The Ariel Helwani Show - Tom Aspinall, Sean Brady, Teddy Atlas remembers George Foreman, Nathaniel Wood, UFC London recap, more

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

Ariel Helwani and the crew kick off the show by looking back at the weekend in combat, including Sean Brady's victory over Leon Edwards at UFC London (08:38).Tom Aspinall discusses his much-anticipated meeting with the UFC brass in London, the latest in the Jon Jones saga, Leon Edwards loss to Sean Brady and more (42:10).Nathaniel Wood discusses his big win over Morgan Charriere at UFC London, battling intrusive thoughts before the fight, ditching "The Prospect" nickname, who he wants next and more (1:14:07).Sean Brady discusses his monster performance against Leon Edwards at UFC London, his animosity with Edwards after the fight, Ian Machado Garry's complaints, a potential title shot and more (1:34:17).Teddy Atlas discusses the passing of George Foreman and reflects on the life of the boxing legend (2:06:42).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Er-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-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. It is great to be here on, as you can see, a cloudy, rainy, muggy, look at this, look at this, foggy Monday afternoon in New York City. Look at that, you can't even see the Empire State Building. It's like a London... it's like a London Fog. You know what a London Fog is? I imagine it looks a lot like this. No, a London Fog I think is if you go to the coffee shop and ask for a London Fog. It's a drink?

I think you get... I think it's a tea with milk and maybe something else. You never had a London Fog before? I haven't. I haven't. Sounds delicious. London Fog. London Fog before? I haven't. I haven't. Sounds delicious. London Fog. London Fog. There it is. I mean it's right there. It's an American manufacturer of coats. No, there is something.

Oh, what's a London Fog at Starbucks? It's an Earl Grey tea latte with vanilla and sometimes lavender, combining the flavors of Earl Grey tea, steam milk, and vanilla. Well, it's aprop propos that we're talking about a London fog here on this Monday afternoon because Saturday's event at the O2 Arena kinda seemed like a London fog for the crowd in attendance.

Not much to write home about. The British went three and six on the night and it kind of ended in a bit of a sour manner not for the American Shawn Brady the Philly boy who waltz right into the UK for the very first time and absolutely steamrolled Leon Edwards first time Leon has been submitted first time he's been stopped in a fight and now very much a number one contender feels like a change into the guard at 170 has been completed. You know, for the longest time it was Kamaru, Colby, Leon.

It feels like all of them aren't really factors right now with Bilala's champion, with JDM fighting for the belt, next with Shovecut, waiting in the wings with Ian Gary there, with Joaquin Buckley there. And now at the very top of that list, in my opinion, Sean Brady. Of course, we'll talk about all that and more on today's program. We've got a loaded, stacked Monday show for all of you. So sit back and relax because we got a lot to get to. First up in about 40 minutes time, the pride of England.

Really, at this point, as far as would he be England's best chance at a champion in MMA in the not too distant future? Yeah, I'd say so. Of course we're talking about the man who's already a champion, the uncrowned champ of the heavyweight division. Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Was it Tommy Aspinall in attendance, or was it Clark Kent in attendance with that little squiggly thing over there? I mean, you know yourself, Tommy, even got a bit of a beard going. Anyway, he'll join us at 5.40. You may have seen on social media, he was meeting with the brass. What's going on?

What's the state of this fight? It's the most talked about news item in the sport right now. What is actually happening? Are we going to get the fight? We'll get the lowdown from Tom, who was in attendance. In right now, what is actually happening, are we going to get the fight? We'll get the lowdown from Tom who was in attendance in large part to support his teammate Mick Parkin who lost a very close one on Saturday to Marcin Taibura.

A lot of people including Tom thought he won and he's not the only one. So we'll talk to Tom, always a pleasure. At around 2 10 we shall be joined by Nathaniel Wood He was once known as the prospect but now he's saying no more prospect. We're debuting a new nickname he had a big win over Morgan charrier on Saturday and what some people thought was the people's main event and We'll talk to him. It's been a minute. He's been Overcoming a lot dealing with a lot He's going to be a father for the second time.

One of the good guys in the game is Nathaniel Wood, and he'll stop by at around 2.10. At 2.30, the aforementioned Sean Brady. Sean freaking Brady. Does Sean Brady have a nickname? I feel like he needs a nickname. I mean, he's got a hell of a lot of tattoos. I'm not sure if he has a nickname. Anyway, what a performance. It was Sean Brady from the get-go. Leon didn't even have a moment of any sort of positivity,

momentum, brilliance. Sean was fantastic. Taking the fight on short notice, going in there, becomes a dad, accepts the fight two days later, and can't wait to see what they do with him next. He'll join us at 2.30 to talk about all that and more. Can't wait for that.

And at three o'clock, we'll be joined by one of the greatest characters And I can't wait to see what they do with him next. He'll join us at 2.30 to talk about all that and more. Can't wait for that. And at three o'clock, we'll be joined by one of the greatest characters in the history of combat sports. I feel very confident in saying that, of course, one of the best coaches in the history of boxing, he's now turned into a great analyst for ESPN, has his own podcast as well. He is Teddy Atlas, the pride of Staten Island right here in New York.

And we're going to have him on to talk about the passing of one of the greatest icons in the history of combat sports, the one and only George Foreman. We found out on Friday that Big George, at just 76 years young, had passed away. And truly one of the greatest fighters, one of the greatest champions, one of the greatest personalities in the history of combat sports. Of course, many, many memorable occasions. His win over Michael Moore

to become the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history, one of the great moments in the history of the sport, Jim Lampley's call on HBO. It happened. It happened. The title of his upcoming autobiography. We've had Jim on the program to talk about that and what George meant to him. Of course, the, no, wrong way, the rumble in the jungle. I'm screwing this up.

50 years ago, the build, incredible. If you've never seen the documentary, When We Were Kings, please do yourself a favor and watch it. I'm screwing this up. 50 years ago, the build, incredible. If you've never seen the documentary When We Were Kings, please do yourself a favor and watch it. A guy who left the sport in 77 came back 10 years later after being, you know, sort of a born-again Christian, an evangelist, had found God. Everyone thought he was crazy for coming back after a 10-year hiatus, worked his way up to that title fight in, I do believe, 94. No one thought he had a chance.

He was coming off a loss against the guy who was 20 years his junior, and it was not looking good for him, and he was able to pull it off with one of the great sequences and everything that followed afterwards. And, of course, to a legion of fans out there, he's known as the Grill Guy. He's known as Uncle George. and everything that followed afterwards. And of course, to a legion of fans out there, he's known as the grill guy. He's known as Uncle George.

He's known as one of the cuddly salesmen that you saw in his post-fighting career and made hundreds of millions of dollars off of that George Foreman grill. And so, there was that Holy Trinity of heavyweights in the 70s of Ali, Frazier, and Foreman, sadly they're all gone now and they all fought each other and they all produced incredible moments.

Foreman's win over Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica, produced one of the greatest calls in boxing history. Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier, down goes Fraasier, down goes Frasier. That was Howard Cosell. And so just amazing stuff. What a life, what a career, what a larger than life individual. We'll talk to Teddy Atlas,

who by the way was Michael Moore's head trainer and got into it with George in the buildup to that fight. And there were some amazing moments in between rounds, but speaks of him with the utmost love and sincerity and affection. I thought it would be great to have Teddy on, so he'll join us at three o'clock. There's the quartet, what a show, can't wait to get into it.

And like I said, not a lot to write home about if you are a fan who attended the O2 on Saturday. I know ticket prices were high, I know there wasn't a lot to get excited about, I know even if you weren't rooting for the Brits, like the fights just weren't, you know, they weren't that great, they didn't really deliver. But I tell you something,

I know who had a weekend to remember, would you believe that our very own P.C. Carroll was out hobnobbing with the elite? I wake up on a Saturday morning and there I see flooded on social media, P.T. just gallivanting around Dublin town with one of the hottest comedians in the game right now, the great Shane Gillis, who was in attendance on Saturday at the O2, sold out the three arena and said he needed to have his guy PT there. Look at that. Look at that big thumbs up

DJ TS And there's another one. Ah now the here the boys Just having a pint or two or three or four or maybe even five. Look at this I mean, there's just different variations of the yeah, we're boys. We're hanging out on a Friday night in Dublin town How did this happen, Pizzi? Explain to us how you were able to enter this very elite circle. It was all down to the great Chris Bungard, of course, Scottish MMA fighter slash professional wrestler slash actor, a man of many, many trades.

He's a friend of Shane Gillis's and I kind of piggybacked off their friendship into this situation I must say. But all of the lads, absolute legends. All of the lads who were there, Chris O'Connor, Joe DeRosa, all these comedians, they were absolute legends. I mean, I was, I woke up very, very rough. I'm still feeling the effects on Monday. But they were all gentlemen. Fantastic Time was had. They were all brilliant set. And then of course he played the 02 last night and he was in attendance at UFC London. And all these lads were all just buzzing for Sean Brady. They were all there sitting cage side yesterday

for his big win against Leon Edwards. So fantastic time was had, one for the books. I thought you'd be sitting right next to him there in attendance at the O2. Not quite there, I don't think. No, not quite there. They're legends though. They honestly were, they were so nice to us all.

You know, but just one of them mornings where you wake up and you're like, thank God I haven't been injured or arrested. This is fantastic. I got away with one again. Come on. Uh, any truth to the rumor that he's a loyal listener of the crack. I don't know about that now. He definitely knows who you are. He definitely knows who you are.

Um, when he, when Chris introduced me, uh, to him, he's like, oh, he works there. He's like, oh yeah, Ariel. It's like, yeah, he works there. He's like, oh yeah, Ariel. I was like, yeah, woo. Thank God we're in. But no, honestly, they were just all lovely. They had a great time in Dublin, I think. You know, just fantastic time had by all. I saw him even last night. I saw him with Arnie Allen.

Unbelievable. He was hanging with Arnie. Yes. I mean, I wonder if he snuck an L meal deal in the back there. I was like, come here, what do you think of this? But great lads all of them. Fantastic. It warmed my heart. It was great to see you seem like you were a pig in shit with a big old smile on your face. It was a pig in hell for the next two days. I mean, look at that scene right there. It looks like it's... That's Derek. That's Derek Skelling, Chris Bungard's mate on the other side of Shane, an absolute legend.

But honest to God, this guy is so famous and he was just so nice. Any other dude, unbelievable. Great to see it, great to be around him. Exactly how you expect him to be, just a fucking legend. Yeah, well I'd say he was delighted on Saturday night to see one of his own, the Philly boy, Sean Brady, step up to the plate and let's be honest, to steal a baseball analogy, a Phillies analogy, he was like Bryce Harper out there hitting a grand slam.

I mean, this guy walked into the 02 and just steamrolled one of the great fighters of this generation and it was never even close. And there was a desperation moment and I do do believe was it the third or fourth when, when Leon shot and you were like, oh gosh, this is, this is really going poorly. I mean, there was one moment I was, I was, I was reading the factoids take a listen to this.

I mean, in, in one particular round, uh, Brady broke the record for UFC control time for a single round, four minutes and 57 seconds. Uh, like I said, yeah. Um, first fight in the UK, just a second fight outside of the United States. And of course we know what happened in the first one a couple of years ago, too below.

He suffered his, his only loss. He did not look like himself. He got beat, uh, convincingly stopped in that fight, but all he has done since then is win. Win over Kelvin Gaslam, win over Gilbert Burns, and now a stoppage win over Leon Edwards. He submits him in the fourth round, excuse me, first submission loss of Leon's career,

first person to ever stop Leon Edwards. And even afterwards, I felt like when he did the post-fight press conference, he exuded a level of confidence that we have never seen from Shawn. He wasn't begging. He wasn't making a strong, oh, I should be next. He was just up there being like, that's all you got? If you were in Philly, I would never tap in front of my people. You guys, like, people were telling me that the O2 fans were going to be rough on me. Like, that was nothing compared to what you would have gotten

if you went into Philly against me. Like, he was just sitting there and he was going like, he was like mocking the media there, like just being like, yeah, now what? Even on social media, he posts a picture with his team, something, what was it about the guns in London saying that you guys don't have guns? Yeah. Like even mocking them in that regard. Like you guys have nothing. Like this was a different side of Sean Brady, a very, very impressive and confident side of Sean Brady.

We had a nice three-poch reunion on Saturday, which I loved and I know the people did as well. Perhaps we need to do a little more of that, but I gotta go to GC. This was your guy and I know in jest, I know deep down you love Sean and in jest you were doing the ducking stuff and all that. and we all know that that's the next big test for him you versus him On the the Averon, but let's I mean, let's give this guy his flowers

I was I was blown away by what he did to Leon Edwards blown away I mean, I've never seen anything like it against a guy like Leon Edwards. It was pillar to post It was it was not even competitive. He made he made Leon Edwards look like a chump out there I mean the shot for a takedown in the third round It was not even competitive. He made Leon Edwards look like a chump out there. I mean, the shot for a takedown in the third round was when I knew it was over. And then the fact that he gets the finish in the fourth round, I mean, he has cemented himself

in contendership in the welterweight division for sure. He is, if not next, depending on circumstances, he is one win away for sure. Who is Sean Brady's next opponent? This is the hard question to answer right now, right? It's a very hard question, yeah. We know Balal's fighting, right? We know he's fighting May 10th against JDM.

I don't think it's one of those where it's like, oh, if Balal loses, they're gonna run it back, right? He's not getting an immediate rematch if he loses, right? He hasn't been a champion that long. He hasn't been a champion for a year. And so I think we could confidently say that someone is next, right? It's not gonna be one of those, well, if this guy wins or

if that like Pereira loses to Magomed, he's getting the immediate rematch. If Bilal loses, I don't think that's the case. And so will they go back? I think you can make a strong case right now that Brady's resume is more impressive than Shafqa's despite the fact that he has the loss to the current champion. You know what I mean? Shafqa was supposed to fight for the belt in December, Bilal gets hurt. Shavkat was supposed to fight for the belt in May, he gets hurt.

I don't think it's a crazy statement to say Sean Brady should be next. Do I think he gets it next? I think he's probably going to have to fight one more time. But I think he has done enough in the last three fights, plus only loss to the champion to really make them, you know, make them think here. I don't think it's as easy as it was a week ago what do you think I think the fact that Shavkat had the title shot and then he

lost it because of Bilal getting injured and then he took on Ian Gary he won that I know he got injured in that fight I think he still has earned the title shot and if he is healthy he deserves it I also think there's the argument for the star power the undefeated record everything like that so if he is healthy, he deserves it. I also think there's the argument for the star power, the undefeated record, everything like that. So if he is healthy, I think he will get the title shot and I think he's deserved that as well. But if he's not healthy and we get into August, September, and Bilal's looking to fight again, I think it should absolutely be Shawn Brady. Let's ask Nier Krik. Nier Krik, there's many different iterations here, right? There's Brady

versus Ian Gary. There's Brady versus Joaquin Buckley's there's Brady versus Ian Gary there's Brady versus Joaquin Buckley there's Brady versus Shavkat number one contender winner fights for the belt there's Shavkat fighting the winner Brady having to wait what do you think happens after that performance after that incredible performance I can't say definitively what I think will happen because of the timing of it all right we have to have a resolution of this next upcoming welterweight title fight, then we have to hear if Shavkat is healthy.

Ultimately what I'd want to see, if I'm being completely honest, is Shavkat versus Brady, and Leon versus Ian Gary, and Buckley versus Usman. Shavkat versus Brady as a number one contender fight? Number one contender fight. Wow. I get, listen, it's a tough pill to swallow

if you're Shavkat, I get that. You had the title fight, then you had it again. Ultimately, this is just how the cookie crumbles and- Just ask Charles. Charles had a title shot, got cut. Exactly, it happens all the time now. What about Brady Usman? He's been banging that drum.

I don't know if Usman will take it. I'd rather see Buckley, but I'm open. I'm open to it. Now, is it a step back to go from Leon to Usman? If you're Brady. Here are the current UFC rankings. Oh, for Brady. I don't know, I guess he's three and he's also a massive man.

I think Brady just fights Shavka. Brady versus Shavka. Shavka or the Toil. Okay, so these are the rankings. These are gonna change tomorrow, Wednesday, whenever the new one comes out. And as you can see, you can see the change to the guard. Look how low Colby is. Look at Gilbert low.

Kamaru's got to drop down. Um, it's kind of crazy that he's that high. Leon's got to drop down. You would think that should probably be number one now. And Jack Della probably moves to two or Brady. Yeah. It's two or three for Brady. Anyway, there it is.

I really, I'm torn on this one. I don't think, I don't think, to me, Brady versus Usman feels like a step back for Brady. It's gotta be shove cut for you. If it's Brady versus Usman, but you say, this is your title opportunity next, I think that's a justifiable fight for Brady. That's fine.

You get a title shot if you beat Usman. That's fine for me. I think he gets a title shot regardless, whether it's Buckley, Gary, Usman, if he wins his next fight, I think he's getting a title shot if you beat Usman that's fine for me I think I think he gets a title shot regardless whether it's Buckley Gary Usman if he wins his next fight I think he's I think he's getting a title does anyone think he should be next should he be sitting there in Montreal as the next guy I think he's in a situation where he should either show fight Shavka or fight for the title that's the situation I think he's in I don't think he should fight anyone else

if Shavka sorry Pizzi.T. Go ahead. Keep going. Sorry. Well, I'll just tell you, that's shown me so much this weekend. I expected Leon to give him way better fight, but what we've seen from him over this weekend, you mentioned at the start, it's not just the dominant performance. It's the way he's carrying himself. It's like Highlander. You chop off the lad's head and you inherit his power.

That's what I felt like he did. He went in and even afterwards, the demeanor, everything about him. I think it's someone that people can really get behind. And it kind of reminded me of Eddie Alvarez at the height of his power. That kind of like, what are you going to do to me? Like what are you going to do to me? Of course this is what happened. And I really like that.

I love his new attitude. And look, I'm sure the fact that he's just become a father has motivated him to no end too. I think that win to your point at the start is puts him level or slightly ahead of Shavkat. And if I'm his manager, I'm saying, well, we're going to go, as you say, let's go to Montreal, let's watch this fight. And if Shavkat isn't ready, I should be that guy. If Shavkat's ready, I'll fight him for the right to fight Belal. I don't think Shavkat's performance against Ian Gary

is the type of one where you're like, well, he has to fight for the title now. It was a very competitive fight, but it just didn't have the spectacle that everybody wants when we're watching these fights. So that's the position I think Brady's in now. By the way, Rick, I'll let you weigh in here in a second, but I just want to say it's so crazy

that you mentioned Eddie, obviously there's the connection, the Philly boys, and they've known each other for a while. I went for a little jog yesterday evening, and I like to listen to the Post-Fight Press Conference and all this stuff to kinda get ready to see what they have said leading up to the show and the interviews. He sounds, I've said this before,

he sounds so much like Eddie Alvarez. The way he says certain things, he sounds so much like him, that I felt compelled to send Eddie a voice note and just tell him like, A, this guy sounds exactly like you, but B, like let's not forget, you were the first guy, you flew the flag, you set the path for these guys

to come after you from Philly, and I just wanted him to know that like, we haven't forgotten about the Underground King, and it was great to talk to him a little bit about that and how happy he was for Sean Brady. So it was just amazing that you mentioned that because when I close my eyes, I hear Eddie Alvarez when he speaks.

And if he can have half the career that Eddie had in terms of the accomplishments, he's well on his way. Rick, way in. It feels a little bit what have you done for me lately? And now granted, this is a what have you done for me lately sport. No bones about it. This is entertainment this form of entertainment is but we've just seen Sean Brady do what he did to Leon Edwards the the aura the vibes around Shavkat

heading into that last fight against Ian Gary like he was at that level as well and I think he has a very vocal and dedicated fan base. He's also got no losses on his record, which I think works in his favor. I'm down for them to fight. I'm less down for Sean to jump him if Shavkat is healthy. I don't like that idea. Yeah, so the last time-

What if he's unhealthy? Well, if he's unhealthy, then next man up. Brady's right in. The last I heard was July, August. So it doesn't seem like it's going to be. And I am not, just because they did it to Charles, I don't like people losing a title shot if they get hurt. Like if you earned it, you earned it.

And look, he was a good soldier. He didn't have to fight Ian Gary. I know he got paid. He wasn't doing it for charity. But he could have said, I'm going to wait as well. And I think he did the UFC a favor by staying on that card because it's certainly, that card would have been in sh'm going to wait as well. And I think he did the UFC a favor by staying on that card because it's certainly like that card would have been

in shambles if he pulled out. And obviously Ian deserves a ton of credit. And Ian is fired up that he didn't get the call. I don't think Ian's too far off, but he certainly doesn't have the same case as now with Sean Brady. Brady's on a roll here. I mean, like that win over Leon Edwards is better

than any of Ian's wins with all due respect to MVP and all these guys like this is the former champion you didn't just beat him you stopped him for the first time in his career and so to me it's either if this is how I would be happy with this Shavkat fights the winner of JDM and Balal probably last May, you know, maybe in Abu Dhabi or something like around that time frame, right? That seems that seems appropriate I Would rather Sean doesn't wait just for activity sake He's rolling right now and and I would favor him against any of the top guys but him fight either Ian or or Buckley as

Just like alright, but to me who me like I think I don't know about you guys but I think he steamrolls Usman like I don't think this man's higher ranked what at the moment just guys on on on a roll and and in the fresh blood like if you're Kamaru Usman are you signing up for that fight probably because it could get you back to a title quicker than any other fight if you if you beat Shawn Brady as Kamaru Usman, now you're back in that combo. Oh, of course. I just mean like if...

So I would sign up. It's probably the most he can gain. It's the best he can do. The UFC these days, as we know, is more about like how many of you want in a row? Are you coming off a win? It's not so much... It's the quantity of wins, not so much the quality of your wins, in my opinion, that gets you to the top. Now, of course-

Shavkat's the guy. Oh, 100%, 100%. If I'm Brady, you fight Shavkat, amazing. If you can't get Shavkat, well, obviously the first thing is getting a title shot, but I would be, I don't know, would I be surprised? I don't know, man, this one gives me a headache. I could see them going in a million different directions.

