The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 315 preview, PFL Paris off, Montel Jackson joins, Fight Feasts Des Moines | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

The Boys in the Back have returned from Des Moines to preview UFC 315, but first, they touch on recent social media posts by Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev (01:53) and the PFL canceling its upcoming Paris event (04:26).Next, they dive into the UFC 315 main event (23:12), co-main event (36:18) and the rest of the card (41:50), before making their picks (55:09).Then, they close the book on UFC Des Moines with winner Montel Jackson, who opens up about his life, career, and mission to inspire the next generation (1:00:38) and debut a brand new Fight Feast from their Iowa trip (1:31:23).Finally, they give their P4P lists of cereals (1:47:08), listen to your voicemails (2:07:14), and answer Super Chats (2:38:59).

Buh buh buh buh buh boys in the back. Buh buh buh buh boys, boys, boys, boys. What is good? We are back with another episode of the boys in the back. I am one third of that. Mr. Connor Burks with the Canadian flag, flying UFC 315 fight week in Montreal. Before we get to that, I'm joined as always by the man, the

myth, the legend, Mr. New Yorker Rick. How we doing brother? Yeah get the maple leaf and fly that for us. How we doing brother? We're doing great. It's not as beautiful a day as it had been like the last couple of weeks but it's a bit of a bummer outside. It's still warm weather you know it's still nice enough. Frankie how we doing back there, man? How are you feeling? You're doing great, man. UFC 315 fight week, you hyped up?

You excited? So stoked. This is, Frank said this was his favorite event of the year so far. That was until I found out the white smoke is coming out at the. Oh yeah. Your new pope, you excited?

Yeah, I'm excited for the new pope. Once that is established, then I could get re-hyped for 350. When that is established, we need a breaking new, we need you to come in and let us know what the new post. Once that is established, then I could get rehyped for 350. When that is established, we need a breaking new, we need you to come in and let us know what the purpose is. I'm not even gonna be able to stay behind the console at that point.

I gotta go outside and do my dues. Yeah, I put my money on, I can't remember any names. Pizza Bola? Did you? Pizza Bola, no I didn't. Did you wager on it? No, but someone online asked me if there were odds,

so I looked it up and there were in fact odds. You could bet on it. I'm surprised you didn't take a flyer on something. Nah, I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that. Just let me know who it is okay? Yeah we need to know that. Alright UFC 315 fight week we will have a full card preview. Montel Jackson will join us after that. We went to Des Moines last week we will play the fight feasts pound-for-pound ranking cereals in honor of Sam Alvey talking about his cereal addiction earlier this week that inspired us to do that ourselves and

then your voicemails, super chats, quickly becoming our favorite segment every single week. Before we dive into all of that though, some news that we have to clear up. First, before we get into the PFL, Alex Pereira, the tweet has now been deleted that he's having issues with the UFC, came out with a video yesterday saying that he was hacked. Big Onk is now responding saying that he was the one that hacked him. Your final verdict on the drama that transpired yesterday afternoon? I believe that there are some frustrations with the USC and maybe this was either tweeted not on his behalf by somebody or maybe this was something

they talked about but maybe not necessarily something that needed to go to social media I think there probably is some kind of tension here I don't think I mean if he was hacked it'd be odd to have left the tweet up so long and then have it... No I started thinking about it more the fact that it stayed up so long, the fact that that was the only tweet. It just it doesn't really add up that like a hacker did that because I don't know what that would accomplish. You know what it made me think of was Dustin Poirier and now I'm trying to remember who the fight was for. I think it was before the Benoit Saint-Denis fight,

and he took to Twitter and was essentially just like, I don't have a fight, there is no fight. I don't know what you guys are talking about. And then like six hours later, it was like Dustin Poirier's fighting Benoit Saint-Denis on UFC 299. Sometimes you can kind of use the social to be like, look, I don't know what you guys are talking about.

My hands are tied, blah, blah, blah, and get your way that way. Yeah, hopefully, if there are issues, they can be resolved, and if there's no issue, then great. Then we can march toward the rematch between Onkaliyev and Pereira. The idea of Alex Pereira's final fight being the one that we just saw against

Monkamed Onkaliyev, UFC 313, makes me sick. No, there's no way. Makes me sick to my son. No chance, no chance at all. Makes me physically ill to imagine that. He will not retire that way. Look, I mean, I guess there's a world, what if they were just like,

hey, you wanna go box Usyk for TKO boxing? Then maybe his last MMA fight would be that. Outside of that very specific circumstance, I don't think that will be the last of Alex Pereira. It seems to morph along the lines of what you're talking about in terms of the leverage play, and again, maybe a miscommunication on, hey, do we want this to go up or not go up?

But Alex Pereira has come out and said hacked, and we're moving on. We are moving on. Let's continue to move on, let's go to the PFL who announced today that they are canceling their PFL Paris event. Postpone, the dreaded postponement. PFL Europe Paris on May 23rd has been rescheduled

and a new date will be announced soon. All fans who have purchased tickets will receive a full refund. Now, this is significant because if I'm not mistaken, Patrice Evra was supposed to be on this card. Correct. Who, if he has success in MMA, he can quickly become one of the biggest stars

in all of MMA, a massive signing for PFO to get that. And just the fact that PFO Paris is usually one of their biggest shows of the year. The crowd always shows out, it's always electric, it's always on fire. I feel like that's the one show every year that sort of puts biggest shows of the year. The crowd always shows out. It's always electric. It's always on fire. I feel like that's the one show every year that sort of puts them back on the map of like, this is, this is a real deal promotion. It's funny you say that because the one that they were supposed to do in

November Bellator Paris was also canceled. And so we're now getting into a trend here. We're now getting into territory where this is becoming concerning for me in terms of, Hey, this is one of your big markets. This is one of the events that, as you said, has become like a hallmark for previously the Bellator regime and now that it has transferred into the PFL regime. You're getting, you know, the Patrice Evra fight. It has previously been the home for Cedric Dumbay fights. It is some of the bigger things that the PFL

is gonna do throughout the year. The fact that they had to quote unquote postpone it in November and then it never ended up happening. And now rescheduled again is causing some concern for me. Maybe we will see those fighters, maybe we'll see Evra fight on a different card. We just got an announcement of the PFL Africa, uh, fights and it had Johnny Eblen and, uh, Dakota Ditcheva. So it's not exactly, um, local favorites, right? So maybe we will see these fights and these fighters, uh, elsewhere, but.

That's two months away. Something is going on. So, no, no, no, I don't think it's going to be that card. I'm just saying Patrice Evera might not be in France, but he might be somewhere, right? He might be somewhere where we get his debut. He feels like a fumble. I couldn't agree more, but the problem with this is, and the reason that this is concerning for me is, there's never a reason given,

and that always leads to the speculation. Tell us why, tell us why this fight is being rescheduled. I don't buy it's, like, as Ariel Hawani always points out, if it's not happening It's canceled if you rebook it great go rebook it, but it is canceled Another guy that I feel for is Taylor Lapidus Sure three and one in two years both times joins the PFL was supposed to be fighting in his home country in front of a hometown crowd and now he's not gonna get a fight in the PFL and also just like I

Know I just said it but I just can't get over the fact that like Patrice Everett could make his MMA debut And it wouldn't be in France. Maybe they'll hold them or maybe look let's also we haven't seen Cedric Doumbay in a year It's been a minute. Let's take them at their word and hope that it is rescheduled And if in three four months from now, we have a Paris event Patrice Everett can slide right back in. Again, for him, he's the unique case. He doesn't need the money, and he doesn't need to rush into a fight. More time that he spends training for the first fight, the better.

So maybe the cancellation helps him in a certain regard. You can still do it three, four months down the line, and he'll still headline, and it would actually give him more time to prepare. So I don't think it's a doomsday scenario, but I am concerned about two in a row, right? The Bellator Paris event was canceled, this event is canceled and no explanation. There needs to be some kind of explanation so that speculation doesn't

run wild. It almost feels like you take one step forward. You know, we get the PFL Africa's happen. Yeah. Johnny Eblen's got a fight. Dakota Ditcheva has a fight. Yep. You know, we get the PFL Africa's happen, Johnny Eblen's got a fight, Dakota Ditcheva has a fight. Then the very next day, the very next day, it's just like, well, our event in Paris is now canceled. Yeah, and again, if there was transparency,

maybe you can hold off some of the potential negativity there, right? You say, this is what happened, whether it was ticket sales, whether it was, hey, somebody that we were counting on to sell tickets for this card is injured, or whether it was we could not come to an agreement with XYZ thing, whatever that is, tell us so that we have an understanding of why, otherwise people are going to assume the worst. One other bit of news, Armin Tsarukyan had an announcement that he will be grappling

again. We just saw him on Karate Combat 54 last week. He came out victorious in that one. And now he will grapple Petriki Pitbull in Moscow. Now Jordan, you asked is that Moscow or is that St. Petersburg in the background? It's Tetris. Tetris. Wow, okay. Do we actually know though? Does somebody have actual info actual info leave it's Moscow. Okay. There we go I think it's I said Moscow Jordan said st. Petersburg. We both don't know our Russian Google images and that exact like I Don't know what it exactly is like castle looking structure is st. Petersburg. Are you sure? You trying to say that all of them look the same? I didn't say that.

No, that's definitely not St. Petersburg, man. That's Moscow. Moscow. Okay. That's like the presidential palace there. Okay, perfect. Beyond the point, Armand Tsarukyan now going into a second grappling match in the month of May

and we still don't have a UFC fight and now rumors are coming out that he denied a fight against Mitesh Gamran. Didn't he say it explicitly? Yeah. He said- Source? Armand Tsarukyan.

Yeah. He said he was too low ranked and didn't want it. It seemed like he was game at first. It seemed like he was game to take anybody. Then maybe now that he's seen how the situation is kind of playing out, maybe he's rethought that. I don't think that would have been the worst idea. Unfortunately, Gamrock gets into now

the Ludovic Klein fight. I think Armin would have done a lot more for the stock between those two. But I am desperately curious to figure out who Armin Tsurukian does fight next. Maybe he just sits out. Maybe he just does the waiting game. Maybe he just waits to see what happens.

And I mean, if, let's say, God, everything hinges on this weekend, doesn't it? And we'll talk about this weekend in a second. But if Islam ends up fighting Ilya, you can do worse than running back Charles and Armin. I am mad at that. Now, if you're Armin, that's a risk, right? Because you just beat Charles and you don't want to potentially give him another crack. But beggars can't be choosers and he's in a tough spot.

So I don't mind a Charles and Armand fight if that's how it shakes out. And I wonder if behind the scenes, he's tactically waiting on this weekend as well. Totally, and it would make sense to do that. Yeah, I think so too. Just always interesting to see a guy that was one step away from the title.

All he had to do was just get on the scale. Yeah. And he would have been fighting without the back injury as well. And now it feels just like, almost like he's lost. Where does he go next? Who does he fight next? When does he eventually get that title shot?

Turning down Gamera makes me think it will be a big fight. He will have a big opponent. I think so too. And hopefully we'll start to put the pieces of the puzzle together this weekend in Montreal. Quebec, as they say, Balaamahamed, Jack Delamadelena, who would have thunk it, how much consequence this fight has in terms of not only the 170 pound division,

but also the lightweight division, 155. And the 45 division, because Ilya getting into the mix at 55 was why the 45 pound title was vacated and Alex Vakhanovski. The butterfly effect of all of this is just insane. Let's lay it out. If Bala Muhammad wins, you think Islam Makashev will fight Ilya Taboria? I think so. And then Armin Tsarukyan fights Charles Olivera? Maybe orethje. Like, I feel like it's those same names that we've kind of talked about or are in that mix, right? It's like the Gaethje, uh, Armin, Charles Oliveira, Dan Hooker, but Dan

Hooker has kind of talked about some injuries, so maybe he's going to be out for a bit. It's, it's those guys, Patty Pimblitt in that mix, I think for sure. God, Armin and Patty could be actually pretty fun, but I don't know if you throw Patty right into an Armin fight, but it's those names. It's those names. It's, it's those guys, Patty Pimblitt in that mix. I think for sure God, Armin and Patty could be actually pretty fun, but I don't know if you throw Patty right into an Armin fight, but it's those names. It's those names. And, and I'll take any of those permutations. Like all

those are fantastic fights and all those guys are, are needing to establish themselves. Like they're kind of just all in the same mix. Um, I know Charles was, was given, uh, the title opportunity and then had to pull out of it. Armand was given the title opportunity. They are going to have to re-earn it and against each other is the best way. So I'll take any of those combinations. Thankfully, we are not messing with the perfect Max Holloway-Dustin Poirier fight. And man- They're set, they're booked. We can just slap them out of it.

Can we put those rankings back up just for a second? Because Can we put those rankings back up just for a second because the name, I mean there's only so many names and they're all on here. We've got Armin at the top, free, right? We don't know where he's at. Charles, free. Justin, free. Then it's Max booked, Dustin booked, Hooker Hurt, Gamrot booked. Then it gets to Patti Pimblit.

It's like these are the four names. And Ilya Tupori is not on there. Well, Ilya Tupori. He's also free Theoretically will be in the Fight in this scenario and so you've got the four guys that are potentially in this round robin It's like Armand Charles Justin Patty. Maybe you get down to like Benilla and Moicano I feel like they're probably the tier below like out of the picture

Especially if gam rot is having to take a Ludovic Klein fight Like it feels like the the tiering is those guys near the top, those top three, and then you throw Patty in that mix. Okay, now let's live in the world where Jack Della Maddalena becomes champion. Oh boy, Islam Makachev versus Jack Della Maddalena, booked immediately. They're like, Jack, congratulations,

your next assignment, Islam Makachev. Here's your reward. Ilya versus Charles, that's always been the fight. I've long said that I think that can headline a pay-per-view, no problem. Title, no title. I love that fight. So you do Ilya versus Charles,

then maybe you do Armin versus Gaethje, right? That might sit right there, and then Patti gets a next crack at something else. And so I think it all kind of like has shaken out. Now that Hooker's gonna be on the sideline for a little bit, Gamrots out of the picture now. He was I think it all kind of like has shaken out. Now they're like, hooker's gonna be on the sideline for a little bit, Gamrot's out of the picture now. He was the one who was kind of like creeping into the conversations.

It'll all kind of resolve itself. I know several people have come out and said that all of this essentially hinges on the main event on Saturday. But does it? Well, I was actually gonna say, I think it's actually been confirmed that it does hinge on it because

we haven't heard anything about 317 We haven't heard anything about international fight week They're announcing they've now announced the pay-per-view before and the pay-per-view after and we're starting to get even more fights for 318 now, I think they announced a Brendan Allen fight just last night for New Orleans We're starting to get several fights on that card and 317 is just kind of like what are we doing it? What are we thinking? Yeah, we need some resolution has to be especially with them fights on that card and 317 is just kind of like, what are we doing? What are we thinking? Yeah, we need some resolution. This has to be, especially with them, with them having moved International Fight Week up to the last week of June instead of the first week of July, this has to be the closest we have ever gotten to International Fight Week without

having the main event announced. Yeah, and for one of the premier events for the UFC, right, the one that they point to and bring the people into town and say, this is our big event, do not have a fight at this point. Now, if the plans go their way and you ultimately end up with an Ilya and Islam fight, I think all's forgiven. Now, whoever's coming to town is going,

we got one of the best fights you can make. The former featherweight champion is moving up to fight the current lightweight champion. My pushback, my question though is like, what if the UFC throws a curveball and just says, hey Islam, Bilal won. Do you want the fight or not? Do you want to be the 170 pound champion or not? I'm curious what he would ultimately do. Oh well it's funny that you say that because Bilal was quoted talking about loyalty within the team. He doubts that Islam Makhesh, he said, I don't think they would do that. I talked to Habib all the time, them guys are so big about loyalty

and I'm the same way. That's Bilal Mohammed talking about the potential of Islam moving up to welterweight. And this is on the heels of Hunter Campbell appearing in Dagestan to speak to Islam Maghesh. Because there's been several times where we've talked about this and from the quotes that I have seen and obviously I don't know about the discussions behind the scenes, but it always kind of feels like Bilal is like, nah that ain't happening, they're not coming up and everything and Islam's like, let's see, why don't we wait and see? I have definitely seen Islam be like, I don't want to fight Bilal. I don't

think I've seen him say, I will not fight Bilal in the way that I've seen Bilal continuously say, I will not fight Islam. Maybe things change. I just, a person asked this, it was either a super chat or a voicemail or something, and they raised the idea of like, if you're Bilal Mohammed and you're sitting there

and you know that Islam Makachev is sitting on the sidelines looking to see if you'll lose, essentially praying for your downfall so that he can get a crack at the 170 pound title, that can't feel good. That can't feel like the brotherhood that you've kind of talked about. Now, granted, as you said, I don't know their relationship behind the scenes, but it certainly feels like they are not as close as kind of maybe Bilal has been saying and presented it outwardly. He's not in that picture at Dagestan. He's preparing for a fight elsewhere. Like the team is the team and he seems to be one of those members that's

coming in and out. I wonder if ultimately Bilal Mohammed is just going to be the guy standing in the way of Islam having a second title and that would be enough to push him to do it. I suspect that if Bilal wins, he will kind of abide by this storyline we've laid out. If for no other reason then, it would just look super goofy if we waited all this time and then he's like, all right, Bilal won it, I'll still fight him. It would be very goofy if we ultimately arrived there. I do wonder how long Islam can go though, because like as we have on the graphic right there, Bilala Muhammad is on an 11 fight on beaten streak. He continues to just defend the belt like Islam has to be like all right man I'm moving up to 170 we're

just gonna have to fight each other. I think that's what we will ultimately see if I'm being honest. Now Islam is thick man he's a big dude. Yeah. He's only getting older 34 now I believe like I can only imagine the older you get the more he's kind of like man I'm cool with going to 170 seven the only thing missing from his legacy at this point is a second belt That's the only thing and that was the thing missing from Habib's legacy, right? Habib had the had the Oh the undefeated streak. He was a top when he left It was the first time he was number one pound-for-pound upon his retirement He's done everything the thing he was missing was a second title if you're Islam and you add that second title

You're now talking about like Undoubtedly the best lightweight ever like it's not it's not even a debate in my mind at that point The title defense is a second belt you you are Teflon You cannot be topped and so it means a lot and I think I think he'll ultimately take that opportunity No matter who's holding it, but maybe not this time. Oh no matter who's holding it, but maybe not this time. Oh. Oh. The new pope has been selected.

