The Ariel Helwani Show - The Hardy Boyz in studio, Arman Tsarukyan, Bo Nickal breaking news, Gregory Rodrigues, Hamzah Sheeraz

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show with stories from last week's Las Vegas adventure (01:46), before speaking to top lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan about being the backup fighter for UFC 317, his reaction to Ilia Topuria's win, words exchanged with both Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje, who he wants to fight next, and more (22:58).Next, Gregory Rodrigues aka 'Robocop' joins the show following his devastating knockout of Jack Hermansson, to talk about the big win, explain the origins of his nickname, and more (47:00)Bo Nickal calls in with breaking news about joining Real American Freestyle Wrestling and discusses potential matchups within the promotion, who he might want to fight next in the UFC, Jon Jones' retirement, and more (1:06:27).The Hardy Boyz, Matt and Jeff, join Ariel in studio to discuss their legendary careers, including their current run with TNA, memories from the WWE days, and then list their best tag teams of all time (1:41:34).Boxer Hamzah Sheeraz is the final guest of the day, reflecting on the controversial draw in his last fight, previewing his fight against Edgar Berlanga, diving into his relationship with new trainer Andy Lee, and more (2:49:10)Finally, Ariel and the Boys in the Back answer Super Chats and discuss who could be the UFC's next American star and whether Ilia Topuria's resume already rivals that of Khabib Nurmagomedov (3:36:28).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Err-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- And 25. Hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. I was about to say Monday. It feels like a Monday because we just came back from a trip and usually we come back on a Sunday to do a Monday show, but times, they are changing.

Yes, we are back in our New York City studio. It is so lovely to be back. What a trip we had, what a time we had. It all just feels like a blur now. Will you remember me? We had an amazing time in Las Vegas. We were there for, well some of us were there for eight days. Shout out to On Air Jordan. We did a show on Thursday, we did a show on Friday, we did two shows on Saturday, a show on Monday, a post-papering Monday.

In total, I think something like 25 guests joined us in our amazing Las Vegas studio. I want to give a big shout out to our good friends over at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, in particular, Diana, who is fantastic, phenomenal. We can't wait. We're already planning our comeback. We can't wait to be back.

And all the guests who joined us, from Volk can't wait. We're already planning our comeback. We can't wait to be back. And all the guests who joined us from Volkanovsky and Adisanya, Dan Hooker, John Wood on Thursday, to of course Tommy Aspinall and Raul Rosas, and everyone on Friday. And then we got to the Monday show with Mirab and Tracy Cortez. And it was just an amazing, amazing experience to see the whole team, not just work hard, but everyone, everyone, including Frank. Who, me? Stepped up, pulled their weight.

Had to work a little extra hard at times. Had to figure things out. Had to troubleshoot. Oh, let's see this. As opposed to a normal day where we don't troubleshoot? Yes, yes. Rick, can you do me a favor as I'm doing all this? Yeah, I'm trying to have a moment here.

And... Speaking of troubleshooting. It's like... Do you want me to fill this space? No, no, this is great. This is great. Life this is great life is good life is good so in any event we had such a great time we had so many great meals we had so much fun together right guys am I right about this? Damn right. A week

to remember never forget it yeah best work week I've ever had in your life yeah easily are you kidding? What was your highlight? There's literally too many to count. Okay, that's no fun for anyone. I mean, do you want me to start listing them off? Yeah, go ahead. Chilling with the Aspenalls, cooking with Volk, going to Extreme Couture was amazing,

eating in Hell's Kitchen was amazing, got to drive a Ferrari, that was great. The studio, like getting to see the studio and having everyone sign the thing. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah., that was great. The studio, like getting to see the studio and having everyone sign the thing. The wing was great. Getting to go to the PI and UFC headquarters was great. UFC X, I mean endless. Every single day was chock full of stuff to do.

It was amazing. Tough enough? Tough enough, yes. I mean, we got there on Wednesday, right? We all got there on Wednesday. We go around, boots on the ground, we got there on Wednesday, right? We all got there on Wednesday. We go around, boots on the ground, we check out the studio, feeling good. Go to a great restaurant on Wednesday night,

China Poblano, shout out to them. The spot, I feel like that's uncrowned Vegas headquarters right there. Because of Frank, really. Frank has manifested it into a thing, which I appreciate. And then the Thursday lineup, and you know what was great about it?

No one no-showed, right? No-showed. No right no showed no one no showed everyone showed up not only did everyone show up everyone showed up on time and it was it was like a lister after a lister after a lister in in total we had the heavyweight champion of the world James Tuhunan I'm sorry, I just couldn't. Speed there, Frankie's on one today. It was good. We had the heavyweight champion of the world, we had the featherweight champion of the world, we had the bantamweight champion of the world, we had the former flyweight champion and greatest of all time. I mean, it was just, it was, it was, you know, I sort of lamented the fact and criticized the fact that Dana White had that ho-hum announcement of Tom becoming heavyweight champion in Baku of all places. In truth, him doing that and the date

that he did it and the timing actually helped us tremendously because we probably don't get Tom talking about all this on the Friday. We don't get all this stuff to talk about so he actually did us a solid. It helped us so much I'm actually starting a conspiracy theory that he was for us. He was like I'll throw you a bun. There you go. And we shot a bunch of stuff. You guys infiltrated the apex. You infiltrated the UFC HQ some way somehow. Everything. We saw every corner of it. We walked around the entire office. That might be the footage. I was not there. That might be the footage I'm most looking forward to.

It was cool, man. We got to see the office. We got to go see the Apex. And the Apex was just like, we were the only ones there. It was way more corporate than I was expecting. The dude who took us around was like, yeah, man, it's heavy nine to five here. Like, there's not much going on on the weekends. Like, it was us and a security guard in the Apex.

Unless there's an event, of course. Yeah, right, right, right. And he said even, I was like, what is this like on an Apex fight day? He was just like, pretty much like this until like two hours before the class starts. Yeah, it was crazy to get to see it all. You guys went to UFCX.

Yeah, UFCX was, it was pretty cool. If you're looking to meet fighters, then it's really cool. Yeah, but you have to wait in a long ass line. Long, long ass line. Especially for the superstars. Izzy's was like, my mind like couldn't comprehend how long it was. Wow.

And like, what does that cost? Do you have to pay per autograph or do you just pay once to get in? $30 to get in and then you can wait in lines. But they have a lot of cool stuff you can do. Like you can get into octagons, punch test things, you can get your hands wrapped, do like a virtual walkout. Get a haircut.

Get your belt, yeah, get the haircuts. Yeah, it's fun for sure if you're a UFC fan. For you, this was your first International Fight Week experience. I don't know how we could possibly top. Did it actually meet your expectations, exceed your expectations? Obviously we did unique things.

You got to meet people, you're hanging with the Aspenols, but in terms of the buzz, the vibe, all that stuff. The fact that we got off the plane and then Rick's like, oh shit, Cho Gun-Hua. And I was just like, wait, what? And then he's like, no, Maurice O'Huffy. I was just like, damn, we were off to a hot start. And then it felt like the fire never went out

the entire week. It was awesome. Got to go to Hell's Kitchen. Shout out to Gordy R over there yeah and ran at the beef Wellington Frank gave it a solid five out of ten Frank is insane for I have not one to gas up food if it's not good the beef Wellington was was fantastic fantastic I'm still surprised that Frank didn't like it because everyone else seemed to love it it wasn't like it was gross I just don't understand what the whole hoop is maybe

it's it's amazing Frank everyone's like. Everything I've had so far is great I have no sense of smell I need like bold flavors like I want with horseradish, you know Like in the cocktail sauce, I can't this delicate shit and it's not for me I need bold flavors as he sits down to order an iced coffee and shrimp. Yeah, by the way, extremely bold What's this? No sense of smell thing. You've've never wow We've only talked about this probably once a month. You can't smell anything. I could smell some things explains a lot But he had his he had his sense of smell removed. Why it was too strong You were like a dog Wow When did this happen it?

2019 a long time ago allergies. I used to smoke It's why I became an audio engineer because like I can't smell my hearing has gotten better And when did you decide to become an audio producer? I have never been just considering them And and so what does that mean like you can't smell anything? I can't smell most things like if you don't become an a2 with a sense of smoke like people are like oh man Don't you love the smell of this cologne? I'm like this what so if you like if you drop a bomb you don't Smell it. I don't that's why that's why you drop so many but I don't One where it's like oh no, I

Can't believe we've literally have no can't believe you don't fart in front of your wife I don't it's too risky. That is insane, man. That is insane. I can just imagine the look on her face after all these years. No, no. I think it's actually romantic. I think it's classy on the part.

No, no, no, no. You have to get to a point. Door open, doesn't matter. You got to get comfortable. You guys with the posters, I still, I go back and watch it. We don't have that moment if we don't go to UFC HQ. That's right, that's right. I can't believe there's a store in UFC HQ.

A pretty nice store, I actually got you something, I gotta give it to you, I got this nice Pride pen. Oh wow, thanks. Yeah, they had some cool old school UFC stuff, I gotta give that to you. Yeah, and then we went to Tough Enough, and we see the dude. Ariel.

Yes, Rick? Hey, what's up, Ariel? Yes, Rick? Hey, what's up, Rick? I'm gonna end with some breaking news. Oh, yeah. First shams, it looks like. Wait, well, by the way, why does Rick sound like... Oh, excuse me, we're about to go to...

This is the Jordan mic. I'm on the Jordan mic right now. I was like, what is this? I'm on the auto or Jordan mic? Yes. Oh, there he is. There he is. Yeah, where's Jordan?

He's on vacation? You know, on vacation. Holy shit! When he vacation? Uh, you know, he's on vacation. Holy shit! When he said, oh you know, I thought Jordan was like, I thought he was Zoomed in. He literally does sound exactly like, uh, he didn't get in until 2am. Yeah and? No no, it's vacation. Me and him got stuck in Vegas for a minute. I actually texted him. Literally as my plane was taking off after a 4 hour delay. I was like wheels are officially up. See you later Vegas I'm out and then he was actively delayed. That's a tough one. And then you thought you were gonna land in Boston

Oh, yes, figure comes on Have to divert to Boston or Syracuse. Yeah, they're like We might have to make a quick stop over in Syracuse Yeah, what's the news? Oh yeah, sorry Rick, sorry Rick. Yeah, I mean, come on, I'm trying to be a pal here. He's juggling eggs. Per shams. Don't tell me LeBron. No, expected to land on Mike Brown.

He stopped saying Mike. Oh, that's my boy. That's my boy, Mike Brown, yeah! Shout out to Coach Mike. Yo, the first ever guest in the history of the Ariel Hawani basketball show. Shout out. Mike Brown. For my Cavs coach. How do we feel about this?

That's my guy. I have zero feelings on him. You are, you are texting pals with the, with the Knicks head coach. Yo, I'm actually somewhat, by the way, huge MMA fan. You know how I first met Mike Brown? Mike Brown texted me out of the blue in 2021,

the summer of 2021, heading into the Olympic games and, is this Mike Brown from ATT fame? Is this the former WU player? And I was like, no, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.

I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.

I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.

I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. and was hoping to get some like, you know, words of inspiration from Kamaru Usman and Izzy Adesanya. And I was like, wait a second,

is this Mike Brown from ATT fame? Is this the former WEC featherweight champion? Who is this? This surely is not the former, or at the time actually I should say, Golden State Warriors assistant, or maybe associate head coach, former Cavs coach, Lakers coach, et cetera.

Sure enough, spoke to him on the phone, it was Mike Brown, the coach. And so we were main friends and he's a big MMA fan. And then when I was looking for a guest for my first episode of the Ariahulwani basketball show, this is in the midst of his coach of the year campaign with the Cavs, not with the Cavs, the Kings. He comes on the show, couldn't have been nicer. We talk about MMA, it's a wild thing. And now he's the coach of my New York Knicks. For the first time in my life, I'm sorta kind of maybe friendly with the coach of the Knicks. Congrats man, that's awesome.

Are you pulling up to practice from now on? I'm pretty pumped. Just roll in? Wow, I can't confirm the Knicks have offered Mike Brown their head coach opening. Floor seats, tap them up. That's my boy. That's my boy. That's my boy. That's my boy. Sorry, who's your son?

Carl Anthony Towns. Oh yeah, that's right. Wait, I'm like, wait, you mean like literally your boy? Like your actual son? That's my boy. Who are you talking about? Carl Anthony Towns. Can I tell you guys one thing

that I think we're allowed to talk about as, by the way, we have a great show today. I haven't even gotten into the lineup. I'm so, I'm so tired but also excited to be back. The vibes are high. It's July. It's like you're, it's like that sort of loopy tired. I was gonna say it's going into a holiday weekend. We are all just like exhausted. The alarm hit like a cement truck to the face this morning. But it's the good tired. It's the good tired.

It's the proud tired. Now I'm hopped up on caffeine, yes. Proud tired, reflecting on the week. Yesterday I was going through my camera roll, I was like, god damn, what a week we had out there in Las Vegas. But the fact that we're going into a holiday weekend, it feels like it's like the last day of school.

It feels like we've hit the Saturday of the calendar year, July. We've got July 4th coming up. We obviously have July 1st, Canada Day, which has come and gone, which was a great day. Shout out to the Blue Jays with the big win over the Yanks yesterday afternoon at Roger Center. Next week, this city is the epicenter of the combat sports world with not only the Madison Square Garden card on Friday, Netflix card, which I can't wait to be a part of, but also the July 12th card at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

We've got pizza coming to town on Sunday. There's a lot to be excited about. There's like nine birthdays on the team happening within the next couple of weeks as well. We've got Bastille Day, of course, for all our friends over in France. There's a lot to be excited about, but here's the one thing we have yet to tell anyone about this is actual breaking news and I think we could talk about it

No content was filmed Nothing, it was just it was just a nice catch-up after the show on Monday myself Rick and GC Took a trip down to extreme couture and I was very excited to go there because I hadn't been there in a long time. The first time I ever went there was 2008 when I was there to cover UFC, I believe 84 did an interview with Forrest Griffin. I felt horrible afterwards because he kept slapping me on the back and everyone thought I was an awkward weirdo. Anyway, all these years later, the great Eric Nixik invited us and it felt so good to be back in the gym among the fighters. Who do we see we

saw Roman Delite there who else did we see we saw I'll get all Williams Carl Williams cleaning the floor with Roman Delite say I was just like we'll get to the big guy in a moment we saw Chris Curtis there Jocelyn Edwards Jocelyn Edwards there were a couple others I don't remember anyway Brad Tavares Brad Tavares. Brad Tavares, yes, there you go. But then at one point we see Sean Strickland, who I was actually trying to think, have I ever actually seen him in person?

Must've pre-pandemic. I think when he fought Alex, anyway, no, that was post-pandemic. Point is we see Sean, we're talking to Eric, not really sure how he feels. We must have had a lovely, lovely, lovely 20 minutes or so conversation. All of us, myself, Rick, GC, Eric, Sean, talking about all things under the sun, couldn't have been nicer, couldn't have been lovely, or couldn't have been more welcoming. Left, came back, talked to us some more.

It was a really nice way to end the trip. When I used to go out and cover the events, I used to always make it a point to go to Vanderlei's Gym, Extreme Couture, ATT, AKA, wherever we were. And obviously I don't travel as much and when we we go, we pack things, you know, to the gills, as far as the schedule is concerned. So I really appreciate Eric inviting us. He was so nice. He showed us around, went to his office where he

does the interviews from showed us some cool stuff and just seeing the fighters there on their turf and in particular, Sean, uh, was a really, really nice way. It was a really nice way to end the trip. And it wasn't Sean so nice. I was going to say he was a man, gentleman, a true gentleman. a really nice way to end the trip. And wasn't Sean so nice? I was gonna say, he was a gentleman. Yeah. A true gentleman.

And it was definitely one of those moments where like 10 or 15 minutes in, I kind of just like looked around, I was like, oh, this is fucking crazy. We're just standing here chatting it up with Nick Sicken and Sean Strickland. Yeah, who'd have thought three months ago that that would be the scene?

Curtis was great as well. Chris Curtis is the man. Jacked. Chris Curtis, A, is jacked to the gills. He's also the man. And B, I know Strickland is 185, has fought at 205 before. It did catch me off guard how big he is. I was like, oh, this dude is pretty large. Yeah, no, it was great.

I miss doing that. And I told the guys, I'd like to try to do that more. Every time we go somewhere, road show, whatever, let's try to go to one gym, just to see people on their turf in their home. You get great insight but also it helps forge stronger relationships. So that was a really, really nice thing. All in all, most importantly, appreciate all the support. Appreciate everyone who watched. I think we had our greatest week ever since the launch in October on the YouTube page, Uncrowned.com.

Smashed it. Shout out to Shaheen and the whole team there covering all the events over the weekend. Just, we're rolling into July on a high right now. And yeah, just so happy and proud and just so pleased with everyone. And yeah, I was reflecting too and just feel so lucky that we have this team

and everyone kept telling me afterward, man, your team is so good. Your team is so good. And they're just interacting with like GC and Rick. They're not seeing everyone behind the scenes and even the people back here at the HQ and the people all over the country. It's, uh, it's really, it's really, really, really a dream come true to see this all come together. So yeah, uh, feel very good.

Have a great show planned for all of you. My phone is blowing up with Mike Brown related texts, not ATT coach Mike Brown, NBA coach Mike Brown, New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown. Mike, we ride or die with Mike Brown over here. In a moment, we're going to be joined by Armin Tsurukian. In some people's eyes, the number one contender at 155 pounds. Very much looking forward to that chat. Following that chat, we will be joined by Gregory Rodriguez, Robocop, who had the massive win over Jack Hermansen on Saturday, scary knockout, but it appears as though Jack is okay.

Her maybe a little bit late to the action. Some might say, including myself, first time that we have Robocop on, so looking forward to that. Following that, Bo Nickel will join us with some breaking news. Exclusive breaking news. So stay tuned for that. The great Bo Nickel will join us.

Following that, we'll be joined by the Hardy Boys. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Da-da-da-da. You guys know that song? by the Hardy Boys. Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do

do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do Ed Jeff, Jeff and Matt will join us in studio. They're part of the TNA roster now. They have a big show coming up in July, the day after UFC 318. That's at the UBS arena over on Long Island, Home of the Islanders. Matt and Jeff Hardy, arguably one of the most popular and arguably one of the best tag teams of all time. I don't even know if one of the best is arguable,

arguably the best tag team of all time and I don't even know if one of the best is arguable. Arguably the best tag team of all time and certainly one of the most popular, no doubt about that. And what was so great about their careers, which is still going, Matt 50, Jeff 47, crazy that they're still going with what they did to their bodies. Tremendous, tremendous singles careers as well. Sometimes great tag teams don't have the best singles careers, both of them. At one point Jeff was maybe the most popular wrestler in the world and Matt obviously has had great runs as a single star as well. So both of them will join us in studio and then we'll finish up the show with Hamza Shiraz who is

returning to action on that July 12th card fighting now at super middleweight moving up from 160 pounds to 168 pounds incredible boxer who who did stumble back in February against Carlos Adamas a somewhat controversial draw in which some people thought he actually lost including myself I'll be honest he did break his hand in the fight now he's moving up to 168 to fight Edgar Berlanga on the July 12th card here in in New York in Queens to be exact at Louis Armstrong Stadium ring three card going up against Berlanga who's been talking mad shit about him mad mad shit about him and then the main event of course is Shakur Stevenson against

Williams and Peta sort of a co-feature if you will because the show is so packed and yeah look at that look at that lineup what do you guys think about the new New York City background on the the lineup card there? Yeah I dig. I'm into it. Okay. A little Brooklyn Bridge, a little Empire State, a little Liberty, I see a little MSG in there. It's good shit by Ovin. I love it. I love it. It's always good stuff by Ovin. Ovin's the man. He's the absolute man. He crushed it as well. Always does. He crushed it as well for us this week. Everyone did. So because we're so packed with so many guests,

unfortunately no time for on-the-nose this week, but we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming come next week. Yeah, and next week's gonna be great because we have Pizzi in studio all week, no matter what. He's just on call for us. Yeah. I think he was feeling a little bit left out from all the proceedings. I can't lie.

I thought about him several times last week and I was like, man, it's a bummer that he's not here. Oh my God. It'd be- It actually could have been dangerous if he was there. We were so nonstop, I don't know if we needed it. Also, who knows, the amount of, it always throws me off when we get to Vegas

and someone is just in the casino and they light up a cigarette. I'm always just like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm like, I forgot it's legal here. No, I would have if Pete's was there. We were so busy, I didn't smoke a cig inside and Rick did not play a single game of poker. That is jarring.

I feel like the latter is the most shocking. I cannot believe it. And he said all week, he's like, I haven't played any poker yet. He teased it a couple times. I might go play, but never actually did it. Well, you're just too busy, man. Yeah.

He did take out a bucket of Dole Whip one night, though. That was- Oh my God. It was a little uncomfortable to watch. It was like a cup. Dole Whip's delicious. It was maybe like this high the cup, but then it had like an extra layer on top. Me and you split one and made it maybe

30% of the way through it. How is that? The whole thing. Legend. I mean, and let's not even get into the freaking chicken tender over there, which we'll actually show you because that's how we ended the show on Monday.

We'll show you that later. For now though, let us go to the man who successfully made weight to be the backup fighter for Saturday's main event. In the end, his duties were not required, but he is patiently or perhaps impatiently awaiting his next assignment. He's the one and only Armin Tsurukin,

who's kind enough to join us from all the way in Thailand, I believe. Armin, is that true? Are you in Thailand right now? Hello, yes, I'm in Thailand. How are you, my friend? Good, good. Thank you for inviting. It's nice to speak to you again. It's been a few months. I appreciate it very much. And we have a lot to get into. Can I ask you, first off, you know, you had to go through the whole process, making weight and this and that, and then your number doesn't get called. So you don't get to actually go out and release all the energy, release

everything that you did to make weight and to be prepared for Saturday. Is that a weird feeling? You feel almost like something's missing because you didn't get the payoff? Yes, to be honest. I mean, you know, I took the chance. You never know if someone get hurt or couldn't make the weight, I'll be there and I was ready, you know. And so it just was a risk, you know. And yeah, of course, when you make the weight, you want to fight and I was ready to fight. And I was in good shape. I had seven weeks for my training camp and I was preparing mostly for Ilya and that's

an easy camp, you know. You need just a boxer and that's all. So this is now two fight camps which don't result in a fight for you in 2025. So I would imagine your level of frustration is a little high right now. Say again please. This is now your second fight camp of the year which doesn't result in a fight. You haven't fought yet in 2025, right? I know you did the grappling a couple of times, but I'm assuming that you're kind of getting, you're kind of getting itchy to fight again. Yeah, I want to fight as soon as possible, you know, because I got so much energy on

me and I'm so excited to show everybody my new skills that I've been working on. When I work in the gym, I feel like I'm getting better every day, every camp and maybe it's better and I learn something new and I can try at the end of this year. We spoke on the Monday after the event in Inglewood back in January and then didn't speak to you afterwards. Can I just ask in the aftermath as everything started to like really build up about you not being able to fight, how did you handle it? What were those days, weeks after that event where you not being able to fight, how did you handle it?

What were those days, weeks after that event where you were so close to fighting Islam, so close to realizing your dream, fighting for the belt, and it all kind of blew up? How did you handle it? What was life like for you? I mean, the first week was hard and then I understood, I just got to keep going. I'm young and my family always support me. As you know, I don't need money to survive and just do what I like to do. I enjoy every day. Yeah, it was hard recovery from my back.

The worst thing that people think like I pulled out because of my weight cut, I couldn't make the weight. And that's the worst thing that people think like I pull out without reason. I mean reason the weight cut, but I have never ever issue with the weight cut. Even if you know you're fighting for the title fight you know. Yeah, Dana said that in an interview but I think he just misspoke and everyone jumped on it like wait a second, he didn't make weight.

That was not the case right? Yeah he just forgot about it. I mean he got a lot of fighters that's why he forgot maybe that it was issue with my back, not my back pain. It felt, at least to me, correct me if I'm wrong, like they kind of put you in a bit of a timeout, like he was mad about it. It always kind of seems when he's asked about you that he's mad that you didn't fight.

Did you feel the same way? Do you feel the same way? No, they were not mad. They just called me in one month or two months and offered me a fight for the Ghechi for short notice. The one in March? Yeah, and then they offered me many wins in Abu Dhabi and then they offered me a backup. So if they were mad, they wouldn't give me fights, you know? So let's start with the Geci one. Why didn't you take that one?

Because it was nine days or eight days before. And I was 186 or 187 and I said, yeah, I'll fight. I'll save the fight, but I need the catch weight. And Geci didn't want to fight me he picked the physique. Okay and then the the Abu Dhabi one was that Gamrot? Was Gamrot yeah. And and what happened there? I mean we are from one gym you know and we train the same mats and that's why I said is can you give me someone different because I Don't need that drama again, you know when so difficult to have your training camp

Sure, and you're fighting with the guy from the same gym and so and then the next thing was to be the backup fighter Yep, and were you okay with that? Did you did you like that idea? Yeah Yeah Was it was good idea and why not? Because you never know. Maybe Oliver always have a, he has always a problem with the weight. He makes weight so hard and he's getting old.

Maybe someone can happen and I'll just be ready and jump into the fight you know. When you agree to that did they tell you if you do this if you make weight you'll be next? No they didn't say that but I mean I know I'm an X you know who, who is going to fight for the title, not me. Okay. But they never said that to you. They never made that promise. Yeah, they didn't say like after that, if you're going to make the weight or something, you're going to fight for the title.

Were you surprised? So there you were, you watched the main event on Saturday. Were you surprised it went like that? I was surprised that it was in the first round. I thought it was going to be in the third round or the end of the fight, not in the first round. Okay, so he finishes him in the first round and then of course we have the moment with Patti and you say, who else but me?

