The Ariel Helwani Show - Shakur Stevenson, Ricochet, Yoel Romero, Alexander Hernandez, remembering Ricky Hatton, more

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

Ariel Helwani opens today’s show by reacting to Anthony Hernandez withdrawing from his Oct. 18 fight against Reinier de Ridder and Brendan Allen stepping in (05:18).British broadcaster Adam Smith is back on the show to reminisce about Ricky Hatton and celebrate his life (12:13).Shakur Stevenson returns to break down Terence Crawford’s dominance against Canelo Alvarez and discuss his own future, including potential fights against Teofimo Lopez and Ryan Garcia (37:48).Alexander Hernandez recaps his win over Diego Ferreira at Noche UFC, working with a farmer on the mental side of the game, UFC’s promotional efforts, his appreciation of spliffs, and more (1:01:25).Yoel Romero talks about his BKFC debut, wanting to fight Jake Paul and Darren Till, expecting to fight until he’s 52 years old, his incredible physique, his love of boxing, and more (1:27:59).The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll join Ariel to cover the continued war of words between Ilia Topuria and Terence Crawford, matchmaking for the UFC’s middleweight and featherweight divisions, Sean Strickland’s run-in with the controversial Derek Moneyberg, and more (1:50:03).AEW star Ricochet is our final guest of the day, discussing his place in the promotion, collaboration talking place in the AEW locker room, his WWE departure, drawing the line between himself and his character, his love of anime, and more (2:59:50).Ariel wraps up with your Super Chats (3:50:43).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Eria, Hawaii Show. Back in your life on this Tuesday, September 16, 2000. And 25, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It's great to be here on a lovely. lovely, lovely Tuesday in New York City, halfway point, actually a day past the halfway point of the month that is September. In the year 2025, we had a phenomenal show yesterday,

a jam-pack show. We went almost up until 6 o'clock. Had the pound-for-pound king in many people's eyes right now, as far as the boxing world is concerned, Terrence Bud Crawford, on the show. Got to talk a lot about Ricky Hatton. We'll do so on today's program as well. There was a lot to discuss, a lot to break down.

Eddie Hearn was tremendous. It was a very busy time in the world of combat sports this past weekend. And it continues to be a very busy time. And I love today's episode because it's a very eclectic mix of names. And so without further ado, let us get into today's episode. By the way, thumbs up to the chat. The chat has been phenomenal as of late. Thumbs up, thumbs up, thumbs up.

If you're not subscribing, do give us a little, a little, a little, you know, one of those. The bell, the thing, the thumbs up in the post, you know, all these things I'm told go a long way. Sub to the pod feed, every little bit helps. And so we do appreciate it very much. In about nine minutes time, one of the best play-by-play men in all of combat sports, Adam Smith, formerly of Sky Sports, now of DeZone. He was there front and center on Saturday at Windsor Park to call the Patty Donovan versus Lewis Crocker fight. He will join us in about eight minutes now

to talk about the Lake Great Riki Haddon. The outpouring of tributes of sentiments regarding the hitman who tragically passed away this weekend at just 46 years of age has been immense. One of the most beloved figures in the history of boxing, certainly one of the most beloved UK sports stars of all time. and celebrities, period. Just everyone loved him.

He was in every man, Eddie Hearn, had some great things to say about him. Yesterday, Trist Dixon, who wrote his book back in 2013, wonderful tribute as well. Adam Smith was essentially by his side covering every Ricky Hatton move throughout the majority of his career when he was working for Sky Sports, and so I thought it would be pointed to have him on. They were so close. These things happen when you cover someone so closely. Ricky, I do believe, attended his wedding, attended Adam's wedding.

So that's how close they were. He'll join us at about 110 to talk about the hitman. 1.30, one of our favorites, Shakur Stevenson, you remember him being in studio a couple of times. He was in studio alongside Connor Ben, tremendous stuff out of him. He was in Las Vegas to support his friend, Terrence Crawford over the weekend. He has been going back and forth with Tiofima Lopez. He's really developed into one of the, in my opinion, most fun characters in all of boxing. He'll join us at 1.30 to talk about the state of that.

fight and also talk about what his friend accomplished on Saturday, becoming the undisputed super middleweight champion. Looking forward to that. Alex Hernandez, El Gran, Chango himself, had a big win over Diego Fajeta. He continues to roll now four in a row. He's really reinvented himself. I enjoyed our conversation last week. I'm looking forward to this one at 2 o'clock. Yo Romero was supposed to join us yesterday. The timings didn't work out. So we pushed him today. He will join us today at 2.30 to talk about everything going on in his life post BKFC debut, how much he liked it, how does he look that way at age 48, all these things and more will be covered with one, the soldier of God, Yo-Ramero.

PT will join us at three to talk about news and notes, so stay tuned for that, a bunch of things to discuss, and then at 4 o'clock, my friends, one of my favorite wrestlers to watch, one of the most exciting and most entertaining wrestlers in the business. Rikishay is going to join us to talk about AEW all out going down this Saturday in Toronto at the Scotia Bank Center on HBO Max pay-per-view here in the United States. He joined AEW from WW last August. He made his debut. It's been a very solid and different year for him, seeing some different looks as far as his character is concerned, a heel turn. the mic skills, all that stuff and more.

First time ricochet on the program. Very much looking forward to that. So that will be at 4 o'clock. There's the lineup. A nice eclectic five-pack. We got a boxer. We got a play-by-play guy. We've got a UFC star.

We've got a BKFC fighter and a pro wrestler. I mean, where do you get this? Where else do you get this? Nowhere. We do have some breaking news to get to before we get into things. Yeah, that's right. Just as we were leaving the studio yesterday evening, we got word that the main event for the October 18th UFC show in Vancouver, British Columbia has unfortunately changed. It is no longer going to be Anthony Fluffy Hernandez going up against Renee de Ritter.

It is now going to be RDR versus Brendan Allen. Yes, Anthony Hernandez is unfortunately out of the fight. This is now the new main event. doesn't quite have the same Junice Croix. Obviously, still an important fight what a year it has been for RDR

and Alan taking the fight on a month's notice so kudos to him. Anthony Hernandez did post a statement on his social media and this is what he said. As you've all probably seen,

unfortunately I've had to pull out of my upcoming fight due to injury I want to sincerely apologize to the UFC and to my opponent RDR and to everyone who was looking forward to matchup, I also want to thank Brendan Allen for stepping up. It means a lot. You don't often see that, by the way. So shout out to him. To my fans, thank you for always tuning in, supporting me

and riding with me through everything. Right now, my focus is on getting healthy so I can come back stronger than ever when I return. I'll be ready to make a statement. No word on his return status. We did have a comment there from RDR who says, shit happens, get well soon. And so a lot of love and respect, which is beautiful to see. And it's a bummer because I was really looking forward to that matchup. He's been on a role, RDR, on a role. The big winner, in my opinion, and all of this, is Nasr Dianimov. If there was any question, and again, I never said that he shouldn't get the title shot after the win against Kayo Bahalio just a couple of weeks ago. But if there was any doubt, if there was any question, I don't think for RDR, despite the

fact that his winning streak will continue, that a win over Brandon Allen gets it done. I think the recent wins over Israel Desanya and Cairo in France a couple weeks ago are just way bigger. and so this should solidify it. He's the big winner in all of this. Now, RDR needs to win to keep going. It would be a huge win for Brendan, who got back on track over the summer with the win over Marvin Vittori.

But there's no more debate. The way we positioned it and the way I thought it might play out is, all right, the UFC hasn't anointed him as the number one contender. He's doing his best to put it out there. He's doing exactly what he should do. He's putting out videos.

He's banging the drum. This is exactly what everyone should do in his position, but no one in the UFC, and I know Dana wasn't there, Dave Shaw was there, and he's not the guy to do that. No one in the UFC was coming out and saying, this guy is next as a result of this win. In fact, they didn't even say that going into the fight. What they said was we're going to see who looks the best of these four fighters when the two fights have come and gone, or after the two fights have come and gone. And even after the win, they didn't say that. And so we all assumed, and I think correctly, that, all right, they're going to wait for October 18th.

If Anthony gets a big win, an impressive win, a stoppage win, they could go in his direction. If RDR gets a big win, an impressive win, a stoppage win, they go in his direction. I don't think that's how play anymore. I think it's, again, no one has said this, but I feel like it's a safe bet that Chamsat Shamaev's first title defense will come against the winner of this fight, the one that just happened. Nasr D. Nehneemov. Now, I do wonder, maybe Jerkis Duplase fights RDR if he wins, or the winner of the Brendan Allen versus RDR fight. Maybe that opens things up.

Or, or maybe he fights Anthony Hernandez. That might be an interesting one. Or maybe just the winner of this fight fights Anthony Hernandez. Who knows? It all depends on when Hamzad is going to fight. It all depends on how the timing all, you know, plays out with the pay-per-view, or not even pay-per-views anymore, the PLEs, the Paramount Plus shows. what are we calling these things? We don't even know.

But no one was expecting Hamsat to fight in 2025 anyway. So it's hard to guess. And also we don't know the extent of Anthony's injury. We don't know if he's out for two months, three months, four months, five, six a year. We have no idea. But I feel confident in saying Nasrudeen is going to be next. And that's fine. Rightfully so. Rightfully so. Why is there something? What's going on here?

Excuse me, excuse me, everyone. I'm sorry, I apologize. How's that sound, Frank? You've got to keep your finger on the button where we'll just hear like... Clicking? Yeah. Is that weird?

A little bit. Was that better? A lot better. You're a pro, man. It was a little... It was like something in my throat there. Maybe the guilt of not asking Terence Crawford about Toul yesterday.

Oh, yeah. I saw Reddit was... They're very upset with you. Was all the Twitter. Reddit was upset. If you were me, how would you have asked that question? Like, what would have been... Hey, what's up, man? Real quick before you go,

how did you arrange that of tool play before your walkout? Oh, I'm so glad you asked Ariel, and it would have been perfect. Would you have said how or why? How? Okay. Because that's the real trick. Okay, all right.

or why like what's the reason right that's an obvious thing sure sure sure sure um well we'll get them back on the horn maybe we could get them on tomorrow or something just to ask him that one minute question oh hi hi hi frank here from ariel hawani show uh all right well i'll i'll work on that i'll hit up his uh pr okay uh so like i said uh big show looking forward to having ricochet on looking forward to having joel and alex and of course chikor stevenson at one 30 but yesterday of course we were talking at length about the tragic passing of Ricky Hatton and trying to really focus on what made him so special, why he was able to connect with people,

why we have seen this outpouring of love and emotion and tributes regarding him from all walks of life, obviously from the boxing community, from the sporting community, from the football community, from the music community. It seems like he touched everyone in so many different ways because he was the every man, because everyone was able to see a little bit of themselves

because he wasn't the kind of guy who hid his flaws. He was very open about his trials and tribulations. And I wanted to have Adam Smith on the brilliant play-by-playman, now for DeZone, formerly working for Sky Sports for so many years, who was by his side throughout all those big fights, covered him, was almost like embedded in his team, and they were very, very close. And this is what happens.

When you cover someone so closely, you develop great relationships with him. And he has been kind enough to come on for a few months, minutes to talk about his friend, the great Ricky Haddon. We really appreciate the time. Adam, thank you so much. I've seen you do a whole bunch of media and I know it's not very fun to talk about your friend's tragic passing. So your time is very much appreciated here. And first things first, I just want to ask, because he was your friend, a very close friend. I do believe he attended your wedding. He was an invited guest. How are you doing just some 36 hours later?

Yeah, thanks, Ariel. It's been a horrible time, a really, really sad time. a huge shock and yeah there's a there's a lot of love from us my family with ricky and his we grew up together in boxing really in many ways he turned professional in 1997 at witness leisure center and um he was guys real fighter our first developed huge star and uh he was always a man of the people he was um he was he was he was our mate from the beginning and It's hard as broadcasters, you know that, the closer you get to fighters. And it's tough, right? There's always got to be sort of that line.

Well, you couldn't with Ricky. You just sort of fell, fell into him and his family. And my cameraman at the time, I was a young reporter in my sort of mid-20s at Sky Sports. It was exciting times. And my cameraman, David Kane, we virtually live with the Hattens. We were there all the time. He was so accessible. He was just such a great guy

and he was a fantastic fighter so he was just the perfect athlete to work with and he just, the outpouring is because he was a real person and he he just loved everyone. It didn't matter who you were, what you were. Ricky always had time for everybody. He loved a joke, he loved a laugh, he loved a pint, he loved to train hard and he loved boxing

and he loved football. He was just down to earth. and there was just something very unique and special about Ricky Hatton. And yeah, he was at my wedding the week after the Costa Sioux fight. And, you know, I just got very close to him and his parents. We were, as I said, always there and his brother, Matthew. And, yeah, it's a really, really sad time. My heart goes out to the whole Hatton family, his beautiful children, his grandchild, everyone.

It's a tragedy. And we all know that Ricky had his difficulties, his post career and spoke openly about them and was so brave. And it's just, it's just terrible. I know I spoke to Paul speak earlier today, his best friend, his manager, the guy that sort of looked after him, day in, day out. And he said he was in a great place last week. He was looking forward to a load of things. And yeah, he just can't get his head around it. And I don't think any of us can. It's, it's awfully sad. And you can just see that he touched so many people. Everybody had a picture with Ricky.

Everybody felt they knew him. All the crowd, the thousands that went over to Vegas for the Mayweather fight, they just felt that they were his mate, and that's how Ricky made you feel. When you see the outpouring of tributes and emotion, again, from every walk of life, does any of this surprise you, or did you kind of know that he meant this much to everyone? Yeah, you knew. You knew on the journey. You knew after he retired.

He was so hurt by the many pack. our defeat. I think that's the one that really hit him hard. Floyd Mayweather, he was unbeaten in 43. And, yeah, of course he believed he was going to win and the fans went with him. But, yeah, no disgrace losing to the two elite fighters, I think, maybe, obviously, Terence Crawford and Alexander Usick in recent times. But the two elite fighters of the modern generation. And, you know, Ricky beat everybody else.

He was an absolute superstar. And he was a superstar, but he was a man of the people. And he told me many times that he never wanted to get brash or too big for his boots. He said, I just don't want to be like that. I want to be able to play darts down the local pub. I want to hang with my mates on the estate. And of course, the footballers, the Roonies, the Ferdinand's, the Oasis. He was mates with everybody, music sport, United Manchester.

Even though he was a city fan, half of the city, man, United fans, they all loved him as well. He just had a connection with everybody. And it's not surprising in any way. It's just so sad that he's not here to see what he meant to so many people. I don't, there's been a lot of tragedy in boxing over the years over my time in it. But I don't remember an outpouring as wide as this, as personal as this, just everybody. And I know his great boxing mates, the Jamie Moore, the Anthony Farnels, the Maclin's, of course. But it's just everybody.

It's every single generation who were inspired by Ricky, whether it's journalists, whether it's friends, whether it's people that just got to see him fight once. Everybody had a special thing about Ricky Hatton, and it's because you saw him. You know, you saw him. He was there. He was in the pubs and clubs. He was always having fun. He's a great raconteur, great afternoon speaker.

He had a brilliant family man as well, great dad, great grandfather, and just, yeah, a wonderful, wonderful human being. I wanted to expand on something you just said because you've been in the fight game for a very long time. You've seen people from their, you know, their debut all the way to becoming massive stars, box office stars. And sometimes we see people change along the way. I did not know Ricky well at all. I only spoke to him once. But I'm wondering if you can, you can maybe look back on that journey and say definitively that he never changed. I know some guys that I've covered that I can say definitively. One that comes to mind is George St. Pierre did not change one iota from the first time i met him until today was ricky one of those

guys who never got you know too big too big headed didn't have time for you wasn't as accessible as the early days absolutely not he never ever changed and that was the beauty the magic of ricky hatton he was richard to his family he uh he started kickboxing at seven he wasn't a good enough footballer. He turned into boxing. He was a terrible carpet fitter. His dad had a carpet business and he was awful at that. So he was just a really down-to-earth lad. And at the beginning when I met him, I first saw him in the, in the Phoenix camp, the old champs camp that Billy Graham had, the likes of Carl Thompson and Enzi Bingham, some of the great old Morris Corps, some of the great old Manchester fighters. And I remember walking in and Billy saying, you got to, Adam, you got to come to see this

kid over here. And he was this blonde, spiky head, 18-year-old. And he was thudding away on the and he said, this guy's going to be really, really special. He's going to be a world champion. And, you know, I'd heard Billy say that about a few people. But it was a connection there, and I was fascinated with him, calling himself the hitman and just being such a lovely guy outside of the ring. And he didn't. He was exactly that same person.

And I remember when he won his world title against Gossusieu, when he beat Louis Coloso over in Boston and the Mayweather, the Pachial fight, it's even the exhibition he had with Barrera. He was meant to be having another one in December this year. It was always in the gym. It was always around ringside. He never took himself seriously. And yet he took the fight business seriously.

He was a seriously good fighter. He trained so hard. And he wanted to make the best of himself. But he always took everything lightly and joked with people and had a wicked sense of humor. And he was just fun to be around. And I don't think he ever changed. And a lot of sportsmen and women, of course, They sort of have to change because of the pressures on you.

And maybe it was really before the days of social media blowing up. And we had just a special relationship with him. He'd chuck us his house keys and say, go in and make a brew. He'd invite us down to the breakfast place he had on the day of the fight. It was unbelievable accessibility, Ariel. It was just something that I don't think you get now. And he was the same Ricky. you know i spoke to him a few weeks ago he was he seemed as i said in a really good place and

he um yeah he just was talking about some young fighters he was training john hedges who just moved up to to be with him and um you know he he was passionate about the young coming through of course his son campbell boxed and yeah he just he just wanted to be there he never wanted to change he always thought that floyd mayweather was was flashy and just not like him and he just didn't like the way that floyd carried himself yes he respected him obviously as a fighter but he just wanted to be one of the people and um i think that's what i'll always remember ricky for um never changing and and being the same richard that he that he always was and that wasn't just for his family that was for all the people that got to work so closely with him

and uh and there was many of us you know i was very fortunate as a young reporter cany and i were as i said in and amongst it for the whole journey um but there were many others as well that were very touched by Ricky on the way. And then those who met him after he finished fighting as well because he was a promoter, a manager, a trainer. He loved boxing. He loved inspiring kids. He had this wonderful relationship with a young man called James Bowers, who you had brain damage from birth. And he became really, really close with him. And that was a very, very special bond. And he just did that. He did that with all sorts of people from all sorts of walks of life. It really didn't matter who you were. You know, Ricky had time for you. And, yeah, that was

a very precious thing about him. Speaking of that, Mayweather fight, I remember the first time you were on the program, we reminisced about that press tour and you being up there with Mayweather, with the Man United Jersey in the rain. I love watching those clips. And I've rewatch some of them, especially with the end of the tour and Ricky talking about, you know, I miss my six-year-old son, but I got to hang out with another one all week, and I can't wait to not be around this guy. Like some of that stuff is just absolutely classic. Can you take us back to your memories of just being there embedded with Ricky following that

whole scene? And that was kind of, that was him coming to America. I know he had the one fight in Vegas before, but that was the big, you know, 20,000, 30,000 are going to come over to support him. our guy to beat the loud brash pretty boy turned money mayweather what was that experience like for you yeah i mean the last three days have been i've been full of numbness sadness tears but but also reflections and memories and so many people are posting so much online and just to be around something like that was was a remarkable time really i mean it was a it was a great

time for boxing anyway. You know, Frank Warren had brought his stable over from ITV to Sky. We had the likes of Bruno and Nigel Bern and Prince Nasim Hamad. But, you know, Ricky was a sort of Sky-grown fighter. And that's what made the connection even more special. But we also were close with with Mayweather. We'd followed him from the amateurs. I saw him in Atlanta when he was robbed of getting a gold medal in the Olympics. And I knew how good he was. And I wondered if Nassim Hammond would fight him at some point that never happened but but when ricky did it was yeah it was just the polar opposites weren't they two very different characters as you say pretty boy turned money the flash brash outspoken arrogant mayweather with all the skills the defensive know-how the

the the brilliance that he had and he brought up through the weights and there was ricky who was technically very very good as well behind that jab and just a different type of fighter body puncher, aggressive, passionate. He walked through walls to beat Kossus who no one was going to beat in that night. And I think with Mayweather, it was as much about the build-up. Yes, the thousands descended on Vegas and drunk the bars dry. But it was more than that. The HBO 24-7 show all the previews on Sky, being around that, being around the last

weeks of the training camps were just a time I'll never forget. And there were so many stories around Ricky Hatton, times where he was fighting, times where he just went. I remember going to Vegas with him for a weekend when Gossus Hew and Zab, Judah fought. And we just had an absolute riot all weekend. It was out of training. But then when he was training, it was so serious. It was that tunnel vision. And he believed to the core that he was going to beat Floyd Mayweather.

And yeah, it was, yeah, it didn't happen for him. And Mayweather, I still say, is the best fight. I've seen live in my time of covering boxing. So no disgrace, Errol. And same with Manny Pacquiao, you know, Walterway Pacquiao was a beast. And I think it was, Ricky was a better 10 stone man.

But yeah, he walked into those two. But he gave it everything against Floyd and that way in and the noise and the, as you said, the tour when he came to Manchester, Mayweather in the rain and, you know, I am the lion and all that. Just, yeah, the memories that I'll never forget. Classic.

And one more memory, if I could, because it seems like everyone points to the Costa Zoo fight as his true coming-out party and when the rocket ship took off. In the middle of the night, I think they fought at around like 2 a.m. at the M.E.N. back then, and again, you were there, you witnessed it. I've heard that it was deafening in the arena. People say that they've never heard a crowd like that before. When you think back to that night and what it meant for him, June 4th, 2005, what comes to mind?

an extraordinary night for boxing for ricky hatton for the whole of british sport um one that i'm not sure will be equaled i mean yes frank bruno beating oliver mccall a j beating clitchco froch groves many great nights but there was something about that night in the air you know hatton was an underdog he was loved there were 22 000 packed in maybe more everyone was there who was there remembers exactly where they were i remember russell crow was at ringside with us and I just thought and people didn't think Ricky would win you know people thought cost you a shoe a modern great a pound for pound king and and the fact that that Ricky ended up forcing the great two to quit after 11 rounds it was a really special night it was an

amazing boxing moment the proud you're right were just something out of this world and it was it was two in the morning you know it was for showtime it was it was there timings and so it was really late and I remember after the fight and it was emotional and exhausting for not just for the fighters but for everyone there and I remember staying in one of the hotels in Manchester and Ricky coming in at five six in the morning and he had the black eyes and yeah he just wanted to to be around his mates and and you know have a half a Guinness I don't think he could drink even any more at that point it was it was it was just such an effort a titanic effort and um yeah and i and i i'd invited him to my wedding which was the following

saturday and uh he said oh i'm gone i'm off i'm off my i'm off my my party days of nights and then i'm off to chenaree so i didn't expect to see him at my wedding and a week later you know i was coming down the aisle and there rickie was he was um he was a great friend um a great fighter and um and um and a wonderful wonderful man aerial and i honestly think he's the best fighter i've ever worked with in terms of what he did for us and for himself and for the people. Yeah, the popularity was just a different level to anything I'd ever seen and will ever see, I think. And yeah, and it's just, it might be a well-used line, but there will only ever be one Ricky Hatter. And, yeah, his legacy will be there forever.

