The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 319 MEGA PREVIEW: Can Dricus du Plessis stop Khamzat Chimaev? Top UFC on ESPN moments, more | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

The Boys in the Back are here to preview UFC 319, including a full breakdown of the can't-miss championship fight between Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev (3:50).After previewing the rest of the card (41:15), the Boys briefly look ahead to the latest PFL championship fights (1:22:34) and make picks for the weekend (1:25:56).Next, they debut a brand new Fight Feasts, focused on food from the 'Windy City,' and deliver their P4P rankings of moments from the UFC on ESPN era (1:51:59), before closing with your voicemails (2:25:06) and Super Chats (3:03:07).

But boys in the back What is good? We are back with another episode of the Boys in the Back this time, August 14th, just two days away from UFC 319 going down in Chicago. I am one-third of the boys in the back. Connor Brooks, join alongside me. As always, Mr. New York, Rick, the man, the myth. The Chicago loving legend.

We got the flag in the desk. I got my Devin Hester jersey on. We are ready. We are primed. We are ready to go for UFC 319 this weekend. Frankie, how are you feeling, man? I'm doing great. Thank you for asking.

Man, I have to say, we were having a little back and forth before the show started. You're like, is this good for your mic pack? I was like, yeah, it's perfect. I could barely hear you. I had to crank it up. I was wrong. Is it better now? It's perfect.

I love to hear it. Yeah, I hear you crystal clear coming through. Yes, UFC 319 this weekend. This is the one for you. This, this, 319 is fantastic. It's a, it's a really good card. Main event. The main event is the one for me.

I don't care about anything else that happens. I'll be it. It's of high quality. The main event is the one for me. Well, unfortunately, especially for our man, Mysterious Frank, we did get some breaking news this morning. King Green versus Diego Fahara is unfortunately off this card. When I came in, Frank seemed very somber. He seemed very down.

Yeah, he was distraught. Yeah, he was distraught. I didn't know why. He had to break the news to me. Couldn't even make it to the Octagon this time. It's unfortunate. And the mighty have fallen. Wow.

Just so disappointed. We not only lost that. We also lost Rodrigo Cezanando versus Daniel Donchenko. The tough Wolverinelli. I know you were dying to see that, but the tough welterweight tournament will have to be decided another day. So we are now down to. Wow. We didn't even finish the drop?

We're going to finish that, Logan, Paul? I hit the wrong. What did you mean to hit? It's tough. That was it? Short, sweet, and a hope. You got to get it together. Tighten up back there, Frank.

He's a big one today, man. He's still reeling from King Green. This is a big one. So now, after that, we are down to just 13 fights. So there were going to be 15. There were going to be 15 after the addition of Bysanger, Souser Kaiyev versus Eric Nolan. You can talk about the dichotomy between those two names.

Eric Nolan by Sanger Susserkayev. He was the guy who earned the contract on Dana-Wiken's Hinder series immediately gets his shot in the U.C. Broke a new shout out to Spin and Backfist and Jack Mack, who... Jack Mack and the Hamzot sit down and they announced this. But that's a pretty incredible story and one that I think kind of parallels Hamzot's own story of fighting so quickly after debuting in the U.S.C. So, good to see that one. We'll get into that one. 15 fights is a lot.

I can't say I'm mad about it, kind of drop it down to 13, if I'm honest. And honest, to be just completely transparent with the audience here, I didn't know the guys in the tough finale. No. I was going to meet them on Saturday. Yeah, same. I was looking forward to that, but. I think a lot of people were. And that's kind of the idea of what tough is at this point is like, you don't see these guys till the finale because nobody watches the show anymore.

And then you get like somebody like a Myron Santos who's like, okay, like this guy's actually like good. I like them. And you kind of developed a relationship from there. But yeah, don't feel like many people had that one as like, this is the one I need to see. And then it unfortunately dropped off. King Green is a hit, though, because that was going to be a decent fight. Yeah, King Green, that could have been exciting. Yeah.

They definitely gotten a finish out of that one. We lost those two, but for now. Yeah. Knock on wood. If you're driving in your car, if you're in your apartment, however you're watching, knock on wood, because. Oh, my God. The current moment, we still have the main event. Rink is duplessi, taking on.

Hamzat Sharmayev, your most anticipated fight of the year has been since December when we did the look-ahead show to 2025, and I have to agree with you at this point. Let me just run it down. Please. Let me just set the table. I'd love to. Strix 2 Plusi representing South Africa, DDP, as they call them, 11-fight win streak, 9-0 in the UFC, three title fight wins, wins over Sean Strickland twice, Israel-A-Sanya, Robert Whitaker, Derek Brunson, Darren Till, Brad Tavares, KSW champ, EFC champ, 25 fights, 22 wins, and 22 of those fights did not go the distance. Hamza Aschamaya, 14 and 0, 12 wins by finish. None of those finishes came later than six minutes and 15 seconds into the fight. Four, four UFC fights

where his opponent landed zero significant strikes. Yep. One where they landed one, one singular strike, and then one where they landed two. That was the Robert Whitaker fight. Complete dominance when he gets these finishes. Wins over Robert Whitaker, like I just mentioned, Osmond, Gilbert Burns, Kevin Holland, and both of these dudes are at the peak of their powers. Yep. Like how you could possibly not be excited for this fight, you're just not a fight fan? No, this is a fight fan's fight, and with all due respect, as you said, like, at the end

of the year and into the year ahead, I picked this over the likes of John Jones versus Tom Aspinall, Kayla versus Amanda, any of the other kind of like tasty appetizing, Zhang versus Valentina, any of the tasty appetizing type fights that we might have gotten, because to me, I think this is the best combination of highest skill level in their primes with everything to gain and everything to lose, because I think the stakes are very high for this one, right? Whoever wins this fight, I think is going to be entering a superstar territory that is kind of rarefied air and along the lines of some of the bigger stars that we have in the sport today and ever. and a loss could be kind of difficult to bounce back from

because it would probably seem like the other person is going to be raining for a longer time. So so much on the line, UFC championship gold on the line, Hamzat's first crack at UFC gold on the line. In addition to what I think is a very, very high skill level fight, in addition to the fact that it's in Chicago

and that crowd has been dying for a UFC event and the roof is going to absolutely come off when these guys are in the cage, it all sets up for a perfect night. That's the sleeper part of all of this is this is happening in Chicago and since I joined this program back in 2021 I have lost count.

Dozens, dozens, if not hundreds of times people have asked when Chicago is getting a UFC event again. Yes. Not only are they getting an event, they're getting a pay-per-view and they're getting one of the best main events of the year, if not the best main event of the year.

I think this crowd is going to be turned up to 11, especially when this main event is about to start, which is only going to help the fight that much more. And in addition to that, you just said is 100% true, but also it's really just about the fight itself because between these two, there hasn't really been that much animosity. Like, yeah, there's been like a couple jokes on Twitter about like, uh, Hamzat's going to get sick or like he's making dumb faces, but no like real, real animosity like you see between Hamzat and Paolo or or like DDP and

Izzy and DDP and Strickland and things like that. I mean, we saw them linking up earlier. There's one angle of it. You know, there was the, there was the video of it where people were like, oh my God, Hamzad is 10 feet tall, but like they're linking up, they're, they're shaking hands, like they're being very cordial with each other. They're, they're being nice about it. Yeah, like, it's just like, what's up, man? For the record, though, Humzad is an extremely large gentleman. Oh, yeah. Just this angle makes it look even more startling.

This angle makes it look like he's six, seven, and PDP is six foot flat. Like, it is crazy. But yes, to your point, they've been very respectful, very cordial. And I think it speaks to what we've seen from, from both of them is that I think they know that they're for a fight. I would say more so DDP, right? DDP is somebody who's been pretty transparent about expecting Hamza Shamaev to be one of the toughest tests of his career, saying that he's not all hype, saying that he expects the best version of Hamza and he's just going to prove he's better. Hamza's been a little bit more like thinking about, like it's a foregone conclusion for him.

Now granted, it has been a foregone conclusion for him in all of his career. Like he kind of just beats everybody. But I think they respect each other and I think they know what's ahead. And I think the time for like the Twitter jokes and stuff is probably over. The one thing I'll say is they haven't had an extended period of time together and this press conference that's coming up is probably going to be the first opportunity for them to really like talk some shit

and if Drickis lays into Hamzat, let's see what the reaction is but you've nailed it perfectly like it's been pretty cordial, pretty respectful let's just fight. I am very interested to see what happens at the press conference tonight because in DDP's like contendership and title

era. Yeah. He He has been kind of ferocious He shined in the press conference. He goes pointed, man. He obviously bringing Israel out of signing to tears, bringing Sean trickling to tears. Like, that's kind of been the meme of like he gets under these people's skin.

I'm going to predict that he does not bring Hamzot to tears. I know for a fact he will not bring Hamz out to tears, but like Hamzad has had like a very rough past. And there's things that he could say that could definitely get under Hamzot's skin. And Hamzad, he can be an emotional dude when it comes to the fighting. like he gets into it so i'm curious to see what happens but so far it's it's been pretty playful

like it's been pretty lighthearted like we saw uh we saw hamz out with dc uh out there like the the dc always loves meeting up with these guys just like just like ds i mean can we talk about him just being like look at this guy immediately starts feeling him up like he's like he loves this but i wonder if he loves it at this point where he realizes that hamzat's continuing it is there anyone that has a better relationship is there anyone that has a better relationship with the Russian wrestlers than D.C. Oh, boy. Here it comes.

Feet flying out. The legs. It's like his son, bro. The legs. And D.C. recognizes it immediately. He's like, man, what the hell? The legs. DC with the, what the fuck is that?

Yeah, I mean, I love what D.C. does the, like, playful wrestling thing with people. Hamza, obviously, is one that might be able to take it a little bit further than most. D.C. took it personally. Wrapping the tough shirt, shout out. It says, after the way Hamzot lifted me, I figured I needed to lift more. He got in the hotel gym, bro. He was ready to go.

Hamzad actually went on his podcast. He was asked about him picking him up and, like, they had a nice playful moment. Take a look. That was the first time in Fight Island. You kind of picked me up a little bit, but like a little bit off the ground. Then the second time, we were wrestling again in Abu Dhabi,

and you picked me up a little higher. It never felt disrespectful until today. You can't pick me up and spin me around. I'm a grown man, Hamza. I'm showing you love, bro. But you pick me, I'm not a child. My leg spin! It looks cute, brother.

Hey! With the big shirt? Why are you doing? Why are you doing? Incredible stuff. So good. D.C. as this like uncle figure who just gets to like kind of like cut loose and joke of people is a perfect role for him. I think they also, it comes from a deep place of respect as well.

He's playful, but they also respect them. Double champ, amazing regular. wrestling acumen. No, you can't get away with that type of shit if you're not D.C. Exactly, exactly. Another funny moment

from this, Hamza was asked about his looks by D.C. Well, look at me, but look at me. Look at my face. Look at your face. This beautiful, black skin, caramel.

Your skin? Chechnine. Not beautiful like mine. That needs to be beautiful. What you need to be? World champion? Girls like terrorists. You're so crazy.

You can't say that. D.C. Weas. What I love about that is D.C. being, like, beautiful black skin, you're ugly. And then Hamzad says something funny back. He's like, you can't say that. It's like, probably could have said the first part anyway.

You're so crazy. It's amazing. It's really made for some good content. And I also love Hamza on the back end. It's just like, I'm just kidding. And it's like, I don't actually don't think he is kidding. I don't think he's kidding about that. There is, there is an element of that with Hamza out where it's like, you don't know how much is fact of reality because of how mysterious he's kind of been about his life.

One last clip I had to play out of like, not talking about the fight, just kind of like the lightheartedness surrounding this, the memes. DDP did an interview about how he's going to beat Hamzat. Yeah. Drikas, be honest with me, how do you beat Khamzat Jemai? Man, I've got plot on it. You've got plot armor? Bro, how do you prepare for me?

I don't even know what I'm going to do in the octagon. It could be DDP by accident, DDP by falling piano. Maybe I draw a hole in the middle of the octagon. He falls through it. A hole in the middle. Absolutely. Maybe I blow up my thumb, hit him with it. I can win by a car crash.

I'm going to be there. That would be in the corner. Another DDP might just come into the octagon. Yeah, that could happen. Everybody says on paper, Hamsa Dizmi, how do I know? I can't even read. You can't read. But at the end of there, my friend, it's DDP by whatever words. So good.

Like, obviously, this is a big thing that's been circling on the internet. Like, I think it started with one meme where it's like the black and white guy sunken out. And it's just like, hams out when he's about to finish DDP. And then another DDP walks into the octagon and says, good thing I'm not that guy. Like, it's been like this whole cartoonish. thing i love how he's just like uh i could win by comically large hammer like that will be there we'll have that in the corner uh draw a hole in the middle yeah shout out to john bernard uh for always doing fun interviews like that uh so yeah like it's like there's respect there's lightheartedness

but at the end of the day we know these two dudes are going to get in the octagon and go to war well that's that's what's so funny to me is the juxtaposition of the idea that to this point it's been like uh look at how funny homzada is actually and stuff like this from djordan michael city Yeah, where it's just Jordan Michael City, you love that one. Where he's just, like, people are getting to see their personalities, and it hasn't been this like bad blood feud or at each other's throats and hasn't been built that way. I'm interested to see, again, what happens tonight, but it is funny to me just the juxtaposition of that part of it, combined with the fact that it is guaranteed because Hamzaa Shamaev knows

how to fight no other way that he is going to run across that octagon and try to smash DDP's head in the first 10 seconds. so it's this like ha ha ha ha ha and then the door the cage closes and they're trying to rip each other's fucking head out of this is the antithesis of uh manel cop versus mohammajave i was recently took place at 304 last year i was recently watched that clip popped up of where like they're fighting before the fight starts security literally sucker punches and like dc's like all right if they want to do this i better see a fight i better see a fight and then someone fast forwarded the actual fight and it's just

a staring match for like 15 minutes. You put the Benny Hill music and they're just walking around. This is the antithesis of that. This is like, all right, yeah, we're having fun. We respect each other, great fighters, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada. And then when they get in the cage, like it's going to, they're going to go to war.

I mean, there's no other, like, Hamzad doesn't know how to fight any other way. Neither does DDP. DDP is this king of chaos. Like, he's going to make this, like, just a wild fight. Yeah. And Hamzat's going to reciprocate.

Or honestly, I should say, DDP's going to reciprocate because Hamzad is probably going to be the one pushing. going to be the aggressor, but at the same time, like, as you said, DDP's entire run has been founded on the idea that, like, he's blitzing you first and you can't really handle it. Then the question became like, ah, does he have a gas tank, though? He's going to gas out. We've seen him gas out. And it turns out that was kind of bullshit and he probably just needed no surgery.

But it's that fight that every time we've gone, any MMA fan in the past has ever gone, like, guaranteed fireworks, not the one you want to miss. this is probably the best possible example of that type that you could ever come across. This is the best possible. Do not blink. Do not miss this. Guaranteed fireworks, at least for the first round. You guarantee that in the first round of this fight, there's going to be some absolutely

crazy shit happening, whether it be Hamsat sprinting across the cage trying to take DDP down, Homs out running into something, DDP getting the advantage. There's so many ways that first round could kind of go. And that's why I'm so excited about it. but it is that, like, guarantee of chaos. Also, just, like, the breakdown of it. It's, it's difficult to have a hard take, a hot take when it comes to this fight, because DDP is going to have to weather a storm.

If you go and watch any of Hamzat's fights, it's pedal to the metal from the second the horn sounds. Yep. And I just can't imagine it's going to go any differently here. Like, he's going to try to get a takedown early on, and he's probably going to get it as well. Like, he's gotten a takedown in every single one of his fights, except for the Mearsharth fight, where he got a knockout in like 17 seconds. Like he's going to attempt takedowns and he is likely going to get them.

It's really just whether DDP can get back up and then what he does from there. Because Hamzat is unbelievable, especially in those first six, seven minutes. Like I said, 12 finishes, all of them coming in the first 615 of the fight, dominant, dominant performances where no one's landing any strikes.

But when he does get extended, like the Gilbert Burns fight, like the Kamaro Usman fight, the fights become very close. They become very in charge. intriguing. And I think that's what's going to happen here if it gets extended again. And that's not to say that Hamzok can't win by decision. He won both those fights. He wins those fights. He could win by decision. But that's where it's going to start getting very interesting of like, oh, wow,

DDP weathered it. Now what's going to happen, especially with Hamzat having to go to the championship rounds if it goes that long? The way you've laid it out is perfect, because to me the question of this fight is, if DDP is able to survive that first burst from Hamza, that's question number one, right? Because we all know that that's what Hamzat's going to do. For one, he's done it in every fight. For two, it's his greatest method of success. While they're both fresh and he's fresh, he's going to try to take you down and mall you because it's very simple for him to do it in the beginning. As it gets later, you're more tired, the lactic acid builds up. It's harder to do that type of style. So just stylistically, it makes sense for him to try to do that. So question number one, can

DDP survive that? If DDP survives that, question number two arises for me, which is, can Hamza Shamaev win a fight that's not a sprint. Can he win a five-round fight that he needs to trade with somebody and dig deep and find it? Thus far, the three-round fights, he has looked vulnerable, but the holes in his game haven't been exploited to the point that he was going to lose. Now, there's an argument, and Kamara Usman might make this one. If there were two more rounds on that fight, that Kamaru thinks he's going to win that fight. And I think there are a lot of people out there who would think that. I need to see what Hamzad is able to do in that scenario. If we even get to that scenario.

With DDP, I don't have as many question marks. Like, I know who DDP is at this point. I don't know how he does it, but I know who he is. But he's going to come into the octagon and he's going to swing it. And that's going to go down. But, no, true, like, DDP's fighting style is this kind of like off-kilter, odd timing, not really easy to pin down. We can't break it down.

We're not fighters like that. You have guys like Tom Aspinall, Israel, Adasania, Robert Whitaker, dudes that have been in there with them and they're just like, I don't really know how to disqual. describe it. It's just like it's this very unique fighting style that looks like it's not good, but it is good. I think Izzy described them as the best shitty fighter on the world. And they obviously is not a shitty fighter. He is the best. We get his intention. But it's just like even the guys going against him, even the guy's at the very top level, like can't even mimic it. They're just sort of

like, yeah, it's just like his style. It's his style. But what it is is reliable, right? It creates opportunities for him and minimizes opportunities for opponents. He is high pressure. He's high volume, right? We see him in there with Strong Strickland. He's always the one who's the aggressor, even in a fight against a guy like Sean Strickland, who is typically the one putting up the huge volume. Or in Israel-Asonia, right? Who's typically the guy who they call like a quote-unquote point fighter who's trying to do this like high-volume efficient type fighting style. DDP is very reliable and successful in terms of that being in your face, pressing on the gas, and looking for opportunities whether it be

with the striking or even the grappling game and once he finds those opportunities it tends to have worn on you so much that he's able to find those openings and get the job done. He's an incredible difficult puzzle to solve. His style is one that is very hard to thwart. And so if you have to imagine

if Hamzad is not successful, the tide will start to just like turn and reverse this way that the odds of DDP winning just increase increase, increase as the fight goes on. But that early storm has proven very, very difficult to survive for most people. I know because we mentioned Gilbert Burns and Kamara Usman both going the distance

with Hamzachshamai. Those were in hell. Those are the two. In the first round, dude, Gilbert Burns gets dropped. He's this close to getting finished in that one. And then Kamazat Shemaya fully had his back and looked like he was going to sub him on several times in that first round. Now imagine he finishes those in the first round too. And it's just like 14 and now. 14 finishes.

He'd be like a minus 400 in this fight. It would be like we've never seen anyone even come close to being competitive with this dude, but because we've seen that, we know that he seems unbeatable, but he is not. DDP could obviously win this fight. But also on the flip side of that, if it does get extended, like I was saying earlier, like Hamza Shemayev is not out of the fight either. I'm very curious. Can you imagine if this thing starts round four? Yeah, it's going to be, well, the live betting odds are going to get hammered. That's for sure, right? Because all of a sudden those bets on DDP are going to start coming in. to me the question is

God, it's going to be crazy. We know that as the fight goes on, especially toward round three and four, Hamza Tchamayev is vulnerable. He is more vulnerable. That's just a fact, right? He has not looked as good later in the fight as he looked in the beginning.

