The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC Abu Dhabi preview, Ariel Helwani joins to talk Hulk Hogan's legacy, P4P MMA nicknames, more | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

The Boys in the Back start the show by acknowledging Terry ‘Hulk Hogan’ Bollea, who died earlier in the day at 71 years old (00:34).Then, they break down UFC Abu Dhabi from all angles, starting with the main event matchup between former champion Robert Whittaker and rising contender Reinier de Ridder (04:09), before moving on to the rest of the card (23:23).Ariel Helwani joins to further discuss Hulk Hogan (54:42), looking at his momental impact on professional wrestling and pop culture, as well as his complicated legacy.Finally, The Boys transition into their picks (1:21:04) and give their P4P rankings of MMA nicknames (1:28:03), before wrapping up with with your voicemails (1:51:04) and Super Chats (2:35:48).

B-b-b-b-boys in the back. B-b-b-boys, boys, boys, boys, boys in the back. Is good! We are back with another edition of Boys in the Back, this time on Thursday, July 24th. Imagine Thursday here, really. Me and Rick, I am one half of the boys in the back. Connor Burks, join alongside me, as always. Mr. New York Rick and our our third boy in the back is actually not in the back today Frankie out in Phoenix today but we're in the good hands of Sir Nick today and we start the show with some shocking news that Hulk Hogan has passed away at the age of 71 Anthony Anthony Sala-Heffinger has an article up right now on Uncrowned.com that details the passing. Initially reported by TMZ per the outlet medical personnel, we're

called to the Hogan's Florida home for cardiac arrest. Hogan is survived by his third wife, Sky Daly, and two children, Brooke and Nick. And coming from personally speaking, it comes as a shock. I mean, he just started this RAF organization with Eric Bischoff. He's done several interviews with Ariel on this very channel, even as recently as this year. So to see a guy like this that had such an impact on WWE, the organization wouldn't be what it is today without him. WCW, what he did for the wrestling community

to hear this news came as quite a shock. Yeah, well said. Thoughts with the family. And later today, hopefully around 2 p.m. we'll have Ariel Hawhani on to set the context for this. Provide some of the legacy conversation that I don't think you or I are capable of that hopefully he can deliver.

Ariel can put it into words much better than us. He also experienced his rise to fame and his career much better than we did. So very, very sad news and thoughts are with the Hogan family and just the wrestling community today as one of the biggest stars in the history of the sport is gone at 71 years old. We stick with another serious topic. Ben Askren is still recovering from a double lung transplant and we are currently trying to raise money in efforts to help him on that road to recover. We do have an eBay auction up right now for our signed poker

table felt from International Fight Week, signed by all the guests that joined us there, Tom Aspinall, Alexander Volkonovsky, Dan Hooker, Israel Adesanya, Demetrius Johnson, the list goes on and on. So if you have a moment, go check that out. Place a bid if you'd like to, as Ariel would say, just $5. Just $5. Just $5 for us here. That will be up

for the next few days. Yeah, it's for a good cause. It goes directly to Ben and his family. So if you're interested in that, a piece, a one-of-one piece of memorabilia from our time in Vegas, please do help. And the link to that is in the chat, obviously. As I say, it's always difficult to transition from two topics like that. But we do have a UFC card this weekend in Abu Dhabi, a really great fight night card. Starting at noon, which is my personal favorite, these cards in the desert, you get the noon start.

It's on ABC, Robert Whitaker taking on RDR in the main event. You got Piotr Jan, a former champion in the co-main event. Shahra Bullitt, who is quickly becoming a star in the UFC, trying to bounce back after his first loss in the promotion. Nikita Krylov taking on Bogdán Guskov. There's a lot of good fights on this card.

Bryce Mitchell taking on Said Nurmagomedov, Muslim Solikov, Carlos Leal, Mena Hibas, and Tabetha Ricci, a sneaky, sneaky good card early on. And then the curtain jerker, the debut of Marcus Buchetja in the UFC, a potential heavyweight contender, Rick Sand, Tom Espinosa's worst nightmare. I didn't say that, I suggested that as a clickbaity YouTube headline and thumb.

I do think maybe down the line, but we can save that for when we get to that fight. as a clickbaity YouTube headline and thumb. I do think maybe down the line, but we can save that for when we get to that fight. Let's talk about the main event. Robert Whitaker taking on Reiner Derrida. I was about to say Dregis 2 Plus C, but that happened two years ago. RDR? Yes.

Could he be a title challenger? If he wins, does he get a title shot off this? Or is it too reserved for Imavov and Kayo Baham? Yeah, Kayo and Imavov. One away though? I think he would be next after that crop, yeah. I mean, I was thinking about it with the way that he fights, sort of this unique style,

looks like he always gets tired, just like this big hulking dude that's just aggressive when he's in there. And he sort of had the start of this career, he struggled a little bit with Gerald Mearschard and then he was an underdog to Kevin Holland and then he was a big underdog to Bo Nicol, but he just keeps winning.

He feels like this guy that the fans feel like they have him figured out, but he keeps going in there and winning. And it made me think akin a lot to One Dregas Du Plessis who is now the middleweight champion of the world, who was kind of like, yep, people keep doubting him And it made me think akin a lot to One Dregas Du Placier, who is now the middleweight champion of the world, who was kind of like, yep, people keep doubting him and he just keeps winning, especially in that Robert Whitaker fight

where he came in as a big underdog and was able to get it done there. I dug deeper, not just the fighting styles, not just everything about it, the comparisons between the two. RDR, DDP. Three initials. Three letter acronyms to cut their name short. There's comparisons between the two. RDR, DDP. Three initials. Three letter acronyms to cut their name short.

Both middle weights. Both only have two losses. DDP was a champion in KSW, RDR was a champion in one, both champions in other divisions. RDR has finished 18 of his 20 wins, DDP has finished 20 of his 23 wins. RDR is a Dutchman, Sean Strickland calls DDP a Dutchman. They both could potentially, you know, work their way to a

title shot off of Robert Whitaker. DDP 14 and 2 entering the promotion. RDR was 17 and 2. A lot of comparisons. I see it. I think that the biggest point of comparison is what you touched on earlier Which is the doubt right and and only speaking for myself here. I don't want to speak for for the general public I don't want to cut like cast. This is a wide net Personally, I doubted trick is the whole way. I doubted dracus up until and including that Robert Whitaker fight in which he completely dismantled him and kind of changed my mind on what I was seeing. And to this point I have doubted Rainier. I have thought, oh surely Kevin Holland's going to beat him because the grappling, let's equal it out and

then Kevin Holland's going to beat him on the feet. And then as we saw the grappling was not equal in that fight. And then in his most recent fight against Bo Nicol, I'm like, okay surely this is where it ends, right? The wrestler primarily, uh, RDR is a grappler. He's going to get him down and he's going to stay on top of them. And then we saw him thwart the wrestling and beat the shit out of Bo Nicol on the feet. I have doubted him to this point and I'm going to

give you a spoiler right now. I doubt him against Robert Whitaker as well, the same way I doubted D D DDP. And so I feel the comparison because I have been the person who has been sitting in that seat and going, I don't think this guy is as good as advertised. And I think it again. I think Robert Whitaker is going to be better. But come Saturday, there's a real chance that I'm eating crow again, as I have done with

DDP and as I have done with many others, where he just makes it look easy and he really is the new evolution. The part to me that I think is being overlooked a little bit when it comes to this is he feels like an upstart, right? He feels like a newcomer but he is not truly a newcomer, right? He has been in the game for a long time, as you said, a multi-division champion in one. And so he is, I believe, the same age as Robert Whitaker or? Yeah, they're both 34. He's 34 years old.

So it's not like this is some red hot, young superstar prospect. He is the same age as Robert Whitaker, who if we are honest about the level of competition that they have both faced, it is leaps and bounds different right Robert Whitaker has been cutting his teeth against the best of the best of the best since he was a young young fighter in this game and RDR is just getting here the level of competition is completely completely different but with that also comes a lot

of miles right Robert Whitaker has a lot more miles on him than RDR potentially has and so I don't know, I don't know how that, that equation will ultimately balance out. I, I lean toward the idea that that experience is going to help Robert Whitaker and he will win this fight. Um, but I also think just generally Whitaker is more well rounded.

Yeah. I mean, I, I have to agree with you and it could just be me. Doing the mistake. Yeah. Doubting RDR and I'll say I me doing the mistake. Ignorantly doubting RDR. And I'll say, I have doubted him. I bet on Kevin Holland, I bet on Bo Nicol.

So I am notorious for doubting this guy. Even though the most ironic part is that I bet on RDR against Anatoly Malkin in the first fight. Right, the ones he loses. He had, when he couldn't get the takedowns, he had absolutely nothing to offer him, which. To be fair also, that's a heavyweight. Like, let's call it what it is.

That dude, that is a proper, proper heavyweight. Who drops bombs. Who is a massive heavy hitter. So that's a tough matchup for anybody. This guy is actually a middleweight. Like, we have to be honest about those. I really do, I respect him for what he was attempting to do there, but those were not really fights that he was slated to win.

When it comes to Robert Whitaker, obviously the Hamza fight is the freshest in our memory because it was the last time he was in the octagon, but it's sort of a terrible representation of Robert Whitaker's ground game. He has stellar takedown defense. It's 81%. I saw someone posted on Twitter, like a two and a half minute highlight of him just scrambling, stuffing takedowns, great get up game. So if already art is in getting the takedowns, then I have to think that Robert Whitaker is leagues above him on the feed

and he's going to have success there. Because yes, he looked very competent against Bo Nicol. He looked great with the knee that he landed and everything like that. The thing is the jury is still out on Bo Nicol, especially when it comes to his striking. We obviously know he's a world-class wrestler, but we haven't really seen him put it together

in the striking yet. So it's sort of like that down the road is when we'll find out how well that went. And then obviously the Kevin Holland fight, he was able to get takedowns and use the grappling there. And then Gerald Mearschart and Robert Whitaker just aren't on the same level. No.

So it's sort of like the Gerald Mearschart fight, like he struggled a bit, but he ended up getting it done in the end. The Kevin Holland fight is at 185, where Kevin Holland has much more success than 170. It is also Kevin Holland. It's just like, you don't really know up down who you're gonna get in there.

He's two and two, he's already got four fights in.25. He's diving into RDR's guard and making it kind of easy for him. And then Bo Nicol, who the jury is still out on how successful he's going to be in his MMA career, and now you're jumping all the way to a top five guy who has fought the best of the best, who's been a champion in this weight class.

I just, I could be eating crow come Saturday night. It's just like, I just feel like Robert Whitaker gets this done. He's able to stuff the takedowns. He's able to excel in the striking and he gets it done. And I also feel like the five rounds favors Robert Whitaker. I can't imagine how it would favor RDR. It is a very common fallacy or just a common trap,

let's call it instead of a fallacy. It's a very common trap for us to look at Robert Whitaker and minimize the negatives and maximize the positives because we've seen the absolute best of Robert Whitaker and it has been world championship level. So it's very common for us to go, well, the bad performance is like against Hamza Tshemiah. You can kind of erase those and go,

well, what he actually is at his core is that guy that we've seen as the champion and the best. And then it's very common on the other side to minimize the successes of RDR and maximize the things that we don't know because he's such an unknown. So Whitaker, this known quantity, it's very common for us to be like,

oh, the good stuff, that's the stuff I'm gonna focus on. And then with the guy who's unknown, be like, well, I don't really know about these things, so I'm gonna assume they're not great. But then when we see his striking against Bo Nicol, the Thai boxing that he utilized, it was actually really sharp, it was fantastic. He looked incredible on the feet.

And people say, Bo Nicol quit, that knee was disgusting. No, Bo Nicol didn't quit. He got beat by a much better fighter that night. And so it is common for us to reach that point where we go, well, actually, RDR maybe not as good as the Bo Nickle performance, and Whitaker not as bad as the Hamsat performance,

when in reality, it may actually be exactly that. It may be as good or as bad as those last performances. On top of that, it's also just like, the excuses that we'll make, like, it's just like, oh man, Robert Whitaker got slammed down and got his teeth caved in by Hamsat Shamiah last fight. And then it's like, RDR, well, I saw him struggle against your old man.

Yes, exactly. Well, he had nothing for Anatoly Malkin three years ago now. As if he can't make any improvements since then. As if losing your first two professional MMA bouts doesn't teach you lessons and get you to improve in different areas of your game. Like it's sort of just like, I'll make these excuses. So I would not be surprised if I'm eating crow

come Saturday night where it's just like just like, I'll make these excuses. So I would not be surprised if I'm eating crow come Saturday night where it's just like, well, same thing, same thing as the DDP thing. It's the fear of the unknown. We're much more comfortable with the things we know. And I know so much about Robert Whitaker, but I really don't know that much about RDR. We haven't seen him enough to know much about him.

And we are much more comfortable with that known quantity in Robert Whitaker. I do ultimately lean that way, but as you said, would it surprise me? Actually, I'll go a step further. Would I be excited by the idea if RDR is every bit as good as Robert Whitaker and maybe even better? I would be super excited by that idea.

For all his positive attributes, Robert Whitaker has been around this division for a long time. I don't think title opportunity is kind of like within reach anymore for him because he has been there so many times. Whereas RDR is a fresh face, a new name, somebody I'd like to kind of see

like at the top of this division. So not only would I be accepting of the idea that I'd be wrong about this analysis, but I'd actually kind of be excited because of the fact that he's a new name and a fresh face in this division. He would also immediately be vaulted into the top five with the one over Robert Whitaker. He'd be one away, as we said.

I don't think he's next because I think Kyle and Imavov have put in enough of a body of work to be in that position, but I think he'd be the next after that. Yeah, maybe even the loser of that fight. If I'm him, I don't want to fight again, and as we've seen with the UFC, they're willing to put him on that rocket ship.

This is a very quick turnaround for him to then jump in there. We just saw him in Des Moines. This is a very quick turnaround for him to then jump in there with a guy as good as Robert Whitaker. So I think they see that they have something with RDR and he's game to kind of like keep riding this wave. I wouldn't be surprised if it only takes one more after more after this I mean honestly at this point if he wins this

fight then the only people in front of him are Sean Strickland, Hamza Tshimaev, Israel Adesanya and Nasruddin Emavov. The guys that we're talking about yeah like it's just like no matter what if he wins this he's either getting a title shot or is he he's getting a massive title. RDR vs Izzy could actually be kind of fun like the most pure striker versus grappler battle, but It remains to be seen. He has a very very tough task ahead of him in Robert Whitaker. I don't Maybe famous last words I don't think Robert Whitaker is as bad as his last performance

And I also think Hamza Chamayev does that to a lot of people Because I'm very high on Hamza Chamayev as most will know. So I'm interested to see how the games of RDR and Robert Whitaker clash. I ultimately think RDR is gonna struggle getting takedowns. And if it's on the feet, I think Robert Whitaker is just gonna show he's a class above in the striking department.

Now there is a world, if RDR is successfully getting takedowns, I think Robert Whitaker will be in trouble. And there is also, not massive, but it's a size advantage. It's like four inches taller than Robert Whitaker, got like five inches of reach, just going to be an overall thicker, bigger dude in there. There is a world where like, oh man, he's getting takedowns.

And he's able to have a lot of success. Yeah, absolutely right. And I'm not gonna, I'm mentioning the name Elliot Toporia and I'm mentioning the name Conor McGregor for the sole purpose of illustrating or even Patty Pimblet, right? Let's use, actually Patty Pimblet's probably a better example.