Okay. Who is it? First American pope. Wow. American. Shout out. Yeah, let's go. Robert F. Provost.

Oh, I thought you were gonna say Kennedy. All right, shout out. Is this really, is this funny to you? RFP. He said pope. Robert F. Kennedy, so yes, that was funny. Robert F. Pope in the house, let's go. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da The Pope is he's coming home you were you were saying I really how you feeling I know you were following this very closely Not as closely as Andy Andy is I don't know if she's hyped up for the new pope

What are the feelings Andy tell us is this all inspired by watching conclave Yes, Jordan actually has a picture of st. Petersburg and a picture of Moscow and he's like they're the same damn thing I knew it was Moscow the entire time. I know the name of that palace is not the Kremlin. That's obviously like their presidential palace It is that Red Square. I just don't know the name of the palace itself. I knew that was Moscow the whole time They're making Jordans dropping in like multiple images of this His argument that he's just blind This is now becoming an obsession. Oh, he's like really trying to support his argument that he's just blind to Russian architecture. To be fair, I dropped in one image of it and Frank dropped in from the severance.

Oh, Frank dropped in the other one. So, you know, we are different people. Clearly they're more excited than I am. I'm not dropping anything. I'm here working. We got a new pope. We got to the bottom of the issue with the Moscow versus St. Petersburg. What else do we need to solve? That's it. The pope is from Chicago. Oh, dude. Soal Mohammed is gonna win

the welterweight title on Saturday and the Pope is also, this is a big weekend for Chicago. Yeah. Chicago dogs on Saturday for the new Pope and Balal? I've still never had one, I should have one. You're quite good, you're quite good at waving. Can you imagine the Pope coming to New York and being like, nah, our pizza's better.

Chicago? Nah, it's not pizza, that's what it was on. When was the last time we had an American Pope? Never, it was the first one. No shit! That's why it was the American Pope. USA! USA! I really don't know what that means. I thought they were all from Italy. I mean you could have just laid a little bit of cheddar on the American Pope. Did you realize that the conclave is made up of cardinals from all over the world? I actually did know that because I saw the movie Conclave and they're like, oh, this is our North American branch and this is our Asian branch. They look at the Italian one and they're like, but you guys are the only ones that could be elected as Pope.

I'm not big on the Pope, you know. Okay. Don't know too much about him. Well, we're about to find out. You're damn right. USO. Are we moving the Vatican to the States? Just transport it.

You were going to say something say something Jordan you will say? Yeah bad news for me in the Pope election. Why? Mrs. On Air did not win her Pope pool. Oh who did she have? They were Pope pools? Y'all were way more into this than I was. Shout out Joe with the scene music. I'm surprised you did I'm truly surprised you didn't have any action on it. Nah, I didn't know a damn thing about it. I just kept seeing people waiting for the smoke stack to light up.

I bet there would have been lines for how many days it goes. Oh, for sure, for sure. I can't watch it though. If I'm gonna bet on something, I have to watch it. That's fair, you gotta be watching. I have to watch it. All right, back to the UFC.

I will actually play defense of the UFC in terms of like us having to wait this long for it They want to get a resolution of this and they I think with the star power at play between Ilya and Islam and Charles and and All these guys and like the implications of him moving up to 170 International fight week tickets are gonna sell regardless. I don't think it really matters I think if you announce it mid-may Especially if it ends up being a banger fight card, like imagine if it's Islam versus Ilya,

and they waited and Bilal wins and that's how they do it. I know it was supposed to be Conor and Chandler last year, but they didn't announce Alex and Yuri until mid-June, and that was still a sellout. And everyone was happy, and everybody went. I think once it gets announced, everyone will be like, okay, we got it now. And if you're gonna go, you're gonna go,

and if you weren't gonna go, you weren't gonna go. It doesn't really make a difference. I don't think they're gonna struggle to sell tickets for an Islam Makashev main event, or an Ilya Toporia main event, you're gonna go. And if you weren't gonna go, you weren't gonna go. It doesn't really make a difference. I don't think they're gonna struggle to sell tickets for an Islam Makashev main event or an Ilya Toporya main event, whatever it may be. I think it will ultimately end up being fun. Speaking of main events, let's talk about this main event. Let's talk about the actual fight.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you can see the shirt. Been with JDM. He made his debut on Dana White Contender Series the week I started working on the MMA Hours. So I kind of feel like we came into this together. Kindred spirits. Kindred spirits, Ange Lusa.

I was like, what the fuck is Dana White Contender Series? And then I was like, who is Jack Delamandelina? And it was a sick fight. So I feel like I've just like always kind of supported him and then he gets the knockouts, he gets the finishes. 17 fight, win streak, everything like that. I'm not some genius analyst saying this. I think it all comes down to how is Jack Della

going to handle the takedowns of Bala Muhammad. Now, Bala Muhammad has come out and said, don't buy it. He's not gonna shoot to his canelo hands. Canelo hands, don't buy it. There's just no way that they're not in the gym being like, do you watch the Gilbert Burn tape? His last fight before getting the injury.

Yeah, he got taken down seven times and was essentially getting controlled on his way to losing a decision before he was able to get up and finish Gilbert Burns. Do you watch the Basil Hafez fight? That guy was just making his debut and he got seven and a half minutes of control time in that one. It has clearly been an issue

for Jack Della in two of the last three fights. And somewhere that Balaam Mohammed is very good. He is very good at mixing the wrestling and the striking. That's Balaam Mohammed's best attribute. It is not necessarily like he's the the most amazing striker or the most amazing wrestler wrestler but he's very good at both and he's even better at mixing the two together when he has you pressed up against that cage and he's landing the punches in the way that he did get against Shawn Brady that can be trouble or he can transition into that takedown like he did against Leon where he's just crowding him and then he's completely controlling him once it hits

the mat and in that fight he got nine takedowns and like controlled like half the fight. He, yeah, I just, he's very well-rounded and I think he's suffering from a little bit of like, he can be a little bit cringe, people don't like his personality, people want him to lose, people don't root for him, they have the quote unquote boring stuff. Ultimately, I don't subscribe to that,

I don't think he's that boring nor do I think like he's that cringe. I think he's just kind of like, you either like him or you don't subscribe to that. I don't think he's that boring, nor do I think like he's that cringe. I think he's just kind of like, you either like him or you don't. I'd actually argue like a lot of the things that he does are the opposite of cringe. Like I was watching Embedded this week and he's just like,

yeah, we're going to do the face off. Like everyone likes to talk about how like they can smell fear in the eyes. He's like, nah, man, I'm just going to look at him, kind of size him up, get a feel for how big he is. If somebody else said that, they'd be like, he's cold blooded. If Bilal says it, they'd be like, he's cold-blooded. That's what I'm saying.

If Bilal says it, they're like, he's a fucking loser. And I just, he's- And he just talked about it more, and he's like, yeah, man, I got no issue with Jack, but I don't need to dislike you to punch you in the face, especially when money's on the line. So I'm gonna go out there, defend my belt, and move on. And it's just like, he really isn't that unlikable of a dude.

No, and he also plays it up sometimes. He's doing the whole, I'm chasing GSP's legacy, I he also plays it up sometimes. He's like doing the whole like, I'm chasing GSP's legacy, I'm not far. He knows and he's doing a little bit of a character. I think he's trolling with that. He's trolling. The canelo hands, he's obviously trolling. And so I think all these things factored in

make people underrate him in the way that they do with Patty Pimp, but they just want the truth to be that he's not that good. They want the truth to be that he's going to lose. Which unfortunately, But it's not true. It's want the truth to be that he's going to lose. Which unfortunately, it's not the case. Even if he loses on Saturday night, he has become UFC champion, he's riding an 11 fight on beat and streak.

Beat the brakes off Shawn Brady, dismantled Leon Edwards. The guy's as legit as it comes. There's nothing more to be said about how good Bilal Mohammed is. I think that's the stat right there that people tend to think that he's more. there that people Yeah, that's it. Decisions, but ultimately-

He mostly gets it done by decision. There's plenty of guys who fight to decisions. It's just like, it's just how it is. Onkaliyev and Alex Pereira fought to a decision. Is Alex Pereira a boring fighter because he went to a decision? I mean, granted he has a lot of knockouts there, but like decision does not-

Is Onkaliyev a boring fighter? Does- No. Does- Decision does not equal boredom in my opinion. And also, truth be told, like Bilal's style is quite impressive to watch. Like the technicality is quite impressive. As I said, between the mixing of the wrestling

and the striking, like I'm not that bored by Bilal. Look, I feel like these conversations are always subjective, right? It's like some people find it boring, some people, the moment it hits the mat, they don't wanna see it. Like there's all kinds of different thresholds for it. I like Bilal's style, it is what it is. But ultimately, none of this matters

because I don't think Jack Della Maddalena has the style to thwart Bilal Mohammed is where I land. So even if he's having success on the feet against Bilal, if he's not hurting him, if it's just sort of a back and forth striking affair, I do worry what you said, how well Bilal can mix up the striking and the takedowns, that as soon as Jack starts getting comfortable on the feet, Bilal will just take him down.

And it's not as if, I guess just like if you're in the camp, you had to have been drilling, just like takedown defense, takedown defense, getting back up, avoiding any submissions. I don't really feel like I think that Bellol's gonna get a sub on JDM or anything. I think it would mostly just be control time, just rack up some damage on the ground. I do worry that it'll be one of those fights

where I'm hype, obviously I want JDM to win. I've been supporting him since he got into the UFC. I like his style, I want JDM to win. Like I've been supporting him since he got into the UFC. I like his style. I think he's an exciting fighter. And I just kind of like his like laid back demeanor and also Don Giacomo for what it's worth is like one of the sickest nicknames that isn't even really a nickname.

But I could just see one of those fights where like halfway through the first round, Balog gets a takedown, kind of controls it. It's like, all right, we're down one, but like we can keep going. And then like he's able to get more takedowns throughout the fight. And it's sort of just like, you're going into round five. It's like, all right, we're down one, but like, we can keep going. And then like, he's able to get more takedowns throughout the fight. And it's sort of just like, you're going into round five, it's like, all right, it's probably three, one, he needs to finish and like, Belal kind of just plays it safe. And like, it ends up not being that

exciting of a fight and Belal gets it done. Even in a worst case scenario, to me, it looks like on Goliath against Pereira, right? It's like, even if he's not getting the takedowns, but he's just crowding Jack and not allowing him to stand at range and get his offense off, that's all he really needs to do. And so it'll look like the Leon Edwards fight, it'll look like Magomed versus Alex. He just needs to close that distance, close the space,

not get clipped with something and be in Jack's face so that he can't get his own offense off. Maybe this fool's gold, but I think if JDM is stuffing the takedowns, if you told me Balal Muhammad got zero takedowns, I would feel very confident. If I told you that Maghomed on Kalaya got zero takedowns, how would you feel about that?

I know, but I, and maybe this is again me being dumb, but I feel like the disparity, and maybe it's just like the exact same scenario, I feel like the disparity between JDM striking and Balal's just like the exact same scenario, I feel like the disparity between JDM striking and Bilal's is larger than Alex's. And Magomed's. And Magomed's. But maybe I'm just dumb for thinking that because JDM has finishing capability but so does Alex.

Like it's the exact same thing. The best finishing capability. I mean it's, that's an interesting conversation to have. It's a style matchup and I just don't see, I don't see what Jack's gonna be able to do to keep Bilal from advancing forward. I do, I see ways to win for Jack, right?

Hurt him bad in some exchanges on a shot, land a nice uppercut, do something, land a knee on the way in. And, but I don't think. If he, if he rocks Bilal, the whole fight changes. Oh, totally. But I just don't think, I don't see Bilal

shooting for like desperation take downs. I think he's going to be perfectly comfortable on the feet But if he's in the range that he needs to be if he's up against Jack Dalamadalina chest He can't use those long arms and he can't hit him like that's just what this is gonna be and if he hits him It's gonna be at close range It's not gonna hit him the same way if he was on the end of the punch And so I feel like Bilal has all the tools it to me. It's Bilal's fight to lose now again

I say I think Jack has ways to win this fight, but it's gonna come down to really managing that distance well. And we've seen a guy in Leon Edwards, whose entire game is that, is managing that distance and landing the strikes that he needs to land. Be completely stuffed by Bilal's style. Like just be completely flummox, have no answers for it.

The fight with Burns really gave me a lot of pause in terms of what I'm expecting out of Jack from how he's gonna handle the takedowns. I think Bilal has a very clear path to victory. I think Jack has some, but limited options. Let me throw this out there to you. I rewatched the Leon and Bilal fight. It was kind of like clear on the rounds,

which way they went. Bilal won the fight no matter what. 48-47 on two of the judges' scorecards. I didn't have it that way. Is there an argument to be made that Jack will fight a similar style as Leon, but he'll just be more aggressive, more active, and he has a chance of winning a decision?

Potentially, but I just feel like that, the style that Bilal is winning with, if he's able to do the same things, he will get the same result. Like, it comes down to like, is Leon Edwards capable of finishing a fight? Yes. Is Jack Delamadalena capable of finishing a fight?

Yes. But those are under ideal circumstances, right? Those are when they're in their element. Bilal Mohammed's skill, much like Marab Devalajavili and many other fighters who are successful at this level, but the Murab comes to mind the most is His best defense is his offense. He is by being constantly on that gas pedal and on that pressure He's preventing you from doing what you want to do and I and I pointed to the Magomed fight

That's another example of it, right if he was just standing there trying to trade with Alex instead of pressing him instead of trying to push him against the cage and be the one on the front foot, he would be in danger. But because he's not, because he's able to press Alex, and Alex was not able to kind of find those angles and land, put him on the end of a punch, he just couldn't get it off. He just was stifled by it. And Bilal is great at stifling people's offense.

He's just fantastic at it, and I think we're gonna see it. There's also the question of Jack coming back from the arm injury, broke the arm in the in the Gilbert Burn. I'm less concerned about that if I'm honest. Had some issues with surgery, had to go in for multiple surgeries. Whether that's an issue or not we'll see but it is just something to think about. We're actually, last thing, prediction. Bilal decision. Everything you just said, I agree with wholeheartedly.

Jack Delacato, shout out. We were talking about it before the show. Is 315 the worst pay-per-view of the year so far? No, 312. And very easily. Not even remotely debatable for me. Now, I was a defender. Man, I'm going to bat for some of these things

that MMA fans hate, huh? I was talking about how I don't think Bilal's boring. 312, everybody was like, Strickland versus DDP is boring. Like, I love Bilal's style. I was like, how I'm going to bat? Yeah, I'm going to bat, but I didn't think DDP and Strickland was super boring the first time. It was more boring the second time,

but again, I was kind of fine with it. But the rest of that card was not hot. The rest of that card was not so great. And so 312 for me. Just a reminder for 312, if you're not remembering correctly. DDP Sean Strickland, Zhongwei Li, Tatiana Suarez.

And then the featured bout of the evening was Taliesin Dushira, Justin Taffa. Oh boy. Jimmy Crute, Hidalpo Bolado on that one as well. That one ended in a draw. Jimmy Crute is just like the draw man. I can't believe that. And then Jake Matthews against Francisco Prado.

Right off rip, we've got Jose Aldo on this card. We'll get into that one in a second. Which is way bigger and higher profile than anything that you just looked at. Against a Montrealer who's on a great run right now. I think it's definitive that this is a better card than 312, I don't think there's any question about it. If it was BSD, Joel Alvarez, that was the most

people's main event I think there has been in recent memory. That was like the most people's main event. Hooker Gagey was one that we lost. I'm not gonna miss it. But like BSD, Joel Alvarez, for those that know, they absolutely knew that was violent to be a banger. I'm looking at the ticket chart for 315.

Yeah. Yeah, man, it's pretty much the same. We still got some seats. Quite a bit, yeah. That's yesterday. It looks like some, they've cleared out a few since then, but like there's still a solid amount left. It's a big arena, man.

It is a big arena. It is massive. What's funny is- It is the second largest hockey arena in the world, actually. Wow, wow. It's number one. Actually, I think it's in St. Petersburg. That's not a bit, that is legit. All right, Jordan, big St. Peter's.

Big St. Peter's. Noted. So yeah, I think it'll probably end up being pretty crowded in there. I mean, look, maybe it doesn't sell out. They're gonna make a lot of money. How about that? They're gonna make a lot of money.

Of course, they're always gonna make a lot of money. But yeah, I just wonder if that speaks to the level of the card. I wonder if it speaks to Bilal and Valentina being the champions represented on the card, or if it's just a huge arena. Ariel talked about last time the Montreal event wasn't a super successful one, another one like this. Maybe Montreal is just not the hotbed for it that it was.

You go so often. But GSP was such a singular thing. Like it's like, if you're doing, if we just did like four events in a row without Ilya Toporya in Spain, like would it go so hot? I don't know, but they had the guy that you could go to Montreal with. Now it's a little bit of a different story. All right, let's go co-main event Valentina Shevchenko

taking on Monone Fiorot and currently still, you can get Valentina, nine time title fight winner, current champion as the underdog to Monone Fiorro. I can't believe that. I'll be honest. I think Monone is very good. It's one of those things, like I've talked about this in the past where it's like, will I ever get John Jones at this price again? Will I ever get XYZ Jones at this price again? Will I ever get XYZ person at this price again? If I'm getting Valentina Shevchenko as an underdog against somebody who's proven, but not against like somebody the caliber of Valentina Shevchenko,

I'm going to take it and not feel too bad about it, even if it doesn't work out. I, I, we talked about Balal Muhammad being good at mixing in the striking and the takedowns. Yeah. Valentina Shevchenko, I just went back and looked at the stat sheet. She has gotten a takedown in 12 straight fights and she has gotten 37 takedowns in the last eight fights, including three or at least three

in every single one of those. You know what she's fantastic at and she used this to great effect against Alexa Grasso multiple times is when the striking is not going her way she just shoots she changes up the game and changes up the momentum and now what was previously you kind of finding your rhythm and getting into your rhythm you're now on your back for the rest of that round. She's fantastic at that to your point of the mixing of it, but especially reactively where it's like,

this round's not going my way on the feed, or maybe it's a little too close for comfort. Let me shift the venue here, let me shift the avenue here, take it to the ground, and then she just completely dominated Alexa Grasso once she got it there. I think there's a real, like, if they stand in trade strikes, I think it's a pretty, it's a relatively even match. I do wonder if Minowen is gonna have the vol,

like I think Shevchenko knows she's gonna have to put up numbers on this fight. Yeah, oh yeah, I think Minowen will absolutely have the volume advantage. I think she averages like six significant strikes a minute. Like she put up like 172 on Aaron Blanchfield. Like she puts the volume out there. There's no doubt about it.

