The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 320 weigh-in reaction, Conor McGregor's White House plans, Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Paul Hughes 2, more | The Craic

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

The Craic is back! On an old school episode of The Craic, Petesy Carroll is joined by Brazilian powerhouse journalist Guilherme Cruz. Together, they react to the UFC 320 weigh-ins and talk Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev (00:49).Shifting from Brazilian MMA to Irish MMA, Petesy Carroll brings in Ireland’s top MMA journalists, Donagh Corby and Andy Stevenson, to cover the latest Irish combat sports news, starting with a breakdown of the UFC welterweight clash between Ian Machado Garry and Belal Muhammad (27:57).From one Irish MMA star to the next, the guys move on to Conor McGregor’s latest headline-grabbing interview, reacting to his claim that his fight is signed for the White House card (37:58).To close the show, the trio looks ahead to tonight’s PFL superfight: Paul Hughes vs. Usman Nurmagomedov (54:13). 

Crackheads, welcome back. We have a storm hit in Dublin right now, but I'm still here talking to you guys on a monstrous week of MMA. I mean, what a weekend it is. As we are talking to you, it's all swirling around. us here. The UFC 320 way-ins are happening in Las Vegas. There is an event happening in Dubai, PFL, biggest fight of the year, Usman v. Hughes, too. BKFC, tomorrow night in Newark. I mean, my God, you wouldn't be able to catch your breath with all the combat sports that's coming your way this weekend. That said, there is a graphic on this show. It says, UFC 320 reaction

show. So let us do that right now. Let's react to the way-ins because we have ourselves two championship ship outs, ladies and gentlemen. Big Anck is on weight. Look at this guy. Stoic. He's gone for full beard, no tash once again, which I think is very impressive and very brave. Here is Poetan, Alex Pereira. A little bit of hair there. He is obviously going to shave that off tonight because that was the deal he made with his fans. Hopefully he will follow through on that. And we've also got, I believe, Mr. Corey Sandhagen, who's also on weight, the challenger to Murab's crown. and we also have Marab, who had himself a bit of difficulty on the scales and needed the old here it is here. Oh my God, you know, this is how I feel getting on the weighing scales every morning

when I'm weighing in just to see how I feel about life. I get on first and I go, nope, that's wrong. I'm going to take half my body weight off this and we will try again. Oh, great. I'm still 150 pounds. That's magnificent. Obviously, can't really do that when you're weighing in for a UFC event. Marab has to hit 135 and the man is looking's felt let's be honest however you can see the longer they stay up there the facial expression changes

like oh my God where aren't they letting me off this thing am I going to have to get the hoop of shame out to make weight well guess what ladies and gentlemen that is unfortunately for Marab exactly what happened

here it comes one of the celebrities of the UFC way in the hoop of shame will come out to not expose his nether regions to the watching world and not quite there yet we will get there with the hoop believe me but uh all everything is all intact so far with the uh with the card uh we have not lost any fights although daniel santos and ju sang u have come in very

overweight they now have a catch rate of 152.5 because it was meant be a featherway fight don't really know what happened there i might have a man who could explain that to me a bit later on actually um because obviously chuk you know he signed this book deal he's like oh do i do a show on Fridays now? Oh, I don't really care. Ben's like a celebrity now since I made him a celebrity on the crack. Apparently what happened was there's just a massive amount of people outside his house in Missoula trying to get him to sign things. He can't leave. It's a very bad situation that I've put him in. However, they're not the only two great journalists I know. I happen to know the best goddamn journalist in the history of Brazil, a man I worked with at

MMA fighting, a man who's still there at MMA fighting, the best Brazilian combat sports journalist of all time. It is Guillermo Cruz and he's wearing the Botafogo jersey. Look at this, ladies and gentlemen. Guillermo, how are you, sir? I'm speechless. I'm in shock in this intro was just magnificent. This Oscar worthy, you're doing the play-by-play of a way of Wayne's replay is just amazing and just chucks and to know that I'm here

replacing Ben and Chuck I mean it's it makes it even better to know that they're missing this and I'm here to witness the greatness of Pitsy Carroll it's a pleasure to be here again man Matt I mean this is the kind of thing

I want them to say like they never say this they just let me heap the compliments on them and then they'll sit back like ah here's Pity Calamee should be a regular Look at these compliments. Guillermo, we have a lot to talk about. Man, Brazilian MMA has been in the headlines quite a bit over the last week, as you know, because you've been covering it all.

I am not just talking about UFC 320. I'm talking about Vandalay Silva. I'm talking about UFC Rio. We should start with the main man, though, Mr. Poetan. And I want to know how switched on is Brazil to this fight? Because you were telling me last time we spoke, it must have been over six months ago, you're saying, this guy really, really popular, obviously the

global TV deal isn't quite there and he has since lost the title though like this since the last time we were speaking. What has that done for Powhatan's popularity back home? It has taken a little, a small hit because of course losing doesn't help

but he's still a massive star. He's still number one or number two in Brazil today like jockeing with Chávez Rivera. who has the lead in terms of popularity but Poitaine is a massive star here

and I mean it's not the first time he's lost he has lost to Addison in the rematch and he has got bigger and bigger in terms of style power since then so he's a type of fighter that doesn't it doesn't change that much if he's winning or not people love his charisma

people love the way he acts the way he talks or for the most part doesn't talk. So he's one of those guys. He has that it factor in Brazil, in the U.S., in Europe, and wherever you go, people seem to love him. And I don't think he has suffered that much losing the belt. And that's the reason why he's seen he's running it back.

And Kalaya is not the most popular of the champions. You can make the case that he could be one of the top 10 most ignored champions of all time because people don't I mean and and he's in that position even though he beat a popular fighter like Pereira. Imagine if he got became champion after that boring fight against Barovits it would be even worse but now he beat

a popular fighter in Pereira in a good fight for him like it was a good performance for him but it still no one seems to care that much so That's why Perida, huge tries to get this opportunity again. So, yeah, I went all over the place to answer your question, but yes, but it is still a big star here in Brazil. Well, he seems to be a big star in Las Vegas, because we saw yesterday at the press conference,

and I believe we have some footage of this, still very much the favored man in Sin City ahead of this fight. Yeah. You just said that you're just going to say, let's do it. I'll put on you, like, not normal. Hey, the good thing is you're ready now, so we're going to see on Saturday. Don't say you... On Saturday, your manager won't be there to help you.

Shama! Shama! No Shama! Lerzo. Liar. There is no more Shama. We killed it. Well, there you go.

They're all shaming together. I must bring a tear to your eye, Gailme, seeing all these Americans getting so behind your guy. But you mentioned something I wanted to ask you about. You mentioned when you were speaking of Pereira how people were drawn to a stoic nature. Didn't say a lot. Chuck Mendenthal fell in love with the guy because of this mysterious element around him. And he admitted on the show last week, he's like, are we getting too much FaceTime with Poetan now? Like, he's doing a lot of talking.

