The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 327 reaction, Carlos Ulberg, Daniel Rodriguez, Shakur Stevenson, Kevin Holland, Cub Swanson, Eugene Bareman, massive weekend recap, more

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show recapping a huge combat sports weekend, starting with UFC 327. Joined by the Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll, the gang discusses Carlos Ulberg’s incredible one-legged knockout of Jiri Prochazka, Josh Hokit stealing the show all week, and the rest of the card (16:41). Newly-crowned UFC light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg stops by to reflect on the massive victory and knee injury he suffered in the fight, respond to Prochazka saying he showed “mercy,” calling him a “pretender,” look ahead to his recovery, and more (1:01:06). Cub Swanson is back to break down his storybook retirement fight, including the buildup to the moment, the fight itself, the reception from fans and fellow fighters, celebrating the win with his family, and more (1:31:59). Daniel Rodriguez returns to reveal details about his long hiatus, being detained in Mexico while crossing the border with marijuana, support he received while in jail, finding ways to exercise and make the best of his conditions, remaining motivated, how he was able to negotiate his release, and more (2:05:37). Kevin Holland joins following his impressive performance against Randy Brown at UFC 327, talking about his ranch and horses, his younger brother getting into the fight game, Brown’s ability to fight off submissions, wanting another crack at both Mike Malott and Daniel Rodriguez, and more (2:37:37). City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman is back on the show, discussing Ulberg’s UFC 327 win, their camp for the fight, his real-time thoughts after Ulberg’s injury, his reaction to Prochazka’s “mercy” comments, Ulberg potentially fighting Magomed Ankalaev in his first title defense, his feelings on Israel Adesanya’s next move, and more (3:01:04). WBO super lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson is our final guest of the day, reacting to Conor Benn’s performance against Regis Prograis, being stripped of the WBC title and the politics involved, who he hopes to fight next, and more (3:36:14). Ariel closes the show with some other news and notes (3:57:29), before answering your Super Chats (4:58:22).

on this Monday, April 13, 2000. And 26. Hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. Gosh, I missed this. Gosh, I miss this chair. This microphone, this desk, this computer, these chachis, this studio.

I miss this so much. You know what I realized during this little break that we just had? And yes, we had a break. And yes, I'm sorry. And yes, I feel very guilty when we're off. And there's so much. to get to and people say, where do you go? And how could you leave us? And it's a number of event

fight week and all this stuff. I noticed that there's a big difference between adults and children at this particular point in my life because I have kids 14, 12, 9. They want vacation to last forever. They want spring break to last forever. They're sad on the Sunday before they go back to school today. I'm itchy. I'm missing it. I'm actually getting depressed and anxious because I miss it so much. I am so happy sitting in this exact room talking to all of you. I am so happy doing this. And this was one of the most profound times where I felt the itchiness. I wanted to come back so badly. And I don't know if I speak for the rest of the team. Perhaps they have that feeling as well where they're like, ah gosh, we got to go back and deal with this guy. I miss this so much.

I am so excited to be here. I'm so excited to get into things this particular episode and this week. This week is already all booked up. We have multiple in-studio guests. Wednesday is going to be incredible. I'm also hosting two press conferences on Wednesday after the show. Return to ESPN on Friday. Way in on Thursday. MVPW, obviously, in town.

So much going on. I'm so happy I have to get the right pencil here. My computer volume was on. I'm just so, is everyone here? I just want to make sure. Can I get a roll call? Frank, are you there? Who me?

Is, is, is, is, is, Andy there? I'm here. Dan? What's up? Rick? I'm here. G.C.?

Yeah, man. Pizzi. Yeah. I will say on-air, Jordan, still on sabbatical. I'm not sure when he's coming back. I don't know what's going on with that guy, but it's so... Got about Jordan, man. Guys, I just want to hug you.

I've missed you. I haven't seen Rick in like four weeks. Now, this isn't... Pre-S Seattle. Seattle, I haven't seen the guy. Look at that tan. Look at this guy. Hawaii, Rick.

I mean, he's sub... Come on. Look at this guy. Pizzi, you look fantastic. You got the Rory smile. You're basking in the globe, back-to-back masters, held down the Ford on Saturday. Look at you.

No, having a great time. Sorry for blanking you for a whole day on whether it be on the show or not. I genuinely saw that message this morning, so I'm sorry. Guys, I hit a PTC. I'm used to this by now. I hit a PITT yesterday.

Hey man. I know you don't usually like to come on the Monday after a numbered event. You hosted in my stead. I'd love to have you. You know, I want to see everyone. Nothing. Meanwhile, on the group chat, talking about Rory, he's all over the place. And I'm just waiting at some point he's going to get to the actual work-related text on the personal side.

Didn't get that until this morning. But he was living it up. They're dancing on the streets of Belfast, I presume. Our boy, Rory Mac. is back-to-back champions. But the biggest, there's so much, guys, there's so much to get to UFC 327 recap. We got so much to get to six incredible guests.

I'm going to get to that in a moment. But guys, the biggest news of all, like we've heard nothing of the long-awaited, much-anticipated trip over to the Emerald Dial, G.C, over in the Emerald Dial, how was it? Pizzi, I tried to ask questions.

I tried to dig. I got nothing. I got Heism. Keep it for the show. You know what I mean? It's literally what he said. Yeah, I mean, it was unbelievable. I can't speak glowingly enough about Ireland.

Going from the Emerald City in Seattle to the Emerald Isle in Ireland is as good as it gets. Pizzi was an incredible host. You asked me, you were a little bit nervous that I was going to say he was a bad host. He was unbelievable. Picked me up from the airport, drove me two hours out to Galway, and then back into Dublin for Easter dinner or whatever he had to do that day. And then every day that I was in Dublin, I mean, he took care of me. We went out and did things.

Here we are. Wow, wow, wow. At his local pub. his favorite cocktail bar. He forced me to have like three cocktails too many. We went into a betting shop and we bet on Champions League. We've got the actual physical slips at the paddy power. Won both those bets, by the way. Those are two winners. Rip some heaters outside his local bar. Yeah, you guys were killing it. I mean, it was all the time. I went out to the cliffs of Galway. I mean, the cliffs of Moher by Galway, it was unreal. It felt like I was in a Lord of the Rings movie. The only complaint I have. Okay, okay. I don't know if you've seen any in the protest, everything going on. The tractor. lining up. You can't get in inside out of the city. I was begging. I was begging Pizzi to let me come out to Blanche. I wanted to see the house. I wanted to, I wanted to see, I wanted to meet mom,

pa. I wanted to see everything that goes on. I want to see where he's at right now. And every opportunity, this man was ducking me going to Blanche. And then he got the excuse of this protest going on. So I can't get out of the city. Can't get out of the city. We had all these plans. Went to a beautiful dinner with Elaine. It was a fantastic time. The plan was he was going to come pick me up, we're going to go to Blanche. I wake up in the morning. He's like, I don't think we can do Blanche today, man, I'm sorry. Wow, wow, wow.

So I have to say, I saw you guys with Elaine. I was a bit jealous. Elaine being your better half. Tremendous. I didn't get that type of reception when I was in town. And then I heard Blanche was on the docket, and I didn't get that red carpet rolled out.

He was like, you don't want to go out there. You don't want to see it. I was like, Pizzi, that's all I want to do. I want to go out there. We had a whole plan I was going to go to his mom and dad's house. It was going to be tremendous. Explain yourself. They were gone, right? So, so we woke up in the morning because we were like, we were having a few drinks before. I was like,

this is great. I'm just going to, I'm just going to roll up and surprise them in the morning. And then I wake up in the morning, and I'm like, you shouldn't do that. You know what I mean? You don't even know if your mom and dad are going to be home tomorrow. And then when I ring them, they're looking after my niece and nephew and they're going somewhere else that morning. So I was like, gee, see,

they're not going to be here. And then, the strike, the protest began, the fuel protest, which meant nobody could, particularly the north side of the city, nobody could kind of come in and out of the city very easily. So we had to get a lane to drop me to a train station so you get a train in to see GC that evening. But it was pretty crazy. Like the town was locked down for two days with the farmers protesting that they want some more fuel, they want lower fuel money. So I believe something has happened today. I believe some type of negotiations happened. But more power to them. The city, is open back up, I believe.

Okay, this is wonderful news. I'm a little bit happy that you didn't get to go to Blanche because I was very jealous. But overall... I could feel that. Overall, it feels like it was everything. I fucking loved it. I can't wait to go back.

We did spice bags. I drank more Guinness than I know how to handle. I tried a Murphy's and a Beamish. Not quite as good as the Guinness. What is that? What is that? Those are other Irish stouts. We were actually at Pee's local gaff.

And I was like, hey, man, you mind if I get a beamish? And the guy was like, hmm, I don't. I don't think you should do that. I think you should stick to the Guinness. Wow. I got to try the other Irish stouts. I did the Guinness Factor. I did everything. It was fantastic. Incredible. Incredible. Well, I'm so happy. And was it good for you, Pizzi, as well. Like, was he a good... Oh, I love that. Yeah. All right. I just want to make sure. I was just worried all the time in case where I was going to have a good time.

I'm going to be devastated. If they don't have a good time on him here, I'm going to be devastated. And every time I was saying, I was like, you're having a good time, aren't you? Everything's okay. And he's like, yeah, no, it's great. I kept saying that. I was like, I've never had more fun in my life. Also, they did it to Westbury? Shout out to the Westbury. A incredible accommodate. Did you see the three arena? I saw it from afar. I saw that and Croke Park. We did. Wow. Wow, wow. And how many darts in total? Smoked or thrown? Both. Well, he showed me this great place that you guys got to go to when he was there. And I was like, oh, when I come back, we have to go where you actually go and throw darts smoked. We lost count fast. Yeah, we lost count. The pictures messed up.

There was many more pictures of a smoking darts, but it was, yeah. And Pizzi just pulls them out and he just starts ripping them. And rolling them in the moment, pre-rolled? We had some roll. We had some. We're halfway out to Galways. I need to make a quick pit stop. Got to get some coffee.

And then he starts rolling up his hand-roll cigarettes. It's actually a very popular thing out there. I saw many people doing it. I love it. All right. Well, this is phenomenal. Rick, Hawaii was good? As usual.

I mean, it's heaven on Earth. Come on, man. You've been, right? I've been, but the last time I was there was 2000. So I'm due. I'm due for a comeback. Here's the thing. I know there were floods over there.

Okay. Yes. Floods right before we arrive? Yes. Floods again begin after we leave. Golly. That little middle section, that's where I was in paradise in heaven. Are they okay now?

Yeah, it was not nearly as bad as the first go-round. There was some real actual damage and flooding done. But, you know, it's such a sunny, warm place that like the flooding kind of goes away relatively quickly, right? It can happen quickly, but then it goes away quickly. But yes, there was some devastation. But thankfully, everybody, you know, my extended family is, is all good and got to enjoy it. The thing for me was the dreading of taking a two-year-old in addition to my eight and five-year-old on the flight. And he handled it like a champ. He was great. It was way less horrible than I was expecting,

especially the way back Red Eye. He slept like a baby, and we were all good. It was incredible. Well, you had a great time. Pizzi and G.C. had a great time. I know Andy had a great trip as well. Frank was holding down the Ford here, pumping out podcasts, left and right. Give me a fucking break.

Inside boxing. The guy just, he never stopped. Frank, I feel like you need the vacation now. I feel like you were holding down the Ford. If it can be allowed, I appreciate it. No. No, no. Audio is usually thought of last.

No, that's how important you are to us. You can't actually take a break. So we appreciate you very much. I was actually in Florida. I was actually like 10 minutes away from the arena on Saturday. Did not attend, but did see a lot of billboards. Saw a lot of billboards throughout my time there. All of them up until the day had Van Tira on the billboard.

So I don't know whose fault that was. But there was a lot to like if you did attend. And we're going to get into it all and more. Let me tell you who's on today's program and then we'll get into things real quick. here. Back into the show, Shakur Stevenson is going to join us. Why? Well, we love Shakur Stevenson around here. And I want to get his thoughts on

Connor Ben's performance on Saturday. Saturday was a crazy day. There was so much going on from the PFL to UFC to Tyson Fury against Arsumbek Mahmoodov on Netflix. Also, Connor Ben against Regis Pro Gray, which wasn't exactly the big showing that he was probably hoping for, but nevertheless got the win. Shakur

vocal throughout the fight. Also, Connor entering the ring after Shakur won against Tiofima Lopez in late January at MSG, you may recall. So a lot to get into with our good friend, the Pride of Newark, Shakur Stevenson. That will be at 4.30. At 4 o'clock, Eugene Berman is going to join us. The headman over at City Kickbox. He is another UFC champion to call his own.

That guy's name, Carlos Elberg, more on him in a second. I haven't talked to Eugene in quite some time. At least a year and a half, two years. Love Eugene. One of the great minds in the history of the sport. obviously head coach for the likes of Israel Desaenae, Dan Hooker, Navajo Sterling, Carlos Alberg, works with Alex Volcanowski, many, many more. We'll get into all of that and more. At 3.30, talk about a guy I haven't spoken to it a long time. Kevin Holland, Mr. Trailblazer himself, big win for him, snap the losing streak, beat Randy Brown. He will join us at 3.30. Talk about his win on Saturday in Miami. You haven't talked to him in about, like, two, three years. So we're mending all the fences here. At 3 o'clock, my friends, Daniel Rodriguez is going to join us. You may have heard.

He has been in the news. You may have heard. He was out of commission. You may have heard. He was in Mexico. We're going to get into all of that. Explain what happened. Clear the air.

Tell his side of the story. And obviously, focus on the big comeback. That will be at 3.30. At 2.30, Cub Swanson is going to join us. Talk about the incredible, incredible retirement fight. The win over Nate Landware. What about the uncrown film? last Monday. Hopefully you've seen it, but that thing is going to age very, very nicely.

Tremendous job by Casey, Esther, who helped out as well. Shout out to them. It's called End of an Era, Cub Swanson's Final Fight. By the way, people like to talk about curses. I feel like Uncrowned Films has been producing some good luck charms. Gable Steven, Cub Swanson. We had another one that I was thinking about recently. BKFC was pretty good when we were there. Anyway, Cupp will join us at 2.30 and just added late edition, the new champ. Carlos Alberg is going to join us. What a win. What a freaking unbelievable moment. Tears his ACL

we suspect. Shouted to Dr. Suterer who gave me that intel. Tears his ACL very early in that fighting interior Pachaska and then knocks out your Pachaska with the left hook. It was unbelievable scenes. Now another champion. Hailing from city kickboxing. Hailing from New Zealand.

What a guy. What a performance. He is going to join us at about 2 o'clock. But I want to get... There it is. There's the line right there, six pocket of guests. You know when I'm away, I come back stronger than ever, and dare I say, we're coming back at a very big way here. So let us get in to all things. UFC 320. What is this? What is the? Oh, look at this. My neighborhood Door Dash delivery man. Wow. Look at that guy. Thank you, sir. I do appreciate my guy. Wow. Our good friends over at DoorDash

hooking us up as we get into things regarding UFC 327 and he hooked us up with our favorite local spot. Pio Pio here in the heart of Oh, are these the yuca fries? Oh, you know yourself pizza. You wish you had the yucca fries.

And is this the chicken dish that we all love. Oh, this is fun. Oh, my God. The best thing about this is didn't get to eat before the show, guys, because we had so much to get it to, so much to catch up. Oh, you know yourself.

Fantastic Inca Cola. Oh, I could smell it. We didn't get into it, guys. We didn't get into it. So I'm able to eat a little bit. Pardon, pardon me. I know I don't like to usually eat and talk at the same time. Oh, yeah, I know yourself with the yucca fries.

Talk is true. Pizzi, the yucas? Oh, my God. I don't even know what a yucca is, but I want one. Look at this chicken right here. This is a phenomenal local spot. Oh, my God. And what I love so much about it is that we love to support local.

And we love the fact that we're teaming up with DoorDash again. It's our go-tech. two with my family come home from the trip yesterday. What are we ordering? Just open the app, boys. Pick out something. But no other app except for DoorDash. They are the best. And what I love so much about DoorDash guys. Yeah, get that in there.

I'm jealous, bro. Love POPO. They support combat sports. No one supports combat sports like DoorDash. You saw them all over UFC 327. They're all over WrestleMania. They are truly supporting combat sports. Supporting us as well. We did the live show with them in Miami.

in December and so happy they'll be with us all week long supporting what we're doing over here as we get ready for WrestleMania this weekend. So I'm going to put this bag right here because I want to show them some love. I got my chicken right here. Shout out to our good friends over at DoorDash. Always delivering for us. Always delivering for combat sports fans if you're watching UFC this weekend. If you're watching Mania this weekend, if you're watching the NBA playoffs, which start this weekend.

Hawks, Knicks, baby! If you're watching the NHL playoffs, as well. Oh, yeah, you know yourself. They are the best. Meals, last-minute snacks, anything you need. Shout at the DoorDash. We appreciate their support very, very much, and we appreciate the fact that they're always here for us,

especially for combat sports fans. So shout it to them. And I want to tell you that this particular UFC 327 recap is delivered to you by our good friends over at DoorDash. And so let us get into it. By now you know, Carlos Elberg is the new UFC light heavyweight champion. But holy smokes, what a road to get to that belt for him.

It was a short fight. He tears his ACL, we suspect. We'll get more intel on that when he joins us in about 45 minutes time. And it's clear that he has compromised. It's clear that he has banged up. And it's clear that Yeri Bokasca feels some sort of way about it as he notices that he cannot use that back leg. the leg in which you are putting all your sort of weight on

when you're trying to deliver big strikes like he usually does. And so Yeri is making faces and he's calling him to the center of the ring and he's not taking advantage. He is kicking the lead leg, but he's not taking advantage like he should. That was a compromised fighter in front of him. That was a wounded animal in front of him. And by all accounts, if that fight would have lasted a couple more minutes and gone in between the first and second round,

I would have to think that either the ref, the cage side doctor, or his corner would have said no must. He had to win the fight at the time in which he did. And this guy, Carlos Elberg, in one of the greatest comebacks that we've ever seen, especially in such a short fight, especially with the stakes, the stakes being so damn high. Nails Yerry, who is essentially standing in front of him with his hands down, coming forward, coming forward, which is part of the reason why we love him so much,

because he is a killer, be-kill type of fighter he gets knocked out. And so my heart breaks for Yuri Prakashka. My heart breaks for this guy because we know how intense he is. We know that he's had multiple chances. We know that he's a former champion, but we know that he cares so deeply. He's about to become a father for the first time. He takes this fight just days before his partner is due to give birth.

And you could see the way in which this affects him. And you just think about, man, what was that Saturday night like for him? What was that Sunday like for them? What's this Monday like for him? Because I know when fighters lose, they take it hard. There's different levels. Some are able to brush it aside. Some are able to come back.

Some are able to regroup and some let it rot and fester. And I feel like, I'm not saying this is the end of year. I'm not saying that he's never going to rebound and this will define him. But I could feel this one sitting with him. And maybe it's a blessing that it's happening at the same time as this incredible thing that he's about to experience, which is fatherhood. But I can see this affecting him so very much. So my heart breaks for him. At the same time, I'm delighted for Carlos Elberg, who's done nothing wrong, who's an incredible fighter,

who has just racked up great wins, who earned this shot. This is part of the reason why I didn't mind Alex vacating the title and moving up because I felt like these two guys should have fought each other and I didn't mind them fighting for the belt. They were the rightful two and three if Alex was number one at light heavyweight at 205.

And so I had no issues with the fight whatsoever. And the guy just kind of quietly goes about his business. Carlos Sleberg, I'm talking about. It has an incredible backstory, has been a part of CKB for a long time, just goes out there, does this thing, does this thing, and finally puts himself in this spot, and then pulls off one of the great wins in the history of this sport.

Compromised leg, maybe a torn ACL, which is just absurd when you think about the injuries that we see in football and basketball, torn ACLs, players can't walk, they can't stand. This guy knocked out another human being with a torn ACL, potentially, with some kind of serious injury. I mean, we've seen the footage of the calf rippling, and Dr. Suterer, go check out his YouTube channel. He does a phenomenal job of explaining why he knows,

by watching that. Why to torn ACL? Uri's going to have to live with this. And I feel for him. I feel for him so very much because I know it's going to eat him up inside. But Carlos pulled it off. Now the shame is he may be out for a year. And maybe we're looking at a situation where he just won a vacant title.

There's going to have to be another vacant title fight right after. It's a mess of a situation, but that does not take away about how great this was for him, for the sport, for the light heavyweight division. It was an incredible, incredible moment. I know that you reacted to it. You did the post show. So actually, you know what?

Here's Rick and G.C. reacting to it. And what I find so fascinating about it is G.C. is reacting, as most of us did. Rick has no reaction to it until afterwards. He is, like, completely frozen by it all. So you see the difference in the reactions. Take a look from Saturday's watch party. Toasted. Oh, it's fucking like, it's completely fucked.

Oh, my God. He fucking clips here he drops him. He's lit a massive favor. Oh my God, he fucking finished him. Carlos Oberg on a completely fucked leg. Kios Yeri. That is

the worst fight IQ I've ever seen in an MMA fight, period. End of story. The dumbest strategy ever. Don't know what that was. Unbelievably dumb. Tell us how you really feel, Rick. What? What was he thinking there?

The fuck just happened. Rick, you are at first, motionless. Yeah, I can't believe what's... And then they were like mad at him. I'm mad. I was mad. He's disappointed. He's like a father disappointed in his son. It was...

I've never felt that feeling, quite that feeling before of the most easy layup in... Like, MMA is a very difficult sport. There are so many things that can happen and go wrong. And we talk about punchers' chances and we've seen miracles and things like that happen. There's never been a more assured victory that I can recall in MMA history than what was presented to Yuri Prohaska right there. And when Connor and I were watching it, we were certainly saying, get the leg kicks out, right?

Like start leg kicking, start doing that. That was thought number one. But even beyond that, right? Even the people who are criticizing him for not being aggressive enough with the leg kicks, if all he did was stand there in the middle of the cage, if all he did was wait for Carlos Olberg's leg to finally give out for the final time, for him to be flopping around like a fish, for the referee, for the corner, for Carlos himself, to be unable to continue,

he is crowned UFC champion. He did not have to do a single thing in order to be crowned UFC heavyweight champion again. And so I didn't know what to make of the fact that he decided to do that. Now, granted, the Bushido code and the samurai stuff

and why we all love Yuri is ultimately probably why he ended up in that position. But he had to do nothing in order to become champion again. He could have just stood there. He could have stood three feet away from him where Carlos couldn't touch him

and he would have been champion. And so I was baffled. seconds. A minute of 50 seconds, I truly believe if that fight goes to the end of the first round, it gets called off. Maybe not even that long because if Carlos tries to do something again and starts flopping to the ground like he did when he tried to throw that head kick and God damn,

Carlos is a gangster for doing that. If all he had to do was wait there, there's a chance in 30 seconds from then. Carlos falls again and the referee is like, all right, I can't let you fight with this fuck knee anymore. You're done. Fight over. There's a real chance of that. We've seen it before where a referee has stopped a fight to protect an

injured fighter. So I just couldn't believe that Yuri had given it up in this way. I was just shocked. You know what he did? G.C., you know what he did? Now, from here on out, any fighter who's compromised, like we bring up Alex Pantosia on our show now thinking, you know what, maybe I shouldn't have called it off, any fighter from here on out who is compromised is going to be compared to Carlos Selberg. And you can make the case that a messed up arm is actually better than a mess up like, you cannot stand. You cannot stand. You cannot actually have any power. You cannot push off that leg,

especially as you're throwing the left hook with a torn ACL. It is unfathomable. No one has ever been able to do that. And so now every single fighter who gets injured is going to be told, but yeah, Carlos Selberg won the title with a potentially torn ACL. That's what we think it is. It's unimaginable what he did. And your reaction is probably the same reaction that most people around the world had.

Yeah, I mean, the main reason I'm reacting like that is because, to Rick's point, in my head, I was just like, oh, man, like, Yerry's going to win the title, but it's going to be because of an injury to Carlos Oldberg. It was almost like I had cemented it in my head. I mean, leading up to it, he couldn't walk. He was wobbling around. Anytime he tried to do anything, he would just like go back to the fence to try to get his balance back. And they're like, you can even see, just to go off of Rick's point, I've rewatched it a couple of times. It doesn't take long to watch. It actually is insane that Yeri allowed that to happen. Like he could not walk. And then as

they're going to the fence when the finishing sequence happens, you see Oldberg, like faint the left hook like three or four times. Like all Yuri had to do was just get separation. And at least if you're going to go up to him, keep the hands up, stay guarded, because you just had to make it that last minute in 15 seconds. It's mind-boggling that Yuri allowed that to happen. But then on the flip side of that, like you said,

it's one of the most inspirational things that you could see from Carlos Olberg. To fight through that, it's truly incredible. I mean, his knee was completely cooked. You see it once the adrenaline starts dropping after the fight, he kind of starts hobbling around again. And so here's what, actually, we showed your reaction. Here's Kai Khaar France's reaction, one of his teammates at KB, another name that Eugene Behrman has built up, almost got him to the actual belt, brought him to a title fight,

a lot more similar to G.C's reaction. Here's Kai Kair France back home in New Zealand. Here's Yeri's reaction on Instagram after the first. And Piti, I want to ask you about something specific that he said in this video. First here, here's Yeri, a heartbroken Yeri after the fight. Thank you all for support. Just checking the jaw here in hospital. And big apologies for my performance tonight.

I still can't understand this. This is my stupid mercy in the fight. And that caused me this fight. I would like to fight a rematch because man, that was my fight. That was my fight. And I just gave him

this opportunity to catch me. And big apologies to everyone who support me. Pizzi, he said in that video and in other spots on social media, I showed him mercy. That was my mistake.

Do you believe him? Do you believe that's what he was doing? Yeah, absolutely. I saw I'm pointing to the ground on a number of occasions, basically asked him to throw hands and as the lad said he was kicking the leg that wasn't affected

and it like it is he is one of the most unique guys we have in this sport and it does feel like he has he's on a spiritual level at least a combat spiritual level that we haven't seen in fighters really ever you know he he is

he's a very unique guy and the fact that he chose code over getting the light heavyweight title back and he did in that moment I really believe that. He was like, well, I'm not going to be, I'm not going to be vicious. I'm not going to go after this injury. And I think that's what cost him.

You know, I really do. It plays into the whole mythology we have around Yeri. And everything, I'm not trying to discount anything Rick has said in terms of how poor of a game plan as this is. I think Yeri understands that himself. But in a weird way, it kind of, it kind of stimulates all of the things we think about Yuri, him screaming in the middle of a rainforest, him doing these darkness retreats. This is all part of who he is.

And in that moment, even though he has said for many years how much it would mean to him to win the Lloyd Heavyweight title, we saw him weeping by the cage when we watched, as he watched Alex Pereira reclaim the title, this meant so much to him. But in that moment still, he chose code over that victory. And that is pretty incredible. It's unbelievable. And that's part of the reason why my heart breaks. for the guy because he did show code and class and, you know, the martial art Bushido way,

but it cost him and it's going to eat at him. The weird thing is, though, guys, if Carl Sahlberg is really out due to a torn ACL and that will require surgery and he's probably out for nine to 12 months, that's typically the layoff, is it possible that Yuri gets another title shot? Is it possible you do Yeri versus Magomed? Is it possible you do, I don't know, Yeri versus Paulo Costa, who was victorious and his return to 205, Rob Whitaker is out there. Like, Yuri is so beloved. I'm sure there are going to be people out there

being like enough is enough, but I wouldn't hate it. Can't he just be in a number one contender bout or something, though? Does it have to be? What do you think happens? If Carlos is out, they're going to have to do another title fight, right? No, do they have to?

That's a UFC. That's what they've been doing, though. They've moved Pereira up because they couldn't have the heavyweight to look for grabs. They make this vacant toil for these guys, to crown a new champion and therefore have more title fights. I think they absolutely will try. Like I think Oldberg should take as much time as we need.

Let's not forget Jamal Hill rushing back for UFC 300 after suffering a very brutal injury. We were comparing it to Aaron Rogers at the time. Remember he had that injury for the Jets. Jamal had this where looking up the timelines. I think he came back way too early to appease the UFC. So if I'm Oldberg, I'm very, very sensitive about when I do come back. And if I'm the UFC, if they've gone to all this hassle to make a new champion at Lighthead, heavyweight as Alex is moving up. I think they will definitely look to put it on a new champion,

whether it be interim or whatever, in the meantime. I expect that that's a possibility. Here's my fear. The light heavyweight title is extremely diluted. The light heavyweight title is a derivative of a derivative of a derivative. John Jones is the light heavyweight champion. Did not lose it. Gave it up. Alex Pereira then, you know, there were fighters in between, but Alex Pereira goes on to kind of like reestablish that title, right? To become the guy, to become the guy at light heavyweight that everybody goes, look, there he is. Does not lose it and gives it up.

Now we're at the point where Carlos Holberg and Yuri are fighting for the vacant title. Carlos wins it. Is sidelined. Another interim title, another shot for somebody just feels like the most watered down possible title it could possibly be. The light heavyweight champion, for all intents of purposes in my mind, is John Jones. John Jones never gave up that belt. And now it goes down to Alex Pereira, who at least did a little bit to get out of the shadow of John Jones looming over this division, and now it's not him anymore, and it's somebody else,

it's Carlos, but now there's going to be, like, I'm not into this. Like, let somebody. What do you do? Make other fights. Carlos is on the sidelines, and it's fine. It does not need to have another belt. It does not need. I don't disagree, by the way.

Like, I don't disagree. I don't agree, too. I just don't believe that's what, I think they're going to. Maybe they are going to, but like, does anybody. But, like, does anybody. It has an opportunity to make another title of fight. Remember what happened when, when Yeri was the champ, he gets it. injured, they make the title fight,

it ends in a draw, they make another title fight a month later. I'm not going to say it's going to be that quick because they've got a pretty nice set of title fights coming up if the schedule holds up. But I wouldn't be surprised if they say, hey, Carlos is out, we'll make an interim belt because he just won. You don't want to strip the guys. Something might happen. They do an interim belt,

but man, the division is so shallow. Yeah. You talk about will it be Yuri? Probably, because the division is just so shallow. If that happens, though, are we looking at these champions as champions? That's my biggest issue with what is happening with the modern U.S.C. product, it's probably not my biggest issue. It's one of my many issues. What's happening with the modern UFC product is these belts have to mean something and they are meaning less and

less and less. And this would be another example of meaning less and less and less. Carlos Oberk had a fantastic moment. That should be fine. We should leave that where it is. Carlos Oldberg is the champion. He's sidelined. Fine. The division can move on. The division can get some number Because quite frankly, there's not really like a great contender, right? Magamad just got trounced by Alex Pereira. Yeri just got trounced by Carlos Olberg. It's not like we're looking at Khalil Roundtree just lost to... What about your barber, mate?

Who? What about your barber? Fair point. But I actually want to bring him up because I feel... Yeah, I think he's right in there. I feel like he's right in there. He should be. He's absolutely right.

