The Ariel Helwani Show - Sean Brady, Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff, Aiemann Zahabi, Paul Hughes, UFC 315 aftermath, news & notes

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

Ariel Helwani and the Boys in the Back start with a breakdown of UFC 315 and the aftermath of Jack Della Maddalena’s huge title fight win over Belal Muhammad, PFL Belfast, and more news from around the sport (07:03).Sean Brady calls in to talk about the welterweight division after JDM’s win, Belal’s confusing strategy, a possible fight with Ian Machado Garry, GC's relentless Aviron bike callouts, Islam Makhachev moving up, Jeremy Stephens' diss track, and more (1:16:04).Aiemann Zahabi reunites with his doppelganger following the biggest win of his career to defend his Jose Aldo victory and discuss surviving the legend's onslaught in the third round, the weight-cut drama, Aldo’s retirement, having GSP in his corner, fighting in Montréal, and more (1:41:24).Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff check in to talk about their new venture Real American Freestyle Wrestling, and discuss starting a promotion in an unexplored market, creating superstars out of amateur wrestlers, attracting a mainstream audience, Hulk’s relationship with the wrestling fanbase, Ben Askren’s involvement. Then they're joined by their third founder, legendary wrestling coach Izzy Martinez, to finish off with more (2:06:43).Paul Hughes joins to discuss his quick KO over Bruno Miranda at PFL Belfast, his massive support in Ireland, his calls for a rematch against Usman Nurmagomedov, his support of mental health charities, working with Carl Frampton, and more (2:45:58).Ariel and the Boys in the Back answer Super Chats to end the show (3:15:19).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Err-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- And 25 hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. Hope you had a lovely Mother's Day weekend if of course you celebrate. If you're in the UK I think your Mother's Day was like six seven eight weeks ago but listen you don't really need a Sunday in May to celebrate your mom or someone who has helped raise you who has been there for you but it is a good reminder to do so so if you were in the Northeast you enjoyed a beautiful Mother's Day and I hope you were able to be around loved ones and I kind of love Mother's Day because well I love my mom and and I love my wife and I love my grandmother and I think that mothers are the most incredible and unbelievable human beings on the planet But it also sort of feels like the beginning of a great stretch of holidays here in the United States

Well, you have Victoria Day coming up next week in Canada Memorial Day July 4th St. Jean Baptiste on and on it goes basically what I'm trying to say is the vibes are high we're going to game four tonight backs against the wall up to one everyone's off the bandwagon can't wait for seven or is it 730 I'm not sure but anyway I'm very excited I'm talking about Nick Celtics anyway you don't care about that you care about UFC 315 which has come and gone it happened in my hometown of Montreal Quebec Canada and I'm so excited to be here on a post-Paperview Monday. Why? I got

a lot to say. I got a lot to say. I don't even think they're hot takes but I got a lot of fiery takes. I got a lot of things that I want to say regarding the aftermath of UFC 315 and regarding the analysis of what transpired in particular in the main event. By now you know that the pride of what transpired in particular in the main event by now You know that the pride of Perth Western Australia the very first champion to hail from that part of Australia Jack della, Maddalena Giacomo Don Giacomo Jack della Maddalena is the brand spanking new UFC welterweight champion. He defeated

He defeated Bala Muhammad, the unanimous decision, a tremendous fight, a fight that was way better, way more exciting, exhilarating, entertaining than most people predicted. Back and forth they went, a bloody affair, the scenes afterwards, the lip, the eyes, the blood, all that stuff and more. They really delivered. They stepped up and put on a classic, one of the best title fights of the year so far. I know it's only May. We're approaching the midway point. They delivered for the somewhat sleepy Montreal crowd because the co-main event didn't exactly deliver. No harm, no foul. Sort of the kind of fight that I think a lot of people

expected between Valentina Shevchenko and Manon Fiorot. By now you also know that Valentina is still the reigning defending UFC women's flyway champion and in the end I think it was a pair of fortuitous results for the brass. Now we're going to get into all of that and more, talk about the aftermath, talk about Eamonn Zahabi's somewhat controversial win over Jose Aldo. Talk about the Canadians going four out of six on Saturday. Four wins, two losses. Not bad. Not bad at all. Talk about what's next at Welterweight. We've got a lot to discuss. We also have to talk about what transpired earlier in the day on Saturday in Belfast,

Northern Ireland. It was PFL Europe and it was highlighted by their own Paul Big News Hughes returning and putting on an absolute show winning in just 42 seconds getting up on the cage crying emotional calling out Uspender Magomedov the best way possible our own Pizzeria was there front and center so we got to get into all that plus the news of the weekend plus some talk on Alex Pereira International Fight Week a lot happening on the program today and this is going to be a loaded week my friends we already have everything planned from now until Wednesday as far as guests are concerned and it's banger after banger

after banger on the program today back into the show the aforementioned Paul Hughes he'll stop by to talk about the big win over Bruno Miranda, where he goes from here. Is it going to be Usman? Is it going to be someone else? I sure as hell hope it's going to be Usman. It's the biggest fight that they could put on right now. I'm talking about the PFL.

Prior to that, we're going to be joined by Hulk Hogan, aka Terry Bollea, Eric Bischoff, and Israel Izzy Martinez. They have come together to launch Real American Freestyle Wrestling, a promotion which will highlight amateur collegiate freestyle wrestling. Some have tried this in the past. This is a total shoot, no work.

They announced it a couple weeks ago. It's the wrestlers who are, you know, done with collegiate wrestling, done with Olympic wrestling, amateur wrestling, and don't want to go down the path of pro wrestling or MMA and they want to try to see if they can take the baton. It's never really been successful, and allow those individuals to earn a living. Now we have seen this in the past, most notably with real pro wrestling, didn't work out. The likes of DC, Daniel Cormier, King Mohammed Lawal, some 20 or so years ago were a part of this. It didn't work. They tried to

institute promos and all this stuff. We'll see if the Hulkster and Eric Bischoff and Izzy Martinez, who is really the plug to getting a lot of these guys to sign up, including Ben Askren. Ben Askren is going to be a part of it. Kyle Dake is going to be a part of it. Among others, they've only announced around 10 or so people so far, maybe 11, 12, something like that. And so let's see, we're going to find out about it and I am looking forward to that as well. Prior's see, we're going to find out about it and I'm looking forward to that as well. Prior to that, we're going to be joined by Eamon Zahabi to talk about the big win over Jose Aldo. What a moment for him, the

people's main event he delivered. Again, somewhat controversial upon watching it live, I thought Aldo had won the first two rounds. I thought clearly Zahabi won the third, but golly, he got a little dicey there in the third. He got nailed with a kick to the head and uh I mean most normal human beings go down, break in half when you get a kick like that by Jose Aldo. He did not. He gets to win and afterwards Aldo quasi-retired and then he essentially put a period on it all on Sunday on social media. We'll get into all of that and then prior to that Sean Brady is going to join us he was front and center in Montreal angling for the number one contender spot it appears to be between him and Ian Machado Gary but Issam Mahachev might trump them all we're going to

see how this all plays out we have a lot to get to on this Monday May 12th I can't wait to do so. First things first, let us give both Jack Della Maddalena and Bilal Mohammed their respective flowers. First, we have to say how about Australian MMA? Second show in the span of a month that a fighter hailing from Australia becomes a UFC champion. Last month in Miami, it was Alex Volkonovsky defying the odds and once again, becoming a champion at 145 pounds, regaining that title that he helped put on the map. And then it was Saturday, again, first fighter hailing from Perth to become champion,

it's JDM, who had not fought, it's worth repeating, who had not fought since March of 2024, his fight against Gilbert Burns. Went through a litany of serious injuries, especially on his forearm, multiple surgeries, all that stuff and more was supposed to fight. Leon Edwards in March comes in there and does the job in such impressive fashion.

And in doing so, by the way, became the youngest welterweight champion since gsp won the title back in montreal many many many moons ago sub 30 i believe he's he's 28 27 at worst 29 but there he is with the title a man a few words doesn't like the pomp and circumstance, doesn't like the hype, doesn't like the buzz, doesn't, you know, just does the job. Someone that I think a lot of people from Australia would be very proud of. And like I said, it was a great fight. It was a tremendous affair. But I have been somewhat blown away by the analysis in the aftermath. And I think the analysis in the aftermath of this fight has been pretty damn disrespectful towards JDM and pretty damn disrespectful towards Bilal Mohammed.

Because the main narrative that you are hearing after this fight is why didn't Bilal shoot? Why didn't Bilal try to take him down? Why didn't Bilal stick to his bread and butter? Why did Bilal try to prove a point by standing with JDM? Why did he divert and change the style that got him there? And I'm seeing this from smart people, from fighters, from smart pundits, and I'm like,

did you guys watch the fight? Did you watch the fight or did you just read about it? Did you watch the fight or did you just read about it? Did you watch the fight or did you just follow it? You know, follow along on social media. And I will never claim to be a coach, a fighter. I'm not sitting there at a screen doing telestrator stuff. I'm not doing the circles and all that.

I've never been that guy. I will never be that guy, but I've watched a lot of fights and I know what's in front of me. Bala Muhammad didn't change his style. I've never been that guy. I will never be that guy. But I've watched a lot of fights and I know what's in front of me. Bala Muhammad didn't change his style. Bala Muhammad didn't try to divert from what got him there. Bala Muhammad just fought a guy who is incredibly big, incredibly strong, incredibly long,

and has some pretty damn good takedown defense. This guy, Bala Muhammad, shot nine times. So I keep hearing people saying like, why did he shoot? He shot nine times. He landed three of those. And if you actually look at the stats, the stats actually bring up some pretty telling numbers.

Three for nine as far as takedowns are concerned. Shot once in the first, shot three times in the second, shot three times in the fourth, landed his first in the fourth, and then twice in the fifth, for a total of three out of nine. If you go back to his last fight, Balaam Muhammad's last fight, the Leon Edwards fight, he was

9 for 13. The 13 is a high for him. He was 9 for 13. He completely dominated. He said, we're going to beat this guy up. We're going to smother him. It was the perfect game plan. Okay, let's go to the Gilbert Burns fight.

Prior to that, you know what the takedowns were in that fight? Zero for zero. Now you could say, alright He's going up against a Jiu-Jitsu guy. Maybe he doesn't want to engage. He doesn't want to You know put him on his back. Alright, I get it. You know what his his takedown stats were against Sean Brady? Zero for zero Alright, you know Sean Brady's a great wrestler. Like why are you gonna engage Sean Brady? Zero for zero. All right, you know, Sean Brady's a great wrestler, like why are you gonna engage with him? All right, fine, I get it. Prior to that, Vicente Luque.

You know what the stats were for that? Five for 10. Just one more take down attempt than Saturday. 25 minute fight. Just one more. You know what his stats were against Stephen Thompson? You know how many takedown attempts? Nine. Nine. Now I know, 10 minutes longer, fine. You can add a couple. But like this idea that he didn't shoot or that he averages, you know, 20 takedown

attempts and I could keep going and going, but just look at the stats yourself. It's on UFCStats.com. He had to, he had to go to plan B because of how good Jack was on his feet, because of how long he was, because of how strong he was, because of the distance that he was keeping. He couldn't get inside. You think he wanted to stand and trade with him? No, forget about all the Canelo hand stuff. He knows exactly. You think he's going to make it to this point knowing in the back of his mind that they didn't want to give him the title shot against Leon knowing in the back of his mind that if he did slip up and fall he ain't getting another crack an immediate crack he didn't successfully

defend the title once he didn't successfully defend the title once he's even gonna give him another crack anytime soon absolutely not you think he's gonna say you know what now is the time that I'm gonna show that I could stand and trade with the best of him. One of the best strikers at 170. No, he ended up meeting a guy who has really good take down defense. We learned this on Saturday and it was just really big and strong and long and was able to keep that distance.

And, and, and perhaps most impressive, he wasn't just throwing ones and twos was, was Jack Dilla. He was, he was throwing, he was throwing rights and lefts and right hooks and left hooks and upper cuts. He was coming at him with three, four, five, and six. Watch the fight again. Why didn't he shoot for more takedowns? Why didn't he... He tried. He tried. He was unsuccessful. And so here's the thing about Balaam Mohammed right now. I think some of you are thinking that I'm going to come here and be happy that he lost and all this stuff, complete hogwash.

One thing that I've been very proud of, and maybe I'm wrong, maybe you think otherwise, but I feel this in my heart, since I've been doing this, I think I've done a pretty good job of separating how I personally feel about people and covering them fairly. I have to do this on a daily and weekly basis as it pertains to UFC president Dana White. Separate personal history and just cover them as a sports person, as a sports entity. And so yeah, of course, I don't like and appreciate some of the lies that Bilal has told about me,

saying that I don't invite him on the show, saying that I don't want him on the show, when I've tried to prove otherwise, when I've brought receipts. I don't like some of the things he puts out there, lies, propaganda, things like that. I'm not a fan of it, but I'm able to go and separate the two and say, this guy on a Monday needs to hold his head high and be extremely proud of how he fought. The punches that he took, the damage that he took and kept on coming, on a Monday needs to hold his head high and be extremely proud of how he fought. The punches that he took, the damage that he took and kept on coming and didn't give up and and and it was up in the air in the fifth according to one judge, excuse me, two judges up in the air

going into the fifth. One had it 49-46. I scored it 4-1 but according two judges, it was 2-2 going into the fifth. He didn't quit. He kept on coming. And I see people in the aftermath saying, one of the worst champions of all time. Are you out of your mind? Look at the names I just mentioned. Leon Edwards, Gilbert Burns, Sean Brady. How good has that win looked over the last few months? It has aged beautifully.

Vicente Luque, Wonderboy Thompson, Maia Diego Lima Lyman Good these are incredibly tough fighters this this these this I don't know why people feel this way about him as a fighter like look is he the most flashy fighter no but like it is workman like stuff that from this side of the table you can only appreciate and respect. And I said it when they went to Kolbe instead of him he was getting screwed. When they when they tapped Hamzat, Islam, they tried to do a whole bunch of fights for UFC 300 to not give him the attention. I said he was getting screwed, screwed, and screwed. And then he got the job done.

He got the job done and and in fact Leon's performance against Sean only made that performance look even better. Wipe away the middle of the night stuff. I was the first to say it on the Monday. He just met a really good... And maybe people feel this way because Jack doesn't talk a big game because he didn't have a ton of hype surrounding him. He had not fought in 15 months. I don't know what it is, but the notion that he's one of the worst champions ever, the notion that he's one of the least talented champions in recent UFC history is absolute nonsense.

It's unfair. He deserves a lot of respect, he deserves a lot of credit, he met a guy who had the perfect game plan and was able to thwart his attacks and he had to switch gears and he almost pulled it off. It was down to that final round. He wins that final round, he's still the champion on this Monday. Come on, rewatch the fight. You gotta respect him and by the way,

in doing that, in saying that there were no takedowns you're also disrespecting Jack You're not appreciating what he did out there fought brilliantly. K-drust, no K-drust for this guy said afterwards Yeah, the time off actually helped me because I was able to not beat up my body so much and really focus on the task at hand All right, cool. Look how good he looked. Looked incredible out there. Incredible fight. In my opinion, front runner, top five best fights

of the year, certainly up there so far. Back and forth. And there's obviously a ton of intrigue as to what's next Because in the in these seconds after the fight look I've never I've never bought this Islamable all our best friend stuff. I'm sorry. I'm sorry if that offends anyone. I've never bought it and Case in point literally seconds after they say and knew Islam's tweeting about fighting Jack Now is it Islam? Is he up at, you know, seven in the morning watching this? I don't know. But he seemed pretty happy about the result. Maybe someone told him, or maybe the

person that tweeted it afterwards said, oh wait a second, maybe I should show some, you know, some love for my quote-unquote brother. So then he tweets, head up. And then he tweets, head up. And then he goes back to tweeting about Jack saying he's going for that second title. You are not Vogue, I will show you a different level. Keep my belt clean. Now the question that I still don't understand on this Monday because we had joked

that Dana White was gonna show up at the press conference with a piece of paper and say, all right, as a result of Saturday night, as a result of this result, as a result of this main event result, here's the headliner for 317. Well, he didn't show up to the press conference for whatever reason.

And so as of right this second, 1.18 PM Eastern time, on Monday, May 12th, we still don't know the main event for June 28th. It's never been this late, but we're all waiting anxiously. And so, the part that I don't understand is, why can't it be Islam versus Ilya? That fight is in, I think, if my math is correct, something like 46 days. That date is in 46 days. And then, win Islam walks on he goes to 170 it's not like Jack's fighting in in a month and a half and it's not like fighting in a month and a half puts you on a different timeline it's literally in a month and

a half it's pretty darn close like if you fight on June 28 you can easily come back in October, November. So that's the part that I don't want to get. And Islam said late last week, hey, I'm going to move to 170 if the results kind of swing my way, i.e. his friend losing, but I'm going to keep my title. Again, I refuse to believe that Ilya is fighting for an interim title or a number one contender fight. And especially when, as of right now, they don't have a main event for International Fight Week.

According to what I'm hearing, what Magomed Ankhalyev tweeted was in fact accurate. They did in fact call Alex Perra and say, hey, we want you to fight Magomed Ankhalyev on International Fight Week. Ankhalyev tweeting this yesterday afternoon, I was offered to fight Alex International Fight Week. Uncle Ive tweeting this yesterday afternoon, I was offered to fight Alex International Fight Week. If the man don't want it, let's move on. I'm ready for everyone, I dare you. It's not that he doesn't want it. Unavailable, timeline not working.

This guy, this is the guy you're gonna question, and so this is the guy who fought three times in the span of six months last year, four times in the span of I think 11 months. The plan was August, but now because they're scrambling for whatever reason, they said, hey, let's see if he's available in June. And so yeah, I hate to say it, I don't think he was hacked. I hate to say it, I think he was disrespected.

I hate to say it, I think that was him that tweeted that. Or at least he told someone to tweet it. And I hate to say it, he should feel that way. He should feel that way. Because what happened was, and this is the tweet that I'm talking about that happened, that went out Wednesday while we were on the air, I always answered the UFC's calls,

but if they want to play with me, we can do that. I've never spoken poorly of the UFC but what I've just heard I'm disheartened. I've always had thoughts of not fighting anymore and after what was just relayed to me this may be the start. What did they relay? Did they say, hey maybe we're gonna go

in a different direction? Hey maybe we're gonna give the title fight to you know one of your rivals? To the next man up? Maybe someone that you beat a couple times, did that piss him off? Oh, we're going to move this up two months? Yeah, that would piss him off.

Bottom line, hopefully we get some sort of clarity to all of this, and I do think we will this week. Lord help us. And then right after that we'll find out that Aspen and Jones are fighting at Madison Square Garden. But there's a lot to digest, there's a lot to take in. It was just myself and the man in the hat on Saturday for the post show. PT was in Belfast, the boys had just done the watch party, and so that means all the

takes are very fresh. Here they are. Hello boys, how are you? PT, top of the afternoon, top of the evening actually. actually 622 right nobody nobody says top of the anything over here I just want to clear that open immediately but how are you that's up in the morning nobody says that shit I don't know where that came from that's yeah that's very frank and yeah a lot of fights on Saturday huh? A lot of things happen, a lot of things have transpired and there's a lot to get into.

Let's start with the, hey why didn't Bilal shoot any takedowns? This thing drive me every time, every corner that I look on the internet he didn't shoot takedowns. He diverted. I've said my piece, Pete C what do you make of this? Because I think this is incredibly disrespectful to Jack It's it's not appreciating how good he fought and it's also disrespectful to blow He tried and had to divert because of how good Jack was looking out there Yeah And he was also like Jack was also just throwing a lot up through the middle like between phases of the fight like even if things

Weren't happen He was just showing them knees showing them teep kicks showing them everything that like if you if you come in here and shoot a double leg you might be eating a KO you know like he was constantly spamming these uppercuts just just throwing fence to make Bilal unsure so like I don't I don't understand if people watching fights for so long just think you can run across and without setting something up just explode into a takedown and it's done. There's a lot more to it than that. I thought Jack did a great job of staying dynamic, of showing him his weapons, not exactly extending himself, like not throwing these things 100%, but just constantly showing him

here's my knee, this could meet you in the face if you want to try and get around my legs here's an uppercut he fought brilliantly like both of the lads fought so well it was a it was a very very entertaining fight but cred to Jack cred to Bilal he was part of this fight as well and I think he rallied in the fourth first round was close I had every other round I had the first round for Jack for what it's worth, but I thought it was a very close round. Had Bilal win the fourth, but thought Jack was absolutely brilliant. Let's not forget that GC is the only one out of our whole staff, I believe. Was I the only one? Not only that, I also went 5-0, got every single one of them right. No big deal. I mean, Jack Delas. This is an old school Jack Della shit. This is from the UFC debut days.

I mean, come on, we've been riding with him for a while. All right, so take your bow right now. Your guy did it. Yeah, he did it, man. Like Pete said, he fought a brilliant fight. The takedown defense was tremendous. I do agree with you that people saying that Balal didn't shoot any takedowns is obviously incorrect.

He shot for almost 10. He was able to get some success with them in the fourth and fifth rounds. I guess you could maybe make the argument that he should have gone to it earlier, that he should have been shooting more throughout the entire fight. Allow me to make that argument.

Okay. Because I disagree with you. I think he should have been shooting takedowns earlier. Yeah, I know, but he shot for four in the first two rounds. There was a big Aussie lad in front of him that was not allowing him to get close. Yeah, not all takedowns are created equal though. The takedowns that he was going after in the later rounds

were more deliberate and more intentional. That's not to say that if he shoots for takedowns that he will have any more success, because to your point, I think Jack Della deserves a heap of credit for how his takedown defense looked in this fight versus his previous performances right like the the skill the the new attributes that he was able to display are very clear and it was not going to be Balal Muhammad just like

rushing into takedowns and taking him down but if you ask me should Balal Muhammad be primarily standing in front of Jack Della for three rounds in the opening three rounds, the answer is no. The answer is no. It should have been more takedowns. But as I said, I don't know that that equals success ultimately. I don't know that Jack Della isn't able to stop it and probably still win that fight. But I think the game plan was not great. What's most incredible to me is how much Jack Della improved on the takedown defense.

I mean, he got taken down seven times or something by Gilbert Burns. Seven for 11. Yeah, he got taken down, I think, three times by Basil Hafez, who was coming in on short notice and was debuting in the UFC. So going into the fight, it felt like the game plan should be clear for Balal and the fact that JDM was able to thwart that was wildly impressive.

I love that moment. That moment I think it was going into the fifth round. It was shades of Leon Edwards against Kamara Usman, his head coach. The Australian version. Oh my god. Actually I believe he's British. Benny Vickers saying to Jack, what was the quote? The quote was something like, Keep panging that cunt or whatever. Yeah, that cunt. You're five minutes away from realizing your dreams.

Stay safe. Keep panging that cunt. And I was like, wow, this is amazing. There's just so much there. It sounded like a dad telling his kid, go have fun tonight, but freaking, don't do anything I wouldn't do, but just keep going strong.

And the guy did it. And there's something about him, like he's just so relaxed. The walkout, I saw another video that highlighted this, like he's walking so far ahead of his team and he's almost like walking to the beat of ACDC TNT and but there's nothing like flashy about him. He's chilling. He doesn't want to be a celebrity. He's walking out to the park man. Like he's just like whatever. His face. He looks workman like.

He's just like cranking the neck like he's not too hype. It was incredible. It really was and I think on top of that another reason I'm falling in love with him is when he ends up on his back, like he did in the fifth round and like he did in the third round against Gilbert Burns, he has that like Derek Lewis-esque about him where he's like, all right, I'm just gonna get up from this.