Do you think it's Ankyloif that's brought this? out in him? How do you feel about this new Poetan who seems to be getting in front of cameras and speaking without any hesitation? I think Akalaya is one of the reasons why he's doing that more. But also, he has

become such a bigger star in and outside of the sport. So, him talking more, him showing himself more, has gotten him more opportunity like he's doing it. He's doing movies now. He's doing

he's traveling all over the world for seminars and simply just making appearances as a superstar so he now has his YouTube channel when he shows his life in the in the passing when he would always say only Shama and all that

he would be like our version of Fedor Milenehru like Fedor whenever he doesn't speak English you don't know what he's saying he never sings anything So he had that mystic with Pereira now. I feel like he's driving away to a different type of personality that still works for him,

but it's not just the same appeal when he was only saying one word answers. Does it worry you at all that he seems to be this affected boy, Anka Loew, like we've seen the videos of the lads having that argument with Google Translate. that's how me and Galer may speak to each other when we're in person we just use I try my Portuguese and then he just gives me the phone and he says listen mate it's not it's not happening but um

I thought that was a hilarious scene by the way these two guys who could rip each other's heads off their shoulders sitting there speaking into a phone being like no you're a liar I mean is there any party that's like this is weird like he is like you know a lot of people

are like protect your energy don't don't like show someone how you feel so much i think it's very effing clear how mr perera feels about this guy yeah that that that interaction was a bit cringy uh but yeah and and i do worry because perera he had a long uh rivalry with we have a sonya but he won all those fights before the last one so he was in a position that he isn't out now now he's in a position that he's in a position that he this guy that that defeated him that took his belt away. He's acting one way on social media,

saying, oh, that tweeting that, you don't know if that's really him? I don't think so, but yeah, compared to how he acts on the mic, how he acts on press conference, and how he acts on social media, that strikes a nerve on Perreira, it seems. And I do wonder how Perreira is going to respond to that,

how he's going to embrace all the energy, all that hate, when he enters the cage because listen to people around him you you get the impression that Perida he's fully focused like he wasn't before he's on his YouTube channel he's talking like how how his diet this time was way better than than for previous fights because he does he he also has to make weight and he knows he can let this amount of weight cuts on on the like last three or four days so he's doing everything better

and that's because he hates him Kalab that's because he wants his belt back but when he enters the case Saturday to look face to face on Kalav to punch them in the face and get punched and get kicked

how he's going to react to the emotions of fighting he's not a kid he has done it dozens of times he knows how to react to emotions he has fought people that had defeated him before in kickboxing but not at this stage, not being the superstar that he is now. He knows there's a lot of states for his future in this fight.

I mean, money-wise, finances, he's all set. He's very comfortable, but being a UFC champion changes your life. So it's a big really, really important fight for him, and I do wonder if that's going to change the way he behaves when he entered the cage. yeah absolutely i agree with you and i agree with the other thing you said there which is he has lots of options because i think we all agreed on ariel's show during the week that it's hard not to think that the ufc wouldn't be secretly delighted if potan won this fight you know he's so much more marketable he's so much more of a commodity than bigank as uh these marketing people

are calling him now great name um but there's also it's not just like you know when you have a star in your hands because it's not just like well if this guy wins all of these things will open up for him. Even with a loss it feels like we already have a plan for Poetan. Go to heavyweight. There are no stars at heavyweight outside of the champion Tom Aspinall.

I believe, I don't know how Tom Aspinall or Andy Aspinall feel about this, I believe because of Poetan's star power, even if he is coming off two losses, he may as well just walk in and fight for the title because it will put a bigger spotlight on Aspinall. And even if Aspinall doesn't win, you have one of your biggest stars

with a belt around his waist now. Do you think that is the move if Powhatan comes up short now? Because, you know, he's getting on in years. I feel like this is something we really want to see as MMA fans. Pereira at heavyweight. Absolutely. I think Perez's next fight, he loses. And he lost that doesn't hurt that much when you're talking about the star of this magnitude.

If you go back when he lost to Alessania, The next day he announced he was going up to 205. And his debut was against Blahovits in a non-title fight. And he won a split decision. It wasn't like that. There was a flash performance, a fantastic knuckle. It was a split decision win. And he fought for the title in his next fight.

He's a bigger star now that he was back then. And even if he loses twice to one Kalev, he goes to heavyweight. He has one win. He's fighting for the UFC title. So the UFC knows that he's 38. He doesn't have any title. to ways the UFC knows that if you're not going to put him to fight

Waldo Acosta and Jayton Beda and Taitu Vaza and like the UFC's not going to have Puerta fight three or four times to earn a title shot he's going to fight for the UFC title with one winner heavy and I think that's

the move for him if he loses to Uncleav well I got to ask before we move on to Vandele Silva and I know you're a proud Brazilian man I mean I know this is an awkward position to put a man in. But can I ask you, Guillermo?

Because Ariel O'ani doesn't do it, you know. Ariel will come in and he'll be like, you know, they're not going to talk to me anymore. So you can use the Ariel Hwani defense if you want to in this case, because you have to talk to these guys all the time. Tell me, Guillermo, who wins this fight and how do they get it done? I'm a proud of Zita, but I'm not biased one. That said, I see Petero winning a decision.

I'm leaning on a decision or a late stoppage. I don't think it's going to be an easy fight. The matchups too tricky, but I think based on what I'm seeing, I think that it wins the rematch. Well, I'm sure there will be a lot of happy crackheads watching this because Poetan is one of the favorite fighters of this show. Speaking about the host,

his favorite fighter of all time is a man called Vandale Silva, who he fell in love with as a young teenager, And it brought him on this amazing career in the world of mixed martial arts. Galeemay, as soon as I saw this guy was in a boxing match with Vitor First, I was like, this is a disaster. And genuinely, most of the time when I'm really worried about an old fighter getting in there, nothing that bad happens. You know, we saw it with Shail and Anderson, they get in, they tap each other, everything goes away.

Yeah. But this one, I mean, I don't think it could have went any worse. for those of you who don't know, Vandalay Silva fought in an exhibition. He was disqualified for using his head. His opponent's son then caoed him when a skirmish broke out in the ring afterwards.

There is horrific footage, as you guys can see here, of Mr. Silva hitting the ground. This is one of the most fearsome fighters in the world in the early 2000s. One of the iconic fighters of the sport to see him getting dragged into the corner like this is just, it's absolutely harrowing. My blood runs cold,

just seeing it. and since then we've seen updates various updates from Vandalei with his face in quite a bad spot and Gilemy we've been relying on you as we always do when it comes to Brazilian news like this I saw a recent article you put out saying

there should be some legal action ahead for Vandalay Silva and the son of his opponent I believe his name is Fratchez is that the name of the opponent oh come on I tried I tried mate yeah yeah it's right it's right yeah Vendalee has gone on social media his manager, his lawyer, they're saying they're going to file a lawsuit against him. I don't know if they have pressed charges again here.