That's okay because in the beginning of the fight, he looks absolutely unstoppable. That's a drastic drop-off, but that beginning of the fight is as good as anybody's beginning of a fight. The question is, does vulnerability mean that he's not able to win? He has won this far.

He has, as you said, the fight against Gilbert Burns, the fight against Kumar Usman, he won those fights. It's not like he lost. And I took some more positives than negatives away from that. Because if he was this guy who was only finishing first rounds of fights, what would happen inevitably is what happened to Drikas, where it's like, nah, he sucks.

He can't do anything after the first round. It turns out that was complete bullshit, and Drix is actually really good and has lots to offer beyond the first round. If it was that, then a lot of people would be feeling about that. I learned something more about Hamzat, which is he can find a way to win a fight. That's okay to learn, and it's okay for you to go to a decision. Now we're going to have to learn something new if it gets extended, which is can he win a five-round fight? Can he be not just vulnerable but still able to win, but can he complete the job?

Can he finish it? Because if you win the first round of a fight, which Hamza at Shamaev is always going to win nearly, then you only need to win one more, right, in a three-round fight. You only need to win two or you only need to win three. If Hamza-Chamayev has an incredible first round, but that starts getting blanked, that ain't going to do it anymore. That's not going to – even if you win that second round, or a third round, you're only two. And then if Drickus wins the other three, you're cooked.

So it's a completely different dynamic. It's something we're going to learn a lot of new information about Hamzat. And we may be talking about all this shit and then it's over in 30 seconds and it would have been for nothing. But I'm very interested to see how that goes. And much more so on the Hamzot question side than I have about DDP. There's no questions for me about DDP. In my head, like I'm envisioning it.

It starts, Hamzot immediately like sprints across the cage going for a takedown. And it's just like what happens from. there. What happens for that? It's like I know what's going to happen in the fight, quote unquote. Like I know that Hamzad is going to put on this insane pace straight from the jump, but I also just have no idea what's going to happen. From there, I'm just like, that's all we're going to watch. The statistics have said what happens from there is you lose to Hamzaa Chamaio, right? That is what the number say. Okay, is there any argument to make other than the Robert, obviously the last time out the Robert Whitaker one, and there were people questioning him going

into that. He was only like a minus 220 to Robert Whitaker. which obviously is a substantial favorite, but it's not Hamza Tremaya of level favorites. Normally, he's five, six, fourteen, minus fourteen hundred in these fights. Is there any argument to make that? Like, Gilbert Burns, he went to a decision with. Kamara Usman, he goes to a decision with, like these step-ups in competition is where you always see these guys who kill everybody, then they start going to decisions. Is there any concern here that like he's fighting these incredibly high-level guys that we don't see a finisher? I think people would have said that before the Robert Whitaker performance. A lot of people were probably starting to

think that it's like shit the level of competition came up and all of a sudden hamzac can't hack it i guess that's just what it is it's just whether he gets the finish or not like he was that close to finishing gilbert burns and kamar usman in the first round and then you never have the discussion exactly robert wittaker he ended up getting the finish it was so it really just comes down to does ddp survive that is ddp survived that and then you have to think that drastically his odds improve i'm not as concerned like homzad was dealing with a lot of medical issues during this time he was fighting infrequently i i talked about this last week I think Hamza has been really hurt

less so by like the medical side of it because he seems to have still been successful and it seems like from what he's been talking about in interviews going back to last year and into this year those medical issues seem to be kind of behind him.

I think he's been hurt more by the stop, start, stilted infrequent nature of his fighting because I think if he had been able to get reps and continue to fight he would have looked a lot cleaner in that fight against Kamar Usman or even in the next fight against Robert Whitaker.

It's hard to do it better than that, but I do think he's suffered from more of the lack of time in the octagon more so than anything else. If this can be the start, let's say he wins this fight and he can go on to be much more active and defend the title two, three times a year, I think we're going to see some really sick results out of him because I think you can't top that type of experience. So there's a, look, Hamza has given us not a lot of things to poke holes at, but there are things you can poke holes at. it's hard to kind of want to go that direction when you see what happens in those first rounds and as you said even in the ones where it looked like he didn't dominate as much he had these guys on death's door in the first round

that's kind of how it is so I'm inclined to not really poke the holes that I would otherwise when it comes to Homsup because very few people are going to be able to survive that first round. You mentioned we don't see him fight that often and it would be incredible if he can start traveling

the world fighting whenever his health is maintained He can fight whenever. I mean, he talked about it, I believe, on countdown or embedded, maybe with Brett Akamoto, something that he's done before the fight about how he hasn't really been going out as much because he just wants to say healthy, focus on fighting, focused on his family. So if he's healthy, he can travel the world, and we get an active Hamzaa Chmive. If he's able to become champion on Saturday night, it could be very, very interesting for the UFC. I saw he just hit 10 million followers on Instagram.

He is a superstar. One of the thing that I would have to say about, like, the step of him in competition, is there any concern on your part about him being? fully at middleweight now. Like the past has been Robert Whitaker, Gerald Mearshard. I know he fought Kamar Usman at middleweight, but Kamar Usman is obviously a welterweight.

He spent time at welterweight. Or is it just like, he's so big it doesn't matter. He's so big it doesn't matter. And also, I think it's a benefit to now not be having to make that way cut to 170. That is, I mean, he is not 10 feet tall and not three feet taller than DDP, but he is bigger than DDP.

He is thicker than a lot of middle weights that he's going to face and middle weights out there. And so I think it's a big benefit for him to not even have to think about that 170. Now, granted, he's been talking all this stuff about three titles, so maybe that reenters the fold. For now, I'm much more happy and interested in him as a middleweight. One more thing on the level of competition thing.

It is one thing to go like the level of competition is increasing and maybe the performances haven't been as spectacular as the ones against earlier opposition. The difference, though, is you hear the people in the training room. with him, you hear the people who talk about, like, I felt his strength, I felt his grip, that translate. It doesn't, it doesn't matter what level of competition you are. When you are a freak athlete, when you are freakishly strong the way that Hamza Atchamaya is, it doesn't matter if it's you in there, this guy in there, or another guy in there, the strength, the technique, the athleticism is going to translate. And so I'm not, I'm not worried or concerned about him come Saturday.

Well, a thousand percent. Like, we mentioned the being close to finishing Burns and Usman. He obviously ran through Whitaker. Yeah. And he also ran through. Kevin Holland, like, he can still do this. And to put credence to what you just said about, like, the highest level dudes giving him praise, the guys working with him. I was watching Volk breakdown of the fight and just, like, the respect that he has for Hamzat Tremayev's wrestling. He's, like, showing footage of him wrestling with Olympic gold medalists, like, just

after they had won their gold and, like, Hamzots being able to go up against it. Like, watching, like, embedded this week, Hamzad is just, like, a die-hard wrestling dude. Like, right now his Instagram picture is just a Russian wrestler gold medalist. Like he's training at these facilities in Russia that have produced so many Olympic gold medalists. Like he lives and breathes wrestling. Like his wrestling is unbelievable. And then he's giant. He's fast.

He's strong as hell. He is super athletic. Like it is a nightmare for anyone, whether it's 170 or 185. Yeah. And the other thing about him is unlike, let's say, like, the other like primarily dominant grapplers that we've seen in the past. Like let's use Habib as an example just because he's probably the most obvious or the easiest like template. it, the striking is better. Maybe not in terms, like, by the end of his career, Habib actually became a decent technical

striker. Like, even like an Islam Makachev is a very decent striker, but the power is different. I was going to say he can score. The power is very different with what Hamzat's able to generate versus some of these other guys. And so even if he's not successful in the wrestling, it's not like you're out of the water. Like, he's wild and he throws, and you've really got to be wary of what he can do with the power as well.

Also, his takedowns are so unique. like he's not just tackling you no like he's the transitions he makes from striking into getting in on you are so quick it's like you blink well he's just like he's already in on you it's not this like MMA wrestling that you see where it's like you try for a double

maybe you don't even try for a single you reset and then do it again like he is going to chain wrestle he is going to get you down the same way Habib used to do like Habib is going to grab you and he's going to figure out the path and the method to getting you to the floor hums that's the same way except you combine that with that like insane

strength where he can just lift DC up like he's a baby. Well, that, and then once he gets you down, he ain't laying on you, bro. This ain't your, this ain't your blanket to put you to bed. This man is going to start working, but it's different kind of put into bed. He has insane submissions. He's got, he's got insane power on ground and pound, everything like that. Yeah, I mean, he's just a freak. He's just a freak. But on the other side, so is DDP. He is 100%. DDP is, as we talked about, beyond being unique he is just very tough he is uh like he he he to me strikes me as like a um he reminds me of other pro athletes in other sports and i don't always say that about mhm fighters because i don't think it always translates to me he reminds me of like the lebrons

and the other athletes of other sports because he has this like will to win and this idea and how he carries himself like he's always been a champion like he was born a champion He was bred to be a champion. This is just a manifestation of something that he already knew about himself. And there was no doubt in his mind. He knows he's a one of one. He knows he's a specimen. He knows he's,

and he carries himself accordingly. Like it is not, it is not, I realized what I was once I became a champion. Or getting championship gold was like this thing. He expected to be a champion. And once he got there, he carried himself like he expected to be a champion.

And he always has the right thing to say, I'm using right in quotes, because maybe it's not PC, But I mean, like, he always has something slick or smart or interesting or intriguing to say about it. He respects his opponents. He's very analytical. He thinks about the game in a different way than a lot of different people. I have a great respect for DDP, I think, as a champion.

And I think he's a little bit unique, even in that regard, beyond the fighting style, of how he carries himself in comparison to other champions who have come before him or even other champions we have now. Well, he's a fantastic champion. And that's why what we said last week rings so true when it comes to this fight. if you're a mixed martial arts fan it really doesn't matter who wins like Hamza wins you have this new star where it's just like

all right the Shemi Vara begins how long can he go how big of a star can he become if DDP wins it's just like this guy is really the dude

like he's just beating everyone that you put in front of him he's truly knocking on the door of best middle weight of all time resume wise right like certainly it's always going to be a tough conversation and we get into this

when we talk about like Volk Aldo and that division and even like Bant away with Dominic Cruz or Demetrius Johnson with flywave because of that title reign. Anderson Silva is going to be tough to knock off that perch

because of how long that title reign was and because of how many title defenses are associated with it. But if you look at the names on the resume, it is fucking wild what DDP has been able to do to this point. And if you add a guy like Hamzaa Chamaev and being the first one to defeat him,

it's going to be pretty hard to argue against DDP's resume at that point. Sean Strickland twice. He's real lot of Sonia. Robert Whitaker. Brad Tavares there until Derek Brunson By the way

There's no easy guys Even on the UFC list That you're rattling off Like a Derek Brunson It's like a top Perennial top guy Brad Tavarez has been around Forever as a top contender

In that division There's none of those like Oh who the fuck is that guy That he fought Like he just beat the shit At a real top guys It's incredible Right now the line for this one

Minus 258 Hamzaa Hamzaa plus 210 Drix duplasi My take is Whoever wins that's going to be the last time you're going to see a line like that for him for a while.

If Drake's 2 plus he wins, you're not going to see him as a dog for a very long time. Hamza Shamaev wins, especially in the fashion that Hamza Shemai of wins in, you're going to be paying minus 400,

minus 500 for each of his fights. Yeah. And it's like when Marab started winning, there was this like we're finally seeing it. Underrating of it, but like with Hamza it's going to be

oh, back to minus 1,000 he goes. Like as soon as if Hamzaat wins, as soon as that, happens, it's going to be like nobody is being this guy, nobody's going to give anybody a chance, and we're going to kind of have that like rarefied territory where it's like, they're going to be creating people to beat this guy because of how dominant it would have looked. And I understand matchups make odds, styles make fights, but Marab was close to a plus 300 at the beginning of this year. And now he's going to be defending his title against Corey Sanhagen at like a minus 450.

Yeah, you eventually people say all the tests that we wanted you to pass, all the bars that we needed you to jump have been cleared, right? And so, to me, this will be a massive bar for Hamzaa Chamaev to clear. Saturday night, 12.45 a.m. Eastern, 11.45 p.m. Central, United Center. Whose waist is Dana White wrapping that belt around? I think Hamzaa Chamaev, but, but if you tell me that DDP survives the seven minutes and then goes on to put on a masterclass and the rest of it, it would be the least shocking thing I've ever heard. Like, I am just so sure of Hamzaa Shamaev's ability to dominate people at the starts of fights. But beyond that, I do have those questions.

I do wonder what it's going to look like from there. I don't have those questions about DDP and have to give him the edge there. So I think Hamza, I'm one of these people that, especially when it comes to somebody who is dominant like a Marab or even like John Jones in his prime or like Hamzaa or Ilya or maybe Isam Makachev actually is a better example until you show me that they can be defeated until you show me somebody's able to withstand what they're able to give most of the time I'm just going to keep picking them until they lose

Ilya is not a good example because I've kind of been doubting Ilya to this point but Islam Marab a guy like Hamzat until you show me otherwise I'm going to lean that direction and I have him in that category. I am with you in essentially every sense of the breakdown. It's just like, I think Hamza Tchamayev is going to win. Just because of what we've seen from him, just because

his abilities are tough to match. He's so big. He's so explosive. He's so fast. The finishing capabilities. But then, like you said, I wouldn't be surprised if, like, I have been guilty of doubting DDP, of being like, watch

his fights, man. There's no way he's going to be, like, a Robert Whitaker. Yeah. I was, I was Like, I backed DDP in all of his fights until we got to the Robert Whitaker one. And then I was like, all right, this is it. This is where the train finally stops. Well, the whole conversation around that was, don't fight Robert Whitaker because the Israel-Azada fight is there. That was the entire conversation at the time.

It was like, oh, fuck, we have this Israel-A-Sanya rivalry. Don't blow it by going to fight Robert Whitaker. And I felt that way, too. And then he just goes in there and blows the doors off. Blows the doors off of him. like made it like borderline uncompetitive. Yeah. It was truly an incredible performance.

I am also, I am sitting on a Hamzat Shemai. I have to be holding the boat at the end of 2025 plus 200 tickets. It's a good one. Yeah, I'm, uh, been to, you know, back in Hamzad his entire UFC career, it's not some hot take. I'm not some like scout that was like, oh, yeah. Didn't you have a guy that like ages before he made it into the UFC? He was like, there's a dude out in Sweden. Unfortunately, and please forgive me, I'm forgetting the gentleman's name, but it was from a Swedish outlet name, M.M.A. Newt. And we were in Vegas. We were at a bar. It was Oscar Willis's birthday. Shout out Oscar Willis of the Mac Life. And he came up to me, and we were talking, and he said to me, there's a guy training in Sweden who is a combination of Habib and Connor McGregor. He can wrestle like Habib, and he can knock people.

people out like Connor McGregor and I was just sitting there like okay man yeah yeah for sure sure he is yeah he's a combination of Connor McGregor and Habib of course like who who isn't a combination of Connor McGregor and Abib he can knock everybody out and just wrestle fuck them too great and I was just like nodding along like okay I'll never think about this again and then he tells me his name Tomzachmaev I never think about it again I forget about then all of a sudden Fight Island comes Hamza debuts he gets that win and I'm like oh wow that's that guy who's talking about that's pretty cool then he starts racking up another win. Then he starts really like

mauling people and I'm like, holy shit. He kind of told me that this guy was coming and he was exactly right. Like he's just this dynamo on the feet and on the ground. So shout out to him. I'm forgetting his name, but maybe Oscar can remind me. But yes, this guy has been like the worst

kept secret for forever. Well, it's like the Brian Stan moment when he's up there and someone asks him like there's a guy. Yeah, there's a dude out in Sweden. I can't remember his name right now. He trains with Gustafin and Jacker Manson. he's a freak he'll be here soon like you guys will see worst kept secret yeah i did do to hit me up on ig in like 20 21 and he was like man there's a guy out of south africa he's from south africa

get the fuck out of here yeah yeah he had already debuted in the ufc but he's like oh he's fighting this weekend like he's on the prelims but like he's gonna be champ one day and i was just like oh i'll tune in yeah fucking hell he was champ one day he was a champ one day he called it shout out it is kind of crazy how you like the local scenes know about these guys right Like, you, the local scenes have not seen anything like these people probably before and are like so excited for them to go. Like, I'm sure the Cameroonian contingent around Francis Aganu is like, like, this guy is going to be the next guy. Or in Paris, right? And I'm sure the Spanish contingent for Ilya has been talking about like, this guy sleeps everybody in the gym and you just need to see it.

But I say all that to say, there's a thousand, there's 10,000. There's 100,000 of those stories that probably happened where the guy didn't do it, where the guy did not come out and did not become the thing that everybody said they were going to become. They maybe have been a good fighter. They maybe were somebody who was kind of like successful. But it's very rare to be like the level of a DDP or a Hamzat have been born bred and like everybody around you knew that you were going to become this. And then they ultimately achieved that dream. And now one of them is going to be UFC champion and one of them is going to be. going to have a loss to the other. I mean, would I be surprised if this becomes like a trilogy or becomes something that all of a sudden like we see them fighting multiple times? Probably not because I do think these are the two best guys in that way class. Can't wait. It's going to be incredible Saturday night in Chaitown, Chicago. Where does DDP go pound for pound if he wins this fight? For me, he's got to be fucking up there at this point. Top five? I might have them higher. What are we talking right now? Ilya. The obvious ones are Ilia Islam. Islam.

Marab and Pantosia. Pantosia. I think DDP enters that five and wherever you have them. I forget. I might have him like five, six. He's up there for me right now. I have Hamza higher because I'm a fucking... We're going to find out on Saturday night.

Let's go to the co-main event. Lorone Murphy taking on the debuting Aaron Pico. We haven't seen Aaron Pico since February of 2024. And that was in the PFL against Henry Corralis. So this is a major jump in competition, off of a long layoff. As Mavsar would have been as well. yeah like either of these fights. That would have been a major major jump. When it comes down to like the fight itself like Pico is a world class wrestler that is his strength. He is a freak athlete

and we have seen Laron Murphy in the past struggle with wrestlers. The Mokwan fight. I know it's been a few years but like he got taken down and controlled the entire first first round of that fight. Gabriel Santos he got taken down five times. Josh Hammett last fight he got taken down four times. So like I guess it just comes down to like are the light's going to be too right for Pico? Is the level of competition raising too much for Pico? Or is he able to just wrestle, hang in the striking, and he's able to get it done? I have concerns about Lerone on the feet, if I'm being honest, because I think the power that Pico carries is going to be a problem. Like, I don't think he necessarily needs to be utilizing his wrestling.

Now, would it be a smarter game plan? Would he be able to, like, probably have more success there? Certainly. But I have concerns because we have seen Lerone clip before. And I think Pico carries some of that, like, real power that can hurt people in devastating fashion. It just feels like a bad matchup, if I'm being honest. Like, I'm a little bit surprised that the line is what it is because Pico being minus 135 after the lack of success we've seen from some of the Bellator people coming over. But when I do think about this fight stylistically, I think it poses a lot of problems for Lerone Murphy.

All credit to him because he's an absolute gamer. And it feels like he's one of those guys who's going to have to take the hard way to. a title shot, like there is really no shortcut for him. Stylistically, I really don't like this fight for Murphy. I think the younger, hungry, or better athlete is Aaron Pico, and he's going to find success. So I'm concerned both on the feet and in the grappling for him. I think no matter what, it's going to be a fight that berth, something great, like Lerone Murphy, undefeated, will just continue to rise the ranks of featherweight.

And it's just like, yeah, I'm game. Took out your potential superstar and Aaron Pico. Aaron Pico wins, though. it's just like top 10 now we're asking for huge fights in the UFC I guess the path to victory for Lorone Murphy

and you tell me if I'm accurate or you disagree I guess it would just be staying long and staying on the outside right you have to kind of just like be in and out

and not let Pico sit down on anything and definitely not let him get in on your legs but I just wonder it like we's kind of just kind of have to like point fight style

on him but we've seen Murphy hit in those fights like we've seen Murphy taking shots when trying to implement that style He's much better when he's inside the pocket or aggressive or landing stuff in close and actually, like, hurting people as opposed to just kind of like hitting them with those strikes.

I just feel like once he crosses that threshold, once he closes that distance, it's going to be Pico's world. And I just feel like Pico's going to be better. But the thing I kind of used to discount that I'm starting to maybe think differently about was the octagon jitters thing. I used to really think, like, it's not a thing. If you step into the cage, you're prepared for a fight. Aaron Pico has fought and Patricio Pitbull is fought and all these other guys have fought in promotions that are nearly UFC. But now I'm starting to think that maybe there is a difference. Now I'm starting to think that maybe there is something to the UFC machine and that pressure starts to build.

