The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 322 preview, Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua?! Jalin Turner, Big John McCarthy, Coach Tim Welch, Gareth A. Davies, On The Nose

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by recognizing the anniversaries of UFC 1, UFC on FOX 1, UFC 205, and UFC 281, which all took place on Nov. 12 (03:38).The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll join Ariel to answer On The Nose questions, with topics including criticism of Dana White, the relevance of 'UFC Embedded,' what happens after the studio cameras stop rolling, Thanksgiving dinner guests, and more (10:44).Jalin Turner joins to discuss his decision to return to MMA, how he landed on Edson Barboza as an opponent, overcoming mental hurdles ahead of the comeback, learning to embrace having his family at fights from Ian Machado Garry, and more (59:13).Coach Tim Welch gives his immediate reaction to reports of Jake Paul boxing Anthony Joshua, before getting into his breakdown of UFC 322, Sean O’Malleys next fight, his prediction for Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan 2, and more (1:28:07).'Big' John McCarthy talks about his return to refereeing, the state of officiating in MMA, how improvements can be made and implemented, his stances on recent refereeing controversies and the Ali Revival Act, and more (1:57:24).Gareth A. Davies is back to bounce around the boxing world and discuss the Paul vs. Joshua reports, the buzz for Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn 2, plus a special guest appearance by impressionist Al Foran (2:37:47).The crew rejoins Ariel to dive deeper on the Paul vs. Joshua report and answer a few more On The Nose questions, before turning to your Super Chats (2:58:36).

Ladies and gentlemen, now, welcome to the Eriya-A-Waddy show. Back in your life on this Wednesday, November 12, 2000. And 25, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It's great to be here on a lovely yet. frigid Wednesday in New York City. We are inching ever so close to Saturday night, Madison Square Garden, UFC 3-2-2, as they say overseas. Can't wait for this one. Much to discuss. We have been discussing much more discourse to be had, but I can't help but think of how we are sitting

here today on this Wednesday, November 12, 2025, November 12th, 2025, November 12th, being the most important and historic day in the history of mixed martial arts. Yes, as I said, the most historic day in the history of mixed martial arts. Why do I say that? Well, let us count the ways. Let us start with UFC 281, November 12th, just a few years ago now. Alex Pereira, Israel, Adi, Sonia, Madison Square Garden. The great thing about this date is that these days, they're always at MSG around

this date. This one, UFC 281, just a couple of years ago. What a huge, huge moment it was in the history of the sport, the rivalry, to be exact, 2022. Feels like yesterday. Remember having them in studio. Then we go to UFC 205, November 12th, 2016, one of the most iconic shots in the history of the sport. The very first event at Madison Square Garden, the first event in New York State after the ban had been lifted, the band that was instituted in 1997, 2016. There's Dylan. Yeah. And there's the shot. Two belts. We'd like to apologize to absolutely no one. This is the post-fight interview that Kike Hernandez botched, that he tried to nail and he botched. But it was a great moment. UFC 205. Then we go all the way back to UFC on Fox

number one 2011 Junior Dos Santos on free television first time the UFC's on big Fox broadcast TV one fight one hour the booth was

Dana White Brock Lesner John Jones and Kurt Menifee it was an unbelievable quartet and there was a lot made of the fact that the rest of the card was on Facebook Clay Guida against Benson Henderson was on Facebook

and the fight lasted, you know, some, what was it exactly, 61 seconds, 63 seconds? What was it? What was it? Let me see right here. I think it was 61, if my memory serves me, Craig. 64, to be exact. One of two events, one of two fight weeks that my wife ever came with me. She went to the UFC 136 event in Houston and then this one a couple weeks later and then never again.

Then we had kids and everything, so it became a little more difficult. but we did go to a dinner and Alster Overeem was sitting next to us and I remember Dave Meltzer was sitting next to Overeem and then he fell off a chair. It was just a weird scene but it was a great time. It was a really great time and Overeem was very, very lovely. And then, of course, the main reason why we remember this date, the main reason why we celebrated as the most important date

in the history of this sport. It was on this day back in 1993. UFC was born. Yeah, happy birthday, UFC. Yeah. McNickles Sports Arena. UFC won. The beginning.

Look at that. Ultimate. Hoyst Gracie, Kent Shamrock. What a logo. What a time. 32 years ago today. Oh, my God. It was a cold.

It was a fridge-a-night in Denver, Colorado. This is how the broadcast started. It's incredible to re-watch it all these years later. Take a look. Take a look. Yeah. Look at this Oh my god

You know yourself Look at this, look at this How many times have we watched this? The ultimate We're live from the Mile High City of Denver, Colorado Oh yes we are Warning local residents to brace themselves For a huge snowstorm

But tonight, the big storm on everyone's mind Is taking place indoors At the McNickles Sports Arena Oh yeah The site of tonight's landmark martial arts event Eight of the deadliest fighters in the Bill Wallace. No holds barred combat to determine who is the ultimate fighting champion be forewarned.

No rules. No judges. No scores. And no time limits. Testing themselves in bare-knuckle combat. Look at that head of hair. You'll witness, Hoise Gracie, Brazilian and world light heavyweight jih Tijuana. So good.

Patrick Smith, 1993 Savaki Challenge, heavyweight champion in Taekwondo. Art Jimerson, IBM, North American Cruiser boxing champion. Gerard Giraudo, world heavyweight Savat champion. Zane Frazier, the WKF Super Heavyweight Kembo champion. The best part's coming up right here. The best part's coming up right here. The number one ranked shoot fighter in Japan. Oh, you guys, look at that ankle lock.

This guy's the man. Two thousand to the second round. Okay, here's the best part. Here's the best part. Here's the best part. Here's the best part. Here's the best part. Terry Roger's uncle.

Here's the best part. Fact check. Yeah. Anything can happen, and probably will. I feel bad. I feel bad laughing about it, if I'm being honest. Here comes, here comes. Hello, ladies and gentlemen.

You're about to see something that you have never seen before. The ultimate fighting challenge. Hello, I'm Bill Wallace, and welcome to McNichols. Excuse me, at McNichols Arena in fabulous Denver, Colorado. He hate to see it. Hello. Tough as the kid said. What is called the ultimate fighting challenge to where they have different fights.

He fights to swallow. He tries to work through. the swallow. Realized that he called it the ultimate fighting challenge instead of championship and he knew it was over from there. Then he tried it. Instead of saying

excuse me and hitting the swallow he tried to fight him. Do you think he realized in the moment that he messed up by calling it a challenge not championship? Oh yeah, his heart was pounding. Then he hit that. I just still quit it. God.

Oh, in fabulous Denver, Colorado. Also, doesn't introduce you. It's like the dismount on the Colorado pronunciation. No. Jim Brown, legend. There were a few gaffs there. That's all right.

That's the first one. It makes it memorable. Pete, you ever see that footage before? Yeah, I just didn't know what you were referring to it. Until he flashed up on the screen there and hit that beautiful. I did not remember. Also, we started the best parts coming up. Yeah, it's about to be here.

45 seconds out. He always goes a little too early on the, it's coming up. I wanted you guys to get ready. Just did it. Okay. Blind rank, the best things to happen on November 12th in the history. It's not a blind rank, yeah, we already know them. Yeah, I guess so.

I try to. I would say UFC 1 has to be the most important thing. Connor number two, and then I guess UFC on Fox 1 and then Izzy Pereira? No, I'll take Izzy Perrera over you. Really? I mean, just historically, UFC on Fox 1. It comes and goes. They switch broadcast partners three times.

I kicked off. Didn't Joe Rogan have a similar faux pa on the first broadcast? on Fox when they were introducing it on Fox for that event? Didn't it go to him and he had a bit of a... He called somebody the wrong name. No, no, no, no, no. This was the press conference on the Fox lot when they announced the deal

of August of 2011 and it's Rogan wearing a suit and they're going around. But it wasn't his fault. He was going off a prompter and they flashed to the wrong person. It was, I'm pretty sure it was like Frankie Edgar, Rashad Evans or Rashad Evans, Frankie Edgar.

And doesn't he go like, that's not somebody? He just was very uncomfortable. He's wearing a suit jacket. the whole thing was weird. They cut to him too early just standing there silent. We were literally there watching this. They invited some media and on there, forget meeting with Fox Execut and they're like,

you know, we're going to cover this. Journalism matters to us. We're going to cover this seriously. Just want to let you know. I was like, oh, okay, this is great. Wow. Yeah. How'd that turn out? Anyway, as Faye would have it, on today's program, I didn't even plan for this. Big John McCarthy, who wasn't at UFC 1,

who I believe debuted at UFC 2, is going to be on the program. We'll reminisce a little bit about that. But more importantly, he's coming back to MMA officiating, and there's a lot to talk about as it pertains to MMA officiating. So I appreciate him coming back. It's been a while since we spoke to him, and I'm looking forward to that chat very much. A. Good friend of all of ours, Gareth A. Davies, the Warlock, is going to be joining us from the site of the UBank Ben to Open Workouts. I want to get a feel for what's going on over there. What's the buzz like? what's the temperature like?

I don't mean the actual, like, you know, the Celsius temperature. I mean, like, what's the appetite here? What are people saying? Is it too soon? What's he thinking about the fight? Senior, junior, you know, Nigel, Conner, all this stuff. We'll talk to Gareth about all things. Eubank Band, too, and some other boxing things as well.

Still maintained that the Wardley Parker stoppage was, quote, unquote, absurd. Tim Welch, one of Mysterious Frank's favorite. the Red Hawk, he's going to be joining us to break down UFC 322, so we'll get into the nitty-gritty with him. He does a great job on his YouTube channel, looking forward to that, and Jalen Turner, who you may recall retired back in March, is now coming out of retirement. It's one of the shortest-lived retirements in M.A. history. It's not quite, you know, it's not quite John Jones coming back, you know, what was it, eight days later, seven days later, maybe even less than that, but he did retire in March at UFC 313, and he is coming back at UFC 323 on December 6 against Edson Barbosa.

Wanted to have him on to talk about why he's coming back and why this lasted so short. So a lot to get into. There's the four-pack. There's a lot, a lot of stuff going on in the world of combat sports. It's been a phenomenal week so far. But as you know, on Wednesdays, we love to shoot. So time now for everyone's favorite second one of the week. It is time.

By the way, before we get into things, I want to give a special shout out to our friends Down Under, and Cam O'Neill in particular. You guys know Cam O'Neill, the father of one Casey O'Neill, who has a promotion down there in Australia known as Eternal MMA. They're having their 100th event this Friday, November 14th, and this is a place that has obviously produced a lot of great talent. The likes of Jack Delamadelaena have been produced over at Etern. MMA. They've been going strong for 13 years. They've held events across six regions in the

area, Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and even New Zealand. No other promotion in that region is doing anything remotely close to this. And like I said, the likes of Jack Della, Casey O'Neill, Stephen Erseg, Quill and Salkeld, Cody Hayden, Jack Jenkins, Tom Nolan, and many others have come through those doors. So they're actually having Eternal MMA 100 on Friday and 101 on Saturday as they get set for

JDM's big title defense against one Isamahachev. Wanted to give them a shout out. Congratulations to them. Good people over there. And one of these maybe we'll do a show down there. Maybe we'll do a show. We have so many big plans, so many big dreams. Maybe. That would be nice. We'd love to get

back to Australia. It has been a while. In fact, 10 years since UFC 193 when Holly Holm knocked out. Ronda Rousey, the great Chuck Minnell has an amazing piece looking back at that over on uncrown.com, so go check that out right here and now. Okay. Stockton Slap asks,

G.C. and Rick, in honor of the watch party this weekend, blind rank these six ways to consume the wacky tobacco. Oh, wow. Wow. We're each doing our own blind ranking. Why don't we just collab? Yeah, I think you guys should

collaborate. Hey, Jesus, what if we have a strong disagreement? Well, we'll find out. Benjamin Franklin Can you explain what these are? What does that mean? Benjamin Franklin, he's talking about like a weed pen. So you can do this

you know, inconspicuously. You can do it kind of, you know, if you're riding on the subway, you hit it just a little just... Okay. What's up, dude?

No, no, no, no. That just smells kind of funky in here. Maybe on like a plane or a movie theater, you hit the sub shirt. Maybe just like a quick, just... Okay.

It feels like you've got a little bit of experience on this. Got a ghosted, dude. Okay, what do we got? What do we got? I'm going to go two. I'm going to go two on that. I mean, it's nice.

It's nice. You can also, like, casually go about it. You don't, you don't have to, like, you know, you can kind of gauge how you're feeling. Blunt. I'm terrible at rolling these, so I'm actually going to go three. I have to go one. Actually, I'm pushing four. I'm pushing.

Wow. More to one. Hand-rolled joint. Oh, so does that mean we're going to get a pre-roll. on here as well PRJ No, actually not Okay, then I'm

I'm going one I love yeah Join over blunt Absolutely Wow this is crazy Absolutely You go free to weigh in as well I mean we could do a whole

I'll never touch the stuff I won't know anything Madness Gummy edible Gummy edible Three yeah It kind of creeps on slow Very discreet

A vaporizer Okay so we're talking about Like a volcano Like it fills up the bag I used to do the bag Grace is back in college. We've learned a lot about your college days this week. Should be, should be like a two, but because of the slots, I have a five.

Binger rip slash pipe. I actually don't know what a binger rip is. A bong rip, I'm assuming, maybe? Oh, maybe like a bong rip, so, like, yeah, we're talking about a pipe. Glassware. Yeah, I'll go six. Six! He adds, I know Ariel likes his wacky with some grand slams, and P.T.

likes his with some killigans. Cheers, Kim. How about like a... I don't know what he's talking about. a Coke can with like a tinfoil. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's the OG one. Okay, what to start? Bluntz one, for sure. Ariel, you ever heard of black and milds?

Is that the thing that, uh, yes. Yes. Our boy, yes. Malcolm said. Shut up, Malcolm. I don't know what he was talking about there either. Yeah, oh, I know. I couldn't tell if it was a wrench that he was talking about or like, a black and miles. Black and mild. There was another time we was talking about a wrench. He's like, you know what that is? I'm like, yeah, yeah. Chris is. Yeah. Of course I know.

You got a toolbox in the crib? For sure, 100%. I just changed a couple of light bulbs this weekend. How many home warnings does it take to change the light? That's one, baby. Kyle, guys, Kyle. Fellas, let's have some talk about the physical Asia show on Netflix. I'm absolutely shocked that Robert Whitaker,

Yushinokami, Deng Young Kim, and Manny Pachia are a part of the cast. Ariel, how much are these guys making for this show? There's no way they are just competing for that prize money. Any chance you can get one of them to come on your show to talk about the experience? Okay, can I, can I be. be honest for a second. I don't know what the hell you're talking about. What is this?

It's a Netflix show. There's a show that has Robert Whitaker, Ushen Okami, Dungan, Kim, and Mani Paco on it. Do you remember Sexyama was in it recently as well? Last season, Sexyama. What is it? It sounds incredible. It's like CrossFit.

It's kind of thing. Oh, is it like American Gladiators type of stuff? Not quite that, but it's like in the same lane. Is it like American Ninja Warrior? Not quite. Yeah. Okay, so they're actually characters on it? It's a reality show.

They're on. it. Wait, they're like living in a house together? I don't think it's filmed that way. It's not a house. It's not like a living... I don't know anything about it. I don't watch it.

I need to. Everybody keeps tagging me. My barometer, Andy actually brought up that show the other day and I was like looking into it. I haven't seen any clip circulate, right? Like, we at least saw Nate and John like a clip of it. And I was like, okay, at least this is kind of relevant. I haven't seen anything from it.

So I don't know how much is... I mean, there's a ton of comments on this particular question, but I really know. nothing about it. I've not seen it once. I'll check it out. And I believe Manny left the show. Oh. So.

He quit? No, he said he had some business to take care of in the Philippines, so he was gone. Who's to check? Probably should have looked into that before. Who's to check? Senator Manny, we don't, we don't. Real deal, Menefield, Rick, please blind rank these six horror films. It's all blind ranks now.

Audity. I haven't seen it yet, but I believe it's, I know it's pretty good, so I'll go three. I'll go right there. Parasite. is that horror though I was just going to say this feels more thriller Parasites A cultural commentary

That's not a There's not going to be a better movie on the list So I'll go one but it's not a horror Barbarian Two Prisoners Fuck That's two

That four I've never heard of any of these Midsomer Midsummer Midsummer Midsummer Nocturnal animals Oh

That's our recent entry. That's a really good one. Chill and Holland. I didn't know how many we were doing, so six. I've totally botched this litch. But Parasite doesn't count. Prisoners is a banger. Prisoners is a banger. It's not a horror movie either, though. Yeah, another... Another non-hre. Like, these are mostly thrillers. This is Steve Bouchemmy weighing in. He says, Happy Paperview Week. No question. Just Frank,

not showing his face still puzzles me. I just picture him looking like the Cyclops from Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay. No hate. Just where my brain takes me. Peace and love, peace and love. It's pretty accurate, I do only have one eye. I guess he's bothered by this. In fact, I do want to let you all know something very exciting. We do have a special premiere tomorrow, so historically, big pay-per-view fight weeks.

What do we do, Connor? What do we do, big pay-per-view fight week? Fight feast, baby. Fight feast. Now, we had always been talking about what? What were we talking about? White whale. The white whale.

some might say when a certain TV show reaches a certain level there's a movie version of said TV show, right? You know, The Simpsons, Entourage, you know I'm talking about Piztee, right? Like, there's a TV show that's popular.

And then there's like, The Simpsons, the movies, South Park, the movie, Entourage, the movie. Well, we are very happy to announce that tomorrow, premiering at 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 in the West, 6 in Eta. It's what? What premiere? What's premier? Tell him. Fight Feast the movie.

Yeah. A little more production value. Some bigger guess. Everything's just, everything's ticked up. Just one notch there. Fight Feast the movie. You know why I thought of this? Because Frank is in it and he's distorted. Distorted in a way we've never seen before. I have to say, the quality of his distortion. I love to sell on that. When I first saw it, because I'm not the one editing this time. Tell them. Tell them who is, because that's big in its own right. Biggie C. Lydon flew in. flew in for this fight feast

first ever time having a real camera crew having a real editor normally Frank is just a giant blob in fight feast and this one you get the outline of the man the myth mysterious Frank and why do you say

white whale what makes it the movie because of the guests the first guest coming from outside the team it could only be one in New York City Mr. Action Brons Oh my dear year. And we have a teaser. We have a teaser for all of you.

Just a little nibble. A little. A little. It's like 90 seconds just to what the beat. For the composition, do you know? Change the composition. One p.m. 1 p.m. Eastern and tomorrow it premieres. And then the boys will come on at 130, right? Boys in the back. We'll call it 135. 135, all right. Who's to check? Who's counting?

Here we go. Here we go. We have a teaser for all of you. This is it. You've never seen Fight Feast like this before. Some are also calling it, but also. FF FTD That's what they're saying We didn't call it that Action Bronson

Please take a long He's high That's right Hey appreciate you That's right Yeah Fight Feast number one fan right That's right baby

He's high for 322 He's ready I need you to choose The Action Bronson main event for 322 The one people are sleeping on Man that Kyle Doc is Gerald Mershot I knew it. That's the one I had circled. I had this shit circled. I said that's going to be the Broncos made of that. I just enjoy it man. I enjoy eating tacos and watching fights. This is

unbelievable. Was that one single piece of steak in there? Just nice and thin. You understand? Incredible. The way that that slice comes off, you only get the crunch and then the inside you get the soft. But it's just a little piece of soft. It's really crazy. Is there an elbow? Oh yeah. Imagine my nose explodes. This is the move. You throw the knee and you...

He's going to take that. I'm going to take that single. I'm going to take that single. I felt the power right in my testicle. You're going to go for a ride. You're going to go for a ride. Holy shit. That's next level power.

Now, get out of you. That's Barry. That's Barry Bond Circa 2001. His back ain't. All right, so you're actually first guest ever outside the team in Fifee's sister. You're elevating the program to a level. I don't know if we're going to be able to reach you. No, no, no.

I'm telling you, after this, you're going to be fucking, you're going to be skating on ice. Like when I saw Boys to Men, fucking my birthday when they lit Rockefeller Center Tree, they had Boys to Men on Ice singing. I saw that. This is that for you. All right. So we become Boyce to Men on Ice. Men are nice.

Boys in the back are nice. Oh, this is so great. That is amazing. By the way, I didn't know we were giving the reveal that I showed up, too. Because in movies, you have cameos. Like, Happy Gilmore 2. You wanted the shock factor.

I wanted the holy shit. Alwani makes his FF debut. I had to say, I pulled, you know, the crew. I was like, what do we think for like the 90s seconds? They're like, well, you got to get the part with Alwani. Yeah, getting cracked. Let me tell you, his single leg is unbelievable. He's not weird.

That, that. That's paw. on that one real fast. His single leg was right up to the crock. He is quick. The screenshot that I'm going to take of your face after you got singled by Action Bronson with the quote underneath,

I felt the power right in the testicles is going to feed you in the game. That's a tombnail sorted. He wedged it. Done, dusted. Yeah, boys in the back on ice. Oh, my God. But you just take me to that tackle place

the next time I'm over. They look absolutely ridiculous. Oh, wait until you see these burritos. as we were chomping on. I didn't go to all the stops. I didn't go to every stop. That does not surprise me. But yo, let me tell you something.

Let me tell you something. That taco, I still talk to my kids about it a month or so later. Best taco I've ever had in my life, not even close. And these guys were struggling towards you and not to give away too much. I came in as the closer. Did I not come in as the closer? You did. You did.

We actually not only wanted you there, you were required for the last spot. Oh, I helped out. You'll have to see. You'll have to see. But yeah, he took us to three spots. I had never heard of any of them. I was like, just want to say. I've never heard of any of these places, and he's just like, yeah, that's where we're going.

Yeah. We're going places Google doesn't even know about it. I swear to God, I swear to God, I typed in the Uber to meet him at the first spot, and nothing came up. I was like, oh, that's how you know you're in the cut. Tomorrow, 1 p.m. Easter, is uncrown leveling up or what? Are we leveling up or what? We continue to. A force for the fight feast franchise, I don't know how we topped this one.

Yeah, well, that's what happens. The movie comes out, but then you go back to your regularly scheduled program, and it's okay. No one, no one can be like a movie part two. By the way, South Park, the movie came out in 1999. They're still going strong. 28 series. Yeah. I mean, honestly, the first 29 episodes of Fight Feast was just for this one.

It was all just a rule. It was all just an experiment. Warplay. Was it a sizzle wheel for action? Exactly. Exactly. To convince him to do the collab. Here's a good one from Lover.

G.C., please block. God damn it. How did this become what on the nose is? These five people who you would least want This one is ridiculous Who you would least want to meet your family at Thanksgiving Okay You ready for this?

The people that I would least want my family to meet at Thanksgiving Yeah So let's establish that people I don't want to bring to Thanksgiving Yeah Number one is the person you don't want the most The least you want there Kike Hernandez Four

Yeah Mac Daddy Is that Connor McGregor? Is he Connor McGregor? I don't know Whoever has called Conner McGregor

MacDady Other than Connor McGregor Who is MacDady? Let's go with Connor If it's Connor McGregor I'll do

three three Three People will be hyped on the cloud I'm sorry but people will be hyped

on the club Jed Mishu Uh, Jed Mishu 5, he's from across town, he's a good guy He's a good guy, shout at to Jem Mishu Wait, I just want to be clear So we're Five is the one you want to most come

The most, the most, the most, the most Okay, okay So Jets, Jets in, Jets come through Both McGregor and the Dodger player Two and one are fought Sydney Sweeney Oh, you focus That's actually five, Jed is two now

Sorry, Jed Stay away, bro. Brian Campbell? Wait, how is Swinney not one? Brian Campbell's won. Yeah, that you least want them to meet. Yeah, of course, yeah. I'm not putting Sidney-Sweeney about Brian.

Sorry, how is Sidney-Sweeney not five? She was supposed to be five. That's what I just said. He switched to them. So Brian. Yes. So Brian Campbell won Jed Meshue 2, McGregor 3, Kike Hernandez,

4, Sydney, Sweeney 5. That's pretty good. And then we rounded out with Isaac Delgarian. Dolgarian's not invited to think. If you're having a few bets, though, he might be a good lad to have around. No, no, no, I can't, I can't bring.

No, probably not. I can't bring Isaac around. Times they are changing. Ariel, I'm making a move to the East Coast next year with my wife and two young children. How is it over there? I've lived in Cali, my whole entire life, 30 years, and I'm making move to South Carolina.

In doing so, I'm leaving the in-laws and my birthplace. Any words of wisdom, it is daunting. debilitating and exciting at the same time you know I've never been to South Carolina but I've heard tremendous things the Knicks used to do training camp in Charleston South Carolina and they always used to you know glow about it that it was anyone been to South Carolina I'm assuming yes someone's been yeah several

wait pizza you've been to South Carolina landed in there for a little well I think once yeah no connection of flight no biscuit like they're actually hang out in South Carolina in the airport what airport Columbia 10 out of 10 what airport there's no way I'm going to guess that you went to North Carolina, like Charlotte. Yeah. There's no way that South Carolina would be the hub. Columbia Airport in South Carolina? Great place.

I didn't know it's any sense. I was in South Carolina a few months ago, Charleston. Nice place, right? Great place. Palmettos thing. Listen, home is where the heart is. You have your wife. You have your two children.

You're going to be fine. You're going to be great. You'll find a new community. You know, your kids go to school. You make friends with the parents. You go out. You do stuff. I mean, South Carolina, I've only heard great things.

It's not like you're going to, like, Detroit. I said that about Detroit last time when someone got mad at me. That's all. Yeah, they should. Detroit has Kate Cunningham. I just hate, yeah, I just don't like the piss. Remember that article? Shout to Little Caesars, too.

About Lowell's Seasers when the U.S. Oh, my God. Yes, and I was like, yes, yes, yes. The Detroit Free Press, just, they did a thing that it wasn't a big enough card for Detroit. You brought this shit to Detroit? And it was like, Olivera was on there, Aldo was on there. It was like, it was like actually a pretty, Overeem was all in there.

Did you interview the dude that wrote it? No, but I just went off on him. I was like, like what? Detroit, you should be happy you're getting anything. By the way, it is a great arena. It is a great arena. It's one of the nicest arenas that I've been to. I remember when you came back?

Yeah. Oh, yeah, goaded. When you came back, you were talking about it like you had gone to Mars and gone to heaven and seen God himself. I think my expectations were so low that I was blown away. The house that Clarissa built. Yeah, hell yeah. Guilatine and chill.

Hey, Ariel, when filming wraps and the camera stop rolling, what typically happens behind the scenes with your guests? Do off-air conversations ever reveal things? They wouldn't say on camera or moments that stand out as particularly memorable. I always imagine those off-camera moments must be some of the most genuine. Do you ever wish the audience could see them, especially with someone like Dylan Dennis? I mean, it's pretty quick.