But are we looking at any of these guys and going like, that's the champion of the division? That's the guy. No, but you're not going to get that at 205 right now. Carlos could be that guy. I thought coming into this that Carlos, the UFC needed Carlos Olberg to win this fight. Because Yeri is the guy who has lost to Alex Pereira multiple times. Yeri is another guy who has just been food for Alex Pereira, who has been that champion that I think took the mantle from John Jones,

and they needed somebody who was outside of that. Somebody completely different. And Carlos Olberg is that guy. They need him to be champion. I don't think you dilute this anymore. Now, are they going to? Probably. You seem to all think that they will,

and I don't doubt that they will. But you need to make sure that Carlos Holberg is seen as the rightful champion because he's a name that hasn't been beaten by Alex Pereira. He's a name that has no relation to John Jones. He's a new fresh face, a good-looking dude who gets knockouts that could be the champion that this division needs. Don't do any more to dilute that. Keep him on the sidelines.

Start doing some number one contender fights. If Paulo Costa emerges from that and he becomes the next guy to challenge Carlos Oldberg, fantastic, no problem in my mind. but don't make another another belt that doesn't mean anything that has no significance. I couldn't agree more.

You need to establish him. I do remind you that the last time the lightweight title changed hands in a fight was November 12, 2016. That's crazy. This isn't just a

light heavyweight title problem. It's a UFC title problem. They're just willy-nilly vacating guy moves up. That wasn't always a thing. The best bet and I think the bet that we should root for

is maybe, look, let's see, what it is. Let's just say it's the worst case scenario that's an ACL, that's surgery. You do an interim title fight six or so months. That winner fights Carl Sahlberg in a year. I hope they don't strip him. I hope they don't vacate. I hope they don't do any of that stuff. Let him be the champ. Let him pray. It's not like these champions, by the way, are fighting all that often. Like, Hamza Chamaev's last fight was in August, right? He's coming back in May. That's nine months. Islamma Chájav's last fight was in November. He may come back in August.

That's nine months, right? It's not like they're there. fighting that often to where it's like, oh my God, he's out for 9 to 12 months. It's not that big of a deal. I hope they don't strip him. If that's the, oh, God, please don't strip him. But if that's the cadence, then why does that need to be for an interim title? Can't that just be a fight? Can't... Polo Costa

versus... Whoever. I'm not rooting for this. I'm just saying what I kind of expect to happen. Yes. They get one extra interim title fight that nobody thinks is the real champion. There has to be a certain point that this lunacy becomes like too much even for the UFC.

again? No. Yeah. I think yes. I think so, too. Against two. You know what's... The heavyweight division is... He's in the most shallow division out there. Oh, man. At some point in his career, you don't think there's any chance if he'll win two fights in a row. He is so beloved and you'll say, let me fix this. He means more than anyone, you know. And by the way, there's a rematch to be sold here. Like, you're telling me people won't be into this. This clip was so viral and so big time that people would be into it. I'm not saying next. He'll win one or two in a row. If he does, then they could put him in there.

Carlos is very markedable, obviously a very good looking guy with a great backstory with a fun fighting style with a fun team behind him. He checks off all the boxes. Maybe he doesn't have like the colorful personality that a year he has, but this is good for the UFC. This is just unfortunate that he got injured. At the same time, it adds to his appeal, right,

that he did this. If he would have won via knockout, it would have been great. The fact that he did it with the injury, looking the way in which it did, with the, like, being on skates, the way in which he looked, not being able to stand. like we've seen some compromised fighters before but never anyone to the best of my knowledge correct me if I'm wrong we saw tj in the fight with uh who is it with it with Aljo Aljo yeah but he lost like that that to be in this position at this level with this much at stake and to pull that off it was shocking it was absolutely shocking breaker Holloway as well but not on that level again not a total fight and it was a decision wasn't a spectacle exactly and to your point there Ariel I think Eugene and Barron would have pulled him in between rounds there 100% I think he he'll say, like, you know, this is a guy that's all about fighter safety.

He's had, he's had fatalities, you know, in fights, and he speaks about them openly. I don't think Eugene for a second, he wouldn't bat an oil at making that choice for a fighter. And I'm sure he'll say that later on to you if he comes on, because he looked, he looked so, like everyone, everyone, everyone's just waiting for Yeri to win this fight. I know I've already said this. Go ahead. Let me, let me pause on the 205 talk and we'll give, we'll give Paolo his flowers. He'll be on tomorrow show, by the way. We'll give him his flowers.

in a minute. But maybe, and this is crazy to say, but maybe the biggest story of Fight Week was Josh Hokit. And it wasn't just on Saturday. From the media day on Wednesday as he's like, you know, doing stuff with Yeri,

trying to get under his skin, trying to get under Carlos Alberg's skin as well, the press conference, the promos, the way-ins, the way-in show, and then the fight. The fight was unbelievable. We have a stat here regarding this fight,

this win over Curtis Blades, a hard-fought, unbelievable win. you guys were on the watch party. Pt and I were texting throughout. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe that Curtis Blades was surviving. Let's put up the stat here. What is it? 354 significant strikes between the two of them, 174 to 177, a new three-round heavyweight record, heavyweight record, three-round, not five-round, and the third most combined strikes, significant strikes in any three-round UFC fight ever, regardless of weight class. Now, I have long believed that Mark Hunt versus Bigfoot Silva is the greatest heavyweight fight of all time. That was five rounds and somewhat stained by the fact that Bigfoot popped afterwards. This is up there. This was unbelievable.

If you haven't seen it, it was unbelievable. And it was unbelievable because of the action, because of the strikes absorbed. By the way, I'm told from his team, Curtis Blades, broken orbital and broken nose, Hoke, it seems to be okay, more on his future plans in a moment. But you're watching this back and forth, back and forth. And the theatrics added to it. the multiple middle fingers, all the theatrics from Hokit, the talking, the middle fingers, everything that he did leading up to this point. This is a guy in his third UFC fight.

And all I could hear, all week long were people belly aching. Oh, enough of this guy. Let me mute his name. Let me stop, let's stop paying attention to him. Stop talking about him. Stop giving him any type of attention. Stop giving him coverage. Stop having him on your show. Because he's doing schick. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea. and I know it's crinchy at times. This guy's really, really good. PT, tell the people. I don't want to show the receipts.

Tell them what I said to you before the fight. What did I say to you before the fight? You said, I don't get all of these people getting so upset about this because they actually care about a fight here. They really care. And what did I say about the result? Oh yeah, you did say he'd win.

You did. I said he's going to roll through him because he is an incredible athlete. He is an incredible football player and an incredible wrestler. He was a D1 football player and wrestler at the same time. There's footage of him in Bo Nickel

going toe to toe to toe in wrestling. This is an incredible athlete. The type of athlete that we haven't seen in the heavyweight division in quite some time. So don't get jaded. Don't get blinded by the antics. Is it everyone's cup of tea? Don't do the same shit.

Look, I get it. I get it at times. It veers towards the uncomfortable territory and I get it at times. He's playing on certain things. And I get it at times. It could be a fed. This is the fight-freaking game.

And we're crying here on this show. show every single day that it's boring, that it's stale, that it's that it's unimaginative. Here's a guy who's saying, let me take the bull by the horns here. And historically, this guy in his third UFC fight is not fighting on a numbered event main card, but he forced them to fight on a main card because he was doing all the antics in the empty apex. They didn't do this. He did it.

He used their platform to his advantage. He was just another guy on an apex card that no one cared about. And he said, let me do something crazy. let me do something a little bit off the wall to get attention. And it worked. And now you have his football team saying he was always this crazy. Well, he took their spotlight. He shined it on himself.

And he's playing some sort of weird Mick Foley, like multiple personality thing. And it's working. You know how I know it's working? Because everyone was talking about him all week long. And then, yes, he had to show up and he had to win and he had to perform. And guess what? He performed. He delivered.

It was an incredible fight. He won. And now he's on the White House card two months later. Now, I'll be honest, when I saw this that they announced that he was going to be on the White House card on the card. By the way, I thought they don't make fights on Fight Night. I thought they wait until Tuesday. I guess not when it comes to this card. The story is Dana White is sitting with Donald Trump, who is cage side.

Trump says, why isn't Derek Lewis on the White House card? Dana White says, great question. Let me fix that. Speaks to Mick Maynard, matchmaker for the heavyweights. Get Derek on the phone. Ask him if he wants to be on the card. Derek says yes. Fight happens.

Joe Rogan says in the fight, hey, is there another slot on the White House card? Light goes off in Dana's head, goes back to Mick Maynard, go find out if Josh could fight, chases him down as he's being sit to the hospital. He says, yes, what else is the guy going to say? He's a lunatic.

I say that in the most loving way possible. And now they announced this fight, and it's the seventh and final fight. By the way, who told you on the Monday after the White House card that they were going to have another fight on there? I told you. Anyway, here's Josh Hoken.

Here's Josh Hockett in the ambulance seconds before being taken away to the hospital. He's an absolute lunatic. But he gets people to care. He gets people to talk about him. And in this day and age, this is what we've asked for. We've asked for this. So tell me right now, Josh Hoket's bad.

Tell me he's bad for the sport. Tell me he's crit. Tell me all this stuff. It drives me nuts when I see media and fans crying about this guy when you've been asking for this. You've been asking for someone to break through. This is what you got. And guess what?

He fights really, really well. Like, he's a very good fighter. He's a very talented, athletic fighter. This is what we've asked for. So what's the problem? It is part of his currency being a bit of a bell end, though. That's not.

100%. Like, he absolutely knows what he's saying is provocative and it's going to upset people. And therefore, those people are like, I hope this guy gets absolutely battered tonight. And I'm going to sit down. make sure I'm watching so I can watch this lad get absolutely bothered. So he's very aware of that. So that being out there, these people being like, I'm so annoyed and I hate him and I can't

believe he said that, that's all part of this. That all feeds into who he is. So you're playing his game if you're reacting to him like that, unfortunately. You know what I mean? So it's all part of it. I can only speak for myself and not like a larger audience, but I feel he's much closer to Henry Sohudo than he is to like Sean Strickland, Kobe Covington. I don't know what he actually stands for.

I don't really have a big problem with Josh Hokid as a personality. The gimmick just doesn't work on me. I don't identify with what he's doing. It's corny to me. I don't. But it makes you feel some sort of way. You kind of stop and react and watch it. You said maybe he won the week or maybe it's not.

He won the week. He was the story of the week. He was talked about 100x more than the title fight. The fight itself was talked about 100x more. He won the week, no doubt. But I don't really, like, feel a certain way about him other than, like, when I see him doing the promo stuff, I just don't care. You don't feel a certain way about him because you're- What's the worst thing he said?

Like, what's the worst thing he said? Yeah, I don't think he said anything that bad. But, Rick, you don't feel a certain way about him because you're somewhat, like, sane and you watch fight sports and you know pro wrestling and you know antics. People who are complaining, they're all falling for it. Like, this, we've seen this. You mentioned guys, and they do this in different sort of ways, and not everyone can pull this off. By the way, maybe the most impressive thing that he did on Saturday night was getting on the microphone after that fight. 100%.

And saying that shit on the microphone without stumbling. Like, I just stumbled. He did not stumble. You know what I mean? Like this guy, the fact that he does that is actually really, really impressive whether people want to admit that or not. I get it. But he's doing this thing where, like, on the one hand, he's a crazy guy. On the other hand, he's hitting on Laura Sanko.

In the other hand, he's playing like a scared puppy. It reminds me of the three faces of Foley. Foley used to do this. There was Mick, there was mankind, there was dude love, there was cactus jack. He's doing the same sort of thing, and he's pulling it off. And then he fights like that. Dana said that, what was it, he walked the talk? Yeah.

I think he said he walked the walk and talk to talk. I think what he meant to say was he walked the walk and talk to talk or talk to talk and walk the walk whatever it was. You can't say shit about the guy because he delivered at the end of the day. A thousand percent. And me and Rick were having the similar sentiments to you before the fight. We were talking about it. You know, the stick doesn't really work on us, but he's got people tuned in.

He dominated social media all week leading up to the fights, definitely more than the main and co-main events. And, you know, at the end of the day, like, people are going to tune in because I would imagine a majority of the people wanted to see him get knocked out in a heavyweight fight on Saturday night. But I said, the more he wins, the more people will forgive it and get on board with him. But, man, when you go out there and win in a performance like that, people are going to forget very quickly. Like, he earned so many fans come Saturday night because, to your point, you cannot say shit about him now. Like he went out there He was not afraid To get starched in that fight

He was not afraid of getting K-O'd and getting embarrassed In front of the world He put it on the line And he came out victorious Like credit to him And honestly I also have to say The schick isn't really for me

Him getting through that whole speech And at one point he has to take Like a huge just like And like keep going on the speech Because he's running out of air And then the pre-fight When he's doing the shadow boxing Doing the eye poking

That whole like 30-minute sequence of showing him shadowboxing to him finishing the promo was his best work. The fight was nuts. The fight was absolutely crazy. I showed my friends came over to watch the Masters and I showed it to him. I was like, you guys watch the Hokit fight? They were like, no, I don't know who that is. I was like, please, just enjoy. And even

then, they were like, wow, this is madness. Imagine looking at this lineup when it was announced and all of us saying it was the deepest card and the biggest story coming out of it would be Josh Hokit, so much so that he gets added to the White House card. Now, I do think that there is a conversation to be had. The White House card is

in exactly two months from tomorrow The guy's crazy, he's young, he's very athletic. That is a quick turnaround. His team tells me he's okay and that he'll be good to go. It's a quick turnaround. That is a very quick turnaround, but God bless him. It's a perfect fight, though, for the quick turnaround. He's either going to die or he's going to be Derek Lewis, like, senseless.

It's exactly the fight you'd want if you're turning around quickly and just got into a war. Because either your night's going to be over quick because you just got knocked out and you wake up in the ambulance. Or you put it on Derek Lewis and he crumbles like Derek Lewis usually. does. Like, that's, that's what you want. There's not, look, you're not going to the lab and having to really watch film to game plan for this one. This is the one that you've seen enough tape. You know exactly what you're in for. Does it open the card? That'd be sick. Because if Hokeet does what Hokeet did to Curtis Blades, not even the result, right? If Hohick gets knocked out or wins, if he comes out the same way he did against Curtis Blades, we're in for a treat. So yeah,

hell yeah, I'd love that. It's a fun way to open the card. It's two Americans, by the way, so I'm sure they don't hate that. More American flavor on the card. It's just amazing. At least he can win one, right? Absolutely. You've been the one. T.T.'s favorite fighter?

Against, yeah, will he be upset? And what will he say on the microphone afterwards? They have to worry about that. Rick, you've been saying, Gable Stephson, UFC champion at the end of the year. I don't know if that's possible, and we'll get to him officially being added to the roster fighting on July 11th.

We could be looking at a scenario. He wins on June 14th. Josh Hocke, like, fighting in a title fight, in a year from now. Hokit took everything that my Gable Stevenson prediction was working for. He can be fighting in a title fight in a year. I said it on Saturday. The Gable thing is still live, but Hockeet has

really made it a lot harder because he comes in and he beats number five. That could have been the path, right? That could have been the route for somebody like Gable Steeveson because Gable Stevenson versus Derek Lewis, I think, is a very favorable matchup if Gable had gotten that one. He could have won that and been fighting for a title.

I still think, if they give Gable Stevenson like a Sergei Speed or somebody at that July event, it's still in play, but it does feel like the fast track is now Josh Hokit's. Man, the guy is a great athlete. He really is. He's lean. He's a great athlete, but I have some real concerns about his heavyweight lack of power, right?

Okay, what about the takedown defense? It looked great. He's a great wrestler. He's a great grappler against a bigger guy. He's got a good chin. Who's he getting knocked out? Wait, Curtis? Yeah, who's he getting knocked out by?

Anu, Aspinall. The power punches of the division. Giants, though. Yeah, those are the guys Josh Hockett's going to be facing. But Josh Hockett isn't a 265 monster like these dudes. I think Josh Hockett's future is at Light Heavyweight, if I'm being honest. I think he probably has to get disciplined, lose some of that fat, and get down to Light Heavyweight, and I think he'd be a real problem for a lot of guys.

At heavyweight, he's going to have some advantages in the speed. He had it clearly against Curtis, right? In the third round, both of them were gassed to shit, he's the one still spamming those, those short punches and able to get the gas tank going a lot faster than Curtis was able to. I think his future is going to be a light heavyweight though. But in the meantime, I think he has the style and the capability to give problems to guys like Curtis, to give problems to guys like Derek Lewis and see how far it could take them. But once you reach the Volkov, Tom Aspinall, even a Gable Stevenson, who I'm already

putting up there, I think the size is going to be an issue and the lack of power is going to be an issue. But man, he's fun. That's all I care about. He made that card fun. And after the fight that came before it, we desperately needed that, and he delivered it. It was him. It was him all week.

Also, he clearly is putting in all this effort into the gimmick and everything like that. And the post-fight speech, he had to memorize that. Who knows how many times he went it over. He doesn't stray off of it. Like, it's just like, I'm going to say what I'm going to say, and then I'm gone. Bye, Joe Rogan. See you later. He plays this whole macho-American card.

The president was right there. He didn't even address him. That's a good point. He weighed in at 233, by the way. Yeah, light for a heavy weight. Yeah. He's going after Old Borger and the area I think Rick's dead right.

I think he has a lot. And Curtis was 261. So he's fighting a guy who's like 30 pounds heavier than him and unable to knock him out. I don't think it's a huge indictment. I understand what you're saying. No, no, not an indictment,

but the advantages he will have a light heavyweight are way bigger than the advantages he will have at heavyweight. He's going up against Boe Nickel in college. So yeah, and then went to the NFL. Supreme Athlete, I get he's not everyone's cup of tea, but this thing that we like to do, you want to know how fickle

the fans are, when he was on the show last and he stayed in character the whole time, everyone was like, that was awful. And then in the buildup to this, everyone's like, that's awful. Now today, I say who's on the show and every comment is, where's Josh Hokit? That's how fickle the fans are. If ultimately you can deliver and produce fun fights like that, you'll be just fine. And everyone will slowly but surely kind of accept it. I'm not going to say it's Chale's Sonnen-esque, because Chale was the best he had and he had this fun charm to him, and I don't know if he has that quite yet. But if he can continue to do that, he's is going to be fast-tracked and he's going to be one of the biggest names in the sport because

so few people are doing that and the UFC is just doing an awful job of building stars at this moment. I mean, I don't get into the whole AI thing. I don't get bothered by it. I can't even tell. I usually have to text you guys and ask if it's real or not. But like that video, that video was incredible, right? The video was amazing. I was offended by that White House video. Like Dana walking out, you couldn't get Dana walking out. You could, like, we once lived in a time where Cona McGregor and Jose Alder were literally walking on Las Vegas Boulevard, like towards each other.

Wait, you don't think they were on the roof? Yeah, Washington Monument in the back, right? I was, I was offended by that. I, like, they're next. Expect more of it, man. The way they're moving, like, it's just so weird. Yeah, I mean, there's a couple screenshots from it, like, where Pereira's doing the bow and arrow, and it just doesn't even look like him at all. Expect more of it,

and that's all we're going to get. That's what all content is going to become. What is the cheapest? Shut the fuck up and watch the fight. You're right, Dana. You're right, Dana. What is the cheapest way we can get everything done is the, look, Ronda Rousey laid it out perfectly. You are so right with this. It continues to go back to that over and over and over and over again. They are only concerned about minimizing costs, maximizing profits, shareholder value.

There is no more art to this. There is no more craft to this. There is no more martial arts to this. This is of profits-driven business. And flying out those guys to do that photo, that video shoot is a lot more experience. than just doing some AI slop. That is what we will get forever and ever and ever. I know.

That's very worrying. That is very worrying the way you just let that, you know. Is that? It sounds like, no, I don't think it's inaccurate at all. I really, it's just when you lay it all out there, I was like, well, Jesus, if anyone kind of wrote this down and bullet points, they'd be like, well, is, is this the death throws of the UFC? Even though I know they're hugely successful, they're just flying a massive, massive deal

with paramount. But when you just call it in like that, that is very worrying. As a fight promotion, that death happened a while ago. As a business, boy, business is booming. Business has been better than ever. Well, they dropped the poster. We do have the poster. So that's in the works now.

We've got it out there. See? That's all right. It's Ilya Teporia and Justin Gaichi featured. Cyril and Alex there. Actually, not one of it. Still no with Freedom 250, eh? Yeah.

It actually looks like a movie poster. with the White House there. It looks like an Independence Day movie. That's exciting. They've dropped a sort of schedule of events. So that is worth noting. Here you go. June 12th, the Friday.

Does that look like a PFL menu to you? Like a PFL week kind of thing? That's what that reminds me. I'd be lying if I said I paid attention to it like that. But June 12th, Freedom 250 press conference at the Lincoln Memorial. June 13th, Fan Fest at the ellipse, live music, panels, meeting and greets, weigh in. Then you've got

the fan fest on Sunday from 3.30 to 12 a.m. on Saturday, by the way, 330 to 1130 p.m. Same thing, panels, live music, athletes, Freedom 250 Watch Party. They announced crypto.com and RAM are the two presenting sponsors. Crypto.com going to be giving

a million in... Is it a million in crypto or is it a million dollars worth of crypto? No, it's in CRO, which is chronos, I believe. In bonuses, they didn't say how it's going to be broken up or whatever, whatever. But I actually wanted to ask G.C. about this in particular.

Zach Brown headlining? Big deal, small deal? No, Zach Brown's a huge, a huge artist. Yeah, this is, he's worthy of performing. This is a big deal. Yeah, I mean, he's a pretty, he's a massive musical. Country star, right? Yeah, country star from Georgia.

That's why I was asked. Chick-a-rad, all that. Oh, he did. And a little bit of Jacob, Brad. That's him. Go be here on a ride in that. Exactly. My biggest takeaway from that?

Press conference at Lincoln Memorial? Hell yeah. Sick. Sick. What? Yeah. A press conference at the Lincoln Memorial is fucking crazy. That is a massive monument, like one of the most historic things in America. Yeah, that'll be dope.

Looking out on the Washington Mall, shout out. Zach Brand. How are you going to celebrate the win? It's going to be great. Oval Office, are you going to walk from the Oval Office? They've said that. I don't know if it's true. Come on.

They've said it. If only Derek Lewis gets it, that's fine. Just let Derek Lewis do. They got all get it. I want everyone walking through that. It's going to be a cool event. I want Steve Garcia walking through that. It's going to be great.

Carlos Selberg, I can't wait to see. Are we going to be a lead heavyweight champion? TBD. TBD. Shut out. Same time as the World Cup opening week. So there's a lot going on in the world that weekend as far as sports are concerned. Paulo Costa with the incredible third round win over Merzikanov.

What a win that was. Wow. He looks amazing at 205 and it appears to be one of Donald Trump's new favorite fighters. Like they really had a moment there. He looked into his eyes. It was like, it was like AJ and I in the ring there. Like he really, he really got deep with him. Yeah, he's a beautiful man. You're a beautiful man. Good looking man. It's a lot of dudes. Tells a lot of dudes that they're good looking, right? It's cool though. I do it myself. But I just thought it's... No, no, no. Listen. I mean, it's hard to argue with that when it comes to Paulo Costa, you know? It is warranted. I'm very happy for him. Great win for him. Like we said, Josh Hokit, defeating Curtis Blades for Unanimus. Unfortunately, Dominic Reyes and Johnny Walker had one of the worst fights of all time. I don't even know what was going on there.

You would think those two would produce a fun fight. I don't know what happened there. Dominic Reyes afterward was like, getting two checks is more important than being entertaining, which was ridiculous in an insanely close fight that could have been scored either way because neither guy did anything. But I think it's two guys with a ton of power that have both been knocked out a lot of times that didn't want to get knocked out again.

It was tough. It was tough. We're reading the scorecards, and I was like, did the judges manage to watch this whole thing to actually score it? Should it just been 30, 30? Great hair on Johnny Walker. And apparently his wife makes a mean shepherd's pie or beef pie or something. Cubs Swanson got the great win over Nate Landware,

got his family in the cage, got the video package, had the emotion. We'll talk to him in about 30 minutes time about that. And shout it to him. He's been a great ambassador for the sport from WC to UFC and everything before that. and it was really nice to see him get that moment. Aaron Pico and Patricia Pippel had a Beltoir fight on a UFC prelim. Pico looked great, huh?

Pico looked nice. Like, he looked like the Pico that was looking the way in which he did going into the UFC prior to the Lerone Murphy knockout. Man, when that guy's striking is on point, like he is crisp. There's one sequence that's been shown a bunch of times on social media. One, two, drops pit bull. Great win for Aaron Pico. It was somewhat surreal to see these two Belvoir.

mainstays fighting, you know, with the UFC gloves and the uniform on a numbered event. But shout out to them. Kevin Holland and Randy Brown had a fun scrap. Eventually won by Kevin Holland. There was a moment there in the second round where it looked like Randy Brown was going to tap or at least go to sleep and that did not happen. Kevin Holland saying afterwards, hard to submit someone with a skinny neck. But it was a big win for him.

He took some time off, six months off, comes back, looks good, and says he wants to come back. And first, actually, he wants to help his son. son with his horse riding, and we'll get into it. That's the submission that I was just talking about. But it was a fun fight, and the crowd was very much into it. Matavus Gamrott, who's a fan favorite over in Europe, of course, had a nice win over Esteban Robovich, arm triangle win in the second round, was fired up afterwards, saying he wanted to fight the likes of Paddy Pimblet and others at 155 pounds. And someone who has just been teetered. Like, he was in the Arametshrukian territory before,

Armatrucian just exploded over the past. you know, four, five, six months. So shout out to Mateus. Tatiana Suarez has looked good as of late, rebuilding herself since the loss earlier this year to, oh, that was last year, actually, to Zhang Wei Li. She submitted Lupi Godineas, which is no easy task in any way, shape, or form. So shout out to her. That was a big time win. Mark Hel Medeiros with the, okay, so Markle Maderoz and Chris Padilla fought to a majority draw. Initially, they said Padilla won. There was mix up with the scorecards. I don't know what's going on with that.

We continue to see this. Padilla is now, Taco Padilla is now, he's now not investigating it. He's, what's the word I'm looking for? He's going out there. He's appealing it. He's appealing it. He's appealing it.

And so we'll see what happens there. Yeah, I thought he won. Yeah. So let's see what happens there. More often than nothing happens, but you've got to go through with it. And then two quick ones of Vicente Lucke with the dars choke win.

and Charles Ratke with the win to open up the card. So shout out to all the big winners, but there was no bigger winner than the brand new UFC light heavyweight champion. What a performance. We're still buzzing. We're still glowing.

We still can't believe what transpired, and we are very, very, very appreciative of the fact that he's kind enough to join us so let's not make him wait any longer. Here he is, the one and only. The new champ, Carlos Elberg. Carlos, my man. Congratulations.

Thanks for joining us. Thank you. All good. still in Miami I see Still in Miami man Spent a bit of time here Possibly go to Vegas And get this knee looked at

Okay so lots to get into with you And again thank you so much for joining us I really do appreciate and very Very jealous of your scenery back there Because it's a wonderful place How is the knee feeling Do you have any sort of Intel updates since Saturday

On what transpired with the knee? Yeah it was just a freak accident I think what had happened was I pushed off my leg and essentially it's just my knee that gave out and yeah that that just caused a bit of vulnerability in the fight so yeah do you know if it's actually a torn ACL that's what's been hypothesized and and said online but we don't know for sure yeah we don't know for sure we're just waiting we're just waiting for I'll get the scans done when I when I arrive in Vegas this week and we'll know the we'll know everything once that's all got all done

do you think it's a torn ACL? I have never done the need at all so I have no idea how to react to it's just swollen at the moment and and I'm just it's hard to get up so definitely something going on in there.

Are you in pain right now? What is pain? You don't feel anything? It's swollen. It's definitely like it takes me takes me a while now to get anywhere so definitely

more people like an old fellow can I ask in the moment when it happened like we've seen the video of the ripple effect and the calf and whatnot could you describe what that feeling was like yeah it was um it was just it was yeah like I said it was just a freak accident uh you know

uh just the knee the knee felt like it was kind kind of go in and out of the socket. I felt like there was just a bit of the pain that I couldn't bear any weights on that leg. And every time I would push off that right foot or step or put any kind of weights on that leg,

then it would give out. So, yeah, that's basically. It was just the pain that I had to go through too was unbearable. unbearable, wow. No, it was terrible. Well, clearly, yes. Do you remember any sort of dialogue that you were having, internal dialogue?

Like, are you thinking to yourself? I don't know. Why me? Why now? What do I do? What do you saying to yourself in that moment? Yeah, so many things, right? But you can't let too much get into your mind, especially at a time like that.

You have to really stay composed and focused. And I think that was the main thing for this fight was staying calm in any kind of situation. and this, you know, Gary being the chaotic fighter that he is, what we had to do was to just stick to the game plan, stay calm, and you're in a fight, you're in a fight, these things happen.

He clearly noticed to some degree that you were compromised. Was he saying anything to you? We saw sort of like his gestures, but I couldn't tell if he was actually saying anything to you. Yeah, I think he was. just telling me to bring the fight and and not really I don't think I could really hear him I was just really focused on on on the moments and and really trying to also at the same time figure out what was going on with my leg but I was in the fight I was in the fight the whole time and and I think with Yuri looking at me I looked at him dead at the eyes and especially when he we had he I think he had just sat down at the at the floor and I looked at him in the eyes and I was like here I'm in this I'm in this fight. You're going to have to put me out if you're going to try it.

If you're going to get me out of here, like this is not going to be easy for you. And I think he sensed that. He sensed that. And I saw the fear in his eyes. I think that's what caused the hesitation in him. And I think he saw that. And he felt like, ah, he's not going. He's not going.

He's not going to, this is not going to be an easy fight. He has said since that he should. showed you mercy and he regrets that and he let his guard down as a result of that. Bullshit. Bullshit. That's bullshit. Total bullshit. That's fear. That was

fear that he had. That wasn't any kind of mercy. He knows he's a fighter and that's the difference between a champion and someone who's just playing for the crowd.

There was no mercy in there. He was full of fear, hesitation, and that's what got him clipped. So part of the reason why people love him so much is because he has this sort of like warrior, samurai martial arts demeanor. Do you feel like he's just playing for the crowd? Is that what you're alluded to when he does that? I think he's a pretender. I think he's a pretender. And he knew that.

I think he knows, I know that he's a pretender. So I think from the very, from the very time we. we faced off, he knew that this is going to be a fight. This is a real one right in front of me. He could feel it. So he knew that I knew he's a pretender. So I think when he had that moment where my leg was compromised, he thought, oh, this could be my opportunity.

But with the perseverance that I had and pushed through that and was able to adapt with it. I wasn't going anywhere. There was, there was, there was, there was the, that very moment where we looked, we locked each other in the eyes, and he knew, damn, this is, this is going to be a fight. He's not going anywhere. And I've still got my hands.

That's, that's the danger that I have is, is one shot can kill him. When did you come to the conclusion, like you say this about him? We've never really heard anyone say this about him. When could you feel like this guy is, who maybe the world thinks he is? When did you feel that? When did you come to that conclusion?

I've always known it. He doesn't hit one, two, three, one, two, three for 24 hours. He's just saying, he's just playing for the crowd. People just see those sound bites and believe it. That's playing for the crowd. I'm here to be the best in the world. I'm not here to play for the crowd. I'm here to be the best.

