The Ariel Helwani Show - Tom Aspinall, UFC ditching PPV reaction, Anthony Hernandez, Salt Papi, Elijah Smith, weekend recap

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by reacting to UFC's massive seven-year $7.7 billion rights deal with Paramount, before the Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll jump in to continue the discussion (05:30).Elijah Smith, fresh off his frightening KO against Toshiomi Kazama, joins the show to talk about the highlight reel slam, learning from his father, former UFC fighter Gilbert Smith, getting his start in MMA during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more (46:15).Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez returns to discuss his dominant win over Roman Dolidze, calling for a title shot, talking to Dana White and Daniel Cormier during the fight, planning to be front row at UFC 319, and more (1:11:14).Salt Papi himself joins to preview his boxing match against legend Tony Ferguson. They touch on his conversations with Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao, who he expects to win between Luke Rockhold and Darren Till, and more (1:32:26).UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is the final guest of the day, giving his initial thoughts on UFC’s deal with Paramount and how it could affect fighters who previously shared in pay-per-view profits. He also explains how UFC 321 came together, facing Ciryl Gane in Abu Dhabi, and reacts to Jon Jones’ teasing a fight at the White House next year (2:17:30).Ariel and The Boys close the show with more on the UFC’s new broadcast deal and by answering your Super Chats (2:53:15).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Eriya-Hawaddy show. Back in your life on this Monday, August 11th, 2000. And 25, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. I am so excited about today. show I've been waiting for that red light to go off right over there, the one right in front of me, boom, in my face. I've been waiting since about 8.15 a.m. Eastern Standard time this morning. We have a lot to get to on this, dare I say, historic day in the world of mixed martial arts.

Dare I say, historic day in the world of the ultimate fighting championship. There is so much to get into. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I sure did. Thanks for I was actually back home in Montreal, got to see my parents, got to see my sister, my brother, their kids. It was a wonderful time. Got in late last night. Woke up, fresh as a daisy. Excited for today's program, excited for this week with UFC 319, with one of the most anticipated title fights of 20, 25 going down in just five days time. Tremendous boxing card going down in Riyadh as well on the same day. An incredible four pack of guests back into the program. talking to the reigning, defending UFC heavyweight champion,

the pride of Wiggin, the pride of Manchester, the pride of the United Kingdom, the pride of England, the pride of Great Britain. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, yes, the great Tommy Aspinol, who returns to action on. on October the 25th in the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, to be exact, against Cyril Gaon, his arch nemesis. We had Fernand Lopez on the program a couple weeks ago.

Through some shots? A couple of strays. We'll get Tom's response at 315. Stay tuned for that. At 2.30, the great Nathaniel Bustamante, aka. Salt Poppy. He's going to be joining us. We are rapidly approaching his showdown, 19 days away from his showdown against El Cuckooie,

Tony Ferguson on the Misfits card going down in Manchester, AO Arena, 165 pounds. I mean, Tony Ferguson versus Sal Poppy, are you kidding? This is an actual thing that's happening? Yes, in fact, it is. It's the card headline by Darren Till versus Luke Rockhold. We had the face-to-face on that same day we had Tony Ferguson, and now we get the side of the story from one Sal Poppy, New York Rick's favorite, going to be joining us at about 235 p.m. Eastern time.

And prior to that, we're going to be joined by Anthony Fluffy Hernandez. The star of the weekend, no doubt about it, as far as combat sports is concerned, a very quiet weekend in the world of boxing, pro wrestling, MMA. Not so much. The UFC had a great card at the apex. Very fun. Some big-time performances. What about Jocelyn Edwards?

She looked great. CLD, Christian Leroy Duncan, look great as well. What about, well, I'll mention the other guy in a moment. But what about Anthony Fluffy Hernandez? He beats Roman DeLite. He beats him up. He dominates him. And then, look, we have to remember this.

The awards are coming up at about four months' time, four and a half, to be exact. This might be one of my favorite submissions of all time. I wish we could show it to you, but I don't want to get dinged on the YouTube. Other channels show footage all the time, but for some reason we always get dinged. This was like two kids, two ninth graders arguing over lunch money. Like one guy just goes up to the other. He's like, yeah, I'm going to take this from you right now. Let me take you down by your neck and just drop you.

called it a rear naked choke. It felt like he ragdolled him. I mean, I've never quite seen anything like this. He big brothered Roman Delizze. He's now on eight in a row. Everyone loves him. He marches to the beat of his own drum. He doesn't care about anyone. He doesn't care about anything. He swears every second word. He's just a great character. And he says he's flying out to Chicago to be there in the front row as DDP and Hamzad fight on Saturday at the United Center. Anthony Hernandez is a great character. I'm very, very excited to talk to him. That will be at approximately 2.10. And at 145, we're going to be joined by Elijah Smith,

22 years young, the son of former ultimate fighter cast member, Gilbert Smith, who had one of the scariest knockouts that you'll ever see with shades of Rampage Jackson and Ricardo Arona back in the day, just absolutely slamming, mauling his opponent. I want to get his name right here. I don't want to screw it up.

Name, name, name, name, name, name, name, name, Toshioomi, excuse me, Kazama, who did post afterwards that he was okay. He was at five guys. He was enjoying a burger. But Elijah Smith's knockout, the slam, the back of the head, scary, scary stuff. He wins a performance bonus. Technically, it was a slam from inside a triangle. And like I said, it was something that would make the Great Rampage very happy. Everyone was posting that. So some nice performances on Saturday. And ordinarily, there's the four pack. I was going to start talking about all this because there's all these middleweights fighting this month. We had a couple, a couple of weeks

ago, we've got the title fight, we've got Anthony, we've got RDR, and we'll get to all of that. We'll get to all of that. But you'll recall at the very beginning of the year, we had our prediction show. And my vote, and I'm not trying to say that I was right, but my vote for what was going to be the biggest story of the year in 2025, as far as the UFC was concerned, was their rights deal. It was coming to an end here in the United States. States, only in the United States, it was coming to an end with ESPN at the end of 2025. They signed a deal back in 2018 with ESPN. Initially, it was a deal that was going to start in 2019.

It was going to be a four-year deal. In the early portion of that deal, they extended it for two extra years, which included the exclusive paper views on ESPN Plus. You know the drill by now. And let it be known that it was once New York Rick and I on New Year's Eve 2018, who ushered the ESPN era on ESPN 2. We were the ones that brought it to you at the stroke of midnight. What a time that was, perhaps we'll unearth that clip when this is all said and done. But essentially, it was a six-year deal that started on January 1st, 2019, and going to end

December 31st, 2025. And so we were all wondering, where were they going to go? Were they going to re-up with ESPN? Were they going to sign with the likes of Netflix? Was there going to be an Amazon involved? An Apple involved? A Warner Brothers. discovery involved. Who was going to get the UFC deal on? Oh, by the way, I think one of the biggest questions. And dare I say, one of the great predictions that everyone, including myself had, was look at the sign of the times, look at the NFL, look at the NBA, look at major league baseball. Look at every major sports entity. They all split up their TV packages at this point, especially here in the United States. And so the big prediction was, for the first time ever,

the UFC would split up their TV package. Remember, back in the day, 2005 to 2011, they were on Spike TV, and they were just on Spike TV. And yes, they had a little cup of coffee with versus, but that's because they took over the WEC deal. Then 2012 to 2019, they were on Fox and the other, you know, Fox family of networks, but it was a Fox deal, Fuel TV, FS1, etc. 2019 to 2025, ESPN. The big prediction was, all right, how are they going to split this up? Are they going to go 30, shows on ESPN and 13 on Netflix? Are they going to go, I don't know, 39 on ESPN and four big ones on Netflix? Are they going to do more shows? Are they going to do less shows? What's it going to be? My friends, this morning, we found out the answer to that question. It was announced

officially this morning that beginning 26, the UFC is taking its entire package, the whole thing, over to Paramount out of nowhere here comes Paramount and Paramount plus to be exact and CBS as well yes the Tiffany network no one saw this coming and so as of 2026 ESPN is out of the UFC business now they are still in the PFL business they have one year left on that deal that deal expires at the end of 2026 are they going to want to stay in the MMA business and be involved with the distant number two that remains to be seen. We found out last week around five or so days ago that they were signing a deal with WWE, which of course is under the TKO umbrella, beginning 2026, to be the home of their

10 PLEs over 12 nights, SummerSlam two nights, WrestleMania two nights. That deal was for $1.1 billion over the course of five years, which equals out to approximately $325 million a year. Most people, including myself, thought, all right, this is a sign that a bigger deal is to come. They're involved in the TCO business. WWE coming over to ESPN, who saw that coming? But surely that's a sign that the UFC is coming back as well. And maybe even ZUFA boxing. That's still out there too. But then something happened on Friday. Actually, it was on Thursday. Something happen on Thursday. On Thursday, the Skydance Paramount merger was officially announced. Skydance,

led by David Ellson, son of Larry Elson, founder of Oracle. They're doing it all. Big, big, big, multi, multi, multi billion dollars involved taking over the whole Paramount, Kinn and Kibbuttal, everything under the sun. That gets announced on Thursday. He does an interview on Friday, talking about we need content, and in his first big deal, since that announcement, on Monday today they announced that they have acquired the rights domestically here in the United States to the whole UFC package beginning in 2026. What does that all mean? That means that all 43 events, and they've quoted 43, that's 30 fight nights and 13 paper views. I put air quotes because they're no longer pay-per-views, hold that thought.

Premium live events, 43 total, will be moving from the ESPN family of networks to Paramount, Paramount Plus, and CBS. The plan is every single one of those 43 events will be on Paramount Plus. It appears as though, based on the comments from Mark Shapiro, the president and COO of TKO and Ari Emanuel this morning on CNBC, that the vast majority, if not all, they sort of hedged a little bit, but if not all, of the numbered events, that's 13, so you're 331, you're 332, et cetera, will be on Paramount Plus and CBS. That means beginning in 2026, as far as the UFC is concerned, pay-per-view is dead.

For the first time in the UFC's history, they will no longer be in the pay-per-view business. the pay-per-view model is finished. You will not have to pay $79, $89, $80, $60, $50 for the number of events. Finally, MMA fans are being treated like NBA fans, NFL fans, MLB fans, NHL fans. The best of the best of those sports entities were never behind a paywall, ever. But in our world, the best of the best has been behind a paywall. And the story over the past year, year and a half has been that those numbers, those pay-per-view numbers, while never made public, were dwindling. And so the question was, could they get enough to say, we're going to pull the plug on this for the first time in our history, dating back to 1993, we are no longer going to be involved in the pay-per-view business.

We talked about this last week with the WWE ESPN deal. WWE hasn't been in the pay-per-view business for quite some time. The ESPN deal is not a pay-per-view deal. it's on their new OTT and it's OTC and also be if you have ESPN will also be available to you as well you don't have to pay extra for it

UFC and the occasional boxing was the last and UFC was the last consistent one every month an extra $80 in addition to your ESPN plus this and that well now our Emanuel Mark Shapiro said on CNBC this morning

that for the basic package, which is $7.99, $8 essentially, the basic package, you get the UFC deal. Now, that's the package with ads. All right? For $12.99 without ads, you get the whole thing. No extra cost. Incredible, right? So much should dissect here.

Here's the kicker. the UFC on ESPN deal equaled out to approximately 500 to 550 million dollars a year that was after they extended it the two extra years all that in the in the ballpark of 500 to 550 the numbers have been quoted differently but that's the general gist this one in the ballpark of 1.1 billion dollars a year over seven years yes the UFC to paramount deal is for seven years 1.1.1 $7.1 billion a year equaling approximately $7.7 billion a year, 7.7 billion a year for the domestic, that's U.S. only rights package. Now you understand why they got rid of pay-per-view. They just doubled their yearly fee from about $500,550 to $1.1 billion. Pretty good deal. I would take that guarantee. And so people are celebrating the fact that pay-per-view is dead. People are celebrating the fact that if you're an MMA fan and obviously if you're an MMA fan, you're a UFC fan, you won't have to pay for pay-per-view anymore. Mark Shapiro, CEO, president of TKO, said it himself.

He told CNBC, pay-per-view is dead. He said it's an antiquated model. We're not in this business anymore. Now, the timing of this announcement is very interesting because in five days they're going to be asking you to pay for a pay-per-view. UFC 319, a great pay-per-view. And then on October 4th, they're going to ask you to pay again for pay-per-view. And then on October 25th again, and then on November 16th again, and then on December 13th or whatever it is, again, there's still, to the best of my knowledge, that's five more pay-per-views. But you have- fucking illegal. Yeah, that's right, Dana. You have to not stream. You have to buy the paper views, but then in 2026, it's really freaking dead. It's really freaking dead. So there's so

much to dissect here. The UFC has a new home. Paramount. No one was really talking about. It was mentioned, and there was an article I remember last week on awful announcing that I think I referenced on this show. It might have been somewhere else, but they weren't one of the players. We all thought ESPN, Netflix, maybe Amazon, maybe Apple. We talked about Warner Brothers, all that stuff. Here comes Paramount, taking the whole thing, not splitting it up, all 43 events, 30 fight nights, 30 PLEs, because they're not going to be called pay-per-views anymore, so they're probably going to use that same name that WW uses, which is premium live events. The vast majority of those, if not all, on CBS, does that mean they start at 10 p.m. Eastern now?

Does the main card still start at 10 p.m. Eastern on CBS? I would be surprised. Is that good for us old folk here on the East Coast and over in Europe? I hope so. 7.7 billion over seven years, 1.1 billion a year, no more pay-per-view. Now, interesting to note, conspicuous by its absence,

in the release, contender series was not mentioned, Ultimate Fighter was not mentioned. Those are the two big ones. They can easily sell that off to someone else. Now, if I'm Paramount, I'm saying I want to own the whole damn thing. Like, I want to be the home of UFC.

So maybe they add that like they did the paper views with ESPN that remains to be seen or maybe UFC sells that off to someone else, very possible. But contender series and tough were not mentioned. Now, a lot of our international friends have been asked me, what does that mean for me? Well, technically it means nothing for you yet. So our friends in the UK, there's still a few years left on the T&T sports deal. Our friends over in Canada still a couple years left on the Rogers Sportsnet deal. But one thing that was interesting was in the release and in the subsequent

interviews with Emmanuel and Shapiro, they did say that Paramount, once the deals are up, globally, will want to be the home, or at least take a look at potentially being the home of the UFC in these other countries and continents. And so one thing that I did notice was that they'll have a 30-day window to have first dibs, essentially, at getting these before they either re-up with their existing partner or shop it elsewhere. So there could come a time, just like Netflix and WWE, where Netflix is essentially home of WWE everywhere in the world, except for in the United States, where maybe Paramount is the home of the UFC everywhere in the world, period. That could come a time. It's a lot easier to promote things. Everything is uniform. It's all

one place. It makes it a lot easier for the advertisers, for the partners, et cetera. And so now we know the answer to what I thought was going to be the biggest story of the year. the biggest deal in UFC history. 1.1 billion 7 years, Paramount Plus, CBS. Shout out to the Shaw family. Shout out to Elite XC. Shout out to Kimbo Slice.

May of 2008, Newark, New Jersey, the Prudential Center, Kimbo v. James Thompson, the very first show on broadcast television here in the United States, EliteXC on CBS. And what is old is new again. Because here you have MMA and the worldwide leader in MMA, UFC, coming back to the first broadcast channel to air MMA,

CBS, and you have them coming back essentially to Spike TV because Spike TV then became the Paramount network, which is a part of this new Skydance Paramount Behemoth. Isn't that crazy? To the best of our knowledge, as of right now, we know it's going to air on Paramount Plus and we know it's going to air on CBS. They have other entities. They've got their CBS sports networks. They've got their their MTVs, their VH1s, their BETs, their Nickelodeons, all that stuff and more. But those seem to be the two main points. Paramount Plus, obviously streaming worldwide, huge NFL. They've got Champions League, et cetera. Also Europa League. Shout out to Nottingham Forest, getting into Europe League. That's a different story for a different day. And then, of course,

the big one, CBS, the I, home of the Super Bowl, home of the AFC, home of the AFC, a championship game, all that stuff for more. Fascinating, fascinating stuff. Gentlemen, let me tap you in here. I'm blown away by this. Not because I didn't think that they would make the money. They would get the money. I always said it was going to be over a billion,

but I'll be the first to say. Didn't think that they would be totally out of the ESPN business and didn't think that they would be in one place exclusively. Those are the two things that surprised me. And I'll be honest, I didn't think Paramount was a major, leader in all of this, right? I didn't think that they would be the top dog. And so ESPN being out of the game surprises me. The price tag doesn't surprise me, but the fact that they all went to one place that it's all going to Paramount, surprise me. Rick, you're up first. What do you think?

Your immediate reaction when you heard this news this morning. Groundbreaking, fascinating, good for MMA fans, right? If you are a fan of the UFC product, if you are a fan of MMA, you're probably now at least state side obviously you are now going to be paying significantly less than you were paying before we had been obviously operating with the knowledge that UFC was going to land somewhere but how the pie was split up and what permutation it took was the most fascinating part I think we got a little bit of breadcrumbs last week on that earnings call where it was revealed and that press release later where it was revealed that the pay-per-view business this was not as successful as it was last year. And I think we could have all assumed that. So I am not shocked to now see somebody in Paramount going, we want to take this product off pay-per-view and make it a subscriber model, a subscriber acquisition based play.

It makes a lot of sense. It is for a lot of money. I imagine that ESPN was a major player and probably would have wanted to do a similar type of deal like they did with WWE, where they take it off, you know, know, pay-per-view or PLE format for them and just had a subscriber cost. But massive, massive for the MMA world, massive for U.S.-based watchers and fans. And the UFC continues to have an incredibly successful business. Okay, G.C., before I throw it to you, let me piggyback off something

there. They said, they keep kind of like being a little sort of coy with this, but they said the vast majority of the numbered shows will be on CBS, which is a very interesting thing for me because those are the ones, those are the premium ones that you would think that they would want to put on the platform so that people sign up for it. Is it not a simulcast though? Yeah, okay, but still if I have CBS and I don't have

Paramount Plus and I say, hey, I just want the 13 I'm just going to watch it on the 13. You're going to try to get me to sign up for Paramount Plus. Hold that thought. Here's the interesting thing. We've talked about how the product has been a little bit watered down, right? At the end of the day, they always try,

for the numbered shows to stack them as much as possible, right? Like, there's no world where the number shows are worse than your apex or your fight nights. Like, there's been some times where it'd be like, oh, this is a low-key banger.

But, like, for the most part, the numbered shows are better, right? Objectively true. Numbered shows are better. They don't have that pressure anymore. Now that they're all under the same, you know, umbrella, there's no pressure anymore

like this idea, like, oh, you have to headline a numbered show with a title fight. You don't necessarily have to headline anything with anything at this point. And so I do, I do wonder, ultimately, do I still think that the number of shows are going to be the best? Absolutely. And I do think they'll put them on plus and all that stuff. But that pressure, just like we said, once they sold the exclusive rights to plus, the pressure to market or to make it as deep as it once was went away. This is now one

step further, which when you say better for the fans, I do wonder if that pressure goes away. And you see what happens when the pressure goes away. The product tends to get a little water down. You see what I'm saying, G.C. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a thought. Like, you make a great point that now they're not trying to sell these things. They've essentially already sold it for the next seven years. Exactly. And for a massive, massive price tag, that was my first thought. I know it's not a surprise that it sold for billions, but man, to see seven years, $7.7 billion was shocking to me, but they still have to make the best fights. Like, they still are going to put on pay-per-view-level fights, and those are going to go on the number of events. As far as, wouldn't you want to put

that behind the paywall, I would actually say wouldn't you want these best fights, at least in the beginning, because who knows what they're going to do over the course of the seven years, to be on CBS linear, where you can essentially get that anywhere in the country. For free of charge, you could even do what? What were

you talking about earlier, Jordan? Digital antenna, digital rabbit years, whatever you want to call them. Yeah, I mean, if you're putting a pay-per-view, that would be like putting a pay-per-view on ABC, the amount of eyes that you can get on that. Bars can now just play it wherever. It'll just be on on a Saturday night with the biggest fights. I mean, It can really, really grow the sport.

