain was telling his legs to move,

but his legs weren't capable of moving. that happened to me in the Charles Olivera fight when I had kind of messed up my knee in the first round and my brain was telling me to step forward yet my leg wouldn't let me do it. So I end up going backwards more than forwards. And it was, it's kind of a weird thing how the brain and the body work together, right? So I've been in that scenario before and it's just, it's just a bad, bad scenario because you're also not feeling pain probably. And you want to keep going. You're like, if I'm going to go out, let me go out on my shield. You know, don't just stop the fight right here because of an injury.

So very unfortunate for him, but as he has said on social media, it looks like he's, he's surgery went well and he's on the road to recover right now. I'm not trying to drum up this whole thing, but honestly, like, why can't it be you when he comes back? Why does it have to be Max again? We saw that twice. You never got like, talk about inconclusive. There's nothing more inconclusive than your whole ordeal with him.

Is there any part of you that's holding out that hope or we're not going to go down that path right now? I think if you're asking, if you're asking, does that fight make sense? I think, I think so. I think it's a fight that he's got one stain kind of on his, on his record, so to speak, right? Like, obviously this one was a tough injury. We take injuries. That's what happens.

But him pulling out of that fight, which he had never done before in his entire career, you, me, the media, every fan had every reason to believe that that's what Connor does. He shows up. He's been injured before. He still shows up. So that one was a tough pill to swallow for just the whole MMA landscape as a whole, not just myself. But yeah, why shouldn't it be me? Why shouldn't it be me?

But we'll see how it plays out. I think we'll see how he recovers. We'll see if he comes back, when he comes back, it sounds like he's going to. He obviously was expressing interest prior to them saying, I wasn't fighting him and then him getting booked with Max. So I think it's a fight that he wants. think it is a fight that makes sense. Obviously, Max still wants that fight. So we'll see how it plays out. But at this point,

what, he got surgery a month or two ago, probably. So maybe a month ago. So he's still got six, eight, ten months till he's able to even think about coming back. I know a lot has happened since then, but I haven't talked to you since the White House fight was announced. So apologies for going backwards. But one thing I was always wondering was, are you at peace with the way this whole thing was handled? The fact that the UFC didn't give you that fight, put you on the White House card, not against him. After all that time, did it take some time to to come to terms with it? Are you at peace with it now? How do you feel about all of this? Life is all about how you respond to things, I think, because bad things are going to happen

to you, nonstop. You're going to get punched in the mouth and you got to say, thank you, sir, may I have another nonstop, especially as a man, as a provider. And, yeah, I mean, it was a tough pill to swallow. There was a lot of uncertainty going on because at the same time, there was the big White House thing happening and him going on every every interview saying he was fighting me at the white house campaigning for that fight so i'm like well it seems like he's ready to fight and he wants to fight me at the white house seems like that's the fight that should happen and will happen um UFC had had other plans um was i disappointed absolutely is that the fight that i wanted yes did i sit around and sulk about it not really there was a day or two where i was like man this is just

silly what's going on here but you know we still had the the the shining light of the white house in front of us no matter what and i wasn't guaranteed or had any assurances that i was going to be on that card necessarily but i think that was a shoe in for it um you can talk about my talents all you want but the best thing i have going for me is my abilities my reliability my dependability and my availability um and i've always been that my entire career and my entire life in every single aspect of it So it made sense that they would put me on that card. And you never know.

Maybe that's just one, you know, maybe that was just another chapter in the whole Chandler v. McGregor saga. And maybe we do end up fighting someday. We shall see. Out of the rankings for the first time in your UFC run. Do you care about this? No, it's a lot better to be in the rankings than it is outside of the rankings. But, I mean, I can't be in the rankings, you know.

How could I be, right? So I think, you know, being in the top, top five for the majority of my UFC run, that's a pretty darn good feather in your cap. All the fights that I had against, you know, every single guy that I had lost to in the division was ranked within the top two or three in the entire division up until Patty and Maricio. So it's a game of inches. And I came in saying either I am who I say I am or I am not, throw me into the shark and festive waters of the UFC. And they sure as heck did. Even when there are times where I was like, yeah, maybe you could, you know, fight someone

else. I'm like, no, man, give me the toughest competition possible. I know you say you didn't watch the card, but you know that Gaichi beat Teporia on that night. Were you shocked by that? No. I think, did I think Gachie had a. great chance of beating Ilya no I mean Ilya up until that fight obviously just like you probably thought he looked about

as unbeatable as anybody has looked in a very long time how crisp his striking is um and we know he's got great grappling in case the fight did go to the ground but he just hasn't really shown in his UFC run we watched that from my my hotel room had a balcony on the 12th floor that we got from my my son's could go out there and play and we actually watched kind of live from that, yeah, from that 12th floor. And it was, you know, kind of far away, but you could see the big screens out there in the fan area and hear the crowd. It was, it was, it was very fun to watch. And obviously, you know, Gachie's a friend of mine, a golf partner of mine here and there. So I was very happy to see him win. And I'm not, I'm not surprised,

because we all know how good Justin Gachie is. But the manner in which he beat him, the manner in which he systematically just broke him down was just nothing short of amazing. And I'm not going to say I was necessarily happy about it because I didn't want to see Ilya lose necessarily, but I wanted to see Justin win. Armin Rufi this weekend, who do you like? I think Huffy, I think Armin is another one of those guys where you're just like, man, he is, he is good and he stayed busy, he stayed active, he has thrown himself out there. You know, I did the RAF match a couple months ago.

absolutely a fun experience, an awesome experience. What they are doing and what they're building is, is really, really awesome, especially for the sport of amateur wrestling, really, really awesome for the sport. And it's a really, really fun show. I don't know if you've been to one yet, but they, you know, obviously, they take that kind of WWE approach, UFC approach to amateur wrestling where you're like, man, this doesn't feel like you're in some stale gym somewhere. They got the lights and the big monitors and the big screens and influencers there and people throwing t-shirts and all kinds of fun stuff.

So obviously him staying very busy with all of that. And then now finally getting the opportunity to go back into the Octagon and compete, he's got a very, very good recipe to beat Maricio Hoofi for sure. But can he implement that game plan? I think Hoofie catches him with a couple big shots. I do. And I think, I think Armine is going to, obviously, go for the takedown because he's not going to stand with Hoofey. He's going to put the pressure on him. But as you can see, I was not able to do that, or at least I wasn't able to do that on that night. And you saw Benoit Saint-in-he do it to Hoofee. But I think Hoofie, Hoofie's got some momentum on his side and Armin's got some ring rust, so to speak. He stayed out there and he stayed busy and he stayed active and he's, eating McDonald's on private jets and competing still and all that stuff, of course. But Maricio Hoofi is good. And I think he's better than a lot of people think he is. So I got Hoofie in that one.

So if Hoofie wins, who do you think fights Gaichi for the belt? It's a great question. I don't know. I think I like the idea of Gaichi being, you know, somewhat in the driver's seat on that as well, right? Like who, Gaichi has made it public for sure he doesn't have too many fights left uh and i mean he's even kind of you know talked about retirement a couple times here and there so i think we've we've only got a couple more times maybe to see the highlight just in the highlight gachi compete again um i think if hoofy wins that hoofy could be next i mean i think there's that fight with um patty obviously out there as well you got the rematch with ilia yeah that's uh i think the biggest fight you can make is is the rematch with ilia

right? So I think that's probably the one that they would be looking at the most. But what does Ilya want to do next? Does you want to go right back in there and fight Gachi? Or does you want to take another fight? Because it's one thing to continue to fight for the title again, but maybe Ilya wants to go fight someone else in the division, even though there is a little bit more risk and continue to prove who he is, the knockout artist that he is. But I think it's going to be though, if I had a guess. I know you said you're still a ways away and you're probably not going to fight again this year, but have you allowed yourself to think of other than the Conner fight, which is the obvious one,

who might make sense? No, not really. I mean, they're obviously big fights. You know, obviously I was with Dana and Hunter twice in a one-month period back in July and August. And, you know, we sat down and we talked and broke bread and hung out and, I've made it to obviously a area, a realm of the sport where obviously there's rankings and there's matchups and there's all those things. But people enjoy watching me fight and the majority of my fights, obviously, the way that they have gone. The killer instinct, the

refusing to quit, the refusing to take a step backwards most of the time. So a big fight, obviously a big name, a fun card. I still haven't fought in Vegas yet, which is absolutely crazy. So if I was thinking about retirement, how crazy would it be to fight in the UFC for seven years where their home bases in Las Vegas and never actually experience a Vegas fight week. But no, not necessarily. I think there's some big fun fights out there, I'm sure. Right now I'm just enjoying spending some time with my family and training and staying in great shape.

When that time comes, do you think you will announce it beforehand? This is my retirement fight, or do you think you'll do it after we've seen both approaches? That's a good question, because I've seen guys do it. Obviously, you had Dustin. Yeah. You know, actually two really good examples. My friend and training partner, coach Robbie Lawler, just all decided, you know, walked away quietly. And then you have Dustin, obviously, who they built a card around him in Louisiana.

And this was the last go, the last once more into the fray. And no, I don't think I would announce it. I think you wouldn't know when my last fight would be. Oh, wow. I'm more that guy. Are there any, you know, you've been in this game for a long time, a lot of knocks to the head. Do you have any concerns about that?

I know you have things that you want to do, businesses speaking. Do you worry about any of those things? Um, I think you'd be kind of silly not to worry about it a little bit. Do I pray about it a lot? Yes. Do I pray for protection over myself, my family every day? Of course. But I haven't noticed anything.

I can tell you that much, thank God. Haven't noticed anything. Still quick-witted, still pretty good on the mic, still pretty good speaking. Speaking of masterminds and different speaking obligations and opportunities to big Fortune 500 companies and small groups and all kinds of different things. So I don't feel like I've lost a step whatsoever. So we'll keep on going. I saw Drew Dober say he wants to fight you. Does that interest you?

I did see some people tag me in some of that where it was like me and Dober. There it is. Madison Square Garden people were calling it for. I'm not fighting a Madison Square Garden again. I'm probably the only fighter on the planet that doesn't want to fight at Madison Square Garden again. But I respect Drew. Drew's fun to watch. He and I think that would be a fun fight, wouldn't it?

But I haven't really thought about it too much. Okay. You're just- He called me out a couple times over the last couple of years. Who was the other, who's the other dude? Grant Dawson, just, like, just shooting their shot and just... Why not? So, absurdities into the phone at me, and I'm like, who is this guy? What are we doing?

What about RAF this year? R-A-F, love it. Possibly. R-E-F, you know, I've got a great relationship with those guys. My manager, Dave Martin's got a great relationship with those guys. There's some fun wrestling matches. And I think, you know, obviously we're in sport and we love to compete and we love, I love the competition of it.

I love training for it with Mike Hatcher here, who was a former University of Iowa wrestler. He lives here in town. He's got a wrestling club called Young Guns. So I was in there wrestling not with, you know, young kids and high schoolers, but they were wrestling at the same time as me. And just being around that wrestling environment, the wrestling room, lacing up the wrestling shoes was just so much fun. And then going to the actual event was fun.

well and going to compete against Chad Mendez, but really just being a part of the continual growth of amateur wrestling is, is really why it's so enticing to me as well. Love R-A-F, love Chad and Bischoff and all those guys and Izzy, but really love what it's doing for the sport of amateur wrestling and how it's putting eyeballs on what I believe is the greatest sport known to man. and the sport that I can attribute a lot of my success to. All the interviews that we have done were all laid on the foundation of amateur wrestling at Northwest High School and then at Missouri.