And Val has to know that. Yeah, and I, the way that I see the fight going is that it is competitive on the feet, like she puts the volume out there. There's no doubt about it. And Val has to know that. Yeah, and the way that I see the fight going is that it is competitive on the feet, like you said, but I think Valentina being able to get it to the mat will be to her advantage. I know Manon has like a 93% takedown defense or whatever it may be, but like, I don't think she's fought someone at the level

of Valentina Shevchenko, who's going to be shooting takedowns like her. I know she fought Aaron Blanchfield, but like some of those attempts, she only attempted three over the 25 minutes. Some of those attempts were not the best attempts. Not great attempts, and the other thing is, Aaron Blanchfield was giving her literally nothing on the feet to be scared about, right?

The key to Valentina and Belal and some of these other fighters who are super well-rounded is, you have to at least be a threat on the feet. You have to at least make people fear what they've got coming back against them on the feet. That allows you to open up that kind of take down game. And so, yeah, I think for as long as it's on the feet,

it'll be competitive, but then I think Valentina's gonna be able to kind of find those opportunities to change it. Yeah, but knowing like she started out in the UFC, like knocking people out, she hasn't gotten a finish in four years. It's usually going to decisions. I don't really give like an age edge.

She's 35, Valentina's 37. It's not like she's like 29 to 37 or anything like that. So yeah, I just like, I don't know. Maybe I'm a casual. I love the beast. I love Manon Fiorobo, but like seeing Valentina Shevchenko as an underdog is surprising to me in this. Seem for me and I think a lot of people out there.

But on the other side of the coin, Minon has a lot of skills and I think her grappling is one of the more underrated skills. When it does hit the mat, if she's doing it offensively, I wouldn't be surprised if maybe she actually is trying to initiate some grappling exchanges as well. When she's offensively grappling, she looks pretty damn good. And I think there's going to be a world where whoever is able to impose their will is the winner. Because I could see either one kind of doing it. I'm going with the experience. I'm going with the championship caliber fighter. But I don't think that there's not a possibility that Manon actually is the one who's the more offensive, aggressive kind of fighter in the scenario and actually can kind of shock Valentina Shevchenko. I just

need to see that. Like, you need to prove that to me first before I'm willing to go there. It's a fascinating fight. I'm very excited for that one. Is the worst case for the UFC Balaam Mohammed and Manon Fioriwaka to be their champions? I don't think it matters as much at featherweight because I think if Val loses you could actually still do Zhang Weili versus Valentina Shevchenko because I think it's a fight that people want to see now granted No bell if you're Zhang you might want to fight the champ you might want to go up to fight Manon

But I think she only Zhang is a Zhang is like a true martial artist I think she would she would want a name like Valentina Shevchenko on her record And so I wouldn't be surprised because she may see it as an easier test or just possibly a new champion I just don't think it's completely off the table in the way. It would be like I need to fight for the belt I could see a world where Zhang still wants that fight. Maybe not. I think it would be better if she wins obviously for the ball all kind the ball all part of that equation is The Bilal part of that equation is a Jack Delamattalina title reign so much significantly better. I don't think it's like some... He's not Ilya. He's not Hamzat. He's not this guy that like...

None of those guys. We've been waiting in the wings for this guy to get his opportunity. But then that opens the door for Islam Makashev to come up, become a two division champion. And then snatch that belt because Islam's gonna super duper beat everybody. Yeah. So yeah, we'll see what happens on Saturday. Let's go to the feature about.

I think he would have a lot. Jose Aldo taking on Eamon Zahabi. Absolutely love this fight. You're getting the beloved. It's amazing. Everybody loves him. Jose Aldo coming in against the hometown guy, Montrealer, Eamon Zahabi,

or Ariel Hawani being the representative. I mean, they look scarily similar. There it is. I was hyped when this fight poster got announced. Shout out. We actually, I think I saw a video of Eamon interviewing Jose Aldo this week. You did?

There they are. Oh my God. They're talking before the fight, trying to get some strategies down. Aldo doesn't look too happy to see him. Nah, man, he's pretty pissed to see his opponent like that. But yeah, this is exactly what you sign up for as a UFC fan, Aldo, beloved legend,

coming into the hometown territory of Eamon Zahabi, who's on a nice run. I don't see any world where this isn't a striking matchup. Eamon Zahabi has one takedown in eight UFC fights and he ain't about to get one against 90% takedown defense with the biggest sample size. Stuffing Marab left and right. Yeah, Marab went 0 for 16 on takedowns. I can promise you, Amon's a hobby and get one. Aldo's going to be happy to oblige in a striking match. I think it's just a 15 minute striking affair. It's probably close. It's probably

exciting. I think the crowd gets really into it and it's just a great time. If Aldo wins, everyone's like, woo Aldo. Yeah. the hobby wins, the hometown crowd's like, hell yeah Montreal, we're coming for the belt. Are you surprised that Aldo's as big a favorite as he is? Cause you said close and I also thought close, but he's like two to one, right? So what I was gonna say is that the fact that it's a, it could potentially be a 15 minute striking affair,

I just have to favor Jose Aldo. I mean, this is again, similar to the co-main event. Jose Aldo's 38, Ames Ah again, similar to the co-main event. Jose Aldo's 38, Ames Ahab is 37. I understand Jose Aldo has many, many more miles against him, but it's not like he's looked bad in any of his recent fights. I understand the Bautista one was boring,

but it's just like- That's a style thing. Yeah, what are you gonna do that stylistically? Go back to the Jonathan Martinez fight, that one was fantastic. I can see him putting on a similar performance here. Yeah, and the lack of experience is clear, right? We're looking at the records.

Aldo 32 and nine professionally, Eamonn 12 and two. Like it's just the wealth of cage time experience, championship level experience is just drastically different. But I don't know, I just feel like there's no doubt that Eamonn is coming this way and Aldo is going this way. Is he going to meet him at a time where he's going to have the edge? Maybe maybe not.

But I do expect it to be close. So I feel like there might be a play for the Zahabi betters out there, but I do favor Aldo. I thought maybe it'd be a little closer on the lines, but I favor Aldo. You mentioned Zahabi going up like this. What's kind of crazy about this one is like, he's getting a big name. He's getting it on his home turf. This is his opportunity to go like,

top 12, top 10, but like, this is it. You're 37 years old. You're not like a household name. You're not a huge name. If you lose this fight, like you probably fall out of the rankings. And at this age, at this division, it's like, this is probably your only shot

of potentially getting into title contention conversations. Yeah, absolutely, do or die right here. It's gonna be a great one, I'm looking forward to that. Alexa Grasso, Natalia Silva, first time we've seen Alexa Grasso since the Valentina trilogy. That's not a great, like, I mean, I understand she's gotta fight the top of the division, but you're getting like one of the hottest girls

in 125 on the rise, 6-0, She's lost like one round in the UFC. She's everybody's favorite. Yeah, like Natty Ice, like she is a stud. And like you gotta wonder where Alexa Grosso is at mentally after going to trilogy with Valentina Shevchenko. One win, one draw, one loss. It's kind of been a slog over the last two years at this point.

So it's gonna be interesting to see, like whereas like Natalia Silva is just like, I'm coming for the belt, I'm coming for the belt. So I'm very interested to see what Alexa Grasso brings to the table, but I think it'll be a competitive fight. I think it'll be pretty fun. I ultimately think Natalia Silva keeps her winning wise.

Is it the volume? Cause that's how I see it. I just think Natalia's never gonna stop. She's just gonna be on her from jump. Yeah, honestly, her ability to sting people too. I think the damage she can inflict is important too. The punches, the kick, she has it all and she's just so persistent with it.

And on that rise to the title, man, there was death taxes, Alexa Grasso by decision. If they were giving you Alexa Grasso by decision at plus 20, it was just like, government hand out here, this is great. Yeah, I think Grasso, I think people have forgotten how good Grosso is. You know, we mentioned obviously the huge upset

against Valentina Shevchenko. The draw, I didn't think that was a draw. I thought Valentina won that fight and then the third fight she lost. So, you know, I had it, maybe she would have lost the last two in my opinion. But that's against Valentina Shevchenko. Against the rest of the division, as you said,

it's been pretty consistent that she's just like getting it done every single time out. And so I think people have forgotten just how good she can be when she's fighting at the top level, another one who mixes it in so well. Like when she wants to go to the grappling, she can be decent there. Primarily a striker though, the hands are crispy.

I just think that on the feet, Natalia is gonna have more weapons and just be a little more active with it. Like she's constantly just throwing stuff out to really and then as you said sometimes she's got that pop on the end of it. Sometimes it's one of those kicks that just catches you out of nowhere. Nasty. Eileen Silva but I do think this might be like a reminder of how good Alexa Grasso actually is. Yeah it certainly could be. First one on the main card last one we'll talk about Benoit Saint-Denis versus Kyle Prepilek

has been in the UFC before back in 2019, went 0-2. One and one in Bellator as well. This was supposed to be BSD Joe Alvarez. Prepilek steps in on short notice. A lot to ask. I mean, he's 3-0 over his last three fights, but he's only fought three times in the last three years. And like, who is he fighting?

Gustavo Wurlitzer, 25 and 29 was like his last opponent. His last three opponents that he has three first round knockouts against combined record of 50 and 41. This is a mismatch. Like BSD, I understand he's on a two fight losing streak. Kyle Preblelek is not an Anatoly Mikhailov. He is certainly not Dustin Poirier. BSD is I understand he's on a two fight losing streak. Kyle Preblek is not an Anatoly Mikhailov. He is certainly not Dustin Poirier. BSD is still a monster.

I think he likely probably gets him out of here early. I think the fact that BSD is on a losing streak actually works against Kyle in this scenario. He's like, I fucking need to win. I need to fucking win and he is gonna hurt. Unfortunately, that's gonna come against you. He was preparing for war against Joel Alvarez. Again, we were all looking forward to that. God, that was gonna be such a sad story. I think he's gonna put a you. Yeah, he was preparing for war against Joel Alvarez. Again, we were all looking forward to that.

God, that was gonna be such a sad story. I think he's gonna put a hurting on this guy. And respect for him to stepping up. Hopefully he gets a contract out of it. Yeah, I don't think he's ever been knocked out, so maybe he's just a dog. But it's not just knockouts, the submission game of BSD too.

I mean, remember BSD when he made his debut, I believe, against Elizalud Zalesky Dos Santos in 267. And it was like the one that everyone was like, call the fight, ref, call the fight. And like, he took a beating like hell, but maybe that's what Preble does here, who knows? Maybe, but either way, I don't see a world where BSD isn't victorious here.

He needs this and it'll get him back on track. I think he's a minus thousand favorite and that might even be a little bit too short there. Might be value on that one. I like the fact that Ryan Garcia was a minus 1200 to Rolly Romero last week. And BSD is only a minus a thousand. The Cal Reveille is insane,

but we don't gotta get into that. Prelims, featured prelim, Mike Malott taking on Charles Radke. I actually think this is a by low spot on Malott, man. I know a lot of people were turned off after the Magni fight, but go back, man. He essentially just death gassed. Like he just fell off a cliff.

He was dominating that fight up until the point where it went on the ground and Magni was able to fully mount him. I know it wasn't an insane performance or anything against Trevin Giles, but like it's good to see a kid bounce back. Like he was riding high, he bounced back, he's back in the win column,

and he's such like, he's such a student of the game, he's such a fan of the game that I think he is, is really making attempts to get better here. And I think we see that on Saturday. I think if he avoids the, the power and the KO shot of Charles Radke, he likely gets this done. Have the exact same read.

He said all the right things after the Magmi loss and then he showed it. Just wanted to round out his game, right? He, he was a guy who was going out there and finishing. Then, then he realized, oh, what if I can't after the Magni loss and then he showed it. Just wanted to round out his game, right? He was a guy who was going out there and finishing, then he realized, oh what if I can't finish Neil Magni and we saw what happened? And so love what I've seen from a lot since, even though as you said, like it wasn't like the most like stellar performance. What you saw was growth there from a guy who's still young in his career. I like him a lot here. Jessica Andraj taking on Jasmine

Jazdavicious. Jasmine who? Jazdavicious! There it is! You'd think you'd be a little bit quicker on the trigger. It is Jasmine fight week. We got the mug here, ready to rock and roll. This is what I'm drinking my coffee out of every day this week. Androge, legend. But like at this point in her career, I kind of feel like she's into that realm where it's like, we're just fighting for the love of the game. It's sort of like win, lose, draw. It is what it is. I'm gonna go out there and try and win,

but like it doesn't really have a massive effect on her career trajectory. I don't think she's gonna fight for any titles again, whether it be 115 or 125. So like, I feel like Jasmine with the way that she's been coming out here and getting these wins, she probably- Yes, it is. She probably, it's probably continuous with that on Saturday. I feel like Jasmine with the way that she's been coming out here and getting these wins. Jasmine Vizius.

It's probably continuous with that on Saturday. The size is also going to be a real factor here. Jasmine is going to be massive in there. I think that fighter, unnamed, will keep it rolling and be successful. Yeah, I think she'll be able to mix in the takedowns. I don't really think Andraj, like a massive threat off the bottom for a submission or anything like that.

Jasmine usually good at navigating that. Her best chance is being an absolute bulldog savage like Jessica Andraj is, is waiting in there with those Vanderlei silver hooks and just taking her out. That's it. Yeah, it's gonna be a good one. And I love the Niagara top team,

the back to back of Jasmine, Mike right there. Hopefully Canada supports them and they're loud and proud. Respect to Frank for doing a, be careful what you wish for. I imagine he's like angry back there, like shaking his fist. Like he's just-

Jazz DeVizious. Yeah, he's just like angrily pressing the button each time. But yeah, always good to see Jasmine. Never forget when she made her, not a debut, but early into her career. A coming out party. Yeah, I bet against her. She immediately let me know.

Like in the locker room, she was just like, you fucking moron. And then by the way, I made the same mistake like two fights later. Yeah, it is not wise to bet against her. There it is. All right, Modesta Spoukakis, Ian Koutalaba. That's a decent fight.

Navajo Sterling, Ivan Urslan. Those are two fights that I could see being exciting, getting finishes. Marc-Andre Berial, Bruno Silva. That's kind of like a who's less lost. Yeah, who's on the way out. It's just like Bruno Silva, four straight losses, MAB, three straight losses, is MAB's chin still there? Bruno Silva can knock people out, we'll find out.

It really starts to pick up steam at Andrade. I think Andrade, jazzedivicious, is where we're really going with that. Daniel Santos, Jung, Young, Lee, and Brad Katona, Bezcott, Alma Khan. The Canadian crowd's probably gonna blow the roof off the place for the two-time tough champion. Shout out Katona.

The, what was it, the Multimate Champion? What did they call it? Yeah, I think that's right. The double tough. The Multimate Fighter. Multimate Fighter, yeah, Multimate Fighter. Shout out Brad Katona. All right, that's 315.

I think there's a few more details that we should get to. Like what are the bathroom lines gonna be like? What are the bathroom lines gonna be like, man? I am curious to that because- Lower ticket sales, quicker bathroom times. You're trying to- Blessing a disguise. What are you trying to do, Frank?

You're trying to make us talk longer, Frank, because you bet on how long we talk about 350? Will the beers be priced in Canadian dollars? What do you think a Bud Light would cost? Wow, so this means you bet on us to talk longer? No one's doing anything, alright? I'm just curious, you know, do you have to park outside the venue? Alright, before we get to Monjo Jackson

I've never heard Frank talk this much I know right, I'm just like, Frankie baby you high for 350, let's do it! And you're just like, yeah, baby, you hype for 315, let's do it. And you're just like, yeah. Yeah. Well, I just figured you guys could. It always feels like you're gonna say more, Frank. That's another thing.

It always feels like you have more coming and then you just kinda just, just tail it off. Yeah, I could see that. Jazz da Vizzi-ish. Yeah. All right. You kept hitting Jazz da Vizzi-ish. Yeah, there's your main card right there.

Belal, JDM, Valentina, Manon, Mike Malat, Charles Radke, look at these graphics, man. Yeah, shout out to the graphics team. Shout out, high level production, early prelims, MAB, MAB Bruno Silva. That ain't Bruno Silva. Someone made a mistake. That's the flyweight. Yeah, yeah. Isn't he also Bruno or Silva?

Are they both Bruno Silva? I think they are. I think he is Bruno Silva. He is Bruno Silva. That's the wrong one. But the smaller one. Can we just see that one more time? I got Marc-Andre Berial at minus 148 against Flyway Bruno Silva. We should have put Bulldog or Blin Dyle. That's right. He's the Bulldog one. Yeah. You know who he fights next?

Who? Newark. Josh Vann. Oh really? Yeah. Oh boy. That's going to be... You know, we're lucky we didn't get the soccer player Bruno Silva on that graphic'm not saying it was me even if it was me no graphics department we have a department

Before we get to Montel Jackson, let's just rip through my bed There's some and then we can talk to Montel and then we can jump into fight feast and some other fun things Let's recap first though. No big hitters. I forgot to send out the text to the tweet. I'm sorry Don't don't kill me. Look at that, we start on PFL Friday, kill it. Up four units. I'm like, cha-ching, we're gonna have a great weekend. We're gonna go win some more money in Des Moines. I cannot wait.

Bap bap ba-da-ow. Yeah, we didn't do that. We got way too exposed on Bo Nickel, the hype train. Everything got conflated in my head. I was ready to go buck wild for Bo, go to the next one. All those winnings, we doubled them with losses. I'm on a bad run, boys. I'm on a bad run.

I'm down like 16 units since UFC Seattle, man. It's not great. I have full faith that I will bounce back. We've been through these bad stretches many, many a time since starting on the MMA hour, but they're never fun to go through. They're never fun to go through. And you know who is also on a bad run?