You can doubt, you can doubt and you can doubt, but then when the performances start to show that the things that you were doubting are actually not as big of a hole that you suspected, you have to start coming to the realization that this guy is better than you had him slated, and you can't continue to go based on that previous analysis. In the last fight against Bo'Nicol,

I'm going to grant that Bo'Nicol is not an elite striker, but on the feet, it looked like they were in completely different worlds. And I was very impressed with the striking of RDR. I think that's a type of game that he can have some success against Robert Whitaker with. If he's closing the distances, if he's using clinches, and if he hasn't been close, that's

not necessarily where Robert Whitaker does his best work. He's more of a guy who's in open space, continuing to land punches and kicks at distance. And so I don't think it's like a one-way traffic but I do think Whitaker is the better striker and ultimately I think he will struggle to get the takedowns. But as you said like there is a world where that analysis and maybe even that takedown defense for Whitaker has diminished and RDR is able to have some success in the grappling. It's a really interesting and exciting fight. I have a lot of excitement

about the idea of RDR and him being a potential new name in this division. And I also just, I think, like many MMA fans, love Robert Whitaker. He's just a super interesting character. He's a great talker. He's funny. He doesn't take himself too seriously, but he's a relentless and ruthless competitor. So it's a perfect matchup for me. He's a little bit like middleweights Dustin Poirier at this point. Yeah. He's just like beloved he did become an undisputed champion but like beloved puts on wars fights the best of the best if you go down Robert Whitaker like the dude that he's fought lately like he is always willing to take on everyone it's almost like his BSD was a criminal scare off.

How big of a factor do you think that experience is gonna be? Because I think a pretty significant one. I mean, just being in there with the absolute best of the best, being in five round wars, being in title fights before has to benefit Robert Whitaker in this situation. But there's the size, there's, I wanna say the youth,

I keep thinking RDR, like he's not younger than him. It really is a fascinating fight. I think it's lined correctly, I think that it's a very, very close fight, I could see it going either way. How about RDR for the boys coming over from other promotions, like repping hard if he's able to get this win? Like 3-0 so far in a time where it's just like okay Kaya Sakura comes over kind of just washed out by Pantoja Pitbull comes over he's one-on-one but like neither performance

has really been that great then here's RDR just trudging along. Yeah you mentioned the other promotions I do want to give a shout out to Drake Riggs who did an interview with RDR for unground.com and he talked about kind of like the experience with one and kind of what they're doing over there and being shelved a bit it's good to see him like out from that it's good to see him in the UFC and having this opportunity because you're kind of hearing this story more and more a few months ago we heard the story of Arjun Buller kind of coming out against Chatri and and one's practices and things like that here's the quote I mean

it said they're trying to ruin people's careers. That's quite a declarative statement, but you go from that, you go from that experience to now being like, hey, I'm fighting Robert Whitaker on a massive card for the UFC, one of the stacked cards that they're rolling out this year. Headlining ABC. And potentially in a title fight by the end of the year,

maybe, or early next year, if you can continue the success. It's a huge opportunity for him. He's also, I talked about how everybody loves Robert Whitaker, he's become a little bit of a fan favorite very quickly. He's very candid, he's very open, even that quote you can kind of see. He's willing to just say what he needs to say. He had a little bit of a poke at Bo Nicol. I think people are starting to like- Little bit. I mean the Iowa wrestling stuff. I also think a lot of people were preying on the downfall of Bo Nicol. That's true too. to like. I mean the Iowa wrestling stuff, I also think a lot of people were praying

on the downfall of Bo Nicol. That's true too. He brought that to fruition. He's three and O, you know, former champ over one. It makes sense. I actually have an RDR story. We were walking the streets of Des Moines and I was walking back to the hotel.

We were staying at the fighter hotel and there he was in like a hoodie before the fight. And I was like, oh shit, what's up RDR? And he's just like, what's up man? That's the story. That's the whole story. We just kept on walking. We're gonna start collecting those stories.

We've got the Fluffy story at the UFC. We've got the Fluffy story, we got the RDR story, we got the Dakota Ditch of a story, just like awkward, really mundane encounters with these fighters. Absolutely nothing thrilling. Like nothing thrilling at all, but those are just like, oh yeah, what's up RDR?

Maybe next time we see RDR, he's gonna be mobbed. He can't walk down the street because he's the champion of the UFC. Oh, I mean, what is that? It's not an impossibility. That's the crazy part to me. Has the UFC ever had a champion from the Netherlands? Was Overheim champion? I don't think he ever got the UFC belt.

No, he was not. Bas Rutten. Man, so like decades. Yeah, long time ago. Stefan Struve not, oh, Jermaine Duran to me. She was the featherweight champ. So yeah, there's been actually, kinda crazy. Dutch has actually been represented

more than I would have thought. Why are you making noises over there? I'm disagreeing with you. But yes. A long reigning GDR title. I don't think she had a title to him. But GDR, Bas Rutten, for the striking fans out there, he's like not the traditional Dutch guy. Like the Dutch fighters tend to be the like technical

strikers, the kickboxing strikers. He's kind of a different mold of that. He's got more of the like clinch game, Thai fighting style and also the obvious like grappling credentials. He's a wizard on the ground. Even though I gave a lot of, I thought Kevin Holland would be able to hang

with him on the ground because I respect Kevin Holland's grappling. It was levels above and he showed that. So yeah, a super decorated grappler, an exciting fighter. I'm really excited for this fight. I think it's like a perfect old guard, new guard situation for the UFC. I did see him do an interview.

I wanna say it was with like, home of fighter, only fighting, something like that. But he essentially was like, I'm a striker now, fuck Jiu-Jitsu. Yeah, that's why people like him, cause he's funny like that. Like that's a funny thing to say. Final prediction?

I like Robert Whitaker and especially at the odd, like the odds are right now where they're close to a pick-up. I just think more well-rounded. Like there is going to be a point where and but by the way I am fully acknowledging as we have both said multiple times here. There's a chance that we are completely wrong on this I'm going based on past history. I don't think our DR is of the level of Robert Whitaker I think he would be more well-rounded. I think you will have success in the takedown defense

There's a world where that's just completely off and if it is Robert Whitaker is in a lot of trouble. I agree. I'm going to go Robert Whitaker TKO round four. Makes sense, I could see it. Kind of starts gassing him out a little bit. Yeah. But like you said, I could be dead wrong in this one. Sub-RDR round two, talking about a new phenom in the sport.

Yeah, 100%, 100%. We will see what happens in that one. Let's go to the co-main event, Piotr Jan taking on Marcus McGee. Talk about rising stars. How about this for crazy? Three years ago, July of 2022, Marcus McGee is in his fifth professional bout. What promotion?

Vlad Frank's not here to see that one. Fifth professional bout, LFA, losing by first round finish. Oh, what? Moves to see that one. Fifth professional bout, LFA, losing by first round finish. Moves to four and one. Imagine going up to that guy and him being like, yeah man, in three years I'll be co-main eventing the ABC card in Abu Dhabi against Pyotr Yan with a top three ranking on the line

in the UFC Bantamweight division. Yeah, that is a journey in three years. I swear to God, no sport moves faster. No. Mixed martial arts. Like it is truly insane. Like how quickly you can go. Fifth professional fight. Gets finished in the first round in LFA, July, 2022.

Fast forward three years. Pyotr Yon, co-main event, ABC Abu Dhabi. Can we even just go back to like, 2023? Journey Newsome. JP Bayes, Journey Newsome, and now you're looking at. I mean, we talk about increases in level of competition with RDR, Journey Newsome, JP Bayes, Gaston Balaños, Jonathan Martinez, Piotr Jan.

Like you're going up against the former champion. The Jonathan Martinez is at least a viable like top contender type of fight. And then there's a jump to Piotr Jan. But not Jonathan Martinez doesn't even find himself in the rankings. But before that, yeah, the level of competition is not very good.

Also Piotr Jan, three years younger than him. Marcus McGee is 35. Yeah, he got to it late for sure. Fighting at 135, only 11 professional bouts. Piotr Jan, 23. You talk about level of competition? Davidson Figuereto, Song Yindong, Mirabdavale Shvili, Sean O'Malley, Aljamain Sterling, Corey Sandhagen, Aljamain Sterling, Jose Aldo, Uriah Faber. There's a few champs and title contenders in that mix there. That's his last nine fights

now he gets Marcus McGee. The level of experience here is jarring. Yeah. The difference between the two, who they've been in this octagon with, how much octagon time they've had, the five round fights, I know this one is only three, but man, if Marcus McGee is able to pull this off,

it would truly, I mean, it would be incredible. The way I see it going is more than likely neither guy shooting for a takedown. Peter Yon has unbelievable takedown defense. It would truly, I mean it would be incredible. The way I see it going is more than likely neither guy shooting for a takedown. Pyotr Jan has unbelievable takedown defense. Marcus McGee doesn't really fight like that. I imagine it's going to be a striking battle. I think it'll be close, but I think ultimately

Pyotr Jan, the experience, the skills, and everything has him pulling away and he gets it done. Yeah, Marcus in every fight up until the last one has finished his opponents. All his wins he has finished his opponents. And to me that indicates that maybe the level of competition is now where we start to see it not be this freight train that's just running

over everybody, right? Don't get me wrong, the performance against Jonathan Martinez was very, very impressive. But we saw the finish streak come to an end and now we're starting to see these are the top, top, top guys. And Jonathan Martinez, as you said we're starting to see like, these are the top, top, top guys. And Jonathan Martinez, as you said, isn't even ranked anymore,

isn't the like top guys that you're talking about that the Piotr Jans of the world have been facing. This feels like a y'all must have forgot type of fight. I mean, honestly, credit to Piotr Jans because like this is not a fight he needs to take. It's crazy. This is not a guy he needs to be facing at this point in his career.

It shows how high the UFC is on Marcus McGee, or maybe they're just like, he's 35, he clearly has skills, we need to get him in there. But like, this feels like one that Pyotr Yon gets the call and he's just like, huh? Like, you want me to fight Marcus McGee, a dude ranked, what, 13th or 12th or something right now? And I'm, you know, yeah, he's ranked 12th right now.

Pyotr Yon could be having a fight with Umar and Amagomedov, a rematch with Sean O'Malley, like fighting Cheeto Vera. You would think he's more on that upper echelon, but instead he's getting Marcus McGee. Respect to Marcus McGee, obviously you're gonna take the opportunity, but you talked about the finishes. Maybe the level of competition is finally starting

to add up, Pyotr Yan, not only is the level of competition the highest he's ever faced, this is a dude that does not get finished. Never been finished in his career, tough as nails. Like is going to make this difficult for Marcus McGee. Yeah. It's a hurdle that if he gets over, especially at how big of underdog odds he is,

it'll be incredible. And not only that, but defensively, Jan is just so fantastic, right? Like his takedown defense, even in the loss to Merab, which I think was one-sided, there are some people that would argue that maybe it was a little less one-sided than I would perceive it as. I thought it was pretty one-way traffic.

Murab is not converting those takedowns. Like Murab is in on takedowns, but like Kjotarjan's takedown defense is absolutely tremendous. We've seen this in the fights against Aljimane Sterling as well, right? In the first one, it looked like he was on his way to victory. In the second one, Al looked like he was on his way to victory.

In the second one, Alja was able to pull it off. But it was like one takedown around, and he was desperate to kind of get those. He needed those desperately. Otherwise, it was going to be Jan's fight. So Jan's takedown defense is like up in the pantheon. It's lauded for a reason. And so I imagine that if Marcus is not

able to have some success in the grappling on the feet, that's where Jan also shines, right? Some of the better, crispier boxing that we see, especially in that weight class. So I tend to lean Jan here, but I'm just wondering if Marcus has something that like we maybe haven't seen at the top of this division before.

He has a little bit of like nastiness that maybe the other guys that have been up there in the top of the rankings don't have. He's a bit of a dog as they say, but I find it hard to see anybody who's not the caliber of like Marab beating Jan, honestly. Yeah, I'm with you there. And it feels like kind of similarities,

maybe not in the odds and the level of competition between the two, but it feels similar in like, these two guys lower down in the rankings, getting massive opportunities to become sort of the new gen at these weight classes, middle weight and 135 for the UFC. I mean- Who do you think has more chance? RDR for sure.

Yeah, I think so. RDR, if he wins, I will be like, phew, damn, there it is, man. Yeah. This guy is sure. Yeah, I think so. RDR if he wins, I will be like, damn, there it is, man. This guy is one shot away, like doesn't surprise me. Marcus McGee goes out there and beats Pyotr Jan, I'll be like, holy shit. Me too.

Holy shit. What a win by Marcus McGee. Like I know he has so many finishes. If he were to go out here and finish Pyotr Jan, like my jaw would be on the floor. If he finishes him, that'd be. My jaw would be on the floor. To do that on ABC in a division where,

yeah, it's kind of stacked up top, like with the Umars and Marab kind of starting to run through it, but like, you could find yourself at 135 in a Pantoja situation here somewhat soon where Marab's just beating everyone and it's just like, well, throw Marcus McGee in there, see if he can beat him. Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at the rankings right now.

Marab champion, Sean O'Malley. I'm looking at the rankings right now. Murab champion, Sean O'Malley. Kind of out of that title picture now. But just to say the names Murab, O'Malley, Umar, Yan. Like outside of O'Malley, Murab and then we did not, did we see Umar versus Yan? No. No. That was booked maybe and then they never did it. Either way it's those names that are going to beat Piotr Jan. I don't really give much of a chance to the people. Then again, he had a great fight with Corey, one of the best fights of that year that I really loved. And what's Corey doing?

Fighting for the title. He's fighting for the title and Jan ultimately won that fight. So it's a bit of a hard road for Marcus McGee, but the opportunity of his life, like you, I would be shocked if he's able to pull it off because I think so highly of Jan still at this point in his career. But there's just a point in these guys' lives where the miles add up. Like Jan has been fighting for a very fucking long time. And there's just a point where the Whitakers, the Jans, are just a step behind where they used to be.

And maybe that night is on Saturday, at the moment I'm not ready to close that door. What's crazy is he's three years younger than Mark Twiggy. I know. It's just wild. It's the miles though. As you said, three years ago he was four in one, you said? Yeah.

That's the difference. It's not necessarily the age in this scenario, it's the miles. Yan has been in some battles for a long, long time. Yeah, I mean, he's been in five round fights. Any concern, maybe Marcus McGee capitalizes on this, you know, the cliche, the patented Pyotr Jan downloading information, like slower starts, rounds, this is only a three rounder,

he's used to mostly doing five rounders. No. Marcus McGee comes out on the gas I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think so either. I don't think so Yan is just so he's so good defensively. It's it's Once you start getting frustrated because you can't mount your offense against Yan It becomes his fight now the counter to that the thwarting of that is a guy like Marab who? It doesn't matter if you're thwarting his offense because his offense is just being offensive.

He doesn't have to be successful as I've said many, many times. He doesn't have to convert the takedowns. I don't see a world where Marcus McGee is able to have huge success against Jan just by being busy. That's not really his game. His game is being nasty and finishing fights, right? Hitting you with power shots, grappling with you, getting you to the ground, and pounding you out. Like, that is his style. His style is by actually being aggressive and finishing fights.

He needs success for that. He needs to be able to take you down, or he needs to be able to land something big to make it work. I just see Jan being too good defensively, and when he is in that position and now frustrated because Jan is not leaving openings for him to be caught, that's when Jan starts to turn up the volume

and get his own offense off, and that's how I see it going. These top two fights are fascinating. They're great fights. I'm excited to see what Marcus can do against Jan because, again, this is by far the toughest fight of his career. Let's go to the featured Boucher bullet taken on Marc-And Barry Ohl, I still have not seen a performance

from Shara Bullitt, I'm waiting on it. Despite him being, I think, four and one in the promotion, where I've been wildly impressed. Like the double spinning back fist was incredible. Knocked out of the year. Knocked out of the year, but he came in a fight where he was struggling with Armand Petrosian. Lost that first round, was in a very close second round,

and that sort of came out of nowhere. It was sort of like this. It was at least even, let's call it that. It was at least an even fight to that point. For sure, for sure. And then, you know, like the Tricoli knockout, you know, it is what it is. The Oleg Sechek fight, like kind of ho-hum,

and then the loss to Michael Page. Like, he's obviously talented, he's obviously skilled, but I'm still waiting for like that performance where you're like, wow, like he has arrived. He's never been dominant. He's been impressive. He's had knockouts that make you go, okay, I see the potential, I see what people are seeing

in terms of his style. He's an exciting fighter, he's a flashy striker, he throws stuff like the spinning back fist that is absolutely bananas. But I have yet to see him kind of put in a complete performance from start to finish that I'm like, this guy can dominate in the way that they have him lined

as like a five or six to one favorite. That kind of boggles my mind a little bit. Because I have not seen a guy of that caliber from him yet. I was just gonna say, he's getting lined like he is that dominant dude. Minus 700 to Mark Andre. Seven. Yeah, Mark Andre Barrio plus 440.

