The Ariel Helwani Show - The Craic: Dan Hardy hopeful for UFC vs. PFL super fight, Paul Hughes ready to shock the world

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

U.K. MMA legend and head of talent operations for PFL, Dan Hardy (04:19), joins the video debut of The Craic to give insight on Francis Ngannou and all things PFL: Battle of the Giants. Paul Hughes (33:39) also joins the show ahead of the biggest test of his life when he meets A.J. McKee in the opening fight of the main card. 

Welcome to the first ever video edition of The Crack. For those of you who don't know, this show actually launched on this feed two years ago. We went away, we built a cult following in Europe, and now we're back. What a time to be alive. I'm Pizzi Carroll, of course. You may have seen me on the shows earlier this week with my good pals Ariel, Rick, GC, Mysterious Frank, and this is my own show now on Fridays. This is the go-home show. I'm going to try and perk your interest before the big events of the weekend, and this is my own show now on Fridays this is the go home show I'm going to try and perk your interest before the big events of the weekend and this weekend of course

is the PFL show a massive massive card for the promotion we're going to talk about it throughout the show we have Dan Hardy we have Paul Hughes is facing AJ McKee the toughest test of his life

we're going to get to them very shortly but how about this on Ground Air three episodes of the Ariel Hawane show so far. I've been making brief appearances. What a pleasure it is to be with the boys. This legendary group of guys. Me just inserting myself in there. I hope I haven't annoyed you all too much.

We had the boys in the back on Thursday. Then we had another Ariel show kind of when he did the Pereira thing. Absolutely fantastic. I've been absolutely loving it. It's a dream come true to be here. The boys are making me feel very, very welcome. As well as all these shows, of course, we have the dot-com element of it. And for any of you readers out there, you need to get over there. There's been some fantastic stuff put up this week. If you want a departure from PFL and all that stuff, go and read Elliot Wursel's article, Just Bleed. He goes and visits a bull ring and it will give you a very visceral feeling as he goes through watching these bulls being felled. Absolutely brilliant, right? And it's a long form piece. So stick on the kettle,

have a cup of tea, coffee, whatever you're having yourself. Prime? I don't know. Do whatever you want. But it's a long form piece. Very, very good. And if you want to zoom into the PFL stuff, we've got endless amounts of stuff up there. I particularly enjoyed my great friend Chuck Mendenhall's piece about Francis Ngannou. Some brilliant paragraphs straight off the bat. An unbelievable writer, as we all know, one of the greatest of all time. It's called Francis Ngannou's Return Carries Heavyweight. Even a Mendenhall classic in the title. I wonder if Shaheen actually did that.

Shaheen Alshadi, a great editor. But absolutely brilliant stuff. Now look, I may not have a swanky New York studio. I am broadcasting from the capital of Dublin, Blanchardstown, where I've lived my whole life. I may not even have a beautiful window behind me where you can see the day go by, as Ariel's so excited about. I've never heard of a window before. It's amazing getting all this education in my first week on this show.

I might bring windows to Ireland. I may not have all that stuff, but I do have some fantastic interviews for you. I mean, let's start things off with my conversation with Dan Hardy. This guy knows more about MMA than anyone I know, to be honest. The way he talks about the sport, it's absolutely unbelievable. His technical breakdowns, which of course you've seen over the years on his own channel on BT Sport back back in the day absolutely amazing he gets really in depth here on francis and ganu we spent a lot of time this with this week he talks about eblen and fabian's rematch he's talking about pacheco soyborg and he's talking about paul hughes who we're going to hear from later on paul hughes you know the biggest free agent in the history of irish m, a guy whose career has spanned back to 2017, I believe, when he made his debut for Bama and set the world on fire.

One of the greatest Irish MMA debuts of all time. He's had a lot of bumps in the road and we're hearing a lot of people say too much too soon. I have an article coming out on Uncrowned about this later on in the week, so I won't get into it too much. But I put that question to Dan. This guy is the head of talent like how did he feel about Paul Hughes being rushed into this situation after one fight against Bobby King it's a massive step up for him look let's get over to Dan he does a great job as always and it was a pleasure to speak to him you might know him as the head of fighter operations or the color commentator for pfl i know him as uk mma legend

mr dan hardy and he's joining me for my first ever video show on the uncrowned network dan i mean what a pleasure this is the only way i could properly do this you know have a legend on you put me over to the crowd thank you so much man it's man. New show. Always good to talk to you, though, my friend, as always. Man, what an event this is you guys have coming up this weekend. First of all, where are you in New York still? Because I know Veronica's training in New York. Are you there now? I just got to Riyadh today.

I flew in. I got here, what, five hours ago. So I've been to the FIFA World Cup bid for Saudi Arabia. Me and Francis had a wander around their museum and they've showed us all these new amazing arenas they're going to build it's it's going to be a crazy 10 years for saudi arabia let me tell you that well well that's a great place to start well what kind of mood was francis in today um obviously saw him on ariel's show on monday and i think he's in great spirits he He's in a great mindset, considering everything that's gone on over the last year.

How did you find him today? He looks physically very good. He looks very strong. He looks very svelte as well, something that stood out to me. I remember seeing him, especially at the press conference, for the last couple of boxing matches he's had. And I remember thinking to myself, he looks really big and heavy. Whereas this time around, he looks like he's leaned out a little bit more. It looks like he's going to be

faster. So I think he's fully expecting a really tough test. And I think he knows he might need 25 minutes. So he looks like he's got himself in incredible condition. He was very quiet today. He was just kind of taking it all in, but you can tell he's right in the middle of fight week and he's just kind of you know battling those emotions it's hard to imagine that someone as big and terrifying as francis ingano would get anxious but when you've got someone that's bigger and taller standing in front of you it makes sense doesn't it absolutely tell me dan this seems a gargantuan event like and we'll go through some of the standout fights in the card but really how big is this for pfl you've got your guy and ganu was the big sign he's the big headline and now here he is having his first fight at this at this massive event how big is this for

pfl this is this is massive for us i mean it will be the biggest event that we've done and you know and it's going to keep us rolling into you you know, many more big events as well. But this one certainly just stand head and shoulders above the rest. I mean, I went straight from the airport to the, uh, to the arena and all the way down the freeway on either side, these just banners it's, it's Henan, Francis, Henan, Francis brace for impact battle of the giants is everywhere. It's, it's Henan, Francis, Henan, Francis, Brace for Impact, Battle of the Giants is everywhere. It honestly, just no matter where you are in the city, you can see at least one of these two heavyweights. Um, and I mean, that's exciting because it really feels like it just takes over the whole of Riyadh. You know, it's, uh, there's a lot of talk about it. There's media everywhere.