I'm completely flat on my back. I'm just gonna push you off, get up and change the course of the fight. And you talk about the calmness and the coolness under pressure in the composure. That's now two fights in a row where it could have been lights too bright opportunity to just pack it in,

especially in that Burns fight. It seemed like it was one way traffic. Now, I believe, unless I'm mistaken, the scorecards were actually one-one, but I think a lot of people thought Burns was kind of controlling that fight. And then he comes out and wins that third round decisively. He has shown that he is in the fight

and capable of winning fights, regardless of that he is in the fight and capable of winning fights regardless of what the circumstances in the early rounds and to be able to be dangerous late. He's got championship medal and he is now UFC champion. The swag was coming out a little bit too like when when Balal threw the spinning stuff and then he sort of mimicked it back at him. Oh yeah. Started having fun. Balal fainted a takedown and then he did like the the way over reaction like fainting the takedown back. Like he was, not only was he comfortable,

he was confident in that. I wonder if deep down, look, I think the criticism that Bilal has received is unfair, but I do wonder if he can be critiqued for this. I wonder if he kind of looked past Jack. He was supremely confident going into the fight and everything that he was saying and he was kind of feeling himself as well. But I wonder if he kind of looked past Jack. He was supremely confident going into the fight and everything that he was saying, and he was kind of feeling himself as well.

But I wonder if he felt like, look, this guy hasn't fought in a year and a half. I'm the man. I'm going to do what I did to Leon. I completely, you know, stifled, stuffed every single, you know, attempt that Leon was trying to throw my way. It was all me, one-way traffic. I'll do the same to this striker and uh... and was sort of surprised by how good Jack was how much better he was a lot

younger of course I wonder if deep down all that got to him because like I said I don't I don't I think the revisionist history is is unfair I think he's one of the best welterweights in the world I think the win over Brady uh... is only going to continue to age better maybe they meet down the line as well And and I also feel like he isn't gonna get a crack at this anytime soon Especially if his very close friend Islam becomes champion right because I mean that's it for him, right?

Yeah, it's dead end We talk about the block for for Islam moving up being below if if Islam gets champed and he's the block below getting the shot Again, yeah, and so what do you guys think happens now? What do you guys think happens? Because we all thought we were gonna get the answer. Yeah in regards to who? In regards to what? International Fight Week 171-55 all the implications from that one. All right well as a result of Saturday's main event what's the main event for International Fight Week? Ilya Tzapouria versus Charles Oliver. Does anyone else think it's weird that, why don't they just do Ilya versus Islam and then he gets to move up after? That's what I think.

If what we're being told is accurate, if Bilal would have won 48 hours ago, Islam was fighting on June 28th. Yes. So he was ready, he was good for that day. But now he can't? I don't understand this. I just, I think- He's also trying to keep titles and stuff like this. It's all very confusing. If they were gonna do that,

they would have already announced it though. So I think the plan was, I think he wants to go up to 170 right now, not risk taking another fight at 155 so he can get the double champ status. Oh, I understand that, but. I'm saying, I think that's why he doesn't want to take the 155 fight right now.

He just wants to go for double champ. Bit of a bad luck, though. You're asking, wouldn't the UFC still want that fight? Which I ultimately agree with. I think the UFC would still want that. If you told us you were good to go on June 28th, then just do that fight, and then win or lose, you move on to the 170

guy all this tells me is that Islam Makachev has clout that Ilya Toporya does not that's all this tells me this long Makachev can call his shot can say I want the 170 pound belt can say on Twitter publicly I'm not giving up my belt and he can choose his own destiny whereas Ilya Toporya hey we need a lightweight title fight sorry we need a featherweight title fight for Miami, your belt's gotta go. And he doesn't have that clout yet. And Islam does. Do you believe that if in fact they do

Ilya versus Charles, that Islam will hold on to the title? Yes. I think they'll do vacant. Yeah, they'll do vacant. I think they'll do interim. What a let down. I think they'll do interim. I, they'll do. I think they'll do interim or I think they'll do interim. I'm sorry. I'll do it. We'll have I don't think they should but I think they will Ilya will have vacated an undisputed title to fight for an interim belt Yeah to fight for an interim belt and an automatic shot against you will have a champion if it means though He is now tied to Islam Akhachev and that is his next fight after that. It's it's fine. It's worth it

I don't believe that he's gonna go to 170 and come back down to 155 But then vacate then you do vacate then you take no but like I agree with what GC is saying that he won't want to Do that because he wants to have double champ status and I think but he'll get it like He'll get it. But I mean, I think he'll tease the idea like I might come back down here and then we're holding up a division. We've seen this before. I think we're headed straight for it. I think this is how I would handle it if I was the UFC.

I think Islam Makachev has earned the respect and deserves to be able to have this double champ status. You win the 70-pound belt, you decide. After that, you decide. You're the 55 and 70-pound champion. You choose choose the weight class you will be the champion of that weight class the next one gets big why didn't you know you would say respect he's not there yet Islam Makachev is the number one pound for pound fighter in the world and has been racking up title defenses for the UFC Ilya just got here

that's why in my mind he also said he couldn't make the way anymore I don't think we've heard that from Islam yetia right he hasn't said i can't make one thing you're you're you're half right rick i agree with what both of your saying the other thing is they needed a title fight they needed a title fight it's all the schedule it's always the schedule that was the other thing working against them okay all right so you guys think that it's going to be charles versus ilia yeah you think it's going to be interim title it's possible it's vacant.

I still think it should be Islam versus Ilya for the undisputed title. That's the point, make sure you let you- I'm still holding out hope. Yeah, yeah, they're saying what they think is going to happen. But then, and then my next thing is, I just have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that Ilya will be fighting for an interim.

So then I think it will be for the vacant title. And they'll say, look, you're the guy, you know, everyone knows who you are. Just go up there and fight him. Here's the question, or at least the next question. If you're Sean Brady and Ian Machado-Garry, do you have to just kind of say like, all right, Islam's clearly, you know, going to get this, this shot. He's the guy. Timings off. We got to fight each other

if I'm Ian I want that if I'm Sean I probably want it but I wouldn't be as keen I'd be less keen than Ian. Ian Gary has said as much that if Islam Akhashev moves up to 170 everyone is just gonna have to step aside and and let him go for the double champ status as far as him fighting Sean Brady Ian Gary has talked about every single 170 yearer in the rankings except for Shawn Brady. He made the video and laid out the whole plans for all the people in the top half of the division. He didn't even mention the number one contender, Shawn Brady, who has been relentlessly calling him out. Like on the weigh-in show he

called him out three times. He posted a video on his social media calling him out after his performance against Carlos Pratches. So I Want to see that fight? I think that would be a rightful number one contender fight despite Sean already having the number one next to his name right now But the way that Ian Gary's talking it feels like he's avoiding that's the fight the matchup with Sean if Islam is fighting JDM We're Shavkat fit into this. Yeah, that's the question. Okay. We have a timeline on Shavkat because that's what I need to know That's the question. Okay. We have a timeline on Shavkat because. That's what I need to know.

170 is crowded. If I'm Sean Brady, there's a real chance that we don't see Shavkat for a bit. Who knows? It seems very like murky at this moment. And if somebody falls off a potential falls out of a potential fight between Islam and JDM, I want to be the guy that they call.

And so that's why if I was Brady, I'd feel pretty good about my position and not rush into a fight. I have no issues with with Islam getting a title fight. He has earned that. Yeah. If he wants to move up. But it does, to your point, GC, come at the worst possible time for this weight class because there is such a logjam of top guys up there. Like you can make a very strong case for Shafkat, obviously, for Ian, obviously, for Brady, obviously. And there's a very good chance none of them are fighting for Brady, obviously, and there's a very good chance none of them are fighting for the belt. And also there's a very good chance

none of them are fighting for the belt this year, right? If JDM is coming back, you know, most guys come back four, five, look at his face after that fight, six months later, that's it, that's 2025 wrapped up. You know what I mean? And so- Yeah, like October Abu Dhabi. And then that's it, he's not coming back two months later. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, like October Abu Dhabi.

And then that's it. He's not coming back two months later. Yeah. You know what I mean? So the question then is, will it be, I think we see Shafkat either back into the year. I don't think we see him anytime soon. And so to me, the question is Ian versus Sean Brady.

Do they make it happen? What a freaking fight. And then you determine, and by the way, oh, there's so many permutations here it's gonna be so weird because even if it's Ian versus Sean and then later in the year JDM fights Islam by the time all that plays out Shafqa will probably be ready to come back does he have to now work his way back up because some time has passed in a and a new crop of people have turned up like, that's a tough pill to swallow for him.

Unfortunately, yes. But it might be, yeah. Unfortunately, yes, it is all time. As we continue to have these conversations, and everything revolves around the timing, including Ilya's not holding a belt right now. It's all about the timing with the UFC. And so this will all shake out in one way or another.

To the point, though, that we're sitting here and we still don't have an announcement for international fight week. It's past the point of ridiculousness and it is all because of their schedule. It is all too much. David didn't even go to the presser afterward. Yeah.

We didn't even get the press conference. You and Chuck reacted to that in real time was absolutely fantastic by the way. We're going even longer. Oh he's gonna be here? No, no, it is Dave Shaw. Well at 170 you guys also like, we mentioned all the top guys if Buckley beats Usman

He's gonna be calling for a title shot or one of these number one contenderships. And then what do you do with Leon? What do you do with Bilal? Well, maybe Buckley winning is the best thing because now you have four guys and they could okay they can pair them off You know you do a little tournament Shavkat, Buckley, Gary Oh shit, that'd be sweet. It could occupy us for a year until it actually gets sorted what the fuck is happening through the welterweight division. By the way, but in that in that case, what would you do if if Shavkat won and Brady won? Both of them would just have such strong claims

for the title at that point. Can I give a hot take? Yeah, rip it man. Oh I love it. We've gotten too comfortable putting people into title shots. Let them earn it. Let them earn it the same way Bilal did. Let them earn it the same way Leon Edwards did. We're talking about it as if these are foregone conclusions like Brady deserves a title shot. Okay, prove it against Ian Gary. Okay, Shavkat, you had that unfortunate thing.

Show me again. I think we've gotten too, like idea that like everybody deserves title shots is kind of just like we've we've we've entered the participation trophy area of title. No, no, this is what I'm saying though. I'm saying if Brady beats Gary and Shavkat beats Buckley in this world where they where they match up, it's like who do you give the title to then? They're both incredibly deserving. Then make Shavkat fight Brady. You talk about earning a title shot. Shavkat will have already earned a title shot against Balal, had to step in for Brady because of the circumstances.

Do you want it or not? Then fight Buckley, then fight Brady. You want to be a fucking fighter? This is getting ridiculous. You want to be a fucking, this is getting ridiculous. We've reached a point where any one good win gets everybody a title shot now, I'm over it.

Fight. Let Ian and Sean fight. Let Shavkat and Buckley fight. Then if there's not an immediate easy opportunity to get a title shot there, make them fight too. Make the winners of them fight too. You know what's amazing about all this? And I understand where you're coming from. Jack had to go through very little struggle. Like he was just kind of there. Like speaking of the timing, obviously the injuries and he beat guys,

but no one in their right mind would have suggested after the win over Burns, which got Dicey, that his next fight would be for a belt. 100%. He was literally booked against Leon. Like the circumstances that he fell into to get that title shot and then capitalizing on it is impressive. This is the game now.

You know what it is? This is the game. He's just a chill guy. He's just a chill guy. He's just a chill guy in the corner of the room of the party and it just a chill guy. He's just a chill guy in the corner of the room at the party and it just, it's almost like he's the chill guy in the corner of the party of the room. And like, he's not talking to anyone. He's not even caring about like making friends,

making a scene. Took two seconds to pick out his outfit, but some way somehow the best looking girl in the room gravitates towards him, right? Everybody who's in the middle like pick me, pick me, pick me, and then you look over and Jack's over there. He's wearing some old crusty hat, and he's just like, yeah,

so you wanna go get a burger later? And everyone's like, how did he do this? And that's what he did on Saturday. He did it. He actually did that. And then he realized his dream. He got there, and then he was the best dancer at the time. What a guy.

Incredible. He really looks like a fighter, huh? Like his face, his nose everything about it the the side profile when he was fighting it it's jarring every time just like how flat it is across his face because of the break and shout out to Craig Jones as well in his corner a roll Craig figured out the the dog is standing he the best striking coach in MMA right now Craig Craig Jones. Yeah. What a guy.

He's some cannabis that Craig Jones. Um, all right. So, so, okay. So we have that whole situation brewing and, and it has, you know, win or lose. It was going to be some kind of a puzzle. Would we all agree that Valentina's win, which, you know, was a little close there and, and, and, you know, Manon had her moments, but Valentina has become very workman like in her own way and high IQ, gets the job done, gets the victory. That was a blessing for the UFC because now you've got Valentina versus Zhang Weili.

If we were staring at Manon winning and a potential you know, Manon Natalia Silva title fighter or a Manon Jasmine jazz division, it's probably Natalia Silva title fight or a Mano Jasmine jazz division is probably Natalia Silva or maybe another crack for Valentina doesn't have the same juice the best women's title fight that the UFC could put on right now is Valentina Shevchenko versus Zhang Weili and and if I'm Zhang Weili I don't give up my title with all due respect to Vrna Zanjurova you make that champion versus champion a special affair and yes I know Amanda's coming back and here's Zhang Weili, you know, in front of the screen, a massive screen by the way, gigantic, bigger than her on late Saturday, early Sunday morning, wherever she may be. That's the fight to make. Let the rest of the divisions play themselves out.

125 is great right now with Silva, with Jasmine, with others as well. And now all of a sudden things are cooking in women's MMA. You got that fight, you got Amanda fighting the winner of Juliana Pena vs. Kayla Harrison. This was a blessing in disguise with all due respect to the UFC. Does everyone agree with that? No brainer, right? I actually don't even think it was in disguise. I think it was just a blessing. I think the opportunity to potentially have two double champs in in both women's and men's divisions is good when all we've been talking about lately is how there we've kind of been starving for stars in the UFC and the

fact that we're gonna get a super fight in women's between Valentina and Zhang and if Zhang wins you have a new double champ which which is huge for for star power in the UFC. It's something that attracts the casuals at a big scale. So I think this is a blessing. This has to be the fight, right? Has to be. You cannot have this right here and make Valentina versus Natalia Silva

and Zhongwei Li versus Viren and Jandro Roby. You absolutely cannot do it. Like if you can't make this fight, and by the way, I don't see any sort of resistance from either of them. If you can't make this fight, like we've got a real problem making big fights. These two don't feel like the difficult to negotiate with type though, right?

It does it not seem like this is almost foregone conclusion. Just give them the date, give them the money and they will show. Yeah, even Dana himself after the Zhang win over Tatiana Suarez was like, yeah, I like this fight. My only- That was before this one played out. My only- The two fights, the two Super Fights of the year haven't been made though. We should probably know that. That's a fair point Pizzi. Ilya v. Islam is not happening. Tom v. John Jones is not happening and we're like oh this one's definitely gonna happen. But by the way it seems like the

easiest of the three to make. That's my point when I say like the easiest to negotiate with right. The reason this the Tom is John is not happening Is because one side of the negotiation doesn't want to come to the table and agree to the terms So it's that is the difficulty I don't foresee Valentina trying to hold up the UFC or John trying to hold up the UFC but to your point We thought it was all hunky-dory, and it's not so we're 48 hours away from Veer na ginger over John and it's not so we're 48 hours away from Vierna ginger over John White week comment event of international fight week i will say according to Dana White Dana White went live on his IG live to uh announce the straw weight title for

you international fight week there are only there are only three women's championships in the UFC and for somebody to hold two of them does muck things up a little bit i gotta be honest i'm not i want the fight i'm don't don't, don't think this is me throwing cold water on it. You gotta make it happen. I want it. I want it. I want it. I want it. But man, afterwards we gotta free up a title somehow. Give it in China or something. Oh, Sabby's sick. You know what I mean? Yeah. Do it big. Do it in Kyrgyzstan. Now if you're Valentinan, as the champion who's welcoming a challenger, it's not that it's not been done before, right? But as the champion, do you go, I don't want to do it in China. I'd rather do it in the Persian extend. No, I know. They probably don't. They probably don't. But it would be great. And it would breed some life. Like the fight was lacking a little bit of juice. And I think it would pump a lot of life into both divisions. And by the way, 125 has been great. Like they've really built that one up.

Like it was for the longest time, the thinnest, excluding 145 of course, the thinnest of the women's weight classes. And now it's become the best. And shout out to Natalia Silva and shout out to Jasmine, Jazdivicious. They beat two legends in their own right. Natalia Silva beating Alexa Grasso

in a very sort of one side of fight and Jasmine Submitting just gone drudge if you're a rear naked choke holy shit. She has really come into her own It's it's beautiful to watch now does it has anyone looked at this if you have you're excluded as of right now Who's the favorite in John versus Valentina? What do you guys think? And I haven't looked but I would think would would be Zhang. I think so too. By like a slight margin. Yeah. I saw a hypothetical line for Natalia Silva, Valentina Shevchenko and Natalia Silva was a minus 200 favorite. Okay what I'm looking at right now has Silva minus 142 Shevchenko plus 122 has Zhang Weili minus 145

Shevchenko plus 125. I get I mean after the performance on Saturday, I understand why there will be people who think that she is vulnerable to this now. Yeah. You know, like, Natalia Silva's performance makes you believe that she can be a UFC champion in this weight class. And the level of activity, the speed, it's going to be a problem for anybody to deal with, especially somebody who's also primarily

going to want to stay on the feet. Now, maybe Valentina goes to the wrestling. But as we saw against the UFC, she's going to be a problem for anybody to deal with especially you know Somebody who's also primarily gonna want to stay on the feet now Maybe Valentina goes to the wrestling but as we saw against Manon like it was actually the opponent who was doing more of the grappling I get it and I'll say this like Zhang Weili I don't think is gonna be thrown around by anybody at in that weight class. So yeah, I totally get those lines I would favor both speaking of future lines, by the way, Jack Della plus 170, Islam minus 200. And after Saturday, like with the takedown defense and just how big he looked out there, I'd love

to see it. Obviously, first and foremost, I'd love to see Islam versus Ilya get it out of the way. And there's really nothing left for Islam to do at 155. It's right there. It will be gigantic International Fight Week. We're gonna be there. I want it badly, but if we're not gonna get it, I'm very excited about Islam versus Jack. And Jack did Islam a big favor, because if Bilal would have kept that belt

and would have held onto it for another year or so, who knows what Islam does? There aren't a ton of fun fights left for him at 155 there's a whole slew of you know of new challenges at 170 forum one last thing yeah we talked about Jack like walking into the dance while everybody was like kind of over here and now he's about to fight potentially the number one pound-for-pound guy I mean it's just like Jack has some kind of magic yeah what luck that he's come into. Jose Aldo, one of the greatest fighters of all time. I thought, squeaked that one by,

I thought he won the first two rounds and then of course lost the third. It was a brilliant fight. Somewhat surprising that it didn't win fight of the night but I can understand with the main event being that damn good and also he missed weight. Friday morning at around 8, Eamon Zahabi's team found out that he was not going to make 135, not even close. There's a rule in Quebec, you have to be within five pounds. So they had to bump them up to featherweight. He didn't get a percentage of Aldo's purse, I'm talking about Zahabi, but the UFC did give him a better deal. He was happy with it.

And he was in a lose-lose situation, really. Like, rocking a hard place, right? He says no, he doesn't get his Montreal homecoming fight. They hadn't fought in Montreal in 10 years. His whole family is going to be there. He loses out on a magical moment and an opportunity to fight a legend. He takes the fight. Now he's fighting a guy who didn't have to suffer as much as he did when he got the call. He weighed 136.8.

He had 0.8 pounds left. So he did the job and Aldo didn't. But Aldo fought brilliantly I thought and had his moments and almost knocked him out in the third round loses the fight afterwards takes off the gloves stops short at saying that's it but then on Sunday posts a brilliant message on Twitter really laying it all out and if I'm being a hundred percent honest maybe a little bit emotional tweeting this may have been my last time inside the octagon.

This week I faced one of the biggest battles of my life and it wasn't against an opponent but within myself. Over the past few years, I rekindled the dream of becoming a champion once again. I trained as I always did, gave more than I ever had. But while cutting weight, something inside me said, you don't need to do this anymore. And I listened.

It's time to move forward, to live for my wife, for my kids, to celebrate the story I wrote with every war, every belt, earned through blood and faith. Thank you, Dana White and Lorenzo Fertina, thank you to the UFC, and most of all, thank you, my fans. You were the fuel behind every walk to the cage, you made me a king.

If this was my farewell, know that I leave in peace with a heart full of gratitude and my head held high. Because I made history, because I lived my dream, because above all I stayed true to myself." Jose Aldo. I get chills reading that because he is one of the most beloved fighters in the history of the sport. Everyone adores him. And when you consider the fact that he was knocked out by Conor McGregor in December of 2015, and that could have broken him, here he is in May of 2025, still going strong, still a factor, still beloved. It's a remarkable journey, not to mention everything he did prior to that. That fight reminded me a little of UFC 129,

the Mark Hominick fight and how it ended. And I thought it was going to be the same thing where the Canadian guy falls just short, but Zahabi got the W. What did you guys think of the scorecard? I had it that way in real time. Watching live, I had it one for Aldo, two and three for Zahabi. Okay. What about you GC? Yeah, a bit begrudgingly I had it two one. I just wasn't sure about that third round just because Aldo did insane damage to him. I still can't believe that Zahabi survived all that.

The screenshot that came out of Aldo, full speed soccer kick straight to Zahabi's dome. The fact that he ate all that, survived. The damage that he did, he came so close to finishing him. I was like, it's gotta be an Aldo round. But then ending up on his back, all the elbows that he landed, he cut him open bad. He pretty much dominated for the last

three minutes of the fight. I gave it to Zahabi, but man, it was an incredibly close round. I think the best moment of the fight, the meme from the fight is Aldo looking up at the clock And they're still being like three minutes and two seconds left and like he was just done after that. What do you think? What do you think PT? Aldo winning one and two. Yeah, and then losing the tour

But how the fuck do you lose a lose around after knocking someone down twice? It's absolutely insane I just can't believe he was so gassed. I cannot believe Zahabi survived that. And I cannot believe. It was a horrendous wake up call. Yeah, I guess that's true. This for you. Everyone's talking about the mom where he looks at the clock and I was brilliant. Absolutely. But there's also a moment after Zahabi gets up the second time when he looks at the clock and he's like, Oh, for fuck's sake, man.

But that's when you kind of know he's done, right? Like, ah, bollocks, I can't fucking believe this. And then it happens. But fair play to Zahabi, like he had to go, he had to go at an insane pace there to somehow rescue that round. Like crazy. So fair play to him. Brilliant, brilliant homecoming fight. Like it's a close fight. I'm not, I'm not shouting robbery. Um, boy, I just personally had a Feraldo. Favorite Jose Aldo moment guys. There's two that come to mind for me. I'll let you guys.

The Mendez knee is the Mendez knee and celebration in Rio was iconic. For me, it's, it's a little bit of a personal one. He fights Mike Brown on, on the Thursday before, if my memory is correct, UFC, it was either, I believe it was 109, I believe it was the Thursday before UFC 109 in a versus card, whereas it was, because I remember we were there, and I remember on the Friday, so it was the Thursday night, night and I remember the next day and right before the weigh-ins

they had it was WC where's the year yeah but where's the year they don't have the oh November November of 2009 it was the Thursday before UFC 106 UFC 106 yes it was the Forrest Griffin I believe Forrest Griffin Tito Ortiz was on that one. Yes, UFC 106, right? UFC 106 was, was November 21st, 2009. Am I getting this right or no? Maybe I'm not getting it right. Am I getting old?

