The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 317 mega preview, alleged Jon Jones crash body cam footage | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

The Boys in the Back begin the show by reacting to body cam footage released by the Albuquerque Police Department of the alleged Jon Jones car crash scene (01:57).Then, they preview UFC 317 from top to bottom, starting with the highly-anticipated lightweight title fight between Charles Oliveira and Ilia Topuria (09:14). After tackling the co-main event (30:06) and the rest of the PPV card (36:20), they finish up with the night's prelims (51:06).Finally, the Boys answer your Super Chats (1:08:25), before flying off to Vegas.

B-b-b-b-boys in the back. B-b-b-b-boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys,, Connor Burks. Join alongside me. As always, the man, the myth, the legend. How many accolades can you give this guy? It is one Mr. New York Rick. The greatest of all time. Yeah. Rick with a K according to Chael Sonnen on X. Shout out to our boy Chael. It goes on and on. The best part of the Chael thing is when he and Ariel were talking about Ilya and Islam, Chael agreed with Ariel but then said like, could not disagree more. Yes.

Yesterday, he tweets about my take on Tom Aspynaw and John Jones and it's like, this is 100% wrong. And you'll see why when XYZ happens. Agreeing with exactly what I said. He's one of a kind. I love Chelsa. Agreed to a T, the greatest. The final third of the boys in the back, Frankie,

how you doing back there, man? You're holding down the fort. I'm doing great. The rest of the crew already off to Vegas. You're flying solo back there. Yeah, Andy and Jordan already on their way to set up for our live shows from the Venetian, from the studio at the Venetian, Thursday and Friday.

We're going to be there live in Vegas for International Fight Week. Hope to see you all there. They may have already landed in Sin City. I think they're like right about now. Shout out. Shout out. Josh and Sally filling in in the back. And we got Big Henry on City.

I mean, it's a full house here. It's a big day here at Uncrowned Studios. UFC 317, deep dive we'll get into all that. Your voicemail super chats. We got to keep it kind of tight today because we we got to catch some flights and we got some other business to attend to. Before we get to that though, this morning the Albuquerque Journal did post footage on their YouTube channel that they received from the Albuquerque Police Department which shows portions of a body cam footage from a February 21st crash investigation. Police say that John Jones fled the scene of this crime and later threatened a police safety aide over the phone. Jones has been charged with a misdemeanor fleeing the scene of an accident.

Since then, Jones' attorney has denied that he was driving the car. We are going to play that footage, that clip in its entirety. It's about four minutes long, just so that you can have the full context. Take a look. Hey, where do you go? Where do you go?

I have one of the drivers leaving the scene on foot heading westbound on Lomas. on Lois hey they're gonna check out okay She has no pants. No pants. Okay, that's fine. Can we ask what's going on? Please talk to him. Please talk to him. This is a friend that... that's a friend of mine. Hello, who am I speaking to? This is Weston, first name. Me, I'm P.S.A. Lopez. And who am I speaking to. What's your name? P.S.A. Lopez. I mean, I guess you guys, I'll do with you.

Don't worry about them in. We don't want driving the vehicle. My brother's driving the vehicle. They're the most evil people you ever meet. That's John Jones. John Jones? He was the one driving the vehicle. But they don't waste their cases with just killing you on petty crimes. But they're definitely missing the conversations like this and some of them are bored enough to kill you.

To kill you. I He's making threats and that's he's making threats I gotta come off sorry Guess what you want me the first time this year to that grand, smart guy. You get a second one. And who am I speaking to, you, John Jones? What, if you're untraceable? My brothers, they kill people the way you last. Sometimes, she's glad and dead.

Sometimes she's glad we did. I just want to say that the subject is named John Jones the fighter and he wasn't there for this one. I think the driver of the vehicle that fled is John Jones the fighter. I just got thrown over the phone. He needed a charge for $20,000. I got $30,000 worth of phone. What? Right in the way of the phone? What did he say? He said he had a good idea.

He said he referenced possible criminal charges. He said, I know some people that can hurt you for less money. George, 323 PD. I know his name, huh? Yeah, it's him. How far? How do you know? There's a picture in the sauce just to say like, did they come from that? It was him?

Yeah, she confirmed. This is actually exposing him now. Exposing what? Like the government and stuff like what? are the ones who will really kill you? are the ones that will kill me? no not you but like the government here is the fuck with the government

just for conversations like this already how about mania? the divine phone is 100% aware of it dude i don't know what the f*** you're talking about. My car is wrecked. If I grab this? Yeah, that's fine. Okay. And who's your friend?

My friend is Bones Jones, John Jones. Okay. Yeah, so obviously tough to see some of that and tough to hear some of it, obviously coming from body cam footage. But the woman in the car that is crashed sitting in the passenger seat is adamant that it is John Jones who she's talking about. The man on the phone is alleged to be John Jones, according to police. And to her in the video saying this is John Jones.

And to her in the video saying, this is John Jones. And to her in the video as well. And then the police, when he's talking to his fellow policeman saying that it is John Jones. And then you hear the threats talking kind of just like, I guess, just like sort of just like mumbling through it. Like my brothers have killed for less, everything like that. Just sort of an odd video that comes out. And this is something, obviously, the court of law is going to handle this.

This is something that has happened to John Jones before. Yeah, just reiterating, you know, currently charged, but again, alleged by the police department. And so we'll see what the end result of this is, ultimately, whether it was John Jones, whether it was not John Jones. As you said earlier, his lawyer adamant that he was not involved in this. Again, they do not have him at the scene. They said they saw a male fleeing. They don't know.

They don't know who it was. And so all we have is this body cam footage. We have her witness testimony. And if it is John Jones that ultimately was the driver of this car, just another unfortunate case, unfortunately, her witness testimony. And if it is John Jones that ultimately was the driver of this car, just another unfortunate example of what John has been doing throughout his entire run in the public eye.

But still, at the moment, just charges. So we'll see ultimately what this leads to. Yeah, and all we can do is just wait and see what happens in the court of law and whether or not he is convicted of what he's charged with. Yeah. All right, this weekend.

Onto more positive news. Onto much more positive news surrounding the world of MMA. One of the best cards in a long time, UFC 317 going down in Las Vegas, Nevada this weekend, International Fight Week. We will be in Sin City for it. I absolutely cannot wait. Let's not waste any time.

Let's get right into the main event. Ilya Toporya, look at that main card. Main card is just so good. So good. Just thinking about this right now. You got two young prospects in Peyton Talbott, Felipe Lima, Benildi Ayushinato, Moicano, two just great fighters.

Brandon Roy Valdos, Josh Vann, banger of all bangers. Then you got Alexandre Pantoja, Kai Carre France, two championship fights, Ilya Toporia, Charles Olvera. Yeah, I don't know what to say. I mean, this is, you've got the rising superstar in Ilya Toporia, undefeated, has essentially just knocked the biggest names off of his list that featherweight Max Holloway, Volkonovsky knocked both of them out.

We had never seen Max Holloway knocked out. 10 sevens Josh Emmett, malls through Bryce Mitchell. Like his past four performances have been unbelievable. He walks the walk, he talks the talk, Spain is getting behind him. He is blowing up as a superstar, going against a former champion who is beloved by essentially everyone, most finishes in UFC history,

trying to get his belt back. Like it's incredible matchmaking, I can't wait for it. Yeah, and transparently, as I've said in the past, this is the one I wanted. You wanted this more than Ilya Islam? Yes. I wanted this more than Ilya Islam. This isn't a bad second place.

No, for some second, for me first, I love this fight. As you said, Ilya's work at featherweight has been stellar, like just the entire run. But certainly, the last two, when you look at what he did to Volkanovsky and what he did to Max Holloway, like nobody does that. Maybe save for Islam, right?

Islam head kicked Volk and finished him. But the resume that he submitted at Featherweight is one of the best that we've ever seen. And we talked about it before when we were breaking down like the goat conversation. His run is comparable to like that of Conor McGregor and his run through featherweight but now we're seeing him go up and that is the fascinating angle on this to me like I you know Ilya is not a massive featherweight

and now he's going to a division up is the power going to translate is my number one question now certainly when you watch him hit pads, I think the power is gonna translate and I have no doubts about it. But we have seen other fighters before, when you move up a weight class, the chins are a little tougher, the guys are a little bigger, and all of a sudden maybe the power isn't what it was.