But yeah, that's definitely going to have a lawsuit coming because that was brutal. He wasn't licensed. He was just sitting in the chair on front row as a fan. Like he walked out carrying one of his father's belts in boxing. And it just stormed into the ring for that. It was just, it was sad to watch. It was really sad. Like I said, when they announced this, I knew it wasn't the right decision because

Van der Leigh, he shouldn't be fighting anymore. Like, he has fought a lot already over the past two decades, and he shouldn't be there. And then they, but again, and he was fighting Victor. Victor is in a, you know, in a much better shape than Vanderley. and then he just when he was replaced by assily of Freitas I knew Van der Le was there was no way he won't win this fight

because Vito maybe Vito got there with the emotions of like facing a long-time rival and all that maybe Vandale could get an advantage because of that but Freitas would just, there was no way

Vandali was winning that and it just brutal to watch man. They were all suspended Vendale's silver but has a six-month-expansion fliters as well, but it doesn't, it's pointless because Vandelaide is not going to fight again. And I don't think they should. I think that's the message that they all should have there.

I saw Fabrice Verdun doing an interview with him in Brazil when he said that he's done fighting and he thinks Valdele should too. So hopefully that's it for him. What's the reaction been like in Brazil? I've had so many people from when I was into MMA back in the day who have fell out of love

with MMA, they're seeing this footage with Vandale and they're just straight back in going, how can this happen? I'm sure he is I'm sure he's revered in Brazil. Like this guy, an icon of the sport, in Curitiba especially. Is there outrage in Brazil because of this? There was a mixed reaction.

That was the topic of the day, the topic of the week after the whole incident because it air on live on Global which is the biggest network in Latin America

and and Global aired this event they had a whole deal with spotting with a gear company which is a big company

in Brazil like it's a big deal and Global was what was doing appearance with Global with Vandale and Freitas and a ton of shows they were promoting this like they they've never promoted ufc like and so it was a big deal and then

this happens like i've received a ton of messages all day for days about about this is that everybody asking about like all people would ask you they they never asked me anything about any fights and they were asked about this because that that was a massive deal and uh i wonder if it's part of the the beer company is going to do another show uh They have plans to do it, Vendale and Vitor, early next year before the whole thing, but I don't know anymore.

I'm curious to see because of the bad publicity they got from this. Yeah, absolutely. I can only imagine. And I want to ask this next question, but I want to preface this that this kind of stuff happens

in the UK, in Ireland, and America all the time. In no way am I suggesting this is anything to do with this fight taking place in Brazil. but was there any part of you like how is this guy fighting? How is he allowed to fight?

Because as we know during the class action lawsuit there was things revealed from Vandalay's side about the brain damage he has about the mood swings he has and then from to sign up to something like this it just seems completely crazy

and again that's not to say that it's not happening all over the world anyway but just with such a star I can't help but feel a certain way you know it's like we see Mike Tyson boxing Jake Paul It doesn't make any sense. That's why I asked when there is a week before the five, I asked him about that if there

wasn't any concerns of him fighting after everything he said in the past. And he's like, I've done all the exams and all that. And I do believe that he has done medical exams going into this. That's really the reason why Vito Belfour was fooled on the fire because he did exams and something showed up in his brain. still for a major company to decide to go this direction for a Friday with such history documented history like himself revealing those type of things I don't think that was the the smart call a smart call by by the company to choose a 50 year old with

that has gone on record saying that he has like CTE symptoms or stuff like that no yeah absolutely and I'm sorry to make you speak about this

I know it's a troubling story of a great icon in the sport speaking of Brazilian icons you're going to be a busy man next week UFC Rio rolling into town and as you said at the top of the show there is 1A and oh wow

I feel like I'm right there I'm going to get some burnt if you keep this up i have no sunblock on what are you doing i can die out here but we have charles olivera against gamrott as you said it's perera and charles olivera in terms of who is the most popular fighter over there excitement levels in brazil and we know as you mentioned the global deal back when they were with the ufc it made things a lot more visible nationally but is there still a buzz when charles olivera fights in brazil yeah yeah definitely uh the the the the The best UFC event here in Rio was headlined by Pantoja, and they had to bring Aldo back from

with retirement to add something to the cart, but the sales were just poor. Like, during five weeks, like three or four days before the event, you could go to a Venom store at a mall and buy a shirt and get a UFC ticket for free. that's that's how bad it was and uh they when they announced they were going back to rio i wonder how bad it would be because we we we had no idea that charles could be on this car because he said a massive star and he gets paid good money and for him to headliner you see even in the real that doesn't generate anything in terms of ticket sales and all that uh and not a five night not a not a pay-per-view i was really surprised everywhere was was

was really surprised to see him on the card and when the tickets went on sale like it was like this was sold out quickly and they they didn't put all the tickets on sale on the first day so we had like three days of sale but if all tickets were available in one day they would be sold out like in two hours charles olivetta has that power so that's there's a lot of us even without global you know that shows the power of Charles Alveda on social media how big of a star he has become

so yeah that's a massive one especially for the for like hardcore MMA fans but Charles Alveda draws good numbers in Brazil definitely

I'm very much looking forward to Calamari but this is my question to you right because I'll admit it like I'm a bit jaded you know

I was here I was here when the great Connor McGregor folded up your boy, Diego Brandeau at the three arena, okay? Sorry, I'm sorry, I spoke too soon, I got too confident.

But what I'm saying is, when these M&A events come to Ireland now, I'm kind of like, it's got to be something very special. And you've had special, special nights covering UFC in Rio. Do you still get the old excitement like you used to, or are you like me

a jaded old asshole when everyone else is getting very excited? We're getting old, right? But, uh, but, but, but still, You still have a lot of events going there. We have like PFL, we have Bellator going all the time to Ireland. We don't.

We never had a Bellatory event in Brazil. We never had a PFL event in Brazil. And the UFC used to come in like seven times a year, five times a year. And now, if lucky, we get one. And other than that, it's just small promotions. So every time the UFC comes for us, media, it's good times because we have, and events ago, like, you have a big deal. We have something to cover in person.

We can, like, see colleagues from other cities that come to Rio to go to San Paulo. So it's all fun times. It's not the same. I mean, this event, Charles de Valle is going to be a cool one because there's a lot of hot around him. But, yeah, when it's just another regular card, it's a bit disappointing. But given the fact that we don't have so many events. coming it's uh it's always fun times well if you want some fun times make sure you get over to gilermay cruz and check out all his stuff on amma fighting he is the greatest brazilian combat sports

journalist of all time galarme thank you so much for coming back on the show we're going to hit a break now i'm going to bring in some more world-class journalist to talk some pooh-poo with me about fighting i love you very much my friend crackheads how about that you know oh chuck and ben thought they could ruin my show by not showing up for work, I get Gilaireme crews on to lay the smackdown all about all things Brazilian MMA, which is very topical at the moment. Guess what else is topical at the moment? I happen to be sitting in it. That's right, Ireland, ladies and gentlemen, Irish MMA, lots of things to talk about, Mr. Ian Garry being announced for a fight with Balal Muhammad. We have Connemer Greger saying all kinds of things, really, in the promotion,

in the lead up to the BKFC event in Newark six-month operation and of course just hours away from the PFL doing the rematch between Usman and Magamadoff and Paul Hughes in Dubai well let me welcome in two gentlemen with whom I form

the Trident of Knowledge one of them is Severimaze Andy Stevenson and he's joining us from across the city in Dublin and we also have a man who's gone the extra mile who is going to rub it in our faces that we didn't make the effort to go to the Middle East because there he is

sitting in the media room in Dubai it's Dunah Corby. Lads back together at last. How are we feeling? Dunah first year in Dubai. You get the chair here because obviously you've made more effort than all of us. Well, that is true. I'm a more serious Irish journalist than you too. I care more

about all he was than you two do. I obviously thought on the plane you two didn't. So with that's out of the way now, it's great to be back and it's great to have to try to get there again. Andy, how are you? Why aren't you in Dubai, if you don't want me asking? I hear you on the Old Triangle, your fantastic podcast.