Hey, man, that was great. Thank you so much. Maybe a couple of pleasant trees. usually Connor comes in like Cosmo Kramer next door, barges through the door, takes a quick picture, takes a Polaroid, and you saw it on Monday. He barged in. We're still on the air with Chale. A couple of things here. The door has started sticking. Yeah. Like he barges. It's like... So it is Kramer-esque in the fact that I bust in like that. But second, the difficulty in timing you ending the interviews. I usually leave. this control room, which is a hike from the studio, and you're just like, Malcolm, we just want to say thank you so much. We'll be right back after these brief messages from XYZ clip and yada, yada, yada. And then somehow I slow walk the mile over to the studio and you're still

going in the interview. So then I bust in and you guys are like, whoa, shit, we're still doing the interview here. So, yeah, Polaroid out. It's pretty quick. And then I usually say like, oh, they'll walk you out. Sometimes what happens is the guests will stay and talk and you guys leave. So then I have to do the awkward thing of being like, okay, like we need to continue with the show. So I'll have to. So I'm photographer. Rick is handler. So once my job is done. Rick hangs out in the thing. He hangs out in like the pit. Once my job is done, I leave Rick, Rick kind of, you know, loiters outside waiting for the call. So yeah, you know, you don't, you don't want people to feel like somebody else is involved. You know, this is a moment between you guys. I'm not, I'm not in there.

I've had enough moments. It's an hour of sitting with the person. There's nothing. worse than when you're sitting around and then somebody else who's not in the conversation, like jumps into the conversation and is like over there, there's nothing worse than that. And then you do the thing when you walk them to the studio door and then you kind of like lean out like a friendly neighbor. And you're like, thanks again for coming. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. See you next time. Yeah, you got to get back to the show.

A lot going on. We won't talk about it now, but Rick did something yesterday that is like far in a way, the nicest thing that any human being has ever done in the history of this program for someone. who's been involved in the show but we're not going to talk about it now because it's not appropriate two things to dare I say three

dare I say three this from Irish lad Who's to check Petey Who wins in this fantasy grappling matchup Oh okay This is for everyone then

Petit's not here You can say that on there Don't worry about it Derek Moneyberg Or Ali Abdelaziz What do you guys say I'll take DM I'm taking Ali for sure

Pizzi Moneyberg or Abdulaziz in a grappling match. Who do you got? One more time. Petit. Can you hear us? Yeah. Okay, sorry. I was just talking to you for a few minutes there. We were asking Moneyberg or Abdelaziz in a grappling match?

Who do you like? Him coming back to this is fantastic. Well, look, we know Ali Abdelaziz at least can be Aidan Ross, right? We don't know anything about Winnieberg. We've never seen him grappling. That's a good point. I'm going on Ali. Yeah, it's a great point, actually. We've actually seen him go live. You're right.

hey this is from big money what's up gang for New York Rick please blind rank these five classic chale mispronunciations Oh okay this is good But we don't want this though Oh Islam Makalchev This formerly was number one

I'm hoping that they got the cue from me So I'm gonna go two Alex Piera Four Surreal gain Does he say that Five that's more John La Hal Muhammad

Don't let me down here Yeah I'm putting that number three. Marab. Ah, number one. The Wash. You pay attention. The Washla Vili. The Washalavili.

The Washa Lavely. Nailed it. Marab, the Washa Lavely. Do you know about that guy? I'm still big on Blahal. Yeah, Blahal is so good. And it like falls out of his mouth too. Okay. Here is a classic one.

It doesn't qualify. Where's the L come from? Yeah, where's the L from? It doesn't qualify, but always calling her the bullet is on the list. Like, even though it's not a mispronunciation, but never saying, her name is almost like, it's almost number zero. It's almost above the list. It's hovering above the list. The next time Islam

loses, Chale's going to be like, Islam Mocklethev, putting the L in Mocklechiev. He's also asking if Ubank Ben 2 is your second most anticipated fight of the year. This one doesn't have as much steam and as we're kind of starting to recognize

like the storyline is not as juicy. It is not. It is not up there this year. I'm still looking forward to with. And I'm pretty excited about it. Well, this is big over here, lads. The surrounding content is amazing. Again, you know, I've dropped in something else and nobody's even going to respond to it

or watch it or look at it. But that's what you dropped it in five minutes before the damn show. There's a BBC documentary. Maybe a little response piece. Maybe just a little hundreds threads over here. Like, I love it. I was texting about something else simultaneously. Should we talk about that?

No. He adds thanks. And even in our darkest hours, it's still go bills. And I agree, my friend. I agree, I agree. We're not giving up. We're not giving up. But we're not giving up on the bills.

We're not giving up with the bills. What else we got? This is from Matt Mo, who's always good for at least 45 questions in the thread. So, Ariel, why don't you watch UFC Embedded? It's some of the better content the UFC releases on Fight Week. Each episode is very short like eight minutes. It's very easy to get through. I'm wondering why you choose now.

I don't know, man. I haven't watched it in years. What am I missing? Okay, Pete, you say thank you. What am I missing? I mean just classic classic insights into these guys No seriously am I missing anything

Are you being sarcastic or legit? Yeah I'll be in seconds Because GC actually does watch it Yeah I enjoy it Okay what am I missing What am I missing? It's just behind the scenes Like what have you learned

What's been, okay not learns What's been the highlight Of what the last three episodes Usually it's like Monday? So the issue is Is that I usually binge them on like Thursday evening I just rip right through them Because like you said they're like eight minutes long

It's just behind the scenes All Matt sounds There's no actual commentary on it It's just what's happening with these fighters behind the scenes. It's not like you're learning anything crazy. You know, there's a couple of jokes here and there, the haircut curse, and maybe we get like a clip going big on Twitter during the week,

but like mostly it's just cool seeing like what these guys have to go through throughout the week. It's, to me, it's interesting. But to me, it ain't even close. Countdown's the best content they put out there. I mean, I haven't watched that in years. Countdown is Ben. I'm an old school Dana White, Blogweed, Fight Week guy. You remember that?

No. Blog week, fight week. You guys remember, P.C. Rick? I think it was Fight Week, Blog Week. Yeah, fuck. That was the best when he would drop it. And then he got lazy within. He's like, all right, so what you're going to see on the blog today is like two weeks ago, we went to Houston. We had some wings and it had nothing to do with the event. It used to be, the blog week, fight week thing was actually the precursor to embedded, if you recall.

But it was just following him. He was the star. And then they transitioned to this. No hate, no hate. To your point, though, I haven't watched Embedded since I left ESPN years ago, and I don't feel like there's been anything that came out from it that I, like, missed or didn't have... Something that's big, you're just going to see it on Twitter. See it on X, so I just... But to me, it's entertaining.

I like seeing the behind the scenes. Was the McGregor and Dublin on the Forest one, Ariel? Like, an embedded? They would do embedded for a non-paper view? Because that's a non-paper view. That was just a fight pass show Unless they did a special one It's possible for Connor he got

Because I can remember the lots Where I shoot with the film We're upset with the embedded guys Because they were just getting the same shots As that was a bit of info But I don't know if that was the first one I mean it was that 2014 Yeah crazy when we're talking about

JDS and Kane It's 14 freaking years ago Crazy James Portland Hello Ariel last week Or the week before you guys said Derek Lewis wouldn't get a title shot He's the only person with a noteworthy name

To the general audience In that division besides Tom and Cyril. Does that count for something? Did we say that explicitly? I don't remember us saying that. We were doing like an over and under situation. We were kind of like yes or not. Yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't know. I mean, honestly, I guess he could. Obviously, he's not getting one next. And if John fights Alex, one would hope that the winner would fight Tom. But yeah, I mean, what's he ranked here? Heavyweight. Eighth. Spivak lost to him. There's Waldo out there. Almeda. coming off a bad loss. You know, there's still Volkov out, you know, Volkov against Lewis, part what, two, three?

I'm not saying he's not going to get one. We all recall him getting a title shot on very short notice against DC right here in New York City many moons ago, but I don't think he's in that like next up or even on deck, so to speak. Gavriel says, hey Ariel, no lactose Rick

and the whole crew, just curious, why did you choose to have your show on in the daytime? Aren't people at work? Wouldn't it make much more sense to have the show on at night when people are at home and can't watch live? It seems to have always been on the day. I don't know. Shows are on during the day.

You can also watch it at night if you prefer. I always felt like 1 o'clock was a perfect time for guests. You know, it's early, late morning on the West Coast. It's early, late evening in Europe. up, you know, the only one where it gets tricky sometimes is like Thailand, Japan, and Australia, New Zealand, but it's been, it's been one o'clock forever. The only time that my show didn't air at one o'clock was during the pandemic. For some reason, we decided to air DC and Hawaii at two. And it's because we taped it around this time and then we would like replay it

right away. We didn't tape it live because of, I don't know, we didn't have the technology to do that, I guess, back then or something like that. I don't know. But that was it. that was it. Matt Chiwiwi's looking ahead now, the pay-per-view model is gone with less time restraints. When can we see the UFC doing their PLEs in the New Year?

England, Spain, Mexico thoughts. I still, I feel like they are creatures of habit and I feel like they're going to try to keep it to the 10 p.m. But, you know, I think that's kind of silly. I think they believe that that is their time. The audience is programmed to watch at that time. And if you want to get the highest live viewership,

you have to put it on at that time. But I love a good afternoon pay-per-view. I wouldn't suggest going to Australia and doing it in the middle of the night. Like, WW did a show in Perth recently, and it started at 6 a.m. Eastern time. And I think that the UFC doesn't have to do that because I think that the Australian audience is already programmed, even though it's weird for them to go to a show at 10 a.m. on a Sunday,

I think they're programmed to watch UFC at 10 a.m. on Sunday. So it's not very weird. I remember talking to people about that when we were there. So I feel like they're going to try to keep it with a couple of exceptions. But let's see. We'll find out in less than two months. Shrimp cocktail says, Ola, Ariel, and crew, which do you think happens first?

DJ gets inducted into the Hall of Fame, or John Jones gets an ESPN 30 for 30. Why isn't DJ inducted into the All of Fame? I don't get that one. Like, was he that, like, he wasn't a villain. He didn't want to do the Dillishaw fight, and he was kind of proven right in all of that, but it is a little weird, isn't it?

Like, that guys will get inducted before him who have had lesser careers and who have just retired, and he is still on the outside looking at. Like, that's Demetrius Freakin Johnson. I don't know. What do you guys think? I think DJ gets in at some point. I think so, too.

I think some of it was that he was still active, right? Like he was still fighting for one championship and I don't know. Yeah. But it's been a while. And speaking of which, this didn't really have anything to do with the question. But I am shocked, we were talking about this before. I am shocked that more isn't being made of the fact that if Islam wins, he ties Anderson Silva's record for most wins in a row.

That's a pretty incredible. it's not it's not cal ripkin 2000 whatever it was 332 I think it was but this is a pretty big deal to add that to your resume as well as becoming a two division champion is massive legacy building stuff

we never thought it would be beaten right there was there was times where we said like that's never going to be equals never going to be beaten so it's it's incredible it really really is I feel like I haven't seen that as part of the well I haven't really seen much but I haven't been watching a bed it man

Oh, are you saying that they talk about it on that? They had Islam and Anderson sitting down and talking about the record. Serious? No. Oh, fuck. That would be pretty cool, actually. Yeah, I've been fucking amazing. It wouldn't have been on fucking embedded.

Yeah, it wouldn't have been on embedded. I agree with you, though. It is, he's chasing true greatness with this. I think there's a lot on the line for Islam on Saturday. Okay, this is a fun one from Mr. Miyagi. Hello, Ariel and Co. I was wondering if your decision to take the show in this new, direction was a conscious choice or an accident. The new direction I'm talking about is, of course,

your decision to turn the show into a UFC slash Dana White bashing event and to amplify every single negative thing that happens within the UFC, for example, trying to make a big deal out of every stoppage, trying to make every slightly negative story about the UFC blow up and, of course, over-analyzing every word that comes out of Dana White's mouth. I've listened to the show for almost a decade, Ariel, and out of the kindness of my heart, I want you to know that the past six months to a year has felt like your bitterness towards the UFC and especially Dana White is really coming out. Cue the hostile defensiveness about how unbiased you and the show are. I think you need to take a look at yourself and the show and really ask yourself if you were actually unbiased

because that self-given label seems like a parody and that's why I'm asking is this parody or is it a massive lack of self-awareness? Wow. Mr. Miyagi, I would say that when you're talking about the stoppages. I think we're very fair about analyzing every stoppage because ultimately that's what this whole thing is about, wins and losses. And so yes, when there's a bad one, we're going to talk about it. But how often are we talking about, you know, the Steve Garcia's of the world and the other fighters who are winning on a weekly, daily basis? And I think it's funny that when you talk about, you know, a show that on average, let's just say my show is like three and a half to four hours an episode. And then you got the boys in the back that's probably

around two to two and a half hours and then you've got the crack that's probably around like an hour to an hour and a half and you put all those hours together in addition to the watch parties in addition to the the the post shows and everything else how much is actually negative this is the thing it gets amplified sure and and it gets clipped off and all this stuff and I get all that but how much is actually negative how many times have we talked about 322 on this program calling it the best card of the year and how excited we are and how it's you know uh the best main card and how you know this one is more interesting than this one we can't wait for jean versus valentine and all this stuff like it's so it's it's laughable to me and you'll you'll you'll say that my response to you

is me being defensive but how else do you want me to respond i'm responding to your question i even picked your question i could have skimmed right over it and i picked it because i don't agree with it but i'm okay with the criticism i'm open to the criticism i'm happy to hear criticism my feeling is that when you are that powerful and that influential, you do have to be checked. That is just part of the job. And trust me, I don't think Dana White gives two shits about what we say here. I don't think he loses a wink of sleep, but it's our job to dissect what the most powerful person in this sport has to say. There's no question about it. I'll own up to that. He is the most powerful and influential person in the sport by far.

job is to dissect. The same way you dissect what an NFL owner says when he speaks, the same way if you're working in politics, you dissect what the president of the United States, he is that to us. There's just no question about it. So when he says things like, I don't know, we're not political, I'm not political, yeah, we're going to talk about it. When he says things like what he said to Nick Torturo while they were, you know, chomping on some pizza about how money ruins everything and then is very happy to flaunt the fact that he'll gamble hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars per hand

and he then talks about how money ruins everything for the fights and fighters, yeah, that's a little rich. That's hypocritical. Oh, don't know what I'm talking about? Well, we have this clip for you. Here it is. Here they are chomping on some pizza

talking about how money ruins everything in the prize fighting business. But do you think that that event kind of like It was a great event, but did it hurt Connor in the long run? No, I mean, money ruins everything, so once you get too much money involved in the fight business, if you look at, you know, Connor made so much money, and then that was it. And then Habib made a shitload of money, and that's it. And, you know, but being a part of that, I fought it for so long, like, this isn't a fight to make.

And the fans wanted to see it so bad, and we ended up doing it. And it was awesome. It was fun. I mean, the world tour that we went on, Connor and Floyd were both great on that world tour. And then I think Connor did a lot better than people expected. How does money ruin everything? Like, the fighters are getting paid what they are due,

and more often than not, they're not. And so here's a very, very rich man worth hundreds of millions of dollars who would never say that money ruined everything for him or anything for him. I would say that he has enjoyed a pretty good life. And so yet, like, to say that Habib retired because he got rich, I think he's very insensitive. Habib has told us multiple times why he retired. I don't think it's because he got rich.

I think it's because his father passed away and he made a promise to his mother that he would stop fighting as a result. Connor McGregor fought multiple times. He fought Chabee. He fought Donald Soroni. He fought Dustin Porriott twice. He was supposed to fight Michael Chandler. he didn't retire after that fight did the fights become a little more infrequent yes the pandemic happened and yes his his his desire to you know to to be as active as he once was once he got

rich is 100% a thing that happened but like to suggest that the money is ruining these guys when you are a guy who has profited off of that money is not something that I just want to ignore I'm sorry and you could get you could get people who ignore that all day long so don't watch the show I don't know what to tell you but I would say what would the breakdown be 95% positive 90% positive like we have literally devoted our lives to talking about this sport and and I can assure you we do not devote our lives to coming here and sitting and bitching about the sport but it's not all peaches and cream it just isn't Josh Pee hi Ireland crew a couple of hard hitters for you today is baseball the most irrelevant

international sport, calling it the World Series when it's only North American teams. Competing really bamboozles me. People get worked up over this nonsense. It's a great sport. If you don't like it, okay. Cricket's not popular here. Rugby's not popular here. And I'm not going to shit on it.

People like it overseas and in other parts of the world, great. They get hung up on the World Series thing. My response to that would be the best players in the world as far as baseball is concerned. in the major leagues, in MLB. And so, yes, other countries aren't being represented, but they are being represented via the players who are involved. And so it is the best of the best.

There is something called the World Baseball Classic. We'll have that again in March. I enjoyed immensely. But look at the Blue Jays and the Dodgers. Who's the best player on the Dodgers? Shohei Otani. Who's the second best player on the Dodgers? Yamamoto.

Where are they from? Japan. Who is French? Freeman represent Canada, born in the U.S., but represents Canada and the WBC because his mom is from there. Look at the Blue Jays. Vlad Garrow Jr., Dominican Republic, and on and on and on it goes. So it's a worldly sport. I don't know what the breakdown is compared to the other. It's a lot more worldly than the NFL, I'll tell you that. It's probably more worldly than the NBA, but the NBA is getting a lot more, you know, a lot more diverse when it comes to, you know, the best players in the

world are from, you know, currently you can make a case that the five best players in the NBA aren't from the U.S., which is amazing. The likes of Yokic and Shea Gilgis. Who else? Luca Donchich. Yonis. Yonis. There's one more. There's one more. Yokic, Shea, Wemby, Embed for the longest time Lou Dwart I don't think he's in that No no no no no But I so I would just say

Maybe NHL is a little more worldly as well But I don't know I enjoy it You don't like it It's all good Grant Young Hey Ariel I was surprised at how earnest Josh Hokit was on Monday's episode

And how authentic his Mr. America gimmick seemed to be If there was one active Canadian fighter who could benefit the most from a patriotic Mr. Canada gimmick, who would it be? And do you think Canadian fans would rally behind that sort of thing? Or is it just exclusive to American fans? I mean, would Mike Malott be that guy?

But he's not that guy. You know, he's like, he's too Canadian to be that guy, if that makes sense. You know? I think it kind of just works for the American. Drew, are we now sponsoring UFC pay-per-view events? Notice Embedded States V-Chane UFC 3.

are we going to see Coca-Cola UFC 340 soon? Is that the case? Yeah, the V-chain branding has been on all the like communications about the event and the name. Oh. So is it called like V-chain UFC 3-22? That's what they've been putting on social.

Yeah. Oh. Wow. Look, TKO has openly said like they are in the business of selling real estate, right? Whether it's the mat at the UFC, whether it's the mat on on WWE, like everything on WWE is sponsored now.

And so I wouldn't be surprised. Jose Cuervo UFC 350. Or it could be like UFC 350 presented by. But yes, I could see that happening for sure if it hasn't happened already. This is from Colin. This question is for PT.

I'm an American who grew up watching American football fins up and has started following rugby over the past few years, Leinster. As an Irishman who has recently gone into American football, what are your thoughts on the similarities and differences between the two? Do you ever think that America can become a Tier 1 nation in rugby again by promoting these differences in encouraging non-NFL caliber football players to begin branching out?

Well, that is the problem, right? The professionalism, the level of pay in the NFL is much greater than in rugby. I wouldn't be a huge rugby fan. My dad and my brother are to go to. a lot of games. It's a great sport. It doesn't have a lot of stoppages like NFL does, but it's not as explosive either.

Obviously, they're not wearing helmets, so they don't colloid at the same kind of speed. You only pass the ball backwards. It's great. Like, I love the Six Nations every year. I don't really get into the World Cup, but I do believe that if there was no NFL, the US would be brilliant at it

because of all the brilliant athletes that are playing the NFL. I just don't think that it will ever catch on And because football is such a presence in the country, it's just the biggest thing, right? I just don't think that it will trickle down to rugby. But I believe that like the colleges play, like Harvard and Prince and all those kind of places. It's actually quite popular there, club teams. Yeah.

Yeah, I just, I don't know, it's just to me, the NFL is just so spectacular compared to rugby. It's even in here, it's become more popular. It was kind of like a, it was kind of a class thing for a long time. It was more of a middle class thing, especially in. Dublin, but it's become more widespread now into working class areas like that. But it's huge over here. It males, females, everybody loves it. It's a massive deal when they're in a tournament. Pizzi's Ashtray says, howdy Ariel and the Boys, quick fact for you. In Australia, our roly cigarette papers called Tallyho used to print little facts on them. One of them

was that in 2019, 87% of Australians lived within 50 kilometers of the coast. I know you guys like your facts, and it goes fitting with G.C.'s massive cigarette addiction. After listening to the show for around two years, I've become obsessed with not just MMA, but journalism itself. From asking the right questions to staying neutral and unbiased, I really admire how you and the team break down barriers with your guests. Thank you. I've also tried to develop what I call the journalist mindset approach, asking questions for the other person's sake, staying open-minded and always keeping the quote, I really don't know much in mind to learn new perspectives.

Here's my big question. How do you connect with people and get them to open up? How do you structure your questions? Do your research and follow up to build up lasting connections. I ask because I run a vintage, a retail vintage store, old soul vintage, on the gold coast. Shout out and building relationships is a huge part of my day. Thanks for everything and much love and happiness to you all. I mean, Malcolm Wellmaker, right, is a good example.

I really just wanted to learn more about him, his backstory, how he got here, how he got into this, what he's had to overcome, obviously he had a very interesting previous chapter in his life being a pipe fitter. And I don't think, I think you just have to be inquisitive. I think the most important thing is to be inquisitive, is to be curious, like I said, it's to be empathetic, to have an open mind, an open, an open soul, an open heart, open years, don't be so, don't be married to a script of questions. Listen, respond. The same way you're at your store, someone comes in and tells you about something, now you're reacting to it. And then you

just go back and forth that way. You vibe that way. And so, of course, you want to be researched. You want to know about the person going into the conversation. You want to have some sort of sense. I get to flex this part of my brain a lot when I do the Olympic stuff. on Friday, interviewed a snowboard half-piper. I didn't know who she was 24 hours prior. But I had to learn and then learn enough to where I could feel comfortable talking to her for 15 minutes, but at least recognize the fact that I don't know

the intricacies of snowboard half-pipe. I don't know the history of that. I don't really know much about her and her background. I've read stuff. I've done my research, all that and more. But I just have to have a basic knowledge and then take it from there and allow my curiosity,

allow my listening to guide us. And so you ask questions, and then you follow up on that, and then you go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And so I just think that, like, I listen to a lot of interviews when I'm getting ready, especially when someone comes in studio, I'll listen to like some old interviews of theirs. And it drives me nuts. People are interrupting. People aren't research.

The conversations are awful. There's nothing to take away from it. I was experiencing that with Malcolm. He's been on some shows. I'm like, this is tough. This is tough. So I just, I want, I want to learn about why he converted. I want to learn about, you know, the gym that he's at and, and becoming a dad and becoming

a husband. Like, that stuff interests me more than the fight on Saturday. So I appreciate it and I wish you the best. We'll get to a few more questions, perhaps back into the program. But for now, let's, let's move along with things. Back in March, we found out from Jalen Turner that he was calling it a career and it was a great chat. It was a heartfelt chat. He came on the show and we talked about it. You know, he was one of the best fighters in the world and had essentially had enough. And then we found out just a couple of

weeks ago that he's coming back. He's coming back at the next pay-per-view, the final UFC on ESPN pay-per-view, UFC 323 December 6 in Las Vegas. And I wanted to understand why Jill Turner decided to come back some, you know, nine or so months later. And so without further ado, let us say hello to the Tarantula, who's kind enough to join us on this Wednesday afternoon, to talk about it all. Hello, Jalen. How are you? I'm doing well. How about yourself? I'm doing great. I do want to let you know that this news came out, oh, I don't know, back in October or so, I think it was. However, we hear on the, well, not this program, another program on the network called The Boys in the Back.

We got a tip in September from someone who works at Petcoe who told us about this before the world knew. I want to play this clip for you and you tell me if this is an actual real thing that happen. Take a listen. I have met Jalen Turner at my work. I work at PetSmart. I'm not, I work at PetSmart. And I'm working at PetSmart. I see a cool dog and I look up and his Jaylen Turner training a dog at my work. I talked to him. And he told me, I wasn't supposed to say anything, but I'm going to tell you guys. We're all, we're all friends here. He told me that he's returning to fight in November. Now, he was training his dog. We talked a little bit about dog training a dog trainer and he was like

don't tell nobody but I'm returning to fight in November. So Jaylen Turner officially out of retirement and is returning in November. Hopefully we see him in the UFC. Okay, so he got the month wrong, but is that a real thing that happened? Did you tell some guy at PetSmart? I said Petco, I apologize. PetSmart that you're coming

back? Yep, that was the real thing. And I told him not to say nothing. Yeah, what the hell that? You just blurted it out. That's a wild thing. See, I'm, see, I trust people. So how did that happen, by the way? You're at the store, and the guy recognized you, and you're like,

yo, man, I'm coming back after all? He ended up being a fan, you know, talked to, you know, like knew who I was. And, you know, I just gave him a little update, you know, talk to him about it. We talked about dogs a little bit. And then I was like, yeah, you know, I was like, I was shooting for November, trying to get back in there. And then, you know, lo and behold, ended up being December. But it all worked out.

It all worked out beautifully. But, yeah, so that's how I came about it. Okay. Okay. So I'd love to understand how this all unfolded. Back in March, you're telling us about the retirement. You're a little bit emotional, but you seem at peace with it all. How soon after, okay, the dust settles, now no one's talking to you, you're just a retired

UFC fighter, do you start to think, wait a second, I want to come back, and why are you feeling this way? Honestly, first of all, when I retired, I definitely didn't have any, like, aspirational to come back. Like, it was, like, wholeheartedly, I wanted to step away, didn't want to, like, think about fighting. The wild part is the thing that happened was Ian Gary's camp asked me to come train with him for the Carlos Proctus fight.

