The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 309 post-show: What's next for Jon Jones & Stipe Miocic

Episode Date: November 17, 2024

On the UFC 309 Post-Fight Show, Ariel Helwani reacts to Jon Jones' dominant performance against Stipe Miocic and weighs in on whether Jones will face interim champ Tom Aspinall (01:03).Next, Helwani recaps the co-main event between Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler and forecasts what could be next for each, including a potential rebooking of the Conor McGregor fight for Chandler (18:06).Finally, he touches on Bo Nickal's win over Paul Craig (21:44) and the rest of the card's notable performances (25:17) before bringing in The Boys in the Back, Eric Jackman and Conner Burks, to cap off the night from Madison Square Garden (30:37).

back in your life on this sunday november 17 2000 and 24 hello again everyone and shout out to the boys in the back for not only holding it down this evening but yesterday as well and on wednesday and pt on thursday what a week for us here at Uncrowned and what a week in combat sports 24 hours after we saw the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history remind us all that father time remains undefeated Mike Tyson 58 not quite who he was back in 1987 we witness the youngest champion in UFC history. Remind us all that he is still the best, that he is still the man, that he is still the greatest of all time. And perhaps, perhaps backs up Dana White's claim that he is the pound for pound king. Because if you ask me

what he did tonight to Stipe Miocic was more impressive than what he did against Cyril Ghosn about a year and a half or so ago. Yes, Jon Jones is the reigning defending now UFC heavyweight champion. Not quite undisputed as Bruce Buffer said, but certainly there's no disputing that he was the man tonight, that he is the man in the current UFC heavyweight division. We'll get to what is next, but let us give him his flowers. I thought what he did tonight against Stipe, as I said, was way more impressive than what he did against Cyril Gunn. Gunn didn't really show up back in March of 2023. Stipe showed up as best as he could. The problem is he had not fought since 2021. He's in his early 40s. He was one foot out the door before John pulled him back in there's a very good chance that

if john never campaigned for this fight that we we would have never seen stipe ever again after the francis fight uh ufc wasn't clamoring to do business with him there were no fights that made sense for him he was a full-time firefighter but john wanted this legacy fight the ufc obliged we were supposed to get it last november um it didn't happen because the injury so we get it tonight and and what happens john's in better shape john's aggressive john dominates the first round 10-8 first round a beautiful back trip and then you're reminded just how effective just just how dangerous, just how vicious, just so violent those elbows are.

That ground and pound is unbelievable. And it was a clear 10-8 round, if you ask me. I have not seen actually the scorecards, but as far as, you know, me sitting here and watching it, I thought it was 10-8. Second round wasn't 10-8, but it was more of the same dominance, 10-9 Jones. And then third round, he's kicking to the body. He's front kicking to the, to the chest, a little bit lower than the chest. And then he just unleashes a vicious spinning back kick to the ribs. And that was it. It crumpled Stipe. At that point, Stipe is, you know, he's bleeding,

he's cut open. Uh, it's,'s it's it appears to be en route to a fait accompli and that's what it was John Jones was quicker faster more powerful more dominant um it was a it was a master class and and I know that Stipe had not fought since 2021 I know he's a little bit older but to do that against Stipe, I don't know, you know, even when DC fought him, you know, and beat him, it wasn't that, like, I don't know if we've ever seen that version of Stipe, you know, he had the loss to, uh, Stefan Struve way back when, and of course the loss to Francis, but this was just from the jump in those fights. He had moments from the jump, against john tonight he had nothing and afterwards he tells joe rogan stipe which is kind of like the worst kept secret in the sport going into the

fight but he would never quite he would never quite confirm it or lean into it the quote was he was asked are you going to keep fighting? I'm done. I'm hanging him up. I'm retiring. Thank God. God bless Stipe Miocic. Nothing left to prove. No reason to keep on fighting. Doesn't really want to keep on fighting. Doesn't want to do this. Doesn't want to do the media. Doesn't want to be an active fighter anymore. Has done it all. Most decorated champion in UFC history. At least for now, John could very well beat that with a couple more wins, but an incredible career and tough to see him get beat up like that in his last UFC fight. And I don't think Stipe is going to be

the kind of guy who comes back in a year or two years. I don't think he's going to be the kind of guy who goes into bare knuckle or something like that. Maybe I'm wrong, but he seems to just be happy being a fireman and being a dad and being a husband and a family man. Tough to see him go out like that, but golly. This was, by the way, if you ask me, arguably the most significant heavyweight title fight that happened at Madison Square Garden since Ali Frazier won back on March 8, 1971. The only other heavyweight title fight in MMA to take place at MSG was DC against Derek Lewis back in 2018. And that really felt cobbled together. And I know there were issues surrounding this one, but when you have Jon Jones and Stipe fighting for a heavyweight title at the Mecca,

sight of where the Knicks beat the Nets last night in an absolute thriller. It feels like a big deal. And it was a tremendous performance from John. It wasn't the 50-50 fight that I thought it would be. And that's maybe because I have so much respect for Stipe and his team was telling me a lot of great things and uh i i thought maybe he would be able to hang with john a little bit more this was this was as one-sided as it gets um john beats steve he uh he wins via tko he goes to the center of the the cage and as was the theme throughout the night he pays homage to donald, who was sitting cage side. And it wasn't just Donald Trump. It was Donald Trump and the Republican Avengers. It was Donald Trump. It was Elon Musk. It was Don Jr. It was Eric Trump. It was Kid Rock. It was Dana White. It was Tulsi Gabbard. It was a whole host of politicians there.