Yeah, seven is crazy. How is that? Listen, again, famous last words. We're gonna sit here, he's gonna go out there and dismantle Mark Andre and it's gonna be like, yay, of course he was 700. Lock him out ice cold in the first round. Yeah, first round, 30 seconds in.

But I have not seen that to this point. That's not the type of guy I've been watching. As I said, again, exciting, capable finisher, a really solid striker, but I've not seen a fight where I've been like, this guy's in complete control the whole time, there's no holes in the game. There's some obvious holes in the game. I think Marc Andre is gonna be a little bit tougher

of a fight than those odds indicate. There is a world. Marc Andre Barryl doesn't really go for takedowns, he's willing to engage in the striking, he can be aggressive, we've seen him knocked out three times in his UFC career. There's a world where he gets too aggressive and Char Bullitt counters him with one.

He doesn't go for takedowns these days. Yeah, I know, I agree. I'm just saying, trying to play devil's advocate for lining it at minus 700. Yeah, I get that I agree. I'm just saying, trying to play devil's advocate for lining it at minus 700. Yeah, I get that, but you have to think Mark Andre knows that his path to victory is get in close, clinch, take down, get him against the fence, see what his bottom game looks like,

throw a few hammer fists, and then go from there. And if that doesn't work, then maybe you sell out and you take the opportunity, you take the chance of getting knocked out yourself. I don't know, even in a world where Marc Andre is coming forward and playing into Sharah Bullet's hands, I still give him a chance. I don't think it's out of the question

that Marc Andre, who has massive power, is out of that equation either. Minus 700 is like auto win. Yeah. That's like you're getting in that territory of like, this guy should dominate. Marab is not that over anybody, and Marab is like one of the most dominant

one-way traffic guys we've seen. I think Sharpe Bullitt probably wins, but I'm not as confident as the bookmakers are. I think this is going to be a better fight than it is perceived. I feel the same way. And also like Sharpe Bullitt's been over the one and a half in every single one of his fights in the UFC.

Like it's not like he's some like super quick One hitter quitter type guy like he sort of just like stays in there kind of gets it on volume The the one time that he had other than the double spinning back fist I don't know. It's a very intriguing fight to me And maybe maybe getting that first loss on your record is going to be helpful to Shara Bullitt. I mean, either way, he's got such a unique look and he's such an interesting character. He talks that good shit.

Like, he'll be around for a while. If you continue to match him up with strikers, it's the right strategy, it will work. But yeah, that line feels off to me, is where I'm ultimately at on this fight. We'll find out on Saturday. After Shara wins by a first minute knockout, Marcus McGee chokes out Pyotr Yan in the first round

and then RDR just steamrolls Robert Whitaker. Let's keep rolling on the main card. Asu Almabyev taking on Jose Ochoa. Ochoa on a quick turnaround. I just saw him at UFC Atlanta trying to put his name into the UFC rankings. He could immediately get in the top 10 in a division that is hungry, thirsty for title challengers.

Meanwhile, Asu Almabyev, one half of the legendary main event, Asu Almabyev versus Manel Kopp. Unfortunately, he got his first loss in the UFC in that one. Now he's trying to bounce back from it. A great poster came from it. Nonetheless, this one's interesting to me with Jose willing to quickly jump back in there,

go all the way to Abu Dhabi for this one. Just 24 years old, rep in Peru. Like I said, like trying to get in the top 10 of a division that is just being run. Like the overlord of the division that is just being run like the the overlord of the division is just like Pantoja like hungry for new contenders and you went here then you then you start getting top 10 matchups yeah and I think Almabyev like losing to Manel Kopp is no stain on the resume

like Kopp is like the fascinating guy in the division because like he can't is no stain on the resume. Cop is the fascinating guy in the division because he can't seem to kind of get to that title shot but against anybody else, he's kind of like this knockout artist that nobody can seem to figure out. I don't think that that is some indictment on Almabayo. I think this will probably be a bounce back performance for him. I'm a little surprised that he's not a bigger favorite

in this fight, but the win against Cody Durden was very impressive, so I understand why. He finished Cody Durden in his hometown. Yeah, I understand why he'd be getting respect, but I think this is Almabayo's fight to lose. Yeah, a good fight at 125, and Almabayo repping Kazakhstan. Hopefully some Kazakhstan fans jumping on the plane and getting over there for him.

What do you think line wise? Oh, it's evenly lined. But what do you think of that? I'm not gonna bet on it, but I feel like that's proper just because we're still finding out about Ochoa. He's still just so young. I don't know how many improvements he could have made since the last time out but I guess I am with you. It feels like Asu should be like a minus 160 minus 170. That's where I'm at like two fights ago Ochoa was losing to Loner Kavanaugh. Like, I don't know. Look, the dirt and win was very impressive.

Like I would have probably went the other way on that one. So what do I know? But yeah, I feel like Amabaya is one of those guys that actually will be like future title contender for 125. So that's where I'm at. Let's go to the last card, last fight on the main card. The first one that you will see. Nikita Krylov taking on Bogdan Guskov.

To me, this just feels like the game plan's right there for Krylov, take Guskov down and sub him out. It's just like we've seen him struggle in the grappling several times. I believe it's his only loss in the promotion, the Volkan Oztomir, who isn't notoriously a great grappler, able to take him down, sub him out. Elikana, Billy Elikana had some success in the grappling there as well.

Krylov, who is so nasty, who is so capable of getting finishes at any point in the fight, especially when you're on the mat with him, take him down, sub him out. That feels like the game plan. Don't stay on the feet with him. Don't try and strike with a guy who has massive knockout power.

Just take him to the ground. It's his fight to lose, I feel exactly the knockout power, just take him to the ground. It's his fight to lose, I feel exactly the same. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Let's go to the featured prelim of the evening. Bryce Mitchell making his debut at 135 against Saeed Nirmaga Medav, goes win-loss, win-loss, win-loss at 145, decides to go down to 135.

I don't really blame him because all those losses, all three of them, Ilya Toporia finished, choked out, Josh Emmett, life-changing knockout, John Silva, another brutal finish. Like he's getting finished in these losses. Clearly, he's not really in that title contention at 145, trying to change it up, still at 30 years old, to go down to 135, but he doesn't get an easy welcome, man.

No. Saeed Novakhamenov is not an easy welcome to this division. I'm interested to see how Bryce looks here. Yeah, this is a hard one for me. Like the betting odds look right to me, where it's like Bryce is like, I believe a very small favorite. I would think that he would be able to beat Said but then I have real

concerns about his striking like as we saw in his most recent performance if you can neutralize the grappling he is kind of in in rough shape with the hands and so I wonder if he's gonna be able to have success in the grappling against Said. I think he can, but I don't know. Maybe it's going to be one of those where he's able to get a little bit of success and kind of grind out a decision. But I have to think due to the level of competition he's been facing recently, he'll be prepared for this and probably I give him a slight edge, but it's one that I'm probably staying away from from a betting perspective. Oh, I definitely am, just because I don't know what Bryce Mitchell is going to look at 135.

Honestly, he's going to need to go for takedowns. He's got the nasty front chokes. He's also good in the striking man. Like I don't underrate Saeed's striking, and I think he'll be better than Bryce Mitchell on the feet. It really is just that Bryce Mitchell is able to get takedowns. It will probably be Bryce's fight but like maybe he only gets just enough that's where I'm kind of like thinking at the

moment but the opponents that he's faced in his career like Bryce Mitchell has fought top top top level competition and Said has not yet. Yeah I mean we just mentioned the the losses were to Jean Silva, Ilya Taboria, and Josh. Chance title contenders, it's the top of the top. Yeah, like a top 10 dude in Jean Silva, top 10 dude in Josh Yemen, and now the 1.5 and now 1.55. And we saw Saeed stumble against Lock Dogg. Ilya Taboria.

Sorry, what'd you say? Bryce Mitchell losing to Ilya Taboria. Yeah, I'm saying Saeed. Oh, Saeed. Saeed. Lock Dogg. Yeah, I'm saying Syed. Oh Syed. So I locked dog. It's a lock dog Yeah at the time maybe was not like a top-level guy, but now we're starting to see maybe could be a top-level guy and so you know It's it's too close to call for me on this one. I mean I leaned ever so slightly toward Bryce I'm gonna say I lean ever so slightly towards Ieed. Okay, I like it, here we go.

I think Saeed gets this one done. It's gonna be very interesting to watch, a great way to go into this ABC card. Another one up, Muslim Salikov taking on Carlos Leal. We talked to Pizzi about this one earlier and he was shocked at the odds on this one, really felt that Muslim Salikov was getting disrespected, but I don't know, man, 41 years old against Leal,

who is very strong, man. He's taking his vitamins and minerals, that is for sure. And he's got a 10-year age gap. I just feel like it's gonna be too much for Salikov. Muslim is such an exciting striker and kind of just finds ways to win. I'm with you though. I think Lial is going to be too much.

Like Pizzi though, I am a little surprised by the line. I thought it would be a little tighter. I thought it would be a little closer than that. But I think Lial will win. Lial robbed the last time he was in the desert against Renat Fakhreddinov. I don't see that happening here. No. I don't think it's going gonna go to decision, do you?

No, I would be surprised, but that's, knock on wood, that's famous last words. It's almost like every time we say that, it actually ends up going to a decision. But 41 at 170 against the guy who's young, fast, and strong. I mean, he's no Wonder Boy Thompson, but I guess you can still fight- He kind of is Wonder Boy Thompson.

I was gonna say, I guess at that age you can still, if you're just gonna be a wild, like karate style striking. The karate style striker, yeah. So I guess that is the exact comparison. Is 40 the new 30 at 170? Well, as we've seen though, like Wonder Boy, kind of like the young hungry guy is the way to like kind of outdo him.

If you're gonna just stand and like point fight, if you're gonna try to do the karate style back, then I think guys like Muslim and I think guys like Wonder Boy are gonna have the chance. But if you're like in their face and aggressive in the way that Lial is almost certain to be, I do think it will be too much. Let's keep it rolling.

Daman Blackshear taking on Davey Grant, similar to the Krylov fight. Feel like Daman needs to grapple here. I don't know if he's gonna like what Davey Grant has to offer him on the feet if it stays standing there. No, but Daman is showing like he is a supreme grappler. The moment he kind of hits the ground, he is looking for subs and he's shown himself

to be extremely capable down there. Yeah, and this would be his fourth straight win. Knocking on the door of potentially getting a number next to his name. He's kind of had a bit of an up and down. Wow, three in a row. I'm just seeing that now. Yeah, impressive. Yeah, since he came into the promotion in 2022, it's sort of been up and down.

Comes in with a draw, then gets a, you know, a loss, some wins, some losses. Now it's three straight, feels like he's starting to shrink it together. And I feel like if he just continues to depend on the grappling, he can get it done here. Against one Davey Grant, who's always, always down for a scrap.

Yeah. So from Daman, get that thing to the ground. Amanda Hibas for his Tabithi Ricci, a top 10 matchup. Interesting fight that will almost certainly go to decision, that will almost certainly be 29-28. I think Ricci is a little more well-rounded and will probably end up on top. I think Ricci too.

Ricci, the threat from Ricci is all in the ground game, but I feel like- Well, it's in the control. She's a control grappler. Yeah, I feel like Ricci has enough to the ground game, but I feel like. Well, it's in the control. She's a controlled grappler. Yeah, I feel like Rebus has enough to thwart that. I feel the same. And also, I think Rebus can be offensive with her grappling against Ricci.

So I don't think she'll be scared to go to the ground. I think she'll be a little bit better on the feet. And so I favor Rebus to be a little more well-rounded and win it. Ibo Aslan taking on the aforementioned Billy Alikana, who's coming off a loss to Bogdan Guskov, the Turkish delight, Ibo Aslan. Feels like he's just gonna come in here

like he always does trying to take his hat off. Yeah, and I mean, what else would we expect? That's the best version of him. Remember that Tercali fight in Jersey? It was like, now there was some like weird moments in it, but it was kind of the most exciting moment of the entire card. Yeah, shout out to Ibo Aslan, Turkish Delight.

The last Ottoman, this is his actual nickname, which we'll get into later with the- Wait, so where did Turkish Delight come from? Is that like the Bobby Knuckles? Is that like the- He's just Turkish and handsome. But is that yours or is that- It's mine.

Oh, you're calling him that. I call him Turkish Delight. Okay, got it. There's not many Turkish fighters in the promotion. If you ever main events somewhere, Fight Fist Turkey, get our hair done. Who's our? I know, who the fuck is we is right, god damn it. You, Frank and Ariel have fantastic hairlines.

Jordan has a good hairline too. There's a couple bald guys walking around the office. We can all, they can join in. Thanks. Mohammed Yahya, massive underdog, but he is repping the UAE versus Steven Nguyen. Should be an interesting scrap there, I mean, Steve is a massive favorite in this one.

Yeah, a talented striker, like I think it's his fight. All right, Curtin Jerker, this is the one that I really wanted to get into. We've kind of been brushing over the last few. Martin Buday, taking on Marcus Buccecha in his UFC debut. If you do not know who this man is, he is a fourth degree BJJ Black Belt, a 13 time gold medalist at the Worlds,

a two time ADCC gold medalist, a two, a two-time ADCC gold medalist, a two-time world grand prix champion, and a two-time world no-gi world champion as well. Has almost 150 professional BJJ matches, has fought in the likes of Gordon Ryan, the best of the best. Like on the mat, he is an animal. He is a star in his own right as well.

He's got like a hundred or 550,000 followers on Instagram. Yep. If he is able to come in here and get a finish, this is the next guy to watch it anyway. I agree. In a shallow, the most shallow division in the UFC. Two weeks ago, we did a like, who the fuck is in this division that can even like

make a name for themselves to come fight Tom Aspinall. This is a guy who, let's be honest about his how fast he can ascend here, he's far away, right? He's coming in against Martin Buday who is not like a household name. This is gonna take some time, but if he's able to get a submission here, it will start to build like the Jalton Almeida build at Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight where Jalten Almeida was able to rack up sub after sub after sub or finish on the ground and all of a sudden kind of like become this like vaunted grappler who climbed the ranks. This guy's level of grappling is so far above everybody else's in this division it's ridiculous.

Now this is MMA and you're gonna have to round out the rest of your game, but he's a six foot three like Hulk of a man If if if you continue to feed him this level of opposition There is no doubt he should be able to just continue to sub them Now if he has if he struggles there if all of a sudden he can't sub people or all of a sudden he's getting knocked out This is over very quickly but I think this will be a chance like a bone nickel where you can kind of just this is over very quickly, but I think this will be a chance like a bone nickel where you can kind of just give him the right type of matchups and he can find ways to succeed up until a certain level of opposition where it's gonna be really

do or die on on whether he's well rounded enough in MMA. But this should be this should be Buchacha sub no doubt, guarantee. It feels like they they were very intentional with this matchmaking. You get Martin Buday, who is in the top 15. You can immediately put him into the rankings with a victory here. I mean, for God's sakes, Rizvan is ranked. He's coming off a loss. Yeah, everybody's ranked.