That was my other takeaway was the fact that the paper-move model is going away. You said $8 entry. We're assuming that maybe they're going to raise that. Let's say they double it to $15 or $16 a month. You're still getting every single UFC event. For $15 or $16 a month, you'll be able to watch it on your TV, on your phone, on your laptop, on whatever, and it's that easy to be accessible to these fights. That's the biggest thing is the price tag and now the accessibility to every fan.

Can I just give a devil's advocate on the potential pressure? The potential pressure is off to sell an individual pay-per-view, certainly. Like, as you said, right, they no longer have to worry about, hey, this headline fight now sells this many pay-per-views and we've made our money and the Connor McGregor's and the John Joneses of the world. You don't necessarily have to do that part. But you now have the pressure of you have signed a seven-year deal with a company that is going to expect a return on investment for what they've made here. They are not in this business. They are not hoping that they are just, you know, acquiring the UFC in order to push the profits to the next deal.

Because who knows? The UFC may jump ship again and ended up with the next highest bidder. There is now a pressure to get those subscribers in. And the way to get those subscribers in is going to be those big time fights, is going to be the fights that on the numbered cards get people when they're exposed to it on CBS to go, shit, I'm actually going to pay money to subscribe so I can see the rest of this UFC product. So I actually think there's a different type of pressure I don't want to do the like is it more or is it less But there is a different type of pressure Now that they have signed the deal and the money has been paid up front

That they need to deliver the subscribers in a way that they didn't previously They could kind of skate by on the ESPN part of this Because financially it was such a huge win Yeah now the pressure is on on paramount to sell this Like they bought it now they have to try to sell it to people Now our friend Pizzi is over in Europe in Ireland to be exact and in Dublin, to be exact, actually in Blanche, to be exact. And you're sitting here listening to us going Gaga over the fact that there's no pay-per-view,

and you're like, fucking hell, I haven't had to pay for pay-per-view since 2016. And I was in streaming shit, but over there, T&T Sports, it's very rare, one, two max at best, behind the pay-per-view wall. Of course, those fights are happening in the middle of the night, so it would be crazy to charge people. But I want to ask you this, Pizzi. Number one, let us know from the European perspective, what is Paramount Plus over there? Do you have access to it? I believe you do.

Number two, I think from the general MMA perspective, if I'm, I don't know, Isamahachov on this Monday morning, if I'm I'm I'm I'm Elyatoporia on this Monday, if I'm trickus du plesi on this Monday, or Tom Aspal, I'm like, wait a second, what happens to my paper viewpoints, right? Do they just up your guaranteed money? Do they base it on some other kind of metric? You get this many viewers.

Forget the fighters who look at this number and be like, wait, so I'm getting 0% of this. unlike NBA players who get 50%. What about the champions who were the ones who are benefiting the most from pay-per-view because of the pay-per-view points, now they're losing that as well.

Yeah, I mean, that is something that you put out earlier and that has been something I've been thinking about an awful out since then. Paramount Plus is a thing here. I have Paramount Plus. I watch South Park on Paramount Plus.

I get it through Sky. So most people have Sky. I'd say you have sports packages here. So that's just a simple add-on you can have here. so if it was a situation like you mentioned earlier where Paramount are pursuing global rights at the end of the day people could get this

and look a lot of MMA fans in Europe will be having UFC fight pass as it is that's I think it's about 11 euro 1112 euro a month or something to that standard and this could take its place fairly easily like it would not be a complicated thing for the UFC if it was to move to Paramount Plus in this neck of the woods anyway

honestly ever since you've put out that tweet about the paper viewpoints. I can't stop thinking about that. I think this is tremendous for the UFC. I'm on the same kind of wavelength as Connor thinking about how big this could make the sport, removing the paywall, allow so much more eyeballs to be on the sport. But at the end of the day, we have to think about the fighters here. It is one of the lowest percentages of revenue that any athlete get from a league already.

They have now doubled their money, if the numbers are correct, that you relate to is just there earlier from 550 million to 1.1 billion and that's a huge, huge jump and, you know, of course we're going to be thinking

about the champions, but what about the entry level guys too? Still a very, very low amount of money there. I wonder if that will impact them. But I think it's absolutely massive for the UFC. I think this is a high watermark point. I think this is

the biggest sport will ever be in terms of a deal. It's huge. And I can't wait to say, see how it impacts everything. Even what you were saying about the PFL and ESPN, do they want to get behind them more because of this? And obviously, I want to see what you've been talking about too in terms of Paramount Plus trying to make this a global deal. I think that's a very interesting thing, and I'd love to see how they'd roll that out if they did pursue it. So another thing that I was

thinking about, and I think we all can weigh in on this in different ways, no hiding from the fact that several of us came from ESPN. We have friends who work at ESPN still to this day. And I feel for them because these are always scary times. Like last week it was exciting. Like, wow, you guys are getting WWE as well. And now you're losing, you know, 43 shows. So I'm really curious to see how that all plays out. But I've said time and again, I've said time and again that several factors led to the explosion of the UFC over the last, oh, I don't know, five, six years. And I think the pandemic helped. I think that the rise in sports gambling helped. And I think that ESPN helped them tremendously.

We've talked time and again about when ESPN is in business with a sports entity from a broadcast perspective, they tend to cover them more, just ask the NHL. They weren't in business with the NHL, they stopped covering them. They're back in business with the NHL. They're now covering them. They have insiders. They have shows, ancillary program, et cetera, et cetera. Ask the Premier League.

They're in business with the Premier League. They've got stuff. They're not in business with the Premier League. Highlights less, content less, insiders, analysts less, et cetera, et cetera. et cetera, et cetera. Same with the World Cup and all that stuff. And so now, if you're the UFC, obviously you're not shying away from this. You've just doubled it. It's an incredible deal. It's transformative. It's historic for you and all that stuff. But let's be honest. Being on ESPN makes you a part of the sports conversation. I had someone right to me today. It's like,

does this, okay, yes, it's big from an economic standpoint and all that stuff, but does this lesson or weaken the UFC's footprint here in the United States? When you have sports center covering you, when you have the analyst showing up, when you have all the other ancillary shows, when you have the ESPN ticker promoting your stuff when it's the NBA finals and you see like DP and Islam's face on the scores table and all that. There's value to that. It makes you part of the conversation. Now, again, Paramount, CBS, they have entities, none bigger than the NFL, March Madness, but from like a news perspective, like do people go to CBSports.com as much as ESPN.com? No. Are you going to have the same type of coverage? Is that going to

mean less people are talking about you or are are thinking about you less kids who are consuming ESPN content social media content all that's up there Instagram pages are huge their YouTube pages are huge I'm curious about all that other stuff as well the ancillary stuff that once you get past the 1.1 billion a year the 7.7 billion and the no paper views like how the rest of the stuff works because being on ESPN makes you a part of the sports conversation here in the United States they are no longer a part of that conversation. And now it's, I mean, the pressure's on the PFL. The path has opened up here.

Can the PFL convince ESPN to be home to number two? ESPN is home to zero number twos. They're home to number one, number one, number one across every single sports entity. Can the PFL convince them, hey, hey, stick with us here? And if they do, how much do they show them? How much love do they show them and how much do they ignore the UFC now that they've left? Fascinating. Honestly, when it comes to ESPN stuff, I'll always remember when Dana White said,

do you know how much it helps to have that little bottom right-hand corner on ESPN where it's promoting the fight coming up for that weekend? And now every time I would see it on ESPN, I'd be like, man, it really does get the name out there. But in terms of actual coverage on ESPN, when you talk about like their first takes, their daytime programming, their sports centers, and everything like that, it was incredibly limited coverage. Like, yes, they would have DC on from time to time on first take and everything like that. Every pay-per-view they have them on.

Every pay-per-view they have them on, but it wasn't like around the clock. It was nothing compared to their NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL coverage. It was just a drop in the bucket in terms of ESPN sports coverage. So in terms of that, I think that they'll be all right. The social media, the presence of ESPNMMA on social media and on YouTube is pretty powerful. And now you have to imagine that that not only will go away in terms of how often they were posted, the rights and everything that they had with that. But like you said, like it's hard to imagine that it's not going to be muffled

a little bit because now ESPN doesn't have the rights to them. Like, they don't talk about EPL that much and that's the biggest sport on the planet. I can't imagine they're going to talk about U.SPN TV anymore. I would imagine like you're never going to hear about the UFC on ESPN. They'll talk about it the way they talk about Jake Paul, right? If there's a big

thing coming up and they have to, they'll talk about it. But they're not going to cover the day-to-day beat. I do wonder, though, if we've reached saturation already. Where every sports fan who needs to know about the UFC probably knows about the UFC at this point. Are they all tuning in for it. Clearly not, right? We've seen that the pay-per-view numbers have dropped. And so I don't know how much that exposure is truly worth. I don't think that the sports fan

is necessarily the UFC fan. Like, I don't know that the baseball hockey fan is necessarily the one who's going to get converted to watch the UFC anyway. I think we've probably reached that saturation point where everybody who needs to know about this product already knows about it. I'd actually be more interested if they can convert some of these people who watch paramount programming that aren't necessarily fans beyond that and if they can convert some of those. But I honestly don't know how much more ESPN would have had to give them if I'm being completely honest.

I think the last five years have done incredible inroads and made them go further. I don't know how much more there was to juice to squeeze out of that. I think there's always more. Do you think that there's sports fans out there that don't know the UFC and don't know if I'm not about knowing the UFC, it's about, oh shit, this fights on because you saw it while it was on the ticker or you saw first take talking about it

or you saw it on the ESPN, Instagram, like all that stuff is just free marketing for them. It's not converting to pay-per-views. CBS doesn't, eh, is it convert, it may not be converting to pay-per-views, but is it converting to eyeballs in that a lot of these people are stealing it. Let's be honest.

Like piracy is at an all-time high. So they're going out of their way and they're consuming UFC content. It's just maybe they came to the realization that in 2025, 2026, it's hard to get. Like, you guys know this. College kids aren't sitting around and being like, hey, it used to be like, hey, call your friends over 10 bucks each, get some pizza, get some beer.

Now they could just go on a website and they have to evolve with the times. Are those people watching ESPN or are they getting that on TikTok anyway? No, but they're getting it on the ESPN TikTok. They're getting it on the ESPN YouTube. I feel like the other apparatuses are better for the UFC. I feel like the organic social media stuff, the highlights, the super cuts put together by people on TikTok, unrelated, unaffiliated with outlets is stronger. as do I think the UFC's own apparatuses are stronger. Their social media, the coverage that follows them.

I think this stuff is kind of like, don't get me wrong. I think that ESPN still had some value to the UFC. I just don't think it was as significant as it was five years ago. I think they've kind of exhausted that. Honestly, you also make a good point, Ariel, with the NFL. They have massive college football rights on CBS, college basketball rights on CBS. Like the news shows in the morning, whatever that's called.

I know it's not Good Morning America, whatever it is. Like, will they use those to push to A, Paramount Plus and be the UFC as well? Did Stephen Colbert have to get cancelled for the UFC to go over? No, I'm kidding. I'm not opening that kind of where I'm. Can I ask one question that as like a non-American air? I don't know if you'll be able to answer this. But say, like, for example, this weekend is DDP and Shemoeff.

And we're all very excited for it. If we go by the pay-per-view numbers, UFC are getting these days about 300K or whatever, what would you assume that a PLE as it will become would get on C like how many eyeballs would see like if this if this if this car was on CBS in the new format how many do you think it would get on CBS linear well that's what you guys are saying right yeah 100% yeah it would be the both of millions it would have to be in the millions but the question is what like at the very end of Bellator remember they had they had a show I think in 23 on CBS like it got barely over a million and that was Bellator obviously um

Anything under a million is a disaster, but we're, they are banking on the multiple millions. Kimbo and James Thompson was in the, off top of my dome, five million, six million. It's like still the most watch. Well, that, no, and JDS against the Kane. So they're banking on that. I just, I am so fascinated to see, will every single numbered show be on CBS and Paramount Plus? Or will it be like, okay, we'll do four, will the UFC at the White House be on CBS? that makes all the sense in the world, right?

Will we do like four ten polls? Will we move away from 13 numbered shows eventually over the course of this deal? And will it be like, I don't know, four, or just we won't be beholden to it. When we need to make them, we need to make them. Like, you know, boxing has ever had like a set amount of pay-per-views. Like, if they need to make it, they need to make it. And then, like, correct people wrong, one of the first things that I thought of was like, all right, if the numbered shows are going to be on the Tiffany network, which is what

used to be called way back in the day. Is the main card really going to start at 10 p.m. Eastern? There's no way, right? I'm very excited for that audio. I'm very excited. Right? Nothing starts at 10 p.m. Eastern on CBS. No. Other than the news.

What are we thinking? Eighth? 8 p.m. Eastern sounds good to me, man. Could you imagine? Maybe even six, maybe even earlier. Six p.m. Eastern? This might be the greatest deal in the history of sports. It's going to come down to how much.

I imagine. I imagine that the UFC will have some say in this, and it will be some kind of like conversation. in negotiation. It feels like a later sport than it does an earlier sport, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it move. Cranky old men on the East Coast

and Europeans, ecstatic with 16 a hard time. I'm more excited about that than the pay-per-view being involved. Absolutely. Are you kidding? What did you say, PT? Do you guys think, like, Ariel, I just thought it was very interesting

in you saying, like, maybe, you know, they go, well, we reduce this to four, and we do four blockbuster events a year. Like, the UFC of capable over the years, maybe not as much recently of being very creative, of knowing how to stimulate the fan base. They've gotten away from that a bit

as far as I'm concerned over the last few years, I think we'd all agree. Do you think they have that gear and do you expect them to kind of get creative and maybe put a different package together for the fan base

with this new deal? I mean, look, I think everything is on the table. This young man, David Ellison, I knew of his dad. I remember when he tried to buy the Golden State Warriors back of the day, Oracle, all that stuff,

but David Ellison is 42, and he's the head of all of this. So he's young. The stuff, I saw an interview with him in CNBC on Friday. You know, like, it's actually, to me, it's like, it's exciting. Like, this is a new time. This is a new era. Let's see what he comes up with.

I think everything is on the table. I'm really curious to see how they break this all down. Also, again, like all the other, for those asking, and I know it could be, it could be, like, weird to some. Don't worry about your favorite UFC analyst. don't worry about Daniel Cormier or Joe Rogan or John Anick or Paul Felder or Michael Bisping or any of those guys. They all move with the product. Like the UFC is going to take care of them. Again, the UFC, the UFC produces the content, right? The UFC produces all the content. Now, could Paramount do some ancillary stuff like ESPN did?

ESPN did minimal. They did, you know, at this point, it was, you know, the DC and Chale show. my show back in the day, my show with DC, my show with Chale. That was all the ancillary stuff, but the main broadcast, including the pre and post, was all UFC. So none of that is really going to change. It's just, okay, what else, if anything, are they going to do? What are they going to do on the dot com? That's the stuff that is kind of interesting to me from like a business standpoint. But to be honest, like the product, I'm sure bells and whistles will chat. They'll have a new opening package. They'll have new music, all that stuff. But like the faces, will all generally be the same because they all kind of go with the UFC,

just like they all went with the UFC to ESPN when they left Fox. But again, it's wild to me that they went to Paramount. It's wild to me that it all went to one place, that ESPN is no longer involved. Who would have thought back in the day that in the year 2026, WW would be on ESPN and UFC in boxing wouldn't? Wild. pay-per-view being dead

now I do want to say something about this pay-per-view being dead notion I don't know if pay-per-view is dead period I'm saying as far as the UFC is concerned

in the year 2026 to the year 23 it's dead do you guys think that anyone will ever be on pay-per-view again yes

they'll be your select few shows right events megafite as much these things are all cyclical what will happen do you think something

will pop up in 2027 2028 and they'll be like Yes. Yes. Like what? What is on the horizon? But KSW Octonaldi survive off their pay-per-view and when he's in Europe.

No, we're talking. Are you asking UFC specifically? No, I'm talking combat sports. Connor McGregor versus Jake Paul on pay-per-view. You think so? Something like that will happen. You don't think they would put that on a Netflix? I mean, maybe it could.

Or a Paramount Plus? But maybe the economics of that get to the point where Netflix doesn't want to pay it. These things are all timing and cyclical. For one, Netflix is shelling out a lot of money for all these properties. Maybe the time will come where when that fight, I'm making up that fight. But let's say that fight were to happen in two years from now, three years from now. When that fight happens, maybe they don't, Netflix isn't interested in that business anymore and doesn't have the money to do it. These things all are based on the timing around how it's happening.

So I think a pay-per-view will happen. But this subscriber thing, like ESPN was clearly trying to get a lot of subscribers. Paramount is clearly trying to get a lot of subscribers. This is akin to when they were first all launching years ago And they had all this money to spend And they were trying to build up the subscriber base Then there were those lean years Where all of a sudden we're not getting enough subscribers

And we have to focus on cutting things of profitability It all just comes around So yes, I think it will And by the way, like talk about I don't want to say like lack of loyalty Because it's all business and all that stuff But UFC goes on the fledgling spike They stay on spike till 2011

Then they go to Fox when Fox is launching FS1, right? That was the big thing. Let's go to Fox 2012 to 2019. They go to ESPN as they're launching ESPN plus and then they go to Paramount in this new era, the merger with Skydance and all that stuff. They have not re-uped once. Dating back to the last time they re-uped was when they signed that short deal post the first Ultimate Fighter in 2005. They signed like a one or two-year deal and then they signed another one. But since then they have not re-up. And they always see to benefit from the fact that someone is launching something big and what's the best thing to attach yourself to?

It's the UFC. Why? Because the UFC crowd, the fans, the fan base, especially here in North America, and in the U.S. in particular, they'll follow, right? They're the surest thing. Without the UFC fans, ESPN Plus would have been like a nothing. Without the UFC fans, FS1 would have been a nothing. And now they're going to help, you know, kind of relaunch this Paramount Plus.

it's a man a fascinating time and there'll be much much much more to discuss what a time to be in the combat sports business what a time to be involved with the number one unbiased combat sports outlet on the planet last week we have wwe going to ESPN in a gigantic deal and this week we have the ufc going to paramount and paramount plus and cbs and of course there are still some entities left to sell for the TKO group, namely Contender Series and Zufa Boxing. And we did get some of the fights that will be on this first show come September 13th at Allegiance Stadium.

So much more to discuss as far as this is concerned. That will come throughout today's program throughout the week as well and on the back end of our interviews. But let us go to our first guest of the day because he was one of the stars of this past weekend. What an unbelievable performance. in particular, what an unbelievable knockout. It was shades of Rampage Jackson and Ricardo Rona from back in the day, and everyone had a field day, including myself at comparing the two slams.

It was one of the most vicious and one of the most brutal slams that you'll ever see, knockout slams that you'll ever see. Thankfully, the opponent, Toshiyomi Kazama is okay and well because he posted on his social media that he was enjoying five guys, but that's not necessarily the story here. There he is, the young man, just happy to be alive. We're talking to Elijah Smith, the son of former ultimate fighter cast member Gilbert Smith, who is now still undefeated in the UFC to and own the UFC. And at the top of the leaderboard, I would say, for one of the best knockouts of 2025. He is kind enough to join us right here and now to talk about it all.

There he is. Hello, Elijah. How are you, my man? Yeah, what's going on? It's going on. I'm doing great, man. Well, congratulations on a tremendous win, a tremendous knockout, a tremendous slam. Can I ask?

And this might be like a very sort of like specific. question but like to slam a human being like that on the mat and to just sort of like feel the life go out of their body momentarily what is that sensation like oh man it's a it's a crazy sensation i mean like anytime you knock somebody out like one one second they're there and then the next second they're not so it's always like a it's a crazy it's a crazy feeling like one that you have to um go through yourself to really understand that feeling you know yeah uh you enjoy that i love it that's why like you know i've been seeing all the comments throughout the whole week um it's so crazy you know fight fans they always want to see a knockout until the knockout

is you know super brutal as as mine was and then after that they start like saying like i don't know if i like that but you know it's part of the game it's part of my support and uh that's why i do this is that something you worked on no that's something uh we don't mean we traditionally work on I mean, whenever somebody gets the triangle choke, they always tell you to posture up and, you know, probably knee in the butt, slide in to create the space. But this time, I just kind of, one of my cornerman, his name is Dylan, Dylan King. He told me, he was like, bro, that was damn near like a medicine ball slam. And that's something that we always work on in the gym, just working on the explosiveness and the strength. And yeah, that's a that was a great interpretation of what happened was a medicine ball slam.