I really can. This really just comes down to Sean Brady's threshold for risk and wanting to stay busy. Because ultimately we assume that Shavkat's kind of in a driver's seat for a title shot. If Sean Brady wants to stay busy, he has options, right? He can try to challenge Shavkat, but if you're Shavkat,

do you necessarily want to take that, right? He's already helped the UFC once in terms of staying on that card and taking on Ian Gary when he did not need to. There was no title on the line, and he took that opportunity and saved them to a certain degree. Do you want to take on Sean Brady? I don't know if you do if you're Shavkat.

But if you're Brady, you can call for that. Or if you don't, then you have options all within the division because you really haven't faced a lot of these guys whose names we've been mentioning. All these are new, fresh matchups. But if you're Sean Brady, do you want to risk it? Do you want to go against a guy like an Ian Gary? I'd rather face Kamaru Usman, whose ranking is higher, but star is more diminished, than a young, hungry Ian Gary, who I don't know if I want that problem at the moment.

Not that I do. And this is I think as we all talk about this, we need to make it clear. Like we're not forecasting Ian Gary can't beat Brady or vice versa. We're just talking about it's a risk to fight anybody that skilled on that night. And so you're putting a title opportunity potentially on the line there. I don't know. I don't know. It really depends on Brady and we'll speak to him and we'll find out.

It's a good point. The the Ousmane thing like as well, like just in terms of legacy to have another champion know it really depends on Brady and we'll speak to him and we'll find out. It's a good point. The the Usman thing like as well like just in terms of legacy to have another champion on your resume instead of having a guy a young hungry guy who hasn't entered the title fray yet and essentially risking that position against them with a Joaquin or an Ian Gary you're allowing them to highlander you. If you're letting them fight you they will take your power if they win if they win, if they somehow win. And as we know, all these prospects, very, very good fighters. We've been talking about them for a long time. Where would they enter the fray? They're all just about there now. I do like the style matchups for Brady against Gary, against Joaquin, just because of his

phenomenal grappling ability, his phenomenal pressure and top position. But to Rick's point, I do think that's a good point. If we're in a situation where we're snookered and Bilal is fighting Shavkat next I think Usman is a good option that's a very good point Rick. Yeah you know like I said Walter Wade is so interesting right now there's there's many different ways that they can go with this we're focusing on Brady but I'm also curious to to kind of figure out where Leon goes from here. Leon is only 33 years old, and it's amazing how the two years ago,

he's in the O2 and he thoroughly beats Kamara Usman and he proves that the rematch, because they fought three times, wasn't a fluke. And then he comes back and he thoroughly beats Colby Covington, and then of course it's the fight against Bilal. And I said this on Saturday, and it's worth repeating again here. This fight felt like the referendum on the Bilal. And I said this on Saturday, and it's worth repeating again here, this fight felt like the referendum on the Bilal fight,

the second fight, the one in July in Manchester in the middle of the night. If he came back looking like a million bucks, he could say, you see, I told you guys, it was all about the middle of the night stuff, I was affected by it, never again. But he didn't, he looked worse. And so now I think that loss ages worse. And

now he can't really hang his hat on that anymore. And of course, Bilal had a field day and as he should have, as he should have had a field day, because I can understand from his perspective, he feels like he probably feels like I'm trying to take something away from him. Not the case. Asking the questions, harping on it, not who knows. The team brings it up. You talk about it. It becomes a thing. It becomes a narrative. It becomes a talking point. And so he's probably asking the questions, harping on it, not who knows. The team brings it up, you talk about it, it becomes a thing, it becomes a narrative, it becomes a talking point. And so he's probably sitting there saying,

now what are you gonna say? You know what I mean? I beat this guy, Sean Brady, who I think is infinitely better now than he was a couple years ago, but he lost fair and square and got stopped in that fight. Now what are you gonna say about that July fight? You can't say anything.

And so I think it makes his win look even better better and I think it makes the loss look even worse. And so I feel like right now there's this revisionist history on Leon the champion. Leon's title reign, Ah, Usman was washed up, Ah, Kolbe was washed up, and then he got thoroughly dominated by Bala Muhammad. They have to be very careful about what the next move is. And they have to figure out how to get the back. Cause it just kind of felt like there was no fire there. Now, a lot of that had to do with the extinguisher that is Sean Brady. He did a great job of extinguishing any fire that was, um, that could have been present in Leon Edwards, but they need to be very careful about this next fight and maybe take some time.

Uh, that probably would be good after a fight like this, but we need a favorable matchup next, like this is one would be good after a fight like this, but we need a favorable matchup next. Like this is one of those where take a fight three steps back. Just get the mojo back, get the confidence back. Cause it just didn't feel like it was there on Saturday. The craziest part of all this, you were about to ask who it is. Yeah.

Who would that be? It would have been JDM. That's the thing. JDM would have been the guy. JDM if JDM loses in two months, then that's the fight. It still could be, but JDM on Saturday night could have been the perfect opportunity for Leon to be in a striking battle, get his mojo back, and get back on the horse. But Bilal Muhammad and Sean Brady back to back is a bad style matchup for Leon Edwards. That's just what it is. It is two

of the hardest fights he could possibly fight in that division. And so it's a, it's a crazy turn of events where he was in a matchup with the guy that you think, okay, if you can style here, if you can get into a striking battle, you'll be back. And instead he gets the guy who just completely suffocates him. Um, beyond JDM, like sit, let's say JDM, MVP is a great way. I said MVP. MVP. I feel like that's. Is that too far down? Do you fall? Like I said.

Where is MVP? I don't think, I just get momentum. Can we put back up the bar? 15. He's 15, but he also just won at 85. He's coming off the Ian fight. You know, like I just. Bigger name.

Bigger name would be a big deal over there. Obviously, I don't know of any plans just yet of going back to the UK. Not in the top 10. He's like we said 15, but high profile. The one that screams to me is Ian Gary, but I'm after Steve. Will Ian wait around for him?

Well, if I'm Ian though. I don't think Ian's taking that fight now. Really? I think Ian would say like, no. Give me Sean. Give me a bigger name. I feel like that's a very winnable fight for. I took Shuffcott on short notice for you guys.

I stepped up. Give me a guy that short notice for you guys. I stepped up. Give me a guy that gets me a title shot. It's fair. It's fair. That feels like a winnable fight for Ian, because I'm thinking about the grappling that he kind of uses in the later rounds when he needs to. And I feel like he could find some success there.

But it's also an opportunity to have a name. And obviously, there's that rivalry and the whole story about the gym. It's just so crazy how quickly things turn, right? The way people are talking about Leon, like he's a total nothing. Like, man, this is it. Like, if he wasn't headlining this, if this, if this, if this fight, if he wasn't headlining the card in London, who knows if Belal had an opponent missing? Like he was on the show last week and said, like, well, they're going to take me off the loan card. And really they needed him on that London card in terms of star power, in terms of everything,

everyone about saying afterwards, like that he was a big draw. I know he didn't go his way, but you know, we, we weren't, we weren't for seeing him getting immediate toil, toil, an immediate rematch, but had, had that fight fallen off and he wasn't on top of a card in London, perhaps they'd give it more time. I think these are all making a good point about Ian, Gary, et cetera, but Ian needs to fight soon. And what Ariel said earlier, I really agree with. I think Leon just needs an extended time off.

He's not old. He has plenty more left than him. But from what we've seen in the last two fights, I just think he needs to, I just think he needs to take his foot off the gas for a few minutes, you know, and not be constantly under the stress of defending a title, winning back a title. You're the headline guy. You know, that's a lot of pressure and he's been under a lot of pressure for a very long time.

Think about that win streak when it started. Think about all the bullshit he went through to get to a title situation. I think it's perfectly acceptable for him to take some time off. I think he actually needs it. I'm with you, but but Styles make fights and I just those were two bad styles for him Just all Mohammed and Sean Brady are bad styles for Korea. I'm not at all talking this up to Man, he just needs to like reset like that may be true and and it will probably could serve him well to just not think

About it for a bit But more importantly is who is he going to face when he comes back because that's the you better find a style that's gonna be a good match for yours otherwise this could be a really rough bumpy ride for him Leon Jorge yeah that might be the time honestly we never got it might be fucking great I was there that night I was there that night. I was down for it. I wasn't. Famously, Jorge Maslino called us out for me and GC for being like, no interest. I'm interested. This is the time.

I'm interested now. It's finally time. Yeah. I'm in. It is crazy that they never fought each other. It is wild. Like, actually officially in a station. That was beef.

That day was fucking crazy. If you were backstage in London that day and you're waiting for the press conference to start and suddenly it's like, nobody is coming. There's been a brawl. You go on your phone, you're looking at this shit. Everyone's trying to get Mas Vidal. Everyone's trying to get Leon. It was crazy, dude. Like if they, if they just made a little highlight reel, like into the one they did with Carmien Jones, we're all in. Let's go.

And to the point you two are making, if you can't find the fire for that one, then we know it's over, right? If that's, if you can't get up for that one, that's it. That's it. We're done with talking about the top level competition So I think that's it's a little bit off the wall. It's a little bit out of nowhere, but I don't hate it I'll be honest Amazingly that was six years ago this month crazy six freaking years ago PT I want to ask you as someone who knows the region so well, how detrimental was that event to the region? If, if at all, is it just a bad night or, you

know, you have people, you know, there was one guy in particular was telling me who works in boxing, like, Oh, can't wait to go to my first UFC. And he was like, yeah, I get it. I get it. But golly, that was long. Uh, the decisions, you know, the crowd seemed flat, uh, a lot of the local heroes didn't win. Is that just, but, but, you know, the crowd seemed flat. A lot of the local heroes didn't win.

Is that just but you know, there was complaining about the prices beforehand. Is that the kind of thing that can really hurt them or is that just a bad night and everyone forgets about it the next time around? No, I think I think it's the fact that it's come after this Manchester one, which was a similar feeling to the fans, you know, where it was on in the middle of the night and they were like, well, this isn't for us. You know, I know it's our guys. We got a big pop for the Tom fight.

We got a big pop for the Paddy fight. Obviously the main event didn't go the way they wanted to do it with Bilal. But like in the middle of the night, like, you know, you're destroying your whole weekend going to that card essentially, right? Even if you're living in the UK, you're like, I'm not Sunday is gone. I'm probably still going to be recovering on Tuesday from this thing. Um, I think of the fact that it's come after that is, is tough. I think the ticket prices are a real problem.

And we had just sang on the crack last week and he was talking with the scalpers and now they haven't got that under control. That's a universal problem. That's not particularly a London situation, but yeah, I think they've probably gone back to the well too many times and you know, I spoke to someone who has been at every single UFC London card for the last 10 years, just yesterday. And, you know, this guy is a high roller.

I'm not going to lie to you, really. You know, you have a big box there. He'd be bringing his friends. There'd be a lot of cash thrown down, no doubt. And he was kind of saying, like. I was watching this card and he said, I have to say, the last three fights, the atmosphere picked up a bit, but it was, it was very bad, you know, like in comparison to other ones we've had, it was very weak.

But he said, the thing that struck me and I, and I had time to think about this, he told me, because obviously the fights aren't as compelling as they usually were. He was like, I was looking down from the view that I have and it's the same view as always had and I kind of have occurred to me that like hasn't really evolved the product in 10 years. Like there's nothing different happening. Like, you know, it looks exactly the same as what it was before. Now this is probably a different position than a person going to their first card and just not enjoying the product, but that from a person who's been there 10 years, it was kind of saying, well, this is getting boring to me. A die-hard MMA fan.

That's, that's tough. And to play devil's advocate, like is getting boring to me. A diehard MMA fan. That's tough. And to play devil's advocate, like if you go to an NBA game now, it looks kind of the same as it did 10 years ago or a primary league match or an NFL. So like, what do you mean by that? You know what I mean? Is that fair? Yeah. Maybe, maybe it's just the fact that he was, you know, the product wasn't as compelling

as usual that he's bringing this up, but it's not good that so many people, including journalists who have covered this sport and who are usually very pro UFC are coming out and saying like, this isn't good enough. This was very bad. We did not enjoy this. This is the second one in a row where we're walking away kind of saying to fans like, I understand where you're coming from. I get it.

So yeah, I think they have to do something about it. What can they do? They could probably put more of the talent there, but they're kind of a victim of their own success in the way that, you know, Thomas where he's at now, like he's waiting for the biggest fight in the world. Patty Pimla is a rising star in the sport. Molly McCann, who's usually a big fan favorite had a, had her last fight. This is someone that usually get the crowd going. It's just in an awkward situation for the UFC in the UK right now. But I do think it's promising that Dave Shaw said in the aftermath that they will be exploring new markets in 2026 and returning to different markets around Europe.

I think that kind of thing just stimulates the whole continent as opposed to just one region and one area in particular, which is London. Well, it may not have been memorable for the Brits, but what about the Irish? Back to back wins? When was the last time? You'd have to go back to perhaps McGregor Brandow to see that kind of dominance by the by the Irish. Shana Bannon, Mama B with the submission win. After getting dropped by a beautiful head kick, she picked up a win and that was after Caitlin Laughren picked up a close split

decision win over Nathan Fletcher. So that was very exciting. Christian Leroy Duncan was one of the few Brits on the card to win. Like I said, Marcin Taibura had a close unanimous decision win over Mick Parkin. Loner Kavanaugh was the other Brit to pick up a win and Nathaniel Wood was the third. Chris Duncan with a hard fought submission victory over Jordan. Buchenich. Buchenich. And you mentioned Molly McCann.

She did in fact retire after her submission loss to Alessia Tainara, who took the fight on just a week's notice. Molly McCann saying, if I can't beat someone who's taking a fight on a week's notice, I don't deserve to be here. She took off the gloves and it was a sad moment. There you see her putting the gloves in the middle of the cage. Patti Pimlett on camera crying as well. She has flown the flag very proudly for the UFC,

for Brits in the UFC, for women in the UFC. And now she moves on. And so, you know, that was a tough moment obviously for the crowd as well. The air kind of came out of the room. Kevin Holland, I thought, other than Sean Brady, had the performance of the night for what he did against Gunnar Nelson. A well-rounded victory off his back. He looked fantastic. The striking looked great. Gunnar had not in two years and obviously Kevin a hell of a lot more active but in a return to 170 pounds You know nothing to sneeze at a dominant win over Gunnar Nelson. Who knows we may be Close to the the end of Gunnar's run and he was sort of alluding to that a little bit in our interview last Tuesday But I was supremely impressed with Kevin Hollande

and of course, Carlos Ulberg picked up a big win over Jan Bokovic and now has, honestly, one of the longest winning streaks in the UFC. Issam Akhachev has 15, Murab has 12, Drikus has 9, those are three champions of course.

Movstar Avloev is a number one contender most believe Ilya Tuporiya is technically a champion and Hums at Shum I have is about to fight for the belt and there's Carlos Alberg with eight as well 1512 998 Alberg's there Obviously, he won't be fighting for the belt next because of course Alex Pereira is next against Magomed on Kalaev But you'd have to think he would either be next or just one away. And I can't tell you that we will be joined by him tomorrow on the program. So he has been very impressive as well. I know it wasn't maybe the most exciting victory of all time as far as action is concerned,

but that's a solid win over a veteran, over a former champion in Yan'chovitch, another guy who had been out for almost two years. But, um, yeah, I thought it was solid. I thought it was solid from, from Carlos Alberg representing CKB, uh, star of the night for UPT, who was it? Who was the one that stood out? Tom Asmel holding up the duck. Yeah. Oh, what a, I mean, what a tease that is.

That was great by the way. Tommy holding up the duck looking like Clark Kent, right? But man, that jacket. Look at this guy. Look at this guy. Fuck. Sex on legs. I mean, when we had the squiggle, when we had the little hair falling down. When did this happen? I would like to know. He does what he wants. He does what he fucking wants.

By the way, he was so ready for the moment too. Like most people just kind of sit there. They pretend like they're not on camera, right? He was ready for it. He's waltzing in and out like, oh, I'm going to watch Mick. I'll head back up to the V.O.P. See us for the main event, lads. You know what, Tom? Embracing, embracing the situation he's in on crown heavyweight champion of the world. You know, it's a nice, it's him, it's Kayla Harrison. There's a few that have really owned it, right? Being the young crown champion. They don't realize the prestige that is involved.

I saw him on the video blog. He was rubbing elbows with the great Louis Theroux back there. Just an absolute star. Just an absolute star. And would you agree? Would you agree they're their biggest hope right now? I mean, obviously Arnold's in the mix as well, but like he's there.

Oh, come on. What are you talking about? I think this is the stupidest question I've ever heard. I didn't want to insult anyone on the spot. Mate, anyone who do you think would complain about that? Who do you think would be like, Oh, no, I'm ahead of Tom Aspinal in the who's from the UK. He was going to win a title next.

Come on. No one fucking near him. Yeah. All right. All right. All right. Uh, well on, all right, all right. Well, on that note, let us say hello to our first guest of the day.

He is, as we have called him here on the program, the uncrowned champion of the heavyweight division, certainly in mixed martial arts, and that is probably more prestigious, if you ask me, than being the UFC heavyweight champion, because he is the people's champion. He was in attendance on Saturday everyone waiting with bated breath for his next move he is the pride of the UK the pride of

Great Britain the pride of Manchester the pride of Wigan the man who brought smiles to people's faces at the O2, unlike what happened on Saturday. There he is, the man himself. The great Tom Aspinall. And Tom, I do have to say we have some breaking news off the top. Okay, go on. That's our breaking news music. I don't know if you know this, but I was, you know, I watch all your content.

I watch it very, very closely and I couldn't help but notice on the blog on Saturday, the vlog, as they say, we're used to a little bit of this and we're used to a little bit of this, but what's happening on the side here, Tommy? Are we growing in the beard? What's happening over there? I saw some stubble on the side. What's happening?

That's the breaking news, is it? Yeah, that's it. Oh, wow. Wow, I mean, we're struggling. We're struggling for content. That's the breaking news. Good grief Yeah that's it. Oh wow wow I mean we're struggling we're struggling for content if that's breaking news good grief. What's happening? I don't know I'm just trying trying out a new thing I don't even know look I don't I don't even that's that's barely there's not a lot going on there but I'm trying I'm having to go like a week in two weeks in maybe. This is you is this your protest until you get a fight you're not shaving

no i don't i don't know what we're doing to be honest i've had that see the old tash and little beard thing i'm completely aware it doesn't look that good um but every time i shave it off it just looks worse like it's just it's just weird so it's just weird. So we're going a bit of side stubble these days. We've seen how that looks for a little while. Who knows what's gonna happen moving forward? I don't know. I think the story should be you're protesting until you get some sort of clarity.

You're not shaving and everyone has to deal with it. We did just give you props before you came on. Looking like Clark Kent out there. What's happening with the little- Wait, no, no, no. Pete's here giving me props. What, no, no. Pete C is giving me a hard time. What, no, no, no. You were throwing a bit of shade my way, mate.

I heard it. What do you mean? What do you mean? Look at this. You look fantastic here. You maybe never looked better. Listen to this. So today, this is a funny story.

So my friend, James Webb, are you familiar with James Webb? Yes, yes. No, Pete C is familiar with James Webb? Yes, yes. No, he's familiar with James Webb. Cage-Boris Light Heavyweight Champion, training partner of my friend and mine. So today I wrote us up to the gym and he was like, who was your stylist for Saturday?

I was like, what? He said, who styled you? Was it like some of the UFC stuff or who was it? I was like, what? He said, who styled you? Was it like some of the UFC stuff or who was it? I was like, me. Me, what are you talking about? And you remember Ricky Martin? She banged, she banged. Like a throwback Ricky Martin, mate. Looked fantastic.

I thought you looked great. Yeah, he was giving you stick. He was busting your chops. No, no, he was serious, I think. Oh, he was giving you props. Okay, okay, okay. He's giving me props, he's giving me props. He wasn't busting your chops. No, no, he was serious. Oh, he was giving you props. Okay, okay, okay. He's giving me props. He's giving me props.

He wasn't busting my chops, I don't think. I think he was genuinely saying, and I think he was genuinely unaware that I could dress all right because usually I'm wearing this kind of stuff. Do you know what I mean? I'm just wearing gym stuff. No, it's all coming together. The only thing missing, of course, is your next assignment. And so let's not beat around the bush. Everyone's waiting with bated breath here. You are on the program

It's rare to even get you on the horn these days because you're such a big superstar I saw you hobnobbing with Piers Morgan telling him he's your favorite interviewer and all that I didn't take it personally. Don't don't worry about that. Not for a second Okay, but it's a great honor to have you here and to ask you the hard question but it's a great honor to have you here and to ask you the hard questions. Wait a second, hold up, hold up. I definitely didn't say that about Piers Morton. You said he was one of the best interviewers,

one of the best interviewers. I mean, I think that's fair, that's fair game. But if you're gonna ask me who the best interviewer in the game, I'm gonna say Louis Theroux. Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that. If you're talking best MMA interviewer, I'm gonna say it's you. Oh wow, okay, I'll take that. I mean're talking best MMA interviewer, I'm gonna say it's you.

Oh wow, okay, I'll take that. I mean, we can work our way up. We're working our way up, yeah. I mean, Lurie Theroux is the goat of interviewers. I think I've seen every single documentary of him. And also, you said you watched the vlog. I mean, Lurie Theroux are boys these days. I saw it.

He's asking- I met his brother. I met him a couple of times, Lurie. He seems very nice. I like how he's asking you on the spot to break down the fights. He's like, okay, so what are we looking out for here? And you kept it real.

You said it was a nightmare matchup for Leon. Yeah, you know what? I didn't even know that was recorded. Difficult because my media guy, Charlie, he walks around with what we call the stick. And now the stick is a very small thin camera that doesn't even look like a camera. So he's not like walking around with a big thing. He's walking around with like a little stick thing. And most of the time

you don't even, a lot of other people as well don't even notice it's there, which is great because you get more genuine interactions. It's not like, you know, with the big massive camera and you're facing a big boom and everything. It's not like a lot of the stuff isn't rehearsed. It's just we were there on the fly. I didn't even know that Charlie was recorded and that. So that was, that's pretty cool. I mean, Louis is a very nice guy.