But usually when they bring in the guy it suggests that that's who they're leaning towards right that's who they're trying to build towards for the next fight so do you think are you are you worried do you think there's a chance that they might go with Patty as opposed to you next I mean Donna said he's not next and he shouldn't be there okay. He said it was a mistake to bring him in. Yeah. But so because it exploded into something like such a big thing. Do you think there's a chance they might go in that direction?

I mean, Perry, he's a good fighter, but he doesn't deserve to fight for the title. You know, he, he cannot jump ahead of me and fight for the title. So do you think it should be you versus Ilja, Patti versus Gheci? Yes. Gheci said that if he doesn't get a title shot, he's gonna retire. I mean, he can do whatever he wants to do,

so I don't care about Gheci, Patti. I just need to fight for the title. Yes, there it is. You wrote, by the way, I have to say. Yeah, if you say like, fight for the title. Yes, there it is. You wrote, by the way, I have to say, Yeah, if, if, if the, if you see, say like a fight with Gage, I'll, I'll take the fight and as soon as possible and then fight with Elio. Okay. You'd be open to that.

Yeah. What about Patty? Easy money. Which one? Gage or Patty? Both of them. But what do you think happens? How do you think this actually plays out? You think your next fight is against who? I think I'm gonna fight for the title next fight. Paddy versus Gagey. So I'll become a champion and then fight with probably Patti. Ilya you say that he's afraid of you and that he's relatively easy.

You're not impressed with what he's doing? No I'm not impressed. Maybe if I was in his situation I would pick easy fights too. You think he's picked easy fights? Volkanovski, Holloway? No, no, no. If you're going to see me or Patty, it's easier to fight Patty. Sure. That's why I was asking, do you think there's a chance that he'll say, no, give me Patty, we have a history, and then they go with him next as opposed to you?

I mean, nobody, no one gives a fuck what he say. He says, you got to fight, he's gonna fight. This is just trash talks, just Twitter shit. But this is just for the media. UFC do whatever they wanna do and they don't care who you gonna fight. They just call you and tell you. You have to say though, Ilya, when he says like,

I'm gonna stop this guy in the first round knock him out like all the things that he says and then he backs it up it's pretty impressive no? Yep. Give him props? I mean he's a legit fighter he's a 145 155 champion and he knew like he can knock out Olivera. What about the size difference? Were you surprised? It looked to me like Charles was much bigger than him. Much bigger, but Charles cut so much weight and he's dehydrated before like two or three days, you know, it's a, it's so, it's so bad for the brain. Yeah. That's why he, he, he like, he's so weak in the first two rounds, you

know. Do you think that the Ilya fight happens this year? Yes, I hope so. When would you like it to happen? Realistically? I would like to fight in October 25 in Abu Dhabi. Okay. Or maybe New York city. New York city is good too, but like for my people, Russian, Armenian, Georgian, you know, they can come and watch and enjoy that fight because Armenian Georgia is so close to Abu Dhabi. It's like three hours flight, no visa.

And then, you know, it's going to be history fight to both guys. But I was born in the same country in Georgia and fighting for the, for the UFC belt. So, you know, it's interesting. You were born in Georgia, right? I was born in Georgia and, uh, my old, my, all my relatives lived there until nowadays. We have a house there, we go like two or three times a year there.

And how old were you when you moved? I was three years old. And then you moved to Armenia? Yeah, but no, I moved to Russia. I grew up in Russia, but I'm Armenian. Okay, so you never actually lived in Armenia? Never lived in Armenia. Okay. I lived in Georgia and Russia.

You know, it's interesting. Ilya was born in Germany. Oh, wow. I didn't know that. Yeah, but then he moved. Then he moved to Georgia and then now Spain. Who do you think the Georgians would root for? You or him?

I mean, mostly of course for him. But you were born there. I know a lot of people who doesn't like him. Why not? Uh, I mean, the Georgian people, they're, they, they have a different culture. They don't like when you talk a lot, when you behave a flashy, you know, and, uh, that's why, like old people, uh, hate like these guys. Okay. Um, by the way, they but they they they like more like a mirabed and

uh... in georgia okay uh... why because it's my personal opinion i have no idea but i just uh... i'm just saying my opinion uh... can i ask who runs your your twitter account me that's you with the fan Can I ask, who runs your Twitter account? Me, my friends. Your responses are very funny sometimes. I mean, so my English is not the best, right?

I just write my Russian and my friend like translate it the best way and just put it down. I saw the back and forth between you and Dan Hooker. Why did Dan, as they say, catch us stray? Why did you write this about Dan out of nowhere? I mean, just don't forget about Dan Hooker. Nobody cares about him. People talk about me, Paddy, Gagey, but nobody talks about Dan Hooker. So I just put a day attention on him He got a payment money. Did you see his reply?

Yes, what do you think I Mean that's a bullshit. Everybody wants to talk to me. I like I Got like offered like maybe 35 interviews in this week, but I appreciate it. He's saying nobody cares about the number one contender. Everybody cares about number one contender and everybody knows I'm the most deserve with fire fighter. I just got hurt.

And you just because of that, you want to put me on the back. That's not fair. I've been beating everybody in my division and became a number one. Just can't wait to become a champion and then start talking shit. Can I ask you, speaking of talking shit, everyone always brings up like, oh, your family, money, this and that. Can we clear this up? And technically, why is that even shit talking?

Like if your family was well off, why is that a bad thing necessarily? But where did this all come from? I feel like only in like the last year do people talk about this with you. About the money? That you're, oh, that your dad is rich, that you're rich, like this is what they say about you,

which I don't really think is shit talking. Like that means you're successful. Congratulations, that's a good thing. But where did this all come from? And is it true? People are jealous, you know? What would it? That I have money.

Is that true? That I have money? Yeah. I mean, I don't have too much money, but I can live, I can do whatever I want in this life. I can buy whatever I want, but I cannot buy private jet. I cannot buy private yacht. Yet. Yet. Yet private yacht. Yet. Yet.

Yet. Yeah, sorry. What did your dad do for a living? He's in the construction business. Okay, in Russia? Yep. Did you ever work with him? Yeah, I used to work three months with him

and I said, no way I can be here anymore. Yeah, I used to work three months with him and I said, no way I can be here anymore. I want to be in the sport. I mean, that's a always eat clean, go to bed at the right time. But in the business, I was there for three months and I had not a good schedule. We just went back to home at 2 a.m. and know woke up 6 a.m. and in the sport better better to be in the sport so then in the big business by the way I see you're so big time now you get haircuts and you're surrounded by security yeah yeah why is that I mean no no that's that security was Jack Spar security and they came and say hi, hi to me.

And I said, bro, let's make a video that you're like, uh, protecting me from my barber. That's Jake Paul security. Yep. You were at his gym. Uh, he came to this, uh, Jackson Jackson gym and so where I train. Yeah. So, and, uh, the, the, his security was there, was there. It's where I train. Yeah, so and The his security was there was there. Okay. Okay, so it wasn't your own

Yeah, I saw you I think were you in somewhere in Russia you were having like very expensive caviar No, it's not expensive in Russia. Well, how much is it? This is a lot in here. No, look at this No, I I ate two times more than here. I got the second second video as well. Oh so and I paid like $250 for that whole that whole thing yeah, I mean two of them and I got the two more friends they were eating too and Yeah, I paid two to I paid 270. That's nothing. Yeah I thought it's gonna be around 2,000 but maybe they did this coin to me I don't know. For you yeah you know by the way ever since you were wearing the Dave's Hot Chicken gear now

I see it on the cage all the time. Did you get that for them for the UFC? Say again please. You know you wear the Dave's Hot Chicken hat and the jacket? Now I see it as a sponsor on the mat. Yeah, there you see sponsor, not anymore mine. I had a short period of time, but hopefully I'm gonna get it new contract soon. Okay. I just thought maybe you introduce the UFC to them. You should get a cut of the sponsorship

Yeah, maybe maybe we'll see I'm happy though. Yes, but I like Every time with them when I post with the food like people is going crazy. Why I don't know like they think like I I I eat all junk food. I tried two times in my life, there is hot chicken. That's it. Yeah. But you did like it.

Yeah, I like it. But I like more like Armenian and Georgian food or Russian food. Of course, of course Okay, so so we're hoping to get a fight. We're hoping to fight for the belt What is the message to Ilya because Ilya doesn't seem so keen on fighting you just yet. What's the message? I? Just want to say you know who is who's the number one contender and, uh, you know, exactly who you're going to fight. It's me.

Don't try to play with anybody. And, uh, so I'll see you soon. You don't really think he's afraid of you, right? No, I mean, he's not afraid of me. He's a fighter house. He can be afraid. He just wants to play around, talk shit, you know. And Patti's out there too. I mean he's such a big star, Patti. So I wonder how it's all going to play out.

So, Patti... Okay, we'll see. There's some big fights out there though, like lightweight all of a sudden is very interesting. Livenet always was interesting. And we'll see if Islam is going to get the second title and calms down and it's going to be more interesting. Do you think that he'll beat Jack Della? I hope so. Why? It's a tough fight. It's a tough fight. Madalena, he's a tough dude, good boxing, good defense.

But I believe Islam has a good wrestling and he could take him down, help him, submit him, ground him down, you know. What do you think would have happened if Ilya fought Islam this weekend? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I him, grand and pound, you know. What do you think would have happened if Ilya fought Islam this weekend? Uh, Islam Akhachev. He would have beaten him? By TKO. Oh wow.

Really? I mean, that's a different level of fighters. You think so? Wow. You can't compare Ilya versus Islam. Really? I have, I have Ilia number one pound for pound now. Uh, yes, because, uh, Islam, Islam, not a champion anymore right now,

but when he gets the second title, he's going to be in pound for pound. Number one. So you think he beats Jack. He beats Jack. Yeah. Became a powerful for pound number one. I'll be pound for pound number two champion lightweight division and then Islam became a pound for pound number one. Wow, I love it. You have it all mapped out.

Dream big! Yes! You want to go to 170? Is that a dream? Hell no! Why not? It's easier to make way. I would go 145 than 170. Really? Yeah. Okay, so that would put to rest any notion that you can't make weight if you're going 145. I mean, bro, like, Dana just says once that shit and I always make the weight. Always. By the way, how's your back? It's okay now? Very good.

No problem? Yeah, no problem. Even when I was cutting weight, I brought the doctors, you know, who's going to check my back and it was so good and no issue anymore. And no videos with Nina? Not this time, but hopefully next time I will do the video and I'm gonna try to flip and do some crazy shit. Alright. Armin, you're the man. Thank you very much. Appreciate you and we look forward to seeing you maybe in October. You gotta fight this year. I mean no fights this year is crazy. I know you had the grappling match. No, no October. You got to fight this year. I mean, no fights this year is crazy. I know you had the grappling match. No, no, no, I got to fight this year.

Enough already. This is crazy. Yeah. No more grappling. Thank you so much. You're the man. Appreciate it, Armen. Thank you so much.

Hopefully I'll talk to you after my next fight. Well, what about before the fight? Can we talk when you have it booked? If it's title fight, yes. Oh God, alright. Okay, thank you Armin. All the best. Thank you, bye bye.

There he is, Armin Tsirukyan joining us from Thailand. What a guy. Let's see how this all plays out for him. He thinks he's getting it. I wonder. Interesting times at 155 pounds. Very interesting times. And I'm curious to see where the UFC goes. Let's go to our next guest who had a massive win on Saturday.

He was there at UFC 317 in Las Vegas. A tremendous, devastating, vicious knockout win over a very talented veteran in Jack Cormanson. They call him Robocop. He's the one and only Gregory Rodriguez. He's kind enough to join us right now. Hello, my friend, how are you? Hey, what's up, man? I'm great, bro. Good to be here. It's nice to talk to you.

Thank you for the shout out. By the way, has anyone ever told you that you sound exactly like Vitor Belfort? Well, like what? Like my English or? The way you speak. When I hear you speak all the time, I close my eyes. I think it's Vitor That's good, man. This is my good friend. He's your he's your guy your friends with him

Yeah, we are friends. Yeah, we working together 2016 I help him in one office his camp for His fighting in England the thing., yeah, at the time. And then we get very close. And he lives close here. I live in Boca. He lives in Parkland. Yeah, we are pretty close.

Well, what about that win on Saturday? Unbelievable knockout, a scary, shocking knockout, but very impressive on your part. You had several wins in the UFC now, but of all the wins, would you say this is the top one? This is number one? Oh, man. No, that's a very good one. I think all my fights and all my battles is special.

I think I can see in my career, you know, I'm stepping up in every step. So, but this one was very impressive for me. Like, Jack has a big name in the UFC, you know, he's a veteran. He fought like for so long and good fighters. So yes, for sure sure that's a big one and I take this as special for me. What were you feeling going into the fight? Because obviously the last one against Jared Cannonier

didn't go your way. What was the mindset, what was the confidence like going into this one as you were trying to get back on track? Oh man, like my last fight, man, Jared, he teach me a lot of stuff. You know, I was, I was thinking about, about like a man, like how, how this guy, you know, beat me and, and because I was so prepared for that fight, but I saw like, like how he get a patient and go, you know, like, his resilience, all the kind of stuff. And I told them for my life,

I don't need to rush, man. That's not a sprint. That's like a marathon. So, and I always started like apply this in my life, especially, you know, my and on my mindset, you know, to get ready for the next challenge. And I think that I couldn't show that a little bit on that fight against Jack. So yes, man, like I don't, when I look back in for, for a lot of things, again, I learned from that fight for my loss. I can't call this a loss, you know, compared with so many things I went and I, I grew up and got more maturity. So yeah, that's, that was amazing. And I, I tried to take, to take it all the And I tried to take it,

all the lessons I need to take in all my battles and all my fights, even win or lose. So I'm trying to look at it and making me better, make me a better man, a better fighter, and keep pushing forward, keep going on my career. I don't know if you know this, but since 2021, you have the most knockouts in the middleweight division. Did you know that you have six knockouts

and that's the most right now in the 185 pound division? That's a pretty cool stat. Yeah, yeah, I knew it, man. That's so cool, man. But you know, I, I don't, I'm not, I'm never looking for the knockouts, man. I come from Jiu-Jitsu. I know that's the crazy thing.

I did Jiu-Jitsu all my life, but, but I always, I always had a passion for boxing. My father watching a lot of boxing and I started training very young, but I never competed in a boxing match. But yeah, that's one thing that I, I always was in love with boxing and, uh, but like my fights, man, I'm, I'm not looking for the finishes. I'm not looking for the knockouts and everything, but that just happened. You know, anything I'm glad for it. You said you competed in one boxing match?

No, no, no, I never, I know I try it one time but that didn't happen Okay. Well, the boxing is great. And like I said a tremendous knockout and and and I and I I Characterized it as somewhat scary because of the way he fell and the way he was out But that's no knock on you you fight till the end. I'm you've seen the replays you've seen the fights since then do you agree with the assessment that Herb Dean was a little bit late to stop the the action that perhaps there was some unnecessary punishment dished out again no knock on you you you go until they stop you but I just felt he was a little bit slow what do you think no I knew and everybody was was talking about that. But

man, I think the people never gonna understand what happened inside the, the octagon inside the fight. If instead of he'd never fight, you know, the people never fight, they never gonna understand even a street fight. So, but especially in that, that's a sport, you know, it's MMA. And that is like, I can, it's less than a second, man, for your thinking, you know, in the next motion. And when I touch anything, like I said, man, I'm not always looking for the knockout. And when I touch him, he's in, and I feel his body fall. And then I just, you know, continue my motion, my, and then I hit in one more time. But Herbert Dean, like I said, man, like you said, like Herbert Dean, he

couldn't, he did his job, I think, man, he was there and he take me away. And the people started thinking like, the people always going to complain about something, man. They're gonna always judge you. If you win, if you lose, they have something to say. And I don't care about that, man. I do my work and you know that, man. Like when you stepping inside the octagon, you sign a contract and then you willingly for anything, instead if you die there die it's your responsibility. So but it's not it's nothing personal against Jack man I just did my work man I just did my job and

you know like I text him I send a message to him on Instagram thank him for this amazing you know and thank him for this amazing fight we had, for the opportunity, he signed the contract to fight me. And man, I wish all the best for him. And the people, one of the comments, the people start talking and say, hey, you don't even gonna say sorry, man. I can't say sorry, I don't have a problem with that. But man, like I said, man, I'm just gonna

do my work. And it is what it is. Like, you know, that was my night that probably, you know, if in the in the other side, if you do the same, and I will be the first guy to clap and say, man, congrats, bro, he was the best. But I think he's okay. And he's okay with that. I think just the people start talking, the people talking too much. And if you keep on like, see and listen, you're gonna be crazy. But I don't care. I love the fact that you reached out to him. Did he respond to you? No, he didn't. I don't know if he see it or if he has so many messages on his Instagram, but I reach out to him, I send a message. Man, I have a lot of respect for all the opponents I face and even lose or win.

Man, I like to text and say something and say thank you for the fight. I always am gonna do it and it's not gonna be different. And so, you know, it's funny that you felt, I guess some people were telling you that you need to apologize. Like I said, you did absolutely nothing wrong. And actually I spoke to his manager after the fight

and I asked him how he felt about the fight and how he felt about the stoppage. And he told me that he spoke to Jack and Jack said to him like, no hard feelings. If I were were him I would have done the same thing that's just that's just the sport. Yeah I like it. You know what I mean? I didn't know that. Yes yes that's what he told me so just so you know there there doesn't appear to be any hard feelings from his team and from Jack in particular towards you. That's cool man I didn't know about that. Yeah. Yeah man he's a very nice guy, you know

and for the off the fight week he when we saw each other a lot of respect between us so Like he said man. He's a warrior, you know, you know that then the We we man we we do what we need to do. So Yes, man, like I he put he posted that he his Instagram. He said, No, that was my fault. I like it. You know, I learned from that too. And yeah, it is what it is. And I'm here, man. By the way, I know you've been asked this before, but I've never had the opportunity. Why do they call you RoboCop? Oh, that's a, this was a long time, man. When I, like I said, I'm, I'm come from Jiu-Jitsu

and when I started training MMA, I was, I'm from Manaus and then I moved to Rio Janeiro to start it. Ronaldo Souza Jacare was one of my teammates when I was leaving Manaus. We came from the same Jiu-Jitsu academy. And he invited me to go to Rio de Janeiro to train with them. Uh, he was in a ex gym at the time. And then our, one of our coach, uh, Josue Aldistar, he, he didn't know my name and it was my first day at the gym. And in Brazil is very common. You call someone if you don't, you don't know the name.

Of course, with a lot of respect, you call someone for some nicknames. And I was just a tough guy, didn't move too much. And my boxing was that good at the time. And he called me RoboCopy. He didn't know my name. And my first fights in the U.N uh, on the TV, you know, the commentaries, they started calling me, uh, Greg, Robocop and, and, and, and I got the nickname. So, but now I like it, you know, I think it, that's, that's very, it's matched with my, my style.

Did you ever watch the movie Robocop? Oh yeah, I like it. I love it. All of it. Did you watch it after they started calling you that or were you a fan before? You watched the movie RoboCop? Oh yeah, I like it. I love it. All of it. Did you watch it after they started calling you that or were you a fan before? No, I watched it before, but, and then I think,

I don't know when the new one was. Oh yeah, a few years ago they had a new one. A few years ago, right? Yeah. And then I watched it. Yeah, I like it. The story sounds good because I'm a Christian. So and then one of the things we believe in, man, for you get a new life, you need, you

have to die first. That's why the, the baptism. So, and then, uh, if you see the story about Murphy, the Robocop, he, uh, he get a, tinted, like a bomb exploded or something like that. And he died. He died. And then they got his brain, his mind and put in a machine. But for the RoboCop, the one man was willing to die first, and then RoboCops came. So that's more sense for me, and I like the RoboCops nickname. Can you explain something to me? Because I heard you talking about this in the Post Fight press conference.

Did you used to put up pictures of your opponent in your house? This time you didn't do it, you said, but was that a thing that you used to do before you would fight someone? Yeah, but yeah, I like it. Sometimes I like it to see it because I get more familiar with the facing, you know, the opponent

I'm going to face him. And just for not going there, you step in the cage and you see different people, you never trained and you guys going to fight. So yeah, sometimes I put a picture of my opponents, but for this, for if I won won, I'm gonna do it. But for this one, I didn't wanna put it on and I didn't make it. So sometimes I do it. Okay.

And is there a reason why now you didn't do it for this one you didn't do it or is it something you don't wanna do anymore? I've never really heard of anyone do that before. No, I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna do it anymore. Maybe in my phone probably. Yeah, yeah. My phone, you know, but yeah, for this one, especially for this one,

I didn't have like the feeling I'm going to put it on. And I didn't. I was more relaxing. And man, I want to just enjoy, you know, this journey. Like I I talk with my friends. They asked me about about fight about Korea and said, man, enjoy, you know, this journey. Like I, I talked with my friends. They are asking me about, about fight, about Korea and said, man, we need to enjoy this journey because that's a big opportunity for us. So that's just one ride, man. You can go back.

So sometimes we keep in a lot of pressure on us. If you think about fire, about, you know, like, it's just like for, you keep like two months or some or more training, give your best and everything for like 15 or 25 minutes and then you keep depression, you pressure on you. Sometimes it's for nothing, man. And for now, I just want to enjoy this journey. I want to be happy, enjoy every part of the process. That's what I do, man.

I'm not. Like I said, my opponent doesn't have even a face. I will face anyone, anybody they can offer me, keeping training. I'm always like that. And I think a life like that is much easier. You have a very nice soul and I appreciate your heart very much. I saw a video recently, I think you were with Alessandro de Pantoja, you went to visit some kids at a hospital together with other fighters. Much respect to you for doing this. Can you tell me about this organization? What do they all come?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's a charity we, sometimes the UFC invited us to do may not love it. And always they ask, you and you know to they invited me for that because I think that like like I said man they're putting you in the right place sometimes eyes are fighting especially inside the big stage UFC cameras everything winds big knockouts everything, wins, big knockouts. Sometimes you think about yourself, you think about you like a kind of people, like human, better than everybody, but you're not, man. I'm just a man, a regular man, like everybody.

And when I'm going places like that, man, that's showing me like I'm very blessed, you know? I can't complain about nothing, man. And I can't think about myself more than something I'm not. So you see like the parents, the kids, and they still smile, you know, like bring some hope for you. And that I like it, man.

I like it to be myself in that position, man. I want to keep my heart humble because we know more than nobody, man. Sometimes the people come on and see us, you know, like they see me and say, oh, thank you for everything. Thank you for this and for that. And they say, man, what I did for you, you know, like they see me and say, oh, thank you for everything. Thank you for this and for that. And I said, man, what I did for you, you know, I'm just a fight. I'm going inside the doctor going and I fight another guy and I fight another man, you know. But if you see like these parents, they do like a hard work, save money to take care of the kids.

These guys, man, is an inspiration, you know, and I love to be around there. That place is in it because that put my feet on the ground. And that's why I'm much respect. Um, when do you want to return? Um, man, I'm no, I w i just spoke with my team and probably like september or october is gonna be a good time to get back but definitely i want to do more fight this year. I love me and i love being so dark to go now i'm very healthy i didn't get injured in the last fight in the last camp. So I'm really ready to go. Who's next? Who's next for Robocop? Who's on your mind?

Like I said, man, I don't have a name for now, but I think that fight that put me in a good position. But I think the matchmakers, Mick and Dana and Hunter, they do an amazing job and for sure they're going to offer me a good opportunity and I will take it. Pleasure to have you on, Gregory. Really nice to speak to you. Congratulations, Parabéns on the big win, on the big knockout, the performance bonus and all your success as of late. And we look forward to your next one.

Thank you so much. My pleasure, my man. Thank you for the invite and always, man, I'll be here. It's very good to talk with you and thank you one more time. I appreciate your time, brother. Thank you. Thank you. All the best to you. There he is, Gregory Rodriguez, RoboCop, who's on quite a run as of late. Like I said, six knockouts since 2021. That's the most in the middleweight division. He has the most KO wins of any active UFC middleweight right now. That's six. Whitaker, Adesanya, Kananier and others have five. Obviously has been in the UFC for a minute now. Ten career wins via

KO, four via sub, three via decision, which is supremely interesting considering his extensive jujitsu background. He has won four of his last five and he's also a former LFA middleweight champion. A huge win for him. Glad to hear that Jack Hermansen is okay. No hard feelings. Still maintain Herb a little slow on that one but they are moving on and there's no bad blood and those are two of the nicest guys in the business. Truly.

We joke about others like they are legit two of the nicest guys. So nice to see and glad to hear most importantly that Jack is okay. All right, let's move along. I said at the top of the show that Bo Nicol has some news. He's got some breaking news for us. So without further ado, let us say hello to another member of the UFC's middleweight division. The pride of Penn State, the one and only Bo Nicol, who looks nothing like the last time we spoke to him.

What happened to you? Did you get a job at Best Buy or something? What's going on here? Yeah, you know, you lose a fight in the UFC and you gotta go get a job, you know. What's going on? You wear glasses now? I've actually always worn glasses.

I've had worn glasses since I was in high school, but yeah, I decided to break them out for the show. Yeah, the beard's a little longer. There's just the hair is different. It's a whole new... I don't recognize you. I had to change the vibe after the last one, so... Speaking of which, by the way,

you came on the show, I think it was the Tuesday after the fight, and you know, you were very respectful, you said all these things, you took it like a champ, I was really impressed with how you handled it in the face of all the noise. And then I tune into the Nickels and Dimes podcast, and I hear you saying, suck this, F you, I'm gonna spit in your face. I'm like, what?