You know, it's, this feels like a very very big event and you know and it wouldn't be the same if it was just that main event right as you as you said i mean we've got a load of fights all the way down the card that you know really are going to draw a lot of attention so i'm just excited for us to be doing a real big event like this and and i know it's going to set us up for a big 2025 look you guys have done massive events i was in i was at the echo arena for backy and dune bay and i had a lasting impression on me you know i've talked to french people about how i've talked to you about it too like i don't think the english-speaking world understand what's happening there what dune bay means to these people what you guys have in terms of a star

with dune bay but francis is different gravy right like this is your first time working directly with francis for a fight week and he's competing on at least what does he add he's got this he's got this presence that i don't i don't i can't think of anybody else that maybe brock lesnar he might be the only other person that i can think of that's got the same kind of terrifying presence I stood in an inner lift once with Brock Lesnar I mean I'd squeezed in the corner of the lift with him in it and and he's got this kind of he's just kind of a heavy presence about him and Francis is the same you know there's something quite regal about him I don't know whether that's

the old uh you know the the marketing from the Tyson fury when he was sitting in his throne with the crown on and stuff but he just carries that that that kind of royalty you know energy so well um and everybody as soon as he walks in the room as you can imagine he draws everyone's attention um and there's a lot of people expecting to see him so there's a lot of people looking out for him this week i mean the media just at this this FIFA thing that we went to, there was surrounding him. It was wild. He's a special athlete. And I think obviously, he's got a very tough test, but if he comes through it with flying colors this weekend, I think everyone's going to be back on the Francis train. We just can't look past Hennon though, because we might see the birth of a new heavyweight superstar this weekend as well. I like how he's speaking about Hennon. He seems to have a very

in-depth knowledge of this guy this isn't a guy who's earned his money in boxing and has just shown up and i'll come here i'll just throw out the right hand and we'll see what happens like i feel like this is a guy who's doing a lot of homework and on henan he's a guy that respects his position with pfl um i'm sure you've heard heard him talking about him too but does that kind of give you confidence that this fight is going to deliver as well when you have Ngannou seemingly so honed in on this guy? Yeah, I mean, the fact that Francis is so focused in on him really shows me how much of a special fight this is going to be.

Like, if Francis came in, showed up, and was kind of relaxed and, you know, felt like he was going to run through for Hayler, then first of all, I would think that he's underestimating Hennon, which is not going to work out well for him. And second of all, he's not going to rise to the occasion that is required for a fight like Hennon-Fajeda. But both of these guys this week, they've got the same kind of quiet, respectful, slightly anxious,

not exactly sure what's going to happen energy about them, like we all do around heavyweight fights. And I think they both know that they could be asleep on the canvas within the first minute of the fight, which is what makes this so terrifying. You know, we've seen what, what Henan Fahadah can do. You know, we saw it against Ryan Bader, especially in these last couple of fights, since he's been at ATT, he looks so much more well rounded. You know, he's not got that got that nervousness of getting taken down and controlled on the floor anymore because he knows he can defend those takedowns. And the other thing as well that we saw, we saw it in the Goltsov fight. We saw it in the fight with Bader as well for as long as that lasted,

waiting for his opponent to throw first, right? Stunt like tempting them, fainting them, and then moving away and fainting and moving away because he wants them to commit first. And that's a danger for Francis because he knows he can punch. So he knows that if he lands, he's going to do damage, which means he's going to be more happy to throw those punches. And second of all, the anxiety of being out there for a couple of, being out for a couple of years, he's going to, you know, it might make him a little bit agitated. It might make him go first and he's going to run onto a counter. Like he's got to do his research. He's got to know what he's up against here. He's not only up against Helen Fajada, he's up against American top team, Conan Silvera in the corner. You know, he's got great minds around him as well.

I think this is going to be a really really special heavyweight fight and I think I think both of these guys know it going into this week you can speak to this as a you know a legendary fighter yourself a lot has happened with Francis it's undeniable you know like um the AJ uh knockout in March and then this tragic loss of his son um you know as a guy who is a fighter himself who has been around fighters his whole life um what kind of mentality do you think this kind of these series of things that have happened to him what kind of mentality will this forge within Francis for this fight week I mean honestly I can't even begin to imagine what he's been

through I mean you know getting knocked out is one thing. You know, I've been knocked out live on TV. It wasn't quite as big of an event as Francis, but still a lot of people saw it. And, you know, that's one of those things that you just have to kind of like put to the back of your head and go, well, it's a part of combat sports, right? If you land enough knockout punches, eventually someone's going to catch you with one.

So he can put that to bed. The personal stuff though, losing his son, I don't know how you compartmentalize that. If you can, if you can in some way manage it at the same time as managing the pressure from the fight, again, that's something that would require a much stronger person than me. And I think Francis is that guy um but ultimately i think the focus of having a competition having a fight and the fact that it's mixed martial arts is back to you know what he's familiar with um and i i also think that you know and there's no way that you could distract yourself but not sitting around every day just just kind of, you know, just kind of, I don't really know how you would describe it. Just kind of falling into an abyss is how I would imagine it would

feel for him to be able to get up and go to the gym and feel like you've got a purpose, no matter what that is. I think that's healthy for him. You know, at the PFL press conference we had in DC the other week, he said that he didn't feel like he got the chance to fight for his son. So this might be the opportunity. And, you know, he got emotional. I get emotional thinking about it when he said,

when, when I, when I, you know, when I think about it, but I, I just think that the focus of having competition is going to be really, really beneficial for him.

And a focused Francis in Ghana is, I mean, he's terrifying enough as it is, but for him to be single-minded in his a bit in his need to defeat this individual in front of him I would not like to be Henan Fahadah this week absolutely um Ariel had both Francis and a good mate here is Tom Aspinall on the show and uh apologies for the awkward situation I'm about to put you in but both of

those guys and rightfully so believe they are the best heavyweight in the world um where do you weigh on this dan you know it's a great question and i really think that look we're gonna have we're gonna have we're gonna find the best heavyweight in the pfl this weekend and then on november 16th we're gonna find the best heavyweight in the u I'm hoping hoping love Stipe I want to see Jones versus Aspinall that's where I'm not going to get the answer who's the best heavyweight in the UFC is if I thought if I see Jon Jones fight Stipe Amir I don't know whether it's one of those guys but I'm pretty sure it's that Tom Aspinall's in that conversation now whether Tom, whether Tom's good enough right now, whether he's got the experience to be able to beat Francis, that's a different