Or he seems it at least. His brother seemed nice as well. Yeah, and I'm sorry about Mick Park and your friend. You could see the genuine angst that you had watching him fight, how excited you were for him, for getting this opportunity, but the anxiety that comes with watching a friend as well. And it was a close one, a big opportunity. It seemed in the video blog,

like he was handling it pretty well afterwards, that he had a good perspective and, you know, to go 15 minutes with a veteran like that, I mean, surely there's lessons to be learned there, right? Yeah, it was a tough one for Mick. I really, really there's lessons to be learned there, right? Yeah, it was a tough one for Mick. I really, really wanted Mick to win that one because that fight kind of like flew under the radar a little bit.

Mick is like a super nice guy. He's fighting someone like in the top 10 on these like 10th or 11th MMA fight, which is unbelievable. I'm not talking about UFC fight, I'm talking about MMA. And there could have been, you know, there was a lot on the line for him he could have potentially got a new contract on the back of that he would be in the top 10 he would have beat a big name and hopefully become a little bit

more mainstream but I genuinely thought he won the fight to be honest with you and that's I mean I probably am a little bit biased, but I watched it back and honestly, I thought that Mick won 2 and 3. I thought he just lost, just lost the first. I don't know, it wasn't a great fight. Mick, I would never make excuses for Mick, but Mick did have some problems in the training camp and stuff, but that's his job. Whether you want to tell people or not, that's not my, I mean, it's probably just gonna look like it's gooses if he says it now anyway, but Mick, Mick will be back, Mick will be back. He's still learning and you know what?

There's only one way to get experience and that's in there. So fair play to Mick and I'm sure it'll be back better. When you're sitting there and watching a lot of the Brits, you know, have tough nights and the crowd is booing and the crowd feels flat, you've been in that arena when it's been on fire, when they're chanting and singing your name and chanting for Patti and Molly, et cetera.

Is there any part of you saying like, uh, you know, like, I just want to rip off this suit and represent the country and give these people a reason to cheer or are you separating the two? No, to be honest, I feel like we needed, and when I say we, I'm talking UK MMA. We needed a big night at the O2. And I was looking through the card top to bottom,

and obviously there's a lot of names on there, UK guys, that people worldwide won't be familiar with, but I know them because I've seen them come up on the local scene and stuff and through cage warriors and all the rest of it. You know there's a couple of matchups on there where I was like right these guys aren't the best known guys in the world but this is going to be a banger and it's going to bring some excitement and to be honest with you it was just flat as hell in the O2 arena on Saturday night. I was quite disappointed to be honest because I think that, I don't know, we needed

something. Like you said a couple of years ago UK MMA was like absolutely banging. We've still got so much talent but we just need that excitement and the last few shows in the old two We just haven't had it. Unfortunately. I don't know why that is, but it just Isn't flowing the way it was a couple of years ago Yeah, well, you know some of the biggest names weren't there obviously Leon's a big name. You weren't fighting Patty wasn't fighting Arnold Allen wasn't fighting so there were some big names names missing. And the results, the results didn't help as well. You did a great job on your video blog. I think you're doing a fantastic job, honestly, with the production and the uploads and everything.

So shout out to you and the team. There's the channel right there of setting the table for this week, this past week. There was a video where you were on a train and you were just kind of talking about everything going on in your life and you had mentioned that there's a meeting coming up with the brass. Everyone's, this is the biggest story in the sport. Let's not kid ourselves. When your next fight is gonna be John Jones, all this stuff, we saw him emerge on Saturday

at the Dirty Boxing event. And then on Saturday, a picture emerged of yourself, Mr. Andy Aspinall and the great Hunter Campbell of the UFC. And it seemed like everyone was in good spirits unless this was at the beginning of the meeting before things got really down and dirty. No, it seemed like everyone was very happy to be there. And so inquiring minds wanna know, this is it.

What can you tell us? How did the meeting go with Hunter Campbell and your father? Well, this was actually, the picture was actually at the end of the meeting. And believe it or not, that was probably about 2 a.m. that picture. Wow.

We had a meeting for about, so I did my event first with Adam Cattarall. We had some beautiful people come out there to support us. We did a little meet and greet and then we did some talks and stuff. It was amazing, it was fantastic. So big shout out to everyone who came there. And then straight after that we went across town and met Hunter that was probably around 10.30, 10 something like that.

And we had a nice meal and we talked everything through, you know Hunter has always been extremely personable and reasonable with me. I can't say what he's like with other people I don't know but with me and my team he's been nothing but hospitable and fantastic and we had a fantastic meeting, everything went amazing, I understand my position now, I understand what the company's doing now. And you got to stay tuned my friend. There's some big news coming. Okay. Well, this, this is promising.

I mean, obviously you had, you had expectations and it sounded like you weren't let down. You weren't deflated afterwards. Uh, Dana White also telling the aforementioned Adam Catterall we're done, but we're not done, but it sounds like he is confident as well. So it seems like everything is moving in the right direction. I think that's fair. That's fair to say. That's definitely fair to say. Are you feeling, because I was getting the sense in that video on the train that you were starting to reach like the end of the road as far as your patience is concerned.

Are you feeling like you're in a good spot? I feel like we're in a good spot, right. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. that you were starting to reach like the end of the road as far as your patience is concerned. Are you feeling like you're in a good spot? I feel like we're in a good spot right now, yeah. I mean, I feel like I'm a professional MMA fighter, UFC fighter. And that, you know, we're doing all this media stuff lately.

It's going really well, like I said, the YouTube channels fly and the social media is flying, everything's going really really good with that which is good. That's really really nice but first and foremost I like fighting people, that's what I like to do. And if I'm not doing that, I feel a little bit, you know, that's what I like to do. I just like to do that so that's the most important thing for me and I've not been doing that over the last seven months but after the meeting I'm feeling very optimistic about things I'm in a really really really good spot with everything and my future moving forward and I think yeah it's exciting times man it's a really exciting times and the break, I mean, it's not a massive break, to be honest. People are saying, oh, John Jones is holding up your career and stuff. It's only been seven months, it's not too bad. And yeah, I don't wanna say too much, but.

I understand. Exciting stuff in the future, for sure. So on that point, since July of 23, when you beat Marcin Tabura, when you came back, you have fought for a collective three minutes and 22 seconds. And that's because of your dominance. You've had three fights. All the fights have been a minute, 109, 113,

very quick fights. And yes, you did last fight in July. You're 31, so one would argue prime of your life and career right now, you're flying high. And so is there any part of you that feels like, Ali, like, you're like itchy, like itchy knuckles, as they say, like, you would have been ready to fight in March, you would have been ready to fight in February.

You know, is there any part of you that has to battle this? We remember Volkanovsky saying that the time off was doing his head in and he took a fight that he probably shouldn't have taken on short notice because of that. Do you need to battle any of those those feelings? Yeah of course, of course. I could fight next week and I think this is what people don't really understand is like I have not been out there doing anything else apart from training. That's just so that's all I do. That's all I do

man is just train, get fit, get you get improving in the gym and stuff like that. So yeah, of course I want to fight, of course I do. But it's got to be right, it's got to be right. And as I've said multiple times over, what I deserve is the undisputed heavyweight title. That's very important to me and like money and everything aside That's really secondary like what I want is to be undisputed heavyweight champion and if every day I'm working towards it I'm not like I'm not sat at home like scratching my ass and watching TV all day. I am like Getting involved in the gym

all day. I am like getting involved in the gym every day and I'm in a really really good spot with the training and stuff because we've set up, this is kind of unintentional in a way, like we've set up a training room where elite heavyweights are travelling to me from all over the world to train and these guys are in camp, these guys have got fights coming up soon and I'm just jumping in and getting involved with them and training at the intensity that I would do if I was training for a world title fight myself so I'm in a good spot man, I'm in a really really good spot. But yeah like you say I would rather fight sooner rather than later but I am also the

type of guy that believes everything is happening for me. So I'm sure when the time comes, it's going to be the right time. And yeah, all good, man. I'm excited. Uh, not trying to add, uh, you know, fuel to the fire, but some interesting stats that we came across, uh, you're now the second longest reigning interim champ in UFC history, 498 days, uh, Henenbrau is number one, 534. So if my math is correct, in a little over a month you're gonna pass him. John Jones is one title defense in the past 750 days is

the least active a sitting champion has been in UFC history. Even Dominic Cruz, Tom, who was UFC Bantamweight champion for 1117117 days between 2010 and 2014 managed to defend his title twice for an average of one title defense per 5.59 days Barrow became interim champion during this period. Only one interim champion has defended an interim title twice and that's Henen Barrow. But you have said you're not defending that title ever again, right?

You're either fighting John Jones or the next time you fight it's for undisputed against someone else. And you said that in the video. I'm assuming you, you shared that in the meeting and that was met well. That is correct. That is correct. Yeah. Do you have to see nowhere I stand with that?

Um, um, that is correct. Yeah. Did you think that Alex Per losing to Magomed Ankhalayev helped your case? Um, yes. Yes, I would never celebrate anyone else who lost that. That just really isn't my style, but, um, it definitely helped. Yeah, that's for sure. I say that not to say that you were hoping that he would lose, but obviously

John made it very clear that he was at the time in November when he fought here at MSG, interested in that fight, but now Pereira loses, he wants to get his belt back, he's booked in a rematch. That negotiation chip is no longer there. You're the only guy, it's very clear now. Yeah, there's not really many places for him to go right now. I don't think. I think the UFC made it clear anyway. I would like to keep faith that Dana and the UFC

would keep the word that if John Jones is fighting again, it's gonna be against me. But now that the Pereira fight's kind of been taken away with his loss and stuff, I think that kind of goes without saying anyway at this point. A couple months ago, we had one of the most decorated heavyweight champions

in MMA history, the great Kane Velasquez on the program. And I asked him about the fight and I thought his breakdown was interesting and it kind of went viral. Can I play it for you and get your response to what he said? Yeah, of course, no problem. Here's the great Kane Velasquez speaking

about a potential fight between Tom Aspinall and John Jones. So me just watching him, I kind John sees it too. Okay. So I think, I think what that just cause again, John's a, he studies man, it is his homework, you know, he's a master at this. He analyzes things, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies, he studies man, he does his homework, you know? He's a master at this. He analyzes things, he studies you over and over again. I think just for that reason, he's gonna know what to do,

so I don't think he beats John, no. Your reaction to Kane's analysis? I would never react negatively towards Kane. He is one of my favorite fighters ever. I mean, the fact that he knows that I exist and he's watched my fights is pretty cool to me. Yeah, I mean, listen, he's an MMA expert himself.

If he thinks that, that's fine. And, you know what, I'm not really hung up on what people think, you know, this is MMA, this is the highest level of MMA in the heavyweight division. Obviously the opinions are gonna be split and that's absolutely fine, like I respect his opinion. His note about the patterns, what did you make of that? Everyone's got a pattern, everyone's got a pattern,

but I think that, talking about a guy whose average fight time is two minutes and two seconds in the UFC, the shortest average fight time ever, if you can pick up patterns from that, you're pretty good, man. You're pretty good. And I think that for him to be able to see that, that's impressive,

but the people that I think they've seen my game with an average fight time of two minutes and two seconds, they're gonna have a surprise coming their way, man, because I've shown probably 10% of what I can actually do. And for people to go out there and think that they know what they're watching and when they've seen me fight for two minutes, there's a lot more there to show. Do you think John Jones wants to fight you? I don't know. I have no idea. I don't know, Joe. I've met him once. I know nothing about

him. I have no idea. What is your feeling? Obviously, we've heard the reports. I've heard the same about how much he's asking for. So he understands how big of a fight it is if he's asking for top dollar. Do you think he's asking for top dollar so that the UFC says no and he says, hey, I tried? Or do you think he generally wants to prove his so that the UFC says no and he says hey I tried or do you think he generally wants to prove his point against you and then potentially walk off? Oh you mean like try and price himself out?

Yeah. Did that happen against Francis Ngannou or is that just a rumor because I don't really know the ins and outs of it? Well I guess it's your definition of pricing himself out. I think he deserves every penny that he's asking for because I think he's the greatest of all time and the resume would speak for itself. But a naysayer would say,

oh, you know the UFC is not going to give you this so you can say, hey, I asked for this. They didn't want to give it to me. It's not on me. I would also agree with the notion that he deserves every penny that he makes because he, yeah, he's done everything. he's done everything that he can. Okay you did show up with the duck and on the broadcast they're like what does that mean what does that mean? To be clear you were sending a message to him

yes? No I just like ducks. I'm always carrying a little duck around with me just in case no, of course It was a little bit of cheeky bit of fun. It was a little indirect. That's all. Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah bounce as we say. I like it. I just wanted to Yeah, just a bit of bit of fun mate. That's all There's a lot of people looking to are you getting texts from him right now? But I don't know from John maybe I don't know if you guys are in There's a lot of people looking to, are you getting texts from him right now? From who? I don't know, from John maybe.

I don't know if you guys are in Kahoot! Why, could he hear that? Could he hear that? I can hear it when it goes, brr. Oh, sorry, my phone's on the light cover. No, it's fine, it's fine. No, the text is actually from a tattoo guy. Oh, are you getting more?

Yes. Jeez Louise, you saw Sean Brady, right? In person, you're like, oh, I need to up my game. Fantastic, fantastic tattoos they are actually. Sean Brady Sean Brady's very, very impressed with them. But now I've got some words to finish on my arm. That's all. Maybe soon I'll get something else. But I don't know. We'll see how we go because in all honesty, I'm a bit over getting tattoos. So I've got some words to finish on my arm that needs finishing for maybe like a year, an hour longer. And then we'll, we'll go from there.

Are you confident your next fight will be against John Jones? You'll have to stay tuned my friend. That's all I can tell you. I'm not asking is it going to be, I'm just asking if you're confident. I'm confident. Okay. Do you think you fight before the fall? I'm confident. Okay.

Do you think you fight before the fall? Are you saying about that six month thing? Yeah. How do you know about that six month thing? Tom, you know, listen, I don't pry about your personal conversations. I don't appreciate you asking me for my sources, okay? I mean, there's a certain, like, respect here, you know?

What do you want me to come out here and reveal everything? Fair play, fair play. That's it. Can I just add something before you answer it? Okay, go ahead, go ahead. I was going to say, I could see a scenario where they're like, you know, you want six months, how about five months and we'll meet you at your price or we'll get close. You know what I mean? I'm not saying it's that,

that's just what I was told in terms of what he wanted to prepare. I'm not saying it's- When does the fall start? I believe September 21st is like, you know- September 21st? Okay. That was good. I mean, you knew that pretty quick. I don't know. I don't know. You don't know yet.

As Dana White said, there's still, still going to settle on a few things. So I'm just, I'm just waiting. I'm in shape. I'm ready to go whenever. And I'm just waiting, I'm in shape, I'm ready to go whenever. I'm ready to fight, man. You don't have to tell me the answer, I'm just curious, did you set some sort of deadline?

I don't know if you're class it as a deadline, but there was talk about what's gonna happen moving forward, yeah. Okay, wow, this is, so I feel like we're getting, you were anticipating a big week, you were looking forward to a big meeting, and there is clarity, but it's not obviously done deal set in stone as Dana White said.

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of stuff that I can't really talk about, to be honest with you. No, of course. And, I mean, I was prying at you, but you also like to pry. I understand that. That's your job. That's your job. I don't, I'm not pissed off about it.

You know, I love you very much. I'm not pissed off about it at all, but I just want to be careful what I say. Do you know what I mean? No, of course. This is too big. This is too big. Hunter, I have a lot of respect for Hunter and I feel like Hunter respects me as well

and I don't wanna ruin that in any way. I feel like me, my old man, you know, my dad, and Hunter, we have like a very good, we have good relationship and I wanna keep it that way if possible. 100%. Can I ask you about Leon Edwards? Yeah, of course, of course.

On the one hand, you could say, awful night at the office, he got stopped for the first time, but then on the other hand, you could say maybe the worst possible matchup for him. Yes, he's had success against wrestlers, Colby Covington, Kamar Usman, they're not Sean Brady,

young, hungry, who's just itching for his chance. What's your assessment of who you saw there on Saturday? Okay, so you want a full breakdown? Yeah, I'd love it. A full breakdown of this thing. Okay, so Leon was originally a scheduled fight. Jack. Yeah.

Jack Delamadelena, that's right. And that was about, I believe about three or four weeks ago, his opponent was changed. Is that correct? That is correct. Now, Jack is a Southpaw bomber who comes to absolutely scrap. Whereas Sean Brady is, he was actually switching stance a little bit, but predominantly a wrestler slash grappler. And in all honesty, I was so impressed with him. Like I was sat really, really close. I was cage side, I was octagon side. And the small details that he does in his grappling were phenomenal.

were phenomenal like his awareness of where he is and his opponent is inside the Octagon is something that I was inspired by to be honest like I can learn a lot from watching guys like that he... yeah I mean I wanted to... the first round started, the first round was pretty even they actually started the fight with a decent exchange and then Leon went on the front foot a little bit Which to me when Leon's fighting grapplers, which he has done for his last four or five He goes second a little bit too much I wanted to see him put his opponent on the back foot and maybe go first a little bit against the grappler because From my experience at least when you put a grappler or a wrestler or someone who's grappling heavy on the back foot it makes it a lot more difficult for them to shoot and initiate takedowns and stuff so I wanted to see

that a little bit more from Leon. Now at the start of the fight that's what he was doing like he was doing that really really well in the first round seeing Leon a little bit more aggressive seeing him letting his shots go a little bit more and stuff like that now and the beginning of the second, Sean essentially started off with a big blast double and just controlled him in the second now, I'm not sure if something happened back there, I'm not sure if he hurt himself or he broke his will or he'd realized his strength and his technique was too much for him but from that point on from the from the blast double onwards which happened at the start the second basically it was rinse and repeat. Leon could not get Sean Brady off he didn't have a minute to breathe and Sean Brady and all honestly just did a fantastic job of pressuring him. Sean Brady like

101 in between striking and grappling and also he was catching him with some good strikes standing up as well. I don't know if that, I'm not watched the fight back so I don't know if that came across on the broadcast but he was faking the takedowns coming up with strikes and then going back to the takedowns completing them and yeah I mean it was tough to watch as a friend of Leon's, like it was tough to watch. And I was literally sat right next to Tim Simpson, who's Leon's manager, and a couple of Leon's friends as well. And yeah, what wasn't very nice to watch. What do your friends go through that, to be honest? Yeah. But it's one of those things where it's like, was Sean that good or was Leon not that good? And where did the, you know, where, I don't know,

maybe it's a bit of both, maybe it's a bit of both, you know, but I was just blown away by Sean to be the first man to stop Leon, first man to submit him and to do it that dominant in the second round, four minutes and 57 seconds of control time, a UFC record. Leon shooting was alarming there in the third round. It just, it was as dominant as one sided as it gets against the guy that I obviously think very highly of.

Yeah, I didn't see, like I said, I've not watched the fight back, but somebody told me this morning that Leon's corner told him to take him, like don't, you know, the take down's there if you need it. Really? Or something, don't be scared to take him down or something like that.

I don't know, this is just something that someone told me, so I don't know if this is just something that someone told me so I don't know if this is accurate or not. But if that's the case after getting outgrappled for two or three rounds, I wouldn't say that was the smartest move. Like I said, I'm not throwing Leon's corner under the bus because I've not seen it myself. That's just something I heard. Tom, I told you we'd let you go at 6'10", it's now 6'11", so I apologize for that.

You're a gent, you're a mensch as they say. Do you know what a mensch means? Only through the show I know what a mensch is. I've actually been, I've referenced the show the other day because I knew that, I watched on the show when, and you were talking about John Cena. Oh yeah. John Cena, John Cena's turned heel. I mean, I don't keep up with the WWE these days.

But I know that's a bold move from John Cena. Oh yeah, you made another big heel on Saturday, Drew McIntyre, what a legend he is, the pride of Scotland. I did, yeah, he was sat right behind me, yeah, big guy. Love him. Drew McIntyre. Well, I can't wait to see how this all plays out. It's the most anticipated fight in the sport. Gigantic gigantic deal. I hope you get everything

you asked for and more. I will leave you with this at the weigh-ins for the Dirty Boxing event this past Friday. The one in Miami, John Jones now, it has been announced as a part owner. There was a bit of a chant in attendance. You know we love the Tommy Aspinall chant. Here's John reacting to a chant at the Wayans You're on his mind there Tommy you see that you're on his mind there, Tommy. You see that? You're on his mind. He looks a bit uncomfortable there. He looks a bit awkward. You know what? He's right. You are an asshole, Tom. You are an asshole for that response.

He did. He has just been. I mean, everyone's an asshole sometimes, especially me, so I don't take offense to it. But yeah, he did look a bit uncomfortable to me. He looked a bit awkward. Oh God. Put that on the highlight reel. Thank you very much, Tom. Appreciate it. Thanks, man. Always a pleasure. Thanks for joining us. Speaking to you soon. There he is. The great Tom Aspinall. What a legend. Great to have him on the program. Oh, them fighting words. John Jones is awkward in front of the chant. You know yourself, it's

gonna be great. Alright, one of the big winners. There weren't a lot of Brits who were successful on Saturday, but in the in the People's Main Event it was Nathaniel Wood, formerly known as the Prospect Victorious in his Battle of Former Cage warriors champion fight against Morgan Charriere. He is kind enough to join us right now on the program. Let's say hello to Nathaniel. There he is. Hello sir, how are you and congratulations on the win. Thank you, I'm doing well. I hope you're good and it's nice to be back on here with you. Always, always a pleasure. I like the, is

this a Brad Pickett inspired hat that you're wearing? No, no. Brad has the Trilby. Okay. I don't even know the difference. I guess that's ignorant on my part. I'll send you one. Okay. Fair enough. Congratulations on the win, Nathaniel. Very good performance. And like I said, there wasn't a ton to cheer about if you were a British MMA fan. I'm sure you take some pride in being one of the lone Brits to win on the card. Yes, I always feel like when I fought in London there was always pressure on my shoulders to maintain that kind of... I was only the London fighter until recently when Michael Benin-Page and Lonnie Cavanaugh, my teammate, got signed. So me and Lonnie obviously were representing London and I'm pleased that we both got the win

and we both got good wins as well. So, you know, it's always nice to feel like I've walked away and I'm the one that's representing in a good manner our country, you know, and we've got a lot of negative stuff going on in our country at the moment. So I feel like it was more pressure to represent it in a positive light.