What changed here? It's a completely different tone That was it was taken out of context, you know for those who you know a lot of people saw that clip and got upset about it, but what I was saying was There that was an option for how I could respond. Oh and they cut you up. They cut you up a little bit Yeah, yeah, so. So it was unfortunate. Cause it sounded nothing like the guy that was on the show here. Yeah, pretty much I was speaking hypothetically,

like that's how I could come out, but I mean, it got cut up incorrectly. That's not cool. Were you upset about that? A little bit, because I had people texting me and stuff, like, is this real? Is this AI? What is this? And I was like, yeah, yeah I mean I did say that I guess but it was the context

for the you know minutes leading up and the you know after it was not there so it was it was a little bit my fault but it was not that's not yeah before we get your news in a moment can I just ask what has life been like for you the last two months? It's been great, you know, just training, getting after it, working hard, um, been in the Penn State wrestling room quite a bit and, uh, been lifting quite a bit. So getting my weight up and as well as, you know, just, just putting the work in, doing what I love. Okay. And just like, how are you doing? I'm doing well. Thanks for asking. I've been in the gym as well. I don't know if you notice. Yeah, you're looking good. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it. Um've been in the gym as well. I don't know if you notice. Yeah, you're looking good.

Yeah, thanks, I appreciate it. Getting my weight up as well. By the way, that's interesting that you say that because in the aftermath, everyone was like, hey, why don't you consider moving down to 170? Getting your weight up would suggest that's not part of the plan. No, I mean, 170 has never been really in reach for me.

Last time I weighed that was probably when I was like 18 years old. So, you know, not really, it's not really in the cards. I mean, if it were, that would be something I would consider. But, you know, I'm probably right now 210 ish. So, yeah, not really in the cards. But I did think I could gain a little size for 85 because a lot of those guys are big, as we've seen. But I think I fought the two biggest guys in the division a lot of those guys are big as we've seen.

But I think I fought the two biggest guys in the division, two of the biggest guys in the division, my last two fights. So, yeah. As the dust settled on the post-fight hysteria after Iowa and you just kind of had to sit and marinate on what transpired, did it sit with you well? Because, you know, cause there's like almost like stages of, you know, acceptance afterwards. How were you like a week or two later? Yeah. Yeah. You got to go through the 10 stages. Yeah. That program that how that's how it's something like that. You know, I feel, I feel the same, you know, I think, uh, for me,

it's very motivational and everything that I said, uh, after the fight with in our conversation and in other conversations remains true. But yeah, I'm just excited to continue to develop and improve and compete more than anything because that's what I love and that's part of the reason that you know wanted to want to talk to you. Well, yes, and and lastly before we get to that one thing that I did see was you saying you have the the memory of an elephant you've taken memory of an elephant, you've taken notice of everyone who has talked shit, who has written you off, and I believe

your friends have as well, your co-hosts have as well, and so you're keeping all the receipts. I just want the record to show that we here have not jumped off the bandwagon, okay? So we don't want any of that smoke. I just want you to know that. Oh, not at all. You've been my guy for a long time Okay, I always appreciate you. But yeah, I mean those the people that it's interesting who wants who decides To kick you and you're down and then you know who shows grace and I think that at the end of the day It'll all work out it all comes full circle. And so, you know for me, I think that whenever Maybe somebody that I don't like or somebody that I have a problem with, you know, takes a downturn, it's a lesson to, you know, not treat them poorly because of that.

And so I think that, yeah, overall, I mean, what goes around comes around. So I'm excited for the revenge tour. Yes. Okay. And speaking of which, I do believe you have some breaking news, Frank, we have some, yeah, there it is. That's the breaking news music. What do you got for us, Paul? That's great. So actually the news is I'm going to be pursuing something new, pursuing something different that's maybe a little bit foreign

to all the MMA fans that listen to this show. But there's this lesser known sport called wrestling. It's a really great base for professional MMA. And I'm going to, you know, throw my hat in the ring and be doing some professional wrestling matches with the real American freestyle promotion coming up. So August 30th, I'll be competing in Cleveland, Ohio and putting the singleton shoes on and seeing how it goes. So I'm excited. Okay, so this is really interesting, very exciting. Congratulations.

This is the promotion headed up by Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Israel Martinez, Chad Bronstein. They announced it a few months ago. And I'll be honest with you, when Chad hit me up about you being involved, I was like, oh, like in like maybe like a commentary position or analyst something. No, no, no. Bo's competing. And I was like, wait a second, how did you pull this off? Like how did the UFC allow this?

And so how did you pull this off? And are you surprised the UFC is allowing this? Well, at the end of the day, my contract with the UFC, I'm going to be fighting MMA with them and I think at the same time, there's room for me to compete in wrestling. You see a lot of guys do jujitsu matches or whatever it is. I just have the fire in me to compete as much as I can. Realistically with fighting, I've been getting two fights a year and I think that's probably going to be continuing.

That's going to be the trend, which is fine with me, but I'm 29 years old in my prime and I'm just fired up to compete. So you know, the thing about a wrestling match is it's just so much different from a fight in the, in the preparation. I could step onto the mat, you know, right now with no warmup and you with the best guys in the world. So, um, I think that with, with MMA, with MMA, you know, it's a little different. You want to prepare and, and, but as far as the competitive fire in me, it's,

it's just as strong as it's ever been. So I'm looking to get a few wrestling matches in between the fights. And I think it'll just keep me sharp and keep me motivated and hungry. I love this for you and for the promotion because the MMA fans who have gone to know you will no doubt watch, but obviously your, your massive wrestling fan base will be interested as well. Did they reach out to you? Did you reach out to them? How did this all come about? Well a lot of my friends and teammates are the best wrestlers in the world training at Penn State and then at New Line Wrestling Club so those

guys have signed with RAF and it was kind of a thing where you know I was thinking about it for a little bit and I was like I want to get in there so I reached out and said you know, I just wanted to kind of get a feel for what they were doing and Initially, I was saying like whatever you guys want. I can do commentary I can be an analyst or I mean I'm down to compete too if that's what you want and they obviously wanted me to compete so I think that for me, the partnership with RAF is super exciting. And it's something that I think the sport of wrestling has needed for a long time. You know, you need people that are really promoting it and really matching up the

best of the best guys and creating, you know, big events that are going to get people excited and the athletes excited. So for me, this is like a dream come true. And yeah, overall I'm fired up. And so, it's funny, you use the word professional wrestling when people think of professional wrestling, they think of WWE. This is kind of the first time I think,

correct me if I'm wrong, I remember there was a promotion called Real Pro Wrestling back in the early 2000s. DC was involved, King Mo and others others this feels like the first time since then that someone here in the United States has tried to To make I don't want to call it a an am we need to think of a better word because it's not amateur It's technically not pro because pro is considered, you know WWE AEW. It's not collegiate. It's not Olympic. What is it? Well, like what do we call this just wrestling, you know, you, AEW, it's not collegiate, it's not Olympic. What is it? What do we call this? Just wrestling? You know what I mean? It's a conundrum.

But would you agree this is the first time since then that someone's really given this a push here in America to try to make a league for wrestlers who maybe don't want to go to MMA, don't want to go to the WWE and want to continue on the path of being a freestyle wrestler? Yeah, absolutely. It's the first one in a long time. And I would just say that this is real American freestyle. This is, you know, what, uh, this is going to be the, the premier spot for the top wrestlers in the world to compete outside of, you know, the world championships and the Olympic games. And I think it's going to be exciting. It's going to be fun. Um, you know,

working with Hulk and Eric Bischoff, who obviously have a ton of experience in the promotional aspect of pro wrestling and who, you and who have been able to build massive brands and massive companies. This is what wrestling needs because for me, as a fan of the sport and an athlete, I just I can't get enough of it. I'm watching all the events and I want more. And so this, I think, is going to give a mainstream audience the opportunity to see what wrestling is all about. And it's exciting, it's action packed, it's real, it's fun. And I think that you just need a promotional arm

and you need someone who understands the business aspect to be able to push it. And so, I think this is the first, you mentioned the real pro wrestling that they did in the early 2000ss which I watched as a kid and I thought it was great but this is like a whole nother level and a whole nother upgrade from that so I'm really excited for the future and I think this is just gonna show people how awesome the sport is. If this was an established thing like

let's say it was a 10 or 20 year old promotion by the time you left Penn State and were deciding what you would do next, do you think you would have gone down this path as opposed to MMA? No, I think I still would have fought. I love fighting, it's so fun for me. I love learning everything, the ins and outs of all the different disciplines.

Wrestling is obviously close to my heart because I've been doing it since I was a kid. And I love a lot of different aspects of the sport and I love the culture and all my friends and you know mentors are coming from the sport so it's something that's just super close to me but fighting just feels like it's just something that I just love as well but I think again there's room for both like I get to you know compete in fights in the UFC and I'm gonna be able to wrestle matches in between those.

And just, that's really the motivation for me is I just still feel hungry and on fire to compete. And I'm not a guy that likes to train for six months or a year to get ready for something. Like I need something in front of me that is motivating me and pushing me. And I do love training, but I always get more fired up for the actual competition. So I think this is gonna be good for me and pushing me. And I do love training, but I always get more fired up

for the actual competition. So I think this is gonna be good for me on both ends. It's just gonna keep me sharp. What weight will you be competing at? Whoever wants it can come get it. Do you have a preference? No, not really. Is it, there are weight classes,

like they'll be weigh-ins, right? Yeah, there's weigh-ins The weight class that's closest to me right now is 205 and I'm not really planning on cutting weight For for the wrestling competition, so, you know 205 is fine or I'll go there's I think unlimited weight above that too. So Wherever wherever whoever it's really whoever wants to get it can get it. Do you have your first opponent? I Do but I don't know if we're I should I should talk to Chad. I don't know if we're announcing it Yes, so I'll wait on them. Okay And and so you'll be on the debut event. That's August 30th in Cleveland

Yes, sir. Yeah debut in August 30th, Cleveland. It's gonna be streamed. Well, I don't say that. Yeah, don't say that Yeah, I know they're coming out with that news Yes, that's coming out. coming out in a couple of weeks. So are you going to be the main event? I don't know. We'll see. There's still a lot of matches to be announced. Maybe there's going to be some bigger matches than me even. For those that may not know, rounds or is it just like 10 minutes? What is the breakdown? How the matches go?

Yeah. So it'll be, it'll be two, three minute periods. It's Olympic rules. So the same rules that you see in international competition at the Olympics and world championships. So what's I think most exciting is you're going to get the best of the best guys domestically and internationally. So, you know, there's a lot of big plans in the works, but everybody's going to be able to compete. And I think, you know, you're just going to see as wrestling fans and as you know, the mainstream audience as well, the best guys going up against each other, which I think in sport in general, that doesn't happen too often. So it'll be exciting. What is the talk right now in the wrestling community about this? Because like I said,

and you said first time in a long time that this is a thing here in America. What's the buzz like right now? Oh, there's a ton of buzz. I mean, I've been that's part of the reason that I reached out to Izzy and Chad and just was like, wow, like what they're doing is really big time and everybody's excited about it. So, you know, it just gives, I think, really it's just pushing the sport forward and really making it exciting, fun, and giving the audience more opportunities to see the best guys wrestle, right? Like, you know, you see the NCAA season, it runs from November to March,

but outside of that, it's tough to get viewership on events, and it's hard, kind of a little confusing as far as like how to watch and what's going on when, and this is going to really streamline that. And they're going to do it big, right? Like the production and everything that I've seen is going to be top notch. So, you know, for me, that's exciting as well, because that's the type of environments I want to compete in.

Bowe versus David Taylor? He doesn't want that. He doesn't want it? I don't I doubt it. Why? I'm ready to go Why do you think he doesn't want it? Didn't he doesn't he have a win over you? He does yeah, he has to but I don't think he's training hard. Oh man, it focused on what he's focused on and he's doing a great job at Oklahoma State, but Yeah, I mean I'm down great job at Oklahoma State, but yeah, I mean, I'm down.

Can I ask like, if it was up to you, I know you have a match that sounds like lined up, but like who would be a dream match for you at this point? There's a lot, man. I mean, there's a lot of really, really tough guys that would be fun for me to wrestle. At this point, just looking to get it kicked off. I haven't wrestled a match in four years, so maybe I'm not good anymore and maybe I'm talking crazy, so we'll see.

Kyle Dake? I would, I mean, I get to wrestle him in practice and as well as Kyle Snyder and Aaron Brooks and a lot of different guys. So you know, I think that the NLWC and the Penn State guys, I don't necessarily know that I would compete against them as my teammates, but anybody else, I'll be more than happy to wrestle. Super match against Wyatt?

Shoot, let's go. Yeah, I'm just trying to create some buzz here. I'd have to get him tired, you know, I'd have to pull on his head, get him tired, out scramble him, I think I could do it. want to see Wyatt versus Gable to it at RAF. There's so many exciting matches Yeah, I mean why why and Gable could match up, you know, Kyle Snyder signed There's just you know, 92 kilo rep Trent Heidle who wrestled NC State, you know He's a guy Parker Keckheisen national champ for UNI

So these are all guys that I would wrestle and NC State, you know, he's a guy. Parker Kekheisen, national champ for UNI. So these are all guys that I would wrestle. And I think that, you know, throw in Dylan Palacio in there, I'll smack that guy up, but I'll, to make it fair, I'll blindfold myself or something like that. Oh, wow, wow. You went into Gordon Ryan's world. You competed against him in grappling.

What if he came over? Wouldn't that be fun? He comes over to wrestling? I thought about that yeah that was one of the one of the names that kind of intrigued me I think that you know I've trained with Gordon since and he's a good guy and I mean he he has done wrestling matches before so maybe he would do it and I mean I'm sure if the you know contracts right and he feels motivated that we can make it happen. Like I said, I'm ready to go with anyone.

This is the one to get now that John Jones is retired, if they can get him, could you imagine? He goes back to his roots. I love it. John Jones versus Bo Nicol. Well, I don't know about that. Actually that could work at two or five maybe. He's a little big.

I'll meet him at two thirty or something. Yeah, but you're friends. Of course, it's friendly. That's the thing about wrestling that's cool is, you know, it's not like you're punching each other in the face and you can just compete and I scrap with my buddies every day and it gets chippy and then you, you know,

you maybe talk a little crap here and there and then it's all good. You do it again the next day. Do you think if Chad and the team presented a super match against you, he would duck you like he ducked Tom Aspinall or? I don't know about duck. I think that was a good one.

I would say that he might politely bow out as the greatest of all time. I don't know, that's a better way to put it. How do you feel about that? It's interesting. I think that I understand both guys' perspective. I feel like Tom obviously wants to fight him. He wants to fight the best.

It's a massive, massive opportunity for him. And for Jones, it's kind of like, there's not much to gain. He's beaten the best guys for a decade plus. I don't even know how long it's been such a long time. And so he's really, I mean, the thing that gets me is that, you know, that dude is just a crazy competitor, right? Like, you know, up there, he's got to be up there with the, you know, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, guys that are just as competitive as it gets. So I'm sure it gets to him a little bit. Like he wants to prove people wrong,

but at the same time, like what else does he have to prove? So I guess, you know, I see both sides. Did you see these dudes from Iowa sending RDR, a gift package, a care pack, whatever it was after your fight? Absolutely. Yeah, you know, I think that if you can't beat me, that you, you know, cheer for the next guy who does so

It's all good and it's all love but they tuned in they watched and look at this. Look at this. This is sick right here That's crazy. Yeah. No, it's all good I've said a lot of stuff about them in the past so, you know, they get to get back at me a little bit, but they really don't have anybody for me to So they get to get back at me a little bit, but they really don't have anybody for me to compete against at this point. There's nobody. So maybe you throw DeSanto on Spencer Lee's shoulders and they could wrestle me at the same time or have a tag team, something like that.

I don't know. By the way, RDR is returning in a couple of weeks against Robert Whitaker. How do you think that goes? Man, I'm excited for that fight. I think that it's gonna be you know really interesting it's such a clash of styles you got a really really solid striker and a you know very fast guy in Whitaker you got a guy that's long and lanky strong better on the ground in RDR so I mean I feel like hopefully RDR wins

it'll look better for me yes Yes, that's a good point. That's a good way of looking at it. Do you know when you'll return yet? Yeah, I'm planning on returning in the fall. So, you know, anytime October, November, I'm ready to go. Any opponents being discussed yet? Not yet. They're not really scheduling out that far.

So, you know, I'm just kind of waiting on the UFC. At this point, it's like, I'm in a position where, you know, they throw a name and I'm signed the contract. So I'm ready to go. That's kind of how it's been for me from the beginning anyway. So the people that they're suggesting, I'm, I'm accepting. And so it's the same thing for me, uh, moving forward. Do you have a preference? No, not really. I mean, at this point, it's like, I don't really have the luxury of having a preference, right? You know, it's like like you, you know, you get on a roll, you're doing well, you start calling your shots. I think that's the timing of how that works. At this point, it's, you know, my first loss and I got to bounce back from it and meet that adversity head-on.

So really, whoever they give me is who I'll accept and ready to go. Is the chip on your shoulder gonna to be the size of Pennsylvania? Like is it is it going to be a different type of bow that we're going to see because of all this? You know, I feel like, yeah, I mean, I think that I do have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder and something to prove. But more than anything, it's just to myself. And it's weird because, you know, as I mentioned the last time we talked it's like I've gone through a lot of losses and I've experienced failure and experienced heartbreak from these type of things so now it's like it doesn't really hit me the same way it did when

I was a younger man and less mature so I feel like it's weird I take the lessons that I've been able to learn from this fight and the thing or this last fight and the things that you know, maybe I should have done differently and but I don't feel like this is really like a This is changing who I am changing me as a person like I'm still gonna get in the gym work hard Do my thing and it's just kind of like This is just gonna make the story even better when you get a bump in the road It just is is part of the story.

So I'm excited about it. I love that post there that how you laid it out that you just completed your freshman year. I don't think people recognize that you're built just a little bit different. And so while this may crush some others, you have been there before and then succeeded times three. If you want to count the the championship. So I think you'll be just fine. Last thing, you talked about the surface in which the UFC BJJ matches are competing in,

like this bowl type of structure, which we've also seen with the Craig Jones Invitational. Do you have any idea? I think that would be pretty awesome for RAF. Do you have any idea how or will it just be like traditional mats? It's gonna be just a traditional mat. So it's just regular competition service, but I love that bowl I think it's a great way to do things and I mean I even think like they should do MMA fights like that because it's so much easier to see and it's just more realistic

so, you know, that's a Like kind of I guess a structure that I think should be promoted more and I think with. So, you know, that's a, uh, like kind of, I guess, a structure that I think should be promoted more. And I think with RAF, you know, it's so early, who knows, right? Like I think there could be interesting stuff in the future that just the more creative you can get, you can make it fun for people. So, you know, at this point, as far as I understand it, it's just the, you know, freestyle rules and the freestyle mat. So the same as you would get at a world championship or Olympics but who knows what they'll do in the future. And are they gonna have champions and stuff like every weight class will have a champion with a belt are they gonna make it like an MMA or boxing promotion? I'm not sure I think that though you know that'd be great I think at this point that you know the

priority is matching up the best guys and getting the best matches to be lined up and people to accept that. And so I feel like moving forward, I'm sure they have a plan, but there's a lot of work to be done still. Yeah, and finally, so is this a one-off for you or is it a multi-fight deal? How does this break down? No, is it a multi-fight deal? How does this break down?

No, this is a multi-fight deal, so I'll be competing with them often and if the timing doesn't work out or if I can't get an opponent, then I'm gonna be doing commentary and promotion. And hopefully, in addition to being an athlete and commentator, what I really wanna do is help the other athletes and the other wrestlers understand the power of media and

marketing and really you know pushing their own brand forward and and and promoting themselves because wrestling I think a lot of wrestlers have a hard time with that because it's such a humble sport which I love that about it but I think that in today's day and age people they want to see what you're really like and they want to you know, understand you and get behind you and so, you know, my experience in MMA has really shown me that and showed me what that's like and being able to have a positive effect on people and so I think that I would hope that I could maybe impart some of that experience on other wrestlers and just push the sport forward.

Love this and I'd love to see more MMA fighters with a background in wrestling come over and try this out. Speaking of which, we already knew that Darian Caldwell was going to be on the card. We already knew that former PFL champion Lance Palmer was going to be on the debut card on August 30th. We knew about Kennedy Blades, the Olympic silver medalist, Aaron Brooks, you mentioned him as well. Now we can add the great Bo Nicol. So they're putting together an incredible lineup. Congratulations. Thanks for coming on and announcing this. Love the new look. Keep it up. And looking forward to seeing you back out there on August 30th. Thank you, Bo.

Thanks, Ariel. Appreciate you. There he is, the great Bo Nicol joining us, and he'll be a part of the debut event for Real American Freestyle Wrestling. They're going to announce in the next week or two where the events will air. I hear they have something big in the works. Looking forward to that. This, of course, the promotion headed up by Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Israel Martinez, Chad Bronstein.

I saw Izzy in Holly Holmes corner on on Saturday night and then I saw some of them on Sunday afternoon in Diego Brandow's corner. So got to see a lot of old faces saw King Mo LaWalla at the Tough Enough event as well. Tough Enough people were so nice to us. Shout out to Jeff Meyer and the whole crew over there really enjoyed being at that event and yeah hope to go to more of those events. Perhaps maybe we'll check out a real American freestyle wrestling event in the future as well. I think if there's the green light, if there's the

open door to sign guys like Bo and the other fighters who have a background in wrestling and Lord knows there's a ton of them, this could be huge because all the MMA fans who may not be the biggest wrestling fans will check this out. I want to see. I wasn't really watching wrestling when Bo was competing. Now I want to see what he looks like. Just how good is this guy? We've heard so much about Dan Hodge and National Champion, all this stuff. How good is he? Of course Ben Askren was supposed to be a part of it as well, which I thought was brilliant. We did get the news a couple days ago that he had successful double lung transplant surgery. And so we continue to wish him the best and his family the best.

And some people have asked me about the, um, the poker table that we had signed, the felt table that we had signed by all the guests who joined us in Las Vegas. Uh, once we catch our breath here, we'll let you know how you can, um, you can bid on this. We'll, we'll put up for an auction and, and, and may the, the, the biggest and highest bidder win and every single penny that we generate from that will go straight to the Aspen family. So we look forward to doing that in the next week or so. I was talking about the highlights we were

talking at the beginning of the show about some of the the great moments there are a ton and and we'll have a behind-the-scenes video that will come out in the next week or so about some of the fun stuff that we did outside of the studio. We posted our first vlog, if you will, from Fanatics Fest. It's up on the channel right now. It's a few rows back as far as videos are concerned, but definitely check that out. Very fun. We'll be doing more of that. Next one will be about our time in Las Vegas. We've got some fun things planned for when Pizzi is here as well. But we really ended the week in Vegas on a high note, a spicy note, a hot note. Rick was dying to eat this chicken tender that was just lathered in spice,

which seemed insane to me. And when I saw it in person, it seemed even crazier. But credit to him, he ate it like a champ. And I watched him afterwards, didn't drink a sip of water. People called me a duck. They called me a wuss. They didn't think I have it in me. I did partake.

I did struggle. It was a tough time. But in the end, myself, GC, and Rick, Rick to the highest degree, all went into the deep end, all got it done. It was a great and a somewhat impromptu way of ending the show because I couldn't really speak on ceremonies. I couldn't say anything, but it was a perfect way in many respects to end our séjourn over in Las Vegas. In case you missed it, I'm going to play it for you right here because it was very fun and every time I watch it I laugh. And then when we come back in a couple minutes

time we will welcome the Hardy Boys. The Hardy Boys! Matt and Jeff Hardy in studio. The greatest, arguably the greatest tag team of all time, arguably the most popular tag team of all time. Yes, it's true. They'll be joining us in studio so stay tuned for that for now here's that chicken eating extravaganza I know I screwed it up though I picked them both up that looks like dead that is go ahead I think it's 10 9 6 oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god That one was way hotter than I was expecting. Please do not get any of that on the mic, bro Detrimental to his health. My mouth. Do you need a Celsius? No, no my mouth. I should not have bit that. I'm truly trying to raw dog it Yo, Connor's freaking out right now. Chill chill chill chill chill chill. We're all good. Yeah Yo, Connor's freaking out right now. Chill chill chill chill chill chill. We're all good. Yeah

So far extremely spicy. He has to say this into the mic. I knew he was gonna do this. Yeah, talk into the mic talk into the mic We're on a short. Don't touch the mic with the gloves. Yes, the heat is building in my mouth now. It's getting really hot. It's getting really hot. Are you? Fire like burning inside my mouth. Do you want water? No, no, I want to try and raw dog it. I did two levels below him and I bit it and immediately spit it out and so far I was able to clear the lips burning like a motherfucker. My tongue is hot right now so far I was able to clear the lips the lips here comes the hiccups Do you need milk? I'm on a raw dog it oh I knew this fucker was gonna act like this like he's like doing a no no like he's Anthony Bourdain

Yeah, well, it's like okay now that he wasn't sure if I'd be able to talk My mouth is on fire right nothing in the gun are yet Do I regret? Yes for sure. Yes. I don't know why I did this I don't know why I let him talk my dumbass into this lips not burning. I Think I'm alright The banana pudding is fantastic. You're going back. I think I know I'm gonna be fine. The banana pudding is fantastic. You're going back. I think I know Can we get a camera angle?

Frank's freaking out about the microphones the tongue the tongue is like tingly and hot the mouth is burning. Okay, I'm doing better I'm not like The banana putting those to die for it fuck no, no way Let's go right excuse my language my mom, my mom's watching me right now. You ate something. Take a bite of the one I did, you'll be all right. No way, you freaked out. I'm fine now, I'm fine now. It took two seconds.

Do I take another bite? It's like a wasabi. Go ahead, go ahead. Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick. Whole thing, whole thing, whole thing. Oh, he quivered there for a second. He buckled. He just wants you to touch it.

Don't touch it. Don't touch the mic? Don't touch it. Don't touch the mic wants you to touch it. Don't touch it. Don't touch it. Don't touch the mic. Don't touch it. Don't stop touching it. I have gloves on. Oh, the banana pudding is excellent.