Oh, this is one of the biggest Irish MMA fights of all time. Neither you nor Ian nor Quilche seem to be in Dubai. Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, I'm poor. That's really the reason. I cannot afford it. The luxuries that apparently Blanchard sound can. Also, it was a lovely introduction that you gave us,

you know, world-class journalists. I assumed that I was on the wrong stream. I joined the wrong Zooming because I'm not sure where they are, but I'm sure they're on the way. Well, listen, I am here, in fairness to me. I am joking. I love his boys. I know he's do fantastic work.

And that's why I have you here, because I don't want everyone in the world to just take my word on how Irish people feel about things. I get to bring you guys on and say, see, I told you, see what they're saying? First one up, Ian Gary V. Bilal Muhammad. It's going down in Doha,

guitar. He's on his way back to do a seminar on SBG. Very exciting news, October 30th. But tell me this. Andy, I'll start with you. Do you think Ian Gary was happy about this fight? Is this the kind of fight you think he was looking for right now? 100%. Yeah, he's been calling for this fight for a long time. I think in a number of aspects, it makes a lot of sense from obviously Balala's coming off the loss. He's just relinquish the title. Ian probably sees Balala as one of the older. He is, you know, he is. one of the older fighters at the top of the division and you know

when you've got the likes of Sean Brady he's obviously got the loss to Shavkat already a win against the guy who's just lost the belt is sitting in the number one contender spot and who holds a win a K-O win over Sean Brady seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me so he's been calling for this for a while he wanted it in Chicago

he's getting it in guitar Dona Corby tell me this in terms of a matchup a lot of people would have circled Balal as one of the few guys who could be a risky macho for Ian, given that he's a wrestler, given that we haven't seen in, in against an out and out wrestler.

What do you think of the macho? Yeah, look, it's obviously the toughest one at the top of the division for him. I guess, like, even including probably Jack Telameda, and maybe even Islamathev, depending on what happens there. But, yeah, look, I think, Ian, like, since, I mean, you guys have known him since he started out in the amateurs,

and he's someone who is, one might say he's maybe more a competitor than an out-and-out fighter, if you know what I mean. And I think he loves and fighting someone who people think there's a chance he's not going to beat. I think he loves going up the levels, going through the levels,

and look, number one ranked UFC fighter, it doesn't matter who that is. If Ian sees that number next to their name, he's going to want to fight him. And so I think all credit to Ian, with Shadow Gary, and hopefully finally some respect

for our fellow Irishman. Well, I mean, he always got lots of respect here. Do you know how much respect? I'm going to bring up a graphic right now. This is how much respect we have. We made this ahead of time. Watch, wham!

Look at that. Ian Gary. Here he is saying all kinds of things on his new post. Oh, Andy has something to say, I think, on Instagram here it says, You're going to see speed like you've never seen before. Bilal Muhammad, a respected former champion. I can't read, it's too small for me to read the rest of that. But you get the idea.

He doesn't, he thinks he's going to make shite of Bilal Muhammad, basically. And I do believe we also have, there it is. Well played, in fairness to Bilal Muhammad, a rare win. We're the former champion of the world. is this getting the juices flowing for you, Andy? Do you like this back and forth? Yes, yes. I mean, I have a few questions about this graphic.

One, who is making this graphic? Fire them. Secondly, who is this quote, too? You know the way you see these graphics? Like, it's usually from an interviewer. Is this just Ian has a quote from himself that he's put in quotes on Instagram? Is that what's happening here? I mean, I don't hate it.

He told the future group, bro. He obviously told the future group. This is what I'm saying, Don't it? You know what I mean? In conversation with friends and back gets afterwards. It was a 10-9, Balal, in fairness, in that one, which is not very common for Bilal on social media. But look, this build-up is going to be quite interesting

because a lot of people don't like Ian Garry. A lot of people don't like Bilal Mohammed. And I have no idea which way it's going to fall as far as who becomes the baby face, which one wins the fans? Are people just looking for a double-k-o? it's it's going to be yeah interested to see how it plays out

done it this is a good point that he makes here um not only like do these guys get a bit of shit online and off the fan base they also have styles that people you know they get their backs up against they're like oh this was boring even though they're tremendous at this sport I think

Gary is sensational at winning fights I think he treats this like a sport and you can see that when he's performing he's like I'm going to do what I have to do to win sometimes of course he he can be absolutely spectacular as we saw on is path to the UFC. My issue here is, if you were just looking at the numbers and looking where these guys, and if this was a perfect meritocracy, I would say, of course, Ian Gary gets the next crack

of the title if he beats the former champion in the world. There is obviously a logjam. There is Shavkat who was promised the next shot. There was Sean Brady who was floating around there too. There's lots of guys in and around this position. My issue is, if these guys aren't the most beloved fighters on the roster, if they have a fight that doesn't give us a spectacular conclusion, does that put them behind the eight ball

in terms of being the next one to fight for the title? The answer is absolutely yes. I mean, historically that's what it is. And look, I can't imagine the UFC are clamoring to get Bilal another title shot. I can't imagine after his last year performance. I think Ian's a little younger, a little bit more like, I think Ian's heat is a little less like go away X-back heat.