And I think a good win, flying my flag, et cetera, into the cage done some good. For long time fans of yours and cage warriors fans, cool to see two former champions, obviously at 135 and 45 go toe to toe. Were you, I think I heard you say that you were disappointed you couldn't get a finish, but overall happy with the body of work.

Yeah, so I'm disappointed with the finish just because I haven't got a finish for a while now. So I'm the decision king. But I'm glad, obviously, that one, I got the win. That's most important. And two, none of my decision wins are boring. It's not like I come in and I just hold on to someone for dear life up against the cage you know like the guys that I'm fighting I'm dropping them I'm making the fight

entertaining unfortunately I just couldn't get the finish and the same with Daniel Pineda my last fight you know I'm dropping him but these guys are tough man this isn't the UFC you know these are the toughest guys on the planet and sometimes it's not as easy to completely put them out. I think I'm a five round fighter and I think if I had another ten minutes in there that I would have definitely got some finishes. So in the post fight interview you mentioned something about mental health and about if you're struggling and that kind of piqued my interest and I went on your YouTube channel

and I was watching your blogs and by the way Great stuff on the channel. It seems like you're really you know, you're putting up a lot of stuff and putting some TLC in it So there you have it If you're watching right now do subscribe to Nathaniel's channel some really high quality stuff and and in one of those videos The one that I think is entitled biggest fight of my life you talk about recently You know dealing with a lot of anxiety and OCD and having to up your medication. And so can I ask you about that? What have you been dealing with

over the last couple of months? Yeah, so unfortunately I've dealt with OCD and anxiety my whole life. I've never got diagnosed till, must have been about eight years ago. And I always have what I would call a dark period where my OCD latches on and it's so hard to get off that kind of looping cycle of intrusive

faults, obsessing over stuff you know I may have a negative a negative or intrusive fault and then latch on then you feel like every second of the day I'm thinking about it. I won't lie I think I had about three weeks of the day I'm thinking about it. I won't lie I think I had about three weeks of the fight camp where I was really suffering but on the previous interviews I said that I was fine once I started fight camp because I didn't want Morgan to you and I think that he had an advantage but yeah unfortunately the first three weeks of this camp and before I was in a shit place mate this was the worst place I've ever been and. I had to up my medication, I'm back seeing my therapist and I'm in a good place

now. The last five weeks of camp have been great. I've got good family around me, good friends and the main thing that I wanted to just kind of say after the fight was that anyone that's suffering with any type of mental health, just talk to people. And I always know that when I'm in my dark period, it will pass. It's like having a cold. You know you're ill, you know you're going to get better. You just got to wait for that cloud to pass. And obviously being in the UFC gives me a platform to hopefully help some people. And I thought I'll use this opportunity to do it. And I've had absolute floods of DMs coming in

or people saying it's helped them. And to me, that's good for the soul. I'm happy to hear that. Obviously not happy to hear that you were dealing with that. And it does take a lot of courage in that moment to bring that up. Can I ask, what do you think prompts it? Why in the beginning of camp were you feeling that way? Perhaps someone would think, oh, you're about to get

a big fight in your hometown on a big stage that would up the endorphins. You'd be feeling great. Why do you think you were going through that struggle early on? So I've definitely found that it's having too much time on my hands. Being a full-time athlete means we've got a lot of spare hours in the day. You know, hence why, as I said previously, I tried to start some businesses to just keep my mind occupied because I'm very imaginative. So sometimes my imagination can just kind of let loose and I just start thinking and stressing about stuff.

And I'll give you a prime example, mate, now that the fight's over. This whole week, for some reason, I had an intrusive thought that I was going to catch some sort of brain bleed during the fight. And I could come home and be in a wheelchair, completely paralyzed. My daughter would have to watch me, you know, be like that for the rest of my life. And just horrible stuff. I just couldn't get out of my head. And then I'm starting to stress, saying to my dad, you know,

is that me jinxing it? Like, is that going to mean that that's going to happen because I've had these faults and, you know, what a horrible thing to think of. But I couldn't shake it. You know, I knew it was an OCD fault. It's an intrusive fault. I'm just not letting it go.

And it was definitely stressful going into the fight, worrying about that. Luckily, obviously, once I'm in not letting it go and it was definitely stressful going into the fight worrying about that Luckily, obviously once I'm in the fight the adrenaline rush completely takes over and all of that's gone But yeah, well, you know, I've been looking at my daughter thinking man if something happens, it's gonna absolutely Yeah, wow, I don't even like sometimes saying about the what the intrusive rules rules are, cause it just sounds so dark. And you know, obviously there are fighters that have had to deal with things like this. And you know, this sport isn't, it is a sport at the end of the day.

And I always say that it is play fighting, but it's a very extreme sport. And unfortunately there are consequences with it. And unfortunately that one of them consequences of something happening has kind of been, been you know in my head all week Is that something you've dealt with your entire life or entire career or just recently the intrusive thought is right? So when I was a kid at least must have been about when I was about five years old I remember being obsessed with going to hell and I wasn't even really religious back when I was kid

But I'd always be asking my mom like oh, I go to hell and I wasn't even really religious back when I was a kid, but I'd always be asking my mum like, oh, will I go to hell for this? And you know, if I said a curse word, will I go to hell for that? And I remember being a kid having to do little rituals where I had to like touch certain things and went before I go to bed just to make sure that if I'd done that, it means everything was going to be okay. And it breaks my heart thinking about it now because I think no five year old should have to deal with stuff like that. But I didn't know what OCD was. I didn't even know that I was odd. I just thought that, you know, I'm just a kid that,

I didn't even know it was any different from anyone else. But growing up, I've gone, wow, you know, that I shouldn't have had to be dealing with that. But yeah, unfortunately I wasn't diagnosed with it. I just kind of guess thought it was a habit and didn't really tell anyone about it. You're speaking to my soul here, Nathaniel, and not to make this about myself,

but when I was a kid, a little older than five, I used to go to every single door and window in our house, even ones that weren't touched, like in the basement, that no one would ever touch. And I would have to hold onto the lock of the door. And I would count to four and then I would count to eight because that's how old my parents were. And I felt like I was like covering my whole family.

I have OCD as well. And so when you're saying this, it's wild to hear another human being say it because I thought that, you know, that was kind of like unique to me. But it's a crippling thing because there are times where you're telling yourself, stop doing this. I don't need to do this. No one touched this. But your body won't let you go to sleep or won't let you carry on with the day if you don't do it right

Hundred percent because if you don't do it something bad will happen. That's what you think will happen So prior to the fight and warming up backstage, I have to keep touching wood, you know where the The lockers are they're made out of wood So in my head, I'm like right you've had a bad thought about getting a brain bleed touch wood, touch wood. And you'll probably see the UFC cameras backstage thinking, what is this kid doing? But in my head, if I didn't do that, for some reason, I thought it would happen. So I'm like, I'm not going to risk it.

But obviously suffering with OCD, you're now seeking help, right? I know that that's the problem, you know, we're feeding the OCD by doing the rituals but in that moment I'm like I don't care I'm just gonna touch wood if it even if it I know it's ridiculous so yeah it is a crippling condition I wish more people would know about it and I still hear people joke now like oh I wish I was OCD so I could be more tidy it's like man if only you guys knew yeah, I feel like talking about it is helping people. I don't need to talk to anyone. I've got all my people, my family, my friends. I've got so many people that I can talk to

and it breaks my heart to just think that there may be some out there that haven't got anyone. Is that why you feel comfortable talking about it now? Because it's not something you've talked about your whole career since we've known you in the UFC and prior to that, but is it because you feel comfortable talking about it now? Because it's not something you've talked about your whole career since we've known you in the UFC and prior to that. But is it because you feel like you have it somewhat under control and have the right people around you

to where you feel like you can be a role model for others? For me, I just never spoke about it because I didn't want people to assume I was doing it for clout, you know, Tyson Fury come out speaking about mental health, and I thought, I don't want people thinking he's jumping on a bandwagon and he wants sympathy or anything like that. So I never really felt the need to talk about it. I mentioned something once about anxiety and then everyone asked me questions and I'm like, guys, I'm not embarrassed to talk about it. Like, you know, I'm one of the coolest jobs in the world, you know, I'm a professional UFC fighter, so I have

nothing to be embarrassed about. So yeah, you know, if'm a professional UFC fighter, so I have nothing to be embarrassed about. So yeah, you know, if people, I don't think anyone would laugh, but if anyone thinks what, because I've got OCD or anxiety, that is something to be embarrassed about. So hopefully anyone that doesn't have people to talk to can just kind of see what I have to deal with and maybe think that, you know, okay, it's not embarrassing, you know, maybe I should talk about it and open up to others. think that, you know, okay, it's not embarrassing. You know, maybe I should talk about it and open up to others. On the Monday after a big one like this, do you feel like any kind of weight of the anxiety or OCD gets, gets lifted or the two not related really?

Definitely the whole, the brain bleed stuff that's gone now. Yeah, great. I didn't take any injuries during the fire and you know, back home. It will be a point where I'll start latching onto something else. At some point, I know, and I do feel the OCD is uncurable. I don't think you can cure it. I think you just know how to deal with it. So as I say, I am getting better and it's a shame because 2024 was a really good year for me. Like I didn't suffer much at all. And then the start of 2025 was just

a, you know, complete, complete drop on my mental health. But, you know, I've been here before, mate, and, you know, I'm strong, I've got good family around me. And I'll, I'll definitely get better and get through it. Can I ask you've been, you know, somewhat vocal, I would say public about some of the, you know, issues that your daughter has had to deal with since you became a father. And congratulations, by the way, to you and your wife.

Thank you. You're expecting a second. How is your daughter doing these days? So we've got a scan tomorrow, which is an update scan to see how her condition is doing. And we're all kind of waiting on that. But other than that, she is the happiest little girl you'll ever meet, mate. She is always smiling. She makes me just remember like anything I worry about, just try and get over it because she's dealing with a lot more than I am and she's always smiling. So yeah, you know, because of the health conditions, that's why I haven't been as active because traveling, let's say all the way over to America to have a fight while

my daughter has to stay at home because she has had the feeding tubes, etc. It's hard, you know, and dealing with the OCD and anxiety, trying to focus on fighting one of the best fighters on the planet, whilst my mind's thinking about what's going on at home is just, it's not a good place. So, obviously, this fight was in London, which was amazing, because it meant that I could be at home with her every single day.

And I know that if there was any issues to occur, I would be there. Traveling obviously halfway across the world with time differences and stuff, it's just become a little bit of a obstacle. But I'm hoping, as I say, that tomorrow we're going to get some really good news and that's going to like put my mind at rest. And what is it specifically that she's dealing with? So she had two things. She had something called CDH when she was born and she's had the operation for that. And so far everything's like great with that.

She at the moment has a large hole in her heart, which is called an ASD, which is quite a simple procedure they said to fix, but she will have to have open heart surgery for it, which obviously, you know, you've got kids yourself, the fault of my daughter going into an operation and having an open heart surgery is crippling when I think about it. So I'm just hoping that tomorrow that they give us good news and say that the hole slightly closed in more. And if it does, they might be able to do it by keyhole surgery, which apparently is a lot more simple procedure. And obviously they don't have to actually completely open her up. So yeah, it's stressful. But because she's so happy, mate, I just, you know, the doctors even said that she's doing so well. Like she doesn't look ill,

breathing fine because a lot of babies have problems breathing when it comes to this. So yeah, you know, I'm very proud to be her dad and yeah, fingers crossed that tomorrow we're gonna get some positive news. Wishing you guys the absolute best, sending all the positive thoughts your way.

And when is the second slated to arrive? Four months. Oh gosh. I wanted to get on the Abu Dhabi card, but it's literally five days before, five days after, so I think my wife would divorce me if I, if I try and get on an Abu Dhabi card. Yes. When that due date is, you know. Yeah. And that would be the fight night that was just announced, right? The one that was just announced, not the October one, the one in, what is it, late July? Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. Correct. Is the one in, what is it, late July, yeah? Yes, correct. Is there one in October, sorry? Well, they always do the October pay-per-views over there, right? And so last year they did a fight night in the first week of August, and then the pay-per-view in October. So I would imagine the same type of thing this time.

So maybe that one. Yeah, maybe. Abu Dhabi's not too far for me. You know, it's a lot easier. So yeah, but yeah, October is quite a while away. So I still want to try and run in before, you know, my next baby's born. The whole reason I went up to 145 was to stay active. So, you know, it's been a bit tough, but life brings obstacles, you know, so I just have to chip away at them and just get through it. Perfect opponent.

Yes. Who would that be? Amazing. No, no, no. I mean, who's the name for the next one? I have to chip away at him and just get through it. Perfect opponent? Yes. Who would that be? Amazing. No, no, no. Who's the name for the next one? Perfect opponent for me, excitement wise, would be Lerone Murphy if he lost to Josh Emmett. And maybe we could get like a, you know, battle of the Brits going.

Obviously we've had our stuff in the past and I actually don't I Wish him all the best. I actually do, you know, I do actually hope he goes in and beats Josh Emmett But I'm thinking if he doesn't I've just come off a good couple of wings Why why can't we get that going? you know give the crowd something to be excited about and get to put our money where our mouths are but if not just anyone, honestly, anyone, just to keep busy, keep getting paid,

and keep being able to show my skillset in front of the world. You know, a lot has been made of the sort of atmosphere on Saturday, you were in there, you had tunnel vision, you know, you're not focused on these things. But we were just talking to Tom, who was in attendance, and he's been there as a competitor and a participant. Did it feel different to you?

Did it feel a little flat in the arena? Cause we're so used to the O2 being on fire for these events. Could you sense any difference? I'll be deadly honest with you. No, I was completely pumped up before the fight. When I came out, I mean, the reaction for me was amazing. So I don't know if I was quite as just, you know, lacked it.

I did hear from my dad who was watching most of the fights backstage saying that the fights weren't really that good. So maybe it was just that, you know, maybe people were just like, none of these fights are that exciting and they wanted more blood or something. I don't know. But yeah, for me, my fight was amazing. And then after obviously I had my media and then shot straight off home. So Yeah, I for me it was fine. By the way speaking of your your media availabilities afterwards I noticed that you and and loner Kavanaugh did it together the the sort of mini press and that's your your friend and teammate any Particular usually we don't see that everyone kind of gets their own thing now. Was there a reason why you did that?

No, they asked us to do it. Okay. One of the UFC media girls she just said I would like both to go on. I'm not sure if maybe they were in a rush and get to it too done at once. Right. Yeah, you know, it was nice for me to be able to sit there with my little brother from the gym and get to speak about him and you know tell the media what I think of him. So Yeah, it was look it was quite nice and it was a little bit more fun than usual What do you think of him for those that missed it? I? Think he's the flyweight champion in the world. He just hasn't got the belt yet I believe that if he went in there tomorrow, he would absolutely go in there and demolish the guy So, yeah, I just think it's not a matter of if I just think it's when he gets a shot. Wow. That's it

Already he fights pantoja tomorrow. You think he smashes him Mate he's been in the gym with me brad pickett all of my coaches for 10 years now smashing us Yeah all over the gym. So I don't think he's gonna have any issues whatsoever. Wow, that's high praise Well, there's there's another name that that, you know, British fans can be excited about coming up the ranks You're still one of those names. Congratulations on the big win. Thank you again. Good luck to you in the family tomorrow Welcome back and wishing you guys all the best. Thank you as always Nathaniel. Thank you for having me. There he is Nathaniel would joining us. Great to have him on the program

and looking forward to seeing where he goes from here. Obviously, family most important and I appreciate him talking about some of that OCD stuff because it is, you know, it is crippling. There's no doubt about it. It is not easy. I know exactly what he is talking about. So much respect to him. And hopefully him talking about it

helps out some other people out there who may be fans of his or just watching the event or listening. Let us move along the star of the evening, of course. We all know who it was. The boy from Philly went in there. He took the fight. We recall him telling us on the program,

as we were talking about the state of the welterweight division and who Leon should fight next and all this stuff. I remember him texting me while we were doing that, like, hey, don't forget about me. And then he came on the next day and said he wanted the fight, but he didn't get the fight. It was Jack Delamattelena who got the fight.

And then he was kind of at peace with it because he had just become a father welcoming a beautiful girl to this world. And he thought, yeah, you know what? The timing isn't great. But then what did you know? And a funny thing happened. Shafkat Rachmanov got hurt. Jack Della got moved to Montreal and they called Sean Brady up and they said, let's go. This is your opportunity. And boy, did he seize it. He walked into the 02 on Saturday. He went to England, to the UK for the very first time in his life and he absolutely steamrolled Leon Edwards.

One of the most dominant performances that you'll ever see. Four minutes and 57 seconds of control time in the second round alone. A UFC record. First man to stop Leon. First man to submit Leon Edwards and now firmly a supremely high contender, a top contender, the topest of the top contenders in the welterweight division. Let's talk to Sean Brady now about it all kind enough to join us. He's back! What's up brother? You survived! Congrats! We survived, thank you man. It was good talking to you yesterday on the plane, but I was like we got a lot to talk about tomorrow. So here we are. Can you even describe, like, I always think,

like, the Monday after a big fight, a big win for an MMA fighter, you got to be flying, right? Like, everything, food's got to taste great, drinks, everything, life has to be good. But the Monday after a big win, when you just became a father, and now you can come home, you bet on yourself, you took this fight on short notice,

can you even describe the feelings that are going through you right now the emotions right now yeah i i really don't even think it hit me fully yet uh me and my wife were just talking about that it's like um it's definitely gonna take a couple days to settle in but man it's the monday afterwards i'll tell you i've only lost once. The Monday afterwards don't feel as good when you're coming off losing the fight. So yeah, winning, I was going for a whole week. I went to London super early just to make sure I got acclimated. So being home last night, got to wake up and feed my daughter a couple of times in the middle of the night, let my wife get some sleep. It's been amazing just being home with them. Yeah.

It's all kind of hitting me here and there, but, uh, I think I'm still just, uh, on cloud nine. Right back to daddy duties. Yeah. You headline Oh two, you beat Leon Edwards. Yeah. Change them diapers. Now I'm at the bottom of the total.

I'm on that. I was talking to my buddy earlier. I'm like, I beat, I beat Leon's ass, but I come back home and then I'm right. I get put back in my place, but now I, um, yeah, it was, she was six weeks old yesterday. I got the call two days after her being born. So I really didn't have much time to, and I was gone for an entire week, so I didn't have much time to do anything to really help my wife. yeah I did some stuff here and there so I told her one whole week I'll be home no training no doing anything but here I am I just did another

interview she was holding the baby and she was scarfing down her food but no it's um it all it all went great we won't't keep you too long. No, no, you're good Can I ask like you said all the right things when you took the fight? But obviously you had revealed that like hey you were kind of at peace When you didn't get the opportunity because of the baby and whatnot were there any doubts? Oh man biggest fight. This is going on. I'm not a hundred percent ready short notice. Were you putting on a front at all? To be honest. No, I wasn't. Yeah, it was definitely like crazy that it happened. I posted a text message that I sent to Lloyd the other day.

The Tuesday we were getting discharged from the hospital, I texted him and I was literally looking at my daughter and I sent him a picture. I'm like, man, me and Kristen were just talking earlier. There's no way I would have been able to leave her. Like, it's just like, I was like, it's so good that this worked out. And then legit 12 hours later or something like that is when he called me and was saying that Jack was hurt and they needed me to fight. So, but yeah, as far as I was getting ready for a fight, I didn't know when I was fighting. So I was more than ready to jump in and have those four or five weeks to get ready. So I honestly think it worked out really good for me

because usually I do these super long, harder training camps and I'm burnt out or hurt by the end of them. This one I was training very hard, but still I've taken my Sundays off. Like I wasn't really getting ready for a fight, but I was training my ass off. So it allowed me to just ramp up for the next four weeks

and go into this fight week feeling great. I had the best weight cut I ever had. I was on weight the night before. Everything was just, it was just perfect. Besides London, I'm not a fan of London, but besides London not having big Airbnbs that can keep a lot of people, everything went pretty smooth.

Wait a second, why aren't you a fan? What happened? That was your first time, right? That was the first time. Okay, what happened? We stayed, the Fighter Hotel was near the Canary Wharf. Yep. So I don't know.

But to get London traffic in London is so bad. We were, I had a nice Airbnb like 45 minutes away that had like 15 bedrooms, a sauna, all this stuff with all this space. But they're like, hey, you're going to be in so much traffic trying to get here, it's going to be miserable. So I had to get a few different small Airbnbs, like 10 minutes from the Canary Wharf so I could go there and do my media, train, do everything we were doing. It worked out fine, but the houses we had, everything over there was small. The Whole Foods,

we're very lucky in America. I don't know, I think we're spoiled, but everything was just small. It wasn't a lot of space. I had 15 people over there with me. I had teammates, coaches, my parents were there, my best friend was there, my camera guy was there. But it all worked out great. It was still a smooth week. I wound up checking into a hotel Thursday night just for the night to do my weight cut there and I woke up and just drove over to the Hilton where it was five minutes from there. But besides that, yeah, it was pretty it was pretty good.

How were the people towards you? Dude, I'm from Philly. Like, we're expecting I'm expecting to get torched out there. These people are coming up to me I'm like, is Leon Edwards even from fucking London? Like, where's this guy from? Because these people are being so nice to me. If you're in my, like when Jeremy Stevens was here, when he fought Eddie, I was at the press conference. This man was getting destroyed by everybody. If you were coming to Philly and you were fighting me, you'd be getting roasted on the street. You'd be getting roasted everywhere. Probably threatened to be honest. But I got none of that in London. Everyone was super nice.

Even on my walk out, they're like, it's gonna be so bad, they're gonna boo you. I'm like, I got in the cage, I'm like, this is nothing. So yeah, it wasn't bad at all. By the way, you mentioned the people were there for you, your parents and whatnot. Obviously your wife wasn't there. When's the last time she missed a fight?