And so did you notice that when you faced off with them, or do you feel like you've felt this from the beginning months ago, years ago since this fight was booked? Years ago. Okay. Yes, years ago. Years ago, when we first made,

but then also just watching and seeing how he operates and I know, I know that's, that's not, that's not a real, that's not a real fighter. No, that's, that's just someone who's trying to play to the crowd and wants people to believe

a narrative and is trying to go with it. And when, when that word merciful was, was fed into his mouth on that night after when he had said what he had said

he went with it and played with it and that was his excuse so that he could hopefully get a rematch there is no way he gets gets that rematch

I don't see him getting twice uncle live he gets his ass beat from Uncle Lyves and I don't see him in that top picture there was a moment

where you threw a leg kick excuse me a head kick and you could see the leg you know the the leg which giving you your foundation was, again, compromised.

What are you thinking in that moment? I need to stop doing that. Did that make it worse? No, yeah. So that was just me kind of really, and again, I'm just, I've got so much things going on in my mind, but at the same time, I'm trying to stay composed. And it's just me trying to test where and how far I can push my leg. I know it was a very risky move, but I said if I can clip him with this,

it would probably go out. If I can get him with this kick, he's out. I know that he doesn't like getting hit on the left side with anything on that right side of his right side. And if you catch him on the right side and he can easily get put out. So I thought that if I was to throw that kick, I put him out of his misery or put myself in a better position what I am now having to deal with.

But it was a risk that I was willing to take just to see where things were as well with this leg, can I put some weight on it? If I throw this kick, is it going to able me to do that? Can I now play with, you know, being able to put some weight on that leg? And that's where that was going, and that's why I threw that kick. Unbelievable. It's unbelievable to hear your thought process throughout all this,

because most people are thinking, oh, he's, he's screwed. There's no way that he'll be able to do something. You never doubted it. I knew, I knew. Never, never doubted it. There was never I never doubt There was never a doubt in my mind

At that moment Or in that fight I was expecting to go in there And be prepared for five rounds Of a Of mayhem And And for him

Lucky for him That didn't happen And because of the dilemma We were dealing with And my knee being compromised I had to think okay, well, maybe we need to put him out on this first round because we don't know if we come out.

The time laps five minutes and we have to go to the corner and maybe the doctors come and check out the knee and they say, oh, they call the fight. So we have to put more sting on our shots. We have to sit back a bit more and then let him come into it. He was going for it. There was 100% nervous.

Sorry to say it, but I don't like someone that's just going to make excuses just to try and get another shot like that. No way. It's not with me. You've seen this stuff since the fight and it has bothered you. Yeah, yeah. Like, exactly. And because so I think this thing, this whole narrative was kind of fed into him.

But then also, as I was going through the media and people were going with it, I was like, what's going on? There was no mercy, but I had to, I had to kind of. I didn't get time to rewatch the fight and understand, figure out where that was. Because I had to see, like, okay, maybe I'm missing something. Maybe I was so worried about my leg that I couldn't see that. But I went to watch the fight over again, and then I was like, actually, no, there was no. I wasn't missing anything. And since then, it's just been like, I don't like that he's trying to use this narrative to make an excuse for himself.

You were talking about the possibility of the fight being stopped if it went to the second round, in between rounds. You're saying this now, but I'm wondering, in the moment, are you thinking that as well? I need to finish this guy because I don't want someone to take this away from me. Either your corner, the doctor, the ref, are you actually thinking that as the, you know, the seconds are clicking away until the end of the first round? Yeah, we had to adapt on what we needed to do, whatever most thing on the fights. The game plan had to change slightly. We had a few game plans with the strategy we had, but we had to fall on another because going forward was going to be a bit different

because having to block those kicks and put a bit of weight on that right foot which was obviously not doing well for me. So we had to sit back a bit more and let him come to me, which is not what we wanted to do. We wanted to push forward and let him meet his words, which was not being able to engage in. and, you know, fight fire would fire. So that was a whole point of this, all this fight, but we had to adapt.

When you hit him with that left hook, that Czech left hook, do you remember what you're thinking, like, holy shit? You know, we're thinking, holy shit, we can't believe, because we're kind of like writing your eulogy in our heads because it's such a sad scene to see you as a sort of wounded animal. Are you thinking the same, holy shit, it landed, or are you thinking like, okay, this is all as expected? Yeah, no, I know my, I know my,

left hook it's it can reach and and I've been practicing that shot specifically for him and I knew that eventually he would walk into it and and I feared a few times and I think what I wanted him to him to save a fake sense of comfort and then he would come in and then I'd land that shot. Unbelievable moment. Unbelievable scenes when you spoke to your team afterwards, your coach, Eugene Barerman, the corner, did they tell you that they would have called it off? No, I don't think they would have pulled it off either.

They know me and like, I'm in there for a fight. These things happen like, you know, it happens in training and happens in a fight, which is essentially where you want it to happen is in the fight. So whether it happens in a fight or whether it happens,

you know, you don't want to be going out like that, but I've still got my hands. And I would have thought like, if I really couldn't move, I would still, throw my hands because that's that's where my power is. You're not a very sort of emotional guy.

You don't show a lot of emotion. You're even keel. I would say you're somewhat unflappable. You don't let us in too much when it comes to like, okay, who is Carlos Elberg? Did you have that moment in the back? You've had a long journey to get to this point. You've had some downs, many, many ups.

But, you know, you were a pro in 2011, you turned pro. So, you know, this is a long, long journey to get to this point. Did you break down in the back? Did you have a moment with your family, your team? How did you react when the lights were off, so to speak? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it took a while for it to really sink it because there was so much stuff that you need,

the obligations, but then also you still have a lot of the team around and, you know, just giving thanks to them, you know, having the time with the friends and the team and having them around. So there's still that energy that you have to kind of give to them. But then they really only kind of thought on me that the day after,

the day after where I kind of had a moment to myself, one of my family members who had also traveled and gave me a big hug. And we kind of just, you know, appreciated that moment. And that's when it kind of like just sunk in. Like, yeah, this is it. Where we are where we're meant to be in.

And the mission was to just, Just to be the visth and to stay here as long as we can. And just to get bitter at this, to get bitter at this. And yeah, I'm excited for it. The, you know, the victory is gigantic. The moment is gigantic, but it's rare that someone experiences a career highlight like this, while also having to think about a potential injury and all the stuff that comes with that. Is that part of the reason why you were maybe somewhat emotionless afterwards?

were you thinking about that? Were you worried about it? It must be like a whole mix, a whole mixed bag of emotions that you're going through because you also did suffer something while also enjoying the greatest moment of your career. Yeah, I mean, like, it could be, right?

I mean, I've been in fights. I've been in big fights, and I knew that this was definitely not going to stop me from getting that title and really putting a stamp on this division. So, yeah, I knew that nothing. was never going to get in the way. And like I said, anyone that steps in my way.

And on that night, it was serious. So we made sure to get them out of it. Do you have any sort of idea what the UFC is planning on doing if you're going to be out? I know this is all very fresh, but this is what everyone's talking about. It was just a vacated title. For the record, what we said on this program is they should not do anything with the belt, let you enjoy, let you be champion, even if you don't fight in a year, let's say. God forbid, worst case.

There are many other champions who are out nine, 12 months and they're not getting stripped of belt. So that's the worst case scenario, right? If it is that type of injury. But did you get any sort of sense as to what they might do given the injury? Yeah, I don't think anyone should go with that narrative as well

as me sitting out and letting the belt vacate. Just, yeah, we'll see how things go, but I'm pretty confident it should be okay. As in, as in I know my body and I can recover pretty quickly. Like, I've got the superhuman Polynesian blood, so it's fine. I don't doubt that for one second. Did you give yourself a moment to think about the journey, think about what you've been through, think about, you know,

from rugby to King of the Ring to, you have, like, are you allowing yourself to smell the flowers, or are you not that kind of guy? Yeah, not really that kind of guy But there are times I mean it's more it's more spending time With the people that Who have helped you get out

Helped you cater here And and really That's the way that I like to kind of smell those flowers Is give the flowers And that's what That's what really gets me going Because I think that's what puts a smile on my face

Is just giving back to those Who have kind of give them to me and I think I'm just having lunch now with friends who have traveled over and really just spending time with them and I think moving forward once we're kind of out of Miami and on to other things

we're just going to be looking at how we capitalize on being the champion and now what what that entails now because it's another chapter now. Now that book of becoming the champion has been closed. Now it's how to become, how to be a champion and to keep that title for as long as they can. Were there moments where you thought you would never be a champion in the UFC?

No way. No. You always believed? I've always believed I was going to be champion. I always knew that, I always knew that, And had self-belief that with God's grace and with, with, with, with, with, with, with, with, my of his luck, my luck of just being able to be in being, and, and with, with, with, with, with, with, what I'm saying. And like, no, no injuries, no serious injuries would kind of put me out. And that would, would, would, would, would, would, uh, would essentially get me to.

to this position but then also just being in the gym being in the gym and getting the honest work in and really really focusing on on being

being a better fighter a fighter and really just getting getting smarter out there there are worse places to become a champion in the world than Miami I saw you went to a club afterwards they had a belt for you there I don't know how they made it this quickly

or they just took a chance or were just so confident you were going to make it but what was that Saturday night like you know afterwards the party afterwards in Miami, golly I can imagine

holy that was good man it was nice so it kind of just happened pretty quickly it seemed like it just flashed by so it was nice to have

the team there the group and and and the support that was given to us and the guys who have given their time

for this to happen. So, yeah, that was nice. That was nice. It's nice to do that. But when I get home, I think that's when we have the real celebrations. And people have a parade with New Zealand that will support me there. And so once I get home, I think that's when that all is going to sink it.

And so what could you give us? There's no place like home, brother. Amen. I agree with that. And I'll let you go in a moment because I know, you're with family, but I was just curious, what is the timeline for you now? Are you going to stay and maybe even, you know, get it all checked out in America? Do you feel more comfortable doing that back home? What are you looking at here as far as your schedule? Yeah, I think, well, I think right now

we will look to, at the moment, probably get scans in Vegas. And I do have, I do have back home. We do have some good surgeons back home as well, so we'll figure out what we need to do. I think the plan is as we go to Vegas and figure out what they can do for me there as well. Okay. And if it was up to you, and let's see you're not out for too long, who do you think your first title defense is against? Well, I don't know. You've got Uncle Live, who's been, I think he's probably one of the best in there, and I think that's the only guy that I need to test myself.

supplement from there. I think he's deserving but again I think just leaving it for the UFC they know what they're up to but definitely not a rematch period okay do you think there's a world where you never fight him or do you think there's a world he wins two in a row or something like that

and he's back in this spot hey if he can get through some of the guys but I think he's had his chances already a few is that a fair few goes and I'm not normally this hard of guys but hey if you

If you're out there talking smack, then not with me, but you can't make excuses out there. He didn't even come and congratulate me after the fight. And so I was like, you know, normally I'm quite, like I really so, I really so animosity or I so love to anyone that I fight. And they know too, like, you know, the ones that know, no, no. But with him, it was a bit different because I just feel he's more just one of. trying to play to the ground. And that's probably why I asked you so many questions on it, because I don't usually hear this type of, you know, feeling or animosity, as you say, from you.

I understand where you're coming from. It sounds like you feel like he was maybe taking something away from you, taking the victory away from you by saying this, right? Is that an act? Yeah, that's it, man. It's, you know, what they've pretty much taken away there was, you know, on that in that fight was a very compromised knee, very,

yeah, very compromised me. Someone who was at a disadvantage came back from that, and I'm sorry, from that adversity and got a win in that moment. So that was taken away because, because he had said that he had shown mercy

when I feel like that's, that's sad because the storyline now could be so much, could have been so much better with someone who would come back from a trouble like this and being in such a

disadvantage and came back and really kept strong mind and stay calm in any situation. But now that's been kind of clouded because of the whole mercy narrative.

I can understand why you feel that way. I can also tell you that I think a lot of people are saying this about you and showing you that love and respect and are just blown away by what you accomplished out there. So I wouldn't be too hard on yourself or even him, to be honest, because I think you're getting your flower. I will admit, I like Yuri a lot, and I don't feel like he's a faker per se when it comes to that, but you have your reasons and I think they're very valid. But I would say this is one of the greatest moments that I've ever seen in the history of the sport.

I've never seen anything quite like that with the stakes that high for someone to do what you do, I'm blown away by what you did. I truly am. I'll let you go in a second, but I just want to ask you about this one photo because I'm equally as blown away by it, and I just want to know what's the backstory here? What's going on in this photo? I just need to get the answer and then I'll let you go. What's happening here? Oh, the old spice photo. Is that what it is? What is this? What's going on here? You're a man of many talents, apparently. No, no, no, no. So I'm in Fiji. I'm in Fiji here with family and they had horses horse rides and we had done like a cultural event and that was just me taking taking a

photo representing of their culture cell was I did like a little culture culture dance for the for the for the for the hotel and we just took photo with it riding the horse so we yeah some kind of photo that is well done thank you so much Carlos I really appreciate you jumping on enjoy the victory, enjoy the belt, enjoy everything that comes with it. And most importantly, now, I hope everything goes well with the scan and everything that's to come there. And I hope it's not too serious and we'll see you back in there. It was really one of the greatest moments that I've ever seen covering the sport. And you deserve all the attention and flowers and love in the world for it. Thank you, but I appreciate it. All right, all the best to you. There he is.

The new champion, Carlos Alberg, the one and only who is representing the great country of New Zealand so very well on the biggest stages. And I'll be honest, I was not. I was not. I was not expecting that. But I understand where he's coming from, and I also understand where Yuri is coming from. And these are highly passionate, competitive fighters, and he feels how he feels, Yuri feels how he feels, and maybe we'll see them run it back and maybe not.

Credit to him, though, not a lot of people would say Magumet-Ankaliev's name as the first challenger, right? And we'll have to see, and Maghomed probably will have to, the fight if he's going to be out for a long time. He still doesn't know, as you just heard, how serious the injury is.

And we're going to talk to Eugene Barman later in the show as well because, A, I love speaking to Eugene, and B, I want to get his take on how it all went down. An amazing scene. By the way, anyone noticed that I have like a bit of a busted lip? Anyone noticed that? Speaking of working through injuries?

Who gives a shit? Well, thank you. What happened, bro? You see it right here? No. Come on. You don't see this? Nothing.

What happened? You're such a liar. I do see it now. Now I see it. Yeah. I'm a little bit self-conscious, so I'm... It's a crazy story. It's like if Carlos' knee is a 10, I'm at like a 9 and a half.

Never happened to me before. In terms of level of injury or what you did? Entry and turn of events. Okay. Break it down. I'm in Miami, coincidentally. At a restaurant. Pizza comes on the table, take a bite.

Cheese is so hot burns my lip. Never experienced that before. Cheese did this. Can you believe that? Cheese. Hit my lip. What was the restaurant? Call me Gabby.

Great restaurant. You know what? It's next to Smith-Millonski. No, I don't call me, Gabby. I'm going to call them up and offer them top dollar to try and get the video of this happening because I would pay it and a lot of money.

Ah! You see that? You see that guys? Look at what Dad just went through. That does look pretty bad. It is bad. It hurts. Well, full credit, I had not noticed it, so you literally stuck your...

Guys! Lip out and pointed out. Still can't see it. Yeah, don't... I'll tell you where you don't get that over at Pugh-Pew, courtesy of our good friends over at DoorDash, who are delivered. Yeah. Woo! They're delivering all of our UFC 327 coverage today, and we love them for it.

And so let's keep that train rolling along. One of the great stories heading into this event was the retirement fight for One Cub Swanson. You may have seen last Monday right here on this channel, we had an incredible uncrowned film produced and directed by our good friend Casey Leiden. He was there, boots on the ground with him leading up to this fight. It's out right now. It still holds up. In fact, it's probably an even better watch now in the aftermath.

It's called End of an Era, Cubs Swanson's last fight. The last WEC star left on the roster doing his thing going into this fight against Nate Landwehr, wins it. I mean, it was just straight out of a Hollywood movie. he wins in the first round, family in the cage afterwards, video package plays incredible stuff, and now he truly sails off into the sunset, but not as like a guy who's disappearing from the sport is going to be one of the best coaches, has already become one of the best coaches in the game, has his own team, bloodline combat sports, has great fighters who are already in the UFC

winning in the most spectacular way possible. Everything has been set up very nicely for Cub, but we wanted one last Monday after post-fight interview with the man, and he is kind enough to join us, right here now to talk about everything that transpired in Miami. There he is. Hello, Cub, how are you, my man? Thank you so much. Um, great. Thanks for asking. I got. Can't complain. Yeah, man. Well, first of all, congratulations. Congratulations on everything. We'll get into it all. But this is your final Monday to bask after a Saturday victory in your life. And so what is that feeling like? Because I'm sure every Monday after a win is an incredible load off, like a relief.

The flower smelled great. The sun is shining even brighter. But the final one, what does that one feel like? It just feels like it's right. You know, I've been kind of planning this for a long time, so it's not like a big shock. You know, life goes back to normal. And I think that's one of the coolest things about staying a day or two extra at the fighter hotel is that like the next day everyone's in a rush to leave. But if you stay an extra day, that next day, it's like it's just silence. And there's no one around. It's kind of eerie, you know.

and I kind of like that to decompress. This is another veteran move on your part. Most people are rushing out. You're staying the extra day. That's a veteran move. Shout out to you on that. You know, one thing that was interesting in everything that you said in the aftermath

was, you know, they would ask you and I saw everything, hey, is there one that you would come back for? Are you leaving the door open for this or that? You seem truly done and truly content while some other people will retire and then 20 minutes later at the presser say, but if they offered me this, I would come back for that.

So what's the difference with you? are you truly, truly done? Because I've been thinking about this for a while. I've been planning it. You know, me and my wife talk about it all the time. She always said it's completely your decision, but, you know, I know the toll it takes on my family, and I've been doing it long enough. So I think at this point, just realistically, I'm playing with fire for, you know,

I've had so many injuries in my career. I can still hold a conversation. I'm still pretty healthy. So at some point, I got to say enough is enough and let the young boys try. So I'm content. I was thinking about this with you throughout the week, and I always think about it with fighters.

I remember with Dustin last year, it was very emotional. How do you balance, like, receiving the flowers, all the tributes, all the questions, all the videos, but also staying focused and actually going out there and fighting. It's not like you're going down to dance or something like that. You have to fight another human being who was showing, no sort of like warm fuzzy feelings towards you. As he shouldn't, he was saying, hey, this is not, you know, this is not a fairy tale. I'm going to try to beat this guy. And so how did you deal with

that? How did you deal with those mix of emotions? And there were there times where you were worried that it was becoming too emotional? Definitely, I was a little concern with it, especially after, you know, the press conference. I kind of was like, all right, I, you know, Wednesday I had a great day of everyone, you know, praising me and and giving me the love, you know, that, you know, that maybe I hadn't gotten in my career because, you know, I've had so many ups and downs. And so it was about Thursday, I was like, man, I still got to fight. I need to lock it in. And then it was funny.

I got to see Giga came out to support me on Friday. And he was like, hey, man, enough with this crying stuff. And get over it. He's like, I need that big energy from you. And you need to go out there and fight. And I said, I appreciate that. I said, you're right. And I'm trying to lock it in.

And then, you know, you tend, I don't really like being alone fight week because that's when, like, it really, like, hits you. And so, uh, after weigh-ins and then the day of the fight a couple times, my team needed to get out and get some food. And I spent time alone. And I was kind of like, oh, I really want to be alone. But that was when I really just kind of sat in my own thoughts and really, like, focused. And I think that really helped me out. Did you go online? Did you read stuff? It was a Cub Swanson, like, Love Fest all week.

Did you allow yourself to read all of that? No, I was seeing all the stuff, you know, at the beginning of the week because obviously the video that we did, I was really proud of, and I wanted to get that out there. And I wanted to capitalize on the whole, one of the whole reasons for this fight was to be able to shed light on my new gym and what I'm doing next. So I was trying to do the PR for that and make sure that, you know,

I was capitalizing, but then at a certain point, I just had to get my phone away from me and say, you know, I need to focus because, you know, all the love you get, you still got to get in the cage and there's no love there. So, yeah, I had to switch my mindset. And by the way, shout out to you. Thank you for being such a great subject and thank you for sharing the video. And I'm glad to hear that you liked it. It was one of my favorites that we've done so far. So really, really appreciate it. I did hear you say something in the aftermath and it made me think like, oh man, did he regret all of that? Because you said, like, you kind of wished that you didn't announce the retirement fight because it brought all this

attention on you. Did you feel that way at any point in the fight? Like, man, I wish I just kept this to myself and family. Sorry about that. It got a little loud right here. No problem. I do, I do wish that I would have kept it, you know, like hindsight, you know? Yeah. In the moment when I was getting a little stressed about, okay, this is getting a little bit crazy. I questioned it, but then I kept telling myself, like, look, if it all turns out great, then you're not at all. So I had to, I was like, your decision was your decision. It's out there. Soke it up and make the most of it. And just the same thing with my kids coming to the fight. You know, a lot of people have their opinion on that. But I was prepared to have the talk with

them if I got my butt kicked, you know, so I was prepared to tell them, hey, that's a part of life. but luckily now they're going to go back to school on Wednesday and they're going to say, what did you do this weekend? Oh, I sat with the president and watched my dad get in a fight. Like, how crazy is that? What a life.

By the way, are you on Lincoln Road right now? Yes, I am. What a place. What a place. Yes. Are you with your family? Yeah, they're inside the Nike store right now. I got my boy some soccer jerseys.

And now I'm trying to go shopping for my daughter. So trying to take care of them and give them some appreciation for what they had to go through this week. Well, sorry to take you away from that and we won't keep you very, very long. My kids love that Nike store at the end of the road over there as well, so I know it very, very well as well. What did they say about being up there with you at the way-ins and just being a part of this fight week? Were they startled by it? Were they nervous? How were they reacting to it all?

Well, it's like they really know, they think they know what I do, but they really do. didn't. And I think that this was a big shock for them. My daughter especially, she was expressing to my wife in the cage when she got in there. She was kind of crying and she was like, I don't know how to explain how I feel. I'm happy, but nervous. And, you know, so it was a lot for them to take in, but I know that I'll always remember it. I'll always remember it. And so, yeah, it was just, It was a beautiful moment. Did they actually speak to the president? Yeah, he actually was talking to my wife and my kids the whole time asking them if they get nervous.

And he was saying that I was really tough and he was a fan and that he thought I was going to win. And he was just being super nice. And so that wasn't experience, you know, for them. Oh my gosh. Your wife is probably super nervous in that moment. She's watching her husband fight. the president's trying to have a chat with her. She probably wants to do nothing but watch, right,

and not chat with anyone at that moment. But what a tough spot to be in? Yeah, because honestly, that's usually how it is. She likes to be left alone, and she wants to, you know, just, you know, be in her own thoughts in that moment. But, you know, that was a great distraction for her. And just there's that picture where I'm bowing after the fight

and then the president's looking at her and she has her hands on her face. could just see like the relief that she had when it was over. And that's what I'm talking about. I'm, I can't be selfish with my time or, or my life anymore. And, you know, I don't want to put my family through that anymore. It is as good as I fell in this, even though I feel like I can keep going, it's like, what's the point? I'm, I'm proud to have performed like that at my age. One of the things I loved about the video that we did is how, how honest you are about the thoughts, the nerves, the GSP chat.

He was always very honest about his nerves before a fight. Because this was the last one, were you even more nervous? Because you wanted that fairy tale storybook ending, did you feel more pressure? Yeah, I think, like I said, I think by Thursday, I started getting real nervous. I was like, man, all this attention that I'm getting, it could either get to him or it could really motivate him. And it just seemed like, it seemed to me like he was getting much. motivated. So I was like, all right, you might come after me right away. And then after the

weight cut, I started to get a little bit of pressure in my ear. I tend to get ear infections because I've had face fractures. So I woke up not feeling too good. I was kind of stressed about that. I was kind of like, all right, I don't know if it's going to get progress or get better. And so I had the shake out in the morning and that made me feel a little bit better, but I took it really easy. And then backstage, I didn't tell my corner because I didn't want them thinking I was like, my head wasn't in the game. So I just grew up quiet. And I told them, hey, I'm going to I'm going to put on some dance music. We're going to, we're just going to warm up really light. We're going to keep it light, the attitude. And we'll see, you know, I think I know exactly

what I need to do. So honestly, I feel like that was a blessing in disguise because it made me really lock it in and and yeah when I when I stepped in there I don't think I've ever been more present in the and just felt like in control and uh it is as scary as I made them out to be in my head I I felt like I that I was not going to lose how do you feel now by the way did that last did that linger yeah I think I got a little bit of a cold okay but but I could tell my body was fighting it off because I was in good shape I took all the vital vitamins, you know, I did all the things to make sure that I wouldn't be in this position. But, you know, it is what it is.

And I'm glad that it's hitting me after the fight. What's it like as you're about to walk out for the final time? You're locked in. You're probably thinking of a million things. And there's an old teammate, one of the greatest of all time, John Jones, who kind of just walks in there and has this moment with you. Like, do you want to be left alone in that moment? How are you processing all of that? Yeah, usually I want to be left alone.

but I have an out for people that other fighters that I respect. So just to see him for a minute, he gave me a big hug and I, you know, that was cool because I was like, all right, well, maybe some greatness will come my way. And then just strangely enough with Pico being in my corner in the same locker and Hockett, I had Greg Jackson and Brandon Gibson and Winkle John. in there as well with my corner that I have now. So it was kind of weird. It was nostalgic. And I was like, man, everybody's here. Wow, wow.

Yeah, and honestly, I was talking to Gibson and Greg after. And I was like, man, I honestly feel like the energy that I had with the music that I put on and the energy that we had, I feel like our locker room all did well. So I was like, I think the energy of the room was really nice that night. When was the last time you were in the locker room with them? About to fight. You about to fight. I think when I, Brian Ortega fight was the last time I had Greg in my corner and Link, longer than that.

It's been quite a while, yeah. That must have been, I mean, like the nostalgia, right? Like for it to end kind of this way was written in the stars. Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, it's just one of those things. I've learned to kind of like, I used to. to be so high strong about details when the pressure's on fighting can do that to you.

You worry about every little thing, but everything down to the tickets. I had promised a couple of my teammates tickets, and then I had more people coming, and then, you know, some don't end up making it. And so at the very last day, it wins. That night, I was like, how many do we need? And they were like, they were like four, and I had four left, four tickets left. And I'll see, it all works out. So everything just kind of was like that.

Everything just kept working out. Unique about your story is the fact that you have, you know, bloodline ready to go. It's already in motion. Fighters are winning. You're producing great talent. We saw that in the movie as well. Beautiful logo, by the way. I love everything about it.

Not every fighter who retires has that thing to just go, like your new life has already started. What was the turning point for you? Did you see someone? Did a light go off at one moment? I can't just let this thing just play out and have nothing on the other side. Yeah, I say this all the time. When I go to bed at night, I watch YouTube videos or when I'm traveling on trips and stuff like that. I love watching stories on athletes, how they made it, how they didn't make it.

I love getting inspired, but then I also like learning from other people's mistakes. And I've just been trying to be a student of how to be successful and then how to stay successful. I always tell myself, I don't want to end my career broke and broken because it's like you've got injuries. You can't work a regular job. I want to make sure that if I make this money that I can sustain it. And so after my manager passed away in 2020, that was a really hard time. And that was when I fought Giga. And I struggled that night because I just kept thinking, man, there's more to life than fighting.

I've been doing this so long. And I can't just keep fighting one fight at a time with no, like, master plan. And so I challenge myself to start thinking about what comes after fighting. And my manager Tommy always told me that. He would always say, look, you're not going to be fighting in your 40s, strangely enough. And I always thought about that. I'm not going to do after. And I really thought it was going to be something outside of fighting. But when I really thought about my skill set, it was like, man, I'm somebody that has been at the top for a long time.

I've fallen, I've fallen short, I've gotten hurt. I've had crazy things happening in camps. I've had crazy things happen right before fights, fights pull out, you know, like I've had all this experience. And I'm like, my experience leads up to me being a coach. And I actually enjoy that. So that's where that kind of started. And I just been pursuing it. And little by little, you get emotionally evolved with all these fighters. And now I got a whole crew of guys. And so me and Kami's cousin, we started the management company,

Bloodline Combat Sports Agency. And then after that, we just decided to start the gym. And so now we have Bloodline Combat Sports, the gym. And, yeah, we're super proud of it. it and we want to produce talent. We want to give them everything that they need. And just, you know, we have like kind of a mantra of like everyone succeeds together. And yeah, we're just trying to do things a little different. I love that you have the management side as well, not just the coaching. I also love that you mentioned your late manager, Kamisafdari, at the end of

your media availability. I know he was so, you know, he wasn't one of those managers who put himself out there and did a ton of media and all that, but you guys were so close. so tight friends more so than client manager relationship. I would imagine on Saturday, part of the emotion was him not being there as well and not being able to finish the story with him. Yeah. I mean, it's such a crazy thing because there's two people in my life that were like the most pivotal to my career.

And I always thought like at the end of my career, I can't wait to like give them love. and both of them are gone. And it just, it makes you think like, you can't wait. You know, you got to attack life and you got to keep living. So shout out to my original Jiu-Jitsu instructor that affected me with the passion for the sport, Ramon Diaz. And then, you know, my manager, Kami, who mentored me and took care of me from, you know, 19 years old all the way through.

I always say, he bought me my first. cell phone and paid for it. And so I was like my mid-30s, and I was like, dude, I think I should start paying for my own phone. But he was like, he started off as like a father figure to me. And then we ended up growing into best friends and business partners. And we were equals by the end of it. And when he passed away, I had to, I had to just toughen up and take over because there

was all these other athletes that we had started helping that needed help. and I just didn't think that anybody could care about them as much as I would. So that's really what the management side started from. 45 fights, 22 years, that kid back in 04 from Palm Springs, could you have ever imagined any of this? Like, was this even part of the plan? Or did you surpass that long, long ago? I've evolved so many times since then.

Yeah, that was just a stubborn kid that. had no business being in there, just so ignorant to life. And, you know, it's wild to me. Yeah, I just said I wanted to fight. I really had no business doing it. And I lost that fight in 30 seconds. And everybody was like, man, I don't think you're that good at this. And I think you should move on. And I just wouldn't take no for an answer. And after that, I ended up rematching him a little bit later. I won 11 fights in a row and made it into the WEC. And then I didn't lose again until I fought Jen's Pulver. And that was a huge step up for me in mental capacity and competition.

And that almost broke me. And that kept happening to me. I get in a little over my head sometimes and fall short. And then you pick yourself up and you do better. Simple. Last thing, because I don't want to take you away from your family for too long. Your greatest fight, the one that's in the Hall of Fame is the Dohoo Choi fight. And you've talked about it a lot.

We've talked about it. But one thing I don't think I've ever asked you about, which I was always curious about if there's a backstory to it, the photo of you on your knees at the end of the fight, kind of looking up at the sky is one of the great, you know, fight photos, I think, of all time. Because it just, like, it says so much about the fight and about you and about him. Who are you talking to? What are you doing? Why did you look up at the sky like that in the immediate aftermath of the fight?

