The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 320 reaction, Jiri Prochazka, Youssef Zalal, Veronica Hardy, coach John Wood, more

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by recapping a wild weekend, starting with his experience at BKFC Newark, before moving on to UFC 320 and Alex Pereira's callout of Jon Jones (05:24).Coach John Wood discusses being in the corner for back-to-back fights at UFC 320, with Merab Dvalishvili picking up a huge win and Khalil Rountree Jr.'s valiant effort against Jiri Prochazka. Wood details Dvalishvili's dominance, the potential of Ateba Gautier, and more (1:02:53).Youssef Zalal is back after a big win, talking about the submission and Josh Emmett's verbal tap, his callout of Lerone Murphy, why it was such a long layoff between fights, wanting to return in December, and more (1:32:15).Veronica Hardy breaks down her win over Brogan Walker, opens up about gaining confidence and overcoming her own doubts, being coached by Sean Strickland, her broadcasting career, and more (1:56:18).Jiri Prochazka continues the train of UFC 320 winners, explaining why he didn't feel danger against Rountree, why he was so emotional while watching Alex Pereira's win in the main event, before revealing that Carlos Ulberg turned him down, wanting to confront Ankalaev and his manager about their social media posts, and more (2:32:32).Finally, the Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll re-join Ariel to give thoughts on Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Paul Hughes 2, circle back to Ariel's time at BKFC and UFC 320, and wrap with your Super Chats (2:57:40).

Ladies and gentlemen, now, welcome to the Eria, Hawaii Show. Back in your life on this Monday, October 6th, 2000. And 25, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It's great to be here. a lovely, lovely Monday in New York City, a scorching hot Monday in New York City, a scorching hot weekend, like 85 degrees around these parts in October. What a life! What a life! And speaking of which, before I forget, off the top, very important to know that today is a very important and special

day here on the program. Yeah, we didn't even talk about this before, Frankie. Happy birthday to our fearless leader, the one and only director, Andy. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. At you. At you?

At you? At you. Yeah. There it is. Thank you so much, guys. Unbelievable at 23 years young, what she is accomplishing in her life. Congratulations. It's great for you to be here.

Spending your day with us in that control room over there. Let's get a shot at the control room right now. Is there a shot at the control room that we can get? We didn't practice any of this. Oh, there it is. Yeah. Yeah, everyone's there. Oh, yeah, back to the music.

I like this, Frank. It's a bit of a mega mix. Back and forth. Does Prince still own that song? Or is it John Lennon? Disney owned it for a while. Paul McCartney? I think it's now finally back into public domain.

Liam Gallagher? Yes. Anyway, it's a great day to be alive. Happy birthday to Andy. We appreciate her very much. And there's obviously much to talk about on this post-paper-view Monday. UFC 320 has come and gone. By now you know, the new champion in the light heavyweight division is an old face.

It's Alex Poetan Pereira. He needs just 80 seconds, just 80 seconds to dispose of one Magumet on Kalayev. Obviously, we're going to talk about that. And the rest of the big results from the card, Marab Duolishvili, is at this point, undeniable. As they say, he has won 14 fights in a row. Three successful title defenses in this calendar year alone, he is hoping, 4th in December. We're going to talk to his coach John Wood about that. We'll get with Marab in the very near future, have no fear, but a very impressive win over Corey Sanhagen, who I obviously

think the world of, almost stopped Corey in the second round, which would have been his first win via stoppage on the feet since his spinning back fist, K.O. of Rafian Stotz, the fight that got him into the UFC. So that was back in 2017. So it had been a while. Didn't do it. Didn't do it in the end, won via decision, but a dominant win. And then what about Yuri Pachaska? That comeback win over Khalil Roundtree and then everything that happened afterwards. Want to talk about all of that and more on the program. Today on the show, John Wood going to join us at 2 o'clock, head coach for both Roundtree and Marab, back-to-back fights, a roller coaster of emotions, no doubt for the headman over at Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas. Appreciate him joining us. At 2.30, we're going to be joined by

Yusif Salal, who threw one strike, it was just a teep, and nothing else, no strikes via his hands, and ended up submitting Josh Emin in about 90 seconds time, I think 98 to be exact. Huge win for the Moroccan devil, who was on the shortlist for a comeback fighter of the year in 2024 and continues to roll here in 2025. So we'll talk to him at 2.30. at 3 o'clock Veronica Hardy who got back on track Big win for her

she had not fought in about 11 months but had a win in the curtain jerker on Saturday a familiar spot for her she doesn't seem to mind but she's Frank's favorite fight is it is it Hardy and then Cerano or is it Serrano and then Hardy

Different sports man Okay fair enough, fair enough anyway she's going to join us to talk about the big win on Saturday and then as far as interviews go we'll round out the day with Yuri Prakashka, the pride of the Czech Republic. Mr. Let's go for that, Mr. BJP himself, who had another thrilling, as I said on Saturday,

Marab is undeniable, Yuri is inevitable, and it just always seems like he has never done, and he's going to pull something crazy out of his back pocket, and he did so on Saturday in that third round, and he just landed in Prague, and he's going to join us at about 3.30, our time, 9.30 his time. Appreciate him very much. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Yeri. This is the lineup. I'm looking forward to getting into it all.

But let me start here, if I can, because I feel like since we last spoke, you and I on this show, not the post show that I did with Pizzi, who will join us in a matter of moments as well on Friday or the post show that I did with Pizzi on Saturday. Since we last spoke, a lot has happened for me on an emotional level.

I feel like it has been a very emotional, what is it, five or so? days since we last spoke and I'll explain why, if I may. So I left here on Wednesday not feeling great, not like I had a stomachache or anything like that, but I didn't like the way Wednesday played out in large part because, as we talked about on Wednesday, I promoted the fact I told you all and I feel very strongly about this. The guest's going to be on, we have to deliver. And, you know, most shows that you consume aren't live. There's in the sports space and really in the entire podcast space, you know, there's McAfee the best, Lebitard, Rich Eisen, Dan Patrick, us. There aren't a

lot of shows that are live that have guests. So when someone promotes, let's say Logan Paul promotes that so-and-so is going to be on his very popular podcast, that interview is already in the can. Bill Simmons promotes so-and-so. so is going to be on a show. That interview is in the can. So when you promote it, there's no worry that it's going to fall through. This is the worry that I've been living with for the past 16 years because you never know. Like, Yuri might not show up today. More often than not, 99, 98% of the time, the guests show up. And so there's a trust that comes to that. There's an accountability that comes with that. And so I hate, especially when it's a guest of that stature,

Connor McGregor, I hate when we don't come through. And I take it very, very, very seriously and very personally, I feel like I let you down. Now, I do want to clear something up because later in that day, you saw that Connor did some media. He was on Fox News. He did some stuff for DeZone. He did a media call, all this stuff. And I saw some people say like, oh, he chose them over you or oh, he went that route instead of going on your show. And so I just want to clear something up. Connor didn't know show this show. For lack of a better explanation, at least for for now, it was discussed beforehand that coming on the show last Wednesday wasn't the right time for us and for him if you catch my drift. So this was a mutual decision. Okay, so I hope

people understand that. We weren't left at the altar. We weren't left with egg on our faces because we were standing there hoping he would show up. This was something that was discussed and in the end determined that this wasn't the right time to have this interview in studio. So I want to clear that up. And I hope it makes sense. And perhaps we could talk about it down the line. But that's all I'll say about that. And so despite that, I go home feeling like crap. I felt like I let you guys down. And I don't like that feeling. That night, it's the beginning of Yom Kippur where we fast. You have to this big meal. I spend the whole day in synagogue. And for me, Yom Kippur is a day that I dread because of the fasting and you're tired.

and you're hungry and you're thirsty and all that stuff, but my favorite time is like the last hour, usually like 6.30 to 7.30 p.m. because I feel like, and I'm not trying to get too deep on you guys, I respect all religion, I believe in God, I believe in religion, I wish we lived in a world where all religions respect each other and we all had, you know, sort of like the common courtesy to understand that people come from different walks of life and we should all be, you know, kind and loving to each other, no matter the God you believe in or what you believe in. Even if you don't even God. But I always feel like for me and my faith, that last hour, I feel the closest possible to God. And I feel like because you're so tired, you're so hungry, you're a little

bit loopy, you're in a room with a bunch of other people who feel the same way. There's some songs that you sing and some things that you say where you feel like you are, you are saying sorry, you're opening yourself up, and you're kind of sacrificing yourself. You have just sacrificed the last 24 hours. I love that last hour. I love it. And it's spiritual. And I, and I went into the holiday feeling like crap and then I left the next day I got out of the holiday feeling like I had been sort of cleansed and and look there are bigger things in life than interviews falling through and all this stuff but like I take this stuff way too seriously and I felt like by Thursday night I was cleansed so that was a roller coaster in its own right

like it kind of like kick me back into you know a normal mindset all right like what just relax there's a bigger purpose out there and there's there's more to worry about on friday i'm excited about this pfl card we had been talking about this pfl card we had been talking about hughes and armagamadoff it being the most anticipated fight in pfl history amazing main event you got two champions being crowned on this card sergio pettis has an incredible knockout francis is there with don davis and dakota it feels like pfl is figuring things out john martin is there they've got a face it's a fresh face. It's a new era. It's a new coat of paint. They're streamlining things. Usman and Paul ends up being a great fight just as entertaining as the first one. And then

we hear the scorecards and we hear the 50 to 45 and we hear the 49-46. And let me just say after doing some, you know, investigation, the, you know, we made a big deal about it in the post-fight show. the tweeting of the scorecards had nothing to do with the actual scorecards that was just a mistake in the in the moment and and I have no doubt that one had nothing to do with the other it did seem weird at the time but one had nothing to do with the other what was weird and is still weird and we still have no explanation and I haven't seen anyone from the PFL distance themselves from it is the 50 to 45 and

4946 and I saw some people say like look at the end of day you're talking about one round no you're not. You're not talking about one round. I actually hate when it's a three-two fight and people say, oh, it's a robbery because it went three-two the other way. Or, oh, man, it was three-two, and they gave it a four-one. Okay, that's one round. You gave this one judge, Derek Minner, gave Paul Hughes zero rounds. There's just no explanation for that. Like, to me, two, three, and five were relatively easy rounds to score in his favor. Two, three, and five, one and four, for Usman. But in the end, I'm okay with the 3-2 Usman score, which one judge gave. The other two, 49, 46, and 50 to 45 are indefensible, absolutely indefensible. And the 50 to 45, to me, is criminal.

Like, there should be an investigation into that. What the hell were you looking at? And that left a sour taste in my mouth. I was pissed on Friday night because I was watching that thinking, what the hell did we just witness? What is going on here? Now, people will throw out their theories, their conspiracies about where the fight was and who the fight was scored in favor of and all this stuff. And I can't get into that because that is not fair. I don't have any evidence that would suggest that anyone was in on the take or anything like that. But what I do know is 50 to 45 is indefensible. And there needs to be an investigation. And that guy should not judge MMA or combat sports until he proves

that he knows what he's looking at. He knows what he's scoring. But I felt like something was rotten there. And so I went into Saturday feeling like, ah, man, now we got 320, and we got this BKFC show. Like, man, there are times where you're like, what is this?

What are we doing? What are we devoting our lives to? This is corrupt. But then things changed on Saturday for me. On Saturday, and I'll just say it here and now, because he didn't put it out, And I bugged them about this, but I'll say it. There's a new member of the Young Crown team.

His name is E. Casey Leiden. You may know him if you're a long-time fan of our work. And when I say our work, I had been working with him since 2009. 2009, our first show together was UFC 104. Every single interview, every single interview from 2009 to me leaving to ESPN in 2018, every single memorable one. the Connor walk-and-talk, the Bispin-walk-and-talk, rampage in Japan, the sit-downs with CM Punk,

John Jones, Daniel Cormier, DJ, all that stuff. 09 to 18, it was Casey and I. And obviously, often his wife, Esther, would help out. She was the photographer, he was the videographer, he was the guy with me when I got kicked out of the forum in Englewood in 2016. Every single show, every single city, every single venue, we were together. I went TSPN. I came back to M.A fighting, but when I came back to MMA fighting, we were just doing the show. We weren't doing stuff on the road. Well, he is now a member of Uncrown. He has officially joined us as of last week. And I can't freaking wait because this is the beginning of uncrowned films where we're going to go back to our old on the road, boots on the ground, dock style, walk and talks, but better than that. We're going to tell stories. It's not just going to be about covering the event. We're going to tell long form stories of all kinds. and we did our first on Saturday.

We went to BKFC. The show started earlier in the day. We got there at about 245. No one was there. And I got to give thanks to BKFC. They really didn't ask us any questions and they let us do whatever we wanted, however we wanted,

without any sort of restrictions. We got to go everywhere. Every locker room on the ring, ringside, in the back, the ramp, all that stuff. It was amazing. It was rejuvenating. this felt like the old days but better because we have put i can't wait for you guys to see what we

have put out i can't wait for you guys to see the access i can't wait for you to see the it's it's it's it's my chance to do the louis through stuff that i've been wanting to do for a very long time we've got another trip plan next week uncrowned films is the last pillar we had the doc excuse me we have we have the website dot com we have the the shows the studio youtube podcast the writing this was the last thing and we're off and running. Want to see how we're off and running? Here's a taste. Here's a taste for you. This is going to premiere next week because we got to put it together. It's a feature film here of many that are coming out. But you want to see the access? Do you want to see what we have in store? This couldn't have been a better start. Couldn't have been a

better start because it was genuine. It was heartfelt. The people at BKFC were so happy to have us but didn't get in our way, didn't try to change our opinion, didn't try to influence us, didn't try to campaign for anything. They said, here it is. Cover it. Do whatever you want.

And we were everywhere. In the back, ringside, like I said, everywhere. Here's a taste of what we shot on Saturday. Are you proud of yourself? Sorry, it's hard to answer right now, right? Yeah, you know, My third fight this year, 39, fucking continue to get better. I shot for something big.

You know, I'm just trying to reach financial freedom from my family and took a big risk. No one really wants to take. Did my best. The guy's fucking tough. He's a little bit bigger. He hits hard as fuck. Yeah, I'm proud of myself.

Should be. I keep my head high on that. It's just tough, tough loss. too. You have no idea what's coming. Casey's the best. Me and him, like the old days, Prudential Center, where we did the interview with Nate Diaz, Kurt Pellegrino walks by, the Rashad Evans after UFC 128 interview, Dana after John Jones wins the belt. You have no idea. I can't wait to show you guys this. And I can't wait to show you the other stuff we have in store. Believe in us, stick with us. That, I felt rejuvenated. Because I'm being honest with you

guys, the UFC pay-per-views, I always go through a range of emotions. I'm being like oversharing here. But, you know, obviously I used to be at all the events and front and center and we'd be on the road and stuff. And there's like a high and a low and and this is what I chose. But, you know, there's some FOMO. There's, I didn't have any of that on Saturday because I felt it. And I was reminded why I loved us so much. I was reminded why I got into this. And so that ends, that ends just as the main card is starting. And so I'm able to watch live the main card.

And the main card on Saturday starts with a big Joe Pfeiffer win. Congrats to him. He'll be on the show tomorrow. A Yusuf Salal win. Congrats to him. He'll be on the show today. And then it's the fight that I was really looking forward to. Remember when it was first announced I said I was looking forward to this fight more than any.

it was Yeri versus Khalil. First two rounds, it's all Khalil. First two rounds, they're questioning whether Yeri can continue, what's up with his feet, what's up with his legs, what's up with his movement. And then you know what happened in the third. And then you fast forward to the co-main event and you see Marab coming out

looking fresh to depth with the Oakley's. And I told you guys last week, I don't know if there's been a title fight as of late, where I felt like I had such love and admiration for both guys. I didn't want to see both guys lose. Marab, Corey, loved them both, kind, genuine, lovable characters. There has to be a winner. Marab's the winner.

Congrats to him, 14 in a row. It's unbelievable. I feel for Corey as well. But it was great. There was sportsmanship. There was respect. Highest of high levels. And then there's Alex Pereira.

main event the crowd behind him the walkout the bow and arrow the pace the look on his face the closing of the distance the intensity the ferocity the viciousness dropping in with the right and then finishing him with the elbows the ground and pound the body shots in 80 seconds and then that thing famous shama not dead not not going anywhere, he is back, the great post-fight interview. And I asked myself after, how can you not feel emotion after seeing this? How could you not be romantic about all this? And I'm not saying this in a joking way.

This is why we love it. This is why we're obsessed with it. This is why we have devoted our lives to this sport. Because everything about those dudes, Yeri, Alex, they are themselves, they are genuine, they are authentic. That's why we love them. They're so different. They're so unique.

Where else do you get characters like this? They take us on these journeys, these emotional journeys, and you fall in love with them, and your heart breaks for them when they falter, and you feel like you have won as well. Like humanity is one

when they overcome obstacles and achieve greatness. And they represent, and Marab included, they represent everything that every fighter should start to be, and that is themselves. This is why the Magamad thing never worked.

This is why, look, part of that loss is on his manager's shoulders. His manager, Ali Abdel-Ziz, whether he wants to admit it or not, whether he wants to call his critics virgins or not, like an absolute embarrassing statement if there ever was one from him. You lit a fire under this guy's ass.

He loses that fight in March. He might just say, you know what, I'm just going to go up to heavyweight. What's the point? no you pissed him off you pissed off yuri as well and look at what it turned into but the reason why people aren't drawn to it is because it's not real they know it's not coming from from him from magumet why does colby not connect with people because it's not real it's not authentic Alex and yuri have nothing to do with each other they couldn't be more different but they are real

they are authentic they make us feel something look at gc look at his reaction to yri you don't react that way unless you feel something about a guy who takes you on that journey. If you missed it, here it is. Oh, spinning elbow from Yeri. Two minutes to go. Yeri, empty the tank, man. He's trying. Oh, a couple

big shots from Yeri. He'll have a slap. He's down. It's over. Yeri. Boom. The samurai puts up his sleep. I love this man. Oh!

I'm coming. Let's go. How can you not love this guy? Oh, puts the check flag on a couple big breaths. Oh, let's go. How can you not be a fan of this man? Delivered. Boom.

He couldn't be more right. How could you not love this guy? I would add, how could you not love this sport? How could you not be a fan of this guy or this man? How could you not be a fan of this sport? Because of characters like that who take us on these journeys, who make us feel something. Fuck, I was sitting there watching.

Mike Perry and Jeremy Stevens, looking like they were on the brink of death, and they kept going. They kept going, obviously for financial gain, obviously for legacy and all the things that come with it. But man, it's different. It's so different. And witnessing that and then seeing what Alex did, seeing what Marab did, seeing what Yere did, then seeing Yiri in the front row crying like a proud father, crying because the guy who beat him twice, beat the guy who disrespected him because Alex never disrespected Yuri

look at this guy you would think that they were best friends crying for no other reason not because he's like oh shit now I might not get a title shot because he wanted his brother in arms

the guy that he bonded with he wanted him to beat the guy that was disrespectful that talked shit via his manager. Now, there's obviously a difference between Carlos and Yeri here. Carlos doesn't have that connection. I get it.

Carlos wants next. This dude is like, yes, you did it for us, for the honor. That's real. That is beautiful. How do you not feel some sort of way about this? It's fucking amazing. It's beautiful. I love everything about it.

I love everything about it. And so that's why I thought, oh, and by the way, we end the night with scenes of Marab at the nightclub in Las Vegas. going another 10 rounds. Footage from his manager, Danny Rubinstein here. Look at this guy. This guy's had excess in Las Vegas putting on a show. What is this?

What is happening here? How do you not love this? Same dude that was jumping into frozen ponds. There's footage of him kicking walls as he's a carpenter. Look at this guy. How do you not love this? Where else do you get this? He just fought for five rounds against one of the best,

fighters in the world. He just won his third title fight of the year. Third title defense, looking for four. How do you not love this? And so that's when I talk about the range of emotions, I felt like shit about everything, about life on Wednesday. I speak to God on Thursday. I want to do, I want nothing to do with MMA on Friday. And I fall in love again on Saturday. It's a beautiful, it's a beautiful thing. And happy to be here to talk about it all with you guys. on Monday. Great Jays win. Actually, two wins. Saturday, Sunday. Bad bills lost. We're not going to talk about that. We'll just move on and say hello to the rest of the crew. Hi, guys. How are you? How's everyone? Doing great. How about you? Yeah, doing great. I'm doing fantastic, man. You couldn't

have put that more eloquently. The art of this sport. It was incredible. It's amazing. It's amazing. And you guys got to go to the smashing machine pop-up too. Yeah, we sure did. You've been wearing the merch on the watch party. Some arcade games. Yeah, Rick with the the big Nautica sweater. Shout out. Good time, man. Coleman's shirt. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, Hammer House. Hammer House on the back. And then Coleman was at the event. Oh, yeah, here we are. We did Mark Kerr versus Mark Coleman, Battle of the Marks. By the way, something just occurred to me. Peezy, didn't we say that when you do the post show, you don't come on Mondays? And I just saw you and I was like, wait a second.

Why is PT here? Did I screw that up? Listen, you put up the bot signal on the fucking hair. Yeah, I forgot. I forgot. You preempted it. Oh, man, you must have been. Why didn't you just say?

I was working already. I was working already today. You woke up, you text. I was already. I didn't know. I forgot. I forgot. You could leave now.

I mean, because you know what? I was going to say, you know what I was going to say? Pizzi, we didn't hear from you on Saturday. But I was like, wait a second, we actually did hear from you.

I actually heard a lot from you this weekend on Friday and Saturday. He's not too much. The hair looks fantastic. Thanks. Frank said that as well. I didn't do anything different. I've just been wearing hats for the last few days. But as you can see,

it's quite a bit of lettuce we've got going on here. I just need to get a cool. A little blow dry or something? No, really, no. We just walk the dog. I do want to start here. You look fantastic. If you want to leave, you could leave.

And I apologize. I forgot about our arrangement. Do it now. Pete, get the fuck out. You can come back and it'll be a three shot. Ptzee, when you and I were reacting, if you're gone, feel free not to answer. Hey, you can leave, man.

Let me immediately address you. When you were, when you and I were reacting on Saturday, we were talking about, okay, what happens now, Alex Yeree, Alex Ulberg. I feel like so much has happened since because Pereira did all the media. We sort of figured it out, kind of figuring it, okay, he said in the post-fight interview, hey, I had something planned, but as a result of the news that came out on Friday, heartbreaking, devastating news, John Jones's brother, the great Arthur Jones, tremendous football player, Syracuse University, Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens, shockingly, tragically dying at the age of

39 and obviously we send our best wishes to the family and our heart breaks because I've had the opportunity to meet him a few times. Just a lovely, lovely guy and no one really says a bad word about Arthur Jones. Just a lovely guy and a very talented young man. Alex insinuates, hey, I wanted to say something. I had a plan, but because of this news, I just want to take a moment of silence. And everyone actually really respected it, which was another beautiful moment. And here's John Jones reacting to it all. But then when he got to the back and did the media, did the press coverage, did the podcast and all this stuff, he pretty much laid it out. I want to fight at heavyweight next. I want to fight John Jones. I want to fight John Jones at the White House.

I want super fights. I'm kind of done with this. And I've had some time to digest it and I want to ask you as well. I love it. I don't know if John does. I don't know if this is what John wants. But to me, John Jones versus Alex Pereira is honestly just as big as Jones versus Aspinall if we're not talking about belts. And I saw Henry Sudo say, oh, make it for the BMF. Why? Who gives a fuck? It's John Jones versus Alps Pereira. You don't need some bullshit title attached to it all. Like, it's a massive fight and it would be a massive fight anywhere, including the White House, which we found out via the president, President Trump earlier today or yesterday, that he said it's going to happen on June 14th, which happens to be his birthday,

which happens to also be a Sunday, which is interesting, but we'll have more time to dissect that. What do you think of this idea now? The guy wins the belt. He just poses of Ankaliev. Usually the UFC doesn't like this sort of thing, but maybe they're happy he got rid of Unkalive, if we're being honest. Do you just do it? Do you give the guy the opportunity,

vacate the title and have Alberg fight Prochaska for the vacant title? Look, if you're going to vacate the title, that's a great fight to do. I think that's one that the people get behind straight away. Look, you mentioned there, the UFC don't kind of do this kind of thing. You know, they don't like, you know, a champion moving up a weight class to do this kind of thing.