And it was a lot of them on camera and it was a lot of pomp and circumstance and it was a lot of paying homage. And John did the Donald Trump dance, the YMCA thing. We had Bo Nickel with the golf swing and all that. Even went over to him afterwards, gave him the title. There was a nice moment between them.

Who knows what they're talking about in those moments, like when they're holding each other's hands and going like this and doing all that stuff. But John was very happy in the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. He was in great spirits. He was asked about what's next. Off the top of my head now, I don't think Tom Asprall's name was mentioned. He was shown

alongside his father, Andy, on the screen. The crowd popped for him. Alex Pereira, I don't think was there. He was asked about heavyweight or light heavyweight. And he basically said, I got to talk to Uncle Dana. I got to talk to Hunter Campbell. And we need to negotiate, which we all knew was coming. And hopefully it's not shades of 2020 again, where negotiations never happened or never really got off the ground when the UFC attempted to make the Nganou fight for the first, second, third, fourth, fifth time. I'm not talking about the end. I'm talking about the beginning of this journey. And then he says, if we can figure it out, we can give the people what they want. Now,

what the people want is Tom Aspinall. There's no denying it. Would we gladly take Alex Perra? Of course. It's a huge fight. But did you see the pop that Tom Aspinall got on Thursday at the press conference? It's literally Daniel Bryan all over again daniel bryan all over again it's cody rhodes all over again it's a situation where the public thinks that someone is getting screwed and they are trying to will his spot into existence they're trying to will this fight into existence and they're chanting tommy tommy we're in new york we're not in manchester we're not in london we're not in the uk we're not in wigan we're in new york and everyone's going to're not in London we're not in the UK we're not in Wigan we're in New York and everyone's going Tommy there's no British fighters although there was Oban Elliott but like there's no there's no UK guys on the on the card that are of great significance where there's a bunch of UK fans in attendance who are going to take over the press

conference and start chanting for Tom Aspinall no the world wants to see arguably now the biggest baby face in the game because of all this stuff. And it could have been manufactured or not. I don't know. See this fight. And let me just say this right here and now. I will say this right here and now. With a month and a half left in 2024, my most desired fight in combat sports, I'm going to pull a Chris Eubank, Connor Benn on all of you. It's Jon Jones versus Tom Aspinall. What Jon Jones did this week to build that fight, what Tom Aspinall did this week to build that fight, to be there as the backup fighter, to make his presence felt, to show up in the fur coat, mink coat, whatever it was,

walk past his brothers with those new pearly whites. God, I want to see that so bad. And I want to see it so bad because of the build, because of the animosity, because of the respect, disrespect. But I also want to see it so bad because of the fight. Look at that trip. Look at that takedown. Look at those elbows, the ground and pound. Can he do that to Tom Aspinall? Can he keep him on the ground with his black belt, with his youth, with his strength, with his power, with his speed, with his agility? Tom Aspinall is the hybrid of Cain Velasquez and Frank Mir. If they had a baby, that's Tom, in my opinion. I believe that. Can John do that? Maybe. I don't even know what the odds are in this fictitious, you know, fight, the line. Well, I don't even know. But I don't know if

there is a fight out there on the table. Honestly, in MMA or boxing right now, that intrigues me more than John Jones versus Tom Aspinall. John's performance tonight made me want to see it even more. He's on point. He has found his groove as a heavyweight. He looks phenomenal. I hope it's not a year and a half or two years before we see him again. It's remarkable what he continues to do at his age, fighting the best of the best. There is nothing you can say. Was this the fight we wanted to see tonight? Not necessarily, but he went out there and he did the job. He got it done. Freaking impressive.

Blown away by the performance. Really was. And, and, and I hope that people recognize that. And I know that there are, you know, I know that there's a lot of new fans and I know that there's a lot of people

who started watching in 2020, 2021. And the first glimpse of, of stipe was him getting knocked out of francis by francis and they're probably thinking like okay what's the big deal they don't remember the verdum win or the alistair ovry win or the the the dc wins they don't remember these fights um and and and and so i get it to a. You can go and look it up and check it out. But trust me when I say that was impressive. I don't care if there was a layoff or not. Stipe knows how to fight and he took this fight seriously and he took the preparation seriously.