Honestly, it was kind of like looking up to the fight gods in the sense. It was like in my mind, it was like a gladiator moment. Like are you entertained? Are you not entertained? I just remember looking up and going like, yeah, we did that. you know, and I'm glad I survived. It was just kind of like a thank you and an acceptance of everybody. I'm not how to explain it better than that, but yeah, it was like,

thank you to the fight gods for allowing that to happen. One of many, many, many great moments that you gave us and many that we should thank the fight gods for. Thank you, Cub. Appreciate it very much. Congratulations on an incredible career, a career that most people wouldn't even dare dream of. It's been so much fun watching you.

covering you over these years. And glad that you're not going away. There's a bunch of great fighters that you're mentoring that are going to be around for a very long time. So well done to you. Congrats again. Enjoy everything. Enjoy Miami and enjoy everything that comes with this victory

because you deserve it, my man. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you for sending your crew to follow me. It totally, I forgot about it. And then I saw a tweet from Esther Lynn saying, like, congrats. And then I was like, oh, yeah, Casey.

Like, he was a part of my camp. you know, I need to reach out to him. And so we talked last night. And, yeah, I'm really appreciative that you guys did that for me because I like telling the stories. I think the backstories are what makes this sport great. And you guys are doing something truly great with the back stories here and giving somebody who may not be a fan. They can become a fan that way. So thank you for that.

And, yeah, thank you to all the fans. Always love you guys. Always appreciate you guys. And I'll be around. Much love, Cub. Thank you. Appreciate it very much. Congratulations.

There he is. The newly retired Cub Swanson, live from Lincoln Road. You see that, Andy? I could spot Lincoln Road from a mile away. I was very impressed. Hundreds of miles away. Thousands.

You were like, oh, yeah, that store. Yeah, my kids love it. Yeah, you're a local, man. Lacos. I know that La Caz right there. The Nike store at the end of the road is a tremendous spot. Actually, every time I go there,

there's one dude who always talks about fighting with me. He's a hardcore fight fan That's heaven on earth right there The 305 Heaven on Earth And what a great What a great backstory to that photo I love that photo And really if you haven't seen that video

I'm not just trying to pump it up Because it's ours Casey did a great job Shout to Esther as well The whole crew as always There's many people involved There it is Oven with the great thumb

Frank with the tremendous audio Who me? Yeah Frank really held it down for us while we were away. Every time I was like, Frank, you need some time off. Give me a fucking break. Oh my God.

Great, great stuff there. Man, I say it all the time when these guys from, you know, the 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, I get emotional one after another. It's inevitable. They're all going to retire. And I feel quite confident in saying we're not going to see him anytime soon competing in some sort of bare knuckle or anything like that. I feel quite confident in that. Well, just consider how good the guys that he's coaching are, right? That has to be a calling for him

now because of how good they've looked. Recent performances, too, like, yeah, I hope we don't see them just because of not because I don't love watching Cub fight. And when we released our doc for uncrown films, I actually went back and watched a lot of cub fights and he was so much fun to watch throughout his career. But I hope he doesn't fight because, A, he's got such a great thing going with with the gym and his team. He's got such a great thing going with his beautiful family. And what a storybook,

perfect ending he got. It doesn't really get much better than this. I hope that's, you know, the last we see of him in that capacity. But as somebody who's bringing up a next crop of like, you know,

incredible fighters, Leanne Douglas is one in particular that like blew my fucking mind in Seattle. And Danny Silva. And Danny Sova is incredible. But Leanne is like, oh my God,

I can't wait to see this guy fight next. what more, like he's done everything he needs to do inside the cage. Now he can be that coach. You know, it was so great about the video that we did. You see them preparing for their fights before they have their breakout moments. And he's bigging them up. And they're relatively unknown at this point. And it's like, oh, shit, this guy can spot talent.

This guy knows what he's doing. And just seeing the way he's talking to the younger talent, the younger fighters in the gym, and having the foresight to have the management company, have the gym, this is the way it should be. Not every fighter is going to go into media, going to have a YouTube channel, is going to be at the desk. This is, you know, the path that a lot of them did take

back when those things weren't available. And he's got, you know, he's got tremendous mentors, tremendous coaches who have guided him, tremendous mentors on the management side as well. So we're going to be hearing about Cub Swanson and his effect on this sport for a very long time, ask me still to come, plenty still to come. Shakur Stevenson is going to join us.

Talk about Connor Ben's win and what's next for him. Eugene Barron is going to join us. Talk about Carlos Elberg's win and everything else going on to the world of CKB. Kevin Holland is going to join us for the first time in a very, very long time. And in a matter of moments, we're going to be joined by Daniel Rodriguez. You may have seen over the past few days. Some info has come out about him and the stuff that he has had to deal with.

and overcome over the past few months in Mexico, to be exact. And so we're going to get into all of that and more. I did want to give a quick plug to our merch store, Arielhuwani.com, which you can also access via uncrown.com. We've got some new drops out, and what have I been teasing for quite some time? Uncrowned merch, we finally have it.

We teased it before we left. There it is. Hoodies, t-shirts. We also brought back the old favorite Helwani knows the very first Helwani merch item that's over on Arielhalwani.com Can you guys do me a favor and link to that in the chat?

I would appreciate that very much. There's actually very, very few left. That's what Brandon tells me who runs our store. Yeah, people love the hoodies. They love the shirts. So rep what we're doing over at Uncrowned. You can even get bottles like this one

that say, who me on it? So yes, we finally got the merch, guys. Isn't this exciting? Everyone's loving the merch. Who's going to be the first fighter to wear it organically? Like Habib used to wear our MMFighting merch. You guys remember that back of the day? Habib wearing the merch.

Always had that shirt. Always had the shirt. Rick, did you take your shirt? Not yet. Be nice if we cut to you and you're wearing the shirt. Yeah, you know, it was pre-show. Didn't get a chance. What going on?

going on. Not everyone is as dedicated as I am, boss. Yeah, you did wear it. Didn't wash it, which, you know, crazy work. You literally said, why are you taking so long? Put the fucking hood. I don't know if I said that. What are you afraid you're going to mess up your hair?

No, I don't know if I said that. One thing that we didn't talk about regarding Josh Hokit, by the way, I think Josh Hokit got engaged before the fight. So a pretty big weekend for him. I'm pretty sure this is coming from his actual girlfriend, and I'm pretty sure it says, P.O.V, you go to a UFC fight, and Josh Hokit proposes to you. Is this a real proposal?

I cannot be real. Why, why, why? You don't think it's... Brother, he's rocking American flag, wide receiver gloves, and then like, why would his fiancee put... Oh, she's laughing? You go to a U.S.C. fight and Josh, he proposes you.

Yeah, now he's doing like the... That looks real to him. I'm so scared. Yeah, it looks real. He's on a knee giving her a ring. Yeah. No, I don't think he got... There was no kiss.

It's not. There was a hearty... He's wearing a fucking bucket hat and a venom kit with American flag-wide receiver gloves on. You guys aren't that romantic, okay? I see the beauty in this. I see the beauty in most of the things that he does.

I was going to see it in the gimmick. I don't know. I saw that. She said proposed. I'm pretty sure that's his girlfriend because then I looked at the page I was like, oh, these are other Josh Hokit-related. Unless it's just someone who's just a big fan of Josh.

I was going to say Josh Hooker was super fan. What is it? Pip Savley? Something like that, yeah. Yeah, here she is. Real or not? No. Wow, this is a total fake thing?

Definitely not real. She's throwing out first pitches at banana ball games. Did I get? Why didn't anyone tell me this? That's that bullshit. This is just a fan? Actually, she's not a,

this is not Josh Okin's wife. No. Am I on the right page? That was it? Yeah, Pip Savley. Wait, she's actually a... She's an influencer. You think so?

You think I just got influenced? No, literally. It's her inner bio. on Instagram it says TikTok, 1.7 million followers. I just got influenced by a TikToker? Yeah, a thousand percent. That is, they are not. I can't even find this real now.

That two-timer? He told us he has a girlfriend or a wife, maybe. Does he have a wife? It's not her. Fair play to him. So when I dropped that in the chat, no one told me, like, no one thought to say. There's so much going into that chat.

We just got to grab and go. It's just grab, put it on the press, and keep it moving. Why? Is it AI? Now it's Are they actually romantic? This is... This is...

This is... This is... This is not his wife. Really? Yeah, this is not his wife. No. Chat. Is it his wife?

Tell me, chat. When you say chat, are you addressing the chat? Or are you addressing chat GPD? Because you're asking. That's what they say. Chat. Is it true, chat? Don't do the chat.

Hoke did comment on it. Oh, what do you say? What do you say? A heart emoji. Yeah, I don't think That sounds legit That sounds like true love I don't think they're dating

He has no posts about it Wait, you think that the text is Is literal in that She really just is a fan he proposed to her I don't even think she's a fan man I think she was just in Miami For the UFC event and she had like VIP access And he did that

Chad, is this true Come on chat, let me know chat why do they do that like are they actually reading the chat is it the chat or is it chat GPT which one? I don't know they just they just say chat

all right well I feel like a dummy right now I'm actually like I was actually oh wow look at this guy you know he's romantic would that have been romantic on the like not even like on fight day

yeah hell yeah empty arena right next to the octagon I think so Full Venom kit? I think there's something nice about like, hey, you did it at your place of work before a big fight, you know? Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's crazy, Ariel. Do you wish you had proposed to Jacqueline in the kitchen?

Not the kitchen, but my studio. Why the kitchen? It's your place of work. It's not in the octagon on fight night. So why would you do it in the studio? I don't work in the kitchen. That's like our hangouts. Oh, you mean like this kitchen?

Yeah, I thought I was talking about your kitchen at home. Oh, motherfucker. You're like, how'd you know where I'm going to say? What are you trying to say? What kind of male chauvinistic pig are you? This is where you could have been. Oh, my God. Oh, you flipped it to her place of work.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. By the way, so I references might as well played here. Here's Dana White saying that Josh Hokit talk the walk or walk the talk. I'm not quite sure, let's play it. the world who are not a big fan of Josh Hockett's schick. Yeah, I'm one of them. When you go out and fight like that, though,

it kind of makes the character stuff irrelevant, and he put on an insane... He walked to talk tonight, you know what I mean? There is. When people come out and say stupid shit and have sort of a schick, it's not my thing. But nothing but respect for both of those men tonight.

And that fight was unbelievable. And, yeah, you won't hear a word. out of me from here on out about him. He, like I said, he walked the talk, so. Can you explain how... One thing to have a stick and act, whatever, and it's another thing to go in a fight,

the number five rank guy in the world, who was a bad dude, and do what he did to him tonight. Walk the talk, I was just looking at up. Is it walk the talk? Yeah, it actually kind of makes sense. Like, you walk, like you talk, you walk it like you talk it, something like that.

Which talks. Yeah. Anyway, shout out to him. more on him throughout the week and hopefully we'll connect. For now, though, I know a lot of you are very much looking forward to this chat. As am I, we've been wondering about this man

for quite some time and delighted that he is here, delighted that he is able to speak to us. Let's not waste any time and say hello to Daniel Rodriguez. Kind enough to join us right here and now. There he is. D. Rod in the house. Hello, Daniel. How are you? Hey, Harold. How's going? Great to see you there, man.

It is great to see you as well. I say that genuinely. There's so much to get into with you, and I just kind of want to leave the slate very clean. And you've hinted at some things. You've posted some stuff online, but your whereabouts and what you've been through over the past few months, very much up in the air. And so could you tell us everything? I just want to listen for as long as you want to talk. What happened? Where were you?

What have you been through? Take us from the beginning up until now, if you can. man if you uh i'm pretty sure y'all remember uh my last fight versus kevin hauling you know it was an amazing matchup and uh you know went on vacation to to cross the border across the border i crossed the border of Mexico and you know forgot i had a little bag of weed with me man it was underannounced and uh got pulled over at the line uh and got checked man and and man the border patrol tripping on on the weed and um you know i was thinking i was thinking i was thinking i was only going to be in there like probably the weekend maybe a little bit shorter but man the the the the

laws over there out there in mexico are way different man they don't play no games you know so um what i was thinking would turn into what was going to be you know probably a little weekend or maybe overnight, turn into eight months, man, right now. And the prime and the smack of my, the smack prime of my career, man. And yeah, man, that was it, dude. And that is an unbelievable thing.

For those I may not remember, that fight against Kevin Holland was in July. How soon after that fight are we talking that you were crossing the border? Exactly two weeks. Okay. Two weeks, man. I was in celebration mode.

I was just headed out to Rosa Rito and just have a good time and spend the weekend out there. And, you know, I didn't think twice, man. I made a mistake and trying to get some weed over the border, man. And if anybody in Mexico knows, the weed over there is just trash. So, yeah, yeah, you know, man, I made an honest mistake, man, and ended up paying some time for it. Is there any particular reason why they were searching your car as you're crossing. over the border. That doesn't happen all the time, right? No, man, I guess. I guess their excuse was that

there were no license plate tags in front. So, yeah, I just like to raise a little bit of awareness to everybody. Like, man, be careful when you're crossing that border right now. Right now it's really hot because the whole Trump thing, I guess, deporting everybody and, you know, I guess they got a grudge. against Americans, you know, and I guess they try to make an example out of me, man. I try to stay, I try to keep a low profile, try not to let them know who I am or who I was, you know, and, you know, it didn't work out, didn't work out the way I wanted to, man.

Did they have, did you get the impression that they had any sort of idea while they're searching you or have your license or whatever, that they know who you are? You're a famous person, UFC fighter. Did they show you any indication that they knew who you were? No, they had no idea. Usually, there's opportunities to get yourself out of certain situations over there in Mexico. And I was hoping for that. You know, I had a waterfall of cash with me at the time.

And I tried to see if I could. if I catch a break, you know, I try to try to see if, you know, they could help me out, you know, and because it wasn't the, it wasn't the police. It was actually the border patrol, the National Guard. Like, you know, they don't play no games. And I didn't realize that, you know, that they take it so seriously and potentially they, they hit me with a smuggling charge. So over there, I guess, like that's like I said, really, that's a really big deal, you know,

and I try to, I try to offer some money to get me out right there on the spot, but they weren't going for it, man. And again, to be clear, you had less than an ounce you say on you? Yeah, it was, it was exact, it was 27 grams. I had like a, I had a fresh, fresh ounce of weed with me. Okay. And, you know, the cold part about it was, like, I pulled over right before crossing the border, and I thought about it.

I was like, man, I throw this shit, I throw this shit out, you know. Like, man, you know what? I don't think anything's going to happen. And sure enough, man, I should just stuck with my gut feeling. Were you alone?

No, I wasn't alone. I had someone with me. You know, and unfortunately, that person had to do the time with me. Oh. You know, so I wasn't alone in there, but, you know, I feel really bad. bad about that. Is that person still locked up as well? No, no, she, she unfortunately, it was we

were able to get out together. Okay, at the same time. Yeah, yeah, at the same time. So, once you get handcuffed and everything, they put you in, why are you, like, why are you locked up for months and months? Seven, that's, that's, that's, that's July seven, that's, that's nine months ago. Why, why is it so long? What are they telling you? What's the process that you're dealing with? Man, I guess, I guess the, uh, the jail, the whole judicious, the whole judicidal system in Mexico was like a whole different world, you know, and they really didn't have no sense of urgency to, you know, move my case forward and, and, and, you know, it took, it took so long, man, And there was, it was, it was, it was ups and downs.

I want to a few court dates where I thought I was getting out and I didn't end up getting out. And, and honestly, I was, I was, I was looking at probably even being there till late, late July, no, June or July. And, you know, lucky I got, I got an amazing legal team, man. and we were able to work some things out, man, and get me out. But there's a whole bunch of requirements and stuff behind it that I got to stick to, you know. Like what? You know, if you know my background, you know that this is not my first time going to jail. This is not, this is just a part of like my journey through the whole MMA thing, you know.

And, you know, like, MMA has really helped me, change things for me, you know. And, you know, we're able to start programs, you know, and try to help people, you know, try to get the youth and start programs for them so they could, you know, experience what I experienced, which is, you know, like the discipline and, you know, looking forward to something better in life than just, you know, a lot of, a lot of the troubled stuff, like, you know, a lot of gangs. And in Mexico, it was way much worse, you know. Shout out to Raul over there at interim gym, you know, he shot me a good letter recommendation. There was a ton of people, man. I had a ton of support coming in, man.

A lot of, a lot of fighters actually, you know. Yeah, yeah, Roger is truly try to pull some strings for me. Brian Oteo was there for me. It was a ton of people, man. My whole management team, even the UFC, try to get involved. But there's only so much they could do, you know, because, you know, like I said, the Mexican government, they aren't having it, man. Was this your first time in a Mexican jail?

Yeah, this is my first time in the Mexican jail, and I can tell you one thing for sure, man, it's the worst, it's the worst possible situation, you know. Fortunately, I was able to make the best of it, you know. I was able to, you know, pull a couple of strings and get a little bit of workout equipment there, and I was able to work out and try to stay in shape, but it's not the same. man. It's not the same. We only went to yard twice a week and those days were the only days I would get to run. You know, I spent the whole time running. I probably like a crazy-ass dude out there just running laps and laps and laps and laps. But it's only twice a week, you know, and I think the worst part about the whole thing was the food. you know i feel a little bit unhealthy

a little malnourished you know um i think that was the toughest part is is the nutrition in there i'm used to you know i'm coming out i was coming off that that big fight man and my body was like healthy in the best shape ever and then to be thrown

locked in the jail cell and just put in one spot and just giving the bare minimum food to eat was like just it was terrible man what about the living conditions. Living conditions were horrible, man.

If thinking about it, it was just locked in a cell 24-7. You know, we only went to yard two times, two times a week. So that was the only movement. You know, and in there, it's a whole other world, man. Like, like, fortunately, I did have some people in high places looking out for me. So I was able to have some privileges. but at the end of the day, there's nothing like freedom, man. Were you living alone, or was there someone with you or other people with you?

I had a couple, I had a couple people with me. I had two people in, you know, in high, very, very, very, very, very high places, especially in there. And, you know, they looked out for me. I'm very grateful, you know, everybody loves a fighter, you know, Everybody loves a winner, you know, and I'm fortunate to have, you know, been where I was at, you know. I was probably in the best living situation like being in there, but it was still horrible, man. It was horrible, but I'm out now, you know.

And we are glad for that. I'm just curious because obviously this is something that we don't often get to hear about. When you say that you're with people in very, very high places, when you get in there, do they know who you are and say, hey, we're going to take care of you? Like, how does that process work out to where you get linked and sort of, you know, part of their crew protected by them? Yeah, so what happened was I went to court one day. Actually, my first court date, and the guards, one of the guards recognized me and started asking me for pictures. You know, I'm like, I'm like, what the hell? You know, so all the guards are right there taking pictures, and I'm like, all right.

some of the inmates saw that, you know, and one inmate asked like, yo, who, who, like, what's up with you like this and that? And I didn't really want to say anything, you know, in a situation like that, you want to keep the lowest profile because me being who I am is kind of like, you know, kind of like a target on my back, you know, like, you know, people are going to want to test you. People are going to want to, you know, you never know, you never know. So I always just wanted to keep a low profile. But once that happened, so once that happened, as soon as I hit the prison, and over there, it's not like out here.

I've been in jail over here where there's like the L.A. County jail where it's like it's not prison prison. But over there, they throw you straight in and straight into prison. And yeah, man, my first like 12 days there, I was in like a six-man cell. with like 25 people in there, man. Dude sleeping on the floor, two men per bunk, and I couldn't even sleep, man. It was just disgusting in there. It's horrible.

It's the most horrible situation you could think of. And, you know, fortunately, word got around that I was in there. And I got shot up to the VIP section, you know. So I was fortunate enough to... to get some love. And yeah, they did show me a lot of love, you know. And in the back of my mind, I kind of had a sense like, I think this guy's using me as protection, you know.

I'm kind of like his bomb guard or some shit like that, you know. But I just ran with it, you know. Damn, that is wild. And when you say, like, people would test you or if they didn't know who you were, did you feel like people tried to before this happened? Did you feel like people were trying to, you know, to see what you were all about? No, man. I've been in jail before and you get that a lot.

There's always someone in the bad mood or there's always somebody like trying to test you or something. But this time around, I don't know, man. Maybe it's just the way I carry myself, you know, that I didn't really get, I didn't really get tested much. And work got around really quick. Worked around real quick who I was and even like the guards and everybody. hey, you're the fighter, uh, you know, I'm like, yeah, yeah, you know, that's me. And, um, you know, I don't really get,

I don't really get tested much at all, to be honest with you. And especially with the people I was with, I was definitely felt like not to be fucked with. What does VIP look like? What does that bring for you? Um, well, to be honest with you, man, it's just certain privileges. I don't want to give away.

much because some of the I don't want to burn the spot for some of the guys. They're still living in there and those little things go a long ways, you know. Those little small little things, bro, that goes a long ways. You know, and

yeah, I was fortunate to have some of that, man. It's not cheap, but but, you know, I was able to communicate with my friends and family and a few loved ones and that's that's pretty much all I needed man I just needed I needed support I never thought I didn't expect to be in there that long I mean eight eight almost nine months for a bag of weed is insane you know I didn't I never thought twice you know he coming from here in California in Las Vegas and you know they don't the cops don't even worry about that stuff you know and went over to Mexico and I guess Mexico

it's not legal yet. So they're trying to throw the book at me, man. And, yeah, man, it just took me. It took me all that time to work out and deal with them. When you have moments where you think you're getting out and it's not happening and the months are trickling away, how do you stay sane? Like, what did you do to keep, one moment you're fighting in New Orleans,

you're fighting all over the world, you're a UFC star, and the next year sleeping in the, these conditions, how did you keep yourself going and keep that hope alive that you would eventually get out of this? It was rough, man. I'm not going to lie. It was in March. I was supposed to get out in early March and it didn't happen.

And I'll have my heart set on it, man. I was like, all right. Got my heart set on March, you know, and then went to court one day. And they're like, nah, man, we're going to bring you back the end of, um, at the end of July. And man, that shit broke my heart, bro. I'm like, I'm like, man, I, I was just shook. I was just shook, man.

It kind of took away. It took away. It took a lot out of me, man. It took a lot out of me, but fortunately a few weeks, a few weeks after that, my lawyer called me, like, I have great news. We managed to speed up your court date. It's looking like you're going to get out. And I didn't even want to get excited, man,

because I've been on a roller coaster already of like, I'm going to get out and it doesn't happen. And I get my hopes up again and it doesn't happen. So when they had mentioned it to me the last time, I was like, yeah, whatever, you know, whatever, dude. You know, I was just, I kind of, I kind of just lost kind of, I wasn't sure what, was going to happen, man. So I just wasn't really trying to focus on it that much. At that point, I was just trying to live day by day, you know, because at the end of the day, I was, you know, I'm in jail and anything could happen at any point, you know, and a lot of things were happening, a lot of, a lot of stuff with what was going down. And I was, man, I got to get the fuck

out of here, man, before I get myself into some trouble, you know. You said that you guys came to a deal in order to get you to come out. What does that mean? Did they not realize to keep you there for that long was a little bit excess? Like, what is this deal that you come to in order to get you release? I can't really speak on that right now, man. Yeah, I can't really speak on the details of it. But it's, yeah, it came with price. Okay.

I don't know if I could say that, you know. I understand. I understand. And don't want you to reveal too much. I do want to ask, you said you could talk to your family and friends. Are you even aware of what's going, like are you able to watch fights? Are you, the MMA world probably felt like a million miles away, but that's still your job and how you live and what you're so well known for and what you're doing so well at.

You had won a bunch of fights in a row, three I believe off top my head. So here you are, are you watching? Are you trying to keep tabs? I saw the footage of you hitting Mitz and stuff. Are you at all aware of what's going on out there? Yeah, I mean, fortunately, like, some of the perks that we did have, you know, I had a TV and, you know, had a couple of little bit of Internet access and then, you know, had a little bit of phone action, you know, where I was able to keep up with the MMA world. But really, I was just focused on my family. And, you know, I did, I was keeping up with the UFC and stuff, you know, and a lot of times I would like,

I'll watch my own fights to keep myself motivated and in the game and just a reminder of who I am, you know, and what's ahead of me out. What's ahead of me out here, you know, and coming off that big, big, big, big win, man. You know, that's been my motivation, you know, because I know that once I get out, stories are going to be big, man. and it's just, you know, this is the type of shit the movies are made of, man. You know, so I just want to, like, like really, really lock it down and get back to where it was, man.

It's going to be tough. It's going to be a tough little road back, man, but, you know, I'm all for it. You know, it's just going to be an amazing story. Just curious, and thank you so much for telling us about all of this, Daniel. I really appreciate it. Like typical day, what are you eating there?

The typical day. Lots of tortillas. Lots of tortillas, rice, beans, some kind of like soup, you know, but the soup is like probably like an ounce or less of protein and majority of like, potato and carrots, you know? So it was the bare minimum, man.

Luckily, you know, they do have commissary, but even the commissary there was horrible. It was chips, a couple noodles, soda. So, like, nothing that my body is used to, used to consuming, you know, in order for me to perform at a high level, you know. And then on top of that, just like having the minimum,

space, you know, and space to do it, to do stuff, you know, so I would do a lot of jail workouts. And I actually made, I actually made myself like a, like a makeshift, like a speed bag and a punching bag. And I was, I was just trying to be as creative as possible, just to stay in shape, man. Wow. Would you get, I saw the, the, the mitt work and all that. Where'd you get that stuff? Yeah, I had to pay the guards for that. Okay. So you were doing stuff. And who did you you find to help you out with that? Very, very fortunately, man, my cellmate used to, he used to be a boxer. Wow.

Yeah, so he had, he did have some skills. And I was able to, so I was able to get some really good networking. And, you know, the whole time I was in there, I was like, man, I felt like I'm getting ready. I felt ready for like a boxing match, you know. And, yeah, man, it's just, it's just, I got to. get I got to get some of my grappling in and I got a I was doing like no type of grappling or thing. So it was just all boxing, you know, but the only thing is like it's that Mexican style boxing. You know, it's like a true nitty gritty Mexican style boxing, you know,

straight out of jail, man. This is crazy. I like, um, I, I used to watch movies like this, you know, like dudes I look up to dudes like that, like Bernard Hopkins, you know, with dudes like that, you know? And, you know, I got a lot of, you know, I got a lot of people watching, man. And I just want to, like, put in as much work as possible and just lock in, man, you know. And I made a mistake. You know, everybody makes mistakes. Nobody's perfect.

And I feel like MMA and everything ahead of me, man, is just, it's a little, it's a little intense. Right now, it's a lot, you know, everybody's like. everybody's trying to get a hold of me. And it's a lot coming straight out of a jail cell, you know, to just yesterday I was on stage in front of 10,000 plus people. And it gave me the feeling of the last time I was in a cage, you know. It's like the whole world is watching, you know, and shit, man, I'm just going to live it up, do the best I can do. When did you get out? It's been a few days now.

It's been like four or five days now. I saw that video of the band playing as you're leaving. Can you describe what that feeling was like when you were released, when you realized? So right there, I was at the border, man. And to be honest with you, that was a weird situation because if you're ever crossing the border in Mexico, go, you know that there's people right there trying to hustle, sell stuff, and sometimes you kind of got to ignore them, you know. There was this one dude that I kept knocking on my window and he kept trying to kind of, kind of like catch my attention.

I was like, no, man, like, you know, I'm out of pace. I was brother. You know, and he took it the wrong way. Took it the wrong way. And, you know, it was flipping me off and, like, talking all kinds of mess. man and kind of got to me, man. I mean, I'm fresh out of jail. I don't tolerate disrespect, you know.

And I got out of the car and I'm like, what? Like, what you're talking about? You know, and I have my oldest son with me and I'm just like, man, what am I doing? I can't be, I'm just out of jail. I can't be like beaten up. these people are like they can't be doing stuff like this no matter what you know and got back in the car and you know and it just it just hit me like how I have to change man how I have to like live life now and and it's not the same as it was before before that fight man it's different now

it's different and uh and you know I just have to be responsible man I got to be the most as possible possible. Like I still have an opportunity to go out there and show the world what I'm made of, man. And I think that this time around it's going to be

something special, man, because it's like you know, I went to jail for a long time. I had eight months, eight, nine months is a long time. And you know, everybody's watching and I just want to

bounce back and give it all I got, man. And that comes with changing a lot of things that I didn't that I had going on before. You know, I got to cut a lot of things out, man. So this time around,

like you guys got a 100% focused DRocked. Realistically, when do you think you could fight again? You know what, man? I went to the gym the other day. did some warm-ups. My oldest son, man. My oldest son, he knows I'm out of shape right now.

And he just finished his high school wrestling. He just finished his senior year. So he's feeling all pumped. And he's like, what's up? You want to wrestle? All right. All right. We could do this.

I'm going to give you your shot. Here's your one shot at Pops, you know? And, you know, I got the. take down, you know, but that's all I had in me, bro. I'm like, oh, my God. So the rest of the rest of the whole practice, he was just tossing my ass up. But I really, it's really just a cardio thing. My body still wants to move like the way it used to. It's just, it's just conditioning right now. And I know right now it just feels a little bit tough. But I know in a month from now, I'm going to feel way better. I'm going to head out to, to, um,

to Las Vegas and go to the PI and just spend as much time as possible in there to just recover and get healthy and just bounce back, man. Have you allowed yourself to think of the perfect opponent for the return or is that too far away? Oh man, there's there's some good offers again. Kevin Holland tried to slide in my DMs yesterday, you know, and I'm not, I'm not interested in that, you know, I already beat him, you know, I know he won yesterday. but I really want to shoot for the stars, man. I want to go on.

I really want to take this to the highest level possible. And, you know, we're possibly looking at a matchup versus Leon Edwards. Okay. Yeah. And, you know, I think ideally, I think a solid three months, I'll be ready. Do you feel as of right now, you're still getting used to life again? you're still trying to adapt and adjust to life? Do you feel like that's going to take a while in its own right?

While it sounds like you're appreciating life and have a new lease on life, which is tremendous, but just having this freedom, do you still feel like it's a little bit fresh and raw for you right now? Yeah, it is very fresh, man. I'm going to lie, it's a lot. Just yesterday, like I said, I was on stage in front of 10,000 people. Where was that, by the way?

And that was my boy, Renee, Renee Vaca comedian. He had a big show called Vaca Fest in Ontario. And it was amazing, man. I was backstage. A ton of celebrities and, you know, like people know me now. And, you know, I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to take it easy, take it day by day and not overwhelm my soul. You know, it's a lot. Like I said, a couple days ago.

sitting in the jail cell and now I'm, you know, hanging out with people that I admire and look up to. And, you know, man, I just, I just got to take it day by day. Well, welcome back, Daniel. We missed you. It was a question that we would get every week. What's up with D. Where is D. Rod?

Can you tell us about D. And wanted to speak to you and get the full story from you and understand what you had been through. Did we just lose them there? Oh, my gosh. just as I'm saying goodbye. Maybe his phone died? What do you think? Okay.

Well, I hope he heard that part. And if you can just express that to him, I would appreciate it. I'm glad to see that he's okay. It's good to see that he's okay and back. And hopefully we'll see him back in there in due time. He says three or so months, it would be quite the scene with him coming back. So wish him the best and do appreciate him coming on and explaining all of that to us. Let us move along and say hello to our next guest.

It's been a minute since I spoke to this man. He had a fantastic win on Saturday in Miami, UFC 327. An incredible win over Randy Brown, almost got the submission. Still don't know how Randy survived all of that, but it was amazing scenes and seemingly very much back on track. And so I am very excited and very happy to say hello once again to our old friend, Kevin Holland, who I'm told is standing by. Is he actually there?