Maybe you still have that knockout power, but the rate is not as high. I'm curious to see if it's able to translate. You say you watch him head pads. I watch him fold Jai Herbert like a table at 155. I think the power is going to translate to 155, especially when you listen to him talking to Haowani yesterday,

like he's going to be up there and weight 174 to 179, I think was the range he gave. Like it's amazing how in shape he can be at his height and weigh this much. Like he's just a dense dude that packs his power. He's very thick, very strong. I think it's going to translate to 155. Now, going back to the Jai Herber fight,

he was dropped in that with a head kick. Like is the size of Charles Olivera going to give him issues is one thing that I do wonder. I was just about to say, he may be at that weight that you're talking about, but consider what Charles probably walks around at. And also, we've seen Charles kind of struggle at times

on the scale because of how big he is. You're talking about, it's surprising how much Ilya can weigh with his frame. Charles is almost the opposite, right? Charles is so big, he's so long, he's so tall, it's kind of crazy that he still is able to get down to light weight at this point. But he's also lean, he's also skinny. I'm just wondering what ultimately that weight disparity

ends up being. Like is it a 10% difference? Is it a 50% difference? That is where I think the margins for this fight are going to be. Because save for a heroic performance by Josh Emmett and somehow not getting nuked by Ilya after Ilya bombed on him for five rounds,

he's finishing everybody. That's just what Ilya Toporia does. He comes in there and knocks you out. And he doesn't even, like, it doesn't even need to be like his best performance. It doesn't even need to be one way performance. It doesn't even need to be one way traffic. Max and Alex had some success against him before the end inevitably came,

but it also does feel inevitable. I use the word inevitable very intentionally because it almost feels like he's a Terminator. He is just walking you down. You're gonna land some good shots on him, but his chin's just as good as yours, and the power's the disparity. So when he lands, it tends to be the end of the fight,

as I said, save for one Josh Emet performance, that was like one of the all-time beat downs that we saw. Beat downs, yeah, I think there was a 50-42 scorecard on that one. Ilya was stylin'. It was, I remember on that one, I was on such a high, I went and got paella the next night. I was like, I gotta go try some paella,

that was such an incredible performance. And you have to know, like, Charles Olivera finds himself in situations where he gets dropped. Dropped by Islam, obviously lost that fight. Dropped by Gachey, won that fight. Dropped by Poirier, won that fight. Chandler had him in a bad spot in round five. It almost looked like he might finish that fight

in round five back in NYC in November. And Ilya Toporia, like, if he lands on you, it usually isn't you being able to get back up and recover from it. 100%, but isn't the, and I don't say this to be like, yes, but you have to acknowledge this. I'm just presenting another fact, which is Charles has been in these dangerous positions,

and he always finds a way. Yeah. Early in his career, the book was, and we've heard Michael Chandler, one of the more prominent ones saying this, like he's a quitter, he asked out. That was the early book on Charles Oliveira. The recent book on Charles Oliveira is, yeah, you might knock him down,

but what happens after that? Is he gonna snatch your back and find a sub? Is he gonna knock you down and then find something? That has been the story of Charles' most recent run is, yeah, you can get him, but you're not gonna get him all the way out. And he's been able to kind of survive that and find a way to win.

I mean, I was even watching back some of that Benio Darius fight where he won by knockout in the first round, but at one point, Benio Darius had him on his back. He was landing some ground pound. It's like, I saw like just a clip of it and I was like, oh, this is like two minutes to go in the first round and like Charles Oliveira is gonna knock him out

like in like 60 seconds and he's flat on his back getting like ground pound laid down on him. That's what's incredible about Doros. I mean he is, this card I feel like the theme of it is agents of chaos. Like Charles Oliveira is an agent of chaos. Like he's just like, like I always go back to the Gachey fight at 274. It was crazy. Like he's just like, like I always go back to the Gachey fight at 274.

Like it's just like gets dropped. He's just like, all right, I'll get back up, drops him, turns this up. Like it's just, it's absolute chaos when he's in there. And there's several other guys that we'll get to in a minute about it. And it's really just like, can I get to Tupori to deal with that?

I lean, yes. I lean that like when he drops him, the power is going to be so stiffening, he'll be able to finish him after that. I actually also trust his ground game enough. Like that was sort of the thing with Islam. Now, Islam is an incredible grappler, incredible on the ground, but it was sort of like, well, what's gonna happen if they go to the ground together?

Islam dropped him and then immediately went to the ground and was able to finish him there. Yeah, my instincts, and by the way, Ilya's grappling is severely underrated. Certainly I'm not about to pretend that he's on the level of Charles. There's nearly nobody. Or Islam.

Islam as well in a different capacity, but that sub game for Charles is just on a different level. But man, we've seen Ilya lock up some slick submissions in the UFC. He is extremely capable down there. I don't think he'll put himself in a bad position. I don't think ultimately it probably ends up there unless it's like chasing Charles to the ground.

Maybe he's rocked him. But you mentioned that chaos. I don't think the way to beat Ilya Toporia is that chaos, ultimately. I think the Max Holloway game plan, where he was kind of like giving him fire back, but also sticking and moving, it's a tiring game plan, but Max was having some decent success in it.

Until the end came. That I think is probably the better way to kind of combat Ilya Toporya is just stay on the outside, try to avoid the power, frustrate him. The chaos kind of plays into Ilya's hands. If you're somebody like Charles, whose game is predicated on that offensive, being an offensive dynamo and bringing that kind of crazy, chaotic dynamic to him,

you're walking into territory where better men and lesser men have been slapped every single time. That is the story of Iliya Toporia's hands. So I ultimately think stylistically, Charles has to fight a different fight. I don't know if he's capable of fighting that fight. He's kind of a one gear type of dude at least at this point right. He has seen his most success on being press the pedal to the metal and come after you and that and that's the shoot a box style as well like that is that is what his camp is is

about. So it'll be interesting to see can Ilya withstand that storm. If I'm picking the sides the way you've broken it down, I think Charles has less of a chance of withstanding Ilya's storm than Ilya does of withstanding Charles. We've seen some stiff shots land on Ilya and he kind of shakes them off. So it'll be interesting to see if the 55 makes a difference there though.

But it really is a storm. And yeah, you mentioned the 55 going back to the size. I mean, just the height alone, like two of Ilya's last five opponents, Max and Jai Herbert, are both taller than Charles and Jai was at 155. So like, I feel like he's going to be able to combat it. I mean, Armin Tsarukian is like 5'8".

Like if you go and buy on paper, he's only an inch taller than Ilya Tabor. Michael Chandler is also only like 5'8". Like both of them are kind of familiar with each other's sizes. If you go and buy on paper, he's only an inch taller than Iliot Tupori. Michael Chandler's also only like 5'8". Yeah. Both of them are kind of familiar with each other's sizes. I guess it really just comes down for the strength, the actual size of the man, not just the height on how much it's going to matter.

100%, it's all those things. Lesser weight cut, maybe there's more power, right? Maybe because Iliot Tupori is not sucking himself down to get to 45 and has said, I'm done with that strenuous of a weight cut, as many before him have said, including Conor McGregor, who was like, I can't do this one anymore, let's go to 55.

Maybe his power is gonna be even greater because he's not so diminished and he's not losing a portion of himself on the scale. It's gonna be fascinating to see, and it is a scary thought, and it's a scary thought. It's gonna be fascinating to see and it is a scary thought and it's a scary thought for Charles. But that's why I love this fight so much because we're going to see the car crash.