Wait, what is this? November 18th, yes, it was the Thursday before. 106 was 21, yes, Thursday before 106. I never doubted you. Anyway, and then the takedown defense in that fight was brilliant. Brown coming off the Uriah Faber victory. And then he met with us at some sort of restaurant in Vegas,

maybe the MGM, with Ed Soros. And I was like, this freaking guy, his whole life is about to change. And he did the business in WC, did the business, did the business. And then of course, UFC 123, Auburn Hills, they just announced that they were going to merge the two brands and all the champions were going to come over.

By the way, novel concept, you merge two brands, the champions come over and become the champion of the company. That's what you do. And, and they come over and become the champion of the company. That's what you do. And they held a ceremony inside the Palace of Auburn Hills before the event, the media got to come there and Dana White handed him the belt, no fans in attendance, which was a little bit weird in retrospect.

Why didn't they do this in front of the fans? I don't know. But also we got to be there while they were doing the rehearsals for the walkouts and that's when we realized that Rampage was gonna walk out to the Pride music because they were rehearsing his song he was fighting Liotta Machida that night before that event Jose Aldo had to get his very first suit he had never purchased or worn a suit before and there's that iconic clip from the black house MMA YouTube channel I just love everything about this. This is a 23 year old Jose Aldo listen to

You can't stop laughing at the lunacy of all this. There's Ed Sorris, there's Derek. Incredible. A kid from the favela getting his first suit, becoming UFC champion. Can't stop laughing. Just the... Where's the training ball? Look at this guy. Can't stop laughing. Just... Look at this guy. Looks like Men in Black. Looks like Will Smith. Fresh face Jose Aldo.

The King of Rio. What a legend. Love it. Love it. And that's a great shout. The win over Chad Mendes gave us a lot of great moments. And I hope he is at peace. And there's really nothing more for him to do. Had a great run at 135. No one thought he'd be able to make that weight successfully time and again. Had a great run at 145, one of the greatest of all time.

Still kind of feel like there's another boxing match or two in there for him. Felt like he was building towards something in boxing and then came back. There needs to be a story told about the sort of like mismanagement of the tail end of his career. Why was he fighting very tough but not so famous fighters? I love Iman Zahabi. Why did he take this fight? Like, you, Jose Andrade went to Montreal to fight a Montreal hero? Why? He should have been fighting, you know, the dominant cruises of the world, if you get what I'm saying. But what's done is done. Nothing to prove and uh he's able to sail off into the sunset um shout out to as I said earlier

Jasmine Jazz DeVisius and Mike Malott representing Niagara top team two brilliant wins Malott defeats yeah Charles Radke uh via second round Radke had a lot of things to say about the Canadians booing the anthem and all this stuff and He he freaking I mean he bounced his head off the mat vicious stuff from Mike Malat so a big win for him one of the one of the fighters that a lot of people think could be The next big thing out of Canada still believe that Benoit Saint-Denis got it done against Kyle Prepilek, one of the two Canadians who did not win on the night. Took the fight on very short notice.

The God of War back in there seemed to really be happy that he was fighting in Quebec, saying that multiple times in French to the audience, and he needed this victory. After the Dustin Poirier loss, after the Hennate Moekano loss, he needed to get his mojo back. We'll talk to him later in the week as, in addition to Mike Mulan and Jasmine Jastavizias, Madestas Bukaskis gets the win over Iwan Kuchelaba, Navajo Sterling with a win as well. Marc-Andre Barrios win over Bruno Silva was absolutely terrifying. The elbows, the knockout, the clips afterwards where it seemed like there might have been a indentation in Bruno Silva's head. Shocking stuff. He gets carted out. Here's a photo of Mab on his knees as they attend to Bruno Silva. There were the scenes afterwards. So yeah, very scary stuff.

Daniel Santos would win and Bexit Almohan with a knockout win to start the card against Brad Katona. Overall, a $6 million gate. There was some talk about the the tickets and overpriced and the lack of stars but if you did attend on Saturday I thought a a very entertaining card for the most part and and highlighted by that tremendous main event. Obviously throughout the show and throughout the week we're going to be talking to a lot of these winners so stay tuned. But I want to ask P.T. now about earlier in the day. Oh and throughout the week. We're gonna be talking to a lot of these winners So stay tuned, but I want to ask PT now about earlier in the day Oh, and by the way shout out to the great Vitor Belfort

It was announced during the card that he will be going into the Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 induction class He'll be joining us on the show tomorrow as well. And can I just say because I'm so excited joining us in studio Tomorrow here on the program, breaking news, Frank. The brand new reigning defending UFC welterweight champion, Don Giacomo, Jack Della in studio. That's big. And I have to give a shout out to Tim Simpson.

I tried to get, and this would be like, hey, you know, what's the plan? Should we get them on before? He said, you know what? We're gonna be in New York after the fight. We'll come in, he'll put the belt on the desk. You'll have a nice chat. And I was like, all right.

I guess you guys are confident. And so they will be doing that tomorrow. I can't wait for that on the program. Earlier in the day on Saturday, while my Knicks were getting their ass swept by the Boston Celtics. Pizzi was holding it down in Belfast. He was like the the Prince of Belfast. I mean you were out there hobnobbing with the locals, having a few pints at the

market, talking to everyone, catching up. They were non-alcoholic pints, right? Of course, of course. Over at the Odyssey, I mean it seemed like a great scene. Of course, we here in North America couldn't watch any of it for some bizarre reason, but Don Davis is going to deliver. He did tweet that he heard us and he's going to deliver. He said that the events are going to air here in

North America in the U S of a, you asked for it and PFL will deliver it. All PFL international league fights will be available free to watch in the U S starting June 1st details coming in a major announcement. Let's see, let's see what it means. Is it going to be taped late? Who the hell knows? But what a scene for big news. Paul Hughes defeating Bruno Miranda, the walkout, the fight, the celebration, the post-fight speech, take us through it.

What did you see? Yeah, it was incredible. Um, it was the whole city just turned onto this fight. Um, I got up there at about 2pm local time and I was thinking, I wonder where the Common Market is from here. I saw four lads across the road wearing Paul Hughes t-shirts and I said, I'm just going to follow them and see if I end up there. Sure enough, five minute walk behind the lads and I'm at the Common Market where they're at 3.m. And the doors have didn't open until 5 already 200 300 guys

They're all in Paul Hughes t-shirts singing songs bursting into Into into random chants about Hughes and it just felt like the whole city Was there for Paul Hughes and as I said before it is a fight in town Belfast, but I have been to maybe Seven events there and the only one I ever felt that had the same and The same pull as this one was the UFC when they came in 2017 and gay guard Musasi was supposed to main event I don't know if he ended up main eventing in the end Neil Sirius I'm supposed to be with Eima Call, Eima Call pulled out a fight very late, but obviously UFC come to town

It's a huge thing. I had been there for Karl Murphy Corey Anderson a year before and it was about 2,000 people there there was about 8,000 people at this one, which is a Huge huge upscale in numbers. But the funny thing about the people that I found where these weren't UFC fans They weren't PFL fans. They weren't MMA fans. They were Paul Hughes fans These weren't UFC fans, they weren't PFL fans, they weren't MMA fans, they were Paul Hughes fans. Everybody there was like a casual sports fan that wanted to be in on this cultural moment that was Paul Hughes coming home. The opponent was completely unimportant. Like as you saw, I know you guys saw my video when I was going around asking people,

like there was no sense of any jeopardy here for Paul Hughes. Everyone was like, no he's going to beat him in a minute. He's going to beat him in the first round. He's going to put this guy out cold. Every single person so confident. It didn't feel at any stage that there was a threat there by Bruno Miranda. I thought he was a sneaky tough opponent. Turned out not to be, but just an amazing time because I feel as though during the initial boom here in 2014 and that magical night in Dublin, Norman Park was on that card and he felt very separate to everything else that was going on. We always included him at our tally. He had a big win that night. As digital media, we could always kind of go up north,

interview those guys and come back down south, whatever it was. But in terms of where mainstream media was at the time, it was nearly like we're covering these guys from the Republic and Norman Park is also there. To see Belfast having this moment where they are the ones being celebrated where the very first fight of the night is Nahom Weddy a very popular fighter from SPG against Sean McCormick from sorry Corey from fromI. and to see so many people already there, absolutely buzzing for it. Like these, these kind of rivalry fights between gyms. It was magic. And you know, it was a testament to the hard work that F.A.I. have been doing there and there. I mean, it's up there. Liam Shannon and Pat McAllister, like the gym is just full

of talent. Even Reese McKee in the UFC, obviously Paul Hughes is there, John McColgan, a former lightweight champion who was a huge sentimental favorite in Belfast, Tiernan Loughran, the brother of Kaelan Loughran and O'Kaelan obviously trained there for a very long time. It just felt as though this wasn't just Paul's moment, it was Belfast's moment, it's the moment that North Carolina stands up, they have the buzz now and it's new for them, it's really exciting and it was just, it was a real throwback for me like it was one of the most positive nights of Irish MMA I've enjoyed in a decade it was absolutely fantastic and

and that post fight interview because look there was some kind of a risk involved here you're coming up the best fight in PFL history arguably in January. Conventional wisdom says you just keep them apart. You keep them on the sidelines and then eventually when Ustman is ready to return, you have him fight. Paul, like, don't risk it. Well, they risked it because this was such a big deal. He does that. He wins in 42 seconds, not a scratch on his face. He gets on the microphone.

Usmanar Magomedov, who was a brilliant post-fight speech. In fact, we have it. We could play it right now. Here it is. Here's Paul Hughes. Usmanar Magomedov! You can run. You can try to make it as long as you want, but your day is f**king coming. How loud was it in there when he was doing all that? I wrote a piece about it, I think it'll be a play to run and it was like being in a burning building because the heat of it and the noise of it and the intensity of it and the emotion of it and the intensity of it and the emotion of it. I mean, I just haven't been in a, you know, for a long time, Irish MMA, we were spoiled, you know, I said to Paul after that,

like this is like McGregor in 2014, it has that same kind of feeling. We had lots of great nights with Queely and James Gallaher and they had these massive entrances as well. But the difference is, I feel like, we kind of have established already here that Paul is a world beater. When James was having those moments, he was on his way. He was trying to get to those moments. Peter Queely, again, trying to get to those moments.

Whereas we've seen Paul now against Usman Amaga-Madoff. I thought he won the fight. Even if you had that fight for Amaga-Madoff, you're saying, this is incredibly close. You have to admit that much. So this felt like to me like a Doombay moment. Even though Doombay hasn't scaled that level in MMA, it was one of these things like show the world how much this means to the people of Belfast.

Show how much it means to Irish people. And I think they unquestionably did that. Obviously the horrible thing being that it wasn't available to people in the US. Like I can remember the impact that I had with Connor, even with James, with Queely, all these people. And to think that that wasn't, it wasn't being able to see it. I'm glad they got it out on social media. They need to somehow put out the full entrance on social media with Foy Vance singing Grace, which is an incredibly emotive song, an Irish ballad and then into that Nipsey Hussle thing. They need to show it and it was absolutely amazing and big thanks to Tom and Gabby on the PFL team who really

went their way for me in terms of organizing the interview prior to the event which we did in Yahoo and Dublin and then obviously getting that spot with Paul afterwards. It made a great night already very memorable for me something. I'll never forget Yeah, you could see that interview on the channel right now Some people forget that McGregor Brandow card that aired on fight pass It wasn't like it was on Fox or fuel TV or FS one or pay-per-view That was just like on the UFC streaming platform like for them not to figure out a way and I understand oh you say oh they have a deal with with ESP

like figure it out man figure it out and by the way that's crazy to me Ariel I heard you talking about this with Chuck on the post-fight show how it's incredible to me that PFL are in a situation where the UFC are essentially dictating what goes out. Like that has to be a factor here. Well why do you... I don't know about that. ESPN have a deal with the UFC and then ESPN dictate if their event is going to be shown or not? No, it's a deal where ESPN has exclusive rights to the PFL in America. And so they can't cut a deal with Dazon for American streaming.

Basically ESPN is saying if you guys are showing live fights it has to be on air and we don't want this. Why aren't they showing it? Why don't they want it? I don't know. I mean they show other yeah well that's the thing. How does PFL not cut that deal with ESPN? I think what they, my understanding is like, they kind of just thought that they can get it on somewhere else and they haven't been able to do that. And so they view this as a separate entity, but eventually, and maybe ESPN wasn't giving them

the deal that they were looking for, but eventually you have to say to yourself like, yo, we need people to see this. Now let's be honest, a million people probably weren't watching on Saturday afternoon. Like we know, we all know that, but yet like you have to show the fights. It's the year 2025.

How do you not figure out a way, whether it's on your YouTube channel, GeoBlock, just to the US, whether it's on ESPN+, some way, somehow, this is one of your top, I don't know, two, three, four, five biggest stars, at worst, this story is without a doubt the best that you have by far, not even close, like this rivalry.

How do you not figure out a way to get it done? And Usman, by the way, responding and writing to Paul Hughes on social media in the aftermath, congratulations, good job, we will do it again, but then when I say, and then he writes, man, I didn't even know you were fighting. And I don't know if that was a, a knock at PFL's marketing or Paul Hughes. He's, he's, he's going pizza with the, the angle

of like, you know, I'm above you and, and look, there, there's an Exodus happening and a lot of them are, what's that? I am very worried about. Let me just finish my thought. Let me finish my thought. There's an Exodus happen and a lot of them are Ali guys. Apache Mix, he'll be gone. Aaron Pico gone. There's things like

Kayla Harrison left. I would, to your point, I share the sentiment. I wouldn't put a passive to be like, fuck this, let me be the next one to go. Also, we never get the rematch. What's father's plan? Islam. What division is he in? Yeah. Yeah. He's he wants to go to 170. Who's taking his place from the Dagestan group? Yeah. There you go. Very worried about that. And we for PFL as well honestly like you know like if there's a lot of bad sounds coming like with the Dakota you know we obviously talk about Johnny Ebel and everybody like a lot of very prominent names like to if Paul becomes one of those guys or Ousmane leaves like it leaves Paul in a very weird situation where there's only one fight for either of these guys the story will be moved on very much, very quickly for us man being on our

maga made off, going to the UFC. You can quickly generate some PR about that. It would leave Paul in a tough situation. Like he's still doing great. And as I said, the adoration I saw for him in Belfast was unbelievable. Like to your point, like, you know, you're talking about nobody in North America could see this. I was, I went down to the after party to see it and I was talking to John McCulloch and outside and there was a few lads, um, obviously fans of fight and trying to talk to Joe there. And I was like, right,

I'm going to go, I have to, I have to watch some of these fights and they're like what fights? Not a clue. Really? He was on not a break. They're like, who's fighting? I was like, Balaam Ahmed. And they're like, oh, wow. They just didn't. So they were just solely Paul Hughes fans. If Paul, not even MMA fans. Yeah. They were all using the boxer. They were there for him. Yes. They were there to experience Paul Hughes fighting in Belfast. It was unbelievable. Good for him, man. I'm so happy that he got that moment. There is a part of me that does in fact feel like, okay, he got the moment. He checked it off. He deserves bigger stages.

Not bigger stages than Belfast, not bigger stages than fighting at home. But it felt to me like Cage Warriors Plus. Do you know what I mean? When you say bigger stages, you mean the fact that it wasn't broadcast in the U S he should, he's a UFC caliber fighter. He's the best. He is. But, but like there's only one fight to make there, you know, and that's a UFC caliber fight.

That's the fight everybody wants. No one is denying that. But I think rather than sitting on the shelf doing this was a lot better for his career than sitting on his ass waiting for Usman to say I'll fight you. Oh, 100%. 100%. And I'm so happy you got it. But he deserves better than fighting on a card that is not available in the biggest market. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

You know what I mean? There's no one that would. You should be fighting on a 316, on a 317, you know what I mean? A lot of people didn't even know that was the situation. Like I was telling someone on this team, you know people can't watch this in the US, they're like, what? And I was like, yeah, there is no way to watch this. And they couldn't believe it, you know? So it's tough, but to be in there, to be in that arena that night, it was an unquestionably magic night. Absolutely. And it sucks that everyone in the US and North America couldn't see it because it was a magic night for the PFL

You're just gonna have to take my word for it. Unfortunately, there's a rematch happen. I Hope so and Paul and his team are so confident and they're very realistic guys I hope it isn't their bias to hughes II that said that swaying them here I really I want that fight more than anything in the world I think you were talking about best way to 2025 I don't know how that isn't the top five of every list. That was a magic fight full of personality. And Yeah, there's article I wrote in January I believe and It wasn't a priority evidently but yeah, yeah, I really hope it happens Look, I I'd like to think that they wanted to do it.'s just that Usman wasn't willing to do it and so this was the next best thing but

now you have to do it like you can't you can't temp fate again yeah I wonder what the contract situation is there with Usman oh dear like he was talking about Brim Primus and stuff like that like no what do you what are we talking about here there is no other fight there's no other fight no other fight all right well let us see also by the way on Saturday we found out that Robert Whitaker is in fact going to be fighting Rene Derrida on the 26th of July in Abu Dhabi there There it is. Yeah. We were sort of wondering who would be next for RDR. Whitaker was teasing a fight and so there you have it. RDR versus Robert

Whitaker. A massive, massive fight. A huge opportunity for RDR coming off the Bo Nicol win. By the way, did you guys see the clip of Bo Nicol on his show? His tone was a little bit different than when he was on our program telling the haters to essentially suck it. Maybe it sunk in a little bit. I don't know. Who knows? But it's going to be very interesting to see how he rebounds from here. Alright, let's go and say hello to our first guest of the day. Very excited to talk to this man. He is one of the absolute best welterweights in the world. Some might say he's the number one contender. I'm sure he would agree with them if they did say that. He was in attendance on Saturday, had a front

row seat at what transpired at the Bell Center. Can't wait to get his thoughts. Let us say hello to the pride of Philadelphia, the one and only Big Sean Brady. Oh, there he is. Oh, I like it. You see what I'm doing? Yo, this is nice. Yo, where'd you get that? So we got there Thursday for the fights and I guess because I was a guest fighter, me, Vitor Belfort, Ioana and Bilal's teammate, Ignacio Bahamendez, we were all playing some games and they gave us all these jerseys, so I figured what better way to break it out on your show and show support.

Better than that Philly gear you were wearing in the front row over there on Saturday. I mean, really. Now I'm going to have to take it off. No, I didn't mean like in the front row. Golly. I respect it. You got to represent. Well, yeah. Canada was awesome though. Was that your first time?

First time. It was great. The fight, true fight fans up there for sure. It was awesome. It felt like I was fighting Saturday night because of how much love I got from the fans. So it was really great. I definitely want to go back and I didn't realize they tri star was right there Um, I ran into Rory McDonald was talking to him might go up there and do some training with those guys So, um, yeah, I'm definitely going to be going back. It was a 50 minute flight from Philly telling you. Yeah, it's great Roy McDonald so good to see him back in the mix. It had been so long since we saw him, you know Involved in a UFC fight week. I also understand you may have visited a restaurant that I told Lloyd to go to. Joe Beef, did you guys go to Joe Beef? Yeah, you told them to go there? That was my recommendation. What do you say? It was very good. Me, my coach

Lloyd, Vitor Belfort and I think someone, yeah we all went and it was great. It was good steak for sure. It wasn't like a steakhouse vibe though, which I liked. It was like a small, it was almost like an Italian restaurant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very small, very homey. It was awesome. I really do like Montreal.

It was great. Love to hear that. All right, let's talk about what you saw. And I know that you were, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, you were leaning towards Bilal, but you weren't counting Jack out in the end. What did you think of how it all played out? Oh, yeah.

I mean, I definitely said going into it that Jack, like exactly what happened with Jack, Jack's very hard to take down. And when you do get him down, he scrambles very well. I said that on maybe your podcast. I know I said it on my podcast. Clearly he punches very hard. I said that on maybe your podcast. I know I said on my podcast Clearly he punches very hard. I said that as well Um, balala has a broken nose a broken oracle. So Yeah, um, it was uh, it was an amazing fight like cage side. It was a great fight

Definitely one of the best fights of the year. I don't think I was listening to your clip of you talking earlier about balala and how um, how he did shoot takedowns and how Like his stats kind of were aligned with usually where they're at I definitely feel like he could have shot more in the beginning But like GC and the other guys were saying Jack was throwing knees and uppercuts up the middle and yeah, he made it very tough. But as far as both of them, it was very, it was a great fight and a great performance from both of them. It was definitely like I haven't watched it back yet. I'm sure I will. But watching it live, it felt very close. I don't know how it felt watching it on TV. to the point that you just brought up, was there anything that Ballell did or didn't do that surprise you?

Like you say, okay, he could have shot more and maybe a couple more here and there. I think it's not giving Jack enough credit. Yeah, yeah. Like what is he gonna do? Just walk in there and take the guy down? Like it's not that easy, right? No, for sure.

I do think he could have tried to clinch with him a little bit more. Like you can shoot and not attempt to really get the take down, but you get Jack to start thinking about thinking about the take him a little bit more. Like you can shoot and not attempt to really get the takedown, but you get Jack to start thinking about thinking about the takedown a little bit more. And he didn't really do that for the first three rounds. I think he might've shot like once or twice here, but yeah, I just thought he was going to be trying to clinch with him more. Cause if you're just standing in space with Jack, like his boxing is clean. His head movement is great. So like you gotta and credit to below though

because he did he did that he stood there he traded with him didn't get dropped got hit with some heavy shots but um yeah I just thought he was going to have a little bit different of a game plan I think that game plan started to come out a little bit more towards the end of the fight when he maybe realized that it was kind of maybe slipping away from him a little bit but um I thought it was close the entire way through. Did Jack surprise you? Did anything you know we hadn't seen him so long? No. I know how good Jack is. I prepared for him. I got ready for him when he was at like his hottest streak and I knew how serious I

took him and Jackson amazing fighter he doesn't talk like he's not very like not on social media doing all kinds of crazy stuff. But as far as fighting, I think he's one of the best in the division. He has every skill. He's great on the feet, good on the ground, hard to take down. He has submissions. He's big for the division. He's five 11.

Like he's definitely taller than people think. So yeah, he's definitely going to be a good champion for sure. And like I said, like I've already done a camp for him so if he's the champion by the time all everything clears up yeah I definitely know what I'm getting myself into. When you were watching that and realized that Jack was going to become the new champion were you disappointed did this make things a little more complicated for you? No because I seen in two ways Balor won, there's a better chance of me definitely getting the title shot, which would be amazing. But I knew if Jack won that I'd be fighting

again, which I've been saying since the Leon fight, which I'm fine with. And like you guys were just saying, me and Ian, you know, like I feel like people are very surprised. I keep saying that they're like, oh, why don't like you, you don't want the title shot? Of course I'm with the title shot, but there's still Shavkat there. There's Islam saying he's moving up. You have Camaro and Buckley saying whoever wins that's getting a title shot. So we're all going to have to fight. I'm going to have to fight Ian Gary eventually. Why not just do it now and just get it out of the way? If I'm as good as I think I am, I would fight Shavkat for the number one contender, but he made a tweet with a surgeon next to him so no one knows.

He says he's coming back in October. That really means he's probably coming back the end of the year or even next year. So yeah, me and Ian had a little interaction at the fight. He was at the end of the aisle. I was at the beginning and he was asking me what I thought from across the fight. He was at the end of the aisle. I was at the beginning and he was asking me what I thought from across the way. And I just went like this to him. I said, I was like, me and you, that's what I think. I think me and you are going to have to fight now because there's not, like we can't all wait around for a title shot.