He's there. What's going on, brother? Long time, no speak. Kevin, how are you? Good. How about yourself? I'm doing great. Welcome back to the show. We missed you. Thank you, brother. It's been a long time. It has been a long time. I do appreciate you coming on. It's great to see you and talk to you,

and congratulations on the win. You had a bit of a time off there to come back and have a performance like that. What does that feel like? What's that due to the confidence? Oh, man, you know, confidence is always sky high, but it feels good to get back in there and make something happen, especially after, you know, having a little bit of time off. You know, it's never fun having time off when you're me. Was the time off your decision? Was it just no fights being offered? It's rare for you to have that kind of like six or so months off.

Why? Yeah, you know, I actually had that opportunity to fight on the Houston card, but I was having root canals done and stuff like that. So timing just didn't kind of work out, and I was going through some things with some changes in, per se, careers, and, you know, just so happened to just work out this way, and I'm actually pretty happy with it. You know, and so I knew I got a little bit more time to prepare for Randy Brown, too.

We could definitely say that was needed. By the way, multiple root canals? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got two root canals done. At the same time? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got to go back and get one more. That's awful. One is funny.

Yeah, yeah. Years of just eating junk food and not worried about the teeth and got a little older and was like, man, I'm starting to feel something back there. Wouldn't got it checked out. It said some root canals and some cavities, and I said, God, all those cookies at night weren't doing good for me. So, yeah, getting those done right. And did that affect you in the lead-up to the fight?

Like getting punched in the face after having that? No, it was normal. He had a really good dentist. They did a good job. So I felt same as always, you know, just made sure I threw my mouthpiece in after because I spent a lot of money on those pretty ass teeth to get done. And by the way, now that you've seen the results of having some time off,

are you going to stick to that sort of plan, that sort of cadence? Maybe you take longer breaks in between fights. I don't want to take too long between fights. six months was quite a bit of time, but, you know, four months is probably a lot more healthy. And, you know, it's, I guess it's good for me. You know, it's like I got a lot of things going on outside the cage. So it's good to spend time with the kiddos.

It's good to be at the house. It's good to relax and do things like that. But six months, you know, almost thought I was retired for a second there. I feel like we're talking to, and maybe it's just because it's been a while, like, a grown-up Kevin Holland, a mature Kevin Holland, an evolved Kevin Holland. Is this the new, the father, Kevin Hahn? I feel like this is a different side of you that we're seeing. Yeah, you know, life changes, things change.

And, you know, I was young and I was pretty hot-headed, air-headed, and I was doing dumb shit. And, you know, now we're a little bit older, and kids look at me, and, you know, I've got to make sure I'm there for my kiddos. And my older son's 13 versus being six and seven, and that changes the game. So, you know, it's like, you know,

you got to shipping up and shaping up a little bit, and it's just how it goes. What was the turning point for you if you could pinpoint one? Honestly, I don't even know. It's like, I honestly don't know. Maybe my son with the horses or I don't know. Yeah, I happen to be at these damn ranch all day. Maybe that did it.

It simmered me out a little bit. So what's up with the horses? So your son rides horses? Yeah, he rides horses. He's into first started off with some barrel racing and then they really started like it roping. And then he seen that Chad Money-Mafield guy one time doing that tie-down roping and he got all into that. Tonight likes the rope in. And myself, I thought the cutting was pretty cool.

So, you know, in the process to try to see what discipline he wanted to go, I got a little bit of this, got a little bit of that. And I started liking it with them. And it's our Sunday fun day now. And everybody in the family is just yaha. And we're just going around doing our thing. You know, I enjoy hunting the most. But, you know, if we can get on the back of the horse and have some fun, too, that works.

And I found me a fun one to me to compete in for mounted cowboy shootings. I get to shoot, ride the horse. Wow. You're a real-life cowboy now. Oh, he is. I'm just a posture. I'm playing catch-up until I can play tag-along, you know. And how do he get into this?

My old buddy, actually, old buddy I used to associate with and do everything with. He actually got him into doing all this stuff. So Justin Adams, man, props to him. He's actually doing really good in his career, helping out some other fighters and management and stuff like that. So happy to see everybody doing good and, you know, props to him for getting my son turned on to the horses. Do you own horses?

Yeah, yeah, we own quite a few. We actually, we got two on the lot right now. We got one that just bought that just pulled up a second ago. She does raining. I wanted him to get in the raining competition. So he's riding her, and he did really good today for his first time doing some raining. So we'll see how that goes. Maybe in the next month or so, we'll put him in a competition.

Then I got my mounted cowboy shooting horse out there. She's a red roan. She's an absolute beautiful one. Young. She's the youngest one out of all of them. We got another red roan that was supposed to be a cutting horse, but she was actually a sorting horse and the difference between sorting and cutting is

pretty there. I'm pretty much there. So had to see what discipline we wanted to take her. And we took her to the cutting school and he said she'd do a really good job at roping. So now she's at school doing roping and she's absolutely killing it. So props to her. And then we got another horse.

What was his barrel horse? He's actually selling his barrel horse. So I'm proud of him because he's 13 conducting a pretty good business deal with the horse. And he's selling that one. Then he said he's going to sell two cows and he's going to use the cows

to replenish the extra money that he needs to buy the new roping horse that he wants to get. So, kid has a game plan, and I got a game plan, and we'll see if we'll make both of them work. I've got to be honest, Kevin, I have no idea what you're talking about right now. Roping, raining, I've never heard these words before.

What are you... What is this? What is this language that you're speaking? Yeah, Texas caught up to me. That's all we can say, you know? What is raining? What's raining? I don't know if you've ever seen Yellowstone,

but, you know, when they do the big spins and they do the big run, and they do the stop and they slide, that's kind of raining. It's all about, you know, posture and performance. Wow. How the rider rides, how the horse works and their connection and how they move. And then roping, of course, you know, throwing the rope on the back of the horse. You got several different styles of that between team roping, tie-down rope in,

and just breakaway roping. And then a mounted cowboy shooting, shooting on the back of the horse. So that one, that's my style. Yeah. And, yeah, and then the cutting that's, you know, you got cows in front of you and you're trying to stop the cow from or separate the cow from the herd and so on and so forth.

Wow. But don't get me the line. I probably said all that wrong. I mean, I guess Wikipedia again. It sounds great to me. So how much time are you spending on the ranch there? I'm out here about, you know,

six, seven days a week trying to catch up to him. He's out here as much as he can. It's a baseball season right now for him, so he's a little bit slowed down. But he does homeschool, so he doesn't have to worry about going to regular school.

So he's out here. As long as the sun's up, the guns are out, he's out here doing his thing. And right now, we just bought that horse. I let him conduct that whole deal on his own. He got the papers. He did the money transfer.

He did everything on his own. Did the test ride on the horse. Wow. The kid just stud. Yeah, man, I'm proud of him. Is this your oldest son? Yeah, 13. 13.

He's doing pretty good for a 13-year-old conducting better deals than I ever did at 13. Why homeschool, by the way? Ah, man, I didn't do good at regular school. He wasn't doing the greatest in regular school. The grades were okay, but the behavior was always something. And, you know, it's like I just had a, ton of energy and it's like, I figured, you know, probably get more out of homeschool.

You know, and when I did my homeschool stuff and not necessarily homeschool, but I had a one-on-one teacher for a lot of years, I got the most out of that. So since taking him to homeschool, he's got the most out of that. And then he wants to be a cowboy. So if he wants to be a cowboy, he's not going to learn that in regular school, but he can put more time in out here and then do a schoolwork. It's a piece of cake, you know, and we can make our own schedule. So, So, you know, some days he starts at 10, some days he starts at 9, but you can get up here at 6 o'clock in the morning, feed his horse, ride his horse, and then get back and do schoolwork, and then he can come back and do baseball in the afternoon and come back in night and help me feed if I need help feeding. But when I'm in camp, I tend to do all the feeding by myself because I'm on go so much. So he gets his six weeks off and he was happy with his six weeks off.

And so at this point, like, is this his goal, like, does he, is this what he wants to be when he's older? Is this the end goal for him? Well, he wants to be it now. Hopefully he still wants to be it later on. All those acres I bought and all these horses I bought me for no reason. But I got his back. So if he decides to step away, I'll continue to do it for him until he gets over to realize it's a lot better career than some of the other careers that we can take. And he was doing his research one day.

He was figuring out how he was going to make his coin. You're 12, you start wondering how you're going to do this and how you're going to do that. And he was already riding before that. And then he goes, Dad, I can actually make some money riding horses. I said, yeah, you can make plenty of money riding horses. And he said, okay, I'll do that. I don't want to get plush in the face. I mean, you see my face now.

He's like, I don't want to look like that. So he has a game plan. As long as he's not riding bulls, I'm happy with it. I was just going to ask about that. Has he shown interest in jiu-jitsu, boxing, fighting, anything like that? No, I've made him do jihitsu. And my little brother's actually thinking about fighting now. And when he was younger and my son's younger,

I've always made sure they knew how to do a one, two, three. A good roundhouse kick to the leg and a good flying knee. And as long as they could do those, I felt like we'd be okay. and so they always know how to fight but it's not something I'm trying to preach and push upon them I fight enough times a year I fight enough times in a lifetime

that they should never have to and they can find other things that makes them happy then I'm happy like my little brother he's graduated from barber school today so we get to go to his class and get a fresh cut

and get to watch him do his thing and then my son he's all about these horses and hopefully they stay far away from fighting I say that but then my little brother's fighting so I don't know hopefully no jiu-jitsu and no martial arts for my son though

Hopefully none. The brother who's graduating from Barber School, is he also the one who's going to be a fighter, or is that a different brother? No, I only got one brother. Okay. It's funny. Me and my mom are a lot alike in a sense when it has kids.

I got a 13-year-old and a 3-year-old, and she has a 33-year-old and a 19-year-old. So we spread them out pretty far. I don't know why we do it, but we do it. So there's another Holland coming up, at least as far as fighting is concerned. You think he's going to turn pro? Yeah, you know, I definitely do.

I mean, he's going to have his first amateur fight. We'll see how that goes. As long as that goes, well, I told him, If you don't listen, I never book you another fight, so the rest of the career is going to be on you. As long as he listens to everything he's supposed to do, then, you know, we'll see how far. Who's how far he can go? You know, he's a different frame than me, so it'll be a different weight class and, you know, a different style. But hopefully he listens better and does, you know, smarter things, and it'll be a Kevin Holland with less losses, a smarter big mouth, we should say.

Will you train him? Will you be his guy? I will be there to help him out as much as I can. I'll more so be there to help him out with his career, make sure he makes the right moves, make sure nothing bad ever happens. happens, but I like the coaches I have now. I like the training partners I have. I like the people that I have in my life right now, and I think that they're at a prime time in their career

where they're not going to do anything but get better, and they'll be absolutely amazing for him to continue to excel and go forward. By the way, speaking of horses, is it true that you have Metallic Cats, daughter and granddaughter? Is that a real thing? I heard Metallic Cats is a legendary horse. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, Prophecy. You'll see, they pay as good bucks.

Hold on. I'm sorry, I got to learn how to put these meetings on Do Not Disturb, right? So, yeah, Metallic Cat's granddaughter, that was the first one that we bought. Sorry, I'm sorry, I lost you there for a second. Patel's granddaughter was the first one that we bought, and she actually does, she was the sorting horse that I was talking about, and now she's a school for roping, so that's going to be pretty cool to have that one in the roping field. And then we have the daughter of a metallic cat that's actually going to be doing our cutting and stuff like that.

She won't come home to us right away because we're nowhere near good of riders to be doing any cutting and stuff like that. At least I'm not. He probably is. But we'll keep her at school for a year. Let her continue to her training. Let her continue to everything she needs to do. She's still a young one. She's under four. So we'll let her continue to do her practices, do her training, do her competitions underneath them with our brand attached to her and see how she does. And hopefully she does amazing. And then once my son's about 14, 15 years old, we'll send him out to start doing some competitions on the back of her. And hopefully we can have a grand old time, you know. I heard you say you spent about $100,000 before this fight on a horse.

Yeah, yeah, between Metall cat's daughter and between Blue, he has a little bit of that Hancock and his bloodline. We actually just purchased that one too, so, yeah, that was about, yeah, that was pretty up there. We don't want to put the exact number on there. And then we were buying a walker to go in the back next to the arena, and we needed to get us a circle pin, a circle, you know. So, yeah, good old round pen and a good old walker. out there, that'll be a couple more bucks. So yeah, the money's going left or right, but most people pay for the kid to play basketball

or baseball or football or something. Mine's those baseball and ride horses. So, yeah, that's where all my choos be going. I love it. I guess I should ask you about the fight itself. Are you happy with the performance? Are you happy with the fight overall? I'm happy with it.

I'm a little disappointed myself in the third round. I put in a lot of work in my cardio and my energy going into this fight, doing everything I needed to do to make sure I was in tip top shape. And I was in really good shape. I just didn't push in the third round. I allowed Randy Brown to kind of go out there and clinch up with me in the third round, and I should have dragged out of that clinch. I guess because I got comfortable with the ground, but, you know, should have stopped all that.

What about the second round? What about the second round? I mean, that choke right there, what are you thinking as he's not going away? Dude, a rubber neck. Saman must have gila somewhere else. What am I doing wrong? Make these adjustments. So, yeah, I'm making the adjustments and trying to put him away.

I heard him gargle a little bit and, you know, start to do that. And he just wasn't going to tap. And it props to Randy Brown, you know, for absolutely staying game in a situation like that because, you know, I've been there against Jameh of and shit. I guess I ain't got Jemmaev straight because I sure as hell would have tapped the hell out. Now looking back from a technical standpoint, what do you think you were not doing in order to put him away?

I seen the Gracie video where they said I could have used my leg to trap the arm down. But if you go back and watch the choke live time, there was one point in time I used the leg. leg to put the arm down and still didn't get it. I think maybe I could have, you know, resqueathed, transferred the grips and instead of going for, you know, the an icon, could have switched back to the dars and actually put them away with the dark man choke. But, you know, in the midst of a fight, man, you're just happy to be there and you're thinking you got it and you're going for it, you're going for it. Your arms start burning a little bit. And you're like, you know what?

Got a whole other round, man. Let's just get up and get back active. So yeah, you know, could have made a few more adjustments, but, you know, ultimately, I'm a black belt in jihitsu, but I ain't the greatest in Jiu-Jitsu. So we'll probably have to ask somebody else on that one. Fair enough, fair enough. You've talked about, I know you've said that you want to get some rematches back, Mike Malad, who's fighting this weekend. And by the way, for the record, I don't know if you saw,

I thought you got screwed in the last fight, you know, with the low blows and everything like that, and I said it on the show. That was wild. Yeah, I, you know, it's like, even though me and you weren't talking for a while, you know, I'm still a fan of Ariel Hwani, so I was always peeking in and seeing what area had to say about this and that. That bummed me out, man.

I like your intake, so, yeah, I was paying attention. So, yeah, I was paying attention to that. And I was like, look at my dog. He got my back still. So that was pretty cool. Yo, that bumby out, because I always loved our chats. Yeah, yeah. That was Young Cab.

Young Cab gets hot-headed over everything. My apologies for wherever you're coming at you the wrong way. Not needed, all good. We've been through this enough to know that, you know, everything's water under the bridge. But I'm curious, is that the one at the top of the list because of how that played out? If he wins this weekend, would you like that one back at the top of the list, number one? Yeah, you know, in all reality, my guy D-Rodd, you know, he's getting out, he's coming on. He's a lot of steam. He has a hell of a story ahead of him, you know, and it's like,

me and him can shake back to our story like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. We can shake back later. And he should go out and find out exactly how far he can throw this football. I'll always be there. But Mike Malat, and it's like win-l loser to draw, I need that one. So if I got to get one more in between time, and then I got to shake all the way to Canada and do that fight again, I'll do that fight again. Just, you know, if he does foul play, you guys got to you know, punish him for foul play. And other than that, we'll be good to go. And it's like, I think if I rematch him a lot,

I think I'd finish him 100%. So, do you think he wins? I was on my way to finish him before it kicked me in the balls last time. Do you think he wins this weekend? No, I really don't think he wins this weekend. I mean, people are writing off Burns. Like Burns ain't who Burns is.

I mean, he has some mean, mean shots that he tends to throw, and Malat's there to get hit by those shots. And then on the ground, I didn't feel like there was nothing special that Malat could do. And I feel there's a lot of things special that Burns can do. So I'd have to put it on Burns if I had to put it on anybody, you know.

We just spoke to D.Rod, by the way, and he mentioned before his phone died that you slid in his DMs yesterday. That's what he said very quickly. Could you tell us what you said to him? Last match he didn't see him was a salute, so I sent him a salute back, just, you know, letting him know. Just got the dub, you know, we talked about it. Here it is. And, you know, he assured me he had some positive things on the uplook for him that could be going on. but my message to him was, you know,

do everything that you can do to get everything you got to get out of life. And once again, if that bag fumbles or if my bag rises high enough to the equation, I'll be right there ready for my rematch. So nothing but the best for all of these guys in the organization. But when it comes to me and these guys who beat me before, my job is always to get my leg back. It's the big payback and I always want it. For sure.

Unless it's Chimaier. Leave me the fuck alone. I feel you. You know, there was once a time, where you were fighting crime on the streets, and then I saw the video of you in Miami, there was a fight going on, and you filmed it crazy that you're there.

But this one, it seems like you stayed out of it, am I right? Well, I stayed out of it until the end. Yeah, I was watching. You know, I'm thinking I've got to fight this week. There's no reason to intervene. These guys seem to be buddies. It doesn't really seem to be that bad of a problem.

The bottle he had in his hand was a plastic bottle. It wasn't a glass bottle, so I knew it wasn't going to be too bad. The guy who actually lost the fight was spitting on the old guy prior to that, And I thought that was pretty crazy for him to be spitting on him. So props to the old guy for go ahead and getting it in. I was calling him champ.

He was moving like a champ. He got his smacks in. He did his thing. And then they stopped at the right time. You know, you heard my words back there telling him, you know, don't pull his pants down, even though he was going for the good old McTwister of the twist of a $3,000. And managed to, when it was all over and done with, the guy act like he wanted to get up and return fire to the old guy. I told him it was enough, and they agreed that it was enough.

And I explained to him it was a fair fight in the old guy. guy won and he said it was a fair fighting old guy won and then we proceeded to make sure that the old guy got him a new bottle of liquor so he can go enjoy the rest of his night somewhere else before that night was over with though i got stopped by the police they're like what did you have to do with it nothing at all but just a good old time how do you always still till this day you're always like i don't see this stuff i never see this on the street yeah i don't know or i just never in the house right it's like no matter where i'm going i'm always outside i'm always doing something. It's like right now I'm doing the interview

but I'm in the truck but I'm outside at the ranch and you know it's like I'm right connected to a main street. I might leave the street to see somebody flip an 18 wheel or over and have to pull them out. It's just life. It's just kind of how it goes. So now when you're done with this like are you going on a horse today?

No, honestly I, my ankle hurts a little bit from kicking Randy Brown so much so I'm not going to ride the horse for a week. My horse needs about another week of just being pampered in love since I was gone and I'm just going to me and her going to go and walks together. I'm going to walk her instead of walking on the back of her.

I'm going to walk her with her and brush her and feed her and let my son put in the work with the horses for the week. And then once this week is up, I'll be right back at it like a jagrabbit. Well, this is lovely, man. I want to give a shout to Ed Cap, who works with Eridium. When he texted me about you coming on the show, it warmed my heart. It really did because I was bummed that we had a bit of a falling out.

But I'm really, really happy to talk to you again, truly. It really, really made me so happy. And thank you for coming on. Thank you for doing this. And congrats on the win. Welcome back. And I'm so happy to see everything's going so great in your life with your family and the horses and everything. It's wonderful to see this side of you and this evolution of Kevin Holland.

So well done to you, man. Really appreciate it. Appreciate you, brother. I'm glad to see everything's still going so swell for you. Thank you, Kevin. All the best. And we'll talk to you soon, hopefully. Yes, sir.

You're the man. There he is. The great Kevin Holland joining us. How great was that? Lovely. The, what is it? The fences mending. tour, the mending fences tour continues.

Who says we have beefs around here? How many, how many, this is the, this is the, the theme of the year. You really walk in the talk, man. Yeah. How many? Is that a reference to somebody who we might be able to, yeah.

Okay, how many, how many? Rhonda, Gina, Kevin. There's been others this year. Come on, help me out. Oh, Tony Kahn. James DeHuno? Was T.K. this year? In the past 365.

Was DDP the DDP was before that We've had others Someone's got to get Jedi definitely Hey Carl Good to see I will say

Flat Earth did a great job on Saturday I said this to the guys He did a great job on Saturday Did I not say this at lunch You did say that yet Does he still think the earth is flat Even after the Artemis missions? I would love you know what

Carl I'd love to have you on I want to congratulate Carl Frotch And tell him that I thought he was phenomenal on the broadcast on Saturday on the Netflix broadcast, and I'm not just doing this because I'm trying to be his friend. In fact, the whole beef started with him calling me, what do you call me, a clown or something? Anyway, I thought he was great, and I think he should do it more.

I thought he was honest, he was, he was well-spoken, the breakdowns were good, him saying, hey, you know, Fury Joshua isn't as big as it once was as accurate. It's still mammoth. But look, one life. We all come together. We only get one shot at this. Remember what a wise man once said, guys? Yodo, right? Yodo. So that's just great. I'm really happy. And a big shout out. I want to give a big shout out to Ed Cap for making that happen. Best in the business, we've said this before. When he texted me, I was like, are we talking about the same Kevin Holland here? Because I don't think he likes me very much. But as you see, the door is always open to anyone. And I also want to give a big shout out to John Williams of Vayner for making the D-Rod interview happen. I'm sure he could have talked to a

million people. And, you know, we were checking in on it. I was well aware of what was going on, checking in, checking in. And, you know, the story played out. And we wanted to give you the full story. Now you know the full story. So I appreciate these people. And that's kind of the evolution of me, really. As a journalist, as a media guy, used to just want, to me, getting a big interview, getting the first words is more important than a tweet or fight announcement or anything like that. That's the way I feel about my evolution. And it's great to see other people evolve as well. like Kevin Holland and N-F-E-F and D-ROT. So a lot of evolution on today's program.

I'm very, very happy. All right, still to come, Shakur Stevenson. But coming up next, another guest that we haven't talked to in a very long time. One of my favorites have loved speaking to him over the years and reached out after Saturday's big victory, the one and only Carlos Elberg getting the vacant title. We spoke to Carlos earlier in the day. If you missed that, check it out earlier in the show, but really wanted to pick the brain of one of the best coaches,

in my opinion, in the history of the sport, and his body of work, his resume speaks for itself, all the champions he's produced, all the title contenders, and now still, you know, not just champions, but up-and-comers, rising stars, rising prospects, rising contenders in the sport. We're speaking to the headman over at city kickboxing in New Zealand. Eugene Berman, coach Eugene Bairman,

kind of join us from Belfast. There he is. The man himself, Eugene, it has been a while, my friend. How are you? Hey, Ariel, yeah, good to be here, mate. Yeah, it's been a while. I've been a little, haven't been in the media as much. I've been trying to keep my head down and get some work done.

And I appreciate and respect that. There were several messages that went unanswered, which I don't take personally. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to throw another one, Eugene's way. And you responded, which made me very, very happy yesterday. Yeah, mate, nothing personal, mate. Just, yeah, just me being me. guess. So yeah, please don't take anything to heart.

Never. Full respect to you. I appreciate that. And now you're in Belfast for PFL on Thursday. It's a crazy world that you guys lead, the coaches of this game, because you don't even get a second, you know, you win a big rugby match, tournament, championship, you get to sort of bask in the glory. Here, you're right back to work. Yeah, yeah. I've actually been five weeks on the truck. So I started in London, and then I went to Seattle, and then I did Miami, quick trip back to New Zealand, then straight across. across to Belfast and everywhere in between it.

So, yeah, that's life. Does this exhaust you, or do you enjoy this type of grind? I don't enjoy the traveling area. I enjoy walking out in front of the crowd and the pressure, and I enjoy the train and all of those things. All everything to do with the fight is the part that I enjoy. The rest of it, yeah, not enjoyable. So how do you balance the two?

because you like the sort of byproduct of it all, but not the traveling and everything else. Do you start thinking about a world where you don't do this anymore, where you take a break at some point, where you walk away from it? How do you balance it? Honestly, I just don't balance it out. Just, yeah, it's all in.

And honestly, I don't know how to think about that, Ariel. Every week I have a new young person coming. walking through the door and saying, can you help me achieve these dreams and goals? So it's like, man, where do I, yeah, where do I stop? Where do I finish? I honestly don't know. Do you enjoy it as much as you once did?

Yes. Yes. Case and point, you know, like, it's Saturday night. I mean, I'll probably enjoy it more, if I'm being honest. Wow. Okay. Why do you say more? Because I learned through the experience.

of what I've already done to sabre these moments a lot more. I think my mind moves too quickly to, oh, what do we have to do next? How do we make this fight it better? How do we prepare for the defenses? You know, I'm just always moving on, but I think as the years have gone by, Izzy and Volker have won and lost their titles

and regained their titles, I've just understood that this is, how fleeting this is, how difficult it is to do, and how you should just stay in the moment a little bit more and appreciate it. So let's talk about Saturday and let's talk about your guy, Carlos. Can I ask from the beginning, when did you first meet him? Do you remember how long ago?

I have such a long history with my guys. It kind of all gets blurred, but I'm going to say less than a decade ago, but close to a decade. So eight, nine years ago, he first came to me, maybe. was this so at that point he had already started fighting this wasn't straight off of the the rugby pitch right no he had already started a boxing career but in that boxing career he had had a couple of amateur mama fights um yeah and what was your read on him like you're a great sort of evaluator of talent did you see something in him did you see that he was someone that could go very far in his career Yeah, my earliest memory from him is I would take Israel to spar at one of the gyms that he was sparring

and they would match up against each other and Israel was already a very good professional fighter by then and Carlos was a little bit newer to the scene but you could see that Carlos was very, very talented. He was even though there was a big discrepancy in the experience, Carlos would give Israel quite a bit of trouble. At what point did you feel like, and maybe it was in the UFC run or maybe before, okay, this guy has championship material. You know what it takes to be a champion. You know what that looks like. When did you start to believe, okay, he's not just a regular fighter, he's a championship fighter? I'm going to say maybe the first or second fight after the debut fight.

Okay. And what you lost, if you remember it rightly. And so why that one? Because he just completely flipped the script. He completely changed his attitude around the sport, his dedication. And I guess the biggest thing that I could see changing way back then was his mental approach to the sport. You know, it's a cliche saying, but sometimes you learn more on your losses than you do your wins. and that loss was probably the best thing that he could have ever gone through at that particular time in his career.

Wow. And so we fast forward obviously to this fight. How did you feel about the matchup going into it, the test against Erie? Nervous. Nervous. Like, I typically like to look at a guy. guy and be able to figure out some like patterns and some habits and just try and, you know, looking at someone more conventional is easier. And so in that respect, Yuri caused us a lot of

problems. So, yeah, and he causes problems to his opponents because of his style. When we spoke to Carlos earlier, he was a little bit fired up. about some of the things that Yuri said after the fight. And I'll ask you about those specific things in a moment. But one of the things that he also did say was that he never really bought into this idea of Yuri being this like martial arts, Bushido master. He thought that that was all very inauthentic

and something that people fall for, but that he feared Carlos. He sensed that fear from Carlos. When he looked at him, when he saw things about him, when he saw things that he was saying, did you feel that same sort of way as well? Sorry, just to clarify Carlos. fought that Uri feared him or

Yeri thought that Carlos feared him. Carlos was saying that he felt like Yeri feared him, that Yeri was kind of putting on an act. Yeah, I mean, honestly, yeah, I'm not sure. I can't answer that. All I can say is that at that end of the sport aerial, like fighters have got to use whatever they can at their disposal to give them,

whatever tiny advantage they can. So that's what I put a lot of that down to, including the stuff that Erie does, you know. If it works, if it gets you a mental edge, if it puts you a mind in a place that can win you a fight, then you can't mock it. Did Carlos have any pre-existing knee leg injuries going into this fight? I'm going to say no.

but he did have staff. He had staff. He got his staff infection earlier in the camp in that league, which basically put that leg out of contention for a week or two. Do you think that's related to what transpired? No, that's not related. No, it's not related. Okay.

The staff was lowered down on his leg, and I think that's all to do with the structure of his name. me I think. Okay. And how was he, and I'm building up to the fight here, how was he fight week in the back? You've been with guys as they're about to fight for the belt for the first time. Was he handling it well? Did you feel like there was a sense of confidence about this guy that he was about to go out there and do the thing? Yeah. Yeah, I honestly thought that everything that Carlos had done up until this point in his life was building up for that fight week. there's some

there's some pretty big adversity that we've kept kind of under the lid in terms of some of Carlos' fights that have built him up right to this point as well as other things that have gone on in his life his upbringing and his childhood that have all led to that week in this moment And so in that respect, I thought that he was perfect and fight weak.

Wow. It was the way he approached it. Regarding those things that you're talking about that you've kept on the lid, can you shed some light on that now? I mean, I guess I can. Like, he fought in Sydney. I can't remember who he fought, but his front leg was completely gone. so like he had a bone infection on his front leg so

he couldn't even walk during fight week he couldn't even walk he couldn't even do a training session and it didn't phase him in the very least he went in there and he won if that leg had got kicked one time significantly the fight would have been over but The guy didn't better, and I live at that. He went into the fight with the bone infection and said, I'll take care of business and I'll heal this after. I believe that was against the wound Jung, right?

Yeah, yeah, whoever we fought in Sydney like a couple years ago. Yeah. And so with that in mind, you're watching the fight prior to the moment where it seems like he injures his knee, certainly his leg. How are you feeling? I know it's relatively early in the fight, but how are you feeling like things are going? Is there any sort of sense that you're gathering from how the fight is flowing? Yeah, pretty good.

Like, we wanted to, we wanted to see if we could start taking a bit of ground away from Yuri straight away. We just felt that was the best thing to do was to make our presence felt and our intention felt. We didn't want Yuri to jump on the front foot and get wild really early in the fight. So Carlos started taking a ground from. him and then we just wanted Carlos to start pretty conservatively, just fainting

and just seeing what he could land with his long range weapons and landed a few leg kicks and he was getting a few reeds off his fainting and he was taking ground and pushing Erie back a bit so in that respect at the very sound of that fight we were quite happy

with things when you notice the injury and how do you react to the injury um yeah I think we saw yeah, I mean, the first real obvious limp, I can't recall exactly, but it was one of the first real obvious limps. And then there was some successive limping after that.

How I react, I mean, I didn't react well. I was a little bit dumbfounded and I was a little bit frozen in the moment. You know, I've done many championship fights, but I'll be honest, I was a little bit, stunned and frozen. So luckily, I just have some brilliant coaches that have been with me from the start, that have been on this journey in the UFC with me since the start. And I'm always the one that gets chucked in front of the camera,

but those guys are really the secret to the success of my team. So surprisingly, they were all calm. They were very, very calm. And they kind of snapped me back to where I needed to be. focused mentally and can be done. And that's what a good corner does, you know, when we pull each other up and we level each other out. And that's just how it should work.

So, I mean, I owe them a lot. Can we give them some shine? Who are they? What are their names? Yeah, Andre Paulette is our kind of, mainly our wrestling coach, but he does it all. And then Tristram Mapakatoa, this old fighter that started with me,

very intelligent man, and then Michael Angoves is another former world kickboxing champion, another very, very intelligent intellectual person. And these guys are being with me from the start. These guys are kind of the unheralded heroes that if I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for them. Amazing. And there was a great moment afterwards, which I'll ask you about in a moment.