I think people actually do dislike Ian quite, genuinely so I think that's probably when the benefits him a little bit like they would view him as a good heel for someone like McAchev and obviously if Maccchev wins the belt Blau's not going to fight in him and obviously he would be a great

heel for Delamadella I think both of them would be viewed as like good opponents for Ian so yeah I think he's in probably a better spot than Balal and also by virtue of beating someone like you are kind of viewers having done something good for the community right because of what you're saying as like a polarizing figure so

yeah I think I mean Sean Brady is always going to be kind of a tough sell i mean even that leon edwards fight we're leaving the arena watching it i think we're going about how boring ian is go watch sean brady and leon edwards i dare you and try to stick to that old thing oh my god so you know i think um i think um i think um find a much more entertaining fight there so i think um yeah i think i think i think ian is probably going to be in a very good position if he gets a result but he probably needs a little something special instead of just you know five rounds of or it's not going to be five or three rounds

of uh of uh of kind of like grappling and and kind of winning on points well look at this guy providing me with a segue you know throwing some shade of Sean Brady on the way which we always appreciate done and never afraid to throw a few digs Andy Stevenson he mentioned it there three rounds who does this suit more I think I know

I think it's probably Balau right for a three round I mean does it really does it really matter I mean like I was kind of I expected this was five rounds to be honest with you I this is the first time I mean it's three rounds I was like oh of course it's a five apologies um so that jokes on me but i mean

do you know what actually i could see this factory in any in gary's favor i'm going to do a complete flip-flop here because i feel like ean fights at range if he can keep away from like i think he's a better striker between the two of them pretty clearly if he can keep it on the feet he's got some great grappling as well if he can you know if he can evade and learn from jack delavada lana's performance against pala hamlet who was phenomenal as far as quelling the grappling offences from Balal. I think Ian can just pick him off at range,

use his job, uses his front kicks, and really I could see a scenario where he coasts to a three round decision victory here. Yeah, and look, you're right in a way, who does the three round suit? Probably the guy who wins the first round the best. Like that is

the reality of the situation. It really, I agree with you in terms of where the fight takes place, who is dictating, where It's taking place. We'll win this fight. And honestly, I think a lot of people, similar to when McGregor was on his come-up, people were like, oh, well, as soon as a wrestler comes into play,

and obviously as we saw during that first run in particular, Chad Mendez, it didn't phase him. And he was able to get the job done. So let's see if once again Ian follows in Connor McGregor's footsteps with that one. Speaking of Connemer, making a lot of headlines over here, boys. doing a lot of big shows and I believe we have a big clip concerning his next move

which as we know will take place at the White House It can ignite a support for the people of Ireland Is this a done deal? Is this a done deal? You're in? Don deal signed delivered. It ain't a negotiation.

Wow. It's a done deal sign delivered. McGregor will compete in the White House for the U.S.C.'s 200, for the America's 250. Did you talk to Dana about it? Dana's got a I've signed off, I would imagine, no.

Me and Dane are in constant communications. We've done incredible business together and the highest generating fighter of all time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. They've just signed a breathtaking deal with Paramount where we go to KGG. He gets his own music. It's incredible.

That deal was accrued for and ready to rock, baby. Bring in the Big Dog, the Mac, the Mac G. Bringing in the Big Dog. His new accent is absolutely fantastic. One of his all-time accents, as far as I'm concerned, But lads I'll go to Dunnard First

How confident are you 8 months out that we will It's just So many things have to go right All right I just want to say for everyone The crackheads in the chat Obviously

Everything needs to go Very according to plan For a fight to even happen At the way else But yeah The BATB have talked about This three times or something Let me have this one segment

With the lads Where we speculate Like, you know, that's me, you know, best friends. But, uh, um, don't know, so tell me this, are we getting way too ahead of ourselves thinking this is the game on. Connor McGregor, he's back, baby. I just, uh, yeah, I guess so, but I just, it's just so much fun. Like every time he starts talking this way, it just, it's so silly, it's so fun.

Like, uh, he look, yeah, we got like eight months until it happens. He's going to have a six-month training camp where he doesn't look at his phone once. Six-month operation. Six-month operation is why it is. So, you know, he's, yeah, he rules, but I think there's nothing he could do evidently that I would, where I wouldn't say that he rules. And yeah, I think he's going to do it. He's going to fight and you know what?

He's going to knock out Michael Chandler, too. Oh, my God. Just to clarify, when Dunn is saying he rules, that isn't a term we use here, as in, like, he's the president of Ireland, he rules that he does not. Just to make that clear, met a lot of Americans at the... Also, because there's a lot of, there's a lot of bias in our political

system, and they don't allow the people's candidates to run. Maria Steen, obviously, Connor McGregor would have been great candidates, but unfortunately, neither of them got their nomination. Silence, silence by the government of Ireland. Oh, my God, yeah. Andy Stevenson,

how do you follow that one up? I don't know how you will, but how excited. It's not happening, like, it's not, come on, like, let's be really, okay, there, there's a non-zero chance this happens, sure. In all likelihood, this is not happening. You know, it's gone from, it's a, it's signed, he'll delivered, it's a done deal, to already, now he's talking about, well, you know, we got to, they got to show me the money here. So, like, is it not a done deal? It was it, I, it was a done deal on Sean Hannity show, now it's not a done deal. You know, we had him coming back against Michael Chandler, we had him running for presidency, we had his, him, you know, presenting fresh new evidence in the appeal. We had him fighting Logan Paul in a boxing match. We've had all of these things presented to us that have

turned out to not be the case or not to have come to fruition. So, like, come on, like, how can we possibly believe this? Like, will he fight again? Maybe. But am I confident? Not even remotely, no. Well, look at this. And who says

we don't get differing opinions here? Like, I mean, Dunnick, Corby. Connor is going to knock out. Chandler on the White House lawn Andy Stevens saying it absolutely won't happen. What will happen is a fight between Jeremy Stevens and Mike Perry this weekend

in Newark, New Jersey. I'm not a big BKFC guy. I'll admit it. The Artem Loboff fight with the Russian dude that wasn't BKFC. It was in I forget the name of the thing. It had them bales of hay around the ring.

He got beat up with a silver medal match, was it? Yeah, something. like that. Don't have Corby. There's about a million, there's about a million guys in this restroom who could tell you exactly what it was, but I'm afraid to ask them. Don't ask them, please. Don't say Artem Loboff too loudly over there either. But tell me this,

his role as a BKFC promoter, like, to give him credit, he is doing a great job for them in terms of paramatch, there we go, there we go. But, I mean, is it fair to say, Donut, like, He is raising all kinds of awareness for BKFC. Like you've gone to BKFC events, right?

And I'm sure a big part of like your coverage would be like, well, we're going to get a few minutes with Connor if we go. And I know you have got that. Like this is a pretty much a dream partnership for them, you'd imagine. Yeah, I mean, it's like, look, having a name like that involved in your thing, having someone like that who's going to do, you know, he does a decent amount of media for them. He's not someone who necessarily loves talking to press.

But, you know, I know that he loves talking. But like, if he cannot be doing media, he likes that so yeah he does like a lot for me he did that that round table i think he was going to be on an aerial show and uh of course the side of sean hannity was the bigger name to to rep hannity of it better but um no he's like i mean how could you not have uh like the biggest name ever in combat sports as your promoter and that not be a good thing you know and again that's pretty much no matter what like i said that before but you know he rules he's so funny it's like no matter what he does evidently there is literally nothing he can do that will make people

will not think it's awesome that he's to promote it. There's some classic Dona Corby's going on here today. I think Andy Stavis would agree with me. Andy, tell me this, right? Like, you know, Dunn is a crackhead. He will watch two lads fighting on the side of the road. If he's driving past, he's pulling over. He's saying, do you know what?

Yeah, he's fighting people out his back garden. I've seen the videos. I'm intimidated by the man. I'm meant to be from the crazy part of town. Dunorah Corby, way crazier to me. Andy Stevens. Yes. That's exactly what he is.