The banana pudding is great. I feel bad that there's only two banana puddings. Where's Rick's? I gotta be honest. Truly, being honest. I smell the spiciness. Being 100% honest, I thought this was gonna be a lot worse.

Really? Okay, so you psyched yourself out a little bit that well I was ready to do it regardless or but I Thought I'd be a lot more uncomfortable. Don't do not get me wrong, please people if you don't have a high tolerance for spice This will fuck you up. Go ahead They're all giving me shit. Come on. Yes. Yes bite. Bite. Bite. Bite. It's hot in the mouth. No Too late. Did I screw up? Just bite it.

Just don't touch your eyes. Or the microphone. Do it! Bite it. How we doing? Why did I do that? You know what? Fuck you, chat.

Fuck you guys. You guys didn't believe in me? The heat is building still. It's coming. The first swallow. It's hot. Fuck you guys. The smart thing was avoid the lips like you said. Fuck you guys. Don't ever... Oh my god.

Why did I do that? Oh! Do you need me to land this plane? No. No. No. No. No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. Rick's. Rick's a savage for swallowing it.

Just wiping my nose with a glove. I need napkin. I can hear Rick's nose running from over here. Oh my god. Thank you for doing it with me. Thank you for doing it with me. I'm sweating like crazy. This is the worst way to end this.

Can we zoom in on him? Can we zoom in on him? I can see the sweat. Why do you... This is the worst way to end this. Can we zoom in on him? Can we zoom in on him? I can see the sweat. Why do you... I can see the sweat in your eye. I had a nice goodbye plan. No better way to do it.

I'm guessing dinner's not happening tonight. Howlin' Plus. Let it be known. Howlin' Plus. That was crazy. This guy right here. Look at this thing. This is disturbing. Can I get you to even lick it? Let it be known, Howlin plus. That was crazy. This guy right here.

Look at this thing. This is disturbing. Can I get you to even lick it? No way, this is disturbing, bro. You're taking a flight later. It is so hot. It really does. When you swallow, it gets hotter and hotter.

You guys gotta take us home. Thank all of you for joining us. We had a great time in Vegas. I have to get on an airplane with Rick tonight. It was an unbelievable week. The memories that I have that we made over this week are just irreplaceable. What a way to finish it. All of us. I wanted to conquer it.

I was able to. Haewani struggling. My respect for Rick. I can't move my mouth. Insane respect. My tongue. I was born for this. Sean Evans, if you're out there watching this, please.

Please bring me on Hot Ones. I know I'm not famous, but I think I can handle the wings of death. God bless Vegas. God bless you guys. Thank you. That's it. Peace. That's it? We're really done? That's it? That's all you can say? We're out of here. All right. This is a massive honor for me.

Been watching these guys for two plus decades. Arguably the greatest tag team in the history of professional wrestling, and what's so unique about them, incredibly popular, incredibly successful as a tag team, still to this day, but also incredibly popular, incredibly successful as single stars. Very few of the great tag teams can claim that.

Actually, you can make a strong case that they're one of the only ones. And so it's a very, very unique thing and it's a massive honor to have here in our studio today the multiple time WWF slash WWE champions, WCW champions under the WWE umbrella, but still it counts. No one's ever been able to say WWF champs, WCW champs, ROH Ring of Honor champs, and of course, TNA champs as well had their run in AEW. They have been all over the world and back again. They are now a part of the TNA total

nonstop action wrestling roster, having a huge show July 20th, right here in New York on the island, Long Island to be exact, at the UBS arena. It's so great to have them back together as a team. They've been in TNA doing their thing for the past year in another go-around with the company and they are killing it right now. Please let us say hello and a big big welcome to two of the greatest of all time, Matt and Jeff Hardy. What a great pleasure this is. Wow, this is unbelievable.

Hello, sir. Hello, Aaron. How are you? Great to see you. Great honor, great honor. Thank you for having me. Jeff, thank you so much. It's a pleasure, please.

Very good to see you. Have a seat. Wow, it's great to have you guys in my home here. Thank you so much. No, thanks for inviting us, man. Thanks for having us. You guys going, doing well? Everything, I saw your flight today. You got in the hotel. They didn't have your room ready. You're on the elliptical.

Yeah. Did you get some rest? No. No, okay. Well, yesterday was my oldest son's birthday too. He just turned 10. So we had a big evening planned for him. We got back about 10 PM and then I had to wash some clothes and pack real quick. Our flight was at six. So it was a short night of sleep, but we'll be all right. How far do you guys live from each other? Two football fields, man.

That's it. Wow. We're on the same property. The Hardee compound is a very, very real thing. The Hardee compound is almost 100 acres, 90 plus acres. Our dad had the land, his parents had the land before that, and then like, you know, he turned it over and we got all different pieces of the property and we built our houses there, are raising our families, so it's pretty cool.

Is your lawn as cool as Jeff's? No. Okay. Did you come over and do his lawn? No, no, I do not. I've seen your lawn, man. Yeah. It's unbelievable. Thank you, man. I mean, does anyone on the planet do this or is this just something?

I was out I was out there had one day at home I was putting out a hundred belts of straw yesterday and the crazy heat and oh my gosh I didn't get finished, but I got a lot done man, but it's it's I take pride in it So so did this just come out like from the top of your mind like I want to make cool art on grass landscape art your mind like I want to make cool art on on grass landscape art yeah and I was a landscaper before we made it in pro wrestling and I've always enjoyed like weed eating designs you know in grass but now my motocross track the main part of my front yard my motocross track is about a five acre track and this became

my front yard so I'm pretty sure it might be the coolest front yard on planet earth. It's unbelievable. It's so wild. I mean, I remember when he first started doing this and cutting these designs into his lawn, he would take the Vanguard One and raise him up and then shoot down and see how it looks like, oh, I need to fix this, I need to do this, and you critique this. I love it.

That's how he would judge it. It was just wild. It's almost as great as your face paint. I appreciate that, man. I take pride in it. Guys, you're here for TNA. You've got a huge show coming up on July 20th, UBS Arena. And we're approaching actually like a year

since you guys have been back as a team in TNA. You had great runs with them in the past. I'm just curious off the bat, because it feels like TNA is in a different period in their history, right? They had their ups, their downs. Now it feels like they're making this big comeback. The partnership with WWE seems to be very fruitful for them.

Can you describe the feeling right now in TNA today, back when you were, as opposed to like back when you were with like the older guys, right? Like the Hogan's of the world, the Bishops of the world. It feels like a totally different time. Totally different. I mean, it's, you know, they've been through a few different transformations, obviously.

You know, but at that time, they got some steam, but, you know, I think they didn't play the cards like they should have played the cards. Right now, we have a great roster who's working for the greater good. Everyone is very selfless. Everyone wants TNA to grow, and it has been. We have a new boss right now that just came in, Carlos Silva, and he's been doing a great job. He's super passionate, super motivated. Not a wrestling guy per se, but he is learning on the fly and he is super motivated to make TNA as big as it can possibly be. And we're both happy. I think what started kind of this resurgence in TNA

was Dolph Ziggler, Nick Nimeth, coming and becoming the champion. I think that was a good boost for them. Why do you feel that way? Why was that a turning point? I just think Dolph Ziggler, Nick Nimeth, he'd been on TV for 20 years, WWE established star, a lot of people were surprised. They thought he'd probably be a lifer, you know, at WWE.

And then he came in and he is a very talented guy. And I think he brought a lot of star power, a lot of name power, and people started taking TNA a little more serious. And then you have Joe Hend Henry, who became viral, and I think you just recently visited him. He's the best, Joe Henry rules. And he became a viral sensation, so that's helped with everything.

And then I showed up out of the blue, nobody knew, he didn't even know, I K-faved everybody in the world. You didn't tell your bro? Had no idea, man. Really? Yeah. Okay.

Just all school business, I guess. I like that. I definitely would have told him. But then I came and then Jeff ended up following me. And when he showed up that night in Chicago, we were just talking about that, about that crowd that night. They were amazing.

They were red hot, but it was probably 16, 700 people sold out, standing room only. They sold extra tickets so people could stand. And just now we're gonna be doing UBS and we've done shows this year with you know 5,000 people 4,000 people we've had some great houses already this year so I think us being back obviously has helped out as well and then to top everything off the NXT TNA partnership has been super beneficial you know what I mean especially crossing and I think the thing with trick being the champion

is a pretty unique story, and I kind of dig that they're doing that. When you came over, I know your contract with AEW expires, then you come and show up the next day. Yeah. Did you tell him you were showing up? Yeah, he knew that. He kind of knew, but yeah, it was weird when I first.

Great question. It did run through my mind when my wife said, hey, did you know Matt was going back to TNA? I said, no, I had no idea. And then I watched the footage. I said, well, that's pretty cool. And I sent him a text and I was like, Oh man, that was really cool, man. How'd it feel?

You know, and a part of me, man, should I just maybe do a solo thing and stay in AEW for another year and see what happens or should I go back to TNA? And I was like, what am I even, why am I even considering not doing this? I had so many great moments and memories in TNA. My last run was great there. 2012 was one of the greatest years of my wrestling career in my opinion. So I think everything is exactly where it's supposed to be and especially now with this working relationship with WWE.

It feels like we're exactly where we're supposed to be and doing exactly what we're supposed to be doing by helping TNA. It's so funny when you talk about, did I tell you if I was going or not? So my podcast host, John Alba, said, please say hello. He actually, he was almost upset that I didn't tell him. He said, why didn't you tell me? I said, I didn't tell anybody. I mean, the only person that knew was my wife.

Like my brother didn't even know. I just kind of kept everything quiet. I said, you keep things from getting out. So you guys are a little bit old school in that regard. I'm not saying you're 70s or 80s stars, but now everything is out, right? Yeah. I think so. Do you like it better when some things are left behind the curtain? Oh my god, yes. I mean, just like our WrestleMania 33 return.

I mean, only a handful of people in WWE really knew about that. Like, that was really kept tight and they really tried to keep it under the deal. You know, we dealt with Triple H, Vince a couple times, but mainly Triple H, and he was even cool. That's going to Ring of Honor and winning those tag titles and making like a red herring, you know, that maybe we're not going to show up. You know, and then we had that insane weekend, you know, where on Friday night, a lot of people forget this, we wrestled Penta and Phoenix in the main event of the WrestleCon show. And then Saturday night, we wrestled the Bucks and ladder wars and a 30 minute match. And they were calling me, the office was calling me that day over and over like, please control your brother. Don't let him take any dumb bumps.

Tomorrow's WrestleMania. You know, Vince says the showcase of the immortals. Nobody cares about WrestleMania. No, no, no. Were you signing like five hours that day as well? Yes. He said it's the showcase of the immortals. No one cares about Ring of Honor.

He says, he says tomorrow's the day, tomorrow's the day. It's so funny. But yeah, I know even after we finished that, I remember Jeff told me, like, he said, man, I'm glad we can just do media, because I'm so sick of lying. Like saying, you know, we're not doing this, or we're staying with Ring of Honor, or whatever else.

So what's interesting to me is this partnership with NXT has kind of like brought you guys back a little bit to WWE. You had a couple of matches, actually one here in New York, right, at the theater just a few months ago. How does that feel for you? Because you're flying the flag, you seem to be happy for TNA, but you're also dipping,

I've heard you in interviews say, at some point down the line, we'd like to end in a WWE ring. It would seem only fitting. So here you are kind of like working, flirting, it's unique. WWE usually historically doesn't do this sort of thing. Is it at all awkward for you guys at times

or is it totally comfortable? It was great. We walked in NXT for the first time ever and man, they had these shirts for us there and I was like, what? They've got some Hardy Boy shirts for this little NXT stay and just the warmth and acceptance of everybody there in the locker room and the crowd was just, oh man, it felt so good to be back home where it all started.

It was great. You know, we went to Cincinnati, we did our first show there, and then we did it over the next week in Orlando, and then we obviously came over here to New York. It was great. They took such great care of us, and it was fun. Even we got to chat with Shawn Michaels like when we were first there, we really didn't talk about wrestling. We were talking about kids and growing up because both of our kids are getting older

and his kids have aged out and they've got older and like left and whatnot. And he said, I'm going to tell you guys something like I remember being the guy who'd been around for a long time and while I was wrestling later, there's a lot of the young guys that, oh, my God, like you were my guy coming up. Like, I loved you so much. You inspired me to get into wrestling said well now you're those guys yeah he said so I've told everyone here if they want to take a picture with you they got away to the end of the

night he said I love that I don't have to do that anymore I love it was great but it was it was a blast there for axiom super talented guys no quarter catch crew super talented guys loved all those guys how do you feel being in that role now Jeff you're 47 you're 50, right? I'm sorry for saying it, but it's wild because you look like 34. Like you guys have not aged one bit, but being those legends, the older guys,

I'm sure a lot of people come up to you. You've had very public highs and some down moments as well. Are you comfortable being that locker room leader type? Sure, yeah, and I know that we were a part of like some kind of movement. Back when we had that makeover with Michael Hayes. We started wearing the kickwear pants, hair in the face, tight shirts, and something kind of happened then. And that first ever tag team ladder match really changed our paths. You know, that set us, that put us on a rocket man to the moon and beyond.

And so just now hearing everybody, we hear this at least once every day if not ten times, man you guys were my childhood man. We hear that all the time and broke so many you know couches because of YouTube but it's just very humbling still to me. I'm just so grateful for the gift of life I am and have and that I'm still able, we're still able to be as active as we are. It's funny, I have two boys, they're really big into soccer. One of my boys' favorite players,

a guy named Brandon Johnson, he's a star for Tottenham in London. And he had a really tough period, he had a really tough stretch at the beginning of the year, and then he went on the streak of like winning, scoring like five, six straight games, right? And then, so he does, he celebrates a big goal at one point and he goes like this afterwards And I become a little friendly with him on social media

I was like, by the way, why did you do that? And he said the Hardy boys were my favorite. This guy is like 25 year old London kid and he said I wanted to be the Hardy boys I'm like wow, it's like the impact that wrestling and that you guys had on people from all different walks of life I'm sure you hear it all the time right and people emulating you and trying to be like you I'm sure you probably got some crazy stories too of people doing some crazy shit back in the day We definitely do but one thing you said one thing that I think is super flattering to us I mean, it's just like all cultures, you know Yeah, it's it's so cool that we have inspired so many people. I mean we have people from all walks of life

You know white black, you know Hispanic, you know, they're my god It's so cool that we have inspired so many people. I mean, we have people from all walks of life, white, black, Hispanic, they're just, oh my God, like you were my guys and you were my childhood. We did this and I cut up my pantyhose, my mom's pantyhose like this so I could do my brother's things and I jumped off and I did a leg drop on the couch and I broke it and got in so much trouble. Thank you, you gave us a great childhood.

And it's cool now because, especially if we do a lot of cons and we do pretty well those things it's it's cool because we'll meet people in their mid-30s and they'll go I grew up watching you guys like you were my favorite I was a young kid I just discovered wrestling and you're my favorite the attitude air the Hardy boys and you were throwing up guns we're doing the guns in v1 whatever it is and now my kid is a fan too and he's going back and he's watched TLC 2 and the tag team line-up. And now they're like both enamored

and super excited to meet us. It's wild, but it's so cool. I mean, we've been doing this for 33 years now. October 15th will mark 34 years. Wow. We've been wrestling. So 34 years, what is that, if my math is correct? 91? 92. 92, yes, okay, October.

And there's actually a lot of anniversaries around the time that we're speaking now, and I don't wanna get to those in a moment. Can I just ask you, yes, okay, October. And there's actually a lot of anniversaries around the time that we're speaking now, and I don't wanna get to those in a moment. Can I just ask you, Jeff, why do you think you connected with people so much? And especially like the kids, why do you think that people still to this day speak? I was talking to like one of the coworkers out there

who's not a big wrestling fan anymore, and I'm like, you know, the Hardy Boys are coming. He's like, the Hardy Boys? I love those guys. Everyone at some point has a Hardy Boys connection. Why do you think you connected with people this well? Looking back at it all now, it's definitely like the authenticity part of it, like and who I am out there in the ring and who I am backstage. I mean, it's, even when I think about legacy in me, like I think I want to go down as the most authentic guy to ever

ever do it. Because pretty much what you see out there is what you see at a restaurant Or whatever, you know, there's not much of a difference and I think and just that that whole thing of not being afraid to be yourself and Not being not caring what other people think about how you look or what you do or what you say I think that really like touched a lot of people and and and made a hell of a connection for me in the pro wrestling world. I personally think that part of the reason why people are so drawn to you guys is that you are you're not larger than life in terms of like gigantic muscles. We seem attainable. You seem and but you've also allowed us to get into your lives in terms of the highs and lows so everything feels so relatable because we all have highs and lows right and so we've been on

this emotional journey with you guys from the early days to the attitude era to leaving WWE to like you know what I mean and so that creates this bond where I think people want to like manifest success for both of you want to will you guys to the top and I think you've allowed us to come on that journey with you which has made the bond even stronger yeah I agree and I also think we hit just at the right time you know we we started on WDB TV in 1998 at full time under contract Obviously we done stuff doing extra work and enhancement work before that But whenever we're doing that and then we hit it real big

No mercy 1999 the tag team ladder match with edge and Christian and that really took us from being just wrestlers to like superstars I mean everything changed on the day especially the reaction who get night in and night out wherever we're wrestling at and I think people learn their story because they were starting to kind of peel back the curtain a little bit at that time, right? You know, they're like, well, these are two guys who were born in this podunk town Cameron, North Carolina And they had no ends in wrestling their mom died when they were young They were poor their dad raised them and these guys like probably shouldn't have made it But they did make it because they had these dreams and aspirations. And even our whole story about taking a trampoline and, you know, putting corners up and putting

cable in the water hose to run around and make like a makeshift ring were the whole reason they said like don't try this at home because they showed our home videos and, you know, people started doing that automatically. But I just think when you sit there like you know what if if I knew those guys I think we'd be friends because we're similar we both had struggles I think their story of just being so gritty and trying to make it is kind of how I feel in life too and and we're also a smaller size where we seem attainable we do we not, you know, the six foot eight, 370 pound monsters that wrestling had for so, so long, like we weren't that, we were the complete opposite.

And especially when we did the makeover with Michael Hayes and we picked out the kick wear pants and the tight shirts are like, oh, and they're pretty cool fashion ones too. Like, and especially Jeff. Jeff would come out with his hair and pigtails, whatever he did, and he was just comfortable and confident in whatever it was. And people are absolutely attracted to that.

I refer to Cameron as an antique town. An antique town. An antique town. I like that. My favorite place on planet earth. You mentioned the tag team tables match. That's January of 2000 Royal Rumble, right? Against the Dudleys?

The tag team tables, yes. That's here in New York at Madison Square Garden. Your famous Swanton over the entrance there. What do you remember about that day? Could you feel that something special was about to happen or is it only something in the aftermath where you're like, holy crap, that was a turning point? Yeah, we already had the tag team ladder match

and we knew something was going on after that match. Throughout that whole structure of that match, I was like, oh my God, this is what we were meant to do. The tag team modern match is what allowed us to do that. Yes. And being fans of the original ECW and naturally knowing who the Dudley boys were and oh my God, Sabu is the first guy I think to ever break a table. And he was just breaking it out of like frustration after a match or something. It was just the coolest thing we'd ever seen. And now here we got,

these guys are coming To the WWE and we're about to have a tables match with them So it was our it was our time to step it up and use the tables Just like we use the ladders and then later on edge and Christian come in with the chairs and it just all worked out So beautifully what a time and I know that you guys both Wrote about Sabu after his passing and what he meant to you I know you talked about him on your on your podcast with John and wrote about him on social media as well We found a clip from 1998 of you guys against sabu and RVD. Do you remember this match?

Mm-hmm. It was for like a small it was a smaller promotion, right? Yes I think we have the the footage here because I wanted to show it to you guys Because what's unique about it is you're in WWE at the time and they're in ECW at the time. So how did this come together? Well, we were still allowed to do Indies because we were on developmental deals at that time before we'd started full time on TV. And what happened is we were going to the show and we were supposed to be facing another local North Carolina team and a big match. Yeah, here it is. Oh, it's about to play, yes. Please continue though, this is great.

And I think it was going to be Sabu or RVD versus Sandman or someone else, and their flight was canceled or it was a no show. But both Sabu and RVD were both there. So the promoter said, hey, I'd really like you guys to wrestle these guys. Are you cool with doing that? We're like, of course, yeah. We really like you guys to wrestle these guys. Are you cool with doing that? We're like, of course, yeah.

We'd love the opportunity to wrestle those guys. Because we hadn't built a name for ourselves yet. And they said, okay, let's go out and let's do this. And let's go nuts. And we'd never met Sabu. Oh, wow. So that was an experience. We had no idea how he was gonna be.

If he was gonna be this legit maniac, he was gonna be a crazy person. And Jeff's got a great story about when they were fighting around the corner. Yeah, I think this was at ECU University, right? It was in Greenville. It was in Greenville and Jeff's got a great story about when they were fighting around the morning. Yeah, I think this was at like ECU University, right? It was in Greenville. It was in Greenville. Greenville, yeah. Yeah, it was right by ECU.

Yeah, we were fighting out through the crowd and people were going crazy and the ceiling was super low. You can't really jump off the top rope as far as get a bunch of height. But we got in there, this glass, this broken glass, and I'm going, oh my God, I'm out here with Sabu. He's probably going to cut me up or something. But he said, he said, let's get out of here brother. Let's get out of here brother. And I was like, that was the coolest thing ever. What was he like towards you guys backstage?

At first he was kind of, had his protection up, I think. And then like once we talked to him and he got a little more comfortable, he was okay. But then he was very nice and he was very funny. Like I was very surprised at his sense of comedy. He cracked some jokes and he was very funny. I was very surprised at his sense of comedy. He cracked some jokes and he was super cool. We were shocked by that. And one thing I think we have almost tried to model

ourselves almost how they treated us in that match. So we weren't anybody. And we have guys that will wrestle on an independent show here and there forever doing it, that haven't made a name or whatever else. And then it's so funny, they're always like, oh my God, you're the best team and they're like bowing down like thank you for working with us you're doing and we want to try and like give them stuff and like make them whatever else like Sabo and RVD they could have went out and they could have just murders in a couple minutes

but we went out and had a 12 13 minute match or whatever was and we fought all over the building and it was competitive and they were fine with it and They didn't care and whatever it was. And we fought all over the building, and it was competitive, and they were fine with it, and they didn't care, and whatever. It was a show in the middle of North Carolina, so it wasn't a big deal, but they took care of us. They were like trying to help us out. They were trying to give us a rub, and that's something we've always done since that moment.

Speaking of which. And we owe them our poetry in motion is from then. Yeah, yeah. 100%. We're watching them for sure. Incredible, wow. And it's funny, people go, oh, that's so hard, he's poetry and motion.

But they started doing it first. We just said, oh, we should do that now that we're at WWE. And we almost like, it almost became ours, but they're the people who did it first. Do they know that or did they know that? Does RVD know that? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, okay.

I think they both do. You talk about working well with others. I believe, so your WWF debut was against the Smoking Guns, right, as developmental, like before you really were the Hardys? I think that's the first time we had a tag match as a brother team. You were against Razor Ramon as,

just like as a, for lack of a better word, a jobber. I'm not allowed to say that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. A 16-year-old job. A 16-year-old. I think they said you were 18, but yeah. how nervous were you you're going up against Scott Hall? Razor, I'm on who at that point is a legend. I was terrified. I was terrified. Thanks. Hey brother. Just just

Put your birthday back a few more years and you need to be 18 He's a birthday back two years brother. Oh, yeah, I was so nervous man and going out there I was I think I had to go out there first because Matt was on the Live Monday night raw that was I was on live with and I was so nervous I really didn't know what was going on that ring was so hard and I was 16 and but yeah It was just what what an awful experience, but not really after it was over, you know What the next night I wrestled Xbox one two three kid and that kind of refilled my soul to want to remain in the pro wrestling world. But yeah, after that match for a moment, I was like, I don't know if I'm cut out for

this. Really? Why was that? It was just rough. He was real rough and out there and I was going, oh my God, and that ring was so hard. He was also the backstory. Jeff was called Keith Davis in the match and he was wrestling one of Stang's guys named Keith Davis and he was one of those guys that was a weekend warrior.

I wasn't in great shape. Whatever else he just did stallion stuff on the weekends. Right. And at the very 10, 15 minutes before the match was going to happen, he came and said, I can't do that. I can't take that racer's edge. I got a bad neck is going to hurt my neck. I can't take it. I can't take it. I can't do it. So then Sam's like, oh, we'll get somebody else. This brother, get this brother right here. He can take any bump. He then Sam's like, oh, we'll get somebody else. This brother, get this brother right here.

He can take any bump. He's like a rubber man. And then like, then Scott Hoss talking to him. He's like aggravated. He's like, yeah, I'll just do this and kick this. Just listen to me. And he went out there and he kind of took out his frustration on Jeff.

Oh wow. Yeah, pretty much, yeah. And there was a point where he drove him into the post and his knee hit the post and he felt real bad for that. And then they came back and remember how apologetic he was. Oh for sure. And that was the whole clique was there and we were talking to him and I remember, I don't know who said it.

It was when I got my nickname. I had this guy, you look like ice, vanilla ice. His hair was cut like vanilla ice. Yeah, had me a little nickname with the clique then so I was good to go. Kevin Nash said, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump. I cannot imagine being teenagers around those dudes in the 90s.

Yeah. Talk about larger than life, right? For sure. Intimidating? Yeah, and they had so much power. Yeah. But later on, as time went on, they'd always go like, hey, stick them with the hearty guys.