I think an extra layer is added to this because of how the Jones situation played out with Aspinall. Essentially, at this stage, if they're doing that, they're just giving Jones what he wanted the whole all along. We already know there's some hesitation from Dana White as to putting John Jones on this card. He's talked about his lack of reliability and things like this. And just from Aspinall's point of view, who isn't in this equation in terms of what Pereira's pitching here, I can see him being a bit peeved at that as well. Like essentially, right, you've dragged my career out for so long, where. for this Jones fight to happen. At that point,

Jones said, I actually want to fight Alex Pereira that was against what Dana White wanted, against what Aspola wanted, and now essentially you're just going to give it to him. I can see there being some issues there, and I don't think Dana White is over what happened there with Jones and Aspenol.

What do you think, Rick? It's worth noting, though, that that's consistent, right? John has always said, it is the challenge that I want. It's the name. It's the status. That is consistent with what John Jones has said.

He asked for this, right? After the Miotchei fight. He wanted this fight. He did not want. want to fight Tom. Now, I think it has evolved, right? At first, I thought, okay, if you pay him, he'll fight Tom, and that seemed to not be the case, right? So now there's a little more, there's a little more at play there. But he has been pretty consistent. He is looking for the biggest names, the biggest challenges. And I said, when we were talking about these fights,

a year ago, I was saying that Alex versus John is a bigger fight than John versus Tom. And you guys were beating the drum for Tom versus John. I understood it. This is still a bigger fight. This is still a bigger fight. Alex versus John is still a bigger fight than Tom versus John. And so if this was to be made, it would be great business for the UFC. It'd be a great challenge for John Jones. It'd be an opportunity for Alex to really stake his claim in a new division. The one thing is, I also raised this last week. I said, last week I said, I want Alex to go up to heavyweight win or lose. You guys both said, or everybody else basically said, Carlos has to get his shot first. Do you still feel that way? Does Carlos have to get a shot at Alex?

I don't think so, Rick. I think, like, in terms of what Yerry did. The aura battle, as me and Ariel talked about on Saturday. I mean, it was a first round TKO between Yeri and O'Berg in terms of the public opinion, what he did that night. Like, look at G.C.'s reaction. That is the fan base, essentially after watching. Oh, every single fan watching on Saturday had a similar reaction, I would imagine.

All of us. All of us. All right. So then what's crazy is the finish, but also the three minutes leading up to that, was like edge of your seat the entire time like can he actually pull this off it was it was incredible let me change the question then do we need to see Yuri get a third crack before we

do Alex who's making this so difficult like the star power that Yuri has the emotion that he invokes out of the fans the everything that comes along with him the exciting fights that he puts on you want to see him fight for a title but the fact that if Alex Pereira stays at 205 and it has to be

against Alex Pereira neither of those fights were particularly competitive, so do we want to see a third one? Here's the thing. I think it's a pretty easy answer for the UFC. You are entering a new era. You are telling us you're going to make the biggest, I mean, it's a little bit funny hearing Dana talk about how big next year is going to be and beyond and how great the teams are working together as he's essentially coming off ESPN air and had told us for the last seven years how great it was with ESPN, et cetera, et cetera,

but that's just how this goes. You are entering this new era. You're going to have shows on broadcast TV. You're killing pay-per-view, but you want people. to sign up for Paramount Plus, you make the biggest fights possible. And you start next year after a pretty somewhat ho-hum last couple of years, you start next year with a bang. You make Allberg versus Prochaska for the vacant title. You have Alex move up and you make Alex versus John Jones. And Alex versus John Jones is a huge, huge fight because John wanted it and Alex wants it. So there should not be any obstacle. If there is a reason for this fight not being made, it's because of the UFC, and now you're going to be viewed once again as the entity that didn't make the big

fight. Here you have a chance to course correct a little bit. You have a chance to let people know, like, no, we do make the big fights. We have two superstars that want this fight, and they're both essentially red-hot. John is coming off a huge win, a huge move up to heavyweight, Alex now got his groove back. Perfect. Aspinall has to win on October 25th, and by the way, this is good for Aspinall's business, because A, he could say, look, John came back and didn't fight me. See, he wanted nothing to do with me. All right, great. But then, if John wins, and if Alex wins, guess who's sitting pretty saying, come on, big boys, now what are you going to do? Now you're going to duck me again? Because I can assure you Alex wouldn't duck

Tom Aspinall. I think he just wants that legacy fight first. And if he beats John, I don't think Alex would have an issue fighting Tom. He doesn't strike me as that kind of guy. Now, John might be a different beast, but those dudes residing in the heavyweight division is way better for A, the heavyweight division, be the UFC and Tom Asperon. Even if he's not fighting them, it just elevates everything. So let him fight Volkov after that. Let him be the guy that no one wants to fight, but is the king of the whole thing. You know what I mean? So I'm a little bit, I'm a little bit unsure of that part because I don't know that Alex wants to fight Tom. If Alex wanted to fight Tom, what's he going to do? He could have called out Tom, beat John. No, he wants John first and I get that.

John is the legacy fight, but you think he'll beat John and walk away? No, what if he fights at light heavyweight or does something else? He's going to go back. Nah, Alex ain't that guy. I don't believe he's that guy. I don't feel that there's any certainty around that. Way more certainty of if he wins, he's fighting Tom as opposed to if John wins he's fighting Tom. I don't think either a certain. I don't feel strong on either.

It can't be 50-50. No, I agree with you. I think Alex is much more likely. Also, if he beats John Jones, he has that win in a heavyweight. And now I think he would want to go for that legacy of potentially having three division championships. He could, yeah, I don't know. I'm not as sure. I'm not sure.

I'm not saying it's not going to happen. It's not about Alex. For what? He could have. There's literally one fight for him at 205. He could have said, I want Tom. Tom's name never came out of his mouth. And that's the part that gives me a little bit of hesitation.

The same way, John. Tom hasn't motivated these guys in that way. To your point, though, John Jones is the much bigger fight right now for him. I agree. I've always thought that. Tom himself would say, I think Tom himself would say, I get it. I get it. All right.

You want to fight Tom? You want to fight John Jones just like I wanted to fight John Jones You want to beat John just like I did And ultimately if John picks Alex Great But I think then he'll be waiting there That's all

You might By the way we're getting closer It's only eight months away now I was gonna say is this happening at Casablanca Gotta be There's saying it's gonna be the biggest part ever For like these two lads Fighting in a division

That Tom is meant to be the king of And all of this public Interest being in that And not on the champion Tom is always the odd man out. It's unfortunate and it's not by any doing of his own. And this would fortify this, right? Like that would

fortify that issue. It would be another one where it's like, Tom is not the big star that everybody wants it to be. You know why he's the odd man out? Not because he's not a big star. Not because he's like the dude. Not because he's Magamemadon on Kalive with the belt. It's because no one wants to fight this guy because he's the baddest man on the planet. And by the way, you can't

deny, I mean, we've witnessed it on our channel. He's popular. You do something with Tom. It gets big numbers. So people aren't apathetic towards him. They just want nothing to do with him. John Jones wants nothing to do with Tom Asperon. He is coming back now to not fight. He has never said once in the comeback, right? Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm coming to fight Tom. I'm coming to fight Tom Asperon shut him up. This guy disrespecting me. He's never said Tom. He just said, I want to fight at the White House. He never said,

I want to fight Tom Aspinall. Am I wrong? No, no, that's right. So now Alex gave him the lifeline. Great. Now, who know, by the way, worth noting, John just lost his brother. Who knows? Maybe he never wants to come back. It's a very possible thing. Like, who knows? And again awful awful awful story but if that is still the case if he really does want to fight at the white house and it could go the opposite way right maybe you could say like wow you know i'm in my prime i need to go for it i need to do it for my brother who knows um i have no issue with him saying now that he's not the champion anymore let me fight alex and then we see how the chips fall and i have no issue with saying right here and now if alex beats john i believe he will fight tom aspinall i don't

he killed duck Tom Aspinall. And so all of this is good for Tom because he could say, look at these guys. They want nothing to do with me. I'm still the man. And bring me your, bring me your Jelten Almedas. Bring me, it wouldn't be the worst thing for Tom Aspinol to have a few quick fights

against Almeida, Gan, and Volkov, if they are quick fights. You know what I mean? I just want to clarify my position because I think Tom is amazing. And I think he's a huge asset to the UFC. In both these scenarios, he is the one with less leverage. in both the scenarios. He has less leverage than Alex Pereira. He has less leverage than John Jones. And so even if Alex is willing to fight Tom, he doesn't have to fight Tom. He is a bigger star and he would have had a win over John Jones. And Tom's the one that needs Alex more than Alex needs Tom. So it's not that I don't think Alex is willing to fight Tom. It's that I don't think he needs to fight Tom. Tom needs these guys more than they need him. And that's the unfortunate reality around the heavyweight champ at the moment. Yeah, but he wants that third title and make history. He would have to go there. No doubt.

for Alex after John. Yeah. Because I would want to see it. If he fights John Jones and beats him, and then goes and fights Tom and beats him, you have to start talking about him being the greatest ever. He's the goat if he does that. Period.

There's like no discussion anymore. No, there's no convo if he does that. So it's right there. He's got a two-fight plan. And by the way, the money, I can't imagine what it's going to be. This guy was, you know, a few Magomed takedowns away on Saturday from, like, now as talking about him fighting, you know

Ming Yang Zhang next you know what I mean and now he has set himself up for two fights in 2026 potentially June and December where he's on the verge of legit history it's right there for him

it's literally right there the gate plan is there 100% by the way it's all with houses money too you know Dana said on Saturday Dana said ah you know my hesitancy is this guy's a middle way he's not a middle way he's not moving up three way guy

he's a 205er who walks around a 240 he like I don't think he could physically get back to middleweight at this point? No. That's how big he is. What was he like, 231 or something in the cage on Saturday? Yeah, yeah. This is a perfect. This guy can fight at heavyweight. Heavyweight's a division where you don't necessarily also want to be 265 at all times, right?

Like, Tom is obviously a big heavyweight. John is a big heavyweight, but it's not a lot of muscle, right? There's some extra, some extra fat on John when he fights it anyway. I dare you. Call John Jones. You've seen, we've seen the cruiserweight style, right? The best, who's the best heavyweight in the world in boxing right now? Usig. It's not, you know, it's not Tyson Fury. It's not these, it's not Anthony Joshua. It's not

the big boys. It's not the massive guys. At heavyweight, sometimes you want to be that leaner, you know, smaller, quicker, more agile fighter that Alex could be. I have, like, I think Alex would do great at heavyweight. And we have seen him move multiple divisions at kickboxing as well. Like, he'd be fine. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. The UFC has a massive opportunity here, a lifeline to course correct over the last few years, to shed the label that, hey, we don't make the big fights. let me take it one step further one step further

Francis is sitting right there you just got all this money go and fucking get this guy yes go and get this guy yes he's sitting right there I predicted this on our prediction show sitting right there this year come on next year we believe in you data

go get him he's right there Francis versus Tom is so much more intriguing for me than John versus we're pig and shit that's the one We would actually be pigs in shit if that happened. We're looking at a scenario. Let's get crazy here.

We're looking at a scenario, 2026, 10 years after the greatest year in MMA history, Sweet 16, we're looking at Alex versus John, Tom versus Francis, which we just kind of came up with now, but let's just stick with me. The return of Connemer Greger. Ariel Hawley, the return of Conno McGregor. Why did we talk? And, oh, by the way, the return of Ronda Rousey, which isn't a crazy thing. I told you this last week.

This is a real thing. This is a real thing. This is it. Oh, baby. Ellison family, you have just stepped in. How many? How many have it? Quickly there.

How many happens? It's very quickly there. Look at what they're looking at. Oh, by the way. Oh, oh, by the way, Ilya versus Patty to start the year. I saw some people say. You know about Justin Gatio's. Get out of you.

It's right there. Ilya versus Patty is staring you in the face. Yeah. Are you out of your mind? With all due respect to Justin, he's staring right at you. Right there. Ilya Patty to start the year. Oh, oh, oh, Kayla versus Amanda Nunes?

Like what? Who? Washed? What's why? It's all right. Guys, it is all right there. If we're sitting here, God willing, December of 2026 and like 60% of these didn't happen, it's an epic failure.

They are all right there for the time. taking. Even Francis. You think there's more chance. Every man has a price, as the great Ted DiBiasey once said. Call up John Martin. Hey, John. Time Warner.

Remember that? Didn't work out. This won't work out unless you take this fat bag of cash. All right? Francis definitely has a lot of money to bring him back. Like how, like, how does that go about happening? What do you mean? Pitchie's trying to call me to bring him back.

We've just said a lot of things there. A lot of things, man. Ronda versus Fran. Okay, go one by one, Pizzi. Let's go. All right. So, Francis and Ghanu v. Tom Aspin was one of them. Now, quick show of hands. Who thinks that's going to happen? Can I just say... My hands are cemented to the floor.

Okay, before I put my hand up, I just want to say, this is not coming from a... Like, when I say Ronda is a real thing, that's coming from a place of Intel. When I say Francis versus Tom, nope, that's from a place of hope. I just want to... I just predicted it, and I stand by it. It's just, it's business. It's math. business. Tom cannot get the big fight. And as I said, and I continue to say, I love Tom Aspinall. Truly, I am a fan of his. But for one reason or another, Alex and John are more interested in

each other than him. That's the reality of his position. He needs to continue to win to make it different. Francis Inganu is the only name that matters, right? This Cyril Gan fight, I'm not interested in it. I know Pizzi on the crack. You tried to pump it up. You tried to tell me why it's a compelling story. I could not care less because Tom is going to walk through him. And you can put that on wax. Tom is going to walk through Cyril. I'm not compelled by it and I don't see anybody in the heavyweight division

who can give him any problems. I sure want to see him avoid some Francis Inganu shots. And that's the guy that's left. That's the guy that's floating out there. There are no other guys coming up. The heavyweight division is barren. I can't think of anything else. It's right there. If Alex and Tom

if Alex and John are tied up with each other, make that fucking call. to Francis. Make it. Well, you got to make it to the BFL. Well, he's got one fight left, right? Johnny, how you doing? It's a fight and a term, and it's a whole complicated thing. Call him. Get J&D. Associates on the phone. Johnny and Donnie. Johnny and Donnie from the BFL. We all set some things that we regret.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Easy work. And while you're at it, can you bring Paul Hughes over, too? We'll take ditch of it as well. You guys can have Patchy now. You still want that, Alcalaev? Do you still want to do that deal? D.L. Thomas had a great idea. We're sending Uncleayev and Patchie Mick. for Francis, Paul Hughes, and Who says no? Who says no? Don and Johnson. Guys, it's right there. It is right there.

It's like the most optimistic 15 minutes to show. I know. I think. Carter's coming back. Nancy's coming. G.C., when you say you don't think it's happening, which one? Francis. Okay. What about Alex versus John? Yes. I actually do feel somewhat optimistic about that. I do think it would have to, I feel like it needs to take place at the White House, though. I think that's

the for lack of a better term the Trump card to bring John out of retirement the guy named Trump just said it's happening and gave a date so there is a White House card no no no no like I think that John Jones needs to be fighting on the White House to get them out yeah perfect no because like

one could say like oh well that's never going to happen the UFC's never going to have I was saying that I was down they are having a show at the White House and John Jones wants to be on it and so does Alex Perra what do you what do you think the chance that it's that it's you have Connor and John Jones fighting on that car that feels tough

why not certainly you can but man you're really giving up you're giving up a lot there's no paper view anymore so you're not giving up that

but yes the gate is you've now sacrificed one it's a big deal sacrifice one but like it's DT 4547's birthday 100% the one thing I'm wondering about though is

it's his birthday he said yeah he said it's his birthday June 14th Birthdays on a Saturday. Is a Sunday. June 14th is a Sunday. But that's weird. But kind of cool if there's like a Sunday primetime UFC show.

That would be nuts. Do we now think this is going to be the International Fight Week thing? Because now it's even earlier than usual. You know what I mean? So the only reason I bring this up is, is there a chance they're going to do a June 14th and a July 4th-ish? No, not July 4th, but like June 28th. Last year was June 28-29. How could you?

Who do you headline it with at that point? Who knows? I mean, who knows who's going to. to be available between now and then. But also the resources that are going to be required for this White House card. Like how do you turn around in two weeks and do something? I think it's possible. Why I bring that up is can you get to a point where it's like, hey, Alex versus John,

it's America versus the world, whatever. And Connor, you're going to look at the gate you'll get. You go two weeks later. If you really do want to come back. Oh, Connor two weeks after? Yeah. And he doesn't fight on the White House card, but it's the same month. And now you're back in an arena.

Good luck selling that to Connor who's been talking about this thing. He said it's a done deal. He also said he needs to get 100 million from Donald Trump. And 100 million golden visas, or 100 golden visas. There's a few things. A few flags on the play here. But like John Jones is saying he wants to come back for the White House card. Like,

Connor McGregor has been going on like a world tour that this is his card and he's negotiating with the US government. I'm just saying if they have that second date in June, which we don't know yet. That's tough. We don't know yet. I feel like it's the inverse. I feel like you tell John Jones and Alex Pereira can you guys have? I got it. I solved it. I got it. You just come back to the White House.

You do it on the 4th? You just do two shows at the White House. No, no, no, no. You have Tom Aspinall Francis and Gano headline two weeks later. Yeah, exactly. There you go. Not a bad shout. Not a bad shout.

White House becomes the new apex where they have it every month. You know, it's small, it's intimate. It's easy to pull it off 700,000 to replace the lawn. Keep the cage on the lawn. If any, like, two of these things happen, it would be absolutely incredible. And it would be a great sign for the health of MMA. How big of a deal is Rhonda coming back? It'd be a big deal, dude.

Because I have to be honest, like, when we talk about it here, and stuff. I don't feel a pop. I don't feel it's like, oh my God, the return. I think she has a lot of work to do to win people over. But it would hit the casual space. Yeah. Like it's like, oh, what do you do for work? It's like, oh, I work, a cover combat sport. It's like, remember that Holly Home

head kick on Ron Rousey. It's like, yeah, dude, that was like 11 years ago, but yeah, I do remember. Ten to be exact. Ten. Yeah, I guess. Do you think she has work to do with the MMA fans? She really did turn her bad. Like she said, I want nothing to do with you guys. I think it would be better for her to keep acting the way she was

acting. Just disregard it. Like, she's also Ronda Rousey at the end of the day. Like, we have to just acknowledge that this is just who she is. She's always kind of been that way. And so I don't expect her to come hat in hand and be like, boy, you know, I'm so sorry to the M&A fans of media. F that, by the way. Like, it would be incredible if she just healed off on everybody and was just like, I'm back. And I don't care if you like it or not. I think that be the best version of Ronda Rousey. By the way, she has said... It's an ability thing. It's an ability issue. You know, like it's, it feels like when Hoise Gracie came back to fight, Matt Hughes, in a way, for me.

You know, it's like, your skills. Depending on who she fights, depending on who she fights, right? Because Hughes was in his prime. Is there some crazy crusher out there? Like, it's like Amanda and Kayla and then Juliana and then what? Like, Kayla. Meisha Tate? Probably give her some issues. But what I'm saying is, like, Rhonda could come back against the top 10 of the, the Bantaweight division, and I'm not really, like, too scared for her. Like, I think the skills are going to be fine. There's not a lot here until you get to the championship level.

I think that I get what you're saying about Matt Hughes and Hoyst Gracie, but Matt Hughes was like a killer in his prime. You put Rhonda in there against, I don't know, Raquel Pennington. I don't think that would happen. I don't think she gets smoked. No, that's my point. Yeah, I don't think she gets smoked. Outside of Kayla and Amanda and maybe Juliana, like, who were we looking at that we're like, a Rhonda can't come back? At this point, we're bringing Rhonda back as a setup to a title fight like are you just bringing her back to fight

and by the way she won't be on the White House card she has already said she doesn't want to be on the White House card so it's not like we're stacking the day that would be insane why didn't she want to be on the White House car I think she said it herself she's not interested

I mean there you go international fight week sorted then two weeks and also another two weeks later that's a great freaking point that's a great what's Rakiel Pennington doing come on that is a great

I love Rocky baby By the way, Misha Tate 3. You wouldn't watch that? Hell yes. Hell yes. It's done. You know? Sorted.

Yes, I would watch that. Ronda's always zigged when everybody's agged. And so even this White House card is another thing. I get. I think it would be massive. Okay, guys, I want to ask you one thing before we get to our first guest of the day. And that's something that I actually brought up, PT, but I don't think I actually asked you the question on Saturday.

And I apologize, so I'll go to you first here. We were a little loopy. Let's be honest. Is Marub, I hate the goat stuff, but I really do think he's the greatest bantamweight. fighter and champion of all time, agree or disagree? Yeah, I think he's the hardest puzzle to solve. But just based on the resume, the resume. Yeah, and I know people will pull up numbers,

will pull up Dom Cruz's number, who was a great shout, who was the guy everybody went in for so long, but I think right now I can't see Pass Marab. And every time he fights, he just proves to be the toughest puzzle to solve in the sport, I feel. Dominic Cruz was the WEC Bantamptonweight Champion, in December of 2010, he then defended the UFC title in 2011. He won the title, by the way, two fights prior against Brian Bowles.

So let's say, okay, he wins it against Brian Bowles. Let's pretend like that is the UFC Bantamate title. Yeah, because there was no other. Yeah. He beats Joseph Benavides. He beats Scott Jorgensen to successfully, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, yeah, to successfully defend that title and then become the UFC champion in the final WC show. He beats your eye of favor.

So that's one successful defense of the official title. even though he was champion already, beats Demetrius Johnson, vacates the title after that due to the injury, wins it again against T.J. Dillashaw, defends it against Yariah, loses it against Cody, and never wins it back. Marab, okay, has won 14 fights in a row,

which is fourth-longest winning streak in the history of the sport, has now successfully defended the title against Umar and Magamadav, Sean O'Malley, and Corey Sanhagan, all in one calendar year, is trying to do it for a fourth time this year, Prior to the Umar fight, beat Sean O'Malley to win the belt, beat Henry Sohudo, beat Peter Yan, beat Joseo Alto, beat Marlon Marais, beat Cody Stamen, beat John Dodson, Gustavo Lopez, Casey Kenney, Brad Katona, Terry and Ware.

It's an unbelievable run in which there weren't any controversies, no like, ah, this, oh, it was close, this, that, lost his first two fights in the UFC, and there aren't. that many guys left, as we talked about on Saturday. There's maybe Mario Batista who's fighting Umar and Amalgamatov. There's Amin Zahabi against Marlon Vera coming up. There aren't that many big dogs left. Of course, he's going to have to probably fight Jan again, maybe Umar again down the line if he beats Batista and maybe one more. I never thought I would get off the Dominic Cruz goat train and I am off it.

He is the, when it comes to the goat conversation, it's always twofold. It's who has the best resume and who's the best fighter, right? Those are not always the same. I think there are sometimes where the guy who has the best resume is not necessarily the best we've ever seen in that weight class. I think Marab is both. I think Marab is both the best fighter we've ever seen at Bantam weight and has the best resume, is the best two have ever done it at Bantam weight. So much so that I have him as my number one pound for pound, and I did not, that was the one I didn't foresee coming.

I knew eventually he'd probably be the greatest bantam weight. He was certainly the best for a while in my mind. mind. But number one pound for pound was going to be hard for me to move out of Islam or Ilya. He's done it. There is nothing that Marab cannot do. And so I have him number one pound for pound. I think he's the best fighter on the planet right now. And I don't know how it changes. Because the way that guy's work ethic is, the skill set that he has, the cardio is absolutely insane. Marab is unbelievable. 20 takedowns on Saturday against Corey Sanhagen, who's no chump. Most of the title fight, over a hundred

117 takedowns in his career most ever overall, it's unbelievable. The crazy part about the 20 takedowns is he actually admitted there was a point where he was just doing it for funsings. How good do you have to be?