And so what did he do when you said that? He just, he kind of laughed, but he's still asking me like what I thought about the fight. And I just, I was like, we were so far away. I still asking me like what I thought about the fight and I just I was like We were so far away. I just mouth like I thought Jack did didn't know this is right after the the fight ended Oh, we were literally caged. We were caged side. Wow working side. Yeah. Yeah, would you have both gone in there if below one? If they push are pulling him in I'm walking in too. All right, I Still have that I have that number one next to my name. I don't know where Bilal is gonna move in the rankings

because he lost to Jack. Maybe he'll go to three. Maybe he'll take my spot. But for today, I still have the number one next to my name. So yeah, I'm still the number one contender. How do you feel if in fact they go with Islam versus Jack next, are you okay with that? Are you okay with Islam getting the title shot?

Sorry, someone's calling me um you still got me yeah yeah um yeah I mean like you guys said I would rather see him stay where he's at you know and kind of clean out 155 the whole double champ thing is is hard especially when two of his fights were against Volkonovsky, and then he does have Dustin Poirier, but there's still guys at 155, and then you have Ilya trying to come up. But then again, on the other hand, he's done so much. If he wants to move up, if he's going to move up, is he going to stay there though? Because if not, now you're holding up two divisions.

So if he's going to move up, then me and Ian are fighting. I know that's the fight to make. And yeah, that's just the way I see it. And so it seems like whether or not Islam fights on June 28th, which is what I would love to see, and then move up to fight Jack, it seems like he will probably be next for Jack, right? And so that does leave you, Ian, Shafcut, I agree with you, we're not seeing him

at the earliest until the end of the year. Yeah. Ian posted a video kind of breaking down the division and you weren't mentioned in there. Did you see this video? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did. I see it, I don't, Ian's not scared of me. Ian just wants the title shot.

That's what he's thinking he's getting next, which I know is not true. I know I'm not even getting it. Islam's getting it, whether it's, Jack's saying he wants to fight in eight weeks from now. So in my mind, I'm like, man, what if they do Islam and Jack at International Fight Week? No, no chance, no chance.

I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. But that would be nuts. But so it just depends on the whole time, the timeframe. But with Ian, it's like bro, he knows who the fight is. Like he knows, like I said, I said a million times on here, same manager, he knows the landscape, he knows what they want. It makes the most sense. And it makes more sense for him. I'm the number one guy. You're like six rankings behind me or wherever you're at. So it could be the other way around. I could be saying like, nope, I'm sitting on my spot,

not giving it up. I'm gonna sit on it and sit on it until I get my total shot. And I'm not here doing that. Like I'm 32 years old. I'm in the prime of my career. I feel great. I wanna fight.

And like I said, whether Ian's six or number two or the champion eventually I'm going to have to fight him because he is good. So why not just fight now? We spoke to you very briefly after his win over Carlos Pratchett's, but I didn't ask you about the performance Were you surprised of anything in that fight the win over Pratchett's a couple weeks ago? No, he looked good the first guy he did what he did. He did what he does. Carlos surprised me more that he didn't start faster. The fourth and fifth round, he started getting going. If he would have did that earlier,

that fight could have looked a little bit different because we seen in the fifth round, he almost had him out of there. And if Carlos had a little bit more, like a better fight IQ, I think he could have finished him in the fifth round. a couple more hammer fists when he was hanging on his leg and That fights over so yeah, it just kind of blows my mind that Ian thinks he deserved the title shot after he fought Shavkat and lost and then when Jack got the title

Call he was mad that he didn't get it and then he goes out there and beats Carlos Proctor who's number 13 which is a good win but it was a decision and you almost got finished in the fifth round and you think you deserve a title shot no one deserves anything we all need to go prove who is the best and who deserves it and if I want to just sit on my my spot I could say I just finished Leon Edwards in London I'm waiting for my spot, but instead I'm saying, we'll fight and whoever wins out of that will be me and then I'll get my total shot. If for some reason he sticks to his guns on this,

do you think there's any possibility Buckley beats Usman and they try to do you versus Buckley? That's another one, yeah. I mean, the winner of that, it could be me and Buckley or it could be me and Usman. I think people are forgetting about Usman too So um you think you have a chance in that one you you you think I think I think people are crazy to count out Kamara Usman. Um, yes, he's a little bit older people always talk about his knees and all these things

But you go watch him fight when he fights He makes it happen that he fights to a different level than I'm sure he trains at. He goes in there and he turns it on. What he did against Hamza on 10 days notice, up a weight class, if there's two more rounds in that fight it would look a little bit different. So yeah, I'm definitely not... Buckley's on an amazing streak but I'm definitely not counting out Kamaru Eastman. Yeah, that fight by the way is happening June 14th, so we're going to get some sort of clarity in the next month or so. For you, like realistically, I know you took that fight on somewhat short notice. You had the baby.

By the way, happy first Mother's Day to your wife. Hope you guys had a great weekend. Realistically, when do you wanna fight? Oh man, I was hoping like August, September timeframe, and then kind of see how, and that is kind of, I guess, realistic, right, with the way things have to play out, but I don't think it's that big of a decision, it's that hard of a decision.

It's me and Ian, like he just fought, I just fought a little bit ago, by the time September rolls around, we're both healthy, we're both fresh. Why not just do that and yeah, that just be that, you know. But because we're gonna have to have an answer for International Fight Week within the next couple weeks, you know. I mean hopefully this week. Yeah. We have to know something soon. So we're gonna have an answer on Islam relatively soon, wouldn't you think? 100%, yeah, 100%. And I know you were in my trial. Did you happen to see anyone, the brass, anyone give you any sort of inkling as to what

they want to do with you? No, I didn't run into anybody, but I do know that I've heard already that they were leaning towards me and Ian. Okay. So that's, it just makes, and it makes the most sense. Like I said, especially for him, I'm the number one contender. It makes even more sense for him than it does for me. Like I think it was Eric saying, if you were me, you kind of sit back. And I agree, I could do that,

but it's just like what my man GC in the back was saying, let's all fight and let's see who truly deserves it. Because you got every single person in the top five Saying they deserve a title shot. Let's all let's go earn it and let's see who really Really deserves it. By the way, I have a question for GC. This is like the third time you mentioned his name Is this your way of like extending an olive branch and getting out? We haven't brought up like the biggest question of them all but I feel like you're sort of cozying up to him now giving him All these props is this your way of getting out of the battle one of the all, but I feel like you're sort of cozying up to him now, giving him all these props. Is this your way of getting out of the battle?

I'm one of the boys in the back. I'm in the back. You guys just, I'm just in the back. I got my house, my garage gym. Listen, I'm in the back though. Sean is, is one of the boys. We just have to settle it on a bike. That's all it is. It's nothing personal. I'm a boy in the back. I just, I'm just not in New York City. I'm coming up there. They're worried.. They're worried like they they're like, how are you gonna bring it up? It's getting awkward now Like we don't want to like it's getting a little random fan came up to me in Canada and said Literally asked me about it and they were like when like when when you getting up there? I'm like, I'm like I'm getting there. Trust me. It's gonna be a bad day for GC. I just gotta get up there, dude

Not to change subjects. I don't know how these people who work at the UFC, they're amazing because I, yesterday, I slept for one hour last night. We got home from the flight back to the hotel at 2.30 in the morning. We had to be at the airport at 4.30, so I slept for an hour.

I'm like, these guys do this every week. Like this is, it's insane. So shout out to them. They're amazing. That, by the way, GC, that was a great job of changing the subject. Did you see that? I was gonna say that is professional.

The way that he moved through that. That was really professional. That's what I saw on his IG story. He posted like hitting a VO2 max on the bike. I'm just like, what is this? Is this a, you're trying to to this is an intimidation tactic. The truth is it's not worth my time. Oh my gosh oh my god this is like a 35th ranked icon. This is beautiful this is this is for the DVD this is for my championship DVD after I win. It's not worth my time. I love you brother, but it's not worth my time.

We were sort of like year marking fight week in Newark, right? That's what we were talking about. It's still possible. I'm just saying. Oh wow, possibility now. It's gonna be bad. It's gonna be bad.

Okay, okay, wow. No, I'm having no mercy when I come up there. I might throw up with how hard I go on this thing. This sounds like Bilal before the JDM fight. He's like, I'm hungry. I want to eat, I want to eat. Yo, you want to hear something crazy? Yeah, let's go.

Real quick. So Saturday, no, I'm sorry. Before I go on the weigh-in show on Friday morning, I'm running on the treadmill and I'm listening to DC do an interview with Brett Akamoto and he's naming his top five Walter weights and I'm not on the list. Wait, whose list?

Who's list? DC. Oh wow. So I'm not on the list. Wait, whose list? Whose list? DC. Oh wow. So I confronted him on the weigh-in show and- And how'd it go? How'd it go? He just, he didn't know what to say. He was flabbergasted.

I was like, dude, I'm number one. Yeah, that's crazy. And he didn't even put me on the list. He's a casual. Do you think it just slipped his mind or do you think he actually feels that way? No, he has to be a casual. Yeah, I think he's a casual.

He doesn't watch the fights. He doesn't watch the fights. I mean, listen to the commentary. Can I ask, is there any chance if none of these fights pan out that they just booked the one that everyone wants to see, which is you versus Jeremy Stevens after that, you know, that, that I think it's Joe Pfeiffer versus Jeremy Stevens, but I didn't even know I was included in the beef. So he, uh, I watched one of his interviews and he was like, yeah, he was like, um, Yeah, Sean Brady and Joe Pfeiffer were next to my manager and they didn't say shit to me. I did the 50 cent meme.

I was like, what'd he say fuck me for? I was like, I didn't have beef with this dude. He uh, he just called me out and I'm like, I didn't say anything bad about you. It was Joe you got up on the mic and gave you the beef, but man, I couldn't I couldn't believe not a bad diss track though right It was uh, it was interesting It was very we were trying to convince Joe. We're redo our podcast that there's a recording studio right next door we're trying to convince him to go do a diss track and return fire, but Joey wasn't having it.

By the way, what's with all the Vayner guys fighting with each other? You, Ian, you, Jeremy, Joe, Jeremy, I mean it's a lot of... Lloyd needs to get a hold of you. Lloyd needs to tighten up, he needs to put his foot down, that's what he needs to do. I feel for him, I can't imagine it's very fun when there's all this... No, it's a good... but seriously, me and Ian, it's a good problem to have. I respect Ian, he's a good fighter. He's selling it. He's selling it. He's all over the place trying to say he's the number one guy, blah, blah, blah. But at the end of the day, we're going to have to fight and figure it out. So yeah, I don't know where they're going in August,

where they're going in September. Like obviously I would love to fight some, like Wednesday's time they were in Philly. Me and Ian could do a headliner fight night right at the Wells Fargo Center. Yeah, like there's a million, I seen someone saying something about going to Ireland. I'm like, they're not going back to Ireland

for a while probably, but yeah, there's a lot of options for sure. By the way who do you like JDM or Islam? I think JDM's going to make it a lot a lot more interesting than what people will think it would be. Wow. He fights as good as he does South Pole Orthodox. He's hard to take down. Like I said he's he scrambles very like uh he just has this ability to create these scrambles and getting right back to his feet. He started working with Craig Jones. Craig's known for doing like unorthodox stuff like that.

And it definitely added to his, uh, added to his, his game plan and his weapons. I seen Craig in the back and obviously me and him grappled before we were like hugging each other. I was like, I'm gonna see you sooner than we thought. So, um, hopefully I see him in the corner against me soon But yeah, I think Jack's gonna hang around for a little bit longer than people think Wow Wow all right high praise, okay? So let's see how this all pans out your prediction later this year fall time It'll be you versus Ian and and and do you believe that's a number one contender fight?

You can't even I I don't know. Yeah, because then you got the Shavkat thing coming on. They're gonna put like a one and then like another one, like you're gonna have to, it's like getting like a stripe on your black belt. Like if you have to have the one and then you have to get four more to get an actual title shot.

But no, I think, yeah, I don't know. Like I said, I don't mind fighting. This is what we do and I'm in the prime of my career And if you're if we're as good as we say we are we're gonna be hanging around fighting each other for a while So why not get this one done lit Islam come up? probably fight Jack probably retire and not defend the bell and then Let us all the rest of us figure it out last one. Last one, how do you see the fight against Ian going? Like how do you see it playing out?

Yeah, obviously I'm a grappler. I'm gonna go forward on Ian, take the space away from him that he's, Ian's really good at distance and that's where he's gonna try to keep me. And it'll be my job to push forward and take that space away and make him uncomfortable and eventually break him.

Thank you, Sean, appreciate it. We're waiting for you. The seat is open for you whenever you want. No pressure. We'll see you next month, Sean. No, you might. I'm just gonna roll up in the studio one day. You guys aren't even gonna know it.

That's good. I'm gonna be in my biker shorts. Sneak attack. And I'm gonna be having, I'm gonna have gels with me and we're gonna be ready to go. Can't wait for that. We'll be waiting. Thank you, Sean, you're the man.

Thank you guys. Appreciate it. I appreciate it. Much love, there he is, the great Sean Brady. I would pay top dollar for that fight. I would love to see that fight. I would love to see how it all pans out at the top of that division.

All of a sudden, 170 has become, has 170 become the most interesting weight class in the UFC, at least right now? And maybe this is just my feelings in the immediate aftermath There's there's there's there's Jones in Aspinal and that's it at heavyweight There's Pereira and Ankalayev and that's pretty much it at light heavyweight right now at 185 Drikus Hamza and there's some other stuff but like that's the thing, you know, there's imma vaub and Kyle

But that's the one at 170. There's like a six-pack of different options 155 is obviously interesting, but it's it's really about Ilya Islam and Charles Yeah, I feel confident saying that when's the last time we said that 170 the most interesting weight class in the UFC right now. By the way, the pound for pound rankings over at Uncrowned just came out. I was taking a nice little look at them.

Islam one, Ilya two, Marab three, Pantoja four, Ilya 2, Murab 3, Pantoja 4, Drichus 5, Aspenal 6, Magomed 7, John Jones 8, Pereira still up there, 9, Francis, no Jack Della, huh? I didn't have him on mine. Wow. You know who else I didn't have on mine? Who? John Jones. Wow. Wow. One of the biggest John didn't have on mind? Who? John Jones. Wow. Wow. The biggest John

Jones glazer on earth. Yeah. It's time. It's time. You've had enough. Are you fighting or not? If you're not a fighter, then I saw him on that motorcycle with some uh some Russian blow. Coaching. He's coaching tough. What is he coaching? He's coaching Russian. Russian tough. With Nate Diaz? tough. What is he coaching? He's coaching Russian. Russian tough. With Nate Diaz? What is this? Where can we watch this? What is happening here? What is going on? What is it called? Two? Win two? ALF reality two. What is this? I don't know. There's got to be a lot of money coming his way to be doing that. Oh hell hell yeah. 30 million? 30 million, maybe not 30 million. Did you have Jack Della on your top 10? I did not, I actually had 11th.

11th? I didn't have Bilal in my top 10. I know, but what a win. It was an incredible win, I agree, but how am I gonna put him in the top 10 if I didn't have the guy beating the top 10? Top 10's crowded. I am surprised to see Francis Ngannou at 10

instead of Jack Delano. According to EIC Shaheen, let it be known that PT and GC single-handedly kept JDM off the list by not including them in their top 10s. But Rick also said he didn't have them in his top 10. Yeah, that's interesting. Someone's lying there. Either EIC Shaheenineen, or New York, correct. Let's see here, Natalia Silva up to eight in the women's pound for pound, Verna seven, Dakota six, Juliana five, Kayla four, Chris three,

Valentina two, Zhang Weili one. That's an interesting one. Pacheco nine. When's the last time we saw Pacheco fight, by the way? Feels like it's been forever. Yeah, the cyborgs won in October. Oh, that's right. That's right, the pay-per-view, right?

Yeah, yes, he lost. Yes, feels like a long time ago. Yeah, I mean, it's been a minute. And not really in the mix for anything else. All right, so there you have it. Check that out over at uncrowned.com. A ton of great stuff up there right now. I'll tell you about some more stuff up there later in the program.

For now though, let us go to our next guest. I said that he was one half of the People's Main Event and to be honest, he was one half of the People's Main Event because of his involvement. He was one half of the People's Main Event because he was the lone Montrealer that was really, really high up on the card. he was the lone Montrealer that was really, really high up on the card and what a scene it was and what a story it was all week

long and then on Friday as well we find out about Jose Aldo not being able to make weight. He takes the fight and then he goes out there and he gets the job done and it was it was as exhilarating as thrilling as entertaining as we all could have hoped and in the end he gets his hand raised doesn't get the fight of the night bonus possibly due to the fact that the main event was an all-time classic or because of the fact that Jose didn't make weight but in the end he gets the victory the biggest of his career by far over a legend and in doing so appears

to have retired a legend. He is Eman Zahabi. He's kind enough to join us right now to talk about it all. Still probably flying high. Hello, my friend. How are you? Yeah, how are you? Congratulations. Thank you, man. I really appreciate it. How do you even process all of this? You just got to win. You're wearing the jersey of the team that plays at the Bell Center. How far is that arena from where you live?

10 minutes, 15, 20? 40 minutes, 30 minutes. All right. And you're a Montreal guy and you just got to beat a legend with your brother and GSP in your corner. Yeah. Like have you been able to process all of this?

Yeah, I absolutely love it. I think I won hands down. You know, I heard that you thought the other guy won. Yes. Okay, so let me come out and say it fully transparent. I did upon initial viewing. I don't want to hide from it. You know how I feel about you and your family.

I just got to keep it real. I thought he won two of three, but that's not a knock on you. It was a very close fight. Are you mad at me? You're such a bench. You, you're willing to give the other guy the fight. Fighting Aldo. Yeah. You're the one who was a Aldo and you're like, you know what?

Maybe he won the fight. Uh, I'm just trying, I'm just trying to keep it real, but that's no knock on you is incredible. No, no, no, of course not. Listen guys, I definitely, I watched the fight a hundred times after I wanted around two and three very clearly. Okay. I think because the round two got broken up a little bit because of the low blows, which you know,

upon review, the second one was definitely not a low blow. People didn't realize I walked him down the entire second round. The entire second round was him going backwards. You know, and the striking was very close, but I landed the more significant strikes all the way to the end of second round. And he was backpedaling the whole round. So I definitely was the more aggressive fighter in round two. And in round three, I thought I clearly won also.

He was winning around 30 seconds of round three. I run three minutes of round three. And I did a lot of damage at the end. And he's the one who got tired, was, he was broken by the end. By the end of round three, I think most people would rather be me than be him. Sure. I mean, if this was pride, I don't mean that in a disrespectful way. I just feel like I clearly won round three.

A hundred percent. Uh, if this was pride rules, very easy fight to score. Right. If you're, if you're scoring the fight, then UFC rules, I score to fight too. I fight. Yeah, that too a fight too. I fight. Yeah, that too. That too. That's all right.

There's no doubt. Ariel, I feel like everyone, you know, trying to mix the muddy the water here a little bit. No, I'm not trying to. I promise. I listen, it came down to that second round and it was very close and I need to watch it again, just like you did. And perhaps it's, it wouldn't be the first time that I got it wrong. Who the hell am I? Thank God I'm not a judge, but what about that kick to the head though?

In the third round, holy smokes. I might have first, I asked you guys, you got any button pushers back there? Am I the first one to get two soccer kicks in the UFC in a row, like soccer kick, soccer kick? Is that like, am I the first one? Now do you consider, are you- I got one side of the after gone,

then I ran to the other side of the after gone, got stopped kicked again, then I found my footing, hit him with a couple of one-two, slowed him down, hit him with another one-two, stopped him in his tracks. But two soccer kicks in a row, not bad. I gave it up to God. I say I thank God for that. Maybe he saved me from going out.

I was conscious the whole time. I had no control over my body. That's why I was fumbling around. I wanted to step a certain way. Even my arm got stuck after the second right hand. My right hand, I was like, my arm was back there. I wanted to post it on the floor. It just, it wouldn't move. Wow.

No coordination. And then I finally, one of my coordination came back. I was able to throw one, two and like slow him down a little bit. How did you regroup though? Cause I mean, most people, they're done after that. A kick from Jose Aldo to the head. Yeah, listen, I'm going gonna give it up to my brother, Fros, for pushing the conditioning.

Of course, I was like, it was the best shape of my life. Like we did everything we could. I didn't, I did everything possible to be in the best shape of my life. And Fros pushed it every day for me. You know, he made sure I was at my best. And also mindset Mike, you know, we do drills like that where we go over what's the worst thing that could happen.

And we work on the mindset aspect of how do we get it back? And he always tells me, he we go over what's the worst thing that can happen and we work on the Mindset aspect of how we get it back, you know, he always tells me like what's the worst thing that can happen I tell him well I get rocked or I get dropped, you know, he tells me okay, how do you get back? I'm like, well, you know, I got to make space I got to clear my head and I got to win the next exchange and then I got to win the next 15 seconds You know, I got to build back and then not only that I win the next exchange and then the next 15 seconds I won the next three minutes. Right, so, you know, the mindset stuff really works for me. I loved what you had to say afterwards about being in the blue corner for the first time

and having to wait for him to walk out. Did that just occur to you in the moment because you were having to wait there for so long or did you realize this beforehand? No, I knew it before because when they sent me, they told me I was in the blue corner, I'm like, oh, this has never happened before. Wow. You know, but like, we know, obviously,

with the, you know, the mindset training, I'm there, so much tougher mentally, like, you know, I don't have to be superstitious about anything, you know, and my wife, it was the first time back in the audience after a five-year break after my fight fight win streak. I let her come for the sixth one since she was in Montreal. I didn't know if they'd ever come back to Montreal, so we got her floor tickets for the fight and she was ecstatic and I got to see her on my walkout after the win. You know, you know, the fans have I saw it. I spotted her. There's this cool video made by the UFC where they see I catch her and I gave her a hug and everything. It was really beautiful. Great moment overall for me and you know, it was interesting like when I first got

the fight, Kenny wrote to me, you know, he told me he's got to get this guy, you know what's interesting, when I first got the fight, Kenny wrote to me, he told me he's gotta get this guy. Kenny spoke about the fight, and Kenny gave me a whole breakdown of Jose Aldo, what to expect, what he does, what his tendencies are, and he also included what my tendencies are, what my strengths are, and what to fight for, and things like that. And then he told me after the fight now

that actually if anybody's interested, you can go to KennyFlorian.com then he told me after the fight now that actually if anybody's interested, you can go to KennyFlorian.com and he can do breakdowns for you if you've got a big fight coming up. Wow. You can reach out to Kenny Florian on KennyFlorian.com and he can help break down opponents for you. That's brilliant.

And he's one of the best minds and I loved how you shouted him out. We got him. We got him 14 years later. Got him baby, 13 years later. You messed with my mental. You were Jose Aldo, right? I will never forget. I will never forget.

Cause you were him, right? When Kenny was fighting Jose for the belt, you mimic Jose for the entire training camp. Look at this guy. I was Jose 14 years ago. Incredible. Not fighting home team. Can you believe it?

There was something beautiful about the whole thing because I felt like, and correct me if you feel otherwise, I felt like for the longest time you were that guy at TriStar who didn't really get the attention. You were happy to be the guy who helped everyone prepare for their moment, happy to be for us as younger brother, happy to be with GSP and with Kenny and Rory and whoever comes by. But now here you were, it was your time in your city, your arena you were front and center and it felt like the I know you've had big fights in the UFC Edmonton etc but this felt like you coming out of the shadows and there was something beautiful about that yeah actually I totally agree with you and also because me I love my team you know I have a team mentality and I was talking to my friends and my teammates before this fight like during training camp and I was telling them like listen

friends and my teammates before this fight, like during training camp, and I was telling them, I'm like, listen, at the end of the day, I understand that I fight in the cage alone and nobody can intercede, you know, not the fans, not the journalists, not my teammates, not my brother. No one can get involved in the actual fighting portion. But without my team, I ain't making it this far, you know? Without Firas, you know, there's no money in the world I can pay for Firas for the effort he gives me. Whatever money I give Firas, it's a drop in the bucket for the effort and the love he

gives, the support he gives. How much JSP cares, how much my sparring partners care about me, how much everyone comes in and is dedicated for the two months that I have a training camp, the guys they show up to practice. So a big shout out to Xavier Aloui and Tariq Ismail and Yanis Azhar for really stepping up for this training camp. They made it to the sparrings. They gave me the time.