Those hearty guys don't make them look good the hearty guys. They would like push first They'd be advocates for us to work against other guys. I always remember walking in they were they were doing with the fake undertaker Do you remember that? It was just so surreal like seeing the paint on the tattoos and then seeing Shawn Michaels one of my favorite wrestlers of all time Like in person man. It was just yeah, it was so surreal. Were you guys backstage for the curtain call? No, you were not there. Yeah, no cuz it was sporadic, right? Yeah, it was just yeah it was so surreal. Were you guys backstage for the curtain call? No. You were not there?

Yeah no we weren't. Because it was sporadic right? Yeah it was sporadic. We would probably go every two or three months. Okay when did you feel like okay they really believe in us? This is it? Well there was a time and do you remember the thing with Jake the Snake in 97?

Oh this is great. So Jake the Snake, I don't think I've ever shared this anywhere. Please share. 1997. Oh, this is great. So Jake the Snake, I don't think I've ever shared this anywhere. Please share. So Jake the Snake was having a tryout doing creative, I think. So he was in all the meetings, right?

Oh wow. So he'd done the meetings, he came out and said, hey, you guys know what you're doing tonight? And I was like, oh no, we haven't heard. And he said, well, you're doing this, you're doing that. He said, just want to tell you, they're planning on doing something with you guys. Just keep doing what you're doing.

They're going to sign you. They're going to sign you. We're like, what? Is gonna sign you we're like is that for real and like you know we I mean we've been doing it for almost four years at that point we're probably a little frustrated yeah agree but you see yeah they're gonna sign you and they did just a few months later so he wow he was being accurate about it probably gave you a little bit of a boost right okay give us motivation they keep going keep your chin up keep moving forward

because you guys are southern boys did did you ever talk to WCW at the time a little bit of a boost, right? Okay, don't lose faith. It gave us motivation. Keep going, keep your chin up, keep moving forward. Because you guys are Southern boys, did you ever talk to WCW at the time? We did, I remember being at a show in Charlotte, we were trying to get a VHS tape to somebody backstage. Oh, I gave a bunch of VHS tapes. I think you got one, but yeah, we never really got in, man. We had one thing where,

do you remember the amateur challenge that they had where they asked for people to send in videos of them cutting promos. I was on there as high voltage, my indie character. And the tag team, Chris Canyon verified this to me later on. They ended up saying, hey there's one kid that's like, sent some pretty cool wrestling or whatever, he's a young guy, his name's high voltage, I think that'd be a great name for this tag team. Just take his name, I'm pretty cool wrestling or whatever, he's a young guy, his name's Ha Vortig, I think that'd be a great name for the Stag Team. Just take his name, I'm sure it's not copyrighted. And you know, that happened.

I remember that was heartbreaking when he came out. I ended up changing my name from Ha Vortig to Surge. Wow, wow, wow. But I'm surprised that like even Power Plan, try out nothing because you're so close to Atlanta. Usually guys who are in your region get a look, but. Yeah, no, we never did. I think once we started doing WWE, WWF at the time,

I think we kind of wanted to go there and we felt like there was potential to do things because they did like us a lot. And I think if it wouldn't have been there, it would have probably been ECW. We did get a late night call one night from the Sandman. Bill Alfonso. Come on.

What is that? I did this character called Willow. We did get a late night call one night from the Sandman. Bill Alfonso. Come on. Oh yeah. What is that? I did this character called Willow, was like my evil character. And they had seen a video or one of our demo tapes. We used to send them everywhere. But yeah, we about went somewhere overseas first with Sandman.

Willow and High Voltage or Willow and Surge. They asked you to appear? Yeah, we went up there and we did some shows that they had that they were just booking and working with and he wanted to do a tour in the Middle East which ended up not happening when it was all said and done. But after that thing he said, well I'm gonna get you guys DCW,

I'm gonna get you guys DCW. But by that time was coming around where he was talking about getting us DCW, we were signed by W. Okay, that period like 2000, 2001 where you guys are a part of the attitude era and the business is like booming hot you're still relatively young how do you not allow your head or maybe you did like to

get gigantic like you are rock stars at this point right the whole business is on fire the rocks don't cold the the the Monday night wars are coming to an end but it's like it's just gigantic How are you not allowing yourself to? At that point, you know have a a massive head or in retrospect Did you kind of feel yourself like you were like, you know on top of the world walking on water? I've always I've always been like real good. Like I'm not gonna change just because of success. I'm gonna remain modest You know I've always just been very calm and laid-back when it comes to that and hadn't let that type of thing affect me Wow

Do you agree with this? I do and I feel like he's the same that was just that was our dream That was our dream. I'm probably not as much as him But but I mean it was our dream and I felt like we want to kind of keep things in check We want to keep doing this. I mean, I think that's why we do it now It's like I don't necessarily we have to do this now You know We kind of are still don't necessarily think we have to do this now. We kinda are still passionate about it and we wanna do this as long as we can

because this was our original passion and our dream. And we have made quite the mark for ourselves. 33 years in, I mean, we've been on TV for 27 years and we've teamed the majority of the times. We haven't taken a lot of time off during all those times, which is pretty impressive, I think, as far as the tag team goes one of the only tag teams to win for Major tag team titles over four different decades, which is pretty cool in the 90s 2000s 2010s and now 2020s incredible You know recently I was thinking of you and your story with the our truth situation. Yeah, very reminiscent

Yeah, actually next week is the 20th anniversary of you coming back July of 2005. When you were seeing this all play out, the aftermath, not him getting released, but then him coming back the way in which he did, did it feel somewhat reminiscent of your situation back then? I mean, it did, it did to a degree.

And it was one of those things like, obviously the repercussion, the blowback they got, because he's a beloved figure. And we'd said this too, like I figured he'd be a lifer, just being there because he was someone too, like Vince had so much love for him. Vince absolutely loved him. He's obviously not there now,

but I mean, I thought R-Truth would be around. They would figure out a way to keep him. And then like once all the blowback came out after they did release him, and people were so offended, I mean, once again, it just shows the power of social media and that even translated over to, you know, in the live arenas and the chants and whatnot.

So I'm glad he got back, and I'm glad everything worked out for him. I have to, I gotta ask, it's one of my favorite moments in raw history, when you show up in July of 2005, you get on the microphone, Adam, I was just watching a clip of you on Bite This. Do you remember Bite This?

Oh yeah. Todd Grisham and L and leader are there and you call in and like that's where like you really cut the promo because You got like 20 minutes there just berating her Can you just take us back to that period and and and how much of it was an actual work and how much of it? Was a shoot like you coming back obviously is a work because you've you've been brought back to the company But these were all real-life feelings that were playing out in front of us, right? Yeah, to a degree, but everybody was back on the same page. I mean by that point I was yeah when I was being hired back We don't talk and everybody was on the same page and and we're ready to do business I mean there were times where it's probably tough for people

But for you Yeah, I think it was tough for everybody to a degree. I mean, that's emotionally tackling, how tough this stuff is. But yeah, everybody was on the same page, and we were just trying to work together and get it done. You weren't in the company at the time. Was that hard for you to watch from afar? It was.

It was strange, and it was so real to me. And it was very, I mean, I respect the hell out of him, man, how he was able to do that, you know, and get through it the way they did. But the chant wasn't really hard. I don't think I was watching much wrestling at that time. Okay, you were taking a break. Yeah, for sure.

That's fair. People, fans will bring it up with fondness, but for you, it's like a real life wound. So do you not like thinking or talking about that because this was where like the lines got a bit blurred? I don't really mind it. Okay. Either way, I just, I feel like life's too short

in general as it is. You just, you have to let water in the bridge be water in the bridge, you know, and you keep moving on. And I think if anything, you go through situations like that and you learn from them. I mentioned this when you guys came in, you're one of the greatest tag teams of all time. There's no denying that. But unlike some of the greatest tag teams of all time, there's no denying that.

But unlike some of the greatest tag teams of all time, you guys have legendary singles careers as well. My guy's Bret Hart, right? And Bret had Jim, but with all due respect to Jim, he didn't have the great singles career that Bret had. You guys had equally great singles careers, in my opinion, as opposed to your tag career. Why do you think that was unique to you guys like the Dudley's great edging Christian?

I would put in that category as well But a lot of the guys didn't you know like right now you have Jay doing his thing Jimmy not so much Why were you guys able to have so much success as tag guys? But also as single stars as well when that's not usually the case for legendary tag teams Yeah, I don't know. I think we always kind of wanted to prove that to each other because like on the Indies, man, we were like we were the go-to. I'd work two times every night, you know, and as Willow against Surge and then as Jeff Hardy, Wolverine against whoever. So yeah, like two times every night. But like Willow and Surge, that chemistry was just incredible. Anywhere we went, man,

we would just tear it up all the time, and we had such a great chemistry. And so yeah, it was just destined to kind of fall that way. And I think once again, we're just both so passionate. I mean, it's one of those things, you know, if you're doing a job that is like your dream or something that's truly your passion, and you're like, well, you know, I'm getting paid for this, but I mean, it's one of those things, you know, if you're doing a job that is like your dream or something that's truly your passion, and you're like, well, I'm getting paid for this, but I mean, I'd do it for free because I love doing it. I mean, that's how wrestling is with us.

And I think we're both motivated to even stand out on our own. And we knew that Vince early on tried to split us up. Like, there were a few different times where... Really? Yeah, like, even way before, it was time to, I think, because he saw potential in doing things. And obviously Vince became a big Jeff guy. He loved Jeff.

Jeff always been more historically popular than I am, but still I think people forget how popular I am on my own to even doing that, which is pretty cool. Well, when he would suggest this, would you push back early on to break you guys up? Did you have that kind of say in things? No, I mean, not really. I don't think we kind of had that stroke in.

If they said you're breaking up, you're breaking up. Right, but I mean, there were some times where there was a scenario where they were trying to do something and Jeff didn't feel comfortable out and none of us really did. And then we just like got taken off TV for a few weeks. But still did house shows. Because they were trying to push us into a split. Okay, like sort of as really did. And then we just like got taken off TV for a few weeks. But still did house shows. Because they were trying to push us into a split.

Okay, like sort of as a punishment. I think so. Okay. That old school type of punishment. Yes, yes, yes. That doesn't really exist anymore or does it? I don't know, not as much. It's not as blatant.

Sure. So now like, as you guys are in this mode as tag team once again, can you definitively say you prefer being tag team as opposed to single or is it an impossible comparison to make, like ultimately if it was up to you for the rest of your days, tag team or singles? What do you ultimately prefer more?

We probably have to say tag, I don't know, it's strange, but tag team probably. Why are you laughing? Probably. Yeah, no, I mean, I would. Is it just the hard? No, I don't know, it's strange, but tag team probably. Why are you laughing? Probably. Is it just a hard? No, I mean it is. I mean I think we both like doing our own thing, but just like being in a tag team is just,

so it's like you don't do quite as much work, especially as we're older and a little beat up, you don't have to beat your body up as much. And I mean we really do have a chance to establish ourselves as one of the greatest to ever do it. And I think we have a lot more we can add on to that over the next couple of years. How is your bodies?

How are your bodies now? How are you, like I said, 50, 47, you look tremendous, but how is the body holding up? I'm halfway to 100, baby. Yeah, that's right. I feel okay. A lot of my hips, my lower back's real tight. A lot of that us from the leg drops

No repercussions from doing those so often But overall I feel pretty good and him and I both Jeff got me started on this and that's a cold plunges and ice best We do that regularly and that's that's been a game changer for both of our bodies I think do you do you regret any of the bumps are there any bumps you look back on and say man? I kind of wish I didn't do that one. It wasn't worth it. Oh, no. No, I don't regret any of the bumps? Are there any bumps that you look back on and say, man, I kind of wish I didn't do that when it wasn't worth it? Oh, no. No?

I don't regret any of them, no, not at all. Wow, what about you? There's nothing that really stands out about regretting, but this is probably what I would say. I wish I was smarter when I was younger, because there's times where, when we first started on the road, we'd work 10 days on, four days off.

We would wrestle every night. Our finish initially was the event omega, which was Jeff was on one term of while I was on the other, he'd do a splash and I'd do a leg drop. And we would do that every night, win, lose, or draw, that was in there. We would get the end of the day, we wouldn't make the save, and then we'd end up going home,

doing whatever we're gonna do. But I wish I wouldn't have given everything on some of the smaller shows that weren't quite as important. I wish I'd saved more of my bigger bumps and damaging my body to TV or pay-per-view events. About the singles careers. Working smarter.

In 2012, the one thing I wanted to say, whenever I started painting the eyes on my eyelids, that's when I kind of, oh God, this is me. This is what I do. Stone Cold had his beers, you, oh God, this is me. This is what I do. Stone Cold had his beers, you know, and it flipped people off. This is what I do. I paint eyes on my eyelids. I'm an artist.

I paint my face. And instead of having a canvas, the ring is my canvas. So 2012 was really when it kind of hit me. Oh, I really enjoy the singles stuff because I'm just me and that's it. Charismatic enigma. And so yeah, I just wanted to mention that real it charismatic enigma and so yeah I just wanted to mention that real quick before I forgot about it. What about working

against each other? Did you like it? Sometimes it doesn't it doesn't click right? When you guys are so like the Usos WrestleMania match I think a lot of the fans were disappointed because it felt like it just wasn't clicking. I know you guys had your WrestleMania match and I think you hold it in high regard right? You like it? We do we do like it. I think as social media has grown and I think you hold it in high regard right you like it we do we do like it I think as social media has grown and I even said this about the Usos match in the past I think you have so many people like we're beloved as a tag team it's hard there's so many people that still say when I hit him with the chair at Royal Rumble and so so he would lose the title to Edge I

hated you so bad in that moment. How could you do that? How could you do that? I was going, brother, it wasn't my call. You know what I mean? I'm just out there. I'm out there doing my gig. And it's tough because you go to WrestleMania and they're like, I love the Hardy Boys together.

They're my favorite tag team of all time. I don't want to see them fight each other. I don't want to see them fight each other. And I think Jimmy and Jay also get that as well. I think they're beloved as a unit. And even with their match, like I haven't even seen their whole match But I do know there were so much it was so polarizing right right right people right, but but I still think that also Plays a part in it about people just don't like seeing a team that they love together fighting one another

Yeah, I think that's hard for them to watch you brothers especially something a little bit different Yes, you know what I mean to a different degree can ask as far as the bumps are concerned. Do you have a favorite one? One that you just think was like a man. I have a favorite one, but I'd love to hear yours Maybe you'll be the same as mine just as a viewer. Do you have a thing? I just mentioned this earlier, but the first time I ever missed a swan ton on steel chairs on the steel stairs Against Bobby last year was was in New York York and that's one of my favorites, man. Cause I did it a few times after that, but yeah, that one stands out.

Why do you like that one? I don't know. I just never used the stairs like that. And then I ended up doing one. Oh, this might be my favorite and the most innovative, I think it was me and James Storm in a cage match, I believe. And I was on the door of the cage and it was open and he

hits me or something I do a nut shot on the cage door and then somebody that was out there with him like swings the door back at him he hits me with the cowbell or whatever and then I take a falling backwards bump onto the stairs onto the floor it was just a beautiful sequence. Canlly. Can I guess the bumper? Yeah, tell me. TLC2, the spear from the belt. Oh, for sure. That's the one, yeah. That's gotta be my favorite too, yeah, for sure. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's gotta be, yeah. It's just like the- It's so iconic. Golly. I mean, it's one of the most replayed clips in all WWE history, you know, you see it over and over. And I saw a video that you guys did for WWE where you were looking back at some of your great moments from

a few months ago and you told the story of I think it was Bubba who Correct me if I'm wrong Rhino suggested that Bubba moved the because you were hanging on Yeah, and your feet were on the the ladder and so Bubba moves the the ladder So now you're they get them yes momentum and then edge nails you golly I could I could I could listen to that stuff all day like just the psychology and the way you nailed it in the way edge Nailed it as well. Yeah, a thing of beauty I just saw that clip this morning that last Street Profits match on SmackDown I think and but they had the table I guess to kind of make it a little different like underneath

I saw that this morning. I mean it was perfect that their timing was perfect His bump was perfect everything about it was perfect as far as Favorite opponents as tag teams if you could pick one who would it be I? Would say edge and Christian probably get the call I mean we were with those guys more than anybody else and we had just great chemistry with those guys and just it was a Night off being in the ring with him. Okay, so then can I ask about the AEW run? You never worked with them? Yeah. What the hell happened? What went wrong there?

What do you think, Jeff? Well, honestly, in my personal problems, naturally getting in trouble with the law, I think I never got a fair chance to redeem myself like him in back. At least that's how I felt. Then I totally understood why they didn't want to give me that chance. I was, oh God, they can't trust me. I'm just a liability I was telling myself all these terrible things about about you know Getting what I got and getting arrested again, and it's just such a there's so much guilt and shame involved in that So naturally I beat myself up about it

But I just don't think we ever had a fair chance because of that. So I blame myself all the time. I mean, I appreciate you saying that. Do you think it's 100% his fault? You know, I mean, that probably factors into things, I think. I know he was back and I feel like he did pretty good to like prove himself. I figured there would be a little bit of a testing period with him and I thought he did. But then with myself and Jeff and Adam and Jay there altogether, I figured like, well, they at least got to have us in the ring for some, I mean, even if we're doing something

together, it'd be, you know, just a hell of a segment. You know, it's just, there's just so much value in the four of us, you know, together because of our history. But yeah, I mean, it didn't happen. And I would imagine I Don't know, you know Tony Tony Khan has his Tony Khan was a great guy paid me very well I like him got along with him But he has his style and choice of wrestling that he likes to see and I don't know if all of us factored into that It's a point this point is up. Do you watch the product?

Sometimes not I don't know a lot nowadays because I don't ever have time when I was there I would try and keep up with it. Obviously, what about WWE? Some I probably watch it a little more especially like the Netflix things I can watch that one doing on cardio or whatever else Okay, what about you? Do you keep up with the other promotions? I don't I just watch it every now and then I'm not a steady watcher Is that because there's so much wrestling in your life already and you have a family and you'd like to just think about something else in your free time you don't want it to be 24-7 wrestling? That would be it for me. Yeah. I don't have I don't have enough hours in the day. When you were younger were you

keeping up with other promotions? Yeah. Okay. And I give people that advice all the time when they ask me what do I need to do to make it and I go like make it a lifestyle make sure you train in the gym Every certain day a certain way make sure you eat a certain way make sure you train in the ring Make sure you know everybody every promotion and who's there and and what their name is because you never know if you're gonna get a Shot if you're really trying to seriously pursue this like make it a lifestyle So yeah, I obviously did it's it's just just one of those things now, especially I have four children Which are pretty young my My oldest was ten, just yesterday.

But they're ten, eight, five, and three. So obviously I got my hands pretty full with that. As far as we often hear about the locker room, I've heard you guys say the TNA locker room right now is incredible. There's a great bond. There's great camaraderie, not a lot of drama, politics, or stuff like that. When did you feel like it was the most? Tight-knit unit if you if you can look back what period did you feel like? Oh, this is like a team obviously you guys are feuding against each other on television, but backstage. There's no BS. There's no fighting There's no there's no drama. Do you remember one period? We're like, this is the best locker room that I've ever been a part of

drama. Do you remember one period where you were like, this is the best locker room that I've ever been a part of? In my opinion, this one now in TNA feels like that. Wow. It feels really like, just not a huge amount of talent, but like just people who are like growing and are working hard together to like to make something very special. Wow. There's a bunch of selfless individuals like all working for the greater good, which I dig. And it is a really great period.

Morale is good, especially like how these ticket sales and houses have been up and like all the numbers across the board on like television, the TNA plus app, all that stuff's up and we're continuing to move in that correct direction. I would say to another period that was really good where I think everyone just Accepted and understood the top guys were the top guys and they were gonna kind of do their thing and they were gonna do their Politics and they're gonna bicker back and forth and get their stuff in but all during the attitude error I didn't have any complaints then either I mean

It was great because we rock enrolled and we were given the opportunity We told Vince because we would do ladder matches his mass character Willow against me as Serge or Matt Hardy. And we would do those on indie shows. And we knew if we could get Edge and Christian, who had great chemistry, within a ladder match. So we pitched doing a best of series and culminating in a ladder match and we were able to get that happen. During that whole period, man, that was all great. There wasn't a lot of bickering or trouble and we kind of got to do our stuff and we were elevating ourselves. So that was a really good period locker room was all great. There wasn't a lot of bickering or trouble, and we kinda gotta do our stuff,

and we're elevating ourself. So that was a really good period like Rumaas as well. I have never noticed, my whole entire career, I have never noticed politics in wrestling ever until like 2024. I think, oh, this must be politics. Really? I'm kind of experiencing politics now.

What happened? By the way, this incredible thing that you were around for like 30 years. Yeah, I've never. Because we hear about it so much from afar. Yeah, it's crazy, I don't know. What happened that made you realize, oh, maybe I'm experiencing it for the first time?

Probably because you're getting sober again. Oh, this must be politics, okay. And back in 08 and 09, when I was bigger than Obama, I mean, the people just loved me so much. I didn't have to do any politics. And so, yeah. You were at the very top, right? For sure, yeah.

Do you appreciate all this more because of, I've heard you talk about like, when you're in jail and you're like, what the hell has happened to me? How did I get here? This could have all been taken away, right? Oh, everything is majestic. I mean, everything is like even, my little dappled dog was like the most majestic after about a year being so, oh my God, everything is just so vivid and bright and beautiful. And yeah, it's just everything is so kind of surreal, just looking at everything. And the thought of me coming close to ending it, you know, is what scares me the most, but I'm just so grateful each and every day that I have this last chance. How long have you been sober for now? Three years, two days, man. Wow. Today's the 24th. Today, yep. Okay. How long, when did you start to feel like,

okay, like, I'm sure early on it's very tough, right? Do you start to get into a groove where you're like, okay, I could do this? Yeah, I went through a lot of treatment too, like with almost a year's worth of treatment. But a little after a year being sober is when I did my first ice bath, man. And that's when I kind of got, I went under for as long as I could and held my breath and came out from the cold water.

And I was like, whoa, it was like this feeling in my head. And I was like, wow, I kind of like that. So I think I'll keep doing this. And it's been extremely beneficial for me, like crazy. And yeah, I turned Matt onto him. So instead of numbing myself out with drugs and alcohol I numb myself out in cold water and I'll do that for as long as I can Could I ask what do you consider rock bottom for you?

Rock bottom definitely for me would have been after the third DUI in that cell And not being able to wake myself up from a dream because I'd had dreams about getting a third DUI and That was definitely rock bottom for me. It was, I didn't know what was going to happen, man. I was so afraid that everything was, I was just not going to make it. Yeah, in that cell right after that third DUI. Where are you during all of this? Like, this is your brother, you love him,

and he's having these very public issues, right? How are you handling that? I remember I'd just flown home with my wife. I'd been in Orlando the night before we'd done an appearance. And then I heard about it after I got home, and I just was sick to my stomach. I don't know, it was tough. You never wanna see him hurt

You never want to see him in trouble but the one thing I can say is just like His work on himself has been second to none and just the place he's had in his life I'm just so proud and so happy for him because I've never this is like the best version of Jeff Hardy personally I've ever seen well that exists right now Can I ask other than you who is most responsible for this who helped you? You You need something, I know you have a wife, you have two children, right? Yeah, my wife and daughters, yeah. They're the ones? They're the ones. Okay. Yeah, they're my world, yeah. How old are your daughters? 14 and 9, man. Wow.

Growing up so fast. And was it maybe like you're their dad, right? Above everything else, you're not a superstar to them, you're just their dad. You don't wanna miss any of that. For sure, yeah. And with you and you're his brother, you're standing by his side. At any point throughout all this, are you guys not in contact with each other

or are you always super close through everything? No, we were close through all that for sure. And it's one of the things, like I had hoped when he came back to AEW, we would have been able to kind of resume things and have a good run, because that was kind of the initial goal there, but it didn't come to fruition.

Yeah, so it's happening in TNA, man. Yes, perfect. And there's great history with both of you with that company. Would you be okay if, I've heard you talk about WWE, but it seems like you're so happy in TNA. I have to ask, would you be okay if the rest of your days are with TNA? Maybe. Okay. So I think we do want to, I think we do want to do the WWE Hall of Fame. I think we would like maybe one last hurrah with WWE. And that could even be possible while working with TNA too.

So I mean, we'll see. I mean, it would be nice to still have the most limited schedule we could have, which would optimize the amount of time we can spend at home with our families and our kids. But yeah, I mean, everything's kind of up in the air right now, you know? And we're, we both feel good, and I think we're going to rock and roll as long as we feel like we can do it. One of you has been asked to go into the WWE Hall of Fame, right? But not as a duo.

Yes, Jeff was. Jeff. Yeah. And why is that? Why do you think you were asked and not Matt? Because I worked at AEW at the time. Okay, so you've been gone now for over a year. Do you think it's coming? I mean, yeah, yeah, we'll definitely do it.

It's inevitable. We'll help him one day, yeah. Yes, would you like for it to be sooner rather than later? Do you care? I mean, I'm not in a rush, you know, so, yeah. So they came. I was thinking 2030, I mean, that's. 2030, that's your. You know, so, yeah. I was thinking 2030. I mean, that's what I'm thinking. 2030, that's your, okay.

So they came to you and said, we want to put you in and you said, I'm not going in alone. Yeah. Wow. What was their reaction? It just felt weird. It didn't feel right at all.

So it's not time for me to do that. And it just didn't feel right going in without Matt. But yeah, I don't know. It was just that in the moment, man, that's the way I felt. And how did they receive that? Did they understand? Okay. Okay. Well, well good luck. Okay in your future endeavors, right that one again Did you ever think you'd live in a time where Vince McMahon is alive but not working for WWE?

That is doubtful. Yeah, I do would not have expected that Still seems weird, right? Still seems weird. We actually just talked about this on the podcast. It seems like he's up to something again. And I still think in his heart and soul, I mean, it's just like his entire life, he's been a wrestling and a promoter. I think he still kind of yearns to do that again.