So I started dating Kristen my last amateur fight. Since my last amateur fight, she never missed a single one of my fights. Wow, was that weird for you? Yeah, and it was hard. Like, and that was where like, putting on a front, like, yeah, it was definitely, like, it wasn't a front.

Like, I knew that was gonna be a hard, the hardest part of it. But me being a man, I just had to to like go through that and know like hey like This is part of life like you're not always gonna be together and you have to get through things But yeah, like when you're during fight week, you get emotional you're cutting weight like you're getting ready for this fight and you want your significant other to be there for you to So you can rely on them, you know, you can rely on them you know you can lean on them but um she had to stay home with the baby uh at one point we were talking about flying her out

like i was like all right like maybe we'll get you on friday maybe you'll come in saturday and we have a dog that is like very like he's belgian malawa and he only likes certain people so like it's he can't just drop him off at a kennel and then um we have a newborn so her mom was here helping her but her mom's older so like to put a baby on her an adult like it was just it would have been a lot and um then the fucking airport caught on fire friday night so i would have been waking up if she was on a certain flight they would have diverted her back to philly so luckily it all worked out she She stayed home with the baby. She felt very comfortable watching from,

she was like, I have no nerves watching, watching on the TV. So yeah, it worked out great. But in the moment I've definitely wanted her there, but we knew that that was a part of it. By the way, you mentioned, you know, getting emotional as your weight cutting and you start, I've talked to enough fighters who say like,

you start to like assess your life and start thinking about things. Being a dad now for the first time, did that come into play? Yeah, a hundred percent. Even third Friday at the ceremonial weigh-ins, they're playing the UFC, like the UFC journey came out

and they did a piece on the baby and all that stuff. And I don't watch that stuff before I fight like I don't have social media on my phone before I fight none of that but they started to play it when I was at the ESPN desk and I was like ah these motherfuckers are about to get me like I'm about to cry but I've pulled it I've pulled it back in and I didn't and I watched it afterwards and it was an awesome piece but um yeah yeah it's uh it gets emotional for sure like you said said, when you're cutting away, like it's fuck it, it sucks. And you start thinking about your family, you think about all the sacrifice, especially this, like it was a lot leaving her for a month.

I mean, essentially leaving her for a month. It felt like it every day. I wake up, um, I had to eat. I was in my truck practice, come home, rest, practice, in home, practice. Three times a day I'm out, I'm getting PT, I'm getting massages. I was in and out of my house for the five weeks I was home, I was barely home. But I knew eventually, the way it couldn't have gone any better. Going into Leon's backyard, shutting up London, shutting down Leon, beating Leon the way no one's ever beat him before. It all, the risk was well worth the reward. I don't want to ask like did you expect it to be that easy because I think that's disrespectful to you and what you did to get ready and to Leon. But it was

so dominant, it was so one-sided. Was it even more so than you had thought? Yeah, I mean it just goes to show like how good I really am. And then that's where I'm been at now, like believing in my skills. And I knew from the first time I hit him with a foot trip, like I knew I was going to go out there and I'm like, listen, even if I can't get this guy down, I was like, I'm going to make this a fucking fight. I'm going to win no matter what I'm going to do whatever I have to do. And I think he underestimated me a lot thinking I was just going to come out there and try to grapple. Because I remember fucking punching him right in his face right off the beginning.

And he made a face. I'm like, yeah, I'm not here just to hump your leg. And especially when I got him on the ground too, I was hitting him hard and I just seen him diminish in front of me. And my coaches were telling me the whole time, go forward. They're like, well, I was looking at him in the corner. He already had his head down. We've seen him do that shit before.

His coaches are trying to pull those bullshit speeches and it fucking wasn't working. And I just knew I was going to break them. Five of seven takedowns, 221 total strikes landed of 295. He was 23 of 35, just 23 strikes landed in the entire fight. Significant strikes, 67 of 93 for you, 23 of 35 for him. That was really it. And there was one moment where he shot on you and you said in the post-fight press conference that you heard him like almost talk to himself afterwards.

Yeah, he said something. I'm pretty sure he said fuck or he said something to his corner because we were right there. He said something and I was like, what the fuck is he saying? And? Yeah, he said something. I'm pretty sure he said fuck, or he said something to his corner because we were right there.

He said something and I was like, why would you do that? Like, I know I did it because I was pushing forward on him and he shot on me, like he's taken down Ushman, took down Ballol, controlled Ballol for almost an entire round. He took down Colby. So I don't know if he just thought he was gonna try to mix it up, but I knew, we game plan for that.

I knew at one point he was gonna shoot, and it was the easiest sprawl I ever hit, and then that just set up the next round. So in that post-fight press conference, I talked about this earlier, you walked up there, and there was something so different about you. Now we've talked to you for the last few years and whatnot. The confidence that you were oozing, you were almost there and like, there was something so different about you. You know, now we've talked to you for the last few years and whatnot. The confidence that you were oozing,

like you were almost kind of like, I felt like you were like almost, you weren't mocking him or the media, but there was a thing like now what? Like you were just kind of, you know what I mean? Like someone said to you, what's your prediction if you fight Balal? And you said, Balal by decision.

Like, I don't need to even entertain these stupid questions. There was just a vibe about you that was different. Is that accurate? Yeah. Well, cause Leon, to be fair, um, he was kind of an ant, like he's a, I don't know. I don't know what's, what's his deal, but we did the first, um, I'm super respectful. My wife thinks she hates it. Like I'm hugging dudes at the weigh-ins, dapping them up.

Like it's, it is what it is to me. I can, I can be your friend and go and try to kill you, but we did a face-off at the O2, and it literally took five seconds, but when we did it, we walked up to each other, and obviously, bro, I'm not six foot, I'm not six two, I'm five nine. I've never been tall, but he walked up to me,

and he said something, he was asking me about my height. And I was like, he was like, how tall are you? Five, eight, five, nine. He was being a dickhead. And I was like, I'm five, nine. And I was like, what are you, I was like, what are you six, two? I was like, you got them, I was like, you got those big shoes on, like just making a joke of it.

And then we faced off for legit five seconds, walked off. I don't know if it's his manager, his brother, and him were like, oh, this is super awkward. They said some stupid ass shit. And me and my team looked at him like, yo, you're in London, this is your fight week. You're bitching about having to do some little ass media. It just, from that point on, from there on, I'm like, yo, I'm not touching this dude's hand.

If you try some stupid, because I've seen him try stupid shit at the weigh-ins. I was like, I'm gonna fucking, I was was I'm gonna give it right back to this motherfucker And that's why at the weigh-ins I didn't go like I always shake everyone's hand. I didn't touch his hand I didn't have social media So I didn't see his interviews by seeing him like saying he walked up at the oh, too He didn't know where I was at because I was so short So I posted a picture of me on top of him mauling him like putting like just laughing like I

Never I'm respectful like GSP is my favorite fighter Always respected guys, but um when you're an asshole like that like don't like I can give it right back so Personally fuck Leon Fuck him and his whole team, and that's how I feel about the whole situation. Did he say anything to you after the fight? That made it even worse, because I went up to him, I'm like, yo man, you're a great champion, blah, blah, blah. He just kind of brushed me off.

Obviously he's upset, but even his whole team, I try to say it was, and they were corny as shit too, so it was just whack. My coaches didn't even go over there, fuck that. We're not saying shit to these dudes. And then even before they raised my hand, I tried to like touch them behind Jason Herzog. And he was just, he's just, just salty. And then seeing all the shit he was saying about me throughout the week, I'm like, all right, I wish I was even fucking meaner to this dude. And that's

why I posted this shit about the headshot dead and them not having guns in London. Cause now I'm going to make fun of you. I'm gonna poke at you because you're a fucking asshole. So maybe Bilal was right about him. He's all but her about all kinds of shit. So I don't know. Man, yeah, I saw that. And I was like, ah, this is a different side of shot.

We've not seen you this fired up. Listen, me, that's what we do. We roast each other, we make fun of each other. I'm like, if you wanted to do that, even because I seen him put his the gun to be was heads at weigh-ins I'll say if he puts that stupid ass water pistol to my head at weigh-ins I'm gonna slap the fucking shit out of his hand So I was ready for all of it and that's why when we did the face-off I walked right up and my nose was like on his lip and then he wasn't looking at me

I'm like, you're not looking at me. I'm like, you're gonna be looking at me tomorrow. So And then he wasn't looking at me. I'm like, you're not looking at me. I'm like, you're going to be looking at me tomorrow. So hey, he's somewhere crying in London right now. And I'm back, happy man in Philly. I thought it was interesting. It didn't seem like you felt like you needed to campaign or call out below. It seems like you feel like the work has, has, has proved its point.

Yeah. Yeah. If you see, and then if you go look at that, cause people were asking me about that. They were asking me about the number one contender all week and leon's talking about it and i'm like I have to go fight leon Leon and listen at whatever beef I have with leon. He's an amazing fighter and I took him so serious You think I want to get head kicked? Uh, like kimaro did like that was a real possibility like he can do that to anybody. So I took him super serious Um, I wasn't looking past him at all wasn't thinking about the wall wasn't thinking about number one contender

But now afterwards if you see the way I did leon, no one's don't beat him that way No one submitted him. No one's dominated him the way I did even when bala beat him. He lost a couple rounds Um leon took him down and had his back So I did better than anybody balal said that he wrote the game that the blueprint like i did it better i did it way better than him and um in 2022 good good on balal he got the best in me but when we do fight um it's going to be a completely different story who will your next opponent be against? That's where it gets interesting. Could be me versus Shavcock because I don't know what they're going to do with him. You know how it is. They say you might fight for the belt next but you never know. Loser like if the wall lost the jack somehow like I would love to fight him right then the ball wins I would love to fight him

But if they want me to fight for the belt whoever wins obviously I'm gonna do that But I don't think there's a need for me to take a back step like I seen someone tweeting about me and oosman I'm like, that's the fight. I did want now I just went and beat the guy who beat him twice and finished them. So, um So I just set myself up great. Like, yeah, I'm in an amazing spot. So I'm not gonna take any stupid fights. I think the UFC is probably very happy with me and what I did for them and going out there

and taking this fight on short notice, because there wasn't many other options. And yeah, so we'll see what happens. How quickly do you wanna return? I don't know, I'd say like summertime probably because that's like four or five months from now. They obviously, I didn't have any, we always have small little nagging injuries,

so I take a couple weeks, get my body better, spend some time with my daughter and then see what they say if they say they want me to fight Shavkat for the number one contender we could do that and then depending on what happens with the title So I think some things have to play out first But I definitely want to fight multiple times this year like I it felt so good to get a fight in this early in the year Not waiting around for anything. Yeah, I feel like my ball is rolling really good right now and I definitely wanna keep it going.

Do you think there's any chance, we've seen people have title shots scheduled, get hurt, get cut, Charles O'Varrant happened to recently, and then they lose the title shot. Do you think there's any chance your next fight is for the belt? You're fighting the winner of Balal JDM. I think it could be.

I mean, if you look at the last guys I beat versus the last guys Chavka beat, like I think my resume is beating Gilbert and then beating Leon Edwards versus beating, he beat Wonder Boy and then he beat me and Gary in a very like not great fight. So I think just off that I could get it, but I'm also not rushing that either.

If I have to fight again before that, that's fine, but it just has to make sense. And so just curious, just want to make sure that I'm understanding what you're saying. Is it title shot, meaning a fight against Bilal or if Bilal loses or number one contender fight against Shafkat? Basically is it winner of that fight, Bilal

or Shafkat that you're interested in next? Yeah, I mean, I would be interested in the loser of the title fight. I'd be interested in the winner of the title fight. Or Shavkat. Or Shavkat, yeah. Okay, the other one I was- I think those options make the most sense.

If you look at the rankings, and they're not out yet, but the way they should work, I was five, Leon's one. I should be one on Tuesday morning. So we'll see how that shakes out. What about the one that you had called out after the Gilbert win, Ian Machado Gary? That's like, now it's like, no. You know, like he, yeah, no.

I went out there. I took this out I heard he was bitching that he didn't get the fight. Um With you all he was very upset lost your fight. What are you talking about? Like you don't get like You came in second place. You don't get the gift rewarded for that. Like it made the most sense for it to be Jack so But yeah, he's number of seven at this point and lost his last fight. I'm through, I won my last three, just be a former champion, um, who was a really good champion.

So yeah, I got, I got bigger things going on than Ian Machado Gary. Is it, is it better for you if Bilal wins in May or if he loses, what do you think's better for your case to fight for the belt? That's a tough one. Um, I think if he wins, but like I said, either way, I want that fight. If he wins, I want to fight him or if I have to fight him to get to the belt, I want to fight Bull. And it's nothing against him. It's just me as a competitor. I think we'll have a great second fight. Now there's a storyline to that fight. You know, it'd be a good buildup. And I think I see a lot of people online saying

that they'd be very interested in it. I know you've been traveling and you don't want to leave the family. It is in two months, just like a little, you probably thought of this already, but you sitting in the front row in Montreal, just kind of like making your presence felt. I feel like you'd be a really good...

Oh, I'm good. Louis D'Arie texted me, said, we have to go to Montreal. And that's a quick flight. I think it's only like an hour and a half from Philly or two hours It's not it's not bad. It's also the best city in the world. I don't know if you've ever been to much I am from I've never been to Canada, bro You never been to Canada people been saying they said a lot of good things about London, and I was not Me and my team were like we were almost kissing the ground when we hit American soil, boy.

We couldn't wait to get home. But now, I mean, Lloyd did tell you, he's like, we'll be in Montreal. I'm pretty sure we'll be in Montreal. I'll give you guys the spots. You gotta get some smoked meat. You gotta get some bagels, some poutine. Like you gotta do it right.

Is that where you're from? That's where I'm from, yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't love, you know, Canadian's Flyers is a bit of a history there. I gotcha, I it right. Is that where you're from? That's where I'm from, yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't love, you know, Canadian flyers is a bit of a history there. I gotcha, I gotcha. We'll treat you well. You want a little drop of something cool

that happened to me last night? Yes. The GSP's my favorite fighter, like I love George St. Pierre. I remember being a little kid, like not a little kid, but like a teenager watching him fight, I'm like, man, like he is the coolest guy ever.

Like I wanna be just like him when I'm a fighter. And just model my whole career off of him. And he texted Dean Thomas and said something about me. And so I found that out on the plane coming home. Then last night while I'm feeding my daughter, I was looking through Instagram and I see him follow me on Instagram. So that was, I know he's obviously Canadian,

but that one hit me home. So GSP here is this, you're the man. The freaking man. You gotta slide in the DMs. He's the, I'll slide in his DMs. I wanna train with him. He's, I truly think he's like one of the best minds to ever do it.

Obviously I was a Hensel Gracie guy. He was a Hensel Gracie guy. He still trains with Gordon. So I definitely would love to get down to Texas and get with those guys and get some training with him. But yeah, he's amazing. He's same thing. Like he was probably a little bit taller than me.

Wasn't the biggest, tallest guy for 170, but he made it work. He'd never wrestled in high school. I never wrestled in high school. He would dominate all these guys. And I think that I'm trying to follow in his footsteps. He's also one of the nicest human beings I've ever met in any walk of life and you are as well and so I will actually say that the comparisons go one step

further. I was saying this when we did our post show on Saturday, his first loss was against Matt Hughes. Now that was for the belt so a little different, but then he avenged it in the rematch and beat him. It almost feels like you and Bilal here, right? Very similar. Like it was a little too early for him. Like you said, it was a little too early. You know what I mean? There's a lot there. There's a story there. So yeah, it's, and I always said it after that loss to him, I'm like, it's all going to come around. And it took a while, which sucked. And a lot of people wrote me off after the Bilal loss because no one gave Bilal the credit that he does.

I still see it. Like people are like, this dude, how is he? This is good, but he got TKO by Bilal. Listen, you have one night to go in there and be on 100%. And sometimes it's not your night. People show up to work every day and feel like shit, we have to go out there and perform to the best of our abilities

and sometimes it's just not your night and that's the way things go. And October 22nd in Abu Dhabi, that was not my night but the next time we fight, it definitely is gonna go a different way. March 24th, 2026, exactly one year from now, where do you think you're at? I'm UFC champion, 100%.

I really, I truly believe that. If it's not by the end of this year, definitely be by early next year. I'm gonna be UFC champion. Can I ask, what do you think happens to Leon now? I know you don't necessarily care for him all that much, but the question is like, is he, you know, is that it? He's just necessarily care for him all that much, but the question is is that it? He's just 33. He's not that old. No, he's going to bounce back. He's a great fighter.

I would like to see him versus Ian, him versus somebody like that. It might actually work out better for him that he might get to take a step back in competition, not in competition a little bit, but maybe get like an easier, a better stylistic fight for him. But you say that and he's done really well against a lot of grapplers. So yeah, I don't know. I think he beats Ian. I think he still beats a lot of these guys in the division. He's just gotta not look past them

and think about other things, you know? Focus on who you're fighting, bro. By the way, can I ask you, right after the fight, you went to Dana, I think Dana and Hunter, and you said something. What did you say to them? Just thank you for the opportunity. I mean, this is, it was huge, you know, for me to,

I think this is the fight that really, really put me on the map. My social media is blowing up. Everything's just blowing up and it's just like money everything it just it just worked out really really well for me and my family and it sets me up for a lot of good things so I just told them hey thank you guys for the opportunity I know that in the past I probably wasn't the person to do things like this but they called me on short notice and I did them that favor and yeah, I just want them

to know that I'm here to fight and just let them know, like yeah, let's go. And by the way, is that the new clothing line there that you're repping? No, this is just an Eagle and Sooty bod. Yeah, my stuff's the one that was in the picture with the crew neck with the eagle on it. Yeah, Fuel Hunt. Gritten Guillotines is my line by Fuel Hunt. So yeah, thank you guys for throwing that up there. Oh, so that's your line under another line.

Yeah, so Fuel Hunt is the company. Grit and Guillotines is my line under them. So anything that has, it looks like my back tattoo. It's a little Japanese Hanya mask. Anything that has Gritin' guillotines with that hannya mask from Fuel Hunt is mine. Amazing. And so right now, you're just gonna chill, right?

Nothing, you're not doing anything, now you're full on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna work out and do things at home, but for at least one week, no training. I think that's something I need to wear just to decompress. To fight, I didn't get hit or anything crazy, but you're sure after from cutting weight, training all week,

because I train up until the weight cut. So we're training twice a day up until the weight cut, traveling back, going there, I went on a flight overnight. So I slept, which is great. But coming back yesterday, I went on a flight overnight. So I slept which is great but coming back yesterday I was on such a high I didn't sleep for like Almost two days like last night. I slept a couple hours. I'm still just like on cloud nine so yeah, my body is just adjusting back to getting on time and Yeah, I feel bad for my coaches though. Like they have Joey Pfeiffer in Mexico City

So they're flying to Mexico in two days. Then they have to go back to Vegas the following week for Pat Sabatini. So these guys are heroes in my book. Well, that's all well and good that you got this out of the way and that you're feeling good and that you're healthy because there's a boy back there

who's been talking a whole lot of shit about you. Did you see, the floor is yours. I don't really have anything to say, man. Did you see the pace I put on this, man? What do you think I want to do to your Peloton when I get on that? I can't wait for it. I can't wait for it. For the Averon. Everyone keeps saying, I'm gonna get submitted in mile one. I'm ready for it, man. I'm ready. I'm gonna let you enjoy this.

Congratulations. Unbelievable performance. I'm gonna let you enjoy this. I see your comp. You're the man. I appreciate it. I'm not gonna'm gonna let you enjoy this congratulations unbelievable performance a lot I'm gonna let you enjoy this I'm not gonna take away from the from the spotlight here enjoy this but know that I'm waiting I'm ready to take your shine away whenever you want me to take it we're this is gonna happen we need to set the date I'm gonna have to come up he's accusing you of ducking he accused you of taking this fight to duck him could you believe it's actual ducking I He accused you of taking this fight to duck him. Could you believe it? This is actual ducking. I mean, everybody does know it.

You went to London, you left the country to get away from me, Sean. This is going to happen. We're going to set it up. I have to avenge some of my boys who you're beating out there. Oh, wow. So-

Change a couple of diapers, flip through the calendar, and we'll pick a date. Sounds good. Wow, them's fighting words. I like it. Sounds good to me. All right, well, whenever you're ready, Sean,

whenever you're ready, we'll be here waiting. You're the man. Thank you so much, and congratulations. Really, really, really happy for you. Thank you, Ariel. You're the best in the business. Thank you. I really appreciate you doing what you do,

and yeah, I'll talk to you soon. Thank you. all the best. There he is, the great Sean Brady. Makes a strong case for number one contender. Let's see what happens to him here, but he is that guy. What'd you think of that? What'd you think? Do you feel good about that, G.C.

or do you still think that he's kind of like? Seemed a little noncommittal. Yeah, it seems like he's not in. I mean, when you talk about the pace he puts on Leon, come on, I mean. Could you imagine if he does come here and you beat him? Like the feather in your cap. I'll retire, I'll retire.

We just got him to say, Avron. I mean, he did put on an insane pace. Yeah, that was. It was terrifying. I was sitting there watching, I was like, what did I get myself into? He's freaking back with the tattoo. Yeah, intimidating.

Scary. All right, well, I can't wait for that. That would be an incredible scene. Congratulations to him. What a time. And it's really cool to see, he's really coming into his own. He's coming into his personality, the confidence.

Gosh, he's come a long way. And amazing to think he didn't wrestle. He didn't wrestle in high school. He is really kind of like GSP. He's the American GSP. What a guy. That's Sean Brady. We do wish the best to Leon Edwards, of course,

and I think a lot of people are just kind of writing him off and saying that he has done, obviously he has some work to do, he's got to build himself back up, but a former champion who has now lost to the current champion and one or two of the best contenders out there. And Sean Brady, if you have Shafkat at number one, nothing to sneeze at, nothing to scoff at.

