The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC 331 Mega Recap: Gable upset, Arman secures title shot, Van cruises, more | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

The Boys in the Back are filling in on Monday, being joined by Petesy Carroll to recap all the UFC 331 action. But first, Ariel Helwani gives his thoughts on the card (02:56).After praising Joshua Van for a masterful performance, the lads discuss his ceiling and star potential, his looming meeting with Manel Kape, where Alexandre Pantoja goes from here, and more (26:44).Then, they react to Arman Tsarukyan's knockout of Mauricio Ruffy, presumably earning Arman a title shot (1:00:47), and Sean Sharaf turning the MMA world on its head with his shocking upset of Gable Steveson (1:24:17).Next, they touch on the rest of the card (2:00:23), before turning attention to the newly-announced UFC 334 fights (2:15:59).Finally, they cover news and notes, including Michael Morales and Ian Machado Garry teasing a fight (2:34:54), Paulo Costa calling for his UFC contract to come to an end (2:37:54), more chirping between Terence Crawford and Ryan Garcia, and more (2:42:22).The show concludes with your Super Chats (2:50:05).

But boys in the back. But boys, boys, boys, boys, boys. What is good? We are back with another edition of the boys in the back. Actually, the boys in the crack. Do not adjust your dials. Hawani is out in observance of Yom Kippur. So you're stuck with us.

I am Connor Birx, joined alongside me as always. The King of Cope. The Gable Glazer. The crow eater. formerly Gable Glazer. It's Mr. New York, Rick, who will have quite a bit of explaining to do on today's program. I think that's why most people are even tuning in and will be joined by the patron saint of the Emerald Isle. Pizzie Carroll in just a little bit. Frankie in the back, Frankie, how we doing, brother? What's going on?

Oh, it's great to hear from you. I do good. Thanks. It's fun to be doing this show on a Monday, but... It's different. It's different. It's a throwback to February when Hawani was at the 11th. Olympics. We get to sit in the big seats on a Monday and recap a big card, UFC 331, which is going to go down as one of the best cards of the year. If not, the best card of the year, it was absolutely fantastic. We also got UFC 334 announcement, Madison Square Garden. We've got drama with Paulo Costa. Sean Strickland wants the box. Are we going to see Ian Gary versus Michael Morales before the end of the year? There's a lot to get into. And we are going to get into all that. But before we do that, let me tell you that this episode today is sponsored by Cali, the largest prediction market in the United States. Here's what makes Kalshi different. You are not playing against the house. Kalshi is peer-to-peer trading you by yes or no contracts on whether something will happen and you're trading directly against other users.

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triggering every drop classic software update I was like I'll do it after the ad I'm like nah it keeps popping off yeah thanks Frank classic man during the sponsorship read that is this all of them playing at once it's all the songs that's all the music we have playing at once That might just have to be the new ad read, then. I think that's absolutely tremendous. If you traded Sean Sheriff on Saturday night, you're having a good week. Yes, absolutely. And we saw some tickets getting thrown out there.

We know why you're here. You're not here to see us. You're not here to see the beautiful Pizzi Carroll over in Ireland. You're here for Halwani. You're here for his takes. He did do a recap video, a reaction video to UFC 331. So we will provide you with that. Here's what Halwani thought of the card on Saturday.

All right, friends, as you may have seen, I wasn't able to be on the UFC 331 post-show duties. And as I said last week, I won't be on Monday show because it's Yom Kippur. Have no fear, there will be a Monday show. Rick will be there, G.C. will be there. Pizzi will be there. Andy will be there. Frank will be there. A whole cast of characters.

So all good. We're not leaving you hanging. But as a result of that, I wanted to come on this Sunday morning to react to what we saw at UFC 331 last night at the Crypto. dot com arena, formerly known as the Staples Center. Of course, let's start with the main event. Joshua Van. Man, eight in a row for Joshua Van, still in his 20s, beating Alex Pantosia. That fight was everything that we thought it was going to be. It was fast-paced. It was technical. It was fun. It was relentless. It was frenetic. He drops him. He keeps going. He doesn't stop. The output. Give all the credit in the world to Pantosia. He is unbelievable.

but I think the younger fighter, the fresher fighter, perhaps, the more active fighter. You know, there's a difference between mid to late 30s and early 20s. But these guys are very, I mean, I think they're very evenly matched. And I know this pisses off, Joshua Van, but I throw out the first fight, meaning historically when you're 0 and 2 against someone, it's very hard to get a third crack. But I don't consider Alessandar Pantosia O and 2. against Joshua Van. I consider him 0 and 1, to be honest. And I say this all to say that if he fights a couple more times and wins those fights, I think he can be right back in there. And if Joshua

Van is still the champion, I think that they can run that back. And I think everyone would be very happy and excited about that. For Van, I think Manel Cap is next. And I think the buildup to that fight is going to be great and Cap deserves it. Massive winner over Horoguchi. And they're just two great personalities and two great fighters, hard-hitting fighters as well. I think the flyweight division is on fire. We've come a very long way since the days of people saying they were boring, they were too small, they were little people, they should be cut, blah, blah, blah, blah, consistently the best fights on cards these days are involving the 125 pound men. So shout out to them. And shout out to Joshua Van. It feels like he's really sort of, you know, sometimes a guy

comes in to the UFC and there's excitement about him, but there's not like, he's not like, oh, this is a can't miss prospects, so to speak. And I feel like with Joshua Van, he has sort of grown into the role of being champion that ORA has come out. You see the way he dresses. You see the way he acts at press conferences. You see the way he speaks. He's come out of his shell and he comes across like a superstar. You know, if the UFC were being 100% honest with themselves and they would never admit to this, this is the better result for the UFC in that he is the younger, maybe more marketable fighter. he's got an edge to him, crazy backstory. And I'm not trying to take anything away from Alex Pantoja.

One of the nicest human beings and one of the greatest stories. That interview that he had after winning the belt talking about his father, talking about his trials and tribulations. He's an inspirational guy. And coming back from that injury and not even taking time off, you know, dislocates his elbow. And then two days later, you see video footage of him in the gym, doing whatever he can to get back in there and be in the best shape possible.

it's really remarkable what he's done and him too like another guy that i don't think a lot of us if we're being 100% honest i don't think a lot of us thought that he would be that guy he would be one of the best flywates of all time now tied with joshua van for second longest winning streak right behind the great uh demetrius johnson and joshua van of course has to uh get many many many more title defenses under his belt so we're we're a long ways away from uh all that you know uh greatest of all-time crazy talk. But what a win, what a performance. They go 25 minutes and I'm a big fan of Joshua Vance. I just, I like everything about him and most importantly, his fighting style is very fun as well. So shout out to him. Co-main event, Armin Sarukian. I said earlier this week,

it felt like the deck was stacked against Armin again because he was promised a title shot against Dan Hooker. If he would have won, he wins, he doesn't get it. He's. He's. He's He's got to travel the world to do RAF, hype, streaming, videos, everything. And then I reported, if you recall, back in early August that he was told if he beats Mrisio Hoofee, he'll get a title shot for whatever that's worth. But they never promoted as such. They never say that. And then on Wednesday, I believe it was Wednesday or Tuesday, pretty sure it was Wednesday.

Anyway, at some point this week, Ilya emerges and he talks mad shit about Justin Gaechi and he accuses him of loaded gloves and he says, I'm coming for you, and I'm going to get my belt back and all that stuff. And it feels like all the attention was taken away from Armand. And I said, yes, it was Tuesday. I said, I don't even know, like a win I don't think is enough. I don't think a decision win was enough against Maricio. And I don't even know if a finish is enough. This is what I said earlier in the week. So much pressure on him two years ago in that same city, Los Angeles, different arena. He had the title shot. He pulls out morning of the way-ins. The headbutt, the fan incident at UFC 300, putting neon in his corner. Like it feels like he was also helping to stack the deck

against them. And I said, I didn't think that a finish was going to guarantee a title shot. And then you see what he did to Maricio Hoofi. the elbow knockout, how is that not enough? How is that not enough at this point? Now, the UFC has a very tough and a very good decision to make. Do you run it back with Ilya, who they love, who's deserving of an opportunity like that, but that fight wasn't necessarily the closest, or do you give it to Armin, who has now knocked out Mauritio Hoofee, who was promised the title shot before the hooker won, who was promised the title shot before this one, what you do. Armand Strikesby is the kind of guy who would be like, yeah, just give me another fight and

you know, I'll get paid. But it's time he fights for the belt. And so if I were in charge, look, you can go no, there's no wrong answer per se in that Gaichi, Ilya, Armin, Paddy, those are the four, is all blockbuster. But you have Gaichi Armin, Ilya Patty, winner of that fight gets a title shot. That grudge match is like five years in the making. Feels like that's the move. Feels like that's the move. What about Armin, man. What a freaking stud. This guy was in the doghouse. Scratchen and clawed. I mean, a lesson to any fighter out there. You feel like you're in the doghouse. dictate your own future. And it's worth noting, R.A.F was a massive, like, we talk about the videos. We talk about the social media. Great. But without RA.F, Armin isn't able to get into all those matches, those feuds, those high

highlights, Georgia Poulos, all that stuff. He's not able to remain as relevant. Those videos only take you so far. R.A.F., Chad Bronstein, Izzy Martinez, Eric Bischoff deserve a ton of credit for what they did with Armin. A ton of credit. And I know he knows that. I know he gets some sort of equity and all that. But like, that being a thing helped him tremendously. Helped him tremendously. And so, man, that was everything that he needed to do and then some. A scintillating, explosive, outstanding. standing, somewhat shocking. Oh my God, the elbow was beautiful. Armatrucine is a man-possessed.

An incredible first-round knockout with just, what, four seconds left in the first round. Final answer, and there's no wrong answer. I think you got to go, Gaichi, Armin, Paddy and Ilya. Patty and Ilya would be so freaking good. The beef, the animosity, the history, the backstory, all that. That's the one in my opinion. That's the combo, if you will. But shout it to Armin. Not only does he get the win, he gets the bonus. Joshua Van got the bonus as well. He walks out with Neon. He did it all. Funny moment. Hamza jumps into the cage. Armand jumps out to hug his pal Nina. The guy is just one of a kind. He really is one of a kind. And to hear the pop in L.A., massive Armenian population, that was just tremendous stuff. from Armantzruikian, and that's where I'm leaning towards in terms of the top of the

lightweight division. Incredible, incredible, incredible stuff. What about Patricio Pitbull? First round knockout of Duhu Choi. That felt like the first time we had seen Patricia Pipel, the Patricia Pipel that we had seen in Beltoe in the UFC. No knock on his previous performances, but it never quite felt like he had arrived in the UFC just yet.

It never quite felt like we were getting that guy. And yes, he's older. He's in his late 30s, I think 39 off the UFC. top of my head. That was a clean old school Bellator Pitbull knockout. Beautiful stuff out of him. Much needed. End of his contract. Needed that win. Needed that performance. A beautiful right cross. And it was just so clean, like a missile. He's had a few of those before back in the day in Belator. And beautiful to see. Like the way he stunned Duhu Choy and then finished him off, just vicious, vicious. stuff out of Pitbulls. So shout out to him, a great win. Sean Sharafe, Gable Steeveson, man,

I could do 30 minutes on this fight. And there will be plenty more to say. By now you know, Sean Chiraff, who is a massive, massive underdog, who a lot of people viewed as just an opponent, who a lot of people thought Gable Steeveson would just completely dismantle. Let's be honest, we didn't think much of the matchup as well. The guy was on a two-fight, losing streak, didn't show much, didn't seem like he was going to be much of a threat, especially not against someone like Gable Steven. They picked the wrong guy. And I say, so you know by now that he wins in 12 seconds.

Shocking stuff. I say that they picked the wrong guy, not so much because of his skills. Here's the thing about Sean Sharafe. Sean Sharaff was hungry. Sean Sharaff was desperate. The more we learned about Sean Sharaff this week, the more we realized that he was going for broke. Sean Strickland reveals last night that the guy was sleeping on the floor, not that long ago.

The guy was desperate. He was hungry. And when he was at that press conference and he's talking about the rape accusations and the loophole and all this stuff that Gable has had to deal with and it's in his head. And he's talking about it out loud on a microphone. you could see Gable was rattled. You could see he was dying inside. You could see that he was completely thrown off by that. Sean Choraf got in his head, got under his skin. And here's the thing. Gable Steven is a supreme athlete. He is an Olympic gold medalist. He's a national champion. He is you know, in some respects a once in a lifetime athlete. But there's a lot of issues here.

And I'm not even talking about the stuff that he's been through, the legal issues. Since Gable Steven won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 2021, 2020 Olympics delayed a year because of COVID, not much has gone right for him. He signs with WWE, flames out, doesn't take to it, they don't love him, is essentially released a few years later and doesn't make much of an impact. Tries out for the Buffalo Bills, tries to go down the Brock Lester path, a lot of similarities between the two University of Minnesota.

That was a Hail Mary, but it doesn't work out. Goes back to college, tries to win the national championship again, loses in the final to Wyatt Hendrickson. Finally goes to MMA, which almost felt like it was the last thing that he wanted to do at that point, but he does it. Starts off pretty well. But when I saw him get rocked with that spinning heel kick in Mexico, in February, we were there, we filmed it.

that was eye-opening. That young in your career against an opponent like that, you can't be getting rock with the spinning heel kick because if you start to fight better opponents, you will get knocked out by that spinning heel kick. First UFC fight looked good, but like, you definitely saw some signs that, oh man, this guy can get hit, chin up, not protecting himself.

And then you see what happened yesterday in 12 seconds. He didn't respect Sean Chiraph. He didn't consider him a threat. And here's the truth. Gable Steven needs to humble himself. Gable Steven acts and conducts himself like he's John Jones. He's not John Jones. He's nowhere near John Jones.

John Jones had a lot of demons. John Jones did a lot of bad things on Fight Week. But John Jones had incredible MMA talent. and before he started doing those things, he had a bunch of fights under his belt. Gable doesn't have those fights under his belt, and he's conducting himself like he's been there, done that. The walking out of the cage thing I'm not going to get too mad about,

but to not have the respect for the game for your opponent and just leave the cage like that, like he is that beneath you. It's just a bad look. He has a ton of work to do to win the fans over, and quite frankly, I don't know if he'll ever win them over. Now, I know, like, the internet is one thing, but did you hear those booze? Did you hear the way the people reacted to him? He does not come across as someone who is willing to be humble, to win over the fans,

to do things the right way, the way he speaks about his opponent, the way he acts up there, all the nonsense with looking away. Like, dude, you're not John Jones. You are not John Jones. It's one thing to be mentored by John Jones, but don't play the same hits as John Jones because you're not him. You don't fight like him. You are not as good as him at this stage of your career. And I feel like he got humbled yesterday. And now the big question is going to be, how does he rebound from that? How does he bounce back from this? Where does he go from here? Obviously, the talent is there.

Obviously, there's skill there. Obviously, he's a supreme athlete. But does he really want this? Does he really want to be an MMA fighter? Does he really want to go through the process? John Jones had to fight on the regional scene. He was fighting, you know, he didn't have an all-star coaching staff, you don't have any of this stuff. And it just, it increasingly starts to come across. I mean, even their, even their personalities are like, like, there are two peas in a pod, John and Gable. There is like some sort of like, there's a similarity there. John Jones is a once in a lifetime virtuoso athlete, MMA fighter. Gable is not right now. And he doesn't have the background. He jumped right in. He doesn't have an extensive amateur background. He doesn't have an

extensive regional scene background. He jumped into the UFC 3 and L. And I'm not blaming, like, the UFC gave him the right opponent. Skill-wise, they didn't give him the right opponent verbally. That guy broke him. And I don't know if it's just, you know, some guy who doesn't say a word or some Brazilian fighter who can't speak English if the fight goes any differently. But there's no doubt about it. Sean Chiraff broke Gable Steven before that fight. He got under his skin. He rattled him. He upset him. He annoyed him. And that messes with you. That messes with you 100%. So what a story. What a win. I think he got like the mob land bonus. I don't know how you don't get the 100 kids. Who the hell knows? But hopefully now, you know, he'll be able to buy a bed.

And a lot of people are behind this guy. And everyone loves a rocky story. Everyone loves an underdog. And there's actually a lot of similarities between, you know, like, it reminded me a little bit of the Philip Hergevich, Mosetama fight in that, and I'm not comparing Moses to Gable. Moses is not Gable. Moses is way better than Gable. But Moses tried to break Hergovich. Hergovich broke him. Hergovich got under his skin.

Hergavich got in his head. Both fights were very different. But there was, I mean, we saw it a little bit with the Bellamere thing. Like, we need to stop in MMA. When someone is 3 and 0, 2 and 0, 4, O, no. making these astronomical odds. We need to stop doing that. Not because it affects the fight.

It's just, it's like, we don't know. We do not know. We don't know who's who and what's what and with four ounce gloves and that kind of raw skill and talent. Yeah, crazy things can happen. And that was absolutely shocking. And he's got to build himself back up and he's got to do a lot, a lot of work to get the fans on his side.

And most importantly, he has to humble himself. Like he could have started in that moment. Like the first act could have been stay in the damn cage and be there when your opponent gets his hand raised. That was like act one. He does not do that. Go win yourself some fans. As his cornerman, Greg Jackson said to Donald Seroni. I just thought that was a bad look.

I don't really care ultimately, but it just speaks to how he views everyone else, including the guy who just knocked him out before the fight and after the fight. I thought the looking away thing was corny. I thought it was, it was just like, John's like, don't give him the respect. Like, what is that? What is that nonsense? You're not John Jones. You're not.

And it's going to be very hard to be John Jones. And John, if he wants to be a coach, shouldn't try to create a mini him. Taylor your coaching, your advice, and he's got incredible people, Greg Jackson and Brandon Gibson, incredible minds. Don't try to make a John Jones light. a mini John Jones play the same hits. Everyone's different. And that did not work. And Sean Choroff deserves all the credit in the world. He got under his skin. He got in his head and he freaking knocked him out in 12 seconds. What? Unbelievable. What a night. We keep going. Alonzo

Menefield with a split decision win over Ivo Baranovski. His freaking thumb was cut open and a bone was sticking out. That was a big dog. There was a period where it was Sean Shoraf, Alonzo Menefield, and Cheeto Freakin Vera with the third round left hook. You know, we spoke to him a couple weeks ago. He was calm. He was relaxed. He was happy. He was in a good state of mind. He had a new team. He left Perillo. He's training with the Rosas family. That was old school Marlon Vera. And that wasn't a give me fight? Charles Jordan had looked great since moving down to 135. Marlon Vera looked incredible. Wow. I won't lie. I am happy for Marlon Vera. That was, that was so, I mean, you saw the emotion afterwards. I can't imagine how he felt, how happy he was. What a win. He looked amazing. He looked

on point. He looked fast. He looked sharp. He looked aggressive. Marlon Vera, back on track. The losing streak is over. I loved it. I loved everything about it. It was beautiful to see and I'm so, so, so, so happy for him. So he was a dog as well. Three straight dogs winning at the same time in succession. Unbelievable. Robles to Span, Tai Tui Vasa, Tai's Tony Ferguson's eight-fight losing streak record. I don't know, man. I don't know. It's so tough. It's so tough. Big Thai. Bam, wasn't the greatest fight. There were fun moments. Robles back in the UFC gets a split decision win. I don't know what happens to Ty. I say give him one more.

Give him one more. Give him one more. There's enough dudes at heavyweight that Thai could bang with. Come on. Just give him one more. Everyone loves Thai. James Tahuna. Come on, man.

Shout to him. Michael Aswell Jr. Beets Jusang Yu. Great win for him. Split decision afterwards saying, can you please keep me in the arena so that I can watch the fights? That's absurd. They used to do this, by the way.