And so I hope we get what we want. And what we want is tom aspinall because it would be a freaking amazing fight look we were debating after i went to aj dubois if there is an appetite for stadium shows in america for mma and for ufc in particular i was at a stadium show last night there were 72 000 people there there's an appetite if you give people what they want this could be a stadium show in my opinion would they do it probably not they like t-mobile they like they like arenas and then charging a premium and they make just as much money the gate last night for 72 000 was 18 million the gate tonight will be more so they don't need to do it it just kind of looks cool but i'm just saying i think that fight

the build the interest uk america all that stuff would be that darn big and there there could be a a place a legion stadium so with 72 or so thousand people that could host this fight and and could fill it up if they want to put the fight there. Otherwise, it could be at T-Mobile or Madison Square Garden and it would be just as huge. Now, are we putting John number one pound for pound? I don't know. Ultimately, who cares? But I feel a lot better about that discussion now than I did after a two-minute fight against Cyril Ghosn. That was really great. My one complaint, I wish Tom Asprall got in the cage. Someone asked me if I thought he would get in the cage beforehand. I predicted not because I predicted that John didn't want that to happen. He didn't say his name. He doesn't want to give him that kind of shine,

but it's all right. It's right ufc has to make this happen and they're starting to develop a bit of a reputation of not delivering on the big fights people will bring up you know gsp silva and jones silva or jones francis or brock fade or fedor couture let's be honest not fair those are like six seven fights in a period of like 15 years that they haven't delivered on. Everything else, including Khabib-Conor, which seemed to be the most unlikely pairing, or maybe the toughest fight to match, they got that done. So I don't think it's fair, but I think there will be a big spotlight on them,

especially when in boxing you're getting Usyk-Fury twice. Okay, here's your chance to right the wrong here's your chance to to fix what happened when it was supposed to be in ganu and jones make this fight happen and and the ufc should be so thankful for tom aspinall because after what francis and ganu did a month ago if Tom Aspinall didn't exist imagine a world where Tom Aspinall doesn't exist and your top contenders now are like Volkov and Gann and Jelton Almeida and uh you know guys like that Marcin Tybura and Sergei Spivak and and like there'd be no one and everyone would be saying ESPN make this fight happen UFC's not making it happen they're right there they're both under the same network umbrella

make it a Tom gets them off the hook because he's lovable because he's great because he's a fun fighter to watch because he's so talented he gets completely off the hook all will be right in the fans eyes if they can figure this one out he completely takes the spotlight away and it was very smart for him to stay and be there and of course i saw a video of him backstage saying he wanted to drink um but he had he had to wait for for jones and steipe to be in the locker room ready to go before he can officially be off the clock. I know he got paid to be there to weigh in and all that. And he looked to be in great shape, but just great for him to be in the front row.

It was great. John and Stipe, in case you were wondering the saga of the gloves, how it all turned out. They were wearing the old black gloves. Dana White said on Thursday, this is where it gets really weird. He said on Thursday that they were going back fully to the black gloves, that the new gloves are dead. And now the new, new gloves are the old gloves. They're going way back to like it's it's over the experiment whatever it was done dead they're going back to the old gloves then on the broadcast john annick says that for the remainder of the year they'll be using the old gloves during pay-per-views so on numbered cards so 309 and 310 those are the last two and then the new gloves for fight nights this makes no sense i maintain that john jones asked to wear the new gloves excuse me well the

the new old gloves i maintain that john said i don't like the new gloves i want the old gloves and i maintain that they said okay john we'll do that and then it turned into a thing and then on the spot dana white said we're going back to the old gloves. F it. And then they also took a step back and say, hey, we can't necessarily do that or we don't want to do that. So this is how we get out of it. Because as I reported, when I spoke to the guys on Wednesday, what they had told all the fighters was, we're going to use this for the two pay-per-views and then see what happens. But then Dana White says, they're just going back to the old gloves.

And then on the broadcast, they say, old gloves pay-per-view, new gloves fight night. That just feels like you got yourself in a mess and you don't know how to get yourself out of it. Like, pick one. What is that all about? Supremely weird. And I didn't see that many people upset

about the fact that the old gloves were coming back. So just go back to those. Bizarre. But the good news was no gold gloves. I hate those. And they went back to the old ones. So if you're into that sort of thing, that's how that story concluded. So John Jones retains the belt.

He's now 28 and one. Stipe Miocic falls to 20-5. Also won no contest. 429 of the third round. Spinning back kick. Some punches. Bonsoir. Co-main event.

Five round. Number one contender fight, we we presume Charles Oliveira beats Michael Chandler this was an incredibly entertaining fight despite the fact that Oliveira in my opinion won four rounds to one Chandler wins the fifth round Oliveira was fantastic Chandler went for broke in the fifth round there were some dicey. There were some great moments for him throughout the first four rounds, but he totally went for broke in the fifth round, even recreated the slam. Oliveira is on his back.

