The Ariel Helwani Show - Tom Aspinall's reign begins, UFC Abu Dhabi preview, Hulk Hogan remembered, Ali Act amendments | The Craic

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

Petesy Carroll is joined by Chuck Mindenhall to discuss the latest in combat sports, beginning with a reflection on the legacy of the late Hulk Hogan (06:46).They then dive into Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane. What are the key storylines heading into the matchup, and could this be the start of the Aspinall era? (21:36)Looking ahead to UFC Abu Dhabi, Robert Whittaker takes on the streaking Reinier de Ridder, and Shara “Bullet” Magomedov returns to action. Petesy and Chuck close out the show by breaking down their favorite matchups on the card (52:44).

Welcome everybody, it is the crack, it is Friday! You know what happens on Friday, it's me, it's P.T. Carroll, and it's all you beautiful crackheads. And we have a wonderful show for you today. You've probably seen the thumbnail. Kind of a big deal, shout out Oven. Tom Aspillin's beautiful crown. You know, as his heavyweight era gets underway October 25th against his European rival Cyril Gant. A storied rivalry, despite them never having fought.

A lot of people are down on it. I understand that. You know, they want the Jones. We all want the Jones. I get it. I personally really want the Jones too. In case you didn't notice. But yes, Tom Aspyn will be Cyril Gan.

We're going to zoom in on that later on the show. We've also got a lot to talk about because UFC Abu Dhabi is happening tomorrow. And that is fantastic for me personally, as a man living on the European clock because they're nice and early. It's even later there than it is here. I mean it's 6pm here now I think it's 9pm in Abu Dhabi. The lads will be getting tucked into their beds getting ready to tear the heads off each other tomorrow which is always fantastic. It's also been the death of Hulk Hogan.

Ariel did a great job of talking about this yesterday with the boys in the back. Of course I am not a massive wrestling fan. I as a child, of course, was a big Hulk Hogan fan, more of an ultimate warrior guy, if I'm being completely honest, but obviously a massive icon, perhaps the biggest icon in the history of pro wrestling. And we'll be talking about that. We'll also be touching on the revival of the Muhammad Ali Act. It is very early doors at this and there are people much better than me who can talk about legal aspects and what this can mean. We're just going to give it have a have a little chat about it,

because it seems like it's it's attempting to do something quite bold and big within boxing, essentially allow the same infrastructure within the UFC to happen in boxing and that usually can happen because of the Ali. So we'll be talking about that, too. infrastructure within the UFC to happen in boxing. And that usually can happen because of the Ali X. We'll be talking about that too. But let me tell you, it is a twosome this week because Ben folks is off galvanting around New York. And we'll talk about that a bit more in a minute, but let me first

introduce my wonderful friend and the best goddamn feature writer in the history of MMA, Mr. Chuck Mendenhall. Chuck, how are you buddy? I like that you can say that now that Ben isn't here. Yeah, this is great. I am the best when Ben's not here. This is good.

Hey, that's not a five o'clock shadow. That's like, that's more like a eight o'clock, you know, dinner time type thing. Isn't it? You got going on there. Yeah, it's, it's, it's becoming substantial. Like, I don't know. I don't want to, to have a beard, but I also need to protect my double chin a bit. You know what I mean?

I feel like I'm at the age now where I just, I'm at the weight, should I say, where I just need to grow enough to sharpen up that profile. Like I see the lads who grow the, the beards where it gives them like a longevity. It gives them a new chin. I don't want to go there. I've got quite a, you know, I've got quite a substantial jaw. So I don't think I need that. But it looks good. Looks good. Thank you. I'll tell you know, I've got quite a substantial job. So I don't think I need that. But it looks good.

Looks good. Thank you. That tell you what else looks good. That beautiful hat you're wearing. Yeah, baby. You get such a wonderful hat. Yeah, this is, uh, this is the one you gave me in New York and, uh, I'll leave it at that, but it's a, it's a very nice hat, man.

I appreciate it. Beautiful. It's it looks fantastic on you, sir. Um, before we get into these topics, let's talk about Ben for a second here because, uh, you know, he's like, uh, you know, he's an enigma, this man. And, you know, obviously I was in New York two weeks ago and, you know, I'm giving it all I'm giving away all I'm I'm in there in the studio with the guys. Um, I've come bearing gifts. I get the crack catered.

Of course you were all there for this joke. You know, this is true. Uh, try delicious sandwiches. Yes. Thank you. Shout out Joe DeRosa, uh, this is true. Troy, delicious sandwiches. Yes. Thank you. Shout out Joe DeRosa, Joey Rose is the name of the place. They were fantastic. But you know, I'll put myself out there, you know,

trying my best to ingratiate myself to these wonderful people, including Andy, who's on the ones and twos today, cause on air Jordan, another vacation. Can't believe it, but it's true. So, you know, doing my best and this is great. And you know, feel good about it. Get home.

Like, yeah, I think we're closer than ever. I come on to do the show on Wednesday and the excitement throughout. I could feel it through this computer. The excitement I could feel. All of them. All of them absolutely buzzing. I was like, what? What's going on here?

And then like New York Rick shouts, Ben was here today. And I was like, oh, cool. You know, I was like, oh, you know, I really like Ben. That's, that's cool. That's cool that he was here. Then Ariel. Wow. You should feel how strong he is.

I touched his back. That guy is so ripped. Right. So I'm like, oh, cool. Yeah. Yeah. He's, you know, that's cool that he's, he's lovely and strong. Next of all, GC.

Oh, you shake this guy's hand. It's like a machine. You need to rip my fucking hand off. He's so strong. I'm like, oh, that's amazing. Finally, on air, Jordan, who's on vacation, by the way, he says he was wearing a really cool T-shirt to his like a mess T-shirt with the misfits. Right. And I did see that that was a nice shirt. What the fuck do I have to do to get any kind of love around here?

No one. No one is this excited for P.C. Carol. This guy, you know, no shows his own call main event podcast. I will say yes, because I was filling in for him with a great chat. And then he just rolls in here. He's in New York, not showing up for the crack and everybody is just besotted with him. I'm sick of this guy. Yeah. Sick of him. I know when I was in there, I was like, where's Pizzi? I haven't seen him, haven't seen him. And then like, have you checked the janitor's closet? And sure enough, that's where you were. That's where they set me up for the week. I, you know, I was quite happy in there, dude. Well, good.

I'm glad Ben got the reception. I wasn't sure if he was going to make his way into the studios or not. Um, why wasn't he on the show? What's going on with that? Like, uh, that would have been kind of fun to see him on the shows there. They probably had it all set up. And then he just at the last second was like, Oh no, I don't want to do this. And walked out and everyone's like, that's kind of how he rolls.

Isn't it? And it was like, wow, Ben, that's such a Ben thing to do. What a great guy. That's he does more Irish goodbyes than you ever have. I'll tell you that right now. I know that from experience. I think you'll find most people would say the problem with pizza is trying to get him to leave.

That's the real problem. It's not him leaving. It's like, when is he going to fucking leave? That's the problem with this guy. I suppose we should talk about some sports here. We might as well. At Abu Dhabi tomorrow, of course, Robert Whittaker against RDR in the main event. And would you believe they weighed in successfully?

Look at these boys in their pants getting on this scale. I mean, absolutely fantastic. There he is. Damn, he looks good. Yeah. See the way he's grown out the extra chin beard. That's like, yeah, this guy, yeah. Sunglasses on.

It's a good fight, man. It's gonna be fun. It's a great fight. And we're going to talk about it later on. We're going to talk about all these cards. Chuck even spoke to the great Robert Whitaker this week, so we can talk all about that. But yesterday, Chuck, we got the news about Hulk Hogan, I think the most iconic pro wrestler of all time. Certainly a guy I was introduced to very early on as a young kid as a toddler, my cousin Sean had Hulk Hogan all over his walls and all this stuff.

And I was immediately like, wow, who is this? I need to know everything about this guy. Obviously become quite a controversial figure later on in life. But you were an absolutely brilliant article on Hulk Hogan, Terry Bollea. Yesterday, I came out on on Crown and I'll tell you what, I went to the gym this morning just to do as I usually do. and lads in the gym were like, wow, Chuck's article. That's brilliant. Like when I was like, that's exactly how I feel about this.

What Chuck wrote down. That is how I feel, which I think is a great compliment to get as a writer. But your own experience with Hulk Hogan, I thought was so interesting the way you put it down the article. Like, tell tell me a bit about it. Well, that, you know, when this happens, this type of thing happens. It's always so shocking, even though, you know, I, I feel like he's been kind of rude health for a while. Um, and, but you always think that it's not, it's not life threatening.

You don't really know much about what's going on, but I gotta be honest over the years and it probably goes back. Even before he was in hot water with his racist remarks, sex tape, all that stuff. Like you just stopped kind of paying attention, you know, um, because you, it's all, it's like that thing, like don't ever meet your heroes type thing. You don't want, you don't want to dig too deep, you know? And so when all that stuff was happening, I'd already long been turned away and you just feel like, ah, man, that's just what a crazy thing to have happened

to the guy when this type of thing happens, of thing happens, you naturally start to remember, you know, you're like, you're like, my God, what a huge part of my childhood, you know, this guy was, um, and so they asked us to write something. I know Ben was working on everybody on the team. I mean, we all cranked out something and it was, I have to say, that was one of the craziest days for the page because we had like what, seven or eight pieces all in, including Ariel, I'm talking about it with the boys, like just really tremendous, all different angles.