And then we started this MMA journey. So wrestling is in my blood. Wrestling is what I will always do and what I will always be. And so yeah, I will lace up the, or I will lace up the shoes and put on those singlet straps again at some point. You're the man, Michael. I appreciate it. Some maybe not so pleasant questions, but you answered them all very well with a lot of transparency and authenticity, as always.

So I appreciate that very much. And always great to have you on. I'm sorry for pestering you so much. As long as you won't block me. I'll always say yes. I will always say yes eventually. It's just sometimes it's like, not right now. Before the White House one, you did very little.

What? With you or with you? No, no, not just with me. I was trying to be in my feeling. to be like, oh, he's talking to him and not to me, but you really weren't out there a lot before that one. You really kept it on the DL. Yeah, I mean, I was, I think I was just, I was laser focused, man. Yeah. It was the biggest platform, the biggest, biggest opportunity.

And it was, and I actually enjoyed it because I think sometimes the media obligations can be a lot. Sometimes they're self-imposed. I'm like, I'm going to do this interview and I booked it or they reached out to me. And then sometimes the UFC will send them, obviously. But I just enjoyed being in training camp. I enjoyed the training, trying to pour my full self into it, right? And then, you know, obviously when I'm in training camp, and now I'm doing the exact same thing, aside from just training and just staying in shape and building muscle, all the other things outside of the octagon, all the other things outside of fighting, obviously, with the movie coming up, with the reshoots in London this week, and just enjoying the process of all the different

businesses and all the different opportunities that I get that I'm blessed to be a part of. So try to stay busy. So enjoying it. I get it and respect it very much. Thank you as always, my man. Take some time off. Looking forward to seeing what your next step is and perhaps seeing you in the squared circle, the WW circle.

Enjoy Roman Rades versus Penta tonight from Mexico City. What a scene that's going to be? Enjoy it very much with your kids. Yes, sir. Enjoy, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, Michael. There he is.

The great Michael Chandler, Iron Mike Chandler. Mike Chandler, the pride of Mizu. All right, great to get some of those questions answered from both MVP and Michael Chandler. Earlier in the day, we spoke to Ryan Garcia. That was a great chat as well. I do believe his first since all of this on this Monday. I wanted to have my old friend Adelaideo on

after a massive event, after a can't miss event. Who better than the face of DeZone, the voice of DeZone to join us? And here he is, fresh off the PJ. straight from Las Vegas to the UK. A little puddle jump. The great out of that. Thank you.

Thank you. By the way, really good to listen to Michael Chandler, like really good. Yeah, some tough questions. Some really tough questions. I thought the question about like, you know,

you've taken a lot of blows and I thought that was a tough question. I thought he answered it really well. I'm a big fan of these. Are you applying that I don't usually ask tough questions out of it? No, you do. You do. You do.

But I was thinking, I knew the interview was coming to the end because I knew I was coming up. And I was like, oh, that's a tough question right at the end. He's probably thinking, put my feet up, I've answered everything, and then bang. That's what you have to do. He's got one more in there. He's got one more in there.

Of course. And by the way, for you to come on this program after such a big event with the eyes of the world watching, with all the people in a town. I'm talking about Green Chair Live last week. That means a lot. I didn't think you'd say yes after this event. I mean, I saw, look at all those heads in the front. Look at all those heads over there. Good, good camera angle.

No, look, it was fun. It was fun. do. I enjoy this stuff. And I take an inspiration from you doing these type of events. I know you've done something quite similar a few times over the last few years. And I thought, you know, let's do it. Let's kind of bring all the people that, you know, follow me on the YouTube and the Instagram. And it's funny because you kind of put a face to a name on the YouTube. And it was nice. We had some good guests come up at last minute.com as well. A lot of people I reached out to very, very last minute, like Anthony Yard and Dental Bentley. So it was nice to kind of just have a good

conversation for a couple of hours with friends and fans, if you like. Can we put up that list again, the tweet? I just want to get a good look. It was up there quick. Don Charles, Denzo Bentley, Tune, Spencer, Spencer, Jim. You know, I didn't get the save the date. I didn't even get the text, the tweet, nothing. I mean, I thought maybe, you know, hey, if you're in town, if you want to swing by, nothing, huh?

You're too big. You're too big. I would have definitely had to have rented closed mouth. Yeah, yeah, room somewhere for you. I would have had to probably, I don't know, go for your agent. It would have been tough. Those people I could have got direct. You're Ariahawani.

I mean, you're Mr. 10-7. We're not ready for you yet. We've retired. We go to the bigger stage next year than maybe. Oh, okay. All right. Well, I'll keep the diary open, as you say. I want to talk about everything that transpired this weekend because you were there in attendance.

I saw you with Ryan Ringside after the festivities. But I actually want to take a couple steps back. I mean, I feel like we're pals. We've had many a chat. And I've watched your stuff, the YouTube channel, talk sport, BBC, do soccer. I have never seen a smile like the one you were sporting when you were face to face with Dana Wright.

I would go. Here we go. Look at that. Look at that. No, no. Get you a guy that looks at you. No, no. The way out it looks at Dana.

Look at this. Look at the eyes. The eyes don't lie. Look at the happiness there. Come on. No, no. Smitten. Wasn't that?

Smitten. No, no, no. You know what it is? I was more transfixed because of what he was saying and how he was saying it. I don't think I've ever sat next to someone or opposite someone that is just so brazen and blatant. Like, he just says what he wants. Like, there's no filter. I mean, these PR people must be like, oh, God, we're going to get an email or a letter in the post.

And I think that's the point when he was maybe attacking Eddie Hearn. And I was like, okay, I don't have. how to maneuver this interview because he just kept on the sand that ade we are not the same brother we are not the same and he just kept going for him and going for him and i was like i was like that in that photo i was like okay this isn't going to stop because i don't think i even teed up the eddie he just went for it maybe he heard my voice english accent and i thought okay cool i'm going to give you something you're going to like you and it's funny because i was seeing the zone people to my left I could almost see them in my periphery.

And, you know, I could almost feel like, is this interview going to go out? Like, how do I kind of jump in so we do actually play this interview in full as opposed to chop it up and try and remove the Eddie Hearn part? But no, I was just, obviously, look, it's my first time sitting with Dana, first time speaking to him. Yeah, yeah. What did you think? What was your takeaway?

Very, very imposing. Like, he kind of walked in the room and there were, oh, you still that? Yeah, he walked in the room. and I feel like there were, I don't know, there was almost this, like, oh, Dana's in the room. And for me, it wasn't like that because I've maybe followed Dana's career for 20 years or so. So I didn't have that same feeling. I was just like, let's just do the interview. I mean, it's not Donald Trump sitting in front of us.

Like, can we just talk some boxing and maybe a little bit of MMA? So I was very comfortable with doing it. I wanted to do it because I did want to hear what he had to say about Zufra and Conner, Ben, and Ryan and Eddie. I was going to bring you up, but I thought let me not push it too far. But yeah, yeah, I should have done so. That would have gone shot by the zone, folks. Yeah, immediately, immediately. But no, look, he seems to be, this is what I was trying to read from him.

And I think I kind of tried to do the same thing with Turkey early. It seems to be passionate about boxing. I was like, okay, are you passionate? Do you like boxing? Do you really think you're going to fix the sport in America? I was trying to kind of ask those questions. And I think the answer to all of those is probably yes. Like he generally does like boxing, it seems.

He thinks he's the man to fix it in America. He kind of spoke about it's okay over here in Europe. Like boxing is doing very well. But in America, it's just it's almost a sport that everyone's forgotten about unless the big fights happen. So he seems to be quite passionate about it. And I just wonder if that's maybe because of, I don't know, 20 years of the UFC and maybe wanting to try something a bit different. But he seems to think that he can juggle the both, which I think will be interesting

in the next few years. I couldn't agree more. In fact, I said this about two hours. ago, I feel like the UFC is a machine that runs itself at this point. They've got two great matchmakers. They've got a head named Hunter Campbell. He does all the deals. He's not really needed there anymore. But his passion and his sort of fight. And we've never seen Dana, or at least we haven't seen him like this in the last 20 years. Dana White on the front foot saying, I want this guy, I want that guy. You come over here. He hasn't had to be that way in the world of UFC for the last

15, 20 years because he has all the guys. And so that media day that he did on Thursday where he spoke to all the boxing reporters, then he spoke to IFL and a couple other people. I haven't seen that version of Dana White in maybe 10 years since pre-sale where he's like talking about this and that and the fire were not the same. When's he ever had a foil like this or even a challenge

like this? And so I was wondering when you we all know he loves boxing, he grew up on boxing and all that stuff, I think this is very authentic. I feel like Dana in this version, the Zufa boxing version of Dana is the closest that we've seen to the like the prime Dana of 07, 0, 10, 11,

in quite some time, and I was wondering if that came across. If it seems to you like he's going through the motions when he's talking about these things, or if he really has that fire lit under him. From my vantage, from the screen here, it feels like he has a fire. Like he's found that thing again, and I was wondering if that came across. 100%. 100%. And you're right.

I used to love when Danny used to do the scrums after the events. And it was almost just, it was fantastic. And everyone's getting a questioning and he's answering, honestly. And I felt like that fire had kind of diminished over. the last few years. And that could just be, I don't know. I mean, you know better than I do in terms of the stars in the UFC. Do they still exist like they used to?

But I almost feel like with Dana, there's almost this having to prove to the boxing media that he has a boxing guy. And he's almost liking that fight, like in that challenge. Like, of course I know boxing. I've been following the sport for 40 years and I can show you. Let me show you. And boxing guys are not afraid. Well, I wouldn't say not afraid to ask the tough questions.

There still is, I think, a hesitant there, right? They know what Dana's like. but they are firing Dana boxing questions, and he's batting them back, and he's showing their energy. And I feel like, especially the big fights. I don't know if I still see that same fire

when it's a small, Zufo ones, but the big ones, like this one, like the ring one with Canelo Crawford, I think we're seeing Danya at his best, and I think Dana loves it. Okay, so my other point that I'd love to get your take on

was I felt like this was phase three of the Turkey era. Phase one, let me put together some fun, you know, freak show fights, Francis versus Tyson, Francis versus AJ, put them in Saudi, get us some attention over there. Great. Then it was like,

wow, I can actually be a unifier in this sport as opposed to a dissenter in the world of football or golf. I could put together Bivil twice. I could put together Usset Fury twice. I could put together these stack cards like that better be of Bivel card. Like I could do things and bring fans together and be viewed as a savior in Saudi. People don't love it. Doesn't make a lot of money, but it's great. It's getting people talking. Phase three, link up with these guys. T-KKKK. They're the best of entertainment and sport. They're the biggest power players, Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro, Dana White, Nick Khan.

And now it's like, hey, I'm going to invest, but you guys run the show. And it started off like, okay, what is this thing? Are we against the sanctioning bodies? Are we not? Are we making our own belt? Are we going to play with others? Okay, we're figuring it out.

Clearly we figured out the old guard isn't going to go away. The belts mean something to these fighters. They want to be WBC or IBF or WBO, WBA champion. We don't want to get rid of the system. We don't necessarily want to get even rid of the Ali Act, but we could put on a mega Saturday night, Vegas Mexican Independence Day event where the world is watching and we are the top dogs. And now it seems like the Benavitas is of the world, the Garcia's of the world, the Lopez's of

the world. They want to work with them because they're not trying to shun the whole system away and create their own UFC model boxing. They're just going to be the very best of what they do. So you hear the way Connor and Ryan speak of the UFC machine, the fight week. And they're like, wow, this is so refreshing. This is so fun. This is so big.