Pre-COVID, everyone got to stay. They would put them in the back. They'd have ice cream. You'd get to watch. You could go in the arena, da-da-da-da-da-da. Now you've got to leave the arena. Could you believe that? You have to leave the arena.

You just fought in the damn arena. Now you've got to leave the arena too? Absurd. Ryan Gandra, with another incredible win. He beats Ozzy Diaz in the first round. This dude is someone that we need to start really taking a look at. Now 11-1, right hook. And he knocks him out in two minutes and four seconds.

Edmund Chabazian gets the unanimous decision win over Bruno Faheda. A solid win for him. Casey O'Neill. King freaking Casey O'Neill. What was that arm bar? What was that? So at this point, are we looking at a world where Alexa Grasso is knockout of the year and Casey O'Neal is sub of the year? For everything that people say about women's MMA, is that possible? Is this the sub of the year? This was what, this reminded me of like DJ's flying arm bar. What was that? She goes from almost getting sub, Anaconda to then pushing her off transitions into an arm bar? What the fuck? That was, that was, I had to keep watching that over and over again. That was outstanding. Sensational. That was exhilarating.

Casey O'Neill, I'm happy for her. She had a really tough two-year stretch, injuries, the knee, you wonder how she's going to come back. King Casey, reign supreme. I freaking love that. What a submission, and she got the bonus as well. That was amazing. And Joe Anderson, Brito knocking out Giga Chikaze. Fun fight as well, some bad blood between them. He gets the knockout to start the night. A great, great win for the Brazilian as well. UFC 331, I said on paper, was amazing, was very fun. We also had the Moikano-Ortega fight that we were hoping for. You know what happened earlier in the week, so we lost that. Every single fight was fun, was exciting, was entertaining. It felt like there were stakes, great performances, shocking upsets, highs and lows.

and it culminated with a great main event. I enjoyed it immensely. So, again, I won't be there on Monday. The boys have you covered. I will be here with you all on Tuesday, and we'll have plenty more to talk about. But much love to the boys for holding it down, the whole crew holding it down.

Thank you to Ben, folks, for joining us on the post show. And I'm actually going to do another video where we talk about the Madison Square Garden announcement because that was the other big news. So go click over there and watch my thoughts on that. For now, though, shout out to all the winners. Congrats to all the winners. I still can't believe that sub by Casey O'Neill,

that knockout by Sean Chiraph, Cheeto Vera. Thanks so much for that, Ariel. Appreciate it. You can go and watch that UFC 334 reaction right now on the channel. But stay here. Stay here. Stick with us. Don't go anywhere.

Let's get right into it. I mean, Ariel, just mention it. UFC 331, one of the best cards of the year. Main event, Alessandrae, Pantosia, defeated by Josh Joshua Van, Joshua Van retains his flyweight belt. We've talked about it. We reacted to it in real time on the watch party on Saturday. So let's bring in the patron saint of the Emerald Isle.

Pizzi Carol Pizzi, what's going on, brother? What's the story, boys? Thanks so much for having me. Thanks for that. Work over the weekend. Fantastic stuff. You had to be here, brother. You had to be here, man.

We needed to get your thoughts. You didn't have to stay up late on Saturday. You are welcome for that. But your thoughts on the main event, Joshua Van gets his second title offense. Yeah, I honestly feel like he comes off looking like a superstar. All week I was kind of looking at this event, lads going. The way he's carrying himself, I loved it. I love the dynamic between them.

You know, he is playing the young upstart against the elder statesman. There was the controversial way the first fight went. He was talking a lot, and I really enjoyed it. But I was also thinking, if this doesn't go his way, this could have a lasting impact on how people feel about him, then the fight starts and he's down in 10 seconds and Pantoja has a grappler's dream situation where he eventually and quite effortlessly gets to mount and I'm thinking well that's that you know we we've probably seen the last of Joshua Vannas champion but from there really even his defensive work in that position he just took control of the fight and I feel like

I feel like he's one of the stars of the promotion now and obviously there was talk about where to go from here. I know you guys talked about that briefly were bail on the post-froid show, but I am full of excitement for what lies ahead for Pantoja after that brilliant, brilliant performance. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, couldn't have carried himself better all week. As you said, the confidence was brimming over, right? This guy who got the title under auspicious circumstances, right? It was not the way he probably would have wanted to win it, nor would it have been the way that fans wanted to see that fight go. He gets the title, and then the performance. Performance against Tyra really opened my eyes to like, okay, I think this guy is built for this.

And we'll talk about somebody later who I have some questions about whether they're built for this or not. But it is very clear, having now seen Joshua Van for as long as we have, that he is built for this, despite the fact that he's only 24, going on 25. He is somebody who is ready for the spotlight and ready for the big moment. And the skill set is now starting to match the confidence. it's a scary thought. It's a scary thought for the rest of the flyweight division. Not just built for this in the sense of being able to win the fights, but the toughness that he's shown,

the improvement in the defensive grappling. To your point, Pizzi, when he got taken down 10 seconds in, I was like, yo, Pantosia is on demon time. They're dry right now. They're fresh. He's already in Mount. I was like, I don't know how Josh Fan survives it. He survives it.

And then just as the fight went on, the gap between the striking, like by that fifth round, it was just like, dude, Josh Van is essentially just doing what he wants. he's gained that confidence outside of the octagon. He's started playing this heel character. And when you play that heel character, you're taking a risk.

Because if you lose, people are going to pull up the receipts and everything like that. But he's playing it perfectly. He's got the swag when he comes in with the suit and everything like that. It feels like at just 24 years old, we have our next potential superstar. And a guy that could potentially be like one of the biggest stars at flyweight with his age combined with his fighting style. He is a guy that you can almost guarantee if he's fighting, people are going to enjoy it. There's two fights this year, Tatsuro Tair and Alessandre Pantoja, are going to be in the top 10 fights of the year this year.

We're talking about the star power. There's a lot more to discuss about Van. There's a lot more to discuss about Pantosia. But I do want to divert for a second because we're talking about the star power. For both of you, is he going to be held back by the fact that he's a flyweight? Can the UFC's biggest star or one of the biggest stars be a guy who weighs 125 pounds? I think people are more open to it now, if I'm being honest. I don't know what the hell happened with DJ back in the day.

He was clearly the best fighter in the world, and he got traded for Ben Ascran. This feels a bit different. He's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder, something DJ never really had despite how he was treated. And I think his fighting still is just so exciting to GC's point there, two fights he's put in here this year are unbelievable. And then, as you guys alluded to on the post-fight show,

if it's Man Hill next, who's going to think that's a bad fight? Like, that is fight of the year straight away. It's an unbelievable fight. And at the end of the day, that's the product. We want to see lads, tearing lumps off each other, and he does that very, very well. Here's my only devil's advocate argument to that.

Because I agree with everything you're saying. And we've been long feeling like Josh Van could be this guy who was going to be super fun. Now I'm starting to think beyond the fun, he can be all-time, like, Hall of Fame level guy. Here's my only devil's advocate argument.

To me, I don't know that people are going to be able to get over the size. It's just a reality of, like, the combat sports fandom and even the casual fandom. I think he's going to end up more in a territory like an in-a-way to steal from the boxing side where it's he's a pound for pound great he's a guy you must see everybody's telling you to see him but something about it doesn't let you and i think the size is going to be the thing arguments that i'll make against that i agree with pizzi

and then i think it comes down to fighting style and how exciting your fights are you guys mentioning demetri stonson his fights were not as exciting as joshua vans were joshua van like when he gets that boxing going no and he's just in the matrix there was one point where i was like i think pantosur might fuck. When he caught the punch and he was just like, get that shit out of here, bro. And like, dude, I went back and rewatched it and there's some moments where he's slipping punches. Like, he looks like a professional boxer that's fighting an MMA that also now has the defensive grappling to match. Like, the swag with which he boxes, how athletic he looks when he's boxing, it makes it entertaining. And also, you add on the fact the stats that he's putting up are absolutely

ridiculous. He stays active. His fighting style is exciting. He is mostly a striker who puts up insane volume. And he has that sort of like charisma and swagger that's coming out to match. I think that people will put away the 125. You make that no way in a way treatment. Remember, he mostly fights. He's a wizard two. He's a fantastic boxer. We all love them. Superstar in Japan. He fights mostly in Japan. He only speaks Japanese. And for that reason, I don't think he has the ingredients to become a superstar. Josh Van is over here. repping a unique country in Myanmar, who doesn't have any sort of fighting lineage behind it.

So he has that massive fan base built in from that country. And then you add on the fact that H-Town, speaks English, fights in America. I'm not saying he's the next McGregor anything, but he has the potential become a star for the UFC. Yeah, I absolutely completely agree with everything you're saying there. And I think it's interesting to note that this charisma only kind of showed up this week. Yep.

Okay? Like, we've seen these situations. situations with Van where we're like, I don't know if he's quite the character that you'd want as a champion. He flipped that on his head this week, but it also shows he's listening because otherwise he wouldn't have done this this week. Like this kind of thing with Pantosha being his son appears like an apparition. But for me, and Chuck, and Chuk kind of said this on the crack on Friday, he was like, he's obviously been told. Someone's like, we need to bring more to the table in this regard. And he's done it. So, I mean, if he's open to change and he's open.

opening to be to be melded in certain ways for the benefit of the company. I think that will work really well from to G.C.'s point about Myanmar, like obviously we're not going to get a Myanmar event, right? Like, that's the one thing that would put him over. Like, it's not, I don't know if they have a few quid going. How big a star is he? How big a star is he? Okay, here's a video from Myanmar.

I mean, he's got this bar or whatever packed out. They're all going nuts when he gets his hand raised. Like, this, it has to be what? It's unbelievable. Saturday at M. By the way, to the point that G.C. was making, he also has, don't forget about the H-Town part of it, right? Maybe we don't get the Myanmar event.

But if they keep going to the, what is it, the Honda Center, I think, in Houston, what's the name of the venue? Either way. Something like that. They can keep going back to that arena. You can make them feel like a star there, too, because he has those American roots. He reps Houston until they die. So I love the idea that, like, maybe it isn't Myanmar. Maybe that's, you know, home and celebrated.

but in Houston, in the United States, here, he can still pack a crowd with probably people that are going to show up to see him. You throw Kevin Holland, maybe Derek Lewis on there, and now you've got a crazy card. To your point, PT, I was just going to say quickly about the Star Power thing and how there really wasn't that charisma beforehand. If you go back to International Fight Week last year where he puts on another fight of the year contender against Brandon Roy Val, a massive win where we're kind of like, okay, it's time for him to get a title shot. They brought him in against Pantosia, and he kind of just like stood there and smiled and they should. shook hands and he was just like, all right, yeah, cool, glad to be up here. Now fast forward 15 months later and it's just like, Pantosia's my son, I'm his daddy. Pantosia's walking by at the face off and he's like, look at this bitch, bro. I took his belt and he's not getting it

back on Saturday. He has this charisma and then when you back it up with the performance he had on Saturday, because remember, you know, however you feel about the first one, the injury and everything like that, that's the first time we've seen someone beat Pantosia in half a decade. Like, no one has been able to do that, and he went out there and put five rounds on him. It doesn't matter how you scored it. 5045 was probably a little bit egregious, maybe closer to a 48, 47, 49, 46, but he won that fight. I don't think anybody is going to argue that. Yeah, even if, like, it was with you guys, 48, 47, but it's an emphatic 4847.

Yeah. You know, I'm not coming away going, oh, well, maybe if he zigged when he zagged, like, there is, that fifth round, as you were saying on the post-foil-ho GC, it was like a nail in the coffin. It was just like, holy shit, look at what this guy's doing. What Rick was talking about earlier about Hightown and me and Mark kind of immediately started making me think about the kind of dual nationality of Ilya and how beneficial that was for him too. Right. He didn't only have Spain behind him. He had Georgia behind him. And that's huge as well.

If he can kind of get both of these fan bases popping off, which he will inevitably with these performances that he's putting in, that will very much work in his favor. and I think again part of me was kind of like well look this new charisma we saw from do we owe a lot of that to Pantosia because the situation of the first fight set him up to play a certain character here but

with Manil now coming that that is a lad who we seen with Makkaev in the past is not afraid to ham up the pre-fight ambal and I think that will play into his favour too one thing if we're looking for situations to take away from Van very hitable

just purely based on the way he fights do you want to see a guy that young getting hit that much and he most certainly will be getting hit when he fights Manila Field because he is a sensational striker and the matchup itself just thinking about they're very unique both of them with incredibly unique striking styles

it's going to be an absolute barrenner if they make that happen love that fight love the point you're making the one thing I'll say that's working in Vans' favor you said that as like a point to say like, here's some openings, right? Totally agree with you. The problem for everybody else, though,

is that there's really only one guy that can do it and it's Minot Cop. There's not a lot of dudes carrying the type of power down there at 125. Van is in the perfect division to be able to capitalize on this because the ones who carry power are very few and far between. We saw Charles Johnson be able to find the chin and do it. But those guys, it's going to be a lightning in a bottle situation. And you've got one, right? And it's the next fight that we all assume is going to be the one.

It's Manel Cop, and he's got that type of power. He's got that one hitter, quitter, one 25 power. If he clears this test, man, I see a runway where he, like, we were thinking about Pantosia and how he's going to approach Demetrius Johnson. If Van can clear cop, I think the runway is open for a run that's going to, like, put a lot of people to shame. You can't really strike with the guy because volume-wise and technique-wise, he's going to be ahead of everybody he faces.

And then as far as the grappling, he's shown that he has just a number of. enough, right? He's not a wizard, but he does just enough. And hell, he almost got Pantosia in a submission that he says that he's submitting everybody in the gym with. It's scary hours. If you're looking at 24-year-old Josh Van, my brain is like fried a little bit for the potential of Josh Van because I don't know whether he's going to be the next Holloway or he's going to be the next John Jones. Like, he has so much potential that I don't even know where to put it. It's kind of ridiculous. It's a story that I can't wait to watch play out. Like, it's just like, how far can Josh Van take this? To your all's point, it has to be cop next. There is absolutely no question

about it. The guy's on a four-fight win streak, four-fight knockout streak. He's the one guy that holds that that jewel that can get rid of Josh Van being that insane K-O power. Here he is on Twitter saying, you're all going to be surprised by how easy I make this fight look. Pizzie, you're saying, yeah, he's already starting this up. I wish cop was a little more confident too. You know, we were talking about Van. I wish cop was a little more confident. It's going to be the pre-fight build to that will be so good. It will be such a fantastic fight. It's a strikers delight. And in terms of it being made, if you look at the rankings, it's Josh Van, it's Pantosia, it's cop, it's Roy Val, it's Tyra. That would be his last four fights. He won't beat those other guys. Yeah. It's interesting.

After that, it's Hora Gucci. He can't have that. Go ahead, Pizzi. It's interesting because timing is so important for every champion. Yeah. And like, I'm the same as you guys. I'm looking through the rankings going, who is going to test this guy, and it's not that simple. Ben was making the point about sometimes you're just not going to show up and you're not going to have it. You know, that happens. We all, like, for me, I completely agree with you guys looking. Five fights. Can he, can you win five more fights?

Of course he can. But the timing thing is very interesting to me because, and I'm not saying either of these guys would beat Josh Van right now. They have not been fighting in the UFC. But just a few years ago, we had a deluge of, like, grappling heavy guys making the way towards this title, like, Makayef, like, um, Ascarascarov, the Russian Floydway, who just up and left one day.

And look, I'm not trying to say, like, if those two guys fought, they'd immediately hit him with a double leg and he'd be submitted, that is not how fights play out. But same as you guys. I'm like, if he gets through Manil, who is actually going to present an issue to him?

It becomes a story then, as old as time in combat sports, is it's actually Josh versus Josh then. Yeah. It's like, are you preparing correctly for these guys? Are you giving these guys to respect they deserve because that's when you get caught slipping in combat sports. You said it perfectly, and it's why the Demetrius Johnson record for the title defenses

is so impressive, right? Because to show up every single time and be able to do that, to be on your A game every single time, or actually, sometimes not even be on your A game, right? There's going to be nights that you show up in this sport, and you're going to be on your fucking B-minus C game, and you have to, you're hurt, you're tired, you didn't have a great camp, the weight cut was shit, and you're going to have to beat the guy in front of you. And Demetrius was so great because he had so many tools he could sign. those problems. On the fly, he was able to, no pun intended, he was able to solve those problems

and figure out how to beat opponents, even on his worst night. Joshua Van is going to be a guy who is going to have to solve those problems if he wants to chase him. But you make a great point. The only guy like that I think is absent from this conversation is Makayev. Makayev's the guy that I'm like, God, it'd be nice to see him in this mix. It'd be nice to see him in this UFC mix. And I have a feeling that Van's success is actually probably going to push for a Makai of return because they might start running out of guys the same way Pantosia did where they're like, Kai Sakora, come from another promotion and get a title shot in your UFC debut.

If Van could go on the run that Pantosia went on, which it seems like he's about to, they might have to just be like, let's bring Makaiv back. I think he could be Makaiv potentially coming back where that relationship stands with the UFC, we don't know. They're also pushing this dude Bilal Hassan very hard. They're putting on the main card of MSG. I know he's early on his career.

He's 10 and 0, but they're pushing him very hard. You mentioned Demetrius Johnson. He also mentioned how Van is just on demon time with the stats and everything. I wanted to go through. The man has already made his mark on the record book where three fights, I mean, three years into his UFC career. 13 fights, I think he's at at this point. Let's just run through a few of these stat books. Here's the updated Nate Latshaw graph.

The Joshua Van striking well ahead of Max Holloway. The numbers he's putting up, he's about to be, he's already the fastest to a thousand strikes ever. he's about to get fastest to 1500 strikes ever. The statistics that he's putting up here is absolutely insane. If he keeps up this pace, he could someday potentially maybe catch a Max Holloway. Reminder for what you're looking for here, right? Just so you understand this graph properly

for anybody's tuning in and getting a little bit lost in the weeds. You want that line that Joshua Van is on, that blue line on the left, to get straighter and straighter, but also more vertical, right? the axis on the bottom is showing how long the fight time he's been in the UFC and then the axis on the left is how many significant strikes he's getting. So a perfect line would be like straight up and down because you're getting the most amount of strikes landed in the least amount of time. That's obviously impossible, right? You can't just throw a million strikes in zero seconds.

So the more left of Max Holloway he continues to get. If he can make that gap bigger and bigger and bigger from how far left he gets from Max Holloway. Holloway, the more impressive the pace. He's, and he's already like, what is that? Like more than a third of the way there, it looks like to Max Holloway. It is crazy what he's been able to do. Max is at like 3,700. He's already at 1411.

Yeah. So he's over a third of the way there. We did show the last, this graph from Nate Latch on Twitter. Go give him a follow. We showed it on Thursday. That's great research. I was looking at BITB and someone was like, thanks for explaining graphs to us, Rick. There are people who are going to not know what.

I know, I know, I'm fucking around. Fuck off. Also, the record books, in terms of significant strikes landed, he is already number one in flyweight history. 14-11. No shit. Has Brandon More one. Holy fuck.

Number one all-time in fly-weight history. That is fucking crazy. When it comes to wins in fly-weight history, he is at 11, three behind Alessandro Panthosia. Oh, my God. Two behind Demetrius Johnson, one behind Brandon Moreno. And then when it comes to longest win streaks in fly-waters. weight history, he is tied for second with Alessandre Pancah

at 8. Absolutely insane what this guy is doing in the amount of time that he's doing it. The activity is unbelievable. The excitement of the fights is unbelievable. And I wanted to pose this question to you guys. And I think we could even push it any further. I think Josh Fan is already a top five flyweight of all time. I think you could even make an argument for top three.