question entirely. And same goes with Hennon Fajeda. I would put either of these guys in that main event on November 16th at Madison Square Garden. I would feel that Francis and Hennon both have a good chance against any three of those UFC heavyweights. So that really is the interesting conversation. As you know, I'm a big fan of Jones as well as, well, I'm a big fan of all of them. I'm an MMA fan, but look, Tom is the future of the heavyweight division. He may not be the president of the heavyweight division. And if it's not Jon Jones, then I think it may well be Francis Ngannou, but it's just, it's the heavyweight division. It's so difficult to pick these guys apart and make a real strong case for, yeah, this guy's going to win nine times out of 10,

because it just doesn't happen like that at heavyweight, does it? Like even if Francis and Hennon fought five times this weekend, we're going to get five different results. Ultimately, what I want to see is Tom Aspinall with the legitimate UFC belt around his waist, and then the UFC be open to a super fight between that heavyweight champ and our heavyweight champ whoever it is um and I know that's a long shot but Turkey Al-Shaykh's making some moves with the boxing world so he might be able to do it with mixed martial arts too we can keep our fingers crossed I truly believe that I'm getting a lot of shit on the internet dan because i keep on saying that i think this is a is a possibility and dana hasn't exactly um shrugged it off either like he's kind of saying well let's see what happens here um speaking of dana real competition it oozes a

certain kind of you know attitude from from both sides and i think we really saw a kind of crank up uh last weekend we saw the pfl promo come out that rattled a few people over the ufc obviously featuring kayla harrison and dana's asked about this at the press conference i don't know if you saw this um and he had this to say i'll read you the quote i think when you're losing as much money as they are effing go for it effing throw the kitchen sink at it don dav Davis just came out recently and said, you know, we're going to spend more money than they did in the sphere. That sounds F-ing brilliant.

How many ticks are you going to sell? They're not very bright. It's all fair. Knock yourself out. They're drowning. Drowning. They suck. They're not going to do what they do.

So I guess you would just keep trying anything you can to make something stick. All good. He went on to say that you know it's a different feeling for kayla now she's in the ufc having been rotting away at the pfl for so many years tell me what is your reaction to that and is it a positive one to kind of create this kind of vitriol between the two promotions i i don't i don't mind it to be honest i mean look i'm i'm kind of especially over the last sort of honest I mean look I'm kind of especially over the last sort of 12 months I've

kind of taken a bit of a back step from all of it and you know I appreciate who Dana is and what Dana does as well as you know I appreciate Don and what Don Davis does for the PFL it's always interesting watching promoters like answer questions like that

because it's got to be spun in one direction. You're never, ever going to get a clear, objective answer to any of those questions because it's always got to have the promotion in the sidelines. The reality is, this is the promotional game. If you've got a commodity that you can promote, then you're going to do it however you can. And there was also a time when, and if it wasn't for the Ultimate Fighter, the UFC would have continued losing money, right? Not all promotions hit the ground running and make handfuls of cash. Sometimes you've got to speculate to accumulate. And what's happening here in Riyadh is that we've got the backing of the Ministry of Sport.

They want these heavyweights in Riyadh. They want more fights next year in Riyadh is that we've got the backing of the Ministry of Sport. They want these heavyweights in Riyadh. They want more fights next year in Riyadh. They want the PFL, they want Bellator to come back. I'm sure they want the UFC to come over here as well and be doing events. Like this is just the chatter between the promotions. I'm most interested right now in the fighters. And I'll always give you my objective opinion of who I think is the most capable in those divisions regardless of the promotion. You know, PFL and Bellator have got some fantastic fighters. There's no doubt that there's a, you know, the majority of the world-class,

the elites are in the UFC right now. But as they start moving over, the likes of Francis coming over to PFL, that starts to change things a little bit. And it also changes things a little bit when Kayla Harrison goes over because she's going to be the UFC champ very soon. You know, and that shines another light on the PFL

on the fact that we've got Larissa Pacheco who handed Kayla a loss and we've got Cyborg and who knows what's going to happen with that fight this weekend. Like what's happening right now is that we've got stakes in a few of these uh divisions that we can make a real argument that we've got the best fighter in the on the planet um and what i've noticed about dana with all due respect the longer his reply gets the more he's kind of anxious about what's going on if he brushes it off like

ah yeah i'm not interested then he's actually not interested. That's that means he's paying attention because he's digging into the back of the business and he's trying to figure out what he's up against. Um, and you know, we're moving and shaking right now. And there's a few dollar bills falling off either side of the cart as we go, but that's a part of growing a promotion, right? You just got to keep the wheels moving forward and keep making the fights that people want to see i love everything you said there and i love the way this event has been put together because we talked about in ghanu there's tremendous risk on this card and i think that's pfl putting their chins out as if to say look we're here we're going to be putting on big events we talked about in ghanu but have Paul Hughes a guy who's fought one time in this promotion facing AJ McKee like this is one of the best

guys in the world without a doubt his ground game is insane um tell me as a guy who's dealing with these fighters and I know Paul myself so I'm pretty sure I know how this conversation went but how do you decide that right after one fight we're we're ready to put you into this situation what uh convinced you Dan that he was ready for a situation like this look I'll be honest I'm still not convinced right that's why that's why we're gonna be tuning in this weekend to see if he's ready for AJ McKee like we have a fighter ops team and these matchups, we discuss these matchups.

And when that first came up, I was like, man, that's a big jump up for Paul Hughes. And I know for well that Paul wants to fight. I remember chatting with him outside, uh, outside Ariel show a few weeks ago.

And he was saying, I've got a list of fighters. And you know, there were, there were names like Namaga Medov on that list that he wants to fight. He wants the big names. So it doesn't surprise me that, that he wants to fight. He wants the big names. So it doesn't surprise me that he jumped at this opportunity.