But for mine, I was just, I was like, what do I, what do I have to say about him other than he was everything in your childhood? You know what I mean? So I just kind of thought of it from that prism, like where you're, you're, you're remembering and I was like, I don't even know if there's enough here to write a piece, but as I was writing, I'm like, oh, there's tons, I could go on and on and on about this guy because he was that ubiquitous to the, not just the, um, not just to the, like

the eighties and the nineties, you know, but to America, like I felt like he was just this American institution. He was bigger. You know, there were things that came through, um, Rubik's cube or, you know, whatever it is, whatever it is, like he was bigger than that. He was bigger than, I try to point this out in the mall. Like he was bigger than, um, you know, anything going on at that time. He was just part of the fabric.

And what starts to happen is people are so secure and loving them. It was so ubiquitous. There were people just ripping off their shirts and flexing their 24, you know, even though they had like four inch, you know, pythons, they were kissing their, you know, they're doing all that stuff. That every time I'd see him, he was fighting some jobber, man, he's beating guys like Gilbert

Guerrero or, you know, like, you know, guys who you may have heard of, uh, David Schultz, you know what I mean, guys like that. And you're like, what if he loses? And I started really rooting for this. Like, I want to see what the world does if he loses, you know? And to me, like it was just, that's what I remember thinking about it all the time. Like wrestling was like the strange thing as a kid, you weren't sure if it was real.

You were pretty sure it wasn't, but there are all these people who insisted it was, you know? So it was like this, you're caught in this, um, this land of maybe make believe, but he was such a, such a figure man that he dominated those days. And I was thinking about that. And I was like, I just remember being like, is this the time he loses? And it was almost like when I remember making this comparison when Anderson Silva was at the height of his, um, height of his run, that 16 fight win streak in the UFC where he had all the title defenses and he would, when he would come out with his

entire entourage and he was making the walk and you'd be like, it felt like a Jenga puzzle, like you were like, it was like, is it going to tilt? Or is this the time it tips over? And I remember thinking, this kind of reminds me of the, of the Hulk Hogan thing back in the day where you're like, when can this possibly, is this the moment it ends? You know, you knew it wasn't going to happen against somebody like David Schultz, but you knew it would end eventually and ended up being Andre the

giant, but it was just, he was just a huge part of it. And to lose something like that, it just feels like you lost something of your life experience in the end. I mean, you preserve it, but it's somebody who played that big of a role in your childhood is no longer there. You feel it, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

There's a great piece of the article when you're talking about your friend, young friend of yours, like swearing was all his life. I remember that. I remember that as clear as yesterday. It's like, I can remember this kid just arguing, you know, that it's real. And I was like, I was kind of on the side. He was arguing with somebody else, but, uh, I just remember this argument taking place, it must've, it felt like it went on for an hour, probably was like a five

minute conversation, you know what I mean? But I still remember the kid. I was like, I even mentioned on the piece, Mike Rutledge, what a strange thing. And he's like, all of these conversations seem to generate around Hulk Hogan, right? Like he is, he is getting these kids to watch. So the reason they're so affronted by someone suggesting that he actually isn't fighting, like that is like the craziest shit they've ever heard. They're like, what are you talking about, man?

He lifted Andre to joint. What are you talking about, dude? And I mean, like, you know, you look at, so there, you know, if people have written about this, Dave Meltzer, we used to work with, obviously an expert on this. There's tons of people who are way more qualified, but I do remember that there are like the regional shows, like there was all geographic and you know, AWA where I lived was a big deal in Denver. So the WWF, when it started to take over, it felt like in the way that, you know, tough, like that first tough came in the living room of the, you know, for, for

the UFC, it felt like Hulk Hogan was that guy who kind of busted the door down and said, Hey, pay attention to this. And obviously you got the greatest heels that come out of that with Iron Sheik and that's when Hulkamania took off and all this stuff. So it's impossible to actually like kind of quantify how big he was for, for us still talking about wrestling, for wrestling to get as big as it has and to still be there to this day. I mean, the guy, I think he's one of the greatest authors of that whole, you

know, that enthusiasm, that passion that's there of all of them, oh, him and Vince. Right. They would, it would have to be those two guys. Yeah. It's a, I've read a lot, like, and obviously go to one ground and check this out because as Chuck mentioned, there are so many different angles that the Hulk is being looked at here after his death, like it's incredible to see of guys with the wrestling world. Obviously Ben and Chuck have wrote about it as well, but it's incredible

to see these tributes and it's really, it's a testament to what he done within the sport and one thing I think I'd like to ask you about within your article was, and maybe this wasn't as obvious to me, but I think, I think he's probably his heyday was over by but at the time I was paying attention to it, like he was still around, um, a bit, but there was a certainly more hit man heart kind of situations taking off. But well, I didn't realize and, and what you've kind of painted in the art and stop me if I'm wrong here.

But he stood for America to the point there, like you're thinking, like, if you go against him, like, you are somehow unpatriotic, right? Exactly. Well, that's why, you know, when these things pick up like this, you know, it's like, you know, you want to see it put to a stop, like, right? Like that's, that's how I always think. I'm like, I don't like tyrannies.

I don't like, uh, people protecting their hearts on bandwagons, you know, like, oh, this guy can't lose. So he's a safe bet for my bandwagon. You know, I'm going to ride on this. Uh, I don't like that sort of thing. So, but as I pointed out in the piece, man, it's like, that was your thought, right? Like you wanted to see what that would mean. Um, but when he lost, it was the saddest thing.

I remember being so sad by that because you're just like, oh my God, that's it. That's how it ends. It's over, you know? And, uh, that stuck with me for a while. So sometimes it's just, you want to see the reaction, but you don't even realize it's going to affect you the way it does, you know? Yeah. I don't think I honestly, it's kind of reminded me a lot of things like, you

know, watching everyone speak about his heyday and his pump and what he meant to these industries and how he affected people's lives. And like, you know, you're one of many people of, of listened over the last day, just kind of talking about how he represents their entire childhood. And that's a very sacred part of your life. Like that is, you know, the nostalgia factory. Every time you see this guy, you're going to, going to feel a certain way. Yeah.

Is it difficult to speak about a guy like that who has become so polarizing? Right. Like with the instance that you talked about the sex tape, the racist remarks, all this kind of stuff. And I see like, I'm looking on social media and you see obviously two completely different sides of this where people, some people are like, this guy is a terrible guy. Other people like this guy is amazing.

We shouldn't be talking about him with this regard. It must be a difficult thing to do to resolve that hero of your childhood with a man that a lot of people don't like as we saw on the raw debut for, uh, for, uh, for Netflix back in January, where he was roundly boot and honestly, maybe it's where I live or whatever, and maybe it's cause I, I just don't really be focused on professional wrestling at all. I kind of forgot about all that stuff until he went out there. I start booing, then I'm starting to Google them. Like, oh shit.

There are people who don't forget. I mean, honestly, you shouldn't in a way like it's egregious, right? Like the, the thing hearing that audio, I don't know if you ever heard it. Like you're just like, my God, dude, this guy, like it just, it kind of blows you away. But man, I don't, I don't even know. He's had so many people vouch for him too. Like it's just, he's such a complicated figure in the end. And so many of them are like, when you look at a legacy the whole way, and you realize that people, you separate the art and in this case,

entertainment from the man himself. And I've, I've been able to, I mean, obviously like Michael, people love Michael Jackson. People love, you know what I mean? Like there's a, there, you could name a million Woody Allen, you know, you can name a ton of Woody Allen, you know, you could name a ton of people who've had something very dark in their past. You know what I mean?

And people are still going to love them. They're going to, or they're going to hate them. They're going to, they're going to latch on to, um, the person that they are rather than the art they created or what they did. It's tough, man. But this goes back to your childhood. So I, you know, where I was focusing my piece was long before we knew any of that. And it wasn't like you worship Terry the man, right?

Like you, you liked the idea of this guy who was out there ripping a shirt off and like, you know, selling tanning oils, you know what I mean? Like, you're like, dude, this guy's, this is crazy. Look at him, you know? So it's like, it's, it's, it's a very tough thing when it, as an adult to look back on and I thought Ben did a good job. And so does, so, so did the other guys of kind of pointing out like, man, what a complicated thing to talk about, just like so many of them are these days.

Doesn't it feel that way? Like you're just like, man, you can't just have a proper tribute. You can't just say like this without the complicated controversies or whatever that the, some of these people have. And he certainly had them, man. Oh, absolutely. There's no, there's no doubt about it. Um, it is fair to say though, that like he must be the single most important

athlete, at least of course, Vince, uh, people would argue that he is so more important in terms of his vision and whatnot, but he, I mean, if he was the content doesn't come around though, does it, You know, it's like an equal piece. It really is. He played a huge role. Like, obviously like the point of making, like he, this would not be professional wrestling would not be what it is today with a Hulk Hogan, the WWE certainly wouldn't be what it is without Hulk Hogan.

Um, like even his appearance forces you to react to him at such a young age. Yeah. You know, like it's like seeing fucking Mickey Mouse or something and a pair of boyfriends, yellow boyfriends. I mean, what do you, what do you want to do? Like he's such a. It is sort of like that. It was like that, you know, that's how he, that's how ingrained he was in our

culture through those times. It's like, it's kind of hard to believe, but that's what it was, you know? Um, there was cartoons, serials, uh, you know, if you went to the mall, you would see a billion things related to him. You know, he was like that kind of superstar. Yeah, it's crazy. We should say our colleague and great friend, Macromundi has a brilliant book out here. And, you know, if you're if you're a new fan of sports or

you're a fan of sports, biographies in any fashion, there it is. There we have it up on the screen. Thank you, Andy. Say hello to the bad guys, particularly focused on his heel turn, his dramatic heel turn. Oh, look, I have it somewhere. I sent a picture of it. All right. Me and Chuck, look at that baby. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Yeah, boy. Yeah. Oh, fuck. All right.