There is no way that we avoid the car crash and somebody is probably going to get finished. You mentioned like the Charles only has one style. It's pedal to the metal, let's go. Like I'm trying to get you out of here. And Ilya said as much to Haewani yesterday. He's just like, this is a guy that loves to stay on the front foot. He loves to pressure you. He loves get you out of here. And Ilya said as much to Haewani yesterday. He's just like, this is a guy that loves to stay

on the front foot. He loves the pressure you, he loves to make chaos in here. And Ilya has essentially accepted like that plays right into my hand. If he goes about his normal game plan, I'm gonna finish him in the first round. Obviously he is wildly confident in himself and has made a lot of proclamations that have come true.

But it seems like he's aware of how Charles Oliver is going to fight and he likes the idea of that. Yeah, the nickname of El Matador could not be more perfect because he can let Charles be the aggressor, he can let him be the bull and he just has to sit on the outside and if he has that opportunity, what's so fantastic about Ilya Taporio,

we talk about the power because it's clear that he has power, right? It's very obvious and raw in the way he puts people unconscious, but it's the accuracy, right? It's, once he finds his range, once you've given him enough data, once you've been in there long enough

and he can kind of figure out your rhythm and find his range, his ability to land that punch is flawless. It's incredible. And we've seen a guy like Max Holloway who people do not put out just completely done. And by the way, Max ate like a good five, six other ones that probably would have put somebody else down too.

And not just the power to be essentially outboxing Max Holloway is a feat that few have been able to accomplish. And don't sleep on his kicks and don't sleep on his grappling. Iliya Topori is a load to handle for anybody. The 55 part of this is the most intriguing to me. How does he look on the scale? What does that translate to in the cage?

Charles, hopefully, makes weight as well, knocking on wood, and we see a proper 55 pound fight. This is also just one of those fights where, A, pins and needles when they make the walk, when the guitar hits, like gonna have chills, and then when they make the walk. Yeah. When the guitar hits, like gonna have chills. And then when Charles makes his walk crowd, I'm sure is going to be on Charles side,

gonna be going crazy. And then on the backend of it, whoever wins, Ilya's star power will just continue to just rocket ship to the moon. He'll be a two division champion at that point if he's able to defeat Charles Olivera. He adds another name to a resume that is just

starting to grow into something of legend. And if he beats Charles Olivera, like, even if his superstar is because he's a villain, like, you knock out Alex Volkonovsky, you knock out Max Holloway, and then you beat Charles Olivera. He's beating the fan favorites. You're beating the fan favorites. You're not making a ton of friends that way, but like,

people want to watch you. You'll be 17 and 0, but like people wanna watch you. You'll be 17 and 0 I think at that point. And then on the flip side of that, if Charles is able to win, it's just like, oh, he's back. Champ again, illuminated by God. And he gives Ilia Toporia his first loss. You thought you were gonna come to 155 and beat me?

Nah, I'm the king of this division, superstar in his own right. It's just the consequences of this fight is incredible. The buildup to the fight is incredible. Like I, the fact that we're not getting Ilya Islam to me at this point is okay because this fight is fantastic. Yeah, I'm in the same place as you. You mentioned the star power of Ilya.

Yeah, if he can take out Charles Oliveira, we're talking about a territory that very few have reached. And it is Conor McGregor. It is the Conor McGregor territory. Now, certainly I'm not about to make the argument that he is as big as Conor. That was a perfect storm, as was Ronda. Like, I don't think you can quite replicate that

in the current environment. There's just too many things trying to grab people's attention, but it is the beginnings of that. It is the groundswell of that. It is the starting for people. Like, we already know he's a celebrity in Spain, but now it's gonna start being global icon type territory if he's able to do that.

Cause after Charles Oliveira, if he gets by Charles Oliveira I mean he said he's going up to 70. Now I saw Islam Makachev's manager say call cap on that and say like he's just yapping. I wouldn't be shocked. I would not be shocked if all of a sudden he was still calling out Islam Makachev, but no matter who he faces next,

it's going to be another big name. If it's Armin, if it's Justin, if it's somebody who's- It's Patty. If it's Patty, it's a massive lightweight. That fight is huge. If Patty is fighting for a title against, at that point, an undefeated Ilya Taporyev two-definition champion, massive with the history that they have.

If the UFC can properly build that fight, massive. There's no bad options for Ilya Toporia if he can get this W. For Charles, it's like, hey, the king is back. You know, like we're back in place. Islam's off doing his 170 pound thing. Bring these contenders back and I'll show you them what I was doing at Lightweight before.

I feel the best option if Ilya wins is Ilya Patti, just because of the backstory there. Probably do it now. Just capitalize. Just capitalize on it. We just lost John and Tom conceivably. Don't miss on this one. Just book it, just book it.

If Charles wins, Arm and Charles rematch right there. Arm already has a one over him. Like it's just like, you can already slot these guys in. It really is just, it's a great matchup that I can't wait for. In the end, I just feel like the, I can only listen to Iliya Toporia confidently tell me what he's going to do and then go out there and do it

so many times before I actually start believing him. I have to believe that he gets it done here. My brain says Iliya Toporia is gonna knock out Charles Oliveira. The heart says- My heart says Charles Oliveira. The heart says. My heart says. Charles Oliveira. Oh, he's got the hooks in. He's got the hooks in.

I think that, look at tight. Doe Bronx. Um. Imagine the Portuguese, the Brazilian call for Charles Oliveira if he wins. My heart says I need to see Iliyayev at 55 because I have so much respect for what Charles was able to do. I have so much respect for what Charles has accomplished as a lightweight.

I just need, I need to see it first and I'm fully acknowledging like this is a vibes thing. But I feel like Charles can find a way. That's where I'm at right now. My brain is like, you idiot. Like Ilya Taporyeoria is going to be standing there and waiting for Charles to come in and catch him with something, but we're going with vibes for UFC 317. And that'll, you'll see that in the rest of how I'm kind of seeing the

fight play out. But I think there's gonna be a large contingent of people who are rooting for Charles as well. For sure. Certainly Ilya has a huge fan base as well, but I think Charles is such a fan favorite, he's a big star, one of the UFC's biggest stars, even as not champion, he commands attention in the crowd. There's gonna be a lot of people cheering for Charles,

it's gonna be an incredible atmosphere. When that main event music hits, it's gonna be next level. Has there ever been a three fight run that a man has fought bigger fan favorites than Volkonovsky, Holloway, Charles Olivera? I mean I don't want to... Like those are those are just three like massive... I'm just gonna go quickly look at... Three guys that are that are incredibly hard to cheer against. I guess topology is down, let's see. I'm gonna just go quickly look at what John Jones' run was

from the Shogun fight onward. Where people were just all in on his opponents. Because it might have been some real fan favorites as well. Yeah, so we got Shogun, Rampage, Leota Machida. Those were kind of the guys at the time. Then put Rashad Evans on that, then put Vitor on that, then put Chael on that, then put Gustafson on that, then put Glover on that, then put DC on that.

You get to OSP and then it's like, okay, I think everybody was kind of. Honestly, you could string it together even further after the three if he fights Patty. Yeah, 100%. Another just fan favorite. But as we laid out, this is rarefied. This is like territory that many do not even conceive of getting to.

But like Conor McGregor, you know, there's gonna be Conor comparisons just because he's primarily a knockout artist. Also- Yes, tattoos. Yeah, the whole look, the way he carries himself. But like Conor McGregor, many cannot pull this off. There's a confidence about him that when he says it,

it does not feel like promotion. When he calmly tells you what's gonna happen. When he's sitting in the interview and he's right next to the, he's on the Zoom call. He's just like, yeah, now I'm gonna starch him in the first round. Yeah, Charles Oliveira, one of the most lethal guys in the no, I'm gonna starch him in the first round. Yeah, Charles Oliveira, one of the most lethal guys in the UFC, I'm gonna starch him.