Unbelievably, they're back in the same position. He slams him. The crowd goes crazy. And in reality, those five minutes, if he couldn't have won the fight, kind of saved his star power and and in my opinion saved the conor mcgregor fight if he would have just gone skunked five rounds to none i don't know if the desire would have been there the fact that he finished so strongly and then cut this great promo afterwards

i think it's it's alive and well if they can make it happen there There was a bit of a weird moment in the fifth round. Chandler's going for broke. He's raining down blows and it looks like he lands, I don't know, 10 shots to the back of the head. Keith Peterson is right there and these are like clubbing blows to the back of the head. I don't know what was going on there. Sometimes you'll see one or two sneak in. You know, Francis and Fajeda, it looked like maybe one or two snuck in. I don't know what the hell was going on there.

But it ended up being elementary. It was a tremendous performance from Charles Oliveira. And I think we can finally put to bed the notion that he's a quitter and maybe the old charles quits bends breaks in that fifth round uh that didn't happen in that fifth round and and i'd love to know from chandler did the layoff hurt him did he feel rusty he looked to be in incredible shape. I mean, he was ripped, shredded. But Charles won that fight four rounds to one, in my opinion, and was the better fighter.

He improves to 35 and 10. And it appears as though he is the number one contender. The issue is he's coming off a loss to Armin Tsaroukian. Prior to that, a win over Benil Dariush in Vancouver prior to that a loss to Islam Khachev. So in his last four fights, he has lost to the two men who we presume are fighting for the belt on January 18th, 2025. today that UFC 311 will take place at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, the brand new arena home of the Los Angeles Clippers. Looks to be an incredible arena. They didn't announce a main event, but we presume that is going to be the main event. Is there a huge demand for a rematch against Islam? Lost in 2022, arm triangle choke.

Yeah, I could see that. Huge demand in a rematch against Armin. I think if Armin wins, they may run it back. So let's see. But it appears as though there is no one else really knocking on that door at the moment. And it appears as though the appetite is for Charles Oliveira to be the number one contender especially if if Islam beats Armin in January so a big moment for Charles Oliveira he gets back on track after the split decision loss to Armin Tsurukian back at UFC 300. Now, prior to that, we got Bo Nickel versus Paul Craig.

Bo Nickel won this fight three rounds to none. The crowd booed him towards the end. I said earlier this week when I spoke to him that I thought the line was a little bit surprising. I think he was a minus 1,000. And that wasn't because I don't think he's incredible and will be a future superstar and title contender and potentially champion. I still just think that Paul Craig is game and he was game. He's tough to put away. I know he had eight losses going into this fight and won no contest, but he's still a vet and he's smart enough and he proved to be tough to put away. You know, were the booze fair?

Tough crowd. I mean, they were singing the penn state song beforehand he's a very pro-american guy it seemed to be a very pro-american crowd but uh yeah they were tough on him they were even chanting overrated overrated i was fine with it um i'm not ready to denounce him as a you know as a bust or something like that no toughest test by far there's a big difference between you know val woodburn and cody brundage and and and paul craig paul craig there's a huge difference and he stepped up and he he won in my opinion three rounds to none and uh i thought it was it was a solid performance

first time he sees the third round goes the distance i'm sure he's upset i'm sure he's disappointed i'm sure he wanted to smoke him in the first 60 seconds but he got some rounds and he got some time in just his seventh pro fight. He's a wrestler. Now, if you want to offer a criticism, is it fair to say that he moved too far away from the wrestling? Did he use his striking? Excuse me, used the striking too much,

fell in love with the striking, fell in love with trying to get that one hitter quitter you know wasn't really mixing things up wasn't presenting different options as far as attack is concerned and and and the wrestling you know would have been a huge factor in his favor obviously what was so intriguing to me about this fight was paul is actually incredible off his back we know this so what would have been a huge factor in his favor. Obviously, what was so intriguing to me about this fight was Paul is actually incredible off his back. We know this. So what would have happened if he would have taken him down and then Paul is comfortable off his back?

I think he was looking for the home run punch, the grand slam punch, if you will, and wasn't mixing it up. But again, these wrestlers like him, who's a three-time national championship champion who has been in the wrestling game on the wrestling mat since he was like five years old, it takes them some time to learn how to properly strike.

And some of them don't even get it until the very end of their careers. He's young. His pro debut happened June of 2022 a little over three years ago give him some time a little bit of patience a couple amateur bouts prior to that

his very first MMA fight, amateur or pro in this case amateur, September of 2021 give him some time, that was a big step up solid enough performance i'm fine with it paul is a tough sob a vet shout out uh viviani araujo with a unanimous decision win over karine silva mauricio ri with a unanimous decision win over James Lontop. He proved to be very game despite the weight miss, but Mauricio is tough and fun and very entertaining. Shout out to the Fight Nerds. Marcus McGee with a unanimous decision win over Jonathan Martinez. Shout out to Jim Miller. Oh my God, Jim Miller. I believe his

27th UFC win. The record. Another submission for him. Record at lightweight as well. Jumps to Gilly. First round. 244. The guy is unbelievable. He won't go away. He's 41. See, old guys can fight. Comes off that tough, tough loss to Bobby Green and submits Damon Jackson with a beautiful guillotine. And we actually got our first retirement of the night because Damon Jackson put down the gloves. 23-8-1, veteran of the game, said sayonara. And we do wish him well and congratulate him on a great career. David Onama and Roberto Romero. Great fight there. Onama wins. Improves to 13-2.