Let's see how he rebuilds himself and how he rebounds from this. All right, let's move along to our next guest. So happy that he was able to join us on Friday evening. We unfortunately found out about the passing of former heavyweight champion, the great George Foreman, one of the all-time great characters, one of the all-time great personalities, one of the all-time great fighters in the history of boxing and combat sports.

A larger-than-life icon. A man who has given us so many great moments, so many great fights, so many great stories over the years. And, oh, by the way, one of the all-time great businessmen as well. And I thought it would be great to have Teddy Atlas, who has spoken so highly of George over the way, one of the all-time great businessmen as well. And I thought it would be great to have Teddy Atlas, who has spoken so highly of George over the years, but also had to go toe-to-toe with him, had to game plan for him. He was Michael Moore's head coach when they went toe-to-toe all those years ago, and of course,

produced one of the most memorable stoppages, one of the most memorable knockouts, one of the most memorable stoppages, one of the most memorable knockouts, one of the most memorable victories in boxing history. And so Teddy, the absolute legend that he is, one of the best minds in the history of the fight game, kind enough to join us, let us say hello, to the pride of Staten Island himself, the great Teddy Atlas. Hello Teddy, how are you?

Hey, Ariel, how are you guys doing? It wasn't that memorable to me, by the way. I understand, yeah. I meant for the larger, wasn't that memorable to me, by the way. I understand, yeah. I meant for the larger, you know. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Yeah, listen, it was a historic moment. It spoke of his greatness that he was able to do such a feat at 45 years of age.

I mean, just, and after losing 10 straight rounds where it was in the 10th round, but he had lost every moment of every round and took a lot of punishment. But he did what Big George did. He persevered. He found a way. George, I was listening to you when you were just introducing what we're going to talk

about about George and that I was coming up. And the only thing I would add, everything you said obviously was right, businessman, you know, champion, personality, all of those things. I mean, but he was also one other thing. He was a teacher. He taught us really that if you believed in something enough, strong enough, and you were willful enough to follow that belief, to have that dream, nothing was beyond us. Nothing.

Not even age. He was a teacher. He really did. He taught us that. He taught us that age can be a teacher. He really did. He taught us that. You know, he taught us that, you know, that age can be a number. You know, you hear the cliché, you hear it all the time, but sometimes somebody comes around who's pretty special and they put truth to the cliché, to the phrase that you've heard for eternity, you know, that age is just a number.

And he kind of put true to that. You know, he wins the title after 40, 45 to be exact. And he gave again, he taught people that you never give up on your dreams. Not because of age, not because of losses, not because of anything. If you have a dream, you pursue it, and you eventually will get to it. So I add that to his list of many, many, many talents, attributes. The man was a special, special man. And I think that it's almost short to say that it was boxing's loss.

I hear people saying boxing's loss. It was our loss. And I mean our as people. Because when you lose somebody special like that, somebody that makes other people better, then we've all lost something. We're all a little bit less today because of the loss of George Foreman. And you don't usually hear that about too many people, period, in the limelight, but especially about athletes.

I don't think you hear that that often. I think maybe you could have heard it about a man named Walter Payton That kind of man. I think you could have heard about someone like that, but you could hear it about George Foreman He was he was that kind of special person. Do you remember the first time you you heard of him cross paths with him met him? Yeah, you know But you know 30 years ago whatever it is, I have a way of trying to forget. But when we fought him with Michael Moore at the press conference, you know, I had met him before, but never formally like that in those kinds of quarters, so to speak, up close and personal.

And he was doing his thing, you know? He was mentally getting to Michael. He knew the age difference, obviously. He was extraordinary. Oh, is it 20 years? Something like that. 20 year age difference. So he understood that.

He understood that he needed more than just the great physical gifts that he had. He needed the mental gifts that he had, and he had great mental gifts. And he started going to work. The fight started before the fight. And he started going to work. Michael was wearing these,

I think they were Casio sunglasses at the time. And I didn't want him wearing them. I just had a feeling. And sure enough, George wasted no time. He said, what's the matter, son? You're afraid to look at me? And he was starting to get to my fighter. Starting, the first round had already

started. And I couldn't let that happen because I knew that my fighter, it was about the mental area. It was 75% mental. And so I wound up, I wound up getting a little aggressive with George. You know, I went up to him and I said something to him and Dan Dover was there, God bless him, great promoter. He's not with us anymore, he died way too young, just like George died too young.

But they got between us. Obviously, if I was looking to fight with George, I wasn't in fight with George, I wasn't in my right mind, but it really wasn't about that. It was really about standing up for my fighter, not letting George push around my fighter, not letting him get into his mind,

not letting him start to deteriorate him before the first bell ring. And so we had a situation that wound up being on USA Today all over the country. They wound up printing it and putting it up and everything. And I knew why I was doing it. I was doing it again to just let my fighter know that this guy wasn't going to come in here and bully him and push him around. And it was an interesting way to greet somebody.

It was an interesting way to greet an icon. But at the end of the day, George was such a gentleman. I remember when we came back, he was doing a... We had gotten knocked out by him, and then we came back and we had one fight on HBO and then we were going to fight Axel Schultz outdoors in the soccer stadium in Germany if we won that fight. So everything was on the line to get a second shot at the world title. And George was the commentator on HBO with Lampley and all those guys, Merchant. And I remember he came, Michael came back after the first round.

Now remember, this is after, you know, he was an undefeated fighter, right? And now he's been knocked out by George Foreman, 45 year old, great fighter, but 45 year old man. And to me, I had to get rid of the ghost from the attic. I mean, that was really, for me, that was the fight. We trained, we had a good training camp down in Tampa. We did everything right.

He was in great shape. We knew what we had to do. I wasn't concerned at all, you know, about the carburetor, the engine, I was concerned about the driver. And without the driver, it doesn't matter how good the engine is, how good the carburetor is, how good the car is, doesn't mean a damn thing.

So it was all about the first round, to let him know that he was okay. So as soon as the round ended, normally I'd say this, I'd say some instructional stuff, right? You know, something like that. I didn't, I immediately said to him, okay, now you know it's normal. It's just another fight. Everything's good.

And George said, because I remember that everybody had let me know afterwards, because they felt we had this tension, and it wasn't really tension, it was that one moment that I just explained. But everyone let me know, said, you know what George said? George just said, that Teddy Atlas is pretty smart. And that was a little something from George, but he was, again, he was,

you left out one other thing. He was a salesman, obviously, businessman, so that covers that, but he was a great salesman. Nobody was a great salesman, we believed him, we trusted him. He was our George, He was our George. He was our George. He really was.

It was, you know, I'm saying this in obviously in a loving way, but he was on, he was our grandpa, you know, later on he was, he was the guy he could sell mufflers. He could sell, you know, obviously the grills and all that stuff, but we trusted him. We trust, and you know what? He also put a definition or an explanation into what reincarnation might look like. Because you know, some people believe reincarnation. They think you're freaking dying in this place

and then you might come back. But he left this place and he came back. He left after that. He had a 10-year after he lost to Jimmy Young, obviously fighting Zaire with Ali, and then Jimmy Young, and then he left and he went on to be a preacher with the church. We know the whole history of that. and he was gone for 10 years. And he came back reincarnated, a different person. And I remember everyone saying, oh, he's being, you know, he's showing his savvy now, he's changed, he's not this, he's not this totally mean guy that walks around with German shepherds

and everything. Now he's recreated himself and he's making believe he's a nice guy. I remember I said to somebody who said that, I said, no, he's not. He's finally being allowed to be who he is. And they were like, Teddy, what do you mean? I said, he's being allowed to be who? That's who George is. He wasn't allowed to be that in his first life with the

people around him now he had to be Darth Vader you know he had to be the boogeyman he had to be that it worked you know got him a heavyweight title and everything else but he he was finally allowed to be what George really was and that was George he loved people we showed that footage while while you were telling us the story of the press conference and it's not something that you often see but gosh, the cojones on you to step up to George Foreman like that and kind of get in his face but the backstory is great.

You were just trying to rile up your guy. You were just trying to, when you see this footage, Teddy, when you see yourself as a youngster get in, in George's face, what comes to mind? Thank God he didn't get up. Yeah. No, I mean, listen, I, obviously if he got up, he got up. What did you say to him there?

if he got up, he got up. What did you say to him there? You're doing. Something along the lines, you know, there's no curse words or anything, I wouldn't be disrespectful in that way. Although some people say shoving him was disrespectful. But again, I was, I had a job to do. When you're a trainer, you have a job to do. I mean, it's not much different than being a parent,

that maybe you got called into school, right, as a parent, and maybe you found out your kid got bullied by some bully. And you go there, you want your kid to be able to feel the way a kid should feel. Not less, not less than he should feel. Not less about himself. You don't want that to happen. So you go to school and you wind up finding out

that the father was a bully too. What do you do? You might get into a little something with the father and why are you doing it? You're not doing it because you came there because you wanted, you felt like picking a fight with the father or you didn't like the father. You came there because you, your son, because you were backing up your son, because you

were protecting your son. And that's what I was doing. And I think on, on certain terms, especially later, George understood that. I would, I would just about say for sure. On certain terms, especially later, George understood that. I would just about say for sure, me and George had a good relationship as the years went on. I remember I was in camp with Wozik. We were getting ready to fight for the light heavyweight championship of the world with

Alexander Wozik. And I was in California, and I remember I got to tragic news that his daughter had taken home life. I called him, and I called him and I also sent him a letter. I just want him to know that his hurt was my hurt as a person. And I just felt that way about him because again, George was a lot more than a guy who sold hamburgers, a guy who knocked guys out,

a guy who beat five guys in one night. You know, he was a lot more than that. And I understood that, I respected that, I appreciated that. So, and I'll tell you something else about George. And I remember I said this because I was supposed to be on a show with him. And it was a radio show a few years back

and I couldn't make it. I was training a fighter, maybe one of the last fighters I trained. And I just couldn't make it. I was I was training a fighter, maybe one of the last fighters I trained and I was I just couldn't make it. So I wrote him, I sent him a message to the producer to give it to him on the show and he he really appreciated it. He got he got even the producer told me he showed emotion about it. And basically what the message was, was how much I respected him because not too many people in life.

We always talk about being truthful. We do, we talk about, you know, the truth will set you free, you know, being true. But but how often are we really do we have the capacity to be truthful think about it not too often Not a lot of try every day to be better in that area, but he was really truthful, and I wrote it and just by his Response he to me validated what I was feeling and saying about him, which was basically that after the fight in Zayad, a lot of people would not have been able to deal with that loss.

And listen, it was 10 years. I often said when I was doing all the broadcasting for ESPN and all my podcasts later that it was like going through an exorcism, that he spent ten years trying to get rid of the ghost of Manila or the ghost of Zaire, not Manila. But what I was saying to him was that he discovered something that most of us don't have the depth and the courage to go into those places to discover such things. The difference between the truth and the lies. I mean, come on, we all lie to ourselves.

I mean, we get through days, we get through parts of life by lying to ourselves, but we try to lie less. And the ones who can lie less and hopefully minimize it to almost nothing, they're the ones that can be the most successful. And that's why George was so successful in his comeback because in that fight, Ali broke him down. Yeah, he got tired, he did the rope-a-dope, all that stuff, Ali broke him down. Yeah, he got tired.

Yeah, he did the rope-a-dope. All that stuff, come on. But he broke him down mentally. He made Foreman, for the first time in his life, he made him feel like he had no say in that ring. He always had a say in that ring. And we always have a say in life, whatever we do. Whatever we do, it's our choice,

how we behave and what we do. But sometimes under pressure, I'll use that word, under pressure under the extremity of the moment, right? The event. You start to think that it's not your choice anymore. That it's the moment's choice. You know, it's the air's choice. It's the moment's choice. You know, it's the air's choice. It's the opponent's choice.

It's the other team's choice. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's your choice. It's always your choice. And till you say it's not your choice, that choice can't be taken away from you. It can be given away by you, but it can't be taken away.

And George gave it away. George led Ali, the great Ali, the great Ali. I'll say it again, the great Ali. He allowed him to think that it wasn't his choice of what he could do that night. It wasn't his choice anymore. And that was a lie And when he came back and I said this in the message He was much better. He would I said the old George would have kicked them

Pants have off of the young George and he smiled The producer told me he smiled because he would have and the reason I said he wasn't better physically when he came back, I get it. Come on, you know, I think I understand that. But he was better mentally, emotionally. He was stronger in those areas, the most important areas. And he would have beat the, again, the pants off of the overalls off of the young judge foreman. He would give him a lesson because he understood the difference between the truth and the lie

when he came back. That the truth is you always, always have the choice of what you're gonna do, no matter how extreme the situation. It's always your choice. And it was always his choice from that time on. Did you see the way he performed against Holyfield? A young Holyfield, a great Holyfield?

Yeah, he lost heavyweight title. Did you see how he competed? If Holyfield didn't have a great chin, he would have knocked out Holyfield. How he competed and how many shots he got hit by Holyfield and he stood there like an old tree in a hurricane. He wouldn't have done that. He wouldn't have been able to have done that

in the first coming, the first incarnation of George. One of my favorite little factoids about that fight against Michael Moore is that, obviously, as you just spoke to, the fact that it hurt him so much that he lost to Ali. As the story goes, he went to Paris. He stayed in his hotel room for two weeks. He was ashamed to come back to America.

He thought that he'd be a laughing stock, and shortly thereafter, he takes his 10-year hiatus. He comes back, he works his way up to the fight against Michael Moore for the heavyweight title and it's some 20 years later. I do believe he was wearing the same trunks on that night that he wore against Ali. Get the crap out of me. It was like, it was like freaking,

it was like seeing Freddy Krueger on Halloween. You notice in the moment, you notice? Notice when he came out of that freaking, when he came out of the hallway there, the what do you call it? Yeah, the tunnel. The tunnel, when he came out of the tunnel and he was wearing those trunks, of course I didn't show it to my fighter.

Yeah. But my heart dropped My gut dropped. I said, oh we we weren't for a word for We're in for a night we're in for a night Because he knows exactly what he had to do and he's facing see that's what I meant about his greatness He was willing to face that night He He was willing to face the ghost, to eliminate the ghost. And that's what I meant by not every, we all love to talk about how we want the truth.

I want the truth, the movie, that's a great movie, of course, to line with Nicholson and Cruz. What do you want? I want the truth, you know, the movie, that's a great movie, of course, the line, you know, with Nicholson and Cruz, you know. What do you want? I want the truth! You can't handle the truth! Well, most people can't. But George really wanted the truth. And he put himself to the test. He said, the difference tonight, no matter what happens, just like Zayad, no matter how many rounds I lose, and he lost into the 10th round, no matter how many rounds I lose, it's my choice. It's my choice, and it will be my choice. And he chose to be heavyweight champ of the world.

You know what's so fascinating about that fight? If you don't watch the fight, but just watch your interactions with Michael in between rounds, first round, second round, third round, fourth round, you would think that Michael was getting his ass whooped, but in reality, he was winning. He was quite dominant.

And yet you kept pushing him saying like, this is not enough. Like you were continuously round after round unhappy or trying to light something almost cause you, I don't know, maybe you suspected or you felt like something was coming. Like the moment was coming. Why was that?

Why is it because as someone watching at home or rewatching, you'd be like, why is Teddy so upset right now? It seems to be going his guy's way. The trunks. I knew George was there for the duration. I knew George's plan. I told him everything in camp.

George's plan wasn't to win a decision. He wasn't going to outwork or outnumber, you know, punch numbers, outvying Michael Moro, who's like 26 years old, whatever, that wasn't gonna happen. He knew that. He was gonna have one moment where he caught him and he got that one moment. And that's why, because I was scared.

I was scared in a controlled way, in a teacher's way, in a trainer's way, in a parent's way, if you will. I was scared of what was lurking that maybe most people couldn't see. I have to see it. I told them every day, every day. I remember HBO came there one day to do their thing. And afterwards they were like, you know, they were being polite and they were, you know, being human beings and Teddy was sorry, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff.

And I remember one of them said, oh my God, when we were there those two days, remember each day at the end of the workout, when you got finished a whole three hour, four, whatever it was, we got finished everything, the sparring, this, that, the instructional, I would make them get in the ring and go and Michael on that day said,

Teddy, I know, I know, I know, we do it every day. We don't have to and Michael on that day said, Teddy, I know, I know, I know. We do it every day. We don't have to do it anymore. I know, Teddy, I know. He's not gonna try to win a decision. He's gonna try to knock you out and he's gonna make him feel comfortable in front with his jab that's three quarters

instead of full jab to make him feel comfortable and safe. At a distance, you shouldn't feel comfortable and safe. And soon as you cooperate, soon as you feel comfortable and safe at a distance you shouldn't feel comfortable and safe. And as soon as you cooperate, as soon as you feel comfortable and safe at that distance, boom, he's going to put the right hand behind it and you're never going to see it. And then, and Michael was arguing with me that day, Teddy, I know, I know, I know. I said, no, this is the only way he wins. We're going to go over it again. And you know, what an idiot I felt like, or whatever you want to call it how or just how I? Don't know unsuccessful how I

Felt like I didn't I didn't get the job done because that was the only way to lose. And even though I recognized it, obviously I did not thoroughly get it through to my fighter. So to lose that way, you know, it took a minute for me to, you know, to go through that and to get through that privately, obviously, to know that that was exactly how we lost. Exactly what we prepared for, I mean, think about how you think of Phil as a trainer, as a teacher, as a surrogate parent, because trainers are surrogate parents, that you tell your kid not to let that happen and it still happens. How do you feel?

You feel like you didn't do your job. You feel like you didn't protect your kid. And you know, so that was my own version of Zaire, if you will, my own version of the ghost being in the attic, so to speak. But it was, again, George, you know, I kept telling Michael, move to your right, move to your south pole, I want to be your south pole. So if you're a south pole, you want to behave like a Southpaw. Move to your right. Get the angle, get outside at his lead foot,

get to your right, you know, and get away from the power punch he's looking for the right hand. Get away from it, get away from it. Move to your right, move to your right, move to your right. Don't stand in front. And at the end, he stood in front. I knew, he can't hit you with that

if you don't stand in front. I knew he can't hit you with that if you don't stand in front I mean, I think we know that so How did he get so everyone said oh he got lazy. He stood and he didn't get lazy George Foreman showed his magnificence He showed his genius He showed why he's so special He's so much more than a big strong guy who can punch like out and get thrown up and kind of lift you off the ground like he did with Joe Frazier.

Oh my God, he's so much more than that. He couldn't line him up. George couldn't line him up because he needed him to be in front. He kept moving to the right. George is left. So what did he do? He threw a throwaway left hook, seconds before that, watch it, Ariel, you'll see it.

He threw a throwaway left hook, bop, just to move him back this way. Thank you! Bang, night over. And you know what really bothered me because you want to protect your fight? What really irked me was when people say, oh, did Michael quit?

Because the punch didn't look the way we want punches sometimes to look for us to be satisfied. You know, with the head going back, crashing down, you know, bang, bang, you know, with the Batman stuff, boom, bang, bang. No, it was just clean, boom, boom. And people were like, did he quit? That was an odd punch.

Hey, morons, morons, go in the ring and let a guy of this quality, of this level, of this power, of this size, of this talent, let him blind you with a jab and ask the last thing you see and then a right hand's behind it. And you had no time in your mind to register. Get ready. Get ready. Man the battle stations. Steal yourself. There was no time. If he saw the punch, he would have handled it. He never saw the punch.

Again, the craft, the genius behind the physical parts that most people never forget about. They don't see it. They don't appreciate it. They have no way of appreciating it because they don't understand it. I understood it and I had nothing but respect for that man in so many ways. He came to one of my, you've come to the foundation where we help people, the charity foundation that we run. It's been 28 years now and George came.

Yeah, George came. Yeah. George came. That was, oh, I, it was a lot of years ago, probably over 20 years. Definitely was over 20 years. It was definitely over 20 years. He was still working at HBO. And I would take a guess that was probably, probably about 25 years ago, maybe somewhere in that neighborhood. And he came, he came and he stayed the whole night. He didn't have to stay the whole night. It was enough that he came and he took some pictures and was sitting up on the dais like you have and you help us raise money and I appreciate you very much.

That's why I always say yes to you. You're a great interviewer, you have a great audience, you have a great show. That's why I always say yes to you. You're a great interviewer, you have a great audience, you have a great show. That's not why I say yes to you. I say yes to you because of the human being you are and that you've shown me. And that's why I talk the way I talk about George because he showed me that.

He came, he helped us raise money, and he stayed, like I said, the whole night. And I never forget what he said to me. We were about halfway through, and you've been there, you hear the testimonials, the people that have been helped, all that kind of stuff, and all of a sudden, he turns to me, he was sitting next to me on the dais, he turns to me and says,

He was sitting next to me on the dais. He turns to me and says, I never knew you had a, this is a real foundation. And I was like thrown a little bit. I really was. I said, what did you think it was? He goes, I don't know. He goes, this is a real foundation. He said, I've been to these things

where you have to wear a black tie and it's a thousand dollars a plate and you get all these, you know, so-called whatever people being shots and everything. And he said, but it never felt like it was a foundation or whatever it was supposed to be. He said, this one feels like it is. That was to me, that was as good a compliment as I could get that we were

We were doing the right thing or trying to do the right thing It's one of the highlights of my year Honestly, every time I get to go to Staten Island right before Thanksgiving you put on an incredible event the the dr. Theodore Atlas Foundation event in Staten Island. It's it's an amazing time and the people that come out to support you and what you are doing is amazing. I feel the same about you and this is everything that I wanted it to be. Having you on to honor and reminisce about the great life of the one and only George Foreman. This is everything and more. So thank you so much, Teddy. You're the man.