Do you guys agree or disagree? Three is hard, right? All right, let's list them out. DJ and DJ nobody's arguing That's number one Pantosia's two right Yep

Yeah we agree Yep Yeah Is he better already Than like Moreno Figurado Those guys The records would say

Yes he is I also believe he has Multi-time title winners and stuff You'll I honestly believe that He has three title five wins now I know how many does How many does

Moreno and Figgie have Moreno has three And one of them was Interim against Kai Kara France And what about Figgie Probably also like two or three. I believe Figgie is only at like two or three. Yeah. Fuck man. You're drunk on recency boys, though. We have to acknowledge that. We've all been

having a few Josh fans over the weekend. And having a few Josh vans. And I would say that's why make it top five. I think top five, however you want to order it, damn. Is DJ, Pantosia, Figgy Moreno van. That's crazy. I think that's the top of it. You also gave a great thesis there beforehand with all those stats. That's GC. It's hard not to go top three after that's incredible. He's top five at worst. I'm talking. You're end his career right now. He's just like, yo, I'm jumping in the van. I'm driving off into the sunset. I'm done. I've done what I need to do 24 years old. I'm going to go be a CPA somewhere and forget this life. Crazy. Do you think his personality, the way it's going and, you know, this new ego, which again, I love, I think it's added so

much sort of fight week. It made me so much more excited for a fight that I was already dying to see. is there any way that this you know by succeeding at the rate that he is is going to blow up an ego out of control to the point where the UFC find it difficult to work with him because we've seen this before um UFC fighters obviously they get to the top of this ladder and they want more and more and more and there can be pushed back from the UFC not that there's been any evidence of this yet but the way we're talking about this guy is this is a generational fighter this is going to be a champion. He has all this potential, right, to be, to be a champion to break DJ's record, perhaps if everything goes completely according to plan. Like, could there be trouble with this guy that we thought had no personality about two weeks ago and suddenly he's shown up like the cock of the walk? I, it's definitely on the table because as you said, right, that's the, that's the arc of the UFC fighter. That's the arc of any like sport, high level sports athlete. You start to lose the motivation as the other things pull you in that direction. My answer is, I don't,

really know because we actually don't know shit about Josh Van. We know about the personality that we saw this week, but that's for the cameras. That's what this is. If he's the guy who gets in the gym relentlessly, if he's Alashandre Pantosia, who I don't think the success went to his head was preparing as hard as he prepared for this fight as the first one, people could be in trouble. People could be in trouble because he might just be that guy. If he's DJ, if he's Pantosia, if he's any of those guys, I think there's going to,

there's going to be some real trouble for the rest of the flyaway. but if he's McGregor, right, if the ambitions outside the cage start to be the thing that he's after or all of a sudden we start getting the arc of I want to go to boxing and all this stuff, yeah, maybe we do lose the plot on that.

Fuck, I wouldn't mind seeing him in boxing. Yeah, see, this is what happened. This is the fucking bullshit that happened. You're going to ruin Josh Danfrogles. Fuck you guys. You're going to ruin Josh Amphra. The reason why I asked, the reason why I asked is because

it's a history of Floyd's being disrespected. Yeah. Like, I'm not trying to say this is, this is completely one-way traffic. Josh, Josh Van, his ego's out of control after this win.

There's also, there's also like, the DJ thing, like the best fighter in the world gets traded. Then there was the whole Henry Suhudo was fighting to save the division

on multiple occasions. Yeah. Like there was genuine, like conversations where we're like, you know, if something good doesn't happen here, they're going to scrap

the whole division. They were getting rid of guys. They were just letting Floyd weights go. I think maybe Ascarasker off he was part of that call. He was incredible. He was an incredible fighter. And that's why it's just the, it's not only just him.

We've seen a lot of fighters with a lot of bravado and braggadocious nature, which I love, again, I'm trying to highlight. It's just the history of Floyd being so fragile within the UFC. That kind of gives me some pause. To talk about the disrespect and to also go back to the superstar conversation, I think without a doubt, I mean, they main evented this one. It was a massive fight, the rematch and everything like this. They main event at 331.

I think Josh Van is a main event staple now for numbered events. I think a lot of the time you see flyweight's being put second, I think you can main event with him. I mean, he was over-arming. I understand that wasn't for a title, but I think when they need a title fight, Josh Van main-eventing is not bad. I was about to say no,

and then they just realized what UFC 332 look like, and then I was like, wait a fucking minute. Of course he is. I'm not saying he's main-eventing over versus Islamakashv Michael Morales, but I'm saying, like, yeah, UFC 343 next May, it's just like, yeah, main event is Joshua Van versus. But him and cop is a Bonafoid man. It's a huge fighter.

But this is where we keep running into my thing that I don't know that people are going to get over. He's still not over Volk. He's still not over Gachi, Armin, Ilya. He's still not over Islam. Like everyone you're saying has a very lengthy tenure in the UFC. If he continues to rack up title defenses, I don't think, if he's boxing everyone's heads off and racks up six or seven title defenses I don't think people are like,

I just can't do that 125. I think there are actually some fucking weird people out there. By the way, should we just get Tuva Robles to spend please? Can we just get a rematch of that? I don't want to watch Joshua Van. Shout out to our guy, Aunt Devons, who has always been anti-flyweight and continues to be.

I think there are people out there like that. And I, look, everything we're saying about Josh Van, the English part is different, but Noia in a way is one. one of the best boxers that we've ever seen. Like, bar none, exciting, pound for pound, great, instant entertainment. And there's just something about it that people can't get behind. Fight today, day am in America, only speaks Japanese.

It's not that though, because the clips are always worth your wail. It's always worked your while to get it. I love the monster. I love the monster. I'm just making arguments for Josh Van. When it comes to his attitude, I think the real Josh Van is closer to what we saw after the fight. We saw videos of him and Pantoja hugging it out afterward. put out a tweet, like, thank you to Pantosia.

Can't tell you how much I appreciate. He's a fucking beast. He's tough to finish. He showed sportsmanship in class in victory. And I think that's, I think who he is during the press conferences and everything is an understanding of I need to build this fight. I need to create this rivalry. He feels like a guy who was humble taking the high road on things.

I don't think he's going to go out there and be Sean Strickland, Josh Hokicke, Connor McGregor, these guys. I think he's just a guy who you can talk all the shit you want. I'm going to talk it right back. So I think when Manel Cop is chirping at him, he's going to have something to say back. I think he's that type of guy. I don't think he's the guy who's trying to start the beef, but if you want the beef, I will bring it back to you.

Can we show the Van Van tweet? I mean, showing the personality. Get in the back of the van, baby. Throw up the birds. Yeah. Shout out to Josh, man. Kind of has like a bit of like just like kind of like Nate Diaz's fuck you-you-esque mentality. He is, yeah.

I'm here to fucking fight and I'm out, man. So yeah, it's going to be fascinating. to see where he goes from here. The story of Josh Van is nowhere near done being written, and I cannot wait to see how it unfolds. The potential is so crazy. The potential is so crazy. It really is. Let's go to the other side of the coin. Pantosia, obviously, one of the best flyweight careers we've ever seen. Loses the belt back in December. Yeah, there's the tweet from Josh Van. Nothing but respect. Loses the belt back in December, gets this rematch. Unfortunately, comes up short. He's getting older now. He's 36. obviously we know that it's harder to get up to a championship level at this age, at these lower weight classes.

There was the statistic for the longest time. And he won 35 and over wasn't able to get the belt back. That's obviously been broken since Alexander Volcanowski and the likes. What do we think is next for Alessandre Pantosia? I don't know. And I'm not particularly pressed to find out. Does that make sense? Whatever is next for Pantosia, I'll be happy if he's happy.

This is sounding really like I'm like, Pantosia's the way. buddy but the reality is as far as flyweight he's accomplished everything there is not more to do at flyweight the only thing that was left was that demetrius johnson like you know a title defense thing and that's now not happening we can definitively kind of put put a nail in that coffin and so do i think there are guys at flyweight that that pantosia could still walk in there and absolutely like put them in in the meat grinder absolutely like we just saw him doing it it's not like it was that long ago that he was just dispatching with everybody at flyweight. I think there's plenty of guys he could still do that with. Could he make a run at 35? Maybe, like maybe he'll have some mixed success.

It'll look like Figuero. Could he walk away and still feel like he had a fantastic career? He could do that too. I don't think there's like one great answer to be like, Alessandre Pantoja must do this. He's done so much at flyweight. He has a rock solid resume. He could walk away and everything would be fine. He could keep fighting in some fun fights and everything would be fine. The problem he's facing is he lapped the divest. He left the division. He left the vision so much on the way up to the title and then in the title defenses, everybody he's, he would potentially be matched up against is like the third time he's fighting them. So it's a bit kind of like, why?

Why bother? You know, if you're him or if you're the UFC. I don't know what he does, but I think he's still, like, losing to Josh Van in that fashion, to me is just like, okay, like you lost to Josh Van. It's fucking Josh Van. He's clearly still championship, you know, material. I think if he stays at Flyweight, Tatsuro Tira, he hasn't fought him. Sure.

A fresh matchup. Tattooo Taira needs one after also losing a Josh fan. But what do you do if he beats Taira? Basically, is he in the Max Holloway spot? Remember when Max was not able to beat Volcanowski, it was this weird situation where Max was just hanging around. He's the Joe E.B. Yeah, Joe Benavitas, Max Holloway,

where you're just like, I'm not good enough to be the number one guy. The number one guy is amazing. But I'm going to keep knocking off these contenders and you're never going to have anybody coming up. I will give you the path back to it. He fights Taira. wins that and Josh Van still retains the belt and beats Cop, he fights Cop. And then at that point, you could be like, all right, Pantosia could do another one against Van. You know what? Now that I'm

thinking about it, we are almost assuming that Josh Van continues to be the champion. What if Cop is the champion then it's like Pantosia's path to the title just opened back up? Yeah. And we're also like assuming like Pantosia loses that fight 10 times out of 10. Like it was a close fight. Yeah. It was a close fight. It was a close fight. Yeah. But here's the thing. At his age, he needs to have a long hard look in the mirror right now. He is one of the greatest flight weights of all time. I agree with all what you guys said in terms of how close the fight was, despite having an emphatic kind of feeling at the end.

If he continues to fight, he is going to be put against guys they want to bleed into the title conversation. And of course, the flip of the coin is, if he beats those guys, he's going to back in the mix there. But a lot of the time, you're going in against murderers. And a guy of his age going in against someone like Alma Boyeff, who's just loading up that right hand from the very first bell, and he's going to swing it for 15 minutes trying to take your head off.

Is that appealing at this stage? Because there is a certain way you are matched after a fight like this, and Pontosia needs to be prepared for that if he wants to come back. Yeah. Do you think he's prepared for that? Do you guys think he can hang with those guys? Not after a fight like that. Not after a fight like that.

No, no, no. I don't mean that. I mean, do you, has any, have you gotten any indication that the days of Pantosia are done? No. Or do you think he could still hang with top flyways? I think he can, I mean, he hung with the top flyweight on Saturday. I understand that he lost, but he can still hang. And he's such a determined, hardworking dude.

I just can't imagine that this is the inform. He posted on Instagram a long Rocky Balboa quote, essentially, you know, thanking all his fans for the support. And it was the, you know, it's not about how hard you get hit. It's about how hard you get hit and keep moving forward. You know, only cowards quit, everything like that. To me, it feels like he's just like, yo, I'm not going anywhere.

I'm not sure if he's got the size to go up to one. 135. We saw Finghi try to do it in the later stages of it's 125. I'm not sure if I want to see that for Pantosia. I think at this point, like, we just take some time. We just take some time to see how the division plays out, to see what's next for him. And then we'll go from there. I love Pantosia so much. He's one of my favorite guys. Not just for the... The roof weekend for you, Rick. Yeah. We can talk about that in a little bit. But not just for the way he fights, which is absolutely incredible, right? The guy who is matched up with the best striker we've seen in a long time is just like, yeah, I'll walk forward to strike with this guy. I don't

give a fuck or I'll be diving at his legs. Like he's just, he's a relentless kind of fun action fighter, but he's also got an incredible story. He's such a family man. Like he's just a, he's a role model type fighter in a sport that doesn't have very many role models. He's that type of guy. But not for nothing.

He's a guy who's recovering from a pretty gnarly injury and we don't even talk about it. That's what, that's what Pantosia is, right? He's a no excuse, this is it type of guy. He's the last guy who's going to be like, man, you know, I was really coming back from a crazy injury fighting against. against the champion, like somebody else could turn that into something, and I expect that we won't. He's just moving on.

Okay, well, speaking of injury, Joshua Vance spoke at the post-fight presser and had this to say about the status of his injuries going into the fight. Coming into this fight after the press conference in Philly, I tore my AC joint in my right shoulder and I couldn't even spar. So the last two weeks was my first time sparring. And, you know, this camp, we do nothing but cardio, you know, just running and stuff like that. And, you know what I'm saying? I got to go back there and get MRIs and get checked up.

So hopefully, nothing major. I mean, the AC joint looked to be all right on Saturday night. That's gangster shit, though. We're talking, like we were talking earlier about sometimes it's going to be a bad night, you've got to show up to the office. This is a huge, if Josh Van loses this, if Josh Van lost this fight, it would have been very easy. for the UFC and the MMA community at large to just be like, ah, it was a fluke with Pantosia.

Pantosia's back and just act like nothing happened, right? And act like Josh Vann's title reign never even happened. He put all the chips in the middle of the table knowing that that's a possibility, right? That if that happens, he gets to just move on. Josh Vans a gangster, man. Josh Vann is an absolute gangster. What a risky but bold move and paid off

because he still looked like a million bucks. And that's how you build that repertoire with the fans, Putting on fights like that, fighting through injury. It's incredible. So we'll see where both guys go from here. It's got to be the Minal Cop fight next. It's an absolute no-brainer. Please.

Let's go to the co-mate event, where the result, in my opinion, gave us the next title fight at 155. Armistarukian defeats Mauricio Huffy. At the end of the first round, four seconds left, puts an elbow completely through his face, was struggling to get takedowns. I was sort of like, oh, shit, like if this fight gets extended, and the eye of Armin Sarukian was swelling up bad.

at the end of that first round. So who knows what happens if he doesn't put this elbow through his head, but he does, jumps over the cage, immediately goes over to Dana White, daps him up, throws him down the discount, double check, puts the belt around his waist. You know, obviously goes and hugs Nina Drama after that.

But Armitz Rukin, in my opinion, put the stamp on it and said, it's my time for the title shot. Pizzi, what were your thoughts, brother? Yeah, absolutely. And same as you, I was going, oh, no, this is not going his way, which is the feeling I was getting

as we got closer to the fight Ariel constantly bringing up neon spelt with a three and stuff like that being in his corner he was you can't do more than that really like when I was thinking

about what would be a good arm and win I was like maybe he'll drag him in like you know second round exhaust him choke him out this elbow was straight from hell and he destroyed Hoofie

I thought Rick you made a brilliant point on the post-fight show in terms of we kind of had our minds made up right about how the UFC are going to match. And then they suddenly hit us with a Hokka fight. When we all

were like all the signs are pointing towards Alex Pereira, I think that is very interesting. Are they showing us their new hand? We've heard you. You don't want these immediate rematches. And therefore we'll go with Armand. One thing I thought about that when I listened to you saying this was, and I

put to both of you, Armin gets a title fight. I think we're more than likely saying goodbye to the chances of Ilya rematching Gatia at that point. And are we okay with that? I am okay with that because if what we get from that is Ilya versus Patty and Justin versus Armin and then the winners of that squaring off, I'm happy as a pig and shit. Because to your point, I do imagine that Armin wins against Gaichi and I do imagine Ilya

wins against Patty and then we get Ilya Armin, which is another fantastic fight. And then hell, maybe you could even rematch Gaichi and Patty. You can just keep running these guys over and over again after that. I'm perfectly content with Ilya not getting a rematch with Justin Gachi. I don't know that he necessarily is, but I don't, that's not one that I'm like, I need to see it. I'd be happy to see it. I want to see it. I don't need to see it.

To me, that trio is like, if we're mapping out the future fights for the UFC, that trio right there is the biggest no-brainer that if they go in another direction, I'm going to be highly disappointed. And that's Ilya versus Patty, main event it somewhere. They're two massive stars. You can easily do that. Armin versus Justin for the title and Vanneau Cop three banger fights would love to see all three of them but to me those are just like you can't make an argument otherwise in my opinion do you disagree Pizzi do you feel like you have to do that rematch at some point no no I don't but I think I think I'll yeah I'll yeah definitely and I also think that Gaiji probably even though

he didn't initially want to talk about at all I wonder how he feels about it who does he like more because he's not just in the championship brain situation. He's in the kind of legacy fight situation now. He wants one big one to go out on, is Armand that guy? We've all talked about how much of a celebrity he's become, and a lot of that is credit to him, credit the social media, not credit to the UFC.

He's going to put himself in an uneniable position with that win over Hoofie as far as we're concerned. But how does Gaichi feel about it? It's not, for some reason, the Ilya fight still. feels bigger to me, even though we've just seen Armin come off this. In terms of legacy, right? It's bigger. Well, forget legacy. He's also claimed that

Ily is just a bigger star. Illy is still a bigger star. Two things I'll say on that. One, unfortunately for Justin Gachy, it doesn't really matter much what he thinks because the UFC is going to do what's best for business. And if he doesn't want to go along with that plan, he doesn't strike me. He could just vacate, right? Yeah, I mean, they'd just be like, see you. Wow, you had a great career, Justin, like it's nice that you're putting this. He made a lot of money. You made a lot of money.

You're putting this line in the sand. That's fantastic. Ilya Tuporia versus Armand Syruki in for the vacant title. Fantastic. Justin says, I'm not fighting Ilya. Oh, okay. Breaking news. Justin Gachi has decided to vacate his lightweight belt. He's in a very unique position that he put himself in, which is good and bad. The good thing is he was able to capture a title at the end of his career. It was on a massive platform. He set him up, himself up for some big fights. The bad part for Justin Gaiti, or the unfortunate reality of that is, he still isn't a bigger star than Armin Sarukin, and he still isn't a bigger star than Iliot Toporia. And so he's still the B side. Despite the fact that he's the champion, he's still the B side in these conversations.

And so he doesn't have much, much leverage in terms of that. The UFC is going to put whoever they want in there to the point I made on the post show. I thought for a long time it looked like it was going to be Iliotiporia, and now I do not believe that it's going to be Iliotiporia, which, by the way we benefit from. It's going to be fucking Ilya versus Patty if they play their cards right. And that is unbelievable. Okay, so in the past, you know, it's been like Dana doesn't really

like Armin. We know everything that happened at UFC 311, him having to pull out and stuff like that. At the post-fight press conference, we saw the high five and him throwing the belt on and everything. Dana spoke about how Armin has improved his image in his eyes. Here's what he had to say. What did you make of his win and then, you know,

calling for the title shot right away? Yeah. And you know, I've been vocal that I wasn't crazy about, you know, some of the stuff that he's done. But you know what? When you fuck up, then you come back and you do everything the right way. I mean, he couldn't have had a better comeback after, you know, the things that he had done that I wasn't thrilled about. And then to go in and perform the way that he performed tonight.

I mean, at the end of that round, I was like, oh, shit, man, he's in for a rough night. And then boom, the elbow. incredible. Yeah, so I think the fact that Dana is giving him his flowers is an indicator that they're probably thinking title shot as well. Yeah. And why not? Like, to the point Petez he made, what more can we possibly do with Armant?

Like, the guy has done everything that deserves. And we also miss it when we're all acknowledging that it's kind of weird that Armand Serucan hasn't fought for a title yet, we must also acknowledge that he had the opportunity and got injured and had to pull out of it. And that is not the UFC's fault. That's that's Armand Sarukian's problem. That is his problem that caused this whole mess. In the time since, though, he's become a massive star, and it is finally time.