To do that to Corey Sanhagen, who is an elite, elite, elite fighter to just be like for funsies taking him down. Marab is unbelievable, man. Another thing that's so dangerous about him because the resume is unbelievable. From that Marias fight, like four years ago, it has been nothing but champions

or title challengers, absolute killers in every single fight getting through them. Another thing that's incredibly dangerous about him is the humility. He gets on the post-wise speech and he's just like, yeah, man, like anybody can beat me. Like, and the longer you guys

give me in between fights, the better I'm going to get. Like, I am not going to stop working. I'm not going to stop improving. It's all about getting better. Who knows when the book is finally written on Marov de Velasvili, what that final resume looks like?

I think right now he's already the best Bantamwait ever, but the stats, the numbers that he's putting up, like he has potential to get into that upper echelon of not just bantamway but but all time greatness pizzi do you like the idea of him fighting in december in what would be the final ESPN pay-per-view ever at least for now at least for the next seven years and so it would probably be him and jan and then pantosia and van do you like this idea that's in a little over two months from now i think it's like December 12 13th 14th 7th whatever whatever that like second or seventh is it i believe yeah so

literally two months from tomorrow. What do you think of this? I love it. And any MMA fan that doesn't love that is not an MMI fan because these are two of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the world and just want to see the guy fighting as much as possible. Like, it's becoming so fascinating watching this guy fight. It's not just, you know, the personality.

It's not just the way he fights. Do you guys know it's like he actually doesn't care when he loses early rounds of fights? Because he's like, oh, I just kick in in round three. They're not going to be able to live with me. and he probably he lost the first round of Sandhagg

he lost the first two rounds to him he responded to losing the first round of Senehagen with a 108 in round yeah absolutely insane

he knows that by the end of the fight he won like it's almost like he already knew another thing man I think he can finish these guys but he has too much fun

I think he's having too much fun John Wood explicitly said to him twice on the corner he's like you have his neck but you're not taking it and he's like oh yeah now I will

and then he goes back in He pushed them up against the fence, knees the man is like waving at people. And I'm just like, he just wants to be there. And I think the scenes of him outside the nightclub doing cartwheels, throwing kicks. I think that's showing everybody. Hey, do you know what? I couldn't have the spotlight on me. To be fair, he did try to nuke him in round two.

He tried to get him out of there. But, you know, then he let him off. And he was like, sure, let's go five. Also, like the championship medal, like the, you know, round one to Corey. And then round four was kind of close. So there was a world where if there was no 108,8, that it could have been potentially, like, really needing that fifth round going into it. and the coaches reflected that

and they were like man let's make sure we get this fifth round he comes in just turns up just blows his doors off in the fifth round like he just put the stamp on it never made it close it was it was incredible the issue that the UFC is going to have if he keeps winning is

not only does he beat everyone and he had to beat so many guys before he became champion so he he kind of was on route to lapping everyone even before the time if he was like this more popular guy he would have had by now seven times title defenses, but they took a while to give him the

shot. The problem is he's so active as well, you know, he's blowing through everyone in a calendar year in four fights in a calendar year potentially. In the part where he was rising, as you were talking about, he used to have to beg for people to believe in him. Now he has to beg for you to believe in

his opponents. Now he's on the mic after the fight's begging for you to be like okay, maybe Jan has a chance? Like he's desperate for you to believe that somebody has a chance against him because everything he's showing in the cage is that nobody has the guy is like he knows he's going to win but he's like no chill chill like anything can happen bro like they can get good man and he like knows that it's that he's going to win

i thought ilia put it best on twitter he said brother we've reached the point where your victories seem almost normal but we all know how hard it is to get there i say with pride your living legend it's just like we kind of assume it's like oh yeah marab's going through him but like you forget the level of competition he's going against it's truly magnificent what he's been able to do I had that tweet pulled up as well. I was going to... So good. Does it not make Bautista the perfect guy here, though?

Like the perfect foil in that... It's a perfect story, Pizzi. You know what I mean? In what way? Because he's the guy who spoiled the Aldo thing. Everybody hated him. Now he comes in and he's just like, oh, you all love Marab. It took so long for everybody to love Marab.

And then all of a sudden, when we start loving him, Batista's like, nah, I got this. Let me take you from here. I love that last line for Milia. Beyond the fighter, you're an incredible person. with a soul too big for your chest. What a great line. We love you. We support you and we're with you every step of the way.

He's now won three fights in 2025, three successful title defenses. If he gets the fourth, but JDM beats Islam, who's the male fighter of the year? Because I feel like it's down to those two, right? It's got to do Mara. I'd go Mara, but that's a toss. JDham with a win over. Eating Islam is four title defenses in a calendar year? I know, but.

Okay, what if JDM be Islam? What if he gets three? What if he gets three and JDM beats Islam? I'd probably lean JDM at that point. That's crazy. That would be crazy. I didn't think about next year when Francis and Connor and Rosie and everyone's back, I'm like, oh, my God. Alex and John.

You lost your mind today. Listen, I'm a believer. I'm a lover. I'm romantic about all this. You sit ringside at a BKFC show and see people's eyes falling out of their face. You start to believe. in the human spirit I need a 25 hour 5

Ariel got off the crackers for a few hours of movies like Francis is coming back I was like this Ronna's coming back You're a delirium I gotta call Dana Dana let's get it done

Come on And it was Brian Minner by the way It was Brian Minner I don't want to screw that one up Any relation to Derek Minner? What did I say? Did I say Derek Minner? You said Derek Mirrenner.

Fucking out Derek Minner was in some hot water Derek Minner got like expelled from the sport Brian needs to get expelled as well unless you tell us otherwise Brian tell us otherwise

put out a statement explain to us the 50 to 40% hear from a few people let's be honest Brian leave a voicemail 415 sub yeah yeah yeah please You'll be getting dance taking it this week though right

Oh for sure For sure for sure for sure Yeah exclusively he only goes on the BITB these days We're going to talk more about that after the Erie interview, so have no fear. There's more to say regarding what happened on Friday. But let's get into some of our chats.

We were actually just talking about our first guest of the day, and what a Saturday for him. Can't imagine the range of emotions as well, going from massive fight against Yuri, standing by his side, coaching his guy, Kaleel Roundtree, up two rounds and none. Of course, we know what happened in the third, and then having to somehow compartmentalize things,

put it in the back of his mind, and focus on Marab, who ends up picking up that huge win and another title defense, successful title defense against Corey Sanhagen. We're talking to the headman over at Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas. John Wood, kind enough to join us once again here on the program. Hello, John. How are you? Hello. I'm great, man. Thank you.

I say, how are you? Like, people say, how are you, you see someone on the street? But, like, really, how are you emotionally, mentally, physically exhausted? Yes. The answer to that would be, yes. you know already back into the gym obviously i just got done doing some private so i'll teach practice today so that kind of always regrounds me but what a roller coaster you know obviously um yeah you just said it you know it was a very mixed bag of emotions bittersweet to say the very least uh definitely a different um different night you know on a huge level um you know obviously

the clile situation was a very you know emotional thing But, you know, that's part of the job. It's the proverbial MMA rollercoaster. It happens for the coaches. It happens for the fighters. And you just got to kind of suck it up and move on. When you came to the realization early on, these two fights are happening on the same night,

which is a big deal in its own right. But then back to back, what are you thinking then, right? Because, like, usually you're with Marab in the back, title fight, you're getting right. But now you're with your other guy. And you can't be there for those final minutes. So, like, I'm fascinated by how you're able to break down your time what is the game plan then as far as like what you're going to do and how you're going to

handle it yeah it was a definitely a crazy situation and i knew going into it they were back to back i knew that it was going to be a you know a chaotic moment but we we did everything we could to mitigate that you know we're in the same room the same warm up room thankfully like marab you know his warm up kind of usually is is based around fighting aljo for five rounds you know so i don't have to do a lot of hands-on, like, pad work. We had the guys there set up. I had the guys there working with him. We knew what, you know, Aljo was always going to do what he does.

Shane Shapiro was back there to go over a couple little things and a couple little last-minute details with him, you know, and then Khalil's the exact opposite of very hands-on with him and warm-up and, you know, wrapping his hands and doing all that stuff and hitting the pads. So we had it set up, you know, and I told the guys, hey, you know, it's going to be a mad dash. You know, I had one of the UFC people that was sitting outside of the cage

for as soon as as Cleo was done to run me back around to the other side of the arena and I had to switch all the gears you had to go into the champ gear they wouldn't let me walk out with that stuff

so it was pure chaos you know like I honestly don't remember much in between except for cornering and in the fights and you know those guys are both professionals

and so they knew also what we were dealing with and they handled it great and everybody did their job but yeah man it was it was definitely intense a little more intense

everything felt so fast it was the quickest fight night I feel like I've ever had like I feel like we got to the arena I wrapped his hands holy shit were warmed up and then walking out and then realizing oh my god rob's right next

you know it was it was a lot it was a lot but that's you know that's part of the job I tell my fighters all the time you gotta adapt to whatever's happening you gotta make sure you find a way to make it work and that's for the most part what we did and I felt like

other than obviously the outcome with Khalil which was heartbreaking and devastating it was it was a good night all that kind of you know i've always had a great ability to be able to shut my mind off and i don't get nervous i don't get rattled very easy on very you know on those type of things it's it's a job it's a part of the job as a coach you're there for whatever the fighter needs and it's not about me it's about them so you know i can be as stressed out as as i need to be but i can't show those emotions i can't feel those emotions i have to be clear-headed i have to be focused for what

they need and um you know but it was definitely it was chaotic there's very chaotic. How are you feeling second round ends in the roundtree Pachaska fight? He's up two rounds to none. I don't think anyone thinks otherwise. How are you feeling about, all right, we're headed into the third, the state of things, the way this fight is going? What do you remember thinking? Man, I knew Yuri was going to come out hard. I knew it, and that's just what that guy does. You know, he's a different kind of fighter. He's got a different kind of mindset, different kind of heart. you know and I knew that obviously we were slowing down a little bit I feel like a couple of the body shots into that that round kind of changed how some of this went um man you know there's just situations where I always say a fighter's DNA they're going to revert back to what is you know in their heart and Khalil is one of those guys he's going to go out on his shield he's going to go out swinging and you know sometimes you can control that sometimes you can't and it just got to that position where we made a couple little mistakes stakes. Yuri hit the gas pedal. I loved the way the fight was playing out. I'd like to utilize

some more kicks and some things in that, but I felt like we were handling in control, but it's a fight. You just don't know what's going to happen and how your body's going to react when certain things do happen. And we just got tied up into a firefight and that's where Yuri lives. And Cleo's good there too. It just, you know, it just didn't go away. That's the thing. It becomes a 50-50 bite when you decide to stand there and start throwing bombs and sometimes it becomes less than that when you start to get tired, you know, but like I said

Cleo is all heart and those are some things that we're going to work on and try to change of like in those grimy situations you know, obviously there's some smarter things we could do and that's on me to make sure that he's got those tools and those mechanics

in there to be able to slow that fight back down to be able to realize oh shit we're up two rounds and I need to you know, I can win this instead of biting down and just throwing. So, you know, that's on me. That's the part where I have to make sure that he's doing what he needs to do inside the room and make sure that those bases are covered. So when we do get into those type of situation, there's the same kind of very similar situation with Pereira that he knows there's other ways. When you have a moment like that, and unfortunately your guy loses and it's a heartbreaking loss

and it's a scary loss as well. That was a knockout. You're with him. You're by his side. You go to the back, you're sticking with him. He's not only your fighter, guy you coach, he's your friend as well. You have to dart to the back, change clothes. I can't imagine you're not thinking, at least a part of your brain is thinking like, how's he doing, right? How are you able to put that on hold for 30, 40 minutes as you're now focused on a massive title fight? How did you do that? Yeah, that part really sucked. You know, when he was laying down there and they let me in and he's laying in a pool of blood, it was definitely heartbreaking. You know, I love that guy. I've been with him for so long you know he's family to me and to have to leave that situation was very very hard very

you know it sucked like i waited till you know we pulled him up and sat him on the stool and i just told him i said dude listen i'm so i'm so sorry but i i've got to go back i love you know i kissed him on the head and and i ran back you know on the way back is where on that run i just said okay you know that's over we're on to the next clear your head and refocus and you know that was that I gave myself that period of between the cage. So I went behind the curtain and then it's a new fight, you know, and it sucked. I will tell you this, I definitely felt those emotions immediately after Maraub's win. It just, the wind, I was so happy for Marab and so happy, but it definitely felt different.

I just, you know, there's a level of heaviness there that just, you know, and I do feel guilty for leaving him. Like that sucks, you know, like it sucks to have to leave a fighter like that, especially who, you know, you spend so much time and so close. with but again this is a job and every fighter is just important as the next you know and they expect me to do that job and show up and be there for them and calil would expect that too if it was vice versa i know the only thing that makes it feel better is if it was if the rules were reversed calil would want me to do the same thing you know so that is just it's just at this level you know you you pray for to be able to have a career coaching career have fighters like this and these kind of big moments. And so sometimes they're going to go the way you want. Sometimes they're not,

but you just have to keep pushing forward. And, you know, that was, like I said, I refuse to allow myself to feel feelings or my emotions to get involved with what's happening in the fight. You know, I'm very good at turning that off. And that's what I have to do until afterwards. This has happened a few times over the years. It's somewhat rare, obviously, to have two fights back to back on such a big stage. I'm just curious, did you ask any other coaches how they dealt with this, or were you kind of just going in there and figuring it out on your own? Yeah, I've actually done this before, and I've done it in the UFC before, but not on that level on that stage. I've had multiple back-to-back fights in the UFC multiple times.

So you know what to expect. It's just the moment of, the grandness of the moment is what changes and how much at stake, you know, it's just, I really wasn't worried about that process. You know, I really wasn't worried. Obviously, I thought the outcome, you know, would be different, you know, with Khalil. But you're just prepared. You've got to go in preparing yourself for the worst. You know, you hope for the best, prepare for the worst. And so, again, you can't have these.

You can't collapse. I don't allow my guys, if I tell my guys, hey, a bad round happens, oh, well, the round's over. It's time to move to the next. And we have to figure out how to win the second round. You know, if a bad round happens, you got to go, okay, how do we win the third round? It's a new fight every time, and that's the way I kind of hold myself, too, is that I'm not allowed to have those situations or feel that stress or feel that pressure in any kind of moments. It's the same thing. I have to be clear-headed. They have to be clear-headed. And I just knew I wasn't too, like I said, I wasn't too stressed about the situation. In fact, I don't over, you know, I don't make it a major thing in my own head.

I don't allow myself to overthink those spots because you just, like I said, we're out there to do a job. and the job is to be there for the fighter no matter what. So it just very interesting, but I felt like, again, I don't really remember a whole lot in between the fights. You know, I remember cornering everything great, but like it was definitely rapid fire. You were a lot closer, obviously, than we were.

How close was Marab to finishing Corey in the second? Super close. Like, I feel like there's a lot of referees that would have stopped that fight, and had Marab, here's the deal now. Marab now knows he's capable of knocking somebody out. So you will see a different Marab

when that situation happens again and it will happen again. Morab had him rocked. He was excited. He got back into like wrestle mode real quick. And that was the thing. If he had had just given some space and stepped back

and started unloading on him, then I think that fight gets stopped. I think it's, I think we're talking maybe three to five punches away from him on the ground. And all, you know, All kudos to Goddard for letting it go, because the fight obviously went five rounds. All kudos to Corey for getting back up and toughen that shit out.

But it was very close. It was very close. And that is something that we will be in the gym, ASAP, training those scenarios and those situations where the next time that happens, Marab will be cool, calm, and composed and how to finish a fight on the feet. You know, and so it was, it was very close. And it was one of those, oh, my God, you know, moments. And then obviously we moved on from it, and then it's on to the next. We were hypothesizing earlier. Is he just kind of playing with his food out there, like 37 takedown attempts, 20 takedowns?

Are you thinking like, Mara, come on, man, you love this clearly. You love this. You're freaking shadowboxing at the club at 4 in the morning with your shirt off and the belt. You love all of this. We get it. But is there any part of you being like, yo, man, were you there? Were you there, by the way? I know Danny was there.

were you there? No, I didn't go, man. The whole week was super exhausting. And we got so many camps. We got 30 people in camp right now. So me to go out to a club until 5 a.m. isn't going to do me good. I'm old now. And, you know, I wanted to go, but I know what kind of chaos comes with that stuff. And like I said, the funny thing about Marab, he's dead ass sober when he's doing that shit. Like, he doesn't drink. He doesn't party. He doesn't do drugs. Like, he's going to wrap on that stage at 5 in the morning, dead ass sober, drinking water all night. And, but I just, like, for me, you know, we got too much going on here for me to go out. And if I go out like that, I'm going to drink.

I'm going to party, you know, and have a good time. And then I'll be smoked, you know, come Monday. I'm not going to be wanting to be back in the gym doing what I'm doing right now. So, but yes, to answer your question. You kind of rolled your eyes there. So, like, I feel like you sort of agree. What? Agree with what?

The playing with your food, like, just kind of, like, not, like, you could end this, maybe. Yeah, you know, we knew Corey was going to be a tough fight from, you know, a tougher fight. I really don't know if there's such thing as a tough fight for Marab. Like, Corey's one of the best in the world. He gave us a great fight and there were some things that he was absolutely doing that, you know, we're making Maraub think a little bit. But it does get to a point where, like I said, Rob is so in control of these fights. And again, he's able to figure guys out so quickly.

in the fight. He's got one of the best fight IQs in the business right now. His mind just works on a different level when he's figuring out these fighters. But yeah, you know, I do agree that he definitely has fun out there. And again, we're still turning that corner of becoming that finisher. And you're seeing that more and more. Those opportunities for him to be in there to finish these fights are they're coming more readily available. And I really do think we're going to hit that path where it's going to be more finishes than decisions here shortly. So he's talking about December coming back, and it looks like it would be Yan if he does, in fact, come back. And that's two months from tomorrow.

Yeah. He just went through a five-round fight. He was at the club till 5 a.m. Who knows what happened at Aljo's wedding last night. Are you in favor of this? Okay. So honestly, you know, I'd like to see him get some rest. I don't want the Pereira thing to happen

where you're overworked and something bad happens just because you've pushed the limits too much we don't know when something when the human body is going to go hey this is too much or too little or it's enough when you rest the thing with Marab is he doesn't take a lot of damage he doesn't you know he lives his life literally the fight life when he's not in camp

he'll go probably normally go home hang out for a week or two he comes back he's right back in the gym. He wants to be training. And his fight camps aren't much different than his everyday training. The dude trains every day like he's kind of in fight camp. So it's not really a big switch. You know, I would like to see at this level, obviously, to make sure it gets the proper, you know, rest and recovery. That's a talk that we'll have, and I'm sure this week. But I know that that record, I believe no one's ever defended, has anybody ever defended the belt four times in a year no so that right there tells me that there's a really good chance we're probably

going to end up doing it because he's going to want that record he's going to want to set that record and break it um and so can he do it absolutely do i think his body will hold up absolutely you know am i a fan of it i'm 50 50 you know i'm 50 i'd like him to enjoy some of this stuff but really the dude lives his life for as a fighter he does he does, this is what he eats, sleeps, breathe, is fighting. So who am I to tell him not to do it? You know, like, if he's healthy and he's happy and he's ready to come back and get into it, I'm not looking forward to getting the shit beat out of me by him for another six weeks. I like the break. I like the break, like Marab camps or the hardest camps. That dude beats me up,

like nobody. I lost like 15 pounds during those camps, you know, and so we'll see. But my gut is telling me he's going to want to do it. Do you like the idea of him fighting Yan? Is that the guy that you think he should be fighting next? Yeah, I think that's the best guy right now. I think that's the next best guy that I'm a big fan of Peter Yon. I think he's a great fighter. I think he's the best guy available at the moment to make that happen.

So obviously we have Umar and Batisa fight coming up. So I just think that, you know, Yon makes the most sense. And so you talked about losing weight. I thought you were going to say, you know, like when you're in camp with them, I thought you were going to say because you were sick as well this time around. Weren't you sick for like the last four weeks or something like that? Yeah, man. I'm pretty sure.

I think definitely had bronchitis. I still got a cough four weeks. COVID's going around. I don't know. Like I guess that's a thing still. But yeah, like I've been, I was on antibiotics for the last two weeks of the camp just to try to stay upright. But, you know, it is what it is. That's just the way that these things go.

I'm wondering how you balance that because you don't want to get your fighter sick, too. Also, you're doing something that's very strenuous. How are you able to be at your best while feeling like crap with these guys who have these massive fights and you're trying to keep them healthy too? Yeah, it's a fine line. You know, the thing is, is that certain people, there's certain people that if they're sick, they won't train. There are certain people that if you're sick, they don't want to train with you.

then there's certain people that don't give a shit you know and these two guys are guys that are going to train and do whatever no matter what so for me to call in sick from rob when he's not going to call in sick i've seen that dude half dead and come in here and spar 10 rounds you know and that's not an exaggeration um so for me it's it's literally we all hold each other accountable and whatever the fighter is going to put out i'm going to be there for and if they say hey coach you're sick let's take a couple days or whatever um but also too i'm not bitching and complaining about it to them that's not i go home to my wife you know jojo and and and and then i die there and try to get her to take care of me um but she's kind of the same way as them she's like

get your ass to work you know take some take some medicine actually she wouldn't even take medicine she's like just just man up and go you know so it's one of those things where everybody's different you know everybody's different but the accountability those guys they're not going to take days off so I'm not going to take days off, you know. And we all kind of, everybody gets sick during fight camp, everybody gets hurt, who gives a shit? It's just the job we do. So Marab wins the fight.

Now you could go back and maybe breathe a little bit. I'm sure you check in with Khalil. Could you tell us how's he doing? I saw he posted something on social media. You posted something about him as well. I saw his wife post something as well. But could you tell us how is he doing? Here's the message.

How is he handling the loss? You know, obviously there's some tears shed and tough, you know, like, it's a heartbreaker. He knows how close he was to that, you know, to that win. Superficial damage, a couple cuts, you know, I think he's got a little crack in his nose, but all in all, he's okay, he's going to be fine. You know, there's nothing bad, no broken orbitals, no, no bad stuff like that, a swollen eye and some cuts for the most part.

We will meet up this week, you know, and sit down and watch the fight and go over. I've already kind of got a game plan in my head of what I think we need to do to make changes, and I need to meet with him and see what his ideas and thoughts are and what we can all do better. I feel like there's some things that I left on the table that should have been left on the table

that I need to do better as a coach to make sure that that shit doesn't happen ever again. You know, and same thing with him. So we'll come and we'll meet in the middle. But I think it's still, you know, in that division and the way Khalil fights, obviously his two losses, you know, fight of the night fights.

He's going to go out on his shield, you know. So we have to make sure that we don't have to do that. and we're winning these fights that we should be winning. And I think that the purpose and the plan is still the same. You know, he's still got that competitive fire, and I think he's going to come back, fired up more. You know, so it's just back to the drawing board, figure out what we need to figure out, come to the conclusion,

and get right back at it. And I think that, you know, you'll see him fight early next year. But I think the plan is the same. You know, he wants to make a run at that title. And I truly believe he still can. We don't know what Alex is going to do next, but just curious because you were there that version of Yeri

Kenny beat Alex man listen Pereira is one of those guys that I think has earned the fact like until you see a massive drop off in his production and how his fight you know his body

his speed his power he's a guy you just don't bet against I would not bet against him with anybody so I think that Pereira has earned that that you know I'm not going to say quite John Jones where you just there's just you don't bet against john jones but perrera is pretty damn close man i don't

think that there's any man out there right now that can can deal with him um on that level when he shows stuff like that and uh i think it'll be the same with eury i i think you're is a fantastic fighter um big fan of you know him and his his fighting he's just he's fun to watch but perera's just on a different level when that man is locked in it's one of the scariest individuals you could ever get into a cage with. He's just big. He's nasty. He's mean. He's fast. He hits hard. He's scary looking. Just standing next to the guy. It's just, it's kind of scary. So I would say that right now he's on top of his game, and I think he's going to stay there for a while. I feel like one day we might say the same about a Tiba Gautier, and I know you have to run and coach practice, but could I just ask

you, I saw you with him doing some work with him. That dude is scary as well. I mean, is unbelievable. What do you think of him? I think the, the sky is the limit for that kid he is young nasty he's a little mini francis and ganu with with with 10 times more athleticism and i actually unfortunately i sparred that guy one day just light and i ain't been hit like that in a long time and and where i couldn't even i didn't even see shit coming and i was seeing stars afterwards it was terrible it was terrifying so i think that guy right there you're looking at the future of that division and and and And he's only getting better, too.