Andy, with all this said, me giving him like, you know, he's helping spread the word about BKFC, don't obviously say anything the amount of the media does for them. You're more of a purist. You're more of a, you know, you'd rather be watching amateur MMA, you sick fuck, than actual big time sports, you know what I mean? So tell me this.

Will you be tuning in to BKFC tomorrow night in Newark based on the promotion that's been evidently shoved it down your face for the last week? I'll probably catch a highlights clip of, of, you know, some of the action maybe, maybe the Mike Perry, you know, probably just Mike Perry, the Mike Perry fight. That's probably the extent that I will watch. Maybe if there's a crazy K.O., I'll catch a clip.

So, I mean, look, make no mistake, I absolutely think he adds something to that promotion. I think there's a lot more eyes on it because of Connor McGregor. It's not really for me, but also doesn't need to be for me. I think there's a lot of people who will watch it. It's vicious. It is, like, it's the type of sport. You know, like, it's kind of like what slap fighting is, is trying to be.

I think that's what bare knuckle actually is in that it's a sport kind of designed for the social media age for clips like that for just the gore and the brutality. And it's more of a sport, like clearly way more of a sport than the likes of a slap fighting. Now did you mention it. I did. I forgot to speak about Power Slap 15, which has happened this weekend. And everybody just let you know. I can't believe I forgot one of the biggest fights of the weekend. Crazy Hawaiian fighting?

Doesn't he fight on every single one of them? So I assume yes he is. I want to talk about PFL Dubai. Obviously we don't want to spend, we didn't want to spend too much at the top because the fights are taking place as we speak about this. Dunah Corby is in the press room right now. Dunna, the floor is yours. Tell us you wrote a great priest about this, by the way, how this fight came together.

And I think one of the amazing things you put in there is about how this vener. you how this location is perfect. Explain this to the crackheads here. Hoy is Dubois such a perfect location for not just Narragamato, for Paul Hughes as well. Yeah, so you'll see a lot of the time in combat sports, like a massive fight will get brought to Saudi or, I mean, you see in the UFC all the time.

They'll bring some huge fight to some mad city in the US. I don't want to slag any particular place off. You'll be like, that really takes the steam out of it. Like, you'll see, I'm not flagging off Salt Lake City, right? But how much more sick with that Leon Edwards' headkick have been if it was, you know, in, in either Leon or Usman's, you know, like, hometown, like, if that was in, you know, like, I know who's been, has a history in Nigeria, if that was in Africa somewhere, or if that were, you know, in London or Birmingham or something,

like, how sick would that have been instead of, you know, happening in, in Salt Lake. And what happens here is, like, this is one of these fights that's had, you know, Dubai have come in and invested and paid their side fee and brought this fight to here, but it's the perfect location because obviously master of Muslim community, it's a great Muslim nation, a great Muslim region and the UAE, but also you have these huge immense of Irish

expats who just love Paul Hughes and just support him. It's also an easy, you know, flight from Dublin to Dubai, it's a single flight. For example, Saudi, there's no direct to just a real flight. It's one flight from Sydney. It's one flight from a lot of major Australian airports, so you have the DS4 over there as well.

So you have it about 50-50 and, you know, the people love any woman Nerma Gomettov in their surname and then the Irish people but of course commend support with their own and Paul Hughes so yeah I mean the fact that both of these fights happened in Dubai has actually been been sick and probably one of the best examples in combat sports of like the site fee and the side bid like really working and making sense um just before I go over to you Andy I was wondering about that done it there was the reports of like a few incidents popping off I know that Patty McCurry was on Andy Stevenson's podcast telling all types of war stories from the

first trip to Dubai we saw that we actually had you on the show directly after the handbags of the way in last time has it been has it been a more peaceful environment given the the breaking of bed between habib and paul hughes oh absolutely i mean it's like it's just everything about it is so much less like ugly than the last one just in terms of like i haven't heard um like i haven't really heard much of connor's name around the week like just because it's not like last time it was such a vital part of the story was like arden versus Dagestan and McGregor and Kabib, and they're bringing that back

and that was like, you know, one of the the most ugly five buildups like of all time. So this one, you know, you just have two teams who respect each other. You know, you've two fighters who had a really great fight the last time. You've a great set

of media familiar, a great set of fans everywhere, and yeah, like there was like maybe it looked like maybe something might kick off yesterday at the wayans, but really it was just a great, you know, show of support from both sides. I think really, like, it wasn't quite as packed out as the Wayansworth's first one, but everything about this week has felt big, and yeah, there hasn't been any big feuding between the fans, at least what I'm aware of.

Although, let's see when the Irish gets a drink into them tonight. I'd like eating my words. Irish people don't drink that much. Like, what the hell? Andy Stevenson, tell me this. How much do you think it's held Paul to have that situation with Connor McGregor afterwards? Obviously, there was the scenes between Habib and Paul after the first fight, incredibly close fight. Habib. Habib credits Orleans. Like, we need to respect these people. These donate more money

to Palestine than any other country in the world. It kind of felt like a uniting moment between the two factions there. Obviously, there was Connor Gregor on there and he said things about Paul and the part of Ireland that he lives in that rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way. But I felt it propelled Paul into a completely different stratosphere. We were there in Belfast and we saw how much he means to the people there. Is it fair to say, like, he's a completely different commodity for Ireland than he was in the lead up to the first fight. Without a doubt, and to the previous point, I suppose, around the camps and how different the atmosphere is now, like, there's kind of two elements that, like, there's the fact

that they had the fight, they had the first fight, he's kind of gained the respect. Because, like, coming into this one, really, this is the time where they could have gone with an Ireland versus Dagestan narrative. You forgot John Mitchell, who lost earlier on today fighting a Dagestan fighter, obviously Artem Lobo was supposed to be on the card fighting, you know, the guy who kind of kicked off all of this bad blood out in the aftermath of

McGregor Habib. But then because Paul had that moment in the cage with Khabib and because he had the spot with McGregor online, it completely galvanized support behind him. Like I was completely shocked that, like, with all of the transgressions that Connor has kind of

been through and, you know, given reason for many fans to fall off the bandwagon and none more so I suppose than than being accused of of sexual assault and and you know found liable for that in court it wasn't really that that was the tipping point for a lot of Irish MMA fans it was his attacks of Paul Hughes's identity and and from there the support just entirely rallied around Paul and I you know that moment in Belfast earlier on this year where he's headlining the necessary arena like that that was something special that's

something that I haven't seen in a number of years in Irish MMA. I know, obviously, you guys were there that night, too. I know you felt the same way. And I feel like, you know, coming into this fight, he has got such a swell of support around him. I was even watching, while Guillermo was on earlier on, UTV were doing actually a spot on the 6 o'clock news. And they had both Paul and Kalan, you know, spotlighted here.