They gave me the effort. Without you guys, I can't win. I can't win these moments. I can have these moments. My wife, my kids, my family support, my friends all around me guys. In the end, I'm in the arena. I'm fighting alone, but I wouldn't be there without any of you.

So thank you to everybody. How close was it to not happening on Friday? Were you worried that this was all gonna be taken away? I mean, it was off. It was off. I mean, yeah, the fight was off because I didn't know this, but so when they called me, you want me to tell you the story?

Please, yes, of course. Yeah, okay, cool, cool, course. Yeah, cool. Cool. Yeah. So I'm cutting weight, right? And then like the way I do it is I do tub and then I do like under the wrap. Yeah. And I was in my last wrap and we get the call and they're like, oh, stop cutting. And Frost like, what do you mean stop cutting?

And then they told them like, well, Jose Aldo is is 145 he can't make it to 136 and Frans is like oh my god okay guys stop. Eman get dried up and get on the scale let's see how much you weigh. So I get on the scale I'm 136.8 man so if I would have finished the rap that I was in I would have made weight 136 I was right there and they're telling us he's 145 so and then they told us, listen, there's a rule in Montreal, the Montreal Commission can't allow a fight to happen if there's a five pound disparity. So during the negotiation process, I was in my hotel room, they're like, listen, just start drinking water, you got to start, you got to put on a few pounds or

else we can't even make a deal. And I was like, oh man, I was like, okay. So I started, you know, rehydrating and stuff. And then it was awkward because like, eight pounds a lot. Yes. You know what I mean? Yes. It's a lot of weight. And like I just saw like the last week, Chris Ubank Jr. missed by 0.5 and he had to pay his opponent something like $500,000. Yes. And I feel like the casual fans, you know, to them, it's just a number, eight pounds, who cares?

But in the military, they do studies on the soldiers and they find it unethical to dehydrate the soldiers more than 2%, but what they've done is when they dehydrate their soldiers 2% and they run them through the exercises, they notice that with a 2% dehydration, they lose 6% in performance.

So for every 2% of dehydration, it's 3x performance. You're losing three times more in performance. So I lost eight pounds more of water. And the biggest worry for us was, is he going to be able to withstand or absorb the shots better than me because he didn't lose those extra eight pounds. He has eight more pounds of fluid. Not because you lose fluid from all over your body. You're not just losing fluid from your arms and legs.

You're losing fluid from your brain as well. Now we're rehydrating, we got the 36 hours or whatever. We're both gonna bounce back up, we're both gonna rehydrate. But because I lost eight pounds more, am I gonna have less protection for my, for the KO? You know, that's kind of what was going through my mind. And in the end, I'm the one who got dropped, not him. So it was like, uh, that's what it was. You know, so we, you know,

we spoke with Sean Shelby, even for us, uh, spoke to Sean Shelby directly, uh, to make the deal. And Sean Shelby gave me a really good deal and I said yes man I said yes I risked it all you know I risked it all and I want to say this quote because I was saying this quote for the two months in training camp and it goes something like this it's a when God wanted to make David King he didn't send him a crown he sent him Goliath you know and Jose Aldo was my Goliath and him missing weight you know added to making him even bigger of an adversity, adverse gave me even more adversity and then getting dropped in

the fight made it even more adversity for me. And I overcame all of it, you know, so like now I feel like people can call me the king of Montreal. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I freaking love it. If this fight wasn't happening in Montreal, like if it was in some random city, do you think you would have declined?

I would imagine there was some part of you that's like, I have to fight this fight because everyone's involved. This is my big opportunity, right? Well, they had me between a rock and a hard place, man. Yeah. Like my city, you know, it's my city. I got to defend my city. That's how I was thinking it.

And like, everybody loves him. Like everybody loves Aldo. Like I get it, he deserves the love. And like everyone was telling me all week, we're gonna root for you, but please don everybody loves him. Like, everybody loves Aldo. Like, I get it. He deserves the love. And like, everyone was telling me all week, we're going to root for you, but please don't hurt him. Please don't hurt him. Canadians are so sweet. They're so nice.

You know, they're so nice. But the moment he had the chance to rip my head off, you see him soccer kick me right in the head a couple of times, guys. Next time I'm playing somebody, if you're Canadian, you're going to be all in on my team. Don't tell me to carry nobody, because they're trying to rip my head off out there. You know what I mean?

But yeah, it definitely played a role that it was in my city and it was such a big opportunity and where I was placed on the card too, that plays a role, like so many people are gonna watch this fight. This fight could really carry a lot of weight and it could really propel me. If I didn't take the fight, who was it gonna give me next?

Was it gonna be as big of a name as Ald of who's a bigger name than Aldo? No Right. It was gigantic. Yeah. No, it was it was a scenario dream You had a kind of I was kind of cornered in a way. Yeah, but I would say that Sean Shelby hooks it up, you know, and I'm happy Did you feel like his announcement afterwards took away from your moment? I Mean Did you feel like his announcement afterwards took away from your moment? I mean, not really. I mean, I feel like the way the fight went kind of had a lot to do with his decision making.

Okay. Also, I don't feel like he takes away from me at all. I feel like, I feel great about that win, man. I feel great to share that moment with him. And when I saw him backstage, for all his fans and everyone who's you know like talking bad about me now and telling me I don't deserve anything and... They're talking bad about you. Yeah, people are you know really crushing me right now online and I want to tell you

all one thing. When I saw Aldo backstage, he showed me nothing but love man. I told him I love him. I told him he'll never be forgotten. He'll always be a legend, and he was nothing but nice to me. We asked him for a group picture, and then after the group picture, he asked me for a one-on-one picture because I'm the last guy he's ever gonna fight, and he wants a picture with me, and he showed me nothing but love.

I think he's a sweetheart, and I don't think he'd be happy knowing that you guys are just running me through the coals. Ah, nah, screw that, man. You fought your heart out. Ultimately, if it's because they don't agree with the judge's decision, that has nothing to do with you. That has nothing to do with you. Like you went out there and fought and freaking survived.

I gave everything I have. My whole heart was in that fight. I was telling everybody all week, I'm going to leave everything in there. I'm going to leave every ounce of my heart in that octagon. And I feel like I did. I feel like I did. It was beautiful seeing GSP back there.

Even seeing some of the legends legends like Rory back. I haven't seen Rory at an MMA. David Lozo came. David Lozo. So many guys. Old to see you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, I'm, you know, people were wondering

if I was gonna be intimidated by Aldo, but you know, in a weird way, I've been surrounded by so many kings too. Like, GSB is a king. David Lozo is a king. Rory is a king. Miguel Angel Torres is a king. Kenny FlorB is a king, David Lozano is a king, Rory is a king, Miguel Angel Torres is a king, Kenny Florian is a king.

I've been surrounded by so many greats, you know? And all these guys think I have a chance. Even GSB, you know, my corner is always for Asenil, that's for sure, and then the third man is always who I think I need to help me give me that mental edge for the fight, you know? And I put GSB there because GSB thinks I can win the title, you know, and to have somebody like him, one of the greatest of all time believe in me, I want to put him in there. And I thought he'd be a lot more quiet throughout the fight and in the corner.

But man, he was definitely a second coach. Like he was trying to coach me throughout the entire fight and even backstage and fight week, he would call me and tell me to do things and to practice some mental things. He was trying to coach me throughout the entire fight and even backstage and fight week he would call me and tell me to do things and to practice some mental things. I remember on Wednesday I was going for a walk to buy groceries and he called me and he's like, hey man, I'm going to do a little bit of his accent. He's like, hey man, you're going to have all these thoughts going through your mind. Never let a thought finish negatively.

Every negative thought you make it positive. You make it positive. I was like, yes George, negative thought, you make it positive. You make it positive. I was like, yes George, I'm gonna make it positive, baby. So he's giving me tips and tricks throughout the whole week, he was super involved. And he's a real mensch too, like before five week, he has a lot of things to promote the UFC event. And he called me, he's like,

Eman, he's like, what days do you need me? I'm like, listen, I need you Saturday night. He's like, okay, are you sure you don't need me during the week? Because I've, listen, I need you Saturday night. He's like, okay, are you sure you don't need me during the week? Because I've sponsored stuff and I can cancel them. Like, no, no, make as much money as possible. I'll see you on Saturday. Be there for me Saturday.

And if you see him in my corner, he's very animated in my corner, man. He's yelling, he's coaching, he's screaming at me, be relentless, be relentless. You know, he was very invested in the fight. There was something beautiful about all of it. And I even heard that as Aldo was walking out, you went up to everyone that you could, Bruce, the referee, just telling them how much you loved all of this. Like there was nothing, no part of you that was intimidated by the moment.

In fact, you were sort of like reveling the moment. Yeah, you know, like my last fight with the mindset coach I was numb to everything and he told me it was incredible that you know how detached I was to everything but he told me he's like you know you can still smile like you can be numb to everything and still enjoy it a little bit like you can enjoy it can only be numb but enjoying you know not numb and negative but numb and enjoying so in that moment because the first time I was in the blue corner it was the first time I was sitting in the octagon waiting for my opponent and I kind of didn't know what to do and I was like, you know what, maybe I should just

take it all in and enjoy it because one day I'll never be back in here, you know? So I looked at Firas and I walked up to him first and when I shook his hand, I told him I love this and I wanted to just be and I told him I love this. You should have seen the confidence in Firas' face when I walked up to him in that moment and like all the tension in the room, you know? And I went and I grabbed his hand and his face lit up. And then I went to George's, he's like, George couldn't believe that I was taking that moment to tell him that.

Well, he talks about how afraid he is, you know, even like on the drive there, he's telling me he's like, were you able to sleep last night? I said, yeah, I slept like a baby. He's like, I could never sleep. I'm so afraid. Then I went up to Neil, I did it. Then I went up to Bruce Buffer and I did the same thing to Bruce Buffer and Bruce Buffer told me he's like, you got it, Neil, I did it. Then I went up to Bruce Buffer and I did the same thing to Bruce Buffer. And Bruce Buffer told me, he's like,

you got it brother, you got it. So I even gave me some confidence because Bruce has seen a lot of guys in there too. And I went to the referee and I couldn't, after I shook everyone's hand in there, I just couldn't wait for Aldo to get in the octagon. I couldn't wait for the fight to get started. I wanted to live that moment.

I wanted to be in there with him. I couldn't wait to tango with him. A moment You'll be talking about for the rest of your days if yeah I mean if you talk about like a holy crap highlight real moment, that was it I'm just curious you did say Marlon Vera on Saturday two days later I know he has a fight coming up, but it's in just a couple of weeks Would that be the ideal scenario for you cheeto Vera Vera, if he gets a win in June here in New York? Yeah, I like the matchup, man. Listen, it's not a disrespectful call out. I don't hate him. I don't love him. I'm nothing. Just normal. Yeah, it makes sense. I think it's a good matchup. I think

it'd be good. It's forward in the rankings. Ariel, what I really want is to just keep moving forward. I think that's for me the most important thing. Let's keep the momentum going. Let's get the Canadians to move down the rankings. I feel like, listen, this is the first time, Ariel, in an arena where I'm fighting, I can't hear Firas telling me the time. Firas sometimes will be like, okay, three and a half minutes to go, or two minutes, 45 left.

He'll say something like that. And I couldn't hear anything. Guys, the ambiance in there, the noise, the fans cheering, Zaha B, Ole Ole, they're cheering, all kinds of stuff. They're going crazy, it was so loud. Like, I couldn't hear, I barely heard for us on Saturday. I was mostly hearing GSP,

and it was because GSP was screaming at me. You know, if it wasn't screaming I wasn't hearing it because Fros usually speaks very like, like a normal tone because it doesn't want me to get excited. You know, it doesn't want me to get too crazy. So he speaks normal. But I couldn't hear it at that volume. The volume of the stadium was incredible. The atmosphere was insane. Ariel, were you there live? I was not there. No, I was home. I was home. Oh man, you missed something something. I know, I know. I felt I had FOMO. You know, I felt it is the first Montreal event that I wasn't at. And that's no knock on you. Please don't take it personally. But I was happy to see I was happy to see the Montreal crowd show up because it was some talk about the tickets beforehand. And the last time they were there,

it wasn't the best crowd. And it seemed electric. It seemed like the people, and as I thought going into it, your fight would be the one to bring the most out of them. Yeah, I think at the end of my fight we had a standing ovation. Amazing. A huge standing ovation, it was incredible, and like it was really cool because like when I rewatched the fight, I didn't realize during the fight, but when I rewatched the fight, I saw Dana and Hunter there, they were standing up and clapping with everybody else, like everybody was standing on their feet at the end of our fight. I feel like we gave the crowd an incredible fight.

You know, I thought maybe we'd be fighting tonight. I wasn't able to watch Bilal's fight. I was stuck doing media and stuff backstage. But I'm happy for Bilal and him and Jack Madalana got the bonus. You know, I'm proud of them. I just thought maybe we could have earned the bonus too because it was such a wild round three. Yeah, it reminded me of Hominik versus Aldo back in the day. I just thought maybe that we could have earned the bonus too because it was such a like a wild round three, you know? Yeah, it reminded me of Hominik versus Aldo back in the day.

But in the end, the Canadian got the victory. We did it this time, guys. Yeah. We did it. You know, when I was elbowing him in round three and the crowd started cheering Zaha B, Zaha B, it was incredible. You know, like when I first got the call, I told everybody, I'm like, you know, he's a human being. He's got one head, two arms and two legs and he breathes air

and he gets tired and he bleeds and we made him get tired and we made him bleed and we pushed him to his absolute limit you know what i mean i feel like uh you know like uh you're broken by the end of the fight well done uh congratulations uh really really impressive stuff uh again i always I still feel weird. It's so many people came up to me man about like, are you fighting like even at my gym? Someone's like I saw on Instagram I thought it was you. I feel like I'm like, I just want to let you know, I don't try to promote this because you are the warrior. I'm just a dude sitting here. You deserve all the credit and praise. It's funny. I know I know much love and by the way by the way

by the way in the end we're a team. Ariel, me and you are a team now. I know we're linked together. You're part of the team AZ. Did you see this? This was the best we've been talking about. I was dying of laughter when I saw this to me that it was amazing. Yeah. Ariel, you're part of my team now brother. I appreciate that and by the way I watched the fight. I watched the fight while we were talking and I and I think you won the fight. I watched the fight while we were talking and I think you won the fight. I just want to let you know I rewatch it just now. Well, I appreciate the vote of confidence. If you can, seriously though, I would love to. I'm going to watch it. I'm going to watch it tonight.

Let me know and then let me know if you notice that round two, I walked him down the entire way. And then like one thing that I didn't realize this until like, because you know I do those YouTube lives, guys make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel, by the way, I just thought of it now. But I do the YouTube lives, I didn't know, like somebody in my chat told me, but it's actually unofficial the numbers that they show you during the fight.

And on the UFC website later, they actually compile the actual stats. So Aaron Bronsetter posted the actual stats of my fight and the numbers were way off from what they were showing you live. The strikes landed were so much closer and I had landed a better percentage of strikes. I threw a little bit less but I landed a higher percentage and in round two I landed the more significant strikes in my opinion. You guys have to watch the fight again and see and Yeah, it's just really interesting that people should remember that the stats that they show you throughout the fight during the fight are unofficial Mm-hmm. Yeah, of course they fixed up after yeah

I didn't know I just found that out a few weeks ago during one of my live streams Well people should go check that out. I guess just put in your name on YouTube and your channel comes up Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah guys. Thank you. I would like that. Thanks. Well done. Congratulations. Looking forward to the next one. Enjoy this one. You certainly deserved it. You earned it. And way to represent. Way to represent the 514. Thanks for always having me on the show. Thanks for being a part of the team, man. You're a mensch. I appreciate everything. Much love. Thank you, Eamon. There he is, the great Eamon Zahabi. Coming up in a matter of seconds, we have a few big guests but he deserves all the love. All the love, all the respect in the world. What a performance and I'm going to re-watch it. I meant to do it last night but I didn't have a chance. Mother's Day and whatnot but it was a great fight and he is right, he does deserve a bonus

because that was an incredible performance and Go back and watch UFC 129 against Mark Hominick. Very similar ending, but again in the end the local guy got it done. Massive moment, maybe the biggest moment in Montreal MMA since GSP Condit, GSP Diaz. Those back-to-backs. Alright, let us move along now and say hello to our next guest. Going to be joined by two off the bat here and they really need no introduction although just a couple of weeks ago they made some massive news in the world of wrestling.

Not pro wrestling but real American freestyle wrestling. They announced that they'll be launching this brand new promotion which will kick off in August in Cleveland giving an opportunity to collegiate wrestlers, amateur wrestlers, Olympic wrestlers to not have to go down the path of pro-wrestling or mixed martial arts like has been the case in the past but to actually continue down this wrestling path if you will. I hate to call it amateur wrestling because that makes it seem like it's less than, but that's how some people would categorize it. In the end though, it's going to be something very interesting to watch, progress, and evolve. We do have two-thirds of the founders of Real American Freestyle Wrestling joining us.

Again, two individuals who need no introductions, legends in their own right, the great Eric Bischoff and the one and only Hulk Hogan joining us right now. Gentlemen, thank you so much for doing this, appreciate it, congratulations on the launch, it's great to see you both again. Hulk, I'll start with you, can you take us back to the beginning, the embryonic stages, how does this all come across your radar, how does this all kick off for you? Well I've got a new way to call it it's pro pro wrestling okay there it is double pro pro wrestling this is pro pro wrestling brother this is the elite of the elite it can cross the radar you know because we're always looking for these openings like when a beer company

dropped this marketing plan made a mistake we started real American beer and there was an open lane. The George Foreman grill was like an open lane wish I'd have been a little quicker on that one. But then all of a sudden you know when we're looking at TV and stuff we saw what was going on with UFC of course what's going on with the company that I'm with WWE and we kind of saw you know because Eric's been all over the place as far as producing TV and being part of it and actually running one of the largest companies ever at the time, back in the 90s when I was part of it.

You know, we saw that reality TV and scripted stuff wasn't as strong as the new stuff that was taking off sports, you know, and all of a sudden, you know, TV sports such as Shawn White's snowboarding league, such as the girls volleyball league, those type of things will start to take off and get a lot of traction. And all of a sudden somewhere in between UFC and WWE, there was a market that was really underserved. And that was the amateur wrestlers, the gold medalists, the Olympians, the NCAA champions, the world's

champions. They would spend their whole life doing something they loved from four or five years old. And then when they get to the peak of their career and they'd won a gold medal, whether it became the NCAA champion or 10 time world's champion, there was nowhere else to go. So when we saw that, we, you know, we basically, Eric and I started talking with our partner Chad and we didn't want to compete with the UFC. We didn't want to compete with WWE, but we wanted the opportunity to be as big as them. And, you know, we put our heads together and we started this, uh, freestyle league.

And all of a sudden, man, it's like jumping on that lightning bolt, a Hulk and mania who made the announcement. Everybody's coming to the table. So it's real exciting. And that's kind of like where it kind of, that's kind of like where the key got turned. Eric, I know we spoke maybe just a couple of months ago and you were telling me you're happy, life is good.

You've got your podcast, 83 weeks, your YouTube channel, you make the appearance here or there. Now you're jumping into the deep end, launching a brand new promotion, which takes a lot of time and effort. Why do you want to be a part of this? You know, it's a little bit like getting the opportunity to to take over WCW, although WCW was around before I got there. But I had the unique opportunity to to try to turn that company around and did, which is

almost the same thing as what we're doing here. For me, it amounts to the opportunity to build something and to do something that no one else has ever done. I'm an entrepreneur by nature. I have been my entire life. And when there's an opportunity to do something that's never been done before, do it on a large scale and particularly do it in an area like freestyle wrestling because I've just got so much respect for the athletes. You know, I put my toe in the water in high school and,

you know, after high school for a couple of years in Greco and freestyle, I was never really very good. On my best day, I was pretty average, but I loved it. And I got to know the people in it and really respect them for being the individuals they are and just how tough, how physically demanding and tough these athletes are. So when Hulk gave me a call in Chad and it was like, wait a minute, you mean, you want to know if I'm interested in an opportunity to help build a new sport? Not that the sport is new, but the opportunity is.

To build a new opportunity and create a professional sports league, something that's never been done before in this category? Oh, hell yeah, count me in. And I couldn't be more grateful. Hulk, as you know, sometimes when we see things of this nature, get announced, launch with celebrities of your stature, mega celebrities, you know,

they're more just figureheads. They just kind of put their name attached to it and go on and worry about another project. How involved are you actually going to be in this promotion? Well, I'm there, you know, boots on the ground. The weird thing is, you know, me not being an amateur wrestler, it's really strange. But I've been around so many of these great amateur wrestlers that have crossed over

into the pro wrestling business, you know, such as a Brock Lesnar or Kurt Angle. And there are so many of them that at the end of the day, I didn't realize, you know, because I'm an old man now, I'm 71 years old, but I didn't realize how many of these amateur wrestlers actually grew up watching Hall of Cogin and I didn't realize what a bond I had with them because some of these guys, you know, like my stepson right now, he's 16, he got into amateur wrestling because he was out in Madison Square Garden with me when I was making a huge announcement in the garden a few months ago and he heard the crowd and goes oh my gosh dad what was it like when you wrestled I said it was like

that but louder and so I had no idea that all these amateur wrestlers basically were really kind of like hooked into me one way or the other or felt like they knew they knew me one way or the other. So for me to be able to sit there with Eric's vision and for Eric to be able to tell these back stories and watch these guys at home and how they got to where they are, you know, I really feel that one of the things I was really worried about is when I met all these wrestlers, you know, we went to Ohio and Wisconsin, we met with all the coaches and the teams and stuff. I was worried that it would just be like flat, but these kids have been watching TV. They've been watching wrestling. They've been watching UFC. They've been watching Conor McGregor and all these kids that I didn't know what to expect. They

all got that swagger, man. And so I think that somewhere along the line, I don't want to create like superstars I want mega stars out of these guys because these guys are the real deal and when I say it's pro pro wrestling It really is and so I think I have a connection with these guys and I think I can help them You know not not not with the amateur wrestling stuff, but with everything else that goes along with that Organically, you know, nobody's going to be a bad cop or, you know, don't the clown or something like that. These guys are going to organically grow into these mega stars and they're going to start

feeling their oats. And I really, really think that I can, I can have a lot to do with helping them like that. Eric, for you, you you, in the year 2025, if you don't have some kind of rights deal, streaming deal, TV deal, it's hard to get your entity off the ground. I know it was just announced a couple of weeks ago and you've been asked about this,

but would be remiss if I don't ask you, what are the plans in terms of how this will be broadcast to the world? Well, there's two answers. In the short term, as a matter of fact, as soon as we're done with this, I have a call with a major platform that everybody would know about and recognize. We may end up there, we may not. We are going to end up on a platform on August 30th.

We're in discussions. I don't even want to call it negotiations. It's going to be really straightforward with you on this. We're in discussions with two different platforms, like I said, one in the next 45 minutes. I'm confident that we're going to land a streaming opportunity and it may be cable or broadcast, but time will tell. Look, it's a challenge in that the exciting thing about creating something new and something that nobody's ever done before is if you're successful, it's a major, major accomplishment. The downside is you've got to convince somebody

that you've got to convince a network or a platform that your vision is real and that we can execute on it and we can build on it. But so far those conversations have gone great. I'm not concerned that we won't have a platform. I'm only concerned with which one it will be and how it will work for us. Okay. So that is something to look out for.