So I really think that, you know, he might be one of the scariest guys in that division right now, if not in the UFC. He's a nasty, nasty dude. Thank you, John. Appreciate the time very much. Get well soon. Our best to Joja, as always. And congrats on the Marab win. And obviously, sorry about what happened to Khalil, but no, he'll be back, no doubt.

Yeah, thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it. Always. There he is. John Wood, the headman over at Syndicate MMA, one of the very best coaches in the game. I remember back in the day UFC 166, Javier Mendez and the AK guys had D.C. and Cain, Co-Main and Maine, on that night, DC and Kane won. So all was good. But, you know, sometimes you could go 2 and 0, 1 and 1, 0 and 2. And I can't imagine how difficult. Obviously, the guys are in there. And he would be the first to say, the guys are in there, they're fighting, they're putting their lives and health and safety on the line. But you're there in the trenches with these guys. I mean, we don't see what is being. done in the shadows we don't see all the sparring sessions and training sessions and time together alone thoughts all that stuff and you see your friend your fighter get knocked out and then you have to

turn right around and coach a title fight a massive title fight not easy not easy with that much attention that big of a spotlight but he he handled it as well as he could with grace and I'm sure I'm sure Khalil would understand we didn't really get into the the full results because we got into things and I got all I got all emo on you guys at the top of the show but Atiba Gautier in the final fight of the prelims picked up another big win so all this man does is win in the first round via some vicious form of striking this time it was ground and pound with some vicious elbows. I mean, just look at his physique.

Holy smokes. I'd even know muscles were there. Look at this. Shout it to Carl Prince and the Manchester top team boys. Luke Barnard as well. Been telling us about him for a minute. Daniel Santos B. Zhu Sang-Yu. Zombie Jr., who we had on the show last week.

A big win for him in the second round. Santos getting the stoppage. PT loves his dog tattoo on his on his chest so the MMA gods giveth and they taketh as well because sang you with the big win the quick finish back in June

and now back to the drawing board after the loss to Santos Jakub give it to me G. G.C. does it so well. Say it. Jacob, Vicklas. Jakub Vicklas. Viklas

Jakub Viklas the protege of won Joani on Jacek defeating Patchy Mix some people like Daniel Kormier stating that

Patchy deserved the win to split decision loss and look close fight perhaps it could have gone his way it's a nightmare start

for patchy mix it's a nightmare start talked a massive game as Bellator champion as he should have he was the man he did not look like this guy this was a little bit better obviously than the

version that we saw back in in June in Newark but it I mean you don't you don't you don't walk away saying oh my God this is the future even if he had gotten his hand raised in the split he didn't win over any fans no not at all and so the question is do they keep him

the UFC can send a very sneaky message here and be like look two fights couldn't cut the mustard goodbye. I don't think they do that. They're in good standing with his management. Tatiana Suarez, I don't think they do that. But they could send a message here by saying, like, look, you are a champion.

You talked a big game. You couldn't beat an up-and-comer. You couldn't beat a contender at 135 pounds. God bless. The question would be, what would happen to him if that happened? because he just left the PFL slash Belator scene. Where would he go? There's nowhere else to go, you know?

KSW. You're talking KSW. You're talking Risen. Yeah, trying to take what Wicla said. That's true. I can actually see Risen being interested in a guy like him. But I think they'd give him one more shot. That's my prediction.

I think they give him one more shot. Edmund Shabazian, with the first round win, with just two seconds left in the first round over Andre Munez. Great win for him. Punisoriano was complaining. not complaining, excuse me, apologizing, I should say, apologizing after his unanimous decision win over Vretnikov, Nikolai Vretnikov saying that just wasn't him,

didn't pull the trigger, wasn't himself. But a win nonetheless, improving to 12 and 4. Yana Santos defeating Macy Chesson via unanimous decision. Farid Basharat, with the unanimous decision win over Chris Gutierrez, Ramiz Brahimaj. with the win over Austin Vanderford, a guillotine choke in the second round. So Vanderford falls to one in one in the UFC, and the aforementioned Veronica Hardy, who will join us in about 30 minutes time,

beat Brogan Walker v. unanimous decision. So a big win for her getting back on track after losing back. I think it was UFC 309. Yeah, it was 309. the Madison Square Garden card last November. So a pretty long layout for her, 11 months. We'll talk to her about that, getting back on track, all that and more. Earlier we talked about Yusuf Salal getting the massive win over Josh Emmett on the pay-per-view card. One strike thrown. It was an old-school Damian Maya type of fight, and he didn't really need any strikes, to be honest, because technically, according to UFC, and it wasn't really, I mean, it was just like a T, it was nothing. But according to UFC stats, O for one, didn't matter, ends up winning via Arnbar at 138 of the first round against Josh Emmett, who has been a mainstay at 145 and has gone the distance and given some really tough guys, some really tough rounds. Yusuf Salah just needed a minute and 38 seconds. The Moroccan devil continues to defy the odds here as he, you know, comes back to the UFC and is still undefeated and is just rapid.

backing up these great submissions. He's kind enough to join us. Let's say hello to Yusuf Zalal. There he is. Hello, Yusuf. How are you? What's up, man? How are you doing? I'm doing great. Congratulations on another incredible night for you, this time at T-Mobile Arena on pay-per-view. I feel like that smile hasn't left your face since Saturday night. This smile will never leave my face, man. It's always there. God gifted me with a smile, and I try to bring joy to everybody as possible. But like you said, man it was especially on on that Saturday night with everything that was going on and my mom and everything so that was that was amazing the smile gets bigger and bigger okay so let's talk about that

since you brought it up your mom and dad were in attendance and this was the first time ever that your mom has seen you fight live yeah yeah there's that video man incredible how do you not break down seeing that I want to cry just seeing that it's amazing I it's it's it's it's you Yeah, that was emotional, man. That was emotional. My dad, my dad's always seen me fight. He's always been there. He's been always here.

You know what I mean? But my mom, it was his first time in the United States since 2009. And to watch me actually live, like, she doesn't even watch me from, like, the TV as well. Like, she just kind of, like, holds back and just wait. And to kind of be there, it was a special moment for me that would be forever with me. By the way, since 2009, had you seen her since 2009? Yeah, since I came in. 2009 and I came to the U.S. with my mom to visit my dad and my brother. And then she went back,

me and my brother that passed away. We stayed here. And then I didn't see my mom for 10 years. And then I seen her. And then two years later, I didn't see her again, seeing her again. And then she finally came to the U.S. after all this stuff that happened. And then she finally came to the U.S. in 2009. So is she staying put or is she going back? Yeah, she's like, she's staying put a little bit, so she's going to keep, she can go back and forth now is no problem, so we'll just thank God. But yeah, so she, she's definitely staying put right now with us and then we kind of go from there.

Did you work towards making this happen for her to be in attendance for this card or did it just happen to work out? It was weird, actually, you know, I have an African family, man. They tell you they're going to come, they come, and then they come, and they come. So it was kind of like weird, you know what I mean? And my mom was like, the first time when I told her, she was like, okay, I'm going to be there, but I'm not going to go to the arena. And I say, okay, no problem. Like, you can stay at the Airbnb or the hotel.

I'll just come back after and then we hang out and do all that stuff. And sure enough, my brother was like, hey, I'm not coming no more, even though he was there. So he was like, oh, I'm not coming no more. I was like, okay, perfect. I'm just going to give the ticket to my mom. And my mom was like, you know what? I'm going to go in. And I said, perfect.

There you go. And then it turns out to like, okay, my dad and everybody actually showed up, which is actually worked out pretty well. Wow. Was she super nervous? Did you ask her? I didn't even want to ask her. I'm assuming she was super nervous because last time I fought in Edmonton, Canada, my brother is

the same way. My brother's the same as my mom. Like he literally, when my fight happened, he walked out the arena. Like he was outside, waited until he heard the thing happen, then went back in and then saw me. And so what about you? having her in the building, her presence there, wanting to perform, wanting to win, obviously I would imagine in front of her.

Did you feel more nervous? Errol, this fight was weird, man. It was weird. I had a big chip on my shoulder. I feel like I always do good when there's a chip on my shoulder, to be honest. And I was not really focused on my mom so much. I was like, I knew I was not going to lose in front of my mom.

I'll promise you that. Like, that was kind of like my thing. But you know how this game is. You never know. Like things, especially against Josh Hammond, things can end so quickly. You just didn't ever know. So that was not really my main focus. My main focus was to enjoy this week and really have the greatest week of my career so far.

Why did you have a chip on your shoulder? Man, that third round hunt me against Cater. That third round keeps hunting. Why is it hunt you? I saw you say that at the post-fight press conference. You mentioned it like five times. You won that fight. Why is it honking you?

I know. I know, I know. I was like, I, a lot of people, I know a lot of fighters don't like. to talk about it you know what I mean I feel like that third round like I felt everything I felt the nerves I felt the experience I felt the oh my God top 10 and all that stuff so I really wanted to go into this fight and I'm sure everybody like hey that's that's that's just an experience is a mistake you know what I mean and like you said I want a fight I don't care about it but it's like in the end of day it's like you know I go hard on myself a little

bit sometimes but hey that I came out and I showed out on this fight and that's what matters but like when you say haunt me like when I I hear fighters say, like, man, that knockout haunted me, that loss haunted me. You won that fight. I know, I know. Why does that haunt you? Why does that bother you so much? I know, I'm weird.

I'm weird. I'm weird in my own way. I don't know what it is, but it's kind of like a sour taste in my mouth. I was like, get that thing out of there, you know? Like, that's not like, I wanted to finish cater. That was my thing, you know, and that's like what hunts me even more. It's like I let it be what it be, like, to lose focus on that third round and not be, like, 100% there so that's what kind of like hunts me in a way it's not more of like what like in a way but

I wanted to keep that winning street going and I wanted to keep that finish street going mostly okay um you had not fought in what uh eight months right if my math is correct February I know why so long I've been asking for a fight for so long the whole division was all confused and obviously you know Diego got the fight all these guys jean silver so everybody was booked and then me and my teammate we just got into the ranking so I'm like okay like we're just waiting and I was like okay I'm not gonna I'm trying to fight somebody that's up and the only person that was up was Josh Emmman that's kept calling off for Josh Emmett and then he did an interview saying like oh I don't want you if I want somebody bigger name blah blah blah blah and then Volk obviously

fought all these guys and that's what I said like there was like such a chip on my shoulder I was I was kind of pissed off to be honest I'm like valk out here calling out everybody calling out jean silver which is all these guys and Diego and and Al Jemaine and all these guys never brought up my name. You know what I mean? And I feel like, disrespected in a way. And I was like, really? I know you saw me in the top 10.

And then you're not really calling it, like, not even giving the respect that, like, I deserve. So do you feel like you have entered that conversation now? Like, now they cannot ignore you. 100%. And I will keep proving that. You know what I mean? And that's what this sport is about.

It's about moments. It's about like the right timing and all that stuff. And I'm still growing. I know I'm 29. and I have so much experience behind my belt, but I'm still growing. Like, I'm completely, I was completely different than the last fight,

you know what I mean? And to do it against Josh Emmett, which is a high-caliper fighter, and before you introduced me, you said it. You're like, you gave tough rounds to everybody, Ilya, all these guys, and these guys can't finish him, you know? But the IQs is, it's what wins you these fights.

Okay, so you said afterwards, Lerone Murphy, and then Rogan kind of corrected you, but honestly, like, you may be on to something, I think they're going to go Volk versus Diego Lopez next. And so perhaps he isn't going to be booked. Do you think you get a guy like him next? Well, that was kind of my thing.

And I was like, look, man, Volk posted on after, like, he did an interview in Australia and Perked or whatever. He's saying, like, I don't even have an opponent right now, which is wild to me that if Loran or Murphy goes in and did what he did and he didn't get a title shot right away, that means they're thinking about something. So I was like, look, I'm going to jump on that opportunity if I can. I'll fight him December 6th in that team mobile arena. I know they don't have a full card for that one yet.

I'll fight him on that one. If not, I'll fight January and stuff like that. I want to be a world champion, and I will be a world champion. So if that means calling the best guys, I will call out the best guys. And if my chance comes, it will come. And so how do you feel, just curious, as someone who's kind of in the mix now, how do you feel with them going with Diego who just fought folk and lost to him in April as opposed to someone like Lerone, who's won, you know, nine in a row has this great knockout.

Even someone like Moussar, who I know doesn't have the, you know, the momentum right now, but still has the winning streak. Do you like that? Do you understand it? It's all politics, man. It's all politics about this game, which I hate. I really hate about this sport so much that it's like it's all momentum, right? It's a draw. So it's like if we really want to be petty, Errol, we can be real petty right now.

And then I can bring the numbers out. I'll be like, look, Murphy couldn't finish Josh Emmett. It took me a minute and 30 seconds. So that brings me out. He fought a non-ranked guy that's coming into the belt. And so all these things I can go on and on. But it does not mean nothing. You know what I mean?

I was like, I feel like I'm just starting to put a name for myself in the top 10. So he has a better draw. Obviously, Diego's been there. So he has a lot of draw. He brings a lot of draw and stuff like that. So it's all about politics and the moments. And I just want to have my time and my time. patiently. You know what I mean? I'm not rushing like last time. If my time come, we'll come.

But that said, how many do you think you are away from being in that conversation? Like, you beat Cater, you beat Josh Emmett. You get a fight. Like, you can't be more than two away, right? I beat Murphy and finish Murphy. I get a title shot. You think Murphy takes your fight? He takes this opportunity to fight you because he's talking title shot and no one else. I don't blame him. I mean, would you blame him? No. I think he should get it. For a title shot too, but I was like, I can't blame him. So I just see how the UFC is.

You know what I mean? It's like if Diego gets a title shot, he has no choice. He's going to wait for a year or nine months. It depends on how the fight goes between Diego and Vol. If that's the other case, it can probably be him and Murphy, but who knows? So I just wanted to be put my name out there and give my opportunity. So at least slide my name a little bit out there. That was the whole goal.

What about Moussar? but I talked to Mozart man he was he was such a cool person he said I'm not going to fight a Muslim and all that stuff so I was like kind of like I was like I feel the same way I was like I kind of respected it so but like you said man he's kind of like how is he not in the talk by the way yeah I just I just think because he hasn't fought as often as Murphy and Murphy's coming off an incredible knockout and so if you look like since his win over Diego Lopez which it was two years ago, I think this is off the top of my head, but Murphy has fought

like four or five times and he's only fought twice, three times, so I just think it's a numbers game. He's had some bad luck. He was supposed to fight Aaron Pico over the summer. He gets hurt. Murphy takes the fight, gets the crazy knockout. And that's what I'm saying. It's opportunities and chances, you know? And then like, everything happens

for a reason, though, man. I'm a big believer of everything happens for a reason. And before first time of the UFC, I feel like I was just rushing. I'm like, no, no, no, no. Give me this right now. I want to do this right now. I want to, no, no, no. Like, I literally called my manager.

I was like, look, man, I've done my job. I've done my part and hopefully we'll see with the UFC. I looked at Hunter and Dana. I said the same thing. I was like, look, like, what happened to that third round was not me and, like, would cater and all that stuff. And I will be a star and I will be a world champion and I will keep proving it. Here's the fascinating thing, I think, for you.

The next one is big, no doubt because the names that are, like, the names between you and the champ, now that you beat Emmett, We're talking. Okay, if you do get Murphy, great. You say Mossar and you don't want to fight, I understand. But if it's not, if it's not those guys, we're talking Jayae Rodriguez, Al Jermaine Sterling, Arnold Allen. Those are the only other guys. Like, you know what I mean? Like, these are big time names at 145. This has to be very exciting. Yeah, man, like saying it like that, like it really is. You know what I mean? I feel like I always dreamed about being here. I always work towards this where we're talking right now. And, When I came back to the UFC, it was kind of the same thing, you know what I mean? So it's kind of like peace. You know, I said that in the interviews on Fight Week is like, it's bringing me peace. You know what I mean?

It really, I am very hard on myself, Arrow. I don't think you know how hard I go on myself. It's like nonstop, you know? So for me to see that work really paying off and slowly going up there, it means the world to me. And all I cared about was get my respect. I feel like I was so disrespected. It's unbelievable. I hated it so much.

I'm like, I know I'm not the biggest star right now, you know what I mean, and not the biggest draw, but you're talking about guys that were, they're two and two, they're talking about a title shop. You got guys that they haven't fought in years talking about a title shot. I'm like, there's no way you just disrespect me like that and not bring my name up there, you know what I mean? And for those that don't know, just for the record, you're on an eight-fight winning streak, five in a row in the UFC

joint second for most submissions in UFC featherweight history you've got four Olivera second wow I didn't know that now you're joined second yep that's right who's first olivera number one was six

so you've got just two more I get two more I get two more I get two more I get two more you're right there man you're right there two more I like that see that's like that's like a kid's dream I said this in an interview last week

I was like you know when a kid goes by his dream car yeah that's like what brings me joy man. I was like, that's awesome. I know a lot of people don't care about that stuff. I love that, man. I was like, when I walked out, I was like, I looked at the screen. I'm like a kid, bro. I looked at the screen. I was like, man, they finally gave me the number one spot of most less absorbing punches. So I was like, yeah, you're not going to hit me, but I got to be ready. Imagine telling young Yusuf back in 2022 that all of this would be in play right now as you're

given your walking papers from the UFC, right? Imagine four years later, excuse me, three years later, we're talking about these names and these types of records and this type of streak it's an incredible story I know man it's kind of amazing book it's kind of like a Rocky

I feel like I'm watching like a Rocky movie or something like that but it's like about you yeah everybody everybody loves a comeback story you know what I mean

and I feel like it tested me as a man you know and as like all this stuff and just put a message out there you know what I mean for all these young guys and upcoming guys

like you think you know it all you think you're better than everybody and stuff like that. There's the right time to have a confidence and there's the right time to kind of get set back and really focus on the things that are really important. You know what I mean? And mine was my why and stuff like that. So it means the world to me, man, to really make that a piece a little bit. You have peace with it and really enjoy my family and keep going like to the top without rushing it. You know, I feel like I was just a young kid. I'm like, oh my God, UFC, cameras, money, all this, like everything will come, everything will

come. Your time will come. By the way, talking about that disrespect, you have an incredible win, an incredible submission over a veteran, and the place is booing you. And like, you're having to talk over the booze. How are you feeling in that moment? You did nothing wrong. I'm not even quite sure why they booed you. Did they think that he didn't tap and there was something screwy going on? A, why do you think they were booing? And B, how are you dealing with that? You're having a great moment you know your family's in attendance and the place is booing you so a funny story i had to ask my teammate uh jonathan martinez at the dinner at like team dinner and i was like hey jonathan how does he feel like when you because he fought josialdo in brazil and i was like

what does it feel like to get booed he said like i was nervous i was like this and for me when i went to the wayans and they called my name and i come up and i don't know if you can see you in the camera I was like, well, okay, you're, okay, booing me, okay, cool. And I got, like, started getting hyped. Like, I was, like, getting hyped up. And I was like, all right, cool. And then he walks out, like, a bunch of cheers and all that stuff. And I think, I think the biggest thing is because of that third round.

That's it. Like, fans sometimes are idiots. It really are. You think they remember that from eight months ago? You think they're booing you because of that third round? Yeah, I really don't think. Well, then why are they booing you after you submitted Josh Emmett? By the way, not a lot of people know what the hell happened.

Like, I didn't have to show the video again. He said tap, tap, tap, tap. I felt respectful. I don't want to break the guys on. You know, I was like, I was like, I'm going to like let it go. And then that. And that's why Joe Rogan said, hey, for all the fans that don't know, like he said tap, tap, tap. And like, even my coaches didn't even know until I like started going, talking to Hunter and Dana.

And then they were like losing it, especially my jitzo coach, of course. But yeah, I was kind of like that. It is what it is. All those fans are booing. My teammates just said it. Dustin Jacoby actually, I was just at the gym not too long ago, and he literally just said. He was like, those same fans that were booing you, when they see you at the airport, they will walk up to you and ask for a picture and a signature. Do you think they were booing because they thought that he didn't tap?

No, I think they booed me because I cater. Really? Wow, man. That's crazy. Could you? That's what I say. I was like, goddamn, bro. I think they were booing because they thought he didn't tap and it was a lot.

that it was a bad call. That's what I think, because they couldn't tell. Who could tell from, you know, up in the three? Now you're going to post a video about that, bro. He says, is that what you're going post now? You're like, no, what? No, no, no. I think that's, I'm on your side here. What are you talking about? I'm on your side. I'm going to say, we're working together now. Of course, I'm saying that they were probably confused. I'm telling you, I don't think anyone remembers that third round. I think you're making it out to be a bigger deal and being too hard on yourself. I think they probably thought something weird happened, even though nothing weird happened, he verbally tap that's well within the rules and they were reacting to that not because they don't like you

or didn't like that third round i think that's just how fans are they're fickle like that that's all and that's the one thing i learned with experience and all all the big stars kind of told me it was like look man you're you're you're doing good in life when you got haters and you got like fans like this and stuff like that means you're doing something special and all this stuff and i remember like i I remember all these guys, man, like Kabib, Ilya, even in the press conferences and all that is like, you guys boo me now, but I'm going to show you how great I am and I'll show you how good I am and, like, Floyd Mayweather and all those guys. So it definitely, like, I'm happy to kind of see that and experience it right now, but I told

you, man, that week, all I said in the interviews, it was going to be, it's going to be my week and I was going to have a flawless performance and I'm so grateful and happy that I did that. Yeah, and I love the fact that you like, oh, by the way, you. You could hear him, right? You could hear him say tap, tap. Yeah, so as soon as I grabbed it, and I was like, I kind of felt him, and I was like, oh, he's not, like, really defended, like, because I had his wrist. You see how I got the grip on the wrist, so he couldn't grab like a rain, it could choke.

So I was like, okay, yeah, and he was trying to block his elbow, but he made him more straight. So as soon as I locked in, I was like, oh, yeah, I got him. I got him. And as soon as he said tap, I let go, which is maybe a bad habit in some other fights, but thank God you can hear him say tap tap tap tap but I just like go I was like I'm not gonna break the guy's arm no class absolutely he's a legend of the sport bro I was like I look up to be like him as well you know what I mean the guy to fight for an interim belt and want to be a world champion we all have the same dream this is the most brutal sport you can ever do because

I'm here to take his his dream he's here trying to take my dream so it was kind of like I love it and I hate it at the same time like I literally go back and I start feeling bad for the guy like he had his mom in there too and stuff like that so and apparently he said he's like that's his best he's ever felt his best he's he's ever cut weight and all this stuff so to for for him not to have that and show full potential it sucks how quickly do you want to return i'm ready december 6th if if murphy wanted a fight i'm ready december 6th stop who made the apex please All my best performances are been in crowd. And I have the best time.

Edmonton was amazing. And then this at T-Mobile Arena. And I'm telling you, Ariel, I will be a star and I will be a world champion. I believe it, man. You have that energy. It's infectious. People want to get behind. People like you who bring us along.

I talked about this at the beginning of the show. You bring us along on your journey. And it's an emotional journey. And you allow us to see about your story. and your family and everything like that, and it all feels very real and authentic. So keep doing you, keep doing your thing. Please, please get over the third round.

Don't let that haunt you anymore. And I look forward to the next one, which should be a big one for you. Congrats on the Wednesday. Shout out to Faraz the Hutton, man. He's, uh, I know we had our beef a little bit. You're good now? We're super good, man.

He reached out to me. He's an amazing guy. We kind of like got our over our beef and stuff like that. And he actually is one of the guys that reached out to me. which is pretty awesome because I know he has a guy in the top five as well. So for him to reach out for me means a lot to me. So I appreciate that. And I know he's your Canadian fella as well.

That's right. I had to put it out there. Shout out to Faras for that. He's a great guy. Yeah, he really is. I feel like a lot of people wanted to give it all going and stuff like that. And that was kind of like at the moment. But, you know, I wanted the respect.