What a monumental loss. I'm so sorry. Truly, my condolences to you, to his family, to all his friends, to anyone who knew him. What a special soul. And I really appreciate a few minutes of your time here tonight, Adam, remembering him. Hang in there, my friend. I'm sure this is not easy. I can't imagine what you're going through. And everyone who knew him is going through, especially his family. So really appreciate it. Thank you so much for honoring him in the best way possible. Thanks, Ariel. My heart goes out to all of them, to Carol, to Ray, to Matthew and Jenner, to Campbell, to his daughter's, Millian Fern, to his granddaughter, Lila,

the entire huge Han clan, a lot of whom we became very, very close to. And, yeah, what they're going through must be just, yeah, we're with them. And we'll do anything we can for them. Thank you, Adam. All the best to you. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks, Ariel. There he is. Adam Smith, the play-by-play voice for DeZone. Does a tremendous job. Was incredible on the call this past Saturday with the likes of of Darren Barker and Carl Frampton

has been in the boxing game and the sports reporting game for quite some time. And as you heard, so very close. When he said that, you know, Ricky had told him that he wasn't going to make it to his wedding the week after that gigantic win over Costa Zoo.

And then he said he's walking down the aisle and he sees him there. That gave me chills. I mean, there's not a lot of superstars. And at that point, he was a superstar who would, you know, leave there. their vacation after a win, seven days after a win, to attend a reporter's wedding, but obviously Adam was much more than that to him. And I've, I've tried my best to watch and read, take in as

many interviews and clips and, you know, reflections as possible. And it's just amazing. And I know that when someone passes away, there's a lot of positivity. There's, there's a lot of tributes, but it just all seems so genuine, so heartfelt. And perhaps because we know that he had you know openly struggled with his mental health and we presumed, at least, you know, this is what the closest people to him said, we presumed he was doing much better. I don't know, maybe it stings a little bit more, but anyone passing away at 46. I honestly had seen some people say that, you know, they had not seen England react to a public person's passing like this since Princess Diana, to where everyone is in shock, everyone is mourning, everyone is heartbroken, and you just sort of feel it in the country.

This again, the scene at the Etihad Stadium, home to Mans City before the Manchester Derby on Sunday morning here in America, Sunday afternoon over there. just a couple of hours, actually, after the news broke, crazy that it's City v. United, and he was the most famous Manchester City fan. And there are some famous ones, obviously, the Gallagher's. He would walk out to Blue Moon, and this is the scene outside his house in the hours after the news broke, more tributes.

And, yeah, we showed some tweets yesterday from a whole host. of, you know, very, very notable people in the boxing world, in the MMA world, Tom Aspinall, obviously a resident of Wiggin, which I learned is a satellite town of Manchester. So I believe it's pretty much the same, one of the same. Anyway, just an unspeakable loss, a tragic loss. And again, our hearts go out to his family and friends and everyone who knew him. Seemed just like an amazing guy.

In a matter of moments, we're going to talk to Shakur Stevenson, hopefully, about what transpired this past weekend in Las Vegas, about his upcoming plans as well. I was going to say something unless we have him ready. Do we have him or not yet? Okay. In the midst of that interview, the UFC did officially announce some of the fights for the upcoming card at Madison Square Garden on November 15th. November 15th is going to be a very busy day in the world of combat. because you'll recall earlier in the day, it's going to be Chris Eubank Jr. versus Connor Ben 2 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

That's November 15th, and that will roll right into this UFC event, which is taking place at Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. Tickets go on sale September 19th. That's in three days. It's UFC 322. We know about Praaches versus Leon. We know about Chofchenko versus John.

Cannot wait for that fight. Of course, we know about Islam. versus JDM. The other fights that they officially announced, Aaron Blanchfield versus Tracy Cortez, which is a rematch of a fight that happened a few years back. What about Roman Coppilov against Gregory Rodriguez, or Hadriguez, I should say? That's a really good fight in the middleweight division.

Bo Nickel official, this had been reported. Hedolfo Vieira is going to be his opponent, and that is a fascinating one. Given their skill sets, Bo-Nickel, obviously coming off the loss to RDR, obviously the tremendous collegiate amateur wrestler, Hadofa Vieira, you know about his BJJ background, his prowess on the mat, black belt, all this stuff.

So what happens? Does it end up being a striking battle? Because usually when the wrestler and the grappler meet, they end up canceling each other out on the ground and they just stand and trade. And so who is the better striker between the two of them? we shall see. And what about Baisangur Sussuukayev

returning after his crazy week back in August where he won on Contender Series and then won at the UFC event in Chicago going up against Eric Mick Conoco 103 and 1 fighting out of Phoenix, Arizona.

So those are the fights that were officially announced. And this would be the second to last UFC pay-per-view on ESPN Plus. and also you can maybe say the second to last UFC pay-per-view

ever it is kind of crazy it still doesn't feel yeah that's right it still doesn't feel like paper views should be dead of course I'm not you know I'm not advocating

for them to be charging people $7999 but yeah that's kind of wild end of an era huh end of an era I'm a little misty-eyed NGL

You remember your first pay-per-view outside? I mean, just probably wrestling, right? Okay, I thought you were going to ask me and immediately something came to mind

so I'll just answer what I thought you were going to ask me. It's a great question, by the way. I do appreciate the question. The first pay-per-view that, okay, I remember buying all right,

okay, I'll start. I remember seeing UFC 1 but not live because they would play it over and over again. My grandparents had the illegal box. You would get all kinds of things and like on this viewer's choice box they would play it over and over again.

So I stumbled upon it one day. And I remember seeing that. I remember vividly buying. So the paper views, there would maybe be, I don't know, when I was in college, so this is 01 to 04, there would maybe be one every, quarter inch, maybe like four, five, six max a year, and the majority of them would be on

Fridays. So I remember buying those. I was so into it at one point. I actually remember thinking like, wow, this is a sign of the times. When they, when the Knicks retired Patrick Ewing's number, it was also a Friday game. And I remember there was a UFC pay-per-view and I remember choosing to watch the UFC pay-per-view instead of that. That's how into it I was. Now this is what I think this was 03, if memory serves me, Craig. And then I remember UFC 66 being a very important one because I bought UFC 66 on UFC.tv, which was the first time that I ever bought a pay-per-view online.

And I remember having a sort of oldish Dell laptop. And I remember thinking to myself, oh. this is weird buying a pay-per-view on a computer by the way I'm getting messages this is very strange

I'm getting messages on my phone from like updates from you guys but I don't get it on my laptop so

yeah so that's why maybe I didn't see earlier is that why you told me in my ear that Adam was waiting okay was he waiting

for a long time okay now I don't uh oh it's like is updating right now I just did it on my laptop as well. Okay, well, that sucks.

Okay, all right. Well, we'll figure that out later. Here I am lamenting the state of my slack. Very excited to talk to our next guest because, A, he's an incredible interview. B, is an incredible fighter. And we made some magic just a couple of months ago when he was in studio before his fight, after his fight with Conner Band. He was front and center, of course, in Las Vegas this past weekend to see his guy,

Terrence Bud Crawford, make history. and he was in the news as well. So I wanted to check in with the pride of Brick City, the pride of Newark, the one and only Shakur Stevenson, who's kind enough to join us. There he is.

What's up, my man? How are you? Well, your guy on Saturday. Like, I know you were confident. I know you were talking. I saw you and Ryan going back and forth. But honestly, honestly, did you think he would be that dominant?

Did you think it would be that kind of master class? Yeah, I did. I mean, I was worried about the fight being tough early, but honestly I felt like I knew what he was capable of I knew how good he is and he came and showed everybody why he's one of the best fighters

of all the time what does it like to see a guy that you obviously are very close to who's meant so much to you big bro little bro all that stuff do that on that kind of stage like as you're watching this unfold what does that like for you?

It's very inspirational you know I've been around him since I was a kid and I got to actually like see how competitive he is see how disciplined how focus he was and um it it didn't do nothing but make me better as a person so honestly without him i don't even know if i would be as good as i am today so i got to pay homage to him as a fighter and as a person but um watching it was just amazing it was very amazing and it was um inspirational and gave me a lot of motivation when when he was on our show yesterday i asked him if he felt like that was validation

for all the years where people said he wasn't promotable, where he didn't have the personality that people wouldn't want to pay to watch him, and all that stuff. When you guys are hanging out when you're friends, did you sense that that was like a big thing that bothered him, that he felt like he didn't get the respect that he deserved the community,

and now finally he is getting that? Yeah, honestly, he's the type of person that's like, he kind of seem unbothered all the time. Like, he don't seem bothered at all. But he's, like, very much, holding, I ain't going to say holding it in, but he's like waiting for the moment. Like he's holding it in right down his nose and his brain and he waits for the moment. And then when the moment comes, you see the emotions come out.

You see, he tell you all exactly how he felt and he remembers everything that everybody been saying and been doing to him. So, yeah, I kind of seen it as I was around him. But I think he handled it very well as a fighter as a person. and he handled it very well. I think that that's what he tried to instill in me. And I finally understand it. I get it. Afterwards, Canella said he's better than Floyd Mayweather.

And obviously, you're friends with him. But what did you think of that statement? And do you agree with it? I mean, I don't know. I think they're both great fighters. I think that I see what Canello is saying. I think he's probably mesmerized about how strong. strong Bud Crawford was that night.

I think he realized that if he made one mistake, he could have got hurt in that fight too. But honestly, it's a hard thing to say with both guys because both guys are brilliant. Both guys are great fighters. So I wouldn't say it, but I definitely would say both of them are legends. And I appreciate both for them. The debate in it right now is who's number one, pound for pound,

Him or Usik. And in a ways there as well, but it seems to be down to those two. Who do you cast your vote for? I tell you, y'all, every time I think it's Bud Cawford. Bud has been doing this the longest. I think that he has not been as active as Ussick, but as long as he's been on top is way before the Uxig's and the Inoways came around.

I think he was on top when it was Canelo's and then Andre Wars and Limonchenko. So during that time, he was in that era and they still was debating was he number one. And now he's in a whole different era with Usik and in a way where they still debating whether Buckcroft is number one. So for him to be this far along in all these years, I think that he's number one. He's been non-committal about his future. Do you think we ever see him fight again? I don't want to see him fight no more. Oh, really?

In my opinion. No, I don't, I think that it's just a lot. It's a lot. Like, some training camps that wear and tear on your body, and me being his brother, like, I really got, like, endless love for this guy. I don't want to see it. I think he did everything in the sport that he could do. I think there's nothing else that can be done. He made one of the best fighters of our generation look average.

And I think that's a huge accomplishment. And I think it's time to retire on the high horse. Do you think he retires? No, but I don't, it's hard to say, but it's crazy, y'am. I mean, I already know, like, what he can do in the boxing ring is different. And I'm training camp, the hard work that he put in that comes together on fighting. He can go and do different things. And he, he don't have to retire, but for me, I would want to see it.

At this point, when you're there at the press conference, and he's, you know, he's having his moment, and you're all having your moment, there's your guy, Tio Fimo, standing up wearing a captain's hat or something. I don't know what that was and starting to shout at you and him and all of that. Are you annoyed in that moment? Are you bothered? Do you feel like he's trying to steal his shine? How are you reacting? No, I'm not annoyed at all. I think that with Tio, you got to give him credit. Like, he's not like all of these other guys. He actually wants to be around greatness. He wants to learn and put himself around. grading this and study.

He actually reminds me of myself in that aspect. So they might think it's clout chasing and all that, but I think he had to genuinely want to ask that question to Bud for himself. I think that that was something that he trying to help himself in the future. So I know how to, like, I look at things the right way, and I don't think that it was a bad thing. I actually took him wrong because when he said that he wanted to fight right now, I think he meant that he wanted to fight in a boxing ring right now.

I kind of thought, like, he meant something else. But, yeah. What did you think he said? I'm thinking he's saying, like, let's fight right now. I'm like, damn, bro. I don't know, I'm thinking, like, everything Gucci. But, yeah, I think he kind of took something for now. I think that was something to help him mentally.

Okay, so where do things stand? Because I saw you guys doing the interview together, your side-by-side. it seemed like you were saying, like, let's go, and he seems to be down. As of right this moment, where do things stand between you and Tufima Lopez? And is he the frontrunner to be your next opponent? For sure, for sure, no question. I think that it's right there. It's right there.

I think that once the business people is ready to seal the deal, I think that the deal will be done. But the fight is happening. Fight is happening. I don't think he's going to duck the fight. I think that he's here to prove himself, and I'm here to prove myself. And I think that's what make it a tremendous fight. We're both young fighters who want our spot.

We want our spot in the sport of box. We want to be king. We want to be where Bud Crawford is at. So that's going to make it fun. Will it happen in 2025? Yes. Okay. Early 2025.

I'm ready to get it on. Oh, wait. You mean 2026? I mean 20, oh, my fault, my fault. My fault. 206. Okay, so you won't fight this year? No, I'm not.

Okay, so early, like what, January, February, March time? I think I like January. Okay, and obviously you have your ties to New York, New Jersey. He has his ties to New York. It's got to happen here, right? Yeah, I think it should, but at the end of the day, I got to be honest with you. T.O. is not really from New York. I keep telling people this.

He keeps saying that he is, but when you grow up in the national tournaments and you go to them regionals, you see the guys that's from New York. I seen Shushu, I seen Eger, I seen Richard St. Hitchens. I seen all these guys at the regionals. When I used to go to the Nationals, it's where I saw Tio. When I saw Tio, he was with Team Florida, and that was at a very young age. So I barely count home from being from New York. But if you want to claim New York and if New York claims him,

and we could do it over there, too. I think that New York rocks with me more than they rocks with Tio. So where do you think, or maybe I should also say, Where would you want this fight to happen? I mean, it don't matter. We could fight anywhere. We can fight anywhere. Long as it sells and it's good for the fans, we can fight anywhere.

Honestly, I don't care how the fight gets down. I just want to be in there and pull the world that I'm the best fight on the planet of Earth. Is there a location being discussed right now? I think so, yes. I think that's what the business people is doing. Okay. And speaking of the business side of things, it was well documented that that was your last fight, your last one with Matrum.

Will they be a part of this, or are you going in a different direction? I don't know. I don't know. We've got to see what business makes sense. I'm not sure. I can't really answer that question. But I will say this. I think that Erie Herne is a great promoter. I'm never taking none away from him. And I appreciate him for the short time and the short things that he done for me. So, yeah. Okay. So when you talk about the business people talking, about it now. Who's representing you in these

discussions? My manager. My manager, Jay Prince. That's like my family to me, so, yeah. Would you guys be the main event? Yes, for sure. I don't think nothing in boxing is bigger than me

and Tio right now, so as far as like a real boxing fight, not that WWE shit. But, yeah, real boxing fight, I think that nothing is bigger than that right now. you say W.W. Esha, what are you referring to? I mean, there's a lot of

WWE fights going on. Yeah. Are you referring to Tank versus Jake? Yeah, Buddy versus Jake is a is a WWE fight. What do you mean by Buddy? Buddy, that's his name. To you? I mean, you know, they keep saying that I'm just saying his name,

so I don't know. I got you. Are you surprised? We talked about it when it was being discussed, but now that it's official, are you ultimately surprised you went in that direction? Not, not at all. I think from a business side of it, it makes sense, I guess.

But me being a competitor, I don't agree with it, but from a business side, if I put my business hat on, I get it. Do you think he wins? I think he should. Yeah, I think he should. Would it be embarrassing if he lost, in your opinion? Yeah, it can be sometimes embarrassing

because Jake haven't been boxing for as long as you so I know it's a size difference but I think

it's a puzzle that he could be able to figure out will you watch I mean I said I wouldn't I said I wouldn't

but I mean if everybody's in the world is watching it like say I'll come home and my family or somebody watching it I'll probably watch

you but I'm not like just turning it on I'm not like super intrigued about it just because I like the real fights

Well I remember when you were in studio You and Connor Ben The reaction was amazing Like there were people days weeks later Being like that segment with Shakur And Connor Ben was hilarious Some people were even suggesting You guys should do a podcast together

Because you're so funny together Like there's an interesting dynamic Obviously that's not happening But I'm just curious Was there ever a moment In the aftermath of all of that Where this was explored seriously Not that I know of

I knew that he had a fight with Chris Eubank lined up. So I heard that once that fight kind of got lined up, the talks of that even went down. Okay. Did you ever think that it was going to be looked at or not really? I mean, I was with it. Like, people who think that I was joking, but I was actually with it. I know it was a weight difference, but I just know how green he was.

So, yeah, I was with it. Do you think he beats Chris Eubank in the rematch? No. no not at all if he loses that fight would you still be interested in fighting him down the line yeah i want to fight him in england i want to go to um england and gain some fans and uh just show the world my noir rightity is a lot bigger than people understand maybe next year yeah i would do it i would do it i would do it um that's a huge fight and i'm down i saw a tweet with you and uh ryan Garcia, not the one where you guys were talking about the Crawford fight, but you were talking

about potentially fighting each other. Obviously, you said that Tio is the main focus. This is the tweet right here. He said, let's fight. You said it wouldn't be no different than what we've seen last night, which of course, you're talking about Crawford and Canelo. Same as when I cooked you back when we was kids, or did you forget that fight. Don't worry, I'll remind you of old times after I take care of Tio. Is that the plan? Like in your perfect world, is it Tio and then Ryan in 26? Honestly, I feel as though I'll fight anybody. Like, I'm down with all of the big fights.

I'm glad that he finally saying, let's fight. I never even heard him say that really before. So, yeah, I think that would be a plan. I think me beat T.O. And then once I'm a ring magazine champion at 140 pounds, I think that anybody can get it. anybody can get it all the big names that claim that they are some type of great fighters they can get it um even the young guys and the guys that's coming up behind me that want my spot they can get it

so anybody can get it i'm going to take over this new era in this new generation of boxing i love it and so so you'll be moving up to 140 do you how high do you think you'll go like when it's all said and done you just saw we just saw your your your great friend go all the way to 168 maybe not that high may i don't know but like how high do you think you would be comfortable going honestly um after i fight at 140 i'm going to go back down to 135 pounds if it's the right fights but um i don't want to give up my belt at 135 because i'm an actual natural 135 pounder so i would rather keep my belt and then go out the 140 b t and then whoever want to rain that 140 division they can rain that but that's not my division so um truthfully though if i go up for

big fights i would do it like certain fights i would do it but um it just has to be big enough and enough money for me to um want to go up so if and when you fight t o you don't you don't think wbc will take the belt away or anything like that i i pretty don't i pretty don't i don't think that deserves to happen i'm just moving up for a fight with Tiofimo Lopez, who is the Ring Magazine champion, he also has the WBO belt. So, nah, I pray that the WBC don't look at it as nothing like that. I think that I've been good to them. They've been good to me through the years, and I think we should continue that relationship.

Yeah, here's another tweet from you just a couple of weeks ago. So when I beat TEO and become a four-weight world champion and Ring Magazine Champion 140, and that's not even my real weight class, what y'all going to say then? do you think if that happens they'll still find things to say do you think they're just always going to say something about you yeah when that happens

I think that they're going to say Tio wasn't that good and that's just not the truth that's honestly not the truth I think Tio is an amazing fighter we don't see him in big fights and big moments he come and show up every time there's a big moment so

I know what I'm dealing with I know that I'm not getting in the ring with a god that's not that good I know that I'm getting in the ring with a God, that's similar to me and thinking and mental mindset to where he's always training. He's always preparing himself, always getting ready. So I can't wait. I can't wait.

Four division champ, that's amazing. It's unbelievable. Did you watch his last fight at, you might have been there, right? Were you there in Times Square? Front row. Okay, so what did you think of his performance? I thought he had the best performance on the card. Yeah.

I thought he was the guy who kind of showed up. You can tell he trained hard and put in the work. And I thought he looked good. He looked great that night. Being there on Saturday and throughout the week, seeing the first show promoted by TKO and Dana White and all that stuff, what did you think of the whole presentation? It was amazing. I didn't go to a lot. It was amazing.

I don't think I've ever been to a boxing fight in the U.S. that was like that. I don't think I ever see nothing like that The arena was filled out The fans was into it It just was all around a great event Yeah, to see that many 70,000 people in a football stadium An NFL stadium

And then the word yesterday, 41 million people Watching the main event on Netflix I'm assuming you see all that And you say I want to be a part of this, right? I want a stage like that I want a platform like this For sure, I think that I got to say this again, and I know that people might think that, you know how people

act, but I think that we got to give credit to Turkey. I think Turkey came and did a lot with the sport of boxing. I really don't give gain the right that much credit on that event because of the fact that I felt like Turkey was the one who got the fight done. Turkey is a guy going to get all these fights done with the money that he's spending. So he's changing the sport of boxing. Like, you got to give him his credit. He's making fighters, fight, fights.

And I think that's what amazing about it. I'm the guy that like to fight these fights, so let's make it happen. 100%. There's absolutely no denying that. I'm assuming the T.O. fight will be with Riyat season or the ring. He'll be involved? Yeah, yeah. I think that's how it's going to go.

I think they're going to put their all into it, and we're going to put our all into it, too. Okay. And before I let you go, can I also ask, there's a little bit of a debate between, Terrence and a UFC champion named Ilya I don't know if you've seen some of this back and forth what do you what do you make of this do you think that this is something that could happen and you were shaking your head what were you saying you hadn't seen it or you think it's crazy talk now I think don't guys got to leave but alone no I kind of seen a picture of bud dapping him up before um bud was going to his workout or leaving his workout I think them

guys got to leave Bud alone. I think Bud Crawford is just different. Especially if you're talking about getting in a boxing ring with him, bro, you're not going to last more than one round, I don't think. But, um, you bet off saying UFC, like, but it's a guy that I wouldn't

be surprised if he gets into UFC and beat the shit out of some guys too, because he got a great wrestling background. I don't see him wrestle. Real wrestlers, like, real wrestlers, like, real wrestlers on some everyday shit. I got to be honest with you.

I think that, I don't know. I think that dude's just different. You think he could beat him in MMA and in boxing, in other words? I'm not saying that he can beat him, but I'm not saying I wouldn't put it past him because Bud looked bigger than that guy. He got longer arms. I just wouldn't put it past him.

Like, I would not think that. I wouldn't be surprised come fight night if they do an M.M.A. If Bud doesn't knock him out of sleep or choked him to death or something. something like that. I just wouldn't be surprised. Wow. But overall, you just, you think he should sail off into the sunset. Nothing left to prove, no more fighting. Yeah, it's over. It's over. I think he put a lot of hard on, hard, aren't time into his body and his craft. And I think that it's time, it's time, bro. You did everything in the sport of boxing, bro. There's nothing else left for you

to do. Three times undisputed, I want to say it only been done one time by Henry Armstrong. So, man he's amazing he's amazing yeah and and shout it to clarissa as well i don't want you to oh yeah no no no no no on the male side of thing i'm glad you said that i'm glad you said that because i think boxing has to start treating clarissa the way they treat the males because you got to think of clarissa right if she was a male athlete she will be one of the biggest superstars um people will be talking about her every day so So people got to understand, like, treat her as if she was a male because she deserves it.

She put in her hard work. She put in her hard work to go get two Olympic gold medals, three-time undisputed. I think she went six weight classes throughout her career. So we got to, we got to just pay homage to Clarissa. She deserves a respect to. I agree. Very last one. It's almost been two months since Top Rank's last show on TV and last show, period.

You were with them for a long time. What do you make of the state of the promotion now that it seems like, you know, they don't have a TV home, at least as of now? I don't know. It's kind of looking bad on there right now just because of the fact that you would think that they would have had something in the works because I would think that they knew when a TV deal was up. But, man, I pray for them guys.