Could I ask you, Hulk, a very pointed question, but you know, running a promotion, launching one, isn't cheap. Who's the money behind this? Who's paying for all these great athletes that you guys are signing and putting on these big events? Eric is. Okay. No, just kidding.

No, just kidding. We're funded by the left-wing capital. And they basically are in the live sport there. And they started the Sean White. We talked about that earlier the Sean white snowboarding league girls volleyball the guys that actually play chess They've got a whole league for that too. So they were really excited when we Stepped up to the line with this idea and they're they're the horsepower behind us. Okay, Eric I know that you are somewhat, you know

You're a student of the game and you probably know that there was a promotion some 23 or so years ago called Real Pro Wrestling that tried to launch something like this back in the day and they had names like Daniel Cormier and King Muhammad Lawal and in the end they didn't really get off the ground. They didn't have great success. Anything that you guys have learned from what they did or didn't do that you're hoping to implement with your promotion? Not familiar with what their efforts were, certainly familiar in their attempt, so I can't really analyze what they've done and what we can learn from that, but in my experience, look, we know we have a good idea. The reason most good ideas don't succeed is because they're either not well funded, we don't have that issue, or they have a challenge in execution. I don't think we've got a problem there either. Look, don't want to sound cocky. We know we've got our work cut out for us. you know, creating the drama that we need to create to attract a mainstream television audience, not just amateur wrestling friends and family, but I'm talking about a mainstream audience so

that we can be successful long-term and create sponsorship opportunities and create the megastars as Hulk was referring to. That takes more than just putting people on TV. We've got to get, we've got to want to know these characters and that's one of the things that we're going to focus on. We're going to learn about these people. We're going to learn what drives them. We're going to learn about their successes. We're going to spend more time learning about their challenges and failures. We're going to do all the things we can do to bring these characters to life so that people can connect and relate to them. And we've got a lot to work with. I'll be scheduling some interview time with Kennedy Blades here within the next couple of hours. So anxious to sit down with her and capture her

because she's an amazing young woman. I just can't wait. And she's just one of many of these elite athletes that we know we can bring to the mainstream. But it's going to take time. It's going to take work. But again, we're well funded. I think everybody has an appreciation for the amount of time, work and effort that's going to go into this. And it's going to be a challenge. but I feel really, really good about it. Hulk, you don't need me to tell you this, but I think you're in a real interesting point in your life and career because I think that there's a sector of people who were with you in the 80s, who ride with you, who will always ride with you and always support you. And obviously there are some fans who don't feel that same way anymore, who have turned

against you and we see you at Raw and and they boo you when you come out but then there are other fans who want to support your beer whatever product that you're attached to how do you feel without beating around the bush how do you feel about your relationship with the you know with the public right now your relationship with the people especially coming off the last time we saw you on a major stage was that netflix show in January at the Intuit Dome. Well, you know, they're still nipping at my heels. You know, I can go out there and get booed as the last time I was in L.A. I was Hollywood, over with a black beard and doing the bad guy thing.

I can go out there and get booed in L.A. or the Rock can get booed in L. John Cena gets booed in LA but when I get booed there's a whole different reaction media-wise for some reason I've laid some type of groundwork that people are still interested in what I'm doing and so for those that are on the team and and are and are riding with a train to the station that's great for those that are that are the haters and have still have a problem with me you know there's nothing I can do to fix that except, you know, just keep proving by my actions that, you know, I'm still in the game. I'm still pushing

hard. You know, I took a lot of time off because I had like 25 surgeries and I was down for a long time. And, you know, I've always loved the hunt. I've always loved to get back in the game, And you know, I've always loved the hunt. I've always loved to get back in the game, but it's always been that way with me because my whole career I had that top spot no matter what it was. Even through the 80s, it was the fastest draw. You know, during the 80s, it was just a situation where everybody was knocking me. Everybody was trying to knock me off that top spot. I'll trade that for not being on the bottom of the card,

if you know what I'm saying, or being on the bottom of the pile of life. So for me, it's just part of the territory. I mean, it's kind of like, you know, when you get booed and then you get 3.2 billion engagements all of a sudden, you know, and then you rock that whole world in LA with how much interaction there was on the internet.

I'll take it. Okay, so after that, you didn't view that as some sort of like indictment on the state of your career, how people feel about you. You felt like they were just booing the character? Oh no, no, no, no. All the above. All the above. You know, there are certain people that, you know, boo the character. There are certain WWE superstars that had an opinion and they had advice for me. But I would like to ask those same guys when I go to New York or Chicago and the people

cheer out of the rooftops. I would like to know what their advice is then and what their opinion is. So it's a double edged sword with me and it's always been at least part of the character, it's part of me personally, it as part of my professional life, as part of my personal life, it's all the above. I mean, and at the end of the day, I'm just like an old scarred up seal with a bunch of scars on me,

and I'm really relatable to most normal people because a lot of people have been through a lot of stuff I have professionally. A lot of people have made the same, not the same mistakes, but personally made mistakes, and I'm still relatable to so many people. If they me fine if they're on the team lead that's great too so not hating on anybody brother I'm just I'm still here I'm still moving forward and it's kind of like the old rafi mood depends on on how hard you can get it get back up and

keep moving forward and brother I'm always leaning into the wind. I appreciate that. You guys teased that there was a third man, let's bring in the third man and he is someone who knows this world of wrestling better than anyone. I've known him for a very long time myself, has coached some of the greatest MMA fighters of all time and of course some of the greatest Olympic and collegiate wrestlers of all time. Israel Martinez now joining us. Hello Izzy, how are you my man? I'm good brother, how are you man? Good to see you. It's great to see you. And so let me ask you, when you got the call regarding teaming up with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan to launch something like this about a sport that is so near and dear

to your heart, what was your initial reaction? Well, it's kind of a crazy story. Hulk has a partner in the beer business, Chad Bronstein. And Chad brought his son to our wrestling school, kind of built a small relationship with him. And we were kind of pitching back and forth this idea. And in the meantime, I was building a relationship with Hulk Hogan and going on some of his beer tours and just got a chance to connect with the Hulk

and just see how badass he was and his just his passion for life. And I was explaining to him my passion for the sport of wrestling and MMA. And there was always like there was something to do there with Chad in the background kind of putting it all together. We kind of presented Hulk and Hulk's like man I ain't going anywhere without my boy Eric Bischoff. So it was a fast dream kind of come true with a lot of guys that I respect the heck out of and that you know

You know, I believe that we could take the sport forward I when it was an idea it was an unbelievable idea for me because I always dream of building the sport better and leaving it A better place and I knew that we could do something powerful with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan and Chad Bronstein Hulk I saw you on Fox News you refer to Izzy as sort of like your source, your plug to this world. He's the guy that's getting you all the big names and you've announced some of them already. David Carr, Kyle Dake, Eric mentioned,

he mentioned Kennedy as well, Kennedy Blades. Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers, yeah. Is that accurate? Like, is he kind of, no, no, it is completely accurate. I mean, Izzy is the linchpin. I mean, this is all about relationships. Life's all about relationships. And he's been in the game so long that, you know, when we went to, to Izzy, you know, Izzy, Izzy kind of like built the foundation

of this, this whole situation for us to have have to get to these wrestlers to talk to him to tell him what our plan was. If it wasn't for Izzy, we'd still be stuck in the mud, you know, but Izzy's the one that laid out the groundwork and he had the relationship. He approached these wrestlers and and told them what our vision was. And Izzy's got so much stock in the game and people, you know, believing in so much. They took a second look when Izzy spoke to him. I call him our lynchpin. Not trying to put you on the spot here Eric but sometimes this is how it goes one of the names that was announced as being part of the promotion is Kyle Snyder but we we found out this

morning that that he was arrested is he still going to be a part of the promotion? Yeah I just I read about that about an hour ago actually. I've been on the phone all morning and so like we'll talk about it internally. I don't know enough about it, you know, the facts to comment on it here. Other than to say, you know, I don't know how old Kyle is, but you know, as a young man or woman, you know, once you start reaching certain levels of success in life and people know who you are, it becomes even more critical that you are careful in the way you conduct yourself, whether it's in the business or away from the business. I'm sure Kyle is just based on the headlines.

I've never met him. I don't know him. But I'm pretty sure I might that he's embarrassed. Friends and family probably very embarrassed and you know, like I said, we'll figure it out. We'll take a look at it and discuss amongst us what's the best course of action given the information, but that's all I know for right now. Fair enough. One name that jumped out to me is Izzy, was Ben Askren. Is Ben Askren coaching or is he actually competing? All right, so Ben actually, we do a lot of business together

with the Premier National League. We built a 32 team league in the United States of all the best clubs, so Ben's like I am. I mean, he wrestles every day with the guys. He loves wrestling. He's like I am. I mean, he wrestles every day with the guys. He loves wrestling. We always talk about growing the sport. We always talk about doing something really cool. And when this opportunity was available,

it was a no brainer to bring Ben in. I mean, Ben took some bad couple losses and he's better than that. So I think also just with his, but he's been on every card. He knows what's going on in the sport. Just to be an advisor was the first step I had with Ben. And then I was teasing him like, hey, Ben, I got a couple of guys that you could wrestle.

And Ben's like, man, I'd actually love to wrestle. So that's kind of where we are right now. Ben's going to wrestle a couple of matches. He's a huge part of this just in the backs, building relationships with us, getting us Parker Keckhisen, getting us certain, certain guys from his team. And also he wants to compete. He can wrestle.

I've seen him practice a couple of times. I'd like to see him battle too and I'm sure the fans do. Hulk, there's a team element to collegiate wrestling and also Olympic wrestling. It's Team USA versus Team, you know, Canada, etc. But one thing that I think combat sports, especially when you get to like prize fighting, it's very individual. It's all about like you versus that guy who's the better man. Are you guys going to go more team based or is it going to be like the UFC, for example, every man, woman for themselves, rankings, and then a champion at the top of a weight

class? Well, I'm laughing under my breath when we were naming wrestlers. Did I say Aaron Rodgers, the football player or Aaron Brooks? You said you said Rogers, but I didn't want to I didn't want to correct you. You're the Hulk. Sorry. No, it's all good. That'd be big news, by the way.

Aaron Rodgers may be looking for work a little bit later in the season. Yeah, I'll tell you, Ariel, you know, we're going to do individual format based like the UFC. We're going to have champions, we're going to have belts, we're going to do the storylines, you know, we're going to do it as best we can to showcase the greatest sport in the world, wrestling, whether it's scripted or unscripted, it's the greatest sport in the world. Okay. So Izzy, can I ask you, can guys like Wyatt Hendrickson, who just won the heavyweight championship, can collegiate athletes sign sign with you guys as well or do they have to have been graduated? Well we're actually in we're talking to all the top wrestlers

we've signed 30 almost 40 wrestlers so far we have some of the top athletes we got an NIL deal for the college athletes that are currently in college and we also got a couple high school NIL deals out to the top high school wrestlers in the world so it's gonna be awesome we got the best of high school NIL deals out to the top high school wrestlers in the world So it's going to be awesome. We got Uh the best of the best. Okay, uh, that is gable steveson I think is another name that people would love to see involved as well So there's a lot of big names out there. Um, I don't want to keep you guys too long

Because I know you have a big meeting coming up. Uh, eric you alluded to that But hulk i'd be remiss if I don't ask you because we we were just talking about this a couple weeks ago we were comparing sena's turn to your turn in 96. My hypothesis, my, I guess my take on it all was nothing will ever be bigger than your turn. And I'm not just saying because you're here, you can go back and find the clip. Yours was seismic. Yours changed the industry. No one saw it coming. I could go on and on, but no one better than you to ask this question to. Can you compare your turn in 96, you know, going to Hollywood Hogan, joining the NWO. Eric was a huge part of that as well. Shout out to my friend, Mark Ramundi, who has his book coming out next month, calling, called, what is it? Say hello to the bad guys. Say hello to the bad guys.

Tremendous book to what John Cena did just a couple of months ago. Well, I think when, you know, Eric and I pulled that off on the Daytona bachelor at the beach, I think it was really, really, really organic because when Scott Hall came in and then Kevin Nash came in, it actually looked like they were still working with the WWE or WWF. So all of a sudden, when I came down as the third man, nobody knew more about that organization than me. And when I turned and you feel that white heat where it gets quiet, and then all of

a sudden they start throwing everything in the ring. I told Kevin and Scott, I said, there's a real good chance they could be coming here in a second. And when I saw me and Gene get hit in the nose with a battery and he was bleeding like a pig, I said, Gino, you need to get out of here because this could get real crazy. That was so intense that you could feel in that building how much hatred they had for me,

for turning and destroying all the kids with the training prayers and vitamins. I did it for the money. It was just so evil. I think it had a whole different level of storytelling and stabbing someone in the back. The turn with Cena was good, but I think they were just two different things

at two different times. What do you think, Eric? I think Hawk's right. You know, the who's the third man, which was incidentally Hawk's idea to kind of recreate the who's the third Man, which was incidentally, Hulk's idea to kind of recreate the Who's the Third Man to introduce Izzy and to get a lot of attention on this launch. And I think we got like 10.3, I don't even know, millions and millions and millions of hits. So it was a good idea.

But I think the reason it worked is because that turn was part of his storyline. Scott Hall came down, my big buddy's gonna come next week, Kevin Nash shows up. Then for weeks, the whole story was who is their third man. With seeing his turn, it was more spontaneous. It wasn't a part of an arc. It was more of an angle, so to speak, more of an incident as opposed to part of a story. And I think because Hulks was part of an angle, so to speak, more of an incident as opposed to part of a story. And I think because Hulks was part of a story, number one, that successfully created a lot

of anticipation. People were genuinely wanting to know who was that third man. And when Hulk Hogan came down in his red and yellow, and Randy Savage was laying on the mat, everybody assumed Hulk was there to make the save until he wasn't. And I think that dramatic turn of events based on a episodic story is what made that work so well. I think if Hulk Hogan would have turned spontaneously, it still would have had a major implication.

But because it was part of a story, it has become legendary and everything else is compared to it. Hulk, you seem to have taken to it very well, being the bad guy. How would you grade how John has taken to it two months in? Well, it's hard to explain because we ran as a pack. I mean, you know, when we did stuff, when we were spray painting Ted Turner's TV trucks,

I mean, we were doing stuff that was not in the script. It basically, we were outside the lines, some of the stuff we did. We get kicked out at Disney because Kevin Asch did Ray Masero and he blondarded him into the side of the trailer. I mean, the people that are watching live TV called the cops on us in Disney, put the boots to us. We ran as a pack, where in the beginning of this thing with Cena, it was Cena and The Rock who said cut his throat, and then it wasn't, it was more of Cena individually running, you know? So, ah, it's just hard to explain. you'd had to be there brother. Okay, fair enough

I was just I was just watching the other day and Sina came out and it was a tight shot on Sina's furma crowds in a match and the crowd is chanting Thank you, Sina while he's trying to get heat, you know So it's I'm not sure the audience has really bought into it the same way that you really want them. You want that heat. We always use that term. We throw it around like everybody knows what it means.

And I guess there's different degrees or variations of heat. But what Hulk had was they wanted to see him hurt. They wanted to see Kevin and Scott, yours truly. They wanted to see us literally get our asses kicked, not like for pretend on TV. That's a different level of heat. And I don't think John's there yet. Fair enough.

Izzy, while we're talking business, your guy John Jones gonna fight Tom Aspinall, what can you tell us? You know what? I gotta call Brandon Gibson. You know, I get updates every now and then, he's doing great, but you know, I'm focused. I focused I got the P and now now we just started the real American freestyle and the Izzy wrestling school is is bigger and better than ever so you know I got a lot going on

but in my personal opinion um John fights him John wins I mean John's the best fighter in the world there's nothing like him. Last one for you Hulk Hulk. Finally, how many events in 2025? What are you guys shooting for? And then 2026, can you lay the table for us here as far as what you guys are trying to launch? Well, we've been talking about doing 10 to 12. Wow. I mean, to me, that scares the hell out of me.

But I think this first one's gonna set the tone. And I think the timing's perfect. I think we're in the right place, Cleveland. So I really feel that we've got, I think we've got four or five in a row set up, right Eric? Out of the chute. Yeah, we're looking, I mean, on paper right now, we're looking at one event per month.

And we're also looking at creating ancillary content, you know, non-scripted shows, much like, you know like The Ultimate Fighter did, and we've seen so many competition elimination formats work, because that's an opportunity to bring these wrestlers into people's homes and get to know them and get to know the sport. A lot of what we have to do is to educate the audience on what freestyle wrestling really is. If you go back 20 years ago and take 20 guys out of a bar and say, what's a near right, a rear naked choke, they look at you

like they wouldn't know what you're talking about. It sounds like somebody's seen a porn scene, right? Now you take 20 guys out of a bar and they'll demonstrate a rear naked choke. And that's because UFC has done a great job of educating the audience as well as entertaining them with the sport. That's one of the things that we need to do too. So it's just going to be a fun journey, Ariel. Well, I wish you guys the best. Good luck to you. Congrats on the launch. Good luck with all the meetings. Really curious to see where you end up as far as streaming platform television network that to me is a huge component to all this you all know that better than I do and we will be watching so good luck

thank you all appreciate it. Ariel, would you please please please come to our first event. Oh wow on the spot you're putting me on the spot right is this us coming together is this the handshake? It could be brother it could be you're gonna get be friends with me you're gonna get be friends with me You're gonna get some heat get ready. No, I know maybe I should take it back. I don't know. I should do one He's already friends with me. So it's all good We'd love to have you there brother. I appreciate that. Thank you very much and all the best you guys will definitely look to do that That's August 30th in Cleveland event number one. So good luck. Thank you all for coming on. I appreciate the time very much. Good luck

in the next few months as well as you get ready to kick things off. Thanks guys. Thank you, man. Thank you, brother. There they are, the trio looking to launch Real American Freestyle Wrestling. Hulk Hogan is the lead commissioner, the chief media officer is Eric Bischoff, and the COO of Real American Freestyle is Israel Martinez, has coached the likes of John Jones, Yaya Rodriguez, Clay Guida, Holly Holm, has been there alongside some of the best collegiate and Olympic wrestlers certainly hailing from the United States.

Going to be interesting. That Kyle Snyder story is a wild one. This just happened this morning. It came out this morning. Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder was arrested this past Friday by Columbus police as part of a prostitution sting in the city. Columbus police confirmed the arrest to MMA Fighting. I'm reading this on MMAFighting.com on Monday.

After local outlet 10TV first reported the news, Snyder 29 was one of 16 men charged during the sting after police led an undercover operation to crack down on prostitution in Columbus. Police posted escort ads online as part of the operation and then used the responses to set up potential arrests. Snider reportedly called and texted the number listed in the ad around 815 on Friday and agreed to meet the escort at a local hotel after arriving. Snider allegedly paid an undercover officer cash and requested

oral sex and he was then arrested for engaging in prostitution released at the scene. He is due in court on May 19th. He was the youngest US wrestler to capture gold in 2016 then won silver in 2020. Tried to get a third in 24 but fell short so there you have it real American freestyle wrestling who's excited ultimately it all comes down to the right steel I'll give it a watch I'm intrigued. I'll see you in Cleveland brother yeah here we go I mean we're the front row with our real American beer. I'm in? Yeah, man.

You need a platform. Yes. A Dazon. Who knows? Is it a Warner Brothers? Is it a Dazon? Is it an Amazon? All the usual suspects.

Yep. Or do you initially go on YouTube and just get the word out there? There's obviously the flow wrestlings of the world who are big into this. You know there's the fight TVs or I guess it's the trailer TVs but I think in order to be truly successful you need to, you need one of those big platforms. If you look online, if you look up the real pro wrestling YouTube videos, there's some classic ones

with DC and King Mo. They tried this and I would urge everyone involved, whether it's those three gentlemen or anyone behind the scenes, like those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. What did we say about GFN? I'm not suggesting this is going to happen to them, but definitely read up, watch, learn, speak to those involved back in the day, wasn't that long ago, 2002, 2003, so that you don't repeat the same mistakes. But it's always been a very interesting thing. Like you see how popular collegiate wrestling, it's a very niche thing, Olympic wrestling, amateur wrestling, and they'll have the championships and they'll sell out. They sold out Wells Fargo Center in Philly back in March,

but it never took that next step. And so most of those guys have to go either, you know, you'll go to the Olympics and then you'll try to either become a pro wrestler, an MMA fighter, or you just go back to coaching. That's usually the three, you know, the three, the three options out there. But if they could get like the Ben Ashgrens of the world, or some guys who are connected to MMA and pro wrestling, Gable would be one of those. I think you'll get the casual fans to watch as well.

So I'm curious. Yeah. And getting those names is also the best pipeline to getting more talent, right? Because if I'm, you know, and getting those names is also the best pipeline to getting more talent, right? Because if I'm, you know, XYZ wrestler, this is a viable path for me. I'm telling my buddies,

hey, this could be something for you too. And then all of a sudden it starts to snowball. So yeah, they've got the right elements so far, but I think you're right. Like the distribution is gonna be a very, very important next step. No secret that Hogan was booed vociferously back in January.

I actually thought he was going to kind of like dance around the question. He kind of just owned up to it. Now, whether they're booing the character or booing the guy for what he's done, what he said, what he stands for, I guess is up to interpretation and he's viewing it more from a character standpoint,

it seems like. But, yeah. He sort of answered it and he took it pretty head on he basically said I'd rather be booed than not recognized at all right I'm still who I am and so he's a he's not shy in a way speaking of pro wrestling I wanted to mention that one of the most legendary characters in the history of pro wrestling, Sabu, whose whose real name is Terry Brunk, that we found out yesterday, passed away at the age of 60. passed away at the age of 60. One of the most hardcore entertaining wrestlers in the history

of the business obviously made a name for himself in ECW Extreme Championship Wrestling and NWA. This is a photo from an article that was posted today on Uncrowned.com, an absolute must read by Phil Schneider entitled Sabu was Sabu until the very end. He actually wrestled at 60 just three weeks ago in Las Vegas, WrestleMania week. It's a must read. And that picture, the previous one that we just showed, is from one of the most memorable moments in his career

when he showed up at ECW Arena standing in front of Taz. Could we go back to the previous one? The lights went off, yeah. Taz is standing in the middle of the ring and there's freaking Sabu. The place went absolutely insane. And shout out to the great Paul Heyman, who dubbed him the suicidal, homicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac.

One of the great characters, and yes, these are some photos. Throughout his career, he was brought back to ECW, had some memorable matches, programmed with John Cena, these photos from Nick Karp from his last match just a few weeks ago in Las Vegas. Brilliant stuff. The great Sabu. I mean doing matches like that at 60. Golly.

He was the nephew of wrestling legend The Sheik, and he began his career in 1985, wrestling in independent promotions around North America, also in New Japan. In 93, he returned to the United States to compete for extreme championship wrestling where he feuded with the likes of Taz and Rob Van Dam, then was brought over to WBC in the 1980s. And in 2003, he returned to the United States to compete for Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he feuded with the likes of Taz and Rob Van Dam.

Then was brought over to WWE in 06, 07, when they relaunched ECW. Was a part of the ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view, where he faced Rey Mysterio. Just an absolute great, an absolute legend and very sad to hear about his passing so wanted to send my condolences to his family and if you're looking for some classic, classic clips online of some real fun pro wrestling angles and characters as well, look up Sabu. Joey Styles back in the day. Bill Alfonso.