And it feels like Turkey has found the secret sauce. This is phase three, and this is the one that's the most dangerous. This is the one that I think the Queensberries and the matchrooms and the Golden Boys and the PBCs should really be worried about because now they've kind of figured it out. Don't try to reinvent boxing. Just make it better by your resources at work and your connections at work and Turkey's pockets at work. And you could beat everyone. And I feel like they found it after Saturday. That was my biggest takeaway from Saturday's event.

Yeah. Yeah. Summarized it perfectly. Just because I remember when sort of Dana first went with the Zufa thing and there was the uniform thing. As you say, there was the Zufa belt. There was, we're not going to work

with the other sanctioned bodies. And you fast forward to where we were on Saturday. And you've got Conner coming out with his uniform, his own uniform. So he's style. So he's, he stick, if you like. And then Ryan Garcia doing his and there's a belt there as well.

So all the things where you're like, okay, we're not going to go to Zufa because of that. Well, no, no. Those barriers have been broken down. You can come over. We're welcome the sanctioning bodies. Whether or not they'll still announce them in the ring, which I thought was quite strange. Just Walterweight champion as opposed to WBC. Yeah, that's weird. Which was, I thought, no need to do that. Broadcast you, by the way. All those, yes, I heard it. I couldn't believe it. I was what's going on? Why are we doing this?

I saw Maristio Solomon running around the ring, almost angry. Like, why are they doing this to our belt? It didn't make any sense. So there are still things they need to kind of make sure that so things are aligned. But all the reasons as to wind not to go to Zufa because of the belts, because of the uniforms, because of everyone looking the same, those things are no longer there. And what I've noticed as well in the last few months is less turkey. It's almost as though he's now saying, okay, cool, I've done my part, you know, I was to figurehead and he still is the face of boxing, but I don't need to be everywhere and do everything. I'll turn up for the fights, or maybe do a couple of interviews. I'll now leave it to

Dana, who seems to enjoy it and wants to do it. And then, as you say, you've got the WWE and the UFC like presentation and power to it. I mean, there are more cameras at that event than I've ever seen, like hundreds everywhere. I was like, my God, this is a lot of cameras. I think that's just what they do. They go big on everything. So, yeah, look, the fighters enjoyed it. I spoke to a few fighters who were there, and I spoke to family members of Connor Ben,

and they said they like the streamlined style of it. Like a lot of the fat's been trimmed, you're in and out. Press conferences, they understand. Okay, who's got the first question? Yeah. And then we're done. Yeah. Whereas, you know, some of the ones that we have can be quite like, oh, manager.

Let's speak to a trainer. Let's speak to father. Let's be like, okay, no, no. We don't need to. Fighters and get out of here. They do that very, very quickly. So I think people are starting to like what they're doing. So it is going to be interesting.

I spoke to Dana and I asked him about, look, are you going to work with Desone? Is this a thing now? And he still has that fire. Like, no, that's competition. Like, you know, we might do events with each other, but we're still a competitor of the zone. So, yeah, it's going to be. interesting. I think Zufar are a problem, and I think that's why

I de Zone. I think it was smart to kind of say, okay, to take on this problem, we're going to need to assemble the Avengers. So it's going to be Matron, PBC, Golden Boy, and Top Rank versus Zufa, as opposed to all of them going against each other. So it's going to be an interesting sort of 12 months, I think, in the world of boxing.

Oh, I love it. Yeah, Zufra, a big problem. What did you think of the fight? Were you surprised it played out that way? Yes. Yes. And I know everyone's playing Monday morning quarterbacks, and I No, no, no, we're also a bit surprised. I think we all accepted and understood that Conner Ben maybe wasn't world level, right? Had him for a one, four or seven, seven, seven, or seven years.

But he made the weight, he looked good, he ballooned up, certainly not to the one, seven, eight nonsense that we saw. I think that was all trickery, but he ballooned up to a nice way. He looked full, and he was aggressive. And I thought, okay, he might get stopped because he's going to come in quite reckless, but it's going to take six or seven rounds for Ryan to wear him down and catch him. he caught him early in the first round and then the second round. I don't know how Conner got up

from that right hand and that was it. And I mean, it shows the levels in the sport, right? I think we saw it a couple of weeks ago with Moses and I think Moses is a world level fighter, but there are stepping blocks. And Conabend has skipped a lot of stepping blocks. He skipped British level, European level. When you win these titles, it's important

because you know you're there. You win a British title, okay, I'm above British. You win a European? Okay, I'm now above European. and then you get to the fringe world. Connor skipped all of that. And it was a guessing game going into Saturday night as to where he actually is,

especially at 1-4-7. So, yeah, look, disappointed for Connor, but it was a surprise. I did not expect a second round blowout like that, no way. Do you think that Zufa regrets signing Connor for as much as they did? Maybe. Maybe there are discussions

that they're having behind the scenes about the worth. Is he a superstar? Yes, I do think he puts bombs on seats. I do think there is this element of people. people wanting to watch him to lose. So you're going to watch him regardless. You're going to tune in to watch him lose or win, but more probably to lose. But speaking to Dana again, he loves him.

He seems to think that Conner's the superstar. And I was thinking about this earlier, that the UFC approach is very different to the boxing approach, where, I mean, if you get knocked out and lose in boxing, people really do almost just write you off and cast you to the side. The same necessarily can't be said about the UFC. I mean, you guys are just speaking about Justin Gage. I mean, I've seen Justin Gage. Look, Justin Gage is a world-level fighter.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing him to Connor. But I've seen Justin get knocked out four or five times. You're allowed to almost lose in the UFC as opposed to boxing. I think Dana is trying to almost apply some of the UFC mindset that you can get knocked out. You still can be a superstar in boxing. Whether or not you can be knocked out the way Connor got knocked out in round two and be a superstar, I guess is another question. I don't think they have any regret.

It was a nice shot to Eddie Hearn and company. They messed with them. They put him on that Netflix card. They got the headline an event with him. Who else do you have Connor fight? They make a lot of money off of it. I think it was perfectly good for them. And I think they're happy.

And Dana speaks of him like, you know, a father glowing about his favorite child. Most professional fighter he's ever promoted? I mean, he was with him for a week. And he's talking glowingly. It's an amazing thing. And yes, he's getting paid more than 99% of the UFC grades. But I don't think they regret it one bit. Do you think his next fight, I'm talking about Connor Ben, is at 47, 54 or 60?

I think it's at 60 against a blown up 154. Yeah, I don't think. Connor actually physically is a 144 guy. I've seen 154 guys. They're much bigger. They're much bigger. 160 guys are just monsters walking around who bore themselves down to 160. Connor's frame is actually that of a guy that's at 1447.

I was with two female Lopers on the raw cast, same size as Connor. that these guys, Devin Haney, is probably bigger than Conner, believe it or not, walking around. So Conner's frames are 1447. Does he struggle to get down to the weight? Yes, maybe. I think they all do to an extent. I think they're all a bit bone dry. Connor maybe does look a bit drier,

but that's just because he's not made that weight for so many years. There could be an argument of just stay there if you can. At 154 is just frightening. I mean, there are so many killers at 154. I mean, people without belts. Forget Boots Ennis for a second. I mean, Virgil Ortiz, Madrimov, Boiuch, people that don't have belts, let alone the champions, Fondora and Boots, Zandazias.

Whereas 160 doesn't really have that many big names. So, Conner might think, okay, I'll skip 154 and go straight to a division where I'll be the star attraction, I'll be the name. If you look at the champions at 160, Carlos Adamas, Erislandi Lara, Aaron McKenna, Denzel Bentley. Not necessarily star names, so Connor could go there and be a star attraction. but they're going to need to make a big decision on Connor in terms of what they do because again, what's the level? Like, what's his level? I mean, could he compete with some of the champions at 160?

I'd say no right now. 154, certainly not. 168, never. So maybe it's just fun fights. Maybe it is your Eubanks again, the trilogy, maybe a Kelbrook. I don't know. Maybe he kind of goes down that route. I'm not quite sure.

It's going to be a difficult, but it's going to be a difficult, but I mean, an honest conversation needs to be had about his level because you got stopped in round two. And it wasn't a back and forth, you know, sock and fight. You got stopped quite comfortably in round two by a world level fighter. So you need to look and have an honest question with yourself as to what level you are. Speaking of being bored, I am bored of the face of boxing discussion. I don't really care who the face of boxing is. I'll tell you what, though.

I think Ryan Garcia is a megastar, like a mainstream superstar and can be way bigger than he is. But right now, I think, like, I was asking my kids who are 14 and 12, do you know Ryan Garcia? They know Ryan. They probably know Ryan. They probably know Jake Paul. I know they know Jake Paul. Tyson Fury. Usik, I've told them about, I've told him about Mosetama. But that's because I go out of my way to tell them. They know Ryan on their own. And so he transcends all of that social media. But he's got the looks, the freaking fighting style, the stoppages, all that and more. I feel like he could be that guy. And so I'm wondering, like, what do you think the ceiling is here for him? is we've always known that he's like a star, but the question was, will the skills match the stardom aspect, you know, like that it factor or even supersede it, and you think he's on that path,

and then Roli Romero fight happens, and you're like, holy crap, this is not very good. And then he comes back with Barrios, and that's pretty damn good. And then he comes back with this, and this may be the greatest of the mall, but then he's got that element that we saw Haney Fight Week, and you're like, can he blow it all up?

And so what do you think the ceiling is for this guy? I don't think there is one. I think, honestly, I think he's, I think he's that special. I think he, um, obviously, look, he's got a fighting style that excites people, which again, people have labelled, for example, Shakur Stevenson as being boring, right? You can't say the same thing, uh, about Ryan Garcia. Um, he's got the looks, as you say, he's got the following. He knows how to cross over to other media. I see him doing stuff with Nina drama. I think he does kick quite a lot, streaming service. A lot of boxes don't do that. In fact, I think maybe any Keishon Davis does that streaming type

stuff. And then what is he does, you know, he does that streaming type stuff. And then what he's got more than ever, he's got so many dance partners. I mean, in and around his weight class, I mean, there are other stars. And stars fighting stars, I guess you win, you become a superstar. He's got Devin Haney rematch.

It would be massive. He's got Shakur Stevenson potentially. Tiafima Lopez is out there. Javonte Davis, maybe at 140 could be the biggest fight of them all as some sort of rematch between those two. So I don't think there is a limit to him. I don't mind a bit of wild.

We've spoken about this before. I think obviously Devin Haney first fight was over. wildly wild. I almost feel like that helps him to have a bit of wild. It's if he can control it. I think we saw him control it against Barrios. He certainly controlled it against Connor, because that could have gone crazy that fight, but he seemed to be able to keep himself calm and measured. And when I spoke to him outside the ring after the fight, he's like, I will be a good champion for you guys. And I think he understands now what being a champion is. I think we forget that these guys were kind of shoved into our faces when, you know, like

1920. And we were like, okay, these are going to be the next Floyd and the next this. They weren't ready. Sometimes it takes a while for these guys to mature, and I thought all of them now seem to have matured. I think Devin's matured. I think Ryan's matured. Shakur still has his moments. I think he's now mature.

Tio, as well, he seems to be getting a lot better as well in front of camera. So I think it's taken a while for them to become who they are, because so much was given to them too early. But now I think they are who they are, and I think I'm here to enjoy it. I think Ryan potentially could be the biggest of them all. Okay, so he told me about two hours ago. he wants to fight in December

and then he wants to come back Cinco de Mayo so that's a little bit new but he talked about maybe like a Pippo Cruz type of fighter in December and then the TIFEMO fight in May. Do you like that idea for him? I like it. I don't mind it at all. I mean

Pitball really is a 1-40 guys so I'm not a fan of a champion and again he said I'll be the greatest champion for you guys. I'm not a fan of a champion taking a guy from a weight class below when there are other guys out there that you could be fighting unification fights, but one thing I do like is activity.