But you're on the spot. He's got it somewhere. I haven't started reading yet. You're sitting on it to make sure you can get to the camera height. I haven't read it yet, but I'm actually genuinely so excited to read it now. Like, I feel like that sounds terrible. Like, so excited because I died to read something.

Well, I mean, hey, it adds a bit of. Look, man. If a guy's going to die. And I mean, this sounds insensitive, but I'm like, if a guy's going to die, and I mean, this sounds insensitive, but I'm like, if a guy's going to die and you've got a book out, like, I'm not going to say anymore, but people should read the book. Check out Mark's book, Fair Play, Meg appeared on Sports Center there a couple of days ago, cutting her heart, the old wallet.

Um, but that's what I'm saying. Yes. Thank you. Uh, back to, back to MMA. Yeah. And there it is. Terry Hulkoog and Belair at 1953 to 2024, 71 years of age. Um, that's a ripe old age for a wrestler.

You realize, man, cause, uh, it's, it's just such a tough life. Right? Like, I mean, the, what they're doing is basically crazier than rock stars. They're out there like abusing their bodies and, you know, a they're doing is basically crazier than rockstars. They're out there like abusing their bodies and, you know, a lot of them have rockstar mentalities, man. So they're doing a lot of things. I don't know about, um, you know, Terry specifically, but I'm just saying like 71, a lot of those guys are dying in their fifties, you know?

No, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, I was actually saying this yesterday on a show, uh, I was saying I was doing the call mine event show with Chad done this. And he was talking about Ozzy Osbourne, who obviously recently passed away as well. Lead singer Black Sabbath. Very famous for a multitude of reasons. And I was kind of like he was asking me about it.

And I was like, I kind of feel bad seeing him do that concert in like Austin Villa two weeks ago where he's like sitting in his throne. I'm like, wow, you're still doing that up until, you know, pretty much until you die and he was like, isn't it like pro wrestling? And I'm like, yeah, that's exactly what it is. Ozzy Osbourne somehow became a pro wrestler. You said all this before Hulk Hogan died? No, no, he had died as well, but we were just...

Okay. I was like, wow, that's crazy. Um, but yes, it is. They, they, they share some similarities for sure, man. It's crazy. Yeah. Well, listen, Or when Alparazzi too, by the way, man, that again, another institution, my God,

what a huge influence. It's crazy. It's crazy. Um, well, we'll move on to what is happening nowadays. And that is of course a new heavyweight era and Mr. Tom Aspill is now your champion and we know he is going to fight Cyril Gann on October 25th on neutral ground is in Abu Dhabi these two European giants will face each other and before we get into it why don't we have a listen to what Mr. Aspinall has to say

about all this joke. Around about this time last year when I fought in Manchester, I fought for Curtis Blades. The original opponent was Cyril Gann, unfortunately Cyril Gann was busy that day. Cyril was filming his Netflix series, I can't remember what it's called but I'm sure you can check it out now on Netflix. Cyril was doing that so he couldn't make that date either and now we are matched up for the 25th of October. Abu Dhabi, me and Cyril, the fourth attempt is here and this is Cyril's third title shot so we are going to try and get rid of Cyril Gann from the title picture. He's going to be a Cyril killer. That's what he's saying.

Hey look I'm way crazy and look. Did he do that edit by the way with the like splicing in that little footage of Gann and action in the film there? Did he do that himself? Well, he didn't do himself. He has to do with the does all right. All right. But that was his, that's his post, right?

That is his post. Pretty good. Doesn't fuck around. It's pretty good. I mean, he's, uh, he's fancy pants. I actually had a little chat with him earlier. I might get onto that later. If I can regulate my feelings enough to say what he said to me.

Okay. Oh no. Let me just, now you got to say what he said to me. Okay. Oh no. Let me just, now you got to say it. What's going on here? Well, today, unprompted. There was no, there was no, oh, it wasn't like, I was like, hi Tom. How was your day going?

Nothing at all. I'm having a good day. I'm driving around, um, get out of the car, open the phone, check the old WhatsApp message from the champ there. Hey, pizza, you look a bit fat in that Guinness video. He's one of those guys who has like the wet towel and it's like snaps your naked ass every time you just mind in your own business.

He did. He did that to me. He just went looking a bit soft there. And I was like, there's no looking about it, mate. I just am soft, okay? Like you'll know, you're young. You don't understand this. In four years time, Tom,

everything's gonna get fucked up. As soon as you go past that 35, you are fucked, mate. And I cannot wait for you to be a mess just like me. I didn't say I hate that. I just went, ha ha, cool, man. The difference is he does work out. I mean, I will say that. Yeah. I mean, apparently that is one of these things they are supposed to do.

I don't know, dude. It's crazy. But yeah, he's a great guy. Let's talk about him again. Yeah. He has this big fight. October, 2015. Look, I'm like, everyone thinks I'm a, I'm a, uh, uh, Aspinal D writer anyway, but am I, am I being, I feel like people are too negative about this. And I think that's because of the Jones fight was there and we all wanted that to happen, including me, I really wanted it to happen, but I feel like they're talking about Gan V Aspinal, like it's a complete shit show and I don't know if it is. I think it's the nature of a consolation prize, right?

Like, because it's almost like you're saying, well, we wanted this and we're now settling for this. And we've been through this before in the heavyweight division, and I think that there's just, you know, it's a sour grapes thing, you know, ultimately, because you have a hard time separating this fight that we're getting from the fight that we wanted. And I'm like, the only way to possibly objectively get to the bottom of it is to

say, okay, black and white, that fight's gone. This is now gone is the fight, you know? So it's like, you've got to basically say, what does that look like without any context, you know, and get to that point. And I think when you do that, it's a good fight. It's a very good fight. Like, uh, and like he mentioned, they've got some, uh, they've got the backstory and I'm pretty sure we'll hear more about that as we go on.

Um, I don't, you know, I think we've seen Sergon lose, but that's also a chip on his shoulder. He's a, he's an, he's a crazy athlete, dude. And I think he's got a good competitor's mindset. So seeing him in a situation where he gets a, he kind of gets a mole again to go try to fight for the title again. Um, I, I'm intrigued by that. I think that I don't know how about, I don't know about you, Pizza, but I always

thought that he would be a champion at some point, um, as he was coming up. So I have no problem with the fight. It's just that you, you have to, you know, unhitch it from the other one, like, because you're just bringing disappointment to a, to a fine fight otherwise, right? Like you're bringing in some shadow of disappointment that you don't really need at this point. Yeah.

Uh, look, there, there is more history between these guys and people, um, care to remember, as you've mentioned, Chuck, like, first of all, just from a, from the European perspective again, UFC, two of all, just from a from the European perspective, again, you have see two other markets, they have definitely been in and pumped a lot of money into the UK and more recently France, because it's only become illegal in 2020. But like the main event guy in England has been Tom and he headlined the best event I've ever been at. You'll remember we did the Ringer show after the one in July 2022.

When he beat when he beat Volkoff, it was Paddy was there. Arnold Allen beat Dan Hooker. It was just I think I think Molly had that crazy spin and elbow finish that night as well. Like there's too many people that there's too many people to name here that just made it such an amazing night. But he was there at the top of the card. And look, one of one of the moments that happened that night has become synonymous with with Ari Lawani and the Ari Lawani show.

It's that clip of everyone singing outside the O2. There's only one Tommy Aspinal. Right. And all that kind of stuff. And it's it was a magical night. He obviously went on then to kind of save the bush on that Manchester card. He had the injury, of course, the blades and he'd won the main event as well. We don't need to talk about that one. But it was that it was that Manchester card in the middle of the night

where Leon lost the ball, but Tom avenged that lost the blades. And that was one of the highlights of the night as well as Paddy. Just a brilliant, brilliant night. So we have this established UK face of the UK, UK MMA. He could be great. We all been saying that for a long time. This could be a generationally great heavyweight. established UK face of the UK, UK MMA. He could be great. We all been saying that for a long time. This could be a generationally great heavyweight. And then on the flip side, you had gone a guy at UFC Paris being serenaded

by the entire crowd, singing the national anthem as he's in there. And anyone from the UK will tell you that they are storied rivals with the UK in all sports when they play soccer. It's crazy. You put all sports. When they play soccer, it's crazy. You put these guys against each other and anything and it's crazy. Rugby, everything like that. Even European football of its club teams like Liverpool, VPSG. It's a, it's a massive, massive night. I think this is interesting.

I think also like, I think Tom, a man who was very even keel, like we've talked about before, a really nice guy when he's not texting and calling you fat, like really nice guy. Um, he, that's the only thing I ever get from him was that. Well, he, he was, I can remember him being actually upset about the fact that he went to Paris to chase down that fight with can and like, he was out all night, we can't like having beers with the guy, all this kind of stuff, thinking like, this is great. Like we're all happy to make this happen. And they didn't take it. And Tom was like, what, like I've gone there. I've tried to fight you.

You have no, you don't want this. And then suddenly gang gets really interested because he's the interim champion, like, oh, let's fight. She was on the other foot now, you know? Yeah. And look, I think that I think the problems for Gan is like, I think a lot of people thought Volkov won his last fight like against Gan. I think a lot of people scored that for Volkov.