And he's a great guy, man. And we both chasing the same thing. You know, we're both Muslims. we both trying to really show this young upcoming kids and stuff like that and all this stuff. So it definitely meant a lot for him reaching out and it was pretty cool. Salam al-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a.

Thank you guys for in that video, man. That was awesome. Thank you guys for my mom. Shout up to my mom and my dad. I appreciate you guys. Of course, all the best. And congrats again on the win. There he is.

Yusuf Salal, big win for him. Great smile, great personality, infectious, and on a role. And those are the names who are next. It has to be, you know, if it's not Lorone, obviously Diego, we're talking Arnold Allen, we're talking Jayae Rodriguez, we're talking Al Jermaine Sterling, by the way. Congratulations to Aljo and his now wife. They got married yesterday, beautiful scenes.

I saw a couple of fighters posting pictures. Very, very happy for him. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it. I couldn't make it. But he did send me the invitation, and it was very thoughtful. even the pre-wetting bash as well. There was some sort of bash. Couldn't make that one either.

But he was there in his boy's corner on Saturday, unbelievably so. His then-fiancee, now wife, a saint, usually Saturday before you get married, you're out, I don't know, doing a dinner thing, you're hosting people, whatever. He's out there cornering one of his best friends. And then Marab saying afterwards that he wants to find his own wife because he wants to have kids around the same age as Al Jo's kids so they can hang out together. It's all very beautiful. It's all very beautiful. A great scene at the beginning of the card, Veronica Hardy getting back on track. She has made a habit out of fighting in these curtain jerkers, as we call them, but she doesn't

seem to mind. I've heard this from other fighters as well who say, look, the best part about being the first fight of the night is you know when you're going to fight, you know exactly when you're going to fight, you get it out of the way, and then you can enjoy the rest of your evening. So last time we saw her was back in November of this past year right here in New York. Didn't go her way. She gets back on track with a big win on Saturday. She is kind enough to join us right here and now on the program. There she is. Hello, Veronica. How are you? I'm all good. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It's great to have you. Welcome back. We do have a member of the team who's a massive fan of yours. Frankie. He's disappointed that you're

not wearing some sort of like heavy metal shirt right now. He loves when you're rocking all the No, I do have Oh Just in case I get cold Lorna Shore I do have my hoodie here Okay But you know

It got a bit sunny All of a sudden So I had to take it off What is that Lorna Shore Yeah It's too heavy for you area Is it?

Okay Yeah no Let me ask Frank Frank do you know Laurenneesh Do you know them Frank? I'm unfamiliar with Lorna Wow

You actually stump They're heavy Wow I'm impressed Yeah it's really good Because this guy walks around here Like he's the connoisseur

like he knows everything about heavy metal so you just stumped him we're going to hold this against him for a very long time thank you for that I did see you in the back rocking the Pantera shirt like you're in the locker room

rocking this I'd even know that was allowed by the way given the uniform policies why are you wearing this in the back what does this mean to you I don't know I wasn't told I couldn't wear it so so I did

but like are you trying to say something with that shirt does it represent something a mindset yes well I actually saw Pantera earlier this year with Dan over in Birmingham, and we also saw them at the T-Mobile in September. So it was like right before the fight to be there, to be in the arena,

and have a band that I really enjoy, play, and Phil Anselmo is somebody who, like, you can feel how he radiates that energy to go out and to, like, fight for something that you really want to. And the back of the shirt says, or the crew next says, Rulgar display of power. And I think that's something that I wanted. in my mind as well, something that dad said to me during training camp was like, dude, you can't just listen to metal. You have to be metal.

And just to keep that in mind during the fight because sometimes I just try to wait for the perfect moment or like create it, but I'm not doing enough to create these moments that I have full confidence that I can capitalize on. And I hesitate within myself. And, you know, of course, that comes with confidence issues and all the other fun stuff to deal with. for a fight. But it was just that reminder for myself as well, that that's what I go in there to do. Like, that's the main goal. You have the tools. You have the martial arts where it teaches you the correct way, like the, you know, the defense, the offense, the possibilities. But in the end, it's a fight and you have to demonstrate that. And I don't think I did a great job at it, but it was certainly better than last time. Okay, that was going to be my next question.

you say vulgar display of power did you exemplify that do you think you pulled that off you just said you don't think so why don't you think so because I wasn't more aggressive there was a lot like there was moments in the fight where I felt like

I can finish this girl like she doesn't like she doesn't want to be here anymore you know and to feel that and not go for it not capitalize on it that wasn't very phil ensemble of me and that's why

I don't think I did such a good job at it because I felt like there was some improvements in my calmness throughout the fight and my lack of excess movement and my presence. But there wasn't that vulgar display of power. And so why do you think that is? When you recognize she doesn't want to be here, you're seeing this in the fight, but you're not putting your foot on the gas pedal, so to speak. Why do you think that's happening? Well, I kind of want to fix it overnight, but I didn't realize how far down I was, if that makes sense. It's like noticing you don't have enough confidence and you just go, oh, yeah, you just have confidence and that's it. And although it kind of is it, it takes steps and it takes things like you proving it to yourself over and over again for it not to be an issue anymore, for you to be able to step in there and be like, oh, I see it.

go on, go and capitalize on it and not have a conversation with yourself if you should capitalize it or not, you know? And when those things get kind of filtered out, I think I will showcase my skill level a lot more. I, there was in positions where I was just holding or I was kind of like, hey, G, I wasn't letting go. I wasn't as aggressive as I could have been. But I think realizing that sometimes like that is the most logical thing to do, it's what will keep you the safest is a different way that I can approach it and apply it and probably be happier with my performance after. You mentioned confidence here a couple times in the post-fight press conference that you had. You mentioned it a bunch on Saturday. Is that because

of what happened in your last fight or is this a bigger discussion? No, this is a much bigger discussion. I mean, before the last fight, I wasn't confident there either. Like, even when I was on the win streak it was i was winning and that that was great you know is much better than losing all the time but it wasn't like oh i'm this super fighter or i'm this or i know why i step in there i'm going to do all these things it's like i i see the things work but it's almost like a disbelief almost like an imposter syndrome sort of where you're like for some things you really believe the things that you can do and you hold yourself to a really high standard and then for other things you don't think you're that capable of or you hesitate. And within the hesitation, the window of time to

capitalize on the movement is gone. So like, let's say you created something with a faint, with a movement, with footwork, with something you disorganize the opponent. And then when you should have gone, because that's your moment to capitalize it, you didn't because you were talking to yourself about whether you should go or not, that moment's gone. Let's say you do throw the punch. And then the punch doesn't land as it should be. and then that's another point to the fact that you were arguing with yourself. Oh, wow.

All this is happening in the fight. All this is happening in the head. Oh, yeah. Like, there's so, I don't know if this is for everybody that this happens, but there's definitely a lot of things that happen. And with the more fights that I get, you know, also 11 months out isn't the greatest for being more present.

But that's why I focus so much in this camp to work on that. Because I know that that's something. unavoidable like when I fought in New York I was avoiding the fact that I would feel this way and avoiding the conversations that I have and it snuck up on me at the very end and like I didn't do anything till the third round because I was just like what is going on I felt like a like I wasn't the one riding the experience I was kind of watching it from like next to me and it was like oh, I'm walking towards the cage.

What's going on? You know, it's like, oh, I guess we're doing this now. And I knew that that was a big thing that I had to address for the following fights and for just the rest of my life. Because when something gets intense, when a situation, you know, it doesn't only have to be fighting. It can be like making a financial decision. It can be making any sort of decision you want to be as present as possible and feel all the emotions.

And sometimes they're not comfortable. But I didn't address that in the last fight, and it has been my focus to fix that problem. Like, I don't have to, that doesn't have to define me anymore. Like, I don't have to be that way. I can fix this. So how do you work on that? How do you try to fix that? Well, during the, during this time I had, obviously I have my boxing coach, Joby Clayton, he helps me

tremendously with that. And he helps a lot of athletes in the mental aspect. of it and how to you approach the fight, how to visualize and how to, you know, get the most out of your inner power for a lack of better words. And of course, Dan, like my husband, he's, I mean, the person that I used to be versus the person that I am now is just so different. I feel from inside out a completely different person. And that's thanks to him helping me navigate all these really tough situations and giving me the space, the strength and the tools to prove to myself that I am strong enough to face these things and move forward

and just continue to grow and to have him help me with that, not just fix things for me, but give me the tools that I feel I'm strong enough to do things myself has really changed and I started to see the power of it and believe in the power of it in order to apply it. And of course, I started working with somebody that Randy Gautour recommended to me because we had some of these conversations on the road while Dan was commentating for PFL. And he gave me the phone number of this lady that she has been an incredible help. And she's been coming over the house every Sunday. And we've been reviewing.

And I've been seeing these changes week by week in sparring in the sessions that I do. And that's been so uplifting and motivating because it makes me. see how much more I have to grow and how possible it is and how attainable it is and it's amazing. I really, I love talking about these things, so I appreciate you opening up about it and being so honest with us. Do you feel like this is helping you as a fighter and a person as well? Because some might say, like, you know, I'm fine as a person, but when it comes to

my fighting, I feel like an imposter. I don't have the proper confidence. Are you talking about Veronica, the human being as well as the fighter when you talk about these issues? Yeah, I think you can't help but link them because in the end of the day, I am the source. It's me as a person and me as a person stepping in there. There is no separation. It's just the height and experience of it because of the stress surrounding it. You're in a fist fight with another person that is trained that has been studying you to hurt you as well as their entire team as well as the circumstances of what this happens to your career moving based on the

results how you've prepared for it it's all such a a battlefield within itself that when you step in there there's just so many layers that you're also fighting and you can ignore them and let the outcome happen whatever maybe may be or you can grab onto it and be like I'm the you know I'm the driver. I'm taking hold of this and I'm not letting it control me. And that for me, to be able to do that in or take a step in that direction, not do that, to be able to take a step in that direction in such a heightened state and such an intense moment, that gives me so much confidence to do it on like my day to day life. And then I walk around now and I feel like a different person. And that's thanks to these moments, thanks to these things that really push me in that direction. that give you no choice but to face it. I wanted to ask you about something that, you know, that has come to me in my life, and I wonder if you think this way as well

because it's sort of along the same lines, but it might be a bridge too far. When you're around guys like Randy Couture, when you're at the gym, when you're in Vegas with these great fighters, your husband is Dan Hardy. These people are the best of the best who have done what you are striving to become, right?

They are former champions legends. Do you ever have moments where you're like, how did I get here? Do I deserve this? This knowledge being imparted on me. I'm a young woman from Venezuela. How did I end up here? And how did I get so lucky?

And sometimes I've said this. I've been around people I've admired in broadcasting and stuff. And I'm like, how did I end up in this car with these people? And do I, did I earn this? Do I deserve this? Should I be here? Should I know? Do you have these conversations as well?

I think the most bizarre thing for me isn't, isn't so much to just speak to them but to see how they are invested in me and and I'm like you care enough to have an open honest conversation with me something that you think will benefit me you know like you're you're along this journey with me and you believe that I can do something that is of significance for somebody like yourself somebody that I admire like you must see something within me that sometimes I don't even see within myself. And that's the part for me that feels very surreal, especially because they've poured information, they've poured knowledge, they've poured a part of their heart out to you, to help you.

And then when you go and you perform, you want to make those people proud because somebody, you know, has taken the time to do that and make them be legends of the sport or just in a, an average like everyday person they're all it's it's a it's energy from themselves that they're giving to you and that's so special and i kind of want to honor that when i fight and i think the times that i don't showcase that enough where i like they've given me so much more than what i've shown that's the part that gets a little bit like like could have done so much better you know they deserve a better performance so on this they they they know they know how it is they know it's hard they know you can't always go out and you know do your best uh well you always do your best

but like your best skills won't come out and they understand that and within that that also gives me a sense of like okay it's fine keep going so are you happy about your performance like are you happy with the win how do you feel on this monday afternoon about what you accomplished on saturday night i have a bit of mixed feelings about it um you know i felt like Like I went through a lot internally, personally, for this training camp just because I needed to. It was just time. It was time for me to do these things. I couldn't run away from it anymore because I've seen the consequences of what that is.

You know, I felt it in New York. My mind took over me. So I'm happy I have taken steps in the right direction. I thought I could showcase. being further along. And that was the part that kind of annoyed me after the fight that I could have, that I saw these things and I didn't fully trust myself. It was more trust, but it wasn't full. And in training, I've showcased a lot better skills, a lot more, more aggression, a lot more willingness than I did in the fight. So that's the part that I'm kind of annoyed about.

But, you know, it's a journey. Next time we'll be better. And then next time we'll be better. and that's all we can hope for. Were you worried that what happened to you in New York would happen again on Saturday? Were you thinking about that in the locker room or in the days leading up to the fight? I was thinking about that, but not just right before.

I was thinking about that from when I stepped out of New York. Like, that was a big problem. That wasn't like a skill issue. That was like your autoimmune disease problem right there, right? you have to fix that and it's been a it's been like a long time that i've been working towards that so i had even though you know that thought will always creep up like will this happen again you don't know because you haven't been in this situation in 11 months i was confident in the fact that i had went i really dug deep into that aspect of it and i have put in a lot of work

it's like it's a muscle you have to train it you can't just be like like, oh, I'm going to do them, be confident today. Like, what did you do to improve on that aspect? What did you do to improve on the aspects that weren't so great? And I felt like I worked extremely hard on it. And I looked more calm in there. I felt more calm. But there's a lot to improve still.

By the way, why the long layoff? Why 11 months? It's just kind of the way the things played out. I had like a little bit of an injury. that was lingering it was coming back and forward so i didn't know how serious it was um and then and then that and then i just had to i just needed time i just needed time to to believe in myself you know i was on a three-fight win streak and i was just like okay once you know surely this will end soon and that's not how you should think like i owe it to myself to at least

give myself credit for all the work that I do. So that needed to be fixed and took a little bit longer than I saw it. Okay. Would you like to get back in there quickly or do you want a little bit more time now to kind of? No, I would like to get back in there really quickly. You know, like beginning of next year, I found a good groove in Las Vegas at Extrincture. You know, the training was really nice. There was a lot of people that were integrated into the camp like Kenny Johnson that came from California, Sean Strickland has been very helpful. Eric Nixig is just such a sweetheart and he's really intense. And the girls that I've gotten to train with, like now I feel like I'm on a good role

and I want to build up on that. You know, I want to build on training with Piera and Tatiana and Haley and Panny. Like all these girls are pushing me on a daily basis to be better. And that's what is giving me confidence as well is that I'm working with these really high-level women that are so willing to share their information, their knowledge, and their feelings approaching a fight. Can we talk about that one photo that we just showed over there? I mean, that is, I don't know if you're the type to, like, put up pictures of yourself

in your house, but, like, that is, that is diabolical stuff right there. What is, you know what you're thinking in this moment here? It's a tremendous shot. I think I was just present in that shot. I don't think I was thinking anything in particular. I was just in the moment and it yeah sometimes I see photos on myself but I'm like oh my is that what I look like in that moment wow you like looking at yourself in that state um it's it's nice that that part of myself can be liberated sometimes and it's nice to see that it gets the time out outside that it deserves because I think it makes me a calmer nicer person are you are you full-time in Vegas now? We're looking into it.

We're going to go back home now for a little bit. See my nephew, see my mother-in-law, give her a big hug. I'm looking forward to it. It's been a while since we've seen, you know, our family. So that's something I'm looking forward to. But then coming back and then seeing, you know, having something at least like a rental for a longer period of time in order to be able to build up on these things. By the way, I know you've been focused on your fight and everything going on.

Any word on the state of Dan's father with the state of Nottingham Forest being as bad as it is, has he mentioned? Because it's been a very disgraceful start to the season. Has he mentioned this to you? It's awful. No, he hasn't. He's real quiet. Okay.

Maybe he didn't want to bring any bad juju your way because it's been an absolute shit show, pardon of my friend. It's been awful. So don't bring it up if you do see him in the coming days. But I did love what you had to say about your mother-in-law. vigorously cleaning the bathroom while getting ready for your fights she's that nervous it's amazing like you don't often hear uh you know a woman have that kind of relationship with her mother-in-law right sometimes there's friction it seems like there's a genuine love there and support between the

two of you oh man i i admire her so much like i'm so happy she's dan's mom's so i got to meet her you know it's like she's so so special the way that she is able to to like showcase emotion she's very an emotionally very intelligent very independent woman so to see her to see her navigate the world is something that's that's quite fascinating and she has so much love for everything and and the and for the people around her and she showcases that with me you know she's made me feel like i'm I'm her daughter, not I'm Dan's wife. Right, right. You know, it's something really beautiful that it's, I know I'm very, very fortunate to have, so it's

awesome. This poor woman, she probably was a ball of nerves as her son was having his career. She thought she was done with it. And then now you went her. I know. I feel so bad. Yeah. Geez, Louise, I can't imagine.

If she views you as her daughter, she's probably the exact same. That is tough. What about the relationship with Sean? I know you were asked about it, but like that, photo of Sean with you guys wearing the singlet is legendary stuff. He seems to be like a walking, I don't know, a walking like juxtaposition of this guy who really seems to care, but then has to show that he doesn't care. But deep down is a good soul. But, you know, he says things that are sometimes polarizing. What's your relationship like with him and your experience with

him? I mean, like that, that's absolutely it. And I don't know if it's because he doesn't think that people will appreciate the things that he has to say which i find bizarre i mean dude you want a world champion yeah if you know in the ufc like you have beat so many great phenomenal fighters of course you have things to teach and and to showcase so i don't know if it's like part of that um why he he will showcase you something and then like walk away and then come back and and almost like doesn't want you to reject him saying something now obviously i'm speculating i haven't spoken to him about this but uh i find that fascinating but you can just tell that he really cares based on the thing that he said like as soon as i got to Vegas i remember being

in the cage with dan and he walked up to me and he gave me like some tips around how to find training in Vegas and how to navigate things and how to set up my own camp and i was just like what what's going on yeah and then like during the week other times that I've seen him, I see him give, like, great advice to other fighters and say things to me that I'm like, wow, that is, that's very, very logical, more logical than I've heard a lot of people. And it's just, it's been fascinating to see him coach and to be coached by him. And the way that he is able to simplify things and overcome such aspects that he can, that he knows that like mentally this is a hard challenge because of your mindset in some way and thinking

this way will kind of go over that mind field that you might get sucked into so it's it's really intelligent the way that he also approaches the training and how he how he says to deal with things now of course with that is you know a vocabulary that if your ego is not in check then then it will be offensive to you like nobody wants to hear like hey let me show you how it kicked your ass yeah you know like if if your ego is not in check you'll be like oh you know f you which i've seen happen and i'm like dude it's your loss he's there willing to give you solid golden information that you know i have traveled the world i've paid so many so much money in privates like hoped and stuff and here he is giving it to you is there um

So it's, it's been fascinating to see him. And he's been such a great help for, not only for me, but for everybody in the team. And to see him in that role, to see something that's so different to what I kind of expected, it's, yeah, it's mind below. I heard you talk about him in the Post-Fite press conference where he'll, like, come and tell you something and then leave and then come back. I experienced the same thing. I went to Extreme Couture in June. And I had a feeling he might be there. And I thought he despised me. And so I was a little bit nervous to see him. And this was two days after him and Chris Curtis had that thing at the tough enough event when they stormed the cage. And I was like, oh man, if we see Sean, like we got to be ready. He couldn't have been nicer, more welcoming, warmer. And he would come and talk to us and then he would leave and then he would come back. And then he would just, yeah, and so about this. And it was like, it was like we were old friends. I was like, is this Sean Strickland? What's going on here? So I knew exactly what you were talking about. That's exactly. And by the way, congratulations. I see you're doing like more

presenting. You did the Netflix stuff and UFC BJJ stuff. I hear you look at you with the Netflix, Mike Flag and all that. Are you loving this? Yeah, that, I mean, that is one of like my favorite experiences too. That I got to do the Canelo Crawford event. It was to, I remember like getting to the arena and seeing the Alex Gray drum kit. And that's cool. I mean, like, that's it. And I was just like, what is going on? And for them to tell me that, you know, they had come and they were going to play like a small piece and they were coming later and they were going to be in Crawford's

corner. It was just so surreal the entire thing. I'm like, my favorite band ever is going to be in this ultra mega fight where these athletes are extremely skilled, so intelligent, so, you know, it's, you have to, it's so tiny the little details and the and the distance for boxing you know it's so refined because the real so is more limited in in combat and just to see that up close to see them coming in to the arena like the tension to feel it all and to think that dude in a few weeks time that's going to be you walking in there that's going to be you feeling these things you in the locker

room. So it was an opportunity to not only witness such greatness, but also to visualize myself in this position and relieve these moments, even though I'm not having them as frequently as I should be. When we came back that Monday, we're all talking about the fight and Netflix and the 70,000 people and Dana's first event. All Frank wanted to talk about was the fact that he saw Mysterious Frank in the back that he saw in your Instagram story, that you were excited that Tool was there. That's his favorite band. He keeps trying to tell me about these guys that I've never heard of. So he wants to ask you a question about this. Go ahead, Frank. Hey, Veronica, a big fan of you were in Dan's. I was just curious. So it sounds like you got to talk to

Adam and Danny. Did they give any indication of why they were there, like how that came to be? Were they supporting one of the fighters or what happened? Oh yeah. By the way, before you answer this, we had Terrence on the show that Monday after his massive win, and he kept asking me to ask Terrence about Tool. We have 15 minutes with Terrence Crawford, and he wants me to waste one of my questions on Tool. With all due respect, I couldn't do that. But anyway, he's been dying to know how this happened. That's a fascinating question. It is a good question. You're right. Tool and Terrence Crawford made no sense to me. Like, out of all the things, that was like, it blew my mind the most. I was just like, how this isn't you make sense? Like the music, all of it was so, so different.

You know the answer No, I don't know the answer Oh, okay Well, I just When I spoke to some of the guys that were helping him set up They just said that they had asked them to come over And do a gig And that's how it turned out

And they were in California That's the only information that I got You know, I just told Adam that I was a big fan And he's like giant And like, it's just so much taller than me looking down and I'm like, oh my God, don't say anything. Don't. Wow. Well, something to strive for.

And he was just like really enjoying, you know, like enjoying all of it. So it was so great to see, you know, guys that have sold out arenas as well to also be fans of the moment in their own like, wow, this is awesome. So to see them in that situation was really cool. I think Frank would agree. Last thing, what's up with the Hot Wheels and Dan? What's going on here? What is this? You know what the worst part is?

Like, we were about to check out. And the lady goes, oh, we have another room full of Hot Wheels. And I'm like, oh, my God, I'm just getting him out the store. And he's only got 12 of them. So it's good. That's so much less than normal. And then she says, no, the guy yesterday came in here and bought like 182. So I counted them one by one.

You're fine. You're not excessive. Have a look at the back. I'm just like, no, we need to go. He collects these? Yeah, he has, but he collects a lot of things. Okay. Yeah, I think he just likes collecting.

But at least they're cool things. So, you know, I can't tell them, like, whatever. They're like inspiring cool things that make you feel a certain way. Yeah, the little kid in him. I respect it. Yeah. I respect it. There's a coach named Mindset Mike who works with the likes of Amin Zahabia. I've talked to him about him.

He's a mental coach as well. He told me about a book that he, um, he recommended. meant Saul's fighters called Chopwood Carry Water, and I bought it, just because I wanted to see what he was all about. And a lot of the stuff you were talking about, it's about a guy, an American who goes to become a samurai. It's a very easy read. It's like 120 pages. But maybe in this downtime, you'll find some inspiration. And it's about like finding yourself and working towards a goal and becoming the greatest version of yourself and all this stuff, Chopwood, carry water. When you were talking about it, made me think of that confidence and all that stuff.

regardless congratulations you're an inspiration you're doing big things and it's really a pleasure to always talk to you about this side of the game because we don't get it often and I enjoy it very much so thank you for taking some time

enjoy the victory and we look forward to your next fight no thank you it's always a pleasure to come on the show thank you very much there she is Veronica Hardy coming off a big win on Saturday against Brogan Walker

another nice win for her that's now four out of five for Veronica Hardy. What do you think of that, Frank? Your big moment. That was huge. Thanks, man. We still don't know.