Like, it is time that we just get the Armin Surukian title shot. He was asked about who his next opponent will be. This is what Armin had to say at the post-fight press conference. If he doesn't acknowledge this performance in some way, or if he doesn't do an interview talking about, like, hey, what's, you know, how are you going to approach Armand Zerukian? Are you going to wonder if maybe he doesn't? Justin Gage?

Yeah, if he doesn't want. He never tell my name, so he's scared. And he knows, he wanted to Rufi knock me out. So it means, like, he's trying to avoid me, and he's going to try to call out Ilyatapulya or tell, like, I want to 15 million millions for Armatsarican, or I'm retired. And he's going to play around the bullshit game. And, yeah, but you see either he's going to fight me or either he's going to, he's got to leave the title, give the opportunity for the young guys.

So we have a lot of contenders right now. Would you be disappointed? You know, some fighters really say that they want to take the belt from a champion if he chooses to retire and he's had a long career, but would you be disappointed? No, I don't care, to be honest. I just want to fight for the title and become a champion, no matter who is going to be against me. So, I mean, I think even if for some reason they decided to do Justin Gaichi versus Ilya instead of booking Armin Sorokian, or if it ends up being Armin versus Ilya,

His next fight in his eyes must be for the title. That's the way right to be. That's the completely other way approach to take from him, just sit down. One thing I couldn't help would think about there. Sorry for coming off there, Rick. No. Who are you picking on that fight? Armine.

I don't know. Armine's the best lightweight on the planet in my mind. I don't know, Pete. I mean, like, the knockout was sensational. The elbow was absolutely disgusting. The inability to get the takedown for the first four and a half minutes is somewhat concerning for me. If it were to happen against Justin Gichi

and they had to stay standing, like it's a very close fight. I don't know who I would pick. I've got Armin. Who do you guys think that Gaci has fought? Sorry, the Armin has fought that simulates in any way the kind of fight that Justin Gagy brings,

which I think was the fatal flaw of Ilya going into this fight. He's like, I'm going to fight the way I always fight, puck the head off this lad, and eventually he'll fall. No one. At the end of that second round, you're just like, oh, no.

Yeah, no one is the answer. He's angry now, actually. It's even worse, you know what I mean? Maybe Charles. Maybe Charles is the best comparison for a guy that, like, you don't necessarily want to go to the ground with, who's wild, who's very aggressive on the feet. Not for nothing, though. We must not forget. The dude fought a competitive fight with Islam Makachev.

I know it's not Islam of now. I know this was years ago. But the dude, it's not, like, the booking with Islam was not the first time he was going to fight Islam. He fought Islam. Arm is a bad boy, man. And I don't think this idea that, like, it's one round. And God, do we love to make something out of one round

and turn it into like, Armine was never going to take down hoofy? It was foregone conclusion. No doubt. It looked bad. It looked bad. He went one for 10. He was not. And the one was right back up.

But you do remember that this is a five-round fight, and Armin knows that as well. He's not blowing out his gas tank trying to get him down. He's not selling out for this. I mean, we saw Hamza kind of gas himself out trying to get Sean Strickland down in a certain capacity. But I say all that to say, I don't think Armin is sunk on the feet

against Justin Geichi. I think he'll actually be quite competitive on the feet with Justin Gehche. And when it comes to the grappling, look, Justin Gehche dumps, we know this and he put it on Ilya. We know. We know.

And Patty. I get it. I get it. I think Armin. A beating like no other. Like when Gehchey fucks you up, you have never been. It's like Josh Van,

but Josh Van has bricks for hands. Like it's just like the thumping he puts on these people And I'm not sure Armin is equipped to hang with that On the feet That's what I'm saying I don't know who I would pick But fuck do I want to see the fight

Now I'm like you can't fucking vacate this title Justin I need to see this now I need to see this show It's so crazy how fast this sport moves And how much of a what have you done For me lately sport today If we were talking about Justin Gaci Two years ago

It would have been put that dude out back And get the gun at two years ago. Nine months ago, it's like interim title shot for this fucking guy, are you kidding me? And now here he is. Massive underdog.

You guys are like, massive underdog. Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, we're like enamored because of the two results that we saw. He beat the fucking shit out of Patty Pemblech. And then he fought Ilya Taboria, who was at God tier status unbeatability. And he beat the shit out of him, made him quit on the stool.

Like, he's put in two unbelievable performances. Who's to say he can't put in a third against Armist-Ruchian? That's why I want to see the fight. I'm not counting them out. And if I've learned anything on Saturday, it's don't count anyone out, bro. Don't count anyone out. But, but, but I say that to say, there's also the Habib tape, right?

There's also the guy who went in there and just committed to the grappling and twisted him into a pretzel that he had no answers for. Like, it's not, it's not out of the question. And our men- Max-Hawley starched him. Well, Max is a different type of sauce, right? Like, that's just a guy who Justin Gachie wants to stand with and you are not better at standing than Max Holloway is.

that's just the unfortunate truth for Justin Gachi. And also, Max has a god to your chin. So it's like when you're trying to thump on him, you just really can't, unless you're Elliot Sephora, you colds them. But Armin, man, Armin is a level of grappling. And I know that Huffy was able to thwart some of the takedown attempts. And I know that Hufi put in good work to be able to do that. I think over the course of a five-round fight that I do think Armin is going to be able

to find a way to get Gachie down and control Gachie and end up doing what he wants to do. But I'm not sure. and I want to see it, and I think it's a super fun fight. I would, I would rather see Iliot Toporia versus Armin, if I'm being completely honest, but I like that fight as well. There's no bad options up here. Patty versus any of these guys is fantastic. Is there a loin yet, G.C?

Is there a loin out there, four-arman on it? I'm actually positive that I could find one. If you guys want to talk amongst yourselves, I'll find it. I'll find it right now. Here's the thing, like, we keep talking about the lack of grappling success, that Armin had against Huffy. If he doesn't fail and all, if he doesn't attempt those takedowns,

I don't think he gets that. That's right. That's right. It's like he's made Huffy believe the only threat is a takedown to the point where he's left himself open for this home run. And that's the brilliance of Armin too.

Like in the moment, realizing, right, I'm not having success here. But he's biting on these. He is defending every one of these like his life depends on it. If I faint low and go high, I could have a dramatic

and spectacular results. Did we imagine that he could be that spectacular? Probably not. Well, it all worked out around in the end. To me, he's the closest analog that we have, the closest comparison that we have to Islam, right? He's a guy who his strength is the grappling. And if you get into the grappling with him,

you're not going to be in good shape. But if he's not in the grappling, I think he's so competent and incapable on the feet or fine strikes that sometimes finish people that it creates this really difficult thing for you to be able to solve. Right. And now there's people who are going to be able to upset the entire thing and get him off his game.

But most of the time he's going to be in such a good position that you're more worried about what he's going to do than he's worried about what you're going to do. And Islam is the per, like Islam is the A plus plus number one version of that. It doesn't matter what the fuck you want to do because I'm always going to do what I want to do. He's kind of a version of that. And I'm going to be interested to see if Gachie can solve that puzzle. Okay. I've located lines for both the potential fights. Let's start with the Armand, Justin Gachey.

Guess the line? I'm going to say, all right, Risency Boyers, I'm going to pretend the bookmakers also have a bit of that going on. I want to say minus 180. I got him like 250. Minus 450. Yeah, that's, now that's actually nuts, though. Justin plus 350.

That's actually crazy. How about Josh Van Menaal Ka? Van. Minus 150, Van. Man, I don't know if Cop's going to get that. He was minus 150 against Pantosia, so I'm going, I'll go 250 on that too. Minus 110 each way.

What? Going flip. Yeah. Hold on a second. That is the fight. That is what the fight is. Trust in the power of Manel Cobb. You talked about Josh Van gets hit.

They trust in the power of Minow. He's a bigger favorite against Pantosia? Yeah. Not just going off that injury, he's 36. Manel Cop. No, four straight knockouts. Do we even know if Manel Cop's going to make weight for this fight? Are we even sure about that?

This stuff is on negative, all right? All right. Well, that's a fun one. Yeah. I like two sides of each of those. We talk about the superstar power of Josh Vann. Superstar power of Armand Sarukian. Look at him up there on that dais with the red suit, the sunglasses. Is that a Richard Millie, white?

Like, it was unbelievable. He's walking out with the streamer Neon, who I'm familiar with him, never sat down to watch it. I think I need to tap in, but he obviously has a massive, massive audience. Armin talked about having neon in his cormor, and I think he walked. He walked out to Neon's song? He did. Something like an Indian? She wants an Indian or something?

He walked out to it, and then it transitioned into his normal. Okay, all right. Here's what Armin had to say about the Neon being in his corner for this fight. What did Neon think of his whole experience being in your corner? Neon, he called the Albo, and I heard it, and I did it. So great, great cornerman, and who wants to bring him in the corner, you should take him, but you've got to pay me. Last one for me. What was the, I guess, how did Hamzot, like, deal with Neon?

Like, what was there back and forth in preparation? They started wrestling together. No, I'm kidding. Hamzad was focusing. It was serious before the fight, so nobody was laughing. And Neon was quiet. And so, you know, when you go to the fight, know it's a fighting business you know you cannot like do some crazy things and neon smart guy and

he's smart when when the comedy's turn off and the commerce turn on his he's uh he does his performance always do you think you could talk him into doing r a f yeah next one is raf on neon but we got to change his color over the hair uh first of all brilliant questions from hose young's there with uh how did homie out of neon react together. I was curious myself. As soon as I heard it, I was like, yeah, could you imagine? Also, the answer of, the answer of neon called for the elbow.

Yeah, called for the elbow. So he threw it. Just like, man, he's a great corner man. I've got one question. Please. I want both of you guys to weigh in. And ever since this neon thing, right? Like, I've seen the guy.

I know he is. He's very famous guy. You know, hugely successful. How, who, do you think Armin, made like I can't believe there wasn't a transaction involved here for this guy to be coming out with him right so do you think armand made more money off neon than he did off the UFC on that fight night song walk out big him up afterwards this guy is a is a millionaire right like he is wildly successful dude how much money do you think you get for bringing an entourage like that

with you maybe I'm naive maybe I actually don't think it's a monetary transaction in that regard right? I don't think that he paid specifically to be in the corner. This is just a collab post on Instagram?

That's what it is. The transaction that they're making is like, Armine, yeah, and Kick. That Armin is in

Neon's content and Nina Drama's content. And Nina Drama and neon are in Armin's content. And neon and Armin are in Nina drama's content. And they've created

this kind of like web of collaboration. Like think about like what we're seeing with King Green and Arnold Barber Boza Jr. and then like Dean the Great and

Adrian Broner. In Rampage. Everybody's kicking now. They're all streaming. You're all kind of just like sharing the resources. Like a Lutang clan of content crew. That's exactly what it is. The Wooten clan is Nina Armin and Niyadh. The new Wutan clan. Yeah, the new Wutang clan. That's what they're calling it.

To the point where Armin actually tweeted out at Huffy and everything he said, you just got you just got beat by a streamer, essentially just like talking shit how he's made his way. Yeah, title shot secured. You just got slept by his streamer. Obviously, he's done...

There's still, there's a few quit here. There's a few quit involved. I don't think so. I'm naive. I think there's got to be getting some of the... Well, no, didn't Neon say he was going to pay him $200K if he walked out to his song? Yeah, but that's a different transaction. Armin loves the bag.

No, no, no, no. I said song, I said, did he make more money off neon or the UFC that night? That was the question. We know Armin loves a bag, too. He's like, yeah, of course I will. Can we talk about how unserious it is that he's walking out with a streamer to a streamer song? Like the risk there involved of it, it was the other way around it. He had gotten knocked out by Maricio Hoofy.

It's just like, Rose got a streamer in his corner. He's got the walkout song by him. It was a risk, but, I mean, it ended up paying off. Not only that, but Neon's the one who calls for the elbow? You know, it's all upside. I imagine that happened. I imagine that actually happened. We talked about the superstar power.

The red suit, the sunglasses, the watch and everything. It just came to me while we were watching that. Oh. That was the post-fight fit. Remember, he walked in in the perfectly tailored, double-breasted. I believe we have the picture. I mean, this was the walk-in fit. Wow.

And then you've got the red ready for the after party and the post-fight presser and everything. The guys got the superstar under him. It was great to hear that Armenian crowd going crazy for him. Do we have the Kalshiads for... Wait, before we get to that. Oh, yeah, yeah. Don't put up the Kalshads yet. Editor-in-Chief of Un-Krown, Shihinau Shadhi.

Absolutely legend drops in. Legend. I don't know the source on this. Maybe Un-Crown was. able to confirm this, but streamer neon paid Arm and Suruki $50,000 in a handshake deal

to secure a spot in the corner. The arrangement also included a separate $200,000 payout for Syruki to use a month. Quarter of a million. That's what he got. I think he probably got more from the U.S. Content sharing.

Moybolic's Rick. Content sharing, mohybolic. I think he got more from the UFC. But he still made quite a bit from neon. So fair play. Pizzi was right. How much you think he got from the UFC? Hang on. Whoa.

Didn't they disclose the purses? He didn't they disclose the purses. He made it at least. that from Disclose purse? What was it, $250K? Yeah, I mean, I would imagine. Here it is. Armand Sarukian, $350,000.

Yeah. So we got a lot of money. That's just disclosed. It's just that neon in his fucking corner and play. She wants to be with an Indian for a few seconds, and you're almost matching your purse? That ain't a bad night in the office. All right, the Kalsiyadh's for lightweight champion at the end of 2027. Armand Sarukian has now jumped in to the driver's seat, 34%.

Justin Gage, 16, Elliott, I'm 14. Jesus, Justin, just constantly disrespect. Yeah. I mean, the chances of him hanging around for another, what, 16 months, I can't imagine he's going to still have the belt then, but we'll see. Armist Rukin. My idea with Gaichi was,

it was all set up, like, in his mind, he was like, right, I'm going to fight Paddy, and then I'll get to fight for the title. You know, I'll be coming interim, then fight for the title, and then I'm going to fight McGregor, and that's when I'm going to retire. So that's just the thing for me. That's the one wild card here

But he's not No, obviously not Like he's not obviously doing that But obviously he wanted that massive farewell I mean actually What if he just vacated the title And they fought McGregor What if it was just like

Fuck, you can have the belt I don't care It's my last fight Let me go fight McGregor for the money weight belt That's not a horrible idea It must be Holloway Quote unquote Yeah I mean

I don't like that It was supposed to be Chandler I don't like that fight for Connor That's uh I don't like I need a lot. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you there, Pete. So yeah, Armand's Rukian. It doesn't make sense for the UFC, by the way, because you want to build somebody on the that's why the Holloway fight never really made that much sense for me anyway, but you want to

build somebody on the back of Connor before he walks out the door. So you don't want it to be Gaichi, who also might be like, see ya, thanks for the, thanks for the cheese. You want to do like a patty. You want to do like an Ilya. You want to do somebody that you can build on with Connor. But we'll see. That's a long ways away. That's a long ways away. brief the featured bout of the evening, Patricio Pipple in a massive underdog win spot against Du Ho Choi's best performance in the UFC gets the finish. First round kind of froze Du Ho Choi for a bit and then ended up finishing him. It was beautiful. It's unfortunate that Pipples 39 right now. It kind of feels like the game has passed him by a touch and he came to the UFC just a bit too late, but

an unbelievable performance nonetheless. I fell victim to the thing that I would have been doing ever since Patricio Pitbull's sign, it was like, all these casuals, you know, they don't know what people's all about. And this fight gets made, and I'm like,

nah, he can't fucking win this. That's a disaster. Has it looked great. He's going to get melted by Superboy, mid-30 Superboy, and, you know,

shoot me right the foot. I was out making T-Lats. That's always like, this is going decision. Do who Choi, he'll be tapping away. I was like, just going to stick the kettle on here.

And I was like, oh my God. Saw him enter Shadow Realm standing. And then, down. The unfortunate part of the timing was also that it was following the biggest upset in UFC history and the thing that kind of rocked the world. So I think everybody needed a moment to recover. Whether it be going to the kettle of making tea or not, you're kind of just like, you're blank. You're just checked out why that fight is happening. Yeah, they could have put on the best

fight of the year, but the whole time in your head, you're just like, holy shit, I cannot believe that just happened. And that holy shit that we're talking about is Sean Sheriff knocking out Gable Steveson in 12 seconds. And before we get into this, I just want to say, Rick, we kind of banded together here. Pizzi sent over a few quid, everyone in the back. Oh? Put their money together, and we got you a gift. Call it an early birthday present.

But we figured that, you know, you could use this now that what happened on Saturday night. Go ahead, roll it out, put it on. Come on, make sure you got it on. Yep, your very own Sean Sheriff, the Smoke T-shirt, B. baby. Thank you for this. I'm not going to... Your newest favorite heavyweight

because if Gable Steeveson was ready for Sergei Pavlovich, Sergey Spievec, fuck, give him Tom Aspiron, give him Cyril gone, make him a minus a thousand favorite. If he was ready for that, just how good is Sean Sheriff?

You have to put it on. Come on, man. We need Rick to be completely honest. No, I do have to, I have some... Pete, I have some things to say, but let me... I want to know. Yes, tell me.

How confident you felt. in the aftermath of Robelis v. Taito Ivasa that your boy was going to come in here and show us a whole new generation of heavyweight fighting because I got that feeling, Rick. Let me actually just stop you. Okay, everybody has something to say except for me. Keep going. Because I actually have a video to play because we can see just how confident Rick was. Okay, so we happened to be on a live stream when it happened. Here is me and Rick's reaction beforehand.

And if we could leave our mics up just to have commentary, here it is. Okay, okay, okay. Guys, we're about to get a Sean Sharaf. Great training his referee. There we go. No big deal, Sean Shrap Masterclass. I don't expect. I have a few things.

To learn much here. But here we will see. Sean Sheriff, Gable Steven, where were you? Where were you? For this is a story of all. Oh, huge left by Sheriff. Gable is out. It's over.

Gable Steven absolutely out cold. Sean Sheriff as a massive underdog. Completely sparks. Gable Steveson. That is not frozen. That's actually me. The slow roll was not slow enough. Gable Steveson, first MMA lost, Sean Sheriff, incredibly emotional in the Octagon.

New York, Rick, number one Gable Glazer, absolutely speechless. I have no recollection of you saying any of this. Rick was wondering why Gable was not fighting an MSG. Anything you just said there? I heard for the first time just now. All right, a few things I want to say. Just put a screenshot of that back up. I don't want to play the video.

I just want to see something on that. Shout out to Kell in the uncrowned social team, who did me as dirty as humanly possible with New York Grinch was speechless when his boy, Gable got C-O'd, making it sound like me and Gable are like homies. That's your boy, bro. That's your boy. Wow. Okay.

We must acknowledge. That's your guy. You're guy. We must acknowledge, though, number one, Gable Glazer. I have many things to say. Let me, let me speak to the people out there. there because there are many who have tuned in to say, it's time for New York to shout out to Sean Sheriff.

It's time for New York Rick to eat the crow. Hand up. Oh, what do we got? Hungry. Damn, I didn't even know we took a picture of Rick at lunch. Yo, let's go. I just got lightheaded just now because I was laughing so hard. I thought we were saving this for Thursday, but let's see how many more surprises you got for me.

Okay. Hand up. Dead wrong. Dead, dead, dead, dead. dead wrong. As much Crowe as can possibly be eaten, I was dead wrong. Gable Steven wasn't ready for any of these guys. It was premature. It was misguided. It was absolutely silly for me to think that Gable was on that level. And there's a few reasons why. There's a few reasons why. There's some actual explanation kind of required here. First things first, I think we can't overreact.