Marcin Tybura wins via doctor stoppage against Jonta Diniz. Ramiz Brahimaj beats Mickey Gall in the first round via KO. Eduardo Moura defeated Veronica Hardy, stopping her run. The unanimous decision. And then in the second fight of the night, wouldn't you know it, friend of the show,

the pride of Wales, the Welsh gangster himself, with the third round stoppage against Basil Hafez, a beautiful overhand right and some hammer fist to boot and then he patented or is it whatever it was he was fantastic obon elliott getting his first stoppage win finishing the year three and on the ufc three wins on three pay-per-views cutting a mean promo afterwards with joe rogan delighted for the guy and i can't wait for our beer on monday in the studio unfortunately before the show we we got a word that eric anders versus chris weidman was

pulled from the card literally as the card was starting. Eric Anders had a medical issue, so he had to withdraw. Gutted for him and hope that he's obviously going to feel better very soon and make a speedy recovery. But, of course, gutted for Chris Weidman, New York guy. MSG has been a bit of a house of horrors for him. And to get that, I i mean you go through the weight cut you go through everything to get to that point of the night and then have the rug pulled out under you is devastating and you can see he was tweeting through it he was posting videos he kept

saying should have been in there feel horrible for him really do and hopefully we can see him back in there relatively soon perhaps even ufc 311 speaking of 311 uh we did find out yesterday that shavkat rachmanov and ian gary will in fact fight in the co-main event the boy spoke about it yesterday so don't need to go over all of that we will go over all of that and all of tonight in greater depth on monday's program 1 p.m eastern on this same channel um do want to mention that they did announce that bryce mitchell versus crone gracie is happening on that card hey hey uh it appears as though nick diaz is off that card femba is in against facente luque so some changes there and the main event of course is in fact going to be Alexandre

Pantoja against Kaya Sakura they also announced earlier this week that Mikey Musumechi has signed to the fight pass invitational world to an exclusive jiu-jitsu deal with the UFC which is fascinating he leaves one championship now UFC is going to start signing these guys

are they going to sign Gordon Ryan asyan as well who was in john jones's corner mikey's a big star a big loss for one championship and he was sitting there in the uh the front row we didn't quite get the chel sun and walk out with oban that he was um that he was hinting at when he was in studio but we did a great moment where chael's almost like the the the the old coach in rudy and he's giving him the pep talk before obon goes out in this case chael's the old coach uh believe is it forrest whitaker yes forrest whitaker and then and then and then rudy goes out in this case he's forrest whitaker ob And then Rudy goes out. In this case, he's Forrest Whitaker, Obon is Rudy, and you get that great shot in the tunnel. And he's like,

you're five foot nothing. You're a hundred and nothing. You don't got a speck of athletic ability in that body. And you just hung around for six months with the best team in the nation son if you ask me you ain't got nothing to prove to nobody is anyone there by the way i don't even know is there any everyone's here okay yeah just watching you know you're here we're here man rudy iy i love it i'm just cooking i was like i didn't i didn't hear anything i was like am i actually talking to myself here what's going on we aren't streaming if that's what you're asking oh yeah this is just for us should we do it for the people uh we're doing great how about you i'm doing okay i'm really

tired there was a moment where uh i was debating i think I think I was, I think I was at the, like, I think it was the first fight of the main card, and I debated texting you guys saying I'm too tired, and you need to take this home. Pete Zinschok bailed on us last night, you bailed this night, I mean. Well, first of all, I did not bail, so you can't put me in that bucket. I know, but you were preparing to. You thought about it. I was debating it. One hour of sleep, get to the airport, 4.30 for a 6.30 flight.

In that case, should I maybe not get there two hours early? Should I break tradition at 4.30 when you get one hour of sleep? Perhaps. Get there, About to board Six o'clock Have two kids soccer games at three Flight delayed two hours For traffic reasons

At the airport Like there was too much congestion How's our congestion at six in the morning What's going on Rick's doing something with his mic back here He's changing the whole setup Table's shaking Bangs are going on? Rick's doing something with his mic back here He's changing the whole setup Table's shaking Bangs are going on

It's late night at Yahoo and things are getting wild But here I am Here you are brother Dallas is good We can get into all that on Monday Second highest grossing event in Madison Square Garden history They sold out Gate of 16 million

So actually I was wrong. Yesterday's gate was bigger. I think Rick read a stat to me as well. Not about the gate or anything, but Jon Jones landed the highest significant strike percentage of at least 100 attempts. He landed some 82%

of his significant strikes. It was the highest in the UFC fight ever. So yeah, impressive stuff. Bo Nickel at the press are the UFC fight ever. Impressive stuff. Bo Nickel at the presser now saying that he thought it was awesome that MSG was saying his name for so long. Bo instead of Boo. Kind of a joke.