I pray for them guys. I hope that they get it together. I wouldn't want to see them the company crash and go down. because it's been an amazing company throughout the years. So, like I said, I thought, I think, I think me and Bud kind of has something to do with once it kind of went down. My honest opinion. Appreciate the time, Shakur. And can't wait for this fight.

If it all comes to fruition, it sounds like it's pretty close. What an incredible fight it's going to be in 2026. Always a great pleasure to talk to you. Thanks for taking some time. And congrats to you and the whole team on the win this past weekend. Thank you, my guy. There he is. the great Chaucor Stevenson of Newark, New Jersey,

Brick City, one of the all-time best. Him versus Tiofima Lopez at 140 pounds would be incredible theater. The build-up would be tremendous. The press conferences, the trash talk, the face-to-face, all that stuff. You got a taste of it in the build-up to Crawford-Kinello this past Saturday. And, yeah, I think it would be one of the, you know, one of the most talked about and most anticipated fights of 2026.

So let's hope it gets done, and then perhaps Ryan Garcia after that. All right, let's go back. to UFC Noce, big win for El Gran Chango himself. He's got to stay with the name. We talked about it before the fight. Massive win over Diego Fajeda. Another great win for him. He is on some kind of role.

Let's talk to Alexander Hernandez about the big win this past Saturday in San Antonio. Yeah, there he is. Hello, Alex. How are you? Good, man. How are you doing? Where are you at the gym right now? Yeah, yeah.

I'm still in Austin right now. I drove to Austin yesterday. I'm working out at their Onet Labs. I think it's called Correct Fitness now. but yeah I just had to shake something out I'm a puffy guy I get some of this dirt off me you know just from enjoying the uh the San Antonio

cuisine for the last couple days oh yeah it looks like there's like a like a weight thing right behind you I don't even know what the name yeah yeah there's rings and everything we're actually outside this is a big facility inside and outside they got like the the backyard or they call it something like where do you have the phone or computer propped up

huh where do you have the phone like how are you where is oh yeah the only thing I could use on a squat lift. I love it. I'm talking about like the little securities for the squat bar. It's a great shot. It looks great. Very crafty on your part. It's like I'm doing something, man.

For a guy who doesn't like interviews, you put some time and thought into this. I like it. I did take an extra moment. I do appreciate that. Were you annoyed that I asked you to come back on after telling us last week that you don't enjoy doing interviews? No, I've never annoyed by you, bro. I am, man, I am like, despicably fatigue, though, dude.

Just the two and 30 is a lot. And I almost just wanted to call it sick today, but... Oh, wow. I don't know how, like, Kevin Holland, Seroni, they went on those, like, five, six, five streaks in a year. It's crazy. It's a lot on the system. You feel it? Like, you feel like your body's really tired right now?

I'm just trying to like my nervous system. Like, I got done with Chicago, and I felt like a lunatic because you don't really sleep that night after the fight. You know, you don't sleep way in night, and then you crash hard the night before the fight. And then the night of the fight, Um, you know, I'm an overthinker. So I find myself, uh, just kind of, you know, reflecting on the fight, uh, thinking about

anything and everything. And, um, I'm, I'm smoking cigarettes on the balcony through the sunrise. Then the next day, generally catching up with some family and friends, kind of some spotty sleep. And then finally, like that, that second night after the fight, I crashed really, really hard. And so I've kind of got my first great night sleep last night. And, um, and, um, and yeah. the in-between space

with Chicago to this fight because the announcement was already being made whenever we were leaving Chicago it was almost just like there was just no real downtime for the nervous system especially just being like a real psycho

like I am, it's hard to kind of find some peace of mind. So I just I found myself just sort of redlining for the last month really. Wow, wow. Okay, there's a lot there I want to ask you about, but fair to say in the aftermath you're done for the rest of the year, you need a break?

Yeah, I definitely just need a chill for little bit. I need to get this neck sort out a little bit. I don't have nearly any confidence in my left arm. And not to say that was, you know, when I reflected in the fight, I felt like, I felt like I was overthinking and underengaging, and I'm really frustrated by that. So some things I want to correct. And some of that, just, you know, some mental adjustments. But I do really want to just address some issues in my neck and just get just kind of this left side of my body

reorganized. What are you feeling right now? It's just it's like a sense of detachment. Like if I were to do a pull-up, my left last knot engaged, if I try to hold my left arm up for too long, it wants to fall.

It's just like a lack of like continuity through my left side. And how long has that been bothering you for? A bit over a year, it got really nasty before the holobo fight. I had just an incident in practice, like what we call stingers, you know, but a lot of times they're like hernia disc. And I essentially shut down that side for about five weeks in the camp. We were just kind of tip-toring around.

And they getting through the fight was kind of tough. I did some PRP injections in my neck and some stem cells down the spine. before the Hooper fight and everything felt better. Certainly through like an 11-week camp, though, it's going to start to agitate again. And then just rolling right to this one. And I think, I think, again, just the nervous system just being on high alert, there's never a moment

that really felt too confident. So I'd just like to, I'd like to clean that up. Yeah, for sure. And you mentioned about like overthinking and not engaging enough. Has that been something that has bothered you or plagued you throughout your career? Is that something that you really want to correct? Well, a lot of times, you know, I might, early in the career, I'd say I was over-engaging and at times just not thinking at all, you know, it was almost compensating the opposite way.

I feel, I feel like I'm definitely, like, hit a level of professionalism where I know I can show up and perform. I just, I just found myself in this fight. It was a similar strategy to beating Hooper because even though they're opposites, they're kind of the same, and they're going to be really clunky stepers and over. over eager to get to me. And so rolling into a quick notice fight, a stick and move strategy made a lot of sense. And then really just letting him find his way and my power. I felt like he might pull back a little bit, but I thought that he would almost just try to just make it a brawl as much as he could. And that's what he was going for. And so I felt like he was kind of step into that dead space for me. And so, you know, that certainly played out. But in order to kind of get to

place of performance, I guess I'm trying to be in, I almost got rid of like just hanging so much on the outcome. Like I don't, almost surrendering the outcome. Like I try to have no expectation, no ego about it, and really not desire the result, but really like pour myself out into the work in the cage. And I thought the work was overwhelming. I thought I could have strung some things together a lot better. Again, I thought I was overthinking scenarios and under-engaging in them. And so I'm, you know, I'm happy that the outcome was there. And in a month, if I'm looking back to the numbers, I'll be happy to have, you know, the win bonus and everything and the knockout. But I just would have like to see myself perform better.

I have to say, I love how philosophical you are about your fights, your fighting style, the way you approach fighting. Is all this from you? Do you work with, you know, we've seen guys work with sports psychologists people like that gurus mentors is this all you're doing or do you work with someone especially as you're talking about you know how you you know engage or don't engage these days yeah no i um you know it's not a solo project for sure um i work with this uh buddy of mine andre miller who's a farmer and physical therapist in uh in organ i'm actually going to go visit yota this weekend so i'm going to take off Thursday or something to go visit him i'll share some things on that. But yeah, he's as wizard down the hills and just attributes himself

mostly as a farmer, but he's just like movement-based physical therapist and trainer out there. I've known him since Texas. But we started to kind of work together shortly after the time. I moved to Colorado. And yeah, we bounce a lot off. He walks the walk better than anybody I've met in this sense of I feel like he's not just reading me like parables or scripts from like a book

the guy's been through it and got into it and he's got some wisdom under his belt and then just staying in it as long as I have you know

like I said I really feel like this is all a war of attrition and if you could be pretty reflective along the journey you could definitely come out with some good notes

and some insight about yourself and like you know how to chart the course so having a guy like that to kind of help guide me and play some ideas off of a, you know, kind of came to this state of being, you know, but, um, how, how, how,

how long ago did you meet? Because that's not your typical mentor that you hear about. No, no, it's, yeah. The farmer slash physical therapist. Yeah, he, um, uh, yeah, he, he's actually helped me recapitulate a lot of things in my spine, too, like, uh, do some real off-the-wall exercises to get, like, the spine organized and, like, the warm-up can look kind of funny on the back sometimes. But I'm probably, I've known him for a while because he's from Texas also. But we started working together maybe five years ago. So it's not like even like since we worked together, it's just been a clean road. You know, I've managed to screw up a number of outcomes along the way.

But yeah, we've been working together for about five years. Now what about this scene where you said you go on the balcony, sunrise, smoke some cigarettes? Are you talking before the fight or after the fight or after the fight? Oh, no, no, after the fight, for sure, man. yeah yeah the american spritman uh tobacco's my guilty pleasure afterwards dude i love i love a post fight signa man i don't know if it was this like uh this dashly trip to spain i just took i was introduced to a spliff it changed the game for me it's you know wow like being a kid again yeah yeah when you say spliff what do you mean you mean marijuana i'm not

i'm not up to date with yeah yeah it a little half and half hand roll okay and so uh i like to get a couple of those and afterwards and then i walk away again from it i've actually taking a nice sabbatical from from we for this Texas fight because they seem to not take it too lightly out here okay and and I've enjoyed I've enjoyed taking the break but a split will get you right between the ears keep you honest and so I do I do like to yeah I do like to have a celebratory spliff there afterwards and sometimes the night of the fight it turns into like five as I'm just kind of

sitting out there watching watching the sunrise are you are you watching the sunrise smoking your your splits I prefer to call them fatty boo Boomb baddies. Is that the same thing? Yeah, you call whatever you want. They want to say, yeah. Pull up a chair. Pull up a chair. You call what you want. Are you alone when you're doing this, or are you surrounded by people? Oh, yeah, usually by this point, everyone's falling asleep, yeah.

Wow, wow. What a scene this is. You're like an old cowboy in a Western movie here. That's a fun way of thinking about it. Sometimes I feel like a lonely towed out of it. But, yeah, the reflected cowboy is a cooler image for sure. And what about leading up to the fight? much has been made of Carlos Prachas liking to smoke like 10 to 15

sigs a day. Do you do that sort of thing? No, no, no, certainly not, dude. I've got these like weathered all the sacks here, these tonsils in my throat that, like, can't handle shit anymore. You could already just hear how raspy I sound from just happened a few the last couple days.

So I'm prone to like a sinus infection if you let me. So, no, I generally try to like I said, when I'm doing the herb thing, I'm still like I'm in hollet sometimes, just smoking volcano bags or I'll eat some edibles, but like I said, I tried to take a break from that for a bit.

Kick caffeine for the whole way through the fight also. Wow. It's really on this like clear, clear state. And then afterwards, yeah, yeah, just like a like I said, celebratory spliff and that's it. But man, really trying to empty out for a little bit. Yeah, no booze, no caffeine. Why no caffeine, by the way?

Well, the caffeine initially started because, again, dude, I was so redline feeling after the Hooper fight and then just rolling right in this fight. I was waking up and also just being a skinny I immediately just started dieting again so I was like low 70s

hanging out like between 70 and 72 which is pretty light that's like you know fight weak light and so I think my nurse was just higher and I was waking up with a higher heart rate like just kind of anxious and so drinking coffee just made me want to

implode me like my heart was going to fucking explode out of my chest so I was like I don't need that. So I just wasn't drinking coffee, just going to the gym. And once I got going to the gym, I was fine. And then kind of getting that rhythm was cool. And I like, ideally, I like to take a break from anything at some point. I hate the idea of just being dependent and having predictable routines.

Because before you know, you start kind of becoming the predator to yourself. You know, any prey stalking of predator is going to attract their routines and catch them. And so I almost try to create that, like, voice in my own head sometimes of not being too predictable and certainly not too dependent on any one or two things you know and so yeah a little surprise and change I think is good good for the mind, good for the spirit

as a result of this this great run are we sticking with Al-Granchango it sounds like this is the moment. Absolutely I certainly going to do it yeah yeah certainly going to do a more service next time as well man I like I said overthinking and under-engaged this fight but I just chalk it up

you know grateful grateful for their outcome I mean I truly truly with I served a better fight. I feel like, again, I kind of overplayed the stick-and-move game, but it's okay. It's just Intel. It's just data.

And I'm excited to have my health and go roll to another one. Even having this conversation, kind of beating myself up about it, makes me just want to get another fight this year, just to go out on a higher note. But also, a little bit of patience and a reset would probably make me perform better

than just trying to run back in. By the way, I don't know if you know this, but Diego's pretty good and you stopped him in the second round. I mean, I wouldn't beat yourself. No, no, no, he's good, and he's a brawler, and so much of it was trying to just antagonize him, you know, not do, just not do what he wanted to do.

And I feel like being a, you know, a general Jack that I can kind of exploit the areas that my opponents aren't as good at. You know what I mean? I'm not like necessarily a master any one trade, so I can generally kind of play off of their weaknesses, I feel like. but again they're just triggers that should have been pulled along the way

and I was just kind of watching myself not pulled them and that it's just frustrating you know so I'm always going to be a little critical I get it the finish was brilliant the elbow the ground and pound

I actually thought it went on a little bit too long are you thinking that in the moment like yeah absolutely man it went on way too long and uh again I mean I just call it

call it the entire dude um uh you catch me on a sapy Tuesday for sure. No, I love that. Because I, because I wake up and I look at, uh, yeah, I look at that and I'm mad at myself as much as I am the ref, uh, you know, I think, uh, I think that. Why are you mad at yourself?

Because there's moments where, you know, with the correct composure, you know, the ref should have stopped it. I should have stopped it next, you know, and, uh, and there's a, there's a moment where you're like, man, this fight is over with. And I almost wish I just checked the ref because, uh, you know, I don't know who he was waiting on to check with all the fight. And it did. It did go on too long.

And so, yeah, I don't like, I don't like seeing that. I don't even like being on the correct side of that, you know? I had asked you about the relationship between you and Diego, and even like throughout the fight week, it seemed like there was some animosity there. How do you feel about him now? I don't have any animosity towards him at all. I know, like, afterwards, he's being super gassed up with a fight,

I had that interview with Full Sin, just talking about, lack of respect and I felt that for sure you know I had this and you know what sometimes you like paint your own narratives and you and you send it to the moon and maybe I am maybe I'm not but with with Hooper I felt like uh it was just like the polar opposite opponent which was kind of an interesting thing to approach too and I was kind of having fun with that idea of like well let's see how this goes versus that went um with a similar approach to each hooper young, long,

gaming, and being the young guy was going to like overzealously pressed forward. I knew he was going to overzealously pressed forward. We all did. And so, and he wasn't as, he wasn't quite the threat that Ferreira's on the feet. Ferreira's got real knockout power. Hooper certainly, you know,

anyone catch a clean right hand. It's going to hurt you. But he was less of a threat in that department. But when we were in the cage and prior to the cage, just a little interactions you have micro interactions you make macro reeds off of them i could see the fear in his eyes and not saying he was scared to me over respect anything i'm just saying there was fear and uh and maybe just a respectful amount of fear in the cage i could see the fear everyone was cheering and it was like oh shit we have to do this now and i knew when he was going to reach uh we could almost kind of

exploit some of that overzealous fear with diego he was kind of the older savier vet and i don't I don't know if it was maybe even a loss of Jackson or what. I felt like he didn't have the same respect or fear at all. And at face-offs, it was almost, and even beforehand in the back, it was so nonchalant, almost like a cheekiness at face-offs. My coach felt it too, you know, that he is going to be almost on the uppercid and coming forward too bullishly because he's fearless. And again, like I said, like I said, whether you miss high or you miss low, you're still missing.

And they're still going to make the same mistake. they both did, just, uh, uh, just coming in too recklessly. And, um, and it was really just, uh, you know, that, that black and white, there's nothing emotional tied to it. I, I don't feel, uh, any animosity towards, uh, Diego or anyone on his team. I think is, uh, I think as coach is a jet. I think, um, I've been, I've been watching them for a long time coming up in the Texas scene. It was just, it was just a teaser that, uh, that we were slayed a fight early on. I'm glad we didn't fight my first year in the UFC. Probably would have. if fucking taking me out.

So, yeah, yeah, I don't have any ill will, and that's even why I don't feel good about all those extra shots. Yeah, I don't have any animosity towards anybody in the game. Afterwards, you made the call out of Michael Chandler. Love that idea. How confident are you that he accepts the challenge? It's something that could happen. Yeah, I love that shit, too.

And I think it's something that could happen. And I think it's something that honestly can make sense for both of us. It can be like a sexy opportunity for either one of us, if you, you know, both corners are looking at it correctly. So I think, yeah, I certainly think that's a 2026 fight. And again, the only reason I would say that delay is just because I truly do want to clean up this, you know, this left side. I feel like if I can get that back to par, I'll be as exciting and hold the expectations

and what others are looking for and just what I would like to see out of myself. And with all that being said, man, is something juicy. happens in like six weeks before the years over, I'm healthy, so I'm back in the gym. I might just take it. As far as the reason why you chose him, is there a specific reason? Is there, is there a history

there, or is it just looking at the history? There's always got to be history. No. I like it. It's no, no. There's no history? I'm too dumb of a joke, but no, I don't get it. I missed the joke. It went over my head. There's no back story,

no history. It's just look at Top 15, it's just a stylistic match that I think would be fun and that's been entertained around me for like over a year now if I could just make my way there and so I feel like

we've breached those doors now that a call out's appropriate and it's just a fun matchup. I love it. I would love to see it. Could I ask, do you think, like in your heart of hearts, do you think he waits to see if Connor fights on this White House card

and probably doesn't fight anyone? Yeah, I mean, and you ask the thing too, He's probably going to want something, you know, he's deserving of, like, celebrity matchups. So I'm sure that that's something that he's looking at. I just wouldn't rely on Connor for anything if I were him. You know what I mean? He already got dropped twice on that, right?

Wasn't it what they slated twice? And they both got canceled? Well, one officially, but it's been a long road. They were supposed to fight. Yeah, it's just been a really long road with him. I wouldn't depend on McGregor. And hey, I've never pulled out of a fight. He's going to make the same check either way.

so yeah let's see it through one talking point last week was the fact that you know all the UFC brass you know they were they were heavily promoting this Canello Crawford card and the MMA fans were feeling like UFC Noce didn't get the attention that it deserved did you feel that you care about that sort of thing

do you pay attention to any of that and I'm just a guy in his underwear trying to try to do his best to collect a check so I'm not yeah I'm not really paying attention to it and I wouldn't just say, you know, if we were going to pay attention to it, I wouldn't say that's just no shit. I would just say in general, it's been kind of a lackluster effort.

And I don't know if it's just because there's so many promotions happening at once within the UFC, you know, with the boxing, jihitsu, the power slap and everything else, that it's almost just the brand just stands on itself. Or if there was this idea after McGregor that it was like we can never have a star become bigger than a company. but it feels like it feels like no you know no contending or premier fight or event is really getting pushed too hard you know like DDP

Homsat title or it's a Poria title or any of it doesn't really feel like it's being wildly promoted but I don't know maybe if you look at the numbers maybe it's selling all the same so maybe they just don't even need to worry about it and again I don't know if it's like we don't want the a flyer to be bigger than the brand or if the Rank can just stay on its own, but it, you know, we certainly don't get those fucking sick

promos we used to get back in, you know, like, 2015, that's for sure. Does that bug you? Again, I'm not the guy on the promo clip either way, so no matter what, I'm not getting shared in that shit, so. I remember you at the dais, cutting mean promos on Donald Soroni for the UFC on ESPN debut. You were there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was there for that, yeah. Yeah, so.

I wish I wasn't, yeah, no, it was, uh... Second, by the way, second-longest active winning street. I don't know if they're doing promos like that, though. They do stuff UFC Countdown, but the build-ups not the build-up it used to be for sure, man. Those build-ups used to be awesome. Second-long-est active-off street.

At 1-155. What do you think about that? What you just said? Yeah. I think it's very accurate. I mean, I just think there's a lot. And Dana White is being spread thin. And part of that is a testament to just how good the UFC brand is doing,

so he doesn't have to be at every show and cut all these promos. do these interviews and whatnot, but yeah, of course, you know, if I say people are calling me a hater, but like, are we really going to say that shows that the apex, you know, in front of 15 people feel the same as back in the heyday of 2015, 2016? Of course not. Look at that show on Saturday. That crowd was unbelievable. When Diego and John Silva walked out, it was great, but they're just... Yeah, no, yeah, it was the same. It did not feel as big as the second Notcha UFC last weekend, excuse me, last year, the Spear one, of course, and even the first one at Team Mobile. It just felt, it just felt like another show.

It didn't feel like it had any sort of like special element to it. And I love that stuff. I like the pomp and circumstance. I like the- No, no, no, everyone does. You know, the flare, yeah. The flare gets you going. So I agree.

Yeah, maybe we'll do more. Maybe we'll write him a nice letter or send him an email or something. Yeah. I'm sure they'll be well received. Should we write it together from you and I? Oh, dude, yeah, collab. Yeah. It's been collabing, though, with me, dude.

I just wanted to ask you before, I let you go, and I appreciate you doing this in the midst of your workout. or your recovery there's a big topic it's in your wake and by the way I just want to say I don't know

if you heard me second active longest winning streak at 155 it's Patty and then it's you I do believe

yeah that's nuts huh who would have thought yeah so you know you're right there um Ilya to Poria, the champ at 155.

Terrence Crawford. What do you think? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought I caught a little clip with that. I had Terrence Crawford all day, dude. I didn't take offense at that boy. You know what, dude? I was ashamed to say,

I was getting pulling so many directions after the fight just being, you know, at home and having 1,000 cousins and Uncle Suzanne's just, you know, believe it not, Mexican. So I miss so much of that fight, but I think Terrence, I think Terence is outstanding

and I think he's in a place and despite what being 37 or he just wants it more and he was just kind of in a place I think that's certainly what showed if anything I guess Canello and to pour your course is as hungry as it can be but I think Crawford can match

that hunger and I and Crawford's certainly a more skilled boxer I mean it'll be kind of preposterous I think he's not so yeah I think it's a really fun fight I think that could be all the same hype and promise as the McGregor Mayweather flight

but I think Crawford you know I think Crawford would get it done in the end but I think it's a promo with having I think we should do it we've made up for some lost time here over the past week Alex I mean two really great chats

to make up for no chats for the last few years so yeah yeah yeah yeah I appreciate we'll get another one ended I'll be a little tuned up a little less sappy like I said you're catching me on a on a somber Tuesday here almost

I like sappy chango it's good it's good keep doing your thing man much respect congrats on the win and get well soon I hope you're able to correct everything very quickly

yeah thanks man thanks for the time Michael there he is Alex Hernandez what a guy straight shooter you know I was thinking of GC there where he was talking

about the Sigs ripping the Sigs I felt like I feel like I shoot the spliffs kid knows ball I was getting excited back here I could just see you

perking up I could feel your presence perking up Oh there's nothing like a good spliff I'm talking about watching the sunrise those five he was like

you were like fatty boom baddies like don't care what you call just pull up a chair and enjoy a few it's great man these last two interviews and the performances I'm becoming a big El Ron Chango fan me too he's back in our lives it's great what a guy what a character all right speaking of great characters

that is a great way to describe our next guest he was successful in his BKFC debut at the very young age of 48 48 years young he looks like he's 23 He's punching like a 25-year-old. It's an amazing story.

He's the soldier of God. He's the one and only Joel Romero joining us right now. Yeah, my friend. Shalom, shalom, shalom. Shalom! Shalom! Shalom! Shalom! Shalom! How are you?