And if he is going to fight in December, that's three fights in 12 months, 11 months. And we don't see that. We don't see that of these guys a lot. We see these guys max twice a year. So if he's giving me free fights, and two of them were massive and Barrios and Connor,

I can let you have the third one, especially if the fourth one's going to be Cinco de Mayo, which is going to be a big one, Haynie or Lopez. So, yeah, look, I'm not a fan of it being pit bull, but I can understand the appeal. He knows now. what numbers pit bull does.

Pitbull versus Ryan in Las Vegas, the Mexican community will be in full voice. And I've said this quite a lot. Compared to any other boxing fan base, the Mexicans and the Irish are the best, are the loudest, they're the loudest,

they're the earliest. So him versus Pitbull would be incredible at the team mobile. Lopez or Haney, which interests you more? Haney. It's got to be Haney. There's just so much history there.

Like him and Lopez, I mean, they're friendly. Like, Tiafima went into the changing room before the fight to wish him good luck. And so to see that little, again, WWE kind of style thing where he ran into the ring and they're friendly, Haney and Ryan are not friendly. They're just not friendly at all.

When Ryan, when Haney's face came on the big screen and the booze that ran down, and I'm like, why are they booing Haney? Haney didn't fell in with drugs. What's Haney getting all the stick for? It's crazy. But I think I just love the style matchup. Those two have always been linked for years with each other.

They had that fight. it's got a massive asterisk on it, it has to happen again. It needs to happen again. So for me, I think Haney versus Ryan's one of the biggest fights that can be made in boxing. And that really should be the one for Cinco de Mayo. I used to think that the fight to get Terrence Crawford out of retirement was Boots Ennis. Not quite yet, but maybe in a year or so. And I saw them on the desk there on TNT and I was getting all giddy.

It was incredible. I wanted more of it. Now I sort of feel like it's Ryan Garcia versus Terrence Crawford. And I feel like that has Netflix written all over it. Like that is as big as it gets, no? Yeah, if you're Terrence, I've always said, why should Terrence fight boots? Like, what are you doing?

Like, why would you give boots this opportunity? And I'm a massive boots and his fan. But the numbers will suggest that it would be Terence Crawford that brings in a lot of gold to this pot, so to speak. Ryan, Ryan generates just incredible numbers. and him versus boots. I mean, look, they will write down versus Crawford, you mean?

Sorry, apologies. Ryan versus Crawford. Financially, the numbers would be insane. Absolutely insane. I've never thought about that. That's crazy. But Ryan's asking for it.

Ryan's kind of goaded him for him. He has been goaded him for a while. I mean, Crawford's going back at him too. Like that, why not that one? At maybe 154? Could we do that at 154? Why not? Yeah, Ryan's a big guy.

Ryan's a big guy. Crawford, I saw Crawford on the weekend. Crawford's not a big guy at all. He's not put on pounds. No, he was never a 608er. No, no, never, never. He's a 54 guy max, maybe 160.

Yeah. Crawford would take that in a heartbeat. You think so? Yeah, he'll look at that as easy money. You'll look at that as just easy, easy money. Because Ryan, although Ryan is fast, Ryan does make a lot of mistakes, and Crawford would think that I would just eat you up for them.

It's a bigger fight. Again, I can imagine Eddie and Boots not liking this, but it's a much bigger fight. Is there a bigger fight than that? Maybe, you know, I know AJ Fury's gigantic, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But like, is there a bigger American fight than that? I don't think so. No.

No, there isn't. Ryan's that star now. Ryan's that guy. Like, I look at Ryan's numbers on everything. I look at his numbers when he's on Shannon Sharp. Like, he crosses over to different platforms and does massive numbers. And he wins, as you say, speaks well. He's a good-looking kid.

I like what he did in post-fight where he's, you know, I'm Mexican, American. All of you, basically. I want all of your fans to come and love me, and they all screamed and shouted. He's that guy, and everyone loves Crawford. Crawford's unbeaten. Crawford's that guy. So that would be fascinating.

Absolutely. That would be fascinating. Because you get the element of Shakur, Stevenson, involved as well. Because Shikou hates Ryan. So you get that element as well. I think it would be incredible that fight. You know, I got to be honest, I haven't thought about Tank Davis in quite some time,

but here's Ryan bringing him up again. I asked him, he's fired up. and it's hard to tell what's real and what's not with Tank but he appears to have tweeted in the last hour let's do it at 144, let's dance is this of interest? Do you think this has?

Because Ryan was saying to us like I'm the man now, I came down to you, you have to come down to me. Do you think this ever happens? No. But I'm gonna, no, it doesn't. Again, you just said it's difficult

to know what's real with Tank and what's not. I mean, tweets go up. It's like Kevin Durant, right? Tweets go up, then they go down, and then they just vanish. Like, what's going on? Like, you stick with it. You tweeted it, stick with it.

And that's probably going to come down in a couple of hours. I love the idea of that fight. And Ryan, to an extent, is right. I mean, he did kind of bore himself down to fight tanking. It was a massive fight. I was there in Las Vegas for it. I think the issue now is that tanks just too small. Tank went up to 140 to fight barriers,

but then straight back down to 135. He's a 135 guy. Really could make 130, whereas Ryan now is a fully-fledged, 147 guys. So Ryan will never make 140 because he'll say, I'm not coming down. I'm too big for you. Like, I'm a star now myself. I'm not going to listen to what you say. And tanks not going to come up that far as well. I think a lot of these guys don't want to fight Ryan at 147. I think Shakur's even like, I'll fight you, but you need to come down. I think people understand just how big he is, how

strong he is at that weight. And they want to take something from him. So it's almost, I'll fight you, but at 140. I thought you but at 135. When Ryan's like, no, I'm cool at 147, dude. I'm making millions. I'm making millions, I'm healthy, we're good, either one, four, seven, or nothing. And that's why I can't see it happening. Fans were upset that they didn't let Lopez into the ring. They let David Benavides in after Gio Pataya's fight, and that was interesting. And to me was a sign like, hey, Benavides has one fight left with PBC. He's on very good terms with Dana and the brass.

And so, yeah, we'll let this one slide. It doesn't get much bigger than that at cruiserweight. A, do you think it happens? and B, who would you favor? A, I do think it happens. You know, they actually did try and stop Benevedo from going. Oh, yeah, they did. Yeah, I was like, what are you doing?

I thought, you push this guy one more time and right hands might be thrown. But, you know, it's a massive fight. And yes, I believe it happens because I believe both fighters want it to happen. I think that's the biggest key here. Obviously, look, money's going to play a part. We're going to have to see some sort of relationship as well between maybe between Zufra and PBC,

although, as you say, Benavide has only got one fight left, And that could be against anyone. Then he'll make as much money as he wants to sign in as a free agent to Zufa. So I think it happens. I think the crowd wanted to happen. Max is smart in the post-fight interview. You don't call Benavides into the ring if there's not already been some kind of conversations and let them go face to face.

Because as you said, they didn't let Tio get in the ring and do his moment with Ryan. I love it. I love it. Benevides has already started saying, I'll stop him in six. Jai may be a bit more. Jai was quite reserved. I thought in that little moment with Benavides. I thought we might see a bit more angry, Jai.

Benevedes is coming in your face and he's going to do this and that. And, you know, Jai was all smiles. And I was like, don't smile. Don't show him any weakness. But I love both guys. I think it's a crazy fight. I would edge, man, I think I'd edge to the monster.

He almost just looks unbeatable at the moment. I agree. He's just, I find him, I actually think he can go to heavyweight in Chin. of the big boys up there. That's so good I think he is. So I'd maybe 60, 40 Benavides at this time. Okay. I would love to see it. And if they could pull that off for Cinco de Mayo, man, holy smokes. That double bill. What was it like in the arena, by the way? Was it like, incredible? Did it feel, I went to, I was at Canelo Mangia with you. That was Cinco de Mayo

a couple of the years ago. And I was blown away his first time I've ever, only time I've gone to experience one of those Mexican super weekends, if you will. Did this feel like that? Did feel like a Canelo card? Did it feel like a heavy Mexican audience? How would you describe it? I've been, I've been fortunate. I've been to the team of a few times. And I've actually been a bit like, this isn't, you know, what I expected. This felt really good just because they had a villain. Like Conner had, Conner was happy to play the villain role. And I think the Mexicans were there, knowing that, okay, we've got the hero, we've got the guy that looks good and smiles and says all these things about Christianity, fantastic, and there's a villain. And Connor isn't that guy,

actually, but Connor, you know, he kind of looks like that, doesn't he? So I think it was the first time in a long time where there was a clear, we hate that guy, we love that guy type vibe. And I think that's what made it for an amazing atmosphere. Every time Connor's face came on the big screen, like when he was entering the T-Mobile, when he was getting his hands wrapped, the booze were deafening. And every time Ryan came on the big screen, you honestly had to kind of put fingers in your ears, it got that loud. So it was one of the best atmospheres I've experienced, if not the best, really. I mean, close maybe Spence Crawford, but this one I felt was better because Connor has really sold it as that the angry Brit coming over to be their lovable

Mexican-American. And I think they were all like, this ain't happening in a lot watch. Wow. Okay. Before I let you go, I be remiss if I don't ask about AJ Fury, the saga that will never die, that will never get a resolution to. I do want to ask you about something Dana White said, post-fight presser, very end, Saturday night. He was asked about it. He did a whole bunch of media surrounding it, of course. It was funny.

He said, Eddie, oh, this guy does 100,000 interviews last week, sort of ignoring the fact that Eddie had a massive show on TNT headline by Andy Ruiz on Friday and then the Katie Taylor retirement fight. I mean, kind of a big thing that you'd want to promote. And meanwhile, Dana did like a gazillion interviews last week as well. That's what promoters do. Anyway, here's what he had to say about it all. and then I want to get your reaction.

Everyone's been asking about Eddie Hearn and A.J. Fury. Were we out with these discussions? Press conference, Dana White talking about Eddie. Stand by, Ida, stand by. Working through the Kings. No, no, no, no, no. Dude, I'm a live TV guy. Yeah, that's what we do.

Dana White hired a Fury, AJ. He was asked about it. Here it is. Earlier, you said you don't want to get into the Joshua and Fury talk. What's changed in the last week or two or the last couple of months? That you now can't talk about it. Just one more earlier. You said you don't want to get into the Joshua Fury.

Just to read the questions on his AI monitor. What's changed in the last week? I'm fucking tired of it. I'm so fucking tired of talking about it. And I know what you want. I know what you want out of me. You'll get it soon. That I promise.

Have a good night, everybody. Yesterday, Eddie Hearn posts this on IG Story, Lesson for the Week, people. If you truly believe in it, stay with it. it and keep fighting for it, it always seems impossible until it's done. And so what do you make of that and what you make of Dana saying, I know what you want, you'll get it soon, I promise. What does this all mean? Okay, that last part from Dana, surprised me a little bit because I'm leaning now towards Eddie's kind of got what he wanted. I said Eddie put a few Instagram

posts up. It almost suggests that this fight will be coming to the UK. That's what it seems as though. The talk of Madison Square Garden and that date on a Friday. seems to have gone away in the last few days, or at least maybe even the last few weeks or so. Dana White is saying you're going to get what you want? I don't know. That almost sounds like a man that's going to unleash hell on everyone and speak about just maybe what's happened behind the scenes

to get to this point. Dana is used to get him what he wants, right? I mean, if Dana wants a fight 9-10 of 10 in the UFC, that fight gets made, right? Because ultimately he's the one that kind of says, sort of thumbs up and yes on it. All of a sudden now he's got a bit of pushback. Eddie Hearn has pushed back big time

and not just Eddie Hearn but the main man in this equation, Anthony Joshua, both pushed back. So I don't think he's used to that. I think that annoys him quite a lot. This Eddie and Dana battle seems to have gotten personal but Eddie's like you're not winning this one and almost

again, we're just reading between the lines it looks like Eddie's won this battle. I can't wait to hear Dana's rant or rage if this is the case because Dana for the last few months is like I'm the promoter of this event. I know when this fight's going to take place.