That was pretty clever. The official attendance 16,000. No, excuse me. Official attendance is 20,200 sellout. 16,670. No. 16 million. Fuck.

16 million. Why are they writing it this way? What? How could it be 16 million? I don't know what the fuck it is. Yeah, it's 16 million. Why couldn't it be 16 million? I don't know.

I'm reading this. Why? There's too many commas. 16.6. How about that? Does that work? 16 milli. The stat that GC was referring to was fourth highest significant strike accuracy in a single fight in UFC history, minimum 100 attempts.

Jon Jones, 80.67. I was blown away. Shevchenko versus Cachoeira is number one, 84% of the strikes. But yeah, John was basically teeing off on Stipe, suffice it to say. I mentioned the lines. I'm seeing some lines here, courtesy of Jedi. Tom, have you guys seen this? Yeah, I have not.

Okay, okay. What do you say? Aspinall Jones. Is the line coming out now, or was it already a line that? There was one out, but now it feels like more books are starting to release. Jones minus 120. Aspinall minus 130. Jones plus 110.

Wow. I wonder how many times John Jones has opened up as a dog. I think he opened up as a dog against Cyril Gaon. Yeah, he did. Oh, wow. A lot of people will be betting on John Jones. In case you're wondering, what did you say? What was that?

You will be betting against? I said I'm not one of them Oh wow Wow Tom loves you He's not betting on Jon Jones I said a lot of people Will be betting on Jon Jones

Got it Got it This might be the thing That ruins us Tommy Espinosa Espinosa Yeah There's going to be

Some rivalries that week He was in the front row Saying say my name Say my name Derek Cleary Sal D'Amato both had the first rounds 10-8. Obviously, wow. Derek Cleary gave Stipe the second round.

Unexplainable. Not sure about that one. Not quite sure about that one. Sal did not. And then Chris Lee gave Jones 10-9 first round. I mean, it's pretty freaking dominant. Round two for Steve Bates is way worse than that. Yeah. I gave 10-9 round, and it feels like it should have been 10-8.

Yeah, I mean, he just, like, I think Steve Bates landed one punch. Yeah, in hindsight, that was a 10-8. Steve Bates left the cage very emotional. John Jones joining Amanda Nunes, Henry Cejudo, and Daniel Cormier as the only two-division champions to successfully defend their championships in both weight

classes. So pretty darn cool. He also did confirm, by the way, that he is not going to retire. I didn't mention that, but I don't really think anyone thought anymore that he was going to retire the way that he is not going to retire i didn't mention that but i don't really think anyone thought anymore that he was going to retire i know he said you know he said that maybe a month or so ago but let's be honest uh i don't think anyone really believed him uh these are all negotiations and i think that the ufc is going to try to make this happen and i think that the And I think that the likelihood

that it happens is strong. As of right now, the next time we see Jon Jones in the freaking cage, true or false, it will be against Tom Aspinall. True. Just fucking go in there. True.

When do you think it happens? I don't know International fight So does Tom not fight until then? That's a long time It's not that long It's not that long to wait for a Jon Jones fight It's only a year

It sucks that he should have been fighting Tom could have fought tonight Him vs. Marcin Tiberio too would have been great. Oh my God. Rack up the interim title defenses. Yeah. It's just a year. I mean, you'd be crazy to take that fight.

Yeah. To take another fight and not wait for John. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how many times I have to say it. It's a money thing. It's the same as the Francis Ngannou thing. It's nobody.

Jon Jones worked everybody all week with this nonsense of it's this, it's that, and everybody's, ah, Jon Jones, oh, my God, he's a thug. Pay him the money and he will fight, obviously. It could not be more obvious. He essentially said as much in the post-fight interview. Pay me the money, I'll fight him. Do you guys think that my take that it's my most desired fight for 2025 is crazy? No, not at all.

I think it was my most desired fight for the second half of 2024 as well. I've been waiting on this one, man. Not at all. That is a massive mess I actually can't even think of one that's in the same realm as it For 2025 right now I swear to god if you say Conor Benn Chris Eubank Jr

Compared to Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones It's fucking crazy It's 2.10am I can't deal with this right now Selling out Webmix Time to pull out the Funk Harbor Come on we got the Funk Harbor in the bag. Take it from the bottle.

You guys really want me to do it from the bottle? Shout out to the jacket. I knew you'd like the jacket. We got the Funk Harbor on the set. Yeah. Two watch parties down. Look at that. Look at Funk Harbor that good.

No reaction. How does it feel Look at Funk Harbor that good. No reaction. How does it feel? How does it feel? It warms you up. Why did your eyes just cross like that? Does it coat the throat? Signed by the Funk Master. Yeah.

Coats the throat. What's the beer that we need to get for? I need to go back and watch it. Yeah, I need to go back and watch. I think a Guinness will suffice. No. No. You said it's a specific brand.