And that's to say that like in heavyweight MMA, anybody can kind of get caught in this type of scenario. Like it's just the reality. It's very, very big men swinging small gloves. But in saying that, you must also on the other side of it say, if you are the prospect that we believe you to be, you can't be in that scenario. You can't be getting knocked out. And whether that's you're too cocky because you're not shooting for takedowns and you're trying to stand with people regardless, whether it be you're not prepping the proper way, whether it be you're not prepping the proper way, whether it be questions about your attitude and your mental toughness, there is no way that the guy that I had projected him to be would be losing to Sean Sheriff in his fifth fight. Regardless of the fact

that it's only his fifth fight, the guy that I had built up, the guy that I was saying he was, is just not the guy he was. You cannot lose that fight and you cannot lose that fight in that way. Now, looking forward and kind of talking about Gable Stephson's future, I am very low on on Gable Steven's future for a few reasons. And it's not because he got knocked out. It's not because a guy in Sean Sheriff who should not be able to knock him out, knock them out. It's in how he handled himself all fight week.

Starting with just coming into it, acting like he's bigger than it, he's above it. Sean Sheriff's lucky to be there. Now, that's probably what you should be feeling if you're an Olympic gold medalist going against a guy who's 0 and 2 in the UFC. But the fact that you're like focused on that and acknowledging that is one thing. combine that with the fact that when Sean Sheriff mentioned the sexual assault allegations against him, it clearly bothered him, right? He was able to get under his skin. And I thought the way he responded to that was just a masterclass in doing everything wrong.

Instead of coming out and being like vociferously denying and being like, that's that's bullshit. That's, you know, not what happened. He kind of like hoped it would go away or kind of talked around it. It's just not the type of thing you would want to see from somebody. who you have high aspirations for on how they're supposed to handle this type of scenario. Now, I think we saw in the aftermath of the fight,

Sean Sheriff was a little bit more respectful and was obviously trying to do it to get under his skin, but it worked. It was very clear that he wasn't ready for that moment. And you would expect differently of somebody who had competed in the Olympics and won a gold medal. Like, you're talking about a guy who has competed at the highest levels. You would want

to see more mental fortitude, and it was clear as the fight week played out that that was not there, that there was something lacking there, that there wasn't that mental fortitude that I maybe had anticipated him having. And then you get to the fight itself, you get knocked out. Again, that's the least of my things that I'm factoring into when I'm like, I don't think Gable's the guy. It's not the knockout. That's the least of it. It's the aftermath. When you get knocked out and it's your lowest moment to not be able to stand there in the octagon and look that man

in the face and shake his hand and say, congratulations, instead of slinking away. Now, granted, we didn't see every moment from when Gable comes to and then walks out. but I don't believe that there was any kind of like exchange and not for nothing. You have to be standing there when the guy gets his hand raised. He slinks out. He's doing the thing where it's like, I don't want to be here anymore. I have really serious concerns about what Gable's like long term future is. And again, it is not the knockout part.

It's the part of like, are you mentally fit for what is about to come your way? Because the stuff that was happening with the loophole talk and all this stuff that was getting him triggered online is going to intensify 10fold, 20 fold, 100 fold. It's going to be low, low, low, low, low moments for Gable Stephson right now. And the community's never going to let him hear the end of it. The memes of him getting knocked out. They are never going to stop. And he has to now look in the mirror and go, okay, it was bad heading into the fight week. It's going to be 100 times worse.

What do I even want to do this for? And if you're the type of guy who slinks your way out of the cage after, I'm not sure that you're ready to face that. And so I have completely adjusted my ceiling on that no matter how good an athlete it is. I thought the mental fortitude, the guy who was able to conquer the crucible, that is the Olympics, was going to be better prepared for this, and he just wasn't. And I'm truly concerned about what we get next from Gable Steven. If you have concerns now, I mean, the road back to even where he was at is miles and miles and miles far away. Because I know you mentioned your not. It doesn't exist.

It doesn't exist. It's so long. I mean, you talk about you're not concerned about the knockout. I am concerned about the knockout. Sean Sheriff is the star of the week. I understand that. But he was 0-2 in the UFC coming into this being finished by Atfa brother and Stephen Aspland. It wasn't like he was a world-beater and Gable Stevens fell short. I'm worried about the skill.

I'm worried about the chin. I'm worried about the mentality. I'm worried about all of it when it comes to the future of his career. So then you talk about the road to not only to get back into contention of maybe even fighting ranked opponents and then heavyweight title contention, that's years away. That is fights and fights and fights away. If ever. If ever, and then to win back any sort of fandom, we are galaxies away from that.

I mean, this was a hate watch on levels we haven't seen among the MMA community. I've never seen it celebrated so much when a guy went out like that. It's hard to believe he's going to be able to take that road back if we're wondering about his mentality right now after his first MMA loss. Yeah, PT, what did you make of that? Well, as you said, like, what's the referee? please protect yourself at all times, defend yourself at all times. You couldn't do it at the press comments. Couldn't do it in the fight, couldn't do it after the fight.

I don't know how any fighter who is matched with Gable, Steven, doesn't bring this up immediately. Yep. Because there is no way you can't tell me that that didn't have a massively profound effect on him. And I was thinking about this, why is it that the fan base were so against Gable? When we've seen fighters in different situations where it's not, they're almost, you can see pockets of the,

the fan base are so defensive. They're far more defensive with our fighters, like a McGregor in this situation. The whole fight week, I was talking about this stuff, the feeling in Ireland. And a lot of it was just like people like, I don't want to fucking hear about this, mate.

I'm getting excited for this fight. I think the fact that he didn't defend himself was a massive part of that. And I'm glad you brought that up at the start. At no stage was he saying, this categorically didn't happen, anything like that. And I would also say that,

like, McGregor's things were far more well known within the M.A. community than Gables. I think a lot of people found out about this. I know Ben spoke about this. A lot of people found out about it on this fight week. You know, this is the first time they heard about it. They Google loophole after it was said by Sheriff and they found out that way. What G.C. said earlier in terms of getting him back to this point, he cannot return to this point. It's gone. It is absolutely gone. He will never be held in the esteem that he was ahead of this fight, ahead of his debut, all of that kind of stuff. And it reminds me of Rousey.

in terms of how she reacted to the Holly home knockout. The public want their pound of flesh. Yeah. We know that. We don't give a shit what you say. Say something. Well done, Sean. You're the better man won tonight.

Something like that. That's all we want. He did not give it to them. And I don't think there's a way back to him being this Uber prospect. He's a brilliant skill set. But you don't do press conferences when you're wrestling over a gold medal at the Olympics. Not to that extent. You don't.

When it comes to the fan base and the questions around why he is, you know, why people were celebrating so much. I think the formula is easy to find out. It's the allegations, a lot of people reading about that and just going to naturally dislike him because of that. The expectation and the hype placed on him, this guy's fucking incredible. Olympic gold medalist, you know, Rick was saying,

he's going to fight for a title, he's going to be that next guy. You have John Jones coming out in the camp. People want to see a hype train derailed. When the guy is only 4-0 and he's being crowned the next best heavyweight, people are like, man, fuck that. You're on minus 2,200? How great would it be to see you knocked out?

And then lastly, a lot of it comes down to him. You talk about Connor McGregor. Connor McGregor was already an established star. That's very different than coming into the game. Connor McGregor is also a charismatic, likeable character when it comes to the space of getting at the press conferences, the microphones, the motivational tactics, as he was on his rise to stardom.

There's nostalgia for him. Yeah, he also accomplished shit in this sport. This is MMA. This is not wrestling. Gable Stephson feels like he barely has a charismatic bone in his body. It feels like he's almost cos-playing John Jones a little bit. That video that came out of them in the car beforehand, and John's like, you can hear John Jones have like his sort of swagger to it. He's just like, cruising around L.A., about to go catch a head.

We're here on a business trip. And Gable's just like, yeah, man. He's like, how you feeling, champ? He's just like, good, boss. Uh-huh. And like at the press conference, like, he's just like kind of, to your point, he never is denying the allegations. That's a huge factor right there. It's just like, if you didn't do that, bro, say you didn't do it.

And he's just kind of like, that one shot of him looking up at the lights while he's just like, you're a rapist. And he's just like, it's just like there's a good one, man. There's just like no charisma and likability behind him. So you add all of that together. People wanted to see this happen. And then on the other side, Sean Choraph, military vet, $600,000 in debt needs this story, needs this to happen back against the wall he's hungry. To me, it's a no-brainer why the community is reacting like that. No, I think you laid out everything perfectly.

and that was what I was going to say was we had a history with Connor McGregor or John Jones or any of these characters, right? A lot of goodwill. Yeah, they built up something. They existed before this. Gable Stephson, nobody really knows much about him as far as the MMA space to the point that you made.

People were discovering this story now. And by the way, this is not a new story. This is a story that is seven years. 2019. Yeah, exactly. So seven years in the past, it's not like this just happened. People just didn't know.

And now there was so much attention around it, we were exposed to it. So I think a lot of people were just like, oh, really, that's that guy, fuck that guy. I will admit, I was a little surprised it translated offline that the fact that it wasn't just like social media. When he's walking into buildings getting booed, I was like, oh shit. This is going to be something for Gable Steven. And that's why I said all that at the top to say, it's about to get 100 times worse. And if this guy's not built for this, I don't know how that's going to go because this is going to crush somebody who's mentally weak.

Like this is going to absolutely destroy them. He would crush somebody who's not mentally weak. Yeah, you're right. The toughest. If he thought he got hate before this, dude, it's going to be unreal. Now the spotlight has come on to him of getting knocked out, biggest favorite to ever lose in UFC history,

minus 2,200, everything like that. The spotlight is now, next time he fights, it's just going to be the Sean Sheriff memes. It's just going to be calling it out. Now everybody's familiar with the allegations and everything. It's only going to get worse. And if he loses the next fight, it might just be, it might,

we might be talking about how many more. Or can he go after that? It might be Curtis. Oh, I mean, I think there's no next fight. Yeah. There's a chance. I don't. I don't.

I think he fights again. I think the path forward for Gable is success, right? The only way he can beat any of this. The only way that he outruns this thing. And to Pizzi's point, right, I think he was trying to outrun the allegation stuff, right? In the sense that if I don't say anything, if I don't say anything, it's going to disappear. It's just going to go away. And then when Sean Sheriff was like, no, fuck that.

I'm saying it. I don't think he was prepared for that. outcome. So he was just kind of like, and then there was that interview. There was a backstage one. I'm forgetting who it's with. Forgive me. But he said something to like, if something had happened, yeah, the Aaron Bronsetter interviewer, he's like, he's just talking around it. And that's the absolute last way you can handle that. That's the absolute last thing you want to see. It just felt like a guy who thought he was going to come in as a highly touted prospect, had people like me being like, that's a future champion based on the on the pedigree. And he was not prepared for what happens if that

doesn't go that way, for what happens if the people go, no, actually, like, we love. We love. looked it up and actually, wait, wait a minute, this is what happened to you. And he just wasn't ready for that, right? The athletics are aside from that. That can exist. And I still don't think he was ready for that, despite that. The way he does move forward from here, though, is he has to be successful. That's the only way that this is going to even change a tiny bit. His next fight, he has to win and he has to win impressively. And then the one after that, he has to win and win impressively. Does the noise ever go away? I don't think so. I don't think the noise ever goes away. Odds on his opponent, not.

saying this in the lead-up to his next five very low it very low it completely changed however like and just like i know you gave the flowers to shower off in the in the in a half amount of this fight but amazing like this is like a 30 for 30 that took over the course of three days it's so the the catch right the thing that gets us involved like who is this guy he couldn't find anyone this week nobody would have not the difference right he says the he calls him a rapist at the press comments and then you're suddenly like oh well maybe this is what this guy does you know maybe this is his thing. But then he develops this thing about being almost bankrupt, about his mother, about

wanting her to retire. Sean Strickland then puts out those tweets later on about him sleeping on a mattress or looking for an air mattress. Just an unbelievable story and just why we love this sport. This is the perfect... He's the antithesis. He's the perfect person. Here it is.

Sean Strickland talking about three weeks before he slept Gable. He's literally sleeping on a floor talking about how he's going to hit Walmart for an air mattress tomorrow. Like, I mean, we're talking about the guy, he's posting pictures on September 10th of his bank account. That's 11 days ago. $688,146 in debt. I don't even know how you get to that point. Ariel said it in his recap. He was just like, they booked Gable against the wrong opponent because they booked someone who's starving, who has their back against the wall, who needed this like they needed air. And we see that now in Sean Traraf. And he posted some great stuff before that of his career with the Marines, of how he met Kane Velasquez and all these other

MMA idols that got him into the sport and everything like that. And he called his shot the whole week that he was going to do it. He was like, I'm going to knock Gabriel Steven out. I'm going to do it for the people. And that's how it's going to happen. It's unbelievable. And it changed his life overnight. We're talking about everything for Gable. His life is altered forever. His mixed martial artist art career, especially. But Sean Choraf changed his entire life. I believe we have his Instagram page. He had 22,000 followers before the fight, he's now up to like 160,000. He is the biggest name coming out of this event, like without a doubt. I honestly, like, he was 0-2 in the UFC before this fighting guys like, Jr. Tava and Stephen Aspland. I think they probably book him again on

a numbered event main card. If not that. It's actually answered to the question that you posed, how do we keep Toy Tuwifasa around? I've got a... They were supposed to fight. They were supposed to fight in Australia last year. We can get into keeping Tai Tai Tai Tai Wausa around in a second. I'm not so sure about that one. We talked about Gable getting an F for this week, right?

Again, the knockout makes it already, like you're operating in a very bad position. But just the way he handled it was an F. For Sheriff, A plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, plus, right? Like, it's like, you can't. not do it better than calling out the things that everybody wants to hear called out and kind of like rallying the community behind. You can't do it better than like people learning a little bit about your story and looking at you as this like lovable underdog. You can't do it better than icing the dude completely like meme worthy knockout 12 seconds.

Mean worthy. You can't do it better than being humble in victory afterwards and kind of like showing people about, you know, doing a prayer for your father and the religion and all this stuff that he's doing, like, from the yin and the yang, the opposite sides of the spectrum, you can't be more highly touted and have delivered more of an F than Gable Stevenson, and you can't be more of an underdog that nobody thought should even be here and then deliver an A plus than Sean Sheriff. It was just perfect polar opposites. I mean, I think there's no way that he's like booked on like the prelims of an Apex card. I don't know about main card paper view, but he'll be like in a good spot.

People will be like, that's Sean Sheriff. be looked after. They looked after him. Yeah. Not for nothing. I think it's a good thing that a guy did that at a press conference. I think a lot of times, you know, you're looking back at the Soroni fight, the Holloway fight. I remember Chuck saying ahead of the hallway fight, like they've actually cast Max Perp for the year because there's no way he wants to get into an egritty about what's happened with McGregor and stuff.

I don't know if we've ever seen someone do something like that that sheriff did at the press conference. And, you know, MMA gets shit about, you know, right back to the Greg Hardy days, things like that. I don't think that was a bad thing at all for M.A. to have a guy standing up there calling Gable out for something that a lot of people have an opinion on, you know what I mean? Two points coming out from that, Ptze. You're right. He put all his cards on the table and he took the risk there going at Gable that way. Secondly, even if Max had done that, he would not have gone the same way as Gable.

What was the quote from International Fight Week, PT, about any of the allegations? You know, like, this is against the Lord to make these against people. Lying lips are an abomination of the Lord. Lying lips are an abomination of the Lord. Anything that they're saying is a lie. None of this happened is how he responded. Gable's like, something may or may not have taken place. I do think it's important also while we're talking about this to talk about some of the facts, right, in terms of this.

He's going to be compared to McGregor, right? We're always going to compare to McGregor. There is a big difference in terms of McGregor being found civilly liable for something. And also Gable Stephson, who was accused of something and then there were no charges against them after that, right? Like, we must, like, at least lay out the facts in terms of this. And no civil and no civil penalties or anything like that. And there are, there's information that you can look into and why people say the loophole thing, because there was something in the Minnesota law. There's a lot of, there's a lot more to this here than the MMA community has kind of like

latched onto. But I do think it's important to just acknowledge, like, we're talking about two different things when it comes to Gable Stinson and McGregor. We are, but they are compared, obviously, because of the nature of the case and because of the allegations, right? But it is important to note, We can't just say like Gable Stephson is in the same boat. There's there's a difference here. But at the same time, to Pizzi's point, what are the chances that opponents don't want to say that? And when it came to McGregor,

Max Holloway's not the guy who's going to be sitting there doing that. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Gable because I just have no concept of what could possibly happen here, where his head's at, what he even, what he even wants. Who knows? But do you not think that there's a world where Gable Steve, like this is the problem where I think there's a possible. overreaction.

Gable Stevenson could beat Sean Sheriff. He can beat Sean Sheriff. And so this will now make people think that like Gable Stevenson will never win another fight. And now maybe he won't, right? Maybe he's mentally broken from this to the point that he can't recover. But there is the reality of MMA, which was like this was an incredible flash in the pan, lightning strike moment.

That's incredible. But on like Sean Sheriff is losing two guys that are not of the caliber of athlete of Gable Stevenson. It's, A, what makes this sport so fucking exciting and so incredible is that a Sean Shiref can beat a Gable Steeveson on any given night. But there can be an overreaction to think that like Gable Steven is just like not good at all, right? Like he's just not, he's not capable of anything. But he's still- Physically he's capable of being champion.

But what you said, mental. Mental. It's such a massive, massive part of fighting that people overlook. And he completely folded. Yeah. You know, I haven't seen such a. a visible kind of foul from a fighter. But again, come fighting, now, you're like,

well, this guy is such a physical freak. There's still no way this can happen. But we've learned from this fight that his mentality can be, can have an impact on his performance. That's the big thing that we learned here. He was thrown off his game completely by this. Physically, I agree with you. Like, I mean, we're all having a laugh at you, Rick.

Everyone was thinking this about cable, Steven. Yeah. He's a skilled saying. that is not being seen at heavyweight. Heavyweight, the standing at heavy way has been ridiculed for years now. Here's the guy who's won a fucking Olympic gold medal who's being trained by a team who was trained one of the greatest, the greatest champion in the history of the sport.

Oh, and in fact, he's in his corner. You know, like, the big thing we learned here is the mentality thing. He needs a sports psychologist. He needs to go through many repetitions of how I'm going to act when I'm asked this question, because get ready, mate. If you want to come back into the UFC, whoever you're put against would be mad not to bring it up

considering the impact I had. You know it's a kind of like crazy thing that I was thinking about just in this moment. I had not thought about this until this point. But like there's a world though Gabriel Steveson goes the other way and is just like, no, I'm not going to have an answer. Fuck you.

And plays the bad guy. Right? Just goes all the way in. Goes all the way the other directions. Like think whatever you want of me. Fuck you. All the fans that were, turned against me, all the guys who were booing me,

fuck everybody and just goes the other way, right? Goes full, like, evil villain character and just completely goes the other way. I have a feeling, and by the way, I have a feeling that character would probably actually work, right? Because people would tune in. You're talking like, toys and post jail kind of situation. Just like, yeah, fuck the world.

And people would tune in to see him lose again, right? People would be tuning in to be like, I fucking hate that guy. I want to see him lose for the rest of his life. And it would probably work. So it's like this interesting thing where he might even have like a, a more attention-driven path forward, despite the fact that he probably liked John Jones

is a guy who wants to be liked. He probably is a guy who like... He only 26, man. Yeah, who wants to be loved. And so, yeah, it's a fascinating thing. It is a fascinating thing. It is a sheriff fucking turned the whole world on its axis. I was just about to say, this is as equally as fascinating. Like, what Gable Steven does next to me is like Josh Van, how far can they go?

Yeah. These are just two young guys that it's just like, the, Joshua Van Wyn has long down the road, the Gable Stevenson is like, that next fight is eyes glued to the television. Because if it goes wrong there, it's going to get really bad from that point. Even if it goes right, it's still fascinating.