So I literally get up off the couch, and I'm like, yeah, I'll go do it. Like, yeah, like, I'll help him out. So I go there, and, you know, we train and, dude, Ian's such a good guy. You know, his wife, his family, the whole thing. team everybody was such a good atmosphere to be around and they kept telling me like you'll be back you're going to be back i'm like no i'm not like no i'm not i'm not coming back they're like do your talented dude you're good and i was just like yeah but i don't i don't feel it anymore i don't have that that passion for it so um you know being being in the ian's corner watching a fight like

i was okay being out on the sidelines and like i was like man like maybe i'll just start coaching and just you know just do something along those lines but that sparked me to get back in the gym. So after that, I just started staying in the gym. I started just teaching guys in the gym. You know, I started getting more involved in the church. I started helping so many people in the church. And I just started serving people. And the more I started doing that, the more I started to see, you know, how God was working behind the scenes really just showing me a new way. And I was like, okay, Lord, I was like, open up a new door. I don't want to go fight. Like, this and that's not what I want to do. but I was in prayer a lot and I was in just good community and I know God was like

I need you in this atmosphere for now I need you I need you there for now like go fight again say all right so lo and behold I'm back but also I found the love for it again I found the passion for it again being around the young hungry guys like Richie Miranda like Lejean like Jacob Rosales my buddy Daniel Matos like all these guys are hungry in the gym working and grinding and I'm like, man, like, they want to be where I'm at and I'm just, just letting this opportunity pass. And I'm like, man. And I'm like, you know what? I found a passion again, helping them out, seeing that they're hungry and I can still hang with these guys. And I'm like, all right, I'm still, I'm still good. I'm still able to be

in the top vicinity of the UFC. So I always said, if I came back, I wanted to fight a legend, like somebody that's been in the sport for a long time and like i prayed about that and i honestly i thought it was going to be like charles but i was like there's no way charles going to fight me and you know he's ranked i'm not ranked it wouldn't it wouldn't have made sense and edson was at 145 at the time so he didn't even like cross my mind at all and then one day um i was talking about my manager and we were just like like man like god's going to end the year with a bang watch like something was going to open up because they you know like I just I just didn't feel right with anything like I was just like okay like we'll see maybe November's not probably going to happen and then boom like

the next day he calls me he's like Edson Barbosa December 6th I said say yeah so yeah that's it that's it I said that's the one you know I prayed about it and I was like yeah I think that's that's the move you know he's a legend he has he's a veteran of the sport he's a K-L artist great striker you know it's like i i love the match up and i just think it would be fun for the fans to come back to how long ago did you decide okay i am officially coming back and and what was that process like to say to probably call up your manager and say okay i want to tell the ufc that i'm coming back how long ago was this um it was maybe maybe like late august maybe somewhere around there i don't remember the exact time frame but i stayed in the gym so that was my thing like i

did not stop like after i went and helped uh train with i for for that that week i did not stop training after that so i just started feeling inspired being around all these guys being around cub being around my old team being around uh anthony gonzalez you know and just i just got hungry again i was like ah i do love this uh i do have a passion for this i am skilled at this And I just started to just stop believing all the lives and doubts that were just being poured into my own mind and my head. And then I got, you know, got close to my family again, got back right with my kids and everything just kind of just became dusting to the rug. And even my kids were like, Dad, we want you to fight again. I'm like, for real again?

You want me to fight again? They said, yeah. I said, all right. So, yeah. Did you exit the testing pool and then have to reenter? Did you stay in it the whole time? so um i exited it i exited the testing pool for it was such a short period so it was only like uh like a few months in between not even not even that long so they literally like came and tested me

right away and they said since i wasn't out so long and all my tests came back like negative and everything was clear that i was good okay okay so so when you when you decide to come back and and you tell the UFC this, are they just like, all right, welcome back? Or do you have to talk with someone to convince them that your heart is in? Like, what does that process like? Um, true. I didn't have to talk to anyone. Or at least your team. Like, do they just say, like, all right, Jalen's, you know, Jalen's changed his mind. He wants to come back and like, all right, we'll let you know. Or do you have to sell them on, you know, that you really want a fighter or he had to sell them? I didn't have to sell anyone because ultimately it's, it's my decision.

and the action was already showing and where I was. I was in the gym every day still. I was still training hard, still sparring. It wasn't like, oh, he's not training. He's not doing anything. He doesn't care for the sport. He's not doing anything or equipping himself

and he's not being ready sitting on the couch. You know, so I think that was the convincing point for my coaches around me and everybody around me. And then, you know, my management already knew that too. Like, I'm posting videos in the gym and really training all the time. So I don't think it's, took too much convincing. I think it was more so, just, just like more so for myself to try to convince myself, oh, yeah, I want to go back. Yeah, I'm like, yeah, I want to.

You know, and that's the thing. That was what it was. That was like the step back, the step away was, you know, knowing that I wasn't mentally there to compete at the, at the highest level where I needed to be because I just was not functioning. Like, there's a job. There's all going to be times where you've got to do things that you don't like and you got to overcome and endure but like I was saying like my circle was really like it was just the foundation was really pivotal at that time so now I got like a good foundation around me a good circle around me so I know no matter what the result ends up happening I'm gonna I'm gonna bounce back and no matter what the result is I'm not retiring after this fight okay so like are you gonna retire yeah yeah you're back

you're back for good or at least for now you're not back for just one more right into the sunset no I got I think I got three to four more years okay Oh, years, okay. I thought you were going to say three to four more fights. In retrospect, do you think something else was going on back in March? Like something, I don't know, you're burnt out or, you know, you talk about the circle and all that, but do you think something else led to the decision? It wasn't, I don't think, when I lost my two close-blade decisions,

those are something that really, like, they hurt a little bit, you know, when I lost the game, when I lost the Dan. So I think those two things were just underlying parts of it, especially, just especially with how everything was going. I feel like I won the fight against Garam out. The Dan Hooker fight was close, you know. I think it could have been a draw. But, you know, it's like those two fights really, I think they kind of, they robbed me

of something in a sense, you know. And that was hard to deal with, but I don't think I ever really, like, came to terms with it. Then, you know, further, like not getting, not getting a, getting my hand raised was just kind of like, dang, the pressure is starting to, like, build and I just didn't know where to place it. And then, you know, ultimately, when with this last, this retirement, it was just like the tip of the iceberg was just everything else. And it was honestly, it was just, it was personal. It was a lot of things going on in my personal life. And, you know, I don't want to name names or

talk about people specifically, but, you know, I had a, I was doing a. I was doing a. training camp and then I ended up leaving because you know I had just personal stuff going on like literally just uh I don't know how transparent I ever be to talk about it but maybe one day I'll talk about it but yeah I just have personal stuff going on in my own life so even with that last fight you know I didn't want to fight it and you know I know I know God was telling me to go fight that fight and I still did and yeah you know so now I'm back and everything happened for a reason. I just, actually, I just watched that fight with the Nossio last night

for the first time ever. Wow. And it tricked me. I always watched my fights. There's only two fights I haven't watched, and that was one of them. And I haven't watched the other one yet, but he said he had a dream that he was going to win by submission. And I was like, wow. I was like, wow, that's so

crazy. And I was like, that had to have been God. I was like, because that's one of the fights I don't want back. Like, if you ask me, oh, who would you want a rematch? It's like, I'm not going to say Ignacio because like I just know where I was and I know like he like that's that's his win you know what I mean I just know it in my heart I'm just like that's his one and when I seen that in the in the post prior interview I'm like I'm like yeah I'm like that was it that was a god move so that's I think that's why I was so at peace with the result because usually after

it lost like I'm I'm fired up like no matter what I'm ready to go back in the gym like I want to fight again like right then there like let's fight again you know but that's one of the ones where I was just like, oddly calm about it and I just, I peace about it. But yeah, I say that to say, you know, there was so much personal stuff going on. And it was just really a buildup a snowball effect. You know, I moved, I moved away from, I moved away from home. I was training out of state, training out of the country. You know, it was like so many big transitions going on.

And then having like just, just falling out with coaching and then, you know, just doing all this, having all this happen right before a fight, not getting in my US, I didn't even get my contract for the fight. You know, I hadn't got my fight contract for the Ignacio fight. And I was like, dang, like, am I even going to fight? Like, all this stuff going up in the air and like, I get back home. And I was like, I'm like, yeah, I'm not fighting this fight. I'm like, I'm not fighting this fight. Then the U.S. season of the contract, like a week later, like two weeks later. And I'm just like, dang, like, I ain't even been training like I should have been. And then I'm like, all right, I'm a fight. And I pray about it. All right, I'm a fight. Get the call.

my buddy calls me like i think i want you to fight i'm like all right i'm a fight so man it was just it was an emotional roller coaster like and that's what i mean like if i had like you know um just solid a solid circle i would have been able to just move maneuver better through all that stuff so yeah it was just one of those things you know it was just one of those things but yeah by the way what's the other fight that you haven't watched yet now that you watch the ignacio fight i have not watched that u s 300 fight with moikano okay I've not watched. I watched the highlight, like a little piece.

I've not watched the entire fight. I haven't sat down, I watched that fight. You think you ever will? I'll watch it one day. It bothers you because you feel like you let that one slip away? It bothers me because that's, that was one of the biggest points where everything started to just, just, crumble for me like that was like that was a fight where that was a fight where personal stuff really started just crumble and relationships started to just get shaky and iffy and i just

and honestly like looking back at it i just know i just know god was like if i had won three hundred thousand dollars for finishing him that fight and i just know people around me would have got really fickle. And that's a big revelation or reason why I didn't want that. You know, like, it's crazy as it sounds, you know, I know that's the reason why. So. You say that you don't necessarily want

the Ignacio fight back. You're at peace with it. I would imagine you want that one back. Yeah, I want that one back. One day I want that one back. I want that one back. I want, I definitely want Dan back. And

maybe Maybe Gamrod. Maybe Gamrod again. I watched that fight so many times. I'm like, I'm at peace with that one too, because I'm like, I'll be him. I'd be Gamron. You know? I mean, you mentioned these names. These are the who's who. These are some of the best fighters in the world at 155 pounds. So yes, while some of them didn't go your way, it's not like you were losing to guys who were in the top 50. These are guys in the top 10, top 15 at worst. And so I'm very excited to see what this new and improved or these, you know, maybe like the resurgence in you, what it all translates into. In May, did you have surgery? Was that anything that was plaguing you and how

serious was it? It wasn't too serious. I tore my meniscus during camp while I was in Dubai and I knew it right away already. But, you know, fighters fight. So I still fought and got surgery. It was a quick recovery. It wasn't one two major. I literally started skateboarding like, I think like two weeks later. Okay. And for preparation in, you know, in this training camp for this fight, for this comeback, did you link up with Ian again since you seem to have enjoyed your time with him? Will you, did you do it this time or will you do it in the future? Well, I didn't do it this time, but I definitely would do it in a future. I reached out to him, I reached out to him a couple months ago. And then once he got the ball fight, you know,

I just, we just kind of just, yeah, didn't stand communication. And also, I'm just not big on traveling for camp. I'll travel outside of camp to go train, but when I'm in camp, I like to stay grounded, like, at home, like with my family. And that's something that I really learned from Ian, too, man. Like, he had his, you know, he had his son there, he had Leo there, he had his family. Like, it was, like, that's something that's something that I need to start taking into my fights, you know, like being around family, like having that atmosphere with you. Like, it should be, like, tight-knit family when you, like, even when you're going to going to battle, going to war, you know?

Like, I used to always say I wouldn't have my kids at my fights, you know. But then, like, I see how much it played a factor to it and just normalizing what you're doing, you know. It's like, all right, this is another day at the gym. I'm just about to go train. And it just keeps you present. So then when you go fight, you can fight at a better performance, you know, at a better peak mentally.

So, and I've realized that about myself as well, you know, like, I don't like to travel for training camp. I like to stay home, stay with my kids, do my whole normal routine. And it just makes everything flow better. And then when I go to Fight Week, it's like, all right, now I can lock in. How old are your kids? My son will be 8, December 20th, and then my daughter's 6. Okay.

Are they showing interest in martial arts? Yeah, my son definitely loves it. My daughter, my daughter was doing pull-ups the other day. She did like five pull-ups, and everybody was all impressed. Okay. And are you cool with them continuing down this path? they got to go get a college education yeah yeah yeah i don't mean being prize fighters but and and who knows what happens when they're older but like at least now are you are you cool with

them practicing training things like that yeah absolutely i definitely want them to train and know how to defend themselves with need be especially my daughter like that's something that's that's that's uh that's a that's a non-negotiable but you know as far as pursuing as a career that is percent up to them i won't ever force it on them i won't ever tell them they have to but you know as as far as learning a martial art and learning martial arts in general yes you have to learn like you have to learn and defend yourself during your your hiatus and maybe at the beginning of it did you take a break from mama did you not watch fights did you not like keep up with the news did you need just like a mental break from the whole sport yeah yeah i didn't watch anything i didn't know what was going on

i was updated i was like don't tell me i don't want to talk about it i'm not even Even my close friends, they were like, I haven't watched the fight since you fought. They're like, I haven't gone to an event since you fault. I'm not going. It's not the same without you. And I'm like, I'm like, yes. I'm like, yeah. Yeah, and then I got the call to go help Ian.

And, you know, even with that, you know, like I was supposed to have surgery before I went there. And then I was like, I'm going to just go do this. I'm going to go help him. And then I'm going to get surgery after. So, yeah, it was awesome. And what about now? do you feel like now that you're back and you have this renewed enthusiasm are you keeping up with it are you watching how do you feel about the sport i've only watched like the big fights i

haven't really been keeping up still honestly i don't i don't keep up with it as much as i used to and i was younger like i'll i'll keep it with some of the lightways in the top i'll keep up with like the big names but as far as that i'm pretty much a casual bro okay i'm honest i was just curious because there's a there's an interesting fight this weekend that sort of pertains to your your way class and that's islam moving up from 55 to 70 to fight jack della how do you think he'll do in this in this main event on saturday um it's something always shows up i think he'll do i think he'll do well i think it'll be a good performance i think it'll be a great back and forth battle um you know may the may the best man win that night and yeah i'm excited to watch

i'm definitely going to watch that one that's going to be good jack is a monster I love his style. I love his hands. I love his work. I love watching both of them fight. So, yeah, I'll be tuned in for that one. What about Armin and your former Foha Dan Hooker next week? Armand Sirukian, that's a big fighting in your way class.

What do you think about that one? Oh, I think that's going to be a good one. If Dan can endure the grappling, because Dan, dude, Dan is like the toughest man on the planet. He's the toughest human being ever. So I believe he'll be able to endure the grappling as long as he'd have. doesn't get subbed or anything, he's going to tough it out, and he's definitely going to, you know, try to push towards the later rounds. But Armin is the monster, and he does not get tired. His grappling is good.

His striking's got him better. He's just getting more comfortable in there. So, dude, that's going to be a war. It's going to be a back and forth battle. Dan's definitely going to make it a war. Like, I think he's going to come out and make it a war. Who does he get in the handraise? I don't know.

I don't know. I won't count out Dan in any fight, you know. So, yeah, we'll see. by the way i i i know you breed uh pit bulls right um we talked about this at the top how many how many do you actually have oh i only have two i got i got two i got a i got a boy and a girl's uh flare and my dog salara flare just had some puppies so i'm thinking about keeping one of his puppies but yeah i don't i don't have a bunch of dogs i just got two okay and is flare named after rick flare no no relation to rick flare at all you know but uh everybody thinks that um not he's

he, when he was a puppy, like, he just had this spark about him, and he was just something fiery, and I was like, what's a good name? What's a, I like unique names. I like things that aren't normal, things that, you know, people can't say, oh, that's my dog's name. That was my old dog's name. Like, I've never met a dog named Flair, so I was like, Flair. Even with my nickname, like, I never met a tarantula or no other fighter had to tarantula,

you know, so, yeah. And now that you're back to fighting, you're in training camp, you're about to fight in about three weeks time. Have we paused on all skateboarding activities? because I remember you saying that you were excited to do it more and not having to worry about injury. Now, how are you handling the skateboarding stuff? I haven't even got to.

You know, I just kept training. I kept training and I haven't skateboarded. I've been skateboarded since I've filmed that clip, actually. Wow. How long ago was this? That was maybe like three, four months ago. Okay. Yeah.

So you are taking a break? Yeah, yeah, no skateboard. You're not allowed to do anything crazy when you're if I can't. But you're a pro. I didn't know if that qualified as something crazy. And just curious, I'm always curious. I'm interested in religion. I'm interested in why people follow, you know, what they want to believe in and how it touches them and what it means to them.

Were you always a religious person or was it just now recently that you got into it and this kind of helped guide you through this time in your life? I was not always religious. So my mom raised me and my sister, like in church, I started, I started going to the church I was like 13, 12, 13 years old. I got baptized and then so much like stuff happened in that church and I just straight away and I was like, I don't, I'm cool on all of that, you know, like it was a lot of church hurt. And yeah, I didn't, I would, like my mom would ask me to go to church every now and again, every blue moon.

So I would go with her sometimes, but just kind of like just show face. And I wasn't, I wasn't about it, you know. I was just like, okay, like, I'm here showing up. I had no relationship with the Lord, you know, and this was only recently, I think about two years ago, you know, so like a person of significance came into my life and like really poured into me and poured into, you know, the aspect of understanding who Jesus Christ is and reading the Bible and getting to know him. And I just built that relationship.

And I've been blessed to have my pastor helped me and just brothers in Christ help me and continue to keep me sharp and growing and just learning about the faith, serving people. And this definitely been something that's helped me so much because even with all the success I had and dealing with everything I was going through, I just kept turning to, like, alcohol, partying, drinking. And I just kept feeling empty. And I'm just like, I don't understand why I'm feeling empty through all these things and instances. And then, you know, now everything I've gotten through, if I told you everything that's going on this year, man, like, you wouldn't even understand how I'm like happy and smiling. But it's just,

through the grace from the Lord, you know, like Jesus Christ has just truly helped me get through everything. And it's been a blessing. I can feel the smile coming off the screen. I could feel the happiness. You're a much different person than the one we spoke to back in March, and I'm delighted for you, man. Welcome back. I'm glad to see that you're in a good place, that you're happy, that you're excited, motivated, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what this means come December 6th. Can't wait for your return and very much appreciate you coming on to talk to us about this. So again, thank you. And good luck. Good luck in training. Good luck on the night. And welcome back once again. This is an unexpected thing. I wasn't, you know, we've seen

MMA retirements end, you know, after a year. So maybe not always after a few months. But this is a special thing and it's great to have you back in the mix. Yeah, it's great to be back. And honestly, like I said, I didn't expect to even come back this fast. I thought it was going to take me a couple years. But hey, God was moving. And he told me, I go back, go do this. I'll say yeah. And, you know, I'm happy. I'm excited. I can't wait to go back in there and perform. I can't wait to go back in there and fight. And, you know, I'm going to be here for a while. Love it. Thank you, Jalen. All the best to you. Looking forward to it. Thank you so much. Appreciate you.

There he is. The tarantula, Jalen Turner, returning on December 6th against Edson Barbosa. A big fight for him to come back to Barbosa, returning to 155 as well. And that's the final UFC paper view of the year. I don't know if they're on the, I don't know if they've announced the breakdown of whether or not that's going to be on pay-per-view or main card and all that stuff. That's the one headline by Marab, De Wally Shvili versus Piero Yan, and of course, Josh Van against the flyway champion, Alex Pantosha. In a matter of moments, we're going to be joined by one of our favorites on the program. The Red Hawk, Tim Welch. There is some breaking news that we can mention.

And we can get into it throughout the show. But Ring Magazine is reporting that Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua are getting closer and closer to finalizing a deal to fight in December in Miami. So we know that Jake and his team have been working to salvage this Netflix date. He was supposed to fight Tank Davis. We know about the Francis Sangano offer. would you say that this is a big test for Mr. Jake Paul? Anthony Joshua has not fought since his loss to Daniel Dubois. Prior to that, he was on this comeback tour, if you will, very much rejuvenated. This is a former heavyweight champion multiple times over. And still, I would say, one of the best heavyweights in the world. This is a guy who will fight at 250, 260, Jake Moore of a cruiserweight. Don't know more about the terms, about the rounds, about the, you know, pro exhibit, I would imagine it's a pro fight,

but I would think that Jake will get, or I would hope, I should say, get credit for taking on this challenge. I'll get, I'll get the thoughts of the boys later on in the show, but this is a much different challenge than the one that Tank Davis

was going to present, just given the size difference. Like there's literally a hundred pounds and, I don't know, a foot difference between A.J. and Tank Davis. It's a completely different fight, and it would be happening within the next month or so if, in fact, it does happen. So interesting stuff there. Let us go along now and say hello to our next guest, who is kind enough to join us. We always love talking to him.

He is the man known as the Red Hawk. He is one of the smartest men in the game. He's got a tremendous YouTube channel. He breaks down fights like no others. Very fun podcasts. I've had the privilege and the pleasure of being on it myself. He's the one and only coach Tim Welch. What's up, Timbo? How are you? Doing good. Great to see you. Been a busy, busy morning, but glad to be here. You're squeezing us in. That's a very polite way of being like, I'm a busy guy. I'm doing you a favor. Let's make this quick. Is that it? No, every time you text, no matter what, I'm going to make time for it. This is the biggest show in Eminem. Well, I appreciate it. You look very studious today. I like this look, this shirt.

There's a thrift shop right next to the dojo here, and it's this guy. He was, he's probably 60 years old. His name's Brad. He's my stylist. So he finds my shirts. He texts me. What do you think of this shirt? And I go down and grab it. Well, shout out to Brad. It's a great shirt. It looks great on you. Your setup is always so great. I always love your voice. I've said this when I was on your podcast. You have a very sort of late night DJ vibe.

You know, like I want to go to sleep to your voice. You know what I mean? It's a great thing. Hell yeah. I appreciate it. By the way, can I just ask, I know I'm springing this upon you, but just at first glance, Jake Paul Anthony Joshua, you like this? Dude.

People have got to have respect for Jake Paul. If something like that goes down, you can, not not have respect for this guy last fight okay against daniel dubois fight before that beat francis nangano yep beat auto otto wallin that is such a dangerous fight for jake paul i'm i'm curious would it be on netflix yes i believe so oh my it's a big deal man that's a big step up like tank is tough and and were you out there with sean um in porto rico i saw some footage of them together no he made it a quick trip quick trip they went down there for w to do some film and stuff. I had so much going on here, so I stayed home. What was his assessment? By the way,

I had no idea this was coming right before you were coming on the show. So I understand I'm springing this upon you, but I'm just kind of, you know, digesting it myself. What was Sean saying about the training over there and how he was looking? He said their training just so dialed in. That's all they do. They train in the morning, rest, and then they train at night and live lavish in between. They have a chef and he said he's pretty focused down there in Puerto Rico. He said it's pretty badass. Okay. You think he could win that fight? You think you could beat a guy like Anthony Joshua who's that much bigger than him and that much more accomplished? Do I think he could beat him? I like Jake and Jake's a buddy, but I don't think he can beat him right now. But the

size of the Cajone is on him. Yeah. Talking about that fight is crazy. Yeah. So someone will say it was fixed or that it's, you know, they'll make up something about him. That's usually how it goes, but I do agree. You have to respect the willingness to take on this challenge, especially one month. Were you surprised Francis Inganu? Didn't take the fight? I mean, I'm curious what you think about that, but you get offered. Someone comes to you and they offer you $20 million for an easy fight. 20, 30 million, however much it was. I just think 10 rounds of boxing when you're not in shape and you're not prepared,

that does, I mean, that would tarnish France's whole legacy going 10 rounds with Jake Paul on two weeks notice. So I think he found a smart way on saying, no, he's not interested. Okay, yeah, I would have loved to see it, but yes, there's a lot for him to lose. There's obviously a lot to gain as well, given the money involved. But Joshua's is, I mean, it's an even bigger name in the boxing world. So let's see how it all plays out.

Part of the reason why I wanted to have you on, Tim, on this particular episode, was because I love your breakdowns. Your YouTube channel is fantastic. You continue to do a great job, great production. And I love the top four fights in particular on this card this Saturday, UFC 322. So I just wanted to hear because I feel like a lot of them are 50-50 fights, including the main event, which is the biggest of them all. So when I say Jack Delamadalena versus Islamachev, can we get the timbo breakdown here? What are you thinking?

I mean, obviously there's ways for Jack to win. But he's such a, he's got a springy stance. He bounces in. He bounces out. We're going five rounds here. his cardio is great. He probably walks around at 195 pounds. Islam's used to fighting guys that are probably walking in the cage 175,

but Islam is a natural 170. I've been around this guy multiple times. He is damn near six foot. He looks like he's 200 pounds out of fight camp. And that's what most 170 guys are, six foot to six two. And they walk around 195 to 200 pounds. But Islam, you see him in his pictures now. He looks just as shredded as he does at 155. He's talked about it in the past that Cutting to 155, trying to recover in 24 hours and fight five rounds.

He said he's max at 60% of his strength and power when it comes to recover and after weight cuts. Now, I mean, I think we're going to see a whole new monster in Islam Makachev. I really would love to see Jack put one on his lips, boom, and put him out. I would love it, and I'm hoping that happens. But I think Islam Makachev is going to get on top, put him in half guard, and probably submit him, unfortunately. Okay, because you tweeted a couple of days ago.

That's actually what prompted me thinking about having you on. You said, you're nervous for Jack. You think this is going to be a really tough night for him? I do, because his defensive wrestling is good. Bala Muhammad, I don't know what happened in that fight camp. He wasn't shooting nearly as much as he does, but he has this weird defense. First of all, when you try to shoot on someone who's going side to side, they're constantly switching stances.

It's hard to get in on shots. But he also, when he stops his shots, he, he, he, changes levels and he blocks people with his forearms and he gets his forearms in front of their collar bones and stuff. And I think that could work pretty well, but someone as strong and as big as Islam Makachev, I think it's going to be hard. And he is working with Craig Jones, so he's able to make, hopefully make some jujitsu scrambles happen. Start from half guard. If you just try to wrestle up, classic wrestle ups on Islam Makachev, he's going to darst choke you. He's going to grab a front headlock and that's where his best

finishing spots are. If he can get underneath him and maybe go deep half guard and do there's a sweep called the John Wayne sweep that he did against Bala Muhammad in Halfguard where you usually get pinned and he did John Wayne sweep he stiff armed his armpit technical stand-up if he can do funky stuff like that it'll help but I think Islam Makachev

and those guys are going to be prepared for that kind of stuff and I think he's just you've seen it in the past Jack getting taken down pretty easy and Islam when he takes you down he's just not going to let you up you saw him against Dustin Porier Dustin Porre is such a good black belt

has such great teammates Division 1 teammates and when you go in there like go in there with someone like Islam Makachev and you're not used to train him with people that have that that strong of a fucking grip

who's been grappling their whole entire life that's just a different level of strength when it comes to the grip and you see him even on that hand class machine he has like 161 pounds on that thing he's got big paws on him I really would love to see Jack win

because it makes a division so exciting but also Islam Marx has a fucking freak show. Man, I love these breakdowns. You do such a great job. I am curious about what you think of Islam, the striker. My rudimentary take is that he understands who he is as a striker and what his limitations are. And so he keeps it very, very simple.

He doesn't try to do anything crazy, flashy. He keeps it simple and it's effective. Do you think we see an evolution to that as a welterweight because the guys may be bigger, longer? Do you think he keeps it just as simple and that works for him? I think that's just the Russian style. They don't do a lot of flashy. They don't do switching stances.

They don't do a lot of flying stuff, like much spinning stuff. They're just that long Russian style of boxing. And a big reason Islam, I mean, Islam's boxing is so clean, but a big reason it's so clean is because people are constantly worried about him, level changing and shooting into a high crotch or a single leg. So it opens it up for his striking. But I don't think we'll see much different striking, just clean, simple, fundamental boxing from him. It sounds like you think this is a really good matchup for Islam.