I was one of those people because I had Gan picked the Parallel Boys that week with GC, Rick and Frank, and I didn't think he won. They raised his hand. I was like, fair enough. I'll take it. But it's also the Jones thing, right? Jones just went through, God. And I think that's his big, that's how, that's like how he's being hamstrung here in terms of the perception of this belt, as far as I'm concerned. 100% man. I mean, what do you think when you think, like when you're, when you're imagining

gone at this point of his career, that's, isn't that the first thing that pops into your head, like it's like, it's right there for me. It's like, ah, he kind of. it was almost, people were praising John Jones at the time, but that was a little bit, I remember we pointed this out, like he was a bit of a no show. I didn't really feel like he showed himself at all in that fight. I wasn't sure what was wrong with him. So I think, you know, ultimately with, with him, he's probably got some, uh, some

work to do because if he gets worked like that again, Serogon as we know him would just kind of disappear. You know what I mean? Like I don't think that people will really consider him much of a contender at that point and there, and therein lies the problem, I think with the heavyweight division is there's just not much behind it, right? Like you're kind of got this fight, then what do you, what are we dealing in here? Like you're kind of got this fight, then what do you, what are we dealing in here? Like it's just kind of a, an amorphous, you know, group of guys who've been beating each other up, it seems like most of the guys have wins over each other.

You'd have to go pretty far down to find the guy that Aspinal hasn't beat. You know, I think Jelton Almeyto is one of the guys, he's probably the clearest cut new blood that you could throw into the scenario because he's, you know, slightly younger, but he's, you know, he's has the clearest cut new blood that you could throw into the scenario because he's, you know, slightly younger, but he's, you know, he's as the one lost the blades, but he's kind of hovering around, like he's out there, you'd have to go down, you know, Derek Lewis, you know what I mean? He's 40 years old.

He wants to fight cab drivers. You know what I mean? Like, like it's just, there aren't, there aren't a lot of, the UFC has always made a model of saying like the dangling carrot, right? Like the thing that't a lot of, the UFC has always made a model of saying like the dangling carrot, right? Like the thing that's beyond the event itself. They've always dotted the road or like, you know, bread crumb to the future. Like they always do that.

And, uh, in this particular case, you're like, well, I don't know. Like if he, if he beats, if Aspinal goes through, gone, all's we're going to want to see is Jones, right? Like you're going to want to see the Jones fight or in Ghanu. Like those are literally what you're going to want to see at that point. Am I wrong? No, I think like it's on the UFC now. Like it all kind of stems from the weight. You know, the, the, the, the Jones situation where we're waiting for this fight to be made. I think a lot went wrong for the heavyweight division while that was happening because

you had guys like Ghan and Volkoff very reluctant to fight. Like anyone who was in that situation, like, well, why am I fighting? We don't even know who the, the, the champion is. And even like when a, when a heavyweight fight would come on the broadcast, you'd just be like, I don't know what these guys are fighting for. Like it makes no sense to me. Like what, what, what are they fighting for? Like if the lads at the very top of the division don't really have any impetus to fight,

how do these guys feel? You know, it's a crazy situation. But like, you know, you mentioned this current crop and. Okay, I had a quick look there as you were, as you were kind of pointing this out. Yeah. You have like not like the problem is it's not just like, like new guys. It's like guys were any kind of buzz around them. Like, you know, obviously you've mentioned Jelden Almeida, he's, he's going

to be fighting the same night, Tom and a gang fight, which I think is a great idea against Wolkoff, like just, just show us fucking something. Martin Buday is fighting as well, I believe, is he? Yeah. Um, I don't even know actually, but, um, I mean, Mick Parkin, like you look at it, somebody like him, right? Like he's ranked. There's a guy who's beat five, I don't know.

I, I, I remember like the five guys he beat before he, um, before he fought somebody with the Wikipedia page was, uh, I think Tibera maybe. I, I'm not looking at my, I'm not looking at it from me, but I was just trying to remember he beat a bunch of guys, but he's ranked, but it just kind of tells you if you go down and it's, it reminds me a little bit of the light heavyweight, you know, the situation that was there for a little while when John Jones began to inherit it, like there were bigger, there were

bigger brand names back then, you know, Shogun Hua and Rashad Evans and Quentin Jackson, those guys existed, but they were kind of in this, this pairing where they were kind of already beating each other. No clear cut, you know, guy in his prime who's going to challenge Jones at that point. You know what I mean? We were kind of squinting to see the challenges. That's why Gustafson, when he made it there, became a big deal when he actually did compete with it.

It's kind of like that, man. But like for, you always think back to this Jones kind of saying like, hey, man, you know, if I go through Aspenall, you guys are going to be like, well, there's the other guy. He's the next big thing, but there really is no other guy. There really isn't another guy right now. And I think that that's, uh, that's part of the, you know, the dilemma that they're running into here. Yeah.

Um, like just to that point, Chuck, like, like we've all kind of said that this guy absolutely is capable of, of beating that three title defenses situation that's currently there, I believe, is Stipe's record. But do you think the field, as in the guys we're talking about here that might not have big names, do you think that will affect how, like say he does this, right? Hypothetically, Tom Asimov achieves this and he achieves it against the people we're looking at here in these rankings. And that means no Jones, no Jones, no Nganu.

Does that inevitably affect his legacy on the backend of his career? If he accomplishes all this stuff, like if he makes a four total defenses against this current crop, is it like, can you still effectively say like, this is the best heavyweight in UFC history? Man, it's going to be tough. But I do think, man, it's so tough to even predict because if you went like, say he does that, he just rolls through these guys. It would almost be like Phaidor or something, right? Like you'd be like, well, and you know, but Phaidor, he did go through some monsters,

you know, in route to where he ended up. And then like at the end, when he was still kind of beating guys, especially with affliction and all that, you're like, wow, he's beating guys now they're a little washed up or whatever it is, but you had this feeling of, um, I want to see him fight the best. And you couldn't get it, you know, you couldn't get. Fador, you know, against Lezner or whatever it was at the time. Like you could not get that fight.

So you kind of, you kind of were left with that, you know, fate, like people would argue Fador is the greatest and you'd have someone who's like, no, he's not the greatest. And this is before the social media became what it is. That would be a huge argument now, um, if he's just beating the likes and I mean, let's face it, like a lot of the guys in that top space, like I just mentioned outside of Almeda and maybe Derek Lewis, I think he's, Aspenall's

already beat everybody other than Ghan. Like he's already beat most of those guys once. So what does that leave him unless somebody really does emerge or one of those big once. So what does that leave him unless somebody really does emerge or one of those big names we mentioned comes back. I think one of those big names really holds the key for him. You know, if he has a big run, it's gotta be one of those big names and Garnor Jones, if he puts them in his satchel and that's where, you know,

that's why it's, I think it's no, it would be a no brainer if he hits four in a row. But. It's the current UFC that makes me feel like there is no way that's going to happen. Like I feel like Dana holds a grudge against Senganu. It's a personal feeling as to why he wouldn't be at least entertaining idea. And look, New York, Rick had a great counter to me making this point a couple of weeks ago. He was like, well, maybe it's just really good, you York, Rick had a great counter to me making this point a couple of weeks ago. He was like, well, maybe it's just really good, you know, business acumen on his side.

And he's like, I'm not going to show my hand. I wish I could believe that. I just don't believe that. I believe that he is just pissed off from previous negotiations gone wrong. He feels jilted by Enganu. He won't have him back. And I feel like based on what he said about Jones and this White House thing, like that's a big, that's a big step back from the way he was talking about Jones as in this guy is the best.

If you don't believe he's the best, you're an asshole. Um, you know, Jones comes out, he says, I want to fight at the White House. Dana White pretty much says like, we can't rely on this guy anymore. You know, like, so, well, John said that everybody misheard that. I think, oh yeah, sorry, sorry, John. I said that everybody misheard that. I think, oh yeah, that's clarified. Sorry. Sorry, John.

I'm another one who misheard. Take it back. But like, do you have any faith in the UFC that they will pursue either of these fights because it just feels like they're making so much money. They're in such an amazing place that they, boy, would they be asked to go and do that. It's such a, it's such a novelty card that it throws it into a different, you know, viewpoint, right? Because I think if it's, if it really is a White House card and you've got a guy like John Jones, like I'll fight on it.

I think you find, you figure out how to do that. I think the UFC's reluctance is in the fact like, Hey man, we just tried to negotiate with this guy for X amount of months and could get nowhere. We're told one thing, something else happens. And you know, you're making that public. You're making that public finally, that like, we don't know if we can trust them, but there's also the factor, like what happens if Jones wins, you know? Are you dealing with a situation again, where, you know, is he going to defend,

like if he wins the title, say if it's a title fight, is it going to stick around? What's that mean? UFC has been very reluctant to put guys that they know are one foot out the door in that situation as challengers. So, um, what kind of exceptions will they make just cause it's the white house? I think that that's what it comes down to in the end. So potentially like, is there a way that maybe he's not saying it publicly, but this could be getting orange down in the background, like if this is to happen,

all this wacky shit, like wild stuff, like the way I was, all this stuff, perhaps they don't give Jones. I don't want to say like they seem to just gave him free reign on that last negotiation with Asimov, right? Like I think the fact they pivoted to him as a champion, if Asimov can get you gone and he's like, you know, we can all see him as this is the guy he just needs to get this win out of the way. Well, it's his first defense technically, but you know what I mean?

Yeah. This kind of coronation moment, so to speak. Um, maybe they've put him on the back foot. Maybe this, this strategy of, uh, stripping him, making him the champion, maybe it forces Jones to the negotiation table in a way that he hasn't been before. Like, like we saw for Steve Bay where he's like, well, they're going to have to come correct it better. Give me all of this money.