It's an absolute pleasure. The podcast, by the way, is called The Fight. You can see it on YouTube or anywhere that you get your podcasts. Keep up the great work. The podcast, by the way, is called The Fight. You can see it on YouTube or anywhere that you get your podcasts. Keep up the great work. Always an honor and privilege to have you on, to speak to, to pick your brain. And thank you for taking some time out

to remember George Foreman today. Well, it's my pleasure. Thank you, Ariel. Thank you for being the person you are. Thank you. Thank you. There he is, the great Teddy Atlas, remembering the equally great George Foreman. What a history they had together. One of my favorite moments, my favorite stories about that fight,

and if you've never seen the Legendary Knights, HBO back in the early 2000s, actually when I was an intern there at HBO Sports in the early 2000s, had a program called Legendary Knights, a series. And it's about, I don't know, maybe eight of the more memorable fights in HBO Boxing's history, and of course since then they could have done much more as hosted by Jim Lampley, who by the way will join me on tomorrow's episode of Ariel and Adi on the Dazon Boxing channel. They have

an amazing, one of the best episodes is about this fight. And I highly recommend you could probably find it either on HBO, Max or Max, YouTube, etc. Anyway, one of my favorite things about, I remember the Sports Illustrated cover. I remember it. I was 12 at the time, very, very into sports. But George Foreman, he remembers the trunks. I remember George walking out in a hoodie, like truly looking like an old man. He's 45 at this point. Like that's George Foreman. That's, you know, that's him before a heavyweight title fight against the guy

20 years, his junior, who is on an absolute role. This is, this is what we look like as old men as, you know, we're going to the gym trying to shed some, some extra pounds. Like you don't see fighters coming out like this. No that's onk right there. Right? Onk's status. And he freaking showed up like that like he had George this is a compliment to the man I'm about to talk about like he had a Daniel Cormier like you know quality to him where he kind of feels like a guy that you want to hang out with have a meal with he's warm and cudduddly. That was the antithesis of his personality back when he fought against Muhammad Ali.

Gosh, I keep getting this wrong. Inzayir, 40 years ago. Like the complete antithesis. Wait, was it 40 or 50 at this point? That would be 30. No, that's, what is it 50? If it's, if it's 75, wow, it is 50. Holy shit. Yeah. 75 would be 50. Holy crap. Anyway, there's so much go watch when we were Kings, watch legendary nights. Another fun factoid, you know, we talk about the circus-like atmosphere surrounding boxing, influencer fights, Jake Paul fights, misfits, all this stuff and more. Did you know after that fight against Muhammad Ali, the most watched fight of all time, after this fight, heavyweight champion, look at that, world heavyweight championship, after that fight, did you know that George Foreman's next fight, the one champion, look at that, world heavyweight championship, after that fight,

did you know that George Foreman's next fight was at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, against five men, the Toronto Five? Did you know that? In an exhibition on Saturday, April 26th? Look at that, look at that poster by the way. The greatest boxing exhibition spectacular. He only fought on one night in the year 1976 and it was this card in Toronto and Kosel and Ali were calling it for ABC and Ali

was trolling him the whole time. But remember this, remember Ali and Okie around that same time frame. When you talk about like, oh Canelo, how dare he think about fighting Jake Paul. Look at what they were doing back then in the 70s. This has been a part of boxing's DNA since well before the 70s. But that's a crazy story in its own right. Someone should do a doc on that one. So there's much there. Uh, may he rest in peace. By the way, we didn't mention this, an amazing broadcaster as well. When he was a part of those HBO telecasts in the nineties, he was an amazing broadcaster while fighting too, which a lot of people didn't do. And a damn good grill as well. Do they still sell the George Foreman grill can you still get

it oh yeah you can still get it you're on Amazon right now legend I have a couple patties in honor yeah I mentioned Misfits guys we did get some disappointing news on Friday the highly anticipated Dylan Dannis versus KSI fight scheduled for this weekend this Saturday cancelled Because KSI yeah There it is Due to an illness misfits boxing unfinished business scheduled for March 29th in Manchester has been postponed a further update will be issued next week Including a new date for the event. Can I tell you one of my biggest pet peeves in fight sports?

Does anyone want to guess? Oh, guess? It's the postponed canceled nonsense. I saw KSI and Danis get into this. The fight's canceled. There's no guarantee they're going to run it back. It's not happening on March 29th. I saw Dylan give him crap and then KSI say,

you nitwit, it's just postponed, it's not canceled. happening on March 29th. Like I saw Dylan give him crap and then KSI say like, you nitwit, it's just postponed, it's not cancelled. No, this is like a thing the UFC does. It's cancelled. The event is cancelled. But if they are already in motion to do something new... If you come out and tell us that on May 10th it's happening, it's been rescheduled. So postponed, you just want out of the lexicon. As of right now, unless there's something else, yes, unless, this isn't a rain delay. It's not happening the next day.

The event was canceled. And oh, by the way, the whole thing was canceled. Now Dylan went on social media and he posted a screen grab of me talking about the first time. By the way, are they like the Tony and Khabib of influencer boxing? For sure, everybody's clamoring for this. Years from now, this will be looked back.

They'll be doing docs on it. He said, keep that same energy Ariel, because I torched him for pulling out. Now, he wants me to come on here and torch KSI. And what I will say is, the circumstance is much different in the sense that I don't think anyone ever believed that he was gonna fight him the first time. I think we all thought, I said to hear myself, that he was ready to fight him this time around. It's a bad look for KSI and I'm mostly upset at KSI because now we're, you know,

as I said to Mams, I said, you know, Lord help us, Dylan's going to be even more insufferable now. Like the victory parade that he threw for himself on Friday, and by the way, he's well within his rights. It's one-one now. It's a somewhat moral victory for him, and it is interesting that he kind of upped the, he upped the trash talk in the aftermath. Did you notice that?

Like he went really hard in the paint. Well, because now they don't have the contract and the you can't say this in the lead up. Is it the contract or was he relieved? No. This is gonna piss him off. This is gonna piss him off. Look, this is a moral victory for him.

All jokes aside, he's even more insufferable now, but that's, you know, that's KSI's fault. It's just postponed. We'll get it soon. He has brought this upon us. Now, it's not a great look because if KSI says that he could beat him with his eyes closed, if he's going to torch him, all that stuff. I knew, like, he had to have known when he posted that video saying that he was

sick and not feeling well. I'm not doubting that for a second, but he had to have known he was going to get roasted, right? Oh, I'm sure. No one's going to be sympathetic. But I also think it's by a very small group right like in the KSI sphere in the universe of KSI's you know concerns and people that are addressing him. I don't think the people who are like you pulled out of a fight with Dylan Dannis make up a large portion of it. I see so so I saw some people say can't believe you ducked Dylan Dannis. What a, what a, what a new low. I see some people saying like the fight just wasn't selling and this is why

you're pulling the plug. We'll never really truly know the answer, but it's, you know, as the great Connor Burkswood said, it's tough when you have to pull out of Dylan Danis boxing match. It's tough. That's word for word quote right there. It's just tough. It's, it's a hard pill to swallow. And by the way, this hasn't been brought up.

They talk about postpone, right? I mean, I reported this late last week, right after the boys in the bag, you know, GFL got their promoter's license, they're going to California, Andy Foster confirmed May 24th and 25th, they told me about several of the fights. Like they can't just say, okay, now we're going to do it on May 1st. Right?

Like there's a very good chances just never happens. And just to confirm, that's why I feel like it's, it's more canceled than postponed. You know, are they going to come back and do it in September? Who knows? And I don't know if many people were clamoring for this, but all to say, this, this all to say, this, this does make Danison sufferable. He is allowed to spike the football. Everything that he is doing is, is for the most, I haven't seen everything, but I feel like it's fair game.

They had a date, you pulled out a week before and, um, and, and, and, and the reason given given while very, very valuable and, and, and, and, and very valid, I should say is not your typical reason for pulling out a fight right like we don't often hear people say I was sick and that's why I couldn't fight true or false most of the time not unless it's pretty grave right right so it's tough it's not getting to the scale yeah or if it's very close to the fight itself right no you're right Dylan should should treat this the same way

everybody treated it when he had to withdraw. Hundred percent. He deserves to have that. Oh, I just love that it's 1-1 now. It's 1-1, baby. No one stepped into the ring. By the way, I mean, you know, these are just PR, you know, the postpone is just PR bullshit, you know. Does the fight ever happen?

Nobody ever takes it seriously. You think it happened? Yeah, I do think it happened. Wow. It's crazy. Now we're like, Dennis is the guy, like Dennis is the one who we're relying on here. I feel like, yeah, he's gonna-

Old reliable. Don't make it to the- Dylan, old reliable Dennis. Is it wild that it's like, again, we will always compare KSI to Jake Paul. And I still think that's the biggest fight, but on the same weekend. Wait, the biggest fight for what?

For influencer boxing. It's not. I mean, do we count Jake versus anybody else or no? No, but that, like, I don't know if that's influencer boxing. Okay. You know what I mean? If that's- Influencer v influencer. Yeah, then sure.

Yeah. Jake versus Logan. Bigger. Maybe, maybe, maybe on a worldwide. Yeah, you're right. You excited for the doc to come out? The show. Paul American?

Wait, what's that? Isn't that the name of the documentary? What the, you mean the series? It's a series. Series, series. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's this week, right? I think so, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I feel like Jake versus KSI has lost a lot of steam. Yes. Real. But isn't it crazy that on the same weekend that like this falls through and it just kind of like falls through, you know, it's like, yeah, Jake is involved in this thing with Anthony Joshua and

Anthony Joshua was playing around with it. Like he's playing back. He's, he's, he's posting screen grabs himself. Jake's saying on his podcast that he wants to fight him. Favorite part about this is crazy Is the screenshot you can see he's got the airpods connected does he well let me see let me see This is a screenshot audio there it is Only one of them was lit up

I know you tried to get to the bottom of the air pod thing But it felt like he kind of like deflected a little yeah We need truly to understand what is bottom of the AirPod thing, but it felt like he kind of like deflected a little bit. We need truly to understand what is happening with the Anthony Dachua AirPod. I think he thinks it's fashionable. To have the one and it looks cool. No, but now, clearly this is not a fashion thing. Nobody's looking at him.

He has them connected. They are that much a part of his thing. I need to understand this better. It's like back in the day when people would wear the Bluetooth headset on their ear and walk around. Oh, but nobody's looking. Now he's at home on his phone and he means you're in the screenshot You'd fire up the Bluetooth headset every once in a while You remember people would just walk around with that thing and it would be flashing a blue light and you'd be like

I feel like you're giving yourself brain cancer right now and then doing like what are those people now? They'd be like dead brain cancer True or false that fight happens in 26. No, false. Yeah, no way. No way. I don't know what it, Joshua. I heard people say, again, I heard people say like, if Anthony Joshua takes that fight, like

you can kiss the rest of your career goodbye. You're done. And let's be honest, he's on the back nine, but again, George Foreman coming off the Muhammad Ali fight fought five guys in Toronto in an exhibition. This idea that if you like dabble in this world that means you're done is so crazy. If he does fight Tyson Fury and loses, it feels more realistic.

Oh yeah, yeah, okay. Well that's different. Yes. Anthony Joshua would be much, much bigger than Jake Paul, no? Yes. Like five inches taller? Well, they have no excuses. Every time they say Jake's bigger than his opponent, they have no excuse for it. It wins. Every time they say Jake's bigger than his opponent, this could be a way to-

Does Jake have a better chance beating Anthony Joshua or Canelo? What's the third option? Yeah, what's a real option that he could win either? Andre August. No. To take the exercise seriously, Anthony Joshua. You think so?

Yeah, Canelo is a big boy. Just because Canelo's more in his prime. Canelo's a pound for pound. Neither is the answer, but. If he beats either of them, he like stamped. I will no longer doubt this guy. What'd you guys make of Tom? Very cagey, very.

Yeah, feels like he knows something. Okay, but this. But is that good? Yes, I feel like this is a good sign. My opinion, it's great. Feels like he was very calculated with everything that he said. I was more talking about the beard, by the way,

just for the record. Oh, oh. It looks good. Fantastic. It looks good. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. The Superman curl? Yeah, no, it feels like, remember that video

where he's on the train, it feels like he's losing patience. Now it feels like he has renewed optimism. Well, if they were further away, right? If that meeting with Hunter and the UFC went the other way, you get on here and you say, John Jones, you're ducking me, you piece of garbage, you can't, blah, blah, blah. That meeting goes well, and they go, hey, just a little more patience.

We're going to get this done for you. All you have to do is not rock the boat. We just got to get John on side side and we're going to do this. You come on and you do what Tom did today. So the signs to me are positive. You, what was your? Well, Dana says done but not done. What does that mean?

Yeah, it's not done. I mean, it's postponed. It's the same nonsense. It doesn't mean shit. When you asked him about the six months thing, he was like, how do you know about the six months thing? Yeah. And then you were like, oh, September 21st. And he was like, wow, you knew that one fast.

I like how you knew the start of fall very quickly. You recall that very quickly. Well, you know why I know that? Because my sister's birthday is March 21st, and that's the first day of spring. So we would always celebrate that. Happy birthday to her. It was just a couple of days ago.

And I know it off the top of my head. March 21st is spring. June 21st is summer. September 21st is fall, December 21st is winter. Yeah, same time every year. It's really not. Tom was like, how'd you know that? Are you a wizard? Is that like a hard thing to know? It's not always the 21st though, right? Yeah, I actually think March 20th was the first day. No, like it's like technically like 20th but like the first official day. Yeah, you can't be saying 21st. No. Yeah, I don't know.

I feel like we got good news coming soon. MSG. Just Google it later. Tom's gonna Google it. It's gonna say September 20th. It's like that Ariel Hawhani does that shit. Close enough. I had heard that there was some talk of MSG before MSG,

if you get what I'm saying. An additional MSG show. An additional, an additional. And let's see, I mean, it would certainly be fitting. And I would rather it not be all the way in November, right, I think we would all say that. By the way, I must say. What, can I ask?

And I don't know if that's gonna be the case, but everything that I'm hearing seems like we're moving in the right direction. Is it FEDA complete, is it a done deal? No, I'm not hearing that. But based on this, based on some other conversations, based on some other feelings, like I feel like we are moving in the right direction.

MSG because you can do the most gate there that's not a stadium, basically? Yeah, but you can do a big gate in Vegas, too. That's what I'm thinking, like, does it have to be MSG? But, I mean, I'm not mad at it. Maybe John wants MSG, I don't know. Yeah. John looked good at the

dirty boxing event right? Shaved head John I thought he looked he looked fit. Look fit. Mustache too. I thought it was a good look. What do you guys think? Yeah he looks like the six months have already started. He looks like he's ready. Did we and we have that footage right of him at the the weigh-ins right when he was going F uh F Tom Aspen I didn't think he looked that awkward if I'm being honest here's John here's John at the watch it again well we could just walk we could talk over it yeah we're working on it efforting okay all right

anyway dirty boxing did you guys go like GC did you go from did you go from the English breakfast UFC London to dirty boxing on Saturday did you roll right into it I'm not gonna lie I cut the highlights for dirty box oh you didn't I'm not gonna lie, I cut the highlights for Dirty Boxing. Oh, you didn't watch it? No, I didn't.

Live on Twitter? Yeah, no. Live on YouTube? I cut the highlights, but yeah, English breakfast straight into the fights. Yeah, it was like halfway through my beans when watching Guram get beat up, pillar to post.

That was the first fight. It was sad, man. That was it, you were done? No, no, no, I watched the rest of the card. Oh, okay. But like I was working through my breakfast. It wasn't a good palate cleanser to go with the breakfast. Tough one for Guram.

Tough one for Guram. Yeah, it was a big setup in my living room. Three TVs you had to have the March Madness on. Oh yeah. You know, NASCAR on Sunday, UFC London. Do you really have three TVs? Dirty Boxing. Set up three TVs for the weekend.

Wow, how do you do that? Big TV, smaller TV, iPad on the coffee table, three screens. And what gets what? Like what's on the big, what's on the small? UFC Road medium TV until the main event then I went big for for Big Sean Brady. Yeah. And then March Madness big TV, March Madness iPad for for the most of the Saturday. Okay well in case you missed dirty boxing, some highlights of course, UO Romero, victorious.

Nice win for him, I thought. And this is the official dirty boxing one. The other one was like a pilot, I think. The athleticism he has at 47 still is just insane. It's insane. 47, the guy's flipping over the ropes. And he might be 57, who even knows at this point. Good job with the mustache.

Yeah, there it is. I'm envious. Bald with the mustache is as tough of a look to pull off. He defeated Ross Hilton in the third round. Ross with an interesting hairstyle there, he had like the patch. Which is not great. I mean, naturally, shorty man, dirty body. Yeah, I mean, he is the the patch. Which is not great. I mean, naturally, Shorty Man, Dirty Boxing.

Yeah, I mean, he is the- Naturally. He's the face of Dirty Boxing. He's the face, he's the face. Andre Olavsky made his Dirty Boxing debut and was victorious as well. Look at the big man here. How's taste my Dirty Boxing?

I think that's what, oh, look at that. Look at that cut. That's some great footage, you ever snag that? Yeah, like these vertical vids are shot extremely well. If this is just like a- Is this MacMally? Maybe. If he's shooting it, I don't know,

but they're doing a great job. He defeated Terrence Hodges in the second round via referee stoppage due to that cut. So they're building something. Let's see, let's see if they can get some momentum. John Jones owner. John Jones owner now with Mike Perry. Shout out. Did you guys happen to see Ilya Tupouria and Charles O'Vara going back and forth on social media? Sure did.

What do you think? Are we building towards something? Like, if I'm Ilya, I'm staying away from this interaction, no? Like, don't we want our attention to be on Islam? We don't want to build interest in a fight against Charles because I think a lot of people would want to watch that. In case you missed it, a bit of the back and forth here, the highlights between the two of them I thought was interesting. I'm looking for the title and today's champion is Issam Mahatchef. Dupore is a very tough guy, but right now I don't see it as a big fight, Charles Olvera said to ABC MMA. Ilya responds, Charles, it's better if you stay quiet. You have 10 losses, five by knockout, four by submission, and one by decision. You are the contender while I am the champion, the father of the entire division.

I haven't come here to ask anything. Here, I am the one in charge. Wow. Are we building towards something here? Here, I am the one in charge. Wow. Are we building towards something here? I don't know, because then didn't he come out and say that he wouldn't come to lightweight if he wasn't going to be a champion? I still maintain his next fight has to be for the lightweight title. Yeah, I don't think we're building towards anything. I think it's Ilya versus Islam. And then what about Charles? Armen? Yeah. Again. Why not? Another Charles? Armin? Yeah. Again.

Why not? I think of another crack. Yeah. I'm a walking tender. So a lot of people making a big deal about the fact that Patty dapped up Ilya, but Molly didn't. Did you guys notice that? No, I didn't see it.

I didn't notice that Molly. At the weigh-ins, Patty, they were cool, and then I think they said the last time something happened they were like, the next time I see you it's on site. On site, baby, yeah. It wasn't on site. It was just like a hi, hello. But then Molly went, do do do do do do,

and then went, not like this, technically, but she definitely withdrew. She's riding. Which lets you know, Molly's a real one. She's got her guys back. Yeah, 100%. But her guy didn't... Keep that time energy.

Look, they didn't have a convo about it beforehand. She doesn't know. She's like, all right, let me stay away from this. And then he's like, eh, I'm okay now. Do you think it's over between them? Because I felt like with Ilya moving up to 155, we're actually getting closer to becoming a reality again. I think we're closer, but I think

Patty knows it's not next. He's got some work to do. I think we're closer but I think Patti knows it's not next, you know, like he's got some work to do. I was surprised. 2027. You think 27? Ilya Patti. For the bell? Lightweight time, yeah. Oh yeah. All right, so Islam's done. I thought to be honest Patti and I were moving towards reconciliation, but then I saw on the Action Network, which I didn't know still was a thing, Ariel Hawhani called Alex Perez lost to Magomed Ankhalyev a nightmare scenario for the UFC. This is the question. What did you make of the fight and the scoring?

Patty, fuck him. Fuck him, lad. The lizard. Golly. But then this is the best part. I don't think it's a nightmare situation, but I do understand what he means. And then he goes,

it's all, what did I do to deserve that, Patty? Nice to see you letting it go. Just so we're very clear, you were in the wrong, I was in the right. And it's been proven time and again. Like nothing has ever been proven quite like this before. And he's still holding onto it for some reason. What did my and even

every time I'm asked about Patty since then, always giving props, always make it you know professional, nice, courteous, respectful, felt unnecessary. Have we not learned anything from the first go-around here? Yeah but you know we just talked about it him and Ilya were at each other's throats and then you think maybe maybe this is you know Next time you see each other. It's gonna be a dad. Okay. You know what all right now. I feel better about yeah Yeah, thank you Speaking of cage warriors they had an event on Friday some controversial moments

There was a sort of like fake glove touch that everyone was going crazy about that was second knockout Is that is that a faux pas? I don't know if that's no good no people hate that huh? What? I don't know. Are you crazy? It's like all you're about to be in a cage for I don't know don't do it that's bad for it. So like what was it like the guy held the he held the glove and then he went he went he what he faked the glove touch and then did he touch it did he palm the the glove? Yeah he palmed it and then used it to move it out of the way to punch him in the face Hell no, that's okay Okay, but here's the thing if one guy just playing devil's advocate for a moment

If one guy wants the glove touch and the other guy doesn't want you say no Well, maybe you don't put your hand out to their confirmation that the guy asked Here's I don't care. Here's the palming. No, no looks like he's about to move her right out of the way He's got the right cocked ready to go that's talking it right there no good What if the guy says like you know when they do that thing before and the guys like mmm And he still does it still does what the guys comes to the middle and then tries to put his hand out No, no, no, you know like before when they're like when they say are we gonna do it or not? Yeah, and what if the guy says no, we're not doing it

Yeah, and the opponent still extends? Does he have to oblige? Then punch him in the face. Yeah, I mean, I agree with Rick, like it's bad form, but also, your point. So how do we know that didn't happen? Protect yourself at all times. But then, I mean, I guess we don't know that didn't happen,

but I would assume if somebody said, don't glove touch, and then you put your hand out there like a dope, we'd know by this point. You never know? But I'm gonna say no. But no, you can't do that. You can't do that. Eh.

So, all right, so do we now like the other fake one where you pretend you're going for it and then put it down and then kick him in the head? No, I mean, obviously I don't love any of it, but by the way, four second knockout is crazy. Yeah, if your opponent's thinking you're touching gloves and then you starch him. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Nasty workforce in knockout.