Yes. So, but like specifically when someone has you in triangle, do you drill like, okay, this is what we should do with the guy? Or is it just kind of the instincts based on stuff that you were just talking about there, stuff that you do in the gym? Like, do you actually drill on, okay, this is how we could get out of it if we're in this position? no no definitely not yeah that's not something we drill at the gym just because you know you're going to these jihitsu tournaments and you can't slam a guy so you have to technically work uh defend on getting out of the triangle choke which is number one we always say collapse the hips a posture up you know you key their uh knee slide like kind of uh up the butt to create that space to where you can get the second arm in and work out but uh this time uh i've been in these positions in jiu jihad jitza tournaments where guys have gotten me close in the triangle chokes and I actually lifted them up and uh but of course you can't slam so my pops he always told me it was like man if this was

m-m-a fight man you you could slam the you know slam the shit out of him i'm like yeah so i got into that uh same predicament last saturday and i took my chance and uh it played out perfectly any moment in the aftermath where you're looking at him and he's out and you're like a little bit worried? Yeah, I mean, I was so hyping like, you know, ha ha, ha, ha, and everything. And so I was like, damn, he hasn't moved in a second. Maybe I should calm down. And even one of my, even Dylan my cornerman, he was trying to like, tell me to like calm down because he was still down. I was like, ah, shit, yeah, you're right. Let me give him his time and space. This is definitely starting to get concerning. But once I saw that he was breathing and he was up, I was like,

okay, now I can go back to having a good time. Yeah, and I'm sure when you saw him eating the the five guys you were you were thrilled right actually this is you showing that was my first time seeing that so i'm happy that all that because all i i mean when i got back to the hotel room i was thinking to myself i was i was starting to feel a little bit bad i was like damn that was that was some crazy sometimes i scare myself man sometimes i scare myself for something i do in the case but it's just part of my job and i told everybody i'm trying to get that 50k bonus and uh i got it yes you did and congratulations on that you know what's interesting is like we watch at home we comment all that stuff and then you'll say like ah man he shouldn't have thrown that extra shot but

i know in the in the flow of everything with the adrenaline it's kind of hard to stop yourself right like you're not trying to seriously hurt the guy but like you're just you're just trying to go until they tell you to stop right yeah and um yeah and i could have i could have went for three or four more shots but like this the first one was like boom all right i got them off me now ground and pound again like how i was doing in the earlier in the round and then the second one was like okay that one's solidified it and once i saw that he was like okay i finally realized that he was out out i was like you know he doesn't need anymore um because truth truth be told i could i could have i could have easily probably landed two more shots but yeah i just kept it at too

by the way i can't believe that i'm talking to gilbert smith's son and that you're doing this in the ufc this is wild man was this always the dream for you was this like when did this start seeing your dad as an MMA fighter in the UFC, all that stuff. When did you start to think, like, I could do this, too? COVID year. My story has always been, like, I was getting ready. I graduated high school 2020, and I was going to go play Juko football. That was my dream was to play at least college football.

That didn't happen. So then we started training. And then once I took my first amateur fight, I knocked the guy out in 15 seconds. Then we took another one, knocked that guy out in seven seconds. And then after the second amateur fight, I was like, okay, we're having a career change. I know what I'm about to do for the rest of my life. And the rest is history. Did you train as a kid as well?

Like, were you just doing like little classes here and there? No, I didn't do any type of classes, like really. I mean, here and there, like I did a couple of jihitsa tournaments back when I was like maybe 11, 10 years old. But I've been wrestling since I was five. So I've been always around around the sport. but I never really, like, put my 100% focus into the sport. For me, it was always football. And when the time came to, like, change, you know, my profession,

I just took my athleticism from football and a little bit of knowledge of wrestling that I already had. And when me and my pops were just trained in the gym, it was like we kind of elevated that growth and started getting better and better and getting better at my striking. And, yeah, now we're here. And those two quick knockouts that you talked about in your first two amateur fights,

Those were just four years ago, March, May of 2021. Is all this happening quicker than you expected? Way quicker than what I expected. I mean, like, man, I knew I was going to be in the UFC. I always knew that at some point I was going to get there, but, yeah, not this fast. Like, I know people who've been doing this since, like, maybe 2013 or whatnot, and they're still not even close to getting to the top. And for me to do it at once such a young age and, you know, a short amount of time, just shows how much hard work and dedication that we've been putting in for the last

you know five and a half years or so so so your your route to the ufc sort of a sign of the times because your dad got to the ufc through the ultimate fighter you get to the ufc through contender series so that's sort of a sign of the times did you go to his fights do you remember seeing him fight and being sort of in awe that that's your dad in there like a superhero oh yeah yeah yeah i remember yeah earlier in his fight career we didn't know like he kind of kept it a secret from us until one day he came home and he had a cast on his hand and we was like bro what the hell like what you just do and then that's when he finally told us like he does m-ma and and everything and yeah every fight been to every

fight and if i wasn't at every fight i was watching every fight um we were there at the amanda lake bay when he made his uh the uc debut um when he fought bubba mcdaniel and that was that was crazy i remember that like it was yesterday i mean seeing guys like uriah hall um calvin castellum uh uriah favor Travis brown like all these guys that you know just have like crazy careers and uh yeah it was it was something i'll never forget would you get super nervous watching your dad fight oh yeah i get i get way nervous when i watch anybody else's fight but i used to hate watching my dad's fight i used to i used to like i used to like my palms used to get sweaty i used to be like damn like just please god just please let him win like please don't let him get hurt

and now it's like the tables have turned because I know that's what that's what he's thinking fight nights bro he's he's so nervous he he won't say it but he he won't eat he will he's more locked in he's more like attentive like he's always like I can tell when he's when he's nervous so every time that I fight yeah he's always nervous I know you have a young daughter you had to miss her first day of school last week right yeah yeah how old is she yeah she's six now Does she know what her dad does? Yeah, she knows what her dad does. I don't think she quite understands, like, the risk.

But she definitely understands, like, she'll tell me, she'll, like, if somebody beats me up, she's going to beat them up. She's, like, so crazy. But she's funny, and I really don't take her to my fights just because I know how brutal it can get. So I kind of, like, keep her away from it until, like, aftermath. but I feel like I've been doing a pretty good job of coming home without any like crazy cuts or black eyes like when I come home she can recognize me so that's been the big thing out of my fight career I've had like what between my amateur and pro fights what 14 fights or something like that and I haven't even stepped out of the cage with a black eye and that is incredible hopefully that continues for as long as possible did you show her the slam yeah I did yeah she thought that was cool she thought that was crazy she was like Like she told me, she was like, man, you're so strong, daddy. You're so strong.

I was like, yeah, I'm telling you, man, you stay in the gym. You can beat like daddy. But she doesn't, she doesn't believe me when I say that there's other, one, I really don't want my daughter to fight. But if it happens, then it happens. But I told her, you know, maybe we should. I asked her if she wanted to wrestle and she's like, oh, no, that's for boys. That's not for girls. And I'll show her some female wrestlers.

And I don't know, I think she thinks that they're still boys because they're still yoked up and everything. I'm like, well, I'll wait until you find her passion. And so you had her when you were 16. Yeah, bro, I was, I was young. I jumped off the porch at our early age, man. I was a sophomore in high school. I was stressing out. How was that?

How did you deal with that? Oh, man, I'll tell you what, if you don't have a good support system, then you probably, you know, it's going to be rough. And it was rough even having a support system, not because, not because the financial side. It's just like, you know, I'm 16. I'm a sophomore in high school. I have no car. I definitely don't have no place, my own place.

I didn't have a job at the time. So I had to pick up a quick job at Wendy's and really balancing my time between, you know, playing football and also going to school and seeing my daughter. And then at that time, going to Juco, I feel like that was also a blessing in disguise. Not saying that COVID was a good thing, but COVID kind of kept me home with my daughter. It kept me to where I didn't have to go out to California. California and missed time and everything. Wow. Well, it's all hopefully paying off now.

Is that her on the corner of the room there? No, no, no. That's somebody else. Oh, okay. By the way, who's Shakur de Bag? That's the artist. So that's the musical artist. So I like to always, I like to say I have three different identities.

I have Elijah Smith, which is the person who you're talking to right now. That you have Elijah Swift Smith. That's the person that you saw Saturday get that power bomb. And then you have Shakur, the bag. He's the more, more finesse guy, the more, you know, outstanding in the music, you know, the creativity guy, you know, the flashy guy. Okay, and so that's, that alter ego is, is the music side, right? Yeah, yeah.

And where did that name come from? And does it have anything to do with Tupac? Yes. I mean, yes and no. So it really comes down to, so when I was, my dad, he gave me my middle name is Shakur. Oh, okay. And my dad gave me the middle name of Shakur, because he was a big. Tupac fan. So yeah, it did come from Tupac, but when I was coming up with a name, I didn't want to

do anything that, like, sound too much, like, or that resonated with Tupac, you know? And I was seeing a Wendy's commercial, and it was like, secure the bag. Or no, no, no, it wasn't Wendy's. It was wingstop. It was wingstop. And I was like, hmm, Shakur to bag, secure the bag. I was like, that kind of sounds, it kind of sounds similar. And so I just ran with it. I, yeah, S-H-A-K-U-R-D-A-B-A-G, sure. it occurred a bag and yeah I kind of ran with it and now everybody they're like yo there goes mr bag so if you're ever hearing like any of my songs like yo it's mr bag that's kind of like a little nickname for me so yeah i love it and this uh this is one of your music videos yeah

yeah from what year what this one if i'm not mistaken that will we filmed that in 22 do you walk out to your own music yeah i have i wanted to walk out to my own music when i when I got signed, but I wanted to wait until I got into a crowd until like I got into a real arena. I haven't walked out to my song in the apex, but I definitely, that's, you know, if I get booked for another fight and we're in an arena, oh yeah, best believe I will have my own theme song and walking out just like Roy Jones Jr. Could you imagine that slam in a full arena?

Man, I think about that. I mean, we were talking about that the other day, just me and my team when we were out after the fights we went out to dinner and you're like damn if that was like in an arena that place would be oh man I might I might have to leave out of there with some security because everybody's going to be wanting you know to talk to me and chat but yeah my I mean even now my phone has been going off since Saturday night like it has not stopped I would imagine with the idea of walking out to your own song and all that stuff and just being the type of entertainer that you are you would like for your next fight to be in an arena

right oh yeah i'm i would that that'd be like that's something that we've been working towards um but i'm cool of finding anywhere whether if it's in a arena or at the apex or in the parking lot just as long as i'm still getting paid and uh and we're good uh who did it better you were rampage oh you've seen the rampage one right yeah yeah i've seen rampage you know i'm i'm gonna have to I'm going to have to keep it with the OG. I'm going to say Rampage is still better because, I mean, he was one of the first guys to do it to make it popular. And, yeah, I'm going to just have to say Rampage.

I know you said your dad told you, I want to get the quote right, that you could have sugar, honey, iced teed your previous opponent. Does that mean, like, you could have done more? He wanted to see you do more. And does that mean you answered the call? Yeah, so, like, And I was talking about like a couple of, like back when I was younger when I was doing

jiu-jitsu tournaments, like I said earlier, like there was a, I remember I was younger and a kid caught me in a triangle choke. And almost in the same fashion, if I find that video, I'm going to have to post it. But I picked them up in the same way at 12 years old. And obviously in the jitzo tournament, you can't slam your opponent or else he'll be DQed. And I remember he told me after that, after my match, he was like, man, if this was an MMA fight, you could have slammed the shit out of him.

And I was like, yeah, true. So now I just came back full circle. Now I have the opportunity and I can do it and it's legal. Yeah. And yeah, I was like, I'm not missing out on this. So is that a sugar honey iced tea, what you did on Saturday? Yeah, that was a sugar honey ice tea. Where does that come from?

Just, you know, a lot of the times growing up, you know, cussing wasn't a big day. You know, we would always get, you know, disciplined if we was cussing. So we would always, you know, shorten it up or, oh, with the sugar hunting ice tea, you know, just something like that. Okay, okay, okay. I love it. I love the relationship with you and your dad. I think to the best by knowledge, you're just the second father-son duo in the history of the UFC.

Yeah, yeah. It was so crazy. Like, I mean, when I got signed to the UFC, you know, made history. Really, we went in there just, I wanted to win the fight. That was number one. to get the contract. And the cherry on top was, you know, making history as a second father-son duo in the UFC.

And then now to, I told everybody coming up into this fight, I was like, man, this next one, I'm going to make a statement. I'm going out there to go get a finish. I told everybody that I didn't know I was going to get a finish like that. I was not planned. I thought I was going to drop them with the hands. But, I mean, hey, I told everybody I was going to get the finish some way, somehow. And that's just what it was.

and we ended up making history again. You know, I think what I'm one of, I think they said I'm one of 15 slam KOs. Yes, that too. So you made history in that regard. And of course, the first father-son duo is the great Randy Couture and his son, Ryan Couture as well. So a pretty great company.

You know, there's been some fighters. You mentioned Roy Jones. There's been some fighters who have been a little polarizing with their rap music. What do you say to someone was like, ah, no, not another fighter who wants to be a rapper. Why are you different? all you got to do is just sit there and listen like i'm not sitting here making music that

doesn't make sense like i'm making music that that read that people can resonate with um i'm making music that you know really tells a story and even with the with with my music videos like there's always a meaning behind it like there's i'm not just going out there and just putting words together like if you sat down and really listen to to what i'm saying like there's actually a lot of mean there's a lot of meaning to it and there's a lot of thought process behind it too. And a lot of my vocals that I do, and when I'm doing my mixing and mastering, I'm doing it myself. Like, I learned how to, like, I started getting tired of going to the studio and always having to pay somebody and being on somebody else's time. I was like,

no, let me do this on my time. And that allows me to be as creative as I want to be. So I think that's what separates me from everybody else is I feel like I also have a different sound than everybody. I look up to, when it comes down to music, I look up to people like, Drake, you know, I like to put them in a column as being an artist, not a rapper, not a singer, not a country singer. He's an artist, meaning that he can do, you know, whatever genre it is, he can go out there and captivate on that genre and really make it big. And I feel like I have the same talent to where, you know, if you put me in an R&B song,

I can do it. If you put me in a rap song, I could do it. Hell, if you want to bring me in it on a remix or like a feature on a country song, something i'll do it i'll find a way i will find a way and you know the slam was great everything your whole demeanor is great but you officially won me over with the drake reference there because around these parts we're drake people all right fuck kendrick okay fuck kendrick yeah fuck it you are you on the fuck kentrick come on kendry i can't say i good man i don't want to miss out on an opportunity okay fine fine i like both the artists i like both of them but i i will say i am more of a

Drake fan. Yeah. I will say that. I love it, Elijah. Don't have, they don't have anything to do with me. That's right. But we got to pick sides. In life, sometimes you have to pick sides, all right? You can't be on the fence. And we picked our side around these parts. And all the Johnny come lately's that jumped off his bandwagon and went to Kendrick. How are they looking now? Drake's killing it. He's having an all-time summer. He's having a great summer. Yeah, he is. And the biggest thing that I like about that whole beef is that he's not even as you know they not like us and all that stuff was popping off like he didn't he didn't even

reply to it like i think he did he made one what did i miss what did i miss right yeah and that was still hard i was like but i think man i and i feel like the only problem with kensic lamar is like where did his where it is he has to drop another big song like that for him to stay relevant yeah he got all the i might be a little he got all the way to the super bowl on someone else's back crazy you know what i mean you know i hey hey hey hey I'm not going to lie. You know, that's what it looks like. I'm not saying that's what it is, but that's what it looks like.

That's what it looks like. I love it. When do you want to return? Ben, we were talking about either November or December. Okay, so one more this year. Yeah, one more this year. I always been an active fight. I always said, man, if I'm not hurt and I'm winning, and, you know, let's keep the train going.

Right now, I'm writing on a, what, seven-fight win streak or something like that. So, yeah, let's keep the ball rolling. and, man, I'm just excited to see what's next. Love it. Great to meet you. Congratulations. Incredible stuff, my man. Looking forward to a very long career.

Many more great finishes, stoppages, knockouts, all that stuff, and more. Much love and respect to you and your family. And thanks for joining us on this Monday. Enjoy the victory. No, thank you for having me. I was super excited to hear that you wanted to have me on the show. So I was like, oh, hell yeah. Let's go.

Let's go. The first of many, I hope. Thank you, Elijah. All the best to you. Thank you, you as well. There he is. The great Elijah Smith, well on his way now. front runner I would say top of the leaderboard for knockout of the year what a freaking knockout

if you missed it for whatever reason go check that out it was posted everywhere an unbelievable slam and like I said shades of the great rampage Jackson against uh hikado our own I mean look at that scary scary stuff really scary stuff but unbelievable stuff I mean thank God everyone's okay and shout out to Dave's hot chicken as well we do have some breaking news before we get to our next guest real quick It has come to my attention that the good people over at the World MMA Awards have released their nominees. They've announced. They've unveiled their nominees for the upcoming World MMA Awards to be exact the 17th annual World MMA Awards.

And what about uncrowned all over the place as far as these MMA awards are concerned? There you go. Best MMA programming. Yes, some great competition. Some might say a couple of these, unlike the others, but all good, no problem. The Ultimate Fighter, there she is, still hanging on. Contender series, I mean, it's pretty much like an event series. Cool.

Jackson Podcasts, Antiquan, Florian, tremendous shows. And the little engine that could, the Ariel Hawwani showed. There it is. Please, please cast your vote for our little operation here. And then, over on the journalist of the year side of things. Mike Bond does a great job. I'm a jockey. Aaron Bronstead, of course, of Roger Sportsnet.

David Martin, former home, M.A. Fighting. And there he is, Mr. Missoula himself. Hair a little shorter than usual. Ben, folks, glasses and all. And Halwani over there. So that's two out of the five

as far as uncrownless concern. And then, wouldn't you know it, the new kid on the blog here for MMA media source of the year, ESPN, not for long. Just kidding, I love them. M.A. Fighting. Okay, former home there. Junkie. Shirt off.

still still hanging on fair play and the new kid on the block on the crown how about that shout out to the team shout out to everyone involved you can cast your vote right now world mma awards we love the world mma awards we're big fans and supporters we appreciate yeah that's right that's right that's right no problem uh glaze away source journalist show no problem uh world mma awards dot com slash vote now the place to cast your vote we appreciate their support their love thank you very much. And thank you to everyone who continues to back us and who continues to support what we're doing here on the website, myself, and everyone. I wish that, and quite frankly, I think there should be a couple others involved in there as far as MA media is concerned. What about Chuck? What about

Drake? What about Shaheen? But alas, what about BITB? What about the crack? We could have had it all. Next year. All right. Let's move along. We go to our next guest. Star of the weekend. No doubt about it. As I said at the top of the show, perhaps my favorite sub of the year. I don't know if it ends up winning sub of the year. But I think right now it is my favorite sub of the year because I equated it to like two kids, maybe ninth graders, eighth graders fighting over some lunch money. And at the end of the day, the big kid goes, you know what? Enough of you. Let me take you down by your neck and just throw you to the ground and you're going to tap in the process. Well, the man who was doing that on Saturday at the apex was Anthony Fluffy Hernandez. He extends

his winning streak to eight in a row. That's second most in the middleweight division behind the champ ddp afterwards he says i'm off to chicago i'm going to sit in the front row and i'm going to take a look at perhaps my next victim he's kind enough to join us because he's on some kind of run and we're excited to talk to him there he is anthony hernandez congratulations my man what a freaking performance that was thank you man i really wanted to come out and really show what i could do i wasn't injured this time played everything smart and i just really wanted to show like look i could do all this shit you give me a shot you know what i mean yo i think you did that and then some was that your best performance in the

UFC like to do that to a guy like Roman and some said like you were playing with your food like you could have done it earlier who knows but to to punctuate it with a freaking finish like that I thought that was your best performance but ultimately you're the best judge here no for sure it was definitely

my best performance but I feel like you can always do better and you can always adjust there's a couple time they got knocked off balance so obviously I got to work on some shit but I'm back to the I'll get back to the gym here soon as these little stitches get taken out and got some holes of fill and we just keep plugging

and playing. Could you have finished them earlier? I mean, the second round, it was cutting close, or was it the end of the second? Yeah, end of the second. But it is what it is. I really enjoy what I do for work. So, like,

if I got to beat your fucking ass for like five rounds and so be it, I'm going to make it an entertaining fucking fight and I want the fans to be able to remember who the fuck I am, you know I mean? Yes, I think they are taking notice, can I ask about the stoppage, like the actual sub. They're calling it a rear naked choke, but man, like, that was one of the most gangster chokes I've ever seen. The way you just took him by the neck and threw him down, like, it was just, like, you

don't see that sort of thing. Was that just you improvising, or do you actually work on that specific technique? No, that was just a little bit of hood special. You got to brand that, man. Like, that has to be yours. Like, we've just never seen someone do that before. I'll take it. Yeah, no Fluffy choke or something Yeah, I'll take it for sure That was just grabbing a motherfucker and let them know You know, like, no

This ends now, bro Yeah, it was almost like that Like you were like, all right, enough is enough I'm done with you That's what it felt like to me. For he was grabbing the cage and he was grabbing my gloves, I get it, like, I get it You don't want to get your ass whip

But sometimes you gotta take that shit You know what I mean? Not cheat, but It is what it is. That must have felt incredible To like just overpower a man like that? Yeah, no, I live for it, man. That's why I do this job.