You can easily put him in the rankings here. Did a little digging. No one has taken Martin Buday down in his eight fight UFC career. That is because. Nobody's tried. There have only been four take down attempts through the eight fights.

So once every two fights, a sloppy big heavyweight is like, oh, let's go for the take down, and nope, didn't work. All right, we're back at range. I can't imagine that's going to be the game plan for our future. For Bichacha? Yeah, probably not. But yeah, like, maybe there are some who don't know. I feel like there was a time in MMA

back in the day where like these type of grapplers were more known, right? Like when people would be like, Damien Maia, oh my god, this guy is like a phenom. And we would be more familiar with some of the jujitsu players. Or even like Bo Nickel, it's like, oh my god,

to be that decorated wrestler. He is of that level in terms of BJJ this is like the cream cream cream cream cream of the crop when it comes to BJJ so as we said this could be a coming out and this could be an opportunity for him to hop immediately toward the back end of those rankings or maybe just fall short outside either way if he's able to string together a few submissions in a row, it will be an antidote for the kind of doldrums of that heavyweight division. It's also incredibly exciting that it is happening at heavyweight. You're getting this guy who is a world class, not just grappler, but like gets submissions

is unbelievable when it comes to the mat. And like not for nothing, like he's got a following, he is well known in that world, and if he starts dominating, sort of this aura, this lore behind him starts to build up and he really becomes a potential star in this division. He is 35 years old, which in other divisions, like we're talking about, like we're like,

man, Marcus Masgui is kind of late to it. 35 at heavyweight is a little is a little more forgiving right the the the age of heavyweights tends to be higher than the ages of the other divisions you can kind of carry that power and that size and not having to cut weight and all those things a little bit longer so I'm not as concerned about the fact that he's coming into the UFC now at 35 but he has to show that he is an MMA fighter I don't think he has to show that he is an MMA fighter. I don't think he has to show that against Martin Buday.

There will be a point though after this where if the grappling is not working, he will have to show that his hands are at least coming along in the way that we had to see it from Bo Nicol. And he showed that they weren't yet. He showed that against Rainer De Ritter, the standup game still needed a little bit of work.

He'll have to show the hands are coming along and this is not the best division to find that out. Because if they're not working and you're not gonna take down, you're probably going to sleep. I wish I'd meant to send Jordan the side-by-side. This is such a ridiculous like side-by-side fight. We'll see when I go over my bets later in the show. But like Buccecce is like this.

In terms of the physique? Yeah, he's like this absolutely jacked to the gills, like handsome, like tan skin Brazilian. And then Martin Buday is just sort of like dad bod, pale Slovakian. It's like two exact opposite physique styles for both these guys. So that is the whole card.

UFC Abu Dhabi starts at noon on ESPN plus, ESPN, and then goes over at three o'clock on ABC, Abu Dhabi starts at noon on ESPN Plus, ESPN, and then goes over at three o'clock on ABC, getting the mainstream treatment they usually do for these Abu Dhabi cards, but a very good fight night. I am very much looking forward to this, especially that top half of the main card. Those last three fights are going to be fascinating stuff to watch, I cannot wait.

Let's shift back over to the shocking news of the passing of Hulk Hogan at 71 that we briefly discussed at the beginning of the show today. And to help us sort of verbalize it, contextualize it better, Ariel Hawani joins the program. Ariel, what's going on, man? Thanks for joining us. Hello, gentlemen. How are you? Hope everyone is doing well. Yes, very very sad news. Somewhat shocking news, you know, there were some reports, some from people who knew him quite well, most notably Bubba the Love Sponge recently saying that he wasn't in the best of health. You know, we had him on the show just a few

months ago and I've seen people post pictures from that interview this morning commenting on the way in which he looked, but just 71 years old, and there's a lot of thoughts, there's a lot of feelings that are going through me right now because this is a very, very complicated legacy. This is a very complicated figure in the world of sports entertainment. And I don't know if since, let me be very clear, the reason why it is complicated isn't

the same by any stretch, but it is reminiscent to a degree of when O.J. Simpson passed away because O.J. Simpson had a first act where he was beloved, and he had a second act where he was beloved, and then he had a third act where he was not and he had a second act where he was beloved and then he had a third act where he was not beloved and a fourth act where he was not beloved and it is somewhat similar in this regard when talking about Hulk Hogan's legacy and everything that he did for the pro wrestling world because in my opinion he is the most famous pro wrestler of all time. When you talk about a Mount Rushmore, if you don't have Hulk Hogan on it, I'm not talking about from a technical standpoint. I'm talking about like someone who had an impact on the business.

He has to be on there. And if you're ranking them, he has to be number one. I think he's the most famous pro wrestler of all time. You can make a case for The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, but the case is in large part due to what he did post-pro wrestling. If The Rock would have just remained pro wrestler, then I don't think he reaches the superstardom levels that he's at today and beyond. And then some. Hulk Hogan, in large part, is who he is, is as famous as he was, is, because of everything he did in pro wrestling. And if you were a kid of the 80s and 70s and early 90s you know all about this. There is no pro wrestling

boom, there is no WWF boom, there is no WrestleMania without Hulk Hogan. In January of 1984 when he beats the Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden that changed everything for Vince McMahon and WWF. They strapped the rocket to him. Prior to that, he was just a big man competing in Japan, in AWA, in Minnesota, but Vince saw something in this guy and said, this is our guy. This is the all-American hero that we need. And I was relatively young at that point.

I was two years old, but I've said this story a million times. I remember being in a video store and seeing Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, who was a gigantic deal in the 80s, on the cover of a box of a VHS and saying, I need to watch that and I rented that and that's how I learned about WWF and that was the box for WrestleMania 1. And so when they put that title on him in January of 1984, when he beats the dastardly Iron Sheik, in the midst of everything going on between the US and Iran and of course Russia, all that, like he was the perfect guy. Say your prayers, eat your vitamins, work out, do all that stuff, red, white and blue,

all American, incredible walkout. And then going into 1985, WrestleMania 1, all-American, incredible walkout. And then, you know, going into 1985, WrestleMania I, Madison Square Garden, the biggest gamble of McMahon's career at that point, he's hosting SNL the night before with Mr. T. The night before WrestleMania I and Madison Square Garden, Hulk Hogan, pro wrestler, is hosting Saturday Night Live with Mr. T. in order to gain awareness.

He's the first pro wrestler to ever be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He was, in my opinion, you could say that there were three uber-famous athletes in America that were known worldwide. It was in no particular order. It was Hulk Hogan, Mike Tyson, Michael Jordan. They were the guys. In the 80s, there was no one bigger than them. And I'm not talking about Muhammad Ali, who was a big deal in the 70s, he wasn't active anymore in the late 80s, 90s. It was Hogan, it was Tyson, it was Michael Jordan. And then there were obviously other guys, you know, Wayne Gretzky was a big deal in Canada, you know, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Dan Marino, those guys, but like no one touched them. And Hogan was at the very top of the list,

and he was a pro wrestler. Nothing more, nothing less. WrestleMania 1, WrestleMania 2, WrestleMania 3, Pontiac Silver Dome, 70, 90, whatever thousand amount of people you want to say were there, it was gigantic. He slams Andre the Giant, WrestleMania 4, WrestleMania 5, head to head with the Ultimate Warrior, the passing of the torch at the Sky Dome. I mean, these were iconic, is selling him short. He carried pro wrestling, he carried that company, he put the entire industry on the map. Without him, it doesn't explode into the global business that it is today. And then it starts to get a little complicated in the 90s.

It starts to get complicated with the steroid trial where he's on the Arsenio Hall show and he's asked point blank, did you take steroids? He says no and then later he is forced to reveal that he did in fact take steroids. It gets complicated when he leaves WWE and does a few movies that didn't quite hit. Suburban Commando, Mr. Nanny, Thunder in Paradise, a TV show that did not succeed. And then he goes over to WCW in the mid 90s and the act is wearing thin.

People aren't taking to it. And he doesn't, you know, maybe get enough credit for this. He recognizes in our friend, Mark Ramundi, wrote all about this in his tremendous book, which I have somewhere here, Say Hello to the Bad Guys about the NWO. He changes course and he turns into one of the greatest bad guys in the history of the business. He, by turning heel in 1996 with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall,

by starting the NWO and by being the frontman for that, he added another 10 or so years to his career that was fizzling, was failing at that point and became, again, one of the biggest acts, one of the biggest draws in the business and one of the biggest heels in the business. And I'll never forget being at WrestleMania 18 at the Sky Dome, now known as the Rogers Center and it's Hogan versus The Rock, it's Icon versus Icon, and it was billed as Rock Good Guy versus Hogan Bad Guy and the entire crowd, 67 or so thousand people said, no, we're not doing this. We're cheering for the Hulkster. And on that day, he turns baby face.

And then I went to Monday Night Raw the Monday after and I was at the Bell Center in Montreal and I think at this point off the top of my head, I think it was a 10 to 12 minute ovation where he just literally stood in the middle of the ring and everyone in Montreal who was in attendance that night stood and clapped for him because he was back in WWE after all these years and then had a pretty nice run afterwards. But then again, it gets even more complicated. And the worst of all, first with the, you know, with the sex tape and then the the lawsuit with Peter Thiel and Gawker and then you know what really changed everything for everyone about exactly I believe 10 years ago July of 2015 where you know more footage from these tapes come out and he is caught saying horrifically, horribly racist things about someone that his daughter Brooke was dating and and and about black people in general and he never quite

recovered from that. Now there will be some people like Eric Bischoff who we talked to about this on Monday's program about his complicated legacy who will say like, oh this is just a vocal minority that has held on to this. But no, I mean I was talking to some friends today who are huge wrestling fans who are black who say that I love this guy and now I hate him and I never was able to forgive him and you saw what happened January 6th at the Intuit Dome in in Inglewood on the Netflix debut the crowd booed him and

he told us on the show no they booed me because I was playing the bad guy he wasn't playing the bad guy he came out with the red and yellow he came out with the flag he wasn't playing the bad bad guy. And there are wrestlers since who have said, Shelton Benjamin notably, who said, you know, when he spoke to us about it, because remember in the aftermath of this, WWE kind of parted ways with him and wanted nothing to do with him, took him off the website, the Hall of Fame, all that stuff. And wrestlers in the aftermath said, you know, he, he didn't really show the, the contrition that we thought he was going to show. He didn't seem apologetic. His message to us was, don't get caught. I got caught on camera. I got caught saying

horrible things, racist things, offensive things. Don't get caught. He didn't, according to them, I was in obviously in the room, he didn't say, I'm sorry, I will never live this down, etc. etc. And so that's why it's incredibly complicated because you see today people dealing with, I'm going through it. I'm sorry for going so long here, but it's like this guy represents everything that I loved about pro wrestling. To me, he is my childhood. For many people feel the same. He is 1980s wrestling. I watched his cartoon, Hulk Hogan's Rockin' Wrestling. The stuff with Cyndi Lauper and MTV and Captain Lou Albano. This is my childhood, the red and yellow.

When he came back, it was unbelievable. I wanted to be at WrestleMania 18 because it was his first WrestleMania after a decade away. I wanted to be at that Raw in Montreal because it was his big return to WWF television and all this stuff so like this This guy it's okay to say it's complicated and it's okay to say that at the end You weren't a fan and you were disgusted by the things that he said

but to me you have to acknowledge who he was in the 80s and The 90s and what he did for wrestling if you're a wrestling fan no bigger star there's it's him it's it's it's Austin it's the Rock and maybe Cena no one sold more tickets than him no one sold more merch and look at those three guys that I mentioned and Ric Flair is on that list as well the majority those guys are post late 90s and and beyond in the 80s in my opinion especially in the Northeast and is around the world It was Hulk Hogan Rick Flair wasn't quite known around the world like he was because he was in WWF and Rick Flair was

WCW for the most part at WWF was bigger in the 80s No one no one bigger than him and and and he can walk anywhere in the world. He can walk in India He could walk in Japan He can walk in Brazil China anywhere in the world and everyone recognized him because of the Fu Manchu because of the hair because of the muscles the 24-inch Pythons the brother and all that stuff and we can't forget about Thunder lips here the Rocky movie was huge in those early 80s days and and not a lot of people could say that again the Rock could say that now but that's in large part due to what he did post W if he was gigantic but post W W it propelled him to another level. Hogan

was who he was because of pro wrestling. And so that's why, in my opinion, he's the biggest, most famous pro wrestler of all time, and that's why this is a very sad day if you are a pro wrestling fan who is able to understand that his legacy was a very complicated and complex one. Yeah, very well said. You've laid out kind of a fantastic illustration of kind of maybe the idea that Hulk Hogan the the character is one that deserves the respect and has been admired by wrestling fans for his accomplishments and what he was able to do and and carved out that career and then maybe

there's the issue with with Terry right with Terry Bollea. How do you think WWE is going to recognize Hulk Hogan like what do you think happens from here in terms of WWE's next steps after his passing I think they will recognize him I think that they will honor him remember they brought him back recently his last appearance was that January appearance on the 6th of January at the Intuit Dome on the Netflix debut but they are in business with his his beer company real Beer, I believe it's called. That's one of their top sponsors. So they aren't distancing themselves from him despite all of this. They have brought

him back long ago after the incident with the tapes and him being caught saying those things. So I think that they will honor him. Their next show is tomorrow. That's Friday night SmackDown. And I wouldn't be surprised. I would be honestly very surprised if they don't do anything. I'm sure they will. Their social media has honored him already. Paul LeVeck, Triple H, who's sort of the face of the company now, has honored him in a very, I think, respectful and classy way and a positive way on social media. So I don't think that they are going to lean into the complicated nature of his legacy. I think that they're going to honor him.

And just my opinion, I don't necessarily have a problem with that because, again, to your point, they are honoring Hulk Hogan and what he meant to the company and to the business, not necessarily what Terry Bollea did. Terry Bollea didn't say those things on camera, on TV as Hulk Hogan on WWF television. And so again, it's very, like if a friend of mine tells me like, nah, screw that guy, screw everything he represents. I understand. I understand why you feel that way. And if a person wants to say like, this guy represented my childhood and I hope he gets his flowers and without him there is no pro wrestling and he's a giant and an icon and I understand that as well. It's a really, really,

it's a unique one. And I don't think people struggled as much when OJ passed because it was so black and white. Also you know OJ's heyday was a little before Hogan's 70s so you know I didn't live through the OJ Bill's era. I knew him as the actor, TV star, you know guy who was part of the trial of the century, I lived through Hulkamania. I lived through that also. For me, I'm able, I think, to compartmentalize it and honor the wrestler while also acknowledging the things that happened in the latter portion of his life. Yeah, and with OJ, it was, the crimes were so heinous and then he had the downfall where he was stealing merch and everything like that and by the time it

came to his passing, I think people just had such a way of viewing him, whereas like you've put so eloquently with Hogan, this guy was a lot of people's childhood and they weren't able to you know necessarily separate and just always be a fan of him. Yeah, and like Hogan brought so much joy, especially in the 80s and the 90s as a heel. So many people, I mean, as far as like entertainers go, he was just unbelievable at doing it. And I think if you're a pro wrestling fan who grew up in that era, you appreciated the fact that he kind of made wrestling cool. And he bridged the gap between it being this niche thing and this mainstream thing. And so like when I, when he,

I was a little too young for Thunder Lips and Rocky III and all that, but I remember his next big movie was No Holds Barred, and that was with Zeus. And I remember when it was like Hulk Hogan is gonna be in a movie, are you kidding me? Like he's gonna be on the big screen, like you could go in a theater and watch Hulk Hogan.

And then they used that, turned it into an angle and all that stuff. And like, I'll admit, I watched Mr. Nanny and I watched Suburban Commando. Like, we all, like anyone who tells you now in the aftermath, who says like, we didn't want to support him because of X, Y, and Z, like that's BS.