I'm doing great, Yoel. Thank you so much. And congratulations on your successful Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship debut. Did you ever think in a million years you'd be fighting in bare knuckle? Jesus. Well, I always think I think everything is possible, you know, because that's my dream, I want to make a boxer, you know, and because that's my dream. I want to make a boxing, you know, and because it seems the big opportunity for the, for the go to the boxer too.

I want to show the world That's been It's a bit of a Because it's a possibility Because it's a possibility To pass from there To boxo is very Peckxie

The bare knuckle was always an option Because he really wanted to show The world That he could box So it's like a stepping stone Into the boxed worlds As far as training

And then fighting And hitting a human being With bare knuckles Did you enjoy the experience Is this something You want to keep doing? Fantastic. Fantastic.

Fantastic. Fantastic. I'm the form in that they're I loved the organization as a

and now the feeling in what I in what I was fantastic He loved it. It's fantastic, right? He loved the organization as a whole. You know, he has a I especially love the feeling inside of everything.

That uppercut was vicious, Yuel. I mean, it was an uppercut from Havana. That uppercut, the way you threw that uppercut, it was unbelievable. What is it? That's what I'm going to put it. My family is of much to throw an uppercut. All, all my family.

And also they're in much, the gancher, my family, my family, almost all the family of my of golfsio, he'd would have to try many a long

lineage of boxers right they're very, very big on the uppercuts and the body so he's

practiced that since a young age in the training we did we do we do one of the

things that we're one of the training is is to make the variations

of golf so the combos yeah he trained a lot of that including

it into Jordan of his comp the fight, the three gropes with the derrived, you know that the open call was because he was he, he, he, he, he was derrived with a recto. He knew that he was to evoke in the second

intent, he would have to getcha the head to so if you started the fight, you see that he set up the uppercut with his right, with his straight left, right? He connects his left and then the opponent expects it, And that is a brilliant breakdown. Can I just ask for the translator to come a little closer because we can't hear you as well as, as Yowel. And by the way, Yowell, the last time you were on, you spoke great English. I didn't think you needed a translator anymore, my friend.

Your English was perfect. No? I'm trying. I'm trying. Okay, all right. He's a long time when I speak English. It's a long long time. Yoel, what about your body?

We saw you at the way-ins. How is this possible? 48, look at you, Yowl. Look at this. This is like a cartoon. This is like a toy. My kids have the toys like the Superman. You know what I mean?

How is it? How do you stay in this kind of shape, Yoel? Ariel, I think it's about three points. Okay. God. God helped me a lot. The second is the discipline, and the three is my new condition training. What about diet?

Yes, that's what I said. The diet is included in the discipline. Yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right. Yeah. My, I'm still, I have the same... How do you know? The diet. What do you do?

Nutrition. I have the same nutrition, nutrition. Nutritionist. Nutrition is. I have the same. But what I make now new is the condition training. The condition training is a, is a, it's a, it's a, it's an next level. It's amazing.

It's the same condition training for Ilya to Purr. Oh, wow, okay. Yes. He talked to me about what the pamphoid that he wanted for me, making me more better. He said, you have a good, you have a blessed genetic. We need to go back for the same condition when you're training and when you're staying in UFC

10 years ago okay and that's it doesn't happen like six months ago that's not only for the fight for the for BKC

no no we're training like a seven months ago oh wow yes and he's saying stay by stay slowly but the goal he said the goal is this So, that this is the meta, what I want to get here. And every day, I feel better.

He said, no yet. Take it easy. Not yet. But every weekend, when I go to training, I talk to him, we have a good relationship. We have a... We have a... We have a... They communicate very well with each other.

And Jesus Gallo, that's the name. Jesus Gallo, say, take it easy, but you see how better you feel it. It's respect. Wow. Amazing. I'm very, very, very happy because I'm very happy with it. I'm very happy with it. I'm very happy.

I've been very grateful to have met all of the people that he's been able to train with a lot of years. But now what is doing I'm much more more content

But now after meeting Gaiol he's a lot happier it's a different form of

train right it's everything little by little and really really

yeah so I'm very he said he said he have to

recover things that you're not you're working and

we need we need so we're basically he's sculpting the workouts to Yoel and his body, right?

Taking out the things he doesn't need to do anymore and really focusing on everything that's going to get him to that next off. Oh, yeah, me, I'm very content. Do you think, Yoel, do you think that you will fight at this point, given the relationships that you have now and how you're feeling, do you think you'll go past 50?

No, no, no, very fast. Very easy. Yeah, very easily. Yeah. You want that. Is this a goal of yours? Yes. I always have said that I'm going to

until 52. He's always said he wants to fight up until 52. And always me has tried to do that much to do to do that dream of reality. And he's always taken care of his body and himself extremely just to be able to make it to that

52 mark. And he's always has prayed a lot much to God for him to be able to make it to that. God, I'm going to do my part. I'm going to do my best to get to the 52 years. Lord, protect me. I'm going to do my best to protect myself, but please protect me and not to be able to make it to that.

And God is listened to him. Because I put the guill in my man. Okay. Can I ask you all the different... Gayo? Fantastic. Fantastic. Magnifico. The difference between Dirty Boxing and BKFC, you just did Dirty Boxing before. Which one did you enjoy more?

Dirty boxing or Richard? No. It's a question very difficult, because it's the same. I see it's the difficult question because they're very similar in both sports. Yeah, so you're using, it's mainly stand-up at both. Right. Right. Now, now, now, now.

Getting boxing is like, it's like an M.M. And, without kicks, and with a luchin. Dirty boxing is more like M.M.A. Just without kicks of a wrestling. It's like, uh... Ah.

Brod, because you can use the cord. Yeah, he loves it because you can help them. You have to have a little more of time for the things. For example, if you're close, the other can goopied with the cod. You get too close, you can get caught with an elbow. Uh-huh. It's different.

The BKC is a boxer. Yeah. BKFC is strictly boxing. The boxer. And it all depends. You me are doing a

question that can be able to be so you know you know

you know to put in the cup that's a question that could be a little

confusing if you don't know how to explain it. No, it's

like a trap yeah it's a question that can trap

you yeah because because in my Because his dream is to be a boxer. Because if you ask him, Hammy, the M.M.A. Gitty boxing.

Judy, dirty boxing. Yeah. Dirty BKC. And boxed? I'll say, I want to say, I want to do boxer. So if you ask him, MMA, dirty boxing, is BKFC or bare knuckle for boxing, he's going to tell you he wants to be a boxer.

He wants to be a boxer 100% of the time. You know what? Why? Because my dream is the dream that I've created to do this child. It's a dream he's had since he was a kid since before he had grown up.

Because it was the dream that my papa no me dejo to do. His father never let him box. And all my family has done boxer. I want to do boxer. All of his family, they're all boxers. And his father didn't let him.

So he really, really wants to be a boxer. I'm I'm happy because he's happy that he wrestles I'm sorry because he's happy that he

was happy that he was happy for dirty boxing. And I'm happy because he's very happy in Bikaze but if you

still happy that he was able to fight but but if you're as as it

chronologically if you see how it should be chronologically I've what I've been able to do what I really want to do with boxing. So what about next?

Now, can you, will this lead to boxing? Your next fight? Will it be, why not do it now? You're not tied to anyone, right? You could do whatever you want. What do you say? Yeah, now that you did, Bernou, the next battle.

But with who? I'd like to boxing. I've always had a name. Now, I've never had a name before. He had a name before. But now that I was boxing and I liked in the form that he boxed He saw someone boxed and he loved the way that he bought

I always wanted J. Paul to watch him. He's always won a J. Paul. But I have now that way that he did. He watched there until a fight, I really, did he watch him. He loved the way that he boxed and he's very, that's somebody wants. And then

for me, it would be a big mediter because he did boxing well. And then I think that to start to boxing, He's saying that after watching him, it's going to be a great fight. He feels that it'll be a great fight and the best fight wants. And after he beat there until... I think to everyone, to all the world, he would be able to J. Paul with J.R. Romero. He knows that after he beats there until the world's going to want to see your Romero

versus J. Paul. Okay. To me, I would like to give you that satisfaction to the fanatica. And he wants to show, he wants to give the fans that type of show. the people how he's alexer because the people want to see

see people happy that everybody wants to see Jake Paul gets that line but pass but step by step pass

and then no me no me apuron I'm quite he's not in a rush he's taking his time and so Darren Till's with

Misfits has your team talked to Misfits yet about doing this fight about doing you versus Darren Till. Do we keep going on this episode of Darren Till? They have made your conversations.

It's hard to get there until to one by people. Oh, who's that? Who's that? Abe's here? Yeah, hey! Where is he hiding? Abe can I come out here. Abe's the guy. Hello, Abe. Why are you hiding? Blurt out. It's okay. Why? Why you blurt out?

Take the filter off. I want to see your face. You haven't been on the program in like six years. You've been ducking us. I'm making a comeback for my guy, O.L. Romero, he's killing the game. And, you know, it's very, Darren Till said in M.A, the one guy he doesn't want to fight is Joel Romero. I don't know he was a fight in boxing either, but

that's a fight that we absolutely want to see. I think we should make that happen. Have you talked to misfits? You spoke to the misfits. I think, you know, Darren is really trying to get a fight with Mike, which is really weird because, you know, he's been offered several times different fights with Mike, and he's turned him down for big money. And I don't know if his team told him or if he's just posturing, but that's happened. So the way I'm looking at it now is, you know,

Darren, you know, Darren beat Luke, which Yowell beat Luke first, then Mike beat Luke. So, you know, Darren is basically sloppy thirds at this point. So we'd like to get, you know, we'd like to see Darren go up against a real, a real guy. Why not? Let's get it. Let's do Darren versus Yowel and see what happens from there. Okay, I like this. This is good. I'd like to play with her in 200-Libra. It wants a 5-105.

Yeah, he'll let him... No, 200, 205, whatever we want. Yeah, let Dary and 205. Yeah, let Dern eat. Let Dere and get bigger. It's all good. And then Jake Paul in 2026. That's the dream.

That would be the dream, yeah. Yeah. We need Jake to keep doing what he's doing. Hopefully, Jake's still in the game by then. If Jake's still in the game, then I think, you know, just looking at it, that would be a great fight as well. If Yuel was able to go out there, I should say when he was able to go out there, take care of Darren, which, you know, I don't, I don't think that would be the worst of fights.

He goes out there, takes care of Darren in really good fashion. I think, you know, he'll open up the eyes of all the guys that are out there, you know, in terms of the jakes of the world and those guys. I just think he's a fight. That's a fight. I see the smile on your face, Ewell. You're so excited. You're like a kid just starting his career. Do you feel it's unbelievable at 48 to have all these options, right?

That you're happy, and it's something incredible to have all the other options to the age that you have. Yes, I'm very happy. From the moment that I was doing my zapatia of

boxer and I was doing, I was preparing my shorthes. I'm very, very happy. Just since the moment he knew he was in a box, even through the preparation of making his boxing shorts, just the whole process he's been

extremely happy. If I was the zapato, the zapolias, then all this

process that when he was making me was doing the and all that process

and so talking with his process of doing the I was very excited I'm

going to boxe it was just it was surreal for him right the whole

process of even making his box and his customized box and talking with

Abe about you know creating his custom shorts like this is his dream

He was coming to fruition, right? So he's just been on a cloud. And every that I see, it's a, like if it's a process. So, of a lucha, now I'm going to understand. De lucha, that no has nothing to have with man, and then he's a little of hands.

He's saying that it's a beautiful process that he's gone through, right? Just from rustling, you know, there's no striking in rustling, but he uses wrestling for MMA, and then in MMA he started using his hands. using his hands. And then, M.M.A, you go into dirty boxing.

You can use your hands, but you can also use your elbows, right? But you eliminate your legs. And now, you're just boxing, but just with only boxing, but he's only doing boxing, but he's doing even a step further without gloves. In other, like in the person that

in the evolution of the man, I don't believe in that the people think

in the homo sapio so the evolution of the opsop and I think it's

like the evolution of the boxiator so even though he doesn't believe

in human evolution he believes in the evolution of fighting right and that's

what he's going through it's unbelievable it's unbelievable what you're doing

how you look how you fight how you're performing could I ask in the world of BKFC

Is there someone that you want in that world? Obviously, you said Darren in boxing, but what about if BKFC is your next fight? Who would you like in that world? I said I'm going to be KFC and burn up. I haven't to get it. What they're offering, I'm here to eat,

what they're offering in the mess. Here we're all ready. Whatever they put in front of him, whatever they put on his plate, you're all ready to eat. I'm lit. No, no injury, and no, I'm not.

This is lit. Thank God. Thank you. He has no injuries, he's healthy, he's ready to go. Thank, I don't know him. I'm perfect. I love it. Amen, amen, the man above.

It's a beautiful thing. You all very, very happy for you. It's amazing to see what you're doing, like I said. Always with a big smile. Last thing, are you going to fight again this year, do you think? Of course, yes. Okay. And probably bare-knuckle, you think?

we need to see okay we'll see we'll see maybe abe will pay you to fight dirty boxing he needs to pay you a little bit more you know in my opinion you're a big star absolutely absolutely yes all right thank you all the best you

congratulations shalom shalom shalom shalom thank you guys there he is the soldier of God doing his thing at 48 looking like that at 48 it's a beautiful thing and who would have thought who would have thought Yoel Romero, the Olympic silver medalist

from the 2000 games. Frank was just in his father's nuttack in 2000. Silver medalist. Where were you? What were you doing in 2000? Look at him now. Chiseled. I said yesterday, he reminds me of those

like LJN wrestling toys where it seems like his abs are bricks. Look at that. the LJN's look at the LJN's look at that he's got the LJN body in real life the soldier of God unbelievable still to come ricochet talk about some news and notes lots to get to for the next hour or so so if you're a fan of the bans as they say well the next 60 or so minutes is for you quick break back with more don't go anywhere

all right back on the program much more to come but want to talk about some some news and notes, and also want to talk about the aftermath of the Terrence Crawford interview yesterday. Obviously, the thing that most people were talking about was what he said about Ilya, who he claims he doesn't know and has never heard of, and I'm going to choose to believe him. Clearly, that interview has been seen, or at least a clip of the interview. That's how things go in the year 2025. The audience consumes things in many different. ways. And I say this because Ilya quote tweeted one of the clips that we tweeted out during the show, and this is what he had to say. You say you're an MMA fan, but you don't even

know who I am. Interesting. The first time we met, you told me good luck this week with your fight. That was back in June. Your memory fails you, and soon your chin will too. I'll represent the entire MMA community pound for pound number one in real fights versus the pound for pound boxer. So, Ilya calling Cap saying, you know who I am, stop messing around. He has also unearthed a clip of Terrence Crawford on the Full Send podcast talking about MMA fighters with good boxing and he seems to think that this is an indication that Terrence

actually does know who he is. Here's the clip. Be you watching the UFC that you think is the best boxing. My guy, what's in that? You seen Tuporius, Cody Garbrand? Yeah, he's the best. He's the best UFC boxer. Have you seen Teporea? Have you seen his fights recently? Yeah, but I don't know, man.

Cody got them hands. Okay, so there you have it. He says Cody is the best. Which, you know, actually backs up the point that he was making yesterday, which is maybe I'm slipping, maybe I'm not watching because Cody's incredible and had an amazing run and was a champion and maybe have one of the best performances by a challenger in the title fight. I don't know if people would say that today that he's the best just because of time passing. That was 10 years ago. But in the clip, he doesn't say,

I don't know who that is. Now, he may not have heard him. And it's hard to say, but Ilya did repost that or quote tweet that. And what did he have to say? You're literally an idiot. So, I don't know, something's happening. Pizzi still thinks that Terrence was telling the truth. And I'm not, I'm not saying otherwise. But I feel like something is happening, by the way. You think that Terrence doesn't.

He was talking about Cody. I always said yesterday. He was watching when McGregor was at the top of his game. That's when he was watching our MA. And Cody was around the same time in his pump. And I'm sure that's, that's where he's coming from. But I just think it's very funny that. Crawford is like the opposite

So I heard someone talk about today because obviously we're all Ricky Hatton's passing is at the forefront of most people's thoughts and the thing about Ricky which and all the guests you've had on to speak about him explained this very well is he loved the adulation

you know what I mean? He wanted to be he wanted to please everyone he gave so much of himself to the fan base Terence Crawford is the opposite of that even in that great piece that Elliot Warsaw wrote for uncrowned he spoke about how much

he didn't care about what everyone thinks and all he wants to do is be the best of boxing. I just find it incredibly ironic that we have Terence Crawford in the middle of this situation who seemed to give up about, give up some of who he was to even go and pursue this Canello,

this big Netflix fight all of this stuff. He's now thrust into this thing where DePuri is keep on goading him online. People are getting behind it and Crawford's being forced to talk about it. Like, I genuinely don't think he's that interested in it, but I'm wondering, I think it's fascinating to see if he gets pushed into this situation, you know?

It is weird because there's a very strong case, like, to be made that he really didn't know that that was the song. And it's... He did not know. It's one in that camp. He does not know who Ilyotiporia is. Now he obviously does, and he did not know that song.

The clearest sign that he did not know Ilya, when they had that picture that was taken, that Ilya, you know, resurfaced. surely Terrence would have been like a big fan of your work anything like that and Ilya could have brought that back up and been like when I saw you in person you mentioned that you knew my fights

he hasn't talked about that at all there's no chance Terrence Crawford said like I know your work you're doing great but like he just doesn't know who he is he is focused on boxing what about Shakur's hot take that he might submit him that Terrence would submit Ilya in a fight? Great double leg

as I said yesterday great double leg he even mentioned the wrestling pedigree he talked about I've been sure of double like it's focused crazy. You cannot speak about Terrence Crawford without speaking about the wrestling history. Yes. The greatest boxer of our time, but we're going to keep

fantasizing about him sprawling against I think he knows who I'm sorry. I don't. Oh, he does. He definitely knows now. Yeah, now. He fucking asked him about him every two seconds. I think he knew from the beginning? Okay. Yes. So you're saying he's little broying him. Yeah. He's sunning him. Yeah.

He's little sunning. With an effort to build a fight, do you think? Well, that's the question. See, I don't know. I actually don't think he's interested in a fight. I think he said it yesterday on the show. I think he was just like... Just because.

He just randomly gave Cody Garber and all this love. Why son do it's important? I mean, well, why lie and say you don't watch... You watch a ton of M.MA when you haven't watched MMA since like 2017. I think Pizzi's got it right. He used to. He used to watch MMA and now he doesn't anymore. Because it was going to be a lucrative option for him at one state.

Like people were genuinely talking. That first time those wrestling videos were going around, people were all over that shit. But it must be weird for him. have finally kind of cemented his legacy as one of the greatest boxers of all time like the greatest boxer of this era and all anyone's talking to him about

it's an MMA for it. It must be crazy. Okay, well now here's the thing. He did do a bunch of interviews and I don't think any of them asked him about this. It might just be us but that's the thing that kind of exploded at least in our world but you're right. He's at the apex. I don't get the retiring thing

like I understand conquering it but it's very rare that someone has to scratch and claws way to the top, reaches the top, and walks away. Does anyone actually think he's going to retire after all of this? I could see him not fighting for a year, a year plus, he's kind of been doing that, but to walk away now

with the landscape as it is, with Riyadh season and Turkey involved, and TKO and his great relationship with them, I don't know, man, you'd be leaving. I think they'll do it again. Bill Simmons mentioned the rematch on his podcast, not as an opinion, but kind of like from an informed place.

I don't have much interest in the rematch just to be clear I don't either I have zero but holy shit there's a lot of money involved in a Terrence Crawford fight again 41 million people

were watching that fight that's a lot to walk away from Not only the 41 million people Everything on social was just going nuclear It was just like one of those events That like you're scrolling Twitter And like you see him giving the Canelo belts back It's like 150,000 likes

You see him posting pictures from the locker room 75,000 likes It was like anything that was being spoken about the fight after he won was going crazy. Does anyone think he's not fighting again, though? No, I'm almost certain he'll fight again. Yeah. I mean, he's been averaging one fight a year for the past few years, so I don't

think we're seeing him any time soon. Well, nor do we need to. He's in a super advantageous position in that, like, his legacy is as set as set can be, right? He is the first undisputed three-weight champion in the four-belt era other than Clarissa Shield. So on the mail side, he just beat back to bet. He had, not back to back, but he had that incredible win over Errol Spence. He has this incredible win over Canello. Like, he's got two of the best, you know, pound for pound versus pound for pound type wins in the last, like, decade. What more does he have to prove?

He can sit back and wait for somebody to materialize for a big fight to come to him or even this Iliot-Taporia thing, if ever it should become real. There's absolutely no rush for him to get back in the ring. And at 37 years old, why bother? Like, kind of just like, keep yourself in good shape, keep training. and wait for a big opportunity. And he's the keeper of all this. Like, he gets to decide. If it's not big enough, I don't have to come back.

He's in the best spot you could possibly be. He's in the Floyd Mayweather spot. Yeah. Where you just get to choose it. You get to dictate your own terms. Spence, for the longest time, was the white whale, and then it was Canelo. There's no real, like, him versus Bivel is kind of wild to me. Well, there's a bunch of, like, boxing things he could do, right?

He could get another title in another weight class, put him into the Paciao territory. where it's just like, I've got seven different weight classes. You can do that type of stuff. But like, does it really enhance his resume to the point that it's worth doing? I don't think those challenges are there for him right now. Yeah. I think we're looking at this all wrong. Okay.

Like, we should be looking at from the Ilya to Poria perspective. Like, why would we want this guy to be in a boxing match right now? No, we don't. Like, I think, like, look at the McGregor situation. Look what happened after Floyd. McGregor was unbelievable. McGregor is, is, isn't given the credit he deserves as a fun. He's given it as like this seller.

He was fucking unbelievable. And then he went and he had the Mayweather fight and he just never really came back. You know, we had the Saroni fight since then. M.M.A. fans should want Ilya to pouria fight in M.A. They should not want this, this boxing match. And that's the way I'm saying it. Like, I think Iliot Taboria is one of the greatest furtas in the world to watch.

I love them in MMA. I don't know why we'd want this, you know? Is there a strong desire? To be fair to MMA fans, I think none of them want to see this. I don't think any of them want it. Like, if they get into a fight, it really is just a payday for Ilya Taboria and Terrence Crawford and more than likely a very one-sided victory for Terrence Crawford.

I think a lot of M.A fans share your sentiment, PT, in that the boxing thing derailed Connor and he was on this incredible trajectory and it took him off that path and then we all know what happened afterwards, and they don't want to see that again with Ilya because he's on a similar trajectory, right? 145 champ, 155 champ knocking people out, killing off legends, all this stuff. It is very reminiscent. Obviously, his personality isn't the same, but the same type of confidence

and, dare I say, aura. We don't want to see him take a side quest. Not right now. Not in the prime. And maybe not even in the prime. That's the crazy thing about it. I do not want to see that fight for Ilya.

I'm more interested in it from the Terrence Crawford side. As we said, there's not very specific challenges out there for him. But I think it's hard to argue against a guy who has spent his entire career

doing the impossible. and looking as good as Ilya has, right? Step after step, it has been how could he possibly do better than this? And he continues to do that in the way that Connor McGregor did previously. It's hard to tell that guy, no, you shouldn't believe that you could go into boxing and beat this guy. Like, he has done things that he is not supposed to do, and he has continued to elevate and continue to do that. It's hard for me to imagine somebody standing in the way of that if that is a singular focus. I am all for somebody taking a shot at greatness.