The Parlay pals. You know, I keep just logging in winners week after week and someone's got the rednecks to their name. We're now six and 16. I can't see it. 22 weeks. Who had it wrong? 22 weeks and we've only won six times, minus 4.46 years.

Do you guys remember that one time we would have moved right into the green and then at the last minute, Frankie was like, I'm thinking Michael Chandler. I do remember that. I was meeting him at the top. I'm thinking Michael Chandler. All right, let's.

Shut up, booze! Suck it, man! All right, let's rip Parlay pals. I've already gotten Pizzi's pick for the week. He took one, Navajo Sterling. I love how he just has this confidence and he was so in on Malcolm Wellmaker the other week. 100%.

And then he's just like, it's gonna be Navajo Sterling, lads. And it's like, all right, man, sounds good. That's a minus 305, I believe. Frankie, why don't you go first? Bidu-du-du-bu-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du to go over two and a half. Okay, over two and a half. I feel like the women's fights over two and a half, like that's your bread and butter. No comment. Okay. All right.

That's minus 700. Did you say it was me or you? You. I was gonna say Jasmine and then point, but then it sounds like Frank's. Oh, wow, double duty. Love it. All right, so you'll go Jasmine, Jasmine Vizier,

minus three 10 on that one. I will go with the other guy from Niagara top team. Michael Mallott, love it, minus one 70. And that'll get us to plus two 18 on the parlay there. I'm satisfied with that. I think that's a decent little shout there. We're not gonna get into the green with a win, but we can ship our way there.

We need a win, but we can ship our way there. We need a win. We need a win desperately. And I need a win on my bet. So let's rip through those before we jump to Mr. Montell Jackson. Won't take me long. And I'll start with Young Lee, Willie Cat Santos, under two and a half.

These guys aren't the biggest finishers, but I feel like stylistically, this is going to be a fight where they're going to get after it. I think both guys can finish. Both guys have been finished as well. And I think under two and a half at minus one 10 was a solid play.

Up next, Urslan. Oh, Marc-Andre Beryl, I'm sorry. I do not think his chin is gone. I think he is going to be able to put on the cardio, put on the pace for 15 minutes, outstrike Bruno Silva, mixing the takedowns if he needs to. That Bruno Silva? Or the other Bruno Silva?

That's the correct Bruno Silva. That's the right one, Jordan. That is the correct, I would be happy if Marc-Andre Beryl, the middleweight was fighting flyweight Bruno Silva and I got him at minus 148, but middleweight Bruno Silva will have got him at minus 148 but middleweight Bruno Silva will have to do we roll along. Shout out to the graphics team. Ursulon Sterling under two and a half I know last time out both went to decisions but they both have a lot of finishes on

the record big power I think they're gonna come in there I think they're gonna trade I think someone goes down we keep rolling along. Mike Malott, like I said, I think it's a buy-low spot. I think he's very talented. I think a lot of people are getting scared away. This number's been plummeting. I think a lot of guys are getting scared away from the from the Neil Magny performance. And I think the Trevangiles showed that he is here. He's improving his game, and I think he does that against Charles Radke. And then co-main and main, Valentina Shevchenko, just can't bet against the champion as a dog. And then Jack Delamattalena.

It's a heart bet, but we've been supporting Jack since he entered. The promotion, we're gonna need to hurt him. We're gonna need to sting him. But I got JDM getting it done. In the main event, Don Giacomo, shout out. And then two quick parlays before we get to our guests. The Pacifist Parlay, Grasso Silva over two and a half,

Aldo Zahabi over two and a half, Shevchenko Fioro over four and a half. And then a Moneyline Parlay, two women, Jasmine Jastavichus, Natalia Silva, shout out. And those are the bets for UFC 315. Shout out to the graphics team for the Montreal graphics there. Can't wait for that on Saturday.

Let's go back to last Saturday. We were in the building, me and New York Rick, Des Moines, Iowa, where we saw Montel Jackson get his sixth straight win in the promotion against Daniel Marcos, taking his O. Montel, welcome into the show, man. Thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate the time.

How you guys doing? Thank you for having me. We're doing really, really, really well, Montel. I have to admit, I've been looking forward to this for quite a minute, because one of the things that we do when we're welcoming new guests is we do some research. And I found so little about you, Montel.

Like, I'm intrigued by you. I find you very mysterious and I wanna know more. And so, I'll start with, it seems like there's not a lot of interviews out there. Is that a conscious decision? Are you trying to kind of like shy away from the spotlight or is that something that's just kind of come by the nature of the fight game?

I usually shy away from interviews, man. I'm a real private person. I value my privacy and I like to not have like you know I like to minimize all distractions if possible. I totally get that. I love that and I think that comes across in some of the stuff that I have found and so if we can if you don't mind and you know, guide us here. I do want to go back. I want to go all the way back. I want to go to growing up in Milwaukee. What was childhood like for Montell Jackson? A typical childhood, you know, grew up in the hood, the projects. My dad died when I was like one years old, single mom. I got like five other siblings.

You know, my mom worked all day every day. So, you know, I was outside. And so when you were outside, what was the activity? Like, what were you keeping busy with? Was it, did you get into fighting early? Was that the thing that kind of like kept you busy and away from some of the worst stuff or was it? Something else and then you found fighting later Yeah, I was fighting in the neighborhood

Yeah, I've seen Continue continue, I'm sorry No, but like yes fighting in every day, you know fighting with friends. Uh, that that's, that's really how like the majority of my friends came. Is it like, we are probably fought each other once, one time or many times. And we all eventually became friends and fighting other people from other neighborhoods. And then to like, you know, I always liked to fight just because

like my dad was a kickboxer, but that was killed. You know, I was an upcoming kickboxer here in the city of Milwaukee. He was killed when I was like, right when I was born. So it's like fighting is like almost in my blood. I saw that you started with wrestling. Did you have any desire to start with kickboxing instead? No, man, you know, I was just fighting in the neighborhood, man.

I didn't think about kicking nobody, man. I was just, you know, just going to fight you, man. Do whatever I had to. Yeah, you mentioned one of the things that stood out in the research, you were talking about like, it's clear that you had a love of fighting and you were fighting the people in the neighborhood, and then obviously you were able to turn that into now a career for yourself. In one of your post-fight press conferences,

I'm just gonna read you a quote, and it's your quote, so obviously you'll be familiar with it, but I just wanted to read something that stood out to me. You said, this is an unforgiving game. We've seen throughout the history of combat sport, guys get hit and don't come back the same. You've seen guys getting knocked out and they come back as a vegetable or they die.

I'm from the Midwest and one of the top boxers that ever came out of my area of Milwaukee was Gerald McClellan and Gerald McClellan got knocked out and he was never the same so I never celebrate or go crazy and stuff like that because this is Dangerous, so there's almost like a competing thought right obviously I feel like you you were passionate about the fight game and have wanted to do it for so long But there's also that danger and it seems like you're so aware of that and that's why you're not like Celebrating in those moments. How do those things when you're when you're in there how do those things

combat each other? Are you are you able to turn off that fear of being injured or even injuring your opponent and saying I'm gonna push this pedal to the metal because this is what I've signed up to do? Is there a reservation? How do you how do you grapple with that when you get into the cage? It's either gonna be me or it's gonna be them. If I don't knock them out, I think in my head, I'm gonna get knocked out. So I gotta get them before they get me. Totally.

And then after the fight, it's hoping that everybody comes out the best, hoping that everybody comes out healthy, right? Of course, man, of course, man. I never wanna like man I never want to like I never like seeing injuries and stuff like that and I like I don't want to like I feel like I'm responsible for like oh man like I changed this guy's life like he's never going to be the same like this guy can't play with his kids no more or something crazy like that so

y'all always pray that everybody come out, you know, like healthy. Have you ever come out of any of your fights and felt that way? Have you ever felt like guilty, I guess, for lack of a better word for something that did happen in there? Or has it just been it's you or me and we'll live with the results? Sometimes, sometimes I do. Like, I remember early on in, early on in my career, I was like still an amateur. I had knocked this dude out in the gym and he was never the same after that.

Do we know where he's at? He changed his personality. Do we know what happened to him ultimately? Do we know where he's at now? Yeah, man, he's like fucking bad shit crazy. Wow. Yeah, that can be scary. Did that at all change your view on you getting in there anymore?

Or was it just you are so dedicated to this game that it didn't affect that? No, it didn't affect that. It's just like I got to be more responsible and like no one understands what great power comes great responsibility. So like I gotta be aware of like what I'm doing and what I could do to people. But that's why I never try to get like emotional or like lose my shit on people. So I know I can probably hurt them real bad.

Yeah, you've talked about like why you don't get emotional after celebrations when you've talked to Paul Felder after fights and it's sort of just like, I come from the streets. I've seen what can happen out there. I don't really have an emotion coming in here. There's only two options. It's win or it's lose. There's there's so many things that can happen out there. What is it specifically that makes you not want to celebrate

after those those massive knockouts that we've seen so many times? It's over, you know, Don't live in the past. That moment happened already. Now I'm on to the next one. We got to get the next one. In just seconds, you're already thinking to the next one. It's over. I already won. I'm going to be sitting there talking about something like, you know when we be one of those dudes that's never talked about like what I used to have or man what I used to do. And man, I remember back in my day, I was this, this and this. Like man, what you got now? I mean, that's incredible to me.

So you go out and you beat Daniel Marcos on Saturday. Is there any celebration? Or it's just, all right, let's, let's bounce from the arena. Let's get home and let's get back to training. Bro, I want to go home, man Bro, I wanna go home, man. I wanna go home, man. Like, I've literally like trained 10, 12 weeks. Like I've held all my people hostage, like all my training partners, my coaches.

I held everybody hostage, man. Like I haven't talked to people in weeks. Like I get a chance to like turn my phone on and like communicate with people and get on social media and answer some of the people back and like it's a little bit of relief and like I feel like somewhat happy. And then to like, you know, I didn't even like, like my birthday was the week before, so I didn't even celebrate my birthday, like anything. Like I didn't even have a piece of cake until like Monday. I had a little cupcake, like just didn't even have a piece of cake until like Monday. I had a little cupcake like just a little things man. Let us be the first to wish you a happy birthday.

Actually speaking of the birthday, I saw just a few years ago you got a letter from the mayor and you were saying that April 24th is Montel Quick Jackson Day in Milwaukee. Yeah, man, eventually it's gonna be, man. But it's, you know, to all my friends and the people in my neighborhood, you know, that's the day that they go out and celebrate me on my birthday, man. So as a guy that doesn't really like to celebrate,

what does it feel like getting that honor from the city that you grew up in? It's big, man. Like, bro, I'm from the hood, bro. Like, all my friends are like Judy all my friends are like either dead or like in jail man. So like Me just making it from where I'm from like it's It's I'm like an anomaly bro. Like I'm a unicorn

like there isn't too many people like me that come for I come from bro or You know survive where I come from and bro. Or, you know, survive where I come from and actually beat the odds. So, it's like... This may be a difficult question to answer and I understand that. But why? Why were you the anomaly? Why did you beat the odds when they didn't?

What did you do that they either didn't do or how were you able to avoid falling into that? Number one, man, I learned from other people's mistakes. Like you gotta learn from other people's mistakes. And like I was confident enough to stand by myself. And like I always believed in like, like doing the right things the majority of the time. Like in the long run, like, like some of the decisions I made at like at that point, like I felt like I had no choice.

Or this is what I had to do because it was the environment I was in. But you know, I had to do what I had to do to, you know, to win them little battles to get here. So and then to like, ah, like a lot of people, they don't have that confidence, man. They don't have that overall confidence. They're not willing to go the other way when everyone's going one direction. It's easy to follow and fall in line and stand out and be a part. Because it also makes you a target.

Yeah, absolutely. And that peer pressure and wanting to fit into that crowd can be so Intoxicating you can you can really fall into the wrong thing because because the friends are doing it I saw an interview with you would I with what I believe is the local CBS there and and it was incredible kind of like Footage it was an incredible piece and it talked about your community and it talked about the ways you kind of give back to the youth and maybe Instill values that you're talking about now, right, and not being afraid to stand alone. What does it mean to be able to like impact kids in that way,

to be able to impact potentially the future Montel Jacksons to help them take the right path? It's everything because like too many, like, as many times as you see like the superstars and like the athletes that they're like make it they like out of reach they like um like they not it's not real to them because guess what these guys on TV I'd never see that guy I'd never see that guy in my neighborhood or in the city or whatever like they so far removed and like it's

so much like time and space between them. But like, for me, like, like I'm accessible, like, like I'm somewhat accessible. Like, if somebody hit me or whatever, I hit them back with, all right, bro, what's up? Like, what you went to, what you trying to do? They're trying to fight. Oh yeah. Come, come to the gym, bro. Just like, if you can make it to the gym, bro, like you're going to be fine. Like everything that you think you can need or you can want, like it's going to be here.

And if it's not someone here, they either gonna give it to you They're gonna give you some work to do for it But like you're gonna get what you ultimately need. You just got to show up like showing up is the hard part and then too like i'm like Like bro, I came from the same I came up the same corner you came off of bro Like the only difference is the project I grew up in is on the North side and the project you grew up in

is on the East side or the South side. Or like there is no real difference. Like, and then to like, I know a lot of people. Like, so like people be like, oh, you know, my cousin, this isn't this. I'm like, oh yeah, no, I'm this and this. Like where are you at? And like people be like shocked or like they'd be shocked

if I like DM them back, like bro, I know I'm business like where are you at? And like people be like shocked or like they'd be shocked if I like DM them back like bro, what's up? Or like just being like, like people can like come up and like talk to me and like I ask answer questions or like they're like telling me like, bro, like I'm expired, bro. Like, I got to watch you this is in this and like I look at you now I'm like, shit you can do the same thing I'm doing.

You just gotta put the work in, man. How close do you still live to the neighborhood that you grew up in? I live probably like, 16, 20 miles away. So you're still right there. How many times have kids come into the gym and been like, man, I saw you in the UFC. I'm interested in doing what you do.

A lot of the times, man, a lot of the times, even with like, you know, like city kids wrestling, like they'd be like, oh man, I came to city kids. Cause like, I saw like you, you'd be up here coaching or like you was going to be here. That's why I came. Or like when I go back to my old neighborhood and I go play basketball or like, I take,

I take all the neighborhood kids to the store I used to work at. And I buy them all popsicles or sodas or Gatorades or water in like the summertime. Like, and they'd be like, oh man, there's Montell coming. And then like, I just hang out with them for a couple hours and I get out of there. RG I find that so fascinating and incredible because you're kind of painting a picture where you don't like to put the spotlight on yourself in that regard. And we've talked about like not wanting to your private person and I want to put yourself out there in that way. But you're so giving with your time in your community. And in that CBS interview that I referenced earlier, you had an incredible line.

You talked about a proverb where it basically says a child not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth. And you are providing that warmth to so many kids out there. It's absolutely incredible. I commend you for that. Man, like it's and that's what we see, man. You know, like a lot of the kids that like that like cause trouble or like always in trouble or like the kids that has been like left behind or abandoned by like the community because like the first thing a person would say is that's not my kid. Or like, I don't live over there. Like, like, why do I care about that? Why do I worry about that?

Or like, why are we spending money on that? And it's like, they, they not like invested in the youth then if people don't see the value in themselves, they're not going to see the value in their neighborhood, people in a, or just society in general. So like, you got to invest in these kids, man, because they are the future. And that's why there's so many kids that just out here doing anything, man, like risking their life for the stupidest things, man, or risking their life for a thrill because like no one's ever taught them to value themselves, or they don't know, understand like the value of life and time and they don't understand that one mistake,

you're gone. You're never getting out. You're never getting out. Once you're in that system, you're never going to be free even if you are free. Because you're failing, that means nine times out of ten you're going to be working some low-end job. It's a problem. You don't want to go that route. It's no fun. As a young man, you seem to have such an incredible perspective on this. I'm wondering, did you always have the perspective?

You talked about looking around you and seeing some peers that were the example of what not to do. But was there somebody in your life who guided you in this direction, who laid this map out for you, this plan out for you that allowed you to stay on this path, and now you're able to pass that along to others? Was there somebody like that,

or was it all just looking around and saying, that's the mistake I'm not gonna make? Man, I had a culmination. I had like, so I had like, like Roger Quindale, like he ran CD Kids, for my wrestling coaches. Um, so I had like, like, like, like, like a couple like my older friends and stuff. It was like, like neighborhood drug dealers and stuff. So like, they were always like, they could like see through like, like the the facade or like like the kids being tough and all that stuff and like They're just they're just tell them or like they're telling me like like I'm so like you smarter than all these kids like what you Hang around these kids

Like you don't gonna hang around them like but you know, you don't gotta do what they doing. I'm like, yeah like like like They're like take tell you like man be be individual man like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,'t normal. And like, it showed me that like, I was like desensitized to like a lot of the things and like, the stuff like I saw and experienced in childhood, like it wasn't normal for a kid. Like it's not normal for a kid to like experience death. Like, oh man, my friend got shot. But my friend got killed or like my friend in jail for 10 years because he did like. Like he's a serial robber and stuff like that. Like, I'm like going to like different areas outside of like Milwaukee. Like I just saw like different like, like damn.

You've obviously been through so much in your life and you've sort of gotten the blueprint now of how to get out. You have a ton of time left in your fighting career, but do you have sort of like a dream, a vision of what you wanna bring to your community, whether it be opening a gym or just a place, a foundation for these kids to go, do you have like a vision for what you want

after your fighting career is over? Yeah, yeah, man. So like, my goal ultimately is like to go back to like my neighborhood and like to buy the whole thing, man. Buy the whole thing and create a safe space for all kids and people to live normal lives without crime, violence, and shooting, people selling drugs and stuff. That's my goal ultimately is to it's like, you know, make as much money as I can and like go back

and buy the whole area, man, and like change the whole area to something positive and like put like a rec center in the middle of it that's free, you know? You use some of like the money I collect from like, you know, the association fee or whatever, like the little area fee and like put it back into the community.

So like any, like the kids in their book can have like a resource and somewhere safe to play year around. And that's such an incredible goal to have and we hope you can get there and it seems like you've been wanting to be busy and climbing the rankings and hopefully you'll be able to get there. One more thing, we noticed one of the things we do is we look at a fighter's IG and we notice a lot of tribute posts and there was one that said like hashtag Manny Day that was kind of repeated. Can you tell us what that is?