Dance for me, Ariel. Let's dance to your walkout song. Like it truly is just, it's incredible what the way he, the air to him, the confidence to him. It's his own confidence, but it also makes you believe. And there's, most people cannot do that. Most people can do the promotion, can do the trash talk, can do the I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that,

and you're kinda like, ah, great, we're hyping it up. There's a level of you feeling like, even if you have doubts, you start to go, oh shit, he knows something I don't know. You can't be this calm talking about taking out Max Holloway. I'm gonna be the first one to knock him out. You can't be this calm talking about just stopping Volkanovsky when you've had Josh Emmett's

your best win on your resume to that point and you're hopping up to Volk and you just take him out. Charles Oliveira, lightweight champion, one of the guys who was like running this division before Islam came to the division. He is talking about them like they are prelim guys, but you start to believe it. Like the way he comports himself and the way he says it,

it's a very rare thing. And Conor McGregor had that and he is in that vein. Between when the fight got announced where he was essentially just like, I'm sorry Charles, like it's nothing against you, man. I'm just trying to achieve my dream. I will never forget the interview with Ariel with him and his wife.

Oh yeah. I wonder if she was girlfriend or wife at the time, I don't remember. Wife now. Wife now in the car and Ariel was talking to her and she said it will not be my man who's like in the hospital or like going home hurt. Basically something to that effect.

That is the coldest shit like I've ever heard in my life and he continues to kind of up it. The guy drops bars, man. Yeah, he's got something. He's got something clearly. Walks the walk, he talks the talk. And Charles Oliveira has a chance to just be like, nah, not so fast.

You saw it. Not so fast, you all thought this was the guy. It's amazing. It's an incredible fight. It's one of my most anticipated of the year. I love it and I can't wait for it. Cannot wait for that one. Let's go to the co-main event.

Alexandre Pantoja taking on, don't blink, Kai Cara France. There's only one place to start with this fight. Pants's pants. Ah, yes. We got custom shorts for Alexandre Pantoja. Let's take a look at these bad boys. It's like a dragon design.

It's not really like Brazilian themed exactly. No, not as far as I know. I gotta find the tweet for what it was, but the shorts for Alexandre Pantoja. When many men hits and he makes the walk with these custom shorts, the line's going from like minus 250 to minus 850. Do we have those custom shorts?

I think we do. There they are. Power, wisdom, good fortune. He's got like a dragon. I love the black, gold, and red. I think Ilya also does the same. These are fantastic. These are some of the best work

from the custom Venom shorts. Yeah, I assume Ilya's are gonna be those red. Oh, with the bulls on them? Yeah. Back to back to like the best work from the custom venom shorts. Yeah, I assume Ilya's are gonna be those red. Oh, with the bulls on them? Yeah. Back to back to like the best shorts. Like, love Don't Blank, love Kykara France. I saw these, I was like, I don't think Pantoz is losing on Saturday night.

Minus 5,000. I don't think Pantoz is losing. Many men hits and he's got those shorts on. It truly is, it's gonna be incredible. But to like actually get to the fight itself, the resumes of these guys are just wildly different. Like, Kaikara France is his highest ranked win currently on the rankings is Steve Erceg,

who's ranked number nine. He's one and two in his last three. He's O and two to Brandon Moreno. He's lost to Brandon Royvall. He's lost to Amir Al-Bazi. Whereas Pantoja has completely cleared out the division. Any of the top contenders he has fought, he has beat many of them multiple times. He's fought Kai Kara France on tough, beat him there.

It's just two guys in very different spots. Now Pantoja is 35. This is one of the lower weight classes. He is getting older. He does now have, I think, three title defenses under his belt. You do wonder how long someone can keep the belt, but man, where they're at in their careers and the way that Kai Cara France has won,

I mean, three of his last four fights, like he has big power for 125. He knocks dudes out. Pantoja has 34 professional fights on his record. He has never been finished one time. If you can't knock him out, you're gonna have to go to war with him over five rounds, and that's where Pantoja thrives.

Yeah, and I just, you know, you've laid out the case perfectly. I just don't see, you know, when you have a fight like Kai Asakura versus Pantoja, you can convince yourself like, oh, this is a new guy, a fresh matchup. We haven't seen something like this. When we're talking about the current crop of flyweights, Kai Carrick, France included, it's kind of just been there done that. Like what more is there to say? Until Pantoja loses a step, this is just on replay for him. This is another guy who already has seen the octagon and knows he can beat. And most of

the time, even if you're a better striker, you probably can't take as many punches clean and not get rocked. Even if you're a better grappler, which at Flyweight maybe there's a few, but not many, there's not a real easy path to victory against Pantoja. There just really isn't a way that I see him being vulnerable. Maybe the chin goes one day, but until that happens, man, you're in for some tough sliding because he's gonna keep coming forward. And if you rock him, you get the zombie pantoja,

and that guy's even more dangerous than the regular pantoja. Yeah, I mean, maybe the chin does go one day, and if it was gonna go against anyone, especially at Flyweight, it would be against Kaikara France, but like, it's sort of- He fought powerful guys before. I was gonna say, it's sort of one of those things

that like, you gotta, I gotta see it before I believe it. And like playing devil's advocate, like the power of carer France, like 88% take down defense. So like if Pantoja like can't get it to the ground, if he can't stall up against the cage, if he can't do any clunch work and it's just strictly striking, like that is a way. He does fight people close as well.

Like he's been to a couple of splits, but man, yeah, like the cardio, the well-roundedness, like people always like to be like, oh, he's dog tired where it's just like, we've seen him go five rounds countless times now and win those fights. Like he's got the cardio, he's got the pace, he's got the pressure, he's got the well-roundedness. Like he is just a complete mixed martial artist

and he's fighting at his peak right now. The more tired he looks, it seems to be the better he gets. Because not only does he look tired, but you're probably also tired. And he's ready to push the gas for the final two rounds. He's a freak man and underrated in when you have these conversations about pound for pound. Certainly I understand because of the weight class he's in

and the smaller guys don't really get to shine a lot of the time. But the dude's a pound for pound great. He's an absolute legend. Not only that, but he's one of the most exciting fighters on the planet. I know like I've been beating this drum for a long time. I know you're on board with it. Like fly weight division in general is kind of on the up right now. They're having some fantastic fights, but he's the head of that snake. Like he is an absolute beast and an excitement machine. I can't pick against Pants here.

Like I love Pants to cruise. Seven Fight Win Streak Forum. Yeah. Manel Cop. Well, we're talking about power. Manel Cop's got power too, right? Brandon Moreno, Brandon Royvall. All these guys can crack.

Yeah. Seven Fight Win Streak, Manel Cop, Brandon Royvall, Alex Perez, Brandon Moreno, Brandon Royvall, Steve Ersik, Kaya Sokora. It's just like, and four of those were championship outs. Just like line them up. This run is nasty. I'll take them down.

Yeah. It really is something unbelievable. I would be cool with being wrong. I'm a big fan of Kai Kara France. I think he's a very exciting fighter, but man, it's a tall task on Saturday night for him. And none of this matters. Like the idea of like, oh, Kai only has one win.

He's coming, there's two losses before that. It doesn't really matter. He's got the opportunity. Of course. He's got the opportunity of a lifetime right now to take out a long reigning Flyway champion and establish himself. And then all that stuff gets erased.

Whatever happened beforehand is gone. It doesn't really matter. So he's got a huge opportunity. I assume it has to be the power, right? If he's going to win this fight, it's going to gonna be he has to clip Pantojian and catch him. His takedown defense is pretty solid too, so I don't imagine it's a world where he can do what he necessarily did to Kai Asakura,

but grappling for grappling, I'm not taking anybody over pants off lightweight. You just said the opportunity of a lifetime. Perfect segue to the feature bout of the evening. Brandon Roy Vowell taking on Joshua Vance. Josh Vance stepping back into the octagon just three weeks, three weeks after beating Bruno Silva at UFC 316, back to back pay-per-view cards for him.

This time he's going to be on the main card. Wow. International fight week, Las Vegas, number one contender, Brandon Royvall is his opponent. You win this fight, you're essentially getting a title shot, whether it's against Alexandre Pantoja, or maybe if Kai Cara France wins, then Pantoja gets a rematch just because of

how many defenses he has, you never know. But like if he wins and then Pantoja wins, there's no one else. Number one contender, fresh face, stylistically pleasing to watch, just a personality that's coming on. Dreams can come true for Joshua Van on Saturday night. This is what you work for, Saturday night T-Mobile Center.