Well, you said at the beginning, like, I'm happy. I wasn't injured or anything like that. Is that implying that the last time we saw you, you were hurt? No, yeah, I fucking, like, I separated my ribs, fucking two weeks out. And I was like, well, God damn it. But I made that work. You know, I had an ear infection. The fucking weight cut was horrible because I was on antibiotics for the fucking fight day.

But it is what it is. I had to do what I had to do to win position and got a fucking unanimous decision. picking me off but uh yeah so i want to go out there and fucking make a statement show motherfuckers that i can actually strike and i don't have to hold nobody uh i was just hurt that day and i had to do what i had to do my bad okay and what about like trying to get you now you know some respect some attention some love do you feel like you have you have earned that you feel like people are starting to talk about you as one of the best mental weights in the world has that time come i've been seeing it a lot i mean fucking a lot of ex champs that are saying like i'm their new

favorite fighter so it's fucking it's been a blessing you know what just I'm going to do what I love and keep trying to break records and we'll see how it goes. Okay, we need to get you out of the apex as well. Like no more apex fights for Anthony. Yeah, no, I want to get some fans out there. A bunch of my friends are like pissed off they couldn't go and shit. So like for sure, I want to get in front of the crowd. It's ideal.

But I feel like I fight like with the crowd better because then I like fuck around and look at the crowd. Like blow people kisses and just like to have a great time. I mean. All right. So you did say you're going to Chicago, right? Yeah, no, I'll be there. I'll be there. What are we trying to do over there?

Well, what's the game plan? I want to go watch, and we'll see what the UFC wants me to do. If they want me to fucking fight the champ, I'm in, I'm ready, I'm healthy. I just got to get these stitches out, and I'll be right back in camp. Do you feel like there is a chance you could be next? I don't know. Hopefully, Dana liked my statement. I was talking to him during the fight and telling him how strong Roman was,

but I didn't know he was fucking holding the fence, my guy. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah, no, I was talking to Dana, having a great time talking to D.C. I think they know that, like, bro, come on, quit fucking playing with me. Give me the fucking shot, you know what I mean? What did Dana say to you? He just, like, laughed because he's like, holy shit, it was full talking to me, I think.

I don't know if he thinks I got some screws loose, but I do. And I meant to do this shit, man. I want to be the next champ, so it really, like, kill this shit. So you were actually talking to him in the middle of the fight? Yeah, no, I was talking to him. What were you saying? just like that Roman's hella strong but I didn't know he was hold on wow I was like dude this fucker's strong and then he took off his head said I was like

dude's strong as shit like dude strong it's impressive and what were you saying to DC same thing I blew him a kiss like as I was throwing like punches at this full and like rolling to take him down fuck just like fucking around having a good time like I want him to enjoy it too you know I mean like he used to like watch my fights and say I was fighting scared and like nah bro it's tactics you know what I mean this shit's war for me bro I'm gonna figure out of fucking drain your battery and fucking kill you uh your confidence

must be at an all time high right now I mean I always believed in myself man it's just like it's a blessing that it's finally coming to light and people are starting to see it you know what I mean so like I'm the only person I've ever believed in because this is like at the end of the day you're the only motherfucker in the cage right I mean so I'm just ready to get this shit and I'm ready

to get me and my team paid and change these kids lives and I mean that's all I want to do and kick by myself and five percent it does it does seem though that your team really believes in you right like i heard you talking about your team after the fight and like they seem to be the only like at one point you were saying that you started to kind of like go walk forward and act a little crazy you get a little hot-headed and they were like yo man chill out chill out yeah yeah no my team's got my back there i at the end of the day i know they got my best fucking interest and they care about me like as much as i care about me and succeeding so um like we know at the end of the day too

I've told my team, like, don't ever fucking throw in the towel. Let me die in this bitch, bro. So that's, like, how I feel personally. Like, I'm built for war, bro. This shit, like, I will die for this shit. I will die behind my last name. Like, I really believe I have what it takes to be the champion. How hot-headed do you get?

Like, do you get hot-headed in training, too? No, I chill now. I chill now. But, like, I've been known to fucking not fuck around. What about in this particular fight? Was Roman pissing you off? no i was chilling he hit me a couple times he cut my eye a little bit and i was just like i don't know like something something happens like when i don't know i just don't like bleed my own blood you

i mean when i get hit i like i get fired up my what's up bitch like i don't know something comes out of me like the real fighter comes out and it's like might be a little bit ghetto sometimes but it is what it fucking is you know what i mean it's like it is what a fucking is i love that people are going to enjoy it and uh who doesn't like a fucking fist fight where someone's like come the fuck on motherfucker you know what I mean like is actually down to fucking slug it out like I can do this shit no matter what I'll slam it on your head I'll fuck you up like I can do it all bro and and correct me if I'm wrong I felt when looking at you in the cage like I saw the abs like it seemed like you were in the best shape that we've seen from you in a long time am I wrong

about that no I definitely fucking like was on track this time I wasn't fucking around because I was pissed off about Seattle man and that shit that really pissed me off that I like told my reason I couldn't really fight dude it hurt to punch when I sparred before the training I got kicking the fucking, like, body, and it hurt like a bitch. And I was like, well, I'm going to make it work. Damn. So I made that shit work still, but I wanted to come out there and really show shit, like, shit how it's supposed to be handled.

And, man, I put in work this time. I was serious about it. I dieted hell more than I, like, usually do. I was just all my shit putting in the work, and I think it paid off, and I'm just going to get right back to work since you sit just get out. You talked about the broken ribs and the ear infection and all that stuff. What would it take for you to actually withdraw from a fight? at this point?

Like, I mean, the times I've been fucked up, it was like, I couldn't grab, couldn't hit with my right hand, it was fucked up, I had surgery, and, like, it was still not working. But, like, shit like that, if I really feel like I can't run or I can't fucking train hard, if I really feel like that,

then I'll probably pull out. But, man, I'm trying to get the fans what they deserve, you know what I mean? The rib one, I was like, I fought Brandon Allen off the couch the first time. I'm not going to lie. So I figured, bro, I had a full fight camp. The only thing that's wrong with me

I'm in pain, but that shit's whatever, it's pain, you know what I mean, you'll forget about that shit. As soon as you get punched in the fucking mouth and get mad. Yeah. Speaking of getting punched in the mouth, you tattooed the inner portion of your lip here. Doesn't that kill? No, it didn't hurt at all, but it came out

unfortunately. What do you mean? It's not there? Fluff nasty? No more? Because I went to fucking practice and like an idiot, so I probably should go get it again. That'd probably work out. Wait, so it's gone? Like, so right now, there's nothing there? Unfortunately no. Oh, it's barely hanging on. Nothing. Yeah. Did they tell you that you had to stay off, I don't know, getting punch in the

face while you had that? Yeah, I'd just recommend it, but I fucking love my job, man. What I'm gonna do? How long does that take? Uh, I think most tattoos that I don't want you get in sway for a week, but I struggle with it, man. Okay. And that didn't hurt? Nah. Really? Inside of your lip? It didn't hurt at all, to be honest. Damn. So you're gonna do it again? Probably. Okay. So you got it done and then you literally went to train and it went away?

Yeah, I got fucking cross-faced by fucking my old teammate. Big teammate 205 and fucking, he's like 230 pounds. So I was thinking about the breakdown now because this has been like a middleweight sort of bonanza month with so many middleweight fights and there's a bunch happening this Saturday. Crazy mess. And I feel like obviously there's the type. fight and we don't know what's going to happen there. Maybe if

comes up wins, they run it back. And then obviously there's the Kayo fight against Imavov, which a lot of people think should be the number one contender fight. I feel like you versus RDR is that next big fight. What do you think of that? Man, I really like I say it's all the time. I really don't care who it is. I think Nick and Dana

have done a great job of matching my fights and like I said, if I got to run through every motherfucker till I get the belt and so be it. But I really want the title fight because I plan on staying active. And as long as I'm not hurt, I want to be fucking active. I want to kill fucking records and, like,

trying to go out and make history. You know what I mean? I know I'm getting older, so I got to do this shit. Yeah. So at this point, like, there's no preference. You probably want to fight again this year, I would imagine, though, right? I'll talk to my manager, and we'll figure it all out. But for sure, I definitely would like to fight again.

Who do you think wins? DDP or Hamsat? I'm going, I think DDP is going to surprise everyone again. He's fucking tough motherfucker. He's got that dog on him, and hopefully I get to see him soon. Which, which, so both guys are undefeated in the UFC, right? Which one would you prefer taking their O away from? DDP or Hamsat?

I really don't care, man. It's like, respect and, like, at the end of the day, to me, like, you know what I mean? So, whoever has the belt is who I want, because the belt is what changes life, you know what? Yeah. At the end of the day, like, the person, I don't care. I'll fight anybody. Are we still living with the chickens? Yeah, no, for sure.

I'm trying to get back on my ranch. I got to finish, got to finish that, and then I'll be back in the country. tree. Oh, really? So you're going to move out. No more apartment living. No, I'm not an apartment. I'm living in a, I have a house in Sacramento. Okay, okay. With the chickens. Yeah, they stay inside. Okay. And they go outside and they come back inside. But then eventually when you go to the ranch, they'll just get to roam and do their thing, right? Yeah. Well, other little cages, yep. Yeah, yeah. I'll hop free when I can let them out and be there. And when's that happening? Uh, you just got to keep winning fights, man. Yeah. I'll have to figure it out and pay for it and do it.

So I'm hoping, like, in two years, I'm going to have that shit done. Do you feel like every, like, we've talked about your life and your relationship with your dad and everything that you've been through? It feels like it's all coming together for you now. Do you allow yourself to enjoy that? Or are you so focused on getting the belt, getting to that ultimate goal on this Monday morning? Do you sit back and be like, man, I'm fucking doing it, eight in a row. Look at me. Like, everyone's talking about me.

No, I'm blessed for sure, but I need to get back to work, man. Like I said, I'm getting older. I got to do this shit and make, like, history before I'm too old. you know what I mean? Yeah. But I'm not where I want to be, so there's no point for me to sit and fucking be happy about shit. I'm fucking pissed off and I want that belt, do I mean?

Why are you pissed off? Because I need that fucking bell. I need to change my license and get back to the country. I fucking hate the city, man. I'm not a fan of Sacramento, to be honest. Where's the country? I'm bored fucking Zamora. I got two acres out there.

Okay. I'm like from Woodland area, 530, so like everywhere out there is ideal for me. Like, back roads and chilling and animals for me. How far is that from Sacramento? It's like 45 minutes. Okay, okay. If I'm going fast on my bike, then it's like quick, 30. What do your kids say about the wind?

Do you show it to them? They watched it and they were like, they were excited, but they don't get to fuck about fighting, man. They're not impressed with you choking a guy out and throwing him to the ground like that? They were like hyped as fuck. Like my son always gets like hella hype. Like this full come up like a little shit heads like accidentally fucking disrespectful. it cracks me up. He's like me basically fucking retarded. A little shit. No, I'm just

kidding. He's disrespectful to you or to other people? No, he's just like, the way he says shit, like he's excited, you know what I mean? He doesn't think about what he says. Yeah. But he's like, man, that shit was easy, huh? I didn't say shit, I'm sorry. He's just like, looks at me like a little smirking him, but like, that was

easy, huh? I just laugh. I'm like, no, it was, it was work. You know what I mean? It worked out for me. Was it actually easy, though? No, I was chilling, bro. Yeah. I was fun. Like, I think I made that very clear. Like, I need the belt, bro. I want real wars. Like, I want to give you guys your money worth. So, yeah. This time next year, do you think you will have fought for the belt? Hopefully I have that shit by then. But, like, however the world works out, it's worked out great for me. I'm going to keep knocking it down one fight at a time if I have to. But I don't know. I think I'm ready for the belt. I think that Dana knows that. Like, I mean, he's seen me fight him a bunch of times. And I mean, if I have to keep showing out, I will. I really don't care. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm bill for war man i really is the one thing i'm good at doing so you're going to be sitting there on

saturday front row watching making a little noise yep i'm be watching and enjoying yep maybe get in the cage after we'll see if they let you we'll see yep i love it well congratulations man well done keep doing your thing it's a lot of fun to watch and again that choke was uh was so much fun i mean i'll never forget that one and i'm sure you won't as well keep doing your thing anthony all the best you and congrats the pleasure thank you There he is. Anthony Fluffy Hernandez. What a guy. What a tremendous fighter. He's now on eight in a row. Second longest active winning streak in the middleweight division, only behind DDP who's at nine. Join for second. Most finishes among active fighters in the UFC middleweight division seven. Number one among active UFC middleweight for control time. That's one, 11, 13. Top position 54 40 and takedowns 54. Most takedowns in UFC middleweight history with 54. for reference wrestlers who are more known

for their takedowns like Chris Wyman and Chil Sunnan, 43 and 35 respectively. Three post, excuse me, three performance of the night bonuses or post-fight bonuses in his past four fights. Three wins via KO, nine via sub,

three via decision, ranked 10th in the UFC middleweight division. Something tells me that's going to change. 31 says he's pissed off wants next. Does he get next, though? I like the idea of him versus RDR.

I do not think he gets next for the title shot. I still think with all these people, because we had RDR win, right? He beat robbery, said I won next. Then we thought maybe Costa, I feel like the way things are shaping up right now at middleweight, and again, there's a lot of activity to come on Saturday. Do you think there's any chance that they do, if Humsup beats DDP, do you think there's any chance they run it back? I think there's a chance, but I think it's unlikely.

Yeah, it'd have to be a pretty spectacular fight. Right. So you also got Jared Kennedy versus MVP on Saturday, and we've just had a bunch. Can I see those rankings again? This is how I would break it down. Let's just say there's no running back, right? Imov-Kayo seems to be the front runner, although I got to say, R.

Here's the thing. If the winner of I'mavov-Kayo, if it's like a dull, boring fight, I don't think they're getting a tell shot. at this point with RDR there and Fluffy there. Do you know what I mean? Fluffy's going to jump past DeLite. He's probably going to go past, he might even go past Whitaker at this point.

He might even crack the top, I don't know, six, five, seven. I like the idea of RDR versus Fluffy, Kyle versus Zimov, obviously, and maybe Costa. Maybe Costa versus the winner of Jared versus MVP? I don't know. What do you guys think?

Oh, there's Strickland there too, huh? Yeah. Damn. I love the idea of Fluffy versus RDR, these two guys coming on in middleweight. I think that's fantastic. I think if Vimov wins, the crowd pop is going to be so huge for him. He's already the number one contender taking off. Kyle Bajalio, I think he's going to get the shot.

Even if it's a boring one? I think so, yeah, just with where he's at in the division. He's already the number one guy. Now he's fighting the number six dude who's been red-hot, beats him in his home country. Everyone's going nuts for him in the main event. He gets the title shot. What do you think, Rick? I think RDR versus...

I think RDR versus Anthony Hernandez makes a lot of sense, and I think Imovav is... The winner of Yemov and... Tyo is going to get the title shot. Long weekend for Rick, man. Yeah, no. Well, what happened? Beach all weekend, you know, just chilling, relaxing.

A lot of games of magic. He's been out of the sun. By the way, not for nothing. Mick Maynard, I mean, he's done a good job with the middleweight division. right I mean exciting right now man and that that fluffy RDR is perfect because of they both just fought

right within weeks of each other it lines up perfect but I also like it's new names yeah you know what I mean guys who haven't fought for the belt or haven't been in this conversation for a while right now I'm most curious as to what beyond the matchups for the title and everything is what are they going to do with the guys like

Whitaker Izzy Strickland what are what are their next matchups look like sort of like the old guard in a way. Yeah, and I guess Strickland isn't included in that because his last fight was for the title and he's the number two guy. Yeah, but he isn't getting another crack at the belt. No, I agree. I agree.

Unless he puts together a few wins in a row. It'll be a long-ass time. Yeah, so I'm just curious as to what they do with that. Like, I have no idea what his next fight is. How freaking great was that sub? Dude. The whole fight, man. He just beat these shit out of them. And then the sub... The sub was like... Then he gets on and

he said he dropped an F-bomb and D.C. was just like, I know you love a good F-bomb, but we're on ESPN. Please don't say that. Yeah. Like the way he just took him down and just threw him to the ground. It was like, I'm going to choke you out and just toss you aside. He essentially just dropped his body as he was like turning to throw the strap up there. It was fantastic. That the Roman copy-love win. That's eight wins in a row, man. Plus he's just a true gentleman, as we learned when me and Rick were at the apex. Oh, that's right. I should have brought that up. There's no chance here. There's another day of him.

being at the hot tub and just like him like letting someone go in front of him oh my gosh i should have brought that up legend though i love how he's just people like to compare him to a diaz brother because he's sort of like quick with his answers but it's a whole it's a whole different vibe obviously he's got the kids he got the farm and all that stuff but he just kind of just does his own thing marches to the beat of his own drum uh likes to uh is that the second time i screwed that one up today might be um likes to swear a whole bunch i also love how you're like did the inner lip tattoo hurt he's like nah not at all I'm like, it definitely hurt.

You're savage, bro. Get the hell out of you. All right. Still to come, the reigning defending UFC heavyweight champion, the one and only Big Tom Aspinall. He'll join us at about 315 Eastern. So in about, oh, I don't know, 45 minutes or so from now. But next up on the program, a man who will be going up against a UFC legend on the 30th of August, misfits 22 at the AO Arena in Manchester,

over in England in the UK. What a fight, a fight that I think none of us saw coming, and a fight that I think none of us ever thought we would see. It's the one and only El Cuckooey Tony Ferguson going up against Nathaniel Bustamante, aka

Salt Poppy. Is he here? Is he here? Ah, there he is. I was trying to do the group. Hello, hello, sir. Hello, hello, Salt. How are you, my friend? I'm good, I'm good. Nice to see you again, and thank you for writing me in your show again. Yes, it's a great pleasure. By the way, do you prefer salt? Do you prefer

Poppy? Do you prefer Nathaniel? How do you like when, you know, how people... You can call me Nathaniel. Nathaniel is fine. Okay, all right, cool. Well, it is great to see you. By the way, I say like, we never thought that we would see this, that it would be a thing. Salt Poppy versus Tony Ferguson. Did you ever think this would be a thing? Did you manifest this, or is this kind of crazy for you, too? Never. The last time I came in your show, I lost. Yes. I was a little good as I thought. But I've been, like, practicing, trying to improve my skills. And after I lost twice, I won three times.

And then, yeah, now I'm fighting Tony Ferguson. Like, I never thought this would happen. What was your reaction when they offered you, Tony Ferguson? I didn't believe it at first, like, until the contract was signed. All I knew, like, I told Mams, I wanted to fight as soon as possible. and yeah Tony Ferguson wants to fight so when you got to do all the media stuff with him a couple weeks ago the press conference the face-to-face

like it's one thing to be told okay like you're you're gonna fight Tony Ferguson we want you to fight Tony Ferguson now you're facing off with him now you're at the press conference you're on the dais you're doing face-to-face with him you're looking straight at him here what is this like for you? I just want to treat him like like a normal fight, just like the others.

So I don't look at him as nothing like special, but I know he's a legendary fighter. And yeah, I'm going to showcase my skills August 30th. What were you doing there where you, it looked like a little bit of salt and then you were throwing it at him? Is that what you were doing? Yeah, yeah, that was Tony's signature, the sand.