Do you see any nightmare matchups for him at 170? If he gets by this one, can he have the same type of prolonged reign at 170 as he did at 155? Or are there going to be problems to come? Someone like Shavkat, someone like Shavkat who's just giant, who's a giant, and he's going to have good defensive wrestling. I would love to see Kamar Uzman get him. I know Camaro's getting a little bit older. but Camaro's performance against Hamsat Shamaev made me think damn maybe Camaro could do something but still at 170 I just don't know if

there's anybody who can I think Islam's going to stay at 170 I don't think he's going to go back back down if he wins if he wins he's going to stay at 170 I don't think he's going to go back down and I think I think he's a nightmare for all these guys if you were Jack's head coach what's the game plan here I mean you saw him you saw him do it again you saw him do against Balal. The way he's

changing levels, blocking with his forearms, always getting a hand inside. When he gets on the fence, he's got a strong

grip too. He's always going two on one. It's hard to finish these takedowns when you go two on one. And again,

working with Craig Jones, trying to use jujitsu. He does more jiuitsu. He doesn't do classic wrestling standups.

Try to have the same game plan he did against Ballal. And we're going to be able to find out in the first probably,

in the first five minutes, if Jack's going to be able to shut down those shots or not. And if he accepts those takedowns and Islam's able to get on top and half guard, it's going to be a long night. What's your assessment of JDM Balal in that I think a lot of the talk afterwards was that Balal didn't use his wrestling enough? And I personally don't think that JDM got enough credit for his defensive wrestling

and keeping him at bay and keeping it sending. Do you lean towards more Balal straight and maybe fell in love with the striking and wanted to prove everyone that he can knock him out or was it more Jack's doing? You never know, you never know with these guys. You never know with their fight camps, how much they're able to wrestle, how much they weren't able to wrestle. But then you do see people like that. They're like, oh, man, why didn't you just shoot more?

Why did he take him down more? It's like, put someone in front of you about three, four feet away and have them bounce side to side and juke side to side and switch stances. Then when they are squared up in front of you, they're punching to your stomach. It's a lot harder than you think. So I think you do got to give Jack credit. Just his footwork, his footwork and his tactics in that fight made it hard for Ballal to track him down.

Okay, so ultimately you're going with an Islam victory via stoppage, right? I want Jack to win. I do. The guy just seems like just the nicest guy, a family guy. I want to see that team win, but I just think it's going to be hard going against someone like Islam Makcheev. I think Islam's going to submit him. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Early, you think? I don't think early. I think Jack's going to be able to stick around, stick around long enough, maybe third round, third round dars choke head and arm choke Islam's a pretty big favor going into this fight I think him winning via submission is like a plus 200 so if you're on prize picks which I do believe sponsors you maybe that's the pick

I don't even know if you could do that type of stuff over there I don't partake They're actually adding it soon You're going to pick a winner or a loser Usually they pick you pick more or less You can pick more or less on takedowns More or less on significant strikes More or less on like the fight time

But now they're adding soon You can pick the winner or the loser Okay I'm just as interested in Zhang Wei v. Valentina Shevchenko. And here's another situation where someone's moving up from 115. I wish that she could keep her belt, and we could see champion versus champion just like I wish that Islam was able to keep his belt.

How do you see this one playing out? People don't talk about it enough, but for fighters, their confidence is like one of the biggest things, confidence going into a fight. And right now, Waley, five-fight win streak, Valentina pretty much two and two in her last four with the draw, Lexa Grasso. It's such a good fight. Valentina's 37 years old now.

Wayley's 36-year-old. I think especially the way Wayley's coaches talk, she's just so dialed in. She hits like a guy. Valentina does too. I mean, she hits like a guy too. But Whaley swings her whole hips, her whole shoulders in it. She swings punches to fucking kill you. There's a reason she's got, she's a girl.

She's got 26 wins with 11 KOs. You don't see that very much. So I'm picking Whaley to win. Yeah, I think she too is an underdog going into this one, and that surprises me. Yeah, that is surprising. I wonder how they got that. So how do you see it playing out? Do you see her finishing Valentina always very, very tough to do so?

What do you think? I think Whaley will win a decision. Okay. Do you think she's the best fighter in the world as far as women's MMA is concerned? Yes, I do. I do. I think she's number one pound for pound as well Yeah, I think so

She's just she's just so solid So solid, so springy And a girl she beat She beat Joanna twice Jessica Andraud Carlo Esparza Amanda Lamos Tatiano Suarez She's just so skilled

And my favorite Probably girl fighter to watch Yes Her evolution has been phenomenal I think early on people thought Oh the UFC's just giving her opportunities Because she's Chinese-born fighter I think she's proven that she is much more

than just that And I think she's going to be incredible at 125. I agree with your assessment as well. Yeah, I think she can be strong at 125. That extra little bit of horsepower go a long way. The performance against Tatiana Suarez was eye-opening to me. Like, I think everyone thought Suarez would just sort of steamroll her, and obviously that did not happen.

I think the guy who has the most pressure on his shoulders on this card is Sean Brady, because I thought that Sean Brady was going to get a title shot after fighting and beating and dominating and submitting the only on it. Edwards first man to ever do that. And instead, he has to fight a killer named Michael Morales, who, let's be honest, if you're a casual fan, you probably don't know if you're a hardcore fan, you know, and you think he's terrifying and he's gigantic and he hits like a freaking truck. And they're like, yeah, here you go, fight this guy next.

You just submitted a former champion now fight this guy. How do you see this fight playing out? Because I think Sean Brady is incredible. And for some reason, the UFC, for whatever reason, isn't getting behind him right now. Yeah, I mean, gosh, and then they put him against this monster. Michael Moraes 26 years old and he's 18 and 0

he's on a nasty win streak right now TKOed Gilbert Burns TKOed Neil Magny but he's taking on Sean Brady Sean Brady's another level of strong you see this guy's back he's got a good back on him and now

he took out Leon Edwards took out Gilbert Burns took out Kelvin Kelvin Gassum I think Sean Brady is going to be tacked about 15 minutes God Michael Morales is so scary I think 15 minutes Sean Brady's going to stay

calm enough and end up taking him down and taking him out. Winning a decision? Just like maybe the fact that he's a veteran he's been here before gives him the edge.

Yeah. Yeah, I'd say a decision. I love that. I mean, it's a great fight. I feel bad for Sean. I feel like he should be fighting for the belt next, but I think it's a great fight.

And then you've got in the same way class, Leon Edwards versus Carlos Prochus. Prochus getting back on track with a spinning back elbow. We don't really, The question here is who is Leon Edwards at this point, right? Like, we don't really know. Again, talking about confidence.

I mean, like these guys that are at championship level, like Boe Nickel, Leon Edwards, these guys that have been fighting their whole lives. You see when they, sometimes they lose, they literally, they lose so much confidence. It demoralizes them. A loss can demoralize fighters very quick. I don't think that's going to be the case with Leon Edwards. Leon Edwards is Southpaw and Southpaw. This fight, I'm so fired up.

for i'm so fired up for this fight um we're just gonna we're in for a real treat kickboxing match but carlos prattez that dude is nasty he has got the build for 170 lanky and just scary 32 years old smoke siggies this is cool smoke siggies uh again one and one in his last two leon edwards coming off a two fight skid i think leon edwards can come out there and out kickbox him i really do So I'm going to pick Leon Edwards' decision. Okay. By the way, if you had a fighter who was smoking like 10 to 15 sigs a day, would you be cool with that or would you tell him to stop?

I would just probably try to put him through the ringer. I'd put him through the ringer when it comes to strength conditioning. In praxis, I'd be putting him with the toughest guys. And if he's not fatiguing and he's pushing the pace and he's still having good reactions later in the rounds and he's still, I mean, what can you say? What can you say? It's like, if he's smoking siggy and he's gassing out,

I'm like, dude, do you want to be a champion or do you want to just smoke the Sigs? Yeah. I just wanted to ask you about two other fights on this card. You mentioned Bo Nickel. What's your assessment of Bo at this point? You know, the internet said he got fraud checked against RDR, but we've come to find out RDR's pretty damn good as well. And I hear he is fighting a guy named, you know, Hedolfo Vieira, who's a tremendous BDJ practitioner, but maybe on the back nine, as they say, of the career. I like the matchup for him, but who do you think Bo Nickel is at this point, and who will he become?

Hold off O'Irera is probably when it comes to just accolades, probably one of the best guys to ever be in the UFC. But again, he's really good Nogi too. He's he won ADCC. He's world champion in the ghee. But again, he's this big guy. And most of his jiu-jitsu comes from being on top of a person, being on top of a person and just smothering them, getting in half-guard, smothering him. And I just don't think he's going to be able to take down bow-nickel. And I don't think his guard is going to be dangerous enough.

and he's not like a really lanky, flexible guy like Charles Olivera that can crawl his guard up, threaten arm bars, almost applaud his triangles. He's more of a stocky, big guy. So I don't think he's going to be able to submit Bo Nicol, and I think he's a good fight for Bo. I'm picking Bo wins by decision.

Okay. And, yeah, again, people saying he got fraud check by Rainer Derritter. Rainer Derrider is another freak show. He's huge. I don't know how he makes 185 pounds. His record 21 and 3. he's six four he's he's giant and then he goes and beats robert whittaker right after so you can't take that away from bo nickel especially bo nickel only being seven and one and taking that fight so yeah i think

good fight for bo nickel i think he wins it by decision and what about this malcolm wellmaker is he on your radar 135 or obviously you have a very accomplished and famous 135 are in your stable uh i'm very impressed by him have you watched any of his fights and are you impressed as well I haven't watched much of him but I've watched him kind of move around and train a little bit he is explosive the right hooks

three right hooks in a row yeah three right hooks in a row it's crazy I'm trying to remember how he did those through those right hooks too oh the last one was incredible

like he he faked the kick to the body and then he went and it was like it was Semtex Dailyesque but with the right not with the left clean it was beautiful back in Atlanta in June

Yeah, I think I remember now He like throws that right hook Before his foot even lands He like throws the kick and just whips that Yeah, I mean The guys he's fighting Well, I guess we'll see I guess we'll see he's got Cody Hadden coming up

I'm not sure It's not top tier but they're building him up And I feel like he's another one of those guys Like a paint and towel But I maintain 135 is the most interesting division In the UFC right now You've got these young studs You've got the established guys

And he's on that list I think he's phenomenal. Yeah, I'm excited to watch him. 31 years old, too, 10 and 0, 6-KOs. I'm excited to watch him grow and get bigger fights for sure. Former pipe fitter. This guy was a pipe fitter for almost 10 years. I mean, you do that kind of job, and then you become a UFC fighter.

I tell you what, those construction, any of those construction guys that come in and they're, that do that kind of work, they come in, their grips are so strong. Even in jiu-jitsu, they have just crazy strong grips, and that definitely comes from construction. production for sure. I'll ask you about a couple of things and then I'll let you go. What about this Red Hawk Academy? I saw some footage of the Red Hawk Academy. I mean, this is, you talk about state of the art. It is, and you've got, what is this? You've got paddle courts on there? What is this? What are you guys doing over there? This is the suite right next door to the dojo, right next door to the dojo. It opened up and I was trying to kind of brainstorm. I mean, Shug went and played pickleball a couple of times. I was like, damn, that pickleball is pretty fun. And I was looking into it and it's like one of the fastest, growing sports in the United States. We're right next to a retirement community, too. And the old folks, they love this pickleball. So I was like, why don't we just open up our own pickleball facility? So it's got four courts right next to the dojo.

Four courts, we're making it kind of an 80s theme. So there'll be some 80s music pumping. And it's just going to be a real good vibe when you walk in there. Real good energy. It's hard because pickleball, you compete with free courts that are outside. But right now, we're the only indoor courts on the west side. and it is just going to be a good time. And it opens up in about three weeks.

Three weeks. What's it called? The pickle dojo. I love it. And look at the gym. This is the Red Hawk Academy, right? Yes. And you've got the Red Hawk Jabba House.

What a vibe. I mean, it's beautiful. Every time I come in, it just still seems like it's just a dream to me. It doesn't seem like reality. But yeah, it's pretty crazy. Like six years ago, I rented an old mechanic. mechanics garage, 900 square feet. There was still mechanic stuff in it. And I just really grew up, grew slow. I just grew slow, grew my memberships. I didn't have to get any investors or any loans out.

And I think that's where things get hairy. And I just did it because I love it. And I wanted to make just a fun place that I enjoy coming to and hanging out at. And yeah, everything's going pretty smooth, really enjoying it. And this is open to the public, right? If I'm a Joe Schmo, I could go there myself. Yep, open to the public. We got great beginners jiu-jitsu programs. We got kids' jujitsu programs, and then for our MMA fight team, I have phenomenal coaches. I got Dracar Close, who's one of the head coaches. I got Mark

Martin, former Ohio State wrestler, Courtney Casey, and Joe Diesel Riggs, and then I got a handful of other coaches, too. So we got some great coaches and we have some amateurs coming up that are going to be a problem in a few years. I love it. I love it. You also have Tommy McMillan who just won, right?

Is he the next guy to come out, your next great pro? Yeah, Tommy Gunn. This kid's an animal. This kid is built for fighting. He enjoys the hectic fights so much. Three-time state champion from my hometown. I've known him since he was a young buck, and he moved down. And he, yeah, the kid is, the kid's going to be a problem for sure.

He looks like Sean a little bit with that hair and that build. Yeah, he looked completely different styles. Okay. Yeah, they do look similar. And what about Big Sean? What do you think? When are we going to see him back? Hopefully in January.

Hopefully, yeah, in January, we're kind of keeping them ready. He just got done sparring right now. So starting to get his body ready to go for a battle. Okay, 135? 135, yep. If it was up to you, who's he fighting? I mean, gosh, there's a bunch of fights that could happen. But I really want, if things work out the way they should work out and Shug gets to fight for the title again in the warehouse, you got Song you dong.

who's a great match that would be an exciting fight you got the Zahabi kid the Zahabi kid he beat Pedro Munoz he beat Josealdo he beat Cito Vera and I think that's

another exciting fight that we could look really good in we could look really really good in so maybe one of those a lot of options when Zahabi called them out I saw his video it seemed like he kind of like laughed at it

so I wasn't sure if he was going to be interested in that one yeah both of us weren't super familiar with Zahabi but then we kind of watched him and then watched his record

like, oh, that would be a that would be a really fun fight. Even Bryce Mitchell just called them out. Did you see that? Country Boy versus City Boy. I didn't see the call out, but I know Bryce messaged me. He said, hey, brother,

because he was going to come out and do some farming with us, but he said, hey, brother, maybe we will wait because I think Sean and I are going to fight one day and then we'll all hang out and do some stuff after. I said, sounds good, bud.

Okay, all right. Maybe you go fishing with some of his friends, you know, just chill up. One more. One more, let me ask. you, Marab, Marab and Jan, the rematch. That's obviously a weight class you know a thing or two about, you know both opponents.

What do you think? How does that go down? I feel like, I mean, obviously they say Peter's right hand was hurt in that fight. Marab's probably had injuries he's dealing with two. Everyone's counting out Peter. Everyone's counting out Peter, and you cannot count out a monster like that.

I mean, the bigger cage, I don't think that'll be much different because of their styles. But I feel like Peter could take a lot from the way JDM stuffs these shots. The way he changes levels and blocks people with his forearms and stuff. I think Peter Yon could win. I think he could win, especially Marab. He wants a TKO.

He wants a K.O. He's getting more comfortable with his hands. But if he sits there and flurries like he did versus Corey Sandhagen and he's flurrying on Peter Yon, he's open to be hit. His chin is above his shoulders. He's open to be counterpunched. And I think that's a way Peter Yon could win. But again, Marab is such a fucking tank that.

I won't be surprised if Mrab wins by decision again. You're the man, Tim. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Go check out the YouTube channel. The Academy is looking amazing. The pickleball. I mean, you're killing it.

I'm still waiting to go and get a coffee. That's all I really want. I just want to try your coffee. And then I'll fly back home. But it's always a pleasure to pick your brain for a few minutes. Thanks for squeezing us in. I appreciate you very much and all the best to. Talk to you soon.

You're the man, Ariel. Peace out. See you guys. There he is. Coach Timbo on the program. Always great to have him on. What a vibe. What a vibe.

The YouTube channel, he's got a thing where he like does like late night streams and it's a real vibe. Coffee looked good in that video too and they did like, it was nice. I like coffee right now. Yeah, you want some. Should we go? Let's do it. Guys, what do you make of this Jake Paul Anthony Joshua before we get to John McCarthy? Pretty crazy.

You into it? I mean, it's a fight that I absolutely would watch, no doubt about it. I was on Logan Paul's pod and they asked me which do you prefer. This is before everything went down with Tank, Tank, Tank, Jake, Jake, AJ. And I said Jake AJ. To me, it's just more interesting because AJ's taller, bigger, more accomplished than Jake, obviously. But I like the idea of Jake trying to take down the big guy as opposed to fighting down. And I see no reason why this isn't a pro fight, why it wouldn't be a pro fight, right?

A thousand percent. You think people will like it or hate it? Love it. I think that anything Jake Paul is tied with people typically don't like but I think the fact that he's fighting against Anthony Joshua will have to be a sizable underdog in that one people will appreciate it more how can you not respect the move? This is the one where Jake Paul gets knocked out.

For the people that don't like Jake Paul, this is the one. He's delivering it to them. He's saying I'm facing a top heavyweight. The guy who folded Francis and John is like a launcher. Yeah, the guy who folded Francis. He's supposed to kill me. So I think the Jake Paul haters are going to love it The Jake Paul lovers are going to love it

Because they're probably delusional enough to think he's going to win It's perfect It's exactly what you're supposed to do if you're Jake Paul It's a better fight than Francis It's a better fight than Tank He's done it If the reports are true and this ends up happening I think Jake Paul

Nailed this What if he does what? He can't but it would be incredible Let's marinate on that And we'll come back to it Because we're still digested at all I haven't had a chance to reach out to the contacts, but obviously

Coppinger is tapped in, as is the ring. Very excited, though, to talk to our next guest, and it actually occurred to me after we were able to book him, wow, unbelievable that this would happen on the 32nd anniversary of UFC 1. Now, he didn't

work UFC 1. I do believe he made his debut at UFC 2, but I mean, an individual who is synonymous with the sport, with the organization, with the growth of the sport, certainly from an officiating, standpoint, I mean, who better than Big John McCarthy to talk about all of this and more. And recently, we got the news that he was coming back to officiating. And he recently dusted off the old

referee shirt, the gloves, all that stuff and more. And given, you know, some of the criticisms that we've had as of late, wanted to have him on, but also what a time for someone of his stature and of his experience and resume to reenter that pool. I think it's only a very huge huge, huge, huge positive move for the sport and for the fighters to have someone of his experience officiating these fights and being back in the mix as far as officiating, regulation, all that stuff and more is concerned. Without further ado, let us say hello to the one and only Big John McCarthy, who is kind enough to join us on this Wednesday afternoon. Hello, John. How are you? Long time, no speak. Absolutely. And thank you for the very kind words. I appreciate it.

But yeah, the old guy with the gray beard, he's back. You're back. We had Jalen Turner come out of retirement. We spoke to him earlier, and now we have you coming out of retirement to get back into the swing of things. And so let me ask you, for the last few years, you had been doing this podcast with Josh Thompson, the weighing in podcast. At one time, we were at odds, but I think that was just all performative, right? We were just friends. Never. Never at odds. I think you do an incredible job. I appreciate it. You are the grandmaster of the MMA media world as far as the way you do it. So all in fun. Same here. Yes, I couldn't agree more. But then we find out that you were leaving that venture and you were going to go back.

Can you tell us when this idea started to percolate in your brain, coming back, doing this? Because you hadn't done it, I believe, since 2018, right? It was 2018. It was the last time that I had referee. But it actually started percolating a year ago because Scott Coker asked me to come do his show. He says, hey, it would be great if you would come and you just do the main event and stuff. And I go, and I said, Scott, I would love to do it.

It was on the same day that I had promised to do a small-time little talent show in the town that I was living in. And I had made a promise. And I said, I can't. He goes, I'll pay them off. And I said, I can't do it. But it kind of put it in there. And then I went and did the Craig Jones Invitational in Vegas. And I had a great time.

And what really was Ariel, to be honest. I love being in the cage. That's great. but it's also it's being around the people that you enjoy being around being around those people having you know you know meals before the event meals after the event even the meetings that we do and stuff and it I miss those people I miss the clowns and that was really what eventually I said you know I'm not I'm bored I'm not not just not you know enjoying life the way I need to do it a lot of people I know came out and said oh he's doing it for money I'm like no I'm losing money doing it but I absolutely know that I enjoy doing it. I've been back for, what, three, four shows now, and I've had a blast doing it, and it's been great. And my whole goal is to help the other referees

that are younger referees get to that level, so they're able to take over the sport, because I'm not going to be here long, and take over the sport and know exactly what they have to do in given situations, help them become comfortable, will help them understand the little nuances that will get them through a situation or create more of a problem. That's what I'm here for. Back in 2018, why did you decide to stop? That was a different scenario. I had a, I had a problem with my shoulder, I thought. And that was

in 2017. And I had, they went, they did nerve things. And they said, no, it's your neck. And you need, you have two discs. One's gone. And one's crushed. And we need to replace. We need to replace those and so they they did that and i went right back to work i told him i said look i got six days before i have a show and i'm not missing that show and they said well you can't i said well then i'm not going to do well they did it and then i thought i was fine and then all of a sudden and it was my fault i was uh i had a gym and i was teaching and i let someone hold me in a specific type of choke it was almost like a it's a darts but they were doing it like a japanese necktie which they're cranking my neck and I let it hold too long and I thought I was fine you know

after the little session and then later that night I started out a problem I woke up the next morning and I was I was in trouble I mean I would I had a stinger going down my arm that just wouldn't stop and then it just got worse and I started atrophying and I started I got to the point I could not lift my arm I mean I couldn't lift it at all well and I was to the point I was like I can't go out and officiate like this because I'm a danger to the fighters. I got it fixed, I thought, and then it came back. And that's when Scott Coker basically, you know, came to me and said, hey, have you ever thought about commentating?

I want you to, you know, come and, you know, not apply, but do the... Rehears. The rehearsal. Not a rehearsal, like an audition. Audition, thank you very much. You see, you're better with words. And so, you know, I did. And they said, hey, we want to use you.

And I was like, well, it's the perfect timing. It's not that I wanted to leave, but I was like, I don't want to go out and not be the person that can do things the way it's supposed to be done. And I had a problem, you know, and there's other, you know, there's fighters out there. You know, I got headaches every day. It was, it was bad for a long time. But eventually, you know, about, you know, somewhere in 20, 22, it started to go away. The surgeries, I had multiples to try to get rid of it. And eventually it worked where I was able to start to build strength back and able to become normal.

And so at that point, I was like, well, I could go do it. And that's, you know, about a year later is when Coker kind of put it in my head. And I was like, hmm. And then finally I was like, yep, you know, life is about enjoying, you know, the time that you're on this earth and doing the things that are important to you with the people that you care about and love. And that was my decision. And it was not about finances. I love that part, but definitely, definitely all about who I got to spend my time with. On this side of the fence, we hear Big John's coming back to officiating, great, looking forward

to seeing him at a big show, but from your perspective, what do you have to do to get back in the mix? Do you have to apply in every state? Like, what is the process to now, you don't have to tell anyone about your credentials and take any tests, I would imagine. Oh, you do? I would be shocked, but like, what is the process to actually get you to be allowed to ref events in all these different states?

Yeah, well, the first thing you have to do is you're going to have to go through the medicals. You have to go to the state. They're going to have to send you their forms. And then you've got to be able to fill those forms out. A lot of them want letters of reference. You want a letter of reference about you? You are the letter of reference.

Absolutely. I've written enough letters of reference for other people, but yeah. So I had to get letters of reference. I have to do the medicals. I have to pass those medicals. I have to do the eye exams. I have to do all that. and then they decide if they're going to license you.

And so, you know, that's, I'm not here to do the big shows. I'm not worried about that. I'm not doing this because, you know, I need to do a big show. I'm doing it because I get to work around the people, you know, in the Nevada State Athletic Commission that I really care about, the California State Athletic Commission, that, you know, I've been part of bringing a lot of them on, and now I get to see them again.

That's honestly what is bringing me, you know, the joy in life. And so that's what it's about. But yeah, I have to go through all of that. It's no different for me. New York. I think I made it a little bit easier getting past maybe, maybe a little bit. From what I read, New York, Nevada, California, Connecticut, you're good to go in those states, right? I believe so.

New York, I missed a signature for the doctor, so I haven't gotten completely. Okay. The doctor's got to sign one one signature, so that one might be coming. Okay. And you made your return reality fighting in early October, right? Yes, sir. What was that like for you? Were you nervous?

Were you anxious? How did you feel before all of that enduring? I'm being honest, it was, you know, I was, I thought, well, I wonder if I'll get nervous. Because, you know, I never, after all the repetitions, the fights, you know, I would tell, you know, other people in athletic commissions, careful when you're putting a newer referee in as far as how far you're putting them in and how many fights, because they do get nervous and the heart rate goes up and so i thought well we'll see and it didn't it was it felt like i walked back into my home it was uh i had a had a strange knockout that night i'll say that but it was it was a blast i had a good time and i was like well it's like

right on a bike you know you can do it and then i went went to las vegas after that and you know the executive director there's jeff mullen and matt valenswellis his assistant and they go you haven't lost a step and i go i've lost step there's no doubt about it's going to take a little bit of time to get back up to that level I don't think that I'm coming back you know in any way as good as other people but it's a matter of I think I know what I'm doing I think I can help in bringing some of the younger guys up when you talk about the strange knock at are you referring to like the the patented McCarthy tackle like that you had to dust that one off yeah kind of but it was you didn't miss a you didn't miss a beat I felt bad about it I really did was it this one It was this one. Look, check out this elbow is weird, and that he takes two steps, and then he goes down. Yeah. Comes down after him, and it was like, oh, you know, and I'm, you know, based upon him taking

the step when he does, I didn't start going towards him, and that made me slow. And so, yeah, I felt bad. I'm on top of him. I said, hey, I apologize, man. I didn't mean to, you know, hit you like that, but you weren't stopping. And so that was it. You got it. And as far as what you're able to officiate, it's not just MMA, right?

I do believe you have some BKFC, some bare-knuckle kickboxing, so this would be any combat sport. Boxing as well, right? Boxing as well. I used to do boxing all the time in California and used to judge in Nevada and stuff like that. But, yeah, I have a BKFC this Saturday in California and stuff, so I'm looking forward to that. I love the sport. I think it's a blast. I help with a couple things in it, so I can't wait to be...