So if Aaron Pico comes out and puts up a stinker, maybe there's more to that and maybe we really need to like reassess what that looks like. Lights are bright man The lights are fucking right I don't think he will have that problem Because he has been a professional Because he has been A high level athlete for so long in his life He's 28 years old

But this man has been at the highest level Since he was a teenager I don't think that will happen And ultimately I think stylistically He has an advantage Ron Murphy also does not have A knockout since that mock one fight that I mentioned He doesn't carry a ton of power

Yeah It's going to be interesting man It's going to be interesting for this debuting from Bellator after we saw Patricio just a few months ago have such little success and then, oh God, yeah,

and then Patchy, I forgot about that. Man, I'm questioning my Aaron Pico but now. I don't think he's the same. I know. I mean, we're going to find out on Saturday night. Yeah, I find out on Saturday night. This is one of those that somebody's just

going to be like, you fucking idiot. Like, you bet on Aaron Pico against Lerone Murphy. I'm ready for it. Yeah. I'm prepared for it. It can happen. Against an undefeated top 10 UFC Featherweight,

you fucking moron. Or it's like, holy shit, Aripico's the fucking truth. One of the two, one of the two. Let's keep rolling on the main card. Jeff Neal taking on Carlos Prochis. Jeff Neal said on Embedded. One hundred percent chance this fight ends in a finish.

Carlos Prochase will oblige with that. Yeah, no shit. I mean, ten straight knockouts before this last loss to Ian Garry. And it was like he couldn't really get out of first gear in that fight. But when he did, man, in that fifth round, he was putting it on Gary, had him crawling to the side of the cage and everything like he was this close to getting e and gary out of there so if jeff neal obliges into a war he's going to get a war with carlos prochus and like he's named hands of steel for a reason he could also knock carlos prochase out yeah i think he's

going to be live against process we've seen neil in like knock down drag out dog fights uh you know obviously the chavcott is like one of the more memorable ones because of the luke one he was fucking piecing him up the the the toughness and the ability to hang in the to a fight by Jeff Neal is unquestionable. So I think he's going to be there with Prochis. Sometimes that's the problem, though. Sometimes when you've got a guy who is used to getting into dog fights, you get into a dog fight with a bigger dog,

and to me, Carlos Prochis is the bigger dog. Carlos Prochis is the one who's going to have the faster, stronger hands are going to be able to land more effectively. But look, Ian Gary laid out a little bit of a game plan for if you're going to try to beat Carlos. It was not particularly difficult for Ian until the very end, right, where it looked a little bit icy. He was styling on him for four rounds.

He was doing anything he wanted to Carlos. So if you're Jeff Neal, hopefully you studied that tape and find a way, I just don't think he has the same kind of agility and ability that Ian Gary has. And so I ultimately think Carlos is going to win the fight. You talk about the dog in him. Let me just list out Jeff Neal's last 10 fights. Please. He deserves love and respect, so I'd love to do this.

All the way back to 2019. Belal Muhammad, Nico Price, Mike Perry, Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, Neil Magny, Ponzanibio, Lucca, Shavcott, Ian Gary, RDA. Is there a single guy who was in a perennially ranked

like top contender in that name? Maybe Nico Price and Mike Perry and those were earlier on? Yeah, those are like beginning of the run. Still dogs that are going to bring it to you. Power punchers, yeah. Shout out. Shout out to Jeff Neal, man.

And he's also, he's still waiting tables. So yeah, keeps me out of trouble. It's good, uh, it's good, uh, cardio. It's good resting day cardio, he said. know about that part like don't know if uh imagine going into a restaurant and he's just like yep gonna take your order it's like aren't you number seven right jeff neil um what's up jeff yeah no jeff is jeff is somebody who i think like this is one of those and maybe i even said this about the last matchup but i truly feel this way is like you look at the line and you go plus two 10 on jeff neal

it tempts you it really tempts you because you're like i've seen this guy in there with high level competition and he's always there like he he's one of these guys that is equal to the level of competition but something is a little bit short there's there's something that cannot get him past that level there's something that does not allow him to win those fights it allows him to be competitive in all those fights it allows him to be game and live in all those fights but he just doesn't have that one thing that takes him to the next level i think carlos preaches might have that but the last performance against ian gary made me go i'm not sure he has that he might not have that. I need to see if he has that. This is

attempt number two. This is like if you win this one, we can reset. We can go, okay, the Ian Gary, bad style matchup. He exploited something. Maybe if you run that back, that goes a little bit differently. If he loses here, it could be pretty bad for Carlos Pratchez long term

as a top contender. I want to see him come out of the gates. Yeah. Like, let's get going out there. He looked frozen against Ian Gary. I'm not sure what that was. Maybe there was something in the training that he saw that he thought if he went too aggressive, Ian's going to do something that he wasn't ready for, but he did not look like he was prepared for that moment. He looks prepared this week. Can we show the picture? I mean, it's hard to not look cool

when you're smoking a cigarette. It's damn near impossible to look this cool. Holy fuck. Why you're smoking a cigarette with the jacket on the river smoke coming out. The stash is 10 out of 10. I'm glad that Carlos Pratchez took my advice and is keeping the stash. I think he was really on the fence. And then when I was like, keep the stash, bro. I think that really pushed him to once. When I saw him pop up on the Zoom when we were going to have him on, I was like, oh shit, the stash is looking sick. The stash's combo is elite. Do you think the Surgeon General is going to come after Carlos Prochis for making smoking cool again? Like, this man has single-handedly reinvigorated the tobacco industry. He looks pretty fucking cool.

I can't lie, man. Makes me, makes you want to light up a heater. This is not, this is not good for the health of America. I mean, especially if you're knocking dudes out. It's, It's a hard argument for some haters, man. I can't ally. What's your final prediction here? I'm going to say that Jeff Neal gets into a scrap with him and Carlos Prochis catches him.

I think so too. I mean, the power is just devastating. It's the most obvious path to victory, right? Neil's there, he's trading, he's doing well, but then Prochise is a little stronger, a little faster. If you haven't, go back and watch Prochis interview with Ariel earlier this week. It's fantastic. Such a likable dude.

Also, if you have not, I think it's episode one of Embedded. they go to Brazil, his hometown, and, like, he's chilling with his mom, and his mom's like, ah, yeah, we're both stupid people. We like fighting. We, like, arguing and, like, over the dumbest things, but we still love each other at the end of the day, and, like, he's, like, doing laundry or whatever, and she, like, puts a cap in, and he's like, nah, mom, what are you doing? And he just, like, dumps all this laundry detergent, and he's like, it's so sweaty, we got to get it clean, and she's like, no, you use it two months to my laundry detergent, like, it's so good. It's so good. Yeah, it's so good. It was either embedded or

Countdown. I think it was embedded, because I don't think he was on Conchis and his mom, like, sitcom? Like, what... I don't know, man. He's just such a likable dude. And, like, when Ariel asked him about, like, his time at International Fight Week and, like, all these people asking for pictures, and he's like, yeah, I'm down to take a picture, but, like, I'd rather fucking sit and have a beer. Like, he's like, oh, yeah, like, there were some

friends at the bar, so I was like, you want to have a beer? And it's like, sure, Carlos Proches. I'm going to beer with you. He just seems like such a likable, like, easygoing, dude. Yeah, he's very easy to root for, is Carlos Prochus. We'll be a very exciting fight on Saturday night. I can't wait for that one. Let's keep rolling on the main card. Jared Canineer taking on Michael Venham page. MVP staying up at middleweight after fighting

Sharra bullet handing him his first loss in his last fight. I mean, if he can get it done here, like are we talking about MVP top 10 middleweight, top 15, welterweight just kind of bounces around between the two weight classes? Yeah, I mean, in the MVP joined Ariel two weeks ago or three weeks ago. I think it was last week? Was it last week? Yeah. Okay, so last week, wow. my sense of time is completely fucked. We've been moving lately, man. Joined him last week, and he talked about that, right? Ariel asked him directly, like, I thought you were going to make a welterweight run after this.

I thought that was kind of a one-off. And he basically said, the fighters that he needs to be able to fight at Walterweight are not taking the fight. Like, he needs to be able to climb there. I wouldn't be surprised this fight is going to crack you into that top ranking at middleweight. This is where you probably stay at this point, if you're MVP. For one, like, I don't necessarily feel like you have a huge stuff. size advantage at welterweight that you might have had in the past.

MVP's always been a bigger, longer, welterweight. The guys are kind of that size now. So you might as well have that speed and agility advantage that you have at middleweight because of how fast and quick MVP is on the draw. And so you probably stick around to middleweight

and you probably do make a run if you're able to get it done here. I wouldn't be surprised if maybe one of those welterweights does sign up for a fight and then he bounces around. But I think you probably stick at middleweight unless you get a huge opportunity at Welterweight. Yeah, right now he's the number 15th ranked welterweight in the world. Jared Canineer, he'll be taken on on Saturday night, is the ninth ranked middleweight.

So you imagine he would just take that number if he gets the win here. Or you'd be somewhere in that range. The fight itself, this feels like striking matchup where MVP just kind of outpoints cannoneer. Like I feel like Cannoneer needs to make this dirty to get the dub here. Use that power, rely on it because I just don't think a point fighting striking match is going to go well for him against MVP. Canineer has done best in fights that guys are standing with him and willing to engage in

striking battles. Like Sean Strickland, Marvin Vittori, those are like incredibly impressive performances from Jared Cannoneer. I think in Marvin Vittory, he set like the middleweight record for significant strides. 20-41. Yeah. Those are the style of guys that he looks the best against. A guy like Kayo, who was in and out on him, right, and not really giving him a lot of opportunities.

is it was a lot more peekaboo, it was a lot more I'm here and then I'm not here. That's MVP's entire style, man. This is exactly what MVP does to everybody is like he hits and he's not hit. That is the foundational building block of MVP style. That to me feels like the game plan that he is going to execute

and the game plan that was successful for Kayo and others against Jared Kananir. Israel, Asana, right? Hit, not be hit. To me, MVP is of that exact mold. So I don't see how... Naserdinimov as well. Like, this is the style.

striking styles in and out like you just said, it just feels like a matchup that's very winnable from Michael Page. 100%. Now, granted, Jared Cannonier carries a lot of power. Big dude. And he's going to be there. But if MVP can stay safe, which he's always kind of been good about throughout his career, I think he's

going to be able to just execute exactly what we were talking about. And it feels like with this at this age and now at this level of competition in the UFC, he's gone away from the... Whose age are we talking about, by the way? Oh, MVP's. I'm sorry. I believe he's 38. I was Panoneer is also 41 years old, so I wasn't sure where we were.

Two guys that look great for their age, by the way. I mean, MVP with the teeth. I think MVP got married or is getting married. Congratulations to him, no matter what. At this age and at this point of competition in his career, like, he's not really trying to, like, do, like, the showboat, highlight real stuff on people. Like, he will taunt and, like, he'll style, but, like, it's not like he's getting ready to pull out the Pokemon ball and, like, throw you into it and things like that, which is, I don't think you should be doing that against the guy like Jerry Kennedy. He needs a finish for that too, though.

Like, that was the key. MVP back in the day when he was doing that, he was knocking guys out. It was highlight real. We haven't seen that in a while. I was going to say all three of his UFC fights have gone to a decision. I don't see this being an opportunity for a finish. I just, I think Canada is too tough. I think if we get a finish, it's on the Canoneeer side.

I would say, though, Canineer's chin has been tested a little bit recently. Like, cannoneer has been. Look, and now it's been tested, but man, he went to war with Robocop and came out on the right side. Robocop can fucking thump. Yeah. But I don't think MVP carries the type of power of the other guys that he's faced. So I think it's more of a clinical 30, 27, 29, 28 MVP unanimous. It probably is going to be pretty close.

It's going to be a good fight. You'd think even like closer than that, like a split? No, I'm not saying split, but like I could easily see it 29, 28. Yeah, I think so. Or you're like in that second round. Oh, like the Gary. 31 strikes for MVP in round two, 27 for Jared Kennedy. Yeah, MVP was one.

of those where it was just like one round goes the other way, did it go this way? And I could see that too. We kick off the main card with Tim Elliott versus Kai Asakora returning after his attempt at getting the title from Alessandre Pantosia in his UFC debut, unfortunately did not work out for him. I can't wait for this, man. I'm excited to see Kai Asakora back, man. You cannot get a more difficult debut than Alishandre Pantosia. On the short list of guys you would debut against that's the hardest that's like an ilia to pouria but like you're not going to debut against the nanaipoporio like it's just like because of where the flyweight division is currently at that is what of awarded kai saura the title shot coming in him and his ability to potentially

be a star and the Japanese market and everything like you're not going to get that at 155 like you're not just going to come in and debut at a title shot at 125 you can maybe heavyweight you could maybe a heavy way yeah yeah but chacha should have just got to say shout of the fuck fucking new Chetcha. I love him. Yeah, Kaya Sokora, like,

you can't get a tougher than Alessandra Pan I don't read much into it. Who's just running through everyone. Yeah. And I was watching a video blog of Kaya Socoras and,

like, he was talking about how tough he took the loss. He was like, man. 10 million views, I'm sure, by the way. He's such a fucking massive social star. Also, got the look, man. He's over in Japan,

like doing like the sauna, cold plunge in this wild-looking building. Like, he's, he really does have that star potential, but he was talking. talking about how, like, he was like, man, I had to go back to step one. I was depressed after it, like, I was very down in the dumps, had to essentially reset my whole game plan. I think this is a great opportunity to do that. You're getting a guy in Tim Elliott, who's

very experienced in the UFC, but he's 38 now. We haven't seen him fight in like 20 months. I think it was like December of 2023 the last time he fought. Yeah. And he's 38 at 125. This feels like a much more winnable fight for Kai Sakora to get that test of like, okay, you are UFC caliber. Now let's see if you can rise back up the ranks to get another title shot. Absolutely. Tim Elliott, though, is one of those guys who kind of plays spoiler. Oh, yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong. Like, the dominance with which Pantosia showed in the grappling against Kai last fight, if Tim Elliott 29, 28's him by getting four takedowns and seven and a half minutes of control time, I'll be like, well, probably shouldn't have given him a grappler. Probably shouldn't

have given him Tim Elliott. He has found a way throughout his career to kind of do a exactly what you're describing there. You do have to imagine, though, like, having not fought in MMA, he had a, he had a grappling match, but having not fought in MMA since December of 2023, the win over Sumer Darje that you were talking about for Tim Elliott, that is a long time to come back to a guy who is as explosive and good as Kai Asakora is. So while he has played spoiler in the past, I have a hard time believing that off that long of a layoff to come back in there.

be able to do that to somebody as good as Kai is going to be as equally tough a test for Tim as the test is for Kai. It kind of like evens that playing field. If this was Tim Elliott like rolling off like two, three wins in a row and all of a sudden like he and it was just, you know, three months ago that he fought, I'd be pretty concerned for Kai because as I said, like this is kind of what Tim Elliott does. In this scenario, I do feel like we're, you know, we're longer in the tooth and the younger hungrier guy. in Kai is probably going to be able to get it done. Title Challenger, Tim Elliott, that is. Yes. That wasn't, unless I'm mistaken, he won tough and got that. Isn't that how that worked out? Against Demetri Johnson?

Yes. He won tough and got it. Shout out, man. So we're talking about, you know, been in the game for a minute. I was going to say we're talking about debuts. That wasn't his debut because he had fought in the UFC before, but then he left, and then he wins the tough,

and then he actually fights Demetrius Johnson in his first official UFC fight back. It's apropos that he would be fighting a guy like Kai Asakora. When Kai Midd his debut back in December of last year, we did the whole breakdown of like how many followers he has, everything like that. Like 1.4 million on YouTube, but I do have the fight the book if he wins this one. Who is it? Kaiy Sakora fighting on this card as well, Carlos Proches.

His featured number one video is on the Kaia Sakora YouTube channel, MMA fighter confronts cigarette butt litterers. I had no idea where you were going with this, and I get it. No, what is it? Did you actually watch the video? No, I haven't watched the whole thing. Because I wonder what the fuck happens in that video.

Like, is he actually like trying to get angry with him? It seems like too nice of a guy to do that. Kai versus Carlos, let's do it. I'm down. I wonder if they both win. They're getting the bonus. Carlos Smokin' SIG throws it out, and Kai, you just see like the eyes light up.

That would be great. Yeah, I can't wait for that, man. I am pulling for Kai Asikora. I'd really like to see another potential star and more talent in 125. It's one of my favorite division. So as a guy that's only 31, Tim Elliott, been great for the division,

but longer in the tooth, I think Kyosakura has much more potential for the future at 125. Let's go to the prelims. Featured prelim, obviously. As we mentioned at the top of the show, we lost King Green and Diego Fahara off this card, as well as Rodrigo Césinando and DeNio Donceco,

which is the tough welterweight final. That was going to happen earlier in the car. So did they just not do that? I wonder what happens that I would imagine they They'll rebook it I saw a report that it's going to go to Nocha UFC

Yeah I would imagine they just rebook it So the feature prelim will now be Can't have a tough season without a champion I mean we need to have Of course it We will get resolution Oh thank God

I guarantee DC didn't wear that tough shirt To the gym For nothing Feature prelim now GM3 versus Lord Mikhail Olexeychek Love it

Sick This is how you get people to buy a pay per view Bangor Two options here Yeah GM3 sub Mikhail Oleg Cheechek, knockout.

Mikhail, last five wins, come by way of knockout. Three of his last four losses, by submission. GM3, caoed four times in the UFC, last nine victories come by way of submission. Both are two and four in their last six. It's just like... Knockout or sub. If you stay standing, I'm going to guess Oleg Seych is probably going to get a knockout. If it goes to the ground, I'm going to guess GM3 is probably going to get the sub.

which way do you lean what is going to happen mikhail yeah me too i'm going to go mikhail because gm3 isn't amazing at getting takedowns it sort of has to get there and by get there you mean get knocked nearly unconscious land on his back and then but it could work i mean the kevin holland won mikhail like hung on way too long yeah that was got his arm snapped

yeah that was some bad grappling from him there i mean as you said the losses are by sub he does that is not his realm that is not his world and that is very much GM3's world like he is one of the best at that in terms of him, Paul Craig, and others are the best at oh, you think I'm fucked, but actually this was all the ruse so that I could sub you.

Welcome to my world. Thanks for coming down with me. But I do, I feel the same as you. I think, Mikhail, I think he's like rounding into his game a little bit. It's hard to remember this because... But he's 30 years old. Yeah, and...

Training with fighting nerds now. He's now with fighting nerds. Like, you have to imagine the game plan, the knowledge that he's been able to share with them, or for them to share with him rather has probably better prepared him for these fights. I think he's still one of those guys that I kind of like have decent hopes and aspirations for if he can put it all together. He needs to avoid the sub, but I think he will be able to get it done. The Polish prince, man. I mean,

it's not, soon he'll be the Brazilian prince. Yeah. It's not something you really want to see right there on the lower third. If you're going against Joe Nearkar, six of your last nine losses via submission, going against a guy who's like, well, either subdom or I lost. That's pretty much of the GM3 way. When was his last win by non-submission? I think it dates all the way back to rear-naked choke, guillotine choke, rear-naked, body kick in December of 2017. It's been a minute. He's got he's got chokes too. Power guillotine, rear-naked, normal guillotine, arm triangle. He can get you out of there, man. Camorra. Does he have the most finishes in middle-weight? Arm bar, anaconda choke. Yeah, he's got the most finishes in middle-weight and he has one knockout.

It's crazy. Yeah. Don't go to the fucking ground with that guy. Just stay striking, Mikhail, and that's how you get it done. There's a guy at my gym that looks freakishly like GM3. Is it not just GM3? Built, mustache, like, looks just like him. And I have a friend who is a woman that goes to the gym as well.

And good looking guy, but I was talking to her, and she's like, I found my gym crush. And I was just like, oh, this is Gerald Mirchart? And she's like, what do you mean? and I pulled up a picture of Gerald Moorchart and I was like, is it this guy? And she was just like, holy shit, that's him, yeah. I was like, yeah, it's not actually. Wait, are we not sure that it's, is it not GM3?