Yes. Because I watch him for like, you know, a lot of times. Were you a fan of his? I wasn't like, I'm not going to say like I'm like the biggest time but I do watch him okay so you obviously know who he is but he's making his boxing debut are you going to watch any of his fights to get a sense

for what kind of a boxer he is or is that impossible because he's never actually fought in a boxing match before I just watch all his fights really and put everything in slow motion what do you mean by slow motion watch how he how he punch how he set up his

combinations you know when you go on YouTube you put the clips in slow motion yes and so you actually are watching him fight in slow motion yes

okay and what are you taking away from that especially the most recent versions of him that we've seen I'm not going to say what his weaknesses are but I'm going to try fight that I'm going to prepare for the best Tony Ferguson. Okay.

He was getting fired up when we spoke to him because he was like, I see all the comments, people think I'm going to get killed. People are saying that I'm washed, all this stuff, and he didn't like the disrespect. Do you think that he's, quote, unquote, washed? Do you think that he's over the hill, that he shouldn't be fighting anymore?

No, Tony is still Tony, and I'm sure it's going to be a challenging fight for me. He fought the best of the best in the fighting game. And it's okay to lose. sometimes you lose and you learn like me. I lost twice in a row but I learned from all my mistakes and I kept improving

and then I won three times in a row now I'm here, fighting Tony Ferguson. When you lost those two fights in a row and you were on this great run and everyone was enjoying you and it was so much fun to see you do your thing and knock people out did you start to lose confidence as well and did you consider you know what

maybe I shouldn't do this anymore maybe this isn't for me anymore? No, I just thought I was unstoppable back then and um yeah i just have to learn from my mistakes i know i'm better than than the others and um yeah i'm going to show it on august 30th so there wasn't a point where you started to doubt yourself in the two-fight losing streak um maybe sometimes but then i just go back to the gym and um start working on my on my skills sure and and when you say that you thought that you were, you know, unstoppable.

Was your head getting too big? Did you start to kind of believe your own hype a little too much? I felt, I felt like it because I was knocking out like everybody. So you started to kind of believe your own, your own hype. Yeah, yes. And then you were brought back down to her. And then I didn't really work on my other skills like now. And this is like me, like I'm here to fix my mistakes.

Okay. And now, now how is your confidence? Are you feeling, once again, unstoppable because you've won three in a row? No, I try to, like, humble myself, like, keep, I keep going to the gym. After my fight with my last fight, I went straight back to the gym and tried to work on my new skills. And, yeah. To the best point? Before I would, like, go on holidays, like, you know, eat junk, then gain weight, and then now I have to lose the weight.

Now I'll try to maintain my weight. Speaking of the weight, this fight is at 165. right? 170. 170, okay. So, and so to the best of my knowledge, your last two were at 170, no, your last three were at 170,

and then you had 65, 85. Do you like 170? Is that comfortable for you? I think my best weight is 170. Okay. And it's for the interim middleweight title. Yes. Why interim?

I'm not sure. I just turn up and fight. Do you care about the belt? Does it mean anything to you? I mean, it's a good collection, yes. Okay. Is that, what does that belt behind you over there? It's your right.

Oh, that was to represent the Philippines. It's like a Philippine ambassador. Oh, they gave you that. Yeah, yes. Incredible. What a great honor. Yes. Are you in the Philippines now?

I know. I'm in the UK. Okay. What was it like as you're preparing for this fight against a legendary character to see, obviously, the greatest Filipino fighter of all time, great Mani Pachia. I saw you wearing his t-shirt. See the way in which he fought against Mario Barrios. That must have inspired you, right? The inspire me. Like, look, people are saying Tony's watch, but look at Mani Pachiao, he's like

46. I'm still moving like that. That's a good point. That's a good point. Were you expecting him to look like that, Pacquiao? Not really, no. Oh, really? You were doubting him. Just a little bit, just a little bit, yeah. Okay. But then he proved everyone wrong. Did you think he won? Yes. Okay.

You'd like to see the rematch? Yeah, of course. Do you have any sort of relationship with him? No, no, just message from time to time. That's it. You message Mani Pacquiao? Yeah, I got a message from before. DM?

But mostly I talked to the sons. Okay. You DM with him? Yeah, I got DM like from him before, yeah. Like saying what? Like, congratulations. or good luck like something like that

yeah congratulations yeah did you reach out to him after his fight I think I just say congratulations yeah but I would like to meet him one day

go to his hometown you still haven't met him no I still haven't met him no what about train with him yeah I would like to go to America and train him one day

one day yeah at Wildcarry could you imagine that yeah one day one day when you did the face to face with Tony Was that intimidating?

He could be an intimidating guy. No, it's actually like a very nice respectful guy. Okay. I had a face-to-face with him. Like, Tony doesn't really know me. So there's nothing really like to talk about about. And I'm a very respectful guy. Like, we know we're going to be fighting on August 30th.

There's no. No, no beef. It's no beef. He's going to punch me. I'm going to punch him. It's about it. I saw you say that Mike Perry, Anthony Pettus, Nate Diaz were all names that were being discussed.

Were any of those a real possibility? Those were the names I gave Mom's Taylor, yes. Wow. I wanted to fight a big names, yeah. Oh, so you gave him those names, but did they offer you any of those names? No. It was just Tony. It was just Tony that wants to box.

I think Tony has been wanting to box for a very long time. Like he said on the interview, I think he was supposed to fight KSI back then, but it just didn't happen. So, like, he didn't know that he's going to be fighting me. He probably just said yes. Sure, sure, sure. What do you make of the Darantill-Luk-Roccold fight? This is going to be a good fight.

Who do you like in that one? I like both of them, yeah. Oh, you got to pick a winner, though. Maybe a draw. Ah, what? Are you boys with both of them? them? Didn't Luke Rockhold give you some advice before this? Yeah, I spoke to Luke Rockhold. It's a nice guy.

What do you say? It's like, you know, giving me advice. He seems like a nice guy to talk to. I haven't spoken to, to die himself, so I don't really know him, like, you know. But it's going to be a good fight, I'm sure. Yes, yes. There has been some talk that maybe the influencer boxing scene has reached its its ceiling that there isn't much much further to go do you agree with that do you think that it's on its last legs um i'm not too sure i'm just go with the flow turn up and fight and um yeah the reason i ask that is do you think there will be a point where you transition to just

sort of like regular fights not exhibition about yeah yeah i would like to do that i would like to do that like five guys like maybe i'll say a name like adrian bruner if i will get the opportunity oh wow um i don't know maybe like rod tang i don't know i don't know i need to make a list rod tang yeah in boxing yeah why not or moitai no boxing that would be incredible holy shit that would be that would be nuts yeah but what about just like you just go down the the regular route. Like, you're fighting a guy who's five and five.

Like, just to try to... Like the same record as me. Yeah, yeah. I would be dumb to do with that. Okay. Do you think that's eventually where you go, or would you always like to be

in this sort of, like, fun space on this side? I feel like, it's... wherever there's, like, the opportunity to make more money for me. So,

um, that's where I'm gonna go. You do this full time. You don't have to do anything else, right? Just make, like, videos from there to there. Yeah, yeah. But you don't have to get any other job. Like, this is your life. It's my life now.

Do you sometimes pinch yourself, like that you can't believe that this is your life? Yeah, sometimes, but I'm very thankful to God, and I work very hard for this. Okay. You still love it as much as you did when you started? No. You don't love it. I don't say I love it, but I do enjoy it. I do enjoy. I do. miss like fighting when I don't have a fight I do miss like like the the noise the people like cheering like walking down to the ring I do I do miss it that's why I'm yeah why so long in

between fights for you this is like nine months in between fights I'm not sure with that's right yeah yeah yeah you think we'll ever see KSI fight again I'm not too sure Would you like to see him fight again? Yes, of course. That would be great, right? Yeah, once he's done with his hand surgery, yeah, he'll be fighting again. What do you think?

And don't say I'm not too sure. KSI, Jake, do you think we ever see it? Yes, it will happen one day. Wow. Who do you back? Who do you like? KSI? Wow, okay, smart answer.

That was a good one. That was a good one. You got to go for the boss, right? Yeah, you got to go for the boss. Yeah, that's true. What weight would it be at? Maybe 185, 190. Yeah.

That would help the scene, right? Yeah, of course. You have like an MVP. I'll be in the co-main. What's the dream? You and the comane against who? Maybe Adrian Browna. That's the one.

Why Adrian? Second time you mention him. No, it's just like a, like, you know, seems like a fun fight for me. Yeah. It'd be nice. It's like one of my idol, like, you know, watching him.

Adrian Bruner is one of your idols? Yeah, I like watching Adrian Bruner. He's a classic character, right? You ever meet him? I like the way he fights, no, no, no, I haven't. No. What way would that be at? I'm 70.

Yeah, okay. That would be something. And this fight against Tony, how many rounds? There's going to be five rounds. Five rounds. And do you think it goes the distance? I'll do whatever it takes to win Yeah

Before I usually go Just go for the knack out I'll do whatever it takes to win Like a proper boxer Sure I'm really curious to see how he looks as a boxer Right Because we know about his MMA background

His wrestling background But we've never seen him in a striking only fight So I'm really curious To me it's like the most interesting thing about this card How is he going to look in a proper boxing match Yep Same Do you think he's going to look like

conventional or do you think he's going to be very unorthodox? I'm not sure he can fight like Canello or he can fight like Floyd Mayweather, I'm not sure. Yeah. Wow, Canelo, Floyd, I mean, those are the best of the best. It might be fine. So I need to be prepared for the best Tony. Sure. Do you think if you're the guy who retires Tony Ferguson, would that be something you'd be proud of or do you not want to be that guy? another thing Tony's going to retire even after this fight

even if I win he's not going to retire he enjoys what he does this legacy life and yeah he's a great guy he's a great guy too

did you talk to him off camera at all no no you kept it separate but like you know but from what I saw he's a very nice guy do you think that on fight week he's going to try to get in your head or anything like that

I'm not too sure I don't really mind like people have done that to me in the past I just speak to the same like you know humble guy

not doing too much you don't get involved in that stuff I know I'm gonna fight you so you want to fight me I don't love you okay okay sorry sorry sorry I thought you were calling me out

I don't know if you want this smoke if I'm being honest you know I don't know if you want that. These hands, you know, I've been, I've been practicing too. No. You don't want that. But I saw your number four. You're number four pound for pound in the, uh, in the misfits

pound for pound rankings. Yeah. Are you cool with that? Yeah, I'm fine with whatever really. Nothing gets really riled up, huh? No. No. Life is good. Life is good. I'm just happy. Like, I'm fighting Tony Ferguson. I'm like, I'm training.

I'm doing this full time. Like, what can ask for. You think there'll be a moment where you see Tony in the ring and you're like, holy crap, I can't believe it's Tony Ferguson, you almost get like two starstruck by him or have too much respect for him and then you don't go for it? No, I'm like once I'm in the ring, I won't show respect. Okay, oh wow, all right. Well, it goes down August 30th, rapidly approaching 19 days from now.

There it is, Ring of Thrones. Do you like that poster? I like that poster. Yeah, it's not bad. Yeah, make sure to buy the tickets, buy the pay-per-view. Hell yeah. link. That's right. The zone pay-per-view and tickets available right now

at the AO Arena in Manchester. Good luck to you, Poppy. Wish you the best, my man. Yeah, let's get it. Let's get it. Thank you, thank you, sir. All the best. There he is. The great Nathaniel Bustamante going up against Tony Ferguson, Salt Poppy. I believe Mr. Rick's favorite

guest in the history of the program. Over 8 million followers across social media. Three wins in a row, all stoppages, six and two, five KOs in his exhibition boxing record, four and two, and misfits going up against the one and only 24. Any odds for this bout at this moment? Let's see. I'm going to go on my tabology here. Click Basic. Click odds. While you do that, just confirming my favorite guests in the history of me. Yes. You love Poppy. I love Salt Poppy. Come on. How could you

not love him? You were the one that introduced me to him. You're like there's a guy eating hamburgers putting salt on top of his hamburgers. I think it was more like he can box even though he's just an influencer guy, but he does that too. And don't forget the running in place. Don't forget. Oh yes. oh speaking of which tomorrow i believe my uh my appearance on impulsive uh pops up i i heard they said they were going to post it on t-day who knows you know if they stay true to their word are they going to show the t-shirt what are you trying to say i don't know maybe they're going to interview someone else that's more interesting than me and they'll be like i won't push him to the uh the following week or something what the fuck is that yeah and are they going to show you know some of the things

that happened i'll tell you what i'm going to watch i'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt I will watch it and I will tell you if any things were edited from it. How about that? Can't wait. Yeah. Although we did get the T-shirt, right? They brought the T-shirt. We have it. Hold on, let me see. Let me see. Let me see. What would happen? Wait, I don't hear you anymore. You're talking about. Do I do it now? Yeah, show me the T-shirt. I mean, you don't have to wear it. You can just hold it up.

A couple lunchleys as well. Oh, yeah. Shout out. Oh, there it is. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. These guys. Look at that cheap printing right there. I mean, could I not have gone better printing than that. Yeah, I was curious about the WWE logo. Is that an official insignia? Is that official merch right there?

Available on Fanatic. It's part of the new ESPN. Is this your t-shirt? I guess. I don't know. I forgot it. I'll buy it off you. How much?

How much? Ten? Ten bucks. You want it? Twenty. What are you going to do with it? 30. Where around?

eBay. Every dollar counts. Every dollar counts. This guy's a D1 Glazer. I have a guy. Uncrowned Combat eBay is rolling right now so Yeah, we're killing it Gentlemen

Yeah, man Tom Asmel is going to join us Oh yeah Excited about that Heavyweight champ I think it's his first interview since the news was announced But we're still processing everything that has transpired This morning

Regarding the UFC signing with Paramount Plus I did want to add a couple things I mentioned that there's a couple things left for the TKO group to sell. I mentioned contender series and I mentioned Zoufa boxing. Let's not forget about tough.

Do you think this signals the end of tough or do you think they find a home for it? Yeah, I think this is probably... God, I hope so. Oh, and that's a nice shirt right there. Nice. Thank you for that. Okay, so that's another thing

that they could sell. NXT on CW is something that I think is a one or two-year deal. so let's see about that there's also talk about the the WW library they didn't sell that to ESPN

and so maybe they'll sell that to someone else I mean they're really splitting this pie up also I wonder what becomes a fight pass too like this well internationally for now it is still the hub for a lot of people to watch so in the US I guess it's it could get the library

the archives because does Paramount get all their archives as well I was wondering that like right now you can go back and watch old pay-per-view views on ESPN whenever you want to. Are you going to be able to watch UFC 282 on Paramount? Yeah.

I don't know. Do you think there's a market for that? I feel like WWE fans watch the old stuff more than the UFC fans. You know what I mean? Yeah, I agree. I feel like people, for whatever reason, and maybe it's because UFC doesn't do

old documentaries and stuff like that as much as UFC does, but I feel like there isn't much of a demand for that. Anyway, Dana was on CBS Sportsnet this afternoon talking about the new deal. This is according to our friend Jason Hagholm. He did a good job of recapping the highlights. Let's read this together, shall we? Dana loves the UFC being on Paramount Plus, of course. As you see, these streaming services need live sports to be a part of them. He said, quote, I love Paramount Plus for its great content, including South Park, Yellowstone, and Mobland.

and I appreciate that it moves away from the pay-per-view model. Skydance's merger with Paramount Plus played a big part in the deal happening. Dana loves being in business with people he is aligned with, a great deal for the UFC fighters and fans. One note on that, Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro said in their interview with CNBC today, once the Skydance Paramount merger was announced and finalized on Thursday, they were originally just talking to Paramount about the 30 fight nights going to Paramount, and then the 13 numbered shows going somewhere else,

and then it took them 48 hours to sell off the whole kid in Caboodle. That's it. Isn't that crazy? I wonder. You think that's some bluster? I wonder if it's posturing. I wonder if it's true or not. Would I be surprised if they were having a conversation about it? No, I would be surprised if it was a high dollar number.

I mean, that's what we all thought. 30 fight nights somewhere, pay-per-views elsewhere. maybe they were talking to ESPN and then all of a sudden this thing went through. That admission that the paper views were down I think was the nail in the coffin

on the idea of just selling paper views to someone. When you're publicly going, you have to talk to your shareholders and say paper views are down year over year, it's hard to sell that as a premium product to somebody.

So I'm not surprised that ultimately the whole thing went one place. I would have thought it would have been ESPN, but I'm not surprised that it all went one place. Dana loves being a long Netflix or something.

Right. Dana loves being aligned with the Super Bowl Masters and now UFC. Yeah, imagine the Masters. What's his name? Jim Nance. Yeah, Jim Nance is.

The piano plays. And make sure tonight to tune into Yiri Prohashka Halia Roundtree. Anthony Fluffy Hernandez coming up later tonight on CBS after your

local news in 60 minutes. Are we going to get like... Last time out, he choked the motherfucker egg. Roman Belize. Now he's... Here's Tiger on the 16th.

Are we going to get the ticking clock? Is Sunday scary is going to be the advertising for the next UFC pay-per-view now? John Anning, coming up on 60 minutes later tonight. Oh, 60 minutes is coming after. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. On a Sunday, could you imagine? That's going to be great. Dana loves being along.

Okay, Dana says the UFC will do four big events a year. What does that mean? Ten polls, you know, like the... Well, what are the tent poles? I thought the numbered events are the 10 polls. Now, now there's even further. There's more. It's ESPN like 322 plus.

Yeah. Plus, plus, plus. Dana says there's no off time for the UFC looking to put on the best and biggest fights. Dana says he is back home on Paramount. That's incredible. Back home, baby. Dana says the challenge is how to make this bigger and what to launch the Paramount deal with. Now you know, for the next five months, it's going to be like, what's going to be the first show?

What's going to be the first, you know, card, all that stuff. You said the challenge. I thought Dana was talking about the show. because it's on Paramount Plus. Also, no love for SpongeBob from Pan of White. Pretty excited to get my Paramount Plus subscription so I can stream every episode.

And most importantly, what does this all mean for Ben the Bain Davis? That is what I was initially. It was on Fight Pass for the UFC, now on Paramount Plus, also the UFC. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Fascinating stuff.

Man. How do we feel about Paramount Plus as a streaming platform, just like from a user functionality, standpoint compared to ESPN Plus. I've never had issues with it. I've had countless issues with ESPN Plus, but others in the control room disagree.

Oh, really? Saying what? Horrendous app. That's fucking illegal. Yes, yeah. By the way, that drop has now entered the rotation because for those I don't know, back when Kimbo fought Seth Petrazzelli and there was a rumor

that the Elite XC brass told Seth and Kimmel to just keep the fight standing. And then, of course, Seth knocked out Kimbo and thus Elite X-C essentially tanked. There's like a classic interview of Dana just standing outside, I think his house, and I think it was with TMZ,

and he was just talking about how if a promoter went up to an MMA fighter and said, just keep the fight standing, and he looked to the camera and said, that's fucking illegal. So it just feels like we're gone full circle because he was talking about MMA on CBS and now they're back on CBS.

It's big. My parents love CBS. Everyone loves CBS. I think... You think on the Sunday morning news that show... The early show? With Gail King?

Yeah, the Sun logo and everything. I just think of my parents like eating breakfast, getting ready to go to church. They're going to be like, last night on the UFC. What's it called? What's his name? The former football player for the Seahawks.

Nate Burleson. Nate Burleson. Oh, legend. He's on there. He's great. We're going to see him now at the events. We went from Ryan Clark to Nate Burleson. I'd say that's leveling up.

Two good-looking former NFLers? I'm sorry, just joking. The rest of the nines. We talked about being on that ESPN ticker and the coverage and all that stuff. But truly, like, the NFL and all these other properties that they have are going to provide some kind of, like, buoy for this programming.

But I will admit, it does feel like a rougher fit among the other properties, right? Like the daytime television, the scripted series and all that stuff, whereas ESPN is a full-scale sports network. Do you guys watch CBS Sports Network? No, no.

Do you? From time to time. Shut off. Don't even know a channel. You don't have to be a company minute. By the way, Invicta FC's on there. Yeah. That's the only time.