Wow, wow, wow. They're watching it because it's fast, it's violent, but it's fun. Will you judge as well? yes sir okay your son is a judge too right my son is you know i i take more pride in the way my son handles himself and i have more people who uh contact me and say man i met your son i work with you dude he is so good he's so nice he's this and then i said yes he's a much better person than me and i'm proud of him for it and he is and so it's one of the things is like you know you when someone all of a sudden starts going to compliment you on the way you raise your son

and the way he acts is going to make you feel better than anything. I completely understand what you're talking about. What about refereeing? Does he do that as well? He does not. He decided long ago. You know, and that's when I first, you know, and I'm going to be honest, I was harder on my son than anybody.

I was, you know, I have taught all the, you know, most of the top people that are out there right now, you know, and I was super hard on him. I didn't help him while I helped others to get into. athletic commissions and everything like that I made him do it all on his own and he's done a phenomenal job and at this point you know you can go and look at the you know fights that people look at that you go there's a split decision there he's usually that person that's if it's a split he's the one you know it's on the right side of the split and the ones that are not you know they're so close in the fights and it's hard for people to understand that the judge where they're sitting they're going

to see a specific fight where the judge on the other side might see something different based upon what they see land, the referee being in the way, all these things. So there's a reason we have, you know, the three placements of the judge. But I will say that, you know, my son is doing an incredible job in a very difficult job. It's, it is not what people think. The part, you know, that it really bothers me with people is they think, you know, the judges don't care. The judges care more than people have any concept of. They constantly are on phone text and Zoom calls together that are not set up by any commission. They're set up by these judges to talk about specific fights, to talk about why it's a 10-9 or a 10-8. And to do all these things, they talk. As soon as

the fight is over, you're going to see the judges huddled together and talk about their scores and why. And they care about, you know, getting it right. And that's the way it's supposed to be. I recognize that this is a tough question. You're talking about like getting back out there and these are your friends and these are people that you helped, you know, become the officials, the referees, the judges that they've become today. But, you know, as you know, it's been a hot topic as of late. There's been several instances where, you know, we sit here and we're critical.

And I always say it's the toughest job in all of sports being an MMA referee because it's split-second decisions. It's very subjective, this, then, and the other. You don't need to explain. But could I ask you? your assessment, the state of MMA refereeing. Let's start with refereeing. The state of MMA refereeing.

How do you feel like it stands right now? Do you think we're in a good place or do you think there's improvements to be made? There's always improvements to be made. Let's be honest. If you sit on your laurels and you say, oh, we're good. You're not going to improve. Improvement in anything.

Provening in the fighters, improvement in the trainers, improvement in the officials. That's what leads to the sport reaching that next level. So there's always improvements to be made. and you know I think in part we're trying to make some of those improvements we're doing them sometimes through rule changes we're doing them through mechanics changes as far as when a referee is going to do something how they're going to do it what they're going to perform how it's going to be you know adjudicated all those things are important but if you you know let's be honest if you go back and you look at early MMA it's atrocious I was atrocious you can look at you know what they'll call the pioneer staging which was you know A little bit later, like into the UFC 20s, still bad, built horrible judging. And it's gotten so much better.

The people now, you know, are truly professional as far as how they're doing it, why they're doing certain things. People on, you know, their fans may not understand it. And that's, you know, sometimes you have criteria that you have to go through. You know, sometimes it's, you know, I don't agree with something someone does, but what they're doing is allowable. It's just that I would choose a different course, while they're choosing a different course than I would choose,

and they have that, you know, right. But I think we all as officials need to come together and become more, not only proficient, but more together in the way we decide when we're going to call, you know, warnings and when we're going to take points. Fighters are smart, you know, and I try to say it all the time,

you know, fighters take advantage of things that they can take advantage of. That's their job, you know. I don't blame them. But our job is to make sure that they don't get that advantage. And sometimes we're doing a good job of that. Sometimes we're not. And so we need to always be looking at how do we adjudicate this so it's the fairest for what's best for the sport, what's best for the fighters, what's best for the fans, and then what's best for the promotion. Two things in particular that I've been vocal about recently is that I feel like there are too many warnings, that the warning should be in the back.

and if you, you know, inflict some kind of a foul on your opponent, whether it's an eye poke, a low blow, even if you grab onto the cage, if you do something that is deemed illegal, that you should be penalized because if you're not, what is, you know, what is going to stop you from trying to do it again and again, you're going to gain an advantage? You'll get a stern warning. You'll get even a second stern warning. There was a fight between Kevin Holland and Mike Malott. Multiple low blows, nothing happened and clearly, you know, Holland was compromised. There's that issue and then the issue of intentional, unintentional. This idea that it's unintentional, so we're not going to penalize when I think that most

of the fouls aren't intentional in that they're not trying to harm their opponent to the point where the fight is called off, but still, like, you, you poked your fingers in someone eye, you hit them below the belt. Like, I always make the comparison to regular sports, like when a football player grabs a face mask, maybe he didn't mean to do that, but he's still going to get penalized. No one's going to sit around and say, did he mean to do that or not? And so what do you make of those two criticisms? and is there any wiggle room there in terms of improving it so that they're you know this isn't

happening as often as it seems to be happening these days yeah i think you're right in the fact that uh as a whole officials have you know we've warned to the point of nauseam uh on certain things when uh we need to actually take an action but the problem with it is this it's the same as what you just said about you know football and hey you didn't mean to grab the face mask but you did there's a huge difference and this is part of the problem with our sport as far as the officiating and the point system

you've got to figure that most fights are close fights will say so they end up if it's going to go to a judge's decision it's a 2928 you know we do get 3027s obviously but 29 28 is what you hear all the time as far as the judge's score cards because there's a one

point difference three rounds one guy wins two rounds one wins you know one And when I take a point from one fighter, it's not like grabbing a face mask. The grabbing the face mask is when you see a referee, stop the action, give a hard warning, and take someone out of a position, that's the face mask. That's the 15-yard penalty because you can have a face mask that's 15 yards or you can have one that's five yards based upon, oh, it was you didn't grab it, but your hand went on it and stuff like that. it was unintentional, we'll give a five-yard. So when you look at taking a point in MMA,

that is the same, if you're going to look at the NFL, and say that the quarterback drops back to pass. He's on the 10-yard line. He drops back into his end zone. He throws an 85-yard bomb down the field. And there's pass interference called at the five-yard line, and they take the ball and move it from one five-yard line or one-tend yard line to the five-yard line.

That's a point. in MMA. That's the significance of a point in MMA. So it's not the same as, oh, we have holding or we have off sides. Those are little things that we don't really get to utilize that much except for giving that hard warning or changing the position, taking someone out of an advantageous position based upon then creating a foul. I'm not going to take the point. I'm going to penalize you by taking you out of the position. That's as close as we can get to that. And so the taking of the point has always been something that we try to stay away from because we don't want to influence who wins the fight. We want the fighters to come down to that. But it's come to the point where, you know, we look and say as a community, you know, we need to start saying, okay, the fighters have gotten to the point where they have a behavior in certain things. They do things based upon the behavior. They've been allowed to do these things and there's been no negative repercussions. Do we want to start tightening up those negative repercussions and do we want to start making it to where

we're not going to give you just warnings we're going to give you fouls you know there's ones like you talked about with kevin holland you know i'm being honest when i say if i was roughing that fight kevin holland and milot would have definitely gotten a point taken at least based upon i have to even this out you know kevin holland has been fouled not only once he got you know hit with a low blow and then immediately he gets another one and that one's really really bad. And so you've got to say, Mike Molot has gained an advantage in the fight through a foul. I can't have that happen. So I've got to try to level the playing field here by taking a point to say, okay, yeah, you gain an advantage. You're feeling better than Kevin Holland. But I'm going to

take the point to at least say, well, that means you better win this round or you're going to lose at 10-8. And I've got to put you in that position. I don't want to, but I'm going to, based upon how bad Kevin Holland is as far as the effect that it's everything in the fouls is intent and the effect. So when you sit there and you say, I'm going to take a point for any eye poker, any touch of the fence or anything like that, you're not going to like the results. It's going to be detrimental to the sport. But when you categorize it to, okay, what was the intent and what was the effect? So if I have someone who reaches their hand out towards the fence and they kind of grab it to stop the takedown. But boom, the takedown happens. The intent was to stop the takedown.

The effect was it didn't happen. You ended up where you were supposed to end up. I'm not going to take a point. I'm going to warn you. If you stop the takedown, no doubt you stop the takedown, I'm telling you right now. In the back, I've told the fighter, you stop the takedown. I'm going to take a point from you. There will be no warning. The warning is right now. And a big part of what we need to do is those backroom conversations we need to make sure the fighters know exactly hey i will be doing this and then when you say i will be doing it don't bluff follow through with what you say it's it's such great insight it's such a it's such a privilege to be able to pick your brain on this stuff um there's not much to pick you know because it's such a it's such a hot topic right now

and it always has been a hot topic for as long as i've been covering the sport and there it feels like it goes through waves where it's like, oh my God, every week. We had this Waldo Cortez Acosta versus Anti-Delia fight in Nevada, and Delia's team has since reached out and told us that they're filing an appeal. Was that handled the right way, in your opinion, the restart and the way the I poke was handled with the team in the cage, or should that have been done differently in your opinion? I'm going to be honest, I thought, you know, in some ways things were right and there was things that were wrong. You know, let's be honest, Ariel, how many times have you seen, how many fights have you watched, okay? So how many times have you seen,

a fight end and the stool comes in or how many times have you seen a stool come in between rounds for a fighter but name me the time that you've ever seen a stool come in other than those two circumstances never so we had a foul we had a fighter sitting on a stool we had a cut man working with him we had a doctor working with him we had water being given to them there was things that were done that you look and you go there was not enough control someone was not doing things in the fashion that is allowed and so that part was bad. The worst part was look at Delia did poke him in the eye and he did it offensively. That's rare. When you take a look at, you know, most of our eye pokes are done in a defensive fashion, meaning I start to come forward. My opponent sticks their hand out to

regulate distance on me and sticks their hands up towards my face as I'm coming forward and I run into those extended fingers and we have the eye poke. That's a defensive eye poke. In this case, it was Delia coming forward and throws his hand out with his hand open. That's on you and that should have been a point taken for that. Right away, that's a different type of I poke. And you need to be able to look at it and justify the difference between the two so you know which direction you should be going. So if you are going to restart the fight, I'm going to be honest, Delia should have had a point taken off of his scorecard based upon that was not only an ipok. It's an offensive one. You created it. And so,

there was some things that I would look at and say, could we get better? Yes. You know, were there things done that were good? Yes. But, you know, the replay official in that was a big part of, you know, getting things right. And that's a, that's something that we've done in trying to, you know, be better and get the right call. And it's a great addition. It's something that we need everywhere. One more if I can specifically, and you're navigating this very well, because I understand these are your friends and colleagues. So I don't want to put you in a position where you're openly criticizing them, it's a very tough spot, and I recognize that. We saw a situation with Matt Favola and Kyle Nelson, where to me it seemed like the fight was stopped with three

seconds left, and then it continued. And it reminds me a little bit of the Antedelia fight, because I do believe, we also saw it with Neil Magny and Jake Matthews, like there is an adrenaline dump when you think the fight is over, and then you're being told, no, you have to keep going. And so when you see things like that, and then we've also seen some other times where it goes past the horn, where the fight continues. the round has already stopped and there's still more damage being inflicted. What is your assessment of what's going on there? Well, I can tell you this.

And sometimes it's hard to understand when you're on the outside of the cage. But, you know, the referee inside the cage, you know, Ariel, he hears things and he sees things. Nobody else does. And when I say, here's, you know, a lot of times people go, oh, you know, you'll have a low blow. And people will, all that didn't hit him in those. And you can hear it when you're the referee. It makes a specific sound. So you know that the cup was hit, but people will get upset that, you know, you stopped it because they didn't see it.

They say, no, it actually hit him here. And it's like you could hear it, stop. So there's things that the referee sees and they hear that help them with, you know, the information they need. When you're looking at the horn that was really the problem for both the Jake Matthews fight, if you're going to say it that way, and then the Kyle Nelson fight, you know, I can tell you I've seen many referees think they heard the bell and when there was no bell. Now, the real question is, you know,

you've got to know that sound, the horn, but I can tell you, going all the way back to, like, UFC 47, I had Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. They're fighting for the first time. And near the end of the first round, you know, Chuck goes and he opens up going after Tito, and he's putting damage on Tito. And Tito's trying to, you know, hang in there.

And I heard the 10-second clacker. And at that time, I would never do anything to motion or anything like that. But, you know, I'm counting down in my head, and I get to 1,0, 1, and I didn't hear anything. So I stopped the action of the fight. And Tito actually thought I stopped the fight on him. He's like, no, John, yeah. I said, that's the end of the round. Because he didn't hear the horn.

I didn't hear the horn. I don't know. Chuck, obviously, I don't think heard the horn. because it was so loud in that arena at that moment because the fans were going crazy. You just couldn't hear it. So I came up with, actually, if you're looking at all the referees now,

they kind of point in a direction towards the timekeeper at that 10 second. Just to notify the timekeeper, I heard it. So we have at least an accounting that the referee knows that there's only 10 seconds left in the round. And those are the types of things that happen. The Kyle Nelson one, I know Dan said he heard a horn. I'm he didn't hear a horn but he heard something that he thought was the horn and sometimes you know you hear things that are just different it was a mistake i'm just going to you know flatly say he made a mistake as far as that was not the end of the round did that cost kyle nelson well fortunately not overall but yeah he had to fight two more rounds of a fight that you look at and you go how much damage did he take in those two rounds that he would not have taken if that

fight possibly would have been stopped you know if the three seconds that were left were allowed to go how many more shots would have landed what would one of those have put mat frivola out we don't know but there was a mistake and you have to be honest about the mistake and when you make the mistake like i said you have to be honest you have to say i made a mistake this is how i made the mistake this is how i'm going to fix it from now on and you got to move on and the fans are never going to like it but you got to be honest you know we're all human and we're going to make mistakes. You try not to. And when you do make them, like I said, be honest about it and figure out how do I make it so that doesn't happen again. I have great respect for you for Andy Foster because

you've always come out and done interviews and explain things when the going was tough and when the going was good. And I have always felt, especially after these events, you know, I don't expect the referee to hold a press conference, but there is something in other sports where you have a pool reporter and one reporter will go talk to the referee. They'll issue a statement. You'll get some sort of Q&A and an understanding as to what they were thinking in these moments. And I think it would be very beneficial for us, for the fighters, for the public. Would you like to say, I would love to see this happen where after a fight like that, we can then go and see, okay, this is what Dan was thinking. Just like the NBA issues something, this is what the referee was thinking

during a controversial moment. Should we have more transparency when it comes to the officials? I've always believed yes. I do believe. I believe the reporters deserve that so they can report the right information. I believe the fans deserve it so they can understand because sometimes when we, you know, things will happen and, you know, we're told as, you know, officials, you know, I don't want you talking about that. Okay. But we didn't do anything wrong. People need to know what really occurred. And it's like, no, we're not going to talk about. Just let it go. It's, you know, we understand, we're good. And you're, you're sitting there and I always say, you know, you're going to be the, you know, the flavor of the month somewhere along the way. And people are going to be mad at you

because they think you did something wrong even when you didn't. And just suck it up. And, you know, if you did do something wrong, then suck it up from that. There will be another fight, another show, you know, in the next week or week after that. And someone else will do something

so you become, you're no longer the flavor of the moment. But we do, I believe that, you know, we should have certain people that are allowed to talk based upon. They can communicate and not say something that's going to harm the promotion not harmed the commission and give people insight into look at this is what i was looking at and this is why you know there's many times people fight you know fighters are smart and they're smart about fighting and many times people will look and say well you were letting him get fouled

and you can look and say yes i know that that foul occurred but i looked at how much effect it had on him he was winning the fight and it had zero effect he didn't stop what he was doing And I truly believe his opponent was looking at me to stop it. In fact, did that kind of, you know, trying to get me to stop it so he could get a moment to get away from his opponent. So you could get a moment to, if I put it back in the same position, they want to try to change that just a little bit. So now I can hopefully get out because I'm stuck where I'm at. There's all kinds of ways that, you know, fighters do things. When it comes to fighting, they're brilliant.

and they, you know, they will absolutely, you know, skirt the rule right to the edge of that envelope if they can so they can, it'll work for them, you know, and their PhDs when it comes to this and you've got to be able to look at the times when I need to stop the action and look at the times when, yes, I see that, but I'm not going to stop it based upon the things that I know that are occurring right now. One more, and then we'll let you go in again. Thank you very much for this. Recently, you were, you were public in your support of the Muhammad Ali Revival Act. I just saw a report here from a reporter named Sadiq Ahmed, who said the Colorado Combative Sports Commission has voted to oppose the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act.

There were no votes in support. I recall not that long ago, the California State Athletic Commission hearing in which they received six to nothing votes in support of it, and you were on the call and you were very much in support. Can you explain to us why you feel like this would be good for the fighters and why you feel like this is something that, you know, is even worthy of your time when I know that specifically you don't only focus on MMA, you do, you know, work in boxing as well, but you are primarily viewed as an MMA official, I would say, like famously, why was this something that was important for you to voice your opinion on? Well, one of the things I want to bring up is, and even you had said that,

you know, I came out saying that, you know, people had a financial interest. What I was talking about was, I didn't. And that I thought, and I thought, and I was wrong, I thought that you would get some of the people within the sanctioning organizations being on that call and making, you know, statements about it, which really was more MMA people than anybody. But the real reason that I look at this revival act, first off, I love when a fighter has options, and there's not one boxer that has to do this. They can all stay within the exact framework that they fight right now.

They can stay with the sanctioning bodies. They can stay with those organizations. They don't have to change anything. The Alley Act stays the same for them. Nothing changes. So is it better for a fighter to have options or no options? I always look and say options are great. I would rather see you have options in that.

The UBO has to do things that the sanctioning bodies don't. They have to provide medical insurance for those fighters. They have to provide the medical payment for those fighters. They have to provide a training experience as far as a place that these people can go for training and physical therapy that is there for the fighters under contract. That, look, that can be thousands and thousands of dollars. I look at this and I know, and I had several people, Matt Brown, being on, He was mad at me, but we got on a call and we talked about it. And, you know, there was one part that I looked at.

He was looking at it saying, John, you know, if this happens, then MMA will never have an alley act. And I go, look, I'm not even equating this with MMA. I never thought about it in that form. I'm looking at what is best for boxers. And right now, boxing has lost HBO, Showtime. They've lost Fox. They've lost ESPN. So where is boxing being seen?

right now the zone that's it and that's limited and so all of these avenues for boxing are you know you can you can take a look and say are they growing are they getting smaller they're getting smaller and no matter what anyone wants to say there are people in boxing as far as the top guys they make a ton of money they're getting paid and you know i wouldn't i would never go to a ubO if i was one of those guys but there are mid-level fighters aerial out there that trust me will make way more money under the UBO system and be financially better off than they ever are with the sanctioning bodies, because people don't realize what the sanctioning bodies do. The sanctioning bodies charge the fighters. They charge them for sanctioning those championship fights. They charge them for getting rankings. They charge them for the belt that they put around their waist. And so you're looking and saying, well, what's that?

Well, you know, if you take a guy that's up there that's a good fighter, You know, I'm not going to name names, but I'll give you a, for instance, there's, you know, a fighter that just did a fight, you know, and he had a million dollar purse. Well, right away, $200 and some thousand dollars were taken out of that million dollars for sanctioning fees for him to be able to fight for those titles. He also had to pay for each belt. Each one of those belts, he was paid five, you know, he had to pay $5,000. Do you think the belts worth $5,000? It's not. But he has to pay for them to have the belt for him.

he then you know even before that you get these the sanctionings will sit there and say I have a fighter who's eight no and I want to get him up into the rankings they say hey no problem you know what we're going to create the the southern Caribbean you know championship and you're going to pay me $10,000 to you know get that fight done and that's going to help him move to this section and to help get a ranking and then you're going to you're going to from the South Caribbean we're going to go to the North Caribbean and then from the North Caribbean we go to the West Caribbean and each time time I'm going to be paying 10 to 15. So after I pay a hundred and some thousand dollars to get this fighter ranked to that position now that he's ranked within one of those sanctioning bodies, now we can hopefully try to make some more money, but I have to put how much money out. Well, that doesn't happen with the UBO. I'm not saying the UBO is going to be perfect for anyone, but it's an option. You don't have to do it. If you had to do it, I would say no, but you don't have to do it. And in the end, there's going to be fighter. right now that are working normal jobs and able to not support their families, if they're

not, that will be able to get rid of that normal job, put all their time into training, and live a decent living based upon the money that is out there available for them under that UBO and the medical things that it provides. We can debate this, but I feel like you've laid it out. Very. I mean, I'm not, I'm not really against it. I like that there's options. I do wonder if at some point there won't be any options. And of course, when you see TKO being so aggressive in terms of supporting this, you do wonder what the motivation is, right? You do wonder. I don't wonder what the motivation. And neither do you. Yes. And look, do they have a foot up on everybody? Absolutely. They do. There's not a doubt in my mind because let's be honest. Look at who they. are and look at what they know as far as promoting fights. But what's the, when you, when you look at it, you know, you got to say, does everyone else have the same opportunity under this? Yes,

they have that same opportunity to do it. Do they have to put money towards it? Yes. But the one thing that these guys have to do is they have to market fighters. And by marketing the fighters, what are you doing? You're putting money into growing that person, growing their platform, growing, their name and making stars because if you don't make stars you're not going to be successful so yeah they do have a leg up i'm not saying they don't but anybody else that wants to get into combat sports specifically boxing at this time this is your chance this is your time to say okay i'm going to do that and you know be in competition with them you know i'm not saying you know that i'm not saying in the that all of this is going to work, but I do know that a fighter having the option of being able

to do this under the UBO or stay with the sanctioning bodies is better than just saying I'm going to have to just stay with sanctioning bodies. The option is always better for the fighter, and that's what I was looking at. Thank you so much, John. Welcome back. Great to talk to you again. Really, really nice to have you back in the mix here. And hopefully you could come on when there's other things to talk about. It's great to have your insight and just tap into your knowledge. So really appreciate it. I appreciate your time, Carol, thanks for having me on. There he is. The legendary, Big John McCarthy, the greatest MMA referee

of all time and obviously doing great work in other combat sports. That's a major coup for us to have him back in the mix, major coup for the fighters as well, and for his willingness to come on. I'm very, very appreciative, and hopefully we can do more of that stuff because I just

think, you know, the smarter we get from people like him who literally wrote the rules, the better we all are, fighters, fans, media, etc. All right, wanted to have my old friend the warlock, Kung Fu Panda himself on the program. Why? Because there's a massive fight happening in London. There are big fights consistently happening over in the UK, not so much here as far as boxing is concerned, not so much here in America, but over there it's as hot as can be. He's on talk sport. He's on the Daily Telegraph. They're covering boxing

over there like we cover the NBA over here. It's the second biggest sport in the country, in the region, behind football. And as fate would have it, there's a pretty big news story that just broke regarding one of their own and arguably the most famous boxer coming out of the UK right now. And so let's go over to London. I believe he's at the open workouts standing by as our correspondent, the one and only my old friend, Gareth A. Davies, is he there? There he is. I could kiss you if you were in front of me, Gareth. How are you? I'm very well, Ariel Helwani. It's lovely to be on your uncrowned show. It's the Ariel Helwani show. It looks the same as it always did.

very messy desk you have there don't you um and you look fantastic sir thank you wow it's so nice to hear from you thank you for the compliments and a bit of an insult as well you look fantastic i see you all the time you're such a big you're you're more popular than ever dare i say well hopefully i'm more popular than you are here because you can tell that never never never never why do you open the door for this why do you open the door i was i was trying to let it go you always opened the door what a time it was look i'll put my hands in the air you're more famous in the UK than I am, wherever we are, whether it be a gas station, up the freeway, here in Canary Wharf. You'd be mobbed right now while I'd be sitting here writing the Anthony

Joshua story. Okay, so can we talk about that? No dilly-dallying. There's a news story that just came out, courtesy of the ring and Mike Coppinger, that Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul are in deep discussions to have a fight in December. There's the graphic right over there. You know Anthony very well. You're the man when it comes to all things UK boxing and boxing. boxing in particular, your reaction to this, and what are you hearing as far as how close this is to being finalized? I'm a little shocked, Ariel, as anyone in boxing would be, that Anthony Joshua, two-time heavyweight champion in the world, who's been in training camp with Alexander Usik recently

we've learned, who wants a trilogy fight with Alexander Usik, who's being prepared behind the scenes for a fight with Tyson Fury, hopefully that would bookend an amazing era of heavyweights in the UK. I'm really shocked that he would take a fight with Jake Paul. On the other hand, if he's earning 50 million to go to Netflix and leave the zone for a fight, I understand the cradle of money that these guys earn is extraordinary at this stage in their careers, and he probably wouldn't say no to it. On another level, I don't think it should be sanctioned. As you know yourself, Florida is very lenient commission if it is going to take place in Miami in December. I have

heard from Eddie Hearn. Someone might impersonate him here. Someone might even impersonate him. Just bear with me one second. Okay. Eddie Hearn. Eddie Hearn's here. Eddie's here? The actual Edward Hearn?

Eddie Hearn's here. Eddie Hearn's here. You put me under so much pressure. Is A.J. and Jake Paul going to happen, Eddie? Well, it's a fight that AJ needs. It's a massive fight. I think Jvante Davis for moving up to Giovante Davis, to Antony Joshua.

I don't like Jay Paul, but you've got to give him credit. Amazing. Fantastic. There he is. What about Tyson Fury? Al-Feran, of course. Al-Foran, Al-Foran, Al-Foran. A quick answer for Ariel. Can we really see this fight happening? Well, I'll tell you what. I'll do this Tyson Fury. I can see Jake Paul beating Anthony

Joshua, and I'm going to put money on him. I put a million pounds on it. My dad can too. 100% and it will happen. And I'll tell you what, AJ, if you want me, we're going to make it happen. Get up. What do you think Chris Eubank thinks about it? I mean,

do we look at it as some sort of tune, you know, a tune-up fight for AJ? The fact that it's so, you know, it's very short notice with regards with being next month. But why are we not talking about the fight on Saturday?

Well, we will in a minute. My favorite one. My favorite one is Katie Taylor. Ask him what Katie thinks about. When did Katie Taylor think of it? You know, listen, it is what it is. You have to give the props to Jake Paul. You really do because, you know, he's making it.

This is a massive step up for him. You know, a lot of people were, you know, criticizing him for fighting Tramonte Davis. Because, you know, he's got 60 pounds later than him. Now he's fine a fellow 60 pounds everywhere than him. So fair play, too. But if it does take place in Miami in December, do you think Donald Trump there,

what do you think he thinks about it's it's not too far from maralaga i think it's a great fight i think you know jake paul he's doing it what you know you can say whatever you want about jake paul he's doing great things for for boxing he put on a great show in madison's square garden in in july with katie taylor and serrano that was a great show wasn't it could you do ariel harold hoarie as well what does he think about it there he is oh there he is hale yeah right right right go and get me a tequila my face is hurting my face is hurting my face is hurting Tell him my face is hurting. Going to you.