Like I think his ego will force him to a bit, to be a bit more malleable in negotiations, if you get me. Yes, I do get you. And I think that the UFC will do that. I think that, uh, there's something about, like, I remember having this discussion a long time ago. So Jones, Jones is a little bit like Anderson

Silva, Silva back in the day was like, I might retire, you know, he was like, always talking about retiring and people would be like, oh God, he'd be like, we'd be like, oh man, I hope not, you know, and then as he got older and he lost the belt and he no longer had it. And he was just kind of the guy sticking around.

He's like, I'm going to fight till I'm 50. You know, it changed, right? I do think Jones has a little bit of that. I think he craves the idea of, you know, staying in the spotlight and he's not going to be able to stay there on the sidelines. So I think that, you know, just knowing that bit of a psychology, I'm like, yeah, I could see that happening for sure, man. Before we move on to something else, what is your favorite era of Heavyweight?

Oh man. It's a, it's a weird division, right? Like it's, there's a lot of has happened to the champions over the years. Like you become the champion and some messed up things can happen. Frank Mir being an example, Brock Lesnar and his diverticulitis. Like, yeah. Yeah. I would say that's a great question.

Um, but to me, like you remember UFC 141, wasn't that the one where it was like a Memorial Day weekend one and it was all heavyweights, um, something like 2011, I would say so somewhere in the 2000, if we can give a range, I would say something in the 2011 to 2013 or 14 range might've been it. And I mean, it was really because you had guys like Cain Velasquez, who I in the 2011 to 2013 or 14 range, might've been it. And I mean, it was really because you had guys like Kane Velasquez, who I think at the time, it's just like, man, this guy's other world. We haven't seen a, you know, a heavyweight like that yet.

JDS, who was his natural rival, they went to war a bunch of times through that time. Uh, Verdoom was kind of hovering around. There was Lesnar who was still around. There was Bigfoot. Um, and then, but then there was that big strike force, you know, the acquisition of strike force. And once that happened, you had a lot of other guys and Daniel Cormier, you know, kind of entering into, eventually entering into this whole thing. And, you know, you mentioned Frank Mayer, Big Nog, all those guys, but there was also like the idea of Fador hovering around it all too.

So if you're looking at just the imagination of what all the different matchmaking and all the different iterations and the guys who are still kind of in there, like some of those guys were in their prime, some of them were a little outside their prime, but it was like that all of those guys existing in the same space, that seemed to me, what about you? I mean, that's, that was a pretty good era. Right. No, I think, I think you've nailed it in terms of like when were the best fight is there, but I think the biggest buzz I've ever had for a fight, like a heavyweight

fight was UFC 100, Brock Lesnar. The mirror rematch. Yeah. And it was just, it was fucking crazy. Yeah. I was working security at a festival here. It's a big festival oxygen. And I can remember we finished up that night at.

323 AM and everybody's leaving this site like to get there, to get home. And I was, I was working on the side like with actually, no, at this stage, I don't think I was, but I needed to watch this fight. Obviously I was a fan of the sport and I can remember us getting in the car. It took us like two and a half hours to get out of there because everyone leaving at the same time. That's crazy. I got home just as this was kicking off and I was like, I am such a lucky guy that I'm

getting to watch this fight live. And it was absolutely fucking crazy. And look, you're dead right in terms of like Kane, JDS. Well it wasn't that like the original Fox card, right? Like you just had a two fight. Yeah, no one fight. They did a one hour, a one hour special. They made that the, the, uh, the one fight, which was insane.

I remember like just the whole thing just felt surreal because it's going on. Um, it was like kind of a, it was before the Fox deal kicked in, but it was kind of their little preview, the table setter, right? The show this and kind of give the people something. And, and then it ended anticlimatically, but it also set up like what became, what we're talking about a golden era, like where you had the rematch and the trilogy and all that stuff. And it just, it felt at that time, man, like it was just the machine, you know, I was like, that was a great time. You're right though, UFC 100, was it, I was trying to remember Brock Lesnar had went through somebody. Was it Heath Herring?

I don't remember who he fought the previous fight, but he went right through him. I remember he just like a bull just kind of went right through him. And that's. Yeah. Heath Herring. And then it was, I'm just looking at it here. I'll put it up. It's Randy Gautour.

Oh, that's right. I, okay. That's right. So like you had this momentum because at the time when he lost a mirror, the first time he was kind of battering mirror in that one too, but it was like, Oh, that's right. So like you had this momentum because at the time when he lost a mirror the first time He was kind of battering mirror in that one, too, but it was like always so green he gets caught But now he's coming in like this, you know black pupil bull who's just been like they do like oh god He's gonna kill mirror, you know, there was there was so much fun to be had at UFC 100, man And you know what?

Yeah Dana Dana said I bring this up all the time because he reneged on his promise, but he said he would jump off the Mandalay Bay if it hit a million pay-per-view buys. And I still haven't seen him jump off that building. Have you? I haven't. I haven't. It's I will say like just even going back down this memory lane, it does feel

we're far away from heavyweight Creating that kind of buzz again just with like whatever way that the fights have gone Whatever way the build has gone the brand being so powerful now with more powerful than any fighter A lot of those just those names European I mean, I'm not saying and again like we're looking at it's a porio right like who's a major star but like Was it Spivak, Pavelvich, Dibura, you know, you're talking about a lot of guys that are not, you don't really have like the, even Gon being, you know, but I think Gon translates

a little better for the North American audience. Nice basketball. Yeah, that's why. I mean, that did go a long way with some of the people out here, but, but you know, you just don't have, like a lot of these guys, I don't feel like if you asked about any of these guys, I just mentioned to a guy who's maybe slightly more than a casual fan. I'm not sure they could tell you much about any of those guys.

I just named, you know what I mean? Yeah. Oh, well, look, it's, it's on the UFC. They always make the big fights. So why would we be worried about? I'm not worried. I'm not worried. And Ganyu and Jones, I feel like in the next two years is not crazy.

You mean what? Them coming back to the UFC and fighting Tomlinson. Right after you say the holds been like Tito Ortiz over there. You're like Tito Ortiz contradicting yourself. Yeah, we're going to move on and talk to you about UFC Abu Dhabi. We did want to mention that this Muhammad Ali revival act, it is on and popping there trying to make this happen, would essentially allow a UFC type model happen within boxing.

It is the league. Looks like he's a ventriloquist holding a dummy right there, doesn't it? That would be very handy in this kind of situation. When you say they're trying to form this new thing adjacent to the Muhammad Ali act, as far as I know, and there are far better minds that will be speaking about this on on ground, we believe as well and not to do this in future. Um, but you know, it's, it's, they're trying to invent this thing called a UBO, a universal boxing organization, which is not a promoter.

It is a league. And to be a league, you need to have a PI, which the UFC already have. You'll be able to co-promote like that. And it would just allow you to exist in a way that currently promoters cannot exist within boxing due to the Ali act. Apparently, there is some positives here for box boxers as well that are within this this act. However, it is it's going to be fleshed out over the next few weeks.

What this will mean. And but I mean, I don't know, man, I'm a bit skeptical about the whole thing, Chuck. I know we haven't gotten into it too much, but just the fact that the UFC trying to make boxing into the UFC. I mean, we knew it was coming at some point. I mean, this was, first of all, I don't think Dana gets involved unless they thought that this could possibly happen, right? Like that they could, they could amend and make it more beneficial for business.

And I mean, obviously if you control titles, I mean, this is kind of the, this is kind of the, the language within it, right? Like if you control the titles, you can control the fighters, you can handle it. You can control the pay structures. Um, and you can set those parameters. And I feel like that that really is obviously the model that we're used to in our sport. And I think that boxing has always been its own thing. It almost felt like boxing almost started to feel like the Wild West

compared to the UFC because it was so structured on the one side. But it's starting to sound like what might happen as a boxing, maybe a familiar model. And I mean, they're, they're couching it obviously as a revival, like they're doing something that's a favorite. And I mean, if you're in the bottom rung of fighters and that's the majority of fighters, right? Like it might, it might be beneficial to you because it's, you know, you mentioned health insurance

and you mentioned these things, that's a big deal. But it's really the guys who make mega millions at the top of boxing, right? That you're like, these are the, these are the dudes that are maybe going the way of the dinosaur.? That you're like, these are the dudes that are maybe going the way of the dinosaur. And I also think that, or not, you know, they'll still, they're still going to make a lot of money, but it would be like, I

think more comparable, what they're trying to do is make it more comparable to the UFC type rich, not boxing rich, you know what I mean? And to control that sort of thing. It'd be very interesting to see. It's almost like deviseise like presenting something as a, um, a gift to boxing or like something, some kind of structure, but it's like to anybody kind of, and I was listening to John Nash and some of the people were very expert on

this and it sounds like devised loophole ism or something like they're just kind of, you know what I mean? Like they're coming up with the way to, to how, how can we control it to our business interests? And that's what I think is happening here. Like, I think everybody agrees that this could take off. Like, I mean, when this was announced, I was shocked by the amount of people, including Ariel and Adé and everyone like this being like, well, this

they can absolutely do this. And I was shocked by that. I just, I don't know. I just assumed that it would be more difficult, I guess, but this is obviously a massive, massive stepping stone to that. Do you, do you fear that Dana White's involvement of something like this, if it does take off, will take away from the UFC or is he two hands off at this stage for it to actually have an impact?