So it'll be interesting to see what happens. I mean, obviously he's got obstacles in the path that he would have to overcome, but it's wild seeing WDB out there and Vincent Mann not at the head of it. Matt mentioned that he was a big fan of yours, especially when you had that singles run. Can I ask about just like his belief in you?

What was the relationship like when you were given that opportunity to be like, in many respects, one of the faces of the company at that point. The only time we've had a real like interaction man, was after that brother versus brother match at Mania. Like we get some time cut off that match and there were some spots we had to cut out that I was so upset about,

because this was our you know, Bret and Owen Hart match. And we had a little like, not an altercation, but backstage and he really saw like how passionate I was about that match and that I wanted to get those spots in. But, and so yeah, but that's it. Other than that, man, we've really had

not many conversations whatsoever. Really, at all? Yeah, just a few interactions after matches and nothing huge at all. Wow, even when you were champ? Even when I was champ, yeah. Really? I just showed up and worked.

Did your thing. Yeah. I just think, you know, like, Jeff, like, there's so many people that would be looking to get ahead or be looking to angle something they wanted to do or whatever, get in better with the bot. I mean, those things don't go through his mind. Wow.

They just don't. I mean, he is just him, and he exists. Like, sometimes even I just think, like, oh, my God, I wish I could have his mind. Wow. They just don't. I mean, he is just him and he exists. Like sometimes even I just think like, oh my God, I wish I could have his brain. When it comes to that, you know, as far as turning to be like aggressive or move ahead or, you know, jump on top of it or take advantage of an opportunity you've been given

and make it into something bigger or better, whatever. He just, he doesn't process things like that. He's just him and he exists. He's cool. He's an enigma. And he just, him and he exists. He's cool, he's an enigma, and it's very genuine. I mean, people look at him and they wanna be him because they see someone who is like that.

Like, he really, he's the most laid back, cool guy ever, rarely ever gets mad, doesn't have a temper, and that time when he fired up after our WrestleMania 25 match on Vince, I was like, whoa, that was kinda... Were you back there? I was. You were surprised. Yeah, I was. I was surprised by that. I mean, but he, Vince did see his passion. I think actually that probably gained you respect in Vince's eyes as well.

For sure. And even back in 08 or whenever it was, like I heard through the grapevine that I might've been selling more merchandise than Cena, you know, so I was, I was thriving, man. And I knew that, my connection with the people, I mean, I knew that, my connection with the people. I mean, I knew what was going on, but yeah, I just kept being me. I don't even, you talk about kind of living in your own world.

There was a writer during that period named Freddie Prince Jr. who was working for it. The famous actor, which was wild when you would hear like, wait, Freddie Prince Jr. works for WWE? Did you even know who he was? Because I know he was a big fan of yours and was pushing the idea of you being champ. And he's talked about like having battles internally

about that, did you know that this was Freddie Prince Jr., like famous dude? Oh, for sure. Okay, you were aware. Yeah, for sure, yeah. Because I could see a world where you're like. He was the biggest advocate for Jeff. Yes, yes.

I'm so grateful for that, yeah. He fought and clawed and scratched for Jeff. Did you work closely with him? Or did you just allow him to fight? Not too closely. The main thing I remember was there was one, like right after I'd won the title. Did he push the paint to like painting your face?

Maybe so, yeah, bringing the paint back. But it was just like right after, for my celebration in Baltimore, when I won the world title for the first time, it was like he was, me and him were talking about, it was the thing like here we go or something simple like that at the beginning of the show. And that was pretty much all I learned.

Other than that, there wasn't much, man. He just, again, allowed me to be me. I wish I could be this chill. Yeah, he is. He's just unbelievable. It's unbelievable. It is. Freddie, Freddie, Freddie Prince is great, man.

Great dude. Yeah, and a huge fan still of the product. But I remember just hearing like, wait, Freddie Prince Jr. is working for WWE as a creative team member. It's an amazing thing. I saw you mentioned Joe Hendry. Love the guy, loved him getting the opportunity

in WrestleMania against Randy Orton. I saw you do a little like impromptu concert with him a few months back when you came back and you got to sing your song. What is it about this guy? and do you think that he has what it takes to to be one of the real players in the in the business now? Because it's an amazing backstory him getting this opportunity and after all these years grinding away. Yeah without a doubt in the way he uses social media

man he's just yeah he's destined to be amazingly like huge and naturally a WWE champion one day I'm sure but Jay's just got what he's got that it factor what's amazing about this is you guys know like 2000 WWE they aren't working with TNA right they're not doing this sort of thing why does it work now why does it happen now like there there was once a time like we don't co-promote with other people we're not propping up we're not sending our talent to different promotions, what's the difference? Errol, why do you think it's happening now?

Well, I have an idea, but I think I'd prefer to hear your idea. No, it's the big man's not there, right? Or do you think it's a different reason? No, I mean, I would guess too, part of it is AW and its existence. Okay, so you think that's a better answer than mine, if I'm being honest.

Let's prop these guys up, let's give these guys the opportunity to block out these guys without beating around the bush? I mean, I think that could obviously be a feasible option. Do you think it's working? It's helping us, no doubt. So, and I think it's, I mean, TNA is a company that's been around over two decades 20 plus years

And and I think it's an important staple of pro wrestling and they do a style that is more similar to the WWE style You know, so I think it's I think it's a good call. I think it's a win-win for everybody Do you think they'll ever be a period where it's more WWT NA as opposed to NXT TNA? It it could be, especially with some select acts, I think, from my understanding, kind of how things are. Maybe like a very famous tag team. Maybe, you know, Joe Henry. It's just, once again, with Joe Henry,

he is a very special guy. Him manifesting things into reality is pretty impressive. And even like some of the, when he had the match with Randy Orton, which I loved, and it was good for him. I can promise you, so we do mean greets, and ours have been legendary

because we end up staying there till 1.32 in the morning when they start at like 10 p.m. at night. We sound for three and a half four hours You know do with thousands of people But Joe Henry's I noticed his lines grew I mean that that match he had with Randy there's some people that were very critical of it because it was Four minutes relative four minutes, whatever else but I mean this is a TNA champion Showing up on WrestleMania the biggest platform you can possibly be on wrestling Randy Orton

Who is one of the GOATs, one of the greatest of all time, which I love Randy, I think Jeff does as well. And he goes out there, he has a match with him, and Joe is still kind of in this phase of his career where he's like not this ultra-serious killer character, you know, he still has a lot of fun and a lot of comedy. You know, he turns around into the thing

and there's an RKO to nowhere. I mean, it worked out perfectly. It was a positive for Joe Henry, it was a positive for TNA. I even think it was a very exciting moment for WWE fans to get to see Joe Henry show up and it's like something that was unprecedented as a TNA champion just accepting an open challenge at WrestleMania. I think Joe Henry does have a huge potential moving forward in the business. I just think once again, twerking his deal,

he'll probably have to become a little bit more of a serious character in whatever he's doing. Okay. You know, but I think it's very special what he is. You can't get away from the essence of what got him over, which is being fun and doing goofy things and his crazy songs that he sings to people and whatever, they're so entertaining. He's just super entertaining and he knows how to be viral. I'll let you guys go in a moment, but one question that people love

is the Mount Rushmore question. I'm sure you've been asked this before, maybe not. Who would be on your tag team Mount Rushmore? You can include yourselves. Who comes to mind? Four teams. What do you say? I got to go to the rock and roll express, okay? Gosh the free birds. I'm gonna go with the free birds my Jimmy Garvin Michael Hayes

And The road warriors, okay. I like this old school. Yeah, just because the face paint, you know, yeah always attracted to that and And gosh the rocker show Michaels and Marty Gennady, okay. I You don't include yourself by the way, no, you can't do that. No, no, no, okay. I appreciate that respect This is this is where we'll be okay. I like that. I like that. I'm much more egotistical So so so looking back at an outside, I mean that. I'm much more egotistical than you. So looking back in hindsight, I mean, the Road Wars are a really interesting act. Because they legit drew money,

they were like a main event star, they sold tickets, people wanted to see them come out and kill people. But if you had the Road Wars, even peak prom Road Wars in today's wrestling, it'd be interesting to see how they would fare. Just because could they go out and they have a great 10 minute match with someone, 12 minute match, whatever else, I don't know.

I think they had a special niche and that'll always stand for those guys. It would be interesting to see how they would have tested throughout all of time if they'd been in different eras. But I would say the Road Wars. Okay. All right. I thought you were giving me a reason why they're being excluded But they're still no no no I would say the Road Wars because they they they they were the first tag team that

Became like the most famous most main event tag team in history I would say the Dudley's okay, just because they're so decorated they have won so many titles Which we're still working on keeping up with them I would say the Hardys and then as a fourth tag team, the Rock and Roll Express is good, but I'm also kind of split on Arne and Tole too. I'm also a big Arne and Tole.

Okay. Down south, four horsemen. Yeah. Yeah. No edging Christian. Well, tough, tough. They're a great tag team, but in reality they didn't team that long. I mean, once again, we've won four major world tag team titles.

In four decades, we've won major world tag team titles. As you Christian, they had that run from 99 to 2003, whatever else, and they did return at the Rumble and at A&W. I don't know, we'll see. Maybe they can make their way on to the A&W, brother. It's almost impossible. Yeah. Please, please.

You know? It's an impossible question to answer. I would put the Heart Foundation. I adored the Heart Foundation. Yep. That heart attack, that finishing move, there was something about it that I tried to recreate. I mean, there's so many great tag teams. Harlem Heat.

Harlem Heat, oh gosh, yes, yes. I mean, there's so many. Who's Soes Now, New Day Now. Who's Soes New Day. Why is tag team wrestling not as great now, in your opinion, as back then? There just aren't as many natural, it's a lot of teams that are cobbled together,

it doesn't feel like it gets pushed as much. This is not a new thing, but it's certainly like a decade old thing Why do you think that is? I? Don't know the one thing I think that was so good about us and we were so fortunate when Vince was running show So so Vince always he wanted to sold out buildings. He was looking for people even with tag teams He didn't really care about tag teams He wanted to break people away from tag teams and make them singles draws

So they would sell more tickets and you know I want stars where these two guys fighting the main event You know, it's gonna sell out immediately, you know And during that period we had stone cold and there was the rock and they had DX going on You know, there was a there was a lot of stars. So the star power was there all at the top So I felt like he's like, okay. Well, we're good with all these guys on top Let's work on some people on the underneath card. And the tag team division got an opportunity. And we were there to get that opportunity.

I feel like it was the first time they had that chance to shine since the days of the British Bulldogs, Heart Foundation, Demolition, those guys, had that opportunity to shine. And we get to go out and we were given the ball and I felt like we ran with it. Yes, 100%, Bulldogs, another great one. Shout out to them, they're right over there.

Oh, there they are. Matilda, shout out to Matilda. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Legend, legend. As are you guys, July 20th, UBS Arena, Slammiversary. Do we have your assignment yet? We do.

We do. We have our assignment. We are officially getting our rematch for the TNA World Tag Team titles, baby It's gonna be myself and Jeff versus the champions the Nemeth's Nick and Ryan Nemeth versus first-class Versus the rascals in a four-way tag team ladder match. Okay Shout out to Nick Nemeth. He just got mentioned by John Cena. Yeah, not a bad promo Yeah, not not a bad promo like that. I did

The John Cena turning-hill thing's been super interesting. I think it's just I know it's been polarizing to a lot of people And there's been a lot of criticism of it and some I kind of understand But just to see John Cena go in this whole new light Yeah, I think has been very cool. It feels like he's he's been repackaged and kind of reborn Yes, that would be the perfect way to describe. I think TNA we pack it. Yes born Yeah, it's been great to see it's been great to see and it's been great to have you guys in studio Really? I really appreciate it. And I just wish you guys nothing about the best. Thank you for all the great memories But just this longevity that you've had through all the ups and downs to see you in this spot now

Happy healthy thriving. I think I speak for all fans from back then it and downs to see you in this spot now. Happy, healthy, thriving. I think I speak for all fans from back then. It's beautiful to see. So I wish you nothing but the best. Perhaps till what? Were we going till 60, till 70? What's the, have we put a cap? Are we going 10 more years, 15 more years?

What do we think? I don't know, we're just gonna ride the spiral till it ends. Okay, no cap, no cap. Just go as far as you can go. I'm still trying to work this theory out. It's like our bodies, our containers, are like old iPhones or something, and we don't qualify for the upgrade to exist

and be active in the AEW simulation. Wow. Something like that. Wow, okay. So maybe that's what we're into. There's a care-seeker reference. That's a good one. We'll end on that.

Matt, Jeff, thank you so much. Appreciate you guys. And again, July 20th, UBS Arena, right here in New York, Long Island, to be exact, slam-aversary, TNA on fire these days. And these men are leading the charge. We'll take a quick break, say goodbye to them, and be back right after this.

Perhaps my favorite moment from this past week in Las Vegas, tremendous stuff. By the boys in the back, tremendous stuff with the Hardys. What a great honor. What a great privilege. Wow. It was having them in studio. That was incredible. We'll keep the train rolling along on July 12th. Massive show at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens. Flushing Meadows. Usually they play a little tennis there. A little US Open action. July 12th we're getting getting ring three the third ring card headed up of course by Turkey I'll shake this one headlined by a dynamic that has become very spicy as of late Edgar Berlanga of

course representing New York and Puerto Rico going up against England's own Hamza Shiraz also in the co-main event Williams Apeyda against Shakur Stevenson it's a great card you got the likes of David Morrell and Subriyya Mathias on the card as well another stacked offering And so without further ado as we continue to get closer and closer to that card Let us say hello to one half of the main event the one and only Hamza Shiraz is here. Hello my friend How are you? It's good to see you again. Thank you so much. I like the hat. Thank you very much You're a proper New Yorker. Andy Lee is here legend. Good to see you again. Thank you so much. I like the hat. Thank you very much. You're a proper New Yorker. I'm getting the New Yorker.

Andy Lee is here. Legend. Good to see you, my friend. Wow. I love Andy Lee. What a guy. Your new head coach, your new head trainer. Yep. Yep. We have a lot to discuss. So thank you so much for coming in.

And sorry we were a little bit late. I know you're busy these days. By the way, when did you come to New York? We got here three days ago. But you were here back in May for the press conference for the for the first fight here, right? I'm Garcia fight. Yes. I saw you there then I come back for the press conference. Oh gosh, and then I'm that's a lot of traveling Yeah, it's not too bad to be in the midst of training camp. That was a start We timed it perfectly. Okay first First time fighting in the United States. First time.

How does that feel? Was this a big deal for you when you got the call? Okay, now I can leave Europe. I can leave not the Middle East, not Europe, the Big Apple. Yeah, it is. It is because ever since I was a young child, you're watching these big, big fights, MSG, Vegas, you name it, and now we're here in America. Okay, so I wanted to get through everything leading up to this fight, but I did want to ask you about some breaking news

Yeah, I don't know if you saw it Turkey. I'll shake saying that he spoke to Tyson Fury this one Yeah, you saw that outside. Yeah surprise. Well for those that don't know Turkey said he spoke to Tyson Fury. He's coming back in 2026. No further details, but he did say they have a rabbit to catch Yeah, referring to Are you surprised by this information? Uh, not at all. No, not at all. Not anyone is everyone knows what Tyson Fury is like. Everyone knows what it's about and the dynamics of the sport of boxing right now, I think, especially where if he was Tyson Fury,

you wouldn't be so wise to walk away, even though he could, cause he's achieved it all. But I think the space boxing is in now, it kind of, it's only right he stays. My hot take, I don't really have much interest in the third fight, give me Tyson versus Joshua. That's what I want as well. That's the one.

Give me that one over the Usyk fight. But I think it's more for Tyson Fury himself. That's what it's for, it's more for himself as a fighter, it's for his ego, he needs to get that one back. Because if you look at the two fights, the first fight, all right, I thought we were sick. When it second fight was a lot closer. So if you're going off that, I think in his head, the third fight, he's gonna he's gonna dogma. But you never know. Do you think we ever see Tyson versus AJ? I'd love to see that. I'd love to see that. You think we see it though? Do you think we ever see Tyson versus AJ? I'd love to see that. I'd love to see that.

You think we see it though? I think we will see it. You think we will? I think maybe end of next year, end of 2026, I think we'll see it. Who wins? Oh, I'd have to, oh, I don't know, you know. It's a 50-50. I'm not being political, I'm answer, but I don't know. I don't know. I think it's genuine 50-50.

Could you imagine if we get AJ versus Jake Jake Paul before AJ vs. Tyson Fury? I won't be surprised. God. I won't be surprised, especially how Jake Paul's going now, the trajectory he's on, and the way, you never know, man. You can't rule it out. Are you a fan of what he's doing? I am.

You are? I am, I am a fan. I am a fan. I feel like he could have chose any other sport, but he chose boxing. You're going in the ring, you're risking your life. So there's a respect there for him. Yeah. And he's improving with every fight.

And he's stepping up in his fights as well. He is stepping up and I get it. They're tailoring the opponents to him. But that's how every every pro fighter. 9 and 0, 10 and 0. I mean, exactly, exactly exactly and I know this sounds mad But I won't be surprised if with the right world champion. He fights for a world title Yeah, he's now 14th in the WBA ranking so he could fight for a belt which is wild crazy when you think about it

It's nuts, but I just yeah It's nice to see a fighter give him props because I do think he is taking the sport seriously Yeah, I do know that there are some issues regarding or some criticism regarding who he picks to fight Yeah, but if you compare Julio Cesar Chavez jr. At 39 to someone who a prospect would fight at 9 and 0 10 and 0 It's kind of equal if not Julio with his experience is greater. Yeah. Yeah enough for sure I think the only reason he gets he gets hate is because Fighters compare themselves to him. They shouldn't do that because he built his YouTube platform from when he was a young kid.

And he's using his own initiative to bring that and cross that over with the sport of boxing. So if anything, as a pro fighter, as a pro boxer, we should appreciate that. I appreciate you and I appreciate this card very much. It's a great card. It's very unique that it's happening at the tennis stadium Yeah, I actually went to a wrestling event there maybe two years ago And because it's a tennis stadium the seats go so deep and it's not like a big open You know, like if you go to an event that Wembley or Hot Toys Stadium It's very flat because of the field. Yeah the pitch right here the tennis

Court is so small. The fans are gonna feel like they're on top of you. I think it's brilliant. It's a very unique setting and it's you and Edgar Berlanga and the back and forth between you guys has been very entertaining. Now it's a lot of barking on his end and I wonder if any of it is sort of out of character for you because he's like poking you, poking you, poking you and I feel like you're such a mild mannered, classy guy that you have to sometimes push back. Is any of this uncomfortable for you? It's not really because I expected it. Okay. As soon as I knew I was fighting him I expected it so already mentally you're ahead. Okay. It's not like oh you're fighting someone who doesn't speak and all of a sudden they've started saying this that the other. I was prepared for it. I was prepared for it. I find it quite entertaining

to be fair. You do? I'm cheering, I'm like enjoying it. I'm taking it in, I'm enjoying it. Some of the stuff he's coming out with is quite comical. But then at the end of the day, what I like about it is it puts a lot more, not pressure, but more expectation on the fight and therefore we both have to deliver. Yeah. You know, we both have to deliver and that we shall do. So it's interesting because you are coming off a, a split draw, your first sort of blemish, if you will. Could you have ever imagined that your next fight

would arguably be the biggest fight of your career in terms of exposure platform, right? Yeah, it's crazy. Not at all. And I can only thank his excellency for that, for giving me the opportunity because after the last fight, it was hard because it was territory I haven't been in before.

You gotta remember you're going from knocking everyone out, being the next best thing, to like, oh, he's reached his level now, I don't, we don't think he'll, he will get better than that. And it's, it's not hard to live with, but you have to learn to get over it. And it took me a good seven, eight weeks. And then by the time I was like coming to terms with it, I was sitting on the beach and then I got the phone call from his excellency and Dr. Rakan. I got the phone call and they said, this, said, this is going to be your next fight. And it's like snap out of it now.

Let's concentrate on the next one. The future is where it's at. How were those seven, eight weeks in the aftermath? Yeah, it was, it was, it was difficult because you see people's energy changing up. You see people's energy towards you changing up and you hear it as a young fighter, you hear all these experiences of fighters who have been before you talking about when you lose or when you don't get a win everyone changes up and you're like yeah yeah whatever whatever when I get there I'll see what it's like

and not until you're truly in that position you understand what it takes and you learn a lot about yourself as well. So when you say people's energies are you talking about the fans or you talking about people with more people closer to me? Yeah, more really. Yeah, I felt like people turn their back on you. Yeah, like ex-team members, ex kind of like friends and whatnot, just people around you. Just because you had a draw. Yeah, literally, literally, because I don't know what their intentions were, but at the same time, I understand it was my choice to have them people around me at the time But the good thing is I feel like it was a blessing from God to say

Clear these people. Yeah, your path is clear and you can go to the top Had you seen signs of this because obviously the big news was you change teams You're now with Andy Lee over in Ireland one of the best trainers in the game I think it's a brilliant move but was this something you were thinking of going into that fight or did it crystallize in the aftermath? Like were you not even thinking, like the sky, it was very smooth sailing for you, right? Leading up to that fight at the Damas. Did you think in the back of your mind that your

time was coming to an end with the the squad that you had or was it only in the aftermath? It was, it was and even though it was smooth sailing in the fights, because the fights were kind of pretty short or you was dominant in the fight, you get away with it. You get away with it and it takes a good fighter to change when you're winning, because you think, oh, I'm getting away with it,

I can carry on and carry on. That was what happened with me. And then until I hit a blemish, I was like, all right, now I need to really kind of sort myself out and iron a few things out and Make a change. I Don't want to I don't want to be fake in front of you in the aftermath of the fight I said, I thought you lost. Yep. Am I wrong? I've watched the fight back and I thought I thought a draw was a fair result to okay

I thought is a for a result whether that's me talking from me being inside the ring and me being the fighter, I don't know. But yeah, I think what makes it worse as well is where I was winning, winning, winning, winning, winning, and then you have a blemish in which no one expected. It makes it a lot more dramatized to say the least. But yeah. Did you take him lightly? No, no, no. Definitely didn't take him lightly, but what I didn't cope with well was being injured so early on in the fight, and I adapted when it come to, I think around 11 and 12, but it was too late then.

Yeah. It was too late. Fourth or fifth round? You broke your hand? Yeah, fourth or fifth round, yeah. Okay. Hit him on the top of the head and boom, it went. And then it was like a panic inside.

You could tell right away. Yeah, you can like, shit, I've not been there before, what do I do, what do I do? And because you're winning before, you don't even take these things into consideration. So like normally before, you can like mentally prepare for these things, or if I get knocked down, this is what I'm gonna do.

You can almost prepare yourself for being there before. And I never did, I think I'd break my hand. Never, that's like the last thing that I thought would happen. You've never done that before? No, never. And then it happened and then I adapted too late. So it wasn't just the performance, the scorecards. There was this clip that came out of Turkey,

like kind of like trying to speak to your corner. So there were all these things that people were coming at you with. None really your fault. You fought the fight, you didn't score the fight. You didn't do any, you just went out there and did your thing. Did you feel like, like, man, everyone's coming after me?

Like, what is this? Because this was all very foreign to you, right? You've been sort of the golden boy for a while. Exactly, exactly. It wasn't that, it was like when his accident had come to the corner, it was actually quite reassuring to be fair, like, oh, this guy's got my back, you know?

I mean, this guy's got my back. But then at the same time when that was happening, in my head, I was still trying to get over my hand. So there was like all these external factors coming in and you're trying to process it, process it, process it. But if you don't do it enough, it turns into like just a blur and you don't know what direction to go in. So, yeah.

And so why didn't they run it back? Because I was moved up away. Was it even discussed? I know you're now at 168, that was 160, but was there any talk? Okay, this was Inconclusive let's do one more 160 or was that it was it would have been impossible couldn't do it anymore No, you know I do what I'd love to yeah, I've to have done I run it back straight away, but it's just I won't how tough are these cuts

You know the 160 cut yeah, they are really really tough like for the for the last fight Normally I make weight on the night before. And then I wake up in the morning, have a bit of breakfast and then go to the way and I'm good, I'm good on weight. But this time I woke up on the day, on the day of the weigh in like three pounds overweight still dry as anything. And then we was trying to take the weight off for about a good three and a half hours and off three and a half hours.

It finally just come off and we just made the way and just in time. If you would have won, knocked him out, do you think you still would be moving on? No, no way, no way. I would have, regardless, I would have moved on. You were done? Okay, wow. 160.

And obviously we're not quite there. We're still, what are we, 10 days away, but not having to worry about that extra weight to cut. How has the camp been? It's been good. It's been very good. To be fair, in terms of weight, this camp, the prep is pretty much the same.

It's just the cut that you don't have to do as much. So it's not looming, right? Exactly. You haven't got a finger in the back of your head, oh, I'm going to do it. I've got to be ready for this. That's normally the fight before the fight. This time I can go in there and I know the cut won't be that bad. I had heard you say, I think it was to Darren Barker, where you said like no you got like four positive messages people reaching out Yeah, Tony Bellew was one of them, right? He's one of them. No one like was offering any support or no not really not I expected it because I think when I said that yeah on social media I think people thought I was like trying to feel sorry for myself. No, no, that wasn't the case

I was just saying that I heard it from I think Sergio Marti and as he said it once and It is real It's a real it's a real thing. Normally when you do when you get our left right bomb Yeah, I'm here dude is a man. Yes interview that interview. You're the man blah blah blah Then it was just like dead nothing silence. I do think sometimes at least from a media perspective Sometimes we're like afraid to reach out. Yeah. Yeah, we don't want to say like oh condolences Yeah, but some you respect that space you want to give no I get that I don't think it comes like, oh, condolences. But you respect that space. You want to give it space. Sometimes I don't think it comes from a nasty place.