So like Manny Day or like it's like our hood day. So it's like a day where I throw a party, and like a black party, and all my friends that I got left, and some of their family members and stuff, people in the community, we all come together, and we celebrate each other. We celebrate unity, love, peace, brotherhood.

We commemorate the people that's still here in jail, dead or like, you know, somewhere they don't want to be, whether it be, you know, on drugs or somewhere just walking around here like a zombie, you know, we try to celebrate each other and like bring everybody together because like year after year, like we lose like multiple people to like prison or like death. So like, as messed up it is, it's like that might be some of our last times like seeing these people.

So like always try to bring everybody together. With the successes that you've had in life, the where you're at in the UFC, what is it like doing that every year? I mean, you just mentioned that, like it might be the last time you're seeing some of these people. What is it like going back every year

as you sort of just continue to ascend in this life? Oh man, it keeps me focused. It keeps me focused. It's like good and bad reminders. So like I go there and I see like some of like, some of like my people that I grew up with like, and they like progress, like, like, like last year, like our friend, like he got a GED, you know?

And it's like something as small as that, like to me it's so big because like, it's showing that he's like progressing, he's taking the right steps to like better himself and like he's like Transitioning like out of the streets and then like the negative side of it is that like I go there and I still see people still Doing the same shit It's like man like you like like I brought like you you like 25 and you don't spent down there 15

Almost up to 15 years of your life in jail, in and out of jail. Like, what are we doing here, bro? What are we doing here? Do you have those conversations with them when you go, I mean, I saw the smile that came over your face talking about one of your friends getting his GED. Like, I can tell that you genuinely care about these people.

Do you have those conversations when you're there? Yeah, yeah, man, I'm a realist, man. Like, oh, I'm a straight person, and. Like, I'm a straight person and like, you know, I don't take no bullshit. So like I straight told him, like, bro, what the fuck, bro? Like you wasting your life. Like you like, like what are you not getting? Like how many times do you gotta hit your head, man?

Like how many? Like what's like, what are you not getting? It's not working. The life of crime does not work. There's no way you're going to reinvent this wheel. They still build jails because of people like you. It's over with

man. Get a job like I don't You can be working at McDonald's like I'm going to be so happy. Like get a job bro. Get a job. Start'm gonna be so happy. Like get a job, bro. Get a job, start risking your life for nothing. Like you literally like risking your life for nothing. Nothing.

Only thing you're gonna get is death, jail, or you might be in a hospital like fucked up, hooked up to a machine or something fighting for your life. Like it's over, man. It really is amazing to hear like the cerebral approach you have with this, having lived through it, really I commend you on how much of a positive impact you can have on this community.

One other thing I wanted to ask you about the, on your Instagram, I've noticed that like four or five people gave drawings, paintings of you to you, like really showing love to you. I think I saw one that was like made out of like Skittles or beans or something. I think this one right here, like what's it like to get this like love and admiration and appreciation? Man, it's big man. Like one of my friends, he collect art, he collect art. So like, it like really like, you know, you know, it's, it's like a

parallel between art and like fight. They're both like figments of like, or creations of like a person's imagination and like you bring an act to like physical form. So like, I like it. And it, and it, and it, it like something to like remind myself of like how far I come like, and it's like encapsulate like it captures like that moment in time. And like, it's like a good visual reminder or like, I'm at home, I like walk past and

I just look like, oh man, I remember that moment. Is that one behind you right now? Yup. Sick. I got like three, think or four. You made a very interesting comparison there between like an artist and a fighter and maybe you consider like a fighter would be an artist. What is your artist? Like what is your art? What would you consider your artistic style? What do you want your legacy to be in there as an artist who is in the cage?

An architect. So it's the technique, it's the technical, not necessarily the abstract. Yes, so it's like the technical aspect of it. And it's like anybody can see this and read this like this. This is this is going to work time and time again, like there there is no There is no like tricks there. There is no like She codes it is like it's like cut and drop I

Love that and that actually reminds me of, or brings me to another quote. You had an interview with Tom Giarbasi from UFC.com before this most recent fight. And you said, people have got to realize the days of fighters just fighting to fight or fighting for the glory are gone. It all comes down to money.

Do you feel like the game has kind of changed in that way? Are there a lack of like, what I guess to continue the analogy, like true artists out there and everybody's kind of just like somebody who's going after the money and not necessarily in it for the love of the game or to express themselves in that way that you're talking about? Yeah, man, it is. And that's why like most guys don't take fights. Like most guys won't take fights unless there's like some type of like crazy incentive because everyone's afraid to lose. Everybody's afraid to like test they self like, like there's like, like that notion of like being like the best is tainted by like being undefeated or like not losing and stuff like that.

Like the best fighter of all time is Sugar Ray Robinson. Yeah. He fought everybody. He fought like almost a fight a month, up and down. Didn't matter. Is that a reason why we've only been able to get to see you in the octagon like once a year?

I know you mentioned, I think it was before your fight that you said that if you wanted someone up in the rankings above you, you were going to have to wait four or five months. And it's just like, it's time to get on with it. It's time to fight. And I'm willing to take this guy with an undefeated record without a ranking next to his name. Are you having a hard time getting people to sign a contract to go against you? Yeah, man. having a hard time getting people to sign a contract to go against you. Yeah, man, you know, it's like the rankings, it helped the sport, but it hurt the sport.

It ultimately hurt the sport because guys don't want to lose their place in line. And it's like, bro, it don't matter where you at in line. If you're the hottest thing smoking, it don't matter what your number is. If you're what the people want to see, the fight is going to be made. The money's going to come. You just need to go out there and win and put to bed anybody else.

The money's going to come, but like guys, they just like, oh man, they so fixated at getting to number one. And it's like, bro, what's the point of being number one? If you, you just had to wait the fight because the champion just fought number five and you're supposed to be number one like it's dumb. With that said your next fight do you want someone above you in the rankings or is it anyone who will put pen to paper? It don't matter man anybody that's gonna put the put the pen to paper because like like we've seen guys jump from 12, 13, 14 to one, to four, to five by beating one guy. So like that don't matter.

Yeah, I mean, six fight win streak, 14th rank now. Like it's time to start talking about really getting some big matchups here for you Montel. It's exciting times, man. And to dispatch of Daniel Marcos, who's undefeated like is no small feat, man. Just wanted to wish you a congratulations on that appreciate you joining us man and I'm looking forward to the future of what you've got. Oh man thank you guys for having me. Thank you Montel.

Thanks Montel have a good one man. Cheers. Now what a story Montel Jackson has. Just like a such a fascinating like interesting guy also like to have the perspective that he has as somebody who, as he outlined, like could have just gone the other way, right? It would have been so easy for him to just fall in with the friend group who's doing exactly the wrong thing and ends up dead or in jail. And he was just like, no, I'm going to be here completely separate all the way on the other side of it and just live with that. Whether you're going to judge me, laugh at me, feel like it's isolating.

And now he's in a position where he's like, I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here, completely separate, all the way on the other side of it, and just live with that. Whether you're gonna judge me, laugh at me, feel like it's isolating. And now he's in a position where he's successful giving back to his community. He talks about the manny day, celebrating all these people. This guy's getting his GED.

He's giving back to the kids of the- The smile that went across his face when he talked about his friend with the GED was really- It's incredible, man. He's a more reserved guy, obviously, and I think probably for good reason with the life that he's lived. But man, his story is incredible

and he has an incredible head on his shoulders and the positive impact that he's trying to have in his community is really something special. You don't see that often. That's what's so crazy about it is he is a private guy, clearly, right? Like you get the sense that he doesn't like to like be out in the spotlight,

but then at the same time, he's talking about, if I see you in the neighborhood, we're talking. If the kid texts me or DMs me, we're talking. He's so available to everybody in the community. He's so giving with his time. He's so willing to help, but at the same time, he's shying away from the spotlight. He's just about that interpersonal connection

and trying to really impact people's lives. He's a super fascinating dude. I was really looking forward to that. We've kind of joked with like, oh our yearly Montell Jackson fight, but if he's just not getting fights, if people just don't want to fight him, there's really not much- I wouldn't want to fight him. I'll tell you that. Here's how I'll lay it out. 2027, April 24th, Montell Jackson day in Milwaukee.

First title defense on a pay-per-view. Oh, I love it. 2027. Already. Saturday, 424. Just mapping that out for him. I mean, it would be incredible. Yeah, I mean, we really didn't get into the fighting much

because I think it was much more interesting to kind of know more about him, as we said. There's not a lot out there in terms of that, but he's dangerous, man. Like I know that knockdown streak that he had going, which was like insane, like tied for the most knockdowns. Yeah, seven fight streak, 11 knockdowns over the seven fights ended last fight obviously with Daniel Marcos.

But I mean, dude, he's fighting an undefeated guy. He's fighting an undefeated guy, comes out clean. Like there's a good reason why he's not getting fights. Like that's a dude I wouldn't wanna see on the other side, honestly. All right, well we watched Montell Jackson get a victory in Des Moines on Saturday night against Daniel Marcos. We were also in Des Moines which leads us to our next segment, Fight Feast. We pulled out the old camera after taking the Winnebago over to Des Moines and we tried

the best food that old DSM has to offer. Please enjoy. Des Moines, Iowa. DSM. Niceville, USA. The capital of corn country as you can see. The beautiful mural behind me. We have made it. We're not only here for UFC Fight Night Des Moines, Corey Sandagon vs. Davidson Figurado. We are also here to go on a culinary tour of the Hartford of the West. Fight Feast episode 21. Let's go. Oh, look at that billboard. Turn around, look at that fucking billboard. We're fucking here, baby! Tentos down Des Moines!

All right, first stop on the Des Moines culinary tour. I've been told by many that I have to try an Iowa pork tenderloin sandwich, so we came to the godfather of the tenderloins, the original king tenderloin since 1952. Smitty's. Smells like a state fair out here, just fried goodness. Let's go. The Smitty's King pork tenderloin. You could do queen and make it

small or you could do king and make it as big as this. I mean this thing is comparable to my head, comparable to the size of my head. It's absolutely massive. I don't know how to attack this. They gave us a fork and knife. We're not using those. If you look over my shoulder here, we got best pork tenderloin in the city. 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, best onion rings in the city. The awards are there to back it up, okay. Here we go, no plate, no plate. We're just on paper here, no plate.

Couldn't love it more. This is fucking ridiculous. Just get a selfie in here with it, because it's so ridiculous. All right, here we go. Wish me luck on this journey. Smitty's King Pork Tenderloin. Fried well, not gonna lie.

With the pickles and the ketchup and the mustard and this specific bun, I mean this in a complimentary way, it gives me a McDonald's vibe. What I do with this, what I do with this is, this fried goodness's great. Maybe you planted a seed in my head. McDonald's vibes. I mean it in the most complimentary way.

Like that isn't an insult. I like this a lot. The pork's very good. I'm a fan. Onion rings. I've never known. Do you dip onion rings in anything? Ketchup, mustard?

Let's go plain first bite. This is a little double up. Oh yeah. Thick batter. Get that kick from the onion. I mean just take a peek at the crunch here. I'm covered in shrapnel from the fried. Crumb it all over me. Here we go. Ricky de Trombe. I mean look at my hands. Greasy like I've dipped them in Lake Des Moines. What way to start the day? 1130 local and I've had enough fright.

Food to kill a man. Smitty's. I agree with the awards. Best in Des Moines and all of Iowa. Oh fuck. You're getting levels from me? This is rolling right now. They moved locations. We're getting levels from me? This is rolling right now? They moved locations.

We're at the wrong spot. We are open at our new East Village location. Yeah, we fucked that one up. Fong's Pizza, we'll fucking see you soon. Let's get back in the goddamn Uber. Got this way. Should've just called a fucking Uber. Looks like we've come to the right place. Alright we're almost there. Truth be told

we decided to huff it because we've already taken two Ubers and it was the same driver both times and I'm a little bit nervous to get them for a third. So we're taking in everything Des Moines has to offer. We're here on the beautiful Des Moines River. I mean just picture-. It's a big move for Fong's to go across the river. Uh-oh. Do I spy with my little eye Wells Fargo Arena? Home of not only UFC Fight Night Des Moines but the 2005 Tony Hawk Boom Boom Hawk Jam. It's like seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time. Statue of Liberty. All right we made it across town across the bridge to the new Fong's pizza location looks a lot better I'm not gonna lie. Home of the famous crab rangoon pizza sounds like that's right up my alley. Let's go. All right

we're here at Fong's. Have to get a tiki so we ended up getting a tiki bowl. It literally came in like a dog bowl it's wider than it is tall but I got my man New Yorker right here to help me got the Caitlin Clark jersey on. Rivals, Iowa State, Iowa. We also have TST, Oscar Willis, the Mac Life, PKFC, Ringer MMM. I mean, this is the power players in MMM media. Uncrowned, Mac Life, Ringer MMM. Come on, bring that head down here, Troy, come on.

Oscar has to work later so you know he can't drink. He would abide. Here we go. Oh yeah, it's good stuff. Tropical. and Troy come on Oscar has to work later so you know you can't drink you would abide. Here we go. Oh yeah it's good stuff. Tropical. I could do a few though I could do one by myself I think. It looks very fruity. Creamy, coconutty, fruity. Yeah I could see how you have five or six of those and then we don't remember the night in Des Moines. This is coming back on Crown Studios with us. We got some Thai sticks to start highly recommended by our waitress. Thai peanut sauce, bacon, and hot honey. This is gonna go beautifully with the tiki

drink. Definitely doesn't have stomach ache written all over it. It's interesting. It's pretty good. It's pretty good. It's not amazing. I'm not doing this every time I come and eat, but it's pretty good. You guys gotta try it. I want to hear what you guys think this is like kind of hot this is similar to stuff I've had at Asian places I like the peanut sauce so I think I might be higher than you on the real detraction actually is the bacon I'm not a bacon guy but I like it decent will we have pork at every restaurant we go to. Stay tuned. All right, TSC. This looks like diabetes on a stick.

Oh, wait, I already have that. He really, he actually has diabetes. No. Peanut sauce does not belong with these things. I don't like it. All right, three different types of pizza here. Start with the crab rangoon. Imitation crab, green onion, mozzarella,

asiago topped with crispy wontons and sweet chili sauce. We got the sweet and sassy, goat cheese and herb base with hickory bacon, roasted red peppers, pepidou peppers, mozzarella, fresh basil, and you finish it with a hot honey drizzle. And then Rick's Choice Korean beef, juicy bulgogi beef, gochuj chang, diced green and white onions, diced kimchi, and mozzarella. There's a lot going on. Let's give them a try. I love crab rangoons, so let's let's see. I can't like, it tastes good, but if you just put it down in front of me and you

didn't tell me what it was, I would not know this is a crab rangoon pizza. Out of ten I'm giving it like a seven and a half. Sweet and sassy this is an Iowa favorite no Asian inspiration here. Oh that was the proper cheese pull right there. That's a quality pizza. Best thing I've eaten in Iowa so far. Cheese is great tomatoes are unbelievable. Here we go Korean beef. beaten in Iowa so far. Cheese is great, tomatoes are unbelievable. Here we go Korean beef. Brother. That's the one isn't it? This one's fantastic. Love kimchi, kimchi on

there. Bomb. Korean beef is great. These two are worlds better than the crab rangoon. We're off to a rough start with the with the Thai peanut sticks. Oh it's like ASMR. Hi Oscar. Fucking lot of flavor. That really did sound British though. It's good. I'd give it five booms or whatever it was. Another positive review for my choice. Alright, we're going to try sweet and sassy here. Iowa's favorite,

America first over here. Over the dog dish that we're going to be drinking out of. Risky play. Again, I don't know what any of these things are as you alluded to, but it's freaking delicious. The peppers, the tomatoes, whatever this cheese is, I'm here for it. I'll give this eight whatever your ranking is. I'm waiting for a piece of tomato to drop into the aloha bowl.

I'm the only one drinking this anyway, so whatever, it's all me. Big Korean food fan. In fact, just yesterday, ate Korean food with one area of Hawaii shout out our ohani delicious big fan Korean beef the flavor of Korean beef really does it for me so I'm gonna try this one hopefully a little spicy too I like it this is quite good Sweden sassy is actually better. Sweden Sassy takes the prize.

I'm a lion. This is an award nominated reporter. How does it feel to be part of the crew? Phenomenal. I'm a lone ranger usually. Having to talk every time you take a bite is a bit much. I agree. But thank you camera guy Nick.

Shout out camera guy Nick. Stomach is starting to wear it. Only one place to go left but we'll make it through. Hope the old Wells Fargo Arena's got good bathrooms. Give me a kamikaze shot. Alright kamikaze shot boy. Cheers to the moans. I'm just smacking my helmet. So easy. There we go. Bring it here. We can't smash each other. Thank you. What the fuck? Who's that? It's New York Rick.

Hi. Alright, Fong's. We have the crazy pizzas. We have the Thai sticks. I love the creativity. I still feel like the classic pizza was the best thing that they offered. Solid pizza. I don't think I'd love the crazy ideas. Give me the dog bowl back. All right, final stop on the Des Moines culinary tour.

Lachelle's Fine Foods, not only the best burger in Des Moines, I'm hearing best burger in Iowa, competitive for the best burger in America. I'll be judging that, let's go. We're at Lachelle's Fine Food, as mentioned earlier. This is the Lachelle, absolutely beautiful. I mean, this is picturesque. You can put this in a museum.

Tots look beautiful, chili not too sloppy. I got high hopes for this. It was quick, it was efficient, staff was incredible. Beautiful vibes in here. I really don't want this to disappoint you. Here we go. in here I really don't want this is what disappoints me though I ain't disappointed. Unbelievable brother. This is six seven bites and it's gone. We made a McDonald's comparison earlier. This is fucking McDonald's this is the Shell's fine foods LFF sauce on there the bun is like a work of art whoever placed the sesame seeds on this bun is

an artist it's beautiful. Tots are almost too pretty to eat. We're gonna eat them. the tots the crispiness the lightness of the tater tots. This is so far and away the best place we went. It's not even funny. Shout out to Fong's. Shout out to Smitty's. We'll always have love for Smitty's. When she also finds foods, you got one day in Des Moines, this is where you're coming.

This is truly tremendous. One last bite. 10 out of 10. These tots are incredible. The crunch, everything just like, this doesn't feel like it's gonna be disgusting in my stomach later. 10 out of 10, I agree. Oh, it will, baby.