But you're thinking one in that moment because, you know, like in the broadcast, you're watching it. And as I said to Carlos, it's almost like they're eulogizing him. Like it's like, oh, it's a shame. Like it's inevitable. Something bad's going to happen. Are you thinking those same things? Are you thinking this is over? He suggests to us that that thought never crossed his mind.

He knew that he had to do it and he would do it and it would be all good. What are you thinking as you're seeing him, you know, very much compromised, very injured. and unable to put any pressure on that back leg? I'm a bit confused. I'm a bit stunned. I'm a bit taken back by the moment. Then my fellow coaches, the first thing I heard from them,

I remember very vividly, was, no, no, we're going to be all right. Wow. One of them said, going to be all right.

And then one of them said, Yuri's going to creep in. You watch, Yuri's going to creep in. So, Yuri's going to lose his sense of distance, because he thinks Carlos is more compromised than he is, and then a minute later that happened.

Golly. What's that reaction like? Can you describe that feeling when you notice that he clips him with the left hook? Just raw adrenaline, raw emotion. You've got to understand. We also realize that that is our chance. Like in that moment, we cannot let Yuri bounce back from that. So we have got this one shot.

So, I mean, at that stage, mate, all technical training went out the door. We were just up on our seat and just willing Carlos to just find the shots that he needed to end that fight. Because obviously, we knew we were in a compromise position. So just pure, raw emotion and just trying to just see. send that will and that emotion out to Carlos. How you do that, I don't know, but yeah, just absolutely raw emotion. The scenes of you and the coaches afterwards, it seems quite emotional. It seems like almost you're not quite sure what to do, but there's like a huddle there

between you two guys as he's celebrating. And before you can come into the cage, this is the scene right here and you can see just how emotional you are. Can you tell us about that huddle? What is going on right here? What are you guys saying to each other? Yeah, I mean, it makes me emotional looking at that. But that is an exact replica of a hurdle that we did in Melbourne in front of 60,000 people.

Like I said, those are my brothers, those are my friends. We started this journey together, and our goal was to help these boys. accomplish their dreams. And so we wanted to do it again. We want to do it with everybody, but we also know that it's so hard to do that. Obviously, I've been a part of Valk's team, and I've been there when he's lost,

and I've been there with his one. Kai's tried twice, and Kai, we weren't able to get him over the line. So we just know how difficult it is to get this done. It's just a tremendously difficult thing to do and then to just help we could realize his dreams and goals. It was just us just coming together and sharing that moment. And yeah, I just said, I love your voice.

And I just embraced them. And I just wanted to just feel that moment. And just, yeah, that's just an exact replica of the same huddle we did when Israel stopped Robert Wood. all those years ago in Melbourne. For this to come two weeks after, Izzy's last fight, do you think that added to the emotion because you're seeing the two sides of the spectrum here?

I mean, if I'm answering, honestly, I don't think so. Ariel, like, as a coach and a professional, you kind of have to, you've just got to block that out. You know, you've got to put all that aside, and you've got to get on with a job at hand. It's kind of like having multiple guys on the card. Sometimes everybody before you has lost, then you've just got to block it out and move on.

So, yeah. Carlos told us a couple hours ago he still doesn't know what the injury is. What do you think it is? Do you think it's what everyone's saying in ACL? You've been around a long time. Do you have any sort of sense as to what he's dealing with? Just a scratch, mate. He'll be back, mate.

He'll be back as soon as he can. I reckon, like I should, the way he was jumping around, of that after party in Miami, I reckon it's just a scratch. So yeah, we'll wait for a medical diagnosis, obviously, because I'm the furthest thing. I'm the third-risk person that can make that qualification. But, yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

Fair enough. Probably not as bad as everybody thinks. That is fair. He did say that he was bothered by some of the stuff that Yeri said in the aftermath, that he showed mercy. And that's what Yuri said. And he, Carlos, felt like that was taking away from the victory. He didn't feel like he was showing any mercy.

He felt like he was just getting caught. And Yuri's saying this to make excuses and get the rematch and whatnot. Seemed very bothered. I've spoken to Carlos a bunch now. He was fired up. And I'm wondering what you think of this narrative that's being put out by Yuri, who I have great respect for. And I don't believe that he is lying to us.

This is his story that he is telling. And I'm going to accept that. But I'm curious what you think about it. Do you feel like he was showing mercy and made a mistake by doing that? Or do you feel like something else was happening here? I feel like he was, no, I feel like Carlos got him. I feel like Carlos sucked him in. Carlos drew him in.

If you break the sequence down, you can see that's what's happening. But also, I'll give you that. Like, man, fighters have got to find a way to build themselves up again, to build their spirit, build their mind back up again so they can get back on the horse and make themselves stronger. And sometimes fighters have to make up a story in order to do that. And that works for them and sometimes it works against them. So whatever story Yuri makes up in his own head to justify what happened,

then all power to him, I hope it gets into the place where he needs to go. But, you know, like, you can see, like, I see what Carlos was doing. You see Carlos used the double high guard, which is like a very, like a, you know, That's Floyd Mayweather, that's Winky Right, that's James Tony, that's old school. You want to show, you want to put yourself in a defensive position so you draw someone in a little closer. You can see Carlos did it the first time, and then he thought Yuri was going to bite, so he wound up the left hook, but then Yuri didn't bite on that one. Then he put his hand up again like he was defensively shelling up and invited Yuri.

Yuri took that step. Carlos unleashed the left hook. that's as high a level striking and as higher level mindfulness as you can get, if you've got a hurt fighter, that's what you want them to do. You want them to set a track. And if people don't understand that and killing the Uri, then that's not my problem. That's, yeah, then don't understand it. It's all good.

but that's what happened. Does it bother you to hear this? No, that doesn't bother me. Like I said, I'm all about the fighter. I mean, I love all fighters. I think that so whatever Yuri needs to build himself back up, what I do know is someone has to win and someone has to lose. That's the saddest part about it.

Yuri has a family. Yuri has career. Yuri's got a baby coming. Yuri put everything, sacrificed so much to be where he's going to be, just like we did. It's always tremendously sad that one person has to lose because they come, most of these fighters come from some very deep backgrounds. And they need these wins, man. They need these wins. So that part of it's very sad.

He's also a very good friend of mine, manages Yuri, and that was very sad for me. you know, Tim, Tim was absolutely gutted. So, I mean, there's a sad part of all of this that people don't pay attention to. So I give Yuri all the props in the world. And if he needs to say something to pull himself, to get himself back where he needs to be, then that's fine. But we shouldn't let that affect what actually happened, which is like what I explained to you before. Carlos mentioned that he thinks that he's got to get by the Magomede-unkaliev test.

whenever he's cleared to come back and all is good. Do you like that idea for him in his first title defense? Anka Lov is a great fighter. I mean, look, whether it be Volk, whether it be Izzy, whether it be Carlos, one thing I know that once you get to that level, once you're the person holding the belt, the name just comes through and you just take it. You know what I mean? you get to do a little bit of maneuvering when you're on the top 15 or when you're making

a way to the top 15. There's ways to manipulate things and there's tricks that you can use, but those all go out the door once you become the champion. So whoever becomes the rifle challenger, you've just got to just step up to the plate and defend your title. So if it's Ankylov. Yeah, Ankylaev will be a great challenge. I mean, I love the challenge.

I love the challenge of the top 15. the top 15 is where you've weeded out all the cannon fodder and you're literally fighting only the best guys with the best teams in the world and that's what you've got to fry for I want to be mindful of your time over there but I did want to ask you about Izzy

a lot has been said about him in the aftermath are you in favor of him continuing to fight I'm in favor of him doing what he wants to do but I'm also want to make him understand that there's nothing that's forcing him to fight. He can also just as easily choose to call it a day. And all the people that truly support him and all the people that truly love him will still love him. So he's just going to have to do some really deep soul-searching to figure out what he wants to do.

There are a couple of changes that he has to make if he wants to keep fighting. I've made that very clear to him. I'm not going to... Oh, we lost him at a critical point in the interview, but we will connect. I think maybe someone was calling him there. Something about these calls happening at the same time as the Zooms. Just a few more minutes with the great Eugene Bearman.

So good to have him back on the program. It's been a while. I don't think we've had him in the uncrowned era. I definitely haven't had Kevin Holland in the uncrowned era. He's in Belfast, by the way, because there's a PFL event on Thursday, and he's there with Tyson Pedro, not James DeHuna, who is coming back.

We spoke to him a few months ago when he announces his comeback to MMA. PFL had an event this Saturday, which I don't know, I don't know why they would do an event on the same night as a numbered UFC event. Very much flew under the radar. That was in the Chicago area. Mitch McKee against Sergio Pettis, McKee winning. Petis very emotional leading up to the fight his first fight without Duke Rufus by his side

but I wanted to get back to Eugene who I do believe is with us yes there he is hello coach yeah sorry mate yeah we were talking about Israel sorry about that that someone called true no problem you mentioned that there are some things that he needs to change are you able to talk about

what that is and I was just about to I was just about to mention that I'm not going to I'm going to keep that pride, Ariel. So he has to just do some soul searching. And then me and him will get back together. I haven't seen him since the fight. I took off straight after the fight. So I'm sure if there's one person that's good at introspecting

and looking inside himself and figuring out what he has to do in his life, that guy's the man. So he just has to get inside his own head. So I'm sure he'll do the job. do you think he ultimately fights again? I think he does. I think he does. I think that he's hyper aware of what he needs to do if he wants to fight again. And so if he commits himself to another fight,

I think that he knows he has no choice but to meet those requirements. I want to be clear, I didn't ask Carlos this question. And the main reason why I'm asking you to use because you're the head man and you're always very honest and open and it's a rare story that has popped up. But there is some reporting that there's been a rift in the camp between Carlos and Izzy. You can tell me to fly kite. And if you don't want to go into it, I respect that. But I did want to ask because it keeps coming up. Is that an issue right now in the camp?

No. No. I mean, the boys trained together leading up to this camp. They trained together leading up to. Israel's fight. Man, look, in any gym, there's always going to be times when you're bumping heads of people.

You know, I've been people sparring and training together and they end up in a full-blown fist fight. And then, you know, they don't dab up and make friends until two weeks later. You know what I mean? Like, we are not playing chess or checkers here. Like things happen as a physical and emotional sport.

But, yeah, the boys are all good. But the media and social media, they love to, they say what they want, you know what I mean? No, and I wanted to talk to you because you always tell to us straight and you are the boss, so to speak, and so I knew that you would shed some light.

I didn't want to saddle him with any of that, but it keeps popping up. I don't know how people find out about who's following, who and all this stuff. Honest to God, I have no idea. But I thought maybe I would get, give you the opportunity to clear the air. Yeah, I mean, the boys are getting on fine, mate.

Like, it's like a, yeah. Yeah, like all my fighters, like I just said, sometimes they're not getting along. But, you know, right now they train together and they were civil to each other through the camp. It seems like whatever had happened is, you know, behind them, we've moved on. I mean, I get that all the time, mate, but for whatever reason, social media is taken off of this one, and it's just going to fly wherever it flies.

But yeah, that's from the horse's mouth, in it. I appreciate that very much. I'll let you go in a moment. I just wanted to ask you two last things. So we had Izzy, we had Vogue. Obviously, Kai fighting for the belts. Here you have Carlos as well. Hooker has been a mainstay.

Is the next one, Navajo Sterling, in your opinion? Is that the guy that we're going to be talking about in a couple of years? or is there someone we're not talking about yet? Not to say that this person would be better than Navajo. Obviously, Navajo fighting in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. But it just feels like you have created this factory of contenders to champions over at city kickboxing. And so I'm wondering who you're excited about next. Yeah, I mean, without mentioning the obvious areas that I want all my guys to get to that level.

But I would say Navajo is a person who's developing in the same response. respect as Israel, as a Bolkanowski, as a car loss. Like he's taking fights that are gradually tougher and tougher, and he's making them look, as he gets a tougher test, he somehow makes it look a little bit easier. That's a pattern that those guys followed right. Like they kept getting tougher and stuff for opponents. And then, you know, they even blew us coaches away.

they were like, man, he did that remarkably easier than we thought. And he looks like he's taking that same trajectory. In terms of potential, yeah, the guy's a beast. The guy hasn't even really tapped into a lot of his potential. And the

thing that stands out about Navajo is just like those three guys in my gym that have won titles before, at this stage in his career, he's living, breathing, and just eating this sport. So everything he does in his life is about the sport. And that's what you need. That's the type of dedication and discipline you need. Last one, Tyson Pedro this Thursday, right? Tyson Pedro's back. Back? Yep, Tycho is back. Yeah. Ran into the politics of boxing. You know, MMA gets quite political,

but I think boxing's on another level. And the opportunity is didn't quite fall into line like he thought he would. So he's made his way back in a different organization now. I think the PFL, I'm over here with the PFL. And yeah, it's exciting. It's exciting. I've always thought he was a world-class fighter. And if he'd stuck around in the UFC, he'd be in the top 15, top 10.

But his path is he's taking a different path. So I'm looking forward to seeing him perform this Thursday, I think. Yes. As are we. Lovely stuff. And so great to have you back on the show, Coach. Always, always appreciate these chats. We've missed you, but are delighted to have you back.

So congratulations to you and the entire team. Well done once again. Another champion hailing from New Zealand. It's a beautiful thing. Delighted for you guys, truly. It's really great to see the aftermath was amazing as well. So enjoy that, but obviously good luck to you and the team on Thursday as well. Thank you so much for taking out some time.

Thank you. Thank you. Same here. There he is. The great coach, Eugene Bearman. And in my opinion, there are very few coaches who have been able to evolve over the time of, you know, 10 or so years, Purdue's champion after champion after champion. Ray Longo comes to mind.

Greg Jackson comes to mind. There are a few, but there are some that, you know, kind of come and then go. Eugene has been able to do this now several times. Pretty damn impressive. And he's done it again with Carlos Alberg. Now let's talk to one of the very best boxers in the game. I was so curious to hear his thoughts over what transpired this past weekend in England. But to be honest, we haven't spoken to him since his big win just a few months ago at Madison Square Garden.

He is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Shakur Stevenson, the pride of Newark, New Jersey, multiple-time champion, multiple weight classes as well. Kind enough to join us right here now. What's up, Shakur. How are you, my man? Hey, yeah, what's good, my guy. How you doing? It's good to talk to you.

You were in our hood. You were in our neck of the woods. You didn't come talk to us after the fight at MSG, but we're not holding it against you. We still got mad love for you. You know that, right? next time hit me up and it'll happen. All you got to do is hit me up and make sure it get to me and I'm down. Okay.

I think I might have, but it's okay. You were busy. There was a lot going on. And so you're... If you're my team in the way, I'm going to blame no more than that. No, no, no. Your team is great. I love your team.

I love your team. Julie's the best. I love her. I don't want any beef with her whatsoever. I've seen when she gets mad at journalists. She probably wanted me to settle down during the time. You know, I had a lot going on, sir. I know, I know.

I don't want her smoke. I don't want your smoke. So congratulations on that. But you recall, Shakur, there was a time in July of last year you fought here. And then you came in our studio. And then there was a young man named Connor Ben who was here too. And you guys produced an incredible moment. And then there you were on the stage at MSG.

And then he gets in the ring afterwards. Was there any part of you that thought about being there this weekend to maybe return the favor when he fought at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium? Not at all. But I'm really not a big traveler. I like sitting at home and chilling on my little girl and my future wife. So that's what I like doing. But everything that I said on the show came to fruition. I mean, I've been told y'all I'm better than him.

I've been told y'all he's not on my level. I've been told y'all that his skills is not up to part with mine. So like I said, if he's ready to fight, tell him stop going on social media and making up lies saying that I said, oh, I won't fight that, the weight class. I said I will. I said with a rehydration clause because he did it, the U-Bank. That's the only reason why I really said it for that,

for that reason. But like I said, he's not on my level. I bet said this, and I will beat the holy shit out of Connabank. Can I ask your professional assessment of his fight on Saturday, how he looked the performance against Regis program. What do you think? He looked green. I don't think he did that good.

I thought Regis is well past his time right now. I think Regis is a great fighter back in the day. But honestly, I feel as though. He's just a green fighter. When you say green, do you think that's someone who can get better, or do you think that we have seen the best of Connor Ben? I think he can get better. I think he's getting better.

I don't think he's staying in one spot. I definitely think he's getting better. But when I say green, it's just I haven't had a lot of years in the sport of boxing. that he hasn't had, so he can't catch up to me. There were reports that Regis was injured going into this fight. He denied it, and then afterwards he said, yes, they were all true. He was very hurt and even thought about the day before the fight pulling out.

Considering that, were you surprised that Connor couldn't put him away? Yeah, I was kind of surprised because Connor talks about how exciting he is and how much of a big puncher he is. But when I was watching the fight, I was very bored. out bored. So maybe you got to put some more excitement together, how he said. Was there anything that he did that you liked that impressed you at all? Yeah, I think kind of Ben's getting better.

I don't think he's not staying in the same spot. You can tell he's getting better. He's trying to learn the crap. He's trying to get skills. So I will give him a hand on that. But other than that, I told you got a long way to go to catch up to somebody like me. his detractors and he certainly has a lot of them will point to the fact that since the incident that derailed the first time they tried to make the Ubank fight the tests and all that he has not

knocked anyone out um is that something that you look at as well do you think there's any credence to that yeah for sure uh he hasn't put nobody out since then so once again it must be something with that you know i try to stay away from that kind of stuff but um It's a very touchy subject because, you know, guys will sue you for saying a certain thing. So with that being said, I don't think he's the same fighter, but he definitely can't mess with me either way. Is that a fight that you are looking for? Considering what you're saying about him, him being below you and not on your level, green and whatnot, is that a fight that even interests you at this point?

Yeah, I'm down. I didn't say it I was down before. I'm only interested because when I said, let's do it. Every fan said, oh, he's too small. He's going to get murdered. He's going to get beat up. So since y'all felt that way, then let's make the fight happen. Let me show y'all why I will beat the holy shit out of the kind of bench.

So can I just ask specifically, how does that fight play out? You think you stop him? I think there's a real possibility I stop him. I will be disappointed in myself if I don't stop him. Wow. after your fight, which was January 31st here in New York, you guys have the face-to-face. Was there any talk before the Regis fight got announced and made and all that stuff? Did you guys, did the two sides ever talk about making this fight next for both of you?

Honestly, I haven't really heard too much. I told them I was down. Every time that it came to my table, I'm like, I'm down. Let's negotiate. Let's get to doing it. But nothing never really happened. But I'm hearing that he's fighting in September, so if he fight in September, I'm available to fight in September also. He's been pushing the Ryan Garcia fight.

How do you feel about him fighting for the WBC title at 147? I mean, he would rather the Ryan Garcia fight because he has a chance in that fight maybe in his brain. So he thinks that he can possibly win that fight. With a fight with me, I know that he's looking like, yeah, I'm not on that level. So he probably won't put a war a fight with me over a fight with me over. Ryan Garcia fight. Do you think he actually wins that fight? Nah, I think Ryan beats him.

But I think he thinks that he can win. Yeah, yeah. Do you think it's a competitive fight, a close fight, or do you think Ryan is on a different level? Man, I don't know, man. It's hard to say with Ryan, because Ryan is so wishy-washy. When I bet my money on Ryan here,

come in there and do some whole other nonsense, so it's hard to say. it may be competitive, it may be Ryan by watch. Ryan is just a weird kind of guy when it comes to this. Especially if you bet money on Ryan, it's like you don't know what to really bat on. When you guys had your thing at MSG again, just like two weeks later,

he shocked everyone by leaving Matrim and signing with Zufa. Did that surprise you? No, I don't, you know, I don't get into the business side or whatever he got going on because that's his business. So I don't get into. it, uh, congrats to him for making whatever move that he made and that's good for him. You know, I like kind of being actually, like I like him as a person. He seemed like a cool dude outside of the gimmicks.

Did you congratulate him on his win? I know you guys DM each other sometimes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I congratulated him. Yeah, we DM each other. But this time, he not replied to him. He left you on scene? I don't know. I didn't look and see again.

whether he'd seen it or not, but he definitely didn't reply. And it was just a friendly, like, congrats. There was no, you know, trash talk or anything there. I was trash talk. It was trash talk for sure. What did you say? What did you say? I said, we could fight in September and I'm going to stop you or something like that.

I'm going to beat your ass. But congrats on your win. Good job getting a victory. Love it. All right. That's fair. I think that that's, you know, within bounds. Can I ask Shakur, what's going on with you in the WBC?

As of now, there was that big story about them taking away their title and similar to the Terrence Crawford situation about fees not being paid. How do you feel about how things have played out and where you stand with them now? I feel like it is what it is. I'm not tripping on it. It is what it is. I appreciate everything they did for me too. I'm not just acting like they didn't do nothing for me.

So I appreciate them. but they know that they was wrong in this situation. They got to deal with their wrongs. I'm not tripping on it. I'm not even thinking about it no more, but they got to deal with their wrongs. Is there a chance that they fix this and you get your belt back? I mean, if they call me and say,

yo, you can have your belt back. I respect it. I think that would be more understandable. But if not, it's okay. You know, they can stand wherever they had. and they're just a belt organization. They're not doing anything to me. They're not harming me in any type of way.

So it is what it is. Have any of those talks happened where Maricio and anyone at the WBC have tried to mend the fences with you? No, not at all. Maricio, no, he kind of owes me that. So I don't know why he hasn't done it. But like I said, it is what it is. It's okay.

They can stand with a pride, wherever. they want to stand, but I'm okay regardless. I'm sitting back home and enjoying my family and training and getting ready for the next one. Last thing on them, just curious, do you think they did that because of your relationship with Terrence? Yes, I'm 100% sure they did that because of my relationship with Terrence. What makes you say 100% sure? I'm 100% because none of that happened until the thing happened with Terrence. Before that, me and Mauritio had a great understanding with what I was doing with Tiafimo. And once they got into it with Terrence is where they switched up everything.

They didn't stand on their word. We talked to them and everything was good and then they switched up on their words. So soon as the Terrence thing started. That's how I know. That was the reason. January 31st at MSG, was that the greatest night of your career? 1,000%. 1,000%.

It was amazing to watch from afar because it felt like there was a time not that long ago where everyone was kind of jumping off the Shakur bandwagon. And then as I'm watching it, it's like the bandwagon couldn't have been bigger. And so do you feel like perhaps for the first time in your career, maybe for the first time in a while, like you are getting the respect and love that you deserve as a pound for pound great? Yes, but I don't want it. I'm okay without it. As they turned their back on me, I don't feel them to.

just jump back on it. So it's okay. I'm okay regardless. I know that at any given moment they could turn and change on me. And I already got that notice. So it's cool that they're doing it now. But for me personally, I'm good where I'm at. I'm good in being with my family and enjoying my family.

I like the praise from them. I love them. So at the end of the day, I don't, it's all good. I hear it, but it's good. It's nice to get love and respect, though, right? it's way better than the alternative. Nah, it's not nice when it's like you turned your back on me for one moment. I didn't think that I deserve everything that they did to me.

So for me, I took a personal and I went out there and I showed them why to never do it again. That is fair as well. What was the difference that night? Like you were flowing out there. It was a master class, virtuoso performance. What was it about you that night that made it look so good? I think it was dumb. I think all of them put everything together.

And once they turned their back on me, I went to training. And all I was thinking about was just showing out and my legacy. And I just wanted to put on the show. And I know I did that. I came in there. I conquered everything that I wanted to do. What about Tiafimo? Was it him?

Like the things that he said, his behavior, did that light a fire under you? Nah, I already, my fire was already lighted. It didn't matter if it was Tiafimo or the greatest fighter, or Julio Saj the Chavez or whoever was in the ring with me that night, they would have had to deal with me. Did you sort of chuckle out the fact that in the end, after everything he has said, it seemed like Tiafima was apologizing for like systemic racism

and slavery in America afterwards? That's how much he turned. Do you see that in the end, which he had nothing to do with? But it seemed like you sort of beat that out of him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've seen that. I think he deserved to apologize for that because that's not who Tia Fimo is. He's not a racist guy.

So that was definitely necessary. And I respect him for that. I respect Tia Fimo for the opportunity. Once again, I never had nothing bad to say about Tio, even though he'd go on social media now and still try to downplay me. But it's okay. I'm not tripping off these fighters.

These fighters can do whatever they want. But he know that I'm the truth. That's what he do know. Yes. Your next fight, 135, 140, or 47? do you think? I mean, I'm cool at 135 and 140, but once again, if it's 147, I'm going to be there later on down the line.

So one day we'll be at 147, but once again, it kind of Ben wants to run it at 147 with the same thing that he had going on where you bank I'm down. It feels like like Ben and Garcia are moving in that direction. That's what it feels like. If that's the case, can we get Haney versus Shakur? Is that the one? Yeah, you know what's crazy, though?

I would love about that fight. I think that Haney fought at a catch rate against Jose Rememey. It's two fights ago, if I recall. And there was 144 pounds. So I would love to do it at 144 pounds. We could meet them in the middle. I don't think that the belt has to be on the line.

I think that the fight is big enough for both for us to be, fighting at a catch weight. And I don't think the belt really matter in that instance. I think we can both sell out a big arena, and it'll be a tremendous fight. Couldn't agree more, you're two of the biggest names in American boxing and boxing period. Have there been any talks about making this fight happen? No, I haven't heard nothing about making that fight happen.

I haven't heard anything about it, so no. Have there been any talks about your next fight at all at this point? Yes, kind of be a little bit. talks, but we haven't made no moves on nothing yet. Once again, whatever move we make going to make sense, and we're going to find the best available option for me. Can you tell us the name that's being discussed at the moment? Just between us, friends.

I can't say nothing. I mean, we got to wait and see it. When it comes down to it, I will make sure that it's something the fans like. Would it mean a return for you in the summertime? Is that what you're looking for? I would rather be back in around like September, October-ish. Okay. Any particular reason why so long?

Because I don't like to just jump right back in the ring. You know, don't train any camps. It's long training camps. I've been boxing since I was five years old. Non-stop guys haven't been doing what I've been doing. So I'm what, 28 now and that's what? 23 years, about to be 29, 24 years straight in the game. I think that I need time off after these fights so I could come back and get my best.

I think greatness take time. Your next fight, will it be with match room or will it be with the ring? Who will it be with? I don't know. You know, I do business with everybody. Honestly, I know that whatever it is, it's probably nine times out of ten will be with Turkey. I think that Turkey has changed the sport of boxing. So with him changing the sport of boxing, I enjoy doing business with him.

I enjoy doing business with him because he like making the best fights happen. So the best versus the best, I'm down with that. That's the shit that I'm into. Yeah, so it seems like you guys are in a really good place now. Maybe at the beginning there was, I don't know, something, but now it seems like you're in a great place. Yeah, it was a lot of miscommunication going on. Once you know, miscommunication goes on,

a lot of things with us being men as we are, things be misunderstood. And when things is misunderstood, it's like things can go left. But now that it's not a lot of miscommunication, that we got everything settled the right way. It's respect amongst me. If Turkey word asked you, Shakur, who's your choice for your next fight?

Who do you say? I can't tell you right now. Your choice, your choice. Not who are you talking to, just if it was up to you? I'll say this. I would love to make the biggest fight in boxing happen. The biggest fight in boxing happen.

Okay. I guess whatever our interpretation, of that would give us the answer, but I don't know what you consider the biggest fighting boxing. It ain't about what I consider the biggest fighting boxing. It's what y'all consider the biggest fighting boxing. So y'all know what that mean. Is it Tank Davis? Like I said, I would like to make the biggest fighting boxing happy. Holy smokes, that would be something. The bottom line is you have a lot of great options right now. Do you agree? Yes.

There's a lot of big names that we've just discussed, and any one of those would be pretty big. Yeah, like I said, I'm down with whatever, you know, whatever makes sense. But once again, I would love to make the biggest and best fights happen. I would love to make the most competitive fights happen. I would love to show the world why I am the best fighter in the sport of boxing. Two last things for you. We're seeing a lot of fighters signed with Zufa boxing, Richard Hitchens, Edgar Berlanga. Today we saw Chris Billum Smith. What do you think about what they're doing? I think it's good. It's a brave move to make. I think Zufa is. is a good place to be.

You know, they're giving out great money for fighters. So I think that's the thing that makes the most sense. Have you talked to them? Not yet. Okay. And the last one is, I know you were watching the card on Saturday. Fury and Joshua going back and forth. What did you think of that, you know, that interaction?

I thought AJ kind of won the battle there. I thought that he came off looking like a boss. What did you think of it? Honestly, I swear to God, or everything I love people, probably not going to believe me, but I did not see it. What? Well, you turned it off after Conor Ben? Yeah, I watched Connor Ben and I went to go play the game.

What? What are you talking about? You didn't see it on social media afterwards? It was everywhere. No, I haven't seen it. I swear I have not seen it. You just tuned in for Connor Ben Bedeges Program and then you were like, I'm out. You didn't stick around for Tyson Fury's return fight.

No, I love Tyson Fury. I'm a big Tyson Fury fan. But I don't know what was going on that day. I just was like moving fast. Do you want to see that fight? Yeah, I would love to see it. It's a long overdue fight, so I would love to see AJ and Tyson and Ferry

squash their differences. Who wins? I love both fighters. I love both fighters. I'm a fan of both fighters. I got no big. That's fine. That's fine.

I appreciate that. You're the man, Shakur. Always great talking to. Really, really appreciate it. And congrats on the win. Congrats on making history at MSG. It was amazing to see. Can't wait for the next one.

Always appreciate your time. Thank you, my guy. You're the man. There he is. The great Shakur Stevenson, one of the great fighters in the sport, and dare I say, a legend in the making 25 and no 11 knockouts. WBO ring junior welterweight champion, was the WBC lightweight champion. Has won titles, and I believe, is it four different weight classes? Yeah, I believe it is. Four different weight classes. Unbelievable. And beat Tiafima Lopez at Madison Square Garden back on. January 31st. We've got a lot to get to as far as news and news. What a day so far, guys. Six guests, biggest names from around the world of MMA, but we've got a lot to get into, so let's not waste any time. I was just talking about the interaction between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, so let's start there, and then I'll get back to some of the other stuff as well. But what about this interaction here? Tyson Fury wins. He beats Mahmoudov on Netflix. I thought it was a great

broadcast. Morrow was so good. Morrow is so good. Morrow and Andre Ward are tremendous. I thought Carl was great. Shout to Elle Duncan doing her thing on the desk. It always just feels bigger. Watching a fight on Netflix, it feels like HBO on steroids, so to speak. It just feels big. Anyone's saying otherwise is missing the point. It is massive. And I can't wait to see the numbers, by the way. I thought Tyson looked good. I thought Mahmoudov is a lower level than his recent opponents, certainly Usek, etc. And he was trying to to bum rush him and he was trying to out muscle him. He's a bigger guy. Tyson looked good. The jab looked good. The movement looked good. Would you have like to see him maybe, you know, put together

some power punches, maybe put him away? Maybe, but I thought it was good. He got the rounds in. He was off for, what, 16 months or so. He looked good. I thought he looked really good. It made me want to see that AJ fight. It made me want to see the AJ fight next, like literally next. Enough of this. One more fight and then they're going to fight. One more tune up. No, do it next. I know after Wilders went over Derek Chizora two weeks ago, I said, ah, do the Chisora, excuse me, let me get some water here, it's been a long. Do the, uh, the A.J. Wilder fight. And yes, I'd like to see that.