I was listening. I think Ariel was talking about like the passion kind of leaking out of the UFC and stuff like that. I think it's been in effect for a while. It probably goes back to the Fratitas, right? Like the Fratitas, the wholesale. I think that there was always this kind of gathering of around a common campfire for all of us, including the media where you're like, well, you want to see the sport succeed.

You want to see it kind of get as big as it can because you like the sport. You're covering the sport from a media standpoint. You're in the sport if you're a fighter. can because you like the sport, you're covering the sport from a media standpoint, you're in the sport, if you're a fighter. Um, and then once that happened, it started to just become something else. And you get to this point now where, like, you know, you see a tribute like they did, uh, for Dustin Poirier and it does bring out this like, Oh, this human emotion is still left in me about this sport.

Like, you know, you know, it's kind of crazy. So I feel like in one way it's kind of, it's like he's almost Dana's, whatever Dana brought that was passionate is only there in certain echoey way, like residual ways, I don't know if it's still, he's not as hands on as he used to be. You know what I mean? Um, and if you do get into the boxing realm and money, like obviously right now Dana is all, you know, he's, I've never seen somebody post his Forbes cover more than Dana White did, you know, and I think that he's in this space now.

He's playing with big boys, you know, he's got the Nelks around him all the time, lifting weights with him. And, um, you know what I mean? Like he's just a different dude than he was then. So you get him and I went to a bigger enterprise and he's taken over the world on a bigger, like the combat world now. Yeah. I think that it will affect the UFC.

You know what I mean? I mean, I, I can't imagine how it would maintain like the fireiness that it's built on. If, if all of this happens, you know. No, I agree with you. I agree with you. And speaking of Nelpoys, you didn't see the clip of them with Ilya Toporia, did you by any chance?

I think I did because my son Blaise. Like, did you see the note? But I'm like, oh no, show me. Are you talking about the one where he's like, what are you talking about or whatever he said? No. Why did you say that? They were like, why did you say that? Oh, you met your wife in Miami.

Oh, well that can happen. And he was like, yeah, Miami. And then they're like, oh, but they said that can't happen. He's kind of talking to the camera. They're trying to shrug it off. Yeah. And next of all, to Puri is like, why would you say that? I know.

Why would you say that? You can see them physically moving towards the door. I know six of them and they're just like, Oh no, Oh God. That's the kind of viral video I need is like just illegal to pour his wreck and shit. When they're like throwing no boys all over the, that would be fun, man. I'll be telling you, mate. I am telling you, dude, if that camera wasn't there, someone

might have got sparked out. Like someone might like disrespect a man like that, like wife, like anyone's wife, right? Yeah. I cannot do that shit. And the fact that he was, it was kind of lost in translation. What the insult was like that could have went very fucking raw. Well, it did.

I mean, it got very cold in that room very fast, didn't it? I don't, man. That was, but those lads are weird, dude. The title, we got into it. We've talked about the teeth. I mean, if you want to know more about, uh, basically echo my take, go listen to Britain's shop. He says everything that I want to say about that.

Oh, really? I haven't heard. You heard it. It called you name dropped us. Remember you said like, yeah, you know what I'm talking about? You did say we're brilliant. And I mean, I can't say that myself, so I let Britain say it. Speaking of brilliance, uh, what about this Abu Dhabi car joke this Saturday? My God.

This is your segue? All right. It's Robert Whitaker v. Renear de Ritter. A man who's been on a bit of a surge since he's come to the UFC. Yeah. I know you spoke to Robert Whitaker, but let's have a little listen to him speaking to our fearless leader, Ariel Awani, this week on the Ariel Awani Show. Are you viewing this as your last, your last push to a, a title reign? listen to him speaking to our fearless leader, Ariel Awani this week on the Ariel Awani show.

Are you viewing this as your last, your last push to a, a title reign? There's no one who's going to sit here and say, you can't do it. We've seen some great stories. Some, some people go through multiple chapters in their, in their career. Are you looking at, at this particular chapter as the last big push, or do you not think that way? I do, I do. And I guess because realistically I, I only want to fight for another couple of years. There's other things I want to do still.

And I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. So I understand it is my last big push, the last sprint, last hundred meters of the race. Let's get in there, get a few more fights in. I can see the path to the gold and I can, you know, the, the dream is that fairy tale ending. So yeah, everything, everything goes into this. Does the dream end with you winning the belt? Like, is that how you're thinking?

It would get me the title fight. I win the belt and then I walk away. That's it. Yeah. That's how it goes. That's that's sail up into the sunset as the champ. What a lovable man. He really, really nice.

Oh, he's great. I mean, you're rude for a dude like that. Don't you come on. Yeah. And I was really happy to hear him speak and like that after the, the Hamsa, which is like a visceral and brutal loss. Like people, you know, when you're looking at that X-ray and you're like, oh, Jesus Christ, what the fuck? Like from the-

That visual is bad. The whole thing, that whole thing. Yeah, cause it's like, you see a row of teeth. I mean, I keep thinking he broke his jaw, but in speaking to him, he corrected me very kindly and he said, it was just my teeth. And I was like, oh, well, does it make you think twice? You know, because something like that, like, you know, you

think if that happened, oh, very traumatic if that happened to me. I don't, you know, and then he's like, no, I just got rid of them. You know, I was like, so you're like a hockey player at heart, you know? But, uh, he told me something very similar and I, I was just drawing a parallel. I have a piece out right now that draws a parallel between the 26 year old Robert Whitaker that was coming up and the old crop of fighters that he was basically emerging through at that time, which was, yo, Romero was Luke Rockhold, Weidman, these guys had all held the, you know,

Jacques Ray was still floating around the head, all these dudes, like a few of them had held the belt and here's this young guy coming up. And I feel like now he's, they were all around 34, which is where he's at now. Now he's the guy who has to fend off. And the thing that he wants to do that's different is he wants to do what they couldn't, which was protect that space, stay up there, and then finally win a title on his way out. And I think it's very admirable.

We've seen guys do this in the past. I will say this about Robert Whitaker. Of the guys that were mentioned before, I believe in him more on this level, because I think that he still got that dog in him in ways that those other dudes might not have at some point. Like they, you know, you saw the ministry turns. I know I'm saying that right after he got smoked in that fight with, with Hamza, but. It's hard to say what happens if that fight goes in the second round. I stick by that.

Like if it makes it past the first round, what does that fight look like? I still think there might've been, that might've been a totally different fight. This could have been him, uh, in Chicago. This could have been Whitaker in Chicago fighting Hamsa. You're right. I mean, it could have been just the exact reverse. And I'm like, of course it's strictly speculation, but I still have that kind of belief in Whitaker that he's still got the dog in him.

And if anybody's going to have that run late, it'll be him. And look, it would be like saying about Aldo after my work, this guy's finished. And of course we know he wrote 10 new stories in his career after that fight. Like an incredible run. It's also the passion he speaks about, like, and look, I think we probably all picked Whitaker to beat DDP in that fight. Like a USC 290. Drikus was on a run then when every fight he got in, we were like,

no, I don't think he's going to do this. And then he'd go and do it and he KO'd him. But like the fact that he has that drive within him. And when Helwani asked him about it, he was kind of like, no, like, I think I'm a better fighter than him. These are all the sounds I want to hear from a guy in this situation. Like if you're telling me you want to be the champion again, but you're actually specifically saying, like.

I find it hard to deal with the fact that I lost to the champion, the guy that me, you and Ben are only saying a couple of weeks ago, like he has every, every possibility of beating Hamza Tjimoyev when they, when those two meet. That's a good sound. So I would ask, like having spoke to man, cause I didn't get the opportunity. How much are you believing like in terms of, now you've said like you believe in his, his, his return to the mix more than you do with the, the guys, the older, the older statesman of his division.

But do you genuinely believe that he can get in there and mix it with these guys, especially when Hamzah is potentially going to be the guy at the top of it? And mix it with these guys, especially when Hamza is potentially going to be the guy at the top of it. I, there's part of this, maybe saying I want to believe that because like I was mentioning, but there's also a part of me that does believe that because we've seen him. I guess I always go back to, you know, like the, the Romero Wars, you know, like where he's. Just, he's going to dig deeper. And I feel like he's got that in him. Still. I don't feel like, let's put it this way.

There's no complacency, right? Like there's nothing that's like, I'm contented in what I've done. I think he can look back and be proud of his career. And he, I like, he even said that, like I've done everything, but it's not like he's, he's got like this backup notion of what more is there to do? He has this very, on the forefront of his mind, like there's this thing left to do. And I like that he's so he's got his mind dialed in a little bit better, um, than some, some guys who've been in the situation. And then you look at the fights themselves and, um, I don't know how he would do, man.

I honestly don't like if we sleep on, you know, DDP, we've done this in the past. And I'm like, I, you don't want to like start to diminish him as a champion because he's proven that he's a, he's very good. But I'm not opposed if Whitaker can get through, this is a big test this weekend, I feel like, you know, he's able to go in there and he looks like himself. I wouldn't be opposed if they kind of gave him a little bit of that, um, fast track treatment again to get back there. I wouldn't be opposed to that because I just feel like there's a lot of drama in that, you know, him trying to come back. And I think there's a lot of fight left in that dog.

So I feel like, you know, if he, this is a big, this is the big fight. I feel like if he loses this, the Whitaker as contender is probably done 34 years. I'm not sure you come back from behind that eight ball. No, yeah, I agree with you. And look, speaking of DDP and now maybe, you know, it was hard to get people to warm to him. People probably a bit underwhelmed by him. I feel like very similar with Dorita here.