Me and Big Troy sharing out the hotel room. We're shitting like mad tonight, baby. Shitting like GENES! Trying the burger. We did the Connor laugh which is always a good sign. I'm gonna take another bite. Two bites, everybody knows the rules. Yeah, tremendous. Best place we went to today. Everything he said. Ditto. Agree. I'm looking at these with admiration. Oh wow. All right.

The shells is a winner. This is the spot. Best of the day. All right, I'm done eating. Let's go watch some fights. All right, we are in the Moine airport. Getting ready to leave. Oh, camera guy Nick just got a questionable egg sandwich to finish off the fight feast

Not sure how that's gonna play on the bumpy three-hour flight came from the hot and fresh section I'm not sure if it's either of those things. Oh fucking sausage egg and cheese questionable flight Not bad some something in Des Moines. That's actually not bad. What do I got to say? Des Moines, it's a city. Will I be back?

No. I usually fight night at Des Moines. Davidson, Figueredo, Cori Sanegan. Could have been better. Shout out to Lachells. Shout out to Smitty's. Everybody loves the Smitt man. Shout out to Fong's. Alright out to Smitty's, everybody loves the Smitt man. Shout out to Fong's. Alright I think that'll do it from Des Moines. Get me, get me out of this city.

Alright, where did the money end put? Time to get the fuck out of this city, god damn it. I enjoyed it. I'm not gonna miss it. Can we flip the camera? Rick just got himself an exit row. Yeah, Ricky exit rows over here. I'm ugly as shit. The moon's alright. Fong's ruined my stomach. They're offering $800 for me to get this stay here

eight more hours. No fucking shot. Give me the fuck out of here right now. Get me out of this godforsaken city. I can now say I've been to the home of the 2005 Boom Boom Oak Jam. And I'll be able to put that on my tombstone. Five Fees, episode 21 in the books. That was a fun one. That was a fun one. Glad to be back from Des Moines. Shout out to Lachelle's, the fine foods.

If you ever find yourself in Des Moines for any reason, that's the one, that's where you should go. Fong's creativity, you know. You could pass on that. You could pass on that. It was okay, you can get better pizza in many places. How about the cameos by TST and Oscar Willis? I mean, incredible.

TST was shocking in how good he was. The diabetes joke, the America first joke, the tater tots, I mean, it was good stuff from TST. That officially, I think, puts a bow on our time in Des Moines. I enjoyed it though, I enjoyed it. Looking forward to Atlanta, another road show. I can tell by how many times you said, get me the fuck out of here at the very end of that. I mean it's, what was that, probably 7.45 in the morning.

We were up till like 2 a.m. We also ate burgers, pizza, pork tenderloin sandwiches, onion rings, tots,. Like everything fried. If it wasn't fried, it had a gallon of cheese and like other crap on top of it. Then we had beers at the event. It was rough. I'm 31, you know?

I'm getting up there in age. It's not easy to recover. All right, let's move. It is tough. Let's move along to our pound for pound rankings earlier this week. Sam Alvey was on talking about how he loves cereal. Yeah.

And we were just started a debate in the control room. Then we got a honey bunches of Ode, a special K in there. So we need to make our definitive lifts. What are the top five pound for pound cereals? Frankie, what are the order we're gonna go in here? Today, the order is going to be starting with me. Then we're gonna go to Rick and we're gonna have Connor finish us off we do good all right starting with my number five is mini wheats mmm gotta get a rough start little put a side

of a okay frosted frosted got it they are frosted although have you ever had the non mini version I have and I didn't like it. Yeah, it's weird You ever had the non mini version non frosted No, I don't think so. I don't think they make those Number two four wait what I mean damn it my second choice on this list starting from five so now we're at four is Reese's Puffs I'm reading this wrong. I'm reading this wrong. Sorry.

Corn Pops. What the fuck is wrong with you, man? Today's number four is Corn Pops These are from Kellogg's. If you haven't tried them, you should. They don't look like they would be sweet, but there actually is like a little bit of honey on them or something It's amazing. This is probably one of the only cereals on the list that I would eat dry and still enjoy I agree with you there's like sneaky sweet like you would respect how sweet I'm with you they're great however if it's been in the milk and you drink the milk afterwards you're still sitting pretty it's still a good plan coming out at number three Apple Jacks

yeah mmm now I'm gonna argue they don't really taste like apples, but they taste like something and it's like Jack's Apple flavor is slight and I used to gross myself out as a kid when I'm like trying to figure out what the little specks on The the rings are supposed to be but then I learned just to just to eat it This is some microplastic shove that thing in your mouth As I had said earlier my number two is Reese's Puffs. Ah, got it. I'm so excited to mention it. Respect the game, respect the game.

Yes, sir. Wow, also look at the image here. This is something that you expected to be super sweet like the candy, but to me at least, in my recollection, it isn't as sweet as you think. It actually tastes like a wholesome breakfast substitute. I mean, the orange, the yellow, the brown, I love how they do the cereal coming out of the cup

on the box. It's great. It's a fantastic image. And my number one pound for pound cereal all time. Yeah. I'll have day after day, night after night, lunch after lunch. Jordan's already making a face.

It's honey bunches of almond. It's honey bunches of oats with almonds. Has he talked about this before? You know why I recognized this box? Because my father ate it when I was growing up. What a good man. He raised a wonderful son. Now they actually they are good. I don't. Great beard probably from all the oats that he had. No actually no beard great head of hair perfect hairline at 67 years old. Well, I mean this is one cereal that just is a mixture of everything that you would want.

And literally the bunches of oats. Yeah, the honey bunches. Yeah. Got a little almond in there. That's like the sugar bond. I ate this as a child and as an adult and I'm probably gonna be eating them while I'm out after I'm retired.

Is there a lore around Frank loving this though? How did you know? Someone just paid attention to earlier this week. Whenever Sam Albee was on on he wouldn't shut up. Oh I don't listen when he talks. As I have said to you. Sorry? Moving on to...

Rick! Solid list Frankie. Great list Frankie. Respect the Reese's Puff. The most conventional list I think from Frankie that we've gotten. The assignment was very... Can we break the fourth wall about the joke or no we'll do it after years okay after years number five honey nut Cheerios a classic kind of just like like

a super solid baseline level like a great mascot too yeah a good mascot is crucial with with your breakfast cereal I strongly believe that don't bother me yeah 100% sick mascot don't bother me with regular Cheerios they're trash with your breakfast cereal. I strongly believe that. Just like Bunches of Oats. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, sick mascot. Don't bother me with regular Cheerios, they're trash. Yeah, trash, cardboard. Lower cholesterol. Cinnamon, I can be convinced.

The apple Cheerios, I can be convinced. They have a couple blueberry ones. Blueberry ones aren't bad. My nephew loves the blueberry ones, I kill those. Actually, briefly, I think the Honey Bunches of Oats mascot is like the woman in the factory, like the old woman in the factory. Is it actually? Yeah, I think the honey bunches of oat mascot is like the the woman in the factory like the old woman the factory is it actually I think that's the

commercial Frank likes forced labor women honey honey honey that out Frank likes forced honey nut Cheerios super solid never gonna go wrong if you've got that it's a it's a key one number four this is where my sweet tooth comes out because most like I'm kind of like with cereals I'm like sometimes sweet sometimes not you'll see that it varies frosted flakes not a not a corn flakes

guy hate a corn flake but if you frost those those are delicious again fantastic mascot I love this product place where they have to show the three bowls and the three spoons because they're like Please do not eat all these buyers. They're sharing it. It's as you said Family-size Frankie we got it supposed to just mean this is enough great branding the blue blue right? Oh, they're great Slogan it's good shit. We're consumers and Love me some frosted flakes number, again, we're still going down that sweet tooth path.

Yeah, keep it going. Number three, hit me with them marshmallows. Hit me with them heart stars, horseshoes, clovers, and blue moons. Oh, nailed it. Lucky charms, baby. Give me the lucky charms. Yeah.

Are they really marshmallows? The contra- Mm. Dries, I love marshmallows. You're like, froze, dry. Here it is. It's just sugar. My dad used to always be like, sugar bombs.

Like that's just what they are. Here's the problem with the Lucky Charms though and why they're only number three. You just got like basically Cheerios in there. The actual cereal sucks. Like it's garbage. It's a garbage. But the, I just want to eat the marshmallows, the color.

Again, great mascot. How much does a mascot weigh into this? A lot. It's an important fact. It's huge. Fantastic. Yes. I had a friend, bunch of roommates. The rule was, you know,

if you buy something for the house and you get to eat the last bit of it, right? That was just the rule. Like help yourself, but don't eat all of it. They have to save you a portion at the end. So she comes home, finds an empty container of cookies that she had bought Finds out who did it goes and gets his box of Lucky Charms pours it out removes all of the marshmallows and sticks

Just the cereal pits back in a lot of work goes about her day. I mean that's some psychopath stuff Yeah, that's a lot of work goes to pour himself as lucky Anyway, yeah, that's that I go shit. I'm petty I don't know if I have that level of dedication to me and that person was a retractman Just I was the one who ate the cereal. He was the one who did the thing anyway, okay number two This is we're going We're going off the grid here. We're going off the off the reservation We're going hot. We're going hot cereal not cold cereal. We're going to Grits we're going to we're going hot cereal not cold cereal we're going

to grits we're going to grits is this why yes what do you mean it's this polenta cereal does this play no oh no oh no grits oh we're going we're going Webster's dictionary definition rich are popular is because my list is winning. This shrimp cocktail cereal, I get it. Oh, don't get, get the fuck out of here. This is actually worse than the shrimp cocktail bit. What? No, no, no, no, no, this isn't worse than the shrimp cocktail bit, but this is objectively bad. Shrimp cocktail served in a circular fashion,

it was pie-tated. Grits are just an amazing cereal. Hot cereal, what are you talking about here? If I stick my Lucky Charms in the microwave. What do you mean what is hot cereal? Oatmeal, grits. Cream of wheat. Cream of wheat, yeah, exactly.

Polenta, porridge. Honestly, I'm not counting any of that. If you're counting oatmeal, you're counting grits. Chili. Yes. Yes, if you're counting oatmeal, you're counting grits. Love grits. Clam chowder. Delicious corn-based.

Pico de gallo. Creamy goodness. And yeah, I'm not gonna be shamed from my love and selection of grits also wild also if I'm eating grits it's cheese grits every time no no no just give me a little bit of butter cheese to it a little brown sugar I'm not putting cheese on mine little butter little brown sugar maybe love me some grits I'm smoking y'all with my list number one easy like the lightest

work of all time the best cereal that's ever been invented the simplicity of it the delicious taste Perfect in the milk always retains its crisp number one special K easy Wait, isn't that just a corn flake? No Frank. I'll have you know, you might think that but actually it's a rice flake Oh, that's the important is the diet cereal and what's maybe I mean actually it's a rice flake. Oh wow. And that's the important distinction. Is it a diet cereal? And what's, maybe, I mean, it's kind of like- I always thought it was like a party drug. Well, it's a different special K. What's important about this one, very important, for all my special K lovers out there and my truthers

of the special K universe, the red berries that has become very popular. Yeah. Everybody eats the special K red berries. That's what I thought it was gonna be. That's not special K. You just want straight up special K. The important, see here's why.

It's not just because I don't like those freeze dried strawberries. I'll take some freeze dried strawberries, no problem. They changed the flake. The special K with red berries is a wheat flake. I don't know if I've ever had normal. See, this is the problem. You've not had the best cereal that's ever been invented.

You only like the rice flake, but you don't like the rice krispie cereal? Rice krispies is fine. It's not as good as special K. Can you imagine waking up and being like, you have any special K? It's like, nah, man, we're all out. It's like, all right, where's the grits?

Yes, for sure. For sure. Old ass man. No special K, I'm going with grits. Because you can have regular grits. Cause you can't have breakfast with each other. Just the grits? Yes, 100%. Insane. Yeah.

To me grits is just like a side dish. I will say, it's hard for Frank to be like, hey, grits for breakfast, that's a problem. Shrimp cocktail for breakfast, totally fine. Okay, okay, okay. I was just thinking, match made in heaven. With an ice pop. Shrimp and grits.

Shrimp and grits is a wildly popular dish at branches and bowels. No, but see, that takes it out of the breakfast ramen, that's not what I'm after. Shrimp and grits is a wildly popular dish at branches in the south. No, but see, that takes it out of the breakfast rum, and that's not what I'm after. I want the grits as the breakfast. Just missed my list, just narrowly missed corn pops. I really, really like that choice by Frank. Wow, okay. Or, or,

just an ear of corn. No. Just an ear of corn, okay. I just wanna lay this down. I am a cereal connoisseur, have been my whole life, always into like the special flavors, everything. I spend too much time in the cereal aisle. Standard across the board, we're gonna go with an oversized bowl, oversized spoon, ice cold 2% milk for all of these, none of this dry blend bullshit. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, don't care, I'll eat any of these anytime. Cereal to me is more of a dessert than it is a breakfast food.

Let's start with number five. Great mascots, pair of them, Apple Jacks. What are the mascots for Apple Jacks? Here I come, I am Cinnaman. You don't remember those commercials? No, not at all. Yeah, shout out, you got Cinnaman with the apple that's just a human face.

Cinnaman because he's like Jamaican. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he would always show up in the commercials like this and he'd be like, here I am, I am Sinimon. You may be onto a point with that, Frank, because they've made him less cool. What other mascot would come out and have to define himself over and over again?

It's just understood. I actually watched a YouTube highlight reel of him just entering commercials being like, here I am, am Sidney Mon That's how he runs into every is there anything else other than that? That's it. I want to be in a production meeting. Him and the apple smash into each other and then they get in the cereal together Can you imagine the boardroom where someone's like I have the perfect mascot for Apple Jacks

So like let's hear it. Yeah kind of like a fruit loop, but like way better in my opinion. I really enjoy the flavor It's great. Shout out to Apple. What apple do you think it's trying to represent? All apples. Red Delicious. Yeah, Red Delicious, something like that. All right, number four, another great mascot, trio of mascots, not your rice flakes, Cocoa Krispies.

Big fan of Rice Krispies, but I'm actually gonna go Cocoa here. You get that delicious chocolatey milk afterward, and with the extra large spoon that I mentioned earlier and the extra large bowl, it makes you feel like a giant because these things are so tiny. A lot of people like the puffs, Coco puffs, not me. I feel like there's a much better cereal for that. We can get into that later, but yeah, I mean the chocolatey delicious milk. A top-tier milk, not number one, Cocoa Krispies. Absolutely fantastic.

You gotta have a chocolate one if you're gonna have cereals. Number three, and this is where like, number four and number five are here. Number one, two and three are God tier for me. They are irrefutable. Number three, and I can't believe I'm the first one to even mention it with myself going last,

Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Taste you can see, crave those crazy squares. I mean look at that box. How could you not want this? Like cinnamon toast in itself is delicious. Now you're making it crunchy and you're putting into a cereal. Rest in peace to the chef. He died? Goat chef Wendell. That's my dad's name. We used to eat together and be like, you know the chef's name's Wendell, huh? And he'd be like, yep. And it'd be great. They axed him. Now it's these crazy squares. They switch from taste you can see to crave those crazy squares.

Also all time commercials. This just takes me back right here. This is like my childhood summer and it's like the lifeguard Chad and it's just like, he sees everything, but he can't see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch. How much of this is, how much of our list

is based on nostalgia? A lot of it, but it's also just tremendous. I'd crush an open box, empty box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. You had grits this morning. No, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, like one of my least least favorite, wouldn't even crack top 20. I like it. Absolutely insane take.

If we're talking top 20s, I'm also putting French Toast Crunch in there as well. Just wanted to be clear on that. Of course they have it. I was actually gonna bring that up just to dunk on that one, but you like it. The French toast one? The one that looks like one piece of the dead?

I think it's becoming clear you guys don't really eat cereal like that. I think that's what's coming out of this one. It's exposing you guys as fake cereal eaters. If someone were to listen to this segment and try to figure out our ages, I think they would. My number two. We're calling in the Cap'n.

Oh, wow. We're making sure we bring in the Crunch Berries as well. Cap'n Crunch Berries, but not OOPS All Berries. Despite OOPS All Berries being elite, you gotta have the mix, Crunchitize Me Cap'n. You need the OG in there as well to make you enjoy the crunch berries more. You're offsetting it.

If you just have oops all berries, then it's just all berries, you know? The crunchier the crunch berry, the more satisfying it is. That's what the old saying is. But yeah, I mean, it's just, it's one of my favorite cereals. Shout out to the cat and he blows into your house on the boat and he's just like, yo, crunch it, dies me cat. And he pulls you on home boat and he's just like, yo, crunch it ties me cap, and he pulls you on. Home to some of the craziest flavors, like just really unnecessary volcano crunch with

pop rocks inside. Are those pop rocks? Wait, why does it say mystery? What's the mystery? That's for you to find out. You're not surviving that. That's for the captain to know and for you to find out. Also made by your boys over at Quaker.

Galactic crunch, you get a couple marshmallows in there. Okay, now which of these is your favorite? None of these. Still the Crunch Berry. I'm respecting the like diversity. Diversity of flavors and the ridiculous flavors. That Halloween Crunch, shout out, turn the milk green, legendary shit.

You get this around Halloween time. Oh my God, going to school before the day of Halloween and you eat the Halloween crunch and you're just reading the back of the box and it's like, oh shit, my milk's green, I got zombie crunch berries in there. Or gout. It's about to be a good day. I'm starting to agree with Frank on the age thing here. This is showing. Do you want a juice box before you go to your number one? Chocolate donuts crunch, so unnecessary. we just don't need that. Orange Cream Pop Crunch.

What the fuck is happening right now? Potten Candy Crunch, you just don't need it. Choco Donut wasn't enough. We got Sprinkled Donut Crunch, Blueberry Pancake Crunch. I mean, it's just absolutely insane. It cannot be profitable for them to have come out with 10,000 different versions of this.

And then you have people like this, like stacking them up. It's always fun to go into the cereal to see what the captain's been cooking up. The guy's a nut job. The orange creamsicle is- Keep it simple. He just gets in the lab and he just goes mad. I might have to crush a box of crunch berries tonight.