If you're born in 80, 81, 82, 83, like I am 82, like you supported everything he did, even if he wasn't your favorite. Bret Hart was my favorite, but he represented wrestling He was the face of pro wrestling. He was the face of the company and and and then when he left it was somewhat unceremonious and sad and and I remember thinking like man this dude this guy's A WCW this guy can't be in WCW like he's WWF. What the hell is going on here? Like I didn't really pay attention. I knew about the trial, but I'm 12, 11 during the trial.

This guy's WCW, but then he turns heel because in the early days of WCW, he was doing the same old hits. It was the red and yellow, the Fu Manchu, it all looked the same, but it just seemed a little bit sadder. It was at the Universal Studios lot. Like there were less people there. I was like, man, this is kind of sad. This guy fell off.

This guy isn't as cool as he once was. He's stuck in the 80s. And then he turns heel. And we talked about it when Sina turned heel. Like people were saying that it was going to be on the same level. How has that aged? Like you have no idea how size, but what? Hulk Hogan, Mr. Take Your Vitamins and Say Your Prayers, has a black beard now and he's telling us to piss off and he's like he's he's like a bad guy and he's wearing all black and he's hollywood hogan now like man the fact that he was able to do that was unbelievable and we were just talking about the reality show too the hogan's knows best gave him some mileage too and uh unfortunately i don't think that was good

for for the family dynamic and and his marriage and all that, but so many chapters, so many different eras. And yeah, like my parents texted me about this. My grandmother knows who he is. Like everyone knows this guy. And you can't say that about a lot of people who were stars back then. Just a real giant, a real icon. And yeah, bummed.

I will admit, like I had him on the show and, you know, I tried to ask him those questions and I'm sure some people didn't like the answers or the questions or whatever it was, but I'm sitting there and I'm like, I can't believe. I'll tell you guys a story. So they're doing this real American freestyle wrestling thing, right?

And who knows, you know, I'm sure that's going to continue. And, uh, I hope that their Fox nation deal continues. And I think it's a great opportunity for those wrestlers, but it's, you know, Hulk Hogan's name is attached to it. Eric said himself on the show on, on, on Monday, he doesn't know if he gets the Fox nation deal, if, um, if Hulk Hogan is not attached to it and he's got some things in the works. He doesn't close doors. He opens doors doors he has name being associated with it is

what opens doors for their business he has a bar that's opening across the street from Madison Square Garden that's in the works right now there's a there's a Netflix series that's in the works about him. About Hulk Hogan. Yeah, that, you know, he showed a clip where he, I think he actually talked about it on our show. He said Netflix is following me and I don't know if that went over, you know, people's heads, but like, so we'll see what becomes of all this. In any event, there was a period maybe in February or March where Chad Bronstein, who was sort of like the brains behind real American freestyle wrestling, he's manager to the likes of Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan and Julianna Pena.

And so he texted me, I was sitting exactly in this chair, this is probably February or March or so, and he's like, hey, do you have two minutes? And I said, yeah, sure. And so he calls me and I put my phone on speaker just because I didn't want to hold it here. And he's like, Ariel, I got someone here who wants to talk to you. And he goes, what's going on, brother?

And it's Hulk Hogan. Like I know that voice. And I'm like, holy crap, Hulk Hogan is calling me right now? Like if you would have told 1988 me what? That's that's absurd. Like, call me Mark, call me whatever. Like that's Hulk Hogan on the phone. And they were telling me about real American freestyle wrestling

and what they have planned and what they're going to announce. And what do I think of it? Eric Bischoff was there as well. And that's surreal in its own right. And yeah, and I hung up the phone and I went to tell my wife and kids like I just spoke to Hulk Hogan on the phone. That's insane. And so that's just a story. I mean, that's just a thing about like how crazy this life is, but also what he meant to people of my age, of my age bracket who grew up, no one bigger than him, and I would put him up there with any celebrity, sports, entertainment, music of that generation,

of that era of the 80s. In my opinion, he was up there. I don't think it's crazy to say, with the likes of Tyson, Jordan, even the Michael Jacksons of the world, he was that big at the time. He truly did transcend into bigger than wrestling, into almost bigger than life.

I mean, I was never a wrestling fan at that age. Obviously the peak of his powers, I was not born or incredibly young for, and I know all about him, everything, brother, all that, the yellow and the red, all that. So yeah, he truly was just one of the biggest superstars any sport has ever seen. Yeah, 100%, 100%.

And then, you know, had a couple of business couple of, uh, business, uh, ventures. He had the, he had the spaghetti, uh, thing that he did. I forget what it was like. A chef by RG, right? No, it was like a chain of spaghetti restaurants. Yes. Oh, let me see here. Hulk Hogan, Hulk Hogan.

Maybe I'm just thinking of me. Oh yeah, I'm looking at it. This was the time that, uh, pasta mania. There it is. This is the, yes'm looking at it. This was the time that- Pasta mania. There it is. Yes, look at that. Hulk Hogan's pasta mania. Yes, this was the time that George Foreman blew up with his grill,

and so Hogan came out with pasta mania. Oh my God, it was like an actual restaurant. Yeah, man. You would choose your pasta, angel hair shells, nuggets, fettuccine, you would choose your sauce, marinara, Alfredo, pesto, white clam. This is insane. Not everyone could pull that off. No one can pull this off. You could add Swedish meatballs,

beef stroganoff. This is a whole caroni and cheese. Yeah, and so he had things like that. He had the movies again. Those are, there it is. There's the logo right there. There's the, it's like the famous, yeah. That was like the actual cover of it or whatever. Um, great, great shirt there. Um, she was in the mall of America.

In Minnesota. Yeah. It was just one. It says that Hulk Hogan had a restaurant at the mall of America called pasta mania. Yeah, there it is. Um, and then he was like, Oh, I'm going to go to the mall. In Minnesota. Yeah. It was just one. It says that Hulk Hogan had a restaurant at the Mall of America called Pasta Mania. Yeah, there it is. But then yeah, and that, Rick, correct me if I'm wrong. Were you at Gawker when all that happened or no?

I was at Gawker. Oh wow. That was going down. I was not involved obviously directly in it. You were like an intern, no? I was not involved, obviously, directly in it. Obviously. You were like an intern, no? I was an intern. I was an intern on the reality TV video side of things. Like, I would be cutting clips of like, so you think you can dance. Like, and no, was that the one with Little Mama? Whatever the one with Little Mama was.

But that was my role. And then obviously on the sports side, I was sitting in the office like deadspins over there and they released the sex tape and started the whole thing that then got them basically shuttered and put out of business and then obviously also led to the revelation of Hulk Hogan's racist comments that then caused this this controversial view about him from then on. So yes, I was there, but not involved. Just off to the side watching. No, no, of course, of course. But yes, it was an insanely wild time.

Insane. There's a documentary about that. Peter Thiel, who's the founder of, I think, PayPal gets involved and he's basically funding the suit. Yes and that you know that that torpedoes Gawker as a company but if it was just that if it was just left at that it would have been one thing but then when the the sound the footage the audio tapes come out of him saying these heinous things, then it turns out to be a completely different can of worms. I think that's when everyone turned on him.

Also worth noting, I think some people didn't love when he spoke at the GOP convention and all that stuff and went a little bit more political. Again, I don't think that's a reason to hate someone. The stuff that he said is a reason to hate someone, not like someone, not respect someone. But all these things combined in the back end made him this polarizing controversial figure. But then you talk to the bishops of the world

and they say like, that's this. Like we walk indoors and everyone wants to talk to Hulk Hogan. So complicated. Complicated. Thanks for joining us, man. We appreciate it. You put it into much better words than we ever could. Um, so thank you for joining us.

Thanks, Aro. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Rest in peace, Hulk Hogan, uh, Terry Bollea and, um, yeah. I'm fortunate to talk about these things. A tough week. Uh, Ozzy Osbourne, a couple of days ago, beloved, and, beloved, and now another icon of our childhood. Appreciate it guys.

Have a great rest of the show. Thanks, Ariel. Two legends, man. Really is, I forgot about Ozzy Osbourne. That was just like two days ago as well. Yeah, massive. In the world of music, like hard to find bigger names. In the world of pop culture, sports, entertainment,

hard to find a bigger name. Two titans, gone now. It really is, and bigger name, to Titans, Gone Now. It really is, and thank you again to Ariel for joining us. He put it much better than we ever did. Yeah, I don't- The history, the impact that Hulk Hogan has, he's much better in terms of knowledge when it comes to that.

I don't quite have that same relationship with Hogan from the red and yellow early babyface days. Like, I was not a fan at that time but I was like a cultural icon oh I very much remember the NWO WCW like heel era that was all I was watching at that time so yeah significant part of my childhood as well and as Ariel said I I worked at Gawker when that whole sex tape thing was crazy coming out so it was it. So it was quite a time. Crazy. Well, like Ariel said, rest in peace to Hulk Hogan. Condolences with his family

and the entire wrestling community. Hulk Hogan passes away at 71 years old. Let's go back to this weekend. Let's do our bets. Parley Pals. Never the easy transition. Easy transition right there. There's nothing you can ever transition with. I mean, it's just like, we don't have the commercial breaks, you know, like it's like the classic commercial break, like CBS does like the end memoriam and then fades to black. And then it's like silence, silence, silence, and then like Viagra commercial

and then you're back off and running. Here we kind of have to verbally do that by saying the cliche. No easy transition. For the world to see. For everybody to see, let's do it. No easy transition here, but let's do bets and probably fouls. Already got Pizzi's pick, no Frank here.

Pizzi went with- Wait, Frank's not here? You don't even notice. You don't even notice. And I know he's not watching. He's doing such a good job. I know he's not watching right now, so it doesn't even matter.

Bucceccia is Pizzi's pick, and Frank, he going with an underdog, Said Nurmagomedov. Oh, so I was like, oh, small edge to Bryce, you go Saeed, he goes Saeed, so okay. Woke Frank, goes Saeed Nurmagomedov. I love it. No, yeah, he gave me like an elite breakdown,

normally he's like, there's only one, but he was just like, no, I just feel like with the weight cuts that Bright's gonna have to be going through, 135, we've never seen him at a lower weight class like this, him coming in on takedown, so he's got nice front chokes. I was like, wow, Frank. Was this in person, voice note, how'd we get this?

Overtaxed. Wow, wow, shout out to Frank. And then it said written by ChetGBT at the bottom. All right, so just me and you picking to give us the four. You go first and then I'll go. I'm gonna go over, actually I don't know which over I'm gonna go. Are you going, Ricci? Yeah, I'm going. over, actually I don't know which over I'm gonna go. Are you going Ricci?

Yeah, I'm going. Yeah, figured. I'm going Ricci. Go two and a half, because over one and a half is like minus 1,500. All right, I'm going to over two and a half in Ricci and rebuff. I believe that's like minus 475 or something like that.

So we already got the underdog in Said, we got Bucceccia. I will go co-main event, Piotr Jan. Just think the experience is gonna be too much for Marcus McGee. Piotr Jan money, I like it. I rate Piotr Jan very highly. There it is, plus 332.

We lost on it last week because of me. Yeah, that's all right. It cost us with, oh, Hubert, hopefully it don't cost us again. Yeah, there's last weeks. There's last weeks. Unfortunate, but yeah, another big number on this one and hopefully we can get it done.

I love Frank taking a risk. It's always good. Frank taking a dog, I love it. When Frankie takes a risk. We took a dog in the one that we won, Katie Taylor? No, she was a favorite. No, she was a dog. No, she was an underdog that was, Pizzi.

Yeah, Pizzi. That's the one that got us back into the green. All right, I like it. Let's get it again. All right, quick recap, my picks from last week and also big hitters, just a couple of those this week. My picks, I had so much action on 318, ended up having a lot of degenso parlays,

but ended up over eight units on the weekend. Somehow felt like a letdown. Going into the main card, I was up 17 units, but a wise man once said, you gotta want no one to hold them, no one to fold them. there'll be plenty of time for counting when the dealin' is done. Love it.

Because you gotta wait for the whole card to end. Had a horrendous main card, ended up losing like nine units on that, but still ended up almost nine units on the day. Up over 67 on the track on Bet MMA overall. So yeah, a great weekend in terms of betting. And then we have a couple big hitters here, just two of them.

This one is insane, JW, J1989W123. He goes Michael Johnson, plus 540. Patricio Pitbull, plus 172. Daniel Rodriguez, plus 450. Paulo Costa, plus 188. Max Holloway minus 134, five for five on the main card, $20 into 9,600 plus 48,052. Unbelievable stuff, unbelievable stuff.

And the second big hitter, me. Shout out to our guys, Art C and Jay Singh, who always give out their picks. But go round one, finish parlay, turn, I believe that's $20 and over, 700, and then go max Holloway to land, 25 plus significant strikes in each of these rounds, one, two, three, four, and five, Plus 1,400, there's another 20 into 300.

Sometimes I gotta. I have to call into question the voting body on these big hitters. Like if Connor Burks himself is selecting Connor Burks to be a big hitter. Look, I don't take that many plus four digits, like plus the thousands. So when I do and they hit, it's a good weekend.

I think it's appropriate. Plus like no one was outshining that plus 48,000. Bro went five for five on a main card that had a plus 540 and a plus 420 winning. That's unreal stuff. Yeah. Unreal stuff. All right, I'll quickly run through my bets

this weekend for Abu Dhabi. We start, yeah, there it is. Look at that matchup. This looks like me versus Paulo Costa. Buccecha by sub. I mean, don't be disrespectful, just because you're in better shape than Paulo, like you don't have to kick him while he's down.

Buccecho by sub, I think he's going to go for the takedowns he's early and often, and then once he gets to the mat, it's not even the same world. Buccecho by sub plus 115. Next up, Muslim Salikov, Carlos Sulao, ends by KO. Carlos Sulao, 11 of his wins by KO Muslim solid cough I believe it's like 15 of his fights have ended by knockout so I feel like that happens here as well I think it's going to be a striking match and one of these

dudes is going to be put out I do favor leo to get it done but we shall see next up I'm taking a shot on Marc-Andre Beryl. I'm not sold on Shara Bullitt. I think Marc-Andre can make this more competitive than a minus 700 to a plus 470. Just a half unit, nothing crazy. And then I also am on the over one and a half. That's my bigger bet for this fight.

Shara Bullitt, as I mentioned earlier, has gone over the one and a half in all of his UFC fights. Yes, and may be on a run of first round finishes, but I like his toughness. I think he comes in here and he makes this one closer than the line suggests. Maybe wins, maybe pulls it out. Wear the sprinkle for me though.

Main event, Robert Whitaker. I might be eating some crow come Saturday night, but I go with the experience in this one, the skill of Robert Whitaker. I think he stuffs the takedowns, keeps this one standing, and has the success on the feet, gets a late finish over RDR. A few parlays, the Mont Blanchet of Pyotr Jan, I favor both of them. Grappling at the Mont Blanchet of the All-Gran, game and experience of Pyotr Jan. Next up, Buccecha and Carlos Leal.