I know the date's going to take place. I know where it's going to take place. And all of a sudden, we don't know that's true or not. And for Dana, I think that's a big ego kicker. So I look forward to seeing how this plays out. But what, you know, one thing you did say, and I agree with him, it has become a bit boring. I've become a bit tired of it as well.

I want it to happen. I'm very excited about it happening. And when it does, if it does, I will be there in full voice, because I've followed their careers and I've covered their careers for nearly a decade. But I do think, and I did ask Dana about this.

I said, yes, you've enjoyed coming to boxing, but has the one frustration been this, this AJ Fury thing? Has it been frustrating? And he kind of went around the houses, but he kind of took a yes from his answer. He kind of went the long way around answering it,

but I think it was a yes from him because it has been frustrating. This fight seems to have taken longer to mate than Maywewapia. And Maywe was the pound for pound number one, and Pachia was an eight-weight world. champion and both of them were the biggest sellers in the history of the sport, it's taken longer than that to make this fight happen. I think we're all kind of getting a bit like, if it happens, happens.

Like, if it were to happen at MSG now, I'm like, okay, cool. There's no fight for me because I just want to see them fight. I didn't necessarily care about where it was anymore, but it does look like Eddie and AJ won. It looks like this fight's coming to the UK. You think it really is? You really do think so. I really, honestly, I genuinely think that this fight, like Eddie doesn't put things out

like that. Eddie, Eddie goes as close to announcing things as possible. Like, if you were to get Eddie on, you'll probably get it out of him. Because he just can't, he's like a little kid and he can't hold back the excitement of things. You've done, you've done like, hour long interviews with him.

And it's like, I'm not really supposed to say this by effort. I'll say it. That's Eddie type vibe. And I think this is Eddie basically almost announcing it without announcing it. So I'd be very shocked now if it doesn't go come to the UK. Obviously, we've got the Principality Stadium in Wales,

which has got a roof. So all this talk about a weather maybe being an issue. that's kind of out the window now because even if it snows, it's fine. So I do think there's a good chance it comes to the UK, and I think there's a good chance it comes to Cardiff. You know, if it were up to me, I'd love to see it at Anfield just because there's never any winning happening there these days.

And so I feel like that would be a big win for the UK. Why is it with ending these things with a dig at football? I mean, nil, nil, nil, nil to full them, huh? Yeah, it's what it is. I've almost just accepted that this is going to be that. season. That it's just a season of, if we win some, we win some, if we lose some, we lose some. I think it's going to be that.

It's disappointing because it's almost for like a row off the season after four games. Wow, wow, wow, wow. I think Man City and Arsenal have gone. They've gone. They've gone. And we're all now just sort of playing catch up for third and fourth place. Forrest with a big one, you know? Yeah, I mean, you've got a good manager.

Like, if you give him time, Glasna's a good manager, but I think your chairman's a bit trigger happens, so to speak. Old days, old days. He's letting him cook. You have cooked. I appreciate it. long journey. You're the man, pro. You're the freaking guy and I love to see you there. You weren't in the ring. You were outside of the ring, but that's okay. Dude, dude, dude, that was so

annoying. I was supposed to be in the ring. What happened? We're supposed to be in the ring. That was the British way. You guys sometimes do that. No, no, Ryan's walking. This and Addy, okay, you're going to do an in-ring interview with Ryan and Connor. I'm seeing Connor walk away and I'm like, Connor's gone. And I knew you'd go. Why would he stay? I knew he was going to go. But Max did he's and I was like telling my people, okay, I'm going to jump in the ring now. Ryan's coming out of the ring. So I'm like, oh, God. So then Ryan gets out onto the stair bit,

and I go straight from and say, Ryan, his own, he obviously understands. He's a zone fighter. He comes over and wants to speak to me. The commissioner is like telling me one minute. And so I'm doing, I just start my interview. And the commissioner is behind Ryan doing this, like stop now. What?

So, yeah, I'll do it. So anyway, I stopped the interview. That's why it's so short. I do it. Ryan, okay, one more. I then, as soon as they go and sit to the commission, don't ever do that again. He's like, whoa, what, what?

I said, we're the broadcast. I'm not a YouTuber. We're the broadcast, the zone. Like, I'm supposed to do an interview. He's like, no, man, no, man. I was like, so I start going back and forthcoming. Yeah, yeah. He then comes over and apologizes.

He said, sorry, man, I got it wrong. I was like, you damn right, you got it wrong. That's supposed to be like a five minute interview. Not a one minute, 30 second. What do you think I just grabbed him outside the ring? Like, we're the zone. What are you doing, dude? And he's like, I'm sorry, man.

I got it wrong. I was like, ah, you're okay. Don't do it again, though, but you're okay. Okay, okay. I like to see you put your foot down. Flex on them. Let them know. Yeah, man.

I saw the beginning of your YouTube video. You're doing those chin-ups and all that. You see, I don't muck. I mean, you don't muck around. I don't muck around. I don't muck around. They're paying them playing, Ariel. They're paying them playing.

I love it. You're the man Adé. Thank you so much. Great stuff as always. And I hope you get some rest now. Appreciate it. There he is. The great Adelaideopo, the face and voice of DeZone boxing.

Talks for BBC. YouTube channel, check it out. Okay, we got a lot more stuff to get to, my friends, and we're about a little over an hour away from Scott Coker's big announcement. So let's get to it. All right, back to the Tom Aspinall situation, shall we? Some things have happened

since we started the day. Eddie Hearn has put out a statement regarding Mr. Tom Aspinall. Short and sweet, this is what he wrote, courtesy of our good friend Chisanga Malata. Quote, this has been an incredibly challenging time for Tom, but he has shown his total class throughout. Everyone in Matrum is with him every step of the way.

We are confident that he will succeed in his ultimate goal to return to the Octagon and reclaim the title that is rightfully his. End quote. Eddie had been alluding to this as well, by the way, saying he has to get cleared and whatnot. So there had been some hints if you read the tea leaves. Cyril Gan posting on social media. Here is what the still.

for now interim champion is saying no official announcement from the UFC. Can't wait is what he said. I guess that means to defend or fight again. Alex Pereira has taken to social media and he has posted this relatively short video, not necessarily calling for anyone, but at least making his feelings known. Here's what he had to say. I want to fight this year. One more fight. And I would like to know opinion because it's very important. It's very important even for the organization as they pick the next opponent. Everyone knows that the fans, the public, has a lot of power. So I would like for you to leave your opinions in the comments below. Who should be my next opponent? Chama. I wonder what the people are saying. Josh Hokit is making the hard push. Josh Hokit wants Surreal Gan. He's been all over social media this morning. This video particularly interesting. Take a look.

Cyril Gond. Hey, Cyril Gond. I'm just kidding. It's me. What you want to do? All right, so there you go. Hokit is everywhere these days. Let's talk, Noce UFC.

Shout out to the big man, John Silva. What a performance against Jose Delgado. The two of them did a great job of promoting this fight. It was really a lot of fun. And Delgado, in particular, it takes the fight on short notice. A lot of people are like, wait, who, what? What happened to E a year? And he went out there and he did his thing.

And I hope the UFC acknowledges that and rewards him. In the end, John Silva would the third round win via rear naked choke, a great finish, a beautiful rear naked choke. In fact, he posted a video yesterday showing him working on that particular choke, trapping the arm on Friday, I think it was, in Arizona. And the guy is just one of a kind. He's emotional beforehand. He's obviously doing the barking thing. He jumps over the cage and he starts taking off his gloves, but he can't quite get them off.

And then he's like ripping the tape off with his mouth, only to give the gloves to Hunter Campbell. For a moment there, it was taking so long. I was wondering, is he going to retire? What's happening here with John Silva? But he's not retiring. He wants to fight for the belt. He was very, like, I love the emotion.

He's a unique guy. He's a passionate guy. I love everything about him. And that was a fight that he probably should have won on paper. I'm really curious. I'll tell you this right now. I don't think Mofsaer Evoev should be passed up. He should be fighting next.

He's going to be fighting next. I would love to see John Silva versus Alex Volcanovsky. Like, obviously that fight is in a little over a month, so it's going to happen. I would love to see him fight Alex Volcanovsky. Al Jermaine Sterling wants to see Al Jermaine Stirling fight John Silva. and he's pushing for a fight at Madison Square Guard. I'm next in line or we can fight for a December run at me and John at MSG. I just have a hard time believing that John Silva is going to come back in exactly essentially two months' time.

I have a hard time seeing it. I would love to see it. I would love to see that fight. I would love to see John Silver versus Volcanovsky or the winner of that fight. What do you guys think? John Silva Aljo, John Silva title. fight, what's next for the big man for Lord John? I like John Zylva Aljo.

You think that's the one? Yeah, I think that's a great title of eliminator. Now, obviously, timing is going to come into play because John Silva was coming off of a win this past weekend, but I don't mind that as a title of eliminator. No chance he comes back in two months. I don't know. No one comes back in two months. It's so rare these days. Yeah, I don't think so.

No, and especially not a guy as intense as him, right? Like the investment that he has, the emotional spend for every fight, I can't imagine it. And it's not for a title either. I'm open to either. I think Aljo would be a fantastic fight, and I think he's done enough that you could very reasonably make a case for him fighting for the title as well. So either one is fine for me. Yeah, he's now won two in a row, and that's John Silva. You know, he had the win over Arnold Allen back in January, very impressive. And then the win this weekend, supposed to be a year, but still wins a win. Aljo's won two in a row as well.

The last loss was the Mofsar fight, the Brian Ortega fight, which feels like it was so long ago, was a catchweight fight, and then the Yusuf Salal win back in April. So they're kind of in the same spot. I don't hate it. But John is either next or won away. and the one away should probably be Eljo. Or Lorone. You throw Lorone in there?

Yeah, Larone, yeah. Man, Loron got screwed. Lerone got screwed big time. I mean, it was on the crazy win streak only lost them all. I know. Brandon Moreno with the split decision win over Joseph Morales. Great win for him.

Brandon will actually be on the show tomorrow. So good that he got to be involved in the Noce UFC experience. What about Tommy McMillan? Holy shit. I mean, like we've said, for the last few weeks, the UFC has had a nice stretch of fun young fighters emerge. None more fun than this guy.

This guy is an absolute dog. He is just relentless. The whole Tommy McMillan fight week experience is just insane. He's like, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy rolled into one. He does the this thing or this thing. The stuff in the hotel, the way-ins, the Twinkie. the Twinkie, the partying afterwards. Have you seen him partying?

I mean, I try to get him on the show. This is just like the cheer-rated version, right? Might need a few days where he's able to get on the show. I mean, just look at his face right there. What's he got there? Wings? Looks like he's got some chicken tenders and some Titoes along with either a blunt or a cigar. I'm going to lean blunt based on the vase he had during your guy's interview.

Yeah, the UFC has something here. I mean, he's active. This is his third fight since April. the volume that he puts up is crazy. He goes in there to get into a war. I think right now he's landing something like 11.6 significant strikes a minute, which is absolutely insane.