And then number one, it's just, there's no game to be played here. It's the easiest one. It's candy for breakfast. It's Reese's Puffs. Oh, hell yeah. I mean- I'm surprised by this. Look at that. Look at that picture. It's just absolutely beautiful. Yeah, it's crazy's Puffs. Oh, hell yeah. I mean. I'm surprised by this. Look at that.

Look at that picture. It's just absolutely beautiful. Yeah, it's great. This one is a pure nostalgia play. I used to only get it when we'd go to my grandparents' house. Me and my brothers would rip through boxes, like every single morning. It really is just my favorite cereal at the time,

and close. Every commercial was like a rap song. Reese's Puffs, Reese's Puffs, peanut butter chocolate flavor. I have to admit, I am completely shocked by it being number one and Frank having it on the list because for me, it's the shittiest, it doesn't even come close to the actual thing. Oh, insane. The actual thing is the God tier of candy and this is such a bad equivalent of it.

God tier cereal as well, it's so mind blowing. It doesn't taste anything like it. It's a tamp a bad equivalent of it. Not to your cereal as well, it's just, it's so mind-blowingly good. It doesn't taste anything like it. It's a tamped down version of it, we're not going for candy, it's not candy for breakfast. Just throw me some Reese's in a bowl. Get out of the balanced breakfast. No, we don't need it that, these are puffs, it's what we eat for breakfast.

Not only is it the best cereal, it's also the coolest cereal. How I talked about Captain Crunch just being like, let's fucking put anything in there, cotton candy, whatever, Reese's Puffs does collabs. Here's them with Kaws, I mean look at the box. What the fuck? The blue box, keep it rolling. Here they are with Travis Scott.

These boxes are going for like 200 bucks to fucking pop, like, look at that, I mean a giant Reese's Puffs box, Travis Scott, we continue along Ambush Universe, like you got the color for one, you got the black and white. Louis Vuitton. Keep it going one more. Dragon Ball Z. I mean it just doesn't get any better than that. Reese's Puffs. Such a mid-serial. Coolest cereal. Best cereal. Open box. Empty box. Definitive list. I need no arguments. Me and Eric don't agree on much, but Reese's Puffs cereal to me? Oh, that's the wrong list, guys.

Who put that up? No, me and Eric, same page. Reese's Puffs. It's such a poor approximation of the goat. Did you guys know there was an Eggo cereal? Tastes like you're eating maple syrup waffles. I have had the Eggo cereal. Did anybody consider,

I have had that. Did anybody anybody can use I have had that did anybody consider like honeycomb or Alright tricks tricks. All right You're gonna pick one or the other like count what about um No, obviously no corn flakes right? That's like corn flakes Special key is not just corn flakes. I always thought it was just cornflakes rice baby rice flakes important Sam Alvey did mention Golden grams that's all in grand. I number one. That's like a competitor to Cinnamon toast crunch right like yeah, it is good. It's just a shittier version of regular rice krispies

Yeah, risk is a real good. I always put sliced up banana in it. I'm going cocoa Okay, we need didn day of the week. We need to- Didn't Sam Alvey send a picture of his favorite cereals? Yeah, he did. Ariel sent that somewhere. We do need to talk about the fact that the leftover milk from these cereals is not chocolate milk.

I know everybody says that. Yeah. It's not. It's a weekend flavor. It's not. Chocolate milk, by definition, is milk that came from a brown cow. I've heard that. Cinnamon Toast Crunch is the elite tier milk.

That's the number one. That one changes the milk the most. That one tastes the best. Tastes the best by far. I mean, to the point where they have recreated it and you can buy it bottled, like Cinnamon Toast Crunch post-milk. I've found the picture of Sam Alvey.

There he is, if you guys wanna see smiling Sam and he's, no surprise there, he's smiling. Oh, what do you know? He's got Golden Graham, shout out to Jordan. Sneak between in there. Kroger brand Cinnamon Toast Crunch and then Captain Crunch Crunch. So you and Sam are aligned.

With the Captain Crunch Crunch Berry, shout out to Sam Alvey, man. I always knew that, I liked that guy. Always knew I liked the Karate Combat Double Champ. Yeah, legend. Crunch Berries. Shout out, send me those crunch. Kroger brand, respect.

I feel like my list is gonna be extremely unpopular. I'm just gonna do that now. Grits it too is crazy. No, grits is so. You mentioned grits and then Frank was like, if you can do grits, can I do polenta? What's wrong with polenta? Roasted red pepper polenta?

Come on man. Hey Frank, what'd you have for lunch? I had polenta for lunch. Jesus Christ. You had cereal for lunch? Yeah. I felt like a child. Alright. Alright, that was good. That was good. Voicemails?

Voicemails. Voicemails! Voicemails. What's up boys, I'm back Matthew Delivering the mail out here. I shall as I she is Hi question for Rick. Do you like it better in the challenge and they work as duos or play as individuals? Personally, I like individuals better even though my favorite season is driver dies. Shout out Devin and Cory.

There's a random question out there. You guys haven't picked one. Would you rather know how you died or when you died? Yeah. The thing you guys gave me out here. Thanks, Diego. Bye, Patrick. Is the mail truck crashing? No, he's probably walking around actually opening up the boxes.

Shout out to Tallahassee. Go Noles, my mom and everyone else in my family graduated from FSU, so shout out to Tallahassee. Quickly on the challenge, I like individual seasons better. Most of the time the team ones don't work as hot But I'm but I ride or dies was a great season really like it also I mean we're we're now in May the last season of all-stars of the challenge ended like work We're getting close to old been the Bane Davis on on the challenge. I can't wait It's coming this summer like we're looking at the summer

cause we're now in May. They turn these seasons around fast. Can't wait for it. Shout out to Ben the Bane Davis. Can't wait to see him. And then would you rather know how or when? Oh man, unfortunately probably how. Just because when is,

then you're just counting down the days. Neither, I don't want to know. I mean, yeah, of course I don't wanna know, but you have to find out one. If I have to, oh, they're forcing me? Yeah. Because I think there are some people who would want to know. I think there are some people who would want to know.

I don't wanna know. I'd go how. I'd go when. If you do how though, let's say you find out how and it's like you die in a train crash, you just never go on a train again and then. It's funny you say that Jordan, there's a series. There's a film series. It's called Final Destination. The film series, the Bloodlines is coming out soon.

You know what's up boys? It's the guy Meek. I just wanted to say shout out to the show man. What's up Meek? Love you guys. Love you. Got me through many, many long shifts at Amazon, but I don't fucking work there anymore. Fuck Amazon. Fuck Amazon. Yeah, I got a better job now like now. And I love listening to your show the shifts are easy but makes it even easier listen to you guys and then more importantly in my love for the show my love for gambling shout out GC you're watching them way back since I he first started an MMA hour and me and the gambling man oh fuck that's not watching you guys making parlay's ever since.

Shout out to you guys, put in a $4 for a pick parley that cashed out at $469. Oh, shout out. Yeah, we're doing good. We're doing great. I'm gonna be out in this film study shit a lot more now. But yeah, I love you guys, love the show.

And yeah, have a good day, man. Every time one of his parley busts, he's like, fucking G, he got me addicted. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't love to hear that, but yeah, I love you guys, love the show. And yeah, have a good day, man. Every time one of his parlay busts, he's like, fucking G, he got me addicted. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't love to hear that, but yeah, shout out. Hey, it's your boy, Meek again. I'm not gonna lie, guys, I'm kinda high. So I forgot to ask my question.

Oh, fuck, I thought he was gonna be like, hey guys, update after UFC Des Moines. I lost everything. Do you think Eddie Hall could take from Rod Tang? Give me advice first, how many headshots, how many punches do you think Eddie Hall could take from Rod Tang? And then fucking vice versa. How many headshots, how many punches do you think Rod Tang could take from Eddie Hall before he goes unconscious? All right, appreciate it guys, peace.

How many shots can- Rod Tang from Eddie Hall? One. Well yeah, like he's probably going out on the first one. If they're like power slap hitting each other, like a clean shot, Eddie Hall is almost guaranteed to knock out Rod Tang on the first one. Eddie Hall on Rod Tang? A lot. Probably a lot, yeah. I mean the size disparity there is something serious. You'd have to

just keep ringing that bell. Shout out to Meek though, double message. I love that. What I love about that is finishes and then is like, oh I was too high by the way. Forgot the question. I thought he was too hype. No, he's high. Okay, shout out to Double Message Meek! What's good boys, Kevin calling in from 413, Springfield, Mass, shout out. Long time paying. My question is for GC and Rick, being that Frank is so mysterious, how do y'all handle from going behind the scenes kind of normal guys to basically being a household name and dealing with the quote unquote fame and having fans that want to take pics and whatnot.

I know how I want to kind of has a hand in that being who he is, but y'all getting your own show kind of took it to the next level. Love the show. Keep it up. Shout out to Andy, everyone else that has their hands in the Matic. Let's go! Yeah no love for Frank, you listed everybody but Frank. Wow. Hey boys. Wow, Frank. From Detroit. As far as your boy Ariel says, you're crap at Detroit. That was a low blow, that's

why I'm a bigger fan of boys in the back than Ariel's Hulwani show. Shout out to Detroit. One question for you guys, if you had to choose, would you rather do one five minute round with Mighty Mouse or one one minute round with Francis Nganu? Sorry, I'm nervous, huge fan. Can't wait to hear what you have to say. Wow, you nailed that. I am going one five minute round with Mighty Mouse

just because of the size discrepancy. One one minute round with Francis Mouse just because of the size discrepancy. One one minute round with Francis Ngannou almost guaranteed to end up with me on a stretcher on the way to the hospital and probably permanent brain damage. Mighty Mouse like could finish me in other ways. Same page. I'm not getting hit by Francis. Yeah I'm gonna pass on that. I watched him do one of those, someone posted that I watched him do one of those, someone posted that, I watched him do one of those boxing machines and like he got to 9.99 so fast. It was just like

No matter what defense you use, Francis Higana was gonna hurt you. Even if he's hitting your arms, you're toasted versus Mighty Mouse It's like yeah, he's gonna do bad things. Mighty Mouse is almost like I'm just gonna run until he takes me down and just get tapped Yeah, he's gonna tap you out five times. Yeah, I'm just calling in because I watch your show every day it comes out and I'll be fighting on BKFC, Mohegan Sun June 14th. Holy shit, good luck man. Against a guy that was in the UFC Ultimate Fighter.

Was the one who did that one on Conor McGregor's team. And Zach Roemack-Panell. Zach Roemack-Panell. Call in and see if I can get on there. Panell. Let's see, let's see. I got it right here. Is Parker Porter on this card again? Parker Porter's fighting again? Headlining.

Headlining, Jorgene Castro, Josh Watson, Brennan Ward, JR Rumley. Dude, this is not a bad card. Oh yeah, Zach Ponell, I see it right here. Yeah, he's fighting Rico DeSculio. Yeah, I remember that from Tough 31, shout out. Shout out to Zach. Shout out to Zach, good luck.

Zach Ponell, calling calling in man. Good luck Zach Great great luck. I hope you have the best of luck. You are a you are a ballsy ballsy man to step into that ring Shout out to Zach What up boys in the back, this is James from Manchester, New Hampshire just calling up letting you know, I'm a huge fan I've been a couple of the live shows in New York, met you guys and keep on the good work. My one question for you guys, big fan of the Fight Feast, how about a traveling or not even traveling but New York style Fight Feast tour, right? You get the fans together, you guys bring us around to different food places. Anyways, good business opportunity there. Anyways, keep up the good work. Talk to you

guys later. Bye-bye. I would love that. I love- GC guided tour. A guided tour around New York. I love the idea of that. Yeah. There'd be a lot of eating. There'd certainly be a lot of eating in one day. What would that cost? What would a GC guided tour of New York cost people? How do we turn it into a business? 150 a pop. All right I feel like that's fair. And you guys have to pay for all the meals. I like it.

Yo what's up boys in the back. It's Sully from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. So I got a question for you. Yeah let's hear it. Biggest celebrity crush when you're in high school. I'm a question for you yeah the biggest celebrity crush when you're in high school I'm a little bit older than you guys so I'm 38 so I might be a little different but I have to go I'm gonna be 38 this year so I'm getting old can't hardly wait I know he did by the other one would be just out by the and go watch those movies again and see them. You'll see what I'm talking about. Love you guys, give me to the work week. Appreciate it. Frank, love ya.

Neerafrick, love ya. T.C., love ya. Fuckin' I'll leave you with this quote from the great long duck dung. No more Yankee my wankie. Younger need food. Shout out. Younger needs food?

Shout out. You mentioned needs food? Shout out. You mentioned Jessica Alba, a legend, aging like fine wine. High school though? No, I feel like you were too young for that Alba Prime. I saw a picture of her and Sydney Sweeney and it almost looked like she was younger than Sydney Sweeney. It's really incredible, the performance she's putting on.

My high school crush though, easy, easy money, no brainer. Came to me the second I thought of it. Victoria Justice, shout out. That's Disney? Is she Disney? Oh, Nickelodeon. Frank, what about you? Hmm, I'd have to think about that one actually.

Jordan, Andy, do we have any crushes from the high school era? Big Johnny Depp fan. Shout out. That's a good one. Shout out. Megan Fox, that was like a good one shout out Fox Transformers must have just dropped like Transformers and I just got Simpson. Oh, yeah

Chicken of the sea Shout out to Nick and Jessica For me there was three eat like at this era. It was it was easy number one Eliza douche coup from bring it on We just talked about that. Yes. We just talked about it. That was that was a easy one for me number Number two also on Buffy number two the singer Maya the singer Maya She was on the cover of King magazine and that was formative For me and oh shout out Hillary Duff this big Lizzie McGuire fan and number three Salma Hayek Salma Hayek And number three, Salma Hayek. Salma Hayek. Shout out.

Oh, I mean that's another conversation. Like, consistent. Now, then, forever. Also, just like- Now the Katharzyda Jones fan, huh? No, Salma Moore. Salma Moore. Just pop it in the chat.

24 inch dubs clowning on me for Victoria Justice. I mean, what are we talking about here? And yours is Melissa Joan Hart? I mean, she's- Oh, he's a bit of an older gentleman Then I guess 24 I hear you man Clarissa explains it all era. Yeah, I'm there. I see a 2025 comparison

Enjoy my goats aging like fine wine Best man at my wedding told us in high school his celebrity crush was Susan Sarandon You know what Susan Sarandon? No, I'm not hating on it say Glenn Clough I'm not hating on it I ain't hating on either of those options honestly what Kenny J well from Jersey Shore I guess yeah what yeah that must have been no I was probably in college by then but yeah younger a younger gentleman. Here's some duns from spy lady Here's the duns Heather Graham are we gonna get the Iron Turtle interview? The Bacchus is two weeks away,

you boys better put out. Ron Perlman. I'm praying we get it, man. I mean, he's fighting on the Baku card. How apropos would it be if the boys in the Baku got- Boys in the Baku get Iron Turtle? Get Iron Turtle that week? That would be incredible.

Yeah, we would love to have Iron Turtle. We gotta make it happen. Eddie Murphy. Hey guys, what's up? This is Adam, calling from Amsterdam to Netherlands. Fucking hey, shout out to Amsterdam. Just woke up this morning to uh lie near Derrida. Unbelievable uh unbelievable upset in Des Moines and uh watching here in the middle of the night. My question for you guys is when you have an early card such as the Abu Dhabi ones or London when they're on the

London time What is your early? early watch party routines for those Those morning cards in the US Let me know guys really big fan of the show Got out Shout out shout out to them Amsterdam shout to the Netherlands. I already to him. Amsterdam. Amsterdam, shout out to the Netherlands, shout out to the RDR, that is incredible,

that is so cool to hear. You can. The fact that like someone won, that someone was watching RDR win, and then he was like, let me call up the boys in the back just to let them give me their thoughts. Morning card watch parties, by the way, morning cards are my favorite cards on earth.

I usually get up. Yeah, what's the routine? Claudia Fischer. Get up. Who are you fucking naming right now, Frank? Still crushes, still crushes.. I usually get up. Yeah, what's the routine? Claudia Fischer. Get up. Who are you fucking naming right now, Frank? Still crushes, still crushes. Eddie Murphy and Bernie Mac?

Yeah, that's, I mean, Frank's, he's a modern man. All right. Get up. Routine, yeah. Get a workout in, make my own breakfast, and then be sitting down as the first prelims, starting with a cup of caffeine, matcha, coffee, whatever it is, and then just chill.

Are you like bleary-eyed or are you like amped because it's like about to kick off? No, I'm amped because yeah, like it's gonna kick off in the morning time. I'm usually gonna have a ton of bets going. That means the card's gonna end earlier. Get up, get a workout in so I'm not bleary-eyed. Ah.

Eat and then be sitting there with a cup of caffeine as it's starting. Love morning cards, love, love, love. Dream would be to live in Australia where every one of them starts at like 8 a.m. Hawaii is also nice. Hawaii would be amazing. I'm kind of similar.

Get up, have my usual routine, work out, watch the card. But there's no like additional bells and whistles just because it's morning. But eat breakfast while watching. That's the move. No coffee because I don't drink coffee. Pierce Brosnan. How's it going boys?

Brett from Nebraska here. I'm gonna be live from the Des Moines Hotel that cost $70 to Uber 2 last night after the event. Mine was $50 on the way back. First off, shout out. Big shout out. Big shout out brother. Get a picture, shout out. Big shout out. It was cool. My girlfriend

was like, oh those are completely normal looking dudes. I thought they looked cooler. Fuck! Anyway. I had the worst bedding night of my life. My health was robbed. A full unit right in front of me. Whoever judged that Misha Tate

tried to rematch in the gates of heaven. And About a full unit right in front of me whoever judge that me to take Is an hour pay I Worked as a fucking teacher. So I lost eight full units between tomorrow Monday. I'm going into work I'm gonna be asked what my risk level is. I'm gonna be asked if I know what skippity is I'm gonna be asked All for free. All for free. Because it's eight minutes down. Terrible, horrible, no luck.

We'll get them next time. We'll get them next time, brother. They should use that as like an anti-gambling ad. They should not show Meek and they should use that as the anti-gambling ad. Shout out to you, brother. I got cooked for eight units as well. We were going into the bow night with generational wealth on the line.