But obviously, one of the biggest what ifs is these two guys not fighting each other and what would happen if they did fight each other. So Tyson did his job. A.J. shows up. He's sitting there with Eddie, which was quite the scene because Eddie's watching Connor Ben, who I didn't think looked amazing. I think if he'd be 100% honest with you, he would say the same. He got the win, but it looked like it was a banged up Regis program. It just didn't seem, honestly, he looked better in the second U-Bank fight than he did on Saturday, in my opinion.

AJ's watching. Eddie's watching. There's even footage of AJ filming Tyson Fury, which was just an amazing move on his part. Look at this. He's filming Tyson. And he's filming him. And he's filming him. in between rounds as well. He's filming the cornerwork. And then afterwards, Tyson gets on the microphone and makes this grandiose challenge. And I thought AJ looked amazing. He looked like the boss. He referred to himself as the landlord, and he looked like that. It felt like everyone was just sort of thirsty begging for it, and AJ was sitting back. He always plays the right cards in these moments. I thought he was phenomenal in this moment. I thought he played it perfectly, and he came across honestly as the A-side in this equation.

If you missed it, like Connor Ben did, take a look at this. I want you, AJ, Anthony Joshua. Let's give the fight fans what they want, the Battle of Britain. And here's my challenge. I challenge you, Andy Joshua, to find me, the Gypsy King. Next, do yinge. Let him say yes or no. Let him say yes or no now.

Come, you big shit house. You're going to fight tonight. Tyson, you're a clout chaser. I've never had no problem getting in the ring of you. I punched you up when we were kids. And after watching you here tonight, I'll punch you up again. With all due respect, tonight is your night. And you know I'll sit across that ring from you in due time.

You ain't going to tell me what to do. I've been chasing you. for the last 10 years. When you're ready, you come and see me and tell me your terms and conditions and I'll have you in the ring when I'm ready. I'm the boss. You work for me.

I'm the landlord. Remember that. I'm the landlord. You work for me. Ready, Jordy. Let's give the fight fans what they want. Do not run for me this time. Ten years in the making, let's fucking dance.

Can I just tell you something? I want to call up DoorDash right here. now or at least go on my app and order some dominoes because I saw the dominoes all over the ropes and the ring as well and I was feeling it right here I was feeling the green olives and the pineapple in that situation it was great to see dominoes associated with a big fight I haven't seen that in quite some time but guys can we talk about this Anthony's sitting there leaning back looking like a freaking G like that was Tyson's screaming he's somewhat you know emotional unhinged whatever and AJ unbothered leaning back doesn't

raise his voice, calling him a cloud chaser, saying I'm the boss, I'm the landlord. Look at this shot. Doesn't even stand up. Eddie's standing up, everyone. Frank Smith's there, he cannot be bothered. I thought it was amazing. I thought it was unbelievable. And I don't know, ultimately.

Shout out to the inside boxing guys, listen to their breakdown. Kenobi, Algeri, they're doing great stuff. I don't know. We saw Turkey multiple times on the broadcast saying, you know, I got a big surprise. I got a big surprise. He says that often. I have heard that this is what's going to happen. This is what they want to happen.

I've been saying this on this show. TKO is going to be involved and it's going to be on Netflix and it's going to be a big deal. It's going to be massive. It's going to be massive. I don't know if their hope was to announce it. AJ gets in the ring. It's a done deal. This and that.

We've been through this before. And so for AJ to just sit back and be like, no, I'm not playing your game. I'm not going to dance when you tell me to dance. when you're ready, because you left the sport, I didn't leave the sport, and he's 100% right when he says that. I've seen him say that. He left. I didn't leave.

I've been here. I thought that he came across as the A-side. He came across as the big deal, and he's like, yeah, I'll come watch your fight. I'll be there, but I'm not going to play your games. I thought it was brilliant. I thought he looked so much better than everyone else in that ring and everyone else involved. It was not even close. Well, it's perfect AJ, right?

Like you can feel with Tyson Fury, Tyson Fury is the circus, right? Tyson Fury gets the people excited, energized. He's always the showman. He's always performing, whereas AJ is always the opposite, right? Like the book on AJ is that he's just kind of AJ. He's the genuine article. He doesn't do the theatrics. He doesn't like, you know, bring it up.

And that's been to his benefit and his detriment, right? His benefit in that everybody knows what they get out of him to his detriment, right? Tyson Fury has a way about him that draws people in. and gets more attention and gets more buzz and he's able to promote and sell. AJ always has done the opposite. And so it's exactly what I would expect from AJ. And when you see it in stark contrast

in that exact moment with Tyson Fury, everybody smiling like Cheshire cats in the ring, grinning ear to ear, thinking about the money that they're about to make, even the people sitting around AJ, or now at this point, standing around AJ, rubbing their hands together, thinking about what this is going to be.

And AJ just isn't for it. He's just like, yeah, it'll be on my terms. If you're serious about it, we can talk. He's just not playing the game at all. He's not playing into the circus at all. And it's exactly what I'd expect from AJ. It was exactly what I know him to be. I still think it happens, though.

Oh, yeah, I think it happens. Yeah. Has to happen, yes, but I actually do think it happens. Turkey is going to make sure it happens. Not just Turkey. Netflix, too. Sure, but I mean, Turkey's enough. Yeah, Netflix is paying a lot of money for these fights, too.

It's not just him. witness the 516 card. Like the combo plus throw in TKO. What's going to be interesting is how are all these people going to work together? First of all, AJ's a zone fighter. AJ's a matchroom fighter. What's the relationship between matchroom and the ring,

Sella, Turkey? TKO involved. Eddie, sorry, Frank is with Tyson. Apparently, he kind of just showed up this week. Seeing Frank and Turkey sitting next to each other was interesting. There's like so much going on there. There's so much drama. There's also so much money to be made.

Which will cure all of that. It is a lot of money. It is a lot of money. This is the biggest fight you can make right now. Did you watch the fight? Yeah. What do you guys think of Tyson? Yeah, it looked good, man.

It was a squash match going into it, it felt like. It was only like minus 600 on the odds, but I never felt like he was going to lose, and he went out there and he rolled. 12 to 0. He looked okay, though. I thought he looked good. He didn't look out of shape.

Actually, I thought he looked in shape. Like, he looked like his face. I thought his body, for the most part, was good. Like, he didn't look like the Tyson that showed up against Francis Inganu or something like that. I thought because of the layoff, he would look maybe a little bit out of shape. I thought he looked in shape, motivated. He looked good, but I've never been one for the Tyson Fury tune-up. Like, I just don't need it.

No, not at this point. It just doesn't do anything for me. It's fine. Like, it's great. He gets a win under his belt. But I only want to see him. these bigger fights. I don't need

autovalines. Like I just don't need these fights. No, no, no. Especially when this guy's there's literally one guy left. There's one guy left. Just fight AJ.

That's it. This all like... AJ has two fights left. Wilder and Fury. I still want to see the Wilder fight. I know he didn't look great against Chesora.

He looked good enough to me that I'd still want to see him versus AJ. That one I wouldn't mind seeing. The Tyson Fury one I got to see. Yeah. And I want to see that one.

At this point, I want to see it after the Fury fight. You know what I mean? The Wilder fight after the Yeah. Fury next. Fury fought.

Have to do Fury. If they want to do this in September, that's in five months. So like all this talk about one more fight for all these guys. What's the need? What's the need? We're reaching Paci-L-May Weather territory with this fight. Just please get it done. The longer we wait.

I feel like it's past that, to be honest. Because we've been talking about this fight since Paci-A-Meweather territory. It's not past that because I still think they can be, I think they'll be more competitive, but I just don't. Meaning for a longer period of time. Yes, I understand. It's getting to the point of absurdity. It has to happen already. Like, enough.

I don't want to see AJ fight somebody else before this. No. Just make this fight. I honestly thought with AJ ringside, and then Turkey gets in and the presenters, it's like, it's time for a big announcement. And then he was like, Eddie, come in the ring, come in the ring. I thought they were actually going to announce it right then and there.

Yeah, they did. I bet they hoped that was what AJ was going to do. Eddie. Eddie. And then he's just like, no. Me? No, no, no, no, no.

It was, there's a lot going on there between all these parties. AJ up in the headphones, no longer the AirPod. Yeah, he's got this thing going on here. Frank said it was, aren't they like special? Yeah, they're bone conducting. Look at this guy. Bone conducting? Yeah.

So they vibrate like the bone in your face. It's not playing a speaker. This guy was legit, just scrolling Instagram while he was giving that breakdown. He was like, yeah. Frank, everything okay? Are we boring you? It's a big day. Give me a fucking break.

Well, Eddie Hearns are going to be on the program tomorrow, so we have a lot to talk to him about. I'm looking forward to that, as always. I did mention earlier Chris Bilm Smith signing with Zufa Boxing, so they've signed another guy. Perhaps Jayo Pataya's next opponent, former cruiserweight champion. They're slowly but surely signing guys. CBS, Richardson Hitchens, Edgar Berlanga. Berlanga and Hitchens were at the 327 fight week stuff. Do you guys see that?

Kellerman hosting the Q&A? Anyone see those clips? No, I actually didn't. They did a Q&A, I think it was either before the presser or before the way-ins. It's just, it's interesting. They're trying to use the UFC audience, but I don't think the UFC audience necessarily, you know, is, is captivated by all this. Anyway, speaking of captivated, I was captivated by this video. I guess Edgar Berlanga was doing some sort of TikTok a regga-ton video with,

Richardson and Dana White. This one. Oh yeah, I saw this. How do you think he got Dana to agree to stand there and not partake? I think it went, Dana just stand here and don't do anything else. Oh, a little dapp in there though. Yeah, Dana looks very comfortable. What is that?

What was that last movie? Yeah. Do you think data at any point is like, what the hell am I doing here? I think at every point. We've seen TikToks like this before. Remember when PowerSlapp was getting launched? Oh, yeah. He was in a lot of influencer videos like the...

One time he was in a garbage can. It's a great point. What? Then he took the girl out while she was in the suitcase. You could just hear of his. She was in a suitcase. That one haunts my dreams. I've probably watched that 150 times out of just pure hatred.

But it's got that annoying-ass song underneath it. Yes, yes, yes. Walking by the Lambo, yeah. Shut out. Was he in a garbage can, though, or was it just the girl in the suitcase? I don't know what it was. It was garbage can suitcase. I saw someone write to me on Twitter today saying,

I think in response to the CBS news, like, oh, man, they better hope that, you know, Turkey sticks around because once that money... You're talking about Bill and Smith, right? We're not talking about the broadcast network. Yeah, people in the news or in the game, they call them CBS. Yeah, yeah, yeah, GDP. CBS, CBS, GDP. So anyway, they better hope that Turkey sticks around because, you know, if that money goes away, they're screwed. You do know that this is TKO, right? You know that they own the UFC, WBE, a whole bunch of other stuff.

Like, even if Turkey went away, they could, you don't think they could afford Edgar Berlanga and Chris Billm Smith and Richardson Hitchens? Like, what are you talking about? Also, people don't really understand who these guys are, as I've tried to explain a million times. Would they even need to, right? Like, this is basically a free role for them. This is how it's money that they're playing with. They could just shut it down and be fine, too. They don't need it.

I don't think they're shutting it down at this point. I think they're far too. point obviously. Well, I mean, if a significant amount of financing leaves it and it no longer makes financial sense to do, just get rid of it. It's like any other business, you cut it. Mark Shapiro, R. Emanuel, Dana White, Nick Con are pretty proud men. They're not leaving this. If, if Turkey leaves, which there's no indication that he is leaving. I'm just saying, I wouldn't love to hear that as a shareholder. Hey, you're keeping this thing that's not making us money? That's odd. Are they not making money? Because they've got some pretty big TV deals.

Sky Sports This is the point. They are. But if they were not to, my point is they don't have to. They are under no obligation. In fact,

they're on the opposite. They would be under obligation to get rid of it so they can make more money. It's not like they're doing deals with, I don't know,

Ryan Garcia. At the moment, at the moment. So like these guys are all very affordable and I think that they, these signings make sense. I find,

I find the fan relationship with TKO to be fascinating, especially on the wrestling side of things. Ghali, as they head into WrestleMania, to be fascinating right now. And people are still trying to figure out, you know, how they feel about them in boxing. I'd say right now in wrestling,

it's probably most interesting, but it's just amazing how all these things are intertwined. It really is. By the way, shout out to the Fisher family. Johnny Fisher, Big John, the Bosch family. Did you guys see this announcement? They made a very big announcement this morning. I'm very happy for them.

All great people who deserve the best. here it is in case you missed it. I may have ordered too much again, but that's not the biggest news happening today. This is great. What's that? Recreation, family chat, Paramount Plus entering the chat.

They've got their own reality show. Bosh. Yeah, we did that at the exact same time. That was amazing. The Fissures are getting their own reality show. I will be watching. I love those guys. Johnny Fisher, Big John,

all great people. I love that. I love everything about that. Gable Steven was at the UFC event this past weekend, and they officially announced that he's going to be competing and making his UFC debut on July 11th International Fight Week. Right now, no opponent announced, but this was inevitable. We did get the behind-the-scenes footage on Crown Film of his last non-UFC fight.

He is going to be competing May 30th for RAF, and then July 11th for the UFC. So it begins in earnest, and it's a great card for him to debut on International Fight Week, and he may have dropped a little hint as to who else may be on that card at the very top of the bill. Take a look at this video that was dropped by the UFC on Saturday night. Man, I feel amazing. This is going to be the biggest debut on Earth, and I'm ready. The butterflies and jitters are all part of the game,

and I'm ready to take that big step to the UFC and do what I need to do. Man, I think the international fight race is going to be crazy. you know, maybe a crazy headliner that might come back that you guys might know, so who knows? Who do you think he was talking about there? Headliner that might come back, International Fight Week? GSP, right? Mandanineinez?

Mm. Max Hallwitt, not a Maddena. Obviously, that would lead one to believe. Connor McGregor, maybe? Hopefully. And they posted that. UFC posted that, so they know what they're doing. A little edit there in the middle.

But a great shot. Did you think they should? should have done something bigger to it was just like yes celebrity celebrity like fan fighter fighter fighter in the fans blah blah blah blah and then john and gable sitting there together who's a bigger signing than him in recent memory no i'm saying like i felt like they could have done a little video package i agree jo rogan talking about him like they could have built this up a little bit never gonna happen yeah i know i'm talking a 30 second like we've got some big news this is the biggest signing these a couple shows, you spice it together.

I almost feel like they were operating with an assumption of everybody knows who Gable Steven is, which for this audience a lot of them do, but I don't know, you just signed an Olympic gold medalist. You should probably make a bigger deal about it. I thought it was drastically underserved. I thought so too.

If you weren't paying attention, you could have missed it, by the way. You did miss it and you probably didn't know who he was. He's the biggest signing since who? Like, you have to go back. He's the biggest sign. Yeah, like, it's that level, right? It's that type of name. So it feels not commensurate

with that. Like, it just felt like he was like, like, you know, with all the respect to like Michael Venn and Page, like this is what they did for him, right? Like they cut to him in the crowd and they were like, and then later in the press conference, like we signed MVP. This is Olympic gold medal, like

blue chip prospect. I don't know. I would have done more. Shut the fuck up and watch the fights. I was told that this was going to happen and I was waiting, I was waiting, I was waiting, and I thought at some point we'd get a video package or something, and I couldn't believe, I think was it before the main, or was before the co-main, and they just,

I thought maybe they would throw to them and then say, oh, look who it is, and then play the tape. And that was it? That was the announcement. This is Gable Steve said, who Dana himself and Joe Rogan, have talked about the biggest prospect in the sport and John Jones's protege and all this,

and nothing. Hell, even if you had Rogan sitting with them talking to them, that would have been massive. Just hear from him. I couldn't agree more. I mean, like, any sort of 18-year-old video editor online could have made a Gable Steveson highlight package in, I don't know, 30 minutes. Be careful, be careful, because now we're going to get the AI Gable Steve's. No, no, no, I'm talking about splice up some video. Be careful, careful.

Come on. Like, anyone could have done that. Fire up the cap cut. Oh, shit. Look at Jable. Steveson. a gold medal. You flash to the next one.

Some fancy text on the screen. Easy work. They were never going to do that. It's crazy. It's so, it's, it's, it's disheartening. I mean, we're coming off the heels of a promo for the White House made completely of AI. We really thought we were going to get something for Gable, Steven. It's very disheartening.

It's very deflating. It's not quite the roller coaster of emotions that is the state of John John Jones' career because earlier in the week, he was doing a video with Red Corner, and he said he was done. He said his gloves are hung up. In case you miss it, here it is. My gloves are hung up. I'm chilling these days. You got business John Jones. No more fighter John Jones. The businessman. You know what I'm saying? Dana White was then asked about John, and in this video, you'll get Dana's reaction to that comment, John being in attendance,

and also John then saying his gloves aren't hung up. Take a look. One says that watching UFC 327 lit a fire in him to compete and now he's potentially not retired. He's not committing to it. Yeah, you know, I'm not sure if I'm retired or not. I'm just taking it day by day. Just trying to kind of figure out my body and how I feel and things like that.

I tell you what, being here at the UFC right now definitely has given me this fire that I haven't felt in a little. bit so it feels very good to be here have you talked to him at all about anything or no no and and listen how is that any different than john's been in the last 10 years you know what i mean i always the way i always looked at uh i used to tell lorenzo you'll never be able to build a business with this guy but when he does show up it's fun yeah i don't know about that line i mean they made a lot of money and and and have built big cards around john jones like they put him in the main event of UFC 200. And I would imagine that was long after, you know, he may have said that because that was

long after a bunch of issues John encountered. But I feel like John Jones really wants to fight. And you remember when we were talking about him fighting on the White House card and I said, someone needs to ask John Jones, is it just the White House card or do you want to fight? And it seemed like for a moment it was just the White House card. Like if it was, hey, if I'm not getting on the White House card, I'm out. Now I feel like he wants one more. fight. I feel like he wants one more fight. And it was great to see him there. And I know Hunter Campbell was at his DBX show on Friday in Miami. It was great to see him there at a UFC event because I feel like it's been a while since we've seen him in attendance. And I think being around Gable has done some good

for him. I thought he came off really well in the video that we did of the two of them in Mexico. I feel like if Alex wins, they may try to do that fight. Does anyone feel otherwise? Like, I feel like he really wants to fight. I feel like he really wants to fight. I feel like he has one more fight left in him. And I think that whatever happened with the, hey, we wanted you know, you to fight for X amount and then he wanted X amount and we took the offer, whatever it is, I feel like he's willing to meet them now. I feel like the hardball games are over. I don't know. I get the sense that he really wants to fight. And I get the sense that there's a strong possibility that he will fight again. In fact, he spoke backstage to the UFC.

Brazil crew and he did confirm that there was an agreement, but it was a much, much different tone than the one that we got a month ago where he said, release me and I'm done being disrespected, this, that and the other. Remember that whole tweet storm around the time that I was in L.A. for that press conference and everyone was being asked about it. Take a look at this and just compare it to what we heard from him or read from him a month ago. Brazil was really, really cheering for you and trying to see if you would face Alex Poitin and something So we really, really were dreaming about it. Yeah.

You know, I feel like I wanted to be compensated in a way that I wasn't, and we just had a disagreement, and that happens in life. But you know what? I'm a big fan of Alex Pereira. I love the way he carries himself. He's just such a classy fighter, potential opponent person. Big fan of him. Is that not different?

I know he's talking to the UFC, you know, social media broadcast team, UFC Brazil. It's just impossible to know where he's at, because one week he's saying, like, I'm not fighting. I'll never fight again. John Jones, the fighter is dead. And maybe he's saying that because he was frustrated with not getting the White House and he's still, you know, in his feelings a little bit and angry. And now, like he said, getting around the UFC is like, you know what, maybe I do want to do more fight. But it's just impossible to say. Guessing it is like trying to guess the weather a month from now. I just have no idea whether he's going to fight again or not. It's also best for business for him to do that, to maintain this kind of like in and out nature of it. You don't know that much like we were talking about with AJ, right? You're not in control of this. control of this. And so sometimes I'm in, sometimes I'm out, make it worth my while. But the one consistent, he's been flip, he's been wishy-washy, he's flip-flopped, he's done all these things throughout the whole like saga with Tom Aspen all to this point. The one thing he has been extremely consistent with, has never flip-flop, has never been wishy-washy about,

is the name Alex Pereira. It's always been Alex Pereer. He continues to talk about Alex Pereer. It's very obvious to me that he wants to fight Alex Pereer. Maybe he feels like it's a good matchup, maybe he feels like it does the most for his legacy. That's a sign to me. If I'm the UFC, I try to make that fight. If Alex can get past Cyril, Alex Perr versus John Jones is a huge business. And then he takes that away from Tom Aspinall.

Yeah, he's John Jones. That's one last step for you to Tommy. He's John fucking Jones. I mean... So what's Tom gonna do? Tom versus Josh Hokka. If Tom... Yeah, I mean...

Tom versus Gable. Tom versus Gable. Tom versus Alex. Oh, one night only. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of this plan. ending is while Tom doesn't have a timeline. Once Tom has a timeline, then I think it's like, you know, that takes precedence.

But until Tom has a timeline, you just have to speculate and keep it moving. Man, do you think he'll be at the White House card? John? Yeah. With? Yeah, with Gable. No, Gable's internet. Oh, sorry.

He's at July. I wonder if, because it means so much of him, I wonder if he's sitting there and they bring him in. Yeah. Oh, I mean, for what? That's almost like pain. That's additional, like. I don't think he'll be there I think he'd be too frustrated

Sorry he'll be there for July He'll be there with Gable I heard he loves Zach Brown Uh John Jones Yeah he loves Zach Brown He loves clavicular What's up with this clavicular guy Why do I keep seeing him everywhere?

Oh he's taking over man He made photo number two on John Jones Scroller this weekend Let me tell you that I swear on my life The last time I sat in this chair I never heard of this guy No no no we talked about him before

There's no way Was he on 60 minutes yesterday, is that real? Was he for real? Yes, I saw it, and he walked off. Unless that's fake. I don't know. I'm just like fed him constantly on my...

Why? How's this happening? And what does clavicular mean? I think it's... Well, it must be related to the clavicle. Yeah. What does that even mean? 60 minutes.

Is this real? Frank actually broke his clavicle. It is real. He was on 60 minutes. I mean, he's a massive item of attention. He's part of the culture at this point. He's the OG looks maxer. Oh, it's 60 Minutes Australia.

And you know there was a 60. Fuck about 60 Minutes Australia. Who gives us some respect. 60 Minutes Australia is where it's at. 60 Minutes Australia. Someone recently talked about, someone recently talked about maxing, maxing, maxing, maxing, maxing. Yeah, looks maxing.

No, not. Fun maxing is what Casey O'Neil said in relation to Alyssa Liu. It's maxing everything. There's chud maxing. Maxing. Maxing. What did you say right? Max, Maxing?

Yeah, there's Max, Maxing. That's the Max Holloway when he's maxing. What's going on here? We just explained it. Look, the deeper you get into this guy, the more confused I think you're going to get. Why is everyone talking about him now? He's a big streamer. He's a streamer.

Anyway, John Jones, speaking of streamed, speaking of stream, he had a bit of a running. But if I'm being honest, I kind of think John Jones came on. looking better than the other dude here he gave us an all-time screenshot with let's see it let's see it let's see the video here it is here it is albuquerque enum dude in a black ford SVT this guy narrowed it's a truck swerve three times just a voice into my lane almost hits my Nissan 1 8 OSX so I flip him off then this happens this voice is unbelievable unbelievable okay

He's like the video video just started. Whoa, bro. Why is this guy doing it? Trying to get into. You're almost fucking hitting me, bro. John with the Ford Raptor? Speculation here, clearly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You got to calm down, bro. Bro, you got to learn how to drive, bro. You got to relax yourself, bro. You're almost hitting me with your truck, bro. You're almost hitting me, bro. What the fuck? Yo, shout out to John there. You know?

Get my fucking landing shit, bro. Come on. As someone who has had a camera pointed at him, in hopes of doing something dumb, I actually think that the camera being pointed at him made him chill out. He kind of walked up pretty casual also. Yeah.

Hey man, just calm down. Relax, bro. You got to relax. I think he was in 0.5, so his arm got a little bit warped when he did the middle finger. But that's an all-time screenshot. I just, this guy clearly was looking for some kind of trouble. And John could have given it to him, but thankfully he didn't.

I mean, this man had no idea what could have happened to him. Like, just zero idea. He's talking shit to one of the greatest fighters of all time and just has no concept of how badly he fucked this up. What was he hoping to get out of it also? If there was no accident. Do you think, though, he knew who he was? Of course.

No. Fuck no. Are you crazy? I think a thousand percent. He knows who he is and he's talking that kind of shit. A thousand percent. That's why he pulled out the phone. No, no, no, no, no.

That's balzy. To know who he is? To know who he is. And to do that? No way. Let me tell you something. John Jones is the New York Yankees in Albuquerque. John Jones is Aaron Judge times 10.

I didn't see this guy's plates. He might be from out of town. He just said Albuquerque and M. Yeah, yeah, I forgot. I forgot. No, yeah, that's where he was. John Jones walks around like Godzilla. Like, he sticks out.

He is. Him and Holly home. Everyone knows who John Jones is. And this guy's got got God on. Walls of Steel. If he did that. No, he wanted the payday. A payday.

You might not be able to use money anymore after John Jones. Are you fucking getting me? He a thousand percent knew who he was. I don't know. That's ballsy as hell. You can't talk shit to John Jones in that scenario if you're just a civilian. Even if you don't know it's John Jones, John Jones is a pretty menacing looking, feel. Like he's six four, he's huge.

Payday. Payday, man. Payday. That guy. You'll be fucking eating your liver. You see that six foot four dude popping out of that 20 foot tall truck? There's no way you're fucking talking shit. Diesel. I'm telling you.

If you know that he's a trained killer, no way, no way. Anyway, speaking of cars, did you guys know that you can get a UFC Florida license plate? You're fucking right. It's got me wanting to move to Florida and buy a car. Just for that reason, right? Yeah. Yeah, you know yourself. Andy, if you move back to Florida, you copying one of these or what?

No. Wait, why does it say UFC lives here? What does that even mean? That's like the home? That's the home? Not Vegas? Yeah, man. The apex?

Florida is the home? I was hearing rumors New York is going to get PFL plates soon. Stop. Where's the GFL plates? Where's the home of the GFL plates? A shout out to my governor, Ron DeSantis

for making that happen, all right? My governor. There was a big pop at the Elwani household when he was on the broadcast. What he came out? What a wild thing, huh? Are you getting these plates, not even for your car,

just to have, like, a memento? Can I order one? I'm putting it in the studio up here. Yeah, yeah. I was looking for him all week. You spent enough time in Miami. Register your car down there. Can I just say, yeah, that's true.

I wish. Can I just say, No. It was surreal. It was absolutely surreal. Like this is not any sort of commentary, but surreal. While at the same time that Donald Trump is watching Dominic Reyes go up against Johnny Walker, J.D. Vance is in Pakistan holding a press conference to say that the talks with Iran have

fizzled out and there's no deal. Like at the same time, I couldn't believe it. My timeline is JD Vance press conference about this and Marco Rubio and Donald Trump are watching Johnny Walker against Dominic Reyes. I get what you're saying that insanity. Sandy Vance should have been at the UFC. I couldn't

believe he passed it up. I think that's a little bit forward of you. There's a chance that if it looked like D.T. was sleeping during Dominic Grace and Johnny Walker, he was actually getting incredibly what's the word for it incredibly like

intel yeah things that are very important to the world right now and he's just getting it via his phone during Johnny Walker's just like what a world how did the UFC

you know I always talk about Venn diagrams how did the UFC become that middle of these two crazy world like I just don't understand it it's Dana White and Donald Trump's relationship

yeah he said it again at that post fight presser he's just like yeah He's just my good friend. Oh, actually, we have this clip. It was an amazing clip to thank you for the T up there.

I appreciate it. It was an amazing thing to witness because once again, he was asked about the political nature of the UFC, and this is going to be a hot topic for the next two months, as it should be. I mean, there's a fight happening on the White House line, Lon, in these times in particular, which, you know, is going to bring,

he mentioned he's done a bunch of mainstream media. There's going to be a whole bunch of features about this. And he is going to do an amazing he is going to try his best, I should say, to position the UFC as, you know, down the middle, impartial. What's that word? What's the word that people call when, like, you're... Unbiased?

Not unbiased. Independent? Politically, there's a word. There's a word that people use. Libertarian? I'm too hung over to deal with these people tonight. We're all really struggling to think a word. There's a word there.

Independent. Frank, no, there's a word. Not agnostic. It's like... Yeah, agnostic. Like if you're impartial? Yeah, but there's a word there. Anyway...

Is agnostic not related to religion? He's going to try and position the UFC as such when it's an absurd thing. We all know it's an absurd thing. But he's going to try to keep doing this. And he did it again on Saturday. Here it is. Bipartisan. And obviously politics is very polarizing.

Was there ever hesitancy or consideration of perhaps like, you know, having an event at the White House and maybe a certain part of a fan? that is not leaning into those politics or the administration. Yeah, I don't think like that. It's not like I'm out here saying, I mean, even if you look at any of my speeches at the Republican convention, they're never political. I'm never talking about one side or the other side. This guy is a very good friend of mine, and that's it.

Thank you. And he's a big fan of the sport. Okay, shout at the frank. The word I was searching for bipartisan. Thank you very much. You see how non-political I am. Does he not realize that just by virtue of the fact that he is at the convention speaking on behalf of the Republican nominee? Look, I don't align with any parties. Go watch my speeches at the Republican convention. Yes. I just don't understand. The most friend is the current Republican president. But when he's there, he's not. Microphone. When he's there, he's not speaking in favor. So he's very clearly down the middle.

But why even just say, like, hey man, this guy, my friend, I support him. He's the Republican, you know, guy and I'm, like, what's wrong with that? As opposed to, like, treating us like we're morons and being like, yeah, there's nothing political about me being at a political, what is that, a rally? What would you even call that a political convention? You're literally at a political convention. That is in favor of one party over the other. This is no commentary.

It just is what it is. It is as factual as can be. Have the Democrats ever tried inviting Dana White to their convention? Maybe he'll go too. No, but if they did, I'd say yes. Yeah, I'd be there. Joe Biden wanted to be here. He could be here.

Do you think Dana White stuck between Joe Rogan and DT right now? Oh, yeah. Did you see the lip readings? I don't think that's true, by the way. Yeah, I can't. It's all fucking crazy. I got to tell you, man, it's absolute lunacy out there. I mean, it's a bunch of wackadoos.

That's that bullshit. No, no, no, no. It's just the world's gone mad. The world's gone mad. Anything you say, Hanato Moikano says F the fans, I say, wow, what a heel turn. And it becomes like, you hate Christians. Like, what are you talking about? We spent the whole week talking about religion with Joe Piper and all these other people.

I was talking about him saying F the fan. Everyone's lost their mind. I'm at the point right now where I feel like half those people aren't even real human beings. But people are breaking down this interaction between Joe and Donald Trump. there's no way that what they said just look at how long the interaction was. Does anyone not agree with me?