Those are some great days in extreme championship wrestling. We will move along now and say hello to one of the big stars from this past weekend. What a moment for him. What a moment for European and Irish MMA. What a moment for the PFL even though a lot of us here in North America couldn't watch it. The scenes were incredible. PC did a great job of covering it all for us, boots on the ground from afar. It was a bit of a roll of the dice coming off arguably the best fight of the year and

the best fight in PFL's history. Conventional wisdom would say that you run it back right away. The timing didn't work out. He wanted his homecoming. He got his homecoming. He took a fight against a tough guy named Bruno Miranda and he disposed of him in just 42 seconds. The walkout, the fight, the celebration, the post-fight interview, 10 out of 10, 10 out of 10, 10 out of 10, 10 out of 10. It was the type of night that you dream of. So let's talk to the man who was a part of it, who dreamed it all up and put it into reality.

The great Paul Hughes, kind enough to join us. Hello, Paul. How are you? Hi, brother. Good to see you. Are you flying high? Have you come down? No, I'm on cloud nine, bro. I'm on cloud nine. You've talked about this. You've talked about this homecoming. You've talked about wanting this. Have you come down? No, I'm on cloud nine, bro. I'm on cloud nine. You've talked about this. You've talked about this homecoming. You've talked about wanting this and doing everything in your power to bring a big show

to Belfast. I would imagine even in your wildest dreams, you couldn't have scripted this, right? Like from everything to the performance itself, to the aftermath, this is just, this has to be beyond your wildest dreams. Yeah, bro. I, I'm still pinching myself to be honest. It usually does take me a little bit of time for it to sink in. Um, it just, it's almost like everything went too perfect. Like everyone just went beyond better than I envisioned it.

I didn't expect to knock him out on the number of minutes. To be honest, I kind of wanted to go out and if anything, I was trying to start with not too much pressure because I didn't want to knock him out in no more than a minute, to be honest. I kind of wanted to go out and if anything, I was trying to start with not too much pressure because I didn't want to get clipped, you know, because Bruno hits hard. So, but the left hook, it landed and then that was it. So yeah, I'm feeling good. You're a pretty even keel guy,

but even in the immediate aftermath, not when you were in the cage, but when you went in and spoke with Sean O'Connell backstage with PT, even now, you're so subdued, so subdued. Like, and you spoke about this a little bit with PT about just your activity being center and all that stuff, but it just feels like none of this is getting to you. How is that possible?

I don't know, it's weird. Right before the fight, and I've experienced maybe this in my last couple as well, I've experienced just real levels of calm before it. Now obviously when you win, you knock someone out, your adrenaline, you get a spike of adrenaline for sure. But I remember even after I'd done the post-red interview, obviously I cut the promos and all that. Being in the cage, just my team and being so there and so like calm and not like up and down, just like there. It's a weird

kind of experience. I think to be honest, I think it comes from the reps that I've been putting in recently. I mean, that's my fifth fight in 13 months, fourth fight in PFL. They've all been big fights, big pressure, big crowds. I think I'm just a young veteran now. I think it's just I'm very, very comfortable in there, very calm. And I think that that is reflected in my performances and in my demeanor and everything that I'm doing is that I am fully present there. You know, the fear is not overwhelming. I'm in total, total control. Did you share that sentiment that this was a bit of a risk, a roll of the dice, because, God forbid you slip up,

that Usman fight might not be there? Nah, well, I mean, look, every fight's a risk. Anytime you sign a fight, somebody especially, at this level, you know, Bruno hits hard, 17 and five kick boxer. Dangerous, every fight has risk, but without risk, there is no reward. And to be honest, I would have fought anybody in there to get the opportunity to fight at home in Belfast. I mean, that it's literally, I mean, the sort of dreams have just came true.

It definitely hasn't sunk in that actually, now that I think about it, like even this is kind of, but we're talking about me just having fun Belfast. I'm just sitting down in my mom and dad's house here and there. And it's just like a normal day. And you're saying, Oh, what about Belfast? The weekend? It's just kind of, it's crazy, but it's crazy. So, um, to me, it felt like this meant more to you than being, I don't want you to kind of pick and choose here, but this whole scene, this whole moment for what it symbolized and what it meant in your career meant more than fighting for the belt.

You would have, if you had to choose between the two, you would have chosen this over fighting for the belt. Am I right about that? Am I right about that? No question. Look, belts come and go, and I don't really care that much about them. I care about what they bring. I'll go to the grave with this. As I always said in the lead up to this fight, fighting in the SSE arena, which is the biggest arena you can do here in Belfast, that was my number one, and I've done that now. That's ticked off, so I'll go to the grave happy.

Honestly, I truly, truly will. And what about the fact like PT was, was laying out the scene for us. It seemed like a lot of the people there weren't necessarily PFL fans, MMA fans. They were just Paul Hughes fans. Like they were there specifically to root you on, to support you.

They weren't like, oh, hey, the PFL is in town. I would imagine a lot of them with all due respect, probably don't even know what the PFL is, they were just there to back you that has to feel unreal. Uh, it's crazy, bro. Um, it really is literally just before I came on here, I just put up an Instagram story asking for people to send me like their best crowd reaction videos. And you know, usually how it is, you have wherever it's at in the arena,

you have a section where all your people are sitting, but the entire arena was my section. Like everyone reacted the same. So it's about what you're talking about. Everyone was there for me. And that is just out of this world. Like I would not have imagined that this time last year, having just signed to the PFL,

that I would sell out the SSE Arena 7,000 people, basically single-handedly. I mean, as you alluded to, like people aren't familiar with the PFL yet because they've never been in Belfast. They've like, it's new, you know, it's the new kid in the block. So they're not that familiar. So they were largely there to just support me. So that was like, yeah, I mean, this

moment here, the crowd and the background were just screaming. And on that, I'm actually glad that the camera pointed that way because where it's pointing is the North tier. And I remember when I made my pro debut there eight years ago, all of my friends and family were sitting in that North tier. That's why I jumped up in that side. And when I put my head down on the cage, it was just like, I had this like whirlwind of an eight year experience where it just all came together. Except this time they're all sitting in the same place, but there's 7,000, other people screaming my name and the old A's at that point You can't hear it there. The old A's are just going through the arena and I just took that whole moment and it was

unbelievably special. Are you are you even thinking of anything in them? Like when you put your head down, what a beautiful scene that is Do you have any thoughts going through your mind? No, I'm just, when I, I put my head down because I had that moment as I just said about, so when I put my head down, all I'm doing is listening. I'm just, my head's in the darkness.

I'm just listening to the ole, ole, ole. It's just crazy. But even at that moment, as I said earlier, I'm not like crazy jumping around at that point I'm centered again and I'm just taking it all in so it's just like ah crazy brother crazy crazy speaking of that of that fight your debut it happened on a Bama card right I believe it was Bama 28 Park versus Redmond Norman Park versus Paul Redmond back in 2017 I think it was Bama 28, Park versus Redmond, Norman Park versus Paul Redmond back in 2017.

I think it was like a co-pro with Bellator because Rory McDonald was there, you took a photo with him and here you are just starting out, eyes wide, you're just happy to be there, you pick up your first win. This is the post-fight interview and it's wild to watch it all these years later. Here you are speaking after your pro debut in the exact same arena. This has been years of hard work. I'm 19 years old people. 19 years old. I'm the future. I am the future.

Well this is the thing we said on the commentary. A experienced man very strong grappler but from the moment that first knee went in an incredible flurry of accurate work thank you Rob thank look at it up here let's see what was it dropped him what was that it was the knee first and then you just didn't let him off the hook a flurry of incredible punches damn that looks good. That looks good. Well Paul as you said just 19 an incredible way to start your Bama career. Well done young man. I just like to thank my coaches Davey Patterson and my teammates. I'd also like to say happy birthday to my dad it's his birthday today so wherever he's on, happy birthday to him. What do you think of when you see that? Surreal. Surreal.

Do you know what? I've always had it, bro. I always knew. I swear to God, I always fucking knew from back then I was gonna do something. I swear to God, I thought I was gonna be be the best fighter undeniable, pound for pound. By the time I was 25 years old, I swear to God, I believe that took a little bit longer, but I'm going to get there someday. Man, it's great. Like that kid, everything that he's been through since then,

right? Like the hand breaks, the ups and downs. To end back in there at the same arena, this is the photo with Rory McDonald. Today was a good day. 1 and 0, baby. 428 weeks at the same arena. This is the photo with Rory McDonald. Today was a good day, one and oh baby. 428 weeks ago, same arena. I mean, this is the stuff of movies.

Yeah, that was 90 seconds I got it done that night and now 42 this night. So there's something special about the SSE arena. You said right when the mic was given to you in the post fight interview in the cage, what a freaking promo that was. I mean a totally different vibe than the one we just showed, the fire. In fact, let's watch that one together, can we? This was magic. Here you are talking to Dan Hardy seconds after the win. No! No! No! No! No! No!

No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!

No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!

No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! that moment. That is fiery stuff. And so that's how you sell a fight. That's how you get people

behind you. How confident are you? And there's the tweet, thank you Belfast, you can get it. How confident are you that your message was sent and that will in fact be next for you? Yeah, I'm very, very confident. At the end of the day, they have to do this fight next. They have to do it. They have to strike with the average heart. Look at the pop of the day, they have to do this fight next. They have to do it. They have to strike with the average hot. Look at the pot that that got. I mean, the people want to see it plain and simple, and you've got to make the fights that the fan wants to see. And look, it's going to be the biggest fight that PFL have ever done. It's going to be one of the biggest fights in MMA of the year. And bring it on.

Bring it on. He took to Instagram after to talk about your message, to respond to your message, I should say. Here he is. Congratulations. Good job. We will do it again. But when I say, and prior to that, Ro, man, I didn't even know you were fighting.

What did you make of these messages? Well, that's good. You know, saying, Oh, I didn't even know you were fighting. I mean, that's obviously cap. So perhaps he's looking through me once again. And if he makes that mistake, he is fucked. Do you think that there's any part of them that still feels like he's above you? Like it's sort of in his mind charity? Oh, I'll give you the shot, but only when I say so only when, when, when I want to do it.

Yeah, absolutely. Look, I said that before the last time you're looking down on me. I get tailed by the energy and I still feel like, you know, yeah, whatever. I got us respect in the last fight, but this guy, he's been the champion for some time. He's still in his mind thinking, ah, the new kid, you know, he got lucky the first time, I'll give him a chance another day. But at the end of the day, he can, as I said, he can delay it as long as he wants, but his time is coming. There have been a lot of PFL slash Bellator fighters who have left. A lot of the Ali guys leaving. Aaron Pico, I think Patchy Mix is going to leave Kayla a couple years ago any concern

that he will try to leave before fighting you and yeah that's I would not like that that would not be cool no I know is there is there a concern because also you know now with Islam may be moving up they've talked about you know obviously they don't want to be in the same weight class all right Islam moves up here comes Usman to the 155 pound division to the UFC. I just wonder if there's any sort of anxiety surrounding this. If you've talked to the PFL, if they've assured you, no, no, we're going to make this right. It's going to happen. I haven't, look, because I just fought on Saturday, usually we're going to give ourselves

four or five days before we start talking business again. So I guess we'll find out more whenever Tim and Dan talks to him this week. I can't see him being able to do a runner, to be honest. At the end of the day, there will always be that question mark if he decides to do a runner. He will never ever get rid of that question mark if he doesn't fight me again. And that is the truth. Like he could say, Oh, I'm undefeated all he wants, but he has to fight me again. Otherwise his whole career, what we question. Do you think he wants to fight you again? I think that. Yeah, look, he's a fighter.

I think that, you know, he would prefer a much easier fight, but I think that his team will just be like, no, you have to basically honor yourself and do this again. I think he's got no choice. Did they give you any indication as to when they want to do this and where? I can only assume that it will be Dubai. I'm just guessing it'll be towards the end of the year.

I don't know any specific dates. Okay. Could I ask, I hope you take be towards the end of the year. I don't know any specific dates. Okay Could I ask you know, I hope you take this as the highest of compliments I feel like you and you were signing has been the best thing that PFL has done over the last year plus It hasn't been the best stretch as far as PR for them What do they need to do in your opinion? And I know this is a question for a Peter Murray or Don Davis But just to kind of get back in the good graces of people in fact you know on Saturday like I was just kind of looking for the fight here in America

and I was like holy crap this isn't airing anywhere how is this possible like Paul is like top two top three most popular fighters on the roster how do you not have this airing somewhere anywhere since then Don Davis has said they're gonna figure that out with the international events but it just seems like a string of some some hits that they've taken. How do they get back on track in your opinion? Yeah, look, I mean, that's obviously disappointing. I know that the guys are not going to want for that to happen. There's obviously some technicalities that's making that difficult. I, yeah, it's disappointing that my fight isn't in the US for the US fans to see. I'm disappointed for them not

being able to see it in real time. But I made sure that I made it short enough so you could fit it into a ring for them. But you know what? I think that what the PFL are doing, they are signing some of the best talent coming up in the world. Me being a great, perfect example of that last year. And I think if they keep doing that, they keep attracting a talent like they attracted me. They seen my potential, they invested heavily in me. They let me blossom in their organization. I feel like very, very happy here. I've been treated incredibly well.

The staff have all been absolutely amazing the whole time. And that makes me feel good about this all and positive about it. So I think we keep racking up all the young talent, you know, I think that'll be a good thing. Your story is somewhat of an underdog story. Do you connect with them because you feel like they're the underdog as well and there's some pride that goes into like taking on the Goliath? Hugely, hugely. I'm all about fighter. I'm fighter first, ultimately.

And I've been treated very well here. I know that all our athletes are being treated well. So yeah, I do see it as underdog story big time. I think that the more options for fighters out there, the better. I mean, it's very, very, that's very clear, you know? And at the end of the day, the PFL are the only other organization in the world

that are paying fighters real money. So long may it continue. I mentioned the post fight interview. I also love that you gave your bonus or said that you're going to donate your bonus to a local mental health charity. Can I ask you about that charity and why you feel the need all of that. So I can almost a thousand tickets for them and all of the proceeds went to charity. So I was already working with a charity for this, so t-shirts, all of that. Bro, like mental health charities are completely underfunded here in Northern Ireland.

Like we have the highest rates of per mental health in the UK and we're the most underfunded in the UK. And unfortunately, our politicians aren't the best here. So there's no funding directed towards these organizations. They really don't get anything. I mean, if you go to a therapist here, I know people personally who have been in really difficult positions

and they finally gathered up the courage to talk to a doctor and to seek help. And it's like, oh yeah, we can get you a therapist, but it's gonna be four months waiting time. Like, what is this? This is impossible. That could be the end for some people, you know? And I feel very strongly about that.

Like we're obviously a country that's been through a lot. There's a lot of trauma. And just the suicide numbers here are out of control. They really, really are. It's unbelievably sad. So look, it's only a very, very small help me doing this. It's a very, very small help. Like, so, yeah.

Well, good for you. Very, very classy stuff. And I saw that you, you shared a point with Bruno yesterday, right? Yeah, that was coincidental, believe it or not. We actually, I have some mutual friends with Bruno, so it was always going to be respectful. And then we were diving just out with my friends yesterday. They all flew in from around the world. We thought we'll go out, find a beer garden and then who's there is Bruno.

So it was very cool, very cordial. I met him that morning in the hotel. Very, very respectful. I have nothing against the guy. Why would I? You know, it's just competition. At the end of the day, he had a great opportunity ahead of him guy. Why would I? You know, it's just competition at the end of the day. He had a great opportunity ahead of him. Of course,

he's going to take it. And you know, I was the victor that night and that was it. Did you train together way back in the day? I remember I'd done one training session with him, the Tiger one time. He was one of the pro fighters and I was there doing some training, but not like nothing crazy. Okay. And I also loved seeing you with another Belfast legend, the great Carl Frampton, and the buildup to all of this. Was the stuff that you did with Carl, was that the first time you had ever met him?

I'd met him a couple of times before, briefly, not like, not for long periods of time. So I didn't really know him that well until the conversation. We got a real long time together shooting that piece. And it was such a privilege. Honestly, it really, really was. I'm such a huge fan of Carr to have for years, just mostly how he, obviously his boxing ability, but mostly how he's carried himself. I really looked up to that and to spend some time with him was really cool,

especially outside the SSE. He's the king of the SSE at the end of the day. He had done seven or eight shows, had custom built events for him in Belfast here and he kind of told me how they all worked. We went to the places where they were at Windsor Park and Titanic and told me about how he got it done and it just got me thinking, you know, perhaps whenever I beat Usman in the rematch, maybe I'll get a custom-built venue back here in Belfast. That would be true. So in your mind, when do you think this happens?

Fall time? I think someone I've heard around September, October, there's a show planned for Dubai. That's what I want on that. And that would be perfect, right? That's in four and a show planned for Dubai. That's what I want online. And that would be perfect, right? That's in four and a half, five months. Perfect. Amazing. Well, delighted for you.

Well done, congratulations. What a scene it was. And like I said, you nailed every single part of it, from the walkout to the fight to the post fight, the celebration, everything was just tremendous. Way to get it done. And by the way, what a freaking day for your guy Tim Simpson for the the Chosen group, right? I mean, earlier in the day you do that and then Jack Della, I mean, the guy's flying high. He's got a ton of champions

on the stable. Pretty cool to see. Yeah, well, he's got a good eye for talent, clearly. You know, and what a fight by JDM, Frip me. Unbelievable. me unbelievable Yeah, it'll be the chosen versus Dagestan for the next one JDM Islam myself and is that's right. That's right I didn't think of that. That's that's brilliant Thank you much any by the way any burritos in the celebration I want a block last night in Belfast went straight down Munched it. Well done. Do we a, do we have a sponsorship on the table? Just the black card? They haven't given me a fucking black card yet.

I'm pissed off. What? We've started doing, I swear to God, I, and I'm not, I'm not even sending them this clip either anymore. I'm done with the blog. In the vlogs I've been putting out every week. I'm now I'm bleeping the company name and I'm still going but i'm blurring out that i'm eating it. Now it's like a love hate relationship.

It's it's part of the story you know yourself i'll be i've actually been getting into my WWE again recently i've watched both race on medias and maybe some of the might skills you know i've, I've been picking things up. Ah, now that explains that post fight interview. Well, look, I've got a bit of sauce myself, but I might have stole a few bits here and there for some people. I love it. I love it. Well, enjoy your time with your family. Congratulations. Well done.

Looking forward to the rematch later on this year. Thank you, Paul. Appreciate it, brother. Always a pleasure to be on here. The man himself, Big News Hughes, representing Belfast on the largest of stages. And if you haven't seen it, it's on social media. In fairness, they did put it out literally seconds later. It's 42 seconds. So if you haven't seen the fight, tremendous.

I mean, we just showed you the best parts. It all happened very quickly. What a stud he is. and I would love to see that fight. I mean really, could go down. Right now, if you guys had to vote, what's the fight of the year? That's up there. Bilal JDM is up there. What are we missing? January, February, I'm thinking of the pay-per-views. March, uncle, April. I'm looking for some rankings right now, but for me. Those two are kind of the front runners, right? Hues and, Hues and Nirmaga Madoff was my most mental.

Falal JDM is up there, I would say. Up there. Okay, some other ones that are here. Yuri Jamal Hill is pretty good. Yuri Hill, Marab vs Umar, Volk and Diego Lopez. Gachi Kvive too. I've got

Nirmaga Madov and Huza Hedda at all those. At the moment Yeah, that was pretty rebuk's Is that a crazy one? I? Think it's unless I'm crazy. I think it's Hughes. I think it's Hughes Usman and and number two is below JDM Not a bad shout Randy Brown versus Nicholas Delby That was a good one that was that was actually great but I don't know if that's a fight of the year the five rounds of of Hughes and and Nermago Madoff was already are versus

ripping what come on why you why you gotta do that by the way what did you guys see Bo Nicole saying like all y'all can like suck it and so I was like what where's this where's this guy coming from? I'll spit in your face. Spit in your face. Yeah. Like I'm groveling back from it. What happened?

I loved it, I loved the heel work. Oh, I loved it too, but it was a different tone. It was a different tone. Oh yeah. Do you think that was more in line with how he really feels? Yes. No, maybe he got upset after the show.

I think that is how he really feels. Or did it just kind of sink in more? I think he was comfortable with his friends. Wow. I think he's just. Not comfortable with them? I think he's comfortable with his friends. Wow. I think he's just. Not comfortable with them? I think he's just flipping the switch. I think it's like, you know the Chaelsson,

and like you break the character for the immediate after the fight, you give the respect, and then two seconds later, you switch back into promoting the next one. Yeah. By the way, if he wins a bunch, and that rematch will be huge one day. Good.

I don't know if they'll ever run that one back. Maybe a little bit too risky. RDR beats Whitaker? What do you guys think of that one? Like the, I like the booking. I like the matchmaking. RDR is getting a rocket. He's getting a rocket. Main event against Whitaker. Whitaker has been here before where they put him in against some, you know. Just two fights ago. Are we on a collision course for RDR DDP? I feel like there'll be some good shit talking in that one. I just think the fight would just be absolutely. Yeah. It would be just like a car crash, right? Like the way they both fight.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Two fights ago, Ikram Alaskarov was like, let's put a old Robert Butagraw to pasture. That was, that was a little bit of a, you know, they tried to salvage something, but like they put them in spots before where it's like, all right, are they trying to build someone else off of him?

I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean bit of a, you know, they tried to salvage something, but like they put him in spots before where it's like, all right, are they trying to build someone else off of him? I mean, the very next fight. I mean, the DDP fight. The DDP fight. And the Hamza Tshemayev fight. Hamza Tshemayev fight, yeah. All his fights lately.

Fucking hell. Since Izzy too, I've just been like, will he won't he? Hey, Rob, can you take an easy one? Anytime soon. Who's the favorite in that fight? Let's see. I feel like it's gotta be Whitaker still. Right? I mean, he is feel like it's got to be Whitaker's though, right? I mean he is coming off it has to be he's coming off the

Humside fight right? Yeah. Yes. Damn where his whole mouth got rearranged Yeah, Whitaker minus 196 already are plus 152. All right quick turnaround for our DR to another Alex spot for our DR Yeah, two months keep the momentum going he's flowing three months They're basically announcing every main event now except International Fight Week. Yeah, I think we have every main event through till like August. Yeah, because we got Baku, we got Atlanta, we've got... Then you skipped 28. We got 318, we got Abu Dhabi. Right. I feel like there's probably one the week before. Great team that they haven't announced yet.

Just that one glaring hole. Yeah. Again, maybe they're going towards. No, you have seen Nashville. I feel like do we have a surprise card? They have a main event for that one yet? I'll tell you what we don't have. We don't have PFL Paris. That has been cancelled which was somewhat of a shocker because it has been such a hotbed for them

and they had the Patrice Evra signing and it just seemed like okay internationally in Europe they're on fire but this card which was supposed to happen this weekend, isn't happening anymore, which is a huge, I think a huge surprise and somewhat alarming. It sounds like Everett's gonna fight later on this year, maybe in Dubai, so he wanted to fight in France or Dubai. He lives in Dubai, so maybe that's the card that Paul is referring to.

Would make a lot of sense. So maybe that's the card that Paul is referring to. Would make a lot of sense. Road to Dubai, they've got this whole thing. But yeah, I was very surprised because I felt like they could do no wrong, but they need Cedric Dumbay back. They had something really special with him. Need him back in the mix. I mean, along with Usman and Paul Hughes,

you can make a case, well, there's him, there's Francis. We're unclear about his status. Cedric is top three, top four, most popular fighters, and certainly on a worldwide and specifically French scale, he is gigantic. He's a crossover star. French MMA is back with Benoit Saint-Denis coming off the big win.

Mano Firo loses to Valentina Shevchenko, but that's nothing to scoff at. I'm sure they're very happy that their guy is is back on track Would love to see that original matchup get rebooked the Joel Alvarez fight would love to see that but alas We don't know what's next. We'll talk to him on Wednesday, by the way. Do we have any super chats Frankie? Damn, right we do. Hell yeah. I do have some breaking news as well. This is not, it's not, oh damn.