It gives me chills just thinking about it for him. Yeah, he's absolutely on the fast track and he deserves it. He's been one of the most exciting guys. As I said, Flyweight has been hot right now and putting on some great fights. He's been another one who's at the forefront of that. And it's no mistake that the UFC tried to get him back in there right now and putting on some great fights. He's been another one who's at the forefront of that. And it's no mistake that the UFC tried to get him back

in there and on a card where the co-main event is a flyaway title opportunity. It seems like he would be next, right? Obviously, if Pantoja wins and it's Roy Vow, you're kind of in a spot where it's like, I guess we do it again. We're running out of ops. Pantoja has cleared out this division so thoroughly.

Horiguchi would probably be my pick because they've trained together. Horiguchi's fantastic. It's a fresh matchup. But Josh Van feels like the name that would be to the front of the queue if he can get it done against Royval. At that point, he'll become the number one contender.

Now he'll start building a resume for himself. Fresh face, fun to watch. Yeah, I feel like it's just a no brainer if he's able to get it done, that is much easier said than done against Brandon Roy Valle. I mean, this is another agent of chaos. Like, just like Charles Olivera,

he is there to make the fight crazy. He is going to bring the fight to you. He is going to pressure you. He can get finishes. He is going to make the fight wild. I do think, I love the patience of Josh Vann. I love how collected it feels like he is in there in the striking.

Now I guess the question would be, does it go to the ground? Brandon Royval could style on the ground. Like it's a very intriguing matchup. I know it's lined very closely, like minus 110 each way, maybe minus 120. Vann had a couple books, but like to the fight itself, like I like Vann in couple books, but like to the fight itself, like it, I like Van in the striking,

but the experience, the chaos factor, honestly the pace and the cardio of Roy Vau too. Like we've seen him put on a pace for 25 minutes. Like he went and beat Brandon Moreno by doing that. So I mean, it's a fascinating one. This is only gonna be 15. Only 15. And we know Van can keep up for the three rounds, too.

Like, we have not seen five rounds from Van, but we know come round three, he's still going to be there spamming punches in your face. For me, I think that mixture of grappling and striking is going to be the path to victory for Roy Vowell. And I think it's a very viable path, because while we saw Van kind of stuff the takedowns in his most recent performance, it seemed like getting in on

him was a little easier than you'd hope, right? Like getting to the legs might have been easier. Now completing takedowns and actually getting him down is a whole different thing. If Royvall, if Rawdog can be like opportunistic with it, there's a path to victory there, I think. If it's just primarily a striking battle, I'm probably gonna favor Van. Just super high volume, super creative,

the kicks come, the punches come from crazy angles. He does body work. I think Van is a better, just pure primary striker. But if Royval can mix in the grappling, even if it's not successful takedowns, even if it's just the thwart Van's offensive attacks, I do think he can find success there. So this is a super close fight for me.

I don't really know which way to lean. I wanna make a comparison to last week. Sure. Rafael Fazeev, Ignacio Bahamondes, great striker, up and comer, slight favorite against the guy in Rafael Fazeev who, yeah, Roy Vowell's not really on bad times like Fazeev was, the three fight losing streak but a veteran to the game, ranked high,

and then he puts on a vet performance and then you look back and you're like, oh, how was he an underdog to Ignacio Bahamondes? How was this line what it was? Cause Brandon Roy Vowell is not Bruno Silva. He is not Ray Saruja. He is not Cody Durden. By the way, I said last fight, I meant the Saruja fight.

In the Bruno Silva fight, he didn't have to defend takedowns at all. He was just battering him. Yeah, I mean, he is not Edgar Shiraz. He is Brandon Roy Vowell. He is a title challenger. He is the number one contender. He is the elite of the elite at 125.

Yeah. I'm with you on that. And it may be too much too soon for Josh Van. He is still a very young man, still very inexperienced in this game. I'm a little bit surprised he's jumping up this high, but at the same time, we need a contender for Alexandre Pantoja. And this feels like an opportunity to take a shot at it. Even if Van suffers a defeat here, he can easily kind of turn this around, bounce back. You fight another guy who's in the top of the rankings and then you reset and then you try to make that climb again. So I think it's a no-loss situation. It's a great opportunity for Van and it's a great opportunity for Royval to knock off one of the young up-and-comers and say like, I'm still at the

top of this division. I will not be denied to get back to that title. Royvault wins, he goes back, and he's like, Kai, please get it done. Get this guy out of here, man. There's probably every flyweight that is hoping that Pantosha just gets pushed out of the picture. Get this dude out of here. Just speaking from bias, we've been in the Van Hive

since the Zuma Gulab fight. It's all vibes for me this time. I'm rooting for, I love raw dog, but I'm rooting for van. The kid from Myanmar, dreams are made of. Get the title shot. It's van for me just because I'm riding vibes for 317 and I'm in the Josh Van van. In the Josh Van van, I like that.

We're in Van's Van. All right, we keep rolling on the main card, but Benildi are just taking on Hanato Moikano. This fight was booked for UFC 311, obviously. Some things changed, Armand Sarukin gets pulled out, Hanato Moikano gets pulled in to the title shot against Islam Makashev. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out for him.

So they've rebooked this one now, UFC 317. This is just kind of one of those, what Benildi Aoush are we getting here, man? Like he's been knocked out in his last two fights. I think the time off has been good. We haven't seen him since December of 2023. I think maybe even the six months longer, like he had to fight, he had to train, cut weight,

get ready for a fight at 311. So he had to go through that whole process. Now we get to go through it again. I think the time off has been good because if we're getting Benildiariush near near the peak of his powers I think he's going to be highly competitive in this fight This feels like one of the most mirror mirror fights that I can really think of like Serviceable striking but not fantastic striking good ground amazing ground game

But not like super take down heavy kind of like opportunistic with the with the grappling But once down there like kind of opportunistic with the grappling, but once down there, kind of suffocating top game and then hunting subs. Benil Dariush, 22, 6-1. Enato Moicano, 26-1. It's like the most mirrory mirror I can think of in a long time.

I feel like we're gonna get some good scrambles, but I feel like it'll mostly be a striking match. I would assume so, yeah, because it just feels like, why enter the grappling realm? We can kind of just stay on the feet, and then, I don't know. I don't know who wins a kickboxing fight between Moikano and Dariush. Power-wise, I would assume that the power's

on the side of Dariush. I would assume that. Yeah, I think Dariush has more power, but Moikano has the volume, just like the unrelenting pressure. Neither, I guess Darius can turn your lights out. And Natto's not really like that turn your lights out guy. It's gonna be a good fight though, if they put on a scrap. If they come to really go to war,

I think it's gonna be a good one. I think we'll see a kickboxing fight. I wouldn't mind Money Moicano getting a dub. Talk about Money Moicano, emphasis on the money. How about him in the Kraken crypto commercial? We're talking like highly Hollywood produced commercials from Hinata Moicano there. He's like, study bitch coin, pay with me.

Like bitch coin doesn't have a top because the dollar doesn't have a bottom. Like he's in a real ass commercial. Yeah, I'm a big fan of the late career ascent of Hinata Maekano. He's been a great personality for us. Dude, and he's done it himself, putting on Wars in the Octagon,

then getting the mic time, doing his own thing on his podcast, on his YouTube channel. Yeah, dude. Yeah, yeah. I think that's a lot because of what he's done outside the Octagon as well. Yeah, I wouldn't mind hearing another promo,

but I also wouldn't mind seeing Benil Dariush get on track. He was kind of one of those forgotten guys at lightweight where it seemed like for a long time people were like hey this guy could get a title shot like it wouldn't be bad for Benil to put himself in position. I think Dana White himself was like he's getting a title shot. And then he kind of faltered right at the finish line it maybe it was just they held him on the side too long he could have had the opportunity. But either way, he can right the ship here.

Or I mean, Moikano's kind of been hit or miss. It's been up and down. He has a fantastic performance. Then he's up against Islam Makachev, the number one pound for pound guy. Not much you can do there. Both of these guys need this if they want to stay near the top of this division.