Like I think against Gerald Merchardt, he won the fight in the third round, but I think a lot of people were expecting him to go through Merchardt a lot quicker. Merchardt gave him a good fight that night up until the finish. He gets a very quick win over Kevin Holland. The problem is with Kevin Holland, you beat him and people are like, well, he's so inconsistent. What does this actually tell us? That's true. And then on the last one, it's like everybody, oh, go ahead, go ahead.

They're going to say exactly what I'm going to say. So go ahead. I'm going to say like the nickel fight just becomes like an inquest into nickel rather than. That's exactly right. That's exactly what I was going to say. It was only that like, if we were going through and doing the autopsy of that or whatever, you would be like, Oh, Bo nickel, you got exposed.

He's fraudulent. There's all the perspective was all based on Bo nickel. Nobody looked at what, uh, Derrida did. He was fucking really good on that fight. Like he, he made Bo nickel, uh, a brilliant wrestler, a guy who nobody has been able to live with essentially like he can take anyone down this guy. He made him fight a fight he did not want to fight. Like, and just stayed there and basically just beat the piss out of him in that second round to the point where it's like, it looks like.

Shockingly. I was like, this is crazy. You know, you think that they're booking Bo Nicol cleverly, like, all right, well, let's give him the escalation until we get him to the top, that sort of thing. And man, thou shall not pass under Ritter, right? cleverly like, all right, well, let's give him the escalation until we get him to the top. That sort of thing. And man, thou shall not pass under it. Right. Like that was like, that's the kind of the performance it was. Yeah. He's, look, this is a guy who was far for, he attempted to be a three way champion, but won.

He ran into Anatoly Malakin and that was the end of that. But he's known as a grappler more so than a striker. And then he goes striking nickel like that. Like this is not a fucking easy fight for Robert. No, I'm a little surprised. I almost thought that Dorita would be, when I looked this up, I was surprised like that he would be the favorite. I just thought that maybe Vegas.

Yeah. I thought Vegas or like the oddsmakers would basically be like the slight nod to the guy who's kind of on the hot streak and kind of coming up, you know, at least in the UFC in the eyes. But they have equal experience too. You know what I mean? These aren't guys that are vastly different experience. That's something that Whitaker points out himself is that, hey, man, this guy,

he's just cause he hasn't been in the UFC long time, doesn't mean that he hasn't have been fighting forever, the dude's been doing it as long as I have. So it's something to keep in mind. And I think that Whitaker himself probably feels a little bit like he is the underdog in this fight. Yeah. Yeah. It's probably a good place to be.

Um, like in terms of mentality, but in the co-main event, we've got Piotr Jan and Piotr Jan, a fucking, you know, I am, I'm a Jan Mack. There is no doubt about it, but this is the weirdest, this is the weirdest fucking fight, like really. Who is managing this guy, Marcus McGee to get him this fight. Cause that is incredible management, whoever that is. Like that's, that's crazy. Or at somebody who's like, let's, let's kill off Marcus McGee. Maybe.

I mean, after the version we saw, uh, Peter Yon in that last fight against Davis and Figurator where I was like, this is the one of those ones you're like, I don't know, man, I don't know how this fight's going to go. And, uh, because yawn, you know, he'd, he'd won song, you don't, right? Like, uh, he had won that one, but it was not like a clean sweep of the, you know, he, he won the fight, but it wasn't like this dominant performance. So for him to come back and do five rounds where it was like 50, 45 across the board, right?

Like he just, he just beat his ass and I'm like, okay. So that's like, we got yawn back now. You know what I mean? Like those dudes back. So Marcus me, I mean, we'll always talk about the proverbial steak being slid under the door. I don't know if it'd be quite like that, but this dude is in over his head. Unless he shocks us, man, like he could go in there and put on performance.

I know he's been very good. The dude got in like Marcus me got, got shocks us, man, like he could go in there and put on performance. I know he's been very good. The dude got in like Marcus McGee got into the game. It seems like very late. Like I don't even think he made his pro debut until he's like 30. Um, it doesn't have a lot of, I know he's 35, which we always talk about like kind of that being the declining moment. And I'm like, this is, I don't know.

The tea leaves aren't great here for Marcus McGee. Yeah. It's like, yeah, it's like a weird take on like Poirier v Benoit, which we always bring up in this show because we all famously spent more. We'll be talking about that fight like in 10 years. We'll still be talking about that fight. But it's, it's like, it's like that, but it isn't because Yana is a fucking massive favorite.

Like he's like a four to one favor. Right? Like, so it's like, I don't understand this matchup. I don't, I don't understand how this happens. And it's like, it's, you'd rarely see, I mean, usually, so we knew who Benoit Saint-Denis was though, right? Like, it's like we'd seen him and we're like, that dude's a beast. Watch out another, you know, they're feeding Dustin Poirier to him. This one seems the opposite to me.

I mean, it's like, it seems like they're feeding poor Mark Smoky to a guy. And I mean, if he wins, good for him. He's about to just launch himself into contendership just like that. But I'm not sure if Piotr Jong goes in there and just dominates the fight as most think he might or will. Does that punch his ticket? You know, is that, is that all it takes? That's what I mean.

Or is it just a sideways motion? Does it do anything for you? Would it say, all right, he's the next title contender? Or does it say like, well, you kind of in the same spot you were when you went into the fight. I mean, I guess it remains to be seen. You know, I don't, I don't know how that works. I think he believes he gets a title shot with the wind, but we'll see. Now, Shara Bullock kind of got found out against Michael Venom page who moved up

to middleweight to fight him. He's got Mark Andre Barry Oh, um, on the main card of this one. I'm wondering, would you buy stock in shower right now? Like, did like, or do you think that he's been as the kids would say fraud check, I would have, I mean, if, if I was going to buy stock, I would have done it before the loss, you know, like, yeah. And it plummeted.

Um, I still think that though he serves the purpose of what kind of, we always talked about him being, he's, he's almost a novelty act that they put in the middle of these cards, always in Abu Dhabi, right? Like it's always like, or always in the Middle East. Like it's like one of those situations where you're like, uh, you know, you got this guy who's an entertainer, he's almost like the guy who, um, on the game shows goes around and talks to the audience and make sure he's happy.

And he's got the look, you know, he's got the pirate thing. And, um, and we, by the way, we did a roundtable, we kind of addressed this. It's it's live now. Sean wanted me to mention this, that our live, we did a round table. We kind of addressed this. It's, it's live now. Sean wanted me to mention this, that our live, our round table or our Abu Dhabi round table is out right now. We do address this very thing. We talk about, um, what are reasonable expectations to have

on Shara Bullitt at this point. And I think you nailed it because it's basically plug them into a situation where you need some entertainment, one of those cards and you're going to get it. Right. Like he's going to go in there and give that to you. And I'm fine with that, man. This is a good fight for him too. I feel like this should deliver.

Yeah. It's, it's going to be good. But what, what, what did you think of just a few quick ones on this guy? What, what have you thought about Bryce Mitchell's time? Have you managed to catch any of this? I'm just what you were saying. And then I was kind of like, uh, you know, again, on the round table, like you're a minute. Wait, so tell me what's going on.

He was in the sauna. You said he pulled out some meat and the veg. Is meat and two veg mean this dick and balls? He walked from the sauna completely naked. And there's six dudes in there and they went fucking crazy. Cause like, yeah, you shouldn't be having your tackle out there. And so they're going crazy. I think eventually some guy comes in and helps him.

He's like, you know, he's all right. But I should say at the media day, and I don't know if you saw this, Bruce Mitchell has said like, he actually loves that with that because the streets are so clean and that the customer service is way better than it is in America, but he did say the reason why he can't leave America is because of his Bible. That's a, is it a heavy Bible? I mean, well, you can't take it with you.

That's what I'm thinking. I'm like, does he know that you like, they're not going to arrest you in the airport for having that buddy, like you can, you can fucking bring that with you. My question was like, he's flying over like basically, wait, Arkansas, right? Like he's flying basically the other side of the world.

I mean, at some point, I hope he peeped out the window and saw the little curvature of the earth, but I don't know. But I'm also like, I sat in the piece. I'm like, and they should fly them home the other way. Just to see that it connects to back to Arkansas. Even if you go the other way, like if you're going to the Pacific and just for, you know, for educational purposes. So the best thing about this, like he tells the story about, you know, the sauna at his media day. He tells a story about the sauna.

He tells a story about the Bible. And then a Russian journalist, I believe it was my friend Dennis Goeck, I could be wrong, from Red Corner. He starts speaking Russian because the translator is there and he's going to ask Bryce in English the question, right? So this guy starts speaking very obviously like Russian or like a very like a hard Eastern European kind of twang to it anyway. The question gets asked. Bryce kind of just shrugs off the translator for a second.

He says, Assalamu alaikum, my brother. So the guy then says to him, I'm, I'm Russian. I'm Russian. And he was like, Oh, I thought you were speaking Arabic. Oh my God. I like that. He's just like a consistent, um, an insult, you know, wherever he goes. It was fucking, I was the load with that shit.

I will say he is high comedy though. In the end, I mean, people get people, you know what I mean? Like he always gives us some for guys like us who've got to talk on a podcast, he's, he's great material. Oh my God. He's magic. Muslim Salikov. I just want to note this.

Cause I was talking, I just want to note this because I was texting G.C. about this. I was very nearly going to pick massive underdog Muslim Salikov as part of the Parallel Boys this week. Because, man, you've I've seen this guy wheel kick people's heads off and you've got Carlos Leal coming in there. Twenty two and six incredibly jacked, no doubt about it. But Muslim Salikov is like a four to one underdog, dude. I think that is that's big value you've been talking about that guy

forever too man I love him like he was in China he did all that Kung Fu he's kicking the fuck out of people I mean I love it like and then like there is a big part to me like looking at two old boys massive underdogs in these fights Muslim Salikov against Carlos Lial's one and the other is like the biggest unsung hero of UK MMA. Davey Grant against Amon Blackshear. I don't know, my Davey Grant. Davey Grant fucking looks great against against guys all the time.