Oh, of course. Because how does he show up? What does he do? Who do they match him with? What's after that? Like, the whole thing is just unbelievably fascinating. I do want to say for the record, I got a lot of people asking me questions.

They asked me if I wanted... Are they making statements at you? They are making statements at me, but there was one specific question. Okay, okay. And that question was, best case scenario? And let me say definitive, let me say definitively for the record, straight to camera, absolutely not best case scenario.

Worst fucking case scenario. There's not a scenario that I can even dream up that's worse than the scenario. Worst case scenario. Apples to oranges. This does not get the B-C-S stamp of turning it around. This is the last thing anybody would ever want, worst-case scenario. This time last week, if I had laid this plan out to you, you would have laughed me out of the building. Oh, it would have too.

I would have too. Like, I mean, this situation. But like, G.C., you made a great point on the postway show where you bring up Van against Johnson. And you're like, oh, yeah, he got shot around before as well. That was me. And look at him now. Yeah, it was Rick. It was Rick.

I'm sorry. But still, yeah. People get knocked out, man. Gable Steven's career is not over. The reason it causes so much concern, though, is because prior to the Charles Johnson, and Van already had several UFC wins against competent opponents. You know, they talk about Islam Makashiv.

Oh, yeah, he got starch. Like, I think Malki Kawa came out and talked about all these guys that got knocked out. Gables manager. Gable's manager, yes, sorry for leaving out the context there. But the thing is, every guy that he listed off, it was just like, yeah, Islam Makashev, he was early in his UFC career,

but he already had like 17 pro fights before that. All these guys that he's listing, he was like, Justin Guter got searched by Max Holloway. Yeah, he was already at a championship level before that. You list out all these guys. guys, we don't know, like, even at the very peak how good Gable Steven is yet. We have no idea. He's a completely unknown commodity. He could have a bad chin for heavyweight and a bad mentality, and he just can't hang. Or he could have just gotten caught and he goes on a long

winning streak. And he's every bit the athlete we thought he was and he mentally rebuilds himself from this. It's selling himself again. No, no, no. What I saw on Saturday, you cannot recover from, like, as far as me assessing somebody, you can't recover from that. The walking out of the octagon is small, small guy stuff. That's not big man stuff. That's small man stuff. You said that Sean Sheriff turned the MMA world on its axis on Saturday night. He even caught the attention of Mr. Jackman, New Yorker's father. What do we make of this? He wasn't the gable glazer that his son was. But he's got plans. What did he have to say? What's next for Sean Sheriff? Have a great BITB show today and keep warm. It's a little bit chilly out of New York,

maybe put on a light jacket. Would like to see. he's sheriff versus gong what do you guys make of that you like that much can i just say can i just that's token something is hereditary something here is hereditary the amazing over exaggeration of people's fucking capabilities is obviously in the bloodline here sheriffie got if gone if gone gets passed okay and i just wanted to say we all pulled our money together in honor of that text what do we got we also got mr jackson oh his own sean sheriff's there it is There you go, Mr. Jackman. By the way, my dad.

Whole matching set for the fan. I have a feel, my, shout out to my dad, William Jackman, legend, Bill, Bill Jackman, legend of the game, watches every show. We love you dearly, dad. Love you, dad. Air Force veteran. I have a feeling that Sheriff's military duty is contributing to his support and is wanting to push him straight into a title shot.

So shout out to you, Dad. The matchups for Sheriff and Gable are going to be two of the most interesting. things that you can do for the UFC moving forward. Last thing I wanted to touch on on this fight, and it just kind of came to my attention because of this. The run of current or potential future stars that have been getting beat in the UFC with massive expectations of them.

I just want to run through this. Just like slipping on banana pears. We didn't even mention this. This was the biggest upset in USC history, right? Bonds wise, ever. Okay, crazy. Number one, we won't count Bell in the American Tedder's Jews. Okay, April.

Wait, was that bigger, though? Did that? Yeah, that was like minus 6,000. Okay, okay, okay. What? Yeah. April, women's MMA too. Crazy that we didn't place we were trying on that.

That's what size the point. April, Yuri, broken leg, Carlos. What was that? That was Carlos Bray. No, no. Numbers why? Gets knocked out. Oh, he was like a minus 180 or something like that, I think.

Well, a bit of live betting when his leg went. That's what I want to know. But just the fact that Yuri Prohashka is a big star in the UFC. People absolutely adore him, including myself, comes this close to regaining his title, slips on the banana. in front of a torn ACL, Carlos Alberg. Hamza Shemayev, massive favorite against Sean Strickland, beaten May.

One of the biggest stars in the UFC, untouchable, undefeated, was just skyward trajectory, get stopped by Sean Strickland, and he obviously won by decision. Go to June. Ilya, Ilya Taboria, Alex Pereira. Alex Pereira could become a three-division champion for you. Ilya continues his rise as the next McGregor-sized superstar.

You know, he's at 20 million followers on Instagram, He's undefeated. He's finishing everybody. Justin Gajee puts it into that. Cyril Ghan puts it into that. You go to July. Your biggest star. Your biggest commodity.

Connor McGregor, he returns for a mere 15 seconds. A strike doesn't even get landed. In that fight, you go to August. Umar Nirmagamatov, the next name from the Naramatov camp minus 600, Catoed flat by Song Yidong. Bellamere, the son of Frank Mir, the next star, daughter of, the unicorn. The next star in the unicorn. The next star in the...

the women's bantamweight division, minus 6,000. Alex Apodaca beats her on Contender Series by division in a stanker of a fight. Great performance by Alex Apodaca, though. And then Gable Steven, Olympic gold medalist, John Jones. Look at the lineage behind him, this camp. These are all just brick quotes he's using here. Yeah, yeah. Cato.

Cato. So in the span of like the last six months, you had Hamzot, Ilya, Alex McGregor, song, Bellamere, Gable Steveson. This year has been the biggest reminder. Now, I don't know shit about MMA, and there are many who would argue I never knew shit about MMA. How do you not know?

What are you coming with that? You don't know shit about MMA. That's ridiculous. Here's where I'm going. This year's the reminder that none of us know shit about MMA. We just don't know. We just don't know.

Like, it is just... I know the names, that's it. It is just... And I have a theory. I don't know if I've said this on air yet, but I have a theory and I've been talking to Connor about this. I've been saying this a lot. Every fight to me is 50-50.

And I know that that's like some platitude bullshit that people used to say to be like, it's a 50-50 every time you step in there. I'm honestly starting to believe that every time people step into the octagon, it's actually 50-50. We've gotten to the point that everybody is so good and the variance is so high in terms of the potential like for knockouts and submissions and things like that being the only way to adjust it that anything can happen because everything else is so even. And then you get these moments where it's just like shocking thing happens, blah, blah, blah.

And it's just like, all right, it keeps happening. It's too crazy to not. Well, the thing that flows in the face of this is watching Toy Tuwi Vasa put on a grappling clinic against Rebellis to Spain. Like, I mean, I genuinely see Ben Folks and Rebellis grapple because he said, I think I'm a better wrestler than him. I'm pretty certain he is. He said this? I am.

He said on your show, on the Post Voice show. This is the wildest looking, take down the fans I've ever seen in my life. What, like, how do you see? Brathe's going back, gets a Saladin-Pranas treatment. And then it's like, what, what, that was one of those heavyweight fights where when it leaves the first three minutes, you're like, this is a fucking disaster. This is an absolute disaster. When you say Saladin Parnast treatment, let's, let's be, let's, let's, let's, like, he got

put on the three minutes. Took the MVP. He was not, he was not, he was not, headlining. in Paris against Dan Hooker. He was on the prelimin against... He signed him from MVP, is what you mean. He was not headlining cards over in Cuba. Let's just jump to that fight and talk about it.

Robles Despan beats Taito Ivasa by split decision. Taito Ivasa has now lost a record tying eight straight fights. It was not an entertaining fight. It was not a good fight. Ariel and his reaction was like, let's give Ty one more, someone he can bang with. The issue there is, Robillis Despan was trying to bang with Taito Ivasa. He was trying to fight. It was Ty who was initiating the grappling.

Who would have thought four years ago, Ty's grabbing singles, shooting doubles, desperately going for takedowns. There was flashes. There was moments where it was like just throwing the lunchboxes out there and just chucking them. But it ended up being a non-intertaining fight. He's lost eight in a row.

I just don't know how you book him again and who you even book him against. Because it feels like he's looking to take the route to grappling. Yeah. You need a dub. You need a dub for a guy? That seems like the path. Who do we want to see?

And he starts going at those dudes. Oh, stop, stop, stop. Okay. Rebellis was under some fucking pressure there for a few. Yeah, and then he's shooting doubles after. I've never seen, Rebellis got like two minutes of fighting him. Two minutes. How many? What does Ty have at this point?

Yo, Ty touches that chin on Gable, though. I think Gable's probably going out. Plus, Gable's close to Tye's height. And also, who does the M.M.A community want to see win more than Tye to Ivasa and lose again more than Gable stations? How can you say this after saying? every fight is 50-50, Rick. But it's a high-risk.

You're right, you're right, but this is a high-risk reward situation. Because if Gable then beats Tye, now you got a guy on a night-fight losing streak, a fan favorite, and you didn't even do anything to build Gable back, because everybody's like, ah, fuck, Tai Tzu Ivasa.

He was completely washed. It's worth nothing. I think that's best case for the fan base, though. Because then they have the excuse of my experience. And they beat a guy on an A-fight losing streak. Congrats, dude. We still love Tyeboe-Ivasa. Like,

the, like, the tag, the phrase UFC caliber does not exist at heavyweight. It's just not a thing. There is no UFC caliber when it comes to heavy weight. They are woeful.

Like just top to bottom, it is a dog shit division. It is absolutely horrific. There is not a lot of talent in it. It's why people were kind of so excited about Gable Stevesant because you could inject talent into it. But he,

Tai Tui Vasa is not, it's not even fun to watch anymore, right? Like there was a time where the, the appeal of Ty was he's going to go in there be the beer-swilling dude who's doing shooies and just coming in there to get into a scrap and throw hands, right?

Like a tafa brother, right? And they still do that. You come in there and you throw hands. He's reached the point where he throws hands for a little bit and then he's shooting for takedowns. And it's like, well, you're not even doing the thing that we love so much about you. I don't know that we need anymore.

I don't know that we need anymore. And I don't say that with any malice. We love Tai Tuivasa. We love him. He is a drop on our show. He's a legend. But he just isn't up to snuff anymore. It's not even fun.

Yeah, it's, it's, I know. It's not fun and it's not enjoyable. And like you just said, we love Thai. We want to see him win. So, like, for that reason, I don't really want to see him booked again. Yeah. What do we want?

To lose 11 in a row before we cut him? 12 in a row? There's also, like, the serious, like, you're phoing and heavy weight and you're getting hit a lot. Even if these months go to the decision, it's 15 minutes of hitting. And, like, you know, I've been around the game long enough to see guys after they've stopped fighting 10 years later.

And you're like, well, you don't talk the same anymore. You know, it's a reality of this sport. Yeah, but do we think that he's not going to fight? I think he's going to fight. Even if he's not in the UFC, I think he's still going to fight. Yeah, BKFC or somewhere like that. Yeah, LVP. Everyone's like, oh, why are you hating, bro?

Why are you hating that you want him cut? It's like, dude, he's lost eight fights in a row. It's not hating. It's just the reality of the matter here. Okay, is this a hot take, though? I'm just as low as on Robelis to spawn as I am on Tide to Ivasa. Like, I was not impressed with that performance. That was not good.

Does karate combat wins and then, you know, 50-year-old JDS? So, yeah. Does that solidify? Yeah, I mean. If he doesn't win in two minutes, that's the way every foot goes. Yeah. If he's not, like, Powellax and a dude with that big right hand, that's the way it goes. So it's a roll of the dice every time you put him on a card, unfortunately.

It's like the USC briefly forgot that he just kind of let him go at one stage. Hang on a second. Did you see that MVP fight look pretty fucking good. Let's see. Those karate combats, huh? Good, Simon. We'll give you tie to a lot. Yeah, we'll see, we'll see what happens. I wouldn't be surprised if we're seeing him getting booked in four months or something like that. I wouldn't be shocked. But we'll see what happens. Marlon Vera beating Charles Jordan. Get to finish in the third round. His first finish since that Dominic Cruz fight back in 2022. In the post fight, very emotional. Talked about how he was putting food on his family. he's played everything like that. It was, you know, it was great to see him bounce back in that way. Charles Jordane, not a pushover at Bantamway. It was 3 and 0 up to that point. It was great to see Cheeto get back in the wind column.

Yeah. Or differential was insane. Like, I mean, so visible. Like, just visible. Holy shit. Like, Jordan looks raked in next to Vera, who's like a pit bull coming on him. And again, we had the usual kind of slow star from Vera. But when he starts putting game on people,

and you're looking at Jordane's body and you're like, he's not taking any of these shots well. Then he goes down. He kept on getting caught. He kept on trying to throw a kick. Vera was catching it and then pushing him down, kind of get a stack guard position.

And it just looked like hell for Jordan and there with Vera. And not to mention, Vera was a sizable underdog going into this fight as well. And I think a lot of people were writing him off. I certainly didn't think it was going to be a good knife for him. Y'all must have forgot moment, I believe Ariel Huan would say, if he was here. Yeah, and we talked about this a little bit with Ben on the Post Show.

When you get to the point in your career that Marlon Chidovera was at, it typically just keeps going downward, right? It's typically the tie to Ivasa. You're like, holy shit, am I at eight in a row? And he looked like a brand new guy. He moved camps. He had a different mentality to the game, completely rebuilt himself and started a little bit faster. And to Pizzi's point, when you're trading the shots, you could see the power different instantaneously. And, and Every time Cheeto hit Jordane, you could see the flinching. You could see that he was feeling those shots. And when Jordan was landing, you see the typical, like, Cheeto's chin is unreal.

And so he typically does not show damage and really can kind of hang in a fight. It's what made him so exciting as a fighter previously in the previous style, which was, yeah, sometimes it'll look like these other guys are winning the fights and then he's able to find a nasty shot out of nowhere. Because he kind of like is undamaged and then he lands his shot. this was a much more aggressive kind of like foot to the pedal. I'm going to go forward and implement my game type of performance. And I could not have been more impressed. It was considering what kind of streak he was on to then turn it around in this way,

I was very, very impressed by Cheeto. Still just 33 years old. So we'll see what's next for Cheeto at 135. Some of the other fights I'll go through. Lonzo Meadowfield gets it done by split decision, takes Iwo Baranuski's O. Well, his thumb, the bone came out of his thumb. a very impressive win. Michael Aswell Jr. split decision win over Ju Sang-U. Ryan Gandra with a nice knockout over Ozzie Diaz and named the watch out for at 185.

Edmund Shabazi in back in the wind column after dropping one against Brendan Allen. He beats Bruno Fahara by decision. Casey O'Neill getting a nasty arm bar. I mean, going to be on the short list for submissions of the year was unbelievable. Her second first round finish since returning from a layoff dating back to 2024. where she gets the bonus, I have to say the further away we've gotten from, and I know he got the Mobland bonus

and Dana White matching everything. Shout it to the Mobland. Sean Sheriff's not getting a bonus. It's crazy. That's going to be on short list for knockout of the year. It was one of the most unbelievable thing. The amount of news and reaction that that moment created 12-second knockout,

biggest upset on the odds in UFC history. And it's just like, we got the mobland. We'll match the mobland. Come on. And by the way, while you're at it, Don't end a mobland on Paramount Plus. All right, thanks.

Moving on. Yeah, Dana. Dana, I think I performed really well. I'd love a performance bonus. If not, give me the mobline. Yeah. I'll take the mobland. Yeah.

Well, you'll get the mobland. You know what? I heard he was $600,000 in debt. Scratch another $50,000. Who gives a shit. It sounded like at the Post-Fi Presser, he had like a Wothers original in his mouth or something. He was just like, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Armin, great performance. Can I just say you are so... Can we start doing the skits where GC just does... Like, you set up the office and make him redo the highlights of the press conference every week. I'm enamored by him. I love it. You were so attuned, though, in particular to the mouth noise.

Because I had to listen to it all the time. You were so attuned to it. Like, I would expect that to be a frank thing, but you're so attuned to, like, in the side of the mouth and then the mic holding. Yeah. Yeah. Armin? Just to come back like that. He's so breathy.

He's like Tony Soprano. It's fucking great, man. People think I'm making fun of him. I actually enjoy it. I enjoy it so much. I love listening to it. He's in a great moment right now, Dana. Like, this Eddie thing,

he's given us absolute golf. Like, it's a beautiful thing. It really is. It really is. Speaking of the Eddie thing, we had Dana talking about Eddie, first about Tom Aspenol, but then about Eddie Hearn

in the aftermath of the USC. 331. Dana, just talk to us about Tom Aspin or having to vacate the bell. I think there's this perception that like you don't like Tom or something like that. But to be clear, there's a perception that you don't like Tom. I think there's a good with the Eddie Heard relationship he has. I don't like Tom. No, that's not the case.

It's a further thing from the truth. And, you know, this guy knows he's injured. He's going through stuff with the doctor. He knows it's going to be a while before he comes back. This is totally normal. I think because of what I might have said or what he might have responded to what I said after the thing

that people think that I don't like Tom it's the furthest thing from the truth I have no reason to not like Tom Tom's never done anything for me not to like him I mean if I don't like somebody I'm pretty fucking honest about it I mean we're sitting here talking

at the beginning of the press conference about Armin you know and Armin made mistakes and he's made up for him and look at the position he's in right now after tonight I promise you this if I did not like Tom

I would say it. And when guys sign with Eddie Hearn, and this is no bullshit, I'm not taking shots, we fucking crack up laughing. It's hilarious. So no, I don't dislike Tom. And anybody else who wants to sign with Eddie Hearn as their fucking manager, fire away. I want to go back to the comments you made about Eddie Hearn. You said that when fighters laugh, when fighters sign with Eddie Hearn, that you guys kind

of laugh at it. Yeah. What exactly does that mean? Does that put fighters or prospective fighters who are, thinking about signing with him at a disadvantage with the promotion? No, they can sign with whoever they want to sign. We have to deal with somebody always. What does Eddie Hearn done?

What does Eddie Hearn done for Tom Aspenall, the first guy to sign for him? Does he have, like, unbelievable amount of sponsors now? Is he fucking, you know, yeah. You know, everybody wants to play up the thing about, oh, well, this guy signed. We don't care if he signed with Eddie Hearn. What is Eddie Hearn done? Eddie Hearn's fucking drowning, trying to save his fucking business right now. I guess the thought process would be that Eddie Hearn would go to the table in negotiations with his client's best interest.

I haven't talked to Eddie Hearn of you. Nobody's talked to Eddie Hearn. He might want to strategically advise himself about the business that he's in right now. It's fantastic. I mean, it's theater at its finest. Go ahead, Pete. They don't laugh. They don't laugh when these guys sign.

It's hilarious. Okay, let's start with the first part, the Tom Aspinall part. Do we buy that from Dinaway? That he doesn't have an issue. I think it's out of sight, out of mind. I don't think what's the point in I'm saying, like, I don't like Tom Assel now at this point. It's no longer obstructing anything.

It's a story that's going to play much later with Tom. I just feel like he's out of sight, out of mind for the moment for UFC. And honestly, it was amicable the way that all went. And I'm glad to see that. I think Dana handled it well. I'm talking about in the last week. Yeah, yeah. Recent events.

Yeah, yeah. I think it was handled very well. Tom handled it very well. They all kind of parake in amical fashion. So what would be the point of Dana saying something about that right now? Okay. So then let's go to the Eddie Hearn part. Do we, so you're saying Pizzi, you don't buy the idea that like when people sign with matchroom talent agency that they're just like, uh-huh, who cares?