So I'll be interested to see who it is. Eileen Moikano, I just feel like he's the fresher guy who has been more active and kind of might find a way, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Darius. It's razor close for me. Yeah, I mean, like one of Moikano's best assets is just like, he'll just out-dog. Game, yeah.

Like he's just game and ready to come. Like, I mean, Benoit and Jay Jalen Turner, there were some moments, I mean the Jalen Turner especially, there were some moments of, it's just like, oh shit, this doesn't look good for Hinnato and then turns it around. And then obviously Islam, that's just on one day's notice, that's just an impossible task to conquer.

I'll play devil's advocate here, since we've been agreed. I'll go Benny D, you go Hinnato Moekano, either way, a great fight, looking forward to conquer. I'll play devil's advocate here since we've been agreed. I'll go Benny D, you go, Hennato Moicano. Either way, a great fight. Looking forward to it. Last one on the main card. We'll talk about first one of the night. Peyton Talbot taking on Felipe Lima. Man, not an easy bounce back after Hione Barcellos.

He was a minus 1500 against Hione Barcellos. Gets 3027. There was even a 3026 scorecard in there. And now they're like, is Felipe Lima? I was just gonna ask, are you surprised by him having been that big a favorite in the last fight for now him to be a dog? No, just because Felipe Lima is very good. I mean, he has a win over Mohammed Naimov,

like he's Miles Johns, like he's looked good. Also he has the grappling, he has the wrestling. We just saw Peyton Talbot struggle with that. Marcel has landed like eight takedowns, got like 10 minutes of control time. And I also think the fact that minus 1500 was all on hype. He takes on a vet 3026 on one of those scorecards. Like it was one way traffic.

There was no question about it. The books are like, all right, we need to readjust from here. Do you think that it will play out that way? Do you think that Lima will be hunting the takedowns? Do you think that he has seen something in that last fight that he can now exploit? Honestly, I think if he's not getting the takedowns,

I think Peyton Talbot is gonna have success on the feed. He's got power, he's got insane volume. Like he's putting up like 6.7 significant strikes a minute. Like he gets strikes out there. And if it goes 15 minutes, I could easily see him just out-voluming Lima. I think he needs to do some kind of effort to get the takedowns,

especially when that's the clear weakness of Peyton Talbot. How much he's improved on that since the loss? That's TBD. That's what we'll see on Saturday night. If he has improved, that's another step in the right direction for Peyton Talbot because that had to be a wake up call, right? That had to be a moment where you're like,

you're knocking everybody out, you're the new hot guy, everybody's like, oh my God, Peyton Talbot, you're a minus 1500 favorite at the window. Okay, now you've had this moment to go, okay, I'm gonna reset here. This is what I need to work on if I want to be a top level fighter. And if Peyton Talbot wants to go beyond

just like that early hype, if he wants to be beyond just like that guy that was a prospect, oh, once upon a time, he will have to fix those holes. And I imagine he is smart enough to have done that. I imagine that that is what he has focused on primarily for this camp.

I like to believe that the first loss for most guys is like a wake up call, which is like, all right, let me chill, let me take a step back. I don't think Peyton Talbot had like an overinflated ego or an overinflated head or anything. I think Heone Barcellos was probably just a little bit too much too soon. I think I just watched Heone Barcellos beat

Cody Garbrand at UFC Atlanta. He is a very talented guy. I mean, the accolades the dude has from his youth career in Brazil is unbelievable. So yeah, I think it was just a little bit too much too soon. Felipe Alime is not an easy bounce back fight to try and get back on track. Could've done, you know,

maybe someone a little bit further down. But if he's able to bounce back and get a win as an underdog here, I mean, it's like, all right, we're right back on track man let's let's continue this ascension yeah and I and I think you will be smart enough to at least try to improve that that deficiency in the game that we saw in the last fight whether he's able to successfully do it though as you've said this is a very tough fight like this is not the one where you can kind of learn on the job you better

have short shored this up in camp but I agree with you like Peyton Talbot strikes me as a guy who is dedicated to the game and kind of like understands what might need to be done and has aspirations beyond just like, you said it perfectly. The first loss is usually a wake-up call because to that point,

you've kind of just been cruising, right? You don't really need to make adjustments if your primary game plan is always working. You don't need to make adjustments. Now he's going to need to make adjustments. He may even need to make adjustments. If your primary game plan is always working, you don't need to make adjustments. Now he's going to need to make adjustments. He may even need to make adjustments in the middle of this fight. And that's gonna be interesting to see

how Peyton Talbot performs. I'm really excited for this one, because I'm excited. Either outcome to me establishes a new guy that I'm gonna be very excited about. Fascinating main card. Can we get the graphic up? The five pack of fights on this main card,

whatever you think of the rest of the card is a moot point. The five fights on this main card are fantastic. Peyton Talbot, Felipe Lima, Benio Dario, Sinato Moicano, Brandon Roy, Val Joshvan, Alexandre Pantoja, Kai Cara France, Ilya Topoya, Charles DuBronx, Olivera. I mean. This is it. Might as well call it a butcher shop with how much is at I mean. This is it.

Might as well call it a butcher shop with how much is at stake here. Ha ha ha. Got him. Well done. I'm gonna have like a cue there. Very excited for the main card. And you can watch it with us.

We will be in Las Vegas and Nevada, but we will still be doing a watch party on Saturday night, 9.45 Eastern Standard. As always, we will be there. Watch it with the boys. We'll be reacting to everything, watch it with the boys. Let's whip around the prelims here quickly. Jack Hermansen, RoboCop, Gregory Rodriguez.

When's the last time Jack fought? Is this- First one is Joe Pfeiffer. I was gonna say- February of 2024. Yeah, it's been a minute. I'm glad to see Jack back. Yeah, dude.

I mean, to me, this fight goes one of two ways. Rodriguez clips him and puts him out, or it's the Joe Pfeiffer fight, the Chris Curtis fight. Jack Ormanson has fought this fight before. Dude with big power that he can just out, be more technical than, He's tougher. Hang on the outside, be tough, better cardio.

It's just one of two ways for me. He either gets starched, or I think he wins in a 15 minute decision. Exactly right. He's tougher than you you and then when it gets into deep waters, he is more technical. He finds a way, especially on the ground, where he's kind of suffocating.

Hermansen's a dog man, so it's gonna be interesting to see. The definition of a vet. 100%. This guy is just a veteran. He just knows he's doing that. Dalby, Hermansen, there's these guys who just like, by their sheer toughness and experience in the cage, they're gonna find a way to win a fight.

I do, I will say though, the power of Robocop always is frightening, especially early on. How many miles can we get on Jack Hermansen before you can't hold up to the power that Robocop is bringing? I favor Robocop, but it's one of those that you're gonna be like, oh, Jack Hermansen won 29, 28 after dropping the first

round, for sure, yeah, 100%. Jack Hermansen sitting at plus 178, what's Jack Hermansen by decision, plus 280? That's a tasty little nibble right there, plus 280, Jack Hermansen. 29, 28, Hermansen's gonna hit like crack. I wonder if we could get a Jack Hermansen decision only plus money, we'll see, I think that's a good one. This is also like, this is RoboCup's, I'd say toughest test other than the Canineer fight,

which unfortunately he came up short in, but that's a good one. Heidermiel Jose Delgado, our third agent of chaos. Heidermiel. Like we're just here to fight, man. We are here to scrap. It's going to be fantastic. And then on the other side, Delgado,

all nine of his wins are by finish. Like this just has the makings of one of the best of the best of the best. And then on the other side, Delgadogado all nine of his wins are by finished like this This just has the makings of one of those ones where it's just like These dudes are gonna gonna gonna bang it out every time I see or hear the name Heideremiel I picture him throwing a 50 punch combination. It just spam Tekken moves Throwing the crazy what Nicklis Motta did last week just yeah

Tekken moves throwing the crazy shit. What Nicholas Motta did last week just the like that is Hyder Emile. Head kick into punch like I love Hyder Emile, age in the chaos. The hurricane. 11 and 0. I think he's a little older than you would expect for an 11 and 0 prospect though. Despite the undefeated 11 and 0 he's a plus 150 to Delgado. I mean as should be respected 9 and and one. Uh, Heideremiel, 35, yeah. So even though he's only got 11 pro fights and pro wins, he's up there in terms of age and experience. Like, this is the time if we're gonna break through. But yeah, he's got a tough test out of him. Yeah, it's gonna be a good one.