It's not GM3, but he looks so much like him. Every time I see him, I just give him a head now, I'm like, what's up, Gerald? How are you doing, man? I saw him this week and I was almost like. No, no, no, I've never talked to him, but just every time I see him, I'm like, God, you must find out his name.

He's like, hi, I'm Gerald. He's suspiciously not there this weekend. I saw him on Monday. I was like, don't you have to get to Chicago, dude? Who the fuck are you? Shout out to Jim GM3. Yeah, shout it to Jim Gerald, man. Yeah, it's so funny.

He looks so much like him. It's ridiculous. All right. Going to be a great fight. Let's keep rolling. The debuting, just four days after his debut on Dana White Contender Series, where he got a first round, nasty body kick A.L. By Sanger, Susser Kyev.

by Sanger Souser Kayaev. Get used to saying that one. That is Brennan Fitzgerald approved exactly how he said it. By Sanger Souser Kayaev, he will be taking on Eric Nolan, who is the current CFFC Welterweight champion. Also getting a great opportunity on short notice.

He's 8 and 3, all 11 of those fights taking place in CFFC. But by Sanger, Souserkaiv is the story here. Like, he's got the stamp of approval from Hamzat Shemayev. He said he's crazy good. They've trained together. They're teammates right now. If you're getting that approval from Hamzat, you have to be good.

It's like, Hamzai gets all this approval from everyone else, or it's like, this guy's unbelievable. Hamzad is approving him. This guy. He showed it in the round one win. There they are training together right there. He showed it in the round one win on Tuesday night. Now he gets to come and prove it. And you talk

about mirroring each other. Hamzat Shemayev, who's obviously main eventing this weekend's card, set the record for the quickest turnaround between UFC wins in the modern era with 10 days back in 2020. I understand this isn't UFC to UFC. This is Dana-Wy contenders here. But holy shit, man. I did the math by the time he makes the walk to the time he left the Octagon on Tuesday night,

it will be less than 100 hours between the fights. And that time he needed to travel to Chicago, meet with the commissions, weigh in again, do all of this, get back on weight. if he goes out there and puts on a highlight reel put the rocket ship man it's the homza it's the boers pack it's the wolf pack is here it's time to take over the wolf pack i love that it's it's it's time to take over uh eight of his nine wins come by finish we saw it on on tuesday night seven of those in the first round five in under 90 seconds

yeah it's hard to pick against this guy do we have odds on this fight yet oh that's actually a good point let's let's see if we do have odds yeah it's it's difficult to pick against this guy and it's exciting for UFC fans it's like man not only is he game but like you have the chance to do something historic here

what's going to be interesting though is that minus 800 holy shit I wouldn't want to fucking fight that guy I'm not trying to fight him either but like damn as you said

Eric Nolan's CFFC champion one of the issues with this though the matchmaking on this I understand like the matchmaking in this could look good Because if Sir Sarkaiyev wins quickly and gets that first round finish as we expect him to do, he'll look like a million bucks, right?

It's going to be, but there's not a name there that you can really like go like, first of all, if Nolan wins, then it's like, oh, just blew this guy. And it's like, this guy made his debut and nobody knows who the fuck he is. But then also, we don't know who the fuck Nolan is because he has not fought in the UFC. He's just been on CFFC. That's what I'm saying, though. It's almost just like Dana White Contender Series part two. A contender series fight, basically. It was like bone nickel getting a second.

But like, dude, to fight four days? No, it's very cool. I do wish, though, he had somebody who at least had a little bit of a UFC name value so that it was like, oh shit, he beat this person and you can really do that Hamzaa level push. But at the same time, like, if the expectation is he goes out there and fucking smokes this guy in the first round, like it doesn't really matter who it is, right? Like, you kind of just go, oh, shit, that's that guy. So you also kind of need someone that really needs an opportunity.

It's tough to get a name on four days notice. It's like, hey, man, you want to fight this killer that Hamzat says is really good in four days in Chicago? Yeah, yeah, yeah, 12, 12, for sure. Nah, there's lots of guys signing up for that. Speaking of the Wolfpack, I forgot to do this during the main event. Hamsat shorts. Yay, nay, we have the pictures, and I want to throw in that. You know my answer to this.

What's my answer? You originally liked them? Now you hate them? No, not original like them. Originally said, oh, that's cool with the woes. Universally, all of these clip art shorts are fucking dog shit. and I hate them, and these are not good. Okay, I want to throw someone out there, too.

Someone did this on Twitter. I think it was Vuelta MMA, and he said he just didn't like the blue, and I could be getting that name wrong on Twitter. Oh, just the blue, not the MS paint-level fucking wolves on it? I think the wolf looks all right, man. He threw out this. Let's take out the blue and just do the black.

Oh, that's cooler. I like the all-black better. Yeah, I still hate it. The wolves look like my eight-year-old child. You all really hate on the wolves, man. I got a drawing pad. I've been getting into art a little bit. I'm trying to get my own artist series poster.

That's my goal. All I've made it once I get that. I'm shit at drawing. You guys are going to be like, what is this MS paint bullshit? No, because you are not appearing on the shorts of Hamzaa Chimae of appearing in the men of the bed of the goal now. That's the goal.

My two goals. Get an official UFC artist series poster. Get on someone's shorts. Good luck to you. Also, I like any custom shorts because they're just cooler than the normal Venom shorts. Barely. DDPs clears. Let me see BDPs again.

Do we have DDPs? I think we have a side by side of them. Maybe I didn't send it to Jordan. We've seen DDPs before. They're unbelievable. Yeah, his are better. They're so good with South Africa. Did we need to keep the bulge in?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. They got to represent. Seems aggressive. I think DDP specifically requests. If you ever show my shorts, there must be a... Keep the bulge! Anytime they go pattern instead of like trying to do like art shit, it's better. Because patterns are easier and don't fuck them.

pattern that, like, shows their heritage or, like, shows their personality. The Zhang shorts. God, the Zhang. The best art war is. Are Ilias with the Bulls on them. Oh, yeah. The Bulls look sick. But it's nice and simple.

I can tolerate those. General, don't like, don't like these shorts. More custom shorts. No. Let them wear their own shorts. That's the best answer. But that just isn't going to happen. Paramount, the executives at Paramount are going to bring it back.

They're going to be like, if you show fights on our network, anybody. should be able to wear whatever they want. That's as long as it says paramount, right on the butt. If they want custom South Park shorts, they get custom South Park shorts. Imagine someone wearing, yeah, like Cartman shorts or something like that. I mean, that would actually be pretty funny. All right, let's keep rolling on this card. Just a few more here.

Jessica Androge, taking on Loopy Godinez. Justauntra's just like active. She's just, she's just ready to go. If that is the way somebody describes your chances of winning a fight, it is not good. Hasn't been great as early, but of course she can win this fight. like it just kind of depends like she hasn't looked great on bottom and like we know that loopy is going to attempt to dig her down wrestler yeah um but i mean yeah jessica androge could always show up is there a chance that jessica androge's physicality is too much for loopy though

because there's a world loopy style is as you said right i want to get in like striking battle she's kind of hit her miss with it her style is best when she's getting in close and trying to wrestle jessica androge i agree with you like recent performances have not been She's definitely collecting those checks. She's definitely, quote, unquote, active. But she's also strong as a fucking ox. And if you try to take that style with her, I could see a world where maybe Jessica's able to, like, out muscle Lupi.

Hopefully then technique comes into play for Lupi, and maybe she's still able to find it. I don't know really what to make of it. I think Lupi wins because of how unsuccessful Jessica has been lately after looking a lot better in past years. But I also would not be surprised. Like, Lupy finds ways to lose these types of fights at times. Look, man, like, she knocked out McKenzie Dern.

Yeah. She beat Marina Rodriguez. Like, yeah, she lost to Natalia Silva and Jasmine Jazz DeVicious. Two girls, like, at the top of the division. Two of the contenders, yeah. I mean, Lupy lost to McKinsey Dern. Shout out, shout out Jasmine Jazz de Vicious. So, like, I wouldn't be shocked if Jessica Androge won this fight.

I think she needs to use the physicality and not end up on bottom. I feel the same way. Like, she needs to out muscle Lupy. She needs to prevent her from doing what she's going to do. it could go either way for me. I feel like with the plus 150 dog, maybe Andrage's worth the play there. Like, I don't trust loopy in a lot of spots like this.

So we'll see. But I think this is going to be a fun and close fight. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Let's keep rolling. Alexander Hernandez taking on Chase Hooper, who is putting together a fantastic streak here, five wins. It feels like he's really coming into his own.

Just 25. I do it. It looks like he's about to be 26 in a month. So he's getting close, but. Nasty grappling, striking. he's starting to come there. I know like it's sort of been a joke like the old man to who are fighting Clay Gwita and Jim Miller back to back,

but like Alexander Hernandez, like that's, that's a quality younger opponent, only 32 years old, a strong, big dude. But like man, with the way Chase Hooper has looked as of late, I have a hard time picking against them. Same. I think, as you said, like this is going to be a real test for Chase Hooper. Not that

past opponents weren't. I don't subscribe necessarily to this like he's just beaten up on old men. Like those are quality wins for Chase Hooper. This will be another tough test, but I do think the version of Chase Hooper that we're seeing right now is going to be a real problem for a lot of people and I think Alexander Hernandez is

one of them. I really favor Hooper in this fight. And it feels like Chase Hooper is like not only coming into his own in his game, but also in his life, he's got a wife, a kid now, he's very focused on M.A. And he's just like slowly taking this rise. He's not like, all right, give me top 15, give me top 15. He's just

sort of, he's putting together wins, he's getting an experience. He's still, this isn't a fight that's going to get him ranked with how stacked lightweight is. like he's just he's taking this properly i like his chances on saturday he's also like physically a very big and tall and rangy guy like he he he is is he's going to be at a physical advantage in this division in quite a lot of his fights he also just looks so much like thicker now right like yeah the the gangly kind of awkward looking jes super roman copy laws exactly he's looking closer to the pomem evolution the gangly guy that came into the u scee he looks completely

different both from a physical perspective and from a stylistic perspective. I'm pretty high on Chase Hooper and so I think he gets it done here. Edson Barbosa taken on Dracar Close. This is just a fun fight to look forward to on the prelims, two vets, older guys, 39 and 37, but like still obviously our game. Dracar Close, I think was on a four-fight winning street before meeting Joel Alvarez, but like we ain't fault in no one for losing Joel Alvarez. We support the big man on this podcast. And then Edson Barbosa is just like, he's down for a scrap whenever. He's down for a scrap and he lives and dies by the sword,

right? Edson Barbosa is going to try to take you out of there and a lot of times he also gets taken out of there. It's been mixed results throughout his UFC career, but the level of striking has always been extremely high level. So I think it's going to be an interesting one to see if Draccar can make it a little bit grittier, a little bit dirtier, not let Edson

kind of get off his clean technique. If he can, I think he's going to have success. I slightly favor Edson just because of the level of technicality there. Also, just like, we We gave Jeff Nealus flowers earlier. Yeah, stupid. At San Barbosa the last 10 years. Donald Soroni, King Green, Michael Johnson, Paul Felder, Tony Ferguson, Anthony Pettis, Gilbert

Melendez, Benil Daryush, Habibner Magamagamatov, Kevin Lee, Dan Hooker, Justin Gagee, Paul Felder again, Dan Igay, and then you kind of get an end of the switch to 145, Machuan Americani, Shane Burgos, Giga Chikate, Bryce Mitchell, Billy Q, Siddiqu, Seth, Laron Murphy, and now, Troucar Close. Yeah. Dude, just game. Always fighting top rank guys. That stretch from like 2014 to like 2020, that's six years.

Like he took nothing but killers. No. And even the guys at Featherweight that you're listening off, like some of them have aged worse, right? Some of them you look back and you're like, oh, that guy's not really a name. At the time, these are all top level ranked guys and Edson Barboza kind of carried that weight. Tied for fourth most knockouts in USC history. Unsurprising. Again, kill or be killed.

Knockdown. It's knocked down. Sorry. We've seen Edson Barbosa on the wrong side of some highlight reels and we've seen them on the right side of some highlight reels. I favor him as I said because of the clean technique but I'm I'm I going to be surprised that Dracar Close is able to keep the distance short get inside and like kind of rough Edson up I wouldn't like I think Dracar close is pretty solid and pretty tough um so yeah ed's to lose but he is not infallible he is not invincible uh Nerselton Ruzabayev taking

on Brian Battle I can see it now Brian Battle gets on the mic oh no you did didn't think the butcher was going to come into Chicago and lose to an Uzbekia, dude. I know, you didn't think. I can see it now. Ariel had him on, was that last week or was that this week? That was last week. We had him on that. Fuck, my memory is shot, dude.

He had him on last week, and he asked, and he was talking about that. He was like, it was Becky Stan. It's like the Kazakh fans with Shabok. They're in there. He's like, oh, yeah, it was Bekistan flags. Like, we watched Norsetan at UFC Atlantic City. And like when he was making his walk, you look around and it's just Uzbek flags everywhere. I was just like, damn, they are out in force for this food. I was just about to ask.

I said Uzbeki. It's Uzbekistan? No, but what would you call somebody from Uzbekistan? I feel like Uzbek. An Uzbek, right? Like if you're from Kazakhstan, you're Khazakh. Yeah. So those fans in the Instagram comments are definitely ready to let them have it.

You only have so many fighters from Uzbekistan. Oh, yeah. Well, you got to ride hard. I have a feeling battle will probably not necessarily be focused on that and maybe what the callout is because he did tease

that he had something but he didn't want to say what it was so let's see if battles able to get it done do you think he does get it done I lean yes but I don't know

there's been times where Brian battle fights it's either like he looks incredible I thought he lost to Randy Brown for what it's worth oh me me too I agree with you

I thought that Randy Brown should have got in on the scorecards it's like he looks incredible or he like fights down to the level of his competition. Now, I don't think Ruzabayev is that much below him in terms of competition, but it's just whether or now we see Brian Battle look like this world beater or it's a very close fight where he could easily lose. Yeah, I feel the same.

Both of them only like, you know, 30 and 31 respectively. Like this is a decent matchup for you to say like, okay, I can at least try to make a climb toward the title and it starts here. Yeah, it should be a good one in Chicago crowd. It should be on Till Kareni, Silva taking on Dianey Barbosa, another fighting nerd get in there that should be a fun one and then kicking us off

the curtain jerker at least according to the topology Alibe Adiris versus Joseph Morales that is your 125 tough finale perfect don't know anything about those dudes

I will meet them on Saturday I think we all will it'll be great fantastic I look forward to it and then I look forward to the welterweight finale on Noche UFC yeah Adiris versus Morales with Theo Vaughn sitting second row

it's gonna be awesome shout out to MMA fighting in the graphic that went. Yeah, the meme graphic. I love it. M. M.A fighting getting into the meme game, I respect. I respect.

Full story coming to M.M.A. Oh, nope. I moved the wrong way. I was trying to center myself up. Yeah, there we go. I was center, man. I mean, the Hester jersey is looking fucking fantastic. Hester jersey's fire, authentic 2006.

Nah, he used to hate it. He's quick on the draw. I saw that. I mean, I pulled up to fight feasts with Frankie and I was wearing this and I had like sunglasses on. He's just like, oh, nice glasses. I was like, Jersey.

What about the jersey, bro? That is UFC 319. I cannot wait for that this weekend. It's going to be fantastic. It's going to be magical. Main event's going to be unbelievable. That is one that you invite the friends over. You throw a couple home run and pizzas into the oven and you enjoy your Saturday evening.

Some other events going down in combat sports this weekend. PFL. Yes. Some finals. The championship. Godzi Rabadanov taken on Alfie Davis in the 155 tournament final. Godzi nominated for. Fighter of the Year.

Fighter of the Year at the MMA World Awards. Yeah, the World MMA Awards have him nominated for Fight of the Year. Not bad. I don't like his chances, if I'm being honest. There's some other names in there that I put in the Instagram bio like nominee. Fighter of the Year nominee. But yeah, an important fight for PFL, obviously.

We actually have a photo that PFL sent around, but I'm sure has kind of made the rounds already. Look at the level of elite fighters that is just. just like sitting in this gymnasium. All right. I see Habib. I see Gadsie. I see Usman and Umar.

Um, I see Movlead right there next to him. Who just won the championship for PFL. I recognize dude in the elite shirt. I think if I saw some statistic that if you like add up all these dudes, uh, it's, it's something like 498 or something. That can't be real. Somebody, nobody actually, it wasn't that much like insane. No, but nobody actually sat there and totaled their win.

Did they? Like, I... Let's say if you just totaled... Like, Islam, Usman, Islam, Habib, Gadsie, Mowgli, and the dude in the elite shirt. And, uh, Godzie. It'd be pretty impressive. Yeah, I mean, suffice it to say, like,

that, that training room is probably pretty fucking nuts to be in. Oh, God. And, um, the level of wrestling that's happening in that room. Um, thank you to the PFL for sending that photo. They also have, um, uh, PFL origins. They have a series that they debuted where you kind of go inside that room. So that's where that photo is from.

There's some talk from Habib about that fight. So you can check that out on PFL's YouTube channel. But I'm excited for another championship. As we got the news of Paul Hughes and Usman Nirmagamatov fighting, it seems like we're finally starting to move toward like, okay, one brand, right? Like we're getting like championship fights and we're going to have established champions. This could be a step toward that, right? Maybe the winner of this will go on to fight for a title later in the in the calendar year or even next year. But I'm happy that we're kind of like concluding this championship season.

As I said many times, I feel like this championship season has been better than past. I really like the one and done tournament better than what they were doing before. We're getting some closure and then we can kind of move on to this like we're really having championship fights. We'll have established PFL champions and then we move on. So happy to see all this moving in the right direction for PFL right now. In the co-mate event is the Women's 125 title. Liz Karmouche taking on Jenna Bishop, a potential opponent for Dakota Digital. And I believe Karmouche was the reigning Bellator flyweight champion when they came over.

I believe that is correct. So this will also be another one where it's like you could make her the champion or she will fight somebody else, potentially if Karmouche is able to get it done. Or even if Bishop gets it done, she would be the lineal champion and then you could put her in a title fight. So I have to think that Karmu is still good enough at this point. to be able to get it done, but Bishop has been pretty impressive this tournament, so a good fight there as well. Godzie minus 1,200, Liz Garmouche, minus 240. Speaking of odds, let's do our picks for the weekend.

We'll do a brief recap, my picks from last weekend, and the Parlay Pals are running red hot right now, and then we'll do our picks. Oh, take a look at that, all green, up over five units. 34 parley pals picks since we started this show 13 and 21 yeah the record sounds horrible return on investment 14.9% I did the math on it let's go baby if you put one unit on every single parley pala so like let's say you did $50 the return would be

253 or whatever over the time spend 10 10 months 14% we're out doing the stock market right now we're crushing the IRA think us later Yahoo! Yahoo! Funn's finance is going to start, they're going to be like the S&P 500, the NASDAQ, yeah, the S&P 500, the NASDAQ, and the Parlay Pals. Um, did that counter start from when

we started here? Yeah, at at, uh, when we started here. Okay. Yeah, we were also up at, uh, at the M&AW. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Um, fuck yeah. Um, fuck yeah. And then my picks, uh, we did, uh, we won like 0.8 units. That's still a dub. The, the apex, yeah. We're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're very close to having a very big night on several things, but, you know, what are you going to do?

We move on. There's money to be made this weekend. Let's do our Parlay Pals' picks. We've already gotten Pizzi's picks. He went with, who'd Pizzi go with? Chase? Chase Hooper. That is who Petez he went with. Frank, why don't you go first? Rick will go second. I'll go third. I forgot about the metal ass. I love it. Parlay Pals. Yeah, man. I'm going to keep this one short. It's sweet. You never do. Carlos Parchus is my mind.

Thank you. Nice. Thank you. I also, while I have your attention, I think he should change his name to cowboy killer. Why is that? Why? Because of the Marlboro's. Do they call those cowboy killers?

Is that it? I'm missing something. Carlos Cowboy Killer Prochis. Love it. Rules right off the tongue. Has he ever fought... You could come out with a cowboy hat or something? Either...

And then they fight, and then he has to fight Cowboy Soron. Or Oliva. Then he has to fight Alex Olivaira Back to back Two old retired guys That end up getting knocked out I like the nightmare I think we stick with the nightmare

All right, all right Carlos Carlos Black Long Yeah, hey, hey We're trying to get a sponsorship from Marvel and you're not too much It also goes beforehand The Black Long

Carlos Parchas All right Okay, it's for me Mikhail Ola Shakecheck Okay, okay I'm going main event Tom's out your mind.