The age difference in the Leal has me picking him. The grappling advantage from Buccecha has me picking him. And then a couple- Spitting in Pizzi's face. Yup, sorry Pizzi. Sorry Pizzi. A pacifist parlay, Kibus Ricci starts round three, Said Bryce starts round two, Jan McGee starts round three,

and then a violence parlay. Aslan, Elikonite doesn't go the distance, Salakavlial doesn't go the distance, Krylov, Guskov does not stand round three. Those are my bets for UFC Abu Dhabi, a noon start for that one, three o'clock main card start on ABC. And so when we were thinking, main event, co-main event,

couple good nicknames in there, Robert, the Reaper, Bobby Knuckles, Whitaker, double nickname guy, tough to pull off, Piotr No Mercy, Jan. Even Marcus the Maniac McGee. Marcus the Maniac McGee, Thug Nasty. Thug Nasty, Bryce Mitchell. There's some good nicknames on this one. So we've kind of had this evergreen list

that we wanted to get to. Pound for pound, best MMA nicknames. Frankie's not here, so Jordan, I'm assuming you're gonna give us the order. We'll still do Frank's list, and then we'll go Connor and Rick with the experience of the age and the knowledge to close out. The fuck. Let's hear him

What is this? With the age are you calling me old? You're the most veteran of the MMA. I don't like I don't like where this is going I don't like the way you're presenting it five here So Frank you guys might know him as the undisputed heavyweight champion in the UFC Frank knows him as Tommy oh boy this is already off to a great start Wow we know for sure it's Tommy Aspinall could it be Tommy Fury and number four also the main event thing this week big Tom Bobby oh Bobby Bobbyuckles. This is-

But it couldn't be a Bobby Green as well? Well, he's a king, so. But is his nickname now Bobby? Yeah, isn't his nickname, now is any King Bobby Green? Listen, I just read the list, I thought I'm getting it. Also, like the fact that like Tom Aspenall signed the poker felt, Big Tom Aspenall,

makes it feel like Tommy's mood here. All right, we're off to a flying start here Frank is Frank's nail in it. Once again best list ever number three Jimmy Ariel once wished him a happy birthday and it wasn't his birthday Dom. Oh Dom. Oh Boy this is nickname is Dominator. Is it? Yeah. Yeah At number two remember that time that Frank did the walkouts and it was so good. Yeah and the headdresses? That's been so long. It's like water in the desert. I'm glad he's not here for this. Number two, honestly, we were not sure. Jesse could be. Who the fuck is Jesse? So it could be Jessica Rose Clark? Oh, it definitely is. Jesse Jess?

Yeah, he's obsessed with her. But actually she's J-E-S-S-Y, so unfortunately this is already an error. Jessica Andrade, never heard her called Jesse, but you never know. This motherfucker was on the runway, and he was like, oh shit, I forgot to send in a list. Jesse Jess goes by J-E-S-S-Y,

so already, we're already fucked here. Or it could be Jesse Rosas But is that JES? You know in the ultimate war your challenge Mexico and one and oh and fury Jesse Rosas It's some of your worst stuff of all time Frank and number one like Jordan making it worse if I'm being honest DJ No, I'm 100% selling this. Uh, DJ. Mighty Mouse. What is this? What the fuck is this? Well, you know. Man, fuck you, Frank.

Frank literally the other day rolled over in the intro room by the chair. I know he's not watching. There he goes. I got a great list. DJ literally has a fantastic nickname. One of the best nicknames. Demetrius has a great nickname, and he goes with DJ. Oh, this makes me feel bad. Also that could have been Dustin Jacoby. We don't know for sure that it's Demetrius.

Petition to ban Frank from the list for at least a week. We should have let Nick make a list instead of having Frank on that list. That was his worst. We have time, he can make one. That was horrible. That was some of the worst stuff I've ever seen. It would not be any worse than frank's. I promise that

Wow. Wow frank even in your absence. You let us down When you die connor jesse Which is the worst one should we do a a top five of frank's worst like what what's number one worst dj DJ is bad because he has a great nickname Uh, then maybe tommy Number one worst DJ DJ has a great nickname Then maybe Tommy then Jesse because we don't know the book It has to be Jessica Rose Clark. He's Dom. I guess fifth like worst What if instead of like bringing his worst nicknames we just Make tell him one week that like this is the pound for pound this week and you guys just do

Pound for pound Frank's worst his worst lists. I don't know. I don't know. There's too much to choose from. I don't know if I could even do it honestly. All right let's move on from that absolute debacle of a list. That was wild. Who's next? Okay I'm up. All right, this was the hardest pound for pound list to make for me. I have so many honorable mentions. I do want to just start out with one honorable mention before I get into my five, just because I had such a difficult time. Honorable mention, Poetan, he doesn't make my five, but I have to shout him out. Alter ego of this man, comes with a whole face paint,

get up, there's Alex Pereira, and then there's Poetan. I mean, he has the alter ego, it's unbelievable. Shout out to him, does not make my top five though. Coming in at number five, his rival, the last style bender. When it comes to nicknames, it's gotta be unique. It can't be something that 80 million people have. And this is what I think of when I think the last style bender.

Early on in his UFC career where he's dancing, making the walks, where he's killing people, the Robert Whitaker and then he sprays the AK everywhere, the Paulo Costa and then he sprays the AK everywhere, the Paulo Costa, and then he does the nefarious acts, the Anderson Silva, like calling them on, the Alex Pereira, and then shooting with the arrows, just like swag, style, just like everything.

Also- There will not be another last Albin. No. He's the last. He's the last one. Might also be the first one. Also play on words, one of my favorite shows of all time. Have a total last air bender.

What does the last air bender mean? Is he the last guy who bends the air? Like what does- Correct, yeah, so like there's fire, there's earth, there's water, and then there's air, and like the air temple is gone. And he's the last surviving. He was frozen in ice, and like he's the last surviving one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's the last Airbender. Just like he is the last Stylebender. Love it. Israel Adesanya, unique. If you say the last Stylebender, you know exactly what you're talking about. Even just Stylebender.

Stylebender works too. I think that's the name of his YouTube channel. I think that's his Instagram handle. Free Stylebender. All of them are just Stylebender. Fantastic one. As I move forward, just like iconic to a point of like, isn't that their name?

Like that's how iconic these are. Number four, Jacare, Jacare Sosa. Coming into the point that like had no idea that this wasn't his first name, especially because I don't speak Portuguese. It actually means like crocodile, like a caiman in Portuguese. And I'm like, this is what comes up when you type in Jacare, but like literally thought it was his first name.

All time big name. Thought his name was Jacare Souza. Yes, thought his name was Jacare Souza for like the longest time. You know his name? Oh man. Ronaldo. Ronaldo. And like that's how synonymous he is.

I know. Coming in at number three, iconic, legendary, paired with the shorts, Cro Cop. Like, it's just like, to the point again, where like, you almost think his last name is Cro Cop. Yeah. Mirko Cro Cop. It's like, the names that like, almost on topology,

it's like, oh yeah, Mirko Cro Cop. Look at the shorts. The shorts are absolutely unbelievable on topology. It's like, oh yeah, Mirko Krokop. Look at the shorts. The shorts are absolutely unbelievable on this guy. I honestly didn't even know what Krokop meant, but just like it literally is like Croatian cop. Yeah, because he was in like a defense team from Croatia, yeah. Incredible, incredible nickname.

Legendary, synonymous with him. You say that, you know exactly who you're talking about to the point that I can't even pronounce his proper last name. Yes. Like that's how good it is. Number two, another one where it's just, it's become his first name, legend of the game,

one of the most famous, iconic, Rampage Jackson. Yeah. No one calls him Quentin. That isn't Quentin. You put the chains on, that's Rampage. That's Rampage. You rip down the door, that's Rampage. That's Rampage. You rip down the door, that's Rampage. I mean, that is Rampage Jackson.

Name is great for a fighter too, especially a heavyweight fighter, Rampage. Fantastic. So good. The amount of times that we see people come up to Haewon and he's just like, you're the guy with the Rampage. Imagine they were like the Quinton. I love your Quinton stuff.

Quinton. You and Quinton is great. Also, can we talk about the difference between like Quinton just sounds like nerdy, not dangerous at all guy, Rampage sounds just like absolute tormentor. Yeah, he's gonna kill you. And then number one, no brainer for me.

Wow. The amount of people that probably have no idea what this guy's real name is, is unbelievable. Oh, I think I know this one. To the point that his nickname gets acronymed. I know this. The Korean Zombie, TKZ, Chan Sung Jung, comes with an unbelievable logo.

Unbelievable logo on shirts, like just legendary. Notice, no name. No, it's not just like Chan Sung Jung, the Korean Zombie, it's just Korean Zombie. There he is, sold drinks for it. The UFC events. Unbelievable logo like that. It's like the Korean circular logo, but like-

I think the name of the company who made this was Trikasta, I think that's who it was. But it was a famous shirt that he wore and then the brand kind of blew up on the strength of just one of his incredible fights. I was gonna say to the point that UFC events are not called like Chan Sung Jung versus its versus the zombie It's always the Korean like vogue versus the Korean zombie and crazy becomes like the name. Yeah, it's TKZ And to the point where his famous walkout song plays perfectly into the nickname. Yeah

Incredible list love that that list. You touched on some really good ones. Like you, my list of honorable mentions is massive, but I will save them for the end. Number five. This is just a light flex. Like if you are this handsome, this good looking, to the point that people have dubbed you, Oh, I know. Sexy Yama? Yep, yep. That is the flex of all flexes. All time. Like you are just an absolute legend, God, living icon. Sexy Yama, Yoshihiro Akiyama, my number five. Please show some pictures of this, man.

Look at that fucking man. Look at this fucking guy. With a double-breasted, with just a t-shirt underneath, unbelievable sunglasses out of the pocket holes there? Who is that? Oh, that's Sexy Yama. That guy is ridiculously handsome. Now, some people call him Akiyama, but like that's rare.

You know you're a casual. I mean, look at this photo. Hell nah. Who's sexier than Sexy Yama? Look at that hair. This is 2025 by the way. Blonde Sexy Yama? Shout out to Sexy Yama, still sexy, still doing it. That's a sexy Yama still sexy still doing it

It's not just it's not just like the the tan skin the perfect teeth the hair the style is also impeccable Oh, the man can dress shout out. So he's a beefy like muscular Judo, like he's got the shape to pull off these suits. Oh, yeah Shout out to sexy Yama like what like, what, I mean, if somebody dubbed me with a nickname that great, like I don't know what I'd do with myself. All right, number four. Another nickname that was given,

and it's a bit of a flex. The Gracie Hunter is the name. Oh yes, yes, yes. Sakuraba became the Gracie Hunter because he was prolific at taking out the royal family of BJJ, the royal family of MMA, the Gracies. It's kind of gangster that like, it's a very specific nickname, whereas some of these are a little more broad. But the fact that you have created such a legacy for yourself that you are dubbed the Gracie Hunter It's almost like the reverse version of an MBA when everybody used to be like the the Kobe stopper the Jordan stopper

And they were never like that good. It was always kind of like oh fucking Ruben Patterson from the Blazers and it never worked He actually was the Gracie hunter to the point where we get Hadoff over here doing the black belt hunt Yes, like a play on it. He was the Gracie Hunter at that time, that was his thing and it became legendary. So shout out to Sakuraba. Number three, we share this. It is the Croatian cop himself, Nero Cro Cop. As you said, it became his name.

Like it is his listed name at this point. And just a legend of the game, there's probably some people out there that are watching this show that started watching in 15, 16, 17, 18, who have no idea who this guy is. He was an absolutely dominant force back in the day, kicking people's heads off. He had this catchphrase that was left leg hospital.

No, right leg hospital, left leg cemetery,. I think somebody has to correct me on that But yeah, he was he was an absolute legend of the game and the nickname was part of the the legendary status number two We also share my number two TKZ himself the Koreans like the Chan Sung Jung can we do? It's just it became his name. It's iconic. You've already kind of outlined this Don't need to say more. Also look at this sweetheart of a face on this guy. One of the most likable dudes in the US. Shout out to Chan Sung Jung I was really happy to see that photo of Dustin Maxx and TKZ at USC 318 Shout out to TKZ and number one

This one also, like I, like you, appreciated when like the nickname becomes the name. That is like the defining feature to me. Nobody has embodied that more. Nobody has been more synonymous with their nickname. Nobody is probably unknown by their real name more than this person right here. Yep, I know where you got.

Number one, Kimbo Slice. Oh shit. Kimbo fucking Slice. Great one. That is the- I didn't think you were going there. That's the guy. I thought you were gonna go cyborg. Do you know Kevin Ferguson? Did you know that Kimbo Slice was Kevin Ferguson?

Exactly, you would never know Kevin Ferguson. That's a great call by you. This is Kimbo. This is the nickname of all time. And it's just like such a perfect name. It comes, like my understanding of it is that it comes from, it was like a family name. Kimbo was a family name. I think his grandmother used to call him Kimbo.

And then Slice came from like one of those backyard YouTube street fights. He sliced somebody up and he was Kimbo Slice. And for the world knew this man as Kimbo Slice. When he made his foray into MMA and into the UFC and was headlining some of the most watched MMA events of all time, Kimbo Slice was the name, not Kevin Ferguson. So Kevin Ferguson, RIP to Kevin Ferguson, AKA Kimbo Slice.

Great shout, great shout. I thought you were gonna go Cyborg. Oh, Chris Cyborg? Yeah. Yeah, that's a pretty good one. No one ever goes by- The thing with Cyborg is there have been other cyborgs And so I was trying to be like I was trying to be very specific with like these are One of ones like there's nobody else will ever be the Korean zombie crow cop Gracie

Oh, like none of these maybe there'll be a sexy Yama if one of his lineage comes out I don't know sexy Yama part two, but uh speaking there is a baby slice there is a but it's not Kimbo slice there is his son who is a fighter Kevin Ferguson Jr. is baby slice. Speaking of Kimbo slice Dada 5000. Oh boy do we consider him an MMA fighter. Oh Jesus Christ. If you type in his name it says American Mixed Martial Arts. The Iceman. Oh yeah. Chuck Liddell, that's a fantastic one. Blessed. Blessed is a great one. Not a great fighter, but Mike Mathetha going by Blood Diamond and being from Zimbabwe. That was a great one.

El Kukui. Damn, shout out Tony, who we had on the show yesterday. El Matador. Matador is a good one. The Dean of Me, T.R. Dean. I have an honorable mention list. I don't think you've hit any of mine. That's how many there are. Super Samoan, Mike Hunt, Mark Hunt, yeah. Mark Hunt, sorry. Mighty Mouse. Mighty Mouse. Andre Tuccifili.

Tucci, I had that one. Dan Hangman, okay. Great one. The Last Emperor is a great one. Dador. I had Jockeray. Everybody knows I'm a big Jockeray fan. This was my number six, and it was the hardest submission. OK. Vanderlei Silva, the Axe Murderer. Perfect nickname, perfect description of what he's about to do. Nobody kind of embodied the nickname

more than Vanderlei Silva and the Axe Murderer. And if somebody else tries to take that name, they will be like laughed From the building for trying to be the axe murderer because there is only one axe murder and that is Vanderlei Silva so good there is a I think There's a there's a fighter who goes by Hamderley Silva a small like Japanese Fighter I think a strawweight who goes by hamburger hamderley Silva

There's some dude on smaller promotions the ginger with the intent to injure Just a ridiculous name. Okay, you know what? I really love I love when the nickname goes before the middle and It rolls into it as an example Ruthless Robbie Lawler great one fucking a plus plus plus plus plus plus plus it's like so perfect for him right? notorious notorious Connor McGregor another great one Carlos the natural born killer condit. Oh, yeah sick one BJ the prodigy pen yo, yo V tour the phenom Belfort

Randy the natural couture Over him had a great one the demolition man. Yeah, that's a really good one Really is known as much as that. Yeah, I mean over him itself is just such a unique name He was kind of more known by that the California kid. Shout out your eye of favor This was one that I really loved because it was so perfect Paul semtex daily Oh, so the explosiveness of some text was just so perfect. Also, it's not like hand grenade although. There was the Irish hand grenade Chris the crippler Leibin Dustin the diamond pori a shout out to the stuff that I'm for is so good another one where the name became The name the nickname became the name Shogun whoo. Oh, he's only Shogun like Mauricio is doesn't exist anymore

He is only Shogun soldier of God for so well and then cowboy Saroni I think is another one that kind of became you know the name black beast oh shit shout out there a good Nigerian nightmare for tomorrow's one is great the predator for Francis and Ghana raw dog Roy Val so good karate hottie Michelle Watterson what are like the funny ones oh Ryan went Darth Vader for a little while. Darth Vader, Uncle Creepy. Yeah, Uncle Creepy. Sari Bussi, the Swedish Denzel Washington. I forgot about the Swedish Denzel. Spider Silva. Hmm. It's a good one. Bones Jones.