That's one of those ones that you gotta circle on. It's just like, oh, it's about to start? Like, all right, let me sit my ass down. I gotta be in front of the TV for this one. Keep it rolling to the next one. Viviana Arrujo taking on Tracy Cortez. 19 combined fights. Like last 19 combined fights between these two

have all gone to a decision. Yeah, I mean, I expect another one like that. One finish at the UFC level between the two. It feels like this is the one that won't go to a decision. You don't think so? Nah, it's going to. Oh, okay. I feel like it's going to a decision.

Tracee Gortez is a pretty big favorite, but man. I'm a little surprised. It's tough because obviously she's a very competent grappler, but it never feels like she really pulls away a ton in these fights. I mean, she has a win over Jasmine, Jasmine Vicious, which is now aging. Aging way better. Gracefully.

It is aging great. Important to note though, that's 2023. Like it was a while ago. Yeah, it's now almost been two years. Jasmine's gotten busy since then. Jasmine Vichy is a busy Tracy Cortez, I think has only fought once since then. She fought Rose and that was it.

Yeah, just a Rose loss. Yeah, I mean, Arugio, like it feels like at her age and everything, Cortez gets it done, but like, I don't know if I'm putting minus 250 on her. It feels like this is a fight that's gonna be very close. They've both been fighting like upper echelon level competition.

Like it was two fights ago that VV fought Natalia Silva. Before that, Jennifer Maya just fought Karina Silva. Like this feels like an appropriate level of matching. I'm surprised that, like I would favor this. I would line this maybe closer to even. Maybe there's some value on Vivi, but athleticism wise, like you have to imagine that Cortez is gonna be in on the wrestling

and have the advantage there. So I understand, I understand the line, but I do feel like skill for skill, it's a little closer to even than that. Tracy Cortez fan favorite. Yeah. There's gonna be a lot of stands in the house, you know, maybe she gets a big take down,

crowd goes nuts, sways the judges a certain way. I mean, you were predicting a finish, maybe, you know, a little round and pound, a little. You never know, you never know, you never know. Shout out Tracy Cortez. Next up, the real. Chaos. Agent of chaos.

The president of the chaos department. Not Chaos Williams. Terrence T. Rex McKinney. Take it on Slava Klaas. Just to go through the guy's resume. Let's do it. Terrence McKinney, the agent of chaos. He is the deputy of the Department of Chaos.

23 professional fights for Terrence McKinney, 23 fights ending by way of finish, kill or be killed to the T. One single third round in his entire career. One single third round. 22 of his 23 fights have ended under the one and a half and 19, 19 fights have ended in the very first round. This man is here for a good time, not a long time

and he is here for your entertainment. It's Terrence McKinney fight week. The under one and a half is getting bet and my ass will be seated to watch this man fight. I have not looked at the line yet. Who is the favorite in this fight? Terrence McKinney. By what?

Minus 170? Okay, that makes sense to me because Slava Claus has shown his toughness and if he can survive that early storm, I do think he has the tools to beat McKinney, but goddamn, you described that early storm. That one ain't easy to survive. This is the earliest and the heaviest storm.

You got Hurricane Jairo Emil, that's a storm. You got Charles Oliveira, that's a storm. Rawdog Roy Valle, that's a storm. You have to deal with these things. And then there's Terrence McKinney, which is the biggest storm of them all. Slavikas does not have good takedown defense. No.

Terrence McKinney likes wrestling. He's shown it before, yeah. Slavikas doesn not have good takedown defense. No. Terrence McKinney likes wrestling. He's shown it before, yeah. Slavikov doesn't really get finished, like he doesn't get choked out or anything like that, but I wonder if ground and pound is an option. It's just like, it's kind of like, you just sort of let T-Rex loose and like just see what happens.

And like he either finishes the other dude or he probably gets finished. Like it's just, that's just how it goes. And almost- Yeah, the Edmund Shabazzian, man. Almost exclusively happens in the first round. Yeah. I imagine he will be able to finish him, especially as you said, like if he uses the wrestling,

we know him as like this like knockout artist, but he's explosive with the takedowns and he can find a way on the ground. The ground and pound is a great option for him. But if it goes to round two, I think we know, like maybe that's a time to hit that live, uh, those live odds. I mean, if it gets out of the first round

of live bet, Slava Claus for sure. Live bet Slava Claus for sure. But I don't know. It'll be great for the two minutes at last. And it's just like, you can make the argument where it's just like, well, Slava Claus has been to like a few decisions. Like his, his fights go long.

It's like, it doesn't matter. Yeah. Cause he's fighting Terrence McKinney. Terrence McKinney makes every fight a Terrence McKinney fight. That a Terrence McKinney fight. He owns the fight. He is going to dictate how this is gonna go. Even if he loses, he has made it a Terrence McKinney fight.

Oh, for sure, for sure. I'm not saying he's this unbeatable dude. He is the agent of chaos. He is the definition of kill or be killed. It's just like, if he don't lose, he's probably gonna win. It's the Ney Land where, honestly with him, it's just like, if you weather the storm, you're probably gonna win, but man,

I love a good Terence McKinney fight, and I love betting the unders on Terence McKinney. SD Dumas taking on Jackson McVeigh, who is making his debut off of LFA. I'm not familiar with Jackson. Have you crushed tape on him? I've watched like two of his fights on YouTube. I mean, he seems to have good striking

and good ground game. Okay, six and O. Yeah, he's finished everyone he's fought. Obviously those are at the LFA levels. On the flip side of it, like Dumas got arrested again in April, got out of jail last month, arrested for home invasion, robbery, battery possession of a weapon or ammo by a convicted felon in drug possession.

He's been arrested. It's been in and out like every time. Many convicted felon in drug possession. He's been arrested. It's been in and out like every time. Many, many times in his career. He hasn't had that much success in the octagon. It doesn't feel like he's fully focused on his career, going up against a guy who's getting a chance of a lifetime who seems to be a very competent fighter. I have to lean with Jackson McVeigh to get it done.

I trust. Two more on here, Jonaida Denise versus Alvin Hines. Alvin Hines has not been fighting the best of competition leading into this one. I know it's been on LFA, but like the Mecha 24 fight, it's like four and one, two and oh, three and four, two and one. Not guys with much competition.

I feel like I leaned Denise in that one. And then your biggest favorite in all of international fight week, one Jacoby Smith minus 1800 against Nico Price. Yikes. What a line. So we talked about like Kevin Lee last week. Yeah.

And we were like, no, there wasn't. He got finished in the first round. I first saw this and I was like, Nico Price plus a thousand against CK. That dog. Against like, Jacoby Smith, I know he's 10 and 0, but like he's only got the contenders here as the UFC. In my opinion, this is gonna go very similar

to the Kevin Lee one. It's just gonna be like, oh, it turns out there wasn't any value on Nico Price. He got finished in the first round. I mean, Nico Price has been knocked out what? Four times, five times in his UFC career. Five times in his UFC career against the guy in Jacoby Smith who's got massive power.

You convince yourself on those dogs to take a flyer. Like, look at this price tag. Yeah, I feel like there's a thing that happens. It's almost like a psychological effect. I can't prove it. I don't know if it's true or not, but I believe it to be true. Whoever you took a flyer on loses.

If you didn't take it, it would have won. And then somebody else, they all lose as well. Nobody has ever won those flyers on the plus 900 guy. It never happens. They've never actually won that. And that wouldn't even make sense because certainly somebody would have had to take it the one time they won.

No, if they bet on it, they actually lost. There's never been a winner on that plus 900 plus 1,000 ticket. It's never happened. I'm waiting for the Charles Olivera plus 375, Kai Carre-France plus 212, Alvin Hines plus 255 parlay, and then fourth leg, Jacobi Smith minus 1800.