He's got the personality. He's got the fighting style to match. He comes from, you know, Sugar's camp and everything. They definitely have something, yeah. Oh, man. The question is, how quickly do you push him? Yes, go ahead. Marwan Rahiki also, like, great dance partner.

Great, perfect dance partner. Blasted him, knocked him down. Like, just a, just a, perfect pairing and a great fight and Marwan as somebody I'm still excited about too like just a just a great fight I agree three for three on bonuses as well for him yeah oh that's right those been getting paid this year uh afterwards your boy uh losiniketa calling him out tom stein on that I am in on that let me test that chin let's see if it holds up timelines perfectly matched up do they do it do it do they do that or are these two guys that

you want to try to build up I don't know nah do it let them scrap I mean, Lucini Cade already has a loss in the UFC. Yeah, it's true. It's all right. He's on a roll. But yeah, oh my God. That power versus that volume. And both guys are just very charismatic, very fun.

Yes, I would love that. I would love that. Shout to Alexo Grasso. You know, it's funny, Natalia Silva is fighting, you know, for the belt against Tong Wong. Did I get it right? Wang Tong. Now you've got me confused.

Damn it. We'll get it right. Wang Tong. Wang Tong, yeah, you're right. It feels like Alexa Grasso might be the best flyweight not named Valentina Shvchenko. I don't know. It seems like she's turned the corner. Seems like she's leveled up.

That was a great win over Menlo Furo. Aaron Blanchfield out there as well. It seems like maybe the two best flyweight's not named Valentina aren't fighting for the belt. With all due respect, in Italian and Wang. But that was a great win over Mano Furo. She is a superstar. Curtis Blades with the win over Waldo Cortez-Cortez-Col. Costa, unanimous decision win.

There were a few decisions there in the middle of the car. David Martinez with the win over Dan Igay, Tim Elliott. That was a fun fight against Edgar Sharis, a bloody affair. Ignacio Bahamundez with the unanimous decision win over Muslim Salihav. Ussri Balguri with Alex Pereira and Plinyo Cruz in his corner. Tremendous first-round knockout win for him. So he is someone that I think the UFC is very, very high on. They may be high on Tommy Gant as well.

Tommy Gant is now 13-0. had a submission win in the third round or virtual car close. DC in his corner wearing the suit. Is this not the greatest? I mean, DC has called fighters that he coaches their fights before, but he's never gone in there and cornered them. He just, like, was walking in there. Time of need.

He stepped up. Did he just, someone, like, remind me, did he take off his headset and just go in for that, or did he corner him for the whole fight? He cornered him for the whole fight. So he just leaves the broad. Yeah. Also, I'm looking at this on a very small screen, and like from this angle, it almost looks like he's talking to John Jones. Yeah, that is wild. Also, the... And he's scolding him. Natalia Silva is the best flyweight, not named the Valentina Shepchenko right now.

Over Alexa. She beat her. She beat her. I know, but Alexa right now is looking incredible. She has having a great year. She was winless since, like, the first Valentina fight going into this year. Wait a second. Wait a second. You guys are the ones who always say to me, oh, it's not so much, like this person, this person is how you look right now. Alexa Grasso looks amazing right now. Yeah, Natalia has looked better. Since that. All right, fine. I'm just saying. I'm really impressed

with those two wins. Those fighting words. Knockout and sub of the year and then a win like that over my Nolfiuro. I was impressed. Got a knockdown on the credit too. She knocked her down, yeah. Rong Ju with the big win over Rafa Garcia. Sean King III, Louisiana boy.

We're not going to give Jordan time to lay out for Rong Ju? All right. Okay, go ahead. I mean, I said on Thursday, right Jew, so, you know. That's how you call them? He's undeniable. Right. Damn, that's my bad.

I shouldn't have given him that. Yeah, I don't know why. Longue's that to me. My man. He believed that. My bad. I said New Year, wrong ju. You know, they go ahead.

Sean King the 3rd with the big win. The slam over Jesse Rosas, 36-second knockout. He'll actually join us on Thursday's show. Good friend of Dustin Porier, the King of New Orleans. Dustin very high on him. If he's eye on him, I'm high on him. And Regina Teren, or Tareen, is now 9-0,

defeating J.J. Aldrich with the unanimous decision win on Saturday. That was an early card. I will be honest, head to head with Russia Shana was tough for me, the early fights. I mean, it was like 2 o'clock. We're starting this already. I forgot about the early start. So I had to catch up. Yeah, it was tough.

I had to catch up. But we got there in the end. The Dana White, Francis and Ghanu feud is another one that will never die. Here's Dana White speaking to Real 92.3, telling him just outright that he wanted Francis to lose four years ago. Almost five now, 2022. It's amazing how time flies. When Francis fought Sorrel Gan, defending that title in Anaheim at the Honda Center, here he is owning up to it.

When was the last time you wanted the UFC fighters? to lose. It would have to be Francis Inganu and Cyril Ghan. Who did you want to lose in Ghana? The damn brother I remember another time I asked you before

and that was probably before Francis. Man, it was, you was like, oh, Titor Tito, Tito. We got such an inside thing with Tito. I appreciate Dana saying that he wanted him to lose because of course he wanted him to lose. He was on the last fight of his deal.

No champion had reached the end of their deal as champion. He was going to walk away as champ, and that's exactly what happened. So I appreciate him owning up to it. He was also speaking to the nightcap crew, Shannon Sharp A.L. And here's what he had to say regarding Mr. Francis in Ganu. Can we get John Jones and Ganu? Listen, Anganu is on my Oscar de la Hoya list, okay? Come on, Dana.

Yeah. For the opportunity to fight, the fight, John, look at the history of Francis. Everyone's climbing for that. And the other companies he's been with, you know, since he's, he's a bad guy, man. He's a bad guy. And I'm at a point in my life where I just don't want to do business with bad guys.

Yeah. You know what I mean? What is he talking about? What do he do? What the hell did he do to signify being a bad guy? PFL just, you know, their whole company changed. and he had the two boxing matches with Turkey. What does Turkey think about him?

His good friend, Turkey, I'll shake. I'm curious what he would say about him. Does he say he's a bad guy? Does he have some intel there? Anyway, here's Francis commenting on Dana's comments, saying the guy that I spent over three years and a lot of money in law firms, building an escape plan to get away from.

Meanwhile, he was doing everything in his power to ensure I was never free. You have to take that loss. It is irreversible. He also wrote this, the night that hurt the most over four years ago, and it is still fresh. And here's Nikis Abidarian weighing in on it all. Of course, the co-founder of MVP, so ironic, look at the history. You can't lose hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits for underpaying fighters and talk about bad guys.

Who is the bad guy? Pointed comment there. You know what's interesting about the way history has been rewerextual. written regarding Francis and Ghanu. Does everyone seem to forget that they openly said that they tried on multiple occasions to resign Francis and pay him more than any heavyweight ever and, you know, do the John Jones fight and, you remember all that? So if he was such a bad guy, why did you try to resign him?

Why did you have dinner with him? Why did Hunter have dinner with him? talk to him, keep him on you know, that exclusive period deal like he couldn't sign with anyone.

He fought in January of 2022 had the knee surgery but couldn't be free and sign with anyone until he did in May of 23. They tried to sign him. They let him go

in January of 23. They made that announcement. But why did they do that if he was such a bad guy? Why did they try to make that fight happen if he was such a bad guy? Who's the check?

He's a bad. guy because he left. I know. I know. You get it? He's a bad guy, man. I know, I know. He's a bad guy. And the history of, you know, bad guys that have fought in the UFC. I'm not sure of Francis and Ghana is at the top. Yeah. Connor McGregor has reemerged. I don't think he's done many interviews, if any, since the July 11th fight against Michael Chandler. He did, I think, something for his Mac energy brand. Here he is talking about Max Holloway

being the one who actually tried to end the fight and not him. I'm so calm. When I stepped into the octagon, when I stepped into the octagon and this fucking, this bed of dry ice that had not been there,

what was this? You stepped in, the octagon is wet. The octagon is wet. And I have this in my head and I said, I don't care what, I'm not even looking, I'm going. That's not, that's not true martial arts. Use your brain, use your vision,

Use your mechanics. Use your intuition. You know, but maybe more so I was using my intuition there, but it wasn't the way I should have approached it. But I went the inn. It's a slippery floor. I started saying, oh, fuck, this is a slippery floor. And I'm coming through the air

and going to jump, trying to fly through the center of the doctor. You know, it is what it happens? It's the fucking fight game. It is what I fucking is. It is like, oh, back them. I cracked him with a fucking... Oh, the last kid, it was gone. Boom right there.

He backed away. Is it? My man, praise him. with the Helio there's a billion ways to win a fight. So I wasn't. I tell you what, it wasn't me calling for the finish of the fight. It wasn't me calling to finish it. If I fight you and you look for the ref, ref, stop the fight.

Who stops the fight? You know? Don't stop, finish the fucking fight. I didn't think about it. You know what I'm saying? You're the man calling for the fight to be stopped. The fight is only began. It's all good.

It's all good. We do our work. we stay on the track and we get retribution and that's it baby God bless retribution so there you have it I mean he has talked about the

the dry ice and the aftermath on Twitter that could be a very real thing but it is an acknowledgement that maybe that wasn't the best way to start the fight and also an acknowledgement that he believes Max called for the end of the fight as opposed to

him calling for the end of the fight they did have dry ice before the Habib fight as well same person like same supplier was it the same company is he the only one that's gone the dry eyes

you always pay attention to these things like the one the only the one the only thing is such an annoying like is you going to get it when did this become a thing did he get it? The only only? Yeah of course it's Connor and John are the two

and then Alex got it when he was fighting Magamette Uncle Live first time. Lost. Didn't get it. The second time. One, got it back at the White House. Obviously loses that fight. We're going to see what Bruce does next time. Poetons steps into the octagon. Connor McGregor wants to fight bare knuckle. Here he is on social media saying he can't wait to be free so he could fight in BKFC. That rhymes. I mean, bare knuckle fighting championships is unstoppable at the moment. What a few months we've had.

My God bless it. God bless true fighting. I can't wait. do it. One more to go. One more to go. And then Mike Daddy is free. One more to go. Plus or minus, Conner fighting in BKFC once he finishes that final fight. What does plus or minus he...

Over under... Over under. ...Fugrenegger fighting in BKFC. He's going to fight. Here it is. You think so? Over. Half a BKFC fight for Gailer McGregor. Over. Over. Okay. You? You? I'm going to say under

Okay No BKFC fights It wouldn't make the most sense The money that he's going to have to get paid When he's a free agent I think Netflix is going to be coughing up Crazy bread And BKFC will just do it on Netflix

I'm sure they can do whatever they Connor Chandler and BKFC Fuck I'm in Sure Imagine Why not Imagine I mean we could do Nate or somebody

That's true Best thing I saw a weekend Song Yadong being showered with love at a school in China. Look at this. Look how great this is. Is this not so great? Look at Song Yadong. Look at this.

Look at all these kids with the phone out. Yeah, let's hear that pop Frankie. Look at this pop for song. Is that not inspirational? Look at this. Song Yidong is a big deal. That's amazing. That's a superstar.

Yeah, what are they saying? Any idea? Anyone? I don't get... That is what they were saying. saying. If he can get a belt. It was great there.

And maybe Zhang Wei can also get her a belt back? I mean, that would be massive. Oh my God. That'll be insane. Yeah, let's see Zhang Wei back. What about our boy, Balal Hassan? This guy's a superstar. You know how you know the UFC thinks he's a superstar?

The first fight booked for Madison Square Garden, right? UFC 334. Oh, is that true? Oh, that's sick. That might be it. Balal Hassan. Is that not it? Let me see.