I think Terrence Crawford against Canello is an example of that, right? Let's not pretend that all week the conversation wasn't, Canello's too big, he's going up too many way classes, and then Terence Crawford pulled it off. Now, granted, the odds on that fight would be significantly larger for Iliot-Teporia than they would be for Terrence Crawford against Canello. But there are guys who are built differently. There are guys who deserve to have that opportunity to chase greatness,

and I don't think that Ilya could potentially be denied that for any reason other than the UFC just doesn't want to go in that direction. But I don't believe this idea of like he's going to get beat up so he shouldn't do it is a valid one. Like I think he will get beat up, but I'd like to see it. What if it's a one-in-one? No, no interest in that. It's not going to happen.

One-in-one is it. Territz Crawford would never step into a... It will never happen, but one-in-one is more interesting to me than... infinitely more interesting. Yeah. But it's not going to happen. Also, Dana White doesn't want to do this either. He doesn't want the Notre McGregor.

It's fun. It's fun fodder. I actually don't, yeah, I don't want to see it happen at all. I just want to see Ilya stay in M.M.A. Well, if, if Elia gave up the belt, you don't think there would be any possibility that they did it? I think there's a possibility. The same way they don't want somebody to hold up the belt with the double champ thing. If I'm willing to give my belt up and I want to fight Terrence Crawford, I don't think it's completely off the table.

I don't think it's an impossibility. Do I think it's their best option? No. But I think it's possible. Once they made Connor Floyd, you can never say never. That was a different time, and the UFC was just sold, but I think a lot of people thought they would never ever consider it because of the Anderson Silva Roy Jones stance. It's crazy times. It's Wild West times.

Who would have thought WWE and UFC would be under the – like you can never say never, but I don't think it's top of mind. Terrence is here. Terrence is a star. Terrence is a draw. He finally made it. If you followed his career, you know that he – there was one time him and Bob Aram were sitting. up there at a press conference and Bob was was like openly criticizing him saying that he wasn't a draw and now look at him. These are the numbers from Netflix announced yesterday

as far as estimated average minute audience 36.6.6 live plus SD viewers. That means live or same day. So it had to be within the same day, 36.6 million per video amp and Netflix. Okay, from opening to closing bell. Viewing continued into the weekend, bringing an estimate estimated AMA, which is average minute audience, of 41.4 million viewers, that's live plus one. And when you say live plus one, that's live and then a full 24 hours later, making it the most viewed men's championship boxing match this century. In the U.S., an estimated AMA of 20.3 million viewers tuned in, live plus SD to the main event, live plus same day. Canell Crawford peaked at over 24 million concurrent streams. That's in the moment. Concurrent streams. That might be, in my opinion, the most impressive number of all. The event was number one on Netflix in 30 countries, including the US, Mexico, UK, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the Philippines. And what, what? I was just celebrating Ireland. Oh, okay. And made the top 10 in 91 countries.

And here's one more per what, um, Connor was just saying the fight generated over 950 million owned impressions across Netflix's global social channels that's just Netflix's who knows what all the other media

got Canell Crawford was a top trending topic on a top trending topic a top trending topic on X Worldwide number one of the US appearing on lists

in 21 other countries it's an amazing thing that in the year 2025 as we continue to talk about boxing being dead boxing just needs the place and it needs the characters

but this proves it you know what I mean those people weren't just watching out of charity there's something captivating about Canello there's something captivating about Crawford the promotion was good and we were interested

in the history being made and so this proves it and that's why I say look I said yesterday everyone across the world has Netflix obviously that's not true it's 300 million subscribers how many people live in this world like what is it 8 billion

7 billion or something so we had eight But this is bigger, this is bigger than a fight on CBS or NBC or Fox, because that's just in the United States. And then it would have to be splintered here. This is one place where the whole world can watch. And this is, this is the sign of the times.

We've never had this before behind, not an extra paywall, just your normal subscription. It's huge. And so I hope and pray that Netflix gets into more of these fights. I was hoping that the UFC would get on Netflix. I hope that we'll get a fight a month. Could you imagine? They don't always have to be this big. Look, Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano 3, comes in third.

This was their third show. And that was at a measly $6 million. Could you imagine $6 million? They would be doing backflips if a UFC fighter or if a regular boxing show did $6 million. But I think by keeping it limited, they are keeping that number. They're maintaining that. So if it goes to once a month, all of a sudden, I don't know if you can maintain the quality. Give me six.

Man, great for Terrence Crawford, all the love he's getting in. everything like that. Like the fight before the Spence fight, he was on BLK Prine. That's wild. Like, no one was watching that. Yeah, I mean, look, the last one against Madreemov, like the place wasn't really sold out. It was

on his own pay-per-view. It wasn't getting that kind of love. You know what I mean? It felt like something was the, it was the beginning of the second, or no, the end of the first year of the Riyadh season era, but it wasn't getting this kind of love. There's a truth to the idea of Terrence Cawfer

being harder to promote, right? He is a private guy. He's more quiet. He's more reserved. Even this Iliate Toporre thing, right? How easy would it be for another boxer to go over the top and try to build this thing up? He's just the guy who does the work in the ring.

And when he does it, he's fucking incredible. He is absolutely incredible. And now that he has some of these wins and he's starting to string them together, I think he's in a position that he is now must see TV, regardless of whether he's getting on a microphone and doing anything with it, because you have to see him fight.

He has entered that territory now. There's a ton of guys like this, by the way. It's not like Usik is, you know, magical on the mic. He has some funny moments, but Tyson Fury is more of the talker, right? Tyson Fury is the one who's really going to captivate you when he gets a mic in front of him. Terrence is at a point now where the boxing fans and even the fans outside of that, the general audiences who are watching on Netflix can recognize his greatness, and he doesn't need to kind of do that.

So, you know, it's not a surprise to me that it took a while for people to come to him. But now they're here, and they recognize Terrence Crawford as he should have been. I will say this. I don't know ultimately if he's better than Floyd. You know, that's Cannell's opinion and a very good opinion because he fought and lost to both. I feel very comfortable saying he's way more exciting than Floyd. In terms of the style, yeah, absolutely. When you watch Terrence, it's like, wow.

You know, like Floyd had a very defensive style, and he was masterful and he hardly got hit. And if you appreciate it, you appreciate it, and you understand it. I'm not trying to take anything away from him, but if you had to ask me, do you want to watch the best of Terrence Bud Crawford or the best of Floyd? I'm picking Terrence Crawford. And you want to watch the best of Terrence

in the latter portion of his career, as opposed to the best of Floyd, latter portion, it's a no-brainer to me. He is infinitely more exciting of a fighter. Absolutely. He is... A way better salesman. Yeah, that's a great point.

I mean, you look at those early 24-7s with him on... That's why I said that clip last week or two weeks ago of him talking about Tyson with the money stacks. I was like, oh, gosh, I hadn't seen this guy in 15 years. He hate it. But at the point in the fight start, you're like, please God. And then he was just like, you know, not a lot happened ever in those points. And you're like, holy shit, I stayed up to 6 o'clock in the morning to watch this. You know what I mean? But that's part of the brilliance

is you want to see Floyd lose. Whereas with Terrence, it's not like that. And many, most others, right? It is not a hate watch. It is not the way that Floyd was able to get both sides of it, right? The people who appreciated his greatness and said, you guys don't know what the fuck you're talking about, and then the people who went, he's boring as shit, and I can't wait for somebody to knock him off. It was a perfect storm, and Floyd had played it magically. I hope, I know boxing fans appreciate the time that they're living in. You'd hope that more people are getting, and Usik is getting up there, and Crawford's getting up there. But like, I wish Usik and Inouye could get these Netflix shows as well, get these platforms, because it's

just, it's an amazing time. These three kings are unbelievable. And that leads us to right now the debate. Who is the number one pound for pound in boxing? Terrence Crawford. It's no brain. Never changed since the Spence fight. He has always been number one pound for pound. I don't know, man. Usick going up to heavyweight. Spence fight. Post that, it was, the debate was over. It's pretty much tree divisions as well. Like, Madrimoff and the fellow like Crawford. I felt it was Usick, now gunned to my head, I go with Crawford because of that, because he moved up three divisions, because he's been undisputed in three-way classes, Usik, too. I mean, again, I think it's 1A, 1B, but this is the first time where I'm like, yeah. Yeah, the Canelo one stamped it for me.

Yeah, of course. Crawford, Usik, Inouye, and you can debate the rest. Bivel should be up there. Bam is finally getting loved. That's great. Nakatani versus, in a way, would be gigantic in Japan. better be of obviously two great fights with Bivel Shakur, look at that number eight, love it, Benavides, some would have them a little higher. Cannell, all the way down to 10.

These are the uncrown pound for pound rankings, by the way. Truly, though, how could it not be Crawford? The Spence win, another pound for pounder. Yeah, no. Nella win, another pound for pounder. Who has better wins than Terrence Crawford? I mean, you could say, you know,

two over Fury, two over Dubois. What was he? 10 maybe even deeper on the pound for pound list at that time. At heavyweights, you're not getting pound for pound guys. So how could it not be Terrence? It has always been Terrence. I think right now it's Terrence. But I think it's 1A, 1B. But if you have to go 1, 2, 3, I would go with those guys. There is a bit of a debate. This is kind of like inside baseball stuff, but I just wanted to know how you guys felt about it. So they're saying it's the most watched title fight and all this stuff. And MVP is coming out there and being like, hold up

Our fight, you know, Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano, two, had about 74 million because it was the co-headliner for Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson. And then, you know, some people were saying, that's semantics. People weren't watching that show because of them. They were watching it. So it's main event versus main event. What do you think, Pizzi? Is that fair or is that unfair to Taylor and Toronto? Because technically Taylor and Toronto had more people watching, but it wasn't, you know, it wasn't the main event. So we're not comparing main event to main event. All week long, Max Kahnman was saying this is going to be the most watched title fight since the 70s. But technically, that wasn't the case because Taylor Serrano, too, was a super lightweight title fight.

Do you get what I'm saying? Yeah, no, I do. And I guess the argument that people are making is like, well, you know, people are tuning to watch Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. And that just happened to be on. I think it is a bit disrespectful. Because the legacy of that event is how much Taylor and Serrano elevated it really. Um, they made that, um, an event that the box and media just couldn't kind of turn their nose up to it and say, like, well, this isn't sport. They had to because it was the epitome of sport when Kaye Taylor and Amanda Serrano are fighting.

Um, you know, I get, I get where they're all coming from. Look, these are all doing very well. Basically what I'm taking for. Like, why do you have to keep? In other words, you're trying to say, you don't care, much to do about nothing. Move on with your life. This is basically talking about commentators. I get the argument, though. It was a byproduct. We saw the numbers. We saw the numbers for Serrano-Taylor 3. Okay, all right. But technically... Technically speaking, yes, but it was a byproduct of Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fighting the man-in-law.

So you give the nod to Crawford-Kinella? Then I go with Pizzi, where it's just like it's much to do about nothing. Like, we really are getting into semantics, but like I understand the argument against the most watch. Like, the technicality, yes, I understand two

was the most watch, but like we saw the numbers for three when they were the main event, and there wasn't Jake Paul and Mike. Mike Tyson following it. This is all a byproduct of modern times where everything has to be the absolute best or the absolute worst. How many views? Everything is the greatest.

Everything is the best. We have to have the discussion on who's the goat, who's the this, who's the best, who's that. They can't both be great. Like it can't have both been too highly watched incredible broadcasts with incredible fights. I don't think there's more to unpack on that. Well, I'll just say this. The fact that we're debating, you know, 41 million versus 75%.

This is a good time. And again, it just shows that this whole thing, like, Max standing up there and saying boxing is struggling. It's like, it's crazy, and it's crazy for that to come from a boxing lifer. You know what I mean? It's a crazy, crazy thing to say. Okay, wanted to ask you guys about a few other things. At the top of the show, I talked about Imov now 100% being a lock at 185

because of Brandon Allen replacing Fluffy Hernandez. on October 18th, he did have a funny tweet to our good Chale, our good friend Chale, who also took a shot at me I saw on Twitter as well when I was talking about John Anick Singh. Which tells? I mean, he's like, you need a napkin. Like, what are you talking about Chil? I mean, you're like D-A-plus-1 Glazer.

Anyway, Chil had a similar tweet, or at least a similar sentiment. Imanov, he wrote, which is consistent with Chil because he never gets anyone's name, right? I don't know if he did that on. purpose or not, just became the number one contender. And then Imovov wrote, maybe, but Imanov got to get through me first. So that's well played. That's well played on his part. Does anyone disagree with the sentiment that he is now the number one contender and it's no longer

a mystery. It's no longer a toss-up. October 18th isn't going to determine who Hamza Chimaev is going to fight next. The only thing keeping me from saying that definitively is why did RDR take the fight? Yeah. If you're RDR, what does the Brendan Allen win? Company man. Yeah, but then maybe that means that he's been told with a win he could still be in contention. Because it feels obvious that it would be Imovov now, but otherwise, why did RDR take the fight? Just rebook with Fluffy or do something down the line. That's the part that's holding me back. I don't see what the upside is.

I can see his manager being like, you can't leave them high and dry. You can't leave them without a... But could you see him then earning that shot on the basis of not leaving them high and dry? Well, they can easily say, you could get it. They're not going to... The UFC ain't going to confirm Emovoff before this boy happens. They're going to pretend that, like, who knows?

You know, if he goes in and splatters this lap... By the way, sometimes they do that. Remember something? Like, there's been a time recently where they, like, like, why didn't you just wait for this fight to play out? What was that fight that we were talking about? Why would you announce... Was it Holloway?

Maybe it was. Brendan Allen was RDR and ends up with the title shot. Did you, I mean... You also go through this because what if Emovov gets hurt? You have to determine who that guy is, right? If Yovov, let's say, is in training and gets hurt, then the winner of this fight is probably next. That's all about spectacle as we talk about all the time as well.

Like if RDR goes in there and looks, you know, absolutely puts on top of a spectacular finish. Who knows what could happen? Like that is currency to the UFC brass. What have you done for me lately? And he'll be doing things more lately than Emovof has, you know? One thing that I haven't seen really brought up, and I know it's been a month,

who the hell does DDP fight in his return? You know what I mean? I feel like that hasn't been brought up. DDP still number one. Emovov 2. Obviously, he's in the mix. Strickland 3, RDR4. We know where he's going to fight.

Izzy 5. Fluffy. I legit have no idea. It's a weird one, right? How long Fluffy is out? No. What about Fluffy versus DDP when Fluffy heals up? Yeah, I mentioned that.

I don't hate it. I don't hate it at all. It feels like it doesn't get the title. But you have to be careful with DDP because you don't want him to knock off the number contender, if only because I think right now it will be tough. tough to sell a Hamza DDP, you know, rematch. I think he'll have to win three, four in a row to win people back, right? To make them believe.

I mean, at least two. But I mean, like, he's already beaten Whitaker. He's already beaten Adasani. He's fought Strickland twice. Yeah, it's tough. I'm about probably getting the title shot. RDR. Fluffy is the next guy.

Yeah, it's really just fluffy. Whitaker beat. Kyle? Kyle? Kyle? Yeah, Kyle. Kayo, yeah, Kyo, DDP. One versus eight.

He's cleared out everybody else. I prefer the Fluffy. Can I throw a crazy one your way? But we don't know Fluffy's timeline. Is MVP crazy? Too soon? Why not? Go for it.

I like it from DDP's perspective. I hate it from MVP's. Really? Yeah, I don't think that's a very good fight. Two kickboxers. I can promise you. DDP's not going to stand in ranging kickbox there. He's going to make that physical.

that was interesting frame in there Paolo Costa Paolo versus DDP? Yeah Oh shit We'd be wild Let's get funky Yeah

I'm now all the way down to 13 That's the problem He's probably He's gonna take these fights I know it's just the champ You got me fighting 13 now Well Kyle's 8 And he's the

The next best option My friend That's a weird one All right well let's see what happens But we all agree it's probably going to be a Nassardine. He's obviously earned it and he's the best option.

What about a 145? Yesterday, I was seeing some very polite tweets from Mofsar. A part of me was kind of sad reading these tweets and then a part of me was like, you know what, I respect the fact

that he's going about it in such a polite way. Here they are. Congratulations, Diego Lopez. Let's do the rematch. Or maybe I can fight Laronne Murphy. It doesn't matter any of these two guys. All right, not bad.

That's like punctuation. Yeah, very good. Then it's a quote tweet of Lorone, and I love this. Hey, man, it sounded like Frank talking to you, like wanting to have a series. Hey, man, you're probably not going to get this title shot, and, well, me and you will end up fighting. I'm looking forward to it. But if you do end up getting the title shot, then good luck. What the fuck is the point of this tweet?

Hey, man, you're not going to get that title shot, so we're probably going to fight. But if you do get the title shot, enjoy it, man. It's so weird. It's almost like some, like, yeah, I had a bit of a loser denial myself until the lacrosse team stuck a parking cone up my ass. You know, like it's that type of vibe. You know what I'm talking about from Billy Madison. I'm not familiar with the quote. Billy Madison.

It looks like you have a bad case of loser denial. I had a bad case of loser denial myself until the lacrosse team stuck a parking cone up. We heard the first. Yeah, yeah. It's a great guy that's 9 and 0. Carl, good to see you. continue continue it's a guy that's 9-0 and he's just

sort of like completely dismissing him having any chance of getting the title shot but it's just in such a ho-hum way it continues by the way I'm the only guy who can beat Volk right now but if I have to fight Lorona Diego then I have no problem doing it

it's just there's just it's lacking a little bit of oomph there's one more I think and Osar is kind of the guy that lacks umf I beat Diego Lopez Arnold Allen and Al Jermaine Sterling very easy. Nobody deserve anything in life.

What do we deserve? And if any of them want to fight me again, I have no problem. I mean, what is... It's a good point by you, Peezee. Like, his punctuation is impeccable, but then, like, the grammar is lacking. He just voted at the end there, didn't they go?

Nobody deserve anything. That's the key move. No full stuff at the end, you know? You put it in the chat, you beat the top from. Most of him live is an Oxford comic guy, for sure. Hell yeah. Who gives a fuck about an oxford? comma, right?

Well, I mean, it was the main takeaway for me from those three tweets of them being honest with you. That was a song reference. I was doing the Frank. You know that song? Who goes the fuck about an Oxford comma? Vampire weekend?

Lorone versus Volk is the fight to make. Did you say you were doing a Frank? Well, you like to hit us with the deep cuts. Okay, so Lorone versus Vogue. By the way, I had it all written out if you guys want to know. Yeah, yeah, I'd love to. It's Lorone versus Vogue. It's Diego versus Mofsar

Yep, sure Like it, don't love it Okay Why, why, why? It's Al Javier It's Al Jiamen versus Arnold Like it Love it

Love it Two very good friends of the show going at each other, though Don't love that I mean, it would be fun And The one I was struggling with was Yayir Versus? shout out

that's the one I don't have an answer for it yeah it's Diego yyer versus Diego okay okay okay so if it's Yai Yair versus Diego who's Mofstar fighting

who knows who cares any of them I was gonna say who cares but I do actually care I do actually care I do actually care

I mean Yai Yer being being in number three is a little bit nonsensical yes but why are we avoiding Yair

do we care about the fight part of the fights anymore, or is it just about this mathematical academic ranking? Yayer v. Diego is the fight. Do the fight. That is the fight. Well, Evovlo F. V. Volk is probably the fight, isn't it? No. It is. It's Murphy. Murphy's resume is just the same. By the way, I'm not talking about... Yeah, he's kind of fucked himself. Yeah, he did. Yeah, but also, I'm talking about, like, we actually want to see Diego and Yaya your fight.

Look at how much attention the John Silva and Diego built got. Imagine Yair versus Diego. It'd be magic Yeah, I'm with you on Diego Yeah That's the one But then who does Mozart Yeah, who does Mozart fight

Run that Aljo back I like that fight That was a great fight He has fought Arnold Allen and Al Jermaine Sterling already Can I throw out a crazy one? Nah This

Aaron Pico I was just going to say Aaron Pica I was just going to say Poor fucking Mopsar That would be horrible One lot You're saying like

Lorone and him The same record One of them is for you in the championship Who did we have left over? I mean, styles matter, availability matters. I mean, Moffsar's only fought three times in the last three years. For what it's worth, Pete's, it sounds like based on those tweets, he doesn't really care either. Yeah, it sounds like he's kind of like, whatever, dude.

Just fucking match me up, please. If anyone's there. Who was it that said they, was it Benile Darius? That was like, I'll win 11, 12, 13 in a row if I have to get the title shot. That's what Moussar. Mosef's like, I'll go 15 and 0 before he give me. the title shot. I don't want it. You guys ever see the show Darya? Of course, yeah.

That's what it feels like he is right now. He's just kind of like walking through the rain. Yeah. I guess I'll fight someone if you want me to. It feels like he wrote up those tweets, sent him out with just like a complete dead pan, and then just sort of like tossed his phone on the couch and was just like

and then just went on about his death. To be fair, it has been beaten into him, right? Like, the UFC has denied him these opportunities. Now, granted, in this latest version, like, he could not make it to the fight that's, you know, an unfortunate situation and not necessarily his fault. But, you know, he hasn't been the favorite son. That's just how it is. And maybe he's taking the cue from that.

But can I also say, I don't, like, we've seen way worse cases of this. I do not find Mavsar boring at all. No, no, no, no. What I'm trying to say is he's not Tony Ferguson. Oh, I see what I'm saying. He's not Bilal Muhammad. he's not Leon Edwards you try to think like

okay he's on this great winning streak yeah you know when the winning streak started in the UFC that is 2019 and it hasn't been that long that was six years ago he's fought twice in 2020 never in 2025 once in 23 once

and 22 twice in 21 once in 20 once in 19 as far as UFC sorry twice in 19 like he averages one to two fights a year he's not that active. When he is active, he's almost always actually he is always going to

a decision in the UFC. He has great wins. He's obviously very talented. But then when he gets on the microphone and on Twitter, he also isn't that exciting there. We do have to stress that if Lerone Murphy won a ho-humed decision over Aaron Pico, it's not like we'd be talking about him the same way either.

You just kind of need one. If my grandmother had a, you know, he did it. She did. Your grandpa? He blasted Aaron Pico with that. No, no, I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it. I think Lorone deserves it. But what I'm saying is, if Mavisar in the next one can get one, maybe that's the thing that he needs to just crack. He's also been banging the drum from the second the fight ended. He has been like, it's my time, title shot, getting on Twitter,

every day to update people on why it's his turn for the title shot. And I think that's why he's going to get it. He has this reputation as being like this boring guy. I don't think he's boring, but it works against him. And Dana White did him no favors that one press conference. Maybe it was the Allen fight where after he comes out and goes It's the most boring fight I've ever seen And it was just like a regular fight It wasn't boring at all

He has this reputation that he can't kind of avoid But to be honest I raised the Lerone point Because it feels like he had that reputation too And then one thing changed it all So I don't know Malsar just needs a fight And needs to do something in it

That gets one big win And he's right there One big win Like he's fought He's fought twice since The Diego matchup On short notice Diego's fought seven

time since then. It's crazy. Diego's in a great spot, because he's got a great story of Mofstar, took that fight on short notice and, you know, represented very well, but then also has the A-Year story as well. The A-Year one has a little bit more heat behind it, but the Mof-Sar one

is a good story to tell. It's crazy. He's already fought for the title, unfortunately came up short, but then, like, he is now the ultimate baby face, just got a massive finish, and has two incredible storylines with guys in the top three. Ever since Mofsar the first time denied Diego the rematch,

they've taken turns alternating who's denying who the rematch. That's basically what has happened. Diego lost that fight, then started putting together and said, I want Mavsar. And Mavsar was like, nah, fuck off. Like, you're below me.