Two Gareth A. Davies here in London. He's going to tell you how bad that impression was when I leave. Yeah, Al-Fran, go and get me a tequila. I'll meet you around the corner in a minute. Oh, my God. What a look. The brilliant. Amazing.

Cheers, brother. Well done. I'll see you in a minute. My face hurts. Okay. Yeah, he is brilliant. He's unbelievable. Prolific.

Back, as are you. Back to the original answer. Why do you feel surprised? I think you said you're shocked. Why shocked that AJ would do this? Because it really damages his legacy as a two-time heavyweight champion in the world. If he really is taking a run at big fights again, as I say, the fight with Tyson Fury. I know they're talking about it behind the scenes, Ariel.

I know that Saudis are involved in it as well. I know they're talking about a big Wembley Stadium fight next year. Eddie Hearns has been talking about a tune-up for Anthony Joshua, but this isn't a tune-up. But even over and above that, I just don't believe Jake Paul, who you mentioned how big boxing is in the UK. He wouldn't even win what we call an area title here in the UK.

There's guys better than him at Cruiserweight. I think it's a dangerous thing to be setting. It's a dangerous precedent to be setting to allow a very dangerous, modern, powerful, punching heavyweight, a knockout artist, in against a guy who was really a novice in sports. It was different when he thought Mike Thomas. and it was an exhibition.

They will probably call this an exhibition if it goes ahead. I've got a statement, not a statement, but I did get hold of Eddie Hearn just to finish the round on that. As you said, I have got my ear to the ground on this. I asked Eddie about the Coppinger tweet, and he's saying nothing close yet that he and Nikisa have spoken, but his view is that I don't imagine Jake is crazy enough to do that.

I think Jake is crazy enough to do it, but I don't think it should be sanctioned, is my view, my professional view on it. Okay, can I just ask, you know, you say that it would damage AJ's legacy if, in fact, it does happen. But, you know, the likes of Muhammad Ali had an exhibition against Antonio. Is someone else coming? Who's here now? Who do we have now? The Jedi, Floyd, is here now as well. Wow, we've got, it's just like a who's who of people. Hello. You know, they can't hear.

Shane Mosley, you're up against. No, no, I bait, Shane, Moise. I'll bait DeGale. Now you're fighting Billy D'Asoornis. Oh, Gail. Now you're fighting Billy D'Oisornis. I've got all the new. stories. Yeah, look at this. On the scene. We appreciate it. It's Ariel. You know Ariel. Have you been on his show? Well, hello. You know this fella. This is a guy that this is a guy that when the bell rings, he doesn't know when to stop. You just keep fighting, don't you? You don't believe

in the pause between rounds. I was just out last while with a guy. I was getting eye gouged, so I was just sort of, yeah, I was reacting. And he was incredibly smart. Obviously, he's been around a long time. And I reacted and I kept getting pinched like normally do. I know I'm acting as your agent almost over here at the moment because everyone's coming out of the out of the workouts. He looks like a young Dan Hardy. He looks like Dan Hardy. He looks like Dan Hardy. He looks

like a young Dan Hardy. He does indeed. Yeah. Yeah. You do, yeah. Circa 2010. Circa 2010. Now, I think he's got a bit of a better Mohawk than Dan had, isn't he? Yeah, well, all right. I can't get rid of it. I can't get rid of anything. I still wear Sylvie boxes from 25 years ago. Right, you've had your minute of fame. Go on. I'll catch you around the corner.

No, me to see you, mate. Bye-bye. I just wanted to get you on the Halvarni show, quick. I'll see you in a minute. Cheers. So, Gareth. He's giving me dirty looks now because I've thrown him out of the show.

Don't hurt me, Matt. Gareth, Muhammad Ali once fought Antonio Anoki in his prime. George Foreman once fought three men on the same night in Toronto after the... Five men, excuse me, yeah. So great boxers have done, you know, side quest, as they say. Why would this damage his legacy? I just think a lot of people here would look down on him doing this fight, and I think that's the way the fans have reacted.

He has a hard time with the fans, Anthony Joshua. Half the people love him. Half the people are critical of him. I think he's an amazing character. I just don't think it's the tune-up fight for Tyson-Frey for Tyson Fury, and I do think it would damage his legacy in some ways that he's acquiesced to fighting Jake Paul. Listen, I'm a big fan of Jake Paul and what he's done, creating this different kind of highway, if you like, for influence of the boxes. And he's the guy that's taking it the furthest.

But I'd like to see him against a KSI or someone like that. That's the really big fight in my view. Okay, fair enough. Let's talk about this weekend a fight that we know is happening. Our feeling here, Gareth, you know, our old friend New York Rick, Eric Jackman, who you've known for so many years, said leading up to the first fight, It was his most anticipated fight of the year. We were all buzzing for it. From our POV, state side, it doesn't feel as big.

And I wonder, A, how it's feeling over there, and B, do you think if it doesn't feel as big if it's because they went back to the well too soon? If it's too soon from April, the first fight, that was so great. Well, to put some historicity on it, the fathers who fought in 1990 and 1993, which is the whole reason this is taking place. It's a kind of, it's a dynastic legacy fight between two families. The names of Ben and Eubank are iconic in British boxing. And even in British sports, I would say, not just boxing the two fights they had in 1990,

in 1993. And the fathers, as you know, are very involved with their sons still. iconic moments in British sporting history. For me, the fathers had, Chris Eubank had 11 world title fights between senior. between the fights one and two in 1990-93. Nigel Ben had 10 fights, four world title fights between them. They've had to revisit again because, as you know, our great friend, Turkey Al-Lshake, has put 20-odd million up

for these guys to fight again around about 20 million. So they're taking it while the opportunity's there until or before Chris Eubank retires and maybe before Conor Ben sails back down to the welterweight or maybe one 54 pound division to try and win a world title they're taking it because the opportunities there a surprise fight yes blood is thicker than water so it's a family feud um ongoing family feud in a sense but it was very exciting first time around it felt like the perfect storm at the time i said afterwards it's definitely a fight of the year contender it was

won and done we saw everything we needed to see from the egg smashing in the phase to the drama about him being a drugs cheat, to the extended time that it took between the postponed fight two and a half years and the actual thing taking place, and it moving from an arena to a stadium, the drama of Eubank Senior reuniting with his son on a dramatic WWE moment just before his ring walk on the night. It's almost a lot, and then the fight itself, which absolutely delivered 12 rounds of beautiful brutality, a toe-to-to-to-war. Whether they can replicate that, again, I don't know in the ring.

They'll be different as they go into round 13, Ariel. But there is that feeling that it feels big in the bubble here, but hasn't really exploded yet. And now, tonight, all the outlets here are reporting the Anthony Joshua story. So it's kind of taken the thunder away from it again. Yeah, that is a very good point. What do you make of this accusation from Eubank Jr. about the ambulance and Eddie and Matrim's stopping it.

Explosive stuff, he put out a little clip. Very hard to understand the context, how long he was waiting, what it all means, but do you think there's any credence to it? Well, it's a very good journalist. You hit the nail on the head with all those things there. Look, it's just a clip of two ambulances in the bowled Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London. It was a chaotic night leaving there. I normally park my car four or five miles away and cycle to my car, believe it,

not because it is incredibly difficult to get transport from there afterwards. It was bedlam outside till about two in the morning because I think there was an underground station, a train station shut at the time as well. It really was bedlam. There's nothing beyond that video. We haven't had a statement yet from the stadium itself, which is disarming and rather annoying because that video has been out there for a week. But I think it's part of a side show. Obviously he was Dehydrated. Both men ended up in wards next to each other in the hospital on the night with their fathers there as well. Obviously he made it through. It's a very serious thing when a fighter is ill after a contest or not well and needs to get to hospital. We know about the golden hour that they must be looked at and treated if there's something wrong with their brain or particularly as a head injury. Obviously it wasn't in this case. But the boxing border control, looking into it. It's kind of a side show now. Obviously, in seriousness, it's not, but it's part of a side show. And we kind of need, we got the press conference tomorrow. The workouts are great.

The two men are absolute box office stars. They're great characters. They're very, they're great to be around. I've known both them a very long time. I think they really will deliver a great fight on Saturday night. But it's that moment. As you know, you've been around so many events. You've been around a lot of events together over many, many, almost decades. decades now, you just need a bit of a push and a pull at the press conference. A bit of drama, a bit of, something that makes the goosebumps go, a bit of a thrill, maybe something a little outrageous tomorrow, and then I think it'll ignite. I'll let you go in a moment, but I do want to ask you about Senior, one of the all-time

great characters, and I do remember a week or so before the fight, maybe 10 or so days before the fight, he's in the park, he's even having a go at you and saying, like, you shouldn't be reporting this, reporting on this, you shouldn't be supporting it. it you shouldn't be backing it all this stuff and then of course he shows up on fight night i saw him on talk sport and simon jordan and jim white did ask him like were you paid and he kind of skirted the issue and this time around he doesn't seem to have the same kind of issues that he did with the fight despite the fact that his son posted pictures of himself at the hospital looking emaciated looking all beat up looking dehydrated and whatnot what do you make of his switch up and do you think

ultimately he was just kind of paid to show up and that's why he's staying quiet well he's saying paid me no so we have to go with him on that listen he's an amazing character I've known in many many years he's one of the extraordinary most eccentric sports when you'll ever find one of the hardest men on earth

he was a great warrior in the ring he's brought his son up beautifully as well he loves his son so he's going to be there and his son's going to make him a grandfather to twin boys very soon as well in the coming months which he learnt about in the in the last couple of weeks I think

what do I make of senior it's good to have him involved it's as simple as that it's great to be around as I said earlier were it not for him we wouldn't really be having this fight because of the fathers we have the sons and the apple

hasn't fallen far from the tree if I've answered your question there okay fair enough your pick I think you bank on points again seven rounds to five eight rounds to four which is what I had it first time I think Connor Ben's got to make it a dog fight, make it a roughhouse brawl again. But I think Eubank will start with that jab very

strong. He's got Beaumack in his corner this time, Terrence Crawford's trainer. So I just think he's too big, too strong, too experienced, too good. The only caveat is Conor Ben recovered very quickly from that 12-round war. He has eight years on Chris Eubank. And if that first fight did take an enormous amount out of him, we may find out that he gets stopped. late on Saturday night. But for me, you bank on points, Ariel. Do you want to give you your flowers? Call of the Warrior out right now via Hail Mary publishing. Look at this. I saw you with all the big wigs, gifting them a book. Conspicuous by his absence was moi. I didn't get any book. Didn't get any sort of presentation.

But it's okay. We're happy to support. There'll be one arriving at Chaito. Samir addressed right. I will get one sent to Chetua. immediately. I appreciate that, but very, very happy for you. It looks fantastic. And I do want to say, we miss you over on the MMA side of things. When are you going to start showing up at these press conferences, asking the tough questions? They shall pay. I shall receive. I shall be there. Okay. Thank you, Gareth. You're the man. Keep up the great work. It's always a pleasure from afar. You know, I love you dearly. And I'm happy to see you in good spirits, good health as well, yes? Very good. And it's a pleasure to be on. And I'm delighted for your success and your independence

and your canonical ownership of your own work. Thank you, Gareth. All the best to you. Appreciate it very much. Cheers, cheers. The great Gareth A. Davies, my old friend, Gadd, as they call him, on the streets, the warlock. Funny story about Gareth A. Davies. Back, you know, he opened the door. Have you guys ever heard the story about us going to the Tesco, I believe it was?

It was UFC 120. It was October of 2010. We were going to listen to Dana White speak at Oxford University. And they had the Media Day. This was back when the media day was literally like in the basement of a hotel in London. It was my first time covering an event in London. It was Dan Hardy against Carlos Condit. It was Michael Bissping against Akiyama.

And it was at the O2. And I was very excited to be there. Casey was there as well. I believe Esther 2, maybe just Casey. Anyway, Garrett, you know, Gareth's a rock star. I mean, he's like, look at the guy. He's unbelievable. He's one of the most eccentric human beings that have ever come across.

And we're in his sports car. I don't know what it was. It was a BMW, was a Porsche. It was some sort of sports car. It was going very fast, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, you know, manual transmission, as they say. And he's going on and on about how popular he is in London, how popular he is in the UK, how everyone knows him, everyone reads him, everyone knows what he's about, he gets stopped on the street. And we stopped for gas.

I think it was a Tesco, but it had like a whole cafeteria in it. We go get a sandwich. and the moment we walk in, the guy at the cashier says, oh my God, are you Ariel Hawani? What are you doing here? Like, we're on the side of the highway, on our way from London to Oxford, and this guy freaks out. Now, this is 2010, mind you. I'm a neophyte in this game. Gareth is going on and on about how he's been doing this, Paralympics, Daily Telegraph, all this stuff.

And the moment we are now among other human beings, this guy freaks out. And I'm like, well, you know my friend, Gareth. he's a legend here he's a rock star he gets stopped every second not so familiar with his work and so that's what he was referring to

and so ever since then I've you know I've needled him about the fact that he was going on and on and then the moment that we were among his people I get recognized and someone pops for my present it was a fun moment I do think it's funny

nobody you go Frank go it was fun nobody do what, Frank? That was my bad I stepped all over Frank. But that person's uncultured. Not knowing Gareth in the UK is actually

You've probably heard this story 15 times now. I've heard this many times. Because I've said it on the show a lot. I didn't think he would open the door for me to say it again. I've heard this off the show. I've heard this on the show.

Yeah, it's a great story. What can we say? It's a great story. Pizzi, welcome back. How are you? What are you doing? A bit of news there while it was away, huh? Did you change?

I'll tell you what? spilled some sauce on myself full as eating me doing on. So what was a shot on a jumper? What was on the menu? Oh,

I made some what hell could you describe honey and garlic chicken? Okay. All right. Chicken toys, bit of basmati rice. Oh,

what are you going to do? Basmati on the on the stove top, pot. You know it. Yes, yes, yes. Got the save out. Don't respect the man

who microwaves his rice. Okay, what about a rice cook Rice cooker is probably the rice cooker. Rice cooker I can respect. It's efficient. The rice cooker is every day. We need a new rice cooker. I got son of me away now.

I dare someone to show up and tell me they boil in the bag. No, that's great. Fuck a boil in the bag. You know, if someone tells me they boil in the bag, you're on my shit list. Immediately. Immediately. You know what I mean? You guys wash your rice before you cook it.

You sure do. Yeah, that's a big thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wash the rice, you said? Yeah, yeah. Wash the rice. Yeah, do you do that, Frank? I saw a whole video about it.

Absolutely. Also, I learned that you should never, you should never refer. refrigerate rice, that if you use it 24 hours, like, you should just leave it on your, on your counter, don't put it in the, in the fridge. And, and 24 hours later, it's useless. Interesting. Did you know that? I did not know that. There's all signs of organisms and mold and weird things that develop. In the fridge. In the fridge, yes. And we would refrigerate rice all the time. And I showed it with my wife, and she's like, oh, this is hogwash. I'm like, this guy on Instagram is telling me.

Oh, a guy on Instagram, man. No, no, no, he like broke it all down. It's just the same one. I do. At least he broke it all down. You know? It broke it all down. Someone told me they got very sick from rice once. Yeah.

That kind of style. The refrigeration style, yeah. Oh, wow. Refrigerating cooked rice is crucial for food safety to slow bacterial growth. Are you trying to... Wait, you're saying it should be cool, it's quickly? Yeah, that's exactly. Literally every fried rice recipe is seeing...

You're telling me that that guy on Instagram had it fucking wrong? That's what the guy? No way. I had diet manager. She lied to me. She told me she got sick from this. Yvonne, wherever you are. I bet she left it out.

What were this guy's views on microwaves? We didn't get into all of that because I was just watching the video so we didn't have like a back and forth. I bet she left it out, pizza. It seemed extremely, I don't know, convincing. It seemed real. It's an AI video. No, it definitely wasn't AI, but he did have some like animations and whatnot. Did he ever mention why he was able to speak on this topic?

Did he ever like have any credentials that lent to why he should be believed? I'll put my rice in the fridge and got diarrhea. That's what Pizzi's friend said. That's not me. That's the Instagram guy. Oh, okay, okay. I was like, wow, what a revelation. I was literally ate refrigerated rice today.

I'm fine. We didn't call Pizzi back and interrupt his dinner time or movie night or whatever we was having to talk about this. I saw it. So all this is happening in real time, saw the report. From my understanding, as I've said on the show before, they were trying to salvage this fight, this date, this opportunity to be. on Netflix. Everyone can remain, you know, all the fighters who were preparing to be, like, you could just move them over to December, obviously very lucrative. And we had talked about some of the names that had been discussed, and this was one that had been discussed prior to the Tank Davis

fight being made official. But in the midst of the show, we get the report from Mike Koppager of the ring, who states that the exact language, let me see if I can, Ring X, Micahagher, the exact language is as follows. I think we do have the tweet as well, right? Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul are finalizing a deal for a heavyweight fight on Netflix in December in Miami's sources tell Ring Magazine. Paul steps up massively to fight the former heavyweight champion after his exhibition with Gervante Davis was canceled, major props to Paul.

So there you have it. In the midst of all this, I did reach out to Eddie Hearn. as did Gareth, and he said, we have spoken, but nothing close, and I doubt he would be so crazy, he being Jake. I then asked him, would you say this report is premature? He said, absolutely. And then I said, can I attribute this to you? And he said, yes. And so, what do we make of this, guys? Do we think there's smoke to this fire? Ptze, what do you think? You think this is something that could actually happen? This would be within the next month, right? This would be sometime between now and probably December 19th or so

in that in that time frame what do you think I think it's a huge fight you know I didn't expect this at all usually when Jake is in a fight the odds feel like they're stacked very much in his favor this is the complete opposite of that I'd very much agree with Garreté Davis's take which was I'd expect Joshua to obliterate him in a boxing match

I mean look look what Anthony Joshua did to Francis and Ganu before that Dubois fight. Like, I mean, it was a completely different affair than the Toys and Fury fight. I think having heard Eddie Hearn's update and having looked at that tweet again, it feels like boxing's equivalent to the old in the works reporting

that we used to see in MMA an awful lot, right? Like when we weren't quite sure maybe one side had verified that this fight is happening, but you can't get the other side to commit and it's in the works. It's a huge fight. The one thing I will say is,

why would you want that out there. Why would the ring report this? Why would someone give them that information if it wasn't going to happen? Now, because everything else pales in comparison to this as far as I'm concerned. Every other fight that they had perspective or

potential, I don't think it's as big as Anthony Joshua. So I don't know what they would have. This is in a ring fight. Anthony Joshua is tied to DeZone. Anthony Joshua has a relationship with Turkey O'Shak and Riyat season. The ring is owned by

Turkey Alshake and Mike Koppager works for Turkey Alshake and Ring Magazine. And so they can catch wind of the fact that, hey, maybe an offer is being made. This is us now hypothesizing. I've not done the research, but to answer the question, you know, oh, an offer maybe has been made because for Anthony Joshua to leave DeZone, he's one of the crown jewels of DeZone. DeZone would have to be paid for him to leave DeZone and fight on Netflix, right? We heard Oscar Delahoya talk about this when the Ryan Garcia report came out and he's like, no, he's a DeZone fighter. Katie Taylor was also a DeZone fighter, but Eddie Hearns talked about convincing DeZone to say, like, hey, this is too big of an opportunity. We want her to go do this, and thus they allowed her to do it twice.

And maybe there's a chance that DeZone says, like, hey, we don't want to keep letting our fighters go over to another platform here. We're still in the business of trying to sell fights to the public. And so maybe he catches wind of that, and maybe he goes ahead. Now, this isn't me refuting his report. Please, let's be very clear here. I'm not trying to get into any sort of controversy, courtesy of one P.C. Carroll. I'm just saying I can understand how this could get out and how it could also be somewhat premature.

Do you understand what I'm saying? Well, Eddie Heron is saying it's premature. He's Anthony Joshua's manager. Promoter. Yeah, I mean, it's not like, you know, we're just saying this here. He's the one that said that. He said it to you and he said the Gary Day Davis. He's going to know about it if this point is happening.

It can't happen without him giving it to go ahead. So I think that's where... But is there a chance he's working me? oh to what end okay what would be the benefit i don't know maybe they're in talks maybe he doesn't want to piss off to zone there's a lot that's going on here there's a lot at play there's a lot of people i still believe that of all the options out there this or angano are the two best and biggest i don't have a great desire to see him fight someone who is 60 pounds smaller than him even if he is as accomplished as a ryan garcia or a tank davis let me ask you

you, Rick, how do you think, if this actually comes to fruition, do you think that the majority of the people in the UK and in the boxing community will have the same opinion of Gareth, which is, I was a little surprised when he said like this would tarnish his legacy. Like, at this point, he just fought Francis Ngano and I know Francis Ngano isn't Jake Paul and vice versa, but we also have seen many a boxer take these side quests and be just fine. Why would a fight against Jake at this point tarnish his legacy? No, it would help his legacy. It would be the guy who finally put it end to this Jake Paul thing, right? If he goes out there and puts Jake Paul on the dirt,

he's going to be heralded. He's going to be a hero for ending this experiment because I think if it does go disastrously wrong for Jake Paul here, this feels like the highest leverage situation. This feels like the highest stakes, whereas I didn't feel that way about like a loss to

Tommy Fury or anything like that. Okay, you've always said that. You've always said if he gets knocked the F out by Anthony Joshua, which could happen. Look what he did to Francis God, who had never been rocked or knocked down, let a little knocked out before, is that the end? That's probably the end of him as a viable boxer, right? Because there's always been a justification, right?

You lose to Tommy Fury. It's like, are you motivated? Do you care? Who cares about this thing altogether? Gervante Davis, he's a small man. There's always, there's always like an, everybody will always find a way to minimize Jake Paul's accomplishment to kind of sweep it away. When it comes to Anthony Joshua, he's now facing

a real boxer. There's, like, think what you want. of Jake Paul, but there's no way you cannot identify Anthony Joshua as a tough challenge as a top-level boxer and somebody that should put Jake Paul on the dirt. And so his willingness to take that fight says something about Jake Paul. And as far as Anthony Joshua's part of it goes, it's a high risk for him because if he doesn't put Jake Paul on the dirt, it's going to look pretty bad on him. I do think that is how that would ultimately go, though. What's your level of interest, Mr. Connor Burks? What do you think about this? How do you

people will receive this. Mr. Conner Berks, yeah, I am very interested in it. I'm already seeing the tweets and Instagram posts online that people definitely want to see this fight happen if Jake Paul is going to fight anyone. I can't imagine a fight that would garner more interest. It's a legitimate boxer in Anthony Joshua who has massive wins on his resume. He's much bigger than Jake Paul. He is a global superstar. And also, he's going to be a massive favorite. And it just, to me, it just makes sense from a standpoint of if you're Jake Paul and you somehow pull this off and you beat Anthony Joshua, you silence

all the doubters out there. You beat a guy in Anthony Joshua that you're not supposed to beat. And then if you're someone that doesn't like Jake Paul, you want to tune in to see him get knocked out. You put it on Netflix. To me, it makes a ton of sense from a visibility standpoint, from getting the most eyes on it.

Obviously, you're never going to top the Tyson thing just because of who Mike Tyson is. But right now, especially on short notice with what, five weeks, Until the fight's supposed to happen, it feels like AJ is about as good as you could possibly do. We've come a long way, by the way. You remember, AJ was an open critic of the Engano Fury fight to then fight Engano and if, in fact, he does fight Jake Paul. But there's a lot of money to be made.

I was going to say, man, the money talks, but he can change opinions. The way Eddie framed it up is like, why would I not take the easiest payday of my life? And he proved it against Francis Inganu. Now he's got an even easier one, in my opinion. Like, I just don't think Jake Paul could be competitive with Anthony Joshua. Like, Jake Paul will not win this fight. Connor said, like, what if, you know, Jake Paul pulls up? This will not happen.

I can guarantee you. Jake Paul will not beat Anthony Joshua in boxing. But you do have to respect the his, as I've always said about Jake Paul, I want to see him in a spectacle. I want to see him putting on big fights and interesting fights. I don't really care about his journey as this, like, top-level boxer. so the idea that he's already like escalating this right let's not forget it wasn't too long ago that he was trying to fight canelo alvarez the guy that terence crawford just beat and made his legacy off of right terence was a guy who's a fantastic boxer i've always thought number one pound for pound but somebody who never really took hold in the boxing world and never became like a mainstream household name he just made his name on the back of canello on netflix he was trying to fight that guy and now he's stepping up to the plate and like the dravante one i don't have an explanation for it That one really didn't do anything for me. But now he's stepping up to the plate and saying, I want to fight Anthony Joshua.

He talked about the kind of David and Goliath nonsense when it was related to tank. He really is in a David and Goliath situation against Anthony Joshua. So think whatever you want of Jake Paul, but I have to respect what he's trying to do here. And I respect the spectacle that this could potentially be and what an attraction it could possibly be on the combined global stardom of Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua. I'm very interested in it. and I think a lot of people will be tuning in to see him get his clock cleaned. All right, I have found playable odds.

Okay, okay. I think that's... I'm sorry, go ahead, Pizzi. Go, Ptze. Oh, sorry. I think, Rick, in terms of how I'd see this fight going, I think it's not a contest at all. But that's where the jeopardy exists

if this was to happen for Anthony Joshua. If you go into this fight and he can somehow go laid into this fight with you even, I think that's where you get into the territory of tarnished and legacies like Garrett A. Davies said. And as Garrett said as well, if this fight's made, are you, are you honestly not expecting to see that headline on Talksport immediately? Like that is straight away where they're going to go with this. But again, it's going to

stir the pot. It's going to have everyone talking about it. It's the type of thing that everyone will have an opinion on. And that's again, what we've seen with all Jake Paul's fights. Like people can say, oh, I don't care about this. He has everyone talking. And the Tyson vote proved he can get eyeballs. I think this will work in the same way, but I do believe that the jeopardy exists for Anthony Joshua by not performing the way he did against Francis and Gannu, which was a complete annihilation. So it's actually like perception-wise, I can see Jake Paul getting some kind of win if he can, if he can just go a few rounds with this guy, because that's how much expectation will be on the shoulders of Joshua.

What are the odds? What are the odds? I'd like for you guys to guess first. What do you think? I'm going to be off because I'm minus a thousand. So skewed. Anything less than minus 1,000 is a second mortgage for me. Okay. Joshua favorite, obviously. I don't want to say the same thing, so I'll go minus 2,000. Okay.

Rick and Pizzi, winners. Anything Joshua minus 1,000 plus 560. And what's crazy is, like, what about knockout? I'm going to be eating three meals for a little bit. Am I getting in advance? No knockout, no knockout prop available yet, but I mean, that's kind of the beauty in it if you are a Jake Paul detractor. If you're tuning in, this is a guy

25 of his 28 wins are by knockouts. So if he wins, more than likely you're going to get to see Jake Paul get sparked out. Yeah. Man, it would be a pretty... I think he has to. I think, do you not think that, Ariel, like, Joshua goes in and goes the distance here, that's a disaster friend.