Oh, fuck. All right. Just going. I'm just believing it. Let it ride. I'm just, uh, in hindsight, we'll look back and I'll be like, yep, we knew all along. There it is. There's the graphic.

Uh, plus 287. We hit this one. I like the range we're in here. We're up almost, we're up almost eight units. I like how we're all in the like minus two to minus three range. We're all just quite like in grouped up there. I know everyone likes to say 13 and 21. Yeah, we're taking, we're taking fairly big odds.

It's okay if we're losing. It's okay if we're losing. I, you know, actually, speaking to that? I found a someone found a website and sent it to me all about Drake's bets Drake Riggs? I think it's literally No, no, no, no, Drake, the rapper.

Drake Riggs! Young men? James Tudu? Jay Zahuna? I think it's called like Is the Drake Curse Real.com or something? And this guy has logged every single one of

Drake's bets. Oh, wow. The Drake Curse.com. And the guy has logged... I've always wondered this. Yeah, he's logged every single bet. Uh, no. He is currently up all time. And obviously he bets a lot.

He is currently up $964,000 all time on his bet. So it's not a curse. So he's actually just fucking good. He has one... UFC is his most bet on sport with 13.4 million laid over 25 bets. I wonder how much he's up on those. Yeah, the drakecurse.com. It's quite interesting.

So this whole thing is like the Drake Curse and then me and while he's up a million dollars. UFC he is up 1.03 million on NFL he's up 1.9 3 million on so where is he losing all this his worst sports soccer he's down 1.9 million boxing he's down 1.3 5 what the fuck soccer he is so bad holy shit he's 0 and 4 on soccer that's why remember he's making massive wagers yeah uh f1 he's down 443000 um MLB he's down 135 tennis he's down 115 NHL he's down 39K. No, NBA, he's up on million. Oh, shut out. Cricket. He's three. He's spreading it, huh? I think it's the steak deal. Cricket, he's three and oh, 998,000 up. Stay away from that soccer and you might be, you might be onto something, young man. But the question is, what is his

ROI? So he's wagered 35.2 million, and he's returned 36.1. That's light. 35 million? If you're out there we're 35 million, just tailed Drake. So there is a stat, since the Kendrick dropped. Uh-oh. So like in, in 2024 and 2025, he's a combined down 2.5. In 2023, he was up 3.2 million. So it's been bad since the Kendrick. Yeah.

But lately, man, it just feels like he's not actually a curse. No. Israel Out of Sonia is the biggest victim of the Drake curse, having lost three times as a favorite while being backed by Drake. Is it then, should, like, you know, not to be disrespectful, but is it more the Israel-A-Sanja curse than the Drake curse at that point, kind of? That's the question. Drake definitely thinks it's an Israel-A-Sahny curse. Yeah, that's just some fun. All right, my picks for this weekend, let's rip through them real quick.

We start. Lupi, Andrage, I'm going, fight doesn't go to a decision, you're getting plus two, 10 on it. Yes, I understand. Lupi-Odinez mostly goes to decision. Nine of her last 10, I've gone the distance. But who she fight? Jessica Andrage, 11 of her last 15, have not gone the distance. She creates chaos.

You talked about the physicality. She hasn't looked great from bottom. So I think even if Loopy does get her takedowns off, there's a chance that she's able to finish the fight. We saw it on U.S. Enoche in 2023. She got to finish there. If Androge is getting her game off, she's absolutely live for her finish. Plus 2.10, I'll throw a flyer on it. Thank you very much.

We roll along. Aaron Pico, man, this is one of those ones. I'm either going to look Oh, this guy knows ball We knew Aaron Pigo It's like the image you used by the way You fucking idiot How did you bet on this guy

Bellator debut Against an undefeated top 10 featherweight I'm ready for both Options I'm excited for either outcome here I will say this If Aaron Pico loses I'm never betting on a debuting Bellator fighter again

I bet on Petroop And I bet on patchy mix I'll a scrub When I was really locked in Like when I was betting regularly, I had a rule no debuting fighters period. That's smart, dude. Never. No debut guys.

That's so smart. That's so smart. If I didn't work on the show and had the bet every week, I would definitely follow that. Yeah. Sometimes, I mean, look at Buchesha. I lost my ass on Buchetia. What a jackass I am. Listen, it's not over yet.

There's still, like, you get the next one. Butchia will never get another dollar from me. That's son of a gun. Main event, I had to do it. Hamz Atchamai of inside the distance. I tried to get you to just. detail this. It's moved a little bit. It's like minus 150 now, but I was like, bro, it's plus 100. If he wins, he's going to win inside the distance, in my opinion. I'm not saying he

can't win by decision, but I think the most likely outcome that he wins by is inside the distance, even money on this bet. I just had to do it. I've been back in the dude his entire UFC career. I got the championship future. I'm not saying I'm smart for doing this. I'm not some knowledgeable man. He's obviously unbelievable. He's the worst kept secret, as as they say. When DDP has lost, these two losses are both by finish. So I think that's the most likely outcome

for this one. You're getting a minus 240 down to close to even money. I don't know what the line is at right now. And then I did also throw by submission. I don't think he's going to knock him out. I think he's going to take him down

and get the submission. That's my betting prediction. You have mentioned trying to get me to tail this. I have taken a position of, I will not bet on this fight. No bets. I love this fight too much to even have anything influence

my feelings on it. Whoever wins, I'm going to be fucking stoked. It's going to be incredible. This is my Super Bowl. That's why you picked it for the party. That's why I picked it. I did not pick it.

Thanks for watching though, Frank. We appreciate that, man. You guys are just the same person to me. All right. Got it, Frank. You know what? Fucking got him, man.

All right, a couple parleyes here. Some guys that I think are GM3, Mikhail, don't see it going the distance. I think that's sub or knockout one of the two. And then Kaiusikor, I'm going to back him to bounce back.

In this one, we roll along. three guys that I feel have a good chance of winning. I like the stylistic match himself up for them. Chase Hooper, Michael Venom Page, Carlos Prochase, and then to finish it off, let's keep Carlos Prochis in there. A fighting nerds, Parlay, Karini Silva, Mikhail O'Shacek, Carlos Prochase, just for the hell of it, just for the hell of it. And those are the bets.

For UFC 319, I cannot wait for this card. Chicago, you're getting a good one. Chicago, you're getting one, period. We can finally end the trout. you're getting one. The stars and stripes, four stars out there. I have no idea what they represent. But shout out to Chicago. I probably should have learned that for this week. And I probably should have learned that for this week's fight feast, which is what we are transitioning to me and Frankie and old camera guy, Nick. We hopped in the Winnebago. And we went to Chicago. No, I'm just kidding.

We don't have that kind of budget. We're still working on cards, people. You think we can just go to Chicago? But we do have Chicago restaurants here that serve authentic deep dish. So we try to some deep dish, we tried some Chicago dogs, and then I got to whip up. Well, actually, Frankie whipped it up. You'll see how that went. My favorite frozen pizza's home run-in pizza. This is UFC 319 fight feast. Chicago, enjoy. The UFC makes its long-awaited return to Chicago for the first time in over six years, and the diehard fans of Chaitown get a banger in Hamzaa Shemaya v. Drigis duplice, my most anticipated fight of 2025. So in honor of the promotions return to the windy city, we're going to go on a Chicago.

Chicago Food Tour right here in Manhattan. First stop, Emmits for some deep dish. Fight Feast, episode 25. Let's go. All right, first up, we got the Daisy Cutter Pale Ale. You can only see the brick behind me, but this is a dope place. A lot of cool stuff on the wall.

Real cool vibe in here. This is where we'll show the B-roll. That's pro's production for you. Daisy Cutter from Chicago. Half-Figger Brewing Company, brood in Chicago, Illinois. Shout out. Here we go.

Used to be a bartender back in the day. Not true at all. Wow, beautiful caramel color here. We got Frankie with me. Cheers, brother. To the windy city. Living up to its name, Emmett's fan on full blast. If I had hair, it'd be flowing majestically, very windy in here. You're really getting the authentic Chicago experience. Daisy cutter. It's a great beer. Nice pale ale. You want me to chug it? You want me to chug it? If I must. Last sugar in the game back at it. Just another Sunday afternoon for the best chugger in the game, baby. I'm gonna finish it, I'm gonna finish it.

No one does it like me. Best sugar in the game. Shout to the Daisy Cutter. Nice sipping beer. It's really good. I can't need any pizza, no. And you're gonna eat 12 pounds. Yeah, this cheese casserole is gonna go great with that. All right, we are not just getting deep tish. We're also gonna get a Chicago dog here. You got the poppy seed bun.

You got the tomatoes, the bright green, radioactive looking relish. You've got the Vienna dog, celery salt on top, pickle. I just don't know how this isn't gonna be good. Frank's already halfway through his. He couldn't wait. Cheers, my brother. Okay, no, no, no, you're gonna go for another bite. Second cheers of the day with all, Frank.

Here we go, Chicago dog. Second glizzy on camera. Looking forward to this one. hot dog sandwich this feels like I'm eating a sandwich that's amazing put back three or four of these in the United Center while you're waiting on Hansat DDP to start sounds like a good evening than me you see that finger integrity right that I'm a man of class when it comes to Chicago dog pickle tried to pop out I put the finger down yeah we got a little mustard on it you're

constantly playing defense with the Chicago dog look at the fucking poppies on this thing covered he do a Chicago dog I mean, this is incredible. Also, like, no one's complimented me yet, but the Devon Hester jersey, 2006, authentic, rookie season, cribs it in the Super Bowl, they'll open the game against the Colts, unfortunately lost that game.

No one's complimented to yet, I'll compliment myself. That bears, someone else is sort of Chicago dog, I think, because of how good this looks. No, Frank's done with his, let's go. This is a good hot dog, man. I'm a big hot dog, stop to beat. I will say this right now, pains me to do this.

Shits on the Seattle dog. Weirdos putting the cream cheese on it. This is fantastic. This is like, I think this is better than like a Chicago dog. You know what? That was about to start choking. Dog went halfway down the throat. Dog's about to start choking.

So far. 16-9 Daisy Cutter and a Chicago dog or make for a good afternoon. We still got a 10-pound pizza to go. Wow. This thing is beautiful. Thank you so much, man. Look at this thing.

This thing. is a work of art. This is beautiful. Look at how thick the crust is. This is a fucking casserole. This is a pie. Don't tell me this a pizza. Sausage pepper onion. What more could you want? I just got the proper way to serve this. I'm gonna fail miserably, but here we go. I'm expecting a big cheese pull off of this guy. Oh, yeah. Oh, there it is. There it is. All right, here we go. Here we go. On to the plate. On to the plate. On to the plate. You got to plate it. And then cut it off. Nope. I'm failing. Oh, there it is. There it is. Not bad. Not bad. All right. Amazing cheese bowl. Let's have a pro do it now. Here we go. All right, here we go. Professional Noah. Here we go. Get the whole pile on there. You get the cheese pull. Cheese pull off it. Oh, beautiful. You got to pull it now. You got to apply the pressure.

Amazing. Thank you, brother. The cheese pull was insane, bro. Before we, Frankie's demanding the microphone so he can give us a back. All right, look, this is kind of, this is cool. We're at the Chicago restaurant. We're enjoying all the Chicago food. It's amazing. They got this beautiful. They got this beautiful sound system playing. And right now they're playing a song from a band called The Beta Band, right? They're actually from Scotland. However, they got their acclaim in the United States because they were played in the movie High Fidelity, which on Kusack, that takes place at a Chicago record store.

So this place is just like they're higher level thinking here. They know exactly how to get the right vibes going. I am enjoying it. Everything great here. Shout to Hammets. Steak knife for pizza. Do I go hands? No, you got to go fork in a knife.

This is literally a casseroom. Frankie, you're coming in. me? Yeah, man. Alright, brother. Wow. Cheers. Deep dish.

I haven't had this in years. It's unbelievable. It tastes like thick crust on steroids. Thick crusts pizza on steroids. So much cheese. It's got a little sausage in there. So much cheese. It fools you because the tomato sauce is on top.

So much cheese. Mmm. My mom and dad have been getting on to me about using the f-bomb. So I'm using them sparingly. This is fucking unbelievable. This could feed 10 people and last them for days. It'd be crazy. It said two to three.

There's no way two people are getting through this. This is what dreams are made of. This is what I go to bed at night. And once I fall asleep, this is what I dream of. It's fantastic, man. Man. Chicagans get homes out ddp, cargo dogs, and deep dish. Life ain't too bad out there. Look at that cross, man. Can we get a measurement? It's got to be an inch and a half. I don't know who's taking this home. No one's showing the nutrition facts on this.

better than this we love cheese bowls on fifis this is the creme della cream it doesn't get cheesier and pullier than this right here all right all right that'll do it for emmits uh just got my first go bears the bears i mean me and my chicago jersey i look like an authentic chicagin go bears just got a compliment on how good my cheese pole was too deep dish was incredible at emmits i'm absolutely buzzing right now i mean what a sunday afternoon we're putting together here let's go down to brooklyn now get another chicago dog uh keep the chicago tour we're train rolling this is beautiful prospect park brooklyn frank up ahead leading the way

stomach's heard and he's coughing a little bit part group of grocery the home for their croupas park slope as you can see we are on a very very slight incline which gives the neighborhood its name park slope parks right there we're currently on the slope put a tennis ball down it's rolling right back at you due to the minor incline Frank just pointed out it is much more expensive due to the incline but it's worth it for this neighborhood you know you don't want you don't want to get anywhere that's too flat see this guy up here he's got this baby in a stroller if you were to let that go that baby's gone the dachshund standing it's all over Brooklyn the

beacon to all residents this is dog the afternoon this is where you'll find a Chicago dog in the great borough of Brooklyn in New York City look at him so handsome left side of his face could use a little reconstruction but we'll ignore that dog day afternoon all right here we go dog day afternoon spot number two another chicago dog absolute thing of beauty you got the poppy seed fun covered vienna beef dog we got the vienna beef hat to go with the vienna beef umbrella a summer day isn't complete without choking down some blizzies under a vienna beef umbrella uh pickle jalapinos what are these frank banana peppers onions neon green radioactive relish in there tomatoes celery salt put on by our waiter i have a

feelings it's going to be quite good. Seriously, Frankie. I was told by a local Chicago, this is the sign of a Vienna dog uncircumcised tip. That's how you know it's real. Those are spicy. The peppers are good. Not banana pepper, hot pepper is what they call them here.

No offense to amids? I think this one is better than the last place. Deep dish, though. So the best dishes are that. I don't think I'm going to be able to get any other hot dog other than a Chicago dog moving forward. For poppy sheet bump, makes it. Okay, final stop on the Chicago tour brings us back to Kossina Day Uncrowned, the Uncrowned kitchen.

We're back this time to make my favorite frozen pizza growing up, Chicago's home run in. And I wanted Frankie to experience this one. So I let him cook it for me. Simply, you just preheat the oven, throw it in for the allotted amount of time, 15 minutes, says it right there, 4.50. And comes out this perfect pizza. Let's see how he did. Oh, Frankie. We all remember the toast from the Australian one.

Frank made the toast, not the best up here. It's more like a giant crouton. Better toast, too. Even just basic culinary efforts, Frank miserably failed out. Fuck that up. Fuck this one up too, but we're gonna move forward. Hands are washed, don't worry. Ah, yeah.

Cut pizzas for a living in high school. high school worked at a Zaxby's the crown jewel of the Hirsch dynasty the the Hirsch family shout out a little bit toasty that's okay um just a little extra love in the oven there uncured pepperoni favorite crust and all of frozen pizza here we go it's a little burnt but still fantastic crust incredible it'd be like 899 at your local grocer couldn't recommend it enough If you're telling the USC 319 watch party, you got to get the home run in pizza. Even after Frankie completely fucked and embarrassed it to it, Chris, it's still an incredible frozen pizza.

Oh, there's crumbling everywhere, like the first snowfall of the year. Still a great frozen pizza, though. I could eat just the crust. I don't know what they do to it. Get your home running pizza. Chicago fight feast. Homs out, DDP, going down this weekend, United Center. Can't wait.

Save some money. Carpool to the fights or take the L. Can we talk about how good my in Chicago accent is? The Bears. Yeah, he just had a Chicago that. Go watch the Cubbies later on. That guy was like, hey, go Bears. I was like, hey, go Bears.

Holy shit, dude, you must be born and raised in Chicago. What's up, man? Never been to Chicago. The Bears, get a couple more of those in them. Gonna go take the hell over to my friend's house, watch the Bears. Now I'm about to take the L over to my friend's house to watch the Bears game. Drink a few pops in his front room if you want to come with. Be a couple home-running pizzas they took.

Did they really say Frunchroom? Yeah, we'll be watching the Bears in the front room drinking a couple pops if you want to come through. I'm going to take the L over later. Couple pops in the front room. Watching the Bears. Hey, I'm heading down to the basement. I'm going to grab a few pops if you want them. Duh! Bears.

out. Shout to Chicago. Shout to to deep dish. Shout out to Chicago dogs. Hadn't had deep dish in

years. And I don't want to hear this like you you can't get deep dish anywhere about Chicago.

Maybe it's a touch better but like that pizza was very good. That dish looked good. It's not pizza.

Oh yeah. It actually is not pizza. It's a casserole. Yeah, that looked delicious. The cheese looked very

this whole, it's a lasagna joke. You guys said this and then I was online and I saw someone else saying it that it was a lasagna.

like it's lacking lasagna itself the pasta like it's lacking the noodles it's a base it's not a lasagna it's just a cassero sure whatever it is if let's call it a casserole is not lasagna no but lasagna it would technically be a layered cake lasagna noodles must be included for this to be a lasagna you gotta have that's a fair take spaghetti needs spaghetti noodles like what the fuck yeah correct that is correct I'm willing to accept that this is a casserole no it's a casserole it's a cassero but it's fantastic I'm I'm a cheese guy look good so much cheese in it Chicago dogs are also very solid. I don't think I've ever had

a Chicago dog. They're good, man. I must have, but I don't recall it. The one thing I'll say, my favorite Chicago thing, I joke about the pizza because it's a New York Chicago thing and the New York pizza is different. I quite like some deep dish, but my favorite Chicago thing is the Italian beef. I know. The guy

at the restaurant was like, yeah, you could get that, but like we definitely specialize in our dogs and pizzas. I should have gotten that. That is my favorite when I'm in Chicago. I got to get that. Shout out to Homer Ninn. Shout out to Tessa Hirsch. I appreciate you for doing that.

What about you, Frankie? We're walking away from Emmett's and, you know, we're digested the food. And fucking Connor goes, like, you know what? I really liked that. But it would be great if I could just go in and get, like, just one slice. Like, I don't need the whole pie. I'm like, you're such a fucking New Yorker now that, like, the thing you want is the thing that New York is good at, which you come in. You're like, I want this slice.

Yeah, but I want four slices of New York pizza because it's thin crust. How long did it take you to finish the leftovers? Two days. two hours guy took home half the pizza I do have one last surprise

in terms of Chicago food especially we didn't try on but I've heard very good things about it oh fuck

it's pop oh shit straight from the sword oh man thought about going to a popcorn shop around here and like getting

the classic mix but I was like you know what let's get the real thing oh my god this is legendary did anybody but me have this on their

Chicago list you were the only one that have it I've never had it before. Let me get a go at this. Yeah, have some of that. This is cheese popcorn mixed with caramel popcorn? I've never had this before. It's not just cheese popcorn

mixed with caramel popcorn. It's Garrett's cheese popcorn mixed with Garrett's caramel. This thing is? Amazing. It is like filled to the brin. If you, even if you don't go to Chicago, if you ever have a connecting flight at O'Hare, get this. Get this and set your fucking day off right.

It's quite good. Get some of that. The salty and the sweet. Frank, I know this is great on audio. It's what people log in for. I'm going to leave some I live. There's two things I go to Chicago for. The beef and the Garrets. The fucking Garrets, man.