To be fair, it wasn't so much the media there was there, but not that so much. There's more, the people around me. The people, I got you. And so you make the switch. You decide to go with Andy. How soon after the fight did you make that call? Almost instantly. Really?

Yeah, almost instantly. And was it always Andy or was it just, I need to make a switch and now we have to look? No, to be fair, it was always he was always a name like being mentioned I mean always a name being mentioned being associated with how I am tall, middle weight Yep, and whatnot and then when I sat down with the team it was like Let's let's reach out to him. Okay. Luckily he accepted it. And so you went you went actually to watch him Yeah, and it's amazing, like he's become, I don't know, the guy who rejuvenates fighters. He's become like this fighter whisperer, likes

of Joseph Parker, Ben Whitaker, yourself among others. The moment you went there, did you feel at home right away? You went to his gym in Ireland, right? Yeah, I went to Ireland, went to watch him train training Ben Whitaker for a bit. And I liked what I saw. I liked what I saw. What did you like? What did you feel? Just the energy, the instant energy. And just when I spoke to him, nothing was forced. Normally when you speak to some people, sometimes it's a bit forced, it's a little bit awkward and they don't kind of understand how you are. And in the first kind of week at camp, he

figured out how I am pretty quick and no one's really done that before because I can come across a bit, not awkward but a bit different and he picked it up straight away. I know you used to train in LA. But how did you feel in Ireland? I felt at home. You feel more comfortable? I felt at home.

I felt definitely at home. Very, very welcoming city. A fighting city as well. So yeah, it was a nice place to do camp. Bieber going to show up to? Don't think he's going to show up to Dublin. Are you guys still boys? No, it was just that one session. This one is the famous one right here.

Just that one time. What happened was I was finishing one of my sessions in the gym and then the coach at the time, he got the phone call from Justin saying, I want to come down. And he was like, Oh, you might as well hang around. So I waited for him. And then he wanted to spar and there was no one to spar. And I said, you know what, just punch me. Just like I'll be a physical bag. And that was it really. Pete Slauson And how was his? Justin Badergott How long ago was that by the way? Pete Slauson pretty, I was- How long ago was that by the way? Oh, this was- He looks so much younger there.

Three, four years? This was three. Okay. Three years or two years, I don't know. And yeah, it was a- How many rounds? Three rounds. Okay.

But I didn't throw a- You didn't throw a punch? No, no, no. Not a single one? It was just, yeah, I think it was more like- You literally let him punch you? Yeah, yeah, I think it was more of a stress reliever for him. Okay.

It was one of them ones. Were you wearing anything, like any headgear or anything? Yeah, I had headgear on. Okay. He was going to the body too? Yeah, going think it was more of a stress reliever for him. Okay. It was one of them ones. Were you wearing anything? Like any headgear or anything? Yeah, I had headgear on. Okay. He was going to the body too? Yeah, going to the body. Golly. It was more like, shit man, this is Justin Bieber. Yeah, you don't want to knock him out too.

Yeah, I mean, but yeah. You didn't even like faint or anything? No, nothing. Wow. I mean, you're a tall guy, so you provide a big canvas, which to paint on. And that was it? You never saw him again? That was it. Oh wow.

Okay. No celebrities like Justin Bieber showing up at the gym in Ireland, right? No, no, no. Ireland is very secluded. It's good energy to work there because it's literally the days we're there, it's just whoever's with me, the team, my young brother and Andy. And we're working working working game plan Strategies working smart and working hard. How do you think they they landed on Berlanga is your next opponent?

in all honesty, I don't know okay, I don't know I don't know but as soon as the Phone call got put to me. I was like, yeah, let's go. I didn't have to discuss it Of course. Yeah, what a name he has insinuated that you've been told you win this fight, you're getting Canelo. Yeah. Is that true? No, no, I haven't been told nothing. No, I haven't been, I think he's built up

this kind of preconception. He's sort of painting this picture that you're the golden boy, that you're their guy. I think that's to, I think what that is is I feel like he's underestimating me and he needs something to kind of. You think so? Yeah, I think so. Get himself going. And I think that's what it is in a fight like this

It's almost a blessing your last performance because maybe he's basing it off exactly and I think what it is him coming Surviving 12 runs of Canelo now. He's like almost mr. Invincible in his head. Yeah, no one can stop me No one can stop me. Do you know I mean is his is his? recollection of the Canelo fight amusing to you? Because he speaks of the fight is that it was like God he warned. I know, but it was nothing like that. It was not.

He done well. He done well. It was better than William Skull. Yeah. He done better than everyone expected. But yeah, definitely not what he's got in his head. Better than everyone expected. Did you expect him to get whooped by Canelo? Did you expect him? I expect him to get stopped to be fair.

You did? Yeah, I expect him to get stopped to be fair. This version of Canelo isn't stopping many people though. I think what it is, he knows how to win without doing much. Right. He doesn't need to. If he catches you, he hurts you. But there's no kind of hunger and desire to really come after you and

put you away because you know how to just cruise around really. Do you think he beats Terrence? I think he beats Terrence. You do? I do think he beats Terrence. Size? I think there's weight classes for a reason and if you watched a interview with Crawford a few years ago even he said it himself he said it himself he said he don't think himself and Canelo will fight because they're weight classes for a reason Wow, and he's naturally the bigger heavier fighter But then when when there's money on the table It changes and when it's financially rewarding. Why not risk it? Do you think it's competitive?

I'll be competitive. Okay, because this skill Crawford skill set is Incredible. Yeah, and that will will take him to a certain Level in the fight. Maybe I'm crazy. I think Crawford wins skill set is phenomenal. Yeah. And that will take him to a certain level in the fight. Maybe I'm crazy. I think Crawford wins. You reckon? Yes. What makes you say that? I think he's a little bit younger.

He, his, well, Canelo's performances as of late have not been very inspiring, but I also think he's just doing enough to win. As you said, he doesn't- But wouldn't you base it off the level of opponent that he's got? I mean- Now that he's got Crawford,

don't you think he's gonna be like more- 100%. But I don't know. You see them side by side. He's not that much bigger than him, right? He's not that much bigger. Crawford, I think people have sort of forgotten, like the Crawford who fought Errol Spence. I know the Madrimau fight wasn't anything to write home about, but that was his first time at 154. And I know this is at 168. But the guy who fought Errol Spence, that was a masterful performance. The way he switches stances, the way he boxed. And I know Spence maybe was on the back end and maybe not 100% and the weight cut and all that. But I don't know, I think he pulls it off. I think he's a little more motivated.

I think Canelo's legacy is set. I think Crawford is still trying to tell everyone who he is and set his legacy. This is the one that will do it. This is the one that will cement him as one of the greatest of all time. He's got more of a reason to... Kind of do. Yeah, yeah. Well, I won't write it off.

I won't write it off because he's such a skillful fighter, but I'm going to Canelo. Yeah, fair enough. Do you want the winner of that fight or in particular if it's Canelo? Because I would imagine Crawford, win or lose, probably doesn't stick around at 68. There's no point. If it is Canelo, do you want that winner?

I mean, why not? I mean, why not? I mean, why not? Why not shoot for the stars? Do you know what I mean? Shoot for the stars. But one of the mistakes I made in my last fight was, was looking at other fights while I didn't get this one out of the way.

Do you know what I mean? I don't want to, I know I got to answer your question, but I don't want to over overlook Edgar Belanger. But shooting for the stars, yeah, a hundred percent. Is there really a $100,000 bet between you two? We shook on it. We shook on it. And what is it? Just the winner gets it? Just the winner gets it.

Are we talking pounds or USD here? I don't know. What did he say? Dollars? Did he say dollars? Yeah, probably. Yeah. If I win, then it's pounds. Yeah, yeah. It's better for you. That's why I want to make that clear. And so just the winner. And do you think, will you pay up if you lose? Yeah, 100%. You think he will?

He should do, he should do. Cause it was his idea. One of those necklaces he was wearing was probably worth that. He could just give me one of them. Yeah, yeah. What do you think of his style? It's not, it's not for me.

I think we're like polar opposites. Yes. Because you're wearing the double breasted. I see you on GQ and all that. You got the slick back hair. His style is very, there you are right there. GQ Middle East. There you go. A quiet storm yeah his style is very there you are right there GQ Middle East there you go a quiet storm he's very New York yeah he is he is very he's very out there yes very out there very outgoing

but I mean each to their own so you wouldn't wear the the necklaces like that and all that not your sleep no why not just not me it wouldn't suit me no yeah no I don't I don't think so And him in a double breasted. That don't work either, does it? No. So you don't think he respects you? No. Really? No.

But that's good because I've got to go in and earn my respect, so I don't mind doing that. Is it just based on the way he's speaking or is it the way... I've been fighting long enough to be able to read the room. Wow. Read the room when you're with another fighter, when you're doing these face-offs and these sit-downs. So yeah, I've experienced it.

Okay, when you're doing those face-offs and he's talking and he's talking and he's interrupting you and he's saying these things, is it hard to keep your cool? Not really, not really because like- You don't want to like jump over the table there? No, no, no, I'm pretty chill like that. Yeah.

It's just, I feel like if I did do that, then he's got me where he wants me. Emotionally involved, you know what I mean? Emotionally involved, no. I can't get to kind of play into his hands. Do you think he's overrated? Err... to be fair, not many people rate him as much as I thought they did, to be fair. Really? So if anything, he's underrated. If anything, he's underrated. But I know I'm going in there respecting what he's good at, respecting what he's good at

because he can punch. But I know that I've just got to concentrate on my game plan and do what I do best. Are you getting messages from people in New York? Yeah, loads of Puerto Ricans. Really? Loads of Puerto Ricans. Don't like it. The Puerto Ricans in particular. Yeah, genuinely. After the last press conference, I swear to you, I've said it again, I've got loads and loads and loads of messages from them. Like what? Shut this guy up? He doesn't represent us. Wow. We like you, you're humble, we've got your back. And that was it. Surprising? Very surprising. Yeah. Very surprising. Is he saying that you're coming to his turf? Yeah, I know, but I feel like it's my turf. Yeah. You know what I mean? I feel like it's my turf.

Why? But yeah, it's refreshing. A lot of Mexican support as well. Really? A lot of Mexican support, yeah. I wonder why. Just I don't know. I think the way that you kind of

Conduct yourself? Yeah, exactly. Very like professional. Very, you know, you box for more than just the cameras. Yeah, yeah. Box for a reason within yourself, you know what I mean? I think they see that, they see you for what you truly are. I'd love to ask you about your background if I can. Your uncle was a great boxer, right?

Won many amateur titles. Amateur national titles, yeah. Your father was a great cricketer. Yeah, he played cricket. Kamran? Yeah, Kamran. Yeah, like is this like Um, Carmen, Camron. Yeah, Camron. Yeah. Uh, like, is this like professional? Yeah, professional level. Like akin to the Premier League?

Yeah, like county level cricket. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, uh, why didn't you go down that path? Why didn't you follow your father or did you at one point? When I'm, when I'm cutting weight, some days I do think that I should have just played cricket. Yeah. Were you good? Yeah, I can play. I'm good at it. Yeah. Um, but I don't know, boxing just from young, it kind of, I was more attracted to it.

And from a young star, I think it was more, I enjoyed the sessions a lot more. Uh, I enjoyed the friendship circles a lot more, um, at the time. And then progressively throughout my amateur career, it was just more something I was doing to, to give me something to do, to stay off the wrong path to stay on the right path and then Towards the end of it. I had enough of it of our box amateur box and I had enough because I had bills to pay

So then I got a job and then doing what I was the electrical apprenticeship Okay, I was do like fixing sockets and lights, you name it. So did you quit? And then I quit that as well. I quit boxing. Oh, you quit boxing? And yeah, and then I started doing that. I'd done that for about six months and then I just had enough of it. I was like, I'm going to go back to the gym.

And then I quit the electrical apprenticeship, went to the gym and then within a week I got asked to be a sparring partner for a pro fighter in England at the time. And that's how I got my pro contract. His manager saw me spar, he liked what he said, and he just offered me an order branch. And I didn't even think about it. I called my dad, I said, I got the opportunity to go pro.

He was like, let's do it. And there was nothing to it, they're like, never did I think I'd be here fighting in America, in New York, or fighting for world titles even. Never ever did I think that. So when you quit the electrical job and then you go back, are you just going back to just have fun? No grand plans to become?

There was no grand plan. There was like, I'll go back in the gym and see what happens. And I didn't think it happened that fast. I thought I'd go back and maybe within six months, I could blaggage contract or this that the other and just see where I land land on my feet But it happened genuine when we were in a week. Wow, so it's like almost it was meant to happen Who's the guy that you sparred? It was a fire called boy Jones jr. In in the UK

No, not a big fire the alter ego of Roy Jones jr. Yeah, that's it. Basically That's crazy. Yeah, and then I'll just go out there to be a sparring partner. They had their camps based in Spain I'd go over to Spain. I'd spar them Maybe I'd be out there for a month two months max And then that was it I was getting paid for it as well at the time and then I got my pro contract and then on my 18th birthday I signed my pro contract and then I had my debut on the Billy Joe Saunders and William Monroe, Jr.

Undercard and so if that doesn't happen if this guy doesn't see you, what do you think you're doing now? you on the Billy Joe Saunders and Willem Monroe Jr. undercard. And so if that doesn't happen, if this guy doesn't see you, what do you think you're doing now? I have no clue. Honestly, I have no clue. It's a scary thought. I'd still be... Yeah, it is.

It is. Because it happened so fast that I've never even thought about that until you just asked me now. Wow, wow, wow. But I don't know what I'd be doing. Do you think it was inevitable? Do you think someone would have found you along the way or? I think I would have been pro regardless, definitely, but would I be here right now? I don't know Wow that's crazy

Yeah, and and and what didn't you not like about the electrical job? They were just getting so tedious. I get up like 4 a.m. And then you finish some days you finish early some days you finish late You make plans you have to cancel them and it was all over the place man It was all over the place and it was just miserable, it was a miserable life. And then when you quit boxing to go to that, like you just had enough of it, you were getting hurt.

Yeah, so what happened was I meant to go to the Commonwealth Games. I went to an England camp, an amateur camp, done like a couple days there and then I didn't get picked and I just got disheartened. I was like, oh, I'll forget this. Wow. Yeah, and I just got disheartened. I was like, oh, forget this. Wow. Yeah, and I was 16 at the time, 16. Yeah, just turning 17. Did anyone try to convince you otherwise?

Not really, no. No. It was my own decision. And I'm pretty set in my ways like that. If I make a decision, I'll stand on it. There's no, there's no changing it. Can I ask, cause I've tried to find the exact reason for this and it's very hard.

And so I hope you don't mind me asking. Of course. Your father went away to prison, right? Why did he go away? I've tried to find the exact reason for this and it's very hard and so I hope you don't mind me asking. Your father went away to prison, right? Why did he go away? Just for some car crimes. I don't know exactly what but yeah. And how long did he go away for? He'd done two stretches.

I think one was about two years and the second one was about another two years maybe. And how old are you during this period? The first time I was young. Like what's young? Young is we're talking seven-ish. Okay. And then the second time I was a bit older,

I was about 15. And how did you process that? When I was younger, you don't really process it because you can't really remember it. But then when I was older, it was difficult bit, it was difficult because bills needed to be paid and you see your mom struggling and you see you can't even afford certain, you can't even afford food to be fair.

Do you know what I mean? That's why I done the electrical apprenticeship. Because obviously I got disheartened from the boxing. I wasn't earning money from the boxing and you needed money to get by in life. You feel like you had to support. And that was it, and that's what I done. How did your mom, how many siblings do you have?

I have three. Three, including you? No, four of us. Okay, so she's alone. What did she do? She was strong, she was pretty strong. Did she have to work? No, no, we was on benefits at the time.

Wow. So where you get, the government supports you. But this is tough. Yeah, it was, it was, it was, but I feel like that's like, that was kind of the making of me. Like, fuck seeing your family go through that. Like, it's a myth and you get,

like when it's happening, it's so hard because you can't do anything. It's like, come on, man, I need to do something. I need to do something. And then God has a plan for you, I suppose. And are you in contact with your dad while he's away? Yeah, yeah, he's outside. No, no, I mean, like, well,

I know he's a big part of your life now, but like when he's incarcerated, are you able contact with your dad while he's away? Yeah, yeah, he's outside. No, no, I mean like, well, I know he's a big part of your life now, but like when he's incarcerated, are you able to speak to him? Yeah, yeah, we'd visit, we'd visit. Okay. We'd visit, um, we'd visit maybe once every two months or once a month at the time as well. Okay, and then the last, and then, so when you're a teenager, he gets out, no issues there? No, and then that was it. He comes out and then it worked for a bit, supports my early pro career for about the first two years. So there's this big story about the big loan

that he took out, right? Like a million dollars or something like that? And then luckily ever since I've been on his excellencies cards, I've managed to repay it. You're done now? Yep. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, for real. What did that feel like? It's a, it's a nice feeling. Yeah. Because again I didn't

expect it to happen so quick. Yeah. Excellency come in, change the dynamics of the game, paying fighters what they deserved to be paid and then that's it, you're dead free living a good life. Was that hanging over your head? Yeah, it is. Because when you're fighting, it's not a case of, I'm just gonna go in the ring, I'm gonna win, and then I'm gonna fight for a title. It's like, I need to win because I need to repay. Exactly. I need to help out.

And if I don't, then it's like, that is gonna stay on my head for longer. Did you know about this as a youngster? Like, did they tell you they were doing this to support your dream? It was, I found out half of my pro career from my after my temp fire and I didn't have no idea yeah you didn't have a clue to be and so how did you react it was last year that's a lot like that's added pressure it wasn't pressure it was like okay cool now like if if I didn't have a purpose before

now I've got one okay yeah and so I really respect the fact that they didn't tell you, right? Because if someone hangs that over your head as a parent, that's when you're just starting out. It's a bit of a burden, yeah. Yeah, a huge burden. Yep. Wow. But when you found out about that,

you must have thought they really backed me. Yeah, for real, for real. Like they put everything into you. And I suppose that's what you, as a child, you expect that, right? You can't thank them enough for that. Some parents don't. Some parents don't want their kids to fight But as a child, you expect that, right? You can't thank them enough for that. Some parents don't.

Some parents don't want their kids to fight or say like you're on your own. So that is unique in that regard. Does your father work with you now? Yeah, yeah, he's with me. He's like what, your advisor, consultant? Advisor, yeah. Amazing.

So now you're the athlete, and he's, I'm assuming, no longer a cricketer. He's retired from that. What position was he? He was a bowler, right arm. Bowling. I shouldn't even ask the question because I don't even know what that means. We have baseball here in America.

You're wearing a baseball hat. So he'd be like a... A pitcher. A pitcher, that's it. Oh, okay. He'd be the equivalent of a pitcher. Wow. Would you go watch and play?

No, I was too young. I couldn't remember it to be fair. I was too young. You know cricket's coming to the Olympics. Is it? In 2028. I had too young. I couldn't remember it to be fair. I was too young. You know cricket's coming to the Olympics? Is it? In 2028. I had no clue. Yeah.

This could be an opportunity. I think part of the reason why they're doing it is because some of the countries that are very good at cricket don't usually win medals. India, Pakistan, right? So this could be an opportunity. You're of Pakistani descent, right? Yeah, I am. Yeah. Were you born there? No, no, no. Okay. So this could be a huge deal.

Yeah, it could. Imagine Hamza goes to the Olympics for cricket in boxing. Never say never. Did you try for boxing or was it too late to represent team GB? No, when I stopped and I turned pro then that was it. It was over. It was done. Yeah. Because now that you're pro you can actually go back. You could but I wouldn't. You wouldn't do it? I wouldn't. No. How did the relationship with Turkey come about? Like how did you guys meet and for him to, because you're an ambassador, right? Yeah, how did it come? On the five versus five. Okay, so you were on part of Frank Borenstein, Queensborough? Yeah, when I was part of that, obviously I got to meet his excellency a couple times and then it was kind of natural to be fair, kind of natural. And I think he likes the way I conduct myself. Um, then he appointed me to the Riyadh season ambassador after, after I got the win. And then from there, it was just kind of hit the road on him. This, this landscape that we're in now with these mega fights being

made all over the world and the stadium shows now we've got, uh, Dubois and, um, and Usyk coming up, they just announced Ben announced Ben and U-Bank too. Is this is this like surreal for you to see that these opportunities are coming? Because let's be honest if this if this is not happening there's no Riyadh season or ring cards and all that you're probably not fighting Edgar Berlanga in New York City right? No. You're probably fighting at like Wembley Arena, or SSE, or the Hydra, or whatever it is called, the OVO. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're probably fighting at one of those, right? And that's crazy. It is crazy, it is crazy, because it all happened so quickly, so quickly, and it's happened so fast, like I said earlier, you don't get time to process it. And now we're here having a chat, and next Saturday I'll fight in New York for the first time in America. You got to remember like when I was

a young stuff watching, um, Oscar Deloya versus Moe over watching Ricky Hatton versus, uh, Moe over. It's like, it's a dream at the time. So I'd love to, I'd love to be, be like that. I'd love to be like them. And now I get a chance to do that. You have to wake up like at four in the morning to watch as you stay up, right? Yeah, I know, yeah. And as a young kid it's hard, it's hard. Yeah, I'd end up falling asleep on the sofa and then a ring walk without a wake-up lock was happening.

Who were some of your favorites as a kid? Princess Seam was one of them. Just because of the pure entertainment factor. And what I used to like watching a lot was the HBO 24-7. I used to watch watching that was the HBO 24 7. Oh, it's loads of them. Yeah those of them So yeah, the first one I ever watched was the Delaware and may have a one and then you saw the private That's the first time you ever saw the private jet. Yeah, you saw the helicopters You saw the lifestyle of these fighters rather than the fighters you just see in the ring

So it appealed a lot to me to be fair and you wanted that I did want it Yeah, I did want it. I still ain't flown on a private jet yet. Not yet. I still got a ticket. I got kicked off. Really? I feel like now that you're a Riyadh season ambassador. Should do it hopefully.

Yeah. Back home to London. That would be sick. That would be, yeah. Have you ever met Prince Haseem? Yeah. He was at my last fight. He was screaming his head off.

Oh, that's right. Yes, he was. And the three fights before that, so all the Riyadh season cards, he's been there inside. What's up with you and Amir Khan? No, it's cool. It's you guys are good now. Yeah, we're good. What happened? What happened? No, it was just misunderstanding Yeah, it was a misunderstanding had a little a little spat early on in my career It was I was Like I didn't I wasn't not media trained, but wasn't media savvy at the time

So if I'd go back, okay, I wouldn't have opened my mouth. I wouldn't have opened my way Someone asked you a question about him? Yeah, no, it was him who done it first and then I reacted. Was it about you? Yeah, it was. It was just like a big misunderstanding to be fair. But to be fair, I gained a lot of recognition from it. Really? Yeah, like no one knew who I was and then all of a sudden, I was like, who's this kid?

Because you were in this thing with him. Yeah, and then that was it. But we're cool now. But now you you're a lot more savvy when it comes to... Yeah, a lot more. A lot more. So I look back on it and I cringe. Ah. Yeah, it's one of them ones. But then I see you at these press conferences, you're like a pro up there. Yeah, nah. Like you've got Berlango like really freaking barking in your face and you're just like stoic.

Yeah, just enjoying it. I'm getting frustrated on your behalf. Yeah. This is like this guy, you can't speak. Yeah, no, it's, I just like, when the president, we'll have next week, the press conference, we'll be going apeshit as well again. But I think then I'll be so locked in.

It's not even about enjoying it. Then it's all about doing what I've been doing in camp, in doing it in my mind before I do it in the ring, and then actually doing it in the ring. So I'll be in a different space next week. How do you foresee it playing out? It'll be very interesting. It'll be interesting.

I think all I've got to do is stick to what I've been doing with Andy, stick to what I've been doing with Andy, simplify things, don't complicate it, and just enjoy it. And what about, can I ask you about Shakur and Zapata? I think Shakur is just too skillful. You think so? I honestly think he's too skillful. I don't see... Does he need to have like a, like, not a war,

but does he need, you know, he's taking some heat as of late. Yeah, he has, he has. You think he needs to or can a fighter not think like that? That's a dangerous game. It is a dangerous, especially if you're fighting Zapata. You don't want to fight his game. Sure, sure.

If I was Shakur, I'd go in there, do what I do, get the win, that's it, go home. But you know how, you were there. You were there at Times Square. That wasn't great, right? It is entertaining. But I think what was worse about that was every fight wasn't that good.

So that made the whole card kind of a bit, kind of put a bit of a great cloud in it. Is there a case to be made that there's so much money at stake now that guys don't wanna risk it? You know, like, Haney and Garcia knew, hey, we get the win here, we're gonna fight in October. And so it almost becomes a glorified sparring match. It's not taking any risk. Almost.

Same with Canelo and Skull. He knew that the Crawford fight was there. If I get knocked out by Skull, that fight's out of the window. But to be fair, you gotta to use me as an example here to say that's not how the game goes because his excellency is bringing boxing to how it used to be years ago when the best used to fight the best

regardless of the result. After my last fight, like you said, or not in the same as here, I didn't think I'd be fighting in my biggest fight now. So you can just use me as a kind of example for that. Listen, whatever fights you go into, give your 100%, leave everything in the ring, and then no matter what the outcome of the fight is, just know that there will be an opportunity for you again. Chris Eubank and Konabend,

same thing. It didn't matter about the loser of that fight, they're getting it on again. So there's loads of opportunities for the fighters out there it's all about just giving your all back to his excellency because he's given his all to us and you're still with Queensbury as well right yeah happy with them yeah they're ranking the yeah Frank's Frank's treating you well he's yeah he signed me up when I was when I first time probably give me a contract so to sign with Frank when I was a nobody not that I'm a somebody now but when I was a nobody who no one knew an amateur it was a yeah like I said a massive help. Let me tell you my friend

you are somebody you're headlining in New York right not everyone could say that so so be proud of that I wish you the best there's the the poster right there ring three exclusively on the zone. July 12th. Huge weekend of boxing. July 11th at Madison Square Garden. You have Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano and then on Saturday evening you have Hamza Shiraz against Edgar Berlanga. Williams and Pate against Shakur Stevenson. Good luck to you. Thank you so much for coming in. I really appreciate it. Looking forward to the fight and really appreciate you coming into the studio. I know you're very busy. We'll take a quick break. We'll say goodbye to Hamza and they'll

be right back to answer your questions. Don't go anywhere. Okay. That was my conversation with Tom Aspinall from Friday of last week. And that was Hamza Shiraz in studios. Great to see Andy Lee back there. Legendary head coach and former fighter, of course, as well. Fought the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. who fought Jake Paul, uh, last weekend. But what about our time in Las Vegas? I mean, can I do it off the top of my head? Probably not.