You may have had Wonder Boy. Oh, yeah. That's like synonymous. There's some great ones. Bobby Knuckles slash the Reaper is great. Dubronx is good. Dubronx. Just ones that like are like no one else is ever gonna have them. Matt Brown, The Immortal. The Immortal is a good one. Thug Rose. Thug Rose. Cheeto Vera. Still don't even really know what Cheeto means. I still don't know. Yeah. Don't know. Smashing Machine. Oh yeah. Do you know I still don't know yeah, don't know smashing machine. Oh, yeah Game will be out soon in red good and then Synonymous like you can't say it without

Saying Michael venom page. That's right MVP like is there another venom? Not really because it's kind of Michael venom page. He is Michael venom page. I Talk about I said my cunt I didn't put two and two together don't just now. Yeah, so bad out to the super Samoan markup Can you talk about how I said Mike cunt? I didn't put two and two together until just now. Yeah, so bad. Shout out to the super Samoan Mark. Nick it was it was not hard because I felt pretty good about like my five like from that perspective But yes, the list could have been 50 so many good ones. So many good ones man. Like it really it is it is Great the the the one that came closest to making my list was Poetan just because like the running went on the alter ego is just incredible all right that is pound for pound rankings

so he hum humderley Silva I'm Billy Silva what is anyone in the chat honey Huntington Beach bad boy oh fuck Tito yeah Tito deserves a mention. Yeah, violent Bob Ross. That's a good one Fireball kid Gomi yeah sexual chocolate into John Bones Jones Rude boy. Oh actually rude boys are real a low-key like sneaky one Sean Strickland being Tarzan He doesn't go by that anymore though. No, I think you like actually had the long hair Yeah, Ryan Superman span that flows that flows pretty nicely Coconut bombs. Yeah, shout out to you. Put your monkey pitola. Uh, there was a Batman Kurt Pellegrino as well So there's been Superman. There's been Batman. Oh

pleasure, man Yeah, some of these are a little too good. They're like, it's a good one, but you gotta the Irish dragon. Oh, yeah That's not bad. I said Fuck that's all great one. That's great. Yeah, blue Bruce Leroy. How about honestly? Not a not a unique one because there is enough as we know there's another fighter who shares it But like the machine from a Rob is a perfect nickname Obviously the milk Malcolm Wallmaker also. Corey 258 Anderson. Action man Chris Curtis.

Simi the Jedi. Oh yeah. Summersburger. Herb if he dies, he dies, Dean. That one's not accurate. Assassin Baby. Tank Abbott. Oh shit, Tank. I forgot about Tank.

David, right? David Abbott, I think. Yeah, Assassin Baby is another good one. Sugar Sean, that one has been around. Yeah, David. Cory Down With the Thickness. Is that real? Yeah, his nickname is Down With the...

All right, Shogun is great. Did James DeHunna have a nickname? Oh, Dan, Dan 50K, he a guy? Oh Dan, Dan 50k, EGAY. Oh yeah and Captain Eric saying he gave him that. Did James de Hoon have a nickname? I don't see one. Sugar Rashad Evans. Sugar Sean O'Malley as well. Sear the Maverick. All right, all right. We're going too long. No nonsense Keith Peterson. Okay that actually is a nickname. That's a good one.

The baddie, the baddie's not bad. If he dies, it's not legit. Sorry, just gonna kick that one. Triple C, that's not bad. I think it's pretty bad. But what comes with it, come on. No, it's pretty bad. Ya boy, Eric Anders.

So bad. No, these are so bad. Cuban Missile Crisis. Okay, Cuban Missile Crisis is legit. Fire, fire. Yeah, Dinaile Crisis is legit. Fire, fire. Yeah, Dina Mee is fantastic. The rhyme is a very hard one to do right, because it can be really shitty,

but keep your Dinesh was good. Because rhyme, rhyme into your last name, rhyme. Yeah, yeah. Like that's so good, that's so good. Alcohol and cigarettes, I don't know if someone actually had that. I think that's supposed to be key features Oh hokey pokey her B

All right, Daniel DC Cormier That's like KG yeah KD yeah, although he goes by slim Reaper George Which is a fantastic limb Reaper is great with George Rush St. Pierre Don't all right. That one's all right. Triple G, that's boxing. The Count, Michael Biskving. Also that, you know, synonymous. We've done the good ones. All right, those are the good ones.

That is the pound for pound rankings. All American Brian Stansher, why not? I feel like Frank's list was obviously the best one. Frank, congratulations, you won this week's list. Nick, do we have any voicemails? Absolutely. Whoa, whoa! Did we have an animation before?

No! Surprise! Wow, look at this. Holy shit! We up the production every week, it's unbelievable. Boys in the back, what's up? Shout out Connor. Shout out Rick. Shout out On Air Jordan, shout out Frank. Calvin here from Saskatchewan, Canada. Shout out Saskatchewan.

You guys probably don't know where that is, but that's cool. Just pumped up about this Pacquiao fight coming up this weekend. Just wondering wondering do you think that Floyd and Pacquiao ever could be a thing for a rematch? Let me know. Let the world know. Keep doing what you're doing. You guys rock. Peace out. Yeah I absolutely do. If he had won I absolutely think they would have done it. I think it's still on the table. I think the fact that Pacquiao came back and look as good as he does makes people go okay I'd be interested in another Floyd fight. Now the first one, one of the most successful pay-per-views, one of the most successful boxing matches of all time, one of the most successful sporting

events of all time, it did feel like it was past its expiration date at the time that we got it because it had been, let's do it five years earlier. This will feel even longer, but now I think there will be an additional legacy appreciation, there will be a love for both Floyd and Manny, that I think will make this one a massive event. I don't know if this is a pure pay-per-view product,

maybe you can figure out a way to do this as a Netflix fight or something like that, but I think there will be great interest in Floyd versus Manny again. Yeah, no question. I mean, two of the biggest names in boxing of our generation going at it again. The biggest.

Floyd and Manny are the biggest right now. Also, if Manny were able to beat Barrios in a rematch and get the belt, there you go. You got a title on the line. Yeah, massive. Boys in the back. Hey guys, Sammy here calling from Sweden. Oh, what's up Sammy? I see the boys absolutely amazing. I love them

You guys ever thought of doing a watch party with a boxing card if these fights happen Garcia tank to Garcia Ben Katie Taylor Chantel Cameron three Haney Garcia to Shako Ben AJ Fury Kay Taylor Chantel Cameron three Haney Garcia to Choco Ben AJ fury And guys can you give my nephew Zack a shot he does for today. Oh shit great show guys Shout out Zack. Yeah as I cuss in the shout out to the four-year-old. Happy birthday to Zack. Shout out to him We appreciate the call Sammy. Thank you Sammy boxing Sammy. Boxing, watch party, AJ Fury.

It depends, yeah, it depends. So these are the ones you said. Garcia, Tank 2, that's like borderline for me. That was a massive fight. Garcia, Ben, I don't know. I don't think so. I think that feels more boxing. Taylor Cameron, definitely not.

I don't think so. Wouldn't even do for Taylor Serrano and that was was significantly bigger. Haney Garcia II, maybe that kind of really crossover. It's really gonna depend on what the buzz is around these things, I think. AJ Fury is a real maybe, that's a real contender, I think. And then Shakur Ben, we might have to,

just because Hariel Hawhani kind of created that fight right here in the studio. Right there. We'd have to do it. Hey, boys. The boys in the back. Hey, I just want to say you guys are doing an absolute bang-up job. I actually prefer the show Thursday, Friday if you know what I'm saying. You know, you guys just knocking

out of the park. GC, Frank, you know what I'm saying. You know, you guys just knock it out of the park. GC, Frank, you know, the boys. You know, the boys. Alright, keep doing what you guys are doing. And Eric too, absolutely knock it out of the park. Oh, thank you. We need more of those little treats where you guys go and do a little mini-doc where you eat some food and go check out the culture. We need more of those. little treats where you guys go and do a little mini doc where you you know eat

some food and go check out you know the culture we need more of those we need more behind the scenes need more content we just can't get enough so keep doing God's work and Godspeed. Take care. I'm setting the line at over under two and a half edibles. Gotta be I mean that was a great call. You're taking the hill over on that? How could you not yeah how could you not have a smile on your face listen to that? Did he even say his name? No Boys in the bag and he's already chuckling Thank you for the love on the behind-the-scenes content and like the fight piece and things like that We we love doing that stuff. So hopefully we can continue to do the man. Thank you for your call

Hey, what's up boys in the back? This is Al Boris. My real name is B John, but this is Al Boris. What's up John? It's my birthday. I'm watching. I'm pretty happy today. Here's what I want to ask you. Best country with the best UFC fighters and the country with the best food in your opinion.

All the book. I want your opinion on both these country, the best UFC fighters and country with the best food in your opinion. All the both in your opinion on both these. Country with the best UFC fighters and country with the best food, let me know. All right, well, this is a fairly easy one. Also, happy birthday, brother Bijan. You're the man. Happy birthday, Bijan. Happy birthday. I hope it's a great day.

Country with the best fighters is Russia. Yeah, it's Russia. All right, if you wanna go of all the fighters from a certain region who has had the best success, it's probably Russia, then you can even get smaller into Dagestan. Yeah, as a region.

As a region, number one. If you wanna do, though, volume, it's hard to argue with probably Brazil. I mean, if we're talking about all time, I was thinking right now, in the current sphere. All time, the top three are gonna be Brazil, America, and Russia. Yeah.

But right now, Russia has just such a dominance, especially just that region, period. Caucus region is... The caucus region, because if you're just counting that area of the world, like Russia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, it's just like, you're just counting that area of the world, like Russia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, like it's just like, you're talking about like, Shumayev would be included into that,

you already have Ankhalyev holding the title, Islam is up there, who else? At the lower weight divisions, Marab is from Georgia, Valentin is from Kyrgyzstan, like that area of the world is just producing unbelievable fighters at the current moment. Yeah. Who has the best food?

Georgia has some great food. Mexico has some unbelievable food. Mexico's a sleeper. Not even a sleeper. Mexico's a fucking banger. Like I've had some unbelievable Mexican meals. Italy's got some great food. I mean, there's so many places.

Japanese has amazing food. Yeah for me Japanese. Like fuck. I'm going to Japan. There's so many, there's so many good cuisines out there. Noodles, fish, I'm going to Japan. For me it's Japan. Fuck, don't sleep on the borscht man. Ukraine's got some good shit too. We like a lot of different food. I'm going to Japan definitively though. There's no food that I'm not willing, no cuisine that I'm not willing to try. That's what I different foods. I'm going to Japan definitively though. There's no food that I'm not willing, no cuisine that I'm not willing to try. That's what I'll say. I'm not gonna say no food.

There's definitely some foods I'm not willing to try. But overall cuisine, Spain, Spain has great food. Little paella. Paella. Definitely not England. And America. We don't really own anything. We don't really own anything,

but there's very good food to be had here. From other countries. Good day boys, it's James Tahuna. What's up James? Calling in. James. First of all, I just wanted to say I- I've never heard James say this before.

I appreciate the offer to be the commissioner of the Mailman Fight League, but obviously I got some business to take care of first. I heard the was listening to the show the other day and I heard Tyson's theory mouthing off saying he wants to fight the boy. Well I'll let you know Tyson I'm in we can headline the first mailman fight league I love the show sorry Frankie that I haven't played a Rainbow Six season with you but I've just been busy so anyways boys love you guys. Thanks James. Thanks James. We appreciate that. Hey boys again. Ben Turk from Tucson, Arizona.

What's up? The pilot another call. I don't know. I just was watching this week's show and heard my question. I thought I have a better one now. If you guys had to decide, you decided you wanted to become MMA fighters, what gym would you guys personally want to train out of? Does that, that includes everybody, not

just the three boys in the back, that includes On Air, Jordan, Andy, Nick, you can even throw Ben in there if he wants to answer. Shout out. Shout out. But yeah, what gym would you guys personally want to train out of in MMA? Appreciate it and good luck out there, like always. Did he know that Nick was gonna be filling in for Frank? I wonder if he was referring to camera guy.

I'm sure he was, but he doesn't say Frank and then he refers to Nick. Wow, that's a good point terrifying that is terrifying what gym would you want to train out of Nick I feel like it's I don't know the names of American top team are unbelievable fighting nerds I feel like fighting nerds is more of a team than like if I'm

picking a gym I'm probably going like who's the coach what's the atmosphere like maybe maybe extreme couture is probably a good answer, right? You stay in Vegas. You got coach Eric Nixik. You got a lot of pros. It's a it's a gym gym I think something close to your house like Definitely do worse than long go wide men. I'm a sir. Wait long go wide men MMA at this point do worse than long a wide minimum is our long wait long go wide minimum a at this point do I stay in New York though see that's my thing I'm a fighter I go to Vegas because I want that PI so I yeah that's true the PIs yeah give me an

extreme couture or a shout out syndicate they got a great gym over there too but I'll probably try to go to Vegas. What's up, my boys? I'm calling in a week early. It's your boy, Poppy live. And I'm telling you, get ready for International Fight Week 2026. Another meet up, more casino games, more MMA games. Meet up with some fighters. Liddy, you know the vibes.

The vibes will be elite. This guy used to call into the green all the time. I'm calling it now. International Fight Week 2026, Las Vegas or maybe DC. Maybe DC. If it's DC, I don't think it's going to be Litty, I'll tell you that because I think it's going to be under such lock and key. Like I don't think there's going be any. Nah, we'll go around to the monuments, we'll go up to the top. DC has casinos too. Does it? Yeah. Oh nice.

Outside of it. What's up boys in the back of my mind. This is Trey from South Dakota. Shout out to South Dakota. You guys didn't play my call last week. Never will do. And I was actually really nice to Frank. And now that I think it's Frank's fault

that I wasn't on last week's episode. We're gonna play a game of fuck marry kill I don't know if you guys know the rules of fuck marry kill but I think I would fuck GC seems the most fun what is this I married New York Rick thank you because he seems like the one I have the most in common with and I'd kill Frank for not playing my last phone call. Just kidding love you Frankie. On my last phone call I was asking what Pantoja has to do to be considered better than Mighty Mouse. Like which statistic of his would have to be most important. But it doesn't matter, whatever.

You don't have to blame this. Love you guys, bye. So mad. See ya, man. What a monotone message for such a strong wording of. How do we feel about you're the fuck type and I'm the marry type and Frank's the kill type I don't I can't put any stock into that that guy that was crazy he would need to break the title defenses that's the only

thing oh man I don't know I don't know if he can continue to just run this division like he ends up with like what if he has more flyway wins total than Demetrious Johnson, more finishes? He needs title defenses. What if he breaks every record? He has already done this. I know, but I'm talking like really smashes it and comes up like two title defenses short. What is it, 11 or 12? Yeah, like say he gets like 11, say he gets like nine or eight, but he breaks every other record.

He might, yeah, I think people are going to still say he gets like nine or eight, but he breaks every other record. He might, yeah, I think people are gonna still say DJ. But at that point, dude, like, you're imagining, we're talking about like, he's seriously in the conversation right now, but imagine adding another like four or five title defenses. It'd be extremely impressive. I think there's an argument to be made he's already better than Demetrius, I think it's an argument.

I don't know if many will agree with that because I think a lot of people retroactively have put DJ into this GOAT category. They were not there when it was all happening and now all of a sudden these people are coming out. I think it's at least a debate. The resumes start coming into play. DJ has only gotten more popular now.

I think it's harder now to like surpass him because now he's such a beloved figure in the community. Which again, as I said, was not the case when he was fighting. I think he'll have to have the 12th. Yeah. Or at least the 11th. Or look, if he's like 9, 10, I think it'll be interesting. But like Chris Carriaso Like Chris Carriaso? Chris Carriaso, yeah.