So good. Isn't there a whole episode of Modern Family where they're trying to get the Garrett's popcorn? Not a show I've ever watched. So possibly? Oh, you got to. Never seen it. Comfort show. Oh, God. Garrette is so good. Get this away from me. This is unbelievable. Can't give me the microphone. What a surprise. I'm so

happy you got that. Yeah, we'll be able to share this out of the show. Beautiful 10 as well. Shout out to Garrett. Shout to Chicago. Can't wait for it. This weekend, definitely cook yourself a home run-in pizza. Let's keep the show rolling along though next up. Pound for pound. Yes. In honor of the Paramount deal being signed, we will look back at the best moments from the ESPN era. So the top pound-for-pound ESPN-era moments. This can be anything. Doesn't have to be fights. It doesn't have to be just whatever happened during the ESPN era. for the UFC.

Yeah. It is not over yet. Correct. But it is very close to being over. We all have some fond memories of it. It was a good era for M or May. I feel in terms of there was a lot of moments. There were some great stars who developed during that time.

It will be interesting to look back on this. Maybe somebody will also do this when 2026 actually rolls around and the UFC is officially off ESPN. Although, who knows, maybe contender series or something. ends up there but for the most part the big package is going to Paramount so RIP to UFC on ESPN RIP to what's the order Frankie? It'll be Frank

Connor Rick Perfect Do I always close now? Is that just my thing? You start I close the close the closer we're gonna have the most experience man no have to get you a Mariano Rivera jersey Shout out to Mariano Rivera Didn't he get hurt in like a In like an exhibition thing? Oh fuck

That's Oh Cillies fucking hell He also, in like his third to last year in the league, towards ACL, shag and fly ball. So maybe he should just, you know. Let's chill out, Mariano. Let me ask you something.

What does that man mean to you? Five championship rings. But like, do you not have, like, an affinity for him? I'm not even a Yankees fan, and that guy is, like, the guy of my childhood. He's the greatest closer of all time. I mean, what do you want me to say? He's the best. I just have an emotional attachment to Mariano Rivera because, like,

he's the fucking legend. I hear you understand, man. I don't think. of Metallica, I think of him. Yeah, incredible. Shout out to Mariana. All right, Frankie, let's hear it. My number five is illegal streams.

Specifically like this. That's fucking illegal. And the bit where, like, Dana White was saying, like, we will find you. We got them. We got it. It's fucking crazy. We're outside his house,

and if he turns that thing on on Saturday night, he's done. We got it. There won't be streams of the illicit kind. moving forward, but this is something that was in the ESPN era. Yeah, for sure.

Streams started in the UFC on ESPN era. They will not continue after this. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, great one. But still, the Dana White streaming memes are elite. Yeah. My number four, and again, my experience with UFC has always been on ESPN, so I don't know how much of this predated ESPN or how much of it we can expect to see

in the future, but it's the funny camera angles, specifically the ones with Megina Levy well she's talking right outside where the fighters walk out and she's got some great spiel going and then as soon as you could see the fighter the camera just pans over poor woman is still talking now slightly off camera and the completely off camera I actually love that I hate it so much and I think it's funny it brings a smile I don't think I want to know what their intention is I don't know it's no no I'm such a corny fuck the intention is that she's timing it out so like they walk out and then sure why transition from her to them the first time I saw I saw it, I was like, damn, that was timed well. And then, like, three, it took me a while

to pick up on the fact that they do it every time. First time I saw it, though, I was like, man, what timing they have. My question, that was why? You can. It's a production. You can do it, but why? It was like the time Megan Olivie walked like a half mile to get to the booth. And she, like, they only did it one time, but she walked like a quarter mile and then ended the walk at John Anick, D.C. and Rogan. Again, you can do it, but why? Why do we do that? It reminds me of, like, Cloverfield, where, like, you have the news anchor who's talking and then they see something more interesting happen in the background.

They're like, oh, shit, there's a giant monster. No, I dig it. All right. Keep it going. My number three is. Frank likes it. It's on his list. Chale's mispronunciation.

I can relate. I have the same problem. But while Chale says, Yahrir, I know it's Yaiir. Wow. So I think I'm going to go with status now. Mokulchev. Mokulchab. My number two.

That's a great one, Frank. Well done. Network issues. They mean a little bit more to me because I'm working in, you know, production. We've got to make sure that the stream is good for you guys to be able to do the watch party. But like I've seen the full gamut of issues, whether they be audio, video, swap it to an ad too quickly, having the chat full of people saying I can't fucking watch the stream. All of this.

I hope it's something that gets fixed now that there's a new network. I don't know what the climate was like before ESPN, but I have to feel that. they're doing an exceptional job with making them entertaining as of right now. There's been several times on the watch party where we lose the stream in the middle of a big fight

and we have to just be like all right, yeah, yep. You guys both like shift in your chair a little bit. Yeah, because I'm like, please God, now reflexively. I literally just shifted. Yeah, I'm just like, I'm like, please God come back. ESPN Plus is screwing us right now.

And then my number one is a byproduct of the ESPN UFC deal. but that was a meeting Helwani himself. Oh, there it is. You fucking Brown. Bala, Pulia conventions. Yes. Hit it on yourself.

Glaze King over here. E.J. I got to meet Connor. Connor also came from ESPN. And then I got to meet all of the people in the periphery from ESPN. Learned a lot about ESPN in the last four years that I could never have cared about in the past. But it's been great. so thank you yes people you fucking sap

wow I mean the the glaze is so real you want to open up a donut shop or something Frank you my god I gotta say I have a confession I thought Frank's list like I don't know how Frank's gonna do on this one

it's kind of a fucking great list it was great and great sweating like a prostitute in church I was hoping that was gonna go through no did great you did really well stumbled at the finish love it's our it's okay we get it All right. Here we go. My number five. This is a specific moment. I've watched this clip probably 15 times. I can break it down for you. It's become a huge meme. Who's Joe? During an interview with Brennan Fitzgerald on ESPN Plus, Max Holloway, I'm getting ready for UFC 308.

Max Holloway, Elia Teporea starts making fun of Max Holloway's boxing. Do do do do, do you do this, you do this. Max Holloway's rebuttal in a Hawaiian accent. is you do the same drill, same drill. But the way that he says it, he's like, you do the same Joe. You do the same Joe. And obviously, Ilya, English is his second, third, whatever language. He thinks he's saying Joe, as in a person. And the way that he says it, he's got a smile on his face,

he's laughing, and he's just like, I don't fucking know who Joe is. And then it, like, all of the joy comes out of his face. And he's just like, who's Joe? He's like, who the fuck is Joe? it's such like you have to watch the clip go out and find it I obviously can't I can't replicate it that well but it's just so good and then Max is just like what the fuck are you talking about it's just like this ultimate communication over Zoom and Brennan Fitzgerald's just sitting there kind of just like all right my favorite part of this whole explanation of this is a great moment is they're both speaking English yes Max has this heavy Hawaiian accent he's like you do the same joke do the same drill And he's, like, saying drills so relaxed that it sounds like Joe. The funniest part to me is, it's really, to be in like, I don't know who the fuck Joe is. And then he's like, who's Joe?

Who is Joe? Like, he gets, like, so pissed. It's so good. It's so good. To the point where, like, I've seen Justin Gaichie, like, his coach is like, all right, a Joe, and he has to do, like, the... Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, like, people have picked up. Oh, fuck, that's funny.

It's so good. That is fucking great. Number four? Kevin Holland. wow call big mouth 25 fights in the ESPN era for Kevin Holland

25 Bobby Green would have look at this look at this topology this is just the ESPN era he fought so many times I can remember that Kyle Dawkins no contest like it was yesterday

and he's fought like 16 times since then inspired choice here the activity is just insane on this man no one fought more than Kevin Holland during the ESPN era. It actually is like mind-boggling. Look at how many bonuses he got. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 500K in the bank account for Kevin Holland. Some tweets just from the, from the era. I mean, the dude was always ready to go as game as they come. Yeah, here's the deal. I checked with both my wife and girlfriend. They said I can fight this weekend.

Just like, yep, it's, I can fight. Don't worry, guys. Call Big Mouth was the epitome. See you next week? Just like he's always down to scrap. Five fights in 2020. all of it just amazing stuff from Kevin Holland so Kevin Holland the activity throughout the ESPN era

was unbelievable number three Fight Island all the theories surrounding like are they really fighting on it like this

they put this ad out like how do you not expect us to like hypothesize on what this is going to be by the way that did come true but it was the training cage

they did not fight on that cage some of these like tweets like people imagining like what it was actually going to be It was just, it was such a weird time in the world, in the sport, and everything. Yeah, all these fantasy things that people came up with, Fight Island was a time. It certainly was.

Many crazy posts, many different ideas. And it just turned out like, oh, yeah, there it is. That's not what it looked like. Not even a little bit. Not even close. They sent us so much B-roll of like an octagon on a beach like that. And they're like, yeah, they're going to fight in there. And then they know, no, just like an arena that's.

they already have. Dude, Jordan didn't work at ESPN for those though. You said they think you guys beach towels

as well, right? Yeah, I actually used it on Saturday. I have a fight island a beach towel. Do you want to

know how far I went? TST hosted for Usman Mosvadol hosted a luow at his house for

Fight Island and like 15 people game and we all wore Hawaiian shirts lays, we made like tropical food

just to watch them fight in an arena in Abu Dabod Yeah. This is truly the moment I have been waiting for. You're getting posts like this from Dana White. Fight Island, baby.

And it's the Octagon on the beach. This is where they're doing face-offs from. Like, what a time. And, like, it was so branded. Like, you could buy Fight Island merch. I have two Fight Island merchandise stuff. Oh, that's fucking great. How the fuck did you guys get all this Fight Island merch?

I didn't get shit. You didn't get anything? No. I didn't get shit. No, thank you. Shout out to Fight Island. That was a crazy time. Number two, this is another fighter.

The Pereira font. the Pereira run, the Poetan run, the Alex Pereira run, 10-fight run, from debut to two-division champion with three title defenses in under three years, goes nine and one on that 10-fight run, seven KOs, seven fights were against current or former champions, and I sound like Frank trying to read right now, I'm struggling. Nine of the fights were on pay-per-view, headline six of them, headlined MSG twice, UFC 300, International Fight Week, many people's fighter of the year in 2024. some people's fight of the year against

Halil Roundtree last year even the one loss he had to Izzy was like a historic UFC moment created the bow and arrow like this like went viral even in his losses like you rarely rarely rarely rarely see a run like that in that short of a time period

it was truly a magical that's a great encapsulation of it it all happened on ESPN when did he debut what was 2021 MSG 2021 wow so not even like the beginning of the run like kind of came halfway through and still fucking put it on From that debut against Andres Mikhailitis at the MSG card in November of 2021,

UFC 268, all the way to against Haleel in October of last year, 10 fights under three years, two-division champ. Wow. Crazy, bro. Shout to Politan. And then number one, this is a no-brainer. If this isn't the number one on everyone's list, it's the easiest one, the apex baby. The birth of the warehouse in the desert.

There's nothing bad. than a couple fights going down in the apex we got to see championship moments there here I am wow let's go taking it all in dreams come true dreams come true that man's spot on right there happy now mecca you went to mecca I went to mecca bro I saw it man shout out apex number one from Francis Ngano to to Laddumont is that at it it's beautiful what else you want to say I mean I think we have the picture of the post is the all-time moment. Oh, yeah, Ladd-Dumont, October of 2021.

Real ones remember. All-time, baby. Fuck, yeah. This is what made me a UFC fan. Vince Vaughn in the house. Yes, the Apex. Mark Zuckerberg rented it out because he's such a McKenzie Dern fan. Legendary.

And then these guys. I wonder how these guys felt on Monday morning when Paramount Plus Newsbro. I bet they were pissed. UFC slash ESPN super fan Oh yeah Norman Dumont Another legendary moment for her Not just Ladd Dumont but also

Dumont Chandler The Chase down in round one There we are outside of it God, good times Number one moment Of the ESPN era by phone Oh that was great God you fucking guys crush this

I gotta tell you I can't wait to hear yours I feel like I don't feel like I lived up to this But we're gonna try Come on man Number five I will admit These are a little more personal for me

Right that I feel like I was involved in it and I was pretty go ahead God man you're having a trigger you're having a trigger finger today and that I was involved

with and mean a lot to me number five launching ESPN MMA like the social accounts this uh this was a collaboration between myself and Tessa Hirsch but also a lot of other people at ESPN shout out Katie Daley

who took a shot on us and I feel like we kind of built something special at that time like it was it was not as as crowded a space in the MMA Twitter sphere and social media handles and all that at the time. And then we kind of, I think we can take credit for establishing a bit of a blueprint that has now been followed today by a lot of other accounts in the MMA space.

Shout out to Tessa, my compatriot for life for that. And I was very proud of what we did with ESPNMMA by the time I left. Number four, me, Ariel Hawani, December 31st, 28th. You didn't probably know this at the time But we ushered in the UFC on ESPN era Me and Ariel Hawani when that clock struck midnight We're the first ones on when the UFC deal with ESPN started So that new year show, look at this

Look at these guys Look at these guys, real champagne Real champagne Wow This is midnight On January 1st, 2019 The start of UFC on ESPN And we hosted a show.

Now, we had done the show leading up to midnight. So we had, I think, T.J. Dillashaw, Henry Suhudo, who were going to fight later in the year in January. It was a packed Halwani show. We had some great guests. And myself and Ariel were sitting on the set when it turned over. All right. Now we're going to get a little more broad. Those were very personal for me.

Number three, the birth of a legend, Ariel Helvani. And now I would like to play a clip from D.C. and Hawani, where you will learn about Ariel Havani. All this happened yesterday, but in the morning, I saw you tweet something about Vladimir Putin and somebody made an agreement for Habib to come back. So is Habib out now? Like, what happened? Did he not get on the private jet? Did he not make the flight? What happened?

What happened? Wait a second. This is early pandemic. You can see when in like a clip. for Ariel. He's already dying. And then, and then,

Dana White said something. And then you come back and, oh, so you're just a big gangster now, right? You're a big gangster. This whole time, Ariel is sitting there knowing.

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. You put that there was agreement between Vladimir Putin. I'm like, wow,

MMA is that big. And then all of a sudden, David says no way. You're like, I love you, Dana. And I'm like, oh, so you're a gangster now. I don't know what's going on. I don't know what I'm going to.

Can we get to that? Can we get to that? Can we get to some place on the West Coast that nobody knows exists? He's just keeping going. I can't breathe right now. Wait a second. Where is this place on the West Coast? Is there a place on the West Coast?

Where is this place? You can't even talk. You can't even correct them. I live on the West Coast. It makes it better that he didn't. Oh, so. Let him just go. D.C.'s laughing because Ario's laughing.

He doesn't even know what's coming. I had a tweet. The matter of opponent said how big could leave. I was like, what is going on? Right there? No. I thought that was you. That was you.

It was a fake me, DC. Oh, my God. I thought it was you. This is getting sent held before getting sent held before getting said in to tell him. It's so good. I was like, wow, Ariel actually is glad of me of Putin's going to fight.

Ariel has tears streaming down here. That wasn't me. That was an imposter. Was that a real data? Was that a real data? I would say I'm not paying attention. I was paying attention to the blue checks. So Dana was invited to an imposter.

Oh my God. I was like, wow. Ariel is such a gangster now. You thought that was me this whole time? I thought the whole time. Suggest it in order. And then you say some stuff about a place on the West Coast that I have no idea in this place even exists. Oh.

Let me, you're okay. I took it off. I took it off. I took it off. I can't take it. Okay. I can't breathe it.

Okay. First of all, let me clear the air for you and everyone. By the way, I edited this for social. That was someone named Ariel Helvon. Oh. but he got like 20,000 likes

I was insane oh my god Ariel Helvani so that's not happening Dana did reply unfortunately but he did give us some information where are you going are you leaving I just got to open the door it's hot

he was so hot in his house he was laughing so hard it got really hot up here okay so good I mean it still it still holds up today Ariel Helvani

legendary clip as I said sentel before getting sentel DC in real time learning that he fell for a fake account. God, it's just so funny how long he goes before Ariel finally. It's legit like a minute and a half, two minutes before Ariel finally gets to tell him, it wasn't me. Birth of a legend, shout out to Helvani wherever he is now.

Number two, same show. DC, Halwani. Another legend is born. And that legend is Dahlia. Yeah. Let's play that clip now. you never had a bully I actually did we have something in common I had a bully in the first grade so around the same age as you my bully's name was Dahlia she was a terror I'll never forget

her for as long as I live can I tell you something I used to sit next there in class first grade his guy would sit there and give me like evil eye the whole it was horrible So you know what I did? My mom asked the teacher if I could sit in the back of the class and then she would sit and look at me like this the whole time. I could see it till today. Dahlia, I won't say her last name. So she would just look at you and just look at me.

That was my bully. But then. Would she hit you? Well, here's the thing. Well, here's the thing. Would she hit you? No, she would never hit me, but she had two older brothers that would confront me.

So it was like, by extension, you know, it was almost like a three-on-one. But she was the scariest. Dahlia. Oh, my goodness. Of course, it was a little girl. I was terrified of her. I was, and can I tell you where this story gets a little bit sad? Can I tell you where it gets a little sad?

No, please don't tell me the sad part because I'm still laughing. I'm going to seem like I'm so insensitive. do let me try to get myself Dahlia first grade Unfortunately The next year Dalia's mother passed away But this is where it gets really messed up

Her mother passed away And as a class Do you know what a Shiva is? Uh-huh You've been to one? No It's in the Jewish religion When someone dies

You sit Shiva Meaning the people who were closest to the person You know Parent, whatever They have to sit in their house And people come visit them and they pray together and you give them food.

So as a class, my teachers thought it was a good idea that we go visit, that we go visit the Shiva of our classmate. We're young kids, right? We're like seven, eight years old. Not a great idea. I'll never forget. We're all sitting there. I've never been to a ship before.

I never knew anyone who died. I was terrified. And it's my bully's house that I'm going to. I'm trying to keep it together. I'm trying to keep it together. You went to her ship, but she beat you up, dog? Worse. It was worse of that.

It affected me. This must be 1990, if not 89. And I still remember until this day, sitting in her living room, scared. She's eating a banana, and she comes up to me, and she looks at everyone. She was terrifying. She looks at everyone. And then she stops on me, and she goes, what are you doing here? And I will never forget that.

I felt so bad. She was bad. I was like, here I am trying to pay respects. And you're calling me out. What am I doing here? I don't even want to be here. She was bad. She was bad.

And then guess what? The next year she switched schools and I never saw her again. You probably so happy. Oh, so happy. I was terrified of her. Dahlia. Every time I hear that name now, Dahlia, It's a very Jewish name.

I get chills down my spine. Oh, my goodness, bro. That is hilarious. It's hilarious, thought. Oh, my goodness. I thought I had it bad. Morn used to beat me up so bad. Like, we both used to get beat up.

That's awful, man. You got beat up physically. I got beat up emotionally. I got beat up physically. I think it's worse what you got. You actually got it worse. Intimidating you with her eyes. At least I just get some beat up

every dime again. It's not as bad as she did to me. Dahlia. Oh, it's so funny. Because I can get over it, right? I can get over to physical fight. Well, you also got to exact revenge. I never got revenge.

Never got revenge on Dalia, first grade bully. Legendary moments, those two clips from D.C. and Halwani, an iconic show at that time. And one of the best products of that era, the relationship between D.C. and Arias is just one that can't be topped. Absolutely love that. moment. There's only one that could be number one. And I love it more than anything. This thing has such a special place in my heart. I don't think it can be like unseated by like the birth of my children is the only thing above this. And it's the ghost beach from Yuel Romero. This this thing happening just changed the course of meme history in my life. Let's play the

original ghost beach right here. Muhammad, the best deafings and the heavy weight. The best move in the heavy way. But. Show you man, Did he bade him one time. So good. The glasses. Everything is possible in your life when you believe.

Who's he telling this to it? Bill Murphy. You believe everything is possible. You have two heads. I mean, everything is possible. Go. Go. And take it whatever you want to do.

Is this your ringtone, Rick? No, but I need to tell the back story on this. So, Phil Murphy, a lot of us from ESPN, and I was working at ESPN at ESPN at a spend the time. A lot of us would go to the actual UFC pay-per-views and produce content. Myself and Tessa Hirsch, we were on the social team. Phil was doing international hits. So he would host a show for like the Australia, New Zealand audience.

And he would sit with fighters and he would do these interviews and then they'd send them back. They'd send them back via TVU to ESPN. A lot of the stuff they recorded would not like get used in any capacity. It might end up on a show. It might end up on YouTube. But a lot of times like stuff would end up just like in the ESPN servers. because they didn't think that fighter was going to hit. The interview didn't necessarily hit in the right thing.