By the way, do you think there's any chance like we could get like Invicta roll into UFC? Why not? Or are we going to get a champs first champs? Invicta UFC collab. Stop it. Stop. You could have even finished and said that. That's awful.

CBS tends to skew a little bit older, right? Oh yeah, for sure. That's the thing. Yeah. Skew a little bit older. But not Paramount Plus, I would imagine. No, not Paramount Plus. Paramount Plus has Champions League.

I like Paramount Plus as far as like the functionality. it's never really been clunky for me sometimes peacock is a little bit clunky sometimes plus is a little bit I don't feel like Park Yellowstone but let's take a look at Dana how he's feeling this morning I think he's feeling pretty good according to his

his Instagram right oh yeah yeah was this in the AM or was this last night did he get up and immediately smoke a cigar or was this right before he went to bed it looks like I don't know it looks like it's a morning shot for me

it feels like there's some sun back there I actually think that is the morning because he's wearing the Travis Matthew T. T.K. Holdings Group. What is that? Polo. I don't know.

He wore it on the Macafee show, and it's literally just like Times New Roman, TKO Holdings Group, stitched onto the polo. Hell yeah. Also, apparently he's a big fan of Yahoo Sports and Uncrown. He sure is.

I saw him share this. Well, Yahoo Sports. Uncrown hadn't been a merger yet. We're sort of like... No, we don't have it? Damn, this is like our big moment here. This is like Dana, like, giving us the rub.

We have to have this. We'll get it. This is one of the greatest moments in the history of uncrown. Okay. In the 11th month's history of uncrown. This is our moment. This is actually moment number two.

Ah, there it is. Look, he shared our posts. Yeah, it's a Papa Rich as well. That's huge, man. Kind of dirty that he did this when there was only four comments and no likes. Yeah, come on. By the way, quick on the draw there, Dana.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, he hit that screenshot and get their rolling. Yeah, one repost. Four comments, no likes? Here's Nikisa Baderian, former CFO of the UFC, and now, of course, co-founder and CEO of most valuable promotions. The less pay-per-view, the better for consumers and the fighters who actually move the needle. MVP has put on the biggest non-paper-view fight since the advent of cable with Paul Tyson. But, and that's Paul Dash Tyson, but pay-per-view is not dead at all.

The UFC has not created a true star in the largest pay-per-view market in the world, USA, since Conover, Gregor, just like the movie business, if you have big IP, you have big box office. UFC has created a consistent premium fight product with the best production in fight sports. They no longer have big global stars, but maybe this deal helps change that. Most importantly, this is great for the fighter pay if fighter managers do their job right. You think the fighter managers are hitting up the UFC brass saying, where's our cut on this Monday morning? Probably not. But I really do wonder what this means for the fighters.

It's like, it's getting to a point where the UFC is making so much money, like so much money, hand over fist. To touch on that point you were making earlier about the pay-per-view points, I have to imagine that if you are somebody, first of all, we should acknowledge, there are very few who are actually getting to participate in that, right? It's like champions, and then there's these thresholds previously for what the pay-per-views had to do for you to be able to participate in profit-sharing. It's a very small group of people.

I have to imagine the solve is to talk to those fighters who are participating in that and just say they get a larger upfront flat fee and they'll probably just be okay with that. I think that's probably the solve. At the very least, maybe we, yeah, we just like raise the base. You raise the base. But they're not going to be incentivized to raise it for anybody other than these people who would have participated in profit sharing. I believe DJ and DC once broke it down where they were saying something to the effect of

zero to 200k buys you got nothing you shared in no part of the profit from 200 to 400 you got like a dollar per pay per view and then from four to six you got maybe it's two dollars per pay per view and then six and up you got like five bucks or something like that i think dj said anderson silva got five bucks but not everybody has that same kind of escalation so there's very few people who are actually going in this model in the current environment who are really going to benefit greatly from pay-per-view. You had to be like a conner or somebody who's on one of the bigger pay-per-views of the year. So I think they can probably make it right with a check. You know, you give them a flat check and then you just move over. Revenues off the charts now. Especially with all those advertisers on the cage. I was going to say, the $7.7 billion doesn't even account the ads, the gates. Oh, my God. merchandise. Budlight this.

You have to think that moments like this are the moments where the fighters consider doing something together, but if nothing happens from this. By the way, this is your last chance for seven years. When do we get our first CBA? It's not the last chance though in the sense that like the UFC is going to continue to do massive deals not in the broadcast realm but they're going to continue to do

these massive deals throughout the seven years to the point that the next deal is going to be for God knows how many billion and at what point do the fighters go we need to get a piece of that. So far it has not happened. So far they have not banded together to do this. There was another interesting.

business note that came out, now it's kind of been forgotten about, but this was on Friday. My friend Jedi Goodman posted this from Las Vegas Sportsbiz.com. UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell recently confirmed plans to expand the apex to accommodate an additional 5,000 to 10,000 fans, a move that could transform the venue from a made-for-TV fight hub into a boutique arena capable of hosting select WWPLE's NXT specials or cross-promotional events. Yo, if they expand this thing to 10,000 fans, that's like a full-scale arena.

That's a small arena. That's like the Mandalay Bay Event Center. Yeah. That's like the Iowa arena you guys went to for some reason. That was like 20,000. No disrespect. But like, yo, if you expand this to 10,000, I won't say a, I won't say a blessed word about the apex.

Actually, you think that would be perfect. By the way, 5,000 would be perfect. I would love 5,000. 5,000 would be like the palms. If the UFC expands the seating capacity, everybody's going to stop bitching about the Apex? Yes, absolutely. That's the whole point. I don't think so.

There's no one there. It's not going to be enough. There'd be no difference between the Apex and like the Hard Rock. Yeah, well, the difference is the UFC owns and operates it versus, you know, you're coming to local town number six. Yeah, that's kind of shitty, but like you're at least getting fans out there. They're going to have to expand the parking lot, too, I'll tell you. Oh, yeah. You've been to that point in there.

Yeah, you're going to need to make a few more spaces. When we saw, we saw the makings of, like, the box office and all the stuff, like, part of that expansion. It is, it is an undertaking. It is? Oh, I mean, we saw. What do you mean the box office? A lot of construction. Like, actual creation of the physical outside box offices where you're going to have to walk up and get the tickets.

Like, there is box offices. No, no, no, I think that was a parking attendant. No. I mean, this is, this is in the works. It's a real, yeah, yeah. It's a real intention. Oh, yeah, there was a lot of construction going on. Five.

Guys hammering. There was nobody there. Stop it. It was the weekend. 5 to 10,000 is... Sizable, yeah. Is great. That's a crowd. I would never say anything. I mean, that's bigger than the NXT venue where they do it in Florida.

How big is that one? Few K, two, three K? Not even? Yeah. Wow. I could be wrong. I'm doing this off top of my head, but could be wrong. 5K would be tremendous.

5K would be incredible. It would be just like the old days. Palms, Hard Rock, those venues, perfect. perfect do it hunter do it we believe in you okay but is that

going to incentivize them to just primarily be at the apex no I don't think so I think David Ellison is smart our new our new leader

yeah shout out to D Russell I did want to bring up a couple other things what about this guys my heart is torn because on the 18th of October

it's a fight that well it might get a little bit awkward. When I saw this fight announcement, the first thing that came to mind was I'm trying to see how much Frank could read my mind here, but we're not, we're not, he might be out for a coffee or something, I'm not sure. When I saw this fight announcement, the first thought that crossed my mind was on the 18th of October in Vancouver, there was a fight announcement and the first thing that crossed my mind, not quite close.

There's no one helping you out back there. I'm trying to find it. No, he's getting help. No, I'm screaming at him back here, and he just... He just doesn't have it. I just can't get it. Wow. I added a new one today. He actually just asked.

He said, what the fuck is going on, bro? What's the fucking going on, bro? How do we update this? I want you to have a... The W.Us are gotten really crowded. I want you to have, like, a Fred Norris thing, because, like, he used to have, like, the... Yeah, you know, the slot correct thing. Fred Norris had two drops, and he had to crank a machine, like,

some old time. Yeah, and somehow that's quicker than this. And it was two drops. He had two drops of show. That was it. Anyway. We don't care. It's Marlon Cheeto Varegance.

Amon's a hobby. What about that? That's a big time fight for. Yeah, big fight for Amon. Big fight for Amon. Big fight for Amin. In Vancouver. In the Canadian rub again.

Crossroad fight for Cheeto? Nah. He's always going to be a guy who hangs around the top of the division. Two of my favorite. I mean, top of the division, yeah. He loses to Aman, maybe he's out of the top 10. Maybe, but I can see him getting back in. He's kind of just that, he's that fringe contender guy.

But big opportunity for Aman, like to go back to back with Aldo and Cito. He's really making that push. That push, yeah. Especially in Canada each time. I like it. He'll be a massive star. Aiman on that. Yeah, feels like the Montreal card all over again.

Shaping up. I also saw this on Twitter. Did you guys see this for? from Pierce Morgan? No, I did. I sure did. He posted, I posted a few weeks ago that Jake Paul's boxing career has been quote, boring, staged bullshit. What I meant is that his fights have been predominantly against older past their prime opponents, which may be lucrative for both sides and may have entertainment value, but don't reveal how he stacks up against currently ranked boxers and therefore are not a good look for the sport. I did not intend to suggest that the

outcome was predetermined and certainly didn't mean to suggest anything illegal. But if reports are correct that Jake is now in negotiations to fight Anthony Joshua, that would obviously be a seriously credible bout against one of the best heavyweights in the world. Jake is welcome to come on uncensored to discuss this and verbally slug it out with me anytime. Do you think he got lawyered up there? Or he got the letter? Yeah. Yeah? Yeah, I don't think he wrote this one. You don't think he wrote that one? Oh, I think he wrote it, but I think he was under duress as he was writing again yeah there were a couple of those that popped up over the weekend i thought at first he was going to say jake's welcome to come on on crown apparently

his show's called uncensored um yeah jake's welcome to come on on crown jake is definitely welcome to pierce morgan and i look forward to watching that interview that'd be a massive day for for on ground if we got the pierce morgan shout out the nomination for best outlet and the the dana rob all in the Oh, my God, the repost. Biggest thing on Crown history. Well, I'm happy that's over with. I saw a couple of those tweets pop up. I also saw that our old friend.

You mean from Pierce or other people? Other people. Oh, so, okay. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, boy. And here's one for you. And here's one for you. That's great. You get one, you get one. And here's a tweet from our old friend, Gina Carano, who tweeted over the weekend.

I have come to an agreement with Disney slash Lucasfilm. which I believe is the best outcome for all parties involved. I hope this brings some healing to the force. I want to extend my deepest, most heartfelt gratitude to Elon Musk, a man I've never met who did this good Samaritan deed for me and funding my lawsuit. Thank you, Mr. Musk, and X for backing my case and asking for nothing in return. Was this common knowledge that he did this? Yeah, when she first filed the suit, it was publicized that he was funding it.

At the time, he was looking for things to kind of fund in relation to this. It was like Peter Thiel and Hulk Hogan. To a degree, yes. And then essentially the news is that Lucasfilm and Walt Disney and Gina have reached a mutual agreement and their legal dispute. But I don't think the terms were announced. So we move on now. In 2024, she filed suit in California federal court alleging a wrongful termination and discrimination as well as a demand that the court should force Lucasfilm to cast her again in pay at least 75,000 impunitive damages. Disney lawyers filed a motion in 2024 to throw out the

lawsuit. Carano came back. You know, I like when some people say that I threw Gina Carano under the bus when very, very specifically in the video in which I talked about, I said, I don't think anything should happen to her. I don't believe in cancel culture. I just want to explain why some people may find this offensive. But no. And then I even follow that up in the post. Once again, I would like to reiterate. I do not want anything to happen to her. I don't believe in cancel culture, but everyone's like,

remember the time or are you going to apologize to her now? For what? But I am happy it's over with, and I do hope that she can continue her career. You know we love Gina around these parts. I have her right over there on the desk. It went a little, dare I say, haywire. Who gets the reference?

Wow, not bad. Who gets the reference? I'm surprised you remember the name of the film. Shut up. Well, that was a very popular one because didn't they dub her voice or something? They didn't dub her voice. Just a crazy thing. Wow.

They did the whole movie and then they put a fake voice. Yeah, I'm unfamiliar. Oh, you don't know this? It's a good movie. Heywire. Yeah. Was it actually good? It was good.

Really? Yeah, it was good. Why they dub her voice? That I don't know. That's dirty. Yeah. Anyway, I am happy for her. I am happy for her.

Did you guys see this Eric Anders? cut. Yeah, gnarly. That was disgusting. Crazy. Good stitch work here, though. You think so? Yeah, I appreciate Dan is showing us it. That looks like his brain. Yeah. I mean, I don't even know what that is. I guess it can't be his brain because it's like above his.

I can assure you that is, that is not his brain. But it looks like his brain. Yeah, it kind of does. It's definitely not, though. Or it looks like the inside of like manicotti. With a little tomato sauce, you know? Come on, man. Well, shout out to Eric Anders. That was a tough one.

What a knockout, though. Geez. Did you see that knockout? CLD. He was gnarly, man. Spinning back elbow, and then the freaking... Big for the Brits. Oh, my gosh.

Yes. Huge win for him. Shout out to Steve Versig, by the way. Big win for him, got back on track. The new Papa, Andre Feely, back on track. He's an incredible stretch of Juan lost, Wan lost, lost. I think dating back to 2019.

Justin Edwards had an incredible finish as well. shout to her Elijah Smith Uros Medich Great win too Oh no Not the worst Apex card of all time But that was Narly stuff

And I think he has one fight left One or I'm talking about Eric Anders here Or that might have been it The big story of course Anthony Fluffy Hernandez The biggest story of course Is that we have a fighting champion In the heavyweight division

The biggest story of course is that the other big story of 2025, which has been, what are we doing with the heavyweight belt? What are we doing with Tom Aspinall? That was resolved a couple of weeks ago when we found out on the 25th of October in the United Arab Emirates, Tom Aspinall, not only the new undisputed champion.

We spoke to him about this in Las Vegas. This is all somewhat old news. But what we didn't know was when he would fight, when he would defend this belt, when he would get the division back on track and who he would fight and where he would fight. Well, we now have all those answers.

He is fighting on the 25th of October. He's fighting in Abu Dhabi, and he's defending his title technically, I guess, for the very first time, but some might say he's already done so successfully. Against the one and only the Frenchman, his longtime foe, Cyril Gan. So without further ado,

let us say hello to the pride of the UK. pride of Great Brendan, the pride of Manchester, the pride of Wiggin, your champion in mine, your fighting champion in mine, the reigning defending UFC heavyweight champion, the one and only Tommy Aspinall. Yeah. There he is. Now Tom, there's been a lot of people who have said that everything's going to change, that you're going to get a big head, that you're going to get too big for your bridges once

you become a champion. I don't recall you ever doing an interview from a car, and so this might be the first sign. that things have changed now that you've become a champion. I'm sorry, mate. You big dog me and said that, listen, this is the only time we've got. So, you know, I just finished trading. Very sweaty guy, as you can probably say,

I don't know how the signal's looking over there. I don't know how the signal looking. Everything looks fantastic. I appreciate you doing this, especially in, I thought you just took a shower or something. This is pure, you told me, you told the producer to find And the biggest, most handsome sweaty man that they could find.

And they asked me. So here you are. Who's that young man behind you? This is one of my dogs. Oh, yeah. A girl or boy? Boy. Okay, thank God.

Boy, I've got a girl dog. I've got a girl dog and a boy dog. But, yeah, I had to take him to the gym today. It doesn't even matter. It's not even important. Let's take him to the gym, and here we are. He's staring me down. Like, he's like, how dare you call me a young man?

Look at this. That is a, that is... It's the smoke. Yeah, he looks to smoke, mate. I'm sorry, but. He's feeling like the alpha in the room. Can I ask, what's his name? His name's Olympus.

You hate that I asked you that question, huh? Did that bother you? Yeah, I don't like his name. It wasn't my choice. Who named them? So I got him from, like, a pet trainer. because he's like a he's like a he's like a fully trained protection dog so oh wow um yeah he he was already called olympus when i got him okay unfortunately but amazing dog unbelievable dog

just not the best name well we love seeing you in this setting with the the the child seat over there the dog you're a real family man but you're also fighting champion you're else are you by the way it's stressing me out are you holding up the phone like this your arms are going to get very tired yeah why don't you just it's on the steering wheel at the Why don't you just nudge it in? Why don't you just nudge it in to the corner? Oh, oh, that is an idea. One sec. Could this work?

You can't hold it up here. This is going to kill your arms. You're tired. You've just had a long day at the office. I'm tired. I've trained two hard sessions today I've had. It's probably the last thing you want to do. It doesn't really fit, you know.

That doesn't fit. I'm just going to have to. Oh, my God. It's all right. I'm resting my arms on the steering wheel. We're all good. All right. all right. By the way, I like that

that champion rash guard there. Can we get that anywhere? Yeah, you like it. You like it. No, you actually can't. This is only me actually has the green color of it. Not even my team. My team don't even have the green color. So I've got the full track suit on the, this isn't, it's like a t-shirt slash rashguard thing, I guess. It's very nice. What do you think? You like it? I like it, yes.

And I'm seeing champion all over the place, and I do want to thank them. They sent us and the whole team, even to my kids, some great gear. so we see them on you on Katie Taylor it's a very exciting time by the way did you hear the big news UFC leaving ESPN and going to Paramount Plus did you hear this I did hear it but I've been pretty busy today to be honest

so I've not really had a chance to look into it what's going on with that then so is it going to be every I just spoke about it in the gym to a couple of teammates yeah is that going to be every so there's going to be no more pay-per-view no more pay-per-view 43 shows going to Paramount obviously you know

T&T Sports of the world will still have their same deal for now. But the 43 shows go there, and the 13 numbered shows are no longer on pay-per-view. And they're also going to air on CBS here in America, which is a huge channel. And they'll all be a part of the subscription. So nothing extra. So if you have Paramount Plus, you don't have to pay extra for the UFC content. 7.7 billion over seven years, 1.1 billion a year. The previous deal was about 550.5 million a year. Now they've just almost doubled it to 1.1 billion a year for seven years. Well, that's amazing news. When does that come into play? Or is it amazing news like for guys who are getting pay-per-viewpoints like yours truly? This is it, Tom. This is what I wanted to ask you.

I have no idea. Yes, this is what we were, we were debating this morning on the program. What does this happen to the top tier fighters, the Tom Aspinals, the Islam Akachevs, the Ilya Topporias, the Drickuses, maybe Hamzad if he wins. What happens to you guys? Because you benefit from payper-view. So does your base pay now go up? How are you going to offset that money? I would imagine they're going to reach out and

sort it out for you. But do you have any idea? This is absolute breaking news to me. I've got no idea. You know what? See, guys like Iliatea Teporea, etc. They are like established pay-per-view stars. I am not really a

pay-per-view star yet not yet so you know i've only i've only fought pay-per-view a couple of times oh there's phil de free yeah i just saw him walking out of the shed there he is yeah there he is he's actually parked he's actually parked right next to me so you might get an exclusive wow wow well we'll get him on in a minute when he comes but yeah i don't i don't really know i don't know because i'm not a massive pay-per-view star you know what i mean i'm not selling a million paperfews but i intend to yes So how does that work? I don't know. Yeah, and you're just getting started.

You're just getting started. So, you know, there's Big Phil over there, sporting the KSW shirt. So I do wonder if they're just going to raise your base pay. You know what I mean? If they're just going to raise it up an offset or if they create a different model and say, oh, if X amount of viewers watch your show will give you X amount of bonus. But it's a whole new world. Now this is no longer a thing.

Paper view for all intents and purposes, as far as the UFC is concerned, is dead beginning January 1st, 2026. Okay, so this is probably my last pay-per-view fight, I would imagine. Unless you fight on the December card and make that quick turnaround, yes. And is this card, by the way, is your fight on pay-per-view? Because sometimes

those Abu Dhabi cards have not been on pay-per-view here in America. Do you know if it's on pay-per-view? I believe it's pay-per-view in the UK, which is pretty rare, to be honest. Yeah. But it's going to be on UK time. And it's going to be catering to the fans in Europe. Which is great. It's great for me.