I was trying to. I said the word man. Yeah. Don't say the word. I think in the first time in the history of the show during the Paul Hughes interview, I sneezed. Yeah. I've never sneezed in the, in the middle.

You sneeze twice a day. You sick? You got the air, you got the air. No, not at all. Allergies You're allergic to work huh? Yeah Got an eye problem, can't see yourself coming in?

Allergies are killer this time of year And then I realized I left my water bottle in the control room I can't believe you've gone that long without water I know, it's actually kind of scary My god I mean did you eat lunch without it too? Yeah Yeah that's scary also.

I'm not good with the water. I need to drink more water. I'm told you have to drink like two liters a day, right? Yes. Okay, well don't drink it too fast. She's gonna have a water drinking contest on the air. I wanna be one of those guys who pulls up with like the jug. You know those guys who walk into like rooms with the jug?

Not like fire, like workout guys, bodybuilders. A guy pulls up with a jug and just starts Like the big ass one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know that guy. And you're like, what are you having for dinner? Water. Protein powder and water. Josh Jones writes, what brings UFC to specific cities?

We haven't seen them here in the state of Virginia since 2020. You should invite Gishon Davis back before his title defense. Yes, June 7th. June 7th. I can't read. I mean, it's a lot of site fees these days. So if you, do you really?

I don't believe that for a second. Gishon Davis. If you notice during the pay-per-view, I'm just putting my shoes back on. I'm just getting comfortable if you're wondering. That's why you were sneezing. Yes, if you noticed on Monday, there were a lot of ads about Montreal and tourism

and little factoids and video packages. These places are paying for the UFC to come down. Baku is paying millions of dollars for them to come to Azerbaijan. They ain't coming there if they're not paying. who is paying millions of dollars for them to come to Azerbaijan, they come in there if they're not paying. So, if you want the UFC to come to town, get your pennies together, get some money,

pay TKO and they'll be there. By the way, I wanted to give a shout out to something right here. This was... Where you going? Bro sounds sick. I saw this during the... Grab some more tissues.

I saw this during the watch party. I love this. This is an old school Montreal pennant. That's a New York Creek special. This is nice. Is this from your dad? No, I went to a thrift shop. Wow.

I saw it there. Wait, you mean other people touch this? Yeah But it's legit from like the Great condition. Yeah, I love the jet. I love the shut up. I love the accent They do on the II. That's not just a mistake. No, no, no. This is a misprint. Yeah, this is nice. Anyway, I like that. I like the Quebec flag and the Canada. I mean, dare I say the studio never looked better.

What else? Our own 24 inch dubs wants to say bleed, blue and orange, go Knicks. Sorry, Ariel, slash bandwagon fans. Wait, wait, wait a second. Wait a second. How? Oh, you're changing. Oh, I get it I get a lot of accusations. I didn't change shit. Okay

listen nervous Tip off in two and a half hours got a text from someone friend of mine at ESPN asking me how nervous I am I'm nervous. I'm nervous Am I confident sure but you can be confident and nervous. Here's my take on the game. Whomever wins tonight, wins the series. How about that? I think that's a fair.

Nick's go up three, one. I think we got this in the bag. Celts tie and we have to go back to Boston. I think we're in trouble. Golly man, the Celtic fans, they're so damn. Cocky. Like they, they, they are acting like they're up three, one. Do you notice that?

Come on boys, dig down. I mean mean they are the reigning champs, you know, you got a little advantage there in terms of that. I was so hyped on Saturday. My kids and I, my wife was working, we planned our whole day to be in front of the TV by 3.15 for the 3.30 tip. We exhausted every angle to try to get tickets,

even thought about buying. Thank God we didn't. But we were there, bringing comes on. It's a beautiful thing to do. We exhausted every angle to try to get tickets. Even thought about buying. Thank God we didn't. But we were there. Breein comes on. It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon in New York City. The vibes are like through the roof.

We're rocking our gear. My son's got his Brunson jersey. I mean, we're talking. I'm telling them about this famous game and that famous garden moment. And holy crap, if we go up three nothing and like six minutes in we're done we're toast can't make a shot they're hitting threes they're cocky as hell but there's something about Monday night at the garden forget weekends at the garden these days okay so it needs to be specifically Monday yeah Monday nights at the garden they're wearing the

the navy blue unis for the white. Wear white at home. Everybody, every league. Wear white at home. Wear white at home. It's actually funny you mentioned, you mentioned that whoever wins tonight will win the series.

I saw a tweet going viral just this morning. How my dad feels saying, whoever wins this will win the series. Every time there's a game four in a series, it's two-one. Yes, yes. Yes. Wow time there's a game four in a series, it's 2-1. Yes, yes, yes. Wow. It's a perfect representation.

This is how I feel right now. Why, why, why? Do you think that I think I'm cooking with that statement? You're that guy. I would tend to agree. I think whoever wins tonight, I think if you guys go back to Boston, 2-2, it's not looking good.

But here's the thing, here's the thing. The thing is, like, I do think it's an astute statement, because usually 2-2, we're back. Most astute statements are described by the person who made them with. I think this is very astute. This is a very unique one, because usually when a team is up 2-0, and then the next team wins 2 straight, it's usually going back to the team that won the first two. Do you know what I mean? Usually, historically, the team that goes up 2-0 first is the

team that was home that has the home court advantage. Yeah. But here, we'll be tied to two, momentum fully on their side, and we're going back to Boston. Where, of course, we've been better on the road than we have been at home. They've been better on the road than they have been at home they've been better on the road than they have been at home something's got to give the only time I heard someone say loser of game four being something's got to go when the Cavs were down to one they lose they go down three one won a title Rick said I feel good and they won the title and Rick is just showering us with the Larry O'Brien pictures.

Yeah, I know, I know. I mean Rick's... I'm not bringing up the Cavs. No, let's not. I'm not ready to write them off. Oh, I am. He's talking about 2016, but... I know, I know, but I'm talking about 3-1, they're in the same spot. Absolutely cannot come out and like get punched in the mouth like you have the first three games. Yeah.

Can I be honest? Be honest, Jordan. I'm not comfortable up 3-1 comfortable to two not until I see four wins in that column Will I be like jobs not done as Kobe's very very diplomatic of you very yeah, it's like you're an athlete on the no You know what it is though trophy. Yeah, I have not I don't think it's diplomacy. I think it's Pain here. It's a pain. Yeah, it's pain He's lived through too many years of pain. All my teams except for the Aries.

And now he doesn't wanna, he doesn't wanna open himself up to- All my teams except for the greatest baseball franchise in history. Miss me with that. Yeah, Ariel knows pain. Ariel knows pain. The guy that I work out with, he's like, oh, all my teams, except for the Giants, two Super Bowls.

I'm like, bro. Yes, yeah, I'm with you. Please. I'm so with you. You're like, oh, fuck off with yourself. Those Giants, two Super Bowls are worth like 10 Super Bowls. Like, like, bro, bro, please. I'm so with you. Stop it with this. Go fuck yourself. Those Giants II Super Bowls are worth like 10 Super Bowls. Like there was two of the greatest games of all time. I got two George and Addie's and a Braves World Series. I'm set.

Oh, you're set. I'm all good. I'm sitting there watching with my kids. I'm like, these losers, I hate these guys. I don't know why I invested. They're like, why are you so negative? I'm like, you're 11 years old, you're 13. God willing, we'll talk when you're in your 40s

and you'll understand. What age do you think it starts to kick in for them? Like, oh God, this is dread sometimes. No, cause when I was their age, it was 94. I was like, we'll get them back. We'll be back next year. And now I'm just like, it could be another 20 years before irrelevant.

You were too old to have- What was 99 like? 99 was the greatest. 99 was some of the greatest vibes of all time. I was, I was graduating. It was the last few months of school. No one goes to class anymore. I had a Spreewell Jersey.

I had a sweet ass orange hat that I wore all the time. And it was completely unexpected because that whole season, this great book called Still Ballin by Frank Izzola and Mike Wise, where that whole season was a complete like disaster. It was the shortened lockout season. They were the eight seed. They almost didn't make the playoffs.

Jeff van Gundy, there's rumors that they are meeting with Phil Jackson to have him replace van Gundy next year. The crowd loves van Gundy. They're chanting Jeff van Gundy, Jeff van Gundy. We squeak, we squeak by. Ewing's breaking down, his Achilles is a mess. They squeak into the playoffs, they go to

Miami for game five, Houston makes the shot with 0.8 seconds left, they win that game, then they sweep the Hawks in the second round, which was incredible playing at the Georgia Dome. I went to game three and then and then and then they play the big bad pacers on a Sunday afternoon and if I and if I could be honest with you guys we had our grad weekend. Do you know what grad weekend is? Like we all like went up north because we were graduates this was like our big weekend away and everyone's mingling and some kids are doing drugs and other kids are just like playing cards and it was just a great time in Montreux Blanc and we didn't sleep at all and it was the

Sunday afternoon I was so tired didn't sleep but I was like holy shit the Knicks are playing and I remember like kind of like being out of it and then thinking okay this is gonna be a this is just gonna be a wash of a game this is gonna be here and then all of a sudden it's like holy shit we're in it we're in it we're in it we're in it and then they squeaked by and they win that game one and all of a sudden now we believe and we win in six! We win in six against the Pacers. LJ gets hurt, Larry, Alan Houston does this, Spreewell leads the charge, and then we get killed by the Spurs. Anyway, to answer your question, it was incredible.

Yeah. But it ended on a very, you know, shitty note. I think to become negative, you got to like truly believe a couple times and have your heart just completely shattered. Shattered. Absolutely shattered. 99 though, you guys weren't supposed to be there. So that you can still-

But then you start to believe. Yeah. Exactly. Because by the way, the Spurs weren't the Spurs. Well, they were. No, the previous, Duncan was a rookie. So it wasn't like, oh, you're playing- I know, but do you-

On paper, they were incredible. Yeah. On paper, they were incredible, but it wasn't like, Oh, you're playing on paper. They were incredible on paper. They were incredible, but it wasn't like, Oh, we're playing a dynasty. We, we, we kicked off the dynasty. And so there was a part of me like deep down, like, Holy shit. All they have to do is hang on. Yeah. All they have to do is hang on. In fact, I was in New York during game five when they lost spiel, uh, Chuck Dwan at the, at the buzz buzzer. The day when they lost, Brewell chucked one at the buzzer. The day after they lost,

I went on a tour of MSG and I took a piece of, a roll of tape from Patrick Ewing's locker. It was in there, I took it. Wow. Yeah, I was very excited about this. Criminal acts? Yeah, I just wanted to take something home. Nice, son.

Tape hanging in the house. He's right here, officer. What else? Lastly, Henry writes, Ariel aerial being in the East Coast Did you watch a lot of the original ECW in the mid to late 90s was subu one of your favorite pro wrestlers? I would love for you to someday interview Rob Van Dam. Oh my god were the boys fans of ECW the whole Fn Show mr. Monday night Rob Van Dam. I would love to interview him as

well. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the boys weren't ECW fans. I was a ECW hardcore Mark. What? Sci-fi channel, ECW. Okay, sci-fi channel is WWE ECW. If you're a ECW hardcore Mark, you're talking 3 a.m. Madison Square Garden Network. No, not then. the city when it was on TV Yeah, I was watching that over anything wait, but you're talking are you talking the WWE CW or the water? I mean, I don't know what the the I wasn't in the like Pro-wrestling business are you going to the Elks Lodge and was I going to yes? No, I was not going to are you watching on TV arena in Philly?

Yeah, let me look up would they not rent ECW like videos right next to UFC like original like you know when the it was your parts of the store. Yes it was viewed as oh I mean it was it was very seedy. So this is 2006 ish. No no no. How much of it was a work? Rick please I hope no one's listening. You're talking about the like the reboot Corporate ECW don't let anyone ever hear you say this don't let anyone ever Frank What would this be akin to this would be akin to like what's like the band at the end like and they've switched Oh seven members What was so bad 96 or 97? That was WWE rebooting it that was WWE buying the ECW trademark and saying,

oh, we're going to like make a new ECW. Wait, you know what? No, this is not it. When would, no, I don't know. This is not it. Because I'm seeing like, it says something here about Edge, Randy Orton and stuff like that. No, that was not what I was watching.

I was watching Sabu, Sandman, Tommy Dreamer. Yes, yes, great job, great job. Great save. Wait, so that wasn't on Syfy at that time? The reboot was on Syfy. The old school one was MSG at like 2 a.m MSG CNN. Are you thinking TNN? Maybe it must have been on TNN. Yes. Yes, that is it That is it the national first was the Nashville Network. Then it was the National Network. Yes, and then they that's right That's what I was watching TV. Yeah. Hell yeah. The greatest part of the reboot was when they, um,

which is a reboot is like the WWE wrestlers are on ECW. They rebooted it with a pay-per-view called ECW one night stand. And then actually Eric Bischoff and others showed up. It was at Hammerstein ballroom and to their credit, the event was perfect. Like they did it exactly like an old school ECW event. They brought back some of the old names, the likes of Sandman, Mike Awesome, et cetera, Rob Van Damme. And it was such a success.

It was such a hit that they decided to actually relaunch the promotion. But then over time, it just became like a third brand. It looked like WWE light. And so like we had one of those pictures of Sabu that was the they tried to recreate the entrance but it just it was at the same venue as a raw or SmackDown it was during the same TV tapings it didn't have the genesis koa and then they would have some guys come over like Bobby Lashley he became ECW and it just punk was there for a little bit. It didn't have the grittiness.

If you want to learn about the true magic of ECW in the 90s, watch Beyond the Met, the documentary. There's a scene in there where Paul Heyman is voicing a promo right next to his mom who's ironing shirts. Like he would do it from his basement. That's how mom and pop the whole thing was. And it was just like, it was as cult-like as you can get. And what was so great about it was a lot of wrestlers went there in frustration, especially

coming out of WCW. Like Stone Cold is the best example. Steve Austin gets released from WCW, Mick Foley gets released from WCW, and they go to ECW to reinvent themselves because Paul Heyman is such a genius. And they get the confidence Heyman is such a genius and they get the confidence, they get the mojo, they get the vibes back, they get the the the the momentum back and then that propels them into the superstars that they become in WWE. So there's a lot of great stories of guys passing through ECW and just absolutely loving it because it was batshit insane and the crowds were different, the wrestling was different, the matches were different. Anyway, great memories. Sabu legend. Uh, so yes, I did appreciate it.

I did love it. Um, I think, I think my memory's there. I forgot even that there was a question attached. All of this would, uh, exemplify that. And, um, yeah. So this is, there was a period where this was only available to like local tri-state area people. Oh yeah. It would air on MSG. It would air on the Sunshine Network. If you had direct TV, like it was very, I thought everybody was watching this. Cause at my school,

this is what we were watching. So I thought I didn't realize that this was not like that widely distributed. Oh yeah. And then I do that this was not like that widely distributed. Oh yeah. And then I do remember it was on TNN for some reason I associated with sci-fi, but I don't think I've ever actually seen it on sci-fi because I didn't know any of these WWE crossover things. Sci-fi was, um, was where it aired at the very end. Yeah.

When it was, when it was WWE light. They did the blood stuff. Oh yeah. The entire time. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You know, initially, originally it was, when it was WWE light. They did the blood stuff. Oh yeah. The entire time. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You know, initially, originally it was called Eastern Championship Wrestling. And then Heyman took it over and renamed it Extreme Championship Wrestling.

And that's where, I mean, it was crazy. Like the angles were nuts. The freaking Kendo sticks and barbed wire and the explosions of the glass and the thumbtacks and the freaking You know the tables and the chairs There's one famous scene where all the fans through the chairs in the yeah You know like just absolute madness and then people would talk about like how scary the crowds were Like just completely scary wrestlers get like actually hurt and had a commission for a while Like just completely scary. Did wrestlers get like actually hurt and had a commission for a while?

Is it similar to like the movie the wrestler where he uses like a razor blade to like cut himself to like? 100% Okay, yeah Yeah, it was kind of like that. It was very gritty and there were some guys who were You know who were a little bit past their prime but this I saw a video of Sabu versus, uh, Terry funk resurface. Oh yeah. Holy shit, man. I mean, just insanity. I, I, I did not know that he wrestled three weeks ago.

Um, and I, and I looked at those photos that we, uh, we aired there and I sincerely hope that whatever he, I mean, that's gruesome stuff at 60 to go through that. Like his body was not in great shape. But that's what he was all about. He was unbelievable. Anyway, I urge you, it's almost like an embarrassment of content up on Uncrowned.com right now.

It's unbelievable. Great article here from Chuck Mendenhall. You can't blame Jack Delamadelena for ruining the fight everyone wanted to see. There's nothing like a Sunday morning man in the hat column after a big show. That Phil Schneider piece on Sabu, new pound for pound rankings out. Just came out right now. P.T. Carrell mentioned his piece on Paul Hughes. Go check that out. Just drop. Got Robert Jackman, Eric's long lost cousin doing great stuff on the

wrestling side of things. Yeah. Manny Pacquiao is back going up against Mario Barrios. Who asked for this? And also a, a tough weekend for the, uh, the Nottingham sports scene for us losing aham sports scene. For us losing a heartbreaker on, no, no, they didn't lose, but it felt like a loss if I'm being honest.

They ended up drawing against Leicester city. So what does this mean? Give me, set the table. There's two games left. There's two games left. Last time you said three, they play once every three weeks? What's happening here? No, it was once a week, once a week.

Once a week. I'm down right yeah jeez I need what are they machines this is glacial no are we gonna find out ever once a week it's it's it's like a 38 week NFL season oh Jesus Christ two games left we're currently seventh if they win the two are they in okay here's the thing though 62 points all right we we got a point yesterday for tying sad sack lester who's about to get relegated confirmed and arrival at one point in the eightieth minute were up to one which means we would have ended with sixty four points which if we would have

ended up with sixty four points currently we'd be in fifth in a Champions League spot because there are only five spots that go to the Champions League and only a point in back of Man City and two points in back of third place Newcastle. They tie, unbelievably so. We dropped down to seventh which is now out of the Champions League but in doing so did in fact secure a spot in Europe next year, which means you're either playing in the Europa Conference League, the Europa League or the Champions League. In a weird twist of fate, if Man City beats Crystal Palace this weekend in the FA Cup Final,

we're guaranteed a Europa League spot. Why? Because if Crystal Palace wins, they get a Europa League spot. If they lose, they're not in the running. Man City's already in the Champions League Europa League spot, so it would go to the next best team and that would be us. And so we get into Europa League, which is a notch above Conference League, which is where United and Tottenham are. They're playing in the finals. And amazingly, one of them, whomever wins, either Jordan's team or Pizzi's team, they're going to get into the Champions League and neither of them deserve it

because they've been shit all year. And we may be on the outside looking in. Nevertheless, to your question, currently sitting in seventh, 62 points, no chance of moving to eighth because that's Brentford 55, one point in back of Aston Villa, which would guarantee a Europa League spot. You mentioned-

This is a little complicated. One point and back of Chelsea. You mentioned Pizzi and Jordan's Sad Tak teams are going to need some help from them because that's who Villa's got these last two games. Also though, you guys get West Ham, not great. And then you actually, you know, you guys- I was getting there.

Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. I was painting the picture. When the last two games? We have West Ham away, but we've been horrible. We've been horrible the last few weeks, so nothing is guaranteed. But then it comes down to the final game of the year against Chelsea at home.

Chelsea is in fifth spot. They're in the fifth spot, which is the final Champions League spot. So all to say- If you win the two, you're looking good. Win the two and you're in. If we would have won yesterday and won against West Ham this Saturday, all we would have needed

was a draw against Chelsea. But now we need to win two. And oh, by the way, the great honeymoon vibes of the season kind of came crashing down at the end of yesterday's game as the owner, Evangelinos Mark Marinakis was seen somewhat arguing with the gaffer, the manager, Nuno Espirito Santo as the final whistle was blown, which was not a great look.

He was on the pitch. They were arguing afterwards. A statement came out saying that they were worried about the health of Awonni and all this stuff. It's just not the best of looks. Do it behind the scenes. But he's fiery and it seems like the Forrest fans are OK with it.

Hopefully Nuno doesn't leave. There have been some reports of him, I think, linked to Al Hilal or one of the Saudi teams. In any event, it's squeaky bump time. But it sounds like Jordan's sitting pretty, huh? No, we all control our own destiny. Sure. I think you should feel the best.

Tottenham and Man, you really at the bottom. If they were running these spots lower, they'd be in a league below next year. It's unbelievable. Tottenham's 17th. Yeah, you guys, you should feel good. You should feel good. Also, you guys, what were your expectations before the season? I was literally just going to say that. If we would have talked in August about what our expectations were, and you told me there's a chance that we would end up 7th, 6th, or 5th, maybe 4th, come the end of May, I would told me there's a chance that we would end up seventh, sixth, or fifth, maybe fourth, come the end of May.

I would have said there's no chance. I remember there was a video where you said Champions League. Yeah, they told me to say that. But by the way, by the way, it's still in play. We're literally. That kind of goes counter to the like, we're just happy to be here. I mean, you're trying to sell.

No, no. It wasn't me predicting the, oh, the picture. Yes, yes, yes. That was to. When you were on the cutting the promo, saying we're just happy to be here. I mean, you're trying to sell. No, no, no. It wasn't me predicting the, oh, the picture. Yes, yes, yes. That was to- When you were on the cutting the promo saying we're going to- But this all started last year when we were in Riyadh and I told Kate Scott, ne Kate Abdo, this time next year we'll be talking about- Yes, that's what I'm talking about.

Yeah. That video. Yeah, that's a picture. It's just a picture. Oh. It was just a funny caption for a picture. Yes, that ended up being right. I mean, it was, you know, it was precious.

Let me paint a bit. Knicks went tonight, riding high. Nottingham plays later in the week. They win, you're feeling just as high. You're going to Champions League, baby. Yeah, I felt the opposite yesterday. Not in the hand. Yeah.

Yeah, I butchered that one. No, it's fine. We knew what you meant. You don't have to call it out. I felt the opposite. No, it needed to be called out. It needed to be called out. That's all right. don't disrespect our friend. Nix didn't show up Forrest loses a heartbreaker Mother's Day was ruined I didn't leave the house I

said you guys were sure that holiday is all about you that holiday is all about yeah I said you guys figure it out Mother's Day was ruined. I was out I was done I was finished yeah gentlemen it's time to go. Yeah, man. Uh, we do have, what you guys, we got somewhere to go. All right, brother. See you tomorrow. Uh, peace, we're out of here. Wait, I want to tell you guys tomorrow's an all time day.

That's, that's the thing. I want to go home, go to bed. So it's already tomorrow. Oh, I thought you wanted to get ready for the next game. Do a little pregame. I'll watch the night. Oh, should we all go stand in front of that screen outside? Could you imagine? You couldn't catch me dead out there.

Yeah, my God, Craig. Jasmine. Woo! Jazz Divisius. She'll be joining us. Mike Malott joining us. Woo! Vitor Belfort joining us.

Bill Haney in studio. And the reigning defending pride of Perth Western Australia Giacomo aka Don Giacomo aka JDM aka Jack Del Maddalena in studio that's an all-time day right there guys well be careful touching a big show Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, see, not the old. Is the belt gonna be on the desk tomorrow? Is that really gonna happen? That's what they said. Larry Opie to the USC belt? Oh, the ECW reboot. Yeah, yeah, that's good. Can I kiss the belt? No, absolutely not.

I think so. I don't think so. No, no. If he brings it in, I have to get a picture with it. Are you gonna wear the same shirt? This or another Streedex shirt, but yeah, I'll be rocking Jack Dillon merch. I'll fanboy out.

We will be there. Thank you very much all our guests,, Hulk, Hogan, Eric, Bischoff, Izzy, Martinez, Paul Hughes, Amon Zahabi, Sean Brady. Thanks to you, thanks to them. Back on Tuesday, December 27th.