In the UFC Apex, we're sitting in the Apex. This was early 2020. It was pandemic. It was like one of the last, no, it wasn't one of the last fights. But it was a Vegas show. We were in the Apex because that's just where they were. It was one of the last fights before the pandemic, before everything actually shut down. And Phil Murphy comes out.

And I'm like, how was it? Like, you talked to YOL? How was it? I'm always trying to, like, talk to the people, Brett Akamoto would do interviews, Ariel would do interviews, Phil would do interviews, just so that I can prep myself if there's something I need to clip for social in there. I talk to Phil and he's like, yeah, Yowel was intense, man. I'm like, what you mean? Like, he was intense. He was like, yeah, he was pretty intense. Like, it got like really intense there. And I was just like, I didn't think much of it.

I was just kind of like, all right, like, you had an intense interview with Yuel. He can kind of be an intense guy. I go back to my computer and I log into like this server where you can see like the ingest stuff that's coming in. And I talked to Phil and it turns out they were not even going to run this video. This video was not going to see the light of day. It was not like maybe they would have run it on Phil's show, but they were not going to post this to the YouTube channel. Just that it was intent. Like, that's all he said. It's just intense. Yeah. We're just like, I wasn't really like, we were really discussing it. It was just that. But I had curiosity about him saying that. And so they weren't going to use it for YouTube. I'm like, are you guys using this?

They're like, no. I'm like, you're not using this? I watched a video. And that moment happens where Yo-O-Romero fucking, like, terrifies and inspires people simultaneously, like, makes you want to shit your pants, but also run through a brick wall. And I'm just like, the world has to see this. So me and Tessa cut the clip for social, and I was like, at the time, subtitles were coming big on videos. Again, like we were kind of revolutionary, you know, like TikTok now, everything's subtitled.

This was starting to become a thing. And I was like, if we put subtitles on this, I promise this thing's going to blow the fuck up. So we sit there we're like, fuck, this is taking extra time, but we're going to get it out. We sit there, we cut it, we subtitle it, we get it optimized, we put this thing out, and from there it just like explodes. Like it becomes a thing

that like is viral for the whole week and into this, the rock is reposting it. I wish he, you know, kind of collaborated with us instead of just posting it on it. Oh, but you know, that's okay. This becomes a thing now and obviously it has had life beyond the dirty boxing line in there, the

go, everything, um, has become a thing that did short a man dirty box and it just takes a life of its own but I just remember

the feeling of feeling like I knew I was sitting at my computer in a hotel room at Vodara and I was like this is going to have

the internet on fire I feel like this is the best thing I've done and I was ultimately proven right but Yoel Romero killed it

I want to show two other clips first clip is I also in that same back server they had two cameras so I went in and looked at the camera

that was isolated on Phil and I was like what was Phil thinking because that one was obviously on Yuel and I cut this from that camera you have it too

hangs name is it carefully it's supposed to gold that was a gulp yeah that was a gulp and take it

whatever you want to do looking at the blanks So that was me trying to talk with you again. So that was me trying to like further extend the life of this clip. It actually did pretty well. But I just remember I will never forget the Phil Gulp. The gulp is so good. The gulp when Yoel was staring at him and he just gulps.

I have one more thing that I want to play. Please. I asked Phil Murphy to tell me about this moment and this clip. And now I have audio from Phil Murphy talking about this scene. He began the response in Spanish. And I remember thinking, like, I got to watch this back. Because, again, I'm getting like 80% of it, but this sounds like it's off the rails. And then he switched to English.

And that's when the sound bite, you have two hands, all of that happened. And in my head, I'm sitting there thinking, all right, what time is it? I need to send these time codes straight away, because this is gold. It was full Yoel Romero. And he was cool with me before the interview. you cool afterwards came up to me at unofficial way-ins and i i could tell he wanted to smooth things over like he wasn't trying to be intimidating but something struck a chord doubting his takedown ability or the perceived doubt of his takedown ability against israel ad asania

an Olympic wrestler in romero um and the part that people laugh about is me the gulp the cartoonish you know loony tune that i had with the mic on my tie and the reason for that was again COVID was about to kick off and they were you know hey don't shake fighters hands type things telling us you know we were starting to have to go through these protocols and I was getting over a cold so I'd like some junk in my throat that you know I just didn't want people to know that I was getting over a cold and anything to freak out because I knew it wasn't anything serious so I was holding in that gulp through the whole response and of course that's when it happens when y'all was going crazy certainly an interview I will never forget oh shout out to philmer an absolute legend he is the other half of this moment now obviously Yoel gets the like recognition and you like at the beginning you're like who was he talking to like Phil deserves

a lot of credit he was the he was the other half of this equation absolute legend still at ESPN doing amazing things thank you to Phil for sending that in letting us know that in the other side he was holding that gulp in because he needed to fucking hide that cough that might have been coming because it was I think it was February 2020

And then like the Rudy Gobert thing that then set off like the rest of it It was March 2020 because we were all out there for that. That's right. It was March. I remember this actually. Wasn't TST out there as well? Maybe. Yeah, he was there.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was there because I remember it was his first UFC event and he was like calling me. He was like, oh, this shit's so sick. And it was right before the Rudy Gober thing. Crazy, man. Insane memory. Love that moment. Shout it to Phil. Shout it to Yuel.

Shout to ESPN on. or UFC on ESPN? What an era that was? What memories will we make during the seven-year Paramount deal? What will we be saying in 2032 about what happened during the Paramount Plus era? All right, that was a good one. That was a fun one to look back on the last seven years to deal with ESPN since January 1st of 2019. That's pound for pound. Frankie. We got any voicemails, brother. Ohoy, hoie. Yo, um, I'm a huge fan, obviously, of Ariel and then, uh, eventually you guys. Eventually.

And so... We won him over. Uh, it is like a ongoing joke between my wife and I that I will just throw out there. I'd be like, yeah, when I'm, when I'm working with Ariel Hwani, when I'm on the boys in the back, when I'm working with Eric Hwani, when I'm one of the boys in the back, um, it's an active dream of my... of mine to be a part of the team. So for us to our fans who don't know how you guys found yourself in the position that you're in, a part of the super awesome crew, what does that that path look like? What does someone have to do to end up being one of the boys in the back?

Is it possible for somebody from a small town in Texas to get where you guys are? Love the show, love the content, love the debate, keep doing which I was doing and uh yeah it will be it is it possible yeah absolutely are you kidding me maybe not sitting in this exact seat but like yeah any you can do anything you want especially in your career like seven years ago seven and a half years ago like i was getting laughed out of interviews when i was freshly out of college like you can you can attain anything you want this this no question about it go anything is possible yeah what you know what roramero said no honestly the That is a perfect transition from our list in the ESPN era is like five years ago.

You're in radio at ESPN. I'm in social media at ESPN. None of this is like a thing. And then now we're here. So like there's a path. You just have to kind of build the skill set, prepare for the moment. Grind. Grind.

Figure out. You know, that's one of the biggest keys. You're just going to have to grind. You're just going to have to put in a lot of hard work. Work so hard that you start getting lucky. Yeah. The thing I always say is like anticipate, right?

whatever the wave is going to be three to five years from now, that's what you need to start moving toward. You can be a boy in the back or a boy in the back equivalent. Maybe you'll be something even greater. So yes, it can happen to anybody. What's up, guys?

I'm a 24-year-old college graduate. I was just wondering if you guys offered an internship or if you could offer one. I currently run a machine learning model that predicts fights. Oh, shit. And it's been quite successful.

I think it's around 80% accurate on winners and roughly 35%, 40% accurate on winner method combos. Wow. We need to hit them up for that. I know. I'm like, is this a money printer? I'd love to be a part of it. Also, I got a friend, Eli Pacorni. He's making his debut in the LFA on September 12th.

Same card is Gable Steven. He actually trained with Gable growing up in, Portage dude is definitely going to be in the USC soon and we'll

definitely be on the Helwani show so I throw that out there all right take care

guys there's a lot to unpack there amazing call first of all Gable Steven is

making a debut on LFA LFA brings in all Minnesota super fight

to the land of a thousand lakes aid LFA 118 I'm not saying anything

about Gable Steven does he know something that we don't know yet McKee versus

McPadton I don't think Gable has anything on the books yet Let's see, McKee always comes prepared with his corner A fellow, okay, Gable Stephson will be at the fights it looks like Logan Storley and Gable Stevenson is in McKee's corner for this fight But what if he's also fighting there? Yeah, I don't think, did he just break some news? I don't know, it sounds like that's what he was saying

Now, granted, last week we had a- We had a quit cutting these off, man. We had Don Davis try to break some news for us and it didn't go so hot. It didn't go out. It looks like LFA 168 is the one he's talking about, though, in Minnesota. So shout out to your friend. In terms of internships, Rick is the official hire. Oh, fuck, he just throws it right to me.

This is a small operation. Yeah, it's, we have specific needs and I'm, let's just say this. I have an email in my ex-bio. if you ever want to send a resume, ever say like, hey, this is what I do, check out what I do, send it there. Anytime somebody emails me, I, one, respond, and two, collect it. And if we have needs that need to be filled, I always reach out to people from that list. So send me something, and I'll keep an eye on it. Man, a dream is where we have like an on-crowned job list.

One day. One day. I actually didn't even know you guys did this service. This is a very, very good service. You should do this more. It's very clearly, Oscar Willis. My question, first time to call a long-time listener. My question is...

Straight into it. How comically funny would hands up moving back down to 170 and Elia moving up to 170B if they then thought? How funny would that be? I'm a scale to 1 to 10. I don't really have a question. I just saw the voicemail thing and I was calling without... Oh, that's a solid question.

I'm going to the dentist now. What an efficient call that was? That was Oscar Willis, yeah? 100%. Um, yeah, Hamzad versus Ilya I guess the path is Ilya goes up to

170 beats Islam Hamzat comes down Hamzaa comes down and he tries to become double sham The size difference Would be comical 1,000

Yeah, you would actually look like Hamzot is like towering over I'm like in that video Against DDP but uh fuck it'd be a huge fight though If Iliya Teporia

starts Hamza All right Ilya Toporia beats Islam Makachab. Stop that, right? And then beats Hamza. And at that point, he would be getting close to 20 and O. At that point, just retire.

Triple champion as well. Done. Yeah, retire. Unlikely, but fuck, it would be, the two of them squaring off would be very odd to look at. It's not going to happen. Shout out Oscar Wilson. Hey, boys. Appreciate y'all. Appreciate you all.

Not appreciate you. M.A content. Tristan from Colorado. I'm going to see what you guys thought about what the greatest knockout ever was. I know a lot of people are going to say Max, knocking out Justin in the fifth,

which is good, but I don't think anything tops the head kick from Leon. We're talking about Kamara, one of the best welter weights to ever do it. He's up, 5-0, it's going into the last minute 30, and head kicks him, changes the course of Walter rate history. So just

give me your thoughts. Like I said, I appreciate you guys, appreciate the real content you put out. Much love. Peace. it's hard to argue against that Usen one man just because it was the title circumstances too yeah like you're talking circumstantial like he laid it out for you

like Usman's on this unbelievable winning streak he's getting ready to tie Anderson Silver for the most wins ever in a row like it and he was rolling down how much style matter because like as an example just to throw out there right Joaquin Buckley

caught leg spinning back kick certainly not as important but like style Otherwise, it's fucking unbelievable. Also, the way that Leon did it is pretty incredible. Just the head kick walk off. Yeah.

I probably go... Connor Aldo's up there. Connor Aldo one of the like Anderson Silva's. Probably just because like the significance of it. Connor, I mean, even Connor Eddie, right? Like what that meant for MMA is kind of bonkers. I don't know.

It's hard. I almost need like, best stylistic and then, like, most important. Like, I almost need, like, two different categories because I can't kind of pick one. Gun to my head, like, Conor Aldo is probably the most significant. Yeah. What's up, boy?

What's up, Josh, probably North Carolina. Duke's finest. Duke, shout out. Eric, I'm so sick of your Lord of the Rings, slander. It's so annoying. You got to just ignore, man. This is, like, a corny contrarian take. I'm a contrarian.

self, I get it, but at this point you're just being obnoxious, bro. 11 for 11 at the Academy Awards for Return of the King. That's tied to the most Oscars for a single movie ever. What's it tied with? Ben Hur and Titanic, bro. The public has spoken. This is in our cultural canon.

It's good. Your opinion is trash. I'm out there, Tom Ashton. You know what? Ben Hur and Titanic also have in common with Lord of the Rings? Other than the Academy works? boring as fucking shit that you would never watch again so

these are things that you just have to like you just have to ignore it at this point it's such a troll job that boring you can't even entertain it don't feed the beast shout out to that guy we have nothing to worry about when it comes to Lord of the Rings

I agree there is nothing to worry about when it comes to that 02 oh 3 back to back to back banger banger banger production quality soundtrack acting storyline uh it's it's you also say rewatchability i've watched each of them like six or seven times wow that is many weeks of your life give me a director's cut too no hard pass you know what up boys wow this is great quality got a quick question for you i'm going to my i'm going to ufc 319 in chic sick right on the street for me Oh, wow.

And I'm thinking about going to the press conference. Okay. And the way in, ceremony away is. Yeah. I figure one of you must have been to those before. It's kind of like a weird setup. I think it's at like a separate location from the actual arena that 319 is in. And I've heard, you know, different stories online that you've got to wait in line for hours.

or I don't know how true that is. So I just wanted to see if you guys have ever been, have any advice. We have a show. Thanks. Thank you, brother. Thanks for the call. I have been. I went to the UFC 300 press conference.

That one we were able to just walk in. It was at the MGM Grand. Did he say that this was his first UFC event? Yeah, then I would recommend going. You should go for the experience. The amount of people, the how long you'll wait in line, depends on the event. based on this one being a long way to return to Chicago, I expect

you are going to have to wait a long time otherwise line up early. But to Conner's point, like, if this is like going to be it for you and who knows when they'll come back to Chicago, right? It's been years between. Go do it. Have fun at these things. They're open. So like you might as well. And then

enjoy the fights on Saturday. Yeah, it's going to be at the Radius Theater. 640 West Surmac Road. Go. What's up, Frankie's in the back? This is Reed Boren. I just have two quick questions for you guys. Who me?

First, what is your favorite MMA meme of all time? Me personally, going with this week, of course, would be the DDP by cartoon physics. It's fucking good. Number two, would you guys ever consider having some of the other MMA YouTubers on the show? I know Ariel doesn't get along with MMA guru, for example, but if you could mend some bridges there, I think it would be an awesome show. Love what you guys are doing, keep it up, and yeah? yeah i mean i don't think there's any issues with anyone i don't think i don't think i don't think arya has any issues with guru yeah i i would actually say it's it's flipped i feel like he just doesn't

like him yeah no no issues will we have them on uh any mhma youtube i mean we had bain on i guess he's a twitter kind of like social uh yeah i'm down to have anyone on if the timing is right if it if it works out yeah i mean they're they're killing it there's a lot of people on MMA YouTube doing doing fantastic work so I'm trying to look through they would even want to come on I'm trying to look through my camera role for like

my favorite MMA meme oh MMA memes this is a tough one there's so many good ones there are so many good ones McGregor interview talking about boxing and it's just like are you going to be doing world titles and he's like

and now yeah that one is pretty great uh man there's there's there's so Mero from earlier is quite good old Romero McGregor where he's in the back of the locker room and he's laughing really hard. And then he's like, what?

What? Man, I would need a minute to like really sit and think on this. And maybe provide some good memes, though. God, so many good ones. So, so, it's Eddie. What's up, Eddie? I just have to prop up a little awkward moment of mine from back in high school. It was the first day back at school.

I'm walking up the steps and a good looking girl is waving to me and saying, oh my God, hi, I missed you so much. Oh. And we start having a conversation.

Oh, okay. And then I realized her eye contact is a little bit off. And she was talking to somebody right behind me. It's tough. And neither of them acknowledged it whatsoever. I just walked away.

Shut the fuck. And, uh, you know, that was, that was a start of a great day, obviously, so, yeah, all right. Hold on. And her name was. Conversation begins? Good job. Same story. Oh.

Uh, I think it's Dahlia, but you're telling me you sat there and had a conversation with someone that was having a conversation beyond you. They weren't like, yo, who are you talking to you, fucking weird out? Also, how did you not pick up? How, like, was she responding to, you didn't acknowledge? Was she responding to things that you were saying? like what what is the how did that happen i i don't know if i could recover from that one if that if you were really talking and they weren't talking to you and also do they not acknowledge you when you when you realize that you weren't a part of this conversation you're no he said no they just

let him walk away oh god who that's i mean obviously that's based on our pound for pound from last nothing nothing came when she was like oh hey i missed you so much and like you've never met her before in your life and then like you just started talking and maybe they were friendly though, but it was just not like a I missed you territory. Oof, that's a rough one. Thank you for sharing though. Hey, y'all, boys in those back.

Want to do what it is. This is August from California. Shout out. Shout out. Frank, G.C. New York. Eric. Andy and on there, Jordan. Also shout out the T.F.L.

Man, that shit is nice. sure it is a little idea for top five I'm thinking sitcoms uh oh okay probably my favorite is it's got to be friends

and I was wondering if you guys for one if you guys wanted to do that top five that'd be a flagging and banging and also

who in the friends cast would each of you guys think you are give your own identification and opinions on who else might be talk amongst yourselves thank you very much

much less all of y'all I'm out I like the idea until year number one is friends for that I'm out but same here talking out of it

we have people in the back who might be able to assist classic classic can somebody in the back it all makes sense now Rick came up to me earlier breaking the fourth wall

and was like Andy, random question. Do you like friends? How much do you like friends? Would you say you're a friends fan? And I'm like, this is the weirdest thing. Rick has ever asked me. But yes, I do.

So what? I pick one for each of you? Yes, please. Assign us. We need to have this completed. Okay. What the fuck is that? Franks is the easiest one.

He's David Phoebe's X. Okay. Who is like the most introverted person. Like, he's so nerdy. Come on, Frankie. I'm super introverted, so. I'm a modern. a 1000%

Enter the haters That's which That's Courtney Cox Yeah Okay Yeah yeah That's definitely me Jordan is Ross

Okay I think yeah GC Joey Chandler Wick Tough I guess Ariel Has to be Rachel Ariel's Rachel

Wow I like it Piz Yeah who's Pizzi Wait who's even left Well I've already picked side characters here So okay

So Pizzi because of the laugh maybe Janice. Okay. Yeah. I don't know Janice. I don't know. I'd laugh or a good laugh.

Three of these names. I'm pretty sure Janice is the one with the annoying voice. Oh, wow. But her laugh is so iconic, and Pizzi's laugh is so iconic. Like, got to give it to him. Let's see if that person agrees. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Andy. I'm not a friend's guy either, by the way. Can't do it. What's up, boys in the back? It's Maddie from Nashville. What's up, I've been listening to your show for a few months now. While I'm working, making guitars, getting dusty.

I love what you guys do. I had a quick question for you. What's your favorite obscure stat in the UFC? Mine lately has been that Cody Brundage has a 100% no contest rate against people with Abdul in their name. I thought that was pretty silly. Anyways, love the show. okay mine uh just like really quickly off the top of my head is um who is bro from uh denmark denmark oh um say his name oh god say his name why can't i think of it right now someone someone say it

in the chat wow why can i not think of his name denmark i can pick i'm james tehuno Oh, that. Man, this is riveting content here. Say his name, and I'm going to... Dalby, Dalby, Dalby. His record against Brazilians is like six or seven or no. Oh, that's a fucking great one. Holy shit.

He exclusively, like, beat Gabriel Bonfim, beat Warli Alves, beat Claudio Silva. Like, he also thrives when he goes into Brazil. Beat Alex Olivaira, beat Alizeluzaleski, Uh, like he, he just, like, dominates Brazilians for some random reason. And like a lot of those, he was a massive underdog. Plus 455 against Gabriel Bonfine, plus 110 against Warlie Alves. Uh, is always dogs. He's guys, plus one 30 against Alex Olivera. So yeah. Uh, the Brazilian beast, Nicholas Dolby. No, the Brazilian beast is Guillermo. Don't, don't, don't, give me a French. Danish dynamite Brazilian killer, Nicholas Dolby. Um, that's a great one. I don't have one better than that. So let's roll with that. Yeah, it's a, it's, is, I want to say he's a, he's a, I want to say he's a, he's a, he's a, I want to say he's a, he's a, he's a, I want to say he's a, he's a, I want to say he's a 5 and 0, 6 and 1, something crazy. Boys, Eric from Detroit, with the NFL season approaching, if the UFC

were to do a combine, who do you think would win the bench press competition, and who would win the 40-yard dash? Also, who would win at these competitions in the uncrowned office? Shout out gout, gout. Shout out, gout, gout. Combine in the UFC?