Like me, my calculated head, I'm going, well, maybe he has one or two more and then an AJ McKee because then it's not quite as big of a jump. But even if Paul wins two or three, four more fights, it's still a big jump to fight AJ McKee even then. But you've got to make hay while the sun's shining right you know at the moment the opportunity is right in front of Paul Hughes if he beats AJ McKee I mean he puts himself right at the top of this division right in conversation to fight anybody he wants and and these opportunities they don't always come around they do in the PFL

funnily enough like you look at Jesus Pineda right we got Jesus Pineda Gabriel Braga in the pfl funnily enough like you look at jesus pineda right we got jesus pineda gabriel braga in the championship last year most people thought it was going to be a lock name a bubba jenkins chris wade one of the familiar faces but it was the two young prospects that blasted everyone out of the water like sometimes you see an opportunity like this and you've got to grab it with both hands and if you can make something with it then you can change your career overnight I mean Paul Hughes has changed his career changed his life overnight just by signing with PFL if he wins this fight that's that's a that's a game changer and look and if he doesn't then he gets back into the gym and he learns from it and he goes back to work he's not a person that's going to be deterred not not slowed down not in any way you know the man's confidence but i love the fact that he's stepping

into this fight and i do know it's a big risk fight for him but i also feel like if anyone's going to be able to do it it's going to be paul hughes absolutely like the you know it's brilliant to see as well i i think that you know he's talked about this for so long you're kind of like will PFL want to do something like that so it did take balls I think from PFL as well to make a fight like that so I commend them for this um Eblen v Fabian I think this is floating under the radar so much that first fight was absolutely mental like I mean Eblen gets cut to the point where you think ah this is going to be stopped midway through this round Fabian I thought at the time was in control of the fight Eblen comes out and knocks him out

then a fight like a you know a verbal confrontation bursts out between Leon Edwards and Johnny Eblen it it was crazy in the arena people were screaming shouting I couldn't even see what had happened so I'm trying to look at this uh at the monitor meanwhile all this drama unfolds I'm getting text messages Ebelin spat on Fabian of course he didn't but it was just so dramatic it was all caught up in this chaotic scene um I'm really interested in this fight not only did I learn something from Ebelin in that fight in terms of like this guy can just pull something from this wild reserve he has and we saw it against uh kazangano as well right like he was down and he comes back and he does it but fabian had a lot of success too and fabian is that guy that we've been looking at for for the

goods of a decade going this guy is going to be able to rumble with the best in the world he's getting a second crack at eblin here i'm really compelled by this are you feeling the same way yeah i am i mean i watched that i watched their first fight a few times on the plane i've been chopping it down to try and pull some some clips out of it to tell us straight for you guys um it was a it was a fascinating fight you know the thing is you know what you're going to get from eblin right he's going to swarm you and he's going to throw big overhands and he's going to try and take you down and what fabian did for the for the first couple of rounds is he managed the takedown defense really well, right? He was getting

Ebelin's head to the inside. He was breaking his posture. He was stuffing him up against the fence, turning himself off and then getting back out to space. But the difference between Ebelin before the cut and afterwards was night and day. Before the cut, he was punching into a takedown and wrestling for a bit and then going back, punching into a takedown, wrestling for a bit. This time around, he did the same dip with the big overhand right, but he doubled up with the right hand. And it was like Fabian, he had a counter knee for the first one, brought him back up into range. And then as Fabian was dropping into like a check right hook it just ate a big one on the chin and and I talk about this a lot especially with Veronica going into into this fight that

she's got coming up I talk about intention in MMA you know intention can win the day a lot of the time and that cut across across Ebelin's face was as you said it was bad enough that most doctors would have stopped it most cut people wouldn't have been able to stop the bleeding between rounds. So when, when Evelyn starts that next round and he's like, I've probably got half a round to make something happen here. That was a, that was a championship mentality that he came out with, like doubling the right hand up, landed a big right, right hook on the chin, followed it up, looked incredibly strong, came through with a big cut, and he's rematching Fabian straight away after.

I feel like they're going to pick up where they left off. I feel like it's going to be very, very competitive. But Fabian can't be lazy up against the fence again because he can get knocked out just the same. Absolutely. I've got one more. Come here. Thank you so much for this, Dan.

It's absolutely amazing to pick that wonderful mind of yours. It's always a pleasure. This kid, I ibrahimov is that how you say his name ibrahimov ibrahimov he has two brothers is this great he has two brothers that play for the manchester united academy now the manchester united academy famous all over the world they are picking like the the 0.01 percent of athletes to go to this academy and then you've got a brother of theirs competing in mma he's undefeated and he's with the pfl i mean this is a hell of a story dan like i can see i can see all the mainstream papers picking up on this guy straight away um i've been on his instagram page watching him sitting in the

dugouts watching his his brothers playing. Absolutely incredible story. But can you speak to what kind of athlete this man is to come from this genetic pool that's creating two Manchester United Academy players? Well, yeah. I mean, first of all, I'm just glad that he chose mixed martial arts instead of football because there's enough football players. We need some more Ibras in MMA. Honestly, I mean, the rumblings about this kid coming out of the gyms in Manchester people talking about how dominant he is on the floor once he gets a hold of you there's nothing you can do about it and and then

you meet him and he's got this kind of he's got this very kind of chilled matter-of-fact aura about him he's like well I'm just gonna take you down and choke you. Like there's nothing you can do about it. And he knows it, you know, like who, who does that to Josh Reed, right? I brought Josh Reed in for that fight because I'm thinking to myself, I've seen him go through absolute scraps on cage warriors. I know how deep his ground game is. I know how well prepared he is. I just didn't expect the fight to be so one-sided. And then as soon as that fight was over, we're now looking at other places we can put Ibra because we want to keep him on PFL Europe, but they want him in Riyadh and they want him in the US.

Immediately people started to demand him to be on different cards around the world. So it made sense to put him on this one. And this kid he's fighting Nacho Campos he's a bit of a wild man he's a bit of a lunatic I was looking at him last year to sign him and yeah and and undefeated but a risk taker like a real risk taker like he's not gonna be bothered about about taking a a shot and potentially ending up on the floor because he cannot hold still for a second so if Ibra is able to take him down and dominate him like he did Josh Reid then

I mean I'd be very very surprised Ibra is incredibly good but Nacho's a lunatic and that's going to keep this fight moving well that's another one we can look forward to now Dan thank you so much um all this going on in your life I'm sure like is there a part of you that's like why does this have to happen now this fight's coming up for Veronica we're all the way over there I know how involved you are is it tough to take a break this close to that fight and come over here and do this or is it all in a day's work now for Dan Hardy it is for me to be honest it's difficult I mean we flew out to New York last week so she's she's in New York right now she's at Henzo preparing and we've got,

you know, we've got a great team of people out there helping us. Uh, Sean Centella and Martin Montalvo, they're the corner team. So reality is she's getting a break from me this week, as opposed to the other way around. Like she doesn't have to put up with me for a week in training camp,

which is a blessing in disguise because I don't stop talking about the fight. I'm on it all the time. So, um, you know, I i'm gonna let her focus be in her own head for a few days i'll get these these fights done get these awesome fights in the record books and then i'll be back to new york ready to finish off training camp and then we'll be we'll be at msg baby picking up another victory i can't wait to see her run her resurgence has been absolutely unbelievable um i can't wait to see her run. Her resurgence has been absolutely unbelievable. I can't wait for this card. Dan, no one sets it up better than you. Thank you so much for coming on the show, mate.