Izzy Volk, Dan Hooker, Rosas, John Wood, Ashbel Castro, Danny Rubincine, Cameo from Joanne Wood, Rico Verhoeven, Tom Aspinall, Demetrious Johnson, Destiny Johnson, Revelation, Ian Machado-Garry, Peyton Talbot, Alexandre Pantoja, Tracy Cortez, Marabdou Ali Shvili. I think that was the whole crew who stopped by. Only two Zoom guests there. We had Pantoja and Peyton. But yeah, it was just so much fun.

Dare I say somewhat rejuvenating, if you get me. It was very nice. It was very nice. And we're going to do more of that. So I keep telling you guys more to come, very nice, it was very nice. And we're gonna do more of that. So I keep telling you guys, more to come, more to come. Stick with us, stick with us. Appreciate the support. Working through the kinks, working through the kinks.

I could tell you on Monday's program, well I could tell you that tomorrow, we've got the boys in the back, pound for pound, voicemails, they're all coming back. What's that voicemail number again? SUPBITB, 415 SUPBITB, is it? Look at that. Look at you, you know it.

Is it 415? It is. Is it 415? This is 415. 415 SUPBITB, we didn't play them last week, so we'll do a double dose of them. Yeah. This week, I feel like we owe some mailmen some voicemails.

Oh, I love those guys, yeah. There's a whole, Dan Hooker has his backyard fighting you you guys have the mailman you're thinking just like us we're trying to figure out how we can sanction those out on Long Island and what about pound for pound what do we have haven't we haven't finalized it best American fighters of all time in honor of July 4th fourth of July American what about like runner-ups were best movies about the fourth of July. You could do better than that. You got something American? What about like best-

Marab's were best movies about the Fourth of July. Not bad. Not bad. That was a joke, Ariel. I actually think it's more interesting. No, stop. Wow. Well, it's an interesting thing that you're doing.

You know why? Because right now, as we talked about with Marab, there's not a single American male champion in the UFC, which is mind blowing. And there's two from Georgia. Isn't that crazy? Who could be the next American born champion? So the next pay-per-view that has a title fight, I'm not counting the BMF title, it's DDP versus Hamzat.

Ankhalayev and Pereira, Madelena Islam, Ankelyev and Pereira, Madelena Islam, Toporia obviously most likely either Patty or Armin. Who the hell is the next American born champion? Joshua, no, not Joshua Vann. Well there is Kayla Harrison. No, no, no, male. Just male? Yeah.

Fuck, I don't know. Oh, Corey Sanhagen. Corey Sanhagen is gonna get a chance at it, Willy Wen will see. Man. Corey Sanhagen, perhaps for a while, unless Justin Gaethje someway somehow gets a title fight, perhaps for a minute is the last hope.

Yeah. Roundtree, if he beats Yeary. Curtis Blade's unlikely to get one at heavyweight. No. The next guy ranked after round three, Jamal Hill, Dominic Graves, probably not. At middleweight it's Sean Strickland and then Jared Cannoneer, probably not.

That's crazy. Anthony Hernandez maybe down the line could get a shot. Walter Waite, Sean Brady could get a shot. Yeah, Brady and Sanhagen. Sanhagen's obviously next, so he has the best chance. But by the way, you look at the top 15 pound for pound on the UFC's website right now. Yeah. Toporia no Islam.

No. Marab. No. Dracus. No. Pantosia. No. Volkanovsky.

No. Magomed. No. JDM. No. Tom. No. Pereira.

No. Max 11. So there's no one in the top 10. Bilal. Technically yes. Although not, I don't know what he. Anyway, Armin, Ham don't know if would he, anyway, Armin, Khamzach, so there's two.

Yeah, and then if you look at like 155, everyone's kind of like on the end of their careers. Gachi, Holloway, Poirier, Dariush. Crazy. Chandler, they're literally all on the latter half of their careers. Wow, it really is crazy. on the latter half of their careers.

Wow, it really is crazy. The chance for an American male champion is Corey Zandagen. It's not exactly what we're talking about, but to a degree, there are some connections. There's an article right now up on uncrowned.com entitled, the UFC is booming, but is MMA collapsing around it? The data is concerning from John S Nash. It's a great article.

One of the many great articles up right now on uncrowned.com, the coverage has been phenomenal. And one of the top stories right now, of course, is Tyson Fury set to end retirement and fight in 2026 says Turkey, I'll shake. What a surprise, what a surprise. Can we just stop calling them like retirements? It's not a, It was never a retirement.

No one believed it. He's never retired. But by the way, Tyson versus Usyk great fights. I feel about Tyson versus Usyk the way I feel about Better Be a Bivul. Two great fights. I don't really have a desire to see the third one right now. Just give us Tyson versus A. I want to see the love of God. I want to see the Better be of third fight more than I want to see. Well yeah, because they split them. Yeah, of course. Well, I thought, you know, I didn't think better be of one. But on paper, those are split.

Tyson's 0-2. You don't do it. There were two close fights. The second one was closer than the first, but please, for the love of God, can I tell you what I think? And I've always said this, AJ versus Tyson will be a Netflix card. Will be a TKO, GoPro, Netflix card. Remember Mark Shapiro said, we're going to do four, right? In the next two years, they've got one down,

coming up September 13th. This to me, there are only so many, right? There aren't that many Netflix worthy cards. This is a Netflix worthy main event worldwide. Everyone knows them. The shoulder programming you could do around it. Oh my God. Yes. Oh my God.

The history, right? Like, oh my gosh. Um, so out of a 90,000 seats stadium. Oh my God. Yeah. Wembley, go to Wembley, go to, go to Tottenham Hotspur, whatever. But I would, my God, yeah. Wembley, you go to Wembley, you go to Tottenham Hotspur, whatever. But I would think it's Wembley, yeah. It's got to be a Netflix card, and I guess if it happens in 2026, God bless.

The question is, does AJ fight someone before this? Because that's a risk. I would say probably. What's the risk? Who cares? He gets knocked out. So what? Yeah, we'll make it. By the way, he can do Fury Joshua. No, but he can gets knocked out. So what? Yeah, well, by the way. Can do Fury Joshua one up?

No, but he can get knocked out and his team could say no, Mas. Nah. Why risk it? Why risk it? The money is so immense. The money is so big. Just, you know what? I'm going to go out on a limb and say he doesn't fight anyone. If this is a real thing and they're going to fight in the first quarter of 2026.

By the way, if they're fighting in the first quarter of 2026, maybe they can't fight at Wembley because it's pretty cold out there in the first quarter. If we have, like if there are terms being, starting to be negotiated, then certainly I don't think you do. But if it's like, maybe it'll happen in the summer or whatever, then I think AJ could take a fight. He'd be fine.

Man, there's so much good stuff up here. By the way, you guys forgot, you know, Max Holloway has the BMF belt. No, I said BMF doesn't count. Oh, yeah. He was in the room. I was in here. No, it's OK.

I came back later. Frank, do we have any Super Chats? Yeah, right, we do. As you can see. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Oh yeah, speaking of working out the kinks, Jake from Windy City just won a shout out legendary NHL reporter Bob McKenzie from TSN, retiring after 48 years, covering hockey, a wonderful Canadian. Well first of all, you saying speaking of working out the kinks was sort of like when Connor said,

speaking of intimacy, no one was talking about working out the kinks or intimacy in these particular cases. Bob McKenzie, for those that don't know, was the Woj, the Schefter, the Passon, by the way, shout out to Jeff Passon, his son going to Williams College on a baseball scholarship, that's incredible.

He was that, he was that guy for hockey in Canada for decades. When I was growing up watching TSN, and there was a time watching TSN and there was a time where TSN was the only sports network, there's now two essentially and and the other one is Roger Sportsnet. There was also a time where the score was a thing. TSN was the only game in town and he was the only insider in town and so yes he announced officially yesterday that he's

officially done. He had done a sort of like semi-retirement and stuck around wasn't really on the beat as much as he was back in the day but yesterday he announced he is done done and an absolute legend beloved respected and yeah when he would come on and deliver the news very much like what we see now with the likes of Shams Schefter passing etc it was a big deal. And so, yeah, a trailblazer, dare I say, when it comes to that particular gig. And his son, who I do believe is named Sean, is a reporter for Sportsnet, and a great young reporter in his own right. So it's cool to see the family lineage continuing in this particular field. And I do wish him well. I don't know him,

but have a lot of respect and appreciate Jake for bringing him up. What else? Andrew sends over 20 New Zealand buckaroos. Ooh. Lads, Oliver Bar update. He's got another fight booked in against Matt, Muhammad Quinn. He's a gun on the ground. Can we get some AH-1 ofision to focus for the next two months?

Ali, Ali, Ali, oy, oy, oy. Cheers, guys. Wow, by the way, 20 New Zealand dollars equals, any guesses? $3.62. Rick? Five bucks. 12.18. Not bad.

New Zealand dollar's strong right now. Did you just look that up? I did look it up, yes. While I was reading you the question? Yes. When is Ali Barr going to get a tapology page? Yeah, what the f... Let me see here.

I'll look it up. Oh, it doesn't have one? Yeah, no, nothing so far. Who's the opponent? Who's the opponent? That was Matt Mohamed Quinn. Matt Mohamed Quinn is a total jabroni. I mean, this is going to be a cakewalk of the easiest levels.

Oli Bar is... here's the thing about Oli Bar, he is inevitable. So you know like there's some people who say like oh he has the potential... no, he is inevitable. And what that means is it's already written. He's already seen the movie play out. He's going to go out there, he's going to make that walk, he's going to touch gloves, and he's going gonna stop him probably in the second round with all due respect. It's not gonna be a cake walk, it's just gonna be a nice stroll in the park. And so yeah, he is well on his way, he is well on his way,

he's one of our own, he's one of our own, Olly Bar, he's one of our own. What else? Hay Schultz, he sends over $2.79. Oh geez. Is Ilya's resume already better than Habib's? That's a fun question. Is Ilya's resume already better than Habib's? You know on basketball reference you could do the thing where you compare resumes. I think it's basketball reference, is it? Yeah. You like put in two names. Yep. Right. Okay. Let's have a little fun with this. Shall we?

Uh, here's Khabib's resume and here is Ilya's resume. So, uh, let's go last five fights. Fair? Sure. Khabib's last five fights. He submitted Justin Gaethje. He submitted Dustin Poirier. He submitted Conor McGregor. He submitted Justin Gaethje. He Olvera, K.O. Max Holloway, K.O. Alex Volkonovsky,

UD Josh Emmett submitted Bryce Mitchell. Okay. So, I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm KO Charles Olivera, KO Max Holloway, KO Alex Volkonovsky, UD Josh Emmett submitted Bryce Mitchell. Okay. So the submission over Bryce Mitchell, probably more impressive than the UD over Barbosa, the no disagree. Barbosa is better at that time than Bryce Mitchell has. Okay. So just the five round decision, win Iacuenta versus the five round decision win over Emmett. The Emmett

one was very one-sided. Iacuenta took the fight on 24 hours notice. Iacuenta probably a little higher regarded at the time. I still rate that higher. You go with the Iacuenta one despite the short notice. The short notice. Better fighter. Yeah. Josh Chabon was coming off in interim title shot. Yeah. Yeah. He did also take Bryce Mitchell's out. I put him in the title shot. Yeah, circumstantially though. Volkko versus Conor Sub. I rate the Volkko higher.

Volk coming off the knockout. But the Conor Sub is still very... Yeah. Both are very impressive. Conor won a second round against him. Submission over Poirier. The fuck I just clipped, just click the X. Damn it. Submission over Poirier versus knockout of Holloway. I equal those.

You equal them? I'm going knockout over Holloway. Nah, that's, that's equal. Terms of caliber fighter. Yeah. You've been knocked out before? I think it's just the fact. Never knocked, been knocked out before, but later in his career, right?

This is Poirier from 2019. Charles KO versus Gachey Sub? Gachey Sub. Gachey Sub. Okay. Where they're at in their careers? So basically I still edge Habib. This is what we, but okay but Habib 29-0, Ilya 17. If Ilya keeps this up for two, three, four, five more fights, he leaves them in his dust. Agreed? Uh, certainly agreed. Because the early UFC fights for Habib were not against upper level echelon fighters. And from here on Ilya Tupori is only going to

be a fighter fighting upper echelon fighters. And they will almost all be title fights. And they will be. By the law. Yeah. So. Yeah. Habib had three title defenses. That's the shame.

He was, he was obviously undefeated and good for so long, but he didn't have the long, like Islam's resume, in my opinion, better than Khabib's. I agree with you, but the one thing that you would say for Khabib is one, the Tony fight never happened. And if he had that name on his resume, it would have meant something more, right? Like that fight just fell apart too many times. And two, it was the dominance of Habib, right? There's, there's a factor of yes, like the names are not on that resume,

but anybody you lined them up against, he would have mauled. Um, and you kind of just make the assumption of the dominance, but resume for resume, Ilja's a little bit behind, but not far enough that he's not within striking distance. Honestly, go, go to Islam. resume, Ilya's a little bit behind, but not far enough that he's not within striking distance. Honestly, go to Islam's last five. That's the most impressive out of all of them. You ended Charles' 12 fight win streak

by submitting him in the second round. You beat Volkanovsky by decision. It was like a 20-something fight win streak going into that one. Then you rematch Volkovsky when some were saying he was the pound for pound number one, first round knockout, finish in round five against Dustin Poirier and then round one

against Sonata Mokhtar. I mean, it's funny you say that, you know, some of us still have Islam ranked number one because of what you just laid out. It's just because of the two belts. If Islam beats JDM, he goes back to number one. They're gonna be flip flopping until they fight. Oh my gosh.

Just fighting. Does Hamzah go to number one for you Rick if he wins the vote? No chance. For me? Crazy. I might. I still got him like five or six. I'll shove him right up there. His first title win? And he jumps over those two guys? Pound for pound ain't just resume comparison. Can I tell you- If he submits DDP in the first round. If he beats DDP in the first round, I might put him number one. I honestly might. That would be crazy. The pound for pound is not what's the best resume. The top four right now, you may not have like A-listers as far as pay-per-view draws. It's one of the more talented top fours that we've seen in quite some time.

I love it. Those top four guys. Everyone, what happened to your chair? You're just chilling? Weeks getting to the end, you know, it's almost five. Those four guys and the ones that I'm talking about and I think- Please take him single. I think Uncrowned got it right. I think Uncrowned got it right. Ariel's making a serious point, listen to him. Ilia, Islam, Marab, Pantoja. Just swap Islam and Ilya. That's the four. That's the four. Put them however you want. Your pound for pound list is your pound for pound list. That's the four. I'll listen to Marab number one. I'll listen to Pantoja number one. I'll listen to you.

Yeah. My ears will will intake the words. The question is who's five? Who's five? I think I have Hamzat. I think I had Tom and then DDP. DDP's resume, pretty good too. DDP's resume. What's his last five? I think you go DDP. Is his last five Strickland, Izzy, Strickland, Whitaker? Yeah. Darren Till, is that his last five right off the dome? I mean, that's not a bad five.

Yeah, I think because also he's fighting at such a high level with the Bulls on his back and he's fighting the top guys. 23 and two, nine and 0 in the UFC Yeah, his last five is Strickland is he Strickland Whitaker Brunson the Brunson fight Tarrant Darren till before that Brad Tavares before that. That's a crazy run. That's a crazy seven fight run, man I haven't heard Brenton's name in so long for a sec. I was like Jalen Brunson That's exactly where my mind went

That's all the Brunsons. I've got Hamza 5 for just one. By the way, UFC.com has DDP 4 and Pantoja 5. It's a conversation. It's a conversation. I don't think it's crazy. DDP is on a crazy run right now. Crazy run. What's the young crown one? I don't know for this UFC one.

DDP 5? Let me see, let me see, let me see. Shaheen's gonna kill me. I keep talking about the... We have a graphic, but I'm sitting in the wrong spot. Chuck Menenal is really gonna kill you. Oh, here it is, here it is. Yeah, this is Chuck's baby. Okay, Uncrowned has Ilya 1, Islam 2, Murab 3, Pantoja 4, Tom Aspinall 5,

Drichas 6, Ankhalayev 7, Hamzad 8, Volk 9, Ten Jackdella. I, 10 Jack Della. I feel like Jack. That tennis, that top tennis. All of a sudden. Does that match what you just read?

Cause I just read it. Yeah. Thank you. Uh, all of a sudden it's a very talented, it didn't feel this talented a year ago. Um, I think you guys got the top four spot on I have some issues with the middle part I think I think folks should be higher than hums up like no question about it no I think Jack Della should be higher than mago med if I'm looking at

this right now my top my top ten is Ilya Islam Arab Della is higher than Magomed. DDP five, Aspen all six, Volk seven. Might even put Volk even higher, but okay for now Volk seven, Jack. Hi, where? Eight. He's not better, he's not ahead of Drickus. He's not ahead of nine. How could, how could.

Can't put him in the top set. How could any. Is there a champion missing here? No, but how. Jack Della at 10. How could Jack be ahead of Mag No, but how tell it ten? How could Jack be ahead of Magomed who beat top pound-for-pound guy Alex like there's no way He beat my previously top pound-for-pound guy below Yeah, but Alex's was higher than below no on your list had to be I just took yeah, I was like wait

The hall yeah, we don't know we don't have Alex Brer in there. Can I have Armand in there? I don't have. Don't like that. I'm looking at the other rankings. I have Armand at 10 on mine, by the way, just for the record. For real?

Yeah. La Hall's 12, Max at 11. Let me take a gander at women. Sean won. I also dropped John Jones. Yeah, of course, he retired, he's out. No, one ranking before you guys did. I had him off mine last time. Who's you guys? All the rest of y'all. All the rest of y'all.

Yeah thank you Frank. Man you're really fast with those Frank. I gotta admit. He was on fire today man. Yeah. Kayla three. There's a couple I was thinking Connor reacting to the poster. One of them, the one where he's like, God, that one I think needs to be one. That one, there's the one where you're like, fucking shit. I don't think I've laughed harder than this last week. It was probably the cop, Summa Baila.

Yeah, I didn't want to tell Gregory Rodriguez that you reacted like that to his poster. Yeah, but here's the thing, and it needs to be said. It's not disrespecting the fighters. It is not about these fighters. They're great fighters, we know this. It's about the fact that it's the apex card. Oh yeah, of course.

Where it's the dregs of the card structure. It is not like- And it's also like- You have nothing to explain. Lame posters. Yeah, lame posters. Everyone's like, having fun with it. One guy comments that I saw was just like,

oh okay, so K Asuma Bailov wasn't a great card now? Oh fuck. And I was like dude, chill the fuck out. Hit the fuck out, leave, yeah, it wasn't a great card. I don't even remember who was the co-main, Cody Brundage, Brad Tavares, get out. They're gonna tell their kids about cop Asuma Bailov.

That would have been a great one, Macy Barber against Aaron Blanchfield. I feel like that would have been a great one. Okay, well, thatanchfield that I feel like that would have been a great one Okay Well that would have been great or or a Blanchfield Fiora, but that would have been turning into a fight night the the actual No, because it never happened. It's almost like a it's almost like an error card You know that actually would have been good that or the Holy Grail is is Aspen lad norman I have to give a shout out that is actual Holy Grail type shit

I have to give a shout out to on instagram at the MMA poster king. Oh my gosh he was spamming me bro. This gentleman has an insane collection and messes with me. You want some? It was just like no no no. He said the way we got him was trash. Diana from the Venetian already has him. He can really hook it up. He has an insane collection. I asked him has he ever done, you know, check him out if you want to. I asked him if he's ever done the mystery and he said yeah, and there was three Apex cards. Maybe they're all Apex. This dude had, there's only been 13 like ticket stubs that the UFC has ever done, like physical stubs. And he has all 13. What do you mean, like UFC 1234?

No, like- Like major, major events do like a hard plastic stub that like you can keep as a collector's item and he has all of them. Wow. He's a big time UFC collector. Shout out to that guy. Frank, we have some breaking news.

Oh. This according to Jamal Hill on his critically claimed YouTube channel quote, I know there was a lot made and said of the things of the things before the fight. Me saying the comments of Khalil was not on my level and said the same my last few fights. But to be honest, I haven't been on my level for now. I'm going to take the time that I need to make sure that I can focus on my injuries, give them the time that they need to get them that I can focus on my injuries, give them the time that they need

to get them back to strength and back to feeling like me again. I'm going to take time out, take a little bit of time to get back to where I know I can be and get back to that exciting fighter and that dominant champion that I know that I am. So that's the end quote right there. Jamal Hill, taking some time off guys.

Surprised? No, it makes sense. We all kind of alluded to that when we were talking about the aftermath of the fight that it just felt like Jamal's kind of been rushing to like prove himself, reset, figure it out, and I think he came back on track. Yeah, he was losing streak, a bunch of injuries. You feel for him after a while.

Came back very fast. Too fast. From the Achilles injury, and then had the knee injury and came back fast was trying to come back two months after that. Remember he got knocked out by Alex Pereira and then tried to fight on the, uh, the June card, the Conor McGregor card. Too fast against Khalil and then, yes, too

fast. Uh, so we do wish him well. Um, what else, Frank, what else? All right. Smokin' Ace 408 finishes us off with amazing show in Vegas. Good thing you're not banned. Winky face.

Ah, yes. There was once a rumor that we were banned in Vegas. Um, but, uh, those rumors proved to be not true. No, we love Vegas. We love Vegas. Uh, Vegas is an incredible place and I enjoy it. I know the cool thing to do is be like, ah, ah, Vegas, Vegas, I hate Vegas, it's so dry. I love it because it's so familiar.

I think I've probably been there at this point 50 to 60 times. You know where everything is. We usually stay at the same hotel. Everyone's very accommodating, nice. There's an energy, there's a palpable energy in the air, especially when it's a big fight. You see people all around. There's a palpable energy in the air, especially when it's a big fight. Uh, you see people all around. You, you generally have good food. Um, the only issue with Vegas is, uh, the coffee situation, although we may have rectified it.

I think we did. Thanks for our good friends over at Dandelion. And, uh, if you're in Vegas on the strip, this is coming from someone who's been going to Vegas for a long ass time. The best coffee I've ever had. Dandelion, Venetian, check it out, and tell them we sent ya.

Legit chocolate shop. We became buds with them by the end. Little coffee, oh my gosh, I was just doing my expense report, lot of dandelion receipts. Yeah. Lot of dandelion receipts. You do expense reports? Fucking right, I do.

Hell yeah. Anything else, gents, anything else, or is that it? Fucking right, I do. Hell yeah. Anything else, Jens? Anything else, or is that it? I think that's it. I feel like we about summed it up. We were talking pound for pound. Did we decide on Best American Fighters, Rick? Shit.

Oh, I was going to suggest- Suggest one, please. Top hot dog brands? Oh yeah, I went on that whole tangent. Yeah, you were like- Shit idea. No American champions. What about best 4th of July barbecue? Have you, you've done a variation of this?

We did like best summer activities. No, no, no. Beth, best 4th of July barbecue dish. Who the hell's Beth? Dish. What are you bringing to the barbecue? What are you bringing to the cookout? Are you bringing the coleslaw with the raisins?

It just feels like a very- Coleslaw with the raisins. What, what, what? What is this? No? We're done. What is- Frank said four hour art.

If I'm inviting you guys, which by the way, you're all invited. Did you just skip some part of the song? You're all invited to the cookout. What are you all bringing right now? What are you bringing? What's your--to-make? I make a mean pasta salad.

Really cold? Cold pasta salad, not mac. Not mac, pasta salad. Nah, no one wants that with the mayo. Buffalo chicken. Brother, that's pasta macaroni. Macaroni pasta, macaroni salad. Macaroni salad is with the mayo.

This is oil based. This is vinegar based. Is it spaghetti oil based, this is vinegar based. Is it spaghetti? No, it's bow ties. Feta, green onions, kalamata olives, you never had a pasta salad? Tomatoes, with red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, some Italian seasoning, it's true.

All right, Rick, what are you bringing? I'm bringing dessert, so I'll ask ahead of time. Yeah, pie, a cake, whatever we need, I'll bring that. Okay, pumpkin pie, do hot dogs, or pita bread? Bring cake and a bad attitude. With ketchup. I would love that, especially if my mom is making it. What are you bringing, Frank?

Buffalo chicken wings. Are we all swimming? Every time we go to the pool, I'm the only one that gets in. I don't bring my bathing suit. I'm the guy with the floaties. No, it's great. It's a great five.

Andy, what are you bringing? Oh man, I've been thinking about this one. Cornbread. I like a good cornbread. I'm bringing what are each? What? Vine leaves, grape leaves. Oh like gomas? Yeah yeah yeah. Classic barbecue food. For a second I was gonna be like I'm not even coming to this. Thank you Armin, thank you Bo, thank you Hardy Boys, thank you Hump the Shiraz, thank you Gregory Rodriguez, thanks to them, thanks to you. Back tomorrow! Stay tight, play safe, peace, I'm out here.