Oh, me? Yeah, nah, come on, man, I can't. You can't condone such behaviors? No, this is Bush League shit. Like, yeah, that's gonna be, like, that's a great highlight reel for you for a second until everybody goes, wait a minute, what was that there? Was there outrage online about it?

Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. Oh, okay. And I'm on the side of all the online. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm with them. I mean, it was a pretty crazy weekend. Did you guys happen to catch Wyatt Hendrickson of Oklahoma State University defeating Gable Stevenson? I wasn't watching live, but man, I watched like an extended highlight reel. Yeah, me too.

Not only was the moment incredible. The call. EC's commentary was unbelievable. EC and Jordan Burroughrows were going nuts. They were like, they were like, ah, ah, like they were just, but it was great to see that element. Yeah, it was amazing. Wyatt Hendrickson defeating two time NCAA champion and Olympic gold medalist Gable

Stevenson winning the heavyweight championship. A US Air Force second lieutenant secured secure to take down with 18 seconds left in the match to win five, four. Oklahoma state finished third as a team behind Penn state and Nebraska. One of the biggest upsets they say, and I, and I won't pretend I'm interested in it. I love it. I maintain that one of the, the, the dumbest thing, the dumbest things that NCAA wrestling does is go up against.

The basketball March madness, the same weekend things that NCAA wrestling does is go up against the basketball march madness the same weekend. Like do it a week before. Even go up against the conference tournaments would be better than going up against, do you not agree? Like the Saturday of the second, you know, like, so now we're onto the second round of the tournament. You guys go through your thing and it starts on Thursday

and it goes into Saturday. Why would you pick that? Why would you pick that? Why would you pick that? This is white noise at best, and that's being kind. Yeah. You can't compete. You can't compete with March Madness. Even do it during the week, for goodness sakes.

Anyway, shout out to our guy David Taylor, formerly of Penn State. Yeah, shout out to him. You here, remember that? He's his head coach. There's a great story in the Oklahoma. Wyatt Hendrickson had not yet moved to Stillwater last summer to begin training with the Oklahoma State

wrestling team when coach David Taylor sent a simple text message, Wyatt Hendrickson national champion Taylor the first year OSU coach sent similar messages regularly but on Saturday night in front of a packed Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia Hendrickson brought the words to life how about that yeah we're gonna be joined by David Taylor on Wednesday to talk about this so I'm looking forward to that that was a great moment, but yes, DC and Jordan were great.

I think there are some like old school wrestling people, or I don't know, someone who doesn't like DC on the call. Are you crazy? Are you guys nuts? Are you guys nuts? The passion from DC was incredible. Amazing. What's this that you just sent me?

From Chris Duncan? Yeah. He said you must have went to the toilet for his fight. What does that mean? Is he mad at me? Because you're saying Brady. I don't think he's mad. He's just saying, I think you said Kevin Holland

had the most impressive performance of the fight with Sean Brady. Saying he should be above. He said you must have missed my fight as well. Oh, okay, all right. So, okay, so this is a tweet from me on Saturday, saying, other than Shawn Brady, I think the most impressive performance on the night was Kevin Holland, or from Kevin Holland,

nearly got the finish, negated, got his grappling, hopefully we see him stay at 170, and Chris Duncan replies, must have went for a toilet break on my fight. Geez. To be fair, he did have a great performance. He did have a great, I mean, they're high. Did you go to the bathroom? Yeah, did you go to the bathroom?

No, of course not. The Pride of Scotland, how could I miss it? We got a little chapstick. You couldn't miss this chapstick. Blistex. We're gonna go to the bathroom, but he'll chapstick in the middle of the broadcast. I'm a big fan of Aquaphor.

Shout out Aquaphor. Oh yeah. There's nothing better. Is that the same one you were just using? What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean the same one I was just using? The stick looked all blue but then the one you showed was what you pulled it out? Yeah there you go. Now I got this, I was doing like a video shoot on Friday, and the guy, yeah, I told the story on Saturday, the makeup artist from Blanchardstown, actually no, nearby, he was from nearby, sorry. Did you ask whether it was rough or not?

Yes, oh, you didn't hear this. I thought you were in the chat on Saturday, I saw you there. I was in, I was out, at that point I then had four screens going. Sorry, sorry, I was at a video shoot about something very exciting that's gonna come out in screens going. Sorry, sorry. I was at a video shoot about something very exciting that's gonna come out in the next 10 or so days.

I actually have a couple things coming out that you guys are, well I think some of you might be excited about. Anyway, it's late night, it's Friday night, it's 11 p.m., I'm freezing my arse off. I'm not used to this type of thing, you know, I'm very soft and the. And the hair and makeup person was a nice young man from Dublin.

I hear the accent and I'm like, I know that accent. Where are we from? I'm from Dublin. I was like, ah, you know yourself, the crack is 90. I'm busting out the whole repertoire. And I asked him, all right, so we have a big debate, you know, one of my dear friends is from Blanchardstown, is it the posh part of town or is it the rough part of town?

And he did in fact confirm it's quite rough. Ah, you wouldn't want to find yourself there on a late Friday night. I think at this point we've got enough confirmation. It's just Paul Hughes who says otherwise. It's just Paul Hughes messing with Pizzi. So any event, thank you very much to him. And congratulations to Chris Duncan on the big win. By the way, congratulations also to Jake Paul on the, the nuptials, actually not the nuptials.

The nuptials when you actually get married, I guess the engagement. Yeah. Right? Jake Paul's future wife, a champion speed skater, right? Yeah. Utah? Utah? Isn future wife, a champion speed skater, right? Yeah. Utah?

Utah? Isn't that her name? Oh, I don't know. What? Utah? I believe so. I didn't know this. By the way, where are they here?

She's what, Norwegian? Utah Leerdam, J-U-T-T-A. She is Norwegian, yes. You didn't know about Utah? I honestly didn't. When you said that I was gonna say, no, I think she's Norwegian. Is she from Utah?

No, she's from Norway. I'm being dead serious, that was my knee jerk reaction. Oh gosh. Congratulations to him, man. Yes. Good stuff. A lot of people have been asking me, I'm just rolling through the news and notes here, a lot of people have been asking us about an update on James Krause.

Yeah. Did you guys know that we might get some kind of update later this week? In fact, tomorrow, this according to MMA fighting.com's Damon Martinly last week, UFC veterans, Jeff Molina and Derek Minner may finally get some closure when it comes to the future of their fighting careers with both fighters

scheduled for disciplinary hearings with the Nevada State Athletic Commission ever being suspended under suspicion of potentially being involved in a betting scandal involving their head coach James Krause. The fighters were added to the upcoming meeting on March 25th with the appearance noted as a hearing on disciplinary complaint or in the alternative hearing on proposed adjudication agreement. That typically means that the Nevada Attorney General's office has already come to terms on some sort of punishment, which is then voted on by the commission for approval. Would you believe this story dates back to December of 2022, two and a half years.

Remember like it was yesterday. And so this is for Melina and Minner who were accused of being a part in some sort of fight fixing scandal, which the UFC has really not suffered all that much from, but still no real update on what it all means for James Krause who has really kind of disappeared from the scene.

He was very active. Yeah, where is he? You know? What is he doing? I don the scene. He was very active. Yeah, where is he? You know? What is he doing? I don't know. He was active coaching, he was active with a gambling podcast, social media, everything.

Wasn't he doing stuff for ESPN? Wasn't he doing like some appearances? He might have been, he might have been. So anyway, some kind of resolution. I mean, it is really, Molina was the one, you know, who was still in the UFC who had the ceiling that I think was a little bit higher than Minners.

Kraus already at that point had changed this into being a coach really. Like, you know, I don't think, when was his last fight at that point? Like, did he actually really retire at any point? I don't know if he ever announced his retirement, but his last fight was in 2020. So anyway, a lot of people asking about that. Do we have an update on the Cain Velasquez situation?

So we're about 18, 20 minutes away. Oh, wow. Supposedly from sentencing. So this is the big day. It was supposed to happen earlier today and then it's been delayed, but apparently he's on his way back to the courtroom and like four 30 Eastern. We're supposed to hear something. Do yourself a favor and, um, and follow Nolan King, MMA underscore Kings. He works for MMA junkie does a tremendous job and he has been covering this story since the beginning,

truthfully, and doing a great job of doing so. And he's providing updates and I'm seeing a tweet from him here, King Velasquez is heading back into the courthouse, judges ruling reportedly 20 minutes away. Could you imagine what this man is going through right now? I mean, yeah, there's a video of him walking back to the courthouse and like- Hands in his pocket, like he seems at peace, right? I was gonna say, like he seems like abnormally calm for what's going on right now. Is it, I was asking some people close to him,

like does he know? You know what I mean? There's a chance he may know his fate. Okay. But they actually said, nah, you never really know. I saw a tweet earlier from Damon Martin, who you mentioned, and it said something to the effect of like, the prosecutors want 25 to life.

Fuck. And his team wants no jail time. So like, if you know, you'd better know, because the alternative is not great. Oh my God, it makes me sick to my stomach. You know, he was on Kyle Kingsbury podcast. Kyle Kingsbury was a long time friend and teammate of his at AKA, and I read the quotes this morning.

And, you know, he's come on the show and he seems to be very much at peace, but the interview that he did with Kyle would suggest that he is very much in a good place. Like, really, I mean, some of these quotes are just unbelievable considering what he is facing. Quote from what I can say as far as myself, the way that I handled things was not the way to do it.

We cannot put the law in our own hands. I've already pled guilty, so I'm going to get a sentencing on Monday. I know what I did, and I know what I did was very dangerous to other people, not just people involved, but to innocent people. I understand what I did, and I'm willing to do everything I have to do

in order to pay that back. Whatever the court feels correct, for what I have to do, I'm going to do with my head up, I still will be me and not play the blame game. It was me that did that and reacted in that way. Velasquez was arrested in February of 2022 after he pursued a vehicle carrying a man,

Harry Goulart, accused of molesting Velasquez's then four-year-old son and fired a handgun, added several times in a high-speed daytime chase. Velasquez struck Goulart's stepfather, Paul Bender, resulting in an arm injury. This is from MMA junkies, Nolan King. Another quote, what I did was not correct. I understand that. I paid and I will pay whatever else as far as what I have to do to pay that all back.

I don't think I can pay it back, but I can always learn from my mistakes and help others. It's just information that you never know anybody. Trust your kids. Have that open communication with your kids. When you do go to the bathroom with them, when they're very young, you can work your way in there as far as talking to them about what's appropriate and what is not. So they know to tell you and they can always tell you whenever something is not correct. As far as that goes, it's basically that the more we get consciously aware of ourselves, the more that light shines on dark things, especially things like that.

The guy is just... man, it's an incredible... I mean, it's just a surreal turn of events for a guy who was once UFC Heavyweight Champion, who was a hero to so many people, first ever Mexican-American Heavyweight Champion, first ever Mexican-American champion in UFC history. And to think that he is minutes away from finding out his faith. And I don't know, we're not gonna play the game of like, what would you do? What would you do? Because we never wanna even fathom being in that situation.

But I don't know many people, let alone parents, that wouldn't say like, I probably would react the same way, God forbid. And ultimately, you know, he did not kill anyone. Now, I know that's not always the litmus as to how you should be punished, but we are 100% biased here when it comes to Cain Velasquez and knowing what he had to deal with. I can't even imagine what he was processing, how he was feeling, what he was thinking in that moment.

So I just hope that they spare him and have some mercy on him. Because I don't wish that upon anyone and I don't think Cain Velasquez is a bad guy. The dude who did that toasquez is a bad guy. The dude who did that to his son is an evil person, diabolical, lower than scum, if that is in fact what he did. So, I feel sick to my stomach just thinking he's minutes away.

I feel sick to my stomach just thinking he's minutes away. To your point though, he seems at peace with whatever the outcome is. Yeah. I tried to look for anything on the result of the trial for the man who was accused. Oh, that's in June. Yeah. Yeah, coming up. Mazel Tov to Ari Emanuel, he pockets 174 million in Endeavor going private again. This according to MMA Fighting,

has closed the deal Endeavor has to go private in a deal headed by Silver Lake Financial. The acquisition was announced several months ago. Silver Lake stated in a press release that the company believes that when consolidating all of TKO's value into Endeavor, the combined total enterprise value of $25 billion. Ari Emanuel scoring $173.8 million cash payout and he rolls over ownership interest with a total value of $290.27 million into the new privately held company Perin SEC filing on Monday. Mark Shapiro, previously the president of chief operating officer Endeavor, now becomes the president and managing partner

at WME Group. He is still the president and COO of TKO Group Holdings. The big news is Patrick Whitesell, who co-founded Endeavor, is actually leaving the new WME Group to launch a new Silver Lake-backed venture that plans to invest in and scale properties and IP across sports, media, and entertainment. Tomaseltov, Tomaslatov. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah. Thanks Frank. What do we got? Yeah. Well we have this first one here from AAK. We kinda talked about this already. It says did you see Big Wyatt Hendrickson's last second upset of Gable Stevenson on Saturday? The place went nuts and DC was squealing like a pig in mud

on Saturday. Place went nuts and DC was squealing like a pig in mud on commentary. Thought it was great. I loved it. DC loves wrestling. Dare I say he loves it more than MMA. I'll never forget when I did the E60 story on DC and I knew that he coached high school kids. I didn't realize like how deep into it he was.

And so this guy's driving around, he's stressing about them cutting weight. And then we go to the tournament and he's out there yelling, sweating, not getting paid a dime, giving all of his assistants, Doron Nguyen and others, all the money, not getting a cent from all this and is so into it. Wouldn't want to be anywhere

else in the world. He's in Gilroy, Gilroy High School. I believe the onion capital of the world. It smells like onion there. No, the garlic capital of the world. I screwed that up. It smells like garlic there. What else? Kaoshari writes Shalom doodh er yo Do you know what doodh means? Uncle I actually know a lot of Hebrew That is accurate though I know, what you didn't believe in?

Anyway, his question says Do you think the UFC should replace the Apex with the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines? And any thoughts on Natan Levy getting out? Cut I don't think that's going to happen with the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. And any thoughts on Natan Levy getting out? Cut. Getting cut. I don't think that's gonna happen for the first one.

I think they should replace it with the, what is it, the Box Center in Azerbaijan? Some people were saying that I mispronounced Azerbaijan. Crystal Hall. Crystal Hall. How do you pronounce? Azerbaijan. Yeah.

Azerbaijan. Tomato, tomato. Anyway, Nathan Levy, it seemed like, you know, he said that he wasn't getting enough fights. He was happy to be let go, but you know, it's a results business, and perhaps they weren't happy with the results. The thing is, his last fight was a while ago, but he just

announced now his last fight was in March of 24, a year ago. He missed weight. He lost. It didn't last very long. Prior to that, he had one tune a row in the UFC, but hopefully for him, he can, he can be a lot more active now. It's still very young in his career, just hopefully for him he can be a lot more active now. Still very young in his career, just 10 pro fights, 33, but he hasn't been fighting for

all that long. 2018, so seven years. Let's see. There's obviously Natan flying the flag and Eli Barzilai as well, who I think could be very close to getting to the UFC. What else, Frank? Slito writes, Ariel, as you introduced the man in the hat on the post fight show, I was hit with a blissful wave of nostalgia.

What a treat that was. Shout out 3Pac. Man, that felt good. A lot of people said similar things, wrote to us stating similar feelings. And it did get us thinking, perhaps it is time to bring back the three post shows. The problem is, it's happening at 5, 6 a.m. for P.T. Now, to his credit, he has repeatedly said,

I'll do it, but there's a part of me that feels guilty. Yeah, if he says he'll do it, he'll do it. I mean, it's 5, 6 a.m., it's hard enough to stay up till 1 a.m. to watch these shows. I mean, if he says he'll do it, he'll do it. you're saying that we should do it like you've never told him like well This is the requirement. He's offering it up. Yeah Cash that check man before you can't Yeah, I guess so what should we do like you guys do the watch party and then hand it off to us

Yeah, we'll sign off. You know we, we're just like, all right, and to the headquarters in Ireland, and then he can do all the technical part on his own. Can I tell you the one thing I do like about that, and this is really breaking the fourth wall, but what was good about the old days was, I would do the post show, the Ringer post show, with Chuck and Petey, and then I would come on the show on Monday with you guys, and it would be two separate

conversations, right, with different people. Now we do the post show with Rick and G.C. and then I come here and it's Rick and G.C. You have to find different angles. Now I do more of the talking on Saturday and I feel like I kind of reverse the roles on Monday. But it would- Have we talked about that before?

Like that might be a thing? That what might be a thing? That like we would have that problem where we run into talking after these are things I fixate on oh So anyway, you know we're workshopping working through the kinks But it might have to be a thing so Hope you enjoyed your vacation PT What else vacation PT. What else? Oh, is he coming up?

I thought maybe. But Rastafari415 says, whose thinking is more flawed? Leod Edwards attempting a take down in round three, Dan Hurley using the term Baldi to insult the fan. Huge fan of the show. Well, thank you very much. Tough weekend for Dan Hurley.

The streak ends at back to back. There's no back to back to back. Valiant effort against Florida. And afterwards said, I hope they don't F you like they F'd us. But I guess he's implying that he shaves his head? I don't know. It seems like... Anyway, big MMA fan Dan Hurley is and pro wrestling great guy met him Did the real sports story on him and enjoyed my time with him? I mean tremendously I'll never forget I sat down to speak with him at Yukon and the first thing he asked me about was Colby I think it was Colby Leon. It was right after the Izzy DDP Strickland thing broke in July of

23 Izzy DDP Strickland thing broke in July of 23. Yeah, in July of 23. Anyway, what was the first part? It was Hurley and what did he say before that? About Leon Edwards. The takedown that he did. Takedown attempt in the third round. Oh, I mean, I think he's just trying to, listen. Leon's the man, you know,

we'll always be, uh, supporters of his here and what he accomplished and what he had to do to get to that title fight and what he did in that title fight against Kamara Usman. And then the subsequent, like, let's not, let's not play this game where we, you know, try to change history and do the thing.

Like he was never any that he was, he was, he was undefeated by the way. He was undefeated for, I think it was 10 straight fights. He had not, he had not lost since 2015 when he met, uh, Kamara Usman in Utah in 2022, he was losing that fight. He was a minute away from losing that fight. And then he pulls off one of the greatest kicks in the history of the sport went fair and square. They run it back.

He wins that fight fair and square. He, he, he fights Colby Covington and people thought that would be a nightmare matchup for him. He wins that fight fair and square and then he lost just like many others. Two title defenses is a lot better than a lot of other people out there in a pretty tough division against fighters that people said were going to have tough styles for him to deal with. So Sean Brady is a freaking beast, he's talented. And I think that takes nothing away from Leon. But I will say this. Now, I think the full story of Manchester could be told.

And I don't think you could say that was some kind of off night and anomaly. Now, can you say that that loss some kind of off night and anomaly. Now, can you say that that loss affected him on on Saturday? We'll never know. Only he could tell us that. But if he would have come back on Saturday and beat the brakes off of Sean Brady and knocked him out, he could have said, you see, I told you this whole time that wasn't me.

Can't say that. What else? And lastly, on air Jordan discovered that the fall equinox which is the first day of autumn actually shows up on September 22nd I mean this was literally off the top of my head I mean I nailed it on my head the dates

now is it like 21st nail on 50-50 it's like I could have said the 15th or I could have even said like oh I don't. And you would have been just as right then than you were saying the 21st. So he said to me, when's the first day of fall? And I said September 21st, right? And then he was like eating out of your palm, like, oh my god, you're like a magician.

He loved it. This guy knows his equinoxes. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. Turns out you know. Yeah. I mean, pretty close. Charlton.

Wow. Wow, wow, all right. I hope that's right. Turns out you know. Yeah. I mean, pretty close. Charlton. Wow. Wow, wow, all right. Hope that's not like super insulting. No, no, listen. We'll talk after the show. What else? That's everything.

That was it, that was it. That was the cherry on top. Oh gosh. Tomorrow's program, I could tell you about it. If you wanna know. I'd like to know. Will be joined by Carlos Alberg. I am. This is ladies night and I feel alright.

Raul Rosas. Big Pop. No? I was expecting a Chee-Wee-Wee. I'm looking for it. We don't have it anymore? It's been a while. It's been a while I think it got put on another page. I'm sorry. Okay Have we even played that once in the new new iteration? Steve Erceg one half of the the headliner

He'll join us one other guest as well big show coming up on Wednesday Stay tuned for that of course course, On the Nose. Everyone loves On the Nose. That'll be on Wednesday. Big week, big week around these parts. It's gonna be- Oh, thanks, thanks. No, no, it's good.

It's good to get it in. Thank you very much. Appreciate you all very much. It's been a great day here on the program, but it is time to go. Sending our best to Cain Velasquez. Hoping for the best. Monday Night Raw is on right now on Netflix.

John Cena cutting a mad promo. They're in Europe. Do you think they're going back and forth or are they staying in Europe this whole time? It's a long tour over there. Anyone have any insight? No. This, by the way,

is the last week if you're in Europe that will be coming on an hour early because I do believe next weekend, next Sunday, y'all catch up to us and move the clocks forward. So the last couple weeks it's been a 5 o'clock start in the UK and Ireland. It will now go back to being a 6pm start. 5 start five hours supposed to four hours gender's down what I'm saying Frank I do I think we should be careful now giving direction on calendar days oh let's just make sure we got it right you know yourself no I think I think I'm yeah I think I'm pretty accurate about that because I've been looking at it because I always get worried when I when I when I Book the the UK base guests

Or the European base guess am I getting the right time? So I'm constantly having to look what time is it and then I just wait a second Why is it four hours now? Oh, they move the clocks ahead a month after us Why would they do like they did like in the 50s? Or there's just like mechanical clocks, like eight of them in the studio with you? Oh. Show us all the different... Yes, Walter Cronkite with the clock.

Exactly. This is the time in Tokyo. This is the time in London. This is the time... Ah, that's... We'll do another one. The calendar shows all the equinoxes. Oh, wow.

Okay. Thank you very much to our guests today. Tom Asprey, Sean Brady, Teddy Atlas, if any one back on Tuesday same time place to say peace