Well, I can remember Ian Gary showing up on this show after he signed after Eddie Hearn unveiled him. And it was like when I'm hostage videos where he had to, it's like, is this not a happy moment that you've just signed with Eddie Hearn? and he was like, this is because I have to do, like, I think genuinely, it's fine now. I think, but when they get that initial news, the guy you've just put it in a title fight, Ian Gary in that case, who's fighting the best pound of empire on the world, he's managed by Eddie Heron. I doubt they took that very well, if I'm being completely honest. But right now, Ian has just fought for a title.

He lost that fight. Tom has vacated the title. They're not in situations. where it's pressing for Dana Hoy to give his opinion on what they did there. But I will say, as for the management stuff, someone else was talking about that a couple of months ago, so I can't necessarily disagree with him on that one. Yeah, I think it's like an agitated, we don't care. I don't think it actually affects them.

Dana White is not the one dealing with Eddie Hearn, but he talks about, I don't like Tom Asperon. You would know if I didn't like Tom Asperon. He doesn't like Eddie Hearn. Like, that is clear as day now. He is called Eddie Hearn All sorts of names talking shit He should probably focus on what he needs to do with the business Like this guy's fucking drowning over here

He doesn't know what he's doing He clearly does not like Eddie Hearn So I can't imagine when he finds out that his fighters are signing with them for you know sponsorship management Everything like that That he's just like oh sweet great I think he's just like it's like one of those just like Who gives a fuck?

I don't care what they're doing with Eddie Hearn Yeah congratulations Eddie you sign this guy We don't give a fuck Is it gonna affect my work? week. That's pretty much like we're all in the same business here. It's like week to week. Get on to the next one. On to the next one. If Dana can't see something directly

obscuring what he is to do in the next few days, I don't think he really gives a fuck. And Eddie Hearn is directly obscuring, but it's not on the UFC contract side. It's in the Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury side. That is the that is the current. If I see one more

fucking imminent. It's coming. Imminent. It's coming, man. I'll listen to a whole 20 minute podcast today of them just talking about what imminent it was. I see Eddie putting up the new, what do they call them? The new trend with the freestyling AJ inside him dancing.

It's imminent. Take off in Cuevo. Take off in Cuevo, but they replace it with. Fucking just announce it. We don't give a fuck. I am exhausted. Just fucking give us the event. I've just forgotten about it.

Until I see the official announcement. It's in Cardiff. Everyone fucking knows. The dogs in the street, no. Just fucking announce it. Whenever they announce it, I'll see it. Dana White was obviously talking about Tom Asper. because during UFC 331, we got the announcement of UFC 334 taking place at Madison

Square Garden, headlined by Cyril Gahn versus Josh Hokit. Obviously, the answer to Tom Aspenol vacating the heavyweight belt. Now you can see the main card. Kayla Harrison returns after a serious neck injury, kept her out of UFC 324. Against the returning, Amanda Nunez, Kyle Bajalio versus Ussri-Belgari. I think I nailed it at that time for the first time over. Yeah, killed it. it. Belgaru?

Belgarwi. Belgari. I say every name a million times. Wang Tong, nail it. Usyri. Belgari always trips me up. Uruismedish, Kevin Holland, Balal Hassan on that main card versus Luis Gouriel, making a push

for the man who just debuted on Contender Series back in August. And then the prelims go, Nizim Sadikov versus Jefferson Nassimenteau, Adrian Janjez, Juan Diaz, Stephen Thompson, Charles Radkei, Drew Dober, Chris Duncan. There's a banger.

Jim Miller, Terrence McKinney, also a banger. And then by Sanger Souser Kayae, Dante Johnson, and Macy Chazahn, versus Bia Miskita. Overall, a great card, a fantastic card to fill out MSG. But we find out Josh Hokit will be getting his title shot just 15 months after making his debut on Contender Series. I actually saw a graphic that him and Alex Pereira, same exact amount of time between debut, and title shot, 371 days. No shit.

And they're both at Madison Square Garden. Damn. UFC 281 for Alex Pereira, UFC 334 for Josh Okie. That's impressive stuff. Because, like, Alex Pereira is the example that you'd want to use

in terms of a guy like speed running their way to like... Josh Oket's speed running, bro. Yeah, Josh Oket is doing it as fast as you possibly. I mean, we're talking about last August.

Like, 13 months ago, we were watching them on Contender Series. That is crazy. And he had the, like, you know, the shitty post-fight interview, and everyone was like, ah, who is this guy? How many wins did each have? I believe Pereira got three because he had the Micoletus, the Bruno Silva, and the Sean Strickland,

and then I think Hokka had four. Because Hokka had the two, and then he had the Curtis Bladesbanger, which got him the Derek Lewis, White House won. Yeah, and the Dana-White Contender Series was right before that in August. Yeah, yeah. That's been kind of a thing that we've seen lately is just like if they roll on contender series, they're just like, yeah, let's go ahead and put them. It happened twice this year, Bilal Hassan being one of them already has a UFC fight now booked for Madison Square Garden as well. So Pizzi, your thoughts on the Incredible Hoke getting a title shot at MSG. Pleasantly surprised, GC, if I'm being honest, I thought everything was pointing towards Pereira-Gan rematch, even if I didn't want to see it. I thought they'd go with that. We talked about it, MSG, etc. Rick, you should have a victory lap as well.

as, you know, eating crow today over the, the, the, um, Gable Steves and thing. I think they need to attempt to breed new life into this division. It,

it feels like we're just going to be circling around. Gan, Pereira, um, if we don't do that, I think it's a very tough task for Hokka. If you look at the speed differential between his last two opponents and what he's going to face in Gan,

it's a completely different situation. Um, I think Gan is much improved in terms of grappling. since the John Jones fight where he got pretty much handled inside, so I'd open a few minutes of the fight. Very, very interested in it.

And I'll say again, please put Pereira against another kind of newish face in the Comain event. Like, not in the Comain event, like somewhere close to this card because that's what's important now. We need to get the division moving.

The absence of Tom Aspin was absolutely huge. It's going to cast a shadow over the division for as long as we don't know what's happening with his future. So I think just get us thinking about as many new things as possible. And Hokead is certainly that it's an exceptional run he's been on. We already voted him on unground as the breakout star of 2026 and the half year awards. He absolutely deserves that, whether you feel one way or another about him.

And I completely agree with what Ariel says. Dana doing this act where he says, oh, you know, Hoka, oh, I don't really like him. You would not be getting these opportunities if the UFC doesn't like you. Arman Serokee and his evidence of that. Let's actually play that sound of Dana White. his thoughts on Josh Hokit getting the title shot. Does he like him? Here's what he had to say. What are your thoughts on us being one win away from a Josh Hokit UFC heavyweight title reign? Do you have any thoughts on that? Oh, I got a lot of thoughts on that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lots and lots.

We should like to share them with us at all? I'm sure they're the same thoughts that you're all having. Yeah. I doubt we're that different. Yeah. Just one follow up on that. You know, you made the fight, of course, and you said it's the fight that makes sense. You made the fight that made sense. Because of who he is, is there any additional conversation as to, you know, is this the guy that we won headlining Madison Square Garden? Did that happen? Or is it really just as simple as making the fight?

Well, I mean, I don't police what people say and any of that shit. And if you keep winning, I say it all the time. I don't have to like you for you to thrive here and you to do well and be successful. Many people that I do not like have done very well here. So, you know, I'm not saying that I don't like Josh Hokit. I literally don't fucking like anything Josh Hokit says. And that's not going to change unless he changes, which I don't see happening. So I'm going to have to deal with that.

That's a me issue. Yeah, so he says he doesn't like him, but if you keep winning, you know, he likes him, but he doesn't like anything he says. But then at one point in the middle of it, he's like, I don't have to like you. Yeah. I think this is the right call, though, right? Does anybody disagree that Alex Pereira just didn't feel like the right person to get that opportunity? We didn't see the rematch.

We saw it back at the White House. Alex Pereira, you mentioned someone close to this card, whether it's this one or in December, a Volkov, a Pavlovich. There it is. Well, you mentioned new names. Does it, like, what about, like, by the way, you should acknowledge. I was thinking Walter Walker. Alex Perr has no heavyweight wins. It's not like we know about this guy.

Despite the fact that he is, you know, a highly popular UFC fighter, we don't know anything about him at heavyweight. Maybe you go lower down the rankings. Submission. I want to see Brando Parish. Brando Parasich is an absolute beast beating the fuck out of people.

Vulcan bear? Yeah, absolutely. Only eight people showed up to his fucking meet and greet last week. What? I mean, the Balkan bear? He doesn't have some respect. He's probably not getting the outside of the striker. Alex Praerified, unfortunately.

That's an oddly specific number of people, too. You're like, you one of them? How did you know that? He revealed this. He actually, that's what I like him even more now. He made a video on his Instagram of him going and being underwhelmed by the turnout. And the guy saying to him, before he came in, he said, the guy came up to him and said, just letting you know, we've got a few people here.

And he was like, that means there's like a lot of people here. And they're just shown him walking out. And it's just him and his mate sitting around, basically. We got to eat people at the boys in the back meet and greet at Michael Casino in Seattle. We need to meld. We need an Instagram collab. You need to be his neon.

We're the Wu-Tang of depressing turnouts. Or the Brando Perichich Alex Pereira fight? Not happening. He's going to get someone top five. He was just going for a title show. He's afraid of Brando. He's afraid of Brando. That's who it is. I like this take. I love this take. I'm going to be the Rick of

Brando. Fuck. There's no way the guys like, I've decided it's title shot or nothing for me. All right, we're not going to give you a title shot. How's Brando Perich? Okay. Yeah. That is, reality is like, Pereira is in that.

We were talking about it with Gagherry. Okay, this is crazy. He's a legacy. In the meta rankings. In the meta rankings. Alex Pereira's fourth, didn't he? No. No.

He's third now. Jesus. Christ. They're useless. What the, where's Mario Pinto? Mario Pinto. Mario Pinto is 10. Oh, I like that.

Okay, I like that. I like that. How is Alex Perr a third in the meta rankings? I don't understand. He has no heavyweight wins. How could he possibly be third at heavyweight? Yo, this just happened in real time because I had it, I just had to refresh it to get that. Volkov dropped two.

That's fucking mad disrespectful. Brando Perch. By the way, number one is a guy who's not fighting right now. Number one is Tom Aspinall and he's not even fighting. So it's Cyril Ghan, a guy who's not fighting, Sergei Pavlovich, Alex Pereira, who has zero heavyweight wins, and then Volkov. They're like, yo, fuck you Volkov.

They're just like pissing on them. What is this? You know, is Tom going to be taken over our rankings next one because it will be a year and no point in the reason? Yeah, he doesn't have no definitive return. Speaking of that, we got our rankings. I don't think we have any graphics for these, those, but the men's uncrown pound-for-pound rankings are as follows.

Islam 1, Piotrion, 2, Jodor Yan 2. Bokanovsky 3. Joshua Van 4. Justin Gachi 5. Yeah. M. Rob Devaleshvili 6. Ilya is 7.

Sean Strickland 8. Tom Aspenol 9. Wait, Thomas? Oh. Armin Suruki in 10. Van jumps from 10 to 4. Pantosia plummets from 2 to unranked and Armine debuts at number 10. For the women's, number 1, Valentina Shevchenko.

Number 2, Kayla Harrison. Number 3. Zhang Wei Lee. Number four, Chris Cyborg, number five, Dakota Ditcheva, number six, Natalia Silva. Number seven, Mackenzie Dern. Number eight, despite some people leaving her out because she hasn't fought in a while,

me being one of them, I think Rick, as well. Number eight, Amanda Nunez. Number nine, Seca Izawa, and number 10, Alexa Grasso. Nunez and Grasso coming in from being unranked. I definitely contributed to the van rise. I have him at number two. Wow.

I haven't met number two. was what, two or three for most of us? Tantosia was two or three for me. If you beat that guy twice, it's hard to argue with the results. Like, that, the one result you can argue. You have Tom on the Floyd. Tom's obviously not fighting.

That's going to impact. I don't have Tom ranked. I don't have Tom ranked. Like, I just don't see the point of that at this point. Yeah, I guess because he's not fighting. I kind of felt the same way about Amanda Nunez. That's a valid point. So, yeah.

She's active again, though. There they are. Yeah, we got graphics for them. Oh, shit. What do we think of the return of Kayla Harrison, versus Amanda Nunez? I think I agree with Ariel in terms of it feels like it could be a double retirement fight.

Yep. What do either of these women have to fight for outside of each other, like this fight with each other? Kayla's been through the absolute ringer. You know what's so crazy about this? That is the actual question to ask. You know what's so crazy about this? We were supposed to get this a lifetime ago and nothing has changed in the interrupt.

We were asking the same thing back then. This fight's happening. What's next for them? Can anybody make any kind of noise to get in? We're now fast forwarding a year later and asking the exact same fucking question, which is, is there anything? There's been fucking three UFC women's Bantamwaits fights over the course of the year. They never fight.

This has to change. There's not enough. There's not enough fighters. So then fold it. If you're going to tell us it doesn't matter. If you're going to tell us it's insignificant, then actually make it go away. You're not boozing for Jocelyn Edwards to fight the winner of this way. Come on, man.

Osloon Edwards is on a nice run. Don't sleep on J.E. How are we doing? How many people could pull that out their ass if they were like, who was the winner of this fight going to fight? It would be Jocelyn Edwards. Yeah, but who was actually giving an answer? Who is watching the UFC?

Who knows that on the top of their head? No. It's Norma Dumont, Shostin Edwards. Yeah, but Norma Dumont's... Does Misha Tate still fight? Below it. You know, I was watching that Ronda Rousey fight against Holly home. Yeah, the casual. That's the ultimate test.

By the way, Ronda has a win more recently than most of the fighters are about to name. If we're being real with each other right now. And I wouldn't necessarily pick against her. Yeah, exactly. And I would expect her to beat most of those fighters. It is dire straits for this division. It is dire. It's beyond that.

Is this a Suhudo situation? Is this like what we were talking about earlier, like Suhudo comes in to save the division again? Save it. Then they both retire? But here's the problem. There's a major problem in why? Why not? The optics of just being like, we already have very few women's divisions and being like,

we're getting rid of this one would be very bad. The optics of that would be very bad. But at the same time, if you're not going to cultivate this, if you're not going to nurture this, if you're not going to try and look for new talent and sign fighters to it and really develop this division, maybe it isn't suitable for the product. Was the plan Bellamir? Probably. And then it fell flat on its face?

Look what they treat the champions. Valentina and Jeffchenko, what happened? what's happening what's happening? Zhang Wally-Willy, what's happening? We have no idea. That's crazy. Here we go.

I'm just going to run down the tapology rankings for women's bantam weight. Kayla Harrison won. Jocelyn Edwards 2, who was on a nice five-fight winning streak, most recently Norman Dumont, so she would theoretically be next. One fight in 2026.

Sorry, two fights in 2026. Norman Dumont, third, who just lost to Jocelyn Edwards. one fight in 2026. Juliana Pena hasn't fought since 2025. Don't know if she'll fight again. Aileen Perez, one fight in 2026. Rockout Pennington has a fought since 2024.

Yana Santos, no fights in 2026. Jacqueline Cavalcanti, one fight in 20206. Carol Hosa, one fight in 2020s. Juanas Santos, one fight. Amanda Nunez, obviously, hasn't fought since 23. Bia Mosquita, two fights in 26. Michelle Montague, one fight in 26. Macy Shave is on, one fight, Nora Cornoli.

two fights. No one is fighting in this division. I ask this very like with the utmost respect, as respectfully as I possibly can, is this actually even a division? This might as well be catch weight. This might as well just be like we're doing one-off fights. What is this?

The one thing I will say is like every division, this kind of happens to every division when the champion. Not like this. Not like this. Okay. But like heavyweights a fucking disaster. Yeah, but at least there's people fighting. There's people fighting and there's also excitement. There's interesting characters there.

Cyril Ghan, Josh Hokit, you've got guys like Pavlovich and Volkov who are going to be banging at the door for a title. You have Jocelyn Edwards. The lowest point of this, the lowest point of this, like the example that you're using PT was when John left light heavyweight.

We were just like, oh, what the fuck is this? And then all of a sudden, Alex Per comes out of nowhere, you get Yerri, you get Oldberg, you get Hale-Roundry. You get Yon Behovich. You get Jan.

You got all these guys. You got all these guys that kind of like come out of nowhere and then something happens. Bantamweight has just for the last, I don't know, two, three years just been nothing. Since Amanda Nunes left, there has been nothing happening. Kayla was the one nice story. It's like she comes up, she gets the title, and then it was just like, what now?

I've got good news for you guys. I've got good news for you guys. We've got four over the next month and a half. Four Bantamway fights. You got Aileen Perez versus Norman Dumont, which is a number two contender behind Jocelyn Edwards. Winner could fight Jocelyn Edwards for a vacated belt after the. this one. Luana Santos taking on... Rick now we got Rick back. Look how

interesting he is. He is... Taking on Yonnas Santos. That's a scary matchup because it's taking place on Halloween. Terrifying. And then Macy Shazan taking on Bia Mosquita on the MSG card. Is that a bit of a band-in-way tournament? MSG, a bit of

a women's band-a-way tournament? Fold it up. What are we doing? Yeah, Rick, now what are you saying, bro? Gone pretty quiet over there. Down the road. We had one last I want her to hit on Balala San making his debut. Okay. Wait, let's go back though.

Oh, fold it up, bro. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. Come on. The fight itself is in bang. Most anticipated women's... Taylor versus Amanda, goddamn, man. It's not even close.

That is, that is it. Don't come crawling back. No, no. No, no. I like this, Pete. PCGC. First of all. Women's Bantamweight Truthers.

You want to know my real feelings? My real feelings are... No, I don't want to know the real feelings. Should be happening at 140 pounds, so Kayla Harrison doesn't have to kill herself, if I'm being honest. I wish 135 didn't fucking exist And I wish they could do this fight at 140 pounds

So that they could actually Silence this man Someone silenced him Hold up women's bantam weight Open up women's lightweight Now we're talking Oh you get Cyborg and Kayla in there Now

Adam weight We're doing UFC Adam weight Soyburg's a free agent right now Adam weight probably Yeah there's no way she's coming back to the UFC Adam weight Adam weight probably has more life to it Than bantam weight at this point

Anything north of one 25 is just looking abysmal. And all promotions. Balal Hassan, the rising star who was on the main card of this, just debuted off of Contender Series, was watching that flyweight title fight with much anticipation on Saturday night,

pacing around back and forth. Oh, he's doing the McGregor. Visualizing his chance. Look, man, he's getting on watch parties with UFC Legends. He's getting on... Should be Milwaukee. Shanghai main cards.

He's getting on MSG main cards. they are clearly willing to strap the rocket to this guy if the results in the octagon match that. So far they've been pretty damn good. So he's got big opportunities here at Madison Square Garden. What's that look, Pizzi? Yeah. The Michael Jackson thing is.

Oh, did you say he-he? Also, do you imagine Josh Van talking shit to that guy about Michael Jackson? Josh Van walks out to Chief Keefe, like, fuck you, I'm just going to box you up. And then he's over there. Don't let Sharrow show, man. Don't let Shariff on the same stage. Josh Van goes, oh boy, shout out, Pete. Shout out.

Josh Van goes, who is Michael Jackson? Yeah. I've never heard of him. And then Sean Sheriff stands up and says, I'll tell you who Michael Jackson is. I got something. Ash, Wade Robinson, who he is. Eesh, all right, that is 334. Very much looking forward to that.

It's just going to take place just a few blocks up that way. Let's go to some other news and notes around the world of combat sports. We got an Instagram. post from Michael Morales today. Oh, maybe talking about his next fight? A little DM shared with another welterweight contender. Caption here, Michael, my son, just sign it. It's a message from Ian Gary.