Mate, always a pleasure. And congratulations on the new show. I'm an honoured guest. Thank you so much, man. All the best. What a man. What a great preview. I'm frothing at the mouth for this card after speaking to Dan Hardy.

And look, I love the honesty too. He knows that PFL offered considerably more for Paul Hughes when he became a free agent. The UFC were at the table. PFL were at the table. And in the end, Paul Hughes found the PFL offer too good to turn down. And you can understand that, certainly. I guess the one thing that I think people don't know about Paul Hughes is how far this guy has come. At one stage, I mentioned the spectacular debut very early on in his career, but immediately after that, he broke his left hand. When he was nearly recovered, he was going to fight again against Patrick Wickstead, and he broke his left hand when he was nearly recovered he was going to fight again against Patrick Wickstead and he broke his right hand he subsequently broke the right hand two more times

and he was told he would never fight again from there he got back on the horse after two years on the sidelines after this again amazing debut one of the greatest in the history of HMMA he gets back on the horse and just starts cleaning shop I think he had three greatest in the history of Irish MMA, he gets back on the horse and just starts cleaning shop. I think he had three finishes in the space of six months. And that was with like two withdrawals as well during that period. Like he was going after this stuff with furious pace. He ends up in the cage where his promotion, he loses a very close split decision to Jordan Vucenic. And this was during the pandemic and the Irish fans were going crazy absolutely insane about it they thought he'd been robbed I personally scored it for Hughes it was a very close fight he has to go back to the drawing board gets himself back to

an interim title situation with Morgan Charrier and then he goes to event he goes on to avenge the loss to Jordan Vucenic Vucenic and Charrier are in the UFC. This guy has beaten the both of them. He's an incredible talent. For a long time in Ireland, there was a debate, like who is the best active fighter from the Ireland now, beyond the McGregor era? Is it Ian Gary, who has done phenomenal things, obviously, at welterweight? He's knocking on the door of a title shot. I don't know what's going on. I heard him talking earlier in the week about Colby Covington turning down a shot.

Meanwhile, a few days before, there was reports of a Sean Brady fight being confirmed. Of course, GC has talked to his sources, and he has said that it's a load of bollocks, so we can firmly sweep that one under the rug but Paul Hughes an incredible an incredibly interesting character have a listen to him here he is not faking this ever since I met this guy he has been one of the most confident people I've ever met and if you think about all of that stuff that happened to

him on the way to getting to this point fighting fighting AJ McKee, it's fortified him. He's an incredible mind. I know a lot of you people don't know about him now, but who knows? If he pulls off the upset on Saturday, he is going to be some hot shit. Here is Paul Hughes. Enjoy. I'm here with Paul Hughes, who has quite a big fight, you you might say this weekend against AJ McKee. Paul, it's been a long time since I talked to you. The last time I was up here in Belfast was before your debut with the PFL which we know went very well, or should we say Bellator?

I don't know which one we say. Tell me this, first impressions with the promotion before we get into the massive fight that is AJ McKee in Saudi Arabia what was that first week like? It was fantastic I got treated like a star you know I kind of feel like in a way they built the show around myself and the reason I feel that way is because of the extra that they were doing for me in terms of the extra content we were going out to the local Gillick pitch we were doing all that extra stuff. And then small things such as, you know, after we weighed in,

we'd done the ceremonials, the producer took me to the side and he was like, right, what way do you want your walkout? And I'm just like, this is this is what I want, you know, because obviously I'm kind of known for my walkouts at this point, so we got it down to a T the day before. But that's just small things like that, kind of were very cool and then just the week in general

and then obviously how the fight went and how the broadcast the production and all like I thought the production I think the production for these Bellator champion series is fantastic with Dan Hardy, Adam Smith, Jimmy Smith on there I think they're it's great so very very happy with it. It was kind of perfect in that I was down here stirring up shit as I usually do and I was talking about the unfollowing from McGregor and then suddenly you have this moment right between you and McGregor which kind of looks like a passing of the torch moment. This is the moment that every Irish fighter dreams of having. The guy who inspired you to do this is there after you've made a very emphatic debut win,

and he's talking about how great you are. I know you've probably talked about this a thousand times, but what would an 18-year-old Paul Hughes, who's trying to find his footing in this game, a guy who hasn't taken on the world like you're about to do, what would he have thought of that situation? That's a dream thing. Yeah, it really is surreal. It's really surreal. In fact, I've done a breakdown video last week on my YouTube, watching through the debut

and then taking a seat back again and watching it and seeing the interaction with McGregor, I was like, this is crazy like as you talked about like imagine 18 year old 19 year old Paul like 19 year old Paul when he made his professional debut whenever like of course Connor was one of the people that inspired me and as I said in the octagon showed us it was possible so to have that then that moment which I didn't know was gonna happen either in the three arena co-main event on the world stage to have him down there clapping shouting big news to have a moment with him after it was surreal and

it's definitely something that I'll take to the grave with me for sure. Did you think that was gonna be awkward at all like because of the situation like remember you're like I don't really know where I stand like that must have made it even better right like when you're kind of in the unknown you're like holy this is a really nice endorsement i'm getting actually that wasn't a thought in my mind to be honest i didn't play too much into that it was more you guys it was for you guys playing into that i didn't really take it personally at all um i think it's kind of a petty thing to think you unfollowed me i didn't even know until other people told me and I didn't care.

For the record, I didn't tell you. I didn't come after. I did not tell Paul Hughes that he'd been unfollowed. But no, it was, as I say, I didn't know that he was going to be down Cageside. I'd seen him in the warm-up room before because he was with Sinead Cavanagh and he just came in and said hello, wished me the best of luck. But the fact that, you know, after I'd got my hand raised and was doing the interview with dan he was just down there cage side and dan was like how does it feel having conor mcgregor here cheering you on then i looked down i was like he was like going go on big news i got so yeah it was cool i was uh we're doing a big written piece on you uh for uncrowned massive fight and there's going to be a lot of people seeing Paul Hughes

for the first time and maybe didn't tune in to that Dublin event. And people in America who don't understand everything you've been through to get to this moment. But one of the things

I found out from speaking to your mother this week is a saint. Just such a lovely, lovely person. And she gave me a lot of time. You were quite a good GAA player for your local team,

to the point where as you're trying to get into this MMA thing and you start having a bigger interest in that, the manager knocks on your door and asks you to play one of the most important matches of the season. I mean, I don't think people from outside of Ireland will understand the gravity of this, like what GAA clubs mean to their community. But I'd say that was an extremely tough thing for you to do back in the day,

to be like, I'm leaving the sport that is in fact our national identity to do this sport you've never heard of. Yeah, it's crazy. I often say it, that I was just as obsessed with Gaelic and hurling, more so Gaelic than I am with MMA now. And it actually is the truth. Like, I've always been a competitor. I've always loved, I've always just loved to compete. And GAA was my life until I found MMA at 15 years old. I mean, it just consumed my whole being, just like MMA does now. So that was everything to me, you know. So it's kind of funny, like, reminiscing on that, talking to my mum about it the other day.