UFC 3. There might be some others that have been... Nassim Sadeghavre versus Jefferson Nassi Mento. This hits much better. This is a... Second five booked. Second fight book, but it's like the real people's main event. That's the sign of the superstar.

Second fight book. Yeah, hell yeah. Balahsan, what a guy. Maybe in studio that week? That'd be fun. That'd be fun. You got to wear a Michael Jackson suit. Work on your moonwalk.

You get you a diamond glove. I'd love that. Signed by him. Hamza Shamaev and Alessandra Tuporia were cornering GC this weekend at Vault Fighting League 1 with the trim beard looks less like you

Yeah, the trim looks nice though It's kind of inspirational, kind of makes me want to go trim Bit of a fade there Looks good, unfortunately, didn't get the hand raised It's tough man, it's tough It's tough out there It's nice to see the Tuporias and the Shemayev's together though Is that

Is that a thing? Is there another Shemayev? No, I just mean Oh, I mean I don't know I'm sure there is Okay, Scott Koker Presser coming up

His old friend Fyodor I mentioned this earlier In attendance, it seems Is the Svitre here? Maybe you'll take a shower And get changed Break it out I've seen Fyodor in a while

Speaking of cameos, Joaquin Phoenix at BKFC this weekend, guys. Frank, tell me, favorite Joaquin Phoenix film. Space Camp. Oh, yeah, I agree. Loved it. Sequel to Spaceballs, right?

I don't think they're related, no. Oh, you know what, I lied. Best thing I saw this weekend, the GSP RKO. Did you guys see this? Look at the form. Look at the flying motion. That's the tester right here.

Okay, okay. Oh, one-handed. Four on ten. One-handed. He's going one-handed. You know how hard it is to do one-handed? Oh, you see, he went two-handed there. Oh, you know what?

He doesn't have a good dance partner. Here it is, here it is. Oh, that was more like, if he sat right on his butt, that would be Kevin Steen-style. Oh, he's going on the back. It's not bad. He's so ripped, man. This guy looks like he's in fighting shape. Anyway, Randy Orton saw this and liked it.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. G.S. P. out of nowhere. I mentioned earlier to Aday Crawford Boots. We talked about them on the set last week on the TNT set. Here's Mr. Terrence Crawford speaking about Mr. Boots Ennis with our friends over at Complex. So are you really retired or are you going to come back? Man, I'm retired. I don't retire.

I don't know why everybody. you know, making a big thing about my tweet and whatnot, but I just told everybody that I was trying to see something. I see what I need to see. So you don't want to fight boots? Do I, I don't want to fight boots? Or do you want to, like, come back and I'm retired? You make it seem like I'm active and, you know, like I'm shying away from a fight with anyone. No, I mean, I don't think that. I just think would you possibly, like, if the money was right or a situation, would you see yourself coming back? I'm retired. I said it from the beginning.

I think he fights again. Connor Ben posted on Instagram after the loss. Here he is with his wonderful family afterwards. Oh, dear. Everyone keeps asking what sex for Connor Ben? The truth is, I don't have the answer. If you would have asked the 19-year-old version of me, whether I thought I'd be standing here 10 years later, having lived through everything I have, I'd have told you that you were crazy. So when people ask me what's next for Conor Ben, right now the answer is simple. Time with my kids.

Quite fans, thank you. Those who travel to Vegas, those who stayed up until the early hours, I will never take your support for granted, especially on those nights. Things don't go to plan. great spirits much respect Chris Eubank Jr. was enjoying it actually he was in attendance someone caught him in the crowd wearing a mask here he is after the fact saying or tweeting welcome to the fighting after cutting too much weight club

enjoy Chris Eubank was like that dude who shows up to the funeral your biggest hater just loving it flew all the way to Las Vegas just to see the destroyer get destroyed I did want to also mention that there was an event called Fight Nation Championship.

They've been doing some big things. They've put on 33 events. FNC. FNC 33 took place this past Saturday, September 12th. In Croatia, it emanated from Arena Zagreb, sold out 18,700 in attendance. UFC did an event there back in 2016, so less popular, it did about 13,000. In the main event, UFC and KSW veteran Darko Stosich became the new heavyweight champion with a decision win over Hatef Moel.

Slovenia's slow rocky Miran Fabjan scored a massive first round finish over recent UFC fighter Ivan Erslan in the co-main event. And America's Anthony Ivy, who has fought in the UFC, PFL, Bellator, scored decision win over Will Curry and was cheered. on by the U.S. Embassy who were in attendance to celebrate UFC 250 and Croatian-American relations. How about that? So this promotion is based in Croatia. They are the largest MMA organization in the Balkans and have recently expanded into Central Europe. They were born in 2019, started off as a small promotion, kept growing and I hear they are today. And consistently, I'm told, 10 to 15K

in arena shows also had those beautiful Roman amphitheater shows in Pula Croatia where gladiators once battled thousands of years ago I love these events Octagon has a huge show

next weekend as well KSW has done their things that part of Europe in particular putting on some mega events and so shout out to the good people over at FNC congratulations on 33 events

and everything that they're doing. Okay, we have some breaking news here. Okay, we're reacting to this in real time. I asked someone who is a part of Scott Coker's team. All right, give me the goods. What's the new name? They said, you want to know or do you want to react in real time? I said, all right, fine, I'll react in real time.

I'm not trying to usurp your announcement. Those days are long gone. And so we are seeing this right now coming through the wire as we speak, breaking news. The new name is Kai M.M.M. Now I'll be honest. This would be key. Key. Okay, I'll be honest.

When I first looked at the logo. I know exactly what you're going to say. I thought it was K1 MMMA. And I loved it. And then I look at the caption and it's KI. You say key, the force within the fighter. So tell me, why is it key not Kai? Why are you so sure about this?

Because key is a word. That means like life force and energy. Like KI. This is a thing, yeah. What is this? some anime stuff? Oh boy. Dude,

pause. No. What is, I've never heard that word before. This out, this, out, like,

this predates us even. Like, this is, key was the ancient earth goddess and the companion of the sky God on in Sumerian religion. You've heard chi before,

right? I've heard you, of course. This is chi. Okay, okay. Wait, wait,

but how do you pronounce it? Key. By the way, I typed it and I'm seeing some Dragon Ball Z references. It is anime stuff. Yeah,

yeah. I mean, it's literally seeing. Let me throw something out there. Is it possible that the anime cribbed from something else as opposed to the other way around? So this didn't start in 1989 on Dragon Ball Z. Is that what you're doing? AI overview says the Japanese and Chinese concept of an underlying life force or vital energy that flows through all living things.

I don't hate it, by the way. It's a great point. K-1 is tough because I thought the exact same thing. I loved, I popped internally for the K-1. My question is, though, you know, I felt like it took the zone a very long time to get over people calling a Dazin or De AZN. If the first glance at the name is an immediate. Is a mispronunciation? Is that a problem?

Because I can assure you, I'm not the only one who's going to say Kai. Wait, is it Kai or key? See, now I'm confused. It's key. It's key. And I'm not the first one who's going to think it's K-1. Do you think they did that on purpose? To make it look like K-1. I don't think that would be good. Let's see it again. Let's see it again.

That looks like K-1. We've also got a picture of the ring. Oh, let's see the right. They're going to be fighting in rings. Don't hate this. But with the, like, with it on the mat, I really thought it was K-1. Yeah, I mean, it really looks like K-1. So it's key MMA.

Or is it Kai? So we got, we'll find out. We'll find out. This is going to be one of those that I'm going to, what's the other one that I was really tripped up on recently? Wing Kong. Oh, wait, this is a good one. Yeah, that's. Is Kai or Key legal in Scrabble?

Yes, K-I is a legal and valid two-letter word in Scrabble? No, no. It started with Dragon Ball Z, so that can't be true. That's not possible. Why? No, Dragon Ball. They don't put Dragon Ball Z terminology into Scrabble. I'm just saying, I feel like DBZ would be an appropriate term for Scrabble.

You'd be wrong. Really? Yeah. If I put DBZ, why is it a proper noun? No. No. Also, proper nouns are not allowed, but that's... DBC is an acronym.

We're a big Scramble family. Scramble or Scramble? Fuck. Like you're making eggs? We like those too. Breaking news here from EIC, Chehine Al-Shadi. What is this? Let it be known that Andy establish herself as an absolute fantasy football demon pulling out a monster 153 score in week one of the highly acclaimed and prestigious, uncrowing

uncrowned fantasy football league. That's huge. That's huge. That's not even a league I could get into. Yeah, me neither. Yeah, I tried to get in. I couldn't. Andy, who's your star player? What? Okay.

Do you have any Buffalo Bills on your team? No, man. No. Can you name two players? No, this is my first time doing anything like this. And I was like, guys, I don't know what I'm doing. They were like, was it you, Jordan, that was like, it'll choose whatever for you. So go.

She auto-drafted a dub. Some A-O. You shit, like, I don't know. First of all, your name is Friday night, Andy? Yep. It's a phenomenal name. I also didn't pick it. Okay.

That's so weird that they picked that. I kind of dig it, even though it's not really like a NFL type of. What? I'm looking at the squad. Okay. Caleb Williams, shout out. Christian McCaffrey, not bad. Derek Henry?

Not bad. Devonte Smith, not bad. T. Higgins. Tucker Kraft. Yeah, David Montgomery. I mean, it's not bad. Ravens. D.

Solis. Oddbat Squad. Well done. Caleb Williams. I mean, somebody. What was you about to say? He's no Josh. He's not a.

He ain't no Josh. Everyone knows that. Drop 59 yesterday. That is incredible. Yeah, that is incredible. That probably did it. All right. Well, congratulations.

Well done. And who's in this draft? And why wasn't I invited, by the way? It's not that you weren't invited. You didn't qualify. Oh, okay. Wait. Who else on this show is in the draft?

Just Andy. It's a secret league. I don't know anything about it. Pete C is famously. Oh, yeah, yeah. Famously? Infamously. What's the difference?

You have to be a part of the Wolf Front Bench, guys. Oh, wait, the whole WFB is in this, even Frank. No. You have to show that she registered in a Democratic Party. Yeah, I'm in this. Oh, Jordan's in it. Oh, Manhattan. Who did she play?

That's the better question. Pizzi. Yeah, who did you play? Oh, she was playing pizza. Pizzi? No, I don't know who she played. But Pizzi was texting me all morning about how his team's in Chamblingling. He's already stressed over a free league.

Oh, I'm so surprised PTE is stressed about this. It's a free league? It's a free league. What's going on? What's even the point. Do we have any super chats? Okay. Here's Don Carlo.

Buenos Tardes, Ariel. Would you interview Gan and list his illegal hits, head, eye pokes, and show them on video, has tornado Mori-Sonando with Mangu and Los three golpes. Has Tomado Morir soni with Bangu and los three golpes.

Okay, you nailed that. Here's the thing. He switched from English to Spanish with a word that is in English. So it took me a minute. Actually, two words.

Has and Torne, well, it looked like tornado here. Not Tomado. It is tough, yeah. So he screwed me up. But I appreciate Don Carlo for always hitting me

with the Spanish. I'm working on it. I'm doing the duolipe. What? Did you learn that from Scramble or TV? Honestly, if that

was the app, I'd use it. I'll be, I can't even lie. Isn't it Duolipa? I'd be on it. What did that Spanish phrase mean? Whoa, wait. Duolingo.

Duolipe. Duolipe. You combined Duolipa. Duolipa. Duolipa. Duolipa. Lipa with Duolingo

To create Duolipa. Is that our last day? Lipa. Damn. Dual Lipa. What is, okay. Olipa was actually just in Brooklyn recently.