The mystery just gets deeper and deeper. Continues, yeah. And to be honest, if I was in her position getting to talk to them, I also would not ask them. Is that, like, the dream celebrity convo for you? Is that number one? I've met one of the guys before. Oh, you have? Yeah, I met the lead singer.

Oh. That was cool. Where? This was, he makes wine. in Arizona and he was doing a a wine bottle signing that's not very metal I mean it's the wine is pretty cool okay okay I love how you are the litmus test of what well I mean I've just I've just learned a little bit about being metal yeah yeah yeah yeah it was a good time thanks for letting me ask that question okay so you met him I thought that you were going to say something about the meeting well then

you just chat all over well I just want to be expected oh wow wow wow wow wow uh was it a nice meeting or were you a nice meeting to be honest um you could probably relate to it was a little emotional because it's like, damn, like, you have these people on such high pedestals, and then you meet them and, like, they're humans. You know, they're humans. It's like Us Weekly says, you know? Us Weekly. Stars are just like us.

It's true, yeah, you're right, yeah. Cooking it up. Yep, yep, yep. No, I get it. And one day, one day we're going to see Terrence. Terence was actually photographed in Japan over the weekend. I saw a tweet from Nobuyuki, Saka Kibara, formerly of pride, of dream, now of Risen.

Look at Terrence, living his best life. Today I had lunch with Terrence Crawford, who is visiting Japan. I just had lunch. Ha, ha. I think insinue maybe that people thought that he was cutting a deal with Terrence. But Terrence living his best life. He was over in Riyadh, I saw that, and now over in Japan with Sakakibara. Imagine Terrence showing up on a New Year's Eve show.

I mean, we've seen Mayweather, we've seen Pacino, why not? kind of past their prime. He's very much in his prime, but Sakakibara is... That bag's right. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Just do it. Terrence Crawford versus who?

Juan Archiletta? Yeah, no, I'm going to pass on that. It's always Juan Archeletta. I heard you mention him this weekend when talking about Bellator. I don't know. He's just... Who else? Who else? Who's the guy?

Man, someone came over from the UFC and found like a really good lane for himself in Risen. um not miles jury who i saw this weekend with uh jeremy stevens uh come on you guys know you guys know no no i do know one archela though yeah he had to get around over there um james too no not james not james i was it dang it someone the chat will know for sure did he have a did he have a mustache i think he has a mustache rick you don't know uh he's framing up here i know no he is okay Robert DeSosa No, not Robert DeSosa

I see that on the chat That's probably like That guy's real name You don't remember Robert There's a guy who came from the UFC And went to Risen And has had a nice little run over there Danny Sabatel is not a bad one

But that's not who I'm talking about It's not Sabatello It's a UFC guy Oh he came out to all American I am a real a man You remember all this about him I don't remember his name Darren Cruxshank

Darren Crookshank That's the one That's the one From Detroit, Michigan. Darren Cruck, Thank you. Yes. Lainer James King.

I got too excited. Please don't die. Thank you. I got too excited. Okay. This is a problem. Cough button integrity is good. How's it?

Stop doing that. How is it? I'm coughing. Darren Crockshank. Good one, Frank. Good for Frank. I was hoping Yuri would laugh. No, did he hear it?

He should have heard it. He's locked in. Yeri Pachaska, the pride of the Czech Republic joining us. It's hard not to feel emotional about what Yeri did on Saturday. Honestly, the comeback win, and then the way he conducted himself during the main event and in the aftermath of the main event. I mean, I got so many messages about just like, I love this guy. I love this guy.

I love how he acts. I love how he fights. I love how he conducts himself. I love his spirit. I mean, he really is the best of MMA. He really is. It is such a joy to just watch the video blogs, the social media. It sounds like I'm just glazing him here, you know, because he's about to come on. But it truly is a joy to witness his career blossom in front of us. Everything that he does is just so fascinating. And so I am really, really appreciative. He just landed back home all the way from Vegas. He's kind enough to give us some time here. So let's not waste any time. Okay. let's say hello to him in a matter of seconds. He's going to be joining us in a matter of seconds. He just landed long journey. I can't even imagine how long that journey is,

but he's kind enough to join us. And so now here he is, the great Yuri Pachaska. Hello, Yuri. How are you? Thank you so much. I really do appreciate this. Hey, Ariel, I'm doing well. Just like you said, I just came back to Chick-Republic.

Right now, I'm on the gas station doing this interview, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Thank you. I really appreciate it. And I won't keep you. Are you tired? No, no, man I'm okay

Okay Are you on a high Like how do you even come down From what you did on Saturday How do you describe that Boom Like you mean After the fight

Yeah everything All the motion No you had such a moment on Saturday Come back a great finish Then the main events of like How do you come down from that I didn't still realize that They're like fully

I'm still like in the moment I'm just enjoying the successful mission and right now with my team we just had together last like dinner here and now we now we went everybody our ways so so I'm happy that everything was successful especially that I started I started to work more in third round so I'm happy that I won't yeah have you rewatched the fight not yet not yet I just I just saw some pieces from that fight like like the main pieces from the fight but not not yet because I want to be fully focused fully focused for for the interview yeah for interview for that fight yeah right you see do you remember what you were thinking going into the third round you

know how the first two rounds went. Do you remember what you're thinking, what's going on in your head as you are about to commence the third round? Sure. Sure. I know. Because the coaches told me before the third round, I realized that, man, it's not enough. It's not enough. And it's heart and you are so slow not in the rhythm he is smaller but he's a very dynamic very tough very hard punches hard kids so i said myself man i really have to go through him really have to go through him And that was something what I just, what I did. This is what I did. You said in the post-fight interview that you felt like the first round was a little too easy.

And I just wanted to ask you about that and perhaps clarify. When you say too easy, like, did you mean like you weren't feeling challenged? You weren't, it wasn't, what did you mean by that? Yeah, that's it. That's what you said. I didn't feel like a challenge from him like I didn't feel like he's like he's like I don't want to speak badly about Khalil but like really I didn't I didn't feel like real danger you know because I felt from him because I felt from him. easy like really good vibe really good vibe I felt from him and all these punches very fast punches very fast and hard hooks but I saw all of these punches all of his

actions I saw that before he before he started so so so You didn't feel like he was a threat. You didn't feel like threatened by him. Yeah, so, so yeah, something like that. And it was my mistake that I didn't start to be more intensive in my preparation, in my room where I did my warm-off. so oh so that was i felt really like like some guy from some guy from from the from fighting from who fought the same night he said that like i felt like really tired and almost sleeping and i felt

the same yeah man i felt like man i rather i was sleep rather i was sleep and it was not not like like really a good warm-up yeah that was that was yes has that ever

happened to you before no that was that was that was that was like first time that was like first time but I realized that I really realized that

and I said myself man it's here you recognize that these state of attitude like you are lazy

you are slow but you have to be fast and maybe that third and last round where I felt I need to totally change it to the opposite that was for me to wake up and you did when you figured out that you did wake up

and that you were able to stop him was that more relief how did you feel internally because as you say you're feeling lazy, you're feeling lethargic, and you only had a few minutes left, you didn't have two more rounds, it wasn't a five-round fight, it was a three-round fight. Yeah, sure, sure, but

I don't need like five rounds to finish an opponent, I just, I just need like 30 second or full focus to catch a, catch the space where is the target,

where is the, where is the, way how to how to win yeah when you go to the back do they tell you hey we want you to come out

for the main event or did you say to them I want to come out to watch the main event I said that I said I want to go there I want to watch the main event maybe I will go there and congrress the champion but

that I did after a fight in a changing room after. I congrats to Alex and all his team and my team congrats them. So, because there is no bad blood between us.

So everything was good. There was a shot before the fight started as Ankaliv is about to go into the cage and the way they framed it, you were looking at him. There you are. What is going on in your mind here?

Nothing. There was no bad wish or whatever. I just, like every time, I just want to see the best fight. Let the better win. Really, let the better win. But inside myself, I wish that more to Alex. Because all these bullshit, what Uncle I've said. So that's why.

And I know you were asked about it in the Post-Five press conference, but I have to ask you again, the shot of you getting emotional, seeing Alex Wynn, is such a unique thing because if someone didn't know any better, Yuri, they would think you guys were lifelong best friends. And this is a man that you fought twice and who beat you twice in the biggest of moments. Can you describe that?

Why are you so emotional in that moment? It's so fascinating. It's not because I was so happy. that Alex won or Ancalfe lose that fight. I was so emotional because in that moment, I realized, really realize, that Herrera won and there is a potential fight between me and him. And that means there is a third fight, third fight, third chance for me to be. successful and I realized deeply realized man this is this is something what you have to you have to win

or nothing so I just realized this thing and I said myself man that will be I think the biggest biggest challenge of my life okay so I think the interpretation online was that you were so happy for Alex and maybe you don't like Uncleyev because of the back and forth. It was just the realization that you're going to get a chance to right the wrong

and potentially fight him for the third time was hitting you and you were so happy. Is that mainly it? That's right. Okay. Fascinating. And you were overcome by emotion. Is it because you thought maybe you would never have this chance?

Yeah, that's right. That's right. Man, I realize that like, man, right now he won. Perfect win. perfect press really good like really nice

he showed really nice performance really nice performance no matter if Uncle I was not in a if he wasn't super healthy or whatever first first fight

Pereira wasn't super healthy but doesn't matter I was I just realized like man this is this is potential the biggest fight of your life and fuck man I really wants to win I know I'm taking

a lot of risks in my fights I know I will find a way whatever how do you feel in the aftermath about this talk that he says I want to go to heavy weight I want to fight John Jones usually these days when people are moving up they have to vacate the title

and so if you don't get that chance but it is for the title and it's against Carlos Albury we presume would that be okay with you would you feel okay about that already said to like in the interviews like and i'm saying almost every time it's the same i'm not changing my my answer so so uh the answer is the same i really wants to fight for the title and i don't care who will be my opponent i understand that and believe you but because i see that emotion you but because I see that emotion about the idea of fighting Alex, there probably is a part of you who would say the ideal scenario is fighting Alex for the belt, right? The ideal.

Yeah. Whatever. Right now, I'm not locked in just one thing. But let that will be whoever. I believe I will go through him for the title Do you think regardless of the opponent your next fight will be for the belt? I believe in that yeah

that's right now on on my negotiation between me and my manager and UFC and if there was a possibility to fight for the title in the June with Anka Laif

and I declined because the university and right now I defend or defend I won my last fight with Khalil so right now I believe logically there is a chance

to go for the title you you had mentioned in addition to that June fight that there was maybe some talk of you fighting Carlos what happened there did you say that he turned it down or you turned it down

no no no I was first in after the June, after my final, final exams on university. There was an offer for Ulberg in Australia. I accept that. I accepted that. And he declined that because I don't know. Whatever. He just declined that.

Then I accept the Runtree and in the same time he accepted Reyes. Okay. How would you feel about a fight against Ullberg for the vacant title? Do you like that? Whatever. Whatever. Whatever. Right now, like I said, I really don't care who will be my opponent.

I don't want to choose my opponent. I already come from the Uberg. Then I confirmed the round three. So for me right now is if you want to be the champion, you have to go through everyone. one. Throughout the week, I know you said that you spoke to Alex and his team after the fight. I'm sure you saw them throughout the week too.

Did you have a chance to talk to Magomed and maybe clear the air with him? No. I didn't. And maybe I don't like to speak with him because he has to be responsible for all his tweets, even when I met him. Even when I met him in the UFC, PI, and he said, hi, like, normally, he said normally hello. And I just watched him. All my team just watched him what he just did.

Like, he tried to say me, say, say hello like, like, like nothing. Like, there was, like, if there was not anything, what he wrote on the Twitter. And then I really realized, like, he's just, maybe all these guys around him. I don't know if his manager or who do that, who wrote these tweets or all these bullshit, but he's like, he's like normal sportsman, but the guys around him, they do this dirty work. Yeah, both you and Alex talked about this in the aftermath, that it didn't sit well with you guys.

What we spoke about? Alex also even said that he felt like the things that were said that Magamette had to pay for it um even though you know that that that's right it's on his twitter he has to own it yeah that's right that's right and i that's why i i don't like to before this fight before the cali run tree i already i was prepared to to go for his manager or for uncle life and tell him what the fuck was these shit what was you what you spoke about what why why why why you did that what there was nothing what i i didn't attack you with anything so why you spoke these bullshit and uh my coach told me like really calm down calm down our fight is a

color round tree right now and let's be focused just for this one don't don't be focused for anybody else yeah oh sorry anybody else anybody else so i just kept that and I'm happy I did that. I don't like to be focused to anyone else before the fight. Yeah, that's right. Part of what I think people love about you, Yuri, is your catchphrase. Let's go for that. I don't think I've ever asked you, where did that come from?

How did that start? Man, it started with, let's go for that. Let's go for this. I I clean this sentence with a Nina with a Nina drama Okay

I spoke with her and I told her like okay let's go for this let's go for that and she told me like man when you said

let's go for that that sounds much like harder let's go for this one thing and that means let's go for this

target. Let's go for that. This time was for a win with Khalil. Do you feel comfortable, Yuri? People really love you. They really feel something when you fight. You take them on a journey. Do you feel comfortable when you are showered with love and praise and are told how much you mean to people? You know, one thing is to be not to be not not so comfortable what everybody's doing what they're sending you for energy and all these things you have to be the one who's do these things but

not because others give you something and or you expect that they will send you the love or good wipe or good comments or whatever uh because you are like that and i just i i just want to live my life man i just want to live my life i get it that's it just be the best best best best best version of yourself as as is possible that's all i saw enjoy and enjoy yourself course of course uh i saw by the way um your training method where you block your nose in your mouth when you run? Very unique. I've never

seen that before. This is it from your video blog. Where did you come up with this and why do you do that? Man, this is like high level technique of oxygen advantage metal. And one of the guy who did these things

was the Israel and the Sanya, like the training under the water and the running without breathing. And these technique what i did is uh not for for the people who's on the lower level on the oxygen advantage method briefing method this is like a little bit higher level so you you can't see that so often yeah so one more thing i'll tell you because it's it looks like every time if i if i do something like

some training video it seems like a year is doing weird thing but uh yeah but uh this is not any any weird thing because uh when the all the fighters will recognize the benefits of oxygen advantage breathing method and when they realize that breathing is the principle essential thing of the how to rule your body and as a fighter you are responsible responsible for your breathing for your body everybody will start to do that might be doing it for a while mark my words really have you been

doing it for a while more than three and a half years okay but right now I'm on the level where I can start sprinting without the breathing, yeah. Wow. I'll let you go in a moment. I don't want to keep you much longer, but I did see on your YouTube also these photos you posted in the graduation video of you as a youngster. Look at this guy right here. This is amazing. Would this young man ever believe that you would turn into the samurai that you've become world-renowned, beloved by people all over the world? Would this guy believe all of this? That was man. That was the start. That was where it all the start this age you are just showing right now that was the age where I

started with Muay Thai and there was just a pure energy to beat everyone to be better as much possible is in my life I'm capable of so so this is for what I'm doing till now so you are 100% doing it. I have to tell you before we let you go. We have a show here. The guys on the show they watch you fight. They watch the fights. They do a watch party for the fights, a live stream. And I want to just show you one of the guys on the show, his reaction when you want on Saturday. This is how much you mean to people, including us here on the show. Okay, take a look at this. Oh, spinning elbow from Yeri. Two minutes to go. Yeri, empty the tank, man. He's trying. Oh, a couple big shots from Yeri. He'll have a slap. He's down. It's over.

Yeri! Boom! The samurai put them to sleep. I love this man. Oh, I'm coming. Let's go, Yeri. How can you not love this guy? Oh, puts the check flag on.

A couple big breaths. Oh, let's go. Let's go! How can you not be a fan of this man? Delivered. Boom! What do you think of that, Yuri? Man, I think they little act too much of this.

Okay. Because they are before the cameras, but I really appreciate it. I really appreciate if it's really natural. It was, it was. It is from the heart. I can tell you that. It is from the heart. It is very natural.

Okay, okay. Okay. promise you that I'm happy to I'm really happy that my way I found a way

and by the way congratulations to you I know you're doing a lot for cancer research with your charity and you're donating a lot of money and here you are

doing amazing things for the less fortunate and so much respect to you and everyone should support what you're doing it's a beautiful thing man man

one more last thing what I can say, like to say hello by this video, to say hello to Ashley because she was on the fights. She watched the fights. And man, I have no time after a fight to just met her and say her hello. Amazing. So maybe by this. Thank you so much, Erie.

Congratulations. Appreciate you doing this. Enjoy the victory and we look forward to seeing you again very soon. Thank you. Thank you. Stay strong. Have a great day. All the best. There he is. Yeri Prakaska. Let's go for that. Amazing. Amazing stuff there from Yeri. What a guy. What a soul. And, you know, when he was talking about the relationship and I was talking about the relationship

between him and Alex, I even forgot to mention Izzy and Alex. The video of Izzy reacting to Alex Perr is when was pretty amazing. It was clear that Izzy was rooting for him and him reacting to how quickly Alex closed the distance. Like you could tell this was a different Alex Pereira. Remember the first time

they fought Alex Pereira and Maghoban Al-Av the first time they fought Al-Kalev shot 12 times didn't land a single takedown. Everyone thought that was going to be the blueprint. Obviously he tried

but Pereira did a good job but he also outstruck out through and outstruck Alex Pereira which no one saw coming and this time around it wasn't the lethargic Pereira that we had seen back in March.

It was a very aggressive I mean he was he was pouncing out there. We have the video. Here's Izzy reacting to what Alex did in that fight. Oh, he's on. He's on. Nah, I know it. I see the eyes. Look at the eyes. Oh, he's going, he has to go orthodox. He has to go orthodox. Boy, he's on. No, that's quick, bro. He's very difficult to deal with it. Oh! Oh, bro. He's on. He's on. Oh, fuck. Go, go, go, go. Finish it. Find a shot. Find the shot. Yeah, but find the shot.

It's over. It's soon. Soon. Go, Herb. Yeah, on top. That's it. It's over. Holy fuck. Oh. Shamma. The mutual respect between the two of them is a beautiful thing. Where it started and then where it went and now where it has ended up, really. a beautiful thing to see speaking of things to see could we get a shot of GC I mean is GC a heartbroken right now

I mean Hardbroken Heartbroken What is? I wanted to give you I don't know what else to say I wanted to give you some time there I think I'm a black drag fan now I didn't

I want to give you some time I respect Can we do we have Can we have a shot of GC reacting No no To Yuri reacting Don't enjoy this so much By the way

Well I'm the one who called for Also I wanted to... It's the most eerie reaction, you know? We could have showed me, like, eating his favorite food, paying homage to his country, the fried cheese and everything. Yes, you did a whole video, bite-feas. It's all good. It's all good.

Did you not want that? I mean, I thought he would appreciate it. You did the... I'll fly out to Prague. Wait, you think it was... I'm fluttered. You think this was coming from a negative place? I was trying to big him up.

I was trying to... But I felt your soul dying from like... Busy, tired. there was a fly in the gas station What about the fact that he never even said that to me by the way Like he never said oh You know sometimes people will be like Oh I'm gonna have to pull over I'll be in my car

Like this guy Isn't a gas station Like probably the last thing he wants to do Nice is gas station I've ever seen by them Yeah but you could see from the reflection You could see that it was like you know Tesco Yeree reacting to rival winning fight balling

Yeri reacting to Connor Showing him adoration of Performative Overacted. Combo of Love Yuri, we're on camera, also had a significant amount of money wager on Yuri as well. So, like, there's a whole stew of things that causes that we have. Sure, sure, sure, sure.

No, but truly, who doesn't freaking love Yuri? I love the guy. Oh, so, like, we didn't get the entire build-up of the three minutes. I can't-you-warned enough. You want me to show him the whole round? No, no, God, no, no, I didn't. It was long already. My clip has already been buried.

We're never playing it again. He started looking around. When he started looking around, I was like, oh, this is a control. at that point i was like i can't watch anymore i have goosebumps i'm cringing so i can't watch i can't watch this anymore never meet never meet your hero oh my god never meet you're sorry i'm sorry i really thought it was going to be a great moment i ordered the botas bjp shoe collab i had to cancel my order i'm so sorry size 11's done i'm returning him i'm so sorry he comes in with the oberg shirt tomorrow i'm so sorry yeah oh that's best looking man in the ufc yeah yep best looking man in the ufc

becomes champ ladies night ladies night black jag that's my guy baby sorry sorry it was such a classic he is very love response though the best part of that clip is is rick just being like yeah let me take a sip of water here well fuck off i had a reaction first rick goes pretty crazy and then he goes

yeah relax i had the water after freaking out i just didn't do the i was hoping he would say yeah where'd you get that nautica top shout out i bet he liked i watched the smashing machine last week that's right that's right god imagine he just said had that. He was like, oh, the guy with the yellow. Yeah, it's great. All right. Well, that was great stuff. Still more to get into.

And actually want to talk about PFL. I want to talk about the Paul Hughes fight. And, you know, we had a chance, Pt. and I to react in real time. But we've now had some days to digest it. In fact, PT, you talked to one of Paul's coaches today, right?

What's the mood like? And who did you talk to him? Specifically. I spoke to to it. Spoke to Fight Academy Ireland head coach, Liam Shan. I've been hounding him since Friday for this interview. I think I've ruined every day he's had since then. So he's like, bite the bullet today, get out on the phone.

I spoke to him for a long time. And it's just, they're just so disappointed. You know, when it was just like, you know, he says to me, and it's in there in the article, you know, in the lead up to this fight, they were the ones convincing everybody. Like people were going to them, oh, you know, you're going to have to knock them. Like, no, no, no, like, don't be silly. And he's like, the problem is, like, if people, if those same people were watching that fight and Saturday, they were kind of proved wrong, proved to be correct by what they saw.

You know, there's just, there's just a lot of things that you have to overlook to not be skeptical about what happened here. And as we said, Usman Amaga Madoff absolutely can have him as a winner. There is no issue there. He fought another brilliant fight with Paul Hughes. 10 of the best rounds the PFL have ever had are those two lads fighting each other. But, you know, you take into that, that 50, 45 is the most egregious scorecard there, without a doubt. Considering most people thought it was 2-2 going into the fifth round, I think there are close rounds, absolutely, absolutely the majority of them are close.

But for me to have one guy sit there and watch that fight and be like, Paul Hughes did not win a round, that doesn't sit right, then you have, you move on to that extra layer, which is. is Keith Peterson. His performance was very strange because Paul has felled four times, once headbutted, although lightly, albeit lightly, in front of him at the end of one of the rounds and nothing happens. And then when Usman Krausfeld, the fights stopped, they look at a replay. One thing that Liam added to that, Keith Peters's situation today when I spoke to him was there was another fight between a Fight Academy Ireland fight.

That's Paul Hughes's gym. Liam Shannon's a head coach that gym, the guy I'm talking to, against Team Habib. as in Habibner Magamadoff's team. It was John Mitchell's fight earlier in the night. I was doing the crack then. So I watched the first round of the fight. I thought John edged it very close round again,

went up, was doing the setup with Andy, missed the rest of the fight. But then when Andy Stevenson and Dunacorby, the two Irish journalists join me on the crack, they were kind of saying, like, the way this was scored, I think Paul needs to finish the Usman to win tonight. Like the score card seems very, very bad.

And lo and behold, one of the judges on that score, on that fight was Keith Peterson. and he probably scored it most one side towards Habib's fighter he scored one of the rounds at 10-8 no other judge did that was the final round of the fight so he returned a car for that of 3026

Liam Shannon says he finds out after the Mitchell fight because they're going what happened with the scorecards there they're in the back this is early prelims they're saying what happened with the score cards we want to see who scored this fight they saw it was Keith Peterson and then they're told that Keith Peterson would be refereeing the main event

they were kind of like and this is pretty funny they were kind of like oh at least he isn't judging on it you know we don't have to worry about that but it acts it adds an extra layer of doubt and of course you guys um seem to you you seem to clear up earlier on the score cards of confusion with them going out but for people who don't have the contacts you have don't know the people that's an extra layer of doubt so there is a whole lot of situations to be skeptical about this and i think to overlook all of those things i think would be pretty crazy you know like to simply just go well This is all just one big coincidence. And look, it could be.