I'm the man. Then Diego hopped him and was like, nah, Mavsar, you can't get a rematch now because I'm going to do that same shit to you. Now they just keep taking turns, like denying each other and they'll never fight again. Now Moussar's like, yeah, I guess it's time for us. And Diego's going to be like, nah, it's great.

Great win, Diego. We can rematch now. Do you think we'll get two title fights on the December pay-per-view? It depends what the headliner is, right? Both versus Murphy and Pantosia? Then probably, right? That feels like two. Pantosia versus fill in.

No, Joshua Van. Oh, yes, yes. Whoa, the disrespect. Oh, sorry, I forgot, guys. We're in the van van van. We are in the van van, van. I feel like that's a nice one-two punch. If I was one of those guys, do I want, would I prefer to wait for the Paramount Plus era?

Or do you try to get, you know, one last paper? Does any of them have the power to, like, be like, I'm demanding to wait until the Paramount Plus era? Absolutely not. Josh Van and Pantosius certainly do not. Volk, I think. Jerome Murphy certainly does. But Volk's the company, man. And Vogue said December.

Volk said December. He did say December. Earlier I talked about Bo Nicol versus Adolfo Vieira, this being a physical. announced it had been you know talked about reported i love the fight anyone surprised by the booking anyone hate the booking anyone else love the booking love it makes sense yeah i'm indifferent on it indifferent yeah just like it'll be good to see bow nickel back well you know they have to be very strategic yeah how they book him is this a tricky fight is i you know because is he going to want to use his wrestling in this fight against a guy who's so good off his back yeah he'll he'll be able to

utilize him all right he beat garden run didn't he No, I know, but Different Adolfo is His BJJ glory is faded It has been years now Like we are we are in the era Where Bo Nickel should be able to beat him

And he's a top player Like he did Like I mean Yeah He was a crushing guy Yeah I don't think he could get a nice win there And then RDR just keeps on trucking

That loss is going to age well And he'll be right back in the good graces Okay now all that boring stuff Is out of the way Let us talk about the most important thing that I wanted to talk about today, which is Derek Moneyberg. I've been dying to talk about this because I saw a video of Sean Strickland approaching this gentleman, and Strickland's delivery in this interaction, I found to be hilarious, and I'll explain why in a moment.

But for those that don't know who Derek Moneyberg is, G.C., do you mind explaining to the audience who this individual is? Because he's someone that you may see quite often. often on social media, on YouTube, on Instagram, but not really sort of process who exactly this dude is. Yeah, so, like, I can't give, like, an incredible deep dive on him. Like, I'm only familiar with him, like, as most M.A fans are, because he posts pictures with, like, a Glover to Shera, like, big-name guys in the M.A. space. He's, like, an online wealth coach.

That's how he makes his money. And he appears to have a lot of it. And then he goes out there and hires guys like Jake Shields, Glover to Sherer, like I mentioned. earlier like dudes that are very high level mixed martial artists and he trains with them and the biggest controversy lately is that he earned his BJJ black belt earned his BJJ black belt after only I believe like a year or two of training and a lot of people have called him out for that and now some fighters who have not accepted money from him have started calling out other fighters that have accepted money from him like when Craig Jones and Mikey Musamechi

He did the face-to-face with Demetrius Johnson. Moneyberg was a big point of contention there. Musa Mechi believes that he's obviously not skilled enough, but I believe he's worked with him in the past. So a lot of people believe he is just a scam artist, and he continues that into his BJJ training. Is Moneyberg his real last name? It can't be.

I think so. Really? His birth name? Come on. It's fuck sake. He's a financial advisor called Moneyberg. Fuck on. Not a financial advisor, a wealth coach.

wealth coach. Does he have a Wikipedia? I mean, on LinkedIn, it says Derek Moneyberg. Yeah, but there's the real name. Do whatever you want? Bukowski. You'll find that Elton John will come up as well. I come from a family of optometrist.

It's not that hard to believe. What he claims is three and a half years from first training to Black Belt, 3,000 hours of one-on-one training. The best training team in history in the picture, it's Leota-Machita, Glover Tachia, Jake Shields, and Frank Mier, zero days missed

over the three and a half years of training with these guys well that would make them quicker than BJ Pan to Black Belt and BJ Pan had a record as a North American for years and won the I think it was the Pan Ams after three years or something training

like it was it was crazy and then you have like when you look like 50 as well he's fucking 50 like he's not like BJ Penn's like 20 when he's doing the shit well when you look at the picture there's two top comments

one is from Valentina Shepchenko that says congratulations Derek well deserve BJJ Black belt everyday training from morning till night pure and sincere dedication same as fighters in the old times that's one side of it and then sean strickland posts and says l-o mayo but hey at least everyone in this pick got it paid extremely well so there's points of contention between fighters on this guy 4.1 million followers on instagram as well so how real those are i'm not go get your money for it's like yeah you're brilliant at this class go for it mate you know all right let's watch the video

so that if if there's someone out there who has no idea who we're talking to about and what we're talking about. It's great work by Strickland. And in particular, please pay attention to when after he confronts Moneyberg, Strickland just continues, doesn't miss a beat, and he's still talking to the camera as if he's doing a live hit at some sort of like war zone where he has to just keep going, keep going. He does not miss a beat. I actually think he'd be a great news correspondent. Anyway, here's the interaction that we're talking about. Crazy enough, guys. Look why I ran into. This guy's a little big, real jack. He says, why do I call him a scumbag on the internet?

This is why I'm asking. And again, you could say, so you've got to do that for camera. You can't have a private conversation like an adult. You can only do the things for the internet. You can't have a private conversation. Because what I have to say is factual. And you guys,

it's not factual. So you guys, let me tell you why I don't. Would I like to get free money from this guy? Yeah, sure. Would I pay me money for a dog? We just pause for a second. Keep it up here. The scene of him not looking at,

at Derek, but continuing to talk. This isn't a live video, by the way. He's talking to no one. Of course, to us in, you know, after he posts it, after the fact. But this thing of him not looking at Derek while still talking about Derek, for some reason, just cracks me up.

It's amazing. Anyway, we continue. Well, you're asking why I called you a suspect. Then you need to have your camera. You can only talk on the internet. But I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why I call you a cell. But I'll tell you why I call you a cell. You're the one being the fucking scumb bag, right?

No, I'll tell you why. I'm saying it to your face. I'll tell you why. You're going to be in the fucking scumbag right. I love my fans more than any of the guys. And when I love to go take free money from this guy and peddle. So where is? Yeah.

What I love to make money from this guy. It looks like a radisson or something. I fucking would love you. But. You can see the mats of the bike down there on the right on the right on the road. This man. I thought that was the hotel pool. He's still going.

He's still going. He's still going. who are great men who are just trying to make their mortgage and live in life. And he takes advantage of these men and he uses their platform to peddle financial scams and he sues people and what he does is so dishonest and so scummy that, no, I will not just because you're nice and you shake my hand and you say you're my buddy, no, no, you are a fraud, you are dishonest, you fraud people. This is why you don't want to be on camera because you know everything I say is true.

You sued your people. Who is he talking to? I will never peddle his shit for guys. He's still in the elevator. Financial advice is easy. It's easy. Invest in solid mutual funds. Have a high-yield account.

You can buy individual stocks, but it's risky. I want to recommend it unless you really pay attention. Real estate also risky. Your best real estate investment is going to be your first house and interest rates are better. But you are, you are, you are, You are a scumbag and you're a fraudster. And the fact that you can't add this conversation on camera

because you know everything I'm saying is true. And you won't use my platform or my name to peddle your shit to my followers. It ain't happening, dude. Go scam somebody else. I was now fixated on where exactly they were because first I did think it Jim, but then it does look like a pool.

Yeah, I think I saw a ladder. It looks like they were at a comfort inn in San Antonio before the fights or something. Oh, you know what? Maybe that's the case. I don't know. Bernie Berg was meeting with someone. I mean, I'm scrolling through his IG right now. He's met with a lot of guys. That's Emporee, Mr. Mechie, Brendan Allen, Gilbert Burns, Mike Brown. He's met with a ton of dudes. And he has these 4.1 million followers. But if you look at all his posts, they all do like 40,000 likes on the dot, like just a little bit over 40,000 likes. And they always have like 30 to 35 comments. And so is this like a big, maybe Frank would be the best person to ask this question to. Is this guy, is this guy,

a big thing on Reddit? Are there people doing deep dives on them? Is he a hot topic right now? Not that I've seen. Yeah, there's no way that Frank was going to answer that. I see it on the, I see it on the MMA and BJJ reddits all the time. Oh, really? Moneyburg is a topic of conversation. And what do most people

say? That he's a fraud, like, the obvious, that he's a fraud who's paying people to grant him this status and that people are, it's a wink-wink thing. Everybody's just kind of like, it's exactly, like, to his credit, Sean Strickland laid it out perfectly. There are tons of people who will sacrifice their own name and their reputation to say, like,

nobody's going out of their way to be like, yeah, this guy's legit, but a lot of people are posing next to him to kind of give him that clout. They throw on the Choose to Conquer shirt with the giant gold coin, take a picture and get paid a hefty sum of money, I'm sure. Yeah. And he does a podcast where he'd be like, I saw one recently where he sent me so Jake Shields. And Jake Shield's like, this guy's one of the best. best mount escapes I've ever seen. And he just sits there, like, and then he'll be like,

you know, he'll push off the hips on both sides, like, day one shit, like, and then your man's just sitting there, like, yeah, I am, I am one of the best mount escapers. A bit around Blackbells a bit, like, they tend to not really talk about mount escapes and shit, like, and tell each other how great they are, you know, it all just seems completely artificial. There's not a lot of footage is the thing. A lot of people are just, like, show us on the mats, and, uh, they don't really see it. Derek Moneyberg. Who gave him the

Black Belt, by the way? Wasn't it Mikey? I need one of them. Oh, it was. In the picture where he was awarded it, it is Frank Mir. It is

Jake Shields. It is Glover to share and it's Liotto Machita. So they're all sharing. They're all giving you to him? No, no, no. It's all of them together and it says BJJ Blackbelt earned.

Thank you to all my coaches who have helped me to earn my BJJ Blackbell. Hold on. I remember this being, Mikey. Hold on one second. voice Gracie said I did the work of 10 years in just three and a half Wow so who's he getting the belt off see the way they've made this ambiguous because people are really weird about this in yes you want to know your lineage

who who who is like whoever gave your belt who gave them their belt who gave them their belt like and it has to really well back in the day it used to have to get back to one of the the the Gracie clan essentially maybe I'm missing Carlson or no what it is Mikey came out in defense of Moneyberg that's that it was. Yeah, because he's been on Moneyberg's podcast. There's several pictures of him in Moneyberg in the gold coin, choose to conquer shirt. So who did give it to him, though? Who

awarded him his black belt? I think they'd leave it ambiguous for a reason. The picture of him getting it awarded. He also got his green belt in Cato karate or something, and that was... Dangerous guy. That was from Glover to Chera and Leota Machita as well. It's saying here Jake Shields. That's what the internet's

saying. The four in the picture is the joke's right themselves, but that's the That's the case? I mean, a lot of guys go on this show, Gordon Ryan. John Strickland's looking at catch a beat and talking like that with all these belts on this guy.

I know, who was it? Kayla Harrison. Kayla Harrison brought her Olympic gold medals to the interview. I wonder if he could get one of those. You think he could compete? I'm with you, bro. They could earn one of those?

I wonder what he's paying. Get him on the show. Get him on the show. Actually, that would be a fascinating one. Get him. Is it a black belt on your desk? We're going to go on IG. That's a great joke, Frank.

We're going to go on IG in two weeks, and Ariel's going to be standing next to Moneyberg. I mean, I don't know what I could offer him. He's legit, guys. But if there's something, you know, maybe, how about this? He shows us, has anyone ever seen him roll? No, that's the thing. He does work a lot with Jake Shields.

It looks like Jake Shields gave him his brown belt. So then, yeah, Jake gave him his black belt. How long did it take him to get the brown belt if he was a one-year black belt? A week, six weeks. He comes on the show and reveals his training footage and I reveal my sparring footage. Oh, I like that. You know what's in it for him, but I like it. I'm a Golden Gloves winner.

You know, I just won the New York Golden Gloves last week. You're going to start taking photos next to all the bottom. Yeah, yeah. You know, fist up. I don't know. I thought it was funny. I thought it was good work on Strickland's part. It was great.

Great. I'm insanely deep on this dude's this guy right now. I just appreciated Strickland like calling it how he sees it, you know, calling it what it is. Because there are a lot of people who have not, like, there are a lot of fighters who have not said that, who have just, like, taken the picture, taking the money and moved on. Kevin Holland, I'm... For which I have no, I don't blame them. No, hell no. It's an easy payday.

I'm like 10 months back and like the poster's still getting like right, right at 40,000 every single time in between 30 to 35 comments, every single post. Oh, no. What's that I mean? It just doesn't. He has an avid. No one has a best to me. What did you just discover, Howani? I mean, no, no, no, no.

I'm reacting to that. Oh, okay. If, if you're getting 40,000 likes and 30 comments, that means something's wrong. But also, you're always getting like 42K, 41.9, 42.3, 42K, 42K, 42K, 42K, 42K, 42K, 42K. It's always right there. By the way, there are. Of advance. Come on.

100% confirmation here from. a post, congratulations to Derek Moneyberg from getting his black belt from me in under four years. For some reason, hundreds of people

have never killed with Derek or won a world title are upset how fast he received his black belt, Jake Shield. So Jake Shields did award him his black belt. Okay.

Back in December, he got his blue belt in karate. Case closed. From Glover to Shera and Leodomachita. Anyway, not to spend too much time on

Derek Moneyberg. It was a funny clip. I had seen the interviews, wasn't quite sure what they were all about, didn't realize there was this

of controversy surrounding him and uh you know perhaps john strickland is uh is getting to the bottom of it sherlock strickland i don't know how much you have to do to get to the bottom of this it's a quick instagram search uh gentlemen i do want to ask you about saturday saturday is a fascinating day and still to come in about 14 minutes uh will be ricochet on this program very excited to have him on because it's, you know, look, it's not the Monday Night Wars, but on Saturday, it's sort of the Saturday afternoon slash evening wars. And it's not the first time WW and AW have gone head to head. But it's a whole new ballgame now because this will be the first show on ESPN,

the first WW show on ESPN ever live called WrestleMania. They are going all out with their coverage, more on that in a second. And look, did they pick September 20th because AW was having their massive all-out show? in Toronto, same time, same day, perhaps. I would think that that's a pretty good guess, just like some of the guesses that we were just making regarding that individual. As a result of that, though, AW going earlier in the day. So AW's pay-per-view will be in the afternoon on HBO Max here in the U.S. as well as Prime Video internationally. And I think this is very interesting because

WWE is going for the jugular they are trying to counter-program them every opportunity and now it's going to be up to AEW to try to skirt that

but the coverage that they have planned they're going to be and it's wild for me because again when I was there I was begging to do WWE stuff

I was begging to cover wrestling I was begging to go to WrestleMania when it was at MetLife a stone's throw away from you know

where we were all located and I got nowhere but now you know the times are different because they're in business with them. And this is what I was saying.

I wasn't trying to take a shot at ESPN when I said that now that UFC is no longer going to be on ESPN, they're going to cover it less. You see now they don't historically cover wrestling. They would do it a little bit. There would be some great features here and there. Mark Romundi has done some great stuff, Andreas Hale, and others. But now you're seeing them go all in.

Like never before have we seen this. The pre-show and post-show is going to be on the ESPN app. They're going to have a Friday special on ESPN 2. Tyrese Hallburton is going to be on it as well as others. There's going to be a road to wrestlepalooza essentially all day, including YouTube, on ESPN. The no contest wrestling guys are going to be doing a show from out there. They're going to be doing stuff from the location, sports center where the L. Duncan is going to be there. They're going to be doing a pre-show on.

Friday on ESPN Radio, hosted by Booker T and Brad Gilmore, who have their own show on a local ESPN affiliate, but they're going to be doing this on ESPN Radio National. WWE stars are going to be appearing all over ESPN TV over the next few days. Like, this is kind of wild. And we were talking last week about, you know, G.C. was saying he saw wrestling highlights on SportsC. and them treating it like an actual sporting event. This is wild. never thought we'd see this

and this is going to I think really further take the Netflix deal is huge for them because it's raw but that's kind of like and Netflix is you know the biggest platform and all that but it's sort of especially here in the United States

it's just raw and the offering isn't as extensive as everywhere else around the world because SmackDown isn't on there the library isn't on there NXT isn't on there to have this type of muscle behind it with ESPN getting behind it

and the card is crazy. John Cena versus Brock Lesner, Cody Rhodes versus Drew McIntyre, CM Punk and AJ Lee, his wife who just returned against Seth and Becky Lynch, Jimmy Uso against Jay and Jimmy against Bronon and Bronson Reed, Eoskeye against Stephanie, Vakir.

It is an all-star card. WrestleMania kind of feels like WrestleMania. It's not like no mercy or anything like that or backlash. And I'm really curious to see how this all plays out between the two of them. Who's going to be watching? Who's going to be watching?

G.C. is going to be locked in. Oh, yeah. Russell. Whole day? Whole day, all the coverage? No, no, no. Just the night stuff. Me and old TST are locking in.

You guys are watching together. Hell yeah. Noted wrestling fan TST. Believe producer, former producer of GP. That's right. Yeah, it's going to be a great day. Storylines building. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch.

Yep. Learned they're married last night You didn't know Wait, are you tapping into to Raw as well? Yeah, clicked it on last night to see the beginning. The build.

Yeah, yeah, got to get rid of That's the Go Home show. What does that mean? The Go Home show is the last Raw or Smackdown before the big show. Yeah, or any show. Raw before Russell Palooza is what I was calling.

All right, fair, fair, fair. Springfield Mass. Okay, that's what they were? Yeah, beautiful venue. Yeah, is it? to go. You've been there? No, no, no, absolutely not. It looks like a high school gym, but they were killing it. Look, I've always said, I don't sit there and watch nine hours of wrestling a week, but the business of wrestling, in many ways, like the business of boxing, and in many ways,

like, we don't get an MMA. We don't get anything of interest in MMA as far as, like, the business side of things, and you know, I love that. The business of wrestling might be the most interesting one because of all of this, because here you have the dominant establishment meant that is WWE getting this deal with Netflix and then getting the deal with ESPN when we all thought they were going to go and give the whole thing to Netflix. And here's AEW on WBD, on TBS and TNT, and now the HBO Max pay-per-view deal. But they're still in the pay-per-view world. You know, they're not giving away their big shows for free, their tent pole events.

I'm really curious to see how this all plays out. I think it's a, it's unlike anything that we've seen, probably since the Monday night, wars because these are massive, massive, massive media companies behind it. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how the two of them measure success, right, the different companies, because for WWE, they're piloting a new thing that they're loading up with superstar talent. It's going to be interesting to see, do they consider it a win if it falls short of WrestleMania?

Do they consider it a win if it does anything at all? Like what they measure success for this as, also the beginning of the USPS, you know, of the ESPA, rather relationship and that part of the equation and then for AEW going put not head to head directly but on the same day as WWE to see how how they'll measure success in this endeavor. There's a lot of interesting, as you said, like wrestling business is quite interesting. I also find it quite interesting. It will be interesting to see how they ultimately grade themselves following the weekend. Yeah. And ESPN is kind of replacing UFC. It's not the same amount of shows, it's 13 versus 43. They're sort of replacing it because the wrestling fans travel.

The wrestling fans are loyal. The wrestling fans are going to sign up. They're going to be there. They're going to watch. It was huge for Peacock, and it's going to be huge for ESPN. And they're going to help prop up this new ESPN offering. So this is a no-brainer for ESPN. And anyone who's sort of like, you know, feeling uncomfortable about ESPN getting involved in the wrestling business, I remind you that the E stands for entertainment, the entertainment and sports programming network from way back in the day. So they're just going back to their roots. And I'll also remind you that AWA wrestling from Minnesota,

Vernanier back in the day in the 80s was on ESPN. So they're kind of going back to the roots, but W.W.E. has never been on ESPN. And I never thought it would be, to be 100% honest, because there's so many different cable channels that have been in this business. FS1 was the closest thing, Fox Sports 1. but I'm really curious to see how this all plays out for both entities, for both companies.

And so that will be on Saturday, and we'll talk to Rick O'Shea about his part in it all coming up in five minutes. By the way, timeless Tony Storm is going to join us tomorrow, and a lot of people say that she is the best female pro wrestler in the world today, certainly from a character standpoint, the most entertaining.

So interesting times. Before we get to Rikershay, Ricky Haddon, of course, we're thinking about him, we're talking about him. There's a couple of great pieces on uncrown.com right now, written by some amazing, amazing writers. One is called Ricky Hatton, my father and me.

That's written by Lewis Watson. And the other one is written by the great Elliot Worssel, which is entitled, his name was Ricky, and we felt like we knew him. I have not read them yet because I'm sitting here doing the show. I cannot wait. Even that line gave me goosebumps, gave me chills. Petey, any memories of Ricky Hennon as a kid living in Ireland?

I know he was a, you know, a superstar and a hero for the Brits. Your stones throw away. Do you have memories of those fights as he was in his prime? Yeah, absolutely. And completely transcended just UK. He was treated like an Irish person over here. He was that popular. All of his fights on all the time.

He's a working class hero, you know what I mean? Any kids growing up in working class areas, like I did. did we're obsessed with this guy and i can remember going to pubs uh to watch him i think i was in for the cost of zoo fight i think i was in a lock-in and i was only 17 so legally under the age to drink but like they were like we have everyone in here we we can't let people go what's a lock in it's like the pubs meant to close at a time but this was on a 3 a m oh wow they close the doors closed the curtains wow like put the ashtrays on the tables and let's go and uh they they they watched a fight and um i actually i watched it back there dear a day and it's it's um

it's insane to see it like i can remember watching that fight and thinking it was like peak technology like the ring the ring is like what is it 20 years ago now and the ring even just looks like it's from a different age completely a young ameer can sit in the crowd his fight is being advertised like for the bolton community center or something on the on the ring on the canvas um but just absolutely beloved here as well And was treated like an Irish person. Like that's, and it's so rare. Like, I can, I don't know if I've ever heard you say that.

Yeah. About a Brit. I don't, I was trying to think, I was trying to think about it. And I don't, like, obviously when Chris Eubank came along with Sky, that was huge. But obviously, we had Steve Collins and Steve Collins beat Eubank twice and he beat Nigel Ben. So he was our guy. But Ricky Hatton was, you know, he was a working class hero. And everybody loved them.