They had interviews with the two of them. Northern Ireland is getting behind MMA, I think, now. And it's going to be very interesting to see. I was having, you know, I kind of threw out the suggestion of if Paul can do this, if he can beat Usmer-Namagamato in the rematch, could he perhaps bring the trilogy back to Belfast and what the likes of a Windsor Park, you know, could that be an option? Now, I am not educated enough, and I'm not from, you know,

the area to be able to speak eloquently on the cultural significance of Windsor Park. It's predominantly, I think it's Linfield play there. It's predominantly, you know, more the loyalist Protestant side of the community. but I feel like Paul has done a phenomenal job of uniting both Catholics, Protestants, nationalists, loyalists up the north and I see him as someone who the entire region can get behind

and if ever there was a Catholic man who represents, you know, who plays JAA football and represents the tricolor to go in there and be the guy that the support are getting behind in the likes of a Windsor Park, I feel like it could be a guy like Paul Hughes so yeah, absolutely he has

he has the whole country behind him and that's obviously only speaking about the north right there but north and south alike he's beloved in Ireland absolutely

and look I think you know we've both read the brilliant book by Donald McCray in Sunshine or in Shadow about how combat sports

kind of has rose above the partition or certainly did in the 80s in the 70s during the time of the troubles and having been

in Windsor Park for Crocker v. Donovan too I think that's absolutely true the people of Belfast regardless of their background seem to be all Crocker people. It's not about

he's from Sandy Row he's from here or there they're all behind their guy because he's from that city. We're going to take a bigger zoom in on this fight when we come back we have to go through a break

you want to see the invoice done of Corby's out to send an in for this so let's go to the break and we'll be back in two minutes to talk about this a bit more. We are back ladies and gentlemen

and this is the final segment of the show. Don't get too upset, okay? It's here every Friday. You can join the crack every Friday, and these guys have been here many times. You know, I put them on the bench. I put them on the bench for a little bit. They're back in now, starting players. Lads, can I tell you something that is concerned a lot of Irish people about this second

fight that I've heard a lot about, that I may have attributed, I may have strengthened the argument somewhat during these various podcasts that we do. Here it is. I thought Paul Hughes won the first fight. And, you know, I looked online earlier because I got the first couple of rounds of John Mitchell's fight who happened to be fighting a gentleman from Dagestan and I saw, I scored the first round for John and then I had to check out. We had a computer issue. Me and Andy handled it fantastically well.

Thank you very much, Honour, Jordan, who's not here to help us. Thank you, Andy, the greatest. And then suddenly I see, well, an Irish man just got robbed here in Dubai. And then a lot of people were saying, Paul needs to finish this guy if he wants to win this fight. He obviously won the last fight.

I didn't say obvious, right? I just said I scored a phone personally. But having watched to John Mitchell, I saw your updates, Andy Stevenson, did that strengthen your resolve in thinking, Paul, you was going to have to put this lad away tonight? It definitely didn't make me feel a confidence that we would get

some accurate judging here. I definitely don't think that John Mitchell was robbed, but there was a lone 3026 scorecard. Like, I think it was... What the fuck was that? 3026 insane. To me, he definitely won the first round. And even if you say, you know, he lost every round. There's

there was no 10-8 round in that fight whatsoever. So second fight of the night when we're going into, you know, the biggest rematch in PFL history, probably the best fight in PFL history and one where the entire talking point, or not the entire talking boy, but

part of the talking point coming out of the first outing was the scorecards. Which way did you score? Did you have it for Paul? Did you have it for Usman? So yeah, I mean it doesn't feel you of confidence. Let me say that. So I would love to see that

judge removed from the cards would be I think how they should handle it when you've got a fight like that coming up but who knows what's the way it's going to shake out don't know Corby don't let him speak about Dubai like this don't let him speak about Dubai like this not in your presence that's 3026 legitimately like when I saw it during the like the pre-show we were talking about what we're going to talk

about it's like oh just Paul Dita stop him I was like no like you know he can get a decision whatever that 3026 absolutely changed my mind 100%. He definitely needs to stop him because that decision is going in the way of the guy whose surname is their Magamatov in the Middle East for fucking sure

if it goes five rounds. So yeah, Paul needs to stop him and probably needs to do it twice too, like Chelsea Southern and Craig Jones, just to be 100% sure. Obviously, he's not the only... What a terrible scorecard, 3026. It was so bad.

It was so bad. It's fucking terrible. It's, I thought the John Mitchell arguably maybe slightly could have won I was like he looks great I was like the kid looks great I wasn't able to tune in for the whole thing but I thought he certainly won the first round

and it was a close round but 3026 fucking I thought he won the first round too I thought he was one of the judges Wow let me let me move on to this next part because obviously he's not the only Irish man as we said John Mitchell fought earlier but Kaylon Lockron making his debut here

Kalan Lockron a man who strikes a chord in the Irish MMA heart the people love this guy it was meant to be Lewis McGrillan who was a massive prospect out of Manchester Manchester top team another guy who really the fan base of embraced it was personality of personality

we had a great replacement in Jack Cartroy coming at the 11th there are both men used to be Cage Warriors bantamweight champion Kaelin coming in a heavy favourite this time Dunna tell me what it's been like to be around Kail on this weekend he seems absolutely delighted with this new situation with BFL

I mean look been around him probably I'll fight a bit more than Paul. I think Paul's not saying at the fighter hotel. I think he's got like his own... Call him a diva? Diva? Is that what you're saying? He's preparing himself as best he can. Say it. But I think

you know, I think that Caleb is in tremendous form. You know, there's an argument to be made. So some fans are making this to me. Now, I think it's a little bit much. But if you look at the two fights he lost in the UFC, both on short notice, both with late opponent changes. So I think

you could argue undefeated in fights where at the the correct amount of preparation time in the UFC. So Kaelin, and that would make him undefeated in his whole career. So I think he's in a good position. Jack looked, obviously, he asked for the catchway, he asked for the 140 because he came in on short notice and fair play to him. But, you know, he didn't look phenomenal. I mean, this comes from me who's, you know, never looks phenomenal on scales.

But I think, I think Jack, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's positive here. He didn't look at his best. So, yeah, I would be confident in Kailen, not just because of myers, so fact he's got a full camp, the fact that, you know, he's fought at the top level of the UFC, even if he's lost show,

he's competed at that top, you know, UFC level. So I think he's, I think he's probably got this one, even though Jack is a very, very good predator as well. What are we thinking, Andy? Do you like in everything you're hearing

from Kaelin this week? I know you've interviewed him ahead of this fight. Yeah, I really like him what I'm hearing. It is interesting. like he's kind of talking about this being almost like the last chapter of his career which kind of seems crazy

because it feels like only yesterday that he kind of enters the pro space but he's got a big task in his hands I think against Jack Carter like I don't think this is an easy replacement fight compared to Lewis McGrillan you will remember very well Pete see the one-night tournament that he had

in Cage War is when he was kind of breaking on he had that rat tail like he just looked like an absolute psychopath and he was starching lads and now that's you know it's been some time since then but you know he was in octagon there not too long ago he looked really good the one thing that i would get him maybe highlight is he was due to fight twice for the octagon title had to pull out of both of those fights and uh due to injury i believe and as subsequently now sign with pfl coming

in a short notice and i would feel like that that really goes against him here you know the fact you factor in that it's a catchway fight you know how in shape is jack cartwright coming into this and when you think about Kailen Lachran, sometimes his fights are not the prettiest. Sometimes it's just he's dragging lads down and making their lives miserable. And I could see that happening tonight in Dubai. I could see, you know,

Kaelan and Jack maybe, you know, trading on the feet for a little bit. Jack Hartwright's got some big, big power in his hands. But ultimately, the smart play here is for Kailan to just take him down and wear down the gas tank and that's how I see the fight playing out tonight. Yeah, I can see it happen in a similar way.