We're going to find it and have it ready for them. You get a knockout in Madison Square Garden, Welsh welsh gangster you have the beer you want waiting for you what did he do again he went like i actually did i'm not even gonna lie i was streaming in the car when it happened and i like went so crazy i didn't see the celebration would he rock the baby no he did like the Hogan, like the... Yeah, the flex off to the side. Yeah. So anyway, like, yeah, I think that Jake Paul carried my... No, I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. I'm joking. We still got Monday. Big game tomorrow? Big one on Monday. I got so many takes. Big one tomorrow. I'm saving them.

Let's go. Yeah. Pocket of bad boys. Let's go, guys. Netflix announces today 65 million households by the way it's households not viewers and can i just say this and we'll get into all of it as we uh round third here i've never experienced anything like i experienced today in that i went to both my kids soccer games when i came home i've known all these parents for years now. I think they kind of know what I do for a living.

All of a sudden, I was the bell of the ball. We saw you last night. You do that? That's your job? You were in the ring? It was like I was a totally different person. The amount of people coming up, texting. I've never in my entire career doing NBA, doing Olympics, real sports,

all this other stuff, experience anything like today, which just goes to show how insanely massive that whole thing was. Who, me? Yeah. It was pretty, I couldn't believe the reach, but, you know. I, for one, am proud of you. Oh, thank you, Frank. Yeah, I haven't heard it from anyone else.

You're in the element, man. Well, I mean, I texted him last night. I mean, you were flowing up there between old Mikey and Jake. You looked like Charles Oliveira for the first four rounds of the fight. Just in a nice flow state, man. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I had someone message me from Florida. They're like, hey, I think I just saw your boss in the ring.

And I'm like, eh, colleague, but I appreciate it. Yeah, no, no. I'm happy that you corrected him. I wish it had been you in Mike Tyson's locker room when the ass moment happened. That would have made it a million times better. I have a gazillion stories, like behind-the-scenes stories, but I was waiting outside his locker room for about 30 minutes, and Jim Gray was interviewing Lennox Lewis and Sugar Ray Leonard and

Holyfield and he was getting his, he was doing his drug test and we were waiting, waiting, waiting. And then I had to run back to interview the winner of Barrios Ramos. It was like the 10th round at this point. So they said, okay, we're just going to send his son to do it so you can get ready to go to the ring. So I guess it could have been me. But I thought that was pretty cool that, you know, his son got to talk to him. Until he turned around. I don't even know. I'm not sure if that was live or not.

Oh, that was live. Yeah, it was live as hell, bro. Oh, that was live. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. No, in that, that like you know when they threw to me with jake that's all no i know so you're saying you're suggesting that they had that canned and they played it out with the ass i have not i have not well because i interviewed

katie and amanda i don't think those ever aired am i wrong did they air no they're not air no they're in a locker room yeah and and j Jake, very, very, very rarely, it does happen, rarely are those live. Yeah. It makes sense because it could have been while the stream was down for a little bit. At one point it went to you were doing an interview in the ring and then it was you in the back and then it was you on the ramp. I was just like, this guy's covering a lot of ground here in AT&T Stadium right now. There's no way they aired that Playing it out

No chance I mean it went viral though It was amazing It was kind of amazing how the camera Just followed him It was one of the funniest reveals I've ever seen I was dying laughing I watched it like 18 times Yeah it's incredible

Because the interview is like pretty ho-hum. Then it gets emotional. Then it gets like, I love you. Kiss the sun on the cheek. Love you, son. Here's the moon, everyone. And then he looks like Rikishi. I just love how many people were in the room too.

And like he's just rolling around. It's so good. Yes. In that sequence, because I was thinking the same thing. I'm like, this doesn't really seem possible Especially given the fact that it's AT&T Stadium There's no way that I could pull this off Obviously people at home don't know how big it is

But yes one of those things was pre-taped And it was the locker room interview The other two of course Were not taped They were live We can talk about all of that on Monday You mean tomorrow? Yeah we'll talk to you tomorrow man yeah yeah uh john jones is the man what do we got here a little

stat tail the tape john jones 37 tom aspen all 31 john jones six foot four aspen all six foot five john jones 248 aspen all 251 John Jones 84.5 inch reach Aspinall 78 Short arms there He was talking about Pereira being 235 Him being 235 And then Pereira 249

I don't think so No way You're fucking around No that's what he said No he was saying You guys want me to What Oh oh

You guys want me to fight a guy 30 pounds heavier Or whatever he said Yeah But he also earlier in the week said Alex Pereira is 240 I'm 235 You know

He's trying to Yeah Big up Alex's stats He's trying to Make him feel big UFC has posted the entire finishing sequence. That's kind of interesting. And

yeah, everyone's buzzing. Everyone's buzzing. It's a very interesting time. And I think that we should kind of close the show with just kind of breaking down the whole walkout. I thought it was one of the best moments, like the walkout down the whole You know walkout I thought it was like one of the best Moments like the walkout with