There is a very slim chance that all of these things are coincidence, but it just feels it's perfect fodder for people to be getting upset about how everything played out. Yeah. The article that you're talking about is up right now on uncrown.com. Great job by you. Please go check it out. It's there. We have, yes, no.

Yeah. It was there a minute. There it is. Yes, yes. I just wanted to see it again. confused and disappointed are the quotes i think he's very level-headed honestly like i think i think when you're talking to someone in this situation they can be far more outlandish than lame was and i think he's very balanced he's not saying this is a this is a rig job this whole thing

is fixed nothing like that he's just like we don't understand where you got there we don't understand how even though key peterson told him and pat macalister that these fowls are accidental. He was like, even if they are accidental, they're continuous. It's four fouls. Like, at what point? Do we take a point here? Like, the guy headbutted him in front of you and nothing really happened. And then you add in the John Mitchell situation. That's pretty much what he outlined to me. And I think he was very, very composed when he was discussing it. And I expected him to be a lot more, I don't know, volatile given what had happened. Shout out to Paul the way he conducted himself in the cage

afterwards, didn't make any excuses, didn't whine, didn't bich, didn't groan, didn't do anything? He just gave a shout out to all the people who were there to support him. It was really, really impressive. John Martin, who's the new CEO of PFL, did speak to some media. I haven't seen any video footage of this,

but Donna Corby was there of Bloody Elbow. He has some quotes from John Martin. I thought he writes, Usman was the better fighter, the dominant fighter, taking down Paul pretty routinely. It was a shame with the groin kicks. Now, let's just call it like it is. I mean, John is pretty new to this role. We don't really know how much MMA he actually knows. So I'm not going to start like judging his comments. Like, yeah, take down if you do

nothing with it doesn't actually matter. But you know what I mean? Like I could see people getting all up in arms. He's new to the gig. But I'm curious as to whether or not they're trying to explain to the public that they had nothing to do to the 50 to 45. I haven't read this yet, so I'm kind of reading it in real time. He continues, quote, I'm glad I'm not a judge because talking amongst the people at my table, they saw it a bit differently, but I think Usman clearly won the fight tonight. By the way, 3-2 is very different than 5-0, just for the sake of the integrity of the promotion and the integrity of the judging. So him winning isn't necessarily, no one's mad about Usman winning. we're mad about how you had a judge there

who was scoring at 50 to 45 and quite frankly a judge who scored at 4946 let's see another quote here he believes that he won every round with at least the first being a 10-8 in his favor brother I think that was 50 to 40 oh wait that's Usman okay okay oh I guess that's it

that's the only comment well that's the problem with the comment for me is on top of on top of what he's said like about the takedowns which we know are their own reward they are not a damaging situation like you know you need to score when you have the takedown um it just kind of says oh well the right guy won and that's just overlooking you know that's kind of our complaint as well you know that that's the issue people have here like that someone would be favored that's like you're trying to brush it under the rug and be like yeah you know

in the end we got to where we needed to get no that's that's that's a it's a It's a problem. It's a huge problem. And by the way, it wasn't great for them with the, you know, like, I just don't know how you watch that and don't give second, third, fifth. I saw Dan Hardy. I think Dan Hardy had a three, two. Yeah, in the fifth, for Paul. I think Dan had a three two for Paul, for for Usman, which is fine. Again, it's fine. But it's just, look, this, we don't have to beat around the bush. He's very, popular Usman is over in Dubai in the Middle East. Habib is a part of the team. He's very influential and popular. PFL has a deal with Dubai to put on these events there. It's better for business if he wins, if he continues to win, if he becomes the champion. We know about the deal that the UFC had with Abu Dhabi and Chabib was part of that deal.

And that's part of the reason why Dana didn't want Habib to retire. And it's part of the reason why he hinted. Remember that thing on ABC where he's like, big announcement? He hinted that he was going to come back and he didn't. why Islam saved the day by sort of taking the baton and taking the mantle from Chhabib and why, you know, they love having him fight over there. All these things and more are hard to ignore when you have a 50 to 45 like that. And then you have a referee, as you said, who's just ignoring these infractions.

It was a very good fight. I would love to see it again. I know afterwards, Usman said, you know, Alfie Davis, let's go. And Alfie was very excited about that. And he deserves to try to live out his dreams as well. Usman and Paul are the best right now that PFL has to offer. They're magic together. They gave us 10 rounds of magic.

So I'm curious to see where Paul goes from here. He has a little over a year left on his deal. And so I don't think he's going to go anywhere. And by all accounts, by the way, other than that one tweet thing where he said they were rage baiting and all that stuff, like he seems to be very proud to be a PFL fighter. He seems to fly the flag very well. In fact, they should cherish people.

like Paul Hughes, because Paul Hughes isn't a UFC castoff. He was a free agent that chose the PFL, who was coming from the regional scene, so to speak. I know Cage Warriors isn't your typical regional promotion. It's a European promotion. So it's not like, you know, ring of combat necessarily here in the United States, but he chose them. He wasn't a cast off. And so they should cherish guys like him and try to treat them well and keep them happy. And I think they have done right by him, by the way. They put him in Dublin. They put him in Belfast. They've done right by him.

I hope he's getting an explanation for this 50 to 45. Absolutely. Look, I do think I think it was, based in conversations I've had, I think it was explicitly said to these guys that if Paul doesn't win this fight, there will be no trilogy. I think the only route to a rematch

of any kind is for them to react to the outcry that's here. This is far more than me and Ariel jumping on a show on Friday. Like, go go and put Paul Hughes Usman and Mago Madov into X and see what people said. This was a pretty loud

this was an outcry basically in the aftermath of this fight and again, not about who won the fight. The way it was scored, the way it was officiated, gave people a feeling that all wasn't above board.

And that's something that PFL should be looking to try and at least have a statement, have something more than what was put out there by the right guy won. like we need we need something more than that based on the outcry that we saw online here Rick did you want to say something I was just going to say it's unfortunate that all this is marring the situation because let's say I scored that fight 48 47 for Hughes let's say that

fight was 48 47 across the board for Usman nirmagamadeov we wouldn't really be having this conversation the conversation would be pfl has two amazing fighters and Paul Hughes has proven that he is a championship caliber fighter Usman Narmagad Madov has proven he's a championship caliber fighter and those were two of the that was two of the best fights PFL's ever put on like it really comes down to that scorecard

maybe the two of them depending on on how you feel marring what could have been an incredible moment for the PFL because I know Usman has talked about like I'm going to show there's levels to this I'm going to show their separation that's not what I saw I saw two fights of two very evenly

matched guys and one of them is going to go on to be champion and they're going to say you know, this is our star. But you've got a star and Paul Hughes, too. It's two guys that are of equal caliber, and I would love to watch it again. I don't know if we'll get it anytime soon, but I would love to watch it again. And it all comes down to these kind of, you know, unjustifiable

5045. Not according to the people who replied to my tweet on Twitter, though. They didn't like it? No, they didn't. Of course. Really? You found some of the... What was I watching? Well, you know, oh my God, it was the most obvious 5045 we've ever seen. I mean, it's crazy. Any other scorecard is indefensible.

Yeah, you had to have it, 54. 45. It's a it's it's it's it's it's madness anytime you criticize like I mean for me at any time I say anything it's like oh you hate Muslim fighters you hate them you hate them so much what I even said it a million times I said three two Usman is a perfectly acceptable scorecard by the way Yusuf Salal on the program salam al ala like him like what are you talking about you guys have this self-fulfilling prophecy and you're only just exposing yourself by talking about this stuff. It has nothing to do with anything. God bless everyone. Peace on earth. Peace on earth. It has nothing to do with it. 50 to 45. If you are doing the mental gymnastics of defending the 50 to

45, then you don't know shit all about fighting. You don't know shit all about scoring. You don't know shit all about what you're watching. You're just blinded by your fandom, which is fine. Be blinded by the fandom. But you are unequivocally wrong. And I would say the smartest of the smart MMA pundits, fighters, analysts, referees, officiators, regulators, judges would agree with all of this. That was on Friday. I want to talk quickly about my experience at BKFC and you'll learn about it when we come out with our doc next week.

You guys talked glowingly about it when you went in January to Knucklemania and Philadelphia. Some quick thoughts about what I experienced on Saturday at the Prudential Center. First, I will say, you guys, and it came across on television, you guys talked about a jam-packed on-fire arena. That wasn't the case. I'm just going to be honest. There were a lot of sections that were tarped off, and that was surprising to me. But we talked about them going head to head with the UFC.

Even David Feldman, when he was here in studio, talked about saying he was a little disappointed in the ticket sales. In the end, I don't know officially what the number was. The crowd was hot. They loved it. and it's a unique crowd and it's a very like it's a very energetic it reminded me of like 2009 2010 UFC they're still a little bit rough around the edges they're growing but they're into it the crowd is into it and what struck me was every single person who works for the company

believes in it loves it is loyal everyone was so happy that we were there which was very nice but couldn't stop talking about how much they believe in the product believe in the sport believe in what they're doing, what they're building. And they've been through a lot, like coming from, you know, their early shows in Wyoming and Montana now to doing Wells Fargo Center and Prudential Center and the other big shows that they're doing all around the world. They've got a show coming up in Rome, et cetera. It is a very unique, fun product. The characters, they have to do a better job. We were talking to some of these characters, which you will see again in our doc coming out. they are so interesting they are so so interesting because they haven't had the opportunities

that some of the other fighters have had in the other sports and I don't think they do a good enough job of telling those stories I don't think they do enough I talked about it with Dave with the social media like you have to get those stories out there you have to get people emotionally invested you have to get people to learn who these people are so that's that's a very important thing obviously Perry and Jeremy Stevens we know about them because we've been watching them we're already connected to them but There are other fighters. You need to get people connected to these people.

It's imperative for them to succeed. The pacing is the real big talking point. First fight was at six. Show ended at 10. 10 fights, and there were times where they stretched because they were on DeZone, they were telling me, if it wasn't a DeZone pay-per-view, it would have probably ended in three hours.

And by the way, the first two fights, everyone was telling me, like, oh, these fights end quick. First two fights went the distance. And the distance is five, two-minute rounds. All fights are five, two-minute rounds. And the first two fights went the distance, and they still finished in a neat four-hour little package.

There's no big show that has 10 fights that is ending in four hours. The energy was great, the music, the production was very impressive. And, you know, we got to experience it all and talked to everyone from the cut men to the referees, had a great chat before and after the show with Gary Copeland, announcers. people in the back, everyone, everyone. It's a fascinating world. I highly suggest checking it out if it comes to your area because, again, short night, action-pack, very fun, and I would say the card delivered, really, not just the main event. Feldman told me afterwards it was top three greatest nights as far as action in the history of the promotion. Stevens and Perry might

not have been seen by everyone because it was in the midst of a pretty damn good UFC card, do yourself a favor and find that fight. I mean, the heart exemplified by both men. And Stevens in particular, back into the fight, it went to the fifth round, but he was hanging on in that fifth. I mean, I was there ringside. It was brutal. And I will never forget Perry just breathing

and a mix of sweat and blood just, you know how like Triple H does the thing where he drinks water and then goes, like that's what Perry was doing. And these guys are just different. it's just amazing we got to go in the back and see how parry wraps his hands there's not much wrapping but just like the the thought process behind it all that was crazy i almost back flipped onto his head but he turned it into like some sort of spinnerooney it's just he's built for this

great to see him back stevens my heart broke for him we played you the clip there's more of that to come as well it's a uh they've got something i was talking to someone about like okay if you can invest in a BKFC, a PFL, I don't know, an LFA, like the BKFC one is so different and unique, but has the elements of MMA and boxing that you love, there's something there. Now, can they find, here's a double knockdown from earlier in the night, can they make their own stars, can they be viewed as the place where people don't have their careers go to die, the last, you know, the last hurrah, so to speak? Can they get the 20-year-old stud who's going to take the promotion by storm?

It was great to see a lot of familiar faces, Jimmy Rivera, I saw. But, you know, he retired. He retired at the end of his fight. He was supposed to fight Frankie fought the late replacement. He retired. And, you know, Jeremy's getting up there. Mike's not necessarily getting up there per se, but they need, can they get that 25-year-old stud who says, I want to be a BKFC champion?

I'm sure Connor's involvement will help, no doubt. you know, he brings a big spotlight, but he can't fight for them just yet. He still has two more fights, and he seems very hell-bent on fighting in the UFC next year. So they've got something, and I enjoyed it, and it was the perfect first foray into this world for us. I'm just curious to see where they go from here. They've got some financial things that they have to figure out, and quite frankly, like, they have to, look, I'll be honest with you guys, the Frankie thing was weird because everyone that I spoke to behind the scenes maintained that Frankie was cleared. And then there was some insinuation that, you know, because the ticket sales weren't great,

he was essentially paid to go away. And I asked Connor about this. He denied it when I was sitting with him. I sat with Connor to watch some of the fights, the Jimmy fight in the main event. But after Feldman said what he said on the show, people were hitting me up saying, wasn't quite the case. Frankie hasn't said anything. So, you know, that's, the fight game and there's always going to be stuff, but they couldn't have been more accommodating. They couldn't have been more nice. And what really struck me was the pacing and the family. Like it's a skeleton crew and they all bleed this stuff. Like they love it and they believe in it and they wanted to succeed so, so badly. Connor had a press conference afterwards and I thought

in this press conference it was one of the more honest and poignant moments of his career over the past four or five years. I don't want to say like a rare human moment because he's a human being and he is who he is at this point. But it was one of the better answers that he's given us honestly in the last, I don't know, four years since the injury against Dustin Porier, which was over four years ago now. In case you missed it, here it is. This is why we must really, really, really put our maximum respect and support behind our combatants in here because to fight as well as promote is that. the real deal. To promote on its own is easy. And also, coincidentally, to fight on its own

is easy. People don't really realize that. You know, you get these fighters, they come up and no one cares about you. You're rocking under the radar. No one asks you a question. You get to show up and have fun and do your team. And there's no stress of outside world, and it's perfect. Then when you rise, you've got to add this promotional annum to it. And both of them combined is incredibly draining. And I wouldn't be the first to tell you, it almost broke me. to be honest, maybe it did break me as I went on and I achieved massive success and global out of this otherworldly superstardom.

It overcame me at times. So to promote and fight at a high level deserves support and respect. And that is what I'm here for, to ensure that that is what happens. To promote on its own, it's absolutely amazing. I put on a nice suit. I put on a nice watch.

It's what I love to do. But don't get me wrong. I missed the fight game and I'm excited about what's ahead I know Dave wants me in the bare knuckle the UFC are concocting a new contract deal or whatever's going to happen I don't know we'll see

we'll take it day by day so there you have it I thought that that was an honest and sincere moment there saying that it almost broke him and maybe it did at some point so we'll see he also posted on social media earlier today that he's done

with social media he's taking a break not that he's done forever but he's going dark and he's hunkering down. He's locking in. So let's see. Let's see if he ends up on that card. More things that I wanted to just quickly react to here

as we round third. What about these tweets from Hamsat Shemayev guys? He wants Alex Pereira. We didn't mention him when we were talking about super fights and big 2026 cards and fights on the horizon. Congrats to Alex Pereira. Now we need to finish him.

our business. I'm ready to fight you in the heavyweight division. You won't find a super fight. Then our fight, no Shama. This is smash everyone. Anyone signing up for Hamzat versus Pereira at heavyweight? No. No.

Light heavyweight? No. I take it but not over John. Yeah. Give me John. I don't hate it. I mean, it's a huge fight. Am I the tons of he defended that title? Yeah, from a name standpoint, it's massive, but I'd like to see Humzat defend the 185 belt and also

there's probably a pretty clear game plan for what Hamzat Shemaya would try to do in that fight. Yeah. Vacate, move up to later? Just vacate. Yeah. I'm out. 185. Strickland DDP 3 for the title. Pereira Humzat at heavyweight is just weird.

Like, why wouldn't they just play that 205? Because then nobody has to cut weight, I guess. Right. You know? All right, so we just got the lad back in the spot we want them. We got Powhatan as champion. What we do, send a fucking wrestler in against him for now. reason in a different way.

We also got Homs out as a champion. Like, we finally got Homs out as a champion, and we're going to send him up to 205. That John goes off with this shit. No. That John Jones guy knows how to wrestle too, though. You know, don't forget. He's pretty good at the wrestling.

Yeah, it's a different type of thing. It's a different type of thing. I mean, yeah, look, I don't think, I mean, I think Jones would be the favorite in that fight, right? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. No, I'm, I'm signing up for Jones. Jones is the number one option. Yeah.

For sure. Alex was dancing when he got to the arena. He was dancing when he left the arena as well. He was dancing on the Brazilian broadcast in the locker room with Plinyo and Glover. Yeah, there are the boys. Yeah, look at these guys. I mean, who's better than these guys? Incredible.

Yeah, he was also dancing on the Brazilian broadcast when he walked away. he walked out of the cage and he was dancing with them. It was really, I mean, he was feeling himself. He was feeling good. A great moment between Corey Sanhagen, Marab Duolishvili, after their fight. How can you not love those two? Here it is in case you missed it. Hey, it was an honor to fight.

I see you next time. I'm going to get you next time. Hey, you're an animal. End of the three loud. You cut it. I know, I know. You got to get him the second. You almost finished me.

I know. I take you, man. It's good. Man, I feel for Corey. I know how much you wanted that. But nice to see that respect there. Going back to Pereira, nice to see the corner react the way in which they did. You can see how much it meant to them.

Here's Glover and the guys reacting to the finish. Look at this. Yes, go, go. Big hug there. Yes. This kind of reminded me, you know what this reminded me of? This reminded me of GC reaction. acting to prayers when?

No, please. Do we have that clip? Jesus. Oh, here it is. Right. Oh, oh, Uncle Lion's already shooting. Uncle Alive's already shooting. Pereira on top of him. Pereira laid a big shots. Pereira laid in huge shots.

A minute into the round. Poetan on top. Oh, Uncle Yves covering up. Oh, he's laying in big shots. Elbows. That's it. Oh, he's laying in big elbows. He's done.

Oh, man. He's done. He's covering up. That's it. And new, and new, Alex Pereira, what the fuck did you just say? He's back. God damn. What the fuck did you just say?

Man. Yeah, Uncle Isaiah's a lock. I can't wait to show that to Pereira. Oh, baby. He's going to love it. His reaction will be worse than three. Oh, my Lord. You're not going to understand anything I'm saying?

A minute 25. A minute 25, Pereira's back. When Tom Astrole and knocks out Serogne in the first. round i'll be like all right tom yeah yeah thanks for joining us uh here's hawani and uh ptsie yeah yeah yeah yeah rick won't even watch it rick knows what's happening he's just gonna be like nope tom cyril no time no just fuck this fight i know i know i know you want it to be good but it's not good it's gonna be it's gonna be it's gonna be it's gonna be great generational fight glover back at the gym today teaching the lads in connecticut the finish look at this

overhand right elbows overhand right elbows what is he hung over I mean this feels feels like fundamentals oh gosh okay take this off

I didn't realize that there was actual footage here I just thought it was guys at the gym but there you have it overhand right elbows love it back at the gym in Connecticut maybe Chuck was there

Pereira feeling himself on Instagram guys posting a couple of stories. One directed at the team behind Magumet-on-Kalive and perhaps his manager, when the businessman has never been an athlete and wants to promote for fame and money, but the one who's inside risking his life

is you and he's outside laughing. Damn. Top left, there's an arrow pointing at Magomed's manager. And then another tweet here of of him, I guess, handing over a tire because there was something about going back or not going back to the tire shop and also something about the Shama being dead

and them screaming shot. I mean, it got, you know, it got pretty personal. It got pretty heated between them. I did see this guys. Did you ever see this video of Pereira signing his UFC contract? I'm sure I saw it, but I forgot about it. And you know what blew me away? His English is, is this AI?

Or is this really him speaking this good English? I don't even know if that's good English. Listen to this. There's no audio. No audio? How's there no audio? He's literally speaking, it's incredible. Well, this doesn't help my...

He says, hello, guys. I'm coming to the UFC. What's happening here? Oh, my gosh. He has someone saying it into them AirPods as he's saying. He just memorized like one sense. No, his English. is phenomenal.

I know. I've seen the video several times. He just memorized one sentence. Okay, but why can we get more of that? Well, you want to memorize everything for an interview now? I want less of it.

I want this, can we go back to just being frozen in time all the time? Okay. There's something about that. People are so connected to a guy that hardly speaks any. Hey, we were all over again. It's him and Charles, too.

That's true. Different. What do you mean all over again? You know, we talked about it on the show. I was on the side of, like, Pereira's talking to him, what she's doing these, like, talking to his camera, you were like Marab and his sunglasses, what's going on here? Completely wrong. Well, not that we were picking them, but we were picking it. I was picking against both.

I was thinking, you know, the hair was looking nice and tight. The beard was looking nice. I was like, is Marab feeling himself here? What's going on? There were some body language experts in the chat on Saturday night saying, Alex looked nervous making his walk out against Magamad. Really? That was me. Did you feel that way?

no no no i don't as i saw him as soon as i saw him i was like oh fuck he like is he the the moment he took his first two steps i was like oh fuck malcolm no no holy shit he closed the distance he was like uh what was he like a lion pouncing on a gazelle um dustin porier trying to drum up some interest in a comeback fight against uh nathan diaz who says this is happening anyone anyone zufa boxing 12 rounds me and nathaniel i do it one more fight i take about this already? Not with me. Maybe the day that's in it.

Maybe a Spelling B competition versus Nathaniel would be the hardest fight of both our careers. You know what? Now that I read that, we did talk about it. We 1,000% talked about this. It was on the list. I'm trying to get through the list. I'm sorry.

Oh, the list, man. What? Breaking the fourth wall too much there. Well, there's a list of things that I have to get to. You think I'm remembering all these things? Yeah, that's what we wanted the people to believe. Okay, one thing I didn't talk about was November 22nd. Qatar.

Dan Hooker versus Armant-sur-Ruqi. I know you guys spoke about it. it. Chill out, chill out. Ian Mashado Gary versus Belal Muhammad. Dana White's saying at the post-fight press coverage, rare time that he confirms the winner of that fight is getting a tell shot. Now, do you think those stakes are the same for Armin and Hooker?

No. I mean, maybe, but I don't think it's like locked in stone that way. I don't think it's locked in stone for anybody. I don't put stock into whatever is said before the fight happens and you know, when the next fight is not ready to be booked. There is no

certainty with the UFC at this point. stuff. Well, the good news is we can ask Armin this question tomorrow because he's going to be joining us on the show, the great Armin Sarukyan, I believe it's pronounced. That's what I'm told. Oh, we do. Okay, we go back to the Alex Pereira video. Here he is, speaking English, perfectly. Look at it. Listen, listen, listen, listen. Hello, guys. Now it's official. You have C, thank you. I'm so happy to be part of the family.

Come on. Shama, look ahead. Daniel and struggle. Now, official. W.C., much thank you. He struggled more with the Portuguese. I'm very pleased for making part of this family. Chama.

You wanted to say Shama at the end, right? It just seems so natural. Shama wouldn't born you. I know you're obsessed with the English part of that, but I'm... Is it AI? No. No, it's not AI. But I'm obsessed.

He said, say this one singular sentence. This is good. UFC, thanks for having me. The part that blows my mind is the date. How was Alex Ferrer been in the UFC this short and just... Less than four years. Blitz through. It's on row.

The career run this way. I remember that Andreas Megalides fight like it was yesterday. He got controlled like the entire first round and then need him into the first row at the beginning of the second round. Four years later, multiple titles, multiple weight classes talking about fighting John Jones. I think he's had like, what, 11 or 12 UFC fights? Like 10 of them have been on pay-per-view. He's headlined like eight of them, MSG twice, UFC 300, multiple divisions. It's the resume for the run he's on is insane.

Unbelievable. I mean, it really is. That's four years ago last month. That's not that long ago. No. He didn't make his debut until November of 2021. That's right. So he's done all this in less than four years.