I'm looking forward to that, to getting that in big hitters next week. Just like underdog, underdog, underdog. And we might as well lob in the Jacobi Smith minus 1800 as the parlay. That is in reference to one time. A little sweetener. That one time we got the like eight leg underdog parlay.

Cyborg. And then they threw in Cyborg minus 2000. It was Cyborg, they did that, but they also did Cyborg and Mike Jackson. Yes, yes. It was Cyborg and Mike Jackson pairing. Mike Jackson plus 1400, Chris Cyborg minus 2000 on the parlay.

All right, that is UFC 317. That is International Fight Week. It is a fantastic card. I'm very much looking forward to this weekend. I'm very much looking forward to being out in Las Vegas. I think the energy is gonna be high. UFC X, Ariel Helwani shows, left, right and center, Thursday, Friday and Monday, a watch party.

Can't wait for all of that. I did mention parlay's and bets though. Let's run through mine real quick. Let's do the recap first. Last week, UFC Baku, a good week, a good week. And honestly, it was just short of being a great week if there was a finish in the main event, but finish up over five units, 52.1 overall, not bad.

Not bad. Unfortunately, the Parlay Pals, three for four, for gotta be like the second or third week in a row. Frank played the sad clown horn on himself. I respect it. I hate to be that guy, man. I'm putting up the greens week after week. We just keep finding ourselves in the negatives. This week. I don't know

what the hell happened. This week we bounce back. This week we bounce back. This week we get it done on International Fight Week. We have to do it. Last time we were in Vegas, we hit. This time we're in Vegas, we hit. I've already gotten Pizzi's pick.

He's actually going with PFL. He's taking a page out of Rick's's actually going with PFL. He's taking a page out of Rick's book and going with PFL, he's going with UK's very own, Fabian Edwards. Makes sense, he's a big favorite, right? Yeah, big favorite, like minus 580. And then I'll throw in the randomizer here. Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do.

Rest of us. Frank, you'll go first, Rick second, then I will go third. All right, well I am inspired by the little preview that we got. So I'm gonna take Royval and Van. I'm gonna have them go over one and a half rounds. Oh nice, nice. I feel very good about this.

Very good. So good. Okay, that's a guaranteed winner from Frank. I actually feel better about this than I did Ovan and Ovan had great odds. Yeah, not a great performance. Fucking hell. It's mine, right?

Yeah, you're up, right? Easy, pants. Oh, pants. Pantosia. Co-main. Give it to me, pants. Pants, let's go. Done. Are we ordering the custom shorts?

Bob and Ron? I'm not ordering the custom shorts, but I'm riding. I saw there was like a leak, a potential leak. I don't know if it's real. Done. Are we ordering the custom shorts? Bob and Ron? I'm not ordering the custom shorts, but I'm riding. I saw there was like a leak, a potential leak, I don't know if it's real or not. No. Of the Shavkat custom shorts. Those come out, I might have to place the order. They post it, they delete it.

With the Kazakhstan-y sun on it, those might have to get ordered. Imagine I pull up to the gym in NYC in my custom Shavkat shorts. All right, that comes to me. Main event, I will go with El Matador, Ilya Toporia. I mean, he can only speak so confidently before I believe him and this is the time that I do.

Ilya Toporia gets it done and new lightweight champion of the world, two division champion. That is the pick and that is the parlay. Only plus 145, not as good of odds as last week. Is it enough to get us to the green? No, simple math, I mean we're down three units, but listen man, we were right on the precipice, we were about to get it, but then Pizzi picked

Joaquin Buckley so we lost it. We just gotta claw our way back, we just gotta brick by brick, build it back up, we will get there. Now let's do my picks, I'm actually trying to go for for four weeks in a row, I'm trying to have a perfect June in terms of profitable weeks. Did it on 316, did it slight on Atlanta, and did it on Baku. Let's begin. First off, Jackson McVeigh. I'm going to take him to beat Esti Dumas. Just don't really like where Esti Dumas is at in his fight career. And I like the finishing capabilities of one Jackson McVay.

Next up, Emil Delgado. Under two and a half Delgado. All his wins are by finish. Emil, an agent of chaos. This one's going to be insane. So I'm going to go with the under. Either way, it's going to be a fans paradise. The crowd should go crazy for that one.

Next up, I'm thinking Josh Van. Shout out to you. Get it done. A little bit of bias, I'll admit, a little bit of bias here. We are in Van's Van. We're in the Van Van. On this podcast, on this program. We do support one Josh Van,

but I'm gonna say in the fire, in the chaos, he stays calm, he stays cool, he stays collected. He doesn't go down to the ground and the striking shows off and he gets it done. Next up, Benny D. I'm gonna take one unit on the dog here. I'm gonna say that we get an old school Benny D performance. I like the power on his side against the Nato Moekano

so I will take his money line. And then one of my bigger bets in a long time. Took this one a couple weeks ago, Ilya Toporya inside the distance, took him at minus 170, took him again at minus 180. I just think if he wins, it will be inside the distance against a guy like Charles Olvera, his finishing capabilities,

and just the way Charles Olvera fights go. I think if Ilya Toporya gets it done, it's inside the distance, so I'm taking a minus 500 down to around a minus 175. Then a couple of parlays. Jacoby Smith, Nico Price under one and a half. And then it's unplayable minus 225, minus 230 as a single but I had to get the McKinney under one and a half

and McKinney Borschev under one and a half. My favorite bet in all of sports is Terrence McKinney unders. And then lastly, I saw the pants on pants. I saw the custom shorts. I said, this man ain't losing. Love Kai Kara France, love Don't Blank, but I also love Pantoja. Saw those pants once many men hits.

The van van and the pants pants. The van van and the pants pants. And those are the picks for UFC 317 International Fight Week. We are just four short days away. for UFC 317 International Fight Week. We are just four short days away. I'm getting, after talking that through, I'm even more excited now. I'm very excited. I'm chomping at the bit to touchdown in Sin City.

So much so that we gotta get out of here because we gotta hop on a plane. Before we go though. Yeah. Do we have any voice mouse, Frankie? It doesn't look like we do actually. Not this week. Why? Okay. Do we have any super chats actually. Not this week. Why? Okay.

Do we have any Super Chats? Do we have any Super Chats? Yeah. Damn right we do. We will make the voicemails up to you. Man, how embarrassing for us. We will make the voicemails up to you next week. We have voicemails, we're out of time,

we gotta go hop on planes, we gotta do this. Hopefully you enjoyed that preview. What's the Super Chat? This is me just completely not reading the slack messages. The whole production staff is aware of exactly what we're doing and I'm here just, oh let's do voice mail. It wouldn't be the Ariel Honeys network if this wasn't for them. I see it all right here guys, no worries. I see it now. But hey we got one super chat, it's from Lazy Bed. but but boys happy Tuesday keep cool shout out shout out to you lazy bed

I like you that appreciate the super chat appreciate you guys for watching we kept it tight. We heard all your voicemails Mailmen out there. Ah the mailman fight league is coming The Don Davis Donny D two times Donny D We heard you we will we will make good on the next episode of boys in the back We will play those voicemails as well. Hell we might should we just do an all voicemail show at some point Well, we should do that and all just that maybe just a special voice. It was a special voicemail episode I feel like but thank you for all your calls for one five sup Pitb for now we got to get the hell out of here cuz we got to go to Vegas. All right

I moved my flight to tonight. I'm just gonna fly out tonight to Sin City. That's how excited I am. Ariel Exade on the Dizzo Unboxing channel later today, 5pm. Crack tomorrow, remember that. Ariel Hoewani show live from Las Vegas on Thursday. Ariel Hoewani show live from Las Vegas on Friday. Watch party with us live from Las Vegas on Saturday, followed by the post show.

The man in the hat will join us. Does he pass me in the uncrowned fighting standings absolutely no chance the guy's a bum and then Monday live from Las Vegas UFC 317 reaction hopefully some good fighter interviews on that one as well Monday Ariel Helwani show live from Las Vegas that's it for us see you next time we gotta go get on a plane peace