He barely loses. Even when he loses, he barely does. He did a couple of times. But I mean, I don't know, do it. I'm just tempted. You know what I mean? I think it's, dude. I'm just, you're tempted. You know what I mean? I think it's cause I get older. I like, I, I, I like, I feel more akin to these guys now. You know, like, please do it for me.

Show me I can lose that weight. That doesn't seem, I mean, I guess, I, I guess I see why he's an underdog, but a massive underdog, Davey's Davies, like three to one as well. And that seems surprising. And Salikov is four to one. Like the old parlay throw a little parlay there. I mean, you got both of them come through. Um, one more thing just on this card, cause New York Rick has been talking about this endlessly at the great Jiu-Jitsu legend.

Marcus Bucheta is debuting in the UFC on this card against Martin Buday. Who I said earlier was on that card. Apologies. He obviously isn't. He's on this card. It's an Abu Dhabi card though. Martin Boudet against Marcus Bucceche is the curtain joker for this event. And Bucceche, with his lineage, like one of the great, probably the greatest heavyweight jujitsu player of all time.

Yeah. He could be an interesting addition to to this UFC roster and potentially help us with some of the gripes that we were speaking about earlier, Chuck. Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, there you go. That's all we have for you. Beautiful, beautiful people today. Time's that card rolling off by the way.

Nice and early, I believe like, usually that's the case. So, um, 12 ET. So 5 PM, my tour. Perfect. I love that. All right. Well, it's going to be absolutely fantastic my perfect. I love that. All right.

That's going to be absolutely fantastic. We can only apologize that Ben wasn't here this week. He's off gallivanting. He is a gallivanter, which I'm learning to gallivants more. He is or without notice. Like he just kind of gallivants at his pace. He's doesn't even tell people it's going to be talking. They're going to be talking about fucking Ben's visits to the on crown studios for the next three years.

The crime when he shook our hands and nearly broke? Oh, what a great guy. Oh, he's so handsome. Sick of him. Absolutely sick of this guy. Hopefully we'll be back on the show next week. If he's fucking in America even then, who knows what the fuck is going to happen with that guy. But anyway.

I always have trouble signing off. I'm going to try and make this. There it is. Every time. I was waiting for it. Pity you watch Sinners. Oh, yeah. Oh, have you seen it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Not a right. So this what happened. I was in the cinema with Elaine and I had no idea this happens. And I'm enjoying this movie. Like, I'm like, this is good fun. You know, I'm enjoying it. And then he just sings the first couple of bars of the rocky road to Dublin, which is a very famous song by the Dublin's Luke Kelly version.

Fantastic. Damien Dempsey does a great version as well. And he says, you know, it's not in the traditional way you'd sing this song. But I recognize the words and I kind of turn to a line like. What's that song? Then it goes again and I'm like, oh, shit, is this is this about to happen? And then, of course, they the Irish vampires are people who are trying to steal people's souls first into this, like almost like the Backstreet Boys, everybody video.

It's like a rendition of that. They're all dancing and singing. It's kind of fun. And like I'm just I'm like, so this song, the rocky road, the Dublin, you know, it's a very, it's very, uh, nationalistic song. And we're like, now we're doing it to steal the, these, uh, these African American vampires souls. Like that's what this song, that's the purpose of this song now. I mean, the music was great.

But it was that was a big, big when they, when they showed up at the door and Like that's what this song that's the purpose of this song now. I mean, the music was great. It was that was a big when they, when they showed up at the door and they're like, they did the pick, poor, rob and clean. That was a great one. Yeah. Yeah. The Irish one, but that was, that was pretty cool. There's some of the songs were great and it was a great song. But I mean, it's just weird. All right.

I think this is Swedish money from Sammy here. Hello crew. We are halfway into 2025. Any fight of the year candidates already have a great weekend. Yeah. I think, uh, I think, uh, Usman and Paul is up there. That's kind of the other one. Yeah.

We just had the flyweight one. It was the Joshua van one was a very good fight. That was crazy. I mean, those are, those are two front runners for me too. I was just thinking about this very question last week when we, we did, or like a couple weeks ago, we did our mid season or mid year, whatever. And, uh, those were two of the front runners, I believe. But yeah, man, we've had some good ones.

Those, those two fights though, were. I have a feeling we'll still be talking about those two as the front runners, unless we really get some action, man. Those are, those are brilliant fights. those two as the front runners, unless we really get some action, man, those are, those are brilliant fights. Did, did Van like, uh, and Roy Valdedade dethrone, uh, Pugh as a newsman in your estimation at the moment? Cause that was crazy.

You know, it's tough. I think that, well, context will matter. And I, it'd be interesting like how we think of it at the end of the year when you do this, but like, uh, Van kind of showing up on what was a couple of weeks apart, three weeks apart that factors in, in my mind, like just to go in there, a young dude like that throw down and the veteran just kind of been like, not on my watch. And you, so you basically have this crazy skirmish, you know, that like never ceases, it just goes through the whole fight of them, uh, you know, trading.

That's going to be tough, man. But I do, I thought the stakes were bigger in the other one, obviously. So we're going to have to weigh all of that. Yeah. And it's also like from, from an Irish point of view, like that loss for Hughes was so valuable in ways that we couldn't have quantified even watching the broadcast that night, because on the Monday, the footage gets released from anatomy of a fighter of Paul saying to Habib, I'm not like him, blah, blah, blah, which McGregor takes as like one of the most serious insults ever.

He goes on to insult Paul Hughes' national identity, which then turns Irish people who've been looking away from him for so long. Suddenly it's like, here's an acceptable guy to like. This is Paul Hughes who's now beefing with Conor McGregor and it kind of creates the first talking point outside of McGregor. Yeah. You know, like it's, it's, there's a lot of context about fights. So, yeah, I'm biased as fuck.

I'm probably, no, I probably, I'd probably give the nod right now to the Hughes fight, you know, we'll have to see. We'll have to see. Yeah, we'll see. And hopefully we have some others at the tail end of the year that basically want to compete with this. I mean, that'd be great, wouldn't it? It would be absolutely fantastic. Oh, wow.

This is a lot of money here coming in from Barca, man. I never see any of this money. And PT, is there a specific reason you don't want to see Oasis on the reunion tour? I know tickets are pricey, but wondering if there was another reason he and Park was biblical. I love you guys. Barsaman. I really wanted to see them.

And, um, I don't know if I've said this on the show. Um, again, it's an hospital story. Um, we were doing, well, you're going to learn why now because I was slagging him on the show when I was in studio with Helwani and the lads. And I was saying, you know, he's friends with Noel Geller. Surely he should be getting us tickets. He was like, I have two tickets there. Do you want them for that weekend? But I was in fucking New York.

So the guy's a legend. He called me fat all he wants. If he keeps going, he's going to pay up and ticket Oasis tickets. This is it. Like, uh, but the problem was right. It was Barca man. The, the authority to buy those tickets for me was given to someone that someone did not available pre-sales and whatnot that happened and therefore we've been

left without tickets now, I did have an opportunity to buy two tickets for a thousand each, so that's 2000 because the line's going to want to come and they can't go without her. And I said no to that. And ever since then. And I said to Hellwany I was like, why aren't you getting those tickets like you're you're literally torturing yourself for not going to this and you you can't watch the footage of them because you're torturing yourself on this level. Would you not just bought the tickets? And I was like, you know, yeah, if I could go back in time, I probably should have bought those tickets. They're gone now anyway. But yeah, I don't know, man.

It's a hot ticket, man. I know Oasis aren't like the most technically gifted band of all time, but they're a feeling. Like they came out when I was about nine and it was like, you know, we felt like we were, you know, cool kids because we're listening to Oasis. They had all these, all the older kids were dressing like them. It was a whole movement. And I've seen the stone roses in Manchester before. I'd love to see them, but I mean, it's just not looking.

I do think they're going to keep touring now. They're getting like fucking five million a night. Like they're definitely going to just keep touring. Like Fleetwood Mac, when they got back together, they've been on tour ever since. As long as they can tolerate each other. You know? Yeah. Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham touring together now, apparently.

Wow. Yeah. See, I'll pass. What else we got? We have more. Bill, what's the crack, dude? Uh, huge shout out to the Lingual Legends and Analytical Assassins, Nice.

Titsy and Shook for their incredible work with Unground and beyond. Thank you both Billy, your fucking legend. Yeah, look at that. What a little cap on there too. I like it. I mean, will I ever. That dude is a legend. He's been, he's been, I feel like I've seen that guy's name for years and years.

So he's stuck with us. He's responsible for these bad boys. Look at that. Yeah. Look at this. Very cool, man. Is he a policeman? He is.

He is. That's good to know. I need him in Vegas a lot of times. So that's good. He gets me out of. Very cool, man. Is he a policeman? He is. He is. That's good to know. I need him in Vegas a lot of times, so that's good. He gets me out of all the trouble, you know? Yeah. All right. I'm only joking. I'm joking, Bill.

I'm joking. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been an absolute pleasure to see you as always. Speak to you as always, crackheads. And remember, take it easy with the crack over the weekend. Enjoy it responsibly. Enjoy the fights. We will be back next week.

We love you so much. Monday we'll be back. See you on the crack on Friday. Bye bye. Mwah.