She was looking at. Has Tomado Morir sonando with Mangu and Los Tres Golpes. What is that? Not bad? Mori's soniando is a drink.

Okay. Mangu and three Golpes is food. Okay, so what is he saying? What's he asking me? He's asking me? He's asking a few. You've had the drink, and if you've eaten the food along with it.

Oh, no. Yo, didn't we have this at the Dominican restaurant, Frankie? This guy's the man. Where's he from, Don Carlo? Has he told us? Isn't it an orange drink? Marir Sonando? What is lungu?

Do I know ball or do I know ball? Yep. Is it? Yeah, I've had Marir Sonando. Shut out. Orange drink. Yeah. Cold beverage.

Fresh orange juice. Okay, I've not had it. Sugar vanilla ice. I mean. Cyril Gunn and his coach, Fernand Lopaz, don't like me at the moment. So unfortunately, that's not going to happen. What have I said that's so bad? Also, even if you did interview him, would you show every foul he's coming? Now, what about this right here? Do you do it on purpose? Here's Mofo, T-Rex, attended Nocei UFC and met the man

who got me into MMA. Don Fry. Yeah, it was great to see him. When I was young, I would watch Godzilla movies. Don was in one of them. I told Don, because of you and Godzilla, that's why I love the sport. I was starstruck. Love that. And it was great to see him there. Ryan Dana White, what do you want me to do? The kid doesn't want to fight. I can't make anyone do anything they don't want to do. Surreal Gun is champion. Now this is the fight business. Shit happens. I hope that's not what he says. I guess he's he's guessing what Dana's going to say. Here's our boy Jason. I hope it's not true, but Tom Aspinall's run feels like a big what if for the history of MMA. I hope I'm wrong and Tom gets to fight again, but this is a damn shame.

Man, I hope so too, but Dominic Cruz was out for three years. back, won the belt. Don't give up. Gable versus Gahn, L-O-L. Now we're talking. Sign me up. It gets past Sean Sharaf. We can talk about it. Sign me out. Big one this weekend. Big one. Minus 2,000. The robot Wren. Does it feel like this event is like really flying into the radar right now? I don't know, dude, but I was looking at the card. I cannot wait. Oh, it's a tremendous card. Tremendous, dude. I guess by tomorrow or Wednesday. It's just like there was so much attention on this past weekend and all the resources. Robot Wren. Josh isn't a good face for UFC making 9-11 jokes.

Yeah. You know, we were talking about this last week about how Rhonda posted the 9-11 conspiracy theory video. It was Sandy Hook. Was it? Yes, it was Sandy Hook. And it turned into like this huge thing. And now we've reached a point where like you could just joke about anything. Like, you know, you could just make any conspiracy.

You can make any joke. You could say it. And there's no. She just posted a link. And there was a huge firestone. Now you can go right here and do a whole video and it's like, hey, times have changed for sure. Remy, guys, thoughts and opinion on the U.S. Open.

I have to say, why, why, why? I love the semis. The semis were great. Ben Shelton's a star. Can I say something about Ben Shelton? Okay, first of all, he's great. The final, you tell me. Stinker.

He's not. Can't stand Zverev either. He was on these Mickey Mouse runs. What does that mean? He had to play one top 10 player all right. He's got two grand slams this year. He didn't have to beat Sinner or Alcaraz in either of them. Did he do some crazy shit?

Was he accused of some crazy shit? Domestic violence on several occasions. He was. Okay. Yeah. I mean, because I don't know anything about him. I don't really know a lot. I'd like to get back into tennis.

I thought Ben Shelton was great. I thought, Tafo? Tiafo. Tiafo. That match was amazing. A big foe. All the Knicks players in attendance was great. It was great.

Those two guys on Friday night was amazing. Didn't really get into the women all that much. I think people don't like the girl who won, right? They think she's like cocky or something like that. Nah, Rabakina? She's like too muted. She wins the whole thing and she's just like, nice. Sabalanka, some people like, is a lot of fiery.

Okay, okay. And then, and then the, dude who won yesterday. Like he didn't realize he had won? Oh, that's just fucking... Do you think that's performative BS? Dude, they put a giant thing behind Ben Shelton that's like match point. And like he had to do the trade off because it was 5'2.

He knew he was... I don't know how he couldn't know that he was serving for the match. And it wasn't like... He didn't realize it was match point. He sends the balls back like he's getting ready to receive serve. He knew he was serving for the match. Okay. What did you think of his his comments

towards Trinity Rodman? It's just... It's just... It's just... It's just... It's just... It's just... It's a thing.

Because when I saw that, I was like... Addressing the girlfriend is a little weird in your post-match interview. I'm personally not a fan of... Okay, okay. Oh, I like that. As you know, from... That's who I was cheering against in round one.

I was willing... I almost got Lorenzo Sonogo across the finish line... It was against that guy! And we never would have had to worry about it here. Oh, it was that guy! Why didn't think I was working so hard? Oh, okay.

Now it all makes sense. Oh, yeah. I didn't realize it was that guy. Yeah, I don't like Sasha. Sasha. He definitely looked at me a couple of times. He was like, fuck this guy. All right.

Ben's great. Yeah. Ben is great. Is he the next Andy Roddick? What does that mean? He just wins a slam? No, no, American who wins, yeah. I mean, it's better than...

I hope so. I hope so. But, I mean, Taylor Fritz made the final a few years ago. If Yonick's Center and Carlos Alcaraz are healthy, no one stands a chance. Okay. I mean, he beat Alcarus. But he wasn't healthy. He's coming back from four months of injury.

who they'll lose in tournaments, but when both of them are healthy, I mean, last year, all four slam finals, if I'm not mistaken, was Algaraz versus Center. Unfortunately, we didn't get any of that this year to cause injuries. Give me a serving it up with GC pod. I'd watch it. I, when I did the college basketball betting podcast, it was this close to being a tennis bandit podcast. Wow. You could have killed it. I love tennis. It's the best. Freaking Roddick's in like a car talking about it. It's great. Anyway, those are our thoughts on the U.S. Open presented by Amex. What could you imagine?

Kegan Moore. First love the show, watch every show. I can't get enough. Question for Ariel, any advice for somebody trying to get into the combat sports media space? I'd say, go for it. And don't wait for someone to give you an opportunity. I know the times were different when I started, but I just started my website. I had a sort of game plan.

All right, I'm going to focus on interviews. I think I could do the interviews better than other people. I don't like what's being served out there. So every morning I'm going to post an interview with a fighter and let's see where this goes. And I was very diligent. Every morning, 8 a.m., there was an interview with someone Monday through Friday.

A couple of breaking news things, couple articles. And I just kept at it, kept at it. And now there's Instagram and there's TikTok and there's all these other things. Find your thing. Look at what's out there. Look at the landscape. What are you good at?

What could you do differently? I've said this before. Like, don't do like a fight night recap. no one's really doing that anymore. And no one needs that anymore. And then don't look at what other people are doing and say, I'm going to copy that. What's your lane? What do you do differently?

How do you stick out? What's your voice? Craft it, work at it. Don't be deterred. Don't get sad. If in a month or two things don't happen, keep at it, keep at it, keep at it, keep at it, keep at it, keep at it. Keep going, keep going, keep going. And things will happen.

But it takes time. You have to be patient. Go to local shows, talk to fight, do interviews, start a feed, start a channel, whatever it is. But it will take time, but good things can happen. Toronto, Mike, and I wish you the best. A chat maybe with Stephen Brunt on Chivalo Boxing. Oh, that'd be great.

The great Stephen Brunt, one of my favorite medium of people of all time. We had them once on the Air Hawani Show channel when we first started this backup. Love Stephen Brunt. And I miss his voice. I miss his takes. The greatest video essayist. TV essayist. His essay on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

is maybe the greatest that I've ever seen as far as like those video essays on TV. Such a great writer, such a great mind. It's a shame that he doesn't have a platform, a daily platform. His pod was great. He had a show called The Lead with Jeff Blair.

That was great back in the day. He was on primetime sports with Bob McCown for a very long time, just so freaking good. Ah, love Stephen Brunt. That would be a great chat. MVP versus Angano, perhaps. What? That's an insane one.

Ariel, what is going on with the Bantamway title? Bantamway title. Oh, the women's Bantamway title. They're waiting for Kayla to get back to 100%. Maybe December, maybe? That's just like pie in the sky. Let's see. But they are waiting for her.

There's not much else going on. Luis, hi Ariel. Have you followed any of Valerie Laredes run as Lola Vice since your 2022 interview with her when she announced her move from MMA to WV? If so, what are your thoughts on her in WW? I've seen a little bit. She's really seemingly taken to it. I think she's dating Damien Priest now.

I see that a bunch. Yeah, I mean, she was always a great athlete. She had a background in, I think, Taekwondo, obviously the MMA. And so you kind of have that in your back pocket. you're already at an advantage, I think. She seems to like the showmanship of it all. I don't think she's gotten the call up just yet, but she's had some cups of coffee on some shows.

But I'd be lying if I said, like, I know what's going on in her career and have been following very closely, but I do wish her the best. Jay Valencia, why is the media so reluctant to call Gan a cheater? There are compilations about it. It's just not a coincidence. since Gunn v. Volkov canceled the Kunev fight. Oh, Gunn versus Volkov for the belt.

Didn't they say they were going to give Volkov something after his last fight? Anyway. We'll take care of you. Yeah, we'll take care of you. I don't know. Cheetah. We talk about the fouls.

It's hard to know the intentions. On purpose, not on purpose. Who knows? But you can call him a cheater if you want. Here's Toronto again, Toronto Mike. Miranda's my favorite fighter. Can you please ask him about his walkout song? It's written for him.

It's like a ballad they make for cartel bosses. Wow. Well, I'll ask him that tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, Brandon Moreno, Tony Ferguson will join us. He's got a fight coming up, misfits. And Scott Coker and Rich Chow are going to join us in studio on the heels of their big announcement. Might have one more. Stay tuned for that.

But I'm looking forward to that chat, so we'll be able to ask them all the questions. about key MMA, not to be confused with K-MMA, not to be confused with K1 MMA, tomorrow in studio. Can't wait for that. For now, though, it is time to go. And it's been a great day. And I am very happy to be back. And I'm very excited about what's to come. We'll have a watch party on Saturday for UFC 332.

One. One. Oh yeah, 332. The ill-fated. The ill-fated. The much malign. That is on October 3rd. 331, headlined by Van versus Pantosha. Oh, Josh Van. How fun. You're right, it is a great card. Hoofy and Armin. What about Chandler picking Hoofie to beat Armin? Do you think he's picking Hoofie to beat Armin solely because Hoofie beat him?

Is that the move? Could have something to do with it, yeah. You kind of have to do that, right? The guy that, you know, beat you. Yeah, kind of have to do that. That'd be crazy. If he pulls it off, it'll be crazy. Frankie, what does your lovely wife think about the 1-0 Buffalo Bills?

I can't get her to shut up about it. Wow. Yeah. If I ever said shut up to my wife, I would be out on the streets. Whatever, a game of scramble? Great win for the Bills. Did you guys watch it? Anyone watch it?

How'd the Falcons do yesterday? Oh. Let's go on 17. Who'd they play? Steelers. Let's get Falcons Beatwriter. Come on, Mark. Mark Romandy.

Let's get home, bro. Oh, the Aaron Rogers led Steelers? It's a tough one. Oh, we stink. At home or on the road? Road. Ah, okay. All right.

Well, that's understandable. Thank you to all our guests. Ryan Garcia, Michael Venom Page, Michael Chandler. Adeo Lodipo. Thanks to that. Thanks to you back to Marseito.