Because I forgot about this moment where we had a big game. it's kind of funny like reminiscing on that talking to my mum about it the other day um because i forgot about this moment where we had a big game and i hadn't been training as i hadn't been training really at all because i had a fight coming up and i think it was a championship game you know yourself even under 16 level like it doesn't matter like even you think oh they're 16 year olds this is everything to the community. And I remember the manager, like, asked me to play, and I was like, right, I'll come down, you know, but don't start me or anything like that. And then he went to put me on early in the game,

and I was like, you need to put these other lads on first before you put me on, because they've been training all year. And I refused to go on. And if you knew who I was talking about, who the manager was, he was the most respected guy in the entire club. And you know how it is in GAA clubs. You don't say no to this person.

And I was just like, you need to put these other boys on here before you put me on. And I think, and as I say, I forgot about this until the other day and I was talking to my mum about it. And I think that's actually, now looking back, was a of like huge character change of like I went from one world of GAA into the MMA world and the personal development that I had to just kind of go this is what I want you know the person that I was becoming chasing this new dream having to I guess improve myself become the best version of myself I think that was kind of like a moment of like, nah, I'm on this new chapter now. I'm not on this like GAA, like everything focused on your small town kind of,

I don't want to say small town mentality, that's not the case, but just like that was everything. And then that was when I kind of, I guess, passed the torch onto the new world, you know, into the MMA world. Your dreams kind of grew beyond your parish. Yeah.

I think in Ireland, a lot of people live absolutely brilliant lives through their involvement in these parishes and massive opportunities come to them. But obviously, you went down this other road and it's taken you a bit longer. Say, like, you guys are playing county football in, like, 19, 20. It's taken you a bit longer to get to this moment, which it does in this sport. But tell me about the AJ fight because I've been telling you guys all day.

That segment you did in London where you're on video call with AJ, the look on your face. As soon as I saw that, I was like, oh, this is, like, he is so so happy with this situation like the cat who got the cream is how I would describe you and I know you had to again keep this on the wraps for so long which is becoming you know a theme in your PFL career but how did this come together and tell me how excited you were when they offered you this because I know from when you signed with this promotion you were like I want the best guys immediately yeah yeah in a way I kind of manifested this not to sound all woo-woo at all but I did kind of manifest this big opportunity this big bout if I hadn't been going on for example Ariel show and saying I'm here to fight the best now you know whenever I

got signed I was like give me this name give me Pitbull give me whoever I was asking for the big names and if I had me going out there and saying that I want to fight the best, I'm ready for the best, I'm the best in the world. They probably wouldn't have came knocking. Because they probably would have thought, well maybe we'll just keep building this guy because he's a good prospect. I was the one going out and saying, I want the best guys, I want the highest pressure fights, I want the best fights for the fans. And then it just so happened that this pay-per-view was coming up towards the end of the year. I was free, AJ was free, and it got done. How quickly did it get to AJ, though?

I mean, we do a segment on my show, the Trident of Knowledge, we call it, with Andy Stephenson and Dunna Corby. And the first time when you had signed for PFL, Dunna Corby said, AJ McGee. And me and Andy were like, why would you do that straight up? But here we are, just one fight in and the first fight was quite short notice as well. How did that come about, like was there much deliberation or is he like the first guy they offered you for this guy? Not at all, I was in Spain at the time my sister was getting married and I woke up one day hungover and I got a text from Tim saying AJ McKee October 19th, yes get it done. That was it,

was done literally that week. For a long time AJ is the guy, as in the guy people point to when they say talent outside the UFC, like who are your top 5 guys outside the UFC. AJ is usually on that list, that's the way a lot of people feel about you in the European scene, people are saying this is the best guy we have outside of the UFC right now in your division, which was Fedaway and now Lightweight, but tell me how you've seen AJ over the years. You consume a lot of MMA, you watch a lot of this sport, you're completely addicted to it. What is your opinion of him?

Look, AJ's been there, done it for a long time. He's fought very, very good fighters. He he's won the belt he's won his millions he's he's the guy like you know AJ is the guy when it comes to Bellator and now PFL he's his PFL debut was successful this guy is I mean he had a very very close decision loss but he could be 23 and 0 right now. You know, he's 22 and 1, he's going to be 22 and 2, but this guy is dangerous, you know, and I've studied him for a long time because generally I'm watching everything anyway, but I remember, it must have been four or five years ago, AJ was being talked about as being like one of the best in the world, you know, and here we are, he still hasn't lost, barely. Yeah. You know, he's still

up there so this is this is what gets me excited you know this opportunity now to prove myself I've been saying for so long about a year now I've been saying I'm the best in the world I'm the best in the world and I remember people just being like what is he on about like my first lightweight uh fight on cage warriors which will be about a year ago come out of of the cage saying, I'm the best in the world. I'm the best in the world. People are going to be like, what is this kid talking about? But now, I've put myself now in this position where now is my first chance to prove it to everybody.

And that's what I'm going to do. You're not going to like this, but when this was announced, do you know what I heard a lot of? Too much, too soon. Too much, yeah. What do you think of that sentiment? All the receipts, I have them all. But look, I get why people say that, because on paper you put our records together. Yes, although I have had incredible experience on Cage Warriors and I've fought really, really

good guys, five rounders, high pressure, which is great experience, you put our two records together and it does look like too much too soon. You know? That's the reality of it. But as I say, there's a reason why I've been saying it. There's a reason, as we talked about, you were mentioning about the broadcast, and I'm kind of like, what did you say?