Who's the strongest? Who's doing the most bench press reps? Anybody got one? It's got to be someone in heavyweight Right Got to be right Gilles and Almeida

Tom Aspinall Probably Tom Right Who's like the biggest Like strongest looking heavyweight We don't have the Brock Lesners And those guys anymore

Speed Who's fast A flyweight It's got to Flyweight Might be too small though Because you don't have

long enough legs It might be like A featherweight Or a lightweight Or maybe a welterweight Or even a welterweight Yeah I don't know

Uncrowned office I don't know Is Marob fast He's got insane cardio, but like... I don't know. There's no way to know if they're fast. They don't have to run. Yeah, they don't really run like that.

On Crown... Chelsea Chandler? I'm sweeping it. Yeah, Chelsea Chandler wins the 40-yard dash. I'm sweeping in the Crown Office. Yeah, I would not do well in either of those, so I don't doubt that. Hey, boys in the back with good in the hood. What's up, bro?

Pete the plumber from T-DOT. It's 31 degrees, feeling like 40 at the Humidex. Whetting my bag off. Just thinking about. Oh, Celsius. The cheat meal I'm going to have on Saturday night watching Dracus and Tomza. Oh, what do we eat and what do we eat? I was wondering what your guy's go-to cheat meal is.

Personally for me, I'm always a burger and fries guy. Wash that down with a white monster so I can still up late enough. This guy's living. Yeah, man, shout out to you guys. Shout out to the whole crew. Keep doing what you're doing, man. Peace. I do not have a specific cheat meal, just eating something shitty for me.

Something greasy, right? Whatever I'm in the mood for it. Yeah. I don't have one either could be anything pasta I don't have like a go-to yeah Mediterranean

sushi pizza burgers sushi is not a cheat meal though with how much I eat of it yeah and I'm also getting like the specialty rolls

fried up spicy mayo and I'm probably gonna eat like three or four of those rolls shout out enjoy that meal boys in the back

it's Matt from Nashville again oh we're back what's up 42 in the morning fucking out clock in to work clock in

I've got this question on my mind ever since the Paramount deal got signed. And that question is, what the fuck am I going to spend that extra $80 a month on, boys? 2026 rolls around. I'm going to be living like a king. Want to know your thoughts on the best way to blow that 80. I'm not going to save it. I'm not going to invest it. It's a fun money.

Give me a pound for pound. Top five ways to spend $80 a month. Love the show. Boys in the back, best part of my week. God, that energy at 4.52 a.m. Shout out. You don't need to call us

like wake up for work and then be like, yo, got to hit up the BITV. The man. Shout out to Matt from Nashville. Definitely don't need to buy any white monsters back in. That's for sure.

Best way to blow your money? Bice and sell you instead, by the way. That's the worst way. You're going to blow the money regardless. Well, if you gamble and you win, you have more money to blow. Yeah.

This is a very, Dangerous. Ashville? Slippery slope here. You want to get dangerous? I don't know. Fentil. How would you blow the money?

Develop a drug habit? That's your answer? Oh, fuck me. It's not bad, actually. Treat yourself to a great meal, honestly. Go have a great meal. Take somebody else out to dinner. Nah, no, no, no.

80 bucks a month? Spend that on yourself. Supplement it with another $80 a month subscription. You can get something pretty good for that premium. Yeah. subscription? Yeah, they're a good jab. Meal order pickles or something.

There's a, there's like a racing car club here in New York that I looked up one time and they have like F1 and NASCAR simulators within the club. It's like very exclusive restaurant, social club with

like racing cars you can drive and rent. It's like 350 bucks a month. Put it toward that. Yeah, I'd never do it, but yeah. If you're in New York, put it towards that, which you're not. You're in Nashville. So my recommendation is,

shit but enjoy the 80 bucks a month what's up boys in the back what's up man hey mc McLaughlin here future uh the unc freshman shout out you want to give a shout out to the other you both a student uh also named henry i was gonna say double henry carolina boxing shout out um yeah mainly just give a big shout out on the bike are now trading hope the distance season coming up let's go heavy hand henry first on on chaos every turn in mid this year let's go let's go shout out to the henrys uh when you want to get the work on the bike just let me know what's up boys in the back what's up man

yeah that felt like henry here what's up hayden was just thinking about this new ufc deal with cbs yeah you know how they have the games on nickelodeon the NFL games for kids now yeah i'm hoping they do that for sure sponge bob versus squidward fight Now? All right, thanks, boys. Or what if just, like, Ilya, Teporia gets slimed? Yeah, guy gets body slammed and is laying unconscious and they slime him. You know how they do, like, the NFL game on Nick where, like, Patrick is the netting? Imagine they just do, like, Patrick has the octagon.

SpongeBob pops out of a, like a knocked-out person. The yellow octagon they did for, what, UFC 200? Yeah. Do that, but make it SpongeBob. I love this. Hey, boys. And I'm Sam, and we're from Melbourne, Australia. Now, last time we called, Frank was a way on business.

So to make up for it, we want to ask everyone in the crew, what are your favorite Frank, count for pound moments of all time? For me, I've got to go with the pie list. Shrimp-fucked out? Can't get any better than that. Me, Frank, 311 list, can't be defeated. The way the man completely lost the plot. The pie list.

Do you all really believe that all those male men are actually really male men? Yeah, they're really male. Also, TC, I'm backing you in against H.S. Tiki-Toki. One round in the ring, one round on the bike, and the third round is up to you. What discipline are you choosing to end the trilogy with the famed H.S. Tiki toffee. Shout out to Frank. You're the reason the boys in the back have any female listeners at all. Oh, shit.

Fuck. Oh, what a lot. A call. That was incredible. They started duo last time. Now they've added... Trio. A female voice as well.

That's unbelievable down in Melbourne. Shout out to you guys. That just made my day. That was great. Funny you mentioned that. I saw a clip of H.I.S. Tiki toki-talkie recently. You guys know I have an affinity for them. So I don't even want to fight them.

We won't do the ring. We won't do the bike. We'll just... We'll go out for dinner. That'll be round three. I take H.S. Tikiiki out to a nice dinner. What's your favorite Franklis? The shrimp cocktail is a good moment.

The pie? Yeah. cocktail is pie. The 3-Eleven was a good moment. The actual best list was the headgear one. That was a great one. That was a fantastic list. Today's was pretty good. Frank you brought it. Um, and then the reality TV

shows. What was it? Underworld or whatever? Opposite world? Opposite worlds. The greatest show. It was number four in this list. Number two. No, it was four. Oh, I get that wrong. What's up, boys in the back? What's up, man, Andrew from New York City.

Oh, shit. I've got a question for New York Rick. And I guess also a question for our GC. No, no, no, man. It's all good. Now that we have UFC and the challenge on the same streaming platform, if you could pick one UFC fighter to be a contestant on the challenge, who are you picking, and why? I'm taking Carlos process for obvious reasons.

Thank you. This one's easy for me. I thought of it earlier. Oh, shit. Instantaneously a name came to mind for me. Who? Dan Hooker. Yeah, Dan Hooker will get drunk,

raided, rowdy, maybe organ, organize some fights, maybe somebody tries to step to him and he fucking destroys them, he would be great. I'm not thinking of anyone better than that. I like that. Dan Hooker on the challenge. Dan Hooker would be great. What up?

What was good, bro? First time caller. Travis from Northern California. Shout to no count. Shout out to G.C. Frank, New York, Rick. Andy, on Air Jordan. Just wanted to give a

quick one uh what would you think of gc watching some old school pride fights for a watch party and let's see mysterious frank how about we get on some uh able to too blood gulch old school you know what i mean blood gulch pretty old school and uh new york rick big magic the gathering Claire, let's get down. Full Master T. Want to know what decks you're working with. If you're a blue and red type of guy, if you're a lifelink type of guy,

let me know. Shout out to everybody. Hey. Shout out, brother. Do you see, like, watch-along? I feel like that could be fun. For pride fights, that would be fun. I don't know if people are going to be interested in that,

but I do need to go back and watch what they be. Like, maybe we could pre-produce some content like that, though. Sometimes I go on stretch. stretches where I just watch like a shit done old fights. Yeah, I think that could be fun especially to get your reaction. I would like to see you reacting to those fights.

Magic, I'm playing a landfall deck right now. I'm a fucking loser. I play alchemy and it's kind of the meta. So that's what I'm playing. It's a green deck. But I quite like different. I like switching it up. That's why

I play alchemy because you have to switch it every so often. Isn't the most expensive magic a card, a Lord of the Rings card? Could be. I don't play the paper. Yeah, it is the ring. Oh, thank you. I think that says it all. Boys,

Eric, Denver. I got three things. One. Connor. Yes. Is there any truth to, I've seen a couple things on the internet about Spandool making a rule or a thing about

some guys. on the internet posting something, everybody winning a bunch of money because of it. And now because of that, Sandool made a stipulation that if you make a bet when somebody is something like that, that you cannot win money or something along those lines. Is there any truth to that? And if that is true, is there a possibility of that catching fire to other things like draft kings, et cetera, et cetera? second question this is for uh good old dot ed are you going to shout out to espn because uh you know

what happened now's your chance mailman fight league let's go all right third question mr eric jetman eric jackman excuse me what's the story uh sorry low history um i saw the youtube for the first time on monday at the end credits it says uh Son of Bill. It's my very first time watching YouTube. I actually had the time to. Normally I listen on Spotify. First time watching YouTube.

That's incredible. That's the story with Son of Bill. Just curious. Anyways, love that you play Magic. We should play Commander. No, no Commander. Anyways, shout out, guys. Thank you.

Why is it, Son of Bill? That's a Jordan question. I don't do the credits. You are son of Bill. No, that's my dad. That's my dad, William, Bill, Billy Jack. Shout out to Bill. What a guy. Fucking legend.

Ariel's mom, my dad, the two biggest fans of our programming. I hadn't heard about this thing that he's talking about. So it was something that happened back in June. This dude only parlayes gave out a home run parlay. And according to NJ-based VIP rep of Fandul, they lost over $2.2 million on an enormously circulated home run parlay last night. And Fandul immediately made rule changes. that will now allow them not to pay the gamblers who tailed the social media account,

who tweeted it. But how could they determine that you tailed it? I guess if you're just a big enough accountant and then a bunch of people took it. We suspect that your account's usage could represent business usage, so essentially like you're giving out picks. Fandul reserves the right to void any or all bets made by any group of people acting in conjunction with each other or any individual acting alone in an attempt to defraud Fandul's sports book. If there is any real truth to that

And they start doing that They will just continue to lose credibility This whole like being limited As soon as you start long term winning with places Like really good gamblers are Always trying to circumvent The blockages and the limits that are put on by these places So if all you're doing is not allowing people to win

People will stop betting It's just an odd one also though Because like people give out picks That's kind of like how they do In fact, like, a lot of the books incentivize you to, like, go with X, Y, Z person. They incentivize you to go with Dave Portnoy and Big Cats, Picks of the Week, or Joe Schmo from XYZ company. They don't incentivize you to go with the Sharp who is actually giving out winning bets. I just don't know how you track that, but that's a fascinating one.

All right. I think it would have to be, like, really wide stream, but they're making so much money. I don't know why you limit these people. just you have to understand you're going to have to lose some to the winners but you're going to make so much more to the losers yeah well that's their game they know that they'll make that

what up boys just wanted to give a huge shout out to the people out there doing God's work aka the people putting up the illegal stream I want to give a huge thanks to them for getting this deal through with USC and Paramount without them we'd still be paying $80 for a pay-per-view

so thank the streaming The real heroes. The real heroes. The real heroes. Shout out. Shout out, meth, crack. East. Y'all know.

What up, Dapper, Don. There is. There he is. Calling under better circumstances, but we're going to get through this. One way or another. First off, yes, I am calling from the employee bathroom. First man has banned me from calling the show, but that is not going to stop. Well, Deford, Don.

Fight the good fight, Don. So I'm going to have to deal with it. I'm here in hiding. He will find this out eventually, and I'm just going to keep rotating the different employee veterans at PSLHQ. So, tomorrow, Friday, August 15th, early card, 630, main card 9 p.m., Liz Karmouche, and Jenna Bishop Clash. Yes, we can't wait down.

Women's Flyweight Tournament Title. Yes. Good news up front. More good news. PFL Africa, huge success. Francis Nagano is, you know, absent. We have our own problems with air. But headline is, amazing fight, tons of finishes, a lot of fun.

Love it. To the egg on my face, or it seems that way anyway. Martin Bucke is a fucking scumbag. This guy, he seems all nice, you know, up front. You know, see how you're calling him, the potential ghost of MMA, the greatest potential heavyweight of all time all year. Everyone knows that. And behind the scenes, he's a real piece of shit, okay?

his coach, partner, Donka. Octagon legend. This is what kills sports. This kind of shit, this is what kills the sport that we love of MMA. Because this guy had the contract, signed, sealed, and delivered, right? He was in the PFL. That's why I said so confidently that I was breaking news that he was in the PFL. And what does he do?

He hears your great show that we all love. The boy's in the back, and he goes, oh, you know what? I'm going to use this as a leverage to go backwards and get with Oxygon MNA to fight, you know, to regain this title he's already had. So, yeah, if you want to go fight easier competition, okay, for whatever sweetheart deal they made for you to fight in the Coliseum, great, you know. But the real fight, the real money fight is in the PSL. and I don't like being negative, okay? Glad we got that out of the way. And, yeah, he killed a sport.

He's a fucking stumbag. And a bad person person. Shout to Martin Boudai. The deal was done. He just didn't want to do it. And there's a great deal with oxygen, I'm sure. You can't make a guy fight. You can't make a guy fight, you know, real competition.

Okay. Dog Walk. Let's talk about Dog Walk. It is by Blender Studios. It is a casual exploration, wholesome game. You explore a handcrafted winter forest as a big adorable dog with a little kid in tow. A short, free, open-sword project. It's literally called dog.

Yeah, I'm looking at it. It's ridiculous. It ends abruptly because Double D hit the time limit. Oh, wow, you ran out of time. Damn, shout out. Love a good. The Dogwalk game looks great, man. Shout out to Blender Studio.

Shout out to Don Davis. Shout to Martin Boudai and Octagon as well. That was... Congrats to Martin Boudai for signing with Octagon. Yeah. the Martin Boudai, man. No, no love lost here. We are big fans of Martin Boudi. Any more, Frankie? Super Chat.

Prangie's trying to get home, man. We can try to get kicked off. I'm trying to also. Janet is here since $2 for the bald NFL hunk, number 23 jersey, number one in my heart. Thanks, Janet. Appreciate it. You made my night. There's the 23 bald hunk. Thanks, Janet. $2.00. She wasn't talking about Michael Jordan, do you think? Made my day. Made my day, too. why no South African restaurant for fight fees because it's in Chicago next time DDP fights

I'd love to try South African food man there's still a lot we've got to try No Che we can do Mexico Shanghai not going to have enough time to do beforehand but we'll get a Chinese one in there before at some point South African would be great Bill Tong Can I tell you guys something

This is really breaking the fourth wall And this is I probably shouldn't even publicize this You just pee yourself? I ordered DDP's Bill Tong jerky when he was selling that he was selling Bill Tong jerky

crushed the whole bag I had a horrible dinner Oh my God I'm not kidding It could be what else It could have been anything else It could have been anything

But I did eat an entire bag I did eat an entire bag of Bill Tom jerky I'm also not sure if he sells it anymore I might have not been He had it It was like wait a minute I'm I

I don't think he does sell it I would have loved that fight piece oh man it was uh I crushed I crushed the end yeah DDP still knocks meat co no yeah you can still get it No I think I think he's got it better It tasted great obviously because I crushed the whole bag

But maybe I just had some undercooked meat or something earlier Maybe some bad eggs Oh fuck But shout out to the Bill Tong We'll have some authentic stuff when we do our South African Fight Feast Clutch attitude says

Jordan you're the man I darn peed on myself when G.C. came out with the frozen pizza. It was still frozen when it came out the oven. Much love. What does Jordan have to do with that? I think it was just

separate. Yeah, I guess it was separate. There's no more haters, so no more haters. He was trying to kill that guy. Also, uh, overcoat. It was so burnt. It was so fucking burnt. Thank you for the $5. Thank you for the $5.

Rebuildable, Ryan. This is the best MMA coverage channel, Purious. Oh, thank you, right? It is Purious. Frank, you have editorial decision making to correct that. Yeah, I struggle enough with the letters. They move all over the place.

Thank you. You do struggle to read. Homsah was training with Sam Calvita. Thoughts? That was the strength and condition and coach. Him and Pico. Yeah, like, no thoughts.

Like, if he's a good, I don't honestly, like, know much. It looks like they're working hard. Yeah. It looks like they're working hard. Fucking Pico look like. Adonis.

Yeah, I don't really, like, know enough about Sam. Like, I haven't really looked into it. But yeah. I don't know. Good? Yeah, we'll find out on Saturday night. Both those guys.

We'll see what the results are. Elchevvon Dream. Honorable. mention Ben Ruff was Perthard third down How did I forget that?

Oh man And me and Mike Heck were doing a watch party for it and it was Oh I do remember that That's such a good one Actually you weren't there for it

That's when we were doing The Jedmishu Home one So you were You were chilling Franks I remember that It was actually

Three of them That we did like that Yeah that That is some of the hardest I've ever laughed And then I posted The clip of it And then a Steelers account

took it And it got like 150,000 likes for the Steelers again. Really? Oh, so that was one of the funniest moments of our win. And they treated it like they made the content? Yes. Great shout.

I wish I had thought about that. That was so good. Ben Rathesberger third down miscues, and they just kept firing it. And Ben Rathesberger hadn't taken a snap in like four years. It was so good. This is the last one. Oh, okay.

Thanks, man. Jay Hagel. Wow. Shout to Ben, Boys in the bag. Underrated ESPN MMMA was Tito Vera, no-selling song-a-dong after losing a UD on the last arena show before COVID lockdown. I don't really remember that one that well. I'll take your word for it. I might go back and look at it.

Another underrated one. Paolo and Luke Rockhold doing a joint interview. I think it was Paolo and Luke I think it was Paolo and Luke What does UD mean? No, it wasn't Paolo and Luke? Was it Paul on Luke? Do you know what UD means, Frank?

Either un- Unanimous decisions Oh, nice. Jesus, I was about to say, bro, we have watched like, Upset duck. He asked Andy and I, and Andy told him,

and he goes, you guys are fucking with him. I was about to say, this is going to be like our 40th watch party this weekend. And he had this smirk on his face that was so big that I was like, there's no way I'm fucking

Okay, yo, back to the, back to the Ben Rathesberger third down miscues. If you just type in Ben Rathusberger, third down miscus on Google, the top four videos are just me and Mike's reaction. Oh, incredible. Different Steelers accounts. Mike. Oh, God. All time moment, man. It was, I was thinking of Paolo and Marvin Vittori.

And Paulo had said ahead of time that he was going to miss weight. And he just sits there trolling Marvin Vittori as if Marvin did something. wrong. It was the funniest fucking thing ever. It's a personal problem. Yeah. It's a personal problem. All right. That's all for the Super Chats? Yes, sir. That's it for the show. I've seen a bunch of people in the chat talking about

McGregor. Like, U.S.C. Roster Watch tweeted that he's no longer on the roster, but like I have no confirmation of that. I haven't seen a reputable outlet. Isn't roster watch not actually like the Roster Watch account anymore? Somebody bought it and then they were not doing Roster Watch. I don't know. I need a much.

stronger confirmation of that before I look at anything. Someone sent me a Sports Illustrated article and it's just referring to the roster watch tweet. So, yeah, that's we don't have any information on it. So we can't speak to the validity of any of that being true.

But this weekend, we can speak to the validity of the main event. Tricus Duplase versus Hamzaa Chimaev. Watch the crack tomorrow after the way in. They'll get you ready. Then Saturday night right here, UFC 319 watch party followed by a post-fight show with Mr. Ariel Hawani and Mr. Pizzi Carol from the Emerald Isle.

And then we're right back at it on Monday, baby. Big guests next week. Can't wait. Thanks for watching. See you then. Enjoy the fights this weekend.