It depends on, it depends on, like, the vibe. Yeah. If the vibe is like Fury and Ganu, and I'm not trying to say that Fury, but, like, afterwards he was like, yeah, I was just doing it for fun, all this stuff it depends on the vibe if i'm if i'm if i'm a j i employed the same vibe that i employed to the enganyu fight which is like you are not on my level and i'm going to end you and that's what he did it was so damn impressive that's what i would do and i would hope that he would

take it seriously we don't know how he's feeling we don't know how much he's been training what kind of shape he's in he's coming up the surgery so i'm curious about that um i'm curious about by the way the calculus from team paul like is is is the risk worth it here if the whole freaking thing comes crumbling down is a worth it for a fight on five or so weeks notice if in fact it does happen. But man, again, which one do you guys like more?

This or Angano? To me, I mean, this is a greater risk, right? Because AJ's an Olympic gold medalist. He's an accomplished heavyweight champion. Yeah. Anthony Joshua is the perfect opponent for Francis, for Jake Paul. And here's why. Oh, man. One, he's still

considered a top level boxer, right? Nobody looks at AJ. Now, nobody looks at AJ and goes like, this guy is not a legitimate boxer. He is a championship caliber boxer. The reason he's perfect is because we have seen him falter publicly so many times, right? There is enough tape out there. There are enough times that AJ didn't show up that everybody's going to go, but what if? It's the same thing with the Mike Tyson fight. It was enough to capture the imagination. What if he just turned back the clock one time? There was no chance in hell that Mike Tyson was going to ever turn back the clock, but what if? And the same thing's true of

AJ, right? With AJ, you've got a guy who is going to kill Jake Paul. He is going to put him in the dirt. But you have enough people that have seen AJ falter and have seen him come up short in those big moments that they're going to go, but what if? What if Jake Paul can summon it? And what if Jake Paul can do it? It's a perfect fight for MVP. It's a perfect fight for Jake Paul. It's a fantastic fight for Anthony Joshua, a hell of a payday on the back of the Angano one as well. It's exactly what you need. And it's going to draw a ton of interest. It's going to draw a ton of intrigue. love it. I absolutely love it. I think it's great. I also love, you know, Big John was talking about the zone is the only place. Obviously, Paramount's going to get into the boxing business. The more

Netflix cards we get, the better it is for the sport. And so they're, their willingness to make these fights happen and not just have the one-off. You know, some people thought Tyson Paul was a one-off and that was it. Just like the Kobayashi chestnut thing, the hot dog eating thing. And so we can only hope and pray that Netflix gets more and more involved in combat sports. Can I ask you one thing? Wrestling already, boxing, you know, we know about the MMA talks, yes. You mentioned this, and I've been thinking about this. You mentioned, is this too big a risk for Jake Paul, right? Like, because if this ends in devastating fashion, it could be bad. I've been on record saying, like, he's Teflon. I do think this one could be bad if it ends in devastating fashion. But if you are Jake Paul and Nekisa, you have to be looking around the landscape and going, how many more can we do with these? Nobody wants to step up to the plate. The guy, that you need to be on the other side of the ledger on these fights just cannot show up. Time and time again, Jake Paul is trying to put on the biggest fights that can be made,

and there really just are not names out there. Like, how long have we been talking about KSI? How long have we been fantasizing about Jake Paul versus Connor McGregor? He has Gervante Davis in there, Gervante's out. He's on the 50, he's on the 10-yard line with Canello, Canello's out. I just wonder if at a certain point you get frustrated and fed up with the idea that, like, I'm trying to do this. I'm trying to push this thing forward

and there really aren't names out there you have to take the risk there's nobody else there's nobody else out there there's that also and what are they going to say? What are they going to say? What are they going to say?

The Francis one was enough for me. Me too. And now like what's the spin going to be? What's the spin? Oh, they'll find a spin. He's coming off a knockout. He's washed. He's trash.

Oh yeah, they'll find a way. It's great theater. Do you think that the floor, if it is in Florida, Do you think it's, it's, it's sanction? Oh, yeah. I think it is. Oh, yeah.

Which is a crazy part. In Florida, that's getting sanctioned. What would be the, he has enough, Jake has enough pro fights at this point. What would we even be talking about? Gosh. You're talking about the number 13 cruiserweight in the WVRA. Exactly. That's a good point.

Yeah. It's disparity in scale. H.A.'s first fight in America. No, there is, but like, the lost Andy Ruiz, yes? There's certainly a disparity in skill, but like, you know, we've seen boxing is full of mismatch. Like, boxing is littered with mismatches. This is how it goes. It's all on the pro record.

What if AJ beats him with one air button? Keeps it in the whole time. He could. He could actually do that. Well, this is the thing. The more I think about this, unless it's an absolute obliteration, he comes off looking bad.

It's a risky fight. I know that sounds absolutely mad. It's a weird thing, right? Unless he smokes him, it's like an unofficial L. And if Jake goes the distance, which would be the unofficial, he gets the unofficial W, right?

If he goes the distance, distance with Anthony Joshua, the gloating, the parade that he'll put on for himself. Kind of rightfully so, right? Yeah, dude, do you think he was about eight, ten rounds? Are you kidding me? Oh, my God.

Especially the way Anthony Joshua did Francis and Gano? Yeah, it would be incredibly impressive. Logan Paul spent the year celebrating his win over Floyd Mayweather just by lasting. Like, we've seen it before. By the way, Rick, you talk about lack of options. You fight AJ, and let's just say you do go the distance, but falter.

Yeah. You can't tell me, You can't tell me Francis's stance will be like, oh, you're not important to me anymore, or you're not big enough for me. So now you've just now created another opponent. Do you know what I mean? I think it's bizarre that Francis didn't want it. It's backwards.

It should be going from Francis to AJ. But I'm just saying if, in fact, even he loses to AJ and he goes to distance, but he loses, now you've got a potential Francis fight in 2026. Do you, though? I think so. Why not now? Oh, I mean, it should be now, but Francis has his reasons. If it goes the distance, the allegations of like, oh, script, script, fixed will be massive.

That'll be the one screaming it. Oh, my God. The Jake Paul fight fix thing will never end up. Petey with his mortgage on Anthony Joshua by K.O. And then it goes the distance. Well, me and Petezy will be homeless. Just me calling in from a field in Ireland. The one interesting thing is Miami, right?

Because Pizzi, do you think you could put this? Like, I think you do this at Tottenham Hots. I know they're not going to. Oh, wow. I mean, could you know, I think you could. I mean, I think Jake's star power and the spectacle of him versus AJ, like, it is a bit of a random spot to do it. But no question you could.

AJ fighting against Jake Paul? Yeah, there's going to be so much backlash as well that will drive sales. Like, it's, this is what happens. The UK fans will be like, let's go watch our guy kill Jake Paul. I'm going to mask her Jake Paul. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what's going to be. Absolutely.

It's perfect. They don't want to, like, what the British boxing board of control, they might be like, eh, you know. Oh, you know what they get. Yeah. They're upstanding. They're still, like, fighting about the eggs, the coma fiend and all that. All right, so let's see. I mean, not for nothing.

It could be much to do about nothing. I've not heard from anyone on their side. What do you think? What's your good saying? Don't tell me what they're saying. I want to know what the heart of Ariolawani is saying right now. Paul Boyland, too. You love that.

Borland. Tell me. Talk, Dad. Boilin. Tell me what you think about Eddie Hearn's response. That's what I'm most interested in. What is your read on Eddie? He doesn't want to say anything.

Warming up the slitter. He's about to throw to the next segment. All right. We have any more on the nose question? I really think that they want to save this date. I really think that they want to. fight on Netflix. Not for nothing, there's a lot of fighters that lost out. I think they want to, you know, a lot of those fighters are MVP fighters. I think they don't want to screw over

the fighters. And, you know, no one wants an event to be canceled. There's a lot of money that you lose. There's a lot of, we know what goes into that. That's why the UFC tries so hard to keep these fights and why they made such a big deal by UFC 151. And this is, you know, this is not a great situation to be in. So if you're able to salvage something with a potentially even bigger fight come, you know, a month's time, that's amazing. I am not as like flabbergasted as other people because they literally told us a few months ago that they were trying to make this fight happen

and so it's not such a crazy thought to just have your other fight fall through and then revisit it. Remember what they told us when the tank fight was announced? Remember how he positioned he's like first you know I beat the small guy then I beat the big guy and so it seemed like their two fight plan whether people believed them or not

was tank than AJ and so tanks out and now they move out to AJ I'm not surprised my only like oh wow is like oh you're going to do this next month you know that's the crazy thing that's very MMA right

boxing doesn't really do things like that they don't really like make fights happen within a month to salvage a card and so I'm not shocked I would love to see it I would love to work it I would love to be there

I would love to I would love to see it all transpire and unfold but I'm not A I'm not shocked B I don't think it ruins A.J.'s legacy. C, I don't know how you cannot give Jake anything but props for even going

after this fight, and B, I hope it's a good competitive fight. It won't be. You can't have it all, Ariel. Yeah, three out of four. Jake seems like a short notice type guy, obviously, right? Like, evidence by this and evidence by the fact that he's always kind of

like looking to salvage. But Joshua is the shocking part, right? If Joshua goes, like, on a month's notice, I'm stepping in there, it would make sense to me just because I think he, the same way he looked at Francis Ingano and started licking his chops and Eddie Hearn looked at Francis and Gano and started licking his chops, I'm sure he's thinking I could do this out of bed.

I could do this on a week's notice because I've been boxing my whole life and this kid's been boxing for several years. I would take his head clean off. The part that, I don't know, Eddie's coyness makes me think there's smoke to the fire. Yeah, it was a quick reply. Yeah, and also it's... There's a lot of feelings, there's a lot of relationships involved here,

DeZone, Netflix. It's actually a win already for Paul, right? Oh, 100%. Because if he doesn't take this fight, 100%. If he doesn't take this fight now, Jake Paul's going to be like, Anthony Joshua is afraid to fight me.

No one will fight me. I'm the boogeyman. I have wins over Tank Davis, Frank Sinanu and Anthony Joshua in the span of three weeks. Throw Canelo Alvarez in there, too. Yeah, Canello too. You're right.

It is kind of a... Fair play. Fair play. You're right. Is Jake Paul the best boxer in the world. I think so. So we talk about, like, you know, like, crumbling if he loses. He has so many ventures

and businesses, like, even if the boxing thing goes away, like, he's going to be fine. It's not life or death. But do you think that if he gets smoked, the whole MVP thing crumbles as well, or is it just the Jake Paul? I think the Jake Paul thing over. Yeah, I think he's starting to have enough success with MVP that, like, he's doing shows

without him on it. Right, right. He can be just the promoter. He can be just the guy alongside Nikisa making these fights and bringing attention to it as he's done with you know, Katie and Amanda is him, he's not fighting, but there was a card that they were underneath, but he is presenting that

the promoter, yeah, he's the promoter for it, and he's done a fantastic job with it, so I think he could slide into that easily. It's just, yeah, I don't know. You'd have to imagine if he's putting the same hours that he is training into being a promoter, he would have success with it. Oh, yeah. Okay, true or false, before we move on?

Sure. P.C., does it happen? on that date too December next month yes yes GC yes

Rick? No oh wow what's a you Ariel Ariel you know I'm I'm a quasi

Netflix guy yes or no it's yes or no answer He's he's or no answer He's he's He's cutting off the Yahoo

just at the Y meaning yes the Eddie hurt I say yes I say yes I say yes I say yes I say it on record

Frankie what say you baby I say yes I think it happened and he's going to knock out Anthony right absolutely the I forgot

the the mysterious Frank Jake Paul gimmick in the big 2025 absolutely I'm going strong I think you're all

judging a little too harshly the the combination of Oscar de La Jolla not letting Ryan have the opportunity inciting the

his own part combined with Eddie Hearn instead of saying no this is not happening and denying or yeah we're all in the he wouldn't be this dumb is what gives me that it gives me the pause it gives me the pause it's a little

part of the Eddie has to be front and center in this I didn't even think of that component we can't we can't this he's not allowed here blah blah blah let the man cook let the man cook on the freaking day right? All of them? Yes, I didn't even think of that. I didn't even think of that. All right, let's see how this all plays out. Let me get to a couple other questions before we call it a day. Ptze, stay with us because here's one that pertains to you. Daniel O'Neill, over on the substack says,

Ariel and the Lads, would you consider coming to Ireland next summer to make an uncrowned film on the All-Ireland Hurling final? The energy at those finals is always electric and I would love to see all of you in the heart of it and get your thoughts. I'm sure Pee would be able to bring you around to some lower level games as well to see the grassroots stuff love the show shout out to frank for his incredible music taste so he wants an uncrowned film on something non-combat what do you think should we should we be expanding already ptze it's well it's a very violent sport i can tell you that much okay um you have a very good time watching it it's uh it's an amazing sport it's the fastest field sport in the world as i told us before it's a people have described it as a cross between ice hockey and murder. It's unbelievable skill.

That's the one with this, right? The Schlitter, yeah, that's correct. We watched this on the Guinness Tour? We didn't. It was the football final that was on that day, so different sport. But same kind of played in the same place, the same kind of system. All these counties play against each other. It's also amateur sport.

These guys aren't getting paid, and they are revered like gods in the counties that they're from. It's a huge honor to play for your county. You've had friends who's played Hurling for Dublin, have been captains of Dublin and stuff like that. It's unbelievable. And it's the best game in the world. Honestly, the all-orland final, Hurling, there is nothing more exciting.

It's fantastic. This year, we'll all tune in and you can make up your mind. So they're here in the United States. Oh, listen, I'll search you out with a link, don't we. Oh, yeah. I got to tell you, cross between hockey and murder is as good as, like, the old Dana White,

like it's in our DNA fighting on a corner. type like carnival It's really good I feel the same by the way about the Grey Cup which is this Sunday and I hope you all will tune in Montreal against Saskatchewan It's a great brand of football Have you ever watched CFL?

We know you love the NFL PTA Have you ever watched a CFL? I know, I have watched it once Three down is the thing about Three downs and the goals are in a different position I'm right about that? The field goal is at the front of the end zone and the field is 110 yards

but breaking news, they're actually changing it next year for the first time. The league has been around for I think 112 years. They're actually Americanizing it, which a lot of the hard cores are upset about.

They're moving the field goal back to where the NFL has it. They're making the end zone smaller like the NFL, and they're changing it to 100 yards. The ball is bigger, so I don't know what they're doing with the ball. Yeah, the ball's a little fatter,

but they're keeping the three downs, which some might say. And I think they're getting rid of the rouge. The rouge is like, you kick it and you miss the field goal but you catch it if i kick a field goal and i miss it but a teammate of mine catches it and kneels in the end zone you get a point right and what did it mean so i was watching um i think it was sunday-noy football or mondaynois football this week and one of the coaches his team said we're gonna play canada style football and i was like i don't know

what that means wow that's amazing isn't there well what to me that would be like you're you're you're playing as though you have three downs. So you're going to, you're going to move quicker. You're going to pass more. You're going to try to play. You're not going to get to the fourth down, basically. We're only going to play three down football. An NFL coach said that.

I'm shocked. Yeah, or else the commentary was describing what they were doing. And they said, he's going to play Canada to stole football here. Never heard that, but I love it. Here's Shama Weewee's dear sweet Ariel as a fan who only started watching during the COVID area. Shout out to my first favorite fighter, Adesanya. Are the headlining fights for this next pay-per-view in the top three for stakes in their weight classes in history?

Wei Lee and Valentina feels like the biggest women's fight in my time as a fan, I just need your expert opinion. I mean, there have been some massive ones. But this is, I mean, look, the first show at MSG had some pretty damn big stakes. There were three title fights. The UFC 217, which was the next show, I think UFC 217 is the greatest 90 minutes in the history of the UFC.

That's my take. GSP Bisping, incredible. Yawanna Rose, incredible. Cody T.J., incredible. Those 90 minutes, I think, were, and those stakes are arguably bigger because it's three title fights. But I do agree. Zhang Valentina, is it the biggest? I mean, Amanda against Rhonda was big.

Rhonda against Holly was big. Amanda, Misha Tate, UFC 200 was big. Holly versus Misha is one of my favorite women's fights of all times. it doesn't feel like it's as big and maybe it's because they're not as popular as those fighters, but in terms of like actual on paper talent versus talent, I'd put it up there

with those 100%. Manda versus Cyborg is Manor versus Cyborg, yeah, it never felt like we got to see it. It was so quick. No, for sure. But that's by far the two best women to ever fight. Yep, yep, yep, that's a great point. Charlie says, I saw the Christy Martin movie

and it was fucking tremendous. would be worth a trip to the theaters from the crew. So there you go. Link one says, we need to have a discussion on your choice of pizza toppings. Firstly, pineapple does not and should never go on pizza. I find it so interesting that people care. It's like the steak thing. It's like, first of all, you've never tried it.

And second of all, why do you care so much? And third of all, it's not like I made this up. Have you ever heard of Hawaiian pizza? Like, it's quite popular. Pineapple and ham, right? Why are people so blown away by the thought of, it is very good, trust me. And you know what's crazy?

you know, I've told you guys about my thing about, you know, fruit after meals or fruit after morning time. For some reason, the pineapple on the pizza doesn't bother me. Maybe because it's cooked. It's almost like... No, no. It's real. I want to tell you, I said, that day when I went to the pizza place with my

friends who I grew up with, I told them about the hate that I received from you guys. And they... You guys, you have to understand, people from my neck of the woods, we have a very sensitive stomach. And you just, you're not, I'm happy that you aren't plagued with the same issues as us.

But please, don't be insensitive and dismiss them. Like, what would pepperoni would make? Give you the shits like? No, no, no, fruit. Fruit late at night. Fruit after a meal is a death sentence. Makes him a big gas. It's not worse than that.

In Chinese culture, in the shit's are worth it. In Chinese culture, they literally bring out oranges as the dessert. That's crazy. I can't do it. I'm not saying it's bad. At the end of the meal, you paid the bill. they bring out orange slices and melon. I mean, it's...

By the way, this guy brings up a great point. He says, besides, doesn't this mess your stomach up because of the whole food after dinner thing? It's an anomaly. What can I say? There it is. It is an anomaly. I believe you that it affects you, but I don't think it's a widespread thing. It is very widespread. Look up Jewish

stomachs. We've been battling this first century. Once that sun goes down, fruit off limits. It abides by daylight savings time. Unless it's on a pizza. I can relate to you there. I put it the same thing with the pineapples because pizza wasn't a thing here when we were growing up until we were teenagers. And I remember my mom and dad coming home with this ham and pineapple pizza.

And this is all they ever got. Like, I never knew. Like I just thought this was what was on pizza. And then I start like, I'm obviously getting older. I'm going out with friends going to a pizza place. Like what kind of pizza do you want? I'll be like ham and pineapple. Like what the fuck is wrong?

But you love it, right? I'm dealing with it too. I can't be any of the kind of pizza. I just get cheese pizza. hand pineapple every time. And by the way, it's the same concept because I would have never had ham but it's a little salty, right? So it's salty in the sweet. It's just my kosher

version of it. I love pineapple and pizza. Okay, thank you. This guy says... Pineapple and bacon and pizza from Dominoes? I'm crushing. This guy says, who on earth does green olives instead of black? Green olives taste... What do you prefer? Like, when you're snacking? Black for... Oh, black. Calamatta, actually.

Yeah, yeah. I'm talking like green as freaking green day. Like, green... No, good. Black or Calamato? Also, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on. I just had to say it's incredible that Pizzi lived through the invention of Pee. Yeah, that's amazing. No, no, no, just here, just here. That's what I'm saying, but the invention of pizza in Ireland.

Well, you had spice bag, so you were doing all right. That's all I care about. We actually, was spice bag pretty modern. Like, shit was not happening here. I'm glad I was alive for that era. And that was it. Like, that was all you're getting. Then we had curry, and then this fucking alien called pizza showed up one day.

Spice bag. You know what I mean? Ariel, can you put other fruit on a lot of, a pizza as a test to see if this will work. Like apples or... Yeah, put something else. I don't know why pineapples work.

Pineapples just work. Okay, but what about another? As we're talking about it, I feel it right here. I feel it right here. What do you say? We'll finish the show if he gets a dose. Change of the competition. It's life changing.

And I went to Danny's Pizza Tavern in Toronto. If you're ever in Toronto, go to Danny's or go to Danny's next door and ask for the Halwani and they will give you an all. olive pineapple pizza and it's fantastic and I and I ate that pizza that I showed on on my Instagram I think I had 75% of it and I could have had another 75 it was phenomenal here's Adrian who says what's up everybody Ariel harking back to the conversation regarding too many interviews I believe what people are really saying is it's not too many interviews it's that

we are all interested in the team's views and discussions as well the banter and OTN and team's opinions we love as their opinions we can digest slash argue such agree with So it's not one over the other. We just want both. Can't have it all, guys. Appreciate it. Burley says, whatever happened to the commercial breaks?

Are you guys no longer on Yahoo TV live? I was trying to watch you live. Well, off for Veterans Day. I don't think we're live these days. I do think we play VOD, and I'm cool with that. That's accurate. I didn't love the commercial breaks,

and I think there might have been a problem with the swearing sometimes, I think that. Nah, no, no, no, mine. Was that what it was all about? BITB FDB FDB still does commercial

Yeah As does the crack Right Crack you do We certainly fucking do Yeah So I do

I'm dropping F bombs the hole I don't know what Okay Hunter Hey Ariel I think you and the boys are going to

OGC an apology Oh God Picture is it Picture this The UFC's gambling scandal continues To metastasize Over the coming months

Along with Trump's lame duck Unpopularity Growing ahead of I probably should have read this one before. Next November is important midterms. I anticipate that June's UFC White House event will increasingly become a political liability for Republicans,

a big waste of taxpayer dollars months before midterms that can easily endanger Trump's presidency, in my opinion, it ain't happening. I think G.C. will be proven right. Wow. By the way, big day for G.C. Got in early. Crackadone was on Yahoo Sports Daily.

Get him, G.C. Do you have anything? Oh, look at this. Oh, look at this. Frank. This is like way early. What time is this? 9.15 in the morning?

Man, back there. Look great. Sounded great. Do we have a little snippet? No, no snippet? No snippet? I asked for a snippet. Well, that was the snippet.

You got the BTS. You got the BTS. I've been sitting in this chair for about nine hours now. There were a couple of breaks there. Did you enjoy it? I mean... That was great.

It was great. Made it to the big time. Yeah. To the big time. My mom texted me afterward. He was watching? Oh, yeah, yeah. He's had a smile on his face from ear to ear all day.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. you get that rub man you get that rub I thought it was a great conversation it was right in your wheelhouse it was about the the gambling and whatnot I love it I love it

shout out to them it's a good point though about the the Trump thing like you know the guy who demolished the White House and is spending millions of dollars to do that for sure it's going to be that that loses him the presidency

also I don't know if I could really take credit I don't know if I could take credit for it because I've jumped off my original take. Sure, but you could go back to the original and be like, I said it. I'll have it. Actually, this is big brain stuff. I have both sides of it.

So when it does inevitably fall, I can go back to the OG. Interesting one here, and it's specifically for the BITB. What's the angriest you've seen Ariel off air? And have there ever been any effort will do it live, Bill O'Reilly type of moments?

Follow up, who's he most likely to get mad at and why is it Frank? Frank. We were all together at the angriest. When was that? Oh, it was the one-time PT came.

Yeah. Yeah, there's probably a water bottle can. The water bottle. You know what's crazy about the water? So the story is, Deonté Wilder, they keep stringing us along, stringing us along.

And then also Luke Littler, right? It was just a calamity. And the thing that was stressed, usually I don't really get stressed about these things. I mean, I get annoyed. No, my daughter had a thing at school. And I knew I had like an hour drive to get.

there and I felt like they were screwing that up and I had one of these and I walked out of the I walked out of the studio and it's the only and and there was a I was I was mad so I threw it but I swear to God it was going to the window it was like an anime it came whizzing by Pizzi was like at the last moment I aimed down it was like it was like a quarterback he's about to throw and then he realized he's got nothing so he goes intentional grounding. That's what I did.

Pizzi looks in me right after it happens. Clanking water bottle, Pizzi turns me. He's like, this happened every day. The funniest thing was, everything went wrong the second they walked into the room. G.C. gets me. He brings you upstairs. Next to all, it's like, Deonté Wilder is delayed.

G.C. is trying to communicate with people. I'm being loyal. Yeah, so why do you get for lunch around here, G. Michael Venom Page is now delayed as well. What's the crack, man? What's that? Where did you get that jump on? on yeah yeah yeah yeah what the fuck is going on and i was like will i go into him now will i go in

and they're like no jesus sit down and then everything went fucking wrong by the way all these years i mean rick's been here the longest that's the one and only right that we're a lot that's such bullshit oh we lost internet connection to rick that's such bullshit oh he lost internet connection that is such i've never i've never had uh frank have i ever had we'll do it live well i've never had a we'll do it live moment you've never had it do it live now. This is so crazy. You guys are painting a picture right now.

People are going to do breakdowns of this, like, Ariel Hawani is the worst to work with. They live in fear. Look at their eyes. Why does he always have that water bottle next? Why am I worried about the... Water or weapon? Funny enough, you talk about this moment. I actually wasn't here for this moment.

Oh, yeah, it was Wednesday. It was a Wednesday in the old era. I've been around the block, but I was not there for that one. Hey, here's one for Pizzi. After talking about Crosby yesterday, Kiefer. that is, not Douglas. It made me think of Ryan Curtis. I was curious if you had an update on him.

Ryan's doing great. He is doing all kinds of speaking gigs. I mean, people are completely inspired by his story. He's been telling all over the world. He's back and forth to, I believe it's Columbia. He's doing stem cells over there. But I mean, just an unbelievable guy. Like, I mean, you can make a motion picture, oh, what this guy's been through.

Totally would never walk again. had pretty much everyone thinking, like, this is a lost cause. He's out working out, walking around. And it's great to see because he was always, from the second I met him when he was an amateur, he was one of the biggest personalities I've ever met. And to see him back in all his glory, and I'm sure, of course, there's a lot of work going on. I'm sure he will never be back to 100%. This guy was a fantastic athlete.

But to see what he's been through, walking around now, that was something that he was told he would never do. It's truly phenomenal. And he's speaking at all these things. As I say, he's a guest on every single podcast around Ireland. And of course, he's great friends both south of the board, both in the south of Ireland and up north because all the time he spent training in FAA, knocking around with the looks of Mick Conlon and those boys. So he's doing great. And it's great to see. Love to hear it. Two more quick ones. Thank you for that. Jimmy says, Holy cow, how cool is Wellmaker? So cool to have personalities like that. Root for. I loved having him in. He was amazing. And if you haven't seen the interview,

it's up on the channel right now. And here's Marco Gonzalez who says, what's up, Barry on the boys? I don't even know if this is a question or more of a rant, but here it goes. DeZone's pay-per-view model is the reason I've slowly fallen out of love with boxing. I'm already paying a monthly subscription. On top of that, they expect us to pay extra for pay-per-view and honestly for fights that don't deserve to be on pay-per-view. When I went to watch Parker v. Wardley, I was shocked to find out that it was a pay-per-view. I agree. That shouldn't have been a pay-per-view. Same thing with Atama v. White.