The cat who got the cream. That's a quiet confidence. You know? And AJ hasn't fought the young guy coming up before he was always that guy he's been there and done it now he's made a lot of money beat the best guys he's comfortable he's 100% comfortable and fair play to him he deserves that because he's fought and beat basically everybody but he's never been in this situation when he's fighting the young kid the young hungry lion as I said on

the stream what do you think his reaction was to you I found him quite puzzled by it like you were the picture you portrayed and this is how you are of course but like this might be his first time having a dialogue with you and you're so calm you're very obviously confident as well AJ looks like he's just after putting down the playstation control and jumping on this call and he immediately is like there's a situation where he's about trying to suss each other out I felt and you were kind of well here I am and he was kind of like well what is this guy all about did you notice that or was it just a mundane conversation for you I he probably wasn't expecting it to go the way it went and it's not like I was

going in and just putting on this act and talking mad trash it was the way it went and it's not like I was going in and just putting on this act and talking mad trash it was the way that I was saying things it was the confidence that's what I think AJ hasn't seen before is that young kid coming up that's like I'm gonna beat you like I'm gonna smash you I'm gonna knock you out within two rounds I don't think anybody was talking like that to him because he's been so good for so long but this is the time this is my time do you know what i thought when i i thought about this quite a bit when people said to me too much too soon um i thought about one of the greatest irish mma debuts we've ever saw was was you and the sse um and how excited we all were after that then the handbrakes which you know stopped your career

in its tracks for a very long time. And then I thought about the cage warrior situation where for two years you had everybody saying this guy is clearly the best in Europe, why hasn't he signed to the biggest league? So when people say too much too soon to me about you, I say absolutely it's the opposite. This guy is sprinting towards his goals. Any opportunity put in front of him, he wants to aggressively pursue it as much as he can. So that logic that, you know,

you aren't ready for this situation is kind of crazy to me, knowing what you've gone through, you know? Yeah, absolutely. I truly, truly do feel like a young veteran, which, you know, I've only only 12 13 fights on my record but I the experience that I've garnered throughout that cage warriors tenure with the world title fights with fighting great guys back to back to back and having to do that I feel I truly feel unstoppable at this point like the things that I have had to come through in my career,

as we talked about, like the early handbrakes, four handbrakes in the space of 12 months, thought my career was over. You know, I had to build myself and I had to find something to get me out of that, to get me to where I am today. And the person that I have become today is because of this adversity.

So I feel like when I was 20, 21, 22, I felt like I had conquered more adversity than most fighters do in their entire career. Like I genuinely felt like that. I felt bulletproof. And I've carried from then, 20, 21, 22, that mindset has now just got even better, better, better, more obstacles, more obstacles more obstacles

more callous in the mind and then you have the big fight and then you have a big step up and then you have your cage wars and then you're going you're going you're going i've seen so much so at this point like i genuinely feel unbreakable that's why you you look at me and you see this calm confidence like because in a in a way pt like in a way there's a i know something that people don't know yet there's there's layers in my games that people haven't seen and i think it all comes together here on saturday night i think and i know that i'm going to knock them out within two rounds 100 i have my prediction we've shot a youtube video before the fight exactly what i think is going to happen and this is what I foresee and I'm going to have him out of there within two rounds, 100%.

This is all very exciting. I think the idea that this guy is the most prolific fighter you've ever faced. An international name, I'm not trying to take away from your previous opponents, but this is a different level of opponent, just in terms of notoriety. And what comes along with that is a lot of people going, AJ always wins, I'm picking AJ. I think, as much as you won't admit to this,

I think that will probably light a fire under your ass. I think you thrive on that. It's been a very long time since we've seen Paul Hughes announcing a matchup where you're like I don't know about this one for Paul probably never I don't think in my career, especially professional career because I was coming in as a good

amateur, I've never been an underdog so like I'm carrying that with me, you know this deep deep deep level of I need to prove everyone wrong. You know, there really is like, it's all the game for me here next week. It's all the game and it's all the lose for AJ. So I'm in a damn good position, like a very exciting position. It's an interesting one too, because you're the guy, like they broke the bank to get you

here. I know you're in an underdog situation. You know what I mean? It's a mixed bag of feelings you must be having now. Yeah. Look, I mean, my feelings are the same. I feel like I'm the best in the world

and I came into this promotion saying, give me all the best guys now and here we are. I mean, six months since I signed, maybe less, and here I am. I'm going to be in the biggest show of all, Francis and Gann since I signed, maybe less, and here I am,

I'm going to be on the biggest show of all, Francis Ngannou pay-per-view, me and Card, probably other than the Francis fight, probably the most hyped fight of the night because of the story, because it's the underdog, the young guy versus the guy who's barely been beat, the king of Bellator for so many years, the guy who just knocks people out for fun, chokes people out for fun, there's a story there and you know that story will be told on Saturday night and as I say, 100%

we'll have him out of there in two rounds Tell me what, like you know you mentioned the Ngannou situation, that adds a completely different thing to it, like this is probably the biggest one of the biggest cards outside the UFC in a very very long time. This is something that the attention of the MMA world will be on this

event all week next week. As you mentioned, a lot of good fights and you've got Edwin Edwards on it as well. But I do agree with you. I think AJ and you the fact that nobody kind of visualized you two together and now you suddenly are there, I think that's added a lot of intrigue to it. But do you recognize

what the PFL are doing here? with you like by putting you on this card I think they are showing you how much they see you as like you know a pillar for this promotion moving forward yeah absolutely I mean I definitely feel like they're given me great respect and even offered me this fight, you know, so I appreciate that. But it also is a potential passing of the torch as well, from old Bellator days into new PFL. Like, no doubt, AJ's been there, he's done it. He's not the biggest star in the world, with all due respect. He hasn't really transcended Bellator or PFL now I think PFL know that I can I can be a big name around the world if they do it correctly and I think this is their what they're trying

to do I think this is them trying to do it correctly giving me the opportunity to prove myself to beat the guy who's been the king of the promotion to usher in a new era into the PFL that's what I think potentially is what they're thinking that's definitely what I was thinking whenever I signed to the PFL I signed here thinking I want this promotion to build me as their biggest star I want to take this to a whole new level and that's what I have the opportunity to do Saturday night In the rounds of Irish MMA

this is a massive fight you think about the fights that have happened over the years McGregor is nearly involved in every one of them you have Sinead Kavanaugh v. Cyborg you have Queely v. Pitbull you've had a few guys who had an opportunity to go on and fight some of the best guys in the world. But as far as I'm concerned,

and as far as other media members who I mentioned earlier, Andy and Dunne are concerned, this would be the biggest non-Conor McGregor win in the history of Irish MMA. How do you see it? Do you think about situations like that? I know you're a guy who very much considers himself, you think about your legacy, but do you consider a guy who very much considers himself, you think about your

legacy, but do you consider what this would mean to Irish MMA for you, a guy who was in the headlines for so long, why isn't he here to go on and get one of the biggest wins in Irish MMA history outside of the UFC? It would be pretty crazy. It would be.