So let me ask you, when you met with the brass in Vegas around the time that we saw you, did you say, I want Abu Dhabi, I want Suril Ghan, and they delivered? Essentially, in other words, did they meet your demands on this one? Because you were ready to go, right? You wanted to get back in there. Yeah, so when did we see each other now? Late June, the day before International Fight Week, paper. Yeah, so I just said, listen, I want a fight as soon.

possible. Like, I'm ready to go whenever put me on the closest date that I can get on. Like, I'm ready to go. I've been ready to go for over a year. And I've been sitting on the sideline due to no fault of my own. And they said, look, there's a few cards coming up. They're all booked up. And the earliest one is, well, the earliest one was at the time is, there's one in October in Vegas. Is that correct? Early, early October. Yeah, October 4th. Yeah. They offered me that. and they offered me Abu Dhabi and they gave me a choice

which one I want I obviously chose Abu Dhabi for me Vegas well there's a few reasons would you like me to break it down for you?

Everything yes yes yes yes okay absolutely love Vegas as you know the problem with Vegas is it is so far away from the UK we're talking like

16 minimum hours traveling plus an eight hour time difference so that means you've got to leave home two at least weeks before plus American taxes on top

of it like I would rather fight in Abu Dhabi which is much closer much less travel time three hours difference from the UK the taxes are a lot lower I fought in Abu I fought in Vegas a few times as well but I fought in Abu Dhabi a few times and yeah it's just a lot

more accessible for myself my opponent and European fans which is great did you say I want surreal first title defense officially I said who do you want me to fight okay

and they said Cyrilgan and I said sweet I mean he was the only name I raised to fight absolutely anybody well we asked about well there's basically a few options

in the really at the moment there's like Gan Volkov or Almeida really right that's who was available at the time that the match was made.

So I said, I'll fight any of them. Don't worry about that. I said, what about Volkov? They said, well, Volkov's coming off a loss. I said, what about Almeida? They said, well, Almeida's got a bit more to do in terms of ranked appointments to fight. I said, what about Gan?

They said, well, he's basically the only one, so I said, sweet, is I'm mate. I've said from the beginning, I have not in the realm of, dodging fights at all like excuse me i am uh i'm i'm here to fight everybody and anybody and try my best and and that's it that's it man i mean i'm here to do work to fight people and while i'm while i'm involved in the sport that's what i want to do is i want to fight everybody and anybody that i possibly can well i i love this because it's a history between the two of you

you guys have sort of encircling each other and uh you referenced this in your video when the announcement was made. You said, you know, we've, we've had, I think you said, four opportunities to fight each other. This is this third crack at a belt. I'm going to make sure this is his last time ever fighting for a UFC heavyweight title. You said that, right? That's what I said. Yeah, yeah, that's correct. Yes. And then I had his head coach Fernand Lopez on the program. And, you know, it was all going kind of well, well, well, and then it started to get a little spicy on his part where he said that your talk has been annoying, that you've been whining that it's not true that you guys weren't in talks to fight you know three

four times in the past did you see any of these comments and did you have any sort of response to them uh well somebody told me about them i didn't see them i'm trying to try and stay off social media when i've got a fight coming up so yeah yeah i'm not like reading through all the time um my response to them is uh with all due respect um i respect coaches so much especially really high level coaches um But with all due respect, like his opinion is quite irrelevant to the situation. Like, I'm just telling the facts from what I know and my point of view. I'm not trying to get under anyone's skin or anything like that.

Like, that's the reality that I lived. But irrelevant to what happened or didn't happen. Like, that's in the past. And we're fighting each other now. We're fighting each other in October. So irrelevant to what anybody says, who's annoyed and who isn't annoyed and whose feelings are hurt and whose feelings aren't hurt. We're going to fight each other and settle it regardless.

So it doesn't, it's pretty irrelevant. with all due respect. One thing that I thought was really interesting, and I don't know if he was trying to play mind games, but he said there's never been more pressure on anyone than the pressure that will be on you come October 25th, because of all the talk over the past year of you being the real champ and John Jones ducking and all that,

you have to sort of validate all of this with a dominant win. What do you make of that statement? That's great because I fight really, really, really well under pressure. You know, there's a couple of types of guys I've been around my martial arts for my whole life near enough at this point and you know there's a guys who I've trained with

from my experience who in the gym are absolute killers absolute world beaters and they'll get in a fight and they'll just freeze up and it doesn't work like it does in the gym they fight way worse and there's other guys like myself

who are not that good in the gym but get under the lights get under the pressure with all the chips on the table and they get in there and do things that they would never be able to do in the gym and that is exactly what I do and I feel like that that's one of my biggest strengths

so anytime there's pressure on me that's when I've done my most devastating performances and if he believes that that's a fantastic thing for me so in other words if he's trying to put that pressure it's not going to work on you these mind games aren't going to work our talks just talk to be right doesn't matter like at the end of the day we're both going to take our shirts off get a pair of gloves on and go in there and see who wins on october 25th so uh his coach can like get his feelings hurt and get his knickers in a twist all he wants but it's not really going to change anything to be honest did you think i'd beat volkov when they fought now erio you know me if you ask me an honest question you going to get an honest answer.

Yes. And his coach is probably going to be pissed off with this. He seems like the type of guy who seems to be pissed off. But this is not a slant at Gann, but I thought, I did think he lost that fight, to be honest. Okay. I mean, I don't think that's an insult per se. Someone has to win.

Someone has to lose. And you're not the only one who thought. I did think he lost. I did think he lost. And I thought it was a good fight as well. And I'm not, I'm not trying to throw anybody under the bus here. Yeah, yeah. But if you're going to ask me a straight-up question, I think Volkov won that fight.

Yeah, and so that's why I think some people were upset when he got the title shot because they felt like he didn't do enough to earn it. He didn't do enough to get this. But the thing is, there's no one else. Al-Meda came on the show. He's been trying to get it, but he's fighting Volkov, so he probably, if he wins, would be next. I would imagine so. I think I like the way that they set that up.

It's like a winner-versies winner-type thing. I love that. That's cool. because for someone like myself who's not out of much direction for the last 12 months we have a bit of direction and a place to go

so that's fantastic man like I love that let's get the heavyweight division moving again let's get it going let's get some excitement in the division let's get these guys active and let's do something man heavyweight division needs to be great again

and I want to be the man leading that I want to be the guy active out there doing doing what I'm supposed to do and I'm fighting while I still can now i do have to ask literally a week after you become champion and everything seems to be moving in this direction donald trump announces that they're going to the white house and like a day later john jones says i'm back and now all the talk is i'm out of retirement i'm getting tested

did you chuckle at all this did you like like i mean literally days after all this goes down he says okay i'm back after all what do you make of all this oh mate it's just boring it's just so boring i don't i don't even have a comment on it it's boring i don't want to talk about it. Like you just probably rolled your eyes and moved on, right?

I've already got a fight so I'm focusing on that. That's the way that I like micromanaged things so well mentally is that like for the next 10 weeks of my life all I'm thinking about

is like Cyril Garne and how to beat him. Like even what like what he said about his coach what he said or I didn't say it doesn't matter because I'm fighting Cyril and that's all that matters really.

No matter what anybody said or don't or what's happened in the past is all pretty irrelevant at this point because we're going to fight each other and that's all that really matters. And I promise is the only other thing I'll ask about it. But now it's become John versus Tom would be the biggest fight ever at the White House. And even Dana has talked about it, that that would be the wish list. Is that something that you even think about or use as like a, oh, that could be a goal or because of the past year you won't allow yourself to even get too worked up over that?

Do you want me to be honest? Please. has spent zero seconds in my mind. Okay. That's it. That's it. I'm not interested, mate. Not interested.

And the world shouldn't be interested either because what's the point? There's just false hope. What about just you at the White House? Forget about him. Does that interest you? Um, not particularly. it doesn't not interest me

but it doesn't really interest me to be honest I'm not I'm not really fuss where I fight I'll fight anyway it doesn't really bother me it'd be a cool experience but I'm not like I feel like the Americans should get the shot

of the White House sure I'm not American Trump and the political's stance in America doesn't really bother me at all to be honest so yeah I'm not really like a big Trump supporter or I'm not against, like I don't know

anything about American politics. I'm not American. I don't live there. I don't reside there. I don't do anything there, apart from pay taxes and fight there. So really all of that stuff just is irrelevant to me, to be honest with you. In other words, you'd prefer Wembley, Tottenham Hotspur, Old Trafford.

Hey, if we could take Wembro, well, Old Trafford, you're talking to a bloody city fan. Oh, sorry, so I mean, you're kind of just sort of like a casual fan if we're being honest, no. In the Etienne Stadium. Okay, go on, I'm going to a game next week, actually. Oh, wow.

Your son got you into it, right? Yeah, and I follow, I follow, big fan. I'm following the big signings and everything. Wow. I'm enjoying it. What a difference. Okay, fine, Eddie had. How far away?

We just saw the heavyweight title, Usik versus Dubai, Wembley, how far away are we from this? Could it happen in your reign? It has to happen. What, me, me fighting at Wembley? A stadium show in the UK, they have the heavyweight champion. I don't know why.

Why is Dana so against the stadiums? going on? I don't know. I don't know, but he's doing Canello Crawford in a stadium in Vegas. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what's going on with him in the stadiums. I don't understand it. But maybe I'll ask him one day. Do you think you could sell out Wembley? Yes. Man. Is that, is that...

Not just me. Not just me. I think the UK. I think... Sure. Sorry, I think the UK fans would show up regardless. 100%. He's fighting. Just for UFC. I don't, I think it'll be sold out regardless. But, uh, I think I think I can... and my nose is very red there, isn't it? What's going on? Why is my nose so red?

You were just fighting. You were just training with people. No, I was doing strength and conditioning. Oh, geez. I didn't race it on the nose. I did this morning, to be fair. It's that, it's that vacation that you were just on. I saw the picture of you. It's beautiful. Looking off into the distance there. Where is that you took that picture? This one right here. I was it. Yeah, I was in Poland. I was in Poland on there.

That's Poland. Beautiful, man. That's Poland, man. Yeah, beautiful country. You love it. You light up any time you talk about Poland. yeah it's uh i mean i'm not the most well-traveled person ever do you know what i mean but i love i absolutely love poland it's uh i feel great there i love it i love everything about it why do you love it so much what about it um well i got family ties there first of all yeah yeah um that it feels like a second home when I'm there. Also, it's just a really like safe place, really peaceful. The people are nice. It's cheap. It's just, it's just nice and quiet, man. I just like, I just like it. It's just really nice. It looks beautiful. I don't want to keep you too long because you're in the car

with the dog and everything. So I just want to ask you about a couple of things and I'll let you go, okay? Yeah, oh, go. Don't worry, mate. We've got time. Okay, okay. I get stressed about this. I don't want you to hate coming on the show. You know, you give us so much of your time. How's your dad? doing, by the way. I've always got time for you. You know that. And the boys, not just you. The boys as well. I feel like the team gets overlooked. Yeah, why? Well, guys, what do you have to say

about that? I feel like you don't give enough credit to the... You don't give enough credit to the team, really, is what I'm saying. Finally, someone's speaking for it. Wow. I appreciate him. Tom's a man of the people. He knows the deal. What do you mean? What do you mean? I don't, I don't think you shout them out enough on the show to be on. They're not involved enough. That's so... They literally

have their own show. Like, they have their own show. I've seen it. I've seen it. You enjoy it? I'm not a regular watcher, to be honest. Connor, what do you think about that, Connor? Thursday's 6 p.m. Wiggin time. Don't worry, we'll get you lined up.

I've seen bits. I've seen bits. Don't worry. Don't worry about that. I've seen bits. But if you want, listen, if the boys want me to come on, I'm on. Wow. That's going to be our big breakthrough there.

That's going to be our big breakthrough. Wow. I'm on. You don't have to ask me twice. Like, these, like, these, like, What the viewers don't realize is Ariel doesn't really do much. He just shows up, ask the questions, that's it. The boys, the boys are doing the proper.

Wow, wow, wow. You know what? I don't actually disagree, to be honest. This is going to be the new intro to our show on Thursday. Just this clip right here. Hey, seriously, though, if you want me on, I'm on. Can I ask how Mr. Aspinall is doing? My father.

Yes. And the Aspinall. Yes. Yeah, he's doing great, man. He's doing really, really good. You know, we've got a, we're in full swing of camp now, so he's busy. We've got a lot of training partners coming. We've actually got some all-star training partners coming, some celebrity training partners.

Like who? But that's going to be on the YouTube channel. I'm not going to drop that on your show. So if you want to head over to the YouTube channel, Tom, I've been all official like and subscribe. There will be, uh, yeah, I mean, we're not talking about like celebrity kind of training. Those days are over. Do you know what I mean? The days of YouTube co-labs, that was a bit.

of a filler. But now on the channel we're going to have some high profile training partners. Okay, okay. I like this. It's going to be fun. We're still buzzing over his outfit in Vegas. Who? Andy's outfit. Vegas Andy was a vibe. I can't remember it to be honest. Oh, he's pink. He's wearing a black of pink shirts. Yeah, yeah, the shorts.

He looked great. Yeah. He looked great. What about Martin Boudet, your guy? What happened? yeah man i don't know i don't know we were uh we were trying to get him back oh really you worked hard behind the scenes yeah i mean we just asked a couple of questions and stuff when i say me i mean you know my dad tried to help him out a little bit yeah but uh it seemed like they made up the mind i don't know what's going on there uh martin i don't really get it to be honest because like he's ranked and he's winning yeah really get why they would want to do that and

yeah fair enough he's not getting like viral knockouts but hey that that I don't know because that last fight that guy just remind me of his name Marcus Buchetcher yeah Buchetcher sorry

excuse me I feel like they brought in Buchetcher to be like the new guy at heavyweight you know what I mean the heavyweight division isn't in the best state at the moment and as we would say in the Martin just pissed on the chips

there a little bit and just kind of ruined it so I don't know if they just didn't want to sign him because of that or I honestly don't know I don't understand it but you know Martin's a Martin's a good fighter man he's a friend of mine as well so I'm sure Martin is going to

I text him straight away and I was like I'm sure it's going to be a blessing in disguise you might not be able to see it now but maybe in the future well in the future something's going to come big of it I'm sure because Martin's a good quality fighter and he's still got a lot left to give it's not like he's like early 30s

which is really young for a heavyweight so I think I think Martin's either going to come back to the UFC or do something big in another organization well they just announced that he signed with Octagon and I was told for more money than he was making in the UFC so I know it's not all about the money but at least that's a win

and he'll be fighting for their belt he was their champion I think back in the day and he's fighting Will Flurry so they're doing big things over there Phil has enjoyed a great career with KSW so it's, you know, it's possible. I think so. I mean, there's definitely others out there, but I think the thing is, there's nothing quite like the UFC. I don't mean to be a company

man. I don't mean to be a bootlicker. I get it. I get it. No one likes a bootlicker. Everybody knows that we're not dropping any names here. We know who you're taking shots out, but I ain't going to take shots of my mate there. I'm not taking shots at my mate. What? I said, no one likes a bootlicker. No one likes, in general, that's a statement that I think applies to everyone. Good. I'm saying his name. He's my mate.

I'm not talking about anyone specific. You said bootlicker. I backed up your statement. I've only heard the term boot liquor from you. That's why. I did not. I'm not joking. I'm not joking. I learned about the word, the term bootlicker from you. Wow. Well, I'll take the credit, but I did not come up with the term just for the record. Okay, right. I can't you for Rembares. Yeah, but there's money to be made out there in other organizations, but there's nowhere quite like the UFC if you want to be recognized as the best in the world. By the way, is it raining into your car over there?

Yeah, so what I just, it's raining into the car. I just went to turn the engine on so I can close the windows, and then it started switching over to the audio on the car, so I'm just getting wet. Oh, no. All for you. Well, this is, okay, well, can I ask you, What's the deal with Mirro Krokoff? I saw him call you out.

Is he just having a laugh? My guy, Mirko, was just having the bans. Okay. Don't worry about that. So one of, so my training partner, Ante Delia, who's about to make his UFC debut, former PFL champion.

Yes. And he's fighting Tibor who's a guy ranked in the top 10 straight away. Like first fighting, and he's fighting a guy in the top 10, which is great. That's going to be great for Ante. Ante is a Croatian guy. Now I am also working with Ante and Krokop's coach, Krokoops coach, of course, Steve Pai.

So like their team has kind of like become part of our team as well. I've never actually met Krokoff in real life, but we spoke a few times on the phone and stuff. So yeah, we're just having a little joke outside, but what a legend, what legend. Well, I saw on the YouTube channel, you're back to training now after the sejourn, the vacation. 15 months, you say, to hell with ring rust. That doesn't apply to you. 300 sit-ups at the end of every workout.

Is that accurate? That's accurate. I mean, I've only been going a week. I've only been doing it a week. But yeah, I've been doing it. 300 straight or breaks? No, I do like 50 at a time. Take a 10-second break.

I do another 50, like that. That's not bad. and you go straight from the vacation no training into training like hardcore no I was training a little bit okay on the vacation nothing nothing crazy but that's like a regular thing for me to do because anybody who knows me knows that I am like

obsessive with training I absolutely love training and if I got a fight date and I'm quite far away from the fight I would start training like full blast straight away so to avoid that usually I go for like a week week vacay before we start the training camp so that's what I did just had like a week off like say I trained a little bit when I was there but nothing uh nothing nothing to brag about and then when we got back we started in the full camp last week and now we're in week two in conclusion

you have said that you would go on the boys in the back which is exciting news everyone in the chat is buzzing over this right now but uh people have noted that you didn't mention that you would go on the crack and we wonder if it's because ptzie rudely turned down the oasis tickets that you offered him. I did offer Pizzi Oasis tickets. It's not because of Pizzi. I feel like that's more that's more Andy Aspinall vibe

than it is Tom Aspinall vibe. Do you mean the crack? Oh, God. Not really. Well, my dad goes on the crack. You're more of an A.H. That's his bag. Yeah, I'm more of an A.H

And the boys in the back kind of guy. Okay. I'll leave I'll leave that's his turf that's Andy Aspenol's turf I don't get

I don't beef with Andy do you know what I mean I don't stay away from I stay away from beefing with Big Andy if I can so I'll let him do his thing on his side of the pond and I'll stay over on mine

but why didn't you go to the Oasis concert you already know why I already told you privately I'd rather I'd rather not say Because I couldn't help notice Pep Guardiola there

And I was like Well where is you know Where's the big man The people's chat And Jack Grealish is there also Yeah Yeah Grilish is also

There's a big star in the UK Yeah Yeah I don't live with regrets But that might be That might be one Do you know what I'm not going into it

I'm not going into it On the show You can tell that yourself I'll rather I'll leave that off I just, when I saw them all there, I was like, wouldn't it be nice to see Tom rubbing elbows with the Manchester elite? Well, maybe next time.

Okay. You know the, you know the worst bit? You want to know the worst bit? Yes. Is I had to text Noel Gallagher. Oh, gosh. And tell him that I'm not gone. And, yeah, disappointing.

Disappointing. And then you said, good news. I got my mate, Pizzi going, and then he said no, too. Beattie was over with you guys, weren't he? He was over in New York. Yeah, yeah. Well, we were talking about it, me and Pizier, and he said that you really like to go. So I was like, listen, I've got some tickets there if you want to go.

Like two, two, I had four tickets, and I gave two away. So I had two left, and then, but Pizzi turned me down. Yeah. Oh, well, next time. Next reunion tour, they'll do it again at some point. I would imagine they will How does it go down October 25th

England versus France Finally Tom Aspnell versus Surreal Gun It's emblazoned on the shirt Two minutes and two seconds It's right there We're taking the under We're taking the over

What are you feeling? Over Over I might do like off brand I might go off brand this time And go like Five round snooze fest Oh yeah

I think That's good That's good I think that's good for business Off, just jabber move, jabber move, that's it. Okay. So that's what I'm going to do. That's what I'm going to do.

Jabba move, five rounds. Perfect. All right, well, we look forward to that. That should sell a lot of pay-per-views. Listen, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Well, technically this one matters, by the way, just for the record. It's the next one that won't matter.

Unless you come back in December. Is that part of the plan as well? You're going to get two in this year? It's top secret. Okay, all right. Oh, wow. So I'll keep it to myself. But the people will know.

The people will know sooner or later. All right. Tom, you're a gent. Thank you so much. Appreciate you very much. Good to have you back. We missed you. We appreciate...