There's a lot of, to the point that you're making more broadly, there's a lot of people who their slant, their ambition, their want for it, the wish casting of that to be true is more important than what is actually true. It's more important than what the

reality of the situation is. So if enough people want that to be the case, that is equal to truth at this point in 2026. It's wild. And it just becomes the truth. Yes, it is the truth. The truth is what we make it now. My favorite moments from that attraction, first of all, the fucking

shit-eating grin on DC's face. Like, D.C. can't contain himself. He's waiting there, like, he's so excited. And then, did you see the point where he, like, pulls Anakin? Oh, yeah. He, like, drags him in there. It was a tough handshake. The whole thing is wild.

My favorite is when Cub Swanson gets the biggest win of his life and it's such a touching emotional moment and they cut to the family and Trump's just lingering next to the next to it. Linger. He is like fully implanted. It looks like it's his family next to him.

Could you imagine? What was that small talk like? Like Cub's wife is probably super nervous, ball of nerve you got your kids there. So that's even, that makes it more nervous than your typical fight where you're sitting there at Cajside by yourself. And Donald's like, yeah so you got like so

you've heard of Derek? Eric Lewis? Why is Derek Lewis not on the White House card? Cubs Swanson is playing together the finishing sequences against Nate Landware and he's just like your husband, great fighter.

How about Derek Lewis not on the White House card? Yeah, hold on, Donald, I'm sorry. She's probably like, please God, just end this. I actually can't think of a more uncomfortable position for her than sitting next to the president

watching your husband in the final fight with the three kids right there. Oh my God. Awful. You saw the look of relief on her face. It's like, wow. I mean, how do you end up in that situation? Getting back to the locker room for her

must have been more relieving than it was for Cub. Unbelievable. The whole thing was wild. I mean, dating back to how I laid out everything with the Hokkaid fight. Dana went, do you think he's, is there, does he have a deal? Like, why is he going on IG Live in the middle of the event? There's got to be a deal there, right? A meta.

A meta deal, right? Yeah, it has to be. 100% Anyway, here's the IG live video where he announces the Hokit Lewis fight. Check it out. So, I'm sure you guys

just saw the Hokka fight, right? So, about an hour ago. Is that Dominique Grace? No, no, that's Costa. The president leans over to me, and he says, why is Derek Lewis not on the White House car?

And I said, Hold on a second, Mr. President. I stepped away and I called Derek Lewis. He said, Derek, the president just asked me why you're not on the card. Do you want to fight on the White House card? And he goes, of course I do. Tell the President, thank you. I want to do it.

Then the Hokit card plays out. The fight plays out. He beats the number five rank on the world. And Joe Rogan says, is there still room on the White House card? We went back and talked to him. Hockett versus Derek Lewis was just added to the White House guard in the last 10 minutes.

I think that's a fun fight. I have no issues with it whatsoever as far as a fight on paper at this point in Hogan's career. Does anyone have an issue with the fact that they didn't at least wait for Hockeet to get checked out before announcing it?

No, it adds to the appeal. It adds to the just like wild nature. Who's the check? What do you mean? Who gives a shit? Well, they just announced it then later that night, actually... No, they'll just have him fight with it. Who cares?

Oh, God. That's great. Who gives it shit? Who gives a shit? What if he has, like, a concussion? They'll figure it out, man. It'll figure it out. It's one of the more like...

It made a fucking break. Just get Derek Lewis on the goddamn card. He'll be like, just one moment, Mr. President. Can I just... Who would have... Okay, so if the Hocan thing ended up being a total dud of a fight... Yeah. Who would Derek Lewis have fought on this?

Anyone. By the way, I still stand. The fight to make would have been Gable versus Derek Lewis. I don't know why they didn't. Maybe Gable's not ready. Maybe Gable needed that extra. But seriously, who would he have fought? Like, who would have been, like, are we looking at a word where Waldo Cortez is back on the card?

I know he just beat him. But like, who is he fighting? Sergei Pavlovich? Wait, Waldo versus Derek again? I'm just saying, look at the freaking. No, there's nobody. It doesn't matter who you put him against. It's Derek Lulup.

Call up Jared Van Derrick. for all I care. It doesn't matter. He just hit him on the card. The president's asking for him to be on the card. He's going to be on the card. It's just an amazing thing because Hocan makes sense because he's on fire and all this stuff.

But we were potentially staring at a world where like Shamil Gazeve is on the card? Who's on, you know what I mean? Like that the White House card went from seven title fights to it being Mick Parkin versus Derek Lewis? Donald Trump thinks the Derek Lewis fight is for a title.

He loves Derek Lewis. Why does he love Derek Lewis? No one knows. We've got a secret weapon. He knocked somebody out. He did the balls his hot speech, and Donald Trump was like, that's my guy right there. And then that was it forever and ever. I mean...

Do you think he watched the Waldo Cortez-A-Cost the fight? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Oh, yeah. Where he got put out by the jab. No, he gets updates. It's like, Mr. President, we got the bad news. You remember when we all thought... Remember we all said after that fight, well, there goes the White House fight.

No. just goes to show a little bit of time in this sport and everything works out. Josh Hokit this time last year was fighting in LFA. Kyle Dawkins was fighting at CFFC. Now they're fighting on the White House fight.

That is so good. That is so good. Do you guys think it's going to be insufferable between now and June 14th? In terms of what? It's going to be like political. I just feel like it's going to be insufferable. I think between

328 and the White House Guard it might get there. Wait, 328. Oh, I was thinking March 28. 320, meaning after Chomsa? Yeah, like, I think we still have this card to look forward to, and then it'll be like... And I'm sure this card is just going to be, like, total, you know... Squicky Clean.

Yeah, exactly. The Schott Strickland-Cubs... No controversy, see. What would be the new take on the White House card, though? I don't know that there'll be... How much more is there to say? It's going to be a lot. There's a take with everything going on in the world.

Yes, it's all going to be... I know, but the country is actually a war. It's going to be... And it's just going to be a lot. Oh. The thing is, like, Iliu's Poir v. Justin Gitchie is a big time fight. Alex Poir v. Seril Gun is a big time fight,

and I feel like it's just going to all get lost. They're going to be complete sideshows to... And I'm not trying to... I don't know. It's just almost like, gosh. Josh Oak, it's going to be up on the Lincoln Memorial. It's going to be... I can't believe that we're actually...

I can't believe that this is. what we're actually living through. Josh Okin in front of the Lincoln Memorial doing a bit is going to be incredible. So what you're saying is like as it gets closer, the main news cycle is going to focus on it? 100%.

And that will drown out any of the actual fight. In the end, it could have been an apex card. It could have been Moycano versus Chris Duncan. And it will receive none of the mainstream media attention, which I think it will get for better or worse, is going to focus on the fights.

So it's almost like a waste at this point. point. Do you know what I mean? It's almost like a waste that these guys are going to have to deal with this. Do you know what those press conferences are going to feel and look like? It's going to be madness. I don't know. I don't know. I hope not for the fighter's sake. There was a fighter, a big name fighter, who is in the title picture who said, I want nothing to do with that card, not for political reasons, but I just don't want to have to go through the circus and be a part of that circus. And I was like, you know what? I kind of agree with you. imagine you're fighting in the biggest fight of your life and then you have to like Ulberg Pochasca and it's all that other stuff

it's just a lot to deal with especially if you've never been there before yeah and then you're the locker room is the Oval Office and you're going to be asked a million different questions I mean like Spain and the US aren't exactly the best of friends right now Ilya's going to be asked a lot of this stuff it's a tough spot it's a tough spot yeah because I think there is a decent amount of the general public who still is not aware that this is

happening. Yeah. I feel a lot of people have asked me about it, like even in my family and whatnot, but it will get, it will get, did you see the way they were billing it? Would they say the most important or the biggest sporting event of all time in that AI video? The most historic sporting event of all the time. Historic, yeah. I mean, it's...

I have it on the poster, too. Yeah, hell yeah. Do you think, all right, speaking of the AI video, the ending sequence where it was like the setup on the lawn, do we think that's what it's actually? actually going to look like because we've seen that in the like renderings the drawups that they've done. I sure hope so because we've seen it like sick. Every time.

Yeah. Looks sick. I'm looking forward to that. I'm also looking forward to the potential misfits debut of Plinyo Cruz, our guy. Shout out to Plinyo. Plinyo and Chase DeMore are going back and forth, guys. Fuck it. This is Chase reacting to a clip from our show.

and he says he'll beat him up and then his fighter next Is he referred to Alex Pereira? Yeah, book Chase the more Alex Pereira Do that one first? Yeah, see if he can get through that And then he gets Plinyo The boss, the final boss

Plinyo says, I thought you had finished your studies But I'll take you back to school kid Let's scrap at Misfits boxing sham I'm down Yeah, I want to see Plinyo back in there Oh, it's on Oh! Are you sleeping back there? What's going on?

No, I just had to eat through you on there Alex Pereira chiming in I'd like to see this fight Shama Perr was busy during the Easter holiday giving back

as he always does he even won the Forrest Griffin Community Award it was announced over the weekend but here he is giving back to the

the kids back home I think this was back home who knows where he is he's always all over the place but look at him look this guy giving out chocolate Glover 2

what a duo of these two are huh not the most wholesome duo in the sport right now? They're always smiling, always giving back. He's like, he's like Sandy Claus on Easter. What would be the equivalent of

Santa Claus on Easter? Easter money. What? Santa Claus is a Christmas guy. No, I understand, but he's giving out presents. Yeah, the Easter bunny. The Easter bunny gives out the... Yeah.

You leave out your baskets. Oh, yeah. But are you supposed to do it like this, or are you supposed to hide it? Yeah, there's an egg hide it. Yeah, there's an egg hunt. I always wanted to partake in one of those. We'll do it next year.

Kinder, love the kinder eggs. Die the eggs. Those aren't legal here, right? What? The kinder eggs with the little toy inside of them? What does that mean? It's not legal. They were like famously banned.

You could go to the corner store and get one. Yeah, what are you talking about? We buy them like every week. And I might even talk about those. Sorry, Cadbury eggs. Oh, those are much better. Cadbury eggs are top, top, top. Wait, do you like Kinder eggs, though?

I love both of them, but Cadbury's, like the little... The cream egg, yeah. Oh, the cream and also the little small ones. Yeah, the small ones. With the chocolate. Yeah. Pizzi had some of those waiting for me when I like. For real.

I swear to God, he gave me an Easter egg. Actually, when I got to my hotel, Easter is very big in Ireland. Yeah. When I got to my hotel, they gave me a Kit Kat egg. It's good people. Kit Kat egg? Yeah, yeah, like Kit Kat-Branded egg. Man.

Well, speaking of Ireland, Ian Gary's still waiting for that fight against Islamachev, which I think happens, I'm going to say at this point by the end of the summer, here he is reacting to some okay Ian Gary reacting to Islam Achachev they're going back and forth and you know Islam was reacting to the

Toporia stuff and here they are going back and forth more than that in a second but anyway here's Ian Gary actually catching him with a good one I thought so your hand is fine then no more excuses see you in August I don't even know if the hand thing was real at this point who knows can I tell you my least

compelling story in MMA right now? Please. Whether Islam, Ilya was talked about for the White House card, who said yes, who said no,

what the timeline was, who was sleeping, what the phone call, Malki getting a call, this guy getting a call, Ali getting a call, who cares? Honestly, who cares at this point?

Like, every day we get another update to this story. And I'm like, the fight's not happening. Let us know when it's happening. This guy's got a fight coming up. hopefully this guy's got a fight coming up. Who cares? I really don't care. Are we to believe that

Islam is scared of Ilya? Are we to believe that Ilya is scared of Islam? No. I don't think that either of them are scared of each other. So who cares? Every day there's a new update on this story. Couldn't care less. We've talked about it. All right. Good. Let's move on. I don't think Michael Morales is next, but he does have a new burger sponsor. Is it a burger? I think it's a burger. Over in, um, in Ecuador. Look at this.

Is this AI? This is not AI, right? No, this is real. Yeah. When are we getting the Raoul Rosa's Hardy's burger? Yeah, seriously. I promised that one a while ago. I like that logo there.

What kind of burger is this? You know, Michael Morales is getting hamburger commercials now. That's a big deal. Oh, Tropic Burger. That's big. I love seeing that stuff. Order Tropic Burger. on DoorDash tonight.

I'm going to do that. I'm putting it in my notes. Trophy Burger DoorDash. Yeah. Speaking of 170 and guys who have ties to Ireland, what about Gunner Nelson getting his own statue? It's honestly a six statue. Look at that.

That is a sick statue. After many years of work and many conversations with artists across Iceland, the Gunner Nelson statue is finally standing outside of... I used to know how to pronounce this. He looks like M-J-O-L-N-I-R Jol-N-I-R. Yol-N-E-R.

He looks like like like the dad in the Little Mermaid. You know? Like that half... Yeah, that's what he looks like. I mean, the gym also looks sick for what it's worth behind him. Yeah, yeah, the gym is sick.

Shout to Hallie and Gunner. Like I said, Sergio Pettis fighting over the weekend. PFL on Saturday was just crazy. Like, it got no attention whatsoever, but I loved the Duke Rufus tribute on his shorts. I wanted to show this in case you missed it. This was a really, really nice touch, and you could see the emotion on his face and in his voice. Obviously, Duke passing away suddenly, tragically recently, his head coach, who was by his side after his great win, overseas, beautiful stuff.

And great to see him carrying on his legacy. Still hard to believe, to be honest. So well done. A nice touch there from the good folks over at PFL. Marab Duolish-Fili is back in action this weekend, April 18th in Philly guys. And he is in action over at the RAF card. The RIF card that is being headlined by Armant Surukin v. Jirae Fabor. Marab's going up against Henry Sohudo.

I think it sounds like he broke his nose. We have the video of it. We don't have to play it sound up. What a good day. Oh, what a stupid accident. Okay. Twelve years after my nose is fucked up. Even worse.

As you see, it's even more cracked, the same direction. And, yeah, when I touch, my bones are broken inside. Oh, my God. Do you think he's going to wrestle? And one side I can't even breathe. And yeah, I'm going to do. X-ray now. I'm sure you see will help me with that. Oh, it looks miserable. Even I don't have a fight coming up.

And I'm gonna try to surgery to pick this nose. Makes me uncomfortable that he's driving and filming at the same time also. Let's see how it goes. Oh, is that? Is that how it's uncomfortable? Thinking some long stairs at that camera too. Yeah. Oh, golly.

Yeah. So, oh, my shit. It's kind of this. So when you look down, you can see it's... Oh, yeah, that's something. thing. Anyway, I hope he remains on the card. Can I say, we keep a real here, right? So I tell you the good and the bad, we've been glowing in our praise of RAF, or at least I've been, I think they got the Armin Faber one wrong. The way you use Armin is to have him in these matchups against the

Georgiopoulists of the world. The way you use Armin is that if he can't go up against active UFC fighters, and I don't know why hype is allowed, like you see Rosas and Figuero and all these guys, but whatever, use him against the actual wrestlers, because A, you'll build up the wrestlers, and B, it now becomes a thing where, like, is Armin good enough to beat actual freestyle wrestlers, Olympic wrestlers, collegiate wrestlers, amateur wrestlers, whatever. Armin, going up against Uriah Faber, who is, you know, obviously up there in age, who's, you know, his last fights were at 135. Armand's a 155er.

They're not at the same level. Like, that to me is not interesting. Plus, Faber's a good guy. Like, Armine needs a foil. We just saw this with Makayev, too. It's like the same type of thing. It was just like, what are you expecting this person to do to Armine? And this one's worse because Makaiv is at least in his prime, but yes, he's a 125er.

It's just not. If RAF wants to keep bringing Armin back and I can understand why they would, look at the blueprint that you just, the Georgio, feud was perfect. I didn't know who Georgia was before all of this. And I know some did because of the social media. You put them up there against someone else. That person's going to get the rub. And now there's a story like, how many of these guys can he actually beat? Armand versus Faber feels counterproductive to what you just built. Do we think Armand's ever going to fight MMA again? I'm getting worried about it. No, he is. He is. But this one to me, like, it didn't feel

they wanted him back out there, but it's like, yeah, you didn't learn anything from the Georgio thing. Or maybe that's just the only one that was available and they wanted to capitalize, but I don't know. Anyway, that's this weekend. I mentioned Moycano. I just want to play his post-fight press conference. He did beat Chris Duncan,

and I thought he was on fire in the post-fight press conference. Here's what he had to say afterwards. He never holds back that money, Moikano, and I thought his post-fired press conference was on point. You said that, you know, you want big names or you're going to retire. Was that just in the moment? Like, what do you mean by that? Do you want, like, older veterans like yourself?

Like, do you not want to fight young, up-and-coming guys at this point in your career? Yes. Yes. And I become 37 years old, you know. It's not that I don't want to fight upcomers, but the business is I'm doing stuff outside, too, YouTube, and I'm making money outside too. So it needs to be, the guy needs to be at least, has some hype, you know? Because, look, Chris Duncan, I took that fight

because I was like two fights kid. But he's not famous, nobody know him, you know? This APEC cards, today, this Apex card was fucking shit. I'm not, I don't, I don't listen

to that, but you have him more ICANO as a main event in fucking Apex, you're kidding me, you know? And who is fucking Chris Duncan, brother? That fight doesn't add to my career doesn't add to my YouTube, you know. So I think it should be like a fight that I can promote, like Ortega, like Paddy Pimblech, like Dan Hooker,

maybe Benoit Sandini, maybe somebody, you know, somebody that the fans know, that's what I'm saying. You know, there is a lot of guys that are very good, but nobody know that. And everybody can win and everybody can lose. It's not about winning and losing. It's about it to get the most hype, people talking about you,

because this is the business. So good. And then you have some up comments that nobody know their name and they're very dangerous. I don't think that's smart. I don't disagree with anything that he said. The card was a little weak.

I thought that there was a lot of hate towards the main event. The main event was fine. He looked good in it. It was a big opportunity for Duncan. We've seen worse. I don't know why everyone was harping on this one. Wakana is one of the more popular fighters

in the sport. And yeah, it's just, it's void of anything. I'm not going to go on and on about the apex. But I thought he was great. I thought he was great. And I thought he was great in the post fight as well. I was watching it in bed when we were away, and then it was over. I tweeted, all right, heel turn, look great.

That was fun. Put my phone away. Wake up the next day. And it was just like, oh my gosh. What has happened? What has happened? That was wild stuff. But I didn't disagree with anything that he said.

and I hope he gets one of those big fights, and I hope that he is not fighting at the apex because he is too popular and electric for the apex. Last thing, and then we'll get to Super Chats. Deonté Wilder, Derek Chazora, this moment was tremendous from when we were away in their fight.

He does the Rick Flair HBK. He does it. Look at it. Look at it. The moment for the Bronx bomber to let one huge shot, or is there respect between the pair? This is extraordinary. I'm sorry. to the room said.

That was crazy. Wasn't the best fight of all time, but it was theatrical, I would say. And it sounds like Derek Chazora is out of retirement because he showed up to the Fury Fight saying, retirement is for P-words. Do you know what that sounds for, Frank? This is like beating up babies. Do we have any super chats?

I have no access to the Slack, so I don't know if there's like one or 100. Yeah, well, it is to find out, won't we? All right, here we go. Joof, baby, one says, Ariel, with WrestleMania this week in any shot, we could get the Solomaster on the show live. And thoughts on Pat McAfee involved in the main event. Well, okay, so Magafee is a line from CM Punk. Jason Solomon is doing an incredible job, The Solemaster.

Check out Uncrown Wrestling, new episode tomorrow. I wanted him on this week. Oh, Frankie! This is the best theme song in all podcasts. No, no, no, I wanted to play it. Come on, guys. Welcome back to it, Brown. It's so good. This is the theme song for Uncrown Wrestling.

Isn't it great, guys? Yeah, yeah, you got it. I think anyone doesn't know that? Everyone knows that. It's like 1980s Saturday night's main event. Anyway. If you didn't know, now you know. The Sol Monster is great, and fortunately he's traveling, so he can't join us.

Wednesday we'll have a WrestleMania preview. Actually, we're going to be joined by C.J. Perry, formerly known as Lana, who I don't know if did it happen yet we might be doing some stuff with her on on Crown so stay tuned for that but in any event

he's doing an amazing job he's doing an amazing job and I wanted to have him on we will have him on he's been on fire and the McAfee stuff is wild it's way too late in the day for me to weigh in on this coherently

but the build to this main event did this WrestleMania has not been stellar. And I think the vast majority of the criticism has been warranted. I actually feel like the reaction to Punk's pipe bomb was overhyped. And my feeling about that was actually some of the stuff that McPhee said, which was in 2011, when CM Punk gave us the pipe bomb in Las Vegas, It felt like there was genuine beef between him and Vince McMahon and Triple H and all these people.

It felt authentic. I don't believe that Siam Punk, who I love, I don't believe that he is at odds with TKO. And so for him to go out there as the sort of, you know, voice of the voiceless, the white knight, the man of the people, against the TKO brass, which it almost feels like is being turned into some sort of angle, corporal. operation didn't feel real to me. They signed him. They brought him back. The reason he is back in WWE in our lives is because of the top guys at TKO. And so I didn't feel like that was real. It felt like this was, oh, let's read what the internet is saying and let's try to, you know, let's try to respond with the guy who is used to responding against, you know, the evil empire,

so to speak. So it didn't feel the same way. I think everyone's starving for a moment like that. so they went Gaga, but to me, the 2011 one, just like Hogan and his heel turn was better than Sina's, I think over time most would agree with me. It's weird that the ticket prices and the state of the business has become an angle leading up to this because I think that Orton versus Rhodes had a lot of history attached to it, and that's kind of been thrown out the window. I think punk and Roman has been fine, and I think Brock v. Obafemi has been fine. you know what's the best thing that's happening in pro wrestling right now.

The best thing happening in pro wrestling right now is happening over in AAA in Mexico. There's an angle between El Grand Americano and the OG El Grand Americano. Is anyone aware of this? Has anyone see this online? I saw it. You dropped the clip for us. I saw that. In short, the Undertaker is the head booker for AAA, which is owned by TKLW.

AAA is the most popular. Okay, so it's AAA and CMLLL. are the two most popular Lucha Libre pro wrestling organizations in Mexico, historic organizations. WWB bought it about a year and a half or so ago. Taker is now the head booker over there, Mark Calloway. El Grande Americano was Chad Gable

in a luchador mask for the longest time playing a luchador. And then they had a new El Grande Americano, which is Ludwig Kaiser, who's a German wrestler, and the Mexican people have fallen in love with him. Like he's one of their own. He's cutting promos in Mexican, in Spanish, excuse me, to the Mexican audience

with a quasi-german accent, but they love him. And he's like the biggest baby face. And basically there was a, you're going to lose me here, but there was a comedian who's blind who was talking about El Grande-Miricano being like a fraud.

And then the bad guy, Chad Gable, as El Grande de Maricado comes out and slaps them and puts him in like a hold and then the interviewer who's actually Ludwig Kaiser's girlfriend and is of Latina descent slaps him and then he's about to attack her and then Ludwig as El Grande de Mercado

comes down and flies in the air and they have one of the greatest impromptu pull apart brawls that you'll ever see. It was so real. They were flying all over the place. It was like it was clumsy. they were head budding. It was amazing.

That's the best angle in wrestling right now. That's the best thing in wrestling. I thought you're going to save my boy Danhausen, if I'm being honest. No, it's the best thing by far. Do yourself a favor if you haven't seen it. Watch the four-minute clip and listen to the crowd reaction. Wrestling is fun. Wrestling should be fun.

And I don't think it's that hard. And when you get too complicated with this guy and that guy and this, it gets a little convoluted. I love how you were like, look, it's getting laid. I can't give my opinion on WrestleMania. Proceed to do a scene-by-scene breakdown of the AAA over the weekend. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. By the way, editor-in-chief Shaheen Al-Shadi confirming C.J. Perry's first piece up.

Oh, it is up. Okay. So, C.J. Perry is doing some work for us. Right on Crown. This one. What I learned from Brock Lesner and what the fans don't see. Okay. See?

I actually think that... So it's a great behind-the-scenes look at the build. Her husband, Miro, is in WrestleMania, going up for the IC title. So she's going to be helping us out and she'll be on the show Wednesday to help us preview WrestleMania live from Las Vegas.

She's in Las Vegas, so a lot there. Anyway, what else, Frank? What else? Daniel Afaro, 1988. I've been on the Hokit train since the first A.H. appearance followed up with Hokic could have outwrestled grappled blades,

but he 1,000% decided to stand and strike with him. I've seen him wrestle during camp and he is insane. Oh, wow. he's a stud man that take down defense is on point he's a great athlete and

sometimes that that rules the day what else Frank what else uh j valencia 98 and a sport where you show up three times a year

he should have taken the win and granted him a rematch Carlos would have had a claim because of injury what he's saying he should have won the fight and then if if he felt so honorable give

final verdict was it mercy or not Yes. It was 1,000%. Eugene and Carlos call BS. Of course they would. They're the ones that won the fight. I just think it was mercy, but also Yeri being dumb. Scared to me.

Yeri did not have to do a single thing more in that fight to have become champion. He could have stood there, frozen, and become champion. He did something different out of some kind of code of honor that he has. 100% believe. What else, Ricky? What else? Chew Star Ariel love from England However, please

Don't refer to penalties In football slash soccer as PKs Glory, Glory, Man United Wow Men in the Muck away And all... Wait a second, wait a second.

How did you know GGMU was glory, glory, glory, man, you know? Wow, first of all, their PKs here, just like soccer is here in football. Listen, I'm... What the hell?

Leeds beat Man United? Cah, I was just about... I pulled up my fought mob Leeds beat Man United. Pizzi. You pulled up your what? My Fop Mob. What the fuck is that?

It's the best at. What is it? It's the best soccer app. Without a doubt. It's just the best. It has everything. Stop saying it's the best and explain it to me what it is. That's what I'm asking.

It's the best. It's the best. All right, perfect. Wait a second. I texted PTC. So none of you know this, but we're in a relegation race right now. And Forrest gets the big point yesterday. not bad, I won a three against Aston Villa.

I text Pizzi, hey, we need United to beat Leeds. You know what he said to me? Don't worry about that, mate. What the hell? And they lost the leads? Is Leeds like shit? We got a red card in the 56.

We're in the battle with them. Are they bad, though? I mean, we're all kind of bad. Not good, yeah. Oh, because you're like, in the relegation battle is not good. Yes. No, I'm saying, compare to man you.

Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. They're like 15 slots and eat them. Got it. Yikes. Spurs, who's like, how would you, who'd you compare Spurs to in the NBA? Not Spurs, right? No, not the Spurs issue. Wait a say, what I say.

I was calling PC to ask him what happened. $20 million for the kitchen scrap. Spurs is like, is not a glorious franchise. Wizards? No, no, like, not quite the Nix. I don't know. Anyway, they're going to get, they're going to get relegated at the moment. moment. At the moment they're in relegation.

We needed this, man. We needed this. You needed just the good team to win against the bad team and they blew that. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. Anyway, what was this about? What was the question again? No, he's just showing love. Don't refer to them don't call it P-Ks. Oh yeah.

Anyway, for us. By the second leg of the Europa League against Porto, we tied them. Big. Yeah. I wish you guys would watch with me. but I got no one to talk to about it anymore. Yeah, no chance. And what else, Frankie?

What else? Sammy J6 Z3S. Missed you team, but well-deserved time off. Makes me appreciate you guys even more when you're on. Love you guys. Love all of you, Sammy, we missed you. I missed all of you. I feel back.

I'm sorry I'm going a little bit long here, but I miss it so much, but I'm trying to wrap it up. What else, Frankie? What I think as Sammy wrote back? Oh. They had a golden chance to secure Anthony Joshua or versus Tyson Fury. Oh, boy.

I have no idea. I have no idea. Can we just roll with it? Can we just roll with it? Yeah, go ahead, go ahead. Why did they have? Why did they have confirmed? Come on, everyone.

Yeah. Make this fight happen or let us focus on the fight. It's going to happen. I feel like it's going to happen. There's too much money at this point. It has to fucking happen. Sammy also said, here's a donation. Wow.

Sammy. Sammy, you don't need your donations. We love you. Sammy. Your presence is enough. Thanks for your donation. We're rolling in the Derr-Dash dough these days. Thanks for your super chat.

Stop. Don't stop. Yes. What else, Frankie? What else? Plutch attitude, M.A. Glad you guys are back. Frank, you're the man. I appreciate that. Does UFC 327 Peru fans care more about chaos than perfect game plans? I feel like they've always cared more about chaos. Yeah, right? I don't think that's ever... Rock'em sopum, rockem-sockham, like balls.

Fight hits ground? Boo. Yeah. Guys bashing each other's heads in, sloppily? Yay. Islam, Hamza recently, compared to Gaichi Pimblit, right? Yeah, yeah. What else, Frankie? What else? And lastly, all I do is UFC says, I'd guess DJT likes Lewis because he has the most UFC KOs. Works for me. Works for me. Guys, we have a great show tomorrow, and we have another great show on Wednesday.

I'm going to go one day at a time here. Tomorrow's program is a great one. In studio, Alicia Baumgartner, who is headlining the MVPW show this Friday at the InfoSysse Theater, right next door to Madison Square Garden. in studio Alex Terrible. Frankly. That's pretty awesome. In studio Alex Terrible. Plus,

Darren Till, Paolo Costa, and Eddie Hearn. Is that some kind of Tuesday for all of you? No one does it like us. And one last time, thank you very much

to our good friends over at DoorDash, who are going to be with us all week long. On the road to WrestleMania, we appreciate them delivering our UFC 327 post-fight coverage. and what, I mean, like, for me, it makes me emotional

to be associated with brands like this that truly love combat sports. They're all over combat sports these days. They're very present, trying to help out, trying to be present for the fans, trying to be there for us. And so when you're watching the fights this weekend, show some love to your good friends

over at DoorDash as well. Please support them because they support us. All right, it is time to go. Any particular reason? All right. Working through the kinks, right? Working through the kinks. You missed it on the watch party. It was about 10 minutes in.

He just starts playing the outro music. No, I know, I know. I saw it and I was appalled. Frank, everything okay? I mean, yeah. I gotta say, do you guys use the pedometer app on your phone? Yes. It is, you guys use it? It is astounding.

Like, you're on vacation for a week, and then you get the notification like, there's been a change in your, in your daily activity, and you're like, holy shit, I don't walk a lot during the day. Yeah. Like the difference in just a regular day away, I'm talking like 18,000 steps, 19,000, 20, 21, 22. And then it's like a regular Monday and it's 6,000. That is cool.

Don't walk or get a lot of sunk. That's brutal. The windows in here. You at least got a window over there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's what we do for all of you guys. That's what we do for all of you guys. That's why we love it.

It's been a great day. Thank you very much to Carlos Alberg. Daniel Rodriguez, Chaucor Stevenson, Kevin Holland, Cub Swanson. Eugene Bairman. Was phenomenal. Am I forgetting someone? I might be. James Tehudo?

I was trying to read. Carlos Alberg, Cubs Swanson, Daniel Rodriguez, Kevin Holland, Eugene Barham, Schorpezen. Yeah, that's the lineup. A big week coming up, like I said, two press conferences on Wednesday. Wednesday show, by the way,

is going to start at 12 Eastern. You're going to want to be there at 12. I'll tell you more about that tomorrow. For now, back on Tuesday. Same time, place, till I say. Amen.