I like these fighters. I really do, but paying premium prices for cards like that is insane. With all due respect, these aren't household names just yet, and charging fans extra for those fights just feels wrong. Could have been pay-per-view over in the UK, but not here in America. Now, he continues with the zone introducing yet another new subscription plan. It's getting even worse. As an average Joe, if I have to choose between paying for a UFC card or a boxing pay-per-view,

I'm going UFC every time. At least with the UFC, I feel like I'm getting my money's worth. solid main cards, real stakes, and a full night of fights with boxing. It often feels like you're paying pay-per-view prices just for the main event. And next year, UFC fans won't even have to worry about pay-per-view costs the same way while DeZone keeps raising prices on underwhelming events. I really wish Turkey Al-Shake had stuck to his word about ending pay-per-views because that gave fans real hope.

It felt like boxing was finally about to grow again and give lesser-known fighters a platform. All that said, I think I'm ending my DeZone subscription at the end of the year. So I'll ask you guys, should fans keep paying for these smaller pay-per-views? Is the pay-per-view model dead in boxing? Or is there still hope that the sport can change course? Because right now it feels like boxing's biggest fight is with its own business model. A lot of great points there. There's a lot of great points there.

Thank you for that, Bob. And you are right. When they made that announcement, I remember they were at Wembley, and it was Daniel Dubois against Alexander Usik. And Ade was hosting like a little segment in which Turkey Al-Shake, Shai Segev, who's the CEO of DeZone, and Frank Warren were standing there. And they made an announcement and they were like, we're going to get rid of pay-per-view, and we're going to make this pass and all this stuff.

And that was pretty much it. There were no details. But what was most telling about that interaction was at the very end, Frank was like, he didn't get the memo. And Frank basically said, like, you want fights like this, you want knights like this. You're going to still have pay-per-view. You're going to have to have pay-per-view because of the economics of boxing because of how much fighters get paid.

the toothpaste is out of the tube no fighter is going to agree to take a massive pay cut and when he said that in that moment live on de zone i was like oh pay-per-view ain't going nowhere they tried to get rid of pay-per-view and it didn't work and so yeah this just is the economics of boxing now i i do i do think if they could get to a place where yeah it's a little bit more than your average streaming service which at this point is you know anywhere between 15 16 17 18 18 dollars this one's around $45 a month, I think you could get people on board with like a 20. 45 a month for unannounced pay-per-views, I think is asking a lot. And I think you'll still have pirating, and I think you'll still have people picking

and choosing and stuff like that. But to his point, to Marco's point, boxers make a lot, and the way to offset those costs is pay-per-view. And I don't really know how to fix that. the only way that you could fix that is to make really good cards stack cards but those are going to cost you a pretty penny and so like you go on people have tried to fix this but it would you know it keeps going on and on now back in the day you would get HBO or showtime but in addition to look you're paying $45 a month for DeZone with this ultimate plan you're pretty

much paying for, like, at best, I'm going to be very kind right now, four nights out of the month, right? Like, there's a show every Saturday, sometimes they're not great shows, sometimes there's one fight on it that you care about, and sometimes there's not even a show, but there's at least probably one. When you were subscribing to HBO and Showtime back of the day, and it was much cheaper, you weren't just getting HBO boxing or Showtime boxing and Boxing after dark and showboxing and all this stuff. You were also getting some of the best shows on TV. You were getting entourage, you were getting the Sopranos, you were getting sex in the city. You were getting like some of the greatest shows of all time.

What else are you getting with that subscription? And so I think that's ultimately what the people are complaining about. Now, this ultimate plan that they're talking about pertains to the boxing. In America, other than boxing, you don't get much more for your DeZone subscription. you do get you know if you're in i know i know in in france they're the home of league one i know in italy they have seria i know in japan it's very popular but what they're announcing here with this ultimate plan is just about the boxing and so i i don't know how it's going to work i think ultimately i think i think boxing has to figure out you know how they're how they're going to make this as

accessible as possible to the fans the best events in the world are never in front of a paywall, except combat. The biggest NFL game, the biggest Premier League game, the biggest NBA game, the biggest World Series game, they're always available to the most amount of people possible, but for whatever reason in combat, it's behind the paywall, which then stunts its growth. There was once a time where it was in front of the paywall. It was on ABC on a Monday night. Ali Frazier fought on a Monday night at Madison Square Garden on ABC, and it was available to the world. And that's when boxing was boxing. The UFC is now moving away from that. And I've always said the UFC was the last one left.

If the UFC is out of the pay-per-view game, then everyone should be out of the pay-per-view game. They're the last commodity left that even wrestling couldn't do it anymore on a consistent basis, WWE, because it was a little bit too watered down. There were too many shows. There was no reason you would easily be able to skip

and go watch on Monday and catch up. UFC, like, you have to, you want to watch Islam versus JDM. This is a pay-per-view card. And more often than not, I think the product is pay-per-view worthy. Now, am I average? to pay for it? No. Do I wish you didn't have to pay for it? No. Yes, obviously, $80 a lot,

and we're moving away from that. And so if they're moving away from it, I think boxing should move away from it, how they get that done, how they figure that out. That's something that the zone has been trying to figure out for a decade now. I don't know. I don't know how they do it, but I understand. The change won't come from the zone. The change will come from the fans. The change will come from more people like this person saying, I'm not participating in this. That's the only way this will ever change. The same way the only way any of the the habits of the UFC will ever change is if viewership goes down or people were not paying for pay-per-views. And we saw people not paying for paper reviews. The result of that was them

getting rid of paper views. This is how these things change. You have to hold to account the organizations that are promoting these things and you have to vote with your dollars. If you don't want to buy paper views, you have to not buy paper views. But if you go, maybe I'll buy this one and then you buy it, you're sending the message that you can be convinced to buy it. And so buy what you truly want and don't for anything else. But he's 100, I don't know where Marco lives, but like, I went to watch Parker Wardley and I was like, what? Yeah, yeah.

A Talma White. I think it was off the dome. I think it was in the 40s. Oh, shit. Atama white, like, most of Atama, like, most of Atama should not be behind a paywall. Like, what are we doing? No. You know what I mean?

No, you should drink as many oil balls on them. Yes. Shouldn't be behind a paywall anywhere, by the way. Like, not even in the UK. HBO, did you have to pay an additional fee for the pay-per-view on top of the Crem de la Crem yes. The Cremd-L-Crem-Dle-Crem, yes. Mayweather? Mayweather on the come-up, no.

Mayweather, Delahoya, yes. May-wether, Pachial, May-Way-Wather Hatton, like those types of fights, yes. But there were a ton of... Full price, $80 or whatever? It wasn't that much. It was never that much. It was in the 40s, 50s. But, you know, the Roy Jones fights, Bernard.

like there were a ton back of the day where that was just with HBO was HBO championship boxing do do do do do do do do do do do you love that shit it was the best it was the freaking best and they've never been able to recreate it and I think part of the problem is

you would happily pay for HBO because you got so much other shit I mentioned the shows you also got movies this is also a different era right movies weren't you don't have like Netflix and stuff like that like you wanted to watch it you would go to HBO and be like what are they playing right now right oh wow they're playing

Home Alone, too. I'll watch that for the time. Game of Thrones. Yeah. Later on. I mean, you mentioned Netflix. There's no better point of comparison or thing to point to to go, their model is not that, right? Their model is we're going to put on even bigger fights. We're going to put on the biggest fights that you could possibly make, and it's part of your subscription. And so it can be done, but it requires a restructuring of everything. And the only way to get there is by voting with your dollars. Any super chats, Frank, before we go. All right.

Petit, what's it like being on this late? I mean, you're never on the slate. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to probably have to take the next week off. Yeah, okay, that's a good point. Monday after a paper review. Which does? What else? The first one.

Hey, Ariel and the boys in the back. Do you think, think the UFC shoulder implement some type of requirements for agents like Kiki, how the NBA did for the agents? I mean, you don't have, you could. No, I think they do this on purpose. They know I can't read right. or can't read good, so they do the simple. All right.

No, read or write. You can't do either. There's no, there's no barrier of entry, and it would be interesting. If I want to be an MMA manager or agent at 5 o'clock today, I could be one in 10 seconds, right? If I want to be an NFL agent, an MLB agent, an NBA agent, you have to be certified, you have to go.

Malky Kawa told us all about this. He was an MMA guy, and then he wanted to be an NFL guy, and he passed it. You just have to go through it. And so there's a sort of system, a checks and balances. It would be interesting, I just don't know. There's so many things that are so wild west about the fight game and the UFC in particular in boxing, where this would be, I think, a very tough one to enforce.

There's no larger entity that would put you through this system. It would be the UFC, and then that would create conflict because they would stop people from getting in who they don't like. I mean, they already do it now. They say, hey, we're not going to deal with your manager. Like, they literally say that to fighters. So either get a new one or you're fucked. So they already, they already, you know, flex their muscles when it comes to these negotiations.

There's no greater entity out there. And so I wouldn't want someone having to apply to the UFC to get in because then they would be picking and choosing even more. What else, Frankie? What else? Raker Frank, have you guys watched Predator Badlands yet? I remember one of you guys being a big fan of Alien. Frankie?

I have not seen it yet. Rick? I've seen it. Good? It was quite good. I enjoyed it. Why are you so subdued in your review? Well, Frank was the one they were talking about.

Well, they said Rick or Frank, the big alien fan. I am a huge alien fan, which I have to ask. I know that there was an AVP, which I don't acknowledge. So I don't know why being an alien fan makes me a predator fan, but I happen to be both. Yeah, it was good. Worth a watch, I recommend. What else, Frank? What else?

watched Pfeiffer and Ben interview on MMA hour. Looks like they are both in a good place in and outside the ring cleach. Oh yeah. There was one Connor Ben interview where he was very emotional. Joe Pfeiffer has been through a lot of yet his documentary. Man, a lot of people are rewatching the old stuff, huh? I guess it

still hits. Still got it after all these years. What else, Frankie? Turning Mr. Miyagi's question into a Dana White hate rant was a masterpiece laughing emoji. Was it really a hate rant? I mean, I'm just trying to

explain. There's no hate here, okay? It just, you know, we're not sick offense like some other people. We tell it like it is. We call it down the middle. We're the number one unbiased combat sports platform on the planet. Most fair. Yeah, most fair.

Most fair. That's right. Fair and balance. We're supposed to challenge power. Did they realize that? Yeah, that's what journalism meant to be. Yes. For sake. He's the most powerful mind in combat sports. We're meant to be like, oh, you should be questioned some of this. You know what I mean? That's part of the fucking gig.

Yeah. You know what I mean? I was going to say something vulgar there, so I'm just going to stop the music. What is it? What is it? What is it? Journalism without text of balance is just PR. That's right.

We don't work to PR. There's fucking plenty of that in this sport. Yeah. We're not Antoine Evans. A lot of soren knees on press row. Yeah. What was B Dave doing over there? Huh?

A lot of trumpet players on press row. That's right. Say that much. What else? I'm killing them. Dan's bucket, sorry. Dan's busted slapping his wife as slap was making their network debut. Then a gambling debt story right after a betting scandal.

Is he the most successful train wreck of all time? I mean, what happened with the slap? Nothing. And nothing's going to happen. Like, I think a lot of people are going crazy over this gambling story. And I think that, look, is it the best look? No. But he, like, it's not like he hides this.

he openly flaunts it he openly flunts it it's not it's not some great mystery being unearthed so who's dan i think he meant dan's right here uh it uh those two things are also not equivalent right dana white on tape slapping his wife is he's not involved and as far as i know like the truth may be revealed and there may be something different he's not involved in that other scandal right The other scandal at the moment is being investigated as a fighter taking it upon themselves to do something. Sure. His gambling debts and his degeneracy is also legal. Yeah, that's up to him how he does that.

Yeah. The other one is FBI investigation, obviously, highly illegal. Yeah. And also, there was an irony, I guess, that he would get caught in camera doing this and then the league. But, like, that, if anything, that should have affected his actual day job. Right. Not the new thing, but anyway. What else, Frankie?

Just saw John's White House promo video convinced Dana doesn't want him on the card and he's trying to gain momentum through the media, played himself. Yeah, I saw this video out there. I didn't listen to the audio, so I don't know if there's... But, yeah, he's going hard on the paint. Again, and I meant to check in on this, and I promise I will. To me, the big question is, is a White House or bust? Is a White House or bust?

If he doesn't get on the White House card, is that it? Is he done? And is it White House or Bust for the UFC as well? Like, you know, are they open to putting them on another card? Where does this all stand? The fact that he told that guy in that interview was the no, no scripts pod. No scripts podcast. D.C.'s favorite.

Is it really no scripts or is it no corners? No scripts. We would know. You're going to tell us what the name of it is. I'm sorry, sorry. The fact that he said he had not talked to him. To breaking bread with Nick. Since June, right?

Since June is crazy. since like this all went down so anyway he's trying did you guys see the video is it any good I did not see it yeah

did you see it no what video oh you guys are a video apparently where John is yeah yeah he's posted a video

of him saying like I want to be on the white house I'm doing a show here and I saw it what are you guys doing back is it full like video production oh you're talking about like the like sort of like ad combo thing

yeah it's like his pitch to be on the White House card he just posted oh where he's like like, yeah, maybe I'll fight on a certain somebody's lawn, but the whole time I'll be drinking keto tone energy. Yeah, it was kind of like a combo with an ad. Oh, it was an ad? Weird. Well, anyway, he's trying. Who's on the blower there, PT? I'm not you muted yourself, huh? Trying to look for the video. Okay, well, that's a good video.

What else, Frankie? What else? Connor, let me train you, the trainer slash fan LT. Oh. Is that Connor McGregor? It must be because they didn't spell it. Is that Lawrence Taylor? I think it was Anthony Rodriguez. Oh, right. Oh, shit. What else, Frankie?

What else? If CBC asked Ariel to bring one member of the A8 show along with him to the Olympics, to excel alongside him and make the content A++, what would he pick? That would be fun. What if we all go? You all want to go to Livigno? Yeah. Milancortina.

Milano Cortina. But then it's like, you fly to Milan and then you have to go four hours into the mountains. They were telling me, like, this is going to be a trek. I was like, oh, thanks, guys. Countryside, I'm down. Who wants it? Did you tell them that you're a native speaker? Sign me up, I said.

I mean, I'm going to be like, you know, one of their own. Are you okay with the track? Okay, does it all. I think Frank's like he's 10 out of 10 when it comes to audio. He fixes everything. He doesn't get upset or in his feelings if you make any sort of suggestion or critique. So I feel like he would be the best one. He's a great co-pilot in your car.

Great co-pilot is down. You know, he's... Spin the block. Yeah, yeah. Go for a ride, yep. He's DTF, you know. Well, what? Whoa, what are you doing?

Why would you know that? He's down for anything, down for anything. That's not the... Who got cracked? He's DFT. Down for... DFA. DFA.

Oh, down for anything? Yeah. DTF and then the video of you getting cracked by Action Bronson. Getting cracked. Jesus Christ. Crazy work today. Why cracked? Why is that?

that bad. No, you can't say that anymore. You can't say you got cracked. That doesn't work. What's that? What? Seriously? No, you can't. I have a show called the crack. I need to know. No, no. It's cracked. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

What does it mean? Oh, I feel like I hear, by the way, I feel like I hear this in fighting sports all the time. Like, oh, he cracked them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but that's different contact. Like, if you see it happening and you can identify what it is, it's not. But, like, say, say, say, say, say, JDM knocks out Islam, like, we wouldn't say, say, wouldn't say like you all see jdm crack in islam no but what about y'all see jdm crack islam no no what you guys are weird i like the crack is by the way you guys i think i know it is

i said one time i said suss and you guys like ah no that was me because i feel like you're what you didn't quite have the full grasp on so old i just don't understand anything anymore i'm just fucking lost completely you know what i mean uh what i'll crack you what else i sussie um Ariel 499, 150 characters, 999, 200 characters, 1999, 250 characters. Good point, actually. I didn't think about that. What is he talking about?

No, he's making... Ariel 4... What does that even mean? I thought it might have something good in Superchats. I don't know. No, it makes sense. Moving on. Yeah, I mean, that dude, I don't even know if he's a Blue Jays fan,

but he's masquerading as one. I'm just watching Ireland get more irritated as Snapchat's coming in. What else, Frankie? What else? A pound for pound, worst jail pronunciation ever is... on us oh yeah yeah yeah j check yet her j sick yeah oh yeah j sick is a that's fucking by the way when we when we did the show together and this was less of a gimmick because now i kind of enjoy it i would always have a mental like a mental battle like do i correct them do i not you

know we do ari on the bad guy and he would go on a rant about someone i'm like am i that guy should i be that guy but now i just feel where do you sit now is it on purpose or is it a is it 50 is it is it like everything with chill where it's shades of gray where I think he's in on it I think he's in on it yeah I think he's in on it which I love it I think he used to smile on the old show right like he'd say it and you could see it get into you and you'd do like a little and he would get irritated I mean there was a period there at the beginning where like he would really get mad at me like really get mad at me well then it's then it's a real thing because his whole he was so used to me interviewing him

he wasn't used to me actually like challenging him on things and that was the show. The show was supposed to be like a debate show and he would get so mad. He's like, what do you do? And I was like, I don't think this show is going to last. I think this is going to end

at a month because he would get so mad but then we figured it out. We figured it out. And it worked out. I think it worked out well. What else, Frankie? What else? The way Dana holds a fork

is absolutely insane. I can't say that I noticed that. I didn't notice either. Is that from the Breaking Bread show? Yeah, I snagged a picture of it. Oh, you did? Yeah, Breaking Bread. I just threw it in the,

in the slack show. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, I see that. Let's show that to the audience. It's, uh, I think it's actually like very, um, it's almost like he's holding a, a paint brush. Yeah, he's holding it down like a pencil? It's a bit artistic.

Okay, there's that one. I'm looking at another one here. Yeah, that one. Yeah. Okay, so how would you hold a fork? A chopstick kind of. Like this? There's nothing wrong about how he's already.

Are you not knowing how to hold, are you not knowing how to hold a fork right now? No, I'm just, now, it's playing tricks with my mind. Because I'm looking at that and I'm like, what's wrong with That's a pen, right? Your hand is this way. Like this? No, the other way. You hold a fork like this. Okay, and what's he doing? The other way. He's holding it like, like a pencil.

Is he lefting? Oh, yeah, he is lefting. It's a pencil hold. Dana's a Southpaw? Have we known this? It's like an artisanal fork. Yeah, it is a nice fork. It is a nice fork. I don't know. I'm kind of with them.

Now that I think about it, like when I put my hand. over? I think we're getting thrown off by the lefty hold, the Southpaw, like you said. I kind of feel like I'm holding it the same way. What? Stab a couple of raviolis. Look at the hands. Your hand is not facing downward on the fork? There's nothing wrong with this. A couple of raviolis. A couple raviolis.

Put it in. Now, I have an issue if he's cutting something, then this is problematic. Yeah, just a couple. What's this? I see another screenshot of a piti here, looking puzzled. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I added that in earlier because we were talking about something that.

To be fair, this is how he looks most of the time. This was a subject that was not even in the slightest bit serious, and this is how he looked. That's my, by the way, that's my reaction. I'm seeing the ghost of Jordan pop up in the slack. He threw in a Ali Abdelaziz clap back at me. Is that what that is? I missed all of this. My brother, my brother, Aidan Ross, came and stepped on the mats.

he earned everyone's respect. But if you don't have the courage to step on the matts and train, you should shut your mouth. Is this a response to me? There's multiple inaccuracies here. Who is to check? Who is to check, Bob?

Let's go back to it. Let me just dissect it real quick. So he came and stepped on the mats. He earned everyone's respect. Cool. I mean, I'm sure you invited him and there was interview, but that's fine.

I mean, I had no problem with Aidan Ross. The issue was you masquerading as the main character when you have a litany of guys who can use the rub from Aden and who could have rolled with him and submitted him, but yet you wanted to flex on him and when you did flex on him,

you're trapping his arm and you're ignoring multiple taps. Now, as far as the second part of that is concerned, I don't have the courage to stop on the matts. Does that mean like you've invited me and I've declined? And second of all, training, you know nothing about me.

I've talked about that I go to the gym and that I do stuff, so you know nothing about me. So I won't shut my mouth if that's what you're talking about. But here's the thing about Ali that you guys may not know. Have you ever thought yourself, like,

why is it that we only hear from Ali as far as MMA managers are concerned? Have you noticed that? Like, you don't really hear much from, you know, Lloyd Pearson or Danny Rubinstein or Abe Kawa. You never hear from Malki these days as well. Jason House does very little interviews.

I'm listing the big names, right? And yet you notice that you always see Ali interviews. You'll see him pop up on that. this channel on that channel like you consistently hear it and what he does is he'll reach out to you and say i want to come on or put me on and if you want to get this guy then you have to put me on that's what you'll do trust me i know i experienced it for many many years incessant put me on put me on put me on i want to respond to this i want to respond so that's just the mentality main character syndrome the mentality is that i want the limelight i want to be as famous as

popular one of the guys i want i want that i want that attention And so this is just an extension of that. That's not me being a hater. That's exactly who he is. I experienced it for many, many years. And then he'll pull those people away and he'll pull, you know, he'll pull, even though it benefits them from being on shows,

he'll pull that away because he wants that power. He wants that influence. And so here's just another example of him saying like, ooh, there's a camera here. There's a famous person here. Let me roll with him and let me tap him out. Wow. Wow.

What a flex. What an impressive, impressive feat that was. that you tapped out Aidan Ross and ignored multiple taps and went a little hard on him. I know that he's saying now, like, oh, that's my brother, you know, he was cool to me. Yeah, of course, he invited you there. But like, come on, man. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You know exactly what you do.

You know exactly who you are. I mean, look at the behavior. And look at every other manager in this sport. How they, like a normal manager would be in the shadows and orchestrate and say, hey, you go with him and you get the rub from him. and that's all this is not that big of a deal it ain't that serious

but I saw that and I was like oh my god he's the exact same guy nothing's changed not even remotely the biggest streamers in the world

to film him do this so I mean what do you mean don't talk about it that's exactly what you've brought a massive audience to watch this

and then I saw some people be like oh you didn't even watch it show me tell me you didn't watch without tell me you didn't watch yeah

you think I was sitting there of course you got me there guys I didn't watch the six-hour fucking stream. I did see a clip of Ali rolling with a guy who knows nothing about jiu-jitsu and him going hard on him and

ignoring multiple tweets and then just being like, no one's impressed. It's a pathetic move. I almost wish I didn't see that. Thanks, Jordan, wherever you may be. Do you have anything else? We should clarify, though, also ghost of Jordan. Jordan's still

with us? No, I know, I know. And we love them dearly. We do love Jordan. We do love Jordan. What else, Frankie? What else? Hey, Jordan. AH, big fan here. Frank's killing it with the drops. The tie one is number one. Who's to check is number two.

What's the origin of who said it? Nosed a few episodes due to a heart attack in September. But I'm back and ready for 322. Oh, my dear. Dude, a heart attack in September. Is that what he said? Yeah. Damn.

We're okay, Thomas. We love you, Thomas. Get well soon. oh tie to is it is it the wait yeah he's asking about the the who uh james the hoon yeah yeah yeah we've done this a few times recently okay yeah yeah yeah i think he's asking who's to check no what's what's the origin of who's to check bob aram my famous interview with him are infamous at yankee stadium and uh it's before uh pacia margarito and they um we're talking about ufc and their pay-per-view numbers and he

He says that UFC 100 didn't really do 1.7, as was reported. And I'm like, are you trying to say that they lied? And he's like, yeah, who's the check? It's not public. It's a great moment. And it's one that I still quote till this day with my wife. I do want to clarify something that actually wasn't the ghost of Jordan. That is Dan, who is filling in very well for Jordan, but under his name.

So that's why I was like, why did Jordan put this into here? So I apologize, Dan. Thank you for rile me up with that tweet. That's a great find. That's a great fine. Thank you. So Jordan's slacking is what we're saying here. No, it's...

Jordan's at home being like, what the fuck did I do it? I guess the pun is slacking. I'll get on to him now. We'll let that happen again. Yeah, get them on the blower there real quick. No one cares about any of this, but I do want to clarify that. Okay, one last one. Yeah, this one's from Anna Evans.

Oh, Antoine. Why is Antivon catching strays? We love that. But he says stays because, again, they're trying. Keep trying. I'll fuck them up each time. No, no, no. I think that's part for the course for that.

You know, a little typo here, a little typo there. I love it. All right. Are we done? You tell us, bud. It's your show me. It feels longer when it's pitch black outside, right? It feels much longer.

I agree. When it's a summer night, it's okay. When it's a summer day, it's like, but there's something about. There's kids going to school here. It feels like it's 10 o'clock right now. It's not that late. It's only 5'15. It is.

It's quarter of 10. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. Pizzi's got the warm milk waiting for him. It's very rare that we get a chance to have Pizzi plug the crack. So at this hour on a Wednesday. So what do you got for us? Well, you know, it's the same show every week.

Chuka Ben will be there. This is a great point. Pretty good. You know what I mean? We actually have too many listeners. So if you're not in already, we can't take any more. So don't come. And this is an East Coast pay-per-view, so you'll be able to react to the WANs, some high-stakes on Friday.

on Friday. Yeah, lads in their pants. We will have the video of them in their pants and we'll be saying, whoa, look at him. Look at that one. I mean, there's a lot of weigh-in, you know, topics here. There's Islam moving up to 170.

There's Zhang Wei moving up to 125. Anyway, great, great, great promotion there. We're going to talk about all of that. We're going to talk about all of that on the show. Boys in the back. Boys in the back on Thursday, 415, sub-BITV. BITB. The pound for pound is?

Greatest Grapplers. MMA Grapplers What was that? Usually there's like a New York Yeah, there is. Okay. Look at the grapplers on this card. All right.

Sean Brady. Isom Machetechette. Most important, one o'clock Eastern, 10 in the West, six in Eta, Fight Feast, FTD, Fight Feast, the movie, premiering on the channel

and the boys will come on afterwards. It's going to be a movie, my friends. Thank you very much for our guest today. Big John McCarthy, Jalen Turner, Garth A. Davies and I forget James to Huno?

Yeah, come on, guys. Tell me who was the last guest of the day? No one's listening to me. Tim Walsh. Shout out to Tim Bo. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to...

Is everyone okay? Did everyone go home? I mean, at this point, it's so long. You almost have to play the music again, Frank. Give me just like the final 10 seconds so I can... Wow, they actually did leave. Like, they're actually gone.

They're actually not there. Like, literally not a single one. one of them is there. Back to our city time. This is a bit somebody here.