We need to get that back, by the way. Listen, I was actually... I'm looking forward to hearing that ring out through stadiums again. Oh, yes. It's been a long time. Abu Dhabi is going down because... Trust me, when I tell you, the Brits love the UAE. The Brits are moving.

The Brits are moving to the UAE all the time. There's loads in Dubai. It's not even that much of a trip. So that's going to be ringing out again in Abu Dhabi. You'll be well represented. I can't wait. It's going to be great. By the way, for a minute, your dog just looked at the camera

and I thought it was an actual human being staring at me. Because it's a little darker now. I don't think you like you that much. I don't think so. I don't think he likes the sound of my voice, to be honest. No. Something about the Jews and the Germans, you know? I'm kidding. That's a bad joke. Yeah, it was bad.

Yeah, it was bad. I think we'll leave it on that. We'll leave it on that before you get cancelled. Thank you. Thank you, Tom. You're the man. Much love. And appreciate you and good luck in training, and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you, guys. Speak soon. All right, there he is. The great Tom Aspinall. What a guy. Everyone very excited about this appearance. I see this in

The, uh, there's a big mistake on Tom to, uh, to say that. We will cash that in. Oh my gosh. Honorary boy in the back, Tom Aswan. Shut up. What a rash guard he's got there. Yeah, that looks incredible. I love that it's a one-on-one, too.

Unless I saw that, I said that. I was like, damn, that's, that's looking kind of good. I was at Target yesterday in, um, in, uh, in, in, in, uh, Glens Falls, New York. Glens Falls, New York. You guys know that? No. No. Um, you don't, um, you don't, um, you don't, um, you don't,

don't know Glens Falls? Nah. Waterfalls that Glenn owns? Home of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, right next to Lake George, New York. You guys never been to Lake George? I've been to Lake George. Saratoga Springs.

Saratoga Springs, I know. Yeah, yeah. Tarotoga. TST. TST, loves it. Anyway, we went to Target, and they had a whole champion section. Any Tom stuff?

Any Tom stuff? No, no, no, no, no. Katie Taylor stuff? No, no, no, no, no, no. Although I did, I do think I saw Katie Taylor stuff stuff one of these days. Maybe I'm wrong. Target the official carrier of champion.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice. Yeah, oh, is that true? No, I have no idea. Oh, okay, I thought you were reading that somewhere. No, no, no, no, no, Dr. Glenn's false. Man, I'm excited to see Tom back in there. Are you kidding me?

What's the line? Two minutes? No, no, no, he just said 25 minutes. I know, but what are we taking the over? We're taking the under? What are we doing? Under. Yeah?

Yeah. I'm going to take the over, but still in the first round. Yeah, it's going to be. I'm taking, wait, you're taking the over but first round. Yeah, yeah. I'm taking, hmm. I think May the best man went I'm taking the Salt Poppy route

What's the Sal Poppy route? Just pretty much, you know, sit on the fence Yeah, yeah, salt did some heavy fence sitting Yes Luke Rockold, Darren Till I like both guys I like both guys Well, who do you think is gonna actually win? He's a nice boy

Don't hate on my boys off They're both really nice Draw Do we have any super chats We do And Sammy starts us off with Itama versus white. Why does it sound so loud, by the way?

What sounds so loud? I don't know. Just everything in general sounds a lot? Yeah, yeah. You want to turn down your headphones? No, just like this sounds like there's a lot of like air, hot air. That's my attitude. No, you see like right now when you did that.

Yeah, I hear it too. Yes, it's very loud. It's like, should I not talk? No, no. Do you hear it, Frank? A little bit. I mean, like, you, am I crazy?

No, I mean, it's not. Oh, now. It's room tone. No, it's not that loud, usually. Do I have room tone? You do have room tone. Can we read these? Okay, go ahead.

Sammy says, Atama versus White, then DDP versus Homsah. What a night. What a freaking night. Moses of Tomah versus Dillon. That was great wordplay. Yeah. Toma White, what a night?

Oh. Yeah, that's during the day on Saturday on the zone. I don't even think it's behind the paywall. This is like a, no, I don't mean paywall. I mean pay-per-view. This is a little MMA-esque matchmaking. Like Atama is still so young, 20, I think, up top of my head. And to fight a guy like Dillion White this soon in his career, it's a killer-be-killed fight.

He's a big favorite going into the fight, right? I think he's a big favorite. Let me see here. Last I checked, Moses. What a name also, of course. Who could forget when I saw him on the Champs of Lizet. Around this time last year, actually, at the Olympics, he saw me from afar. Minus a thousand.

Minus a thousand against Dillian White. I see minus 1,200. Yeah. I'm seeing as big as minus 1350. To win by knockout, cheap as you can get them is minus 450. Wow. Yeah, just 20. But if you look at his previous, it's minus 8,000, 8,000, 10,000, 5,000. This is actually the smallest. 4,000, 1,000, 1,6,000, 4,500, and then 1,500. This is actually the smallest against Dillion White, legend of the game. So yes, I'm looking forward to it. And I think that UFC 319 is a great card. But isn't it

weird? Like the C.O. and the president of TKO this morning is saying pay-per-view is dead and antiquated. And so if you're a fight fan, how do you bring yourself to pay that $79999 on Saturday? They just told you it's old and antiquated. Because you care about that

fight the same way. But even if they don't, even if the fans don't pay for these last couple of pay-per-views, the ink's dry. The deal is done. They're moving on. Yeah. It's all good.

All right. What else? What else? It'd be funny if they come out and all of a sudden we're like, yeah, and those Apex shows are bullshit too. Oh, my God. They just really open it up. Do we, okay.

Were you about to say something, Frank? It's, it's giving me a headache every time he comes on. What are you talking about? Every time it's like, ugh. Will Apex shows be a part of this or will our new leader, David Ellison, say, No, fuck that Apex shit, man. I trust in D.E. to put some new seats in the Apex and get things going there. What else? What the hell are you guys talking about? They're going to be in the Apex all day.

What do you think? What do you think? Mark Shapiro must be the greatest negotiator ever. Shout to Jakinator. That's a nice emblem there. The Android logo wiping its boat with the Apple logo. It's classic stuff there. Shout out to Jaconator. He was just holding the Apple emblem. Like, maybe they're showing... No, no, he's clearly right in his ass with it. I think there's a lot of people involved in these deals. I think obviously Mark Shapiro's involved, no doubt about it.

Harry Manuel is one of the most powerful people in the history of entertainment. And Nick Kahn as well, as I said yesterday. Oh, no, not yesterday. Last week, I think he's one of the most, if not the most important people in that whole thing. Believe it or not. He's the one who has been working with these broadcast entities over the last 10, 15 years. He's the one that's been doing all these deals. because he was on the agent side of things

and then he was on the he wasn't on the rights and excuse me he wasn't on the talent side only he was on the right side as well what I mean by rights he was also doing deals for entities WWE and and Peacock and all this stuff and many many others

I think they well CA I know did the PFEL ESPN deal point is he was touching all of this and so he was in contact with all these people all the executives and so it is such a powerful team they are extremely extremely powerful and I think that they all

were involved in something like this something as big as this but also you know like to say it was just one guy and I don't think it was just one guy okay Frank what else Jakeinator also said DC and Shell

go independent or joins on Crown oh free agents free agents Jake Nader 722 with a Devil's Super Chat. Love it. What does this mean for ESPN's brand new show? Good guy, bad guy.

I see a lot of promos for that one. Yes. Do they still call it brand new? Or is it no longer brand new? No, for RCDC. It was brand new for like a year and a half. Check out ESPN's newest. Yeah, it was DC.

No, it was DCRC, but it always made more sense to call it RCDC. Because of ACDC. Shout out to that show. But D.C. being the egomaniac that he was, always had to have his initials first. Crazy. Crazy. Listen, you know, we have a very, very talented and robust roster here. We've got a full slate of shows, of course. But, you know, if they want to talk about a potential reunion of sorts, certainly I do think our representatives would be open to that.

But that's not to suggest that we are looking elsewhere, looking to add very happy with, I love listening to those investor calls, you know. Yeah, we're doing the PR spin. They choose their words so wisely, like so carefully. That's what I was doing there. But anyway, I love DC. Stock prices on the line. You got to, you know, we're in the stretch drive.

We're in the home stretch. They get up there and just, it's kind of a song. It's a dance, you know. But yes, it is unclear at this time what Daniel Corman. and Chal Sondon will do in their next chapter, but certainly we have the highest of respect for them, and certainly we are open to talking to them, and we think that in due course,

the market will sort of bear itself out, and we will find ourselves in a very favorable and admirable situation for all parties involved. It looks like you're looking down in a notepad. I'm just staring at my Josh Allen. You did that well, though. Well, thank you. I like that.

Appreciate it. And the emphasis on just random words. Yes, yes. We're excited for the market, reveal everything that's going on. Well, as you guys know, the fight business is often volatile. What we most appreciate about a deal like this is that we don't have to spare any expense. All the onus and the risk is on our partners.

And what we really think is exciting about a deal like this is that it really diversifies our, assets as we take a look at the next chapter and our global domination as far as combat sports are concerned we really feel like we are at the forefront we are at the and it's just like okay okay what are we getting in the multi-level marketing scam fucking uh what else it just sounds like you could never trust someone that speaks like that finally ufc is not the most expensive sport to watch what is we'll have to ask okay find out later i don't know actually actually Actually, what is? Yeah, what is the most expensive?

Boxing? I guess, yeah, probably at this point. I guess if you're talking about DeZone this. Pay for the zone, pay for the zone, pay-per-view. By the way, what does this mean for our friends at Top Rang? Do they, you know, there was maybe a little talk of them, Paramount? I don't know. What's going on?

By the way, I saw a top rank, several of their fighters competing on the Spence, Spence, Crawford-Conello card. Christian Bili, my favorite, on the Crawford-Cinello card. Vargas Jr. on the Crawford-Connello card. Jared Anderson, fighting on Fight Week. Jared Big Baby Anderson, one of their brightest prospects. I know he lost about a year ago, but what does that mean? Maybe that means that they're just trying to keep their guys active, but interesting that they would be on a ZUFA boxing card considering the history between Top Rank and Zufa. Yeah. But I'm excited that in Bealey. Calum Wall.

in the in the chief support yeah you had to know that was coming yeah that was coming yeah that was coming why are we down a little bit is that just a sign that we're rounding third here I feel like when we call the super chats you can kind of yeah relax let the let the chair down a little bit get back to the cruising altitude sure sure sure anything else Frank do you think do you think paramount plus will raise their monthly price now that's been that's been discussed so it's 799 1299 what do you guys think you have to absolutely it's going to go up a little bit When you spend $7 billion On top of the $8 billion

They just pay to merge Sure Didn't they pay like 1.5 billion for South Park Yes That's crazy They paid a lot They're spending Is that weird that South Park is on the same platform now

As the UFC Because aren't they like sort of like anti-Trump Oh I don't think of it's South Park? Yeah What does that have to do with you? I think South Park is anti- Everyone It just seems like

Like when Dana said he's a fan of South Park I was like, really? So you're a fan of the show that makes fun of your friend? Yeah. He's just having a laugh. I wouldn't watch that show. If someone made a show

making fun of you guys, I would not watch it. You would watch it and be texting us. There's no chance. I would actually watch it because I would watch it. Wow, that's so crazy.

Did you see the new episode or they dunk on you? Wow. I wouldn't be able to believe that someone made a show making fun of us because no one cares about us enough to do that.

Oh, man. Don't worry. When we get that Tom Aspin on interview, it's all going to change. Oh, yeah. It's going to be crazy By the way, Tom, Tom is going to come on your show, like, in his nice studio headset, pro-mic. Yeah, for sure.

I get Tom sweaty in the car. You asked. Are you getting rained on? We're getting Tom in. Okay, just a few more questions. We're going to fly Tom in. I was going to say, we're going to fly Tom in for sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

It'll all map out perfectly. What else, Frank? What else? Mike D, I say Fluffy, is the 185 Kane Velasco's. Thoughts? Interesting. I don't hate it. I mean,

A little more rugged, a little rough around the edges. By the way, like three super chats ago, you said it was the last one. No, I didn't. But I don't hate it. What else, Frank? The last one. No, I see there's two more. Sammy?

Why do you even ask? The last one, according to Super Producer Jordan. Okay. Don't throw anyone under the bus here, Frank. Great analysis on new UFC deal crew explanation point. Thank you. I think it was a great. day and I appreciate it but I see a ton more by the way can I not answer them or what

yeah man you just do what you want to do well I see this from aunt Evans had a business zoom meeting so wearing my one nice shirt now it's ruined because I spat coffee all over it due to Ariel's amazing World War II dad joke I don't know if it was a dad joke yeah or just a banger banger feels a little bit too far but I mean it was just a joke yeah I think it was dad took nine likes on the super chat from Big Ann Evans Yeah Shout out to Big Ann.

He pulls in the numbers Um Here's Mr. C photographs Jones wanted his DQ loss removed Due to the rule change Over a decade after it happened Does that mean TKO will give us refunds Since pay-per-views are dead

Hmm I don't get it I mean I understand it But I do Seems unlikely What is to understand Did you consume the product already Yeah what is that?

Devin Granitz, 781, ESPN Plus removed all older fights. The only fights on there is the last pay-per-view. Well, you can actually go back to, like, UFC 298, which is why we selectively didn't take that super check. Well, no, because I remember when that was the thing, though. I remember when everyone was tweeting about this. Like, all the fuck is we? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I was told it was just because they're, like, moving the platforms. I wonder how long USBN has rights to some of that footage and things. And what the future is for the archives of UFC, whether it's Fight Pass or Paramount get some version of that interesting times ahead. I'm not personally somebody who goes back and watches a ton of archival stuff, but I know it's very valuable for people who want to do like tape study and things like that. Yes. There is another question regarding the UFC's future with T&T sports. and I remember them. Yes, one second.

T&T Sports. A lot of fact. I remember when they announced it in that studio was around the time Leon fought Kamar Oussman for the third time. Oh, you know, was that? Was that 23? UFC announces deal with.

with T&T Sports. All the things that are popping up here are about today's announcement. Anyone have this? I remember when they when they announced it definitely come on. Where is it?

T&T sports interested. No, no. Why is this? UFC signs deal with B, T, T, T, T, sport that was the name before okay three-year deal in 2013 you see extended its media rights deal the monthly will see BT according to sports business journal okay this is 2022 BT Sport has officially extended its UFC media rights deal as the sports exclusive broadcaster in the UK and Ireland the multi-year pack features all live events including numbered plus doesn't say the amount of years trying to help you guys out here

and no one's helping me out Let's see, BT Sport, the deal includes. There's definitely, I would say, I think there's two years left. But that was one person. I'm sorry if I can't give you, I don't know why this is so hard to find. It's tough.

Yeah, yeah, it is very tough. That was from Zoe Bowden. Will it be the same in Canada too, or will Canadians have to pay for UFC pay-per-views? So Canadians still have their Roger Sportsnet deal. And that only started at the beginning of last year. So you still got a waste to go there. So this doesn't affect you guys.

But again, like I said, once it becomes available in all the different entities, what they liked about the WWE deal and what I'm sure they will try to do with UFC is have all the deals align. That makes it a lot easier. So as the world gets smaller in terms of like the platforms and everything becomes a lot more global, it will be much better for everyone involved on the TKO UFC side of things if everything aligns, all the deals align.

Quick follow-up? Yeah. So if it's still pay-per-view in some territories and then not here, like, do you think that affects the way that the show is laid out at all? Like, do you keep some things exclusive? I don't know if this makes sense when I'm asking.

Yeah. Do you want to try to rework that one? or yeah we'll come back to workshop it okay Jason Haggholm says CBS about to have the UFC

and a Buffalo Bill's dynasty what a time I did watch episode one of Hard Knocks anyone watch that no I guess not really enjoyed it I really enjoyed it

and my son Walter enjoyed it as well he watched it with me as we were sharing a pull-out couch bed at my in-laws in Montreal it's great

it's great accommodations and Or if they're watching right now. We watched. Sure, my back is broken, but we watched it and enjoyed it very much, and it was great to see, look, I'm still concerned about the distractions and about all that

stuff, and the people say there's a curse, but it's fun to see the bills in that light. The last super chat that I see is from the gout trout, who asks any info on the sad deaths of the two Japanese boxers. This is a horrific story. Our guy, Darshan, wrote about it

over on uncrown.com. Shigotoshi Kotari and Hiromasi Urakawa both died following brain injuries suffered in separate fights earlier this month. Kotari and Urukawa boxed on a bill promoted by Akihiko Honda's Tekken promotions at the fame Corrician Hall in Tokyo on the 2nd of August. Kotari lost consciousness after battling to a 12-round draw with Yamoto Hata, The Japanese boxer was rushed to a local hospital for emergency brain surgery for a subdural hematoma. Kotari's condition failed to improve and his death was confirmed on Friday.

That was confirmed by the WBO. Irikawa lost by technical knockout on the eighth and final round to Yoji Saito. He collapsed shortly after his defeat and was taken to the hospital to undergo a crannotomy to treat an acute subduro hematoma. Eurekawa succumbed to his injuries Saturday. And that was also announced by the WBO. How the fuck? Two deaths from the same card. Neither Boxer had shown signs of physical problems heading into their respective bouts. Horrific, horrific stuff. And we send our condolences to their families. That's as far as the info that we have is concerned. Darshan did report

late last week that Boxer has signed with BBC, although it remains to be clear how many shows will be on the BBC. Boxer is the third biggest, I would say. boxing promotion in the UK under, obviously, Queensberry and Match Room. They were on Sky Sports, Sky now no longer home to any boxing promotion. The question is, how many will air on BBC? They've made clear none will air on the main BBC channel, but BBC 2, 3, BBC Sport. There's the IPlayer, which is their streaming platform. And so it's good that they have a home.

You want them to thrive and be as successful as possible, but it remains to be seen how many shows, how many of their fighters will stay with Boxer, how many of them were tied to the Sky Sports deal, and is there any sort of rights fee attached to this, or is this a time buy? Still some details up in the air, and also, by the way, there's talk that it's a one-year deal, is that enough? it's it's interesting times for boxer it's interesting times as far as the world of sports media is concerned and what a day it has been my friends what a day it has been the ufc and paramount agreeing to a seven-year deal worth seven point seven billion dollars if there was any doubt at this point that the ufc and mMA in particular are our our mainstream this eliminates any doubt on CBS, on Paramount Plus, $7.7 billion, $1.1 billion a year, no more pay-per-view, double their yearly fee from $5.50 to $1.1 billion. And I'm sure there's so much more that's to come in the future

regarding this deal and where it all goes from here. But the great mystery has been solved, and we'll have plenty more time to react to it all over the course of this week and the following weeks. So now it's going to be a lot of fun to see how it all shapes up. Remember when Bellator moved over to Spike, there was all this talk, like, what's going to be on the first show? What's going to be on the first show? Well, now I can't wait to see how they break this open, how they debut it. And let's pour out a little whiskey for the worldwide leader who had a great run, I would say, as far as the UFC on ESPN is concerned, near and dear to our hearts. We were a part of those early days.

and now of course they have a little less than four months left so it'll be interesting to see how that winds down and how quickly things change at one time they were the new kid on the block as far as UFC is concerned taking over from Fox and now it is on to a new era all right we are out of time

unless there's anything else we need to get to I guess not I guess that's it Let me see, I always have like a running list of things here after a busy weekend. Ah, did you guys see this from Jake Peacock? Did you guys see this? Jake Peacock, an unbelievable talent fighting under the one championship banner. Look at this. One arm. Nine, five, eight.

that's ridiculous with the elbow holy smokes that is hard 958 is absurd kudos to him tomorrow on the program we're going to have several guests I'll tell you about them tomorrow but I can't tell you

Carlos Pratchez is going to join us Chris Duncan as well coming off his big win and we're workshopping through others Wednesday is going to be a great show too more on that later I appreciate everyone who tuned into our show with Paul Heyman and DDP. And we did get the kid AI thing of myself and Paul Heyman talking to each other. Did you guys see that on social media?

Myself, Paul Heyman, as young children talking to each other, it was incredible. There he is. Look at this guy. That's Paul. And that's me. Sand's beard. Lovely stuff. We love you all.

Thank you, Tom Aspinall. Thank you, Anthony Hernandez. Thank you, Saul, Poppy. Thank you, Elijah Smith. Thanks to you. Thanks to them. Back on Tuesday, same time.