And people were obsessed with the way. he carried himself, even the way he fought, you know, head in the chest, just volume, exhaust these guys, his body shots were unbelievable. And he needed fighting, you know. I saw Steve Bunn's talking about it with Mike Costello and he was preparing for a fight like, you know, at the time he died. And really, when he didn't have that discipline, his life, you know, he couldn't keep it together. We saw the way his weight used to fluctuate, all that kind of stuff. And he needed fighting and there's often bad things said about fighting and um you know and there's obviously things wrong with the sport brain issues all this kind of stuff exploitation all this kind of stuff

but rickie hatton the example like his career of you know how how boxing can save people and how it can um give people purpose and and allow them to go on and affect so many other lives around them and i think that's that's what ricky did and i think um i think it's quite sad that he was going back to fight again because obviously he was trying to find that discipline and purpose in his life again and, you know, just an absolute legend. Like one of the greats, one of the great wins for UK boxing and so many fantastic wins in the history of UK boxing, but that costs a zoo fight. If you haven't watched it, I think the Sky Sports have like a 25 minute highlight reel of it. And it's, it's like a Shakespearean

tragedy. He starts off so well and he starts blowing hard midway through and you're like, oh, what's going to happen now? And he obviously comes back. I think he stops Ziu just before he comes out for the final round. He's just completely exhausted by by the pace and that Ricky put on him and then I think the first people Ricky tanks when he gets the microphone are all the people in Manchester and all the people who got me here

and that's what he was all about. Still to this day, so when 24-7 first came out, the first one was Delahoya and Mayweather, the second one was Mayweather Hatton. I was living in a tiny apartment

in New York City, so anything I watched, my wife had to watch with me, including Monday Night Raw and all the Meschugas. Now I can go in a room and just watch it myself. and still to this day

we will often say look at me jewels look at me rings I don't give a fuck and he said that in 24-7 in his classic Mancunian accent

making fun of of Mayweather because Mayweather was all about the jewels and the rings and all that stuff and the watches and the money

and the planes and I saw him tell a great story actually to Adam Smith an old clip that came up on YouTube of him saying that when they were going on the press

tour, they were both flying around on these jets, HBO set them up with it. And at one point, as he's telling the story, he said at one point the pilot of his plane was saying that he told Ricky to come into the cockpit and he was like, take a listen to this. And it was Floyd in his plane, in his cockpit, trying to bribe Ricky's pilot to let them overtake him and to get to the destination first. And he said, I said, I'll give you any money in the world if you just kind of, you know, what is the word? What is the word that I'm looking for? Like, decelerate so that we could take you, we could take you over and get there before you.

And that was the, like, there was obviously a little bit of animosity. There was obviously some bad blood there. But by the end, it felt like they developed this genuine love and respect for each other. And in Floyd won, and there was no shame that the, the, the, the Pachial fight was the way in which it ended. Not knock out. Yeah. Yeah, the way which it ended, you felt like he was almost embarrassed by it and your heart broke for him.

But there was just, man, the word every man has been said time and again, and it's just the perfect way, the perfect way to describe him and honor him. So, yeah, what a bummer. A ton of great stuff. I urge everyone to check out the coverage over on crown.com. Thank you very much for that, PT. All right, let us move along to our final guests of the day. Very, very excited to talk to this man. he has been on some kind of role

ever since coming over to All Elite Wrestling a little over a year ago now, August of 2024. So it hasn't been all that long but we have seen different sides of him. We have seen different looks of his personality, his wrestling style. He's been in the game for quite some time

and he has seemingly reinvented himself with his new home. He's a big part of the AEW All Out 2025 show that is going down this Saturday at the Scotia Bank Center and beautiful Toronto, Ontario, Canada. And you can watch that, of course, on HBO Max pay-per-view here in the United States, Amazon Prime internationally. And a big part of it is it's happening in the afternoon. So there are no conflicts. There's nothing else to watch. You can check it out

and you can watch this man in action in a big match. Of course, I'm talking about Ricochet, who is kind enough to join us on this Tuesday evening. There he is. Ooh, look at this setup. I like this setup. Where are we right now? This is my home. This is my little, my little section of the world here. This is fantastic. Look at all those toys back there. What do we have back there? I'm a bit of a nerd, but I got like a My Hero Academia section. I have like a Dragon Ball Z section.

I have like a One Piece section. I have like a Naruto section. So it's like it's just a lot of stuff that I grew up kind of enjoying but never had the money or the means to buy anything. And now that I'm an adult, I can kind of just buy the things that make me happy. So this is all like anime stuff?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man, this goes over my head. That's all good. It's all good. Do you look down on someone like me? Like, I only know Pokemon because of my kids. That's it. No, no, not at all.

The thing is, I know it's kind of its own little niche, I don't know, section of the world, kind of like wrestling. You know, it's kind of the same thing. But, no, it's all good. Always open for newcomers, anybody. But yeah, I'm not that kind of person. I don't ever cash judgment on people. You don't watch it.

You know what I'm saying? How much of your style comes from this? I know there's a lot of sort of martial arts influence. Do you actually emulate some of the stuff that you see? Yeah, actually, a lot of the names that I do of the moves that I do, a lot of the inspiration of the outfits that I wear. And honestly, sometimes even like working out in like daily life, I think, like, Goku would do another set.

So I'm going to do another set. I literally think like that sometimes to help me, like, do the last one or whatever I need to do. I do actually pull inspiration out of the meanings and some of the teachings within the anime, like the shows themselves. Who's your goat? I mean, Goku is the goat. It's hard to, it's hard to argue about Goku being the goat of anime. But for me, like, all minds up there.

But there's a lot. Nara does up there for me, but it's a big, there's a big debate. It's hard to argue, but I mean, it's hard to argue Goku not being the goat of anime. Okay, I thought you're going to say Pikachu's up there. I'll say Pikachu is up there for, for goat. By the way, in that room, which seems sort of like a man cave type of just like your spot, is there any wrestling memorabilia, any wrestling toys, anything to do with wrestling? Not yet, because it's still being like built. Like this whole wall, like in front of, like you can't see is like kind of blank that I have a lot of my wrestling stuff that I want to put up there and a lot of stuff that it's still

blank on this wall that you can't see. So it's still being built. But at the moment, there's no wrestling stuff. Yeah. Okay. There will be. Okay. Okay. Good to know. Honestly, because between myself and Sam, we have like a huge collection of just old, like, wrestling stuff. The legendary Samantha Irvin, yes, who deserves her own room with her own memorabilia. Yeah, she could have her own section. Yes. She actually does have like an office and like her own little like studio like you know like the Harry Potter closet like under the steps. Oh yeah. It's actually big enough that she fit her all her stuff and her recording stuff and we put soundproof up and stuff. It's actually big enough for like two or three people to stand in there pretty comfortably. So she kind of made her own little studio down

there too. So that's cool. Well it's great to have you on. We kind of got into it really quickly. It's great to have a superstar finally on the program. Yeah, exactly. I've been watching and a lot of great guess but man finally let's go b plus b minus guess to finally have an a plus guess is a really i mean there's some a's for sure but i mean a plus right now a plus right now for sure we've been talking for like five minutes four minutes now you seem like a very calm mild mannered nice guy really i am the dude that i see on twitter is is fighting everyone fighting the world the dude i the dude that you see on twitter are fighting the bullies that are attacking him first Okay.

That's what, like, I'm kind of like an Avenger, to be honest with you. Does it ever get tiring? No, no, no. Sometimes I'm just like stuck on a flight for like six hours. And all I have to do is just talk to the idiots online because I know they're going to bite or whatever I say. Yes. Yeah, no, it doesn't get tiring.

I don't know why. I find enjoyment out of it. But you weren't always like that, right? Honestly, I was. but I just really had nothing to say I guess you would say I had I don't know I was like I had nothing to say at the and then when I could finally say kind of what I want you know this is what you get I guess so so why do you think you have more to say now I think just being honestly free to try things being and not that I was never

free to try things. It's always free to try things. But also having, you know, the backing of, you know, where you work, helping you get to where you want to go also, I think helps a lot. Obviously before, like I feel like I was always on TV a lot. I was always fighting the top stars, but, you know, it was never, you know, back by, you know, wasn't back for me, you know, which is fine. Everyone gets stuck in, not everyone, but a lot of people can get stuck in that spot and it's up to them to figure out now how they want to move forward whether they want to try something new creatively whether they want to try something whether they want to leave whatever they want to do there's a lot of people who get stuck in that spot and i was just one of those guys

right wrong however you feel about it that's what it was and uh now it's again i'm just also have the backing i guess of the company that i work for helping me you know letting me know that what I'm saying, what I'm doing, the reactions that I'm getting aren't bad. So, you know, it's, it's actually helping everything that we're trying to do, the stories we're trying to tell. So I guess that may be. And it's hard to kind of answer that question. But having, yeah, having that extra, I guess, I don't know the word I'm looking for, help or whatever from the company just really gives you that extra boost of confidence. Confidence. I was going to say confidence as well. Like you feel like they have put confidence in you and that in turn makes you more confident.

Yeah. And I was just telling somebody yesterday on another interview, even like what I'm doing now, it's nothing that's crazy different because honestly, I'm just going back to what was working for me on like the independency and in Japan and everything that I was doing that kind of got me to the rodeo. You know what I mean? So I'm just kind of going back to those things that I knew was working. So it's not like I'm doing some big change.

that is new to me. It's actually stuff that I was doing before that kind of, you know, was, you know, what helped me get to where I'm at now, you know. And so, as I said earlier, a little over a year since you debuted, since you came over to AEW. So now that you have a little time to reflect, how would you describe this past year in your life? Honestly, it's been awesome. It's been so much fun. And it kind of went exactly. like I foresaw it going. Even before I made any decisions or anything, like when we got here,

I actually signed in like July, but I didn't debut until August, like late August. So we were there for a little bit, and I was always saying, like, ricochet, the goal isn't come in, be champion immediately and, like, dominate. Like, it was come in, have some good matches,

show people like a ricochet can still have good matches. is then shift character-wise, find something I was always supposed to turn hill. We had other plans with like another group. I don't want to give too much away. But we had other plans before I even debuted. We had like a trajectory where I was going to go. But then like what happened, it was so good the way it was going that we stuck with Rikotche just being like a solo thing because it was just going so good.

But the plan was always to like shift character. and you know always turn but things just kind of worked out the way they did and some things you can plan and some things you kind of got to run with and it was just one of those things and it just happened everything just happened to fall in line and things just happen to be going so good and I think ricochet has made those moments because again I was telling the guy yesterday I've been in October to be 22 years we got two decades of ricochet moments you know what I'm saying but they're mostly physical moments. but now like ricochet can tap into the other side and get whatever type of emotional moment

out of you whether it's funny whether it's angry whether it's have whatever it is so now I can tap into this so that's kind of cool too was that you're doing like was it your idea to be able to show that side of your personality to be able to talk more to be able to be a heel if you want to be was this all your idea I mean it's enough to say it was all my idea I had the idea but I'm sure Tony was thinking the same thing. I'm sure everybody there was kind of thinking similarly. I'm sure everybody was. I don't want to say it was my plan, but luckily they have given me a lot of just openness to create and bring forth how I think the trajectory should go or whatever.

They've been very receptive to that, and they've been very receptive to how I feel it should go. and the things that I think Richard should say or do. So that's been actually awesome. It's kind of been honestly a whole group of people. There was one point where there was like six of us all together. And four of us had different ideas and everyone was trying to say how it. It was like everyone was trying to give their idea and we actually came up with something that was actually everyone's, it was great. So again, I don't want to say it's my, all my idea.

but they have given me a lot of freedom to kind of carve my own path. So that's great too. What do you like better at this point? Heal or face? You know, honestly, like, again, in anime or shows that I watch, I gravitate towards like the Almides and the Tangeros and the Dekus and the Nartos. These are all good guys. Okay, yeah, I was going to say, I don't know who those guys are.

These are all good guys. Okay, okay, okay. But, like, again, once I've been doing it for so long, because you've only seen me on the, on the television as like a baby face. Yeah. It's just funny because I actually hate talking out of k-fabe. This is, usually interviews. I always try to keep everything answers K-fabe. But I have great respect for what you do and for the business, of course.

And so I'm not trying to. I would never ask. No, no, no. Honestly, this is, I like this. This is a good conversation that thing needs to be had. Okay, cool. Well, I appreciate that. I forgot, what was you talking about?

Okay, I was asking you about Heel versus Face. You say you were drawn towards the good guys in anime. Which I do like, but for so long, like, whether that was Prince Puma, whether that was NXT, Ricochet, or whether it's on television,

like, I've always just been the baby face. I've always, I've never had really any character development other than, like, even Prince Puma's character development, he was still like a baby face. I think in RICO, in NXT, we started to actual, honestly kind of form the ricochet you're seeing today because i was in nxc i was wearing suits i was coming out like cutting promos like kind of honestly forming this character that you see today but even then he was still baby face and then obviously main roster total time baby face so you've

only seen me even AEW was a baby face until obviously started to change so I do like that but obviously it's always good to change and try to do something else and when you see the people wanted the like this is something sam always says like the ricochet fans like those specific fans they wanted to see something else they wanted to see something that they could you know what i mean so obviously i do like i like to get people to cheer and i like people to feel good and inspired and you know kind of achieve the impossible i really like that feeling but also now it's it's good to just kind of flip it completely because a lot of Again, a lot of these, these anime, some of the villains are some of the best parts of the show.

And I pull from that a lot. And honestly, I pull from a lot of the guys when I first started coming up in like the little Tennessee towns and a little Illinois towns and a little Alabama towns. I pull from a lot of the guys that I was there with who were heels and just there were kids acting out and being just so onry. And it was, I thought it was so funny because they were getting these people really worked up. And so I pull from them a lot too. So, yeah, find inspiration everywhere. And by the way, if there's any fan out there who, you know, is maybe a combat sports fan, not familiar with pro wrestling or your work and watching right now, like,

just do yourself a favor and look up this guy. The stuff that you do, you are a walking human highlight reel. It is unbelievable what you're able to do with your body on a nightly basis. And for this long, 22 years is astounding. And to the best of my not, like, most serious injury you've ever had is what? Oh, man, I messed my ankle up real bad, but it was actually, I was doing like an open night gymnastics thing and I like rolled my ankle real bad. I probably broke it, but I was so poor. Like I definitely not going to the hospital because I couldn't afford it.

It was swollen and blew from my toes up past my ankle. It was crazy. But again, that was so long ago. Yeah. So that probably is the word. I think I, in NXT, in France, I did a dive. I went too far, and I think I tore my labor on my shoulder. I was like two weeks maybe, two or three weeks.

Unbelievable. It really is unbelievable how your body has been able to hold up. Do you do a lot of gymnastics? No. Okay. Is that why you broke your ankle that day? Yeah. No, honestly, I think, I don't know.

I honestly, I was just talking to a guy about this Saturday. Whenever Saturday, I was at a wedding, and the guy was asking me, he goes, do you have anything on you that just hurts all the time? And I said, no, not really. I think the most pain is like when I wake up in the morning, I'm a little stiff getting out of bed. But other than that, I feel pretty good, but I do a lot of, I see like a kinesiology, like a personal trainer, like at least three times a week, including like AEW. They have their medical staff and they have like a slot where you can sign up for like a massage. And, So I sign up for that every week that I'm there. So they work on me every Wednesday and then probably every Monday or Friday I'm seeing a guy. Despite the other stretching that I'm doing myself, you know what I mean? I think that has a lot to do with it. But other than that, like I don't really know. I'm very blessed, I would say.

I'm very blessed. I try to stick to things that I know I can do. If there's something that I don't know that I can do, I literally just stay away from it. Yeah, I don't know. I've just been really blessed so far because, again, I understand. And everybody's bodies are different and I understand. So I know what is out there. And I know friends who have been hurt very badly.

So I'm just, I'm very blessed that I'm able to continue to do this. Going back to what you said earlier regarding K-Fave and trying to keep K-Fabe, as you know, a hot topic this year with unreal and just interviews and backstage stuff has been, you know, the death of K-Fabe. Are you one of those old school guys who would prefer none of this is shown that you guys don't ever do interviews out of character, that there's no documentaries, that there's no shows? If I had the answer, I would say yes. If I had to answer, I think that's on Twitter. You try to stay in character. Everything, you always try to stay in character.

But at the same time, it evolves. Everything evolves. Media evolves. Everything changes. And I think just like any action. actor. Like, we want to know, we want to see, you know, Robert Downey Jr. do an interview that's not just Tony Stark. You know, we want to see, uh, these, we want, you know, we want to know. So, uh, it's hard to really answer, but like the, the wrestler in me, and I wouldn't say I'm old school by any means. But like, yeah, I think it should be, because again, what Ricochet says online, like, isn't always what I believe. You know what I mean? But sometimes in interviews, I think, I think it is good to kind of get a little Deadpool with it, break the fourth wall, let people, you know, in a little bit. And then, you know, but I think during like the show and stuff, and stuff like that, yeah, I always try to, again, even most interviews, I still try to answer as ricochet.

I really do. Because I separate Rikoshe and Trevor. I separate the two. So, but yeah, I really do. Even when I'm talking about it to people, I'm like, what would Rickettsy do right? What would ricochet, what would he do right here? I really do think like that. Okay, let me get, let me think how he would think

and try to switch my mind over. Last week on the show, we had Maven on, who's become a YouTube sensation. Yeah, he's awesome. And, yeah, he's been killing it, and it's really been a joy to watch him. And he talked about his experience backstage at AEW and talked about how impressed he was by the vibe

and just observing everything, especially in guerrilla and all this stuff. And of course, he hasn't been in WWE for about, 20 or so years. But I'm wondering if you heard any of that. And even if not, what would you say? Because you have been in WWN. You have been in AEW now for the past year. How would you describe the vibe backstage? And how would you compare it to your previous home? For me, I mean, again, from the first moment I met Tony, like we, I met him in Chicago and we were going to like, I guess we were going to meet him and like talk business and stuff. And we sat and we

taught for like three hours and we didn't even talk about business we like talked about wrestling we talked about like movies and we talked about like pop culture and stuff like we didn't even really talk about business or anything and like at that moment I knew like this is going to be a great environment but then also when I got there you know you see Kyle O'Reilly and you see Evan Cole and you see Will Ospre and you see these guys that you have literally traveled the entire world with and you've had battles with all over the world. And it's like you never left. It's like you're right back there.

Again, this is for me. Everybody has different experiences. But for me, like, I don't see really anybody arguing. I don't see, you know, Tony having heated, I don't see anything. I don't see anything. But from what I see, everyone is chill. Everyone's so cool. Everyone actually, like, is giving ideas to other people about what they think

they should do like oh you should try this and they're like so it's actually pretty cool um and again those feelings just come right back of having those trips and those moments like all across the world like it's kind of it's for me it's hard not to just feel at home you mentioned earlier you know on twitter you like to be ricochet the heel and so that leads me to wonder i mean over the past year i've seen a lot of tweets i was like oh damn i i didn't realize you know he was coming from this place where you've been, you know, either combative towards fans or arguing about certain things. And, and quite frankly, you know, saying things about WW, saying things about them going on the same day as AEW. Is that all you being, you know, a character, you playing heel? Or is some of that

coming from an actual spot of where you're feeling? Um, I mean, to be honest with you, it's, that's a little of both. That's a little where, you know, where the line is drawn. Where is it real and where is it, you know. That's what I'm wondering. Because, I mean, again like every company's goal is to make the most money possible that's the goal of every company that's why you make a company so it's like you can't argue against that but it's like when we feel you know it's like you things are being done and bad faith that's when you know I feel it's like, okay, then let's get a little crazy. Like, because it is not, it's, it's, it's, and whether they, they, they can say whether

they're doing it for this reason or that reason, they can say whatever they need to feel. How most people see it and how most people view it is one way. So why not just say, yo, that's, what's, what y'all do it? We know what y'all do it. But, um, again, they can do that. They got their backers. They got their stuff. But at the end of the day, I think AEW is in a great spot.

I think AEW is focused on us. I think now more than ever, I think they're trying to figure out ways to create new stories and drama and suspense. And while keeping it still sports-based, you know, still creating an alternative to what people have known for years. and I think also now more than ever like in this in this like economy not to get like do political but like in this economy I feel like my dad and my brother and my family who grew up and again Sam's dad and brothers and family who we grew up watching wrestling and wanting to go to the shows but even back then we were we were all broke as a joke and we couldn't even afford to go to shows back then so like in how the world is today I feel like having a place like AEW, all those families and all those people who may not be able to afford to go to WWE can afford to come to our show and have a good time and experience some new action, experience some new character, experience some new drama, and experience just an alternative to what has been going on for a long time. So whether they're going to counter program or not,

I'm glad that AEW is around because again the backstage is getting better and better I think the stories, the drama is getting better and better but really trying to really connect dots and really give people something that cohesive and something that at the end they can be proud that they watch the whole thing, you know what I mean? While at the same time, like giving you some of the best

in-ring performances that you've ever seen because that's also what is important to us And not that it's not important to the other side, but I just think for us, we're a little crazy, we're a little loco, you know what I mean? Like, we want to go out there and do the craziest stuff that we can and really put our bodies on the line. And I can't even tell you why we want to do that. I can tell you. But like, for us growing up, that's, I guess, the stuff that we watched. We watched the New Japan stuff.

We watched the Lujibre. We watched all those crazy high flyers before their time doing stuff. And we wanted to, you know, emulate that. So again, I'm just glad that however they choose to run their programming, that AEW is still here and we're still around. We're focused on us. And honestly, we're growing more and more all the time, especially at the, you know, the pay-per-views and stuff you can feel it's just getting bigger and it's getting bigger. And maybe people are getting more emotionally involved. Maybe that's the feeling that I'm feeling.

Either way, it's just every pay-per-view that we do just feels like a victory. So it's great, man. It's honestly, honestly good to be in a spot like where we're at right now to where the wrestling world is. Because again, I was saying yesterday on this other interview, no matter what roster you look at in the totality of the professional wrestling world in Japan, Mexico, Europe, wherever you look like, top to bottom, the rosters are deep. Yeah. The rosters are deep. So we're at a great time in wrestling right now. now. And I'm just glad AEW is around to, you know, give variety to what's out there.

I've often said that I think the best thing to happen to WW is AEW because you have seen them raise their game because there's competition. It felt like the product was very stale when there wasn't competition. I cover UFC as well and they have no competition. And I feel like as a result, they're a little lackadaisical. So I think this is great. And I actually think, look, as a fan, you don't want to have to choose. But look at the Monday Night Wars. When they were going head to head, everyone raised their game and there were 10 million people watching at the same time on any given Monday. And so the move to now go earlier in the day so that fans could just literally sit there and watch for how many hours in a row, I think was a brilliant sort of like counter chest

move. I would imagine that you agree with that, right? Like no need to go literally head to head, but now I think it actually raises the profile for both events. Yeah, even like the Monday Night Wars. I mean, I think just since like the beginning of, you know, wrestling, it's like we've been kind of programmed to like despise the other territories like back in the territory days they you know they fans went to this one they didn't go to that one these people were so we didn't like the other territories and then even when they came together and it was like WWF versus WCW like we one had to win and one had to lose like they couldn't just like one needed to go under you know what I mean like so we were kind of taught to like despise the other

wrestling companies you know what I'm saying? So now when another one pops up, what's going to happen? It's going to be, oh, we don't like them, you know what I mean? And not every fans that way. I'm just saying, like, in the history, it's like, it's never been really acceptable to have multiple wrestling companies on television or whatever, what have you. So I think competition is absolutely great, but I think it gets to a point to where now, like, I don't know, I guess it's like you really want people to like, you want this. company to stop being a company just because, you know, it's not this company that you grew up, you know, with your whole life. So, but again, I think people like me, I grew up when I did,

I watched WWF and WCW. And then when I found about ECW, I watched that. And then when I found out about there was New Japan, I said, oh my gosh, I watched that. So I wasn't just so specific on even like with The Rock. I remember the Rock when he first started doing movies and leaving, everyone was so mad at him I remember being like why are you guys so mad just go watch his movies it's going to be awesome why you guys so mad at him

like I'm just going to go watch Walking Tall then I guess because I'm not mad at it I don't know so I've just never been that kind of person so it's hard for me to kind of understand those feelings but again competition is always welcome always great

and again I'm glad AWW is here to you know, compete. Before you decided to sign and you knew that your contract was coming to an end, was there any part of you that thought maybe you're done? Maybe you need a break. It seemed from what I've seen and read that, you know, your love was kind of fizzling a little bit. Honestly, if I'm being honest, man, I, when I, like, first met Sam, I had like two years, maybe a little more on my contract.

left. And I was just in a spot where I, not like, I was just like, I'm just going to do whatever they tell me to do. You want me to, you give me a promo that's in highlighter. It's all highlighted. And this is what I have to say. Okay, I'm going to say these words. People are going to call me an idiot for saying these words. But I'm going to say these words. I'm going to go out there. I'm going to make this guy look good. Boom, boom, boom. And then at the end of the contract, I'm just, I think I'm going to be just done. That's kind of how I had already. And when you say done, do you mean done with WWE or done with wrestling period?