Unbelievable. Imagine like another kickboxer coming to him and be like, I'm thinking about making the transition to MMA, the UFC are interested. Like, is it hard? He's like, no, it's actually really fucking... Well, he tried. He tried to help Artem Bakitov get there. And then it all went to shit, but he tried.

Yeah. That's true. It's a piece of piss, mate. I've won two belts. Yeah, yeah. They just give you belts and title shots. It's great. They're all really shit.

I don't know how else to say this to here. Big news from the world of boxing. One of the hottest free agents has found a home. Ben Whitaker, who we think very highly of around these parts, has left boxer and has signed. with matrim. That's right. Eddie Hearn gets his guy. Eddie actually revealed on the show a few weeks ago that he thought he had a deal with Ben Whitaker and at the 11th hour, Whitaker went the route of boxer slash Sky Sports. He got him.

They posted a fun little video to announce it all. Let's watch it together. Eddie, the thing is, I don't think no one's looking out for Ben. Just, Ben, Ben, just tell me, what can I do for you? Let me tell you, this is what you're going to do for me. Are we getting a doc because of the music here? It's a very important thing. What? I mean, we can end it.

Hey, hear that Eddie! Okay, turn it. Take it off, take it off. Take it off. I don't want to get that. I didn't realize those music. Did anyone not watch this beforehand? Or is it, I just saw that there was a video. But I sort of count on people watching.

That seemed like generic music. I mean, I don't want to get the email tomorrow, and then I have to send it to you, and then you have to clip it out. It's too late. Eddie's legal team will be reaching. out moment. It was a good moment. Show me the money. Show me the money. What movies are from, area? What is it from

Fast and Furious? Yeah, yeah. Moneyball. Yeah, many. Harry McGuire. Sleepless in Seattle. No, no, the natural. Look at Jerry McGuire. Yeah. Who is Jerry McGuire, bro? Is it diehard? Tom Cruise. Diehard. Biggest news of the weekend, though.

BKFC was great. PFL was great. U.S. was great. Ben Whitaker is great. All this stuff is great. Everything's great. Blue J's up too. Oh, great, great, great, great, great. Biggest news of the weekend. like a phoenix rising from the ashes to protect your neck oh shit sir

yes yes what a fucking chewing man to the athletes fans and partners thank you for your patience and support we've been hard at work and look forward to sharing

what's next. Stay tuned. More to come on our plans for 2026. Hashtag together we fight. Together. Who was into this together if you don't want to? Ooh. We did them dirty.

GFL got a hold of Pizzi's internet. Fee TIFL tanked them. Pizzi, the internet's gone bro. GFL got a hold of your internet. Well, tell you what, it makes a good change because they can't get a whole lot of any fucking fighters, I'll tell you that way.

Wow. I'm surprised they didn't use a hashtag protect your neck in there. Yeah, seriously. It's way better than to get the best part of the whole promotion is that fucking tuned. They need to do way more with it. I can't believe they haven't given up. By the way, do you think a fighter, could you imagine if a UFC fighter

walked out to that, like just as a gag? Do you think the UFC... The only one who would have done it in history would have been Tom Lawler and unfortunately... It might be the most profitable thing for GFL if someone did do that. I could sue them. fighter could get it past them. Like, I feel like they could submit it

and no one would realize where it's from. How much of the arena would know? We would know, and it would be awesome. Jedi would clip it. We would all be excited. But this time for her title fight, she has to walk out. Oh, my God. Can you imagine?

It almost, it feels full circle. Verna Jean-Joruba, if you're listening, if you walk out. Get Petroski another shot. You know what? He missed out last time. This could be his one. This is next fight.

I think he just fought. He just fought. He just fought. Oh, yeah, he did. He lost. He didn't go. if you walk out to protect your neck on October 25th prior to your tight of fight against

McKinsey Duren what could we offer her A second photo A second photo A second photo I mean I have this How could you turn that down? It's right next to me I have the picture right over there There she is

I do feel like I need to point out that the name of the track Is actually six sides of the cage Perfect No I mean it does work Yeah See you in the hexagon Frank, I understand that we have many a super chat.

We do have a one or two. Okay. The first one off of the rip here is, What's up, crew? Happy birthday, Andy. Yeah. Frank, care to share the drunk homecoming story you told on Boys in the Back last week live in front of thousands.

We'd love to hear Ariel's take on it. No, I do not. Moving on to number two. Okay. Did you hear the story, Ariel? Sure. No, I did. I'll be honest.

it was Jump tupur. It was Yom Kippur. I didn't have, you know, BOD. Yeah, no, it was a crazy time. I checked in a little bit. I'll usually see if everything went well. And, you know, I was talking to God on Thursday. I don't know if you guys know this.

But I really did a good job of trying to disconnect. You found your glasses. What was that, God? Ronda's coming back? Yeah. Wait. It's a good excuse for you have it, you know. It's talking to God, mate.

All right. I just had my ear to the Lord in Ghana back to the U.S. What's up, gee? Tell us. Oh, are you not actually? No, no, you have to tell the story, Frank. Come on. Okay, briefly, I was in high school.

I did not have a curfew. My parents' rule was call when you're on your way home. Let us know when you've made it home. They're already dead asleep. It's in the middle of the night. I stumble in to my parents' room. I tell them good night. I wake up the next day around lunchtime.

My mom is like, what were you doing last night? Were you kind of drunk? I was like, no, mom, completely sober. And she's like, can you explain? to me then why you came into my room grabbed my legs and kissed my ass a night and I was like it was dark in there. It was 6.30 in the

morning. I just watched you come in here, stumble, do this. We need to talk. And the whole genesis of telling this story is somebody called in letting us know that they had fucked up and I was like, you know, we've all fucked up. For instance here's my fucked up story. Okay, that's not so bad.

Kissing your mom on the ass part. Did you switch off for that? No, but I thought it was going to be worse. I don't know. We were zoning out. Someone slack you? Did you see an interesting tweet or something? No, I thought it was going to be worse. Kissing your mom's ass.

This is your mother. You literally came out of your mom's. You know, like, yeah, when you're in a infant, when you're a newborn, not when you're 19. Not only did he tell the story. He voluntarily told it again. He never should have told it the first time. I can't believe he just told it a second to an even broader audience.

It wasn't so bad. It wasn't even so bad. I've told the story for 20 fucking ears. No, you got that freak in. Ariel's a mom's ass truth, or is he started. Ariel was definitely zoned out. Ariel definitely got stuck there. He didn't know what he said.

He started to that. And then was like, what's not so bad? What he said? Let me make this real quick. I said, he went to like, all around us are familiar. If we could just get a zoom on your face for that one and it was just protect your neck. And you're just sitting there smiling. And he was just like, all right, nice, nice.

He goes, that's not so bad. He kissed his mom, ass, arse. Can I tell you what I was thinking? I was like, oh, I can't understand you. I got like three minutes to kind of relax. Frank, he's going to tell some story. Oh, yeah. Oh, he's told the story.

The story was in response to me, like, getting caught underage drinking in college. And Frank's like, I got a story. I made out with my mom's ass one night I was so... I think you guys were adding a lot more details to this. Enough to where your mom had to tell you the next morning. She was like, so you were drinking last night? He's like, what happened?

Did I kiss your ass again? She's like, yeah. They weren't so indistinguishable from each other, you know? Anyway. Good stuff. Thank you for that, Frank. What else? What else, Frankie?

Ock had a total in cage title defense time of 80 seconds. Is that the shortest title range? in terms of amount of time defending in Cage and UFC history. That's a great question. I mean, there's people who never defended so we have to count that, right? Yeah, no, I mean, yeah,

I was thinking like actual fight in the first title defense. That's a great question. I feel like they're... I mean, title fights rarely end that quickly. When Anthony Pettis beat Benson Henderson, No, Benson had beaten

Gilbert Melendez. Yeah, I have to think about that. What else, Frankie? What else? Hey, Ariel? If not the quick... How about the Patriots? Yes, Galvis. Elvis. Elvis Gomez.

That was a very, very, very frustrating game to watch. You said a trap game all week. Did I not? Did I not? Yeah, I did. I did. I was nervous about it. First of all, I have great respect for the Patriots. The Patriots are, are the spurs of the NFL. They're not going to be bad for a very long time. They're always, yes, I know the last couple of years have not been great, but good organization. They draft well. They're smart. They're well coach. Frable's a great coach. That was a huge signing for them,

hiring for them. Drake May is really good. Drake May reminded me of Josh Allen last night. And I would say that that was one of the, I don't want to say worst Josh Allen performances that we've seen over the last couple of years, but it was definitely up there, and I think in large part, due to the Patriots defense. He made mistakes that he never makes anymore. Interceptions, getting sacked. Not all of those are his fault necessarily, but just didn't seem like him. Scoring three points in the first half, at home, absurd. I never want to see those jerseys again. I'm not a big fan of like the alternate third jersey, the kith, the this, that, like, just give it to me simple. Give me the blue jerseys at home. Give me the white jerseys on the road. Simple.

Simple, simple, simple. That's what I prefer. Give me the red helmets, and I'm a happy man. I know it's white helmets these days, but I like the old school red helmets. I just, I always kind of felt like they were going to get it together, and they didn't. They've been very lucky this season. I have said, I have felt like they were playing with fire. They obviously almost lost to the Ravens.

They got a lucky bounce, so to speak, against the dolphins with the roughing the kicker. They got a lucky bounce, so to speak, against the saints. They kicked the shit out of the jets, no doubt. about it, but it felt like they were playing with fire. Maybe this will help them out. Maybe this will bring them back down to earth. It will expose some weaknesses. The biggest thing for me was Stefan Diggs played out of his mind. Bessie's played since leaving Buffalo. He was very annoying. I was very annoyed to see him acting the way he did, but he had every right to. And what it exemplified was that they are missing that superstar wide receiver. They don't have that guy

who when you need 10 yards, 11 yards, 13 yards, a big catch, a big moment, they don't have that guy. Kincaid, Knox are great. Keon, great. Shakir, great. But they don't have that A-plus superstar. They don't have that guy. And it's worrisome.

So, you know what's just what the doctor ordered for the Buffalo Bills? What's that? The Falcons of Atlanta. There we go. Before we move on from that, they got to go on to Mercedes-Benz. on a Monday night hostile I'm so tired of these nationally televised games

can we just have a 1 p.m. Sunday game can we talk about Fred Jackson before the game though he was great that was incredible boost bump stuff with everyone involved that was like going to a college game but they do that with a legend every game they just happened to show it like he felt like he understood the assignment perfectly

and he really got those fans going too bad at the he was fantastic no I just I'm so annoyed that they lost to the Patriots at home They had an amazing home winning streak. What a shame. Could have been the only undefeated team left in the league. And they had their chances. They had their chances.

But Josh just seemed a little bit off. I'm blaming the jerseys and nothing else. I'd just say those jerseys was pretty sick. According to 24-inch dubs, he told you that this was a lot. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, this dude, get out of here with this guy, the Celtics. Yeah, how to go in May with your Celtics? On 24-inch dubs.

How to go? Oh, shit. How to go. Annoying. Don't worry. Circle back to that. To the last question for a second, I don't know if this is the shortest, but after Jessica Andrage won the title, she lost to Zhang Wei Li in 42 seconds. Wow.

That one was shorter. Wow. I don't know if there's shorter than that. There might be. Good one. It was pretty short. What else, Frankie? What else?

Someone better have brought a Thresletches for Andy. I believe it's trestleches. No. There's no H there. I believe we did better. I believe on-air Jordan bake some cookies, which I have knocked. tried, yes. You have to. They're so good. There was some cake, there was some

other cook. I mean, there was a lot of love. There was a lot of love. I mean, who am I to say? Was there a lot of love? Yes. I'm feeling the love today. Gelato cake? Yeah, pretty good. Jolato cake. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We saved you a slice PT. Thanks, man. I've got it now in a minute.

What else, Frankie? What else? McDavid taking a pay cut to stay with the Oilers. Damn. Did that happen? Did that happen? Did you get the extension? Yeah, 12 and a half on average, a year. And max you can get is like 19. Man, what a guy.

Number 97, Captain Canada. Going to win a gold medal probably in February and then Stanley Cup and June. June, maybe. Still good thing. What else, Frankie? The people want to know how to access Uncrowned. And great show, guys. How to access Uncrown.

Does he mean Uncrown.com? I think so. Just go to Uncrown.com. Don't we think it's about the, doc the doc okay okay okay so the working uh yeah you know what you're probably right the working uh plan as of now is that it is going to come out october the 15th which is in nine days from now and uh i can't wait i'm very very excited i hope you guys are as well this is the first of many we have a second clip should we show that one or should we save it

rick let's save it by the way i asked rick earlier today if i should show any he said no i've shown Jeremy, do we show the other one or no? We got to wait. Why do you ask when... I just like to take the temperature. No, you don't. No, you don't. I like the temperature requires actually looking at the thermometer and going, this is the temperature.

I ask. When you take the temperature, you stick the thermometer in there and then you just say, fuck it. Whatever the temperature I decided it is. That's the temperature. Is this how you decide dinner with... Yeah. Yeah, okay. Anyway, does that mean I shouldn't... Yeah, Roland, who cares?

Let's do it. Yeah? Are we going to do it? My vote is also against it, like Rick, you know. Save it for the... Save it? Okay, we're going to save it. But October 15th, which is next Wednesday, we're going to come out with it.

And I'm very excited. I'm very excited. What else, Frankie? What else? Sammy asks, Alex moves up Carlos versus Uri. Yeah. Yes. Easy, unequivocally.

What else, Frankie? It's turning into WWE Crown Jewel 2018. I think this was in reference to when we were talking about the super fights or the big plans for 2026 and some of the older guys coming back and all that stuff. And yeah, sure. I don't get the reference, though. Was that way? When they first started their deal with Saudi, they brought back, you know, The Undertaker. Oh, it was like super stacked.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. With a lot of the older stars. What else, Frankie? Pizzi versus Giuliana needs to be settled. hear me out BJJ match Petey is trained enough and doesn't deserve

this disrespect what do you boys think I don't want to get fucked up with you yeah yeah yeah I don't understand why it's always this guy is obsessed

with this feud I don't think it's that Petezy trained for a while yeah but I think you retired I think the game passed me boy honestly I try and drop for a toehold

on Giuliana she just gave me fucking hear me out though Terrence Crawford versus Pizzie and MMA because I heard Terrence Crawford is trained That's a scientific thing.

That's more like, yeah. I have to say, the weakest part of my whole grappling game was a takedown defense. So, Terrence, you're for a chance, buddy. You're going to fuck me. What else, Frankie? Uncrowned Films is born. Alex's champ. GFL is back at PFL is fixing their champion soup.

We're entering a new renaissance in the world of combat. Yes, sir. I'd like to think so. But, you know, we have to do the work. We can't just be here patting ourselves on the back. You know, we've got to do the work. So we're very excited. Or at least I have.

Rejuvenated, dare I say. So many plans. Can't wait. What else, Frank? This one's a two for, hi, Ariel. I have two questions. How could, how did Connor McGregor seem on Saturday? And second, did you or anyone on the crew read my book, Mercy and Motion from earlier this year?

If so, what did y'all think, big fan of the show? Number one, he seemed lost. He seemed very happy to be there. Some familiar faces were with him as well. More on that to come. Very invested. Very invested in the fights, like super locked in in the matchups, knew everything about what was going on.

So, you know, fair play. And I think Frank read Mercy in Motion, right? I cannot read. Oh, okay. So I have not read it. I need someone to read it to me. Someone said they read it, no? Or am I wrong?

I don't recall. You lied. Okay. That's nice. but I heard good things I don't remember who said it but I heard good things good

what else Frankie what else Joe fueling exercises his ability to identify this as a super chat shout out appreciate it Joe I held it what else

chat Whitman now that Alex wants to move up and calling out Jones do you think I literally get scared when I start to jumble these up Do you think Jones actually wants to fight Alex or just fuck thinking it would never happen?

We'll find out. I mean, he has said repeatedly he wanted to fight Alex before the Miachichich fight, after the Mietchich fight. He's kind of quieted that a little bit, but a lot has changed in his life. So let's see. But there's definite footage out there of him saying he wanted to fight Alex. So I just hope the UFC doesn't stand in the way. Dana said, you know, there's fights for him at 2.05 Alex.

Like, yeah, I mean, there's Alberg. Great, yes. I would love to see the Alberg fight, but other than that, not as many. By the way, what about the fact that we all thought that Yeri was crying because Alex beat Unk? But it was really just that he was going to get a third crack at him. It's mixed emotions there, man. I think what he was trying to express, unless I misread it, was him saying, like, now that Alex won, this is do or die, right? the stakes have been ratcheted up to a level of

I must beat Alex Pereira this time because it's not going to happen if I don't which is kind of wild to think about but yeah I respect it you're he's a dope dude I mean GC you know yeah he's converted over to Oberg

I mean he can cry after a fight yeah yeah express some support what else Frankie what else will you get John Martin on how about Strickland I have asked if John Martin would like to come on

I do think he lives in New York but so far I was told no Ken Duesville and I don't know I wasn't really given a reason just yet and Strickland is

one that I would like to have on the program let's see, let's see kind of crazy to the two guests requests John Martin on Strickland is fucking crazy what else what else?

Now that Arena Guadalajara's finished and open, do you think the UFC would consider hosting the next Nocha UFC there? I would fly from Washington State. Nocha U.S. Yeah, they were supposed to do that show there. It was this one, right? The September one? I would have to think when they pulled the plug on it, they said, you know, we're going to go back. Now, we all do remember, I was reminded of this clip very recently. Do you remember when Dana said that their first show won,

the world opened back up would be at Tachi Palace in Lamar, California. I'm wondering what happened to that. Because he went on and on about how Tachi Palace and the people over there were so good to them, and they were going to be Fight Island in the early, early, early days of the pandemic. And he said, our first show back is going to be there with fans. It's going to be there. I'm going to reward them.

We appreciate their loyalty. They were amazing. First show back was in Jacksonville with fans. and then well they haven't been jumping off that building that chook always talks that's right chuck loves that story about ufc 100 manly bay uh so let's see let's see what else frank what else alec in the slice ariel i saw you met crazy kev over the weekend oh yes i saw crazy kev yes uh i saw i saw a lot of people at the event uh crazy kev came up to me he was wearing these funky glasses and he said you know i am and initially i said no

Sorry, that was his greeting? Do you know who I am? I'm paraphrase. It's me. It's crazy Kev. You know, it was like, those white and words. That's tough. And then we took, yeah, we took a photo.

He said that he heard us talking about him on the program. And yeah, it was, it was a. I feel like he heard us talking about him on the program and kind of maybe something got miswired there. Listen. The, you know who I am greeting is, is not the move when you're crazy. Exactly. but it was like you know who I am

you really give them a bad red I'm just I am I'm crazy you know who I am Meanwhile the real interaction was like Mr. Hawani sir They're trying to spin this into something else Come on bro he said hey

That's how I introduced myself to Shane Gillis too It's like it's me It's me here I am you know me The name's Kev Crazy crazy Thanks Frank appreciate it man You can just eat punchline No worries dude

Fuck your punchline. Dramatic. Couldn't give me a second to pause. What else, Frank? Here's a punchline. Any chance Charles retires at UFC Brazil event? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I asked him this question.

He said nowhere near retirement. So I don't think so. What else? Favorite Stern era, Jackie or Artie years. Oh, Arty. 100%. Not even a question. Loved Artie.

Did you like Artie? Yes. I'm a huge Ardy guy. Yeah. Loved Artie. Arty was the best era, in my opinion. Dirty work, favorite movie. Oh, yeah.

Tremendous. Love, love, Artie. I was a huge Artie fan. What else, Rick? And the last super chat of the day, Hey, have you ever tried to say Yuri's name in the right way? Because it's actually Yuri. Well, an R.

Or is it just impossible? I don't understand. Also, from what it's worth, GC, I enjoyed you tasting the Czech food, even though Parogi are Slaving. Well, it was a Czechoslovakian restaurant. Wait, but it's now the Czech Republic and

Slovakia, two separate. Yeah, it's been there a while Okay. Check and Singapore. I'm not trying to get into any political. Look, man, I got some love on that video. Top comment was like, as a Czech, this guy eats goulash correctly. Hell yeah. Yeah, man, I know. There was a comment from Yuri Prohasker. He said, look at this guy

eating food. Look at this guy eating Slovak fake ass. All right. What else, Frankie? I said that was a lot. No, I know, I know. I just like telling you that because we had so many. Are we attempted the Yeri pronunciation, no?

Yeah, I don't know what that is. I think it's not meant to destroy it up how you say. I think he thought like we'd understand instantaneously, like the symbols and the pronunciation. It's not clear. I appreciate them capitalizing the R because. He asked if it's impossible. Yeah, I'm not sure how to pronounce that R. You got to do it.

Also, he sent it in 200 check corrupt. Bonas, I think. Oh, yeah. $9. Shut up. Frank, no need to belittle, man. Yeah. I mean, $9.

Uh, Czech Karuna. Love it. I'd love to go to Prague one day. I've actually been before. Oh, you have. Look at you. World traveler. Nice?

No. Really? Check's a dump. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, it's fantastic. It's fantastic. Oh, my God. You went for being the beloved son of the Czech Republic.

Someone's going to cook this out. I'm just kidding. I actually do. Prague is one of the, My favorite Europeans. Their gas stations look fantastic. Yeah, he's probably outside of Prague at that point. A lot of history.

A lot of history in old Prague. Had a Petter Czech jersey. Oh, yes. I bought when I was there. Of course. Authentic. The great Chelsea keeper. The Euros were going on while I was there.

It was great. Watched in a big town square. Oh, yeah. Good time. Oh, yeah. Peter Nedvet. Mm-hmm. Pavel.

Pavel Nedved? Well, there's a Peter Nedvet who was a hockey player, PT. so there's multiple ned vets he hasn't got shit he caught in lace Pavel Nedbeds fucking boots of course

who can forget the great Jaramier Jagger guys some breaking news before we go PFL and anti-doping program

Usada have split so USADA seems to be out of the MMA game MMA junkies Nolan King reporting that the partnership between the fight promotion and drug testing program

is over after several fighters and their teams were notified of their removal from the pool quote we can confirm the parties have agreed to end the partnership and we wish PFL, most importantly, PFL athletes the best going forward.

Usada said, two MMA junkie in a written statement, we were honored to serve the athletes with a robust gold standard program implemented in the unique tournament-style format of the PFL. PFL has replaced Usada with another anti-doping partner. However, the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation headed by former ABC President Mike Missoulli will serve as the Promotion's anti-doping regulator. Missouri previously headed Bellator's anti-doping efforts. during its time under Viacom and overseas PFL international events.

All right. So there you have it. Some change in the anti-doping side of things. All right. We are done tomorrow on the program. Peter Yan going to join us. Wow. In sync that week.

G.C.'s second or third favorite, maybe first now, favorite fighter. Joey Pife going to join us. Sergio Pettus going to join us coming up the big spinning backfist knockout, Armand Saruki going to join us, maybe one more as well another stack day, big show coming up on Wednesday as well

and away we go, away we go much to be excited about in this new era and when I say new era I don't mean the brand new era which I love I love new era I mean the Alex Pereira light heavyweight era Alex Pereira

Light heavyweight era Oh yeah got it got it What do we think On Air Jordan Game 3 coming up tomorrow How are you feeling about the Yanks I think we'll get this one tomorrow night And then you know

We'll see where we go in game four Not been fun Did you happen to see the Vlad Guerrero Jr. Grand Salami Actually I went to the bathroom I came back to I said Did this guy just really hit him Grand Slam? Looked it up

He did He really did. Yeah, he really did. Well, I wanted to thank the guys. They got me this. In the meantime, Ariel is going to get a jersey or a poster. We appreciate you audio listeners. This thing is great. This machine. This poster.

I love this. Oh, this is fantastic. Thank you very much. You're welcome, man. Yeah, I really appreciate that. Can't wait for it to be at a bottom of a bin in the basement. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. I don't know what to say about that.

Thank you to your Pachaska, Yusuf Zalov, Veronica Hardy. John Wood, thanks to you, thanks to that. Happy birthday, they're back on Tuesday, peace, I'm out of here. Peace. I'm out of here. I'm haunted by a mountainous silhouette lurking under my skin constricting my reason it's been in the place