It will be. I haven't thought about it too much, to be honest. I have seen media mention that I've seen it on Twitter and all and it got it did get me thinking about the I guess the magnitude of the bout yeah I think

the conversation that was being had a lot around I think it was about 2019 was who is the best Irish fighter on the scene right now? Back then, and I didn't include McGregor in this conversation back then because I was already so sure of you two, but it was Ian Gary and Paul Hughes. You have Ian Gary surging in the UFC right now.

You have you about to face one of the best fighters in your division available to you right now, probably the best. Can you see that conversation being relived between you and your mate who've had this bickering match for maybe five years? Who was the best? I don't know, potentially. I mean, Ian's obviously done a lot more than me at this point. He's been absolutely smashing it in the UFC. Fair play to him, supporting him all the way. I mean, that's for everyone else to decide, I don't know, I think definitely a win over AJ puts me up there in, like, the magnitude of

I guess Irish MMA bouts and wins. But here, I mean, I don't feel any competition with anybody coming from this island, I feel like, honestly, we're all a team, because we are, and to actually touch on that, you asked me about the magnitude and

how much I've been thinking about this. I feel that we need some more wins in Irish MMA because I'm watching UFC in Paris last week and I'm comparing that to the Irish scene I mean it's not

even comparable and that's sad because I mean look at the shows they're doing in Paris every year now because the fans are absolutely mental we were known for that now potentially we can bring that back again the Irish fans and if there were shows like for example the UFC being back there but you look at the amount of French fighters on there as well you look how they're being built it kind of made me sad to be honest and I feel like maybe a win over AJ here on Saturday can start maybe building that momentum back for all of us because as I say I don't compete with other people from this island I see us as a team I

see like the media and all covered ever and I see us all rising together and I hope that maybe a win on Saturday here does that and continues this momentum again because Irish MMA has been quiet other than Ian up there and unfortunately as much as I like Ian, he just doesn't have the support from this island that I would like him to have. Yeah, I think everything you're saying there is absolutely accurate. And I actually speak in the French show on this last week. I was like, we used to be that.

Yeah. That was us. Yeah. And yeah, I think there's a grassroots issue here since the death of Joe Carvalho in 2016. There's a lot of things we need to overcome, but you're right. The right win, the right way, would do a lot to relight the buzz for young lads yes do

you know what I mean where's the next where's Paul who's watching Paul use the way Paul uses watching Conor McGregor yeah do you think about that I'm honestly no does it freak you out when you think about that um not really I mean I kind of in a way that I would think about them sort of things is more so my position in this gym here as the most senior fighter. And the young lads, like, we have the best gym in the island, 100% pizza, like 100%. The young lads are the top amateurs that's very important to me because for me that was watching Conor McGregor and going oh my god it's possible from here so I think about the young lads coming up here if they see me do it then it breaks down the barriers Absolutely I got one final one for you Paul and I appreciate the time as always you've been talking about this out of there about the second round quite a bit I feel like there's a bit more detail in terms of what way you think you're going to get this done

I was watching you and Shando move around there I've got a few suspicions as to what way you think it might go But do you want to give us a... No You don't even let me finish the sentence Nope Shut down, nope But before, that's what we're saying

Are we saying, well tell me, round one or round two? Round two. Okay. Round two. Well, Paul, enjoy your time in Saudi Arabia. Could be, I mean, here, if it's round one, I'm all over that. No, no, you said two. But I'm thinking two.

If you were in a round one, that was a loss as far as I'm concerned. 100%. 100%. Come here, tell Francis I was asking for a win. 100%, I got you, bro. Nice one, bro. Mr. Paul Hughes. He really is taking this week in a stride.

Seeing him at the press conference. Seeing him in face-offs with AJ. I mean, this is a huge moment for him. And he is so composed. I even saw Dan Hardy kind of referencing this after the press conference. On Thursday morning, he was like, Paul Hughes. is he's taking this like a duck to water it's pretty unbelievable speaking about unbelievable I've been picking my underdog of the week since we started on the audio feed so I think

I have four picks in four episodes only only two of which have come true, one being Merab, one being Juliana. So I've got to pick an underdog this weekend. And I mean, it would be rude not to go Paul Hughes, right? I believe, I believe he is a live dog in this fight. And that's, that's what we're looking for, right? That is the criteria when you're trying to pick an underdog of the week. Don't get me wrong. I know how good AJ McKee is. I have seen AJ McKee fight many times in person. And I think he's one of the most underrated ground fighters in the game.

What he did against Darion Caldwell. I mean, one of the best fighters outside of the UFC for a very, very long time. And PFL slash Bellator, they know that. And that's why the man has been on great money for many, many years. Every time he is about to test free agency, they lock him up again. And look, he is one of the big names under their banner. So we'll go with Paul Hughes this week. Let's see how we get on.

Again, I'm shocked by the Fabian line with Eblen GC was reading them to me there on Wednesday and Fabian was going well in that first fight and now look you can look at that as a positive thing for Fabian but you can also look at that as a massive positive for Johnny Eblen who seems to be able to dig himself out of these situations every time he fights well not, not every time he fights. Sometimes it's very one-sided. Well, most of the time it is. Against Kasanganae and Fabian, he found a way. And that was absolutely incredible.

I'm buzzing for the fight. You're going to have Helwani vision on Saturday. Absolutely buzzing. Maybe something else. Maybe something else as well. I'll tickle your balls on that one for the next couple of days. Until we figure out what's going on. But there may be something else,

something some people in the comments might be excited about. Who knows? Before I sign off this week, I just want to offer my condolences to everyone at Team KF in Dublin and to the family of Evan Dunn. Evan Dunn was a guy who listened to this show. He was a valued member of the community there in Team KF. He trained there for a long time, but he passed away last Saturday after a 14-month illness.

I know how valued Evan was to everyone at Team KF, and we certainly valued him as a listener of the show. My thoughts are with everyone in Evan's family, his friends and family, and, of course, everyone at Team KF. Anyone who's listened to this show knows how close I am with Chris Fields, the head coach of that gym. Chris was actually the first fighter I ever interviewed back in 2009 or 2010, and he's always been so good to me and

he's been a you know a very close friend since then so very sad to hear about Evan and again my thoughts are with his family my thoughts are with his friends and my thoughts are with the guys at Team KF an absolute tragedy and I'm sorry to end on a somber note but this has been the first video episode of The Crack. Thank you all for listening. I hope you enjoyed Dan. I hope you enjoyed Paul. Thank you to Jordan. Thank you to Oscar. Thank you to Frank. Thank you to Ariel for letting me do the show here. An absolute pleasure. I'll see you next week. Thank you.