You know the the Republican Avengers But that was cool do you guys want to break that down I think We covered it on the watch party you know Because we were live for that whole 20 minutes Stretch that they were all coming out DC's like What he was like

Fumbling yes He's like so excited he's like We actually got a tweet from Chris Weidman He said hey at real Donald Trump I was supposed to fight tonight It was nice to meet you I love you I saw that one I wasn't sure if he was saying like

Hey I was supposed to be in the cage I wanted to meet you I love you Or it was nice talking to you I couldn't tell He had you with the heart emoji yeah shout out um all right gents you guys have had a uh a very busy weekend you just fun weekend a great weekend you've had a busy yeah you you just you deserve some time my work yeah wait are we off on monday that means yeah yeah yeah yeah i actually just made the executive decision. We'll just circle back on Tuesday.

One last thing. Those fighting words. New merch just came in. Oh, nice. Montreal edition. Get the hoodies out too. It's never enough, Frank. Yeah, really.

New merch. Get it Look at that That's sick And I do want to let everyone know Yeah I want to let everyone know that Frank and I Have agreed to make up

Everything's okay in case you were wondering That was one of the big storylines Who the fuck is we? I got a few calls and texts about that You got a few calls about it A few texts too Let me guess Three out of those texts Three of those texts were from Frank

Saying like hey man Just wanted to talk to you about that Here he goes again It's all over again Frankie doesn't mean it we said we said we love each other we were hugging we were sending each other voice notes it was we were virtually hugging it was nice um all right it's time to go to bed everyone uh thank you so much for your support it's been a fantastic weekend uncrowned.com on fire record numbers and when i say record numbers yes we're only technically 32 days old

but hey records are records um so shout out to all of you for the support thumbs up to the chat much love to you guys thumbs up to everyone behind the scenes thumbs up to the uh to the folks who watched the watch party last night incredible numbers tonight as well post show thank you thank you thank you on social thank you very much and on the pod platforms thank you for all the support subscribe follow like comment review thank you to everyone back in new york um in the in the control room um and a special thank you to honor jordan who i thought was in incredible form tonight yeah jordan he's on vacation he wasn't him any uh words for Ariel? There was a moment

where I was like, usually he sends me tweets and full screens, but I haven't heard from him. I forgot that he was on vacation. You actually forgot? Yeah, so you were trying to rib him about not being active, but actually it turns out he's not even here. Yeah, it must be nice.

We had a substitute, which means you didn't even notice that he wasn't because you were able to fill the role. No, because the substitute was so damn good. Yeah, it shows how important he is. Do you know who the sub was? Yeah, your wife. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's our anniversary tonight as well. Wow! Hi, sweetheart.

Your wife is producing me shows. Wow. Mazeltov. Mazel tov. Mazel tov to you guys. Congrats on the anniversary, Frank. I think it's on Air Jordan's third vacation. How many weddings? Yeah, actually the anniversary is over,

so I retract my happy anniversary. It's 220. All right. Big show tomorrow. Monday? No, no, no, man, tomorrow. It's already past Monday. It's already past 30 Sunday

That's right Yeah you used to miss that Back in the MMA hour days That was the That was a great joke That Frank always said I'll see you tomorrow man Oh that's great

That's like when you're In 6th grade And uh I'll see you next year Exactly That's it On December 23rd Like the last day

Of the holiday break You're like See you next year Alright so then It was Trump And then Musk Yeah And so then it was Trump and then Musk. So it was Trump, Musk, and then I think I saw, was Tucker there? No, I don't think Tucker was there. House Speaker Johnson was there.

Frank, one day when it's really like A8 show after dark, will you tell us your stories about Tucker? I mean, yeah, I can break it now. Save it. No, no, save it. We can't open it. We have to tease people. Okay, guys. Thank you very much. Much love. Congrats.

John Jones, congrats. Charles Olvera, congrats. Bo Nickel and everyone else who competed and was victorious. And congrats to Oban Elliott. Speaking of Oban, he'll be joining us in studio on Monday and the great Tommy Aspinall. Not in studio. He's going back home. But he'll be joining us in studio on Monday. And the great Tommy Aspinall. Not in studio.

He's going back home. But he'll also be on Monday's show, among others. So stay tuned for that. Tuesday, I could tell you. Should I tell them who's coming on Tuesday? You have to tell them who's coming. Yeah. Monday, we've got a Welsh gangster.

Tuesday, we've got an American gangster coming in studio. That's awesome. Much love, everyone. Good night. Thank you. Do we play music here or do we just say goodbye? I don't know.

We're just saying goodbye. I don't, like, is it, does the music not work? I mean, I just didn't know if that's what you wanted to do. Here we go.

Well, now can you, I now have to do the whole goodbye thing for two and a half minutes? I mean, I could skip ahead. This is a nightmare. Yes, can you skip ahead? This is like this is like a rehearsal wait now i'm not quite sure where we're at um oh congratulations john jones thanks for watching we love you all back on monday