And also it's also just, It's very quickly worth noting as well about Kaelin that since his last fight in the UFC and since he signed the NFL and everything, he's now fighting for two because his brother Tiernan has had to call time on his career at the end of just 24. I think that that kind of motivates and as you know that they would have had great ambitions together as brothers and Tiernan, five years his junior, would have had, you know, ambitions of maybe even doing better than Kayland and maybe even going further. And so I think I think the support is going to be with, it's definitely a little.

I think he's going to be highly motivated, Kalen, just to kind of fight for the family and sort of compete on his brother's behalf as well, who's here, who I believe he's going to go into a coaching career. And yeah, I think all of that adds to motivation, as well as the fact that Kaylin's not too far from, you know, a shot at a higher open the card, Magamma McMettoe for Sergio Bettis.

So, yeah, he's got a lot to fight for and a lot motivating. And just to add, before you come in, they've also trained together. So I think as recently as the camp, former Grillen, they were sparring. I don't think they did a huge amount of training together, but still they were in a much friendlier capacity, Cartwright and Lockren than, you know,

facing off inside a cage tonight. Yeah. Before we go, lads, I just wanted to ask you, in terms of like what this fight would mean for Irish MMA, where would sit alongside those great McGregor wins in Vegas and New York, don't know, where would you put it? Like if Paul Hughes,

managed to get the job done tonight against Usman and Amaga Madoff, potentially the best fighter outside of the UFC in the weight class. Where would you put that in terms of big Irish MMA wins? I mean, yeah, outside of anything Conner did it, is there ever been anything even close? Gary, maybe, MVP,

do you know, guys like that? Yeah, Gary's had some great wins. I mean, certainly Gary and Bilal would be pretty big. I think from now on, anyway, Gary gets going to be right up there with the Conner one. But, yeah, I just think, like, I mean, the Nuremberg family, all of the guys in there are so special. Everyone at that gym is so special. They're beating them at all.

They're beating, like, even one of the lower-level guys from the Nermikmato Gym would constitute one of the great knight in the Irish. I mean, we've never done it before. We've lost every single one. We just lost one today. So, yeah, I think it would be, yeah, like, it would be right up there with anything Conner did. It might even be, you know, like, it would be above more recent Connor wins, right? Like, it would be a bigger night than when Connor beat Sironi. It would probably be a bigger night than when Connor beat.

Boree the first time maybe when Connor beat Dennis even like he would be right in amongst those great Irish women and certainly yeah there's a huge Granswell of support for Paul to do it inshallah what you reckon Andy

yeah I mean it depends what we're talking about if we're talking about the scale of the night anything McGregor has done is I mean even even the ones you mentioned there pretty big the one McGregor find out

went to was the Siever night in Boston. That was insane. It was insane. I can say he's scaling the cage to go on Alo. I think take McGregor out, it's the biggest. Like, we've never had an Irish fighter surmount that hurdle of getting the Bellator slash PFL title. Peter Quirley,

Cheney, Kavanaugh, obviously training out of SPG, and there's probably another one or two and Carl Moore, a couple I'm missing. I think it's the biggest, but I think, and this is just a reality is where we're at now is it's Ian Gary and Paul Hughes

just trading off so if Ian goes in and beats Balal I think you know as far as the stature in the sport you could argue that that is that is a bigger win the fact that Paul is doing this against undefeated you know 19 and Ousman

or Magamatov and it's a rematch I think that would make it a little bit bigger if he were to obviously go win and win the UFC title that would surpass it and they're just trading off now so it's a really good spot right now for Irish MMA and yeah I think if you take McGreg out of the equation this is this is the you know if you can get the job done tonight it's the biggest of all time right lads well

beautiful stuff do you want to join me for the super chats that occupy the back end of this show or are you all too busy and have to leave oh look at dunacques in the media room Andy Stephenson has a dinner reservation at a 745 it is now 711 and he's staying what commitment would you get it from Chuck and Ben I don't know I honestly don't know I forget what the guys look like can we have the super chats please Andy

who's better than on our Jordan forever actually getting back on this show okay no I don't need to hear that mute those people immediately Andy sorry Barzaman says 50 dollars holy shit Barceaman I mean wow I love

I mean Barca man I love Barcelona can I just say Sagrada Familia the new camp I visit them all I drank your beautiful beer can't remember the name of it San Miguel of course

and I've poured it on my sunburned body to get rid of skin that was falling off due to the sunburned that I've inflicted on myself. Can we just have that again, Andy? I forgot to read the question. There we go. Pizzi! I love crack.

I do too. I'm a massive crack user and abuser. Great show, well done. Keep it up. Thank you, Barsa, man. 50 fucking snots, what? Jesus. Anything else?

Yeah, I mean, big time show. Sledo, who seems to have something of a Celtic cross there in his thing. 99. All appreciated. Just because Barsaman threw his massive appendage down the table doesn't mean you all have to do it. Well done on remembering the super chats piz. Aw. Well,

I often forget them as we know, but look, my Irish guys... Trolling you for not reading them when they were sent. You know, we don't learn. Do we have anything else there, Andy? Here we go. Boogie alpaca, which is my favorite name. Every time I see it, I'm like, that is talented, and as you can see, his... I believe that's just a llama.

all right don't tell the alpaca what it is okay he the boozy alpaca is control of what animal it is okay how does one in america god bless america watch hughes v usman to hbo the answer to that question is ESPN unlimited do you know how i know i checked in with mr gc connor burkes and he told me that information so if he is incorrect get over to his twitter there and give him plenty of abuse um but let's talk about this ESPN unlimited thing you know people pay a hundred in America for pay-per-view. 25 bucks for this. And you get the whole month.

And you also get to watch the fight of the year. Come on. It's a great deal. Are you working for ESPN? Is that what's happening here? What's the soup flavor today? Oh, wow, wow. We're not going to get into any taking of the soup.

Can we just say, thank you very much to all the crackheads for watching. We're going to be back with a post-foot show. Me and Ariel Hawani, the aforementioned Ariel O'Anni, are going to be back in the aftermath of Paul V. Usman, too. We're going to be back giving it to you right down the neck. Thank you very much. Andy Stevenson. Thank you very much to the Corby. Thank you very much, Guillermo Cruz. Thank you so much. Andrea Fernandez.

On there, Jordan, we didn't miss you at all. Chuck Ben, who are these people? See you guys in a few hours. M-wah.