I want to fight before the end of the year and I'm being told you're not available. You are able to be the backup for the world title fight, but not able to take a fight with me now? You've also asked to be a backup for the next title fight, but still not available to fight with me? Looks like someone is avoiding me. Talk all that shit online and don't agree to fight? What's going on here? Michael responds, my son, what are you talking about? I fight whenever you want.

I just want a contract and that's it. I'll kick your ass. Ian Gary responds, Saudi, November 28th, let's do it. Michael responds, sign it, my son, and we'll do it with a handshake and a signing emoji. Is that not the guitar card? I think November 28th is the guitar card. Maybe I'm tripping. Ian saying I guess

I'd say it's both their managers texting each other there Also like he wants to be the backup for the next world title fight We have no idea what that's gonna take that Why would anybody be telling him that Morales wants to be the backup for the next type Like Michael Morales, Ian Gary Maybe a little main event on the Saudi Qatar card I don't know which one he's talking about maybe he knows Okay actually now that I'm thinking about it's the exact kind of fight people

People want to see Ian in right Like it's a guy that is going to come and try and take his fucking head off Straight away, no bullshit, no grappling, just... When do we think we'll see Islam versus Carlos? Because it seems like all signs are pointing to that. Because now I'm thinking, what if that fight happens in Brazil? What if they're like Islam? You've got to do us the solid.

We're going to go down to Brazil. It's going to be on Carlos Proches' territory. And then maybe Michael Morales is trying to line up like a backup. Yeah, I mean, if I was Islam, maybe I say no. Anyway, I'm trying to just figure out what he's talking about with that. But anyway, Morales versus... Ian Gary. Ian Gary is a sick fight.

It looks like the Saudi card is on December 5th, and Qatar is November 21st. Okay. One of those could be good. Yeah, one of them. If we got Michael Morales versus Ian Gary before the end of the year, oh my God, that would be incredible. I'm so, and that'd be absolutely fantastic.

It's also, like, it's something Ian would do. He always just tries to get back in there after a loss, immediately be like, I'm straight back in the title conversation, not surprised to see him picking a fight. I can't think of many scenarios that Ian wouldn't do, if I'm being honest. Like he seems like the I'm here guy, like just call me whenever. I think Michael Morales, the guy who has to cut 150 pounds every time he tries to get down to

Walter Witt is the one whose timeline is always a little more important. Yeah, I mean, that would be like three and a half months after. He took the, he took the process fight four months after Shavkat. Like he got right back in there. So that wouldn't be shocking if early December he's fighting Michael Morales. That is a banger. And winner gets winner of Prochase versus this. Wait, how many months away is that now?

That is two and a half. Yeah, Morales can make weight by then. Yeah, I'd love to see it. Let's do that. Another UFC fighter who's asking for a fight, I don't know if he's going to get one, is Paolo Costa, a series of tweets came out over the weekend. And he starts, I believe this was yesterday, he says, I'm making this public and clear. I have one fight left on my contract.

The purse is set for three rounds, not five. I'm asking for the three-round fight that was already agreed on contract. It can be anyone on the UFC light heavyweight roster. I think Hunter has three options now. Speaking about Hunter Campbell, A, give me that last three-round fight. I'll take any opponent. B, give me a five-round fight at light heavyweight against anyone in six weeks. I'll take it, but raise my purse accordingly.

That's the minimum that's fair, right? C, release me from my contract now, simple and clean. I hope everyone understands. 9-18-26, Las Vegas, Nevada, sincerely, Paolo Costa. Then other light heavyweights got involved. Magamad Anka Lyev had a few words to say about Paolo Costa's contract. I heard you only want three rounds. I understand your 0 and 3 and 5 round fights, but we're high-level fighters.

Let's main event, five rounds beat me, and nobody can deny you. Plus, you'll make a lot more money. Let's do it. And Paulo, the quoted tweet is, I agree with you and everything. Now it's up to the UFC and Hunter and pay us accordingly. To make that fight happen this year, it can be November or December. It's up to your schedule and up to UFC do the right thing. I believe Magamount O'Kaleev had one more tweet

where he says, you beat me, you become a free agent and make millions. I beat you, everybody. Expected me to beat you anyway, you have nothing to lose. I'm your get out of jail free card. Let's fight. You just love the grass of the English language that Magamette on Kalliv has come into. It really is amazing. Punctuation, like, is, that's next level shit there.

It is pretty really amazing. Primo stuff. So, yeah, Paulo Costa unhappy with the contract. It makes sense that he doesn't want to get paid for a three-round fight if he's going to do a five-round fight. But it seems he's making it very clear that he wants out of the UFC. He wants to be a free agent. That's what he wants.

He wants to be able to negotiate. He wants to be able to say, I'm out on the market. Maybe I go back to the UFC. Maybe, yeah. No, but they were together. He had been talking about it. He hasn't, I don't think that there's been anything formalized there because we didn't get like an announcement from Matchroom talent agency on that.

But he had talked about liking what he heard from Eddie, and Eddie has talked about Paulo as well. I just, I don't know that the UFC is going to bend to his will. And so I wonder if it's just better for Paolo to just be like, fuck it. Five rounds, we do it. And then go on to free agency. Just get this over with. Do the, do the Magamette fight or whoever else.

Five rounds, next, on to the next thing. Free agency is awaiting. There are certain fighters, especially somebody like Paulo, who feels like he has leverage at this moment, where you get to the end of that contract and you have to kind of just play ball with the UFC. because otherwise they're going to make it as hard as possible for you. And if his sticking point is like, pay me more for the five rounds, I think UFC is just going to stick their heels in the sand.

And so maybe just we'd get the five rounds out of the way, he becomes a free agent and we see where he goes from there. Pizzi, your thoughts? Pizzi's checked out. It's all good. All right. See you later, no, no, no. I know it's getting late over there.

I know it's getting late over there. It's all good. What's going on? Yeah, Palo, we'll see what happens with him. Yeah, he's not funny. Just like breaking news. That's not fucking happening. Okay.

All right. That's all we need to hear from you. Another man who potentially wants to be a free agent, but he wants to do it within the walls, the confines of TKO. Sean Strickland, saying that he loves MMA, but he wants the box.

He prefers Zufa, but if they can't make that happen, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. What do you mean, well, guess what? You're in contract with fucking the UFC, mate. So if they can't make that happen, it's just not going to fucking happen.

You're a current champion. Yeah. Oh, he don't want anyone to fucking box. Do you know what I mean? Josh Ben. Not even boxers? Josh Van, I wouldn't mind. Not during his tenure as champion.

Yeah, I agree. I agree. State champion as you get in the elder statesman part of your career, then it's cool to go over to boxing. Speaking of boxing, a fight that I wouldn't mind seeing. Ryan Garcia, Terrence Crawford, heating up online. There's a lot of tweets flying around. I'm just going to let you guys go through it, and I will read them off.

Ryan Garcia says, Shakur's a real one. Terence Crawford responds, who obviously has a relationship with Shakur. Shut that week. ass shit up. You was just talking shit. He's still gonna beat your ass if y'all fight. Ryan Garcia then quote tweets a tweet saying that Terrence Crawford trolled Ryan Garcia for not being unbeaten and for trying to fight old and retired fighters like him. Earl Spence and Manny Pac-Yow. But says Ryan is just hating on greatness and there's no surprise. That's why he had to take PEDs to compete. Ryan Garcia quote tweets it, fuck you bitch. L.O. I want to fight you and

you're trolling. That's actually pretty good. This is back and forth. Continuous, Terrence Crawford says, only talk tough on the internet. He knows it's all for show. I promise if I've seen him without a security guards and cameras, he'll be a completely different person. He says, I'm a bully, but I was the one they got for the bullies.

Ryan Garcia says, okay, so let's square up, bro. On or off the ring, I'm ready to handle this. Parents Crawford says, at Ryan Garcia. I like you. I really do, because you're funny. Why you never called me out when I was an active fighter? And I'm old, wouldn't you say?

What would you get out of fighting this old guy? One of the biggest thoughts. So, yeah, I mean, the back and forth continues for a fight that I firmly believe is never going to happen. I do like the tack that Ryan's taking, though, which is like, yeah, yeah, we're talking shit. But like, I want to fight you. I'm saying it now. Here it is on wax, fight me. And Terrence being like, why are you trolling, bro?

Stop trolling me, man. If the security guards weren't there, I wouldn't beat your ass. And Ryan's like, security guards are not in or out of the ring. Like, let's just fucking fight, man. I like, I have a soft spot for Terrence, despite the fact that I feel like. A soft spot? He's amazing. No, but I mean, even like, people are very turned off by the recent, like. I have a soft spot for the 42 and O'O Terrence Crawford, one the greatest boxers of our generation.

Fuck you guys. A bit of a... Soft spot from Michael Phelps. Good swimmer. But, you know, I don't mind that Tom Brady. Fuck off with this. He was all right. Fuck off.

Fuck off. Fuck off with all this shit. I had Terrence ranked number one pound for pound, despite the fact that Usick and in a way kept getting number one. I've had Terrence ranked number one pound for pound. So fuck you. This is not a Johnny Come Lately Take. But what I meant by that, but what I meant by that was people are kind of turned off

by the like retired Terrence like sniping at everybody. Like Boots is doing this, but I'm not, we're not going to fight. Ryan's doing this, but we're not going to fight. People are getting like a little bit annoyed with how much Terrence is like jumping into business, but then not being like, all right. So then let me fight then. But I kind of like it. He's just like stirring shit.

up. He is kind of trolling. He is the one troll. He's the actual troll. Well, we'll see what happens, and by we'll see what happens, they will not fight each other's. Maybe we'll get Ryan Garcia versus Shikor Stevenson. God, that'd be good. I would love that. Everyone's talking about, like, you know, how irrelevant Terrence is, yet all of them want to fight him. You're all like, oh, mate, you're past it. And like, everyone's calling him out still. Boots, Ryan. Like, I mean, there is no greater contrast between those comments, like,

oh, you're doing your old, blah, blah, blah, but please can avoid you. You know what I mean? The best was them on the desk together, boots and Terrence Crawford. And they, I believe it was Adam Lefco. He's just like, so I do have to say, like, you called out Terrence then you said like you beat him up pretty bad. You're sitting right here? You still feel that way?

He's just like, yeah, beat your ass, Terrence. Terrence is just like, shut the fuck off. I would fucking beat your ass. Yeah, we'll see. Maybe Terence Crawford comes back for a massive pay day, but for now it's nothing but tweets. Let's stick with the boxing, but let's go to bare knuckle. boxing. Y'all hi for this weekend?

Manchester? You going, Pizzi? Oh, yeah. Mulligans? Manchester? I tried, but they're too dangerous. You know what I mean? They said they couldn't have me sitting that close in case shit popped off, which I understand.

Oh, I thought you meant that you were too dangerous. That's what I do mean. Oh, yeah. Well, that's not me saying this. That's them said it. Darren Till taking on Yuel Romero. Here's the promo we got this morning. Yeah, let's keep our mics up for this one.

Is this AI? Is this not just the Gaichi ad with Michael Keyeser, but they're just going to change it a bit? Yeah. And no shit, it's AI. Yes, it's fucking A-I. Stop with this. You don't, oh, fuck. I didn't realize that.

Ah, stop, you're capping. You unc. So they really, like, some A-I shit. Like, I don't. Also, it's like, how many times are we going to meet it? Look at the, look at the shop science area. Look at the shop science area. That is not real places.

Oh, it's not. Of course it's not, dude. Look at the movements of everyone. It's just, yeah, classic, man. I think Petey just figured out. Couldn't pay these lads to act as well. Hey, they got Darren being lefty down, though. That's nice.

That's nice. Yeah, there it is. No, because Darren was actually acting in this. Yeah, they definitely did a million different scenes. AI fucking promo aside. Keep my fucking name out your mouth. It's a fun fight. That's the fight of the weekend.

I don't care what you say. I know, Pizzi, I know you're foaming at the mouth for Raul Rosas versus Hione-Barsellos at the apex, but I'm team, till Romero here. I was trying to talk Ireland to a post-voy show over that one. You guys aren't. I could have sworn. It was probably...

It hinged. It was dependent upon you being there now that you've been banned because you're too dangerous. It doesn't make sense anymore. We stick with the boxing, no longer bare-knuckle Misfits. And what a debut do we have on Misfits October 10th at the copper box.

You go into this one, Pizzi. Plinyo Cruz. Oh, shit. You against Chase. the more, not just his debut, he's fighting for the Misfits' heavyweight title. Nothing like the shit fits, I mean, misfits

title, man, that is huge. I mean, to be on the same card as Essex and Dapper. Big Stacks. Hold on, hold on. Big Stax is on this guy. Oh, Kane West. I thought it said Kanye West. I was like, who is this guy? Yeah, Midway and Kane West

versus Crackie Tockey and Little Tee. Is Cracky Tucky an offshoot of H.S. Tiki Tiki? No, Leaks World is on this car. boy, it's Leaks World. Oh, fuck, and he doesn't even have an opponent yet? Holy shit.

Who would dare to step? Wait, wait, wait, hold on, though. Hold on. Pizzi and tell me if I'm crazy here. Swarms is a musician, right? Like, wasn't he a guy? Did I make that up? You're not to take your word for it, mate.

I think you're thinking of Storms area? I'm pretty sure Swarms is a rapper and professional boxer. Okay, okay, okay. I didn't make that up. Aren't they all? Oh, some note. He's not like a nobody. Are you thinking of Swarmes?

Or Stormsy. Oh, maybe I was thinking of Stormsy. Maybe I was thinking of Stormsy. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, I didn't hear you, Pete. I didn't hear you.

But yeah, we'll be supporting loud and proud for Big Plinyo Cruz. Shout out of Bill. Leaks World's fighting. I'm watching. That's a fact. Pete, give me three facts about Leaks World. Does not like the internet. Enjoy is the universe.

It likes the box. All right. Malik Ambersley. 1.7 million followers on TikTok. Good for him. Wait. Is this the guy that cosplays? Yeah, he cosplays as Miles Morales.

Yeah. Was that on air, Dan? Yes, sir. Shout out to Big Dan. Shut out, Dan. Filling in on vacation. He's on vacation, filling in for vacation Jordan. This guy goes to vacation to work.

So Jordan just foyer in and he goes, oh. Fuck you guys. That's it. I won't be there. Yeah, this is the guy that cosplays Michael Morales. I actually love this guy, yeah. Okay, so now you actually are a fan of the guy you're just making fun of. He gets like super pissed from people.

Leaks World does this? Leaks World does like, though, like, standing out in public, and he's just like, I'm Michael Morales. And, like, he acts like he's like a video game character. Sorry, Michael Morales? Miles Morales. All right. Sorry.

Does he cosplay Michael Morales, the UFC fighter, or Miles Morales, the Spider-Man. You've got me interested now, mate. You've got me interested. Aren't they the same people at the end of the day? Yes. Miles Morales. So, yeah, it's a great card. And with the mention of Misfits' Boxing, I think that means it's just about time for us.

Do we have any super chance, Frank? Super Jets. Yes, we do. You're all right, Matt? Yeah. Hey, Schultz, he says, best case scenario for Gable. No, yep, no. I think so.

No. I think it was. I've got a soft spot for him. The official tag. Said it not me. The official tag was not given. Was not applied. Was not applied in the scenario.

No best case scenario. Mason Bickner says, Boys of the Back on a Monday, much love guys. Much love, Mason. It's not BITB, it's BITC. Boys in the Crack. We got a little combo plate here today.

Hey, Schultz, he says, also saying he'll be back because he's a super athlete don't mean much. Greg Hardy was a super athlete. Not only thing. He's also a 40, though. Okay, I was going to say earlier

when we were talking about it and then we went down a different path, could his career in the UFC begin to mirror a Greg Hardee's? I would doubt that because Greg Hardy was a football player and Gable Steveson as an Olympic gold medal wrestler. There is a big difference in terms of those skills.

Okay, but this is why I'm saying in the octagon, if he isn't able to put it together, say he finishes his UFC career, five and three. You know, he goes four and two from here and he just never really works out for him. But every time he gets knocked out, the whole internet celebrates. Remember when Greg Hardy was getting finished?

Oh, you mean from an optics perspective? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, it very much could be. Remember when Ty knocked out Greg Hardy, everyone was like, oh yeah, fucking praise God. Sorry,

I thought you meant like athletically because like that was like that last weekend. Oh, sure. Oh, this was bigger. This was definitely bigger. No, no.

There is going to be, Gabeo Steven has to prepare for a world where every single one of his fights is a hate watch. Everybody is against him. Every single time he steps in there. So yes, very much like Greg Hardy in that regard.

Like people just despise Greg Hardy every time he got knocked out, they celebrated. Like, it is going to be that from now on for Gable Steveson. I thought you meant in terms of like the career. Like it's just Greg Hardy did not have nearly the accolades that Gable had.

It's not even close. The robot rent, can we get Sean Sheriff on? Yeah, that's a Halwani question. But Pete says yes, he's already got him. Yeah. Tune is on the crack Friday. Camerrant Con Devil. Is cop going to take Vans diapers alive?

Yeah. Yeah, we did talk about like, Cobb likes to bring the drama, but there's been a couple lines where it's like, you know, pause, bro. Chill on that. This is like his third language or something else. Yeah, respect, respect, respect. You got to account for that. Diapers are live, line.

Cop versus, cop versus Van. That's a great bull. That's the great. And Remus says, did Sheriff confirm debt is the best base from the man? Oh, I guess it's time to start swiping. Yo, you think about some of the grind that some of these fighters. boxers, MMA fighters,

all of them have to get through to get up to like the levels like that hunger is real. Yo, Cheetah was just like yo,

I was fighting to put food on the table for my family. Best performance he's had in four years. Yes, Frank, you're not wrong. This is some like hunger games type shit.

We're going to need credit reports from all fighters, up and coming fighters from here on hour. They got to be on financial audit with Caleb with Caleb Hammer. I do have to say like the 100,000 that he got

like that's cool, but like that's not going to flip his entire life around based off of what we saw off of those debts, right? And I just wish he wasn't the case. If he doesn't get it, it's nothing. I mean, we'd like to see the neon invoices. You're saying it's just so much

debt he should just give up for it. I'm saying the UFC should pay fairly. That's a good point. I mean, how much should they make that night? How much, you know, content did they get from? Granted, Sean Sheriff in this fight was brought in to be cannon fodder for Gable Steveson, and they can't pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for that.

I think they should just pony up. And maybe a few more mild blines. A few more mild blind bonus. I was going to say, yeah, shout out to the soft spot. Who has a softer spot for him than me? Shout out to the smoke, baby. With the font being smoke as well.

Wow, the designers cook. Oh, designers cooked on that one. Rush order shipping, too? That shit is fire. That shit is fire. Soft spot. Actually, it's smoke, not fire. Pound for pout.

office spots. That could go very bad. That could go very bad. This is bordered on blue for me now. I don't mind that, Frankie. Pound for pound sheriffs. Sean being won. We'll figure it out.

We'll figure it out in the week. Yeah, it's going to be a crow eating contest on Thursday. Don't you worry. The gable is not done just yet. It's not done just yet. We will not let this man get away. They don't lie, Chico. Bro's hungry for that crow, man. Shout out.

I'm here for it. I'm here for, as they would say, the smoke. You're here for the snow, bro. Is that all the super chats, Frankie? That is all of them. Thank you so much for super chatting. Thank you much. We very appreciate it. Pizzi, thanks so much for joining us. And thank you to everyone who tuned in.

It means a lot to us. We were just the replacements. Back to regular scheduling programming tomorrow. See you next week, Lance. Hawani back. Bye. Watch the Hawani show tomorrow. Wednesday.

on Thursday. Crack on Friday. You guys know the drill. But for now, that's it for us. Peace!