Just with WWE. Okay. I felt like I had, you know what, I'm going to tell the story. One time I went into Laurenitis's office, and this was the only time I had asked him. I said, I would rather go to the independent scene and wherever and like get, however much money I would make doing that than to like come back here next week. Wow. I said, I would rather do that.

What do you said? And I, you know, I basically gave him examples of how I felt and how I felt like, you know, especially at that time, someone like me or Ali or Cedric or Apollo or I could keep going. Like someone like those guys just being in the ring with like Drew McIntyre in the WWE is like a bump up for. us when like on the independency and it's like I like Ricochet is like right everyone understands you know what I mean like Ricochet and Drew McIntyre on the same level

but if you go to like again WWE it was like Ali versus Bobby Lashley it was like oh it's a it's a bump up for Ali to even be in the ring with Bobby Lashley when Ali's a veteran himself and just things like that and I know things

like that aren't going to change because you need those guys to make these guys look good So I understand all the business stuff, but I was just telling them, just my downers and just I felt like things aren't going to change. And I felt like I'm not even going to be able to develop a character because I'm not given, you know, time to develop or whatever it is. And that's when he was like, oh, okay, we see how you feel. He said, well, we were thinking about, you know, giving you an intercontinental championship match, you know, kind of making you the intercontinental champion. and he was like, is that something that you are interested in? He goes, or do you still want me to, like, tell them that you're not interested

and you want to leave? Then I said, no, you could still tell them that I might want to leave. Thank you, though. I appreciate it. And he was like, okay, well, let me talk to them and get back to you. And then, like, that night, like that night, it was like, next week, intercontinental championship match, we're going to show you, Sammy Zane. Like, I was like, okay, well, I know how that is.

And I think honestly, from like that moment, I had just changed my brain to like, I'm going to do what they tell me to do. I'm going to like not really, you know, I'm going to fight my battles, but for the most part, do what they tell me to do. Then at the end of this, thank you so much for everything. I guess I'm just going to be out. Did they even try to keep you before you left? I mean, for me, they didn't try. I think they made an offer. We just couldn't agree.

Okay, I'm out. But they didn't, for me at least, they didn't like really let me know they wanted me to stay. Which, who knows if that would have changed my mind anyways? But I think, at least again, this is just from my experience. They may feel different, but I didn't feel that they really sat me down. I'm like, we want you to stay, blah, blah, blah, you know. But again, everyone has different experiences. That's just how I felt.

Shortly after you left Samantha Irvin, who's tremendously talented and, and, that clip of her there was a period there you know WrestleMania 40 her her call of of Cody winning and you would see all these like Michael Buffer all these people are like showing her props it's like holy crap she is becoming a superstar here and getting the love and respect and admiration that she deserves I think everyone thought that she would eventually follow you

to AW could you tell us if there has ever been any serious consideration of her being a part of AW I mean she probably would consider it for sure but I think right now she and again she honestly was thinking about leaving and kind of letting it be known a little bit that she wanted to leave before I was even honestly like six seven months before I was even like oh wow you know what I mean she was already kind of thinking about it because again like I'm sure like she she not that she didn't like announcing. She loved the actual act, the fact of like being there front row, like, but like for her saying like someone's weight in hometown wasn't like her dream, you know what I'm saying? Saying where someone's from and their weight and that wasn't her dream. So she had made it, you know, she had made it a little obvious that she wanted to do more and people even like

Paul Heyman's pulling her side and talking to her and telling her, you know, you know, it's possible. and she's talking to like Michael Hayes and Michael Hayes was like, you want to learn more, don't you? She's like, absolutely. He goes, I can tell you want to learn more. She was like, absolutely. So she would let it know, like she wants to do more. And when she kind of, again, just knew like they knew, man, like we have such a good thing

with you right here, though. Like it's, again, because she was so good at it. But again, you got to think if you had Mariah, I know people are going to throw me to the wolves for saying this. But if you had Mariah Carey be a ring announcer, it's going to be awesome. You know what I'm saying? And I say that because one time I walked up on her, like I was in the bowl. She was sitting at her chair and I was going to walk up and just say hi. And she was like face down writing in a book. And I walk up behind her and I see what she's writing. And it's like a whole music notes, like the whole, the lines and everything. And she has like music notes.

laid out. And I'm like, what are you writing? What is this? You write like a song? She's like, no, like it's like, it's like Ria Ripley. So it's like phonically or whatever, like how it's going to sound in her head when she says Ria Ripley. Wow. You know what I mean? So she was like, she was like thinking about things like that and she was thinking about when the beat drops and like trying to say everything before the beat drops. That way when the beat drops, like the guy goes. So like she was trying to think about all these things and she was trying to think about where someone's from and you know she was trying to think about their character and she was trying to think about all this stuff and all that was fun but she wanted to like put that effort into like

a character she wanted to put that effort into like if i can make these people feel this way just announcing what do you think like i could do in like a promo or something or makes people feel you know so that's kind of and then when she kind of just knew they they again like they just it wasn't really not a possibility but it wasn't going to happen or you know she I think she she wanted to get out of it so she had really started thinking about it before and again I know people think she left for like music but she didn't like leave for music she's actually always done music she's been in show choir and drama clubs since I've been wrestling 20 30 years you know what I mean she's always done music she actually had an album 27 underground that came out like 2015 or 16 like she's always done music music. So what she's doing now is, again, kind of like me, I'm just going back to the stuff that I did on the Indies that kind of got me popular. And now that's kind of what I'm doing now. And same thing with her. Like, music's kind of always been her thing. But I think she was just kind of felt stuck at this role because she's an actress. So she was like, she was playing

the role of a ring announcer. That makes sense, you know? And it just happened. She has one of the best voices in the world. And she also grew up a huge fan of wrestling. She grew up, her dad, since she was able to watch TV. She's been watching wrestling. And so she knows the characters, and she knows, you know, how Finkel would announce them. And she knows how, like, the characters have their own personality. So all that stuff helped.

But, yeah, she, I think she was always kind of wanting to go. and then I think once I finally departed, I think that was kind of just the straw, and I think she just kind of made up her mind after that. The Chelsea Green one is probably my favorite. Yeah, absolutely. Unbelievable, the way she did it differently for everyone. I'll let you go in a moment, so I really appreciate the time.

This is great, and urge everyone to check out all out this Saturday afternoon from beautiful Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the Scotia Bank Center is an amazing arena. It's, you know, the home of the Raptors and the Maple Leafs. I wanted to ask you because you cut your teeth in your early days, like you were, you were an indie legend, if I could say it that way, with Shikara and Dragon Gate and Evolve. And we don't have these sort of promotions right now. You know, there's Ring of Honors with AEW and there's overseas. Do you think we'll get back

to that? Or do you think that the business has evolved to where it's a little bit different? Because you don't, you know, you would hear about the ricochets and be like, oh, I wonder when they're going to get, you know, or even the Will Ospreys. He might be one of the last, and he goes to AEW very recently and so correct me from wrong maybe there are guys out there that I'm not paying attention to but it doesn't feel like these guys

that I would hear about the Kevin Steens and the Sammy Zanes for years and years and then they finally get their moment I think the whole wrestling landscape is different nowadays than it ever has been there are great indie companies out there your GCWs

your rev pros over in England you're you know know, I see, like, all these, there are some good companies out there. But I think, again, nowadays, not that it's easier to get on television, but, like, back when I started, it was harder, it was harder, because I don't think, again, it was as wide. I don't think it was as popular or as broad as it is today. Obviously, today, it's more popular and it's more. in demand than it's ever been. So it's, I don't want to say, easier for people to get

light shown on them because of how in demand it is. But it definitely is a little more difficult than it was, you know, back, but even before like the NXT's and before all that stuff started, you only had one company on television, you know what I mean? That was kind of the land of the giants at the time. So it was kind of hard for a lot of us to even get the opportunity because of whatever it was. You know, so I think now and, you know, you have the ID so they're getting people younger and they're actually outsourcing other indie shows like evolve and stuff. So it's, it's, again, it's easier for people to get light shown on them without, you know,

like back in the day, you know, cutting your teeth. The Ring of Honor being on, you know, a television show was like huge at the time. But even me, I didn't even do Ring of Honor. Like I never did any Ring of Honor growing up. because I was on like, you had Ring of Honor and involved, like, you know, you had those two. But maybe it's a good, it's a good thing that you don't have to like break your back in front of, you know, and really cut your teeth in front of not many people to do that for years until someone finally gets you and then you finally get that. So maybe it's better that people are kind of getting light quicker. again and then if they do go to these companies we do have people there we do have

legends there that they can learn from then they can talk to and then that they can really you know then start to take those lessons and use those but yeah I think those days are kind of over of traveling the world and really building your equity up yeah before you really get that chance to show the equity that you've built up but again maybe that's a good thing would you like to see carin cross in aew or killer cross i should say oh i mean yeah he's great uh i think

again you just you think carrion versus osprey is a great match versus tecesto would be a great match versus fletcher versus swerver versus you know so i feel like there would be a lot of great matches that he can have

he's a great character. Yeah, I don't see there's, I don't, I think any company, honestly, I think any company would be great, he would be great at any company because I think he brings something that the fans want to see. They, they were obviously showing that they want to see it, you know what I mean? So, I think any company would do well to have. I agree. Yeah.

Him and Scarlet both, they got a great package. Like, yeah, I think, Paul. Speaking of great characters, I'm surrounding. by a lot of hardcore anime fans and so they wanted me to ask you a couple things before we let you go here okay we want to play a game of this or that you know what this or that is yeah yeah yeah okay so i want to see because you may have actually given up your answer because you said that goku was the goat but let's see if he ends up being the goat so like i'll give you two names and then you know the winner stays and we see who ends up being the last man standing again we got

to go is this personal or is this like no this is you i want your i want your I want your opinion. Okay, okay, okay. More importantly, they want your opinion, all right? Yeah, no, no, no, okay, okay, okay. All right, here we go, here we go. And by the way, don't roast me if I don't know all the names or the pronunciations, because this is who wins in a fight, by the way.

This is who wins in a fight? Okay. Monkey de Luffy or Goku? It's going to be Goku. But, like, Luffy's my favorite, like, One Piece is my favorite anime, but Goku would win. Okay. Goku smoke it.

Yeah, Goku's that. Okay, so Goku remains Now it's Goku versus Aaron Yeager Even in his Titan form, Goku's, yeah Easy work I mean unless you guys pull out like, we'll see

Okay, uh, Goku versus Saitama And again, it depends if we're going All forms, but if we're going, I think Goku beats Saitama. There's again, there's like debate online, but I think Goku beat Saitama for sure. Let me ask my resident anime expert GC in the back.

What do you think of this Goku glazing here? Is this accurate? Is he beating everyone? Calling me an expert is definitely one step too far, but I am also a Goku guy. Like Dragon Ball Z is my favorite. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay.

Goku or Giorno Giovanna? That's going to be Goku. Oh, geez. All right. Goku versus Naruto Uzumaki. No, that's Gojo. but this one

people say that this is a Turu Gojo Yeah people say that he has this defense that Goku might not be able to get past called Infinity but because it's like a different dimension

like you get slower the closer you get to him so people say that Goku could never touch him because you know but also Goku has been known to like punch through dimensions before so like Goku theoretically could punch through his limitless, theoretically.

Okay, okay. And then, like, that would be his only, that would be his only really defense against Goku, but other than that, yeah, Goku's much stronger. Let me ask my other guy, Frank, the, the Goku glazing. Is it on point? It's on point. Man no's ball. All right, man knows ball.

And Naruto's like the hero of all heroes. That's like, Naruto's, he's the guy, but in like different universes, Goku would just It's just not a question. What about Goku versus Yuhabak? He's one of the stronger ones, but I think, again... Wow. Again, if we're talking blue, for talking, you know, Ultra Instinct, if we're talking his...

All of that, Goku's beating him, yeah. King of their... Okay, two more, Spike Segal versus Goku. Hey, Spike's awesome, but he's more like a cool dude. Yeah, he seems pretty chill if I'm being on it. Yeah, he looks like he's at a library. Like in base form. This guy, look...

How did we pick this guy? It looks like he's out of the coffee stuff. Hey, Cowboy Bebop's awesome, though. Okay, what about Zeno. Zeno versus Goku? Is he going to run through the entire crowd? No, that's like, that's like, he's like, they're God. Like, he can just like, and Goku's done.

You know what I mean? Oh, so he wins. Yeah, he could theoretically, yes. Oh, yes, he does a chance. Yeah, Zeno, yes. Shout out Zeno. Okay, very quickly. Blind ranking.

You know what blind ranking is? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, here we go. Attack over a blind ranking, the greatest shows of all time here, okay? Attack on Titan. Controversial? It's out of 12, by the way.

It's out of 12. Oh, out of 12? Yeah, I don't know why they pick 12 for you here, but... Okay, okay, then attack on Titan can go like four. Okay, ooh, that's pretty, okay. Full metal alchemist. Again, also a little controversial because it's widely known as one of the best, but I still haven't fully finished it.

Okay. But it is good. I'm going to go six. Okay. I know that's, I'm in the minority for that. Most would have it higher? Yeah, probably. Okay.

Demon Slayer. Let me put that at five. Okay. All right. All right, so we're in the four to five, six range here. What about Naruto? Naruto? Yeah.

Well, I like the way you say it. Way better than me. Naruto. Dang, see? My top three got to go. You're struggling here. I've got to put Naruto's number three. Oh, okay.

Wow. What about Cowboy Bebop? Cowboy Bebop's awesome. But I put that at like a... Nine. Okay, down the list. My Hero Academia. See, this is where I messed up.

I should have put this one at four, but it's okay. I'll go ahead and put this at the, what is six taken? So seven, it had to be seven. All right, so there we go. Look at that list there. Take it in. Dragon Ball Z. Dragon Ball Z got to go number two.

Ooh, okay. One piece? One piece, got to go number one. Oh, okay. Wow. Guys, how do we feel about One Piece number one? He knows. You agree, Frank? Absolutely.

G.C. agrees? I wish I would have switched my hero and attack, actually. I wish I would have switched. Okay, well, let's see Hunter and Hunter. See, Hunter, Hunter. Hunter. Let me put that at eight. Eight. Neon Genesis.

It's Evangelion. I haven't seen that one, so I've got to go 12. You haven't seen it? You don't know, Ball. We don't put it on 12 until you've seen it. Come on, bro. You've never seen it. all seen it i can't put it i can't put it anywhere death note again another controversial one

because everyone loves death note but it gets to a certain point of the story where i just completely fell off because the best part is i'm going to go 11 okay and their number 10 is bleach how do you feel about that oh that's okay honestly bleach could win higher but that's okay too I'm okay with this, honestly. I'm okay with this list. Okay. Well, we'll see what the internet thinks, pound for pound. I'm okay with this list. Okay. I like that. You're growing into it. You're feeling good about it. You should feel good about what you're doing, man. It's a pleasure to talk to you, pleasure to have you on the program. Looking forward to your match. You and Gates of Agony against the Hertz Syndicate, your buddies over there, Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin, MVP doing their thing.

it's a great card MJF on there Adam Copeland and Christian coming together in Toronto is an amazing thing as a proud Canadian I love to see that and I want to let everyone know that tomorrow on on TBS it's a three hour show I do believe the go home show is September to remember

that's Dynamite on TBS tomorrow and the pay-per-view on HBO Max begins at 3 o'clock and there's a special 2 p.m. Eastern show called AEW Tailgate Brawl at 2 p.m. A pre-show, if you will, on TNT, right before the pay-per-view at 2 p.m. So it figures to be a really fun day of wrestling. So keep up the great work. Thank you so much for coming on. Congrats on all your success. And good luck this Saturday, my man.

I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. There he is. Rick O'Shea, kind enough to join us, the legend himself, in action this Saturday. And yeah, if you're an old school fan, Adam Copeland, aka. Edge, formerly known as Edge, and Christian, his long-time buddy, Jay Riso, Christian Cage, coming together on Saturday in their home province of Ontario, going up against FTR. That's great. Great to see them together in 2025. Mercedes Monet on there, John Moxie against Darby Allen.

So it's going to be a great day. A great day. You could start it with the tailgate brawl, and then you go to the event, and then in the evening, you can watch the WWW wrestle-palooza event on ESPN. So what a time, what a time for the world of pro wrestling. What a time for us? Quick super chats before we go, Frankie. What do we got?

We have chats that are super. Yeah. Can you find out how many years the Sportsnet TV deal is? I've looked everywhere, but every source and article just says multi-year deal. Want to know how long Canadians got to wait before Paramount swoops in. So it began in 2020. and I've been asked this question and I've been asked the question

regarding BT Sport and you're right every single article just says multi-year and I don't know why they haven't made that public but I will ask around

and we'll try to find out I'd be meaning to do so regarding BT Sport because everyone is wondering the same thing when is it going to be BT Sport when is it going to be up to Paramount to either

try to swoop in in these territories and take it like they're doing with Netflix or, you know, are they going to have the deal splintered up? I think they like having it uniform. The question is, you know, are these entities going to want to keep them? So as of right now, I don't have the answer. It did just start.

Multi-year would suggest multiple years. I don't think it was a two-year deal, so I don't think it's going to end at the end of 2025. But perhaps the great Aaron Bronstetter can answer that question for us. He, of course, is their lead MMA reporter. But I will look into it as well. What else? What else, Frankie? Connor Sunderly would draw.

from the presidential race UFC's posting Nate Diaz fights on YouTube Connor v. Nate 3 at White House Wow Yeah I saw they posted something because it was I think 16 years ago today

that he beat Melvin Galard I believe that was the one that I saw Gosh you know what How would you feel if you're Michael Chandler And they do that? You know what I mean? Would I want to see it yes Do I think Chandler probably deserves it

Just given his loyalty and patience? Yes but obviously I would not turn my nose at it I would not boycott it that would be you know I didn't even think of that really what a scene that would be the United States of America's 250th birthday and it's Connor and A3

in the year 2026 what a time what a time yeah maybe but I've not I've not heard anything to suggest that that is in the works but it could be in the works like that right it could be in the works at 456 what else Frank what else How did you feel about Netflix's video player and quality coming from the dumpster fire that is ESPN Plus's player?

It felt like upgrading from 360P to 8K. We can only hope UFC looks as good on Paramount Plus. You know, it's a good point. Thank you, Slito. It was phenomenal. It was very easy to access. It was crystal clear. Loved it.

The app is obviously the best. It's Netflix. You know, who's denying that. Little known fact, this was the third Netflix show. and it was actually the first one that I got to watch from the comfort of my couch. And while you were sleeping.

The more appropriate follow-up is, well, why is that, Ariel? Oh, yeah, why is that? Because I was on the first two. Live and direct, Frankie, I was there in the ring. Did you not see me answering this? Some of us never forgot. Golly. Anyway, it was nice to see it from that side of the fence.

That was all I'm trying to say. be like as a spectator just be one of the fans one of the boys you know it was like terence crawford yesterday at the Raiders game he was like you know what I competed here on Saturday it's nice to be just a spectator on this Monday you know that's how I felt

sometimes it's nice to be a fan what else Frankie what up sure boys just wanted to say shout out for the show yesterday four hour masterpiece loved it oh yeah another four hour one today no hard out on Tuesdays anymore sure there was a band that would always hit us up what's the band

maybe Rick knows there was a guy from a band like a heavy metal band that would always say chur you know what I'm talking about zero recollection yes yes yes I'm not denying it

I have zero recollection of it no no I'm telling you I believe you stop telling me I believe you I believe you you do not have to tell me again I believe you you don't understand there's a band that would always say chur

and the guy was a big fan and people would love the fact that he would like write on our posts and all that maybe this is him by the way I can't find it. Is Cher just a common thing? Maybe it's like colloquial to a certain region. New Zealand.

Oh, there you go. Ukrainian folk metal band. It's New Zealand slang and I got paid in New Zealand dollars. All right. Oh, wow. Shut up. Plus be a local Keeley. A fucking Sherlock Holmes back here.

Yeah. I appreciate that. You're like the guy on the Rogan show, Jamie, with the Google. No, just no down under. Those are my people. Is New Zealand considered down under as well? In my book, yeah. I mean, it's under where I am.

That's true. Those fighting words. What else, Frankie? What else? What else? So, this is the last one. Okay, thanks. My cousin got me into MMA and introduced me to this cool journalist Ariel, something

like 15 years ago. He passed away yesterday and I just wanted to shout him out. Shout out, Chris. We love you, man. Oh, man. Well, I'm really sorry, Louis. That is awful. And shout out to Chris.

My condolences to you and your family. Damn. That is a huge. bummer. I'm really, really sorry to hear that. Much love my friend. Hang in there. Again, may his memory be a blessing, my condolences and my love to you and your family. And it sounds like he had some great taste. If he introduced you to our program, sounds like he was a really cool guy and I'm really sorry to hear that. But thank you for writing in and for honoring him and hope you're doing well all things considered. On that note, we call it a day. It has been a great day.

we did it all we said it all Howard Stern always used to end his interviews like that Frankie he always just say well I think we've said it all we've done it all we've covered it all and I always wanted to say that we should make it a thing I don't want to bite his style

and yesterday I revealed that I'd rather be best friends with Josh Allen and Jillen Brunson than him so I kind of feel guilty I'm trying to make amends anyway tomorrow's going to be a great day I already told you that timeless Tony Storm is going to

be on the program. So I'm looking forward to that. The wrestling community has been very complimentary of her work over the past year or so. So that's going to be great. Our old friend Juliana Pena is going to stop by. The Venezuelan Vixen. Yeah. Fuck you. And she actually has some interesting news to share. So I'm looking forward to that. Always great to catch up with her. What's that? What's that? White House card? Yeah. Let's go. Rematch? Or maybe the trilogy? depending on who wins, you know, between Amanda and Kayla, another one potentially the works. And then an interview that I've tried to get,

and I actually have a funny story regarding this individual that I'll share tomorrow on the program, but an interview that I've tried to get for a very long time and who I said recently that was on the sort of wrestling bucket list interview for me because the people love the wrestling interviews, as do I, the WW Hall of Famer, and dare I say, the WCW Hall of Famer, the great Tori Wilson is going to be joining us tomorrow on the program I cannot wait for that it'll be very interesting to catch up with her yeah absolutely an applause from the crowd

what's what's better than that oh yeah even more applause oh my god you know yourself d1 glazer oh my god we're breaking it all out uh anyway that's all tomorrow the music has stopped thank you very much to our guests yeah yeah you know what maybe we'll just guys stay at home just andy come in it's it's a ladies only show okay ladies only show and she'll do all the jobs because she's superhuman. Back tomorrow, same time, but she'll say, be somebody here.

Who else in the level car? Say, yeah! Yeah!