Bow nickel wins by decision and instead of being down in units, I'm up like 24 units. I had a plus 6,000 parlay, ending all legs that already hit, ending on bow nickel by decision obviously didn't happen. I had like four other parlays with bow nickel money line. Like when he got finished, it was just like, just like drop the head. It was like, fuck me. So I feel you, I feel you.

Your girlfriend. Speaking of getting cooked, the girlfriend let us out. Yeah, I guess we do. I guess we are just like normal looking guys. I can't even remember what I was wearing. Oh yeah, a boom boom Huck Jam shirt and an Iowa State Cyclones hat. So yeah, we did look pretty normal.

I'll give it to your girlfriend. Shout out, shout out bro. Hey boys, it's 24 Stubbs. There he is. clothes hats yeah we did look pretty normal I'll give shout out hey boys 24 stubs there is most of Joan Hart self-tax nicks and all I gotta say all you know is just bring it it's been brought ever winning I already won twice. Shout out to Melissa Joan Hart. That one didn't need so hot. Sup. Brett from Nebraska. 3.30. School just finished.

I had negative aura. I saved them. Assignment. Another kid googled my name. found my high school football set told me I was trash But only having three tackles as a sophomore Only 13 more days of school left man, holy shit that is the picture my girlfriend Apologizes for her mean comments about you know about thought you guys were like, I'm not fighters, not just podcast guys.

Thanks. We are just podcast guys. Appreciate y'all. Shout out No Sean Moreno. Bye. Hey, shout out to No Sean Moreno. To No Sean Moreno. 2004, 2007, I was at his debut

when he hurtled the dude on Central Michigan. Shout out to No Sean Moreno. That guy knows ball. It might even hurt more that she was just like, oh, sorry, take it back. They're actually not fucking cool at all. They're just loser podcasters. Why did I think they were gonna look, oh sorry, take it back, they're actually not fucking cool at all, they're just loser podcasters. Why do I think they were gonna look cool?

No, no sweetheart, watch. I just love Captain Crunch cereal. It's like Jack Della knockoff Etsy tea, man. When he listens back and plays this segment for her, she'll feel bad, she'll feel guilty. Yeah, maybe she'll feel guilty. Just like the- The update. The gen alpha or whoever he teaches, the super young kid guilty just like the the update the gen alpha or

whoever he teaches the super young kids just being like all the trendy like skibbity riz like you have no aura they are Ruth they looked up his high school stats and he only had three tackles and fucking cooked his ass for that I mean I'm not gonna allow some mad shit talker back in high school so to your teachers yeah Wow all right I had more respect than that. Yo, it's Ash in the US by way of Morocco. First time, long time. Love the show. Shout out all the boys in the back, PT and crew too.

My question may be asking you to break the fourth wall a little bit, but I love the Malcolm Wellmaker interview. Thank you. It had a great and different vibe and enjoyed your guys' interview back in the MMA Hour days too when you guys got to do it. My question is, how will you decide who will be interviewed in the boys in the back versus on Ariel's show? Are you guys going to have dids on the apex guys or something? And also, is it potentially awkward to reach out and how fighters think they finally made it on the Hawaiian show anyway I do hope you see more interviews and content from you guys in general

Thursdays are a can't miss show every week thank you so shout out mysterious Frank being just as mysterious about his Xbox account Xbox account no one will ever get it. I hope you enjoyed the Montell Jackson interview this week. I really appreciate the kind words about it. Enjoyed both of those, Montell Jackson and Malcolm Wellmaker. We've got a couple other fighters on as well, Julien Opinia, obviously.

Oscar Willis, Al Jermain Sterling. Yep. Yeah, how excited? There's no process because if Ariel wants to interview a guest, that's obvious. Yeah, and a lot of the times they are through Ariel, and sometimes the show is just too crowded on a certain week and you kind of want to strike when the iron is hot. We essentially just get presented with the opportunity to do it.

We have relationships with managers and stuff. There is no bait and switch. Nobody, I'll tell you this for certain, nobody thinks they're going to be interviewed by Ariel and then we show up. Yeah, Montel was not like, who the fuck are these guys? I thought I was supposed to be talking to Ariel. So yeah, we enjoy it as well. I am obviously like, it gives me a greater respect for what Hellwanty does, I can tell you that much. Interviews are not an easy task. They certainly are not. Breaking the fourth wall for real.

Jordan had to message Montel earlier and was like, should I introduce myself as Jordan from Boys in the Back? I was like, you should say you're with the area Ho'ohani team. Yeah, yeah. On ground. Yeah. On ground, yeah. All right, boys.

24-inch Colin in from Boston. Got to say, game one for myself didn't go as planned, but all is not lost. I'm still calling in. I'm still taunting you. We're still the best team in the NBA. Just bring it. And I'm bringing about the casualty there,

Eric, buddy, old pal. I'm out. I love the. Stubbs explains it out. I love the loves explains it all I love The oh-and-one optimism turns out didn't go so hot after that Taking shots shot most of your heart As a young guys, this is Mitch wheel according from Perth, Western Australia Okay, what's up? I thought I was saying let's fucking go JDM Western Australia. Fucking A, what's up, man?

I started out by saying let's fucking go JDM. Amsterdam, Sicily, Morocco. Let's fucking go JDM. Let's go. Just thought this would be a good time to ask you, GC, your thoughts on Ozzy Rube's booty AFL. I feel like you'll be a big fan of it. Yeah, have you seen much of it?

Let me know. Yeah, also just wanna say how much I appreciate you all, I appreciate the show. Rick, you're funny as fuck. JT, you're just a man and uh... Yeah, fucking... Say it. Not down again. Alright, I swear this is the last time I'm gonna try. I tried my best. I love you all.

Sorry. I appreciate it. He should not be apologizing. We appreciate you very much. Yeah, we got by way of Morocco, in Amsterdam, and in Western Perth, shout out to JDM. And all around the US. And all around the US. There's been a couple of Canada's as well. I mean, international program here, no big deal. You ask about AFL, two seasons ago,

that guy talked us into betting on the Collingwood crows. Uh, and he was like, it's a lot, but plus 600, uh, bet on them. Uh, they stunk it up that year. They did not win. It was the year coming off of their title. And when we bet them, everyone like came after us and was like, bro, it's like, you're betting on

the Lakers really cool, man. Like that's so lame. Uh, so I haven't watched AFL since I've, I've damned the crows to hell. I don't follow the crows anymore, even though I love the black and white and the Nike and all that. Or no, it's not the crows, it's the magpies. That's right.

Colling with the magpies. So it shows how much we know about AFL, but I'd love to get into AFL. It doesn't really come on at great times here in America. But yeah, give me a team and I'm down. The premiers, that's what they call them, like the champion. Down to get into it. Go JDM. Good afternoon. This is Dr. Puccinelli from Puccinelli, Puccinelli and Ross, Amityville's number one gout doctors and associates. This message is for Eric Jackman.

Just call on to update you on your latest test results. We've, uh, flare up, uh, common causes of this would be things like wicked hot takes, uh, suspect, uh, pound per pound list and list, and hating on Lord of the Rings. So if you've been engaged in any of those things, keep an eye out for that. Your health is our number one priority. So if you have any questions, as always, give us a call back and have a good afternoon. Thank you, Dr. McHenry. What was that? Puginowski, Puginowski, and Strauss?

Yeah, something like that. The leading gout doctors in the Amityville? Yeah, the leading gout specialist. That is a fucking fan right there. That is so good. Oh, thank you. That is so good. Thank you, doctor. That is a 10 out of 10 voicemail.

Boys in the back, what's going on? What's up, bro? This is Nathan, the dairy farmer from Minnesota. Hey, Minnesota. Love the program, love listening to you guys. Since you went to five days a week. It's been awesome I'm listening guys every day in barn make chores go really good Anyways make to my first UFC event at the morning

I was gonna renew if it was a worker shoot what you guys are doing and you guys actually showed up When I got there, they said I got a row seat when I went online to buy it Ended up my role was right next to the cement wall. Me and my wife ended up trying to find a new seat and they had these big projectors so we sat right next to them. But low enough you could still see and watch projectors so it was perfect. But the projector was flipped. And lo and behold the day before Bo Nichols match I see some dude wearing a corn hat. Like, turning the boys in the back doggos have corn hats?

And I look a little closer, it's New York, Rick, DC. I'm like, God dang it. I was hoping to see these guys here and my wife was making fun of me because I wanted to go say hi. Anyways, right after the Bull-Nickel match, kind of a little bit of disappointment, I go up, ask the boys for a pitch, quick pitch here, say what's good and I was on my way. But anyways, love what you guys do and hope to see you around sometime.

Have a great day. Appreciate you brother. Made my night getting a picture right after getting wrecked in my bed. It was just like, I'm sitting there questioning all my financial decisions at this point. And he's just like, what's up man? But yeah, shout out two things

directors were giant two projectors were dry and blocking we sat in like every different yeah we started in the floor ones and threes yeah at the end of the night we were just like you know what let's just go up so we can all just sit together with some room number one thing is it's just cool like people are like I'm doing chores and just listening to you guys know like we did a week they just got us yapping in their barn. Respect, love, everybody. And then number two, we're just not popular

with the wives and girlfriends, huh? Wives and girlfriends hate us. They don't like us. Yeah, it's tough. Yo, fucking GC, heard you're doing a fight scene in ATL. I heard you say you were gonna go to the varsity. Just wondering if you're gonna get the poop milkshake or the pea hot dog.

The varsity is dog shit. Pea hot dog? Is the varsity, obviously, neither of those things are real menu items. Terrible take, terrible take. What is the varsity? The varsity is like the touristy place that people in Atlanta go to.

Presidents go there, like famous people. That's like the place that people go as like the tourist spot strong contingent of locals like our man right there are like the varsity is fucking trash like poop milk it's just like it's just like what are we talking about here my theory is food like burgers hot dogs okay fries onion rings shit like that. Quick bite. Yeah, it's fried to shit, greasy as hell. Like, yeah, it's not gonna make you feel like

you just ate a probiotic yogurt or anything. You're not gonna be like, mm-mm-mm, my stomach feels good. Like, yeah, you're gonna work through it, but that's okay, people, it's okay. Tiva, get at us, we got a spokesperson for you. Pimento cheeseburger. Oh, that sounds great. So fucking good, it's not funny we got a spokesperson for you. Pimento cheeseburger. Oh, that sounds great.

So fucking good, it's not funny. Yeah, that sounds fantastic. Slaw dog, don't need the chili cheese dog. Fries, other person gets onion rings, frosted orange to drink, if you want one, you can also get a pie side of onions, maybe to go with the fries, mustard, ketchup, like it just, you gotta know what to get.

If you go in there and you get a plain burger, it's still good, honestly. What's frosted orange, like a frosty that's orange? Essentially, yeah, it's like a dreamsicle frosty. Okay, wow. It's incredible. Yeah, I mean, the varsity is, it's great. Like to me, real Atlantans know that it actually is good

if you know what to properly order. It's like a bell curve. It's like, I can promise you bro is not from Atlanta. I can guarantee you that dude probably lives in Douglasville, 45 minutes away. And like one night after the bars, he like went to the varsity and he's like, oh yeah, I'll take a, I'll take a plain hamburger and a naked dog, please. He was, he was too intimidated. When you walk in, all the cash registers are these people and they're like, what do you have, what do you have, what do you have, what do you have? And you have to like walk up to this person screaming at you. It's intimidating. Yeah, I'll take this and they're

like, uh, uh. So Bro crumbled under the pressure, got a bullshit order, and then he was just like, oh, this place is trash. And then he's like, my stomach doesn't feel too great. I hate the varsity. My tummy hurts. Know what you're going to get when you go in, pimento cheeseburger, two slaw dogs, an onion ring and a frosted orange. Order up. If it's good enough for everybody, the royalty that comes through Atlanta, it's good enough for me.

Support your city. Wow. GC laid the smack down on that guy. And then I'll go to Hankook Taqueria, which is like a local hole in the wall that no one knows about that is so good. It's not even funny. What about Waffle House? I keep hearing it's a thing over there right? Waffle House is great. Bro I will crush Waffle House

any day of the week another place you just got to know what you what you order their all-star breakfast staple I mean if you know what you want going in there get get the all-star breakfast the breakfast sandwiches are fire there too like we can probably stay away from the steak dinners from the cheeseburgers and stuff like that but if you eat at Waffle House and then in the same breath you're gonna tell me that the varsity is trash, I don't know what to tell you, you're a hypocrite. They're cut from the same cloth. Mary Max? Mary Max, wow, you know your Atlanta ball. Shout out. Maybe we'll add Mary Max to the list, that is like soul food, like you are eating fried chicken, collard greens,

mac and cheese, like mashed sweet potatoes, like Mary Max's fire. Every year actually, the stuffing at my Thanksgiving dinners made my grandma the rest in peace. She died with the recipe. No one knows how to make the stuffing. So we get our stuffing from Mary Maxx and let her shut up. RIP, grandma. Hey boys in the back, double D, you know what's up. No MMA talk today, I was calling for some advice. No comment on the BFO pairs. Today anyway. Oh yeah.

What would you do, and again, this is purely hypothetical, if you had a friend who was putting on an event that the whole world wanted to see that had a global superstar, but was not able to secure broadcast rights in the United States. Okay, that's one. Two, what would you do if, say, the same friend had an event based in Paris that got called off again? Anyway, video game wise, pretty much just playing the Modern Warfare 2019 remake.

You know, I missed that when I was building a global brand. And I hope you all are doing well. Very curious as to how you would advise this friend of mine. Take care. Thanks for the call, Don. The double D call every week is just... It's good stuff. Yeah, I mean obviously just asking

for a friend but that would be unfortunate if you lost the Paris event and then you were struggling to get broadcast rights as well. I've never been in either of those situations so I can't speak to it but hopefully they get that event rescheduled and they lock in those broadcasts. Yeah, my advice would be tell people what's going on and then move on from there. We've got some fun times ahead. Guys, this is 24 and stuff, calling from Boston right after the game. I think I'm gonna be sick and throw up. I can't believe the same thing happened again. I can't believe it. Can't happen three times, right? This is the journey from... Celtics in seven. Oh and oh.

Oh and one, oh and two, just crash. My water bottle here is actually half full with 24 inch dubs. Oh Jordan. You always have Melissa Joan Hart. That was all the voicemails. Probably not though. All right, Super Chats.

Super Chats. Also, shout out to you guys with the incredible voicemails. Thank you. I love it. I love it. Mo M writes, Frank at GC, can you talk about your college experience and majors, how you ended up in New York City and how you spend your time outside of work? What's important to you at this age? Go ahead, Frank.

Yeah. I went to ASU, studied math, studied education. Works up! Ended up going to school for audio at some point, ended up in New York. I spent a lot of my time listening to music outside of work and doing some reading, that sort of thing. Wait, you said ended up in New York at some point, how did you end up in New York? I got on a plane All right. Thanks Frank The man of mystery doesn't like to reveal obviously I went to the University of Georgia Majored in broadcast journalism Tried different paths print radio TV fell in love with radio

Loved radio loved sports radio my whole life growing up shot the 99 to 92.9 The Game, 680 The Fan in Atlanta, that's what I grew up on. Got an internship with a sports radio station in Atlanta. That turned into a job at ESPN radio up in Bristol. That's how I ended up in the Northeast. Was there for three years, met Ariel there. Ariel was like, yo, wanna come work with me at the MMA hour? I was like, I'm down.

Moved to New York. That's how I got here. What do I like to do in my free time? Read, watch sports, watch movies, relax, try not to think about work too, too much. Well, people don't understand is you do all these things at once. Yeah, exactly, exactly. What's important to me? Friends and family. Relationships.

Relationships. That's that is what is most important to me. What is the answer friend? Yeah I think friends and family is a good one. Agree. Slito writes in Joel Alvarez moving to welterweight matchups you want to see? Question mark, question mark. Man the lure of Joel Alvarez was him being so giant at lightweight. Yeah. Matchups I want to see, probably just like, let's just start them right in the top 15.

Let's just. You think? Yeah. MVP versus Joel could be fun. MVP versus Joel could be very fun. Even Luque, like power versus power. Give him Proches off the loss. Oh wow. Damn. Welcome to versus power? Even Proches, off the loss. Oh wow, damn.

12 versus 15. Welcome to the division, Carlos Proches. He was 15, that light weight. Proches is 13 in welterweight. That's a sick fight. Yeah, there's some good ones. It's a sick fight, fuck. I think Luque, I like Luque versus Joel.

Steve Garcia and Joel Alvarez are my two favorite under the radar fighters. Steve Garcia's incredible. He got a big fight. Did he get UFC Atlanta? He just got booked, right? Yeah. Was it UFC Atlanta or was it New Orleans?

Let's see. Steve Garcia, hive is strong. I can promise you that. Nashville. Calvin Cader. Nashville. Nashville. Yeah, that's a big one. That's a big fight. Shout out Steve Garcia, legend that guy is.

Jason Carney, GC, who are you picking for NASCAR this week? Oh man, I don't know. My streak finally ended last week. I had Ross Chastain plus 2800. He ended up coming in second. I don't know, probably Kyle Larson. That's always a safe bet at these tracks. I'll go Kyle Larson.

Lastly, Mark Trinidad, I got roasted last time I tried this. Gift I sent Unc Ariel got returned. Can you hook a Canadian brother up? I'll send Rick Kout removal cream in a nondescript box. Please and thanks, I'm in your DMs. Shout out Mark Trinidad. I don't know what he's asking us for this. He sent Ariel something and it got sent back and he's asking how to get it? He's in our DMs. Who's DMs? I don't know. Shout out to Mark Trinidad, man. We appreciate that. Mark, if you sent... Some Rick at DM, right? No, send me an email. My email is in my ex bio. Send me an email and explain what's going on and we'll sort it out. That's

all she wrote. That's all the Super Shots. All right, thank you for the Super Shouts. Thank you for the voicemails. Thank you for watching this far. Shout out 69. That's a lot. That is a lot. That's more than one speak. It started at like 11 an hour ago and it's just been exponentially. I mean, the voicemails are gonna get a lot of shout outs.

The voicemails are gonna get a lot of shout outs. All right, that will do it for us here on the boys in the back UFC 315 tomorrow watch the crack Pizza Carol also talk about that PFL card happening this weekend Paul Hughes on that and more about UFC 315 then join us right here on Saturday 9 45 p.m. Eastern UFC 315 watch party Ariel Hawhany show back on Monday thanks Thanks for tuning in. See you later.