Title offense? Look, there are some names on there that are not great. Ali, like he's like minus 700, minus 1600. Yes. Minus 500. I'm just saying, like at some point, like the resumes have to start getting compared. Mine is 1,000 thousand as I just said

Me if you're asking me, I think you can start that conversation. I think you can already start that combo Wins over Brandon's 1200 Ray Borg. He was a fucking such a big favorite in every fight. Yeah He was And be interesting, but by the way Let it be known he showed that in the fight as well It wasn't like he was like 1200 and it was like ah there it goes bellator prelim guy who is minus 1600 got to Knock the fuck out no one was beating the shit out of these guys. Of course. I agree. I agree Hey boys, it's Emil from the ATL. Hey, what's up Emil? I have a question for you guys.

Who do you think, other than Ilya Teporia, could be the next Bruce Buffer's, the one, the only intro for a UFC fight? Ilya. Let me know. Oh, he said other than Ilya. Oh, he said other than Ilya, I'm sorry. That's a good question. Tom?

He'd have to put together a lot of title defenses. Who else could be like a massive like? Just have to be like larger than life. Honestly, if he keeps winning Islam. Shit, well no, because he's almost like, he's almost exactly not the one and only because he's basically Habib. Like there's almost like,'s almost exactly not the one and only because he's basically Habib like there's always like you know what I mean like it's like he's not he's not distinctive in that way people will always associate him with

Habib you got to go on and just an insane insane run you have to become like a cultural icon I think we all acknowledge Ilia is the closest at the moment like if Ilia keeps doing what he's doing. If Ilia wins like five more fights he's getting the one the only no doubt. What's going on boys in the back? What's up man? Thomas from Queens question for the crew. Those who watch UFC of course, those who watch the pay-per-views. What's y'all routine today of a big pay-per-view fight card? A big UFC pay-per-view fight card. Yeah.

What's your ideal meal? And for the alcoholics, what time do you start to crack open the brewskis? Personally, I like to hit the gym early, come home, have a post-gym meal, then play some video games until the fight card starts. It's a good day. Then I order a large cheese pizza or some Chinese takeout and the beer start rolling two or three fights right before the pay-per-view because I'm 31 and I have

to pace myself. Hell yeah. Alright thank you for the time. Love you guys and Frank you're the man. See you boys Great call. Uh So like these days it's like 31. You know, I get that Even though i'm not 31 anymore. I just turned 32. Uh, I get the pacing yourself. I I absolutely understand. That sounds like a great day But these days for us, it's like watch party. So there's no there's no consuming of alcohol or even the food For the last three years, i've done watch parties now so yeah I have not watched a pay-per-view from my house since UFC 279. Pretend it's not MMA, pretend it's

something else. Let's pretend that it is MMA because I used to have people over and like throw big parties it was similar to you get up go to the gym chill post on Twitter, hype myself up, make sure all my bets are in, get everything in order, and then just kind of like do other shit all day and plan on getting back to my house. I like to get out of the house on pay-per-view days because my ass is going to be glued to the couch

for like six, seven hours into the late night. Invite people over, get out of the house, maybe get a pizza or something on the way home, but it was typically pizza, mini fridge full of White Claws beers, whatever it was. Something that you can be like slowly sipping throughout the card, like you're not going hard liquor, you're not going wine or anything like that.

Drinking starts before the card? Drinking, no. Drinking usually starts like around like the third or fourth fight. Okay. You don't want to be, get like too teed up. You have a nice buzz going into the main card. That's usually how I played it. All right.

Got it, and then we go straight to bed. Now, it's like get up, post stuff for work, get kind of ready, and then you sort of just have like, all right, need to commute in, looming over your head. We have to get in here around the start of the prelims and start setting up and everything like that. So for us, that's leaving the house at 4.30. Then we're kind of watching.

You'll lock in for spurts to the card, but yeah, it's much different now. It's fun in a different kind of way. Yeah, mine is consistently wake up, work out, kids parties, real dad shit, and then come in. Yeah, yeah. I do look forward to the day that, I love the watch parties, but I also look forward

to the day that like. You can enjoy a. I loved having, Frank came over to my house many times before we started the watch parties, having a bunch of people over, ordering pizza, beers, all that. Like there was probably like 12 people sitting in like my tiny ass New York living room

when Leon Edwards knocked out Kamara Ousmane. Do we just need a pizza sponsor for the watch parties and then we can turn it back into that? Domino's, Papa John's, home run in, call us. Maybe if we're a sponsor too. Or you remember, we won't name names here, for the watch parties and then we can turn it back into that? Dominos, Papa John's, home run in, call us. Maybe a pair of sponsors. Or you remember, we won't name names here, but like the higher ups at MMA Fighting gave us the green light to drink on the watch parties and I was like,

I'm not doing that. That could get real messy. He's like, you can drink, I was like, I won't. I'd like to see that Connor Burks, it's 1123 and Salsa Boy just won a decision over Tom Aspinall. No actually that's a main event so we're talking it's midnight Salsa Boy just won a main decision win over Tom Aspinall. Seven beers in.

You're seven beers in. Eleven units down because I had the mortgage on Aspinall. Yeah. Yeah. I do love on these watch parties sometimes people are like, man this guy mortgage on a hospital. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I do love on these watch parties sometimes people are like, and this guy's such a degenzo. I'm just like, I'm reacting to losing real US currency in front of like thousands of people.

Like I feel like I keep it together pretty well. Like I've seen how some of y'all react, man. I see y'all's tweets and y'all's responses. I'm, I am level headed compared to a lot of y'all. I will say there's probably some people out there who really don't bet, right? Like who, who like bet but kind of don't bet and they're not really losing the money so it's a lot easier to be like, haha my bet lost, you know? There's also a, there's, there will always be a stigma around betting.

Yeah too. It's like alcohol, smoking weed, it's a vice so people will always do it. No, good point. Yo, boys in the back, shouts out. Can't forget about Andy. Shout out, man. And PC. Not really sure on that. But it's Darius from Baton Rouge. Hey, shout out. Just been watching Dustin Poirier's retirement fight. Why you got it on right now? Max looks sharp. I guess my only question is, who's next for Max Holloway? And are Amazon delivery drivers counting in the mailman fight week? There will be an Amazon dream.

Do you guys have a great day? Yeah, we have heard your pleas akin to the UFC getting a 165 division. There have been many requests for an Amazon driver division. We're just saying non-USPS, like FedEx, DHL, Amazon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll have the rankings, like instead of weight classes, it'll be by carrier service.

That's how the rankings will work. We're still ironing it out. James DeHoon is flying over from Australia next week to not only fight Tyson Fury, but also iron out all the details. He will have a major, major role in the executive board of Mailman Fight League, so we're still figuring that out. And then who's next for Max? Max Charles to book it. Yeah, that's the one. in the executive board of Mailman Fight League, so we're still figuring that out.

And then who's next for Max? Max Charles, too, book it. That's what I want. That's the one. That would be so sick. You proposed that, that was the first time I thought of that and I'm really into it. That's what I'm in on. Give me it.

What's good? It's your boy, Bodkins. Boys, I know you probably watched the Netflix series, Quarterback, so my question to you guys is, So, I'm gonna go ahead and start with you, and then we'll go to the next question. So, what's your favorite series? What's your favorite series? What's your favorite series? What's your favorite series?

What's your favorite series? What's your favorite series? What's your favorite series? What's your favorite series? What's your favorite series? What's your favorite series? What's your favorite series? What's your favorite series? Y'all have a blessed weekend, Frank. Take it easy, brother. Botkins out. Botkins the man, I love that energy.

So imagine if UFC, TV right steel is up at the end of this year. Imagine if they ended up signing with Netflix and then they got something like this. Like we've talked about how, what is it? The agony and the thrill and agony. How much we love that on YouTube. Like imagine like a behind the scenes on Netflix. shit, are we going realistic or are we going?

Real ideal like what we actually want because it real is like ideal like give me fucking John Jones Give me Connor McGregor. Give me the craziest. Yeah fucking saying like possibly imagine really happen Really what I'd want like I feel like a hums. I could be fucking nuts Yeah, The training sessions, learning more about him outside. Even when Darren Till was doing some of that block asset stuff when Hamsot came in, that was the most we've really seen of Hamsot. I'd like to see under the hood on Hamsot. I think Volt could be pretty fun.

Any of the high level guys, it would be sick. I want the real nitty gritty, like inside the locker room before the fights, just like a guy's like a fly on the wall, just like really sick type shit. You know what the sneaky banger would be though. Not even that sneaky. Yuri Prochaska, one year with Yuri,

going to the fucking dark thing, going to college. I love seeing where these guys train because like one of my favorite aspects of the UFC is the internationality of it all just like how big it is globally. Then Elk Boys however you feel about them like their YouTube channel one of the best videos I ever watched is when they go train with Islam in Russia and just like seeing where he trained just like legit in the mountains of Russia is where like his compound is to me like getting that access was so cool.

So like- They just did that with Ilya. Yeah, yeah. I saw, I saw there were some couple of clips out of that and like dropping them sparring and they were like, no, you can find your wife in Miami. He's like, what do you mean? And they're all like, huh?

The way like everyone went silent and they all like turned they were like, wait, what? He's like, what do you mean you can find your wife in Miami? I did. And they're just like, oh yeah, no, no, no. It's just like, it's just like. Yeah, you don't want to piss off Ilya. But if we follow Carl's Pratches

and there was just a little counter how many cigarettes a day he's smoking. Yeah, we could do that. Pratches probably is a good time. I mean, he's at the gym, that's probably actually really great content, but the cigarette thing would be. It could be so cool if they.

A fighting nerd one would be great because you get all the different guys. God, yeah, and just like, I also love when there's like crossovers, like Ian, Ian and Gary going to Extreme Code Tours, just like anytime these big name guys go to other gyms to work, like yeah, it could be really sick.

I never even thought about that, like a Netflix version of that. And if the UFC were to sign with them, like they'd be able to get that access it is interesting because WWE did sign with Netflix and I think this week they have a behind the scenes like with some of the wrestlers and I know you've gotten into wrestling a little more I'm not super into it but I watched the trailer and I was like I'm gonna yeah they're doing you call me a wrestling diehard you call me you watch raw every Monday

night you come in you're like, did you guys see RAW last night? I'm like, all right, guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, no, no, no, you're right, you're right, you're right. Yeah, they're doing like a behind the scenes on like the business though, like the booking, like the behind the scenes at Triple H.

Oh, I don't know if UFC would do it because remember they did that doc a couple years ago. That didn't happen. Didn't end up well. Oh, it's like the Aljo stuff came out. It was a sick documentary. They'll never do it again. Yeah.

Hey, this is Dylan from La Crosse, Wisconsin. What's up, Dylan, shout out to Wisco. Is it true that Matt Holloway is the only reigning, defending, BMF champion champion or even any champion coming after a loss. No. I don't see how you lose and still become reigning defending.

I guess if you don't put the belt on the line doesn't count, but go ahead and explain that to me. Yeah. And as always shout out to the boys and Frank and the girl, Andy and Jordan. Shout out to Andy, shout out to Jordan. Jordan at the last minute. Yeah the girl, Andy. And Jordan. Shout out to Andy, shout out to Jordan. Jordan at the last minute. Yeah, yeah, yeah, fuck Jordan.

No, that's never happened because like the belt would have to be on the line. Yeah, the belt's on the line. Like anytime, like the BMF belt is, it's a promotional tactic, that's all it is. Like it's just like, Ilya said it, he's just like, how do I fight him, knock him out cold, and he's still the BMF.

Also wasn't Masvidal the BMF? Yeah, bro. Mario kinda gets the BMF. It's a promotional tactic. The only time you're ever gonna see that is when people move weight classes and they technically made that loophole for Max because it was at 145 that he fought Ilya.

Yeah. What's up, boys? What's up, brother? From Nebraska. Nebraska oh let's go shout out shout out hey say coming out shout out who is that I need a Connor I need your skills all right well brother and I got into quite a heated debate and to settle it I'm gonna be locking myself into a room. Nothing but a laptop not connected to the internet. Open Microsoft Word document. Now I get one hour to lift off as many athletes as I can.

Gotta be typed out, no repeat. Yes. We need a line because him and I have a very different idea how many I can rip off in 60 minutes. 60 minutes. No break, no rip off in 60 minutes 60 minutes So don't break no distractions. It's 50 minutes. Just sitting there. No one ball shouting out some random guys Three archers my dream Carlos condit Different guys any sport not random as long as they played division one or professional Thanks. Have a great rest of your day. Wait, what?

Okay, I thought he was gonna set an over under. Oh, he's asking you to set the over under for them. Wait, but- 60 minutes. You said you see people doing this with what? With flights? With flights, they just bring a notebook on the flight and you just sit there and it could be any sport and you just name as many athletes as you can.

So they're raw dogging is writing out athlete names for the entire flight. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like because you have no internet access or anything like that, Holy shit. You basically just get trapped in it So their raw dogging is writing out athlete names for the entire flight. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like because you have no internet access or anything like that, you basically just get trapped in it and you see how many you can name. 60 minutes?

60 minutes. Oh my gosh, and it can be in any sport. 60 minutes, because you have to think in the first three or four minutes, you're just gonna be flying. It's gonna be as fast as you can possibly type the names. By minute 10, you're out, I feel like. Oh, nah, nah,, you're gonna slow heavy,

but like, dude, at some point you just have to start going through like old rosters. Teams, yeah, rosters. Yeah, just like going through teams and just naming the most random guys that you can. Like, ooh, 60 minutes? You gotta think you can name at least, at least 400.

Maybe even more. I can do 400 for sure. Let's let, maybe like, this guy definitely knows his sports. I think his first call he named Amir Abdul, shout out. Like, I feel like maybe like, what would, 60 would be, times, that'd be 10 a minute, so like, I don't know, 10 a minute might be a tough pace to keep, maybe like- Well, early you're gonna be doing 30 in the first minute. Maybe like 590, 590.5 is like the over-under. All right, 590.5. Let us know how that goes. Let us know if your brother took the

over-under. God. Shout out to Zaza Petulia. Yo, boys in the back. What's good, bro? Jimmer. Jim! Had a question for you guys. Have any of you guys ever been in a mental rut or like a depressive state? And if any of you were, do you have any advice on how to get out of a state like that? Yeah, love you guys. Love you too, do you have any advice on how to get out of a state like that? Yeah, love you guys.

Love you too, Jim. Yeah, that just happens in life, especially in this new day and age where we can just get so caught up with social media and all this bullshit and doom and gloom. It happens to people often. My best advice, the way that I get out of it is A, know that it's going to come to an end. You will get out of it.

Like you're not gonna just stay depressed forever. B. Try not to spiral, right? You feel like it's never gonna end, oh my God. Yes, and don't give into the negativity. Negativity feeds itself. It's just like, oh well, you know, I'm so tired and I don't wanna get up

and I don't wanna fucking go to work and man, fuck work. Like it can spiral, it can add on, on top of each other. Don't feed into that negativity. Know it's going to get better. Uh, and then the biggest cure for it all is, uh, stay active, go do stuff. Even if it's just like, go walk to a coffee shop, go, go walk to your library and get a new book, get, get something to do, start a new video game.

Start like anything, any creative project, do something, go to the gym, work out, get endorphins going, get breathing, get moving. Do not just sit on your couch. That is the, sitting on your couch, eating like shit, drinking or smoking is the quickest way to continue that or to make it worse. Avoid all of those things.

Avoid all of those things. Like anytime I am in a very like a bad state, there's no chance I'm like gonna drink to make it worse, smoke to make it worse, do any of those things. So get active, do something, get outside, get some sunlight on your skin and know that it will come to an end, it absolutely will.

Yeah, that's really good advice. Along the same lines, like, if I've ever been in that scenario, I just go do something for me, right? We all do so much stuff for everybody else. There are so many different people that rely on us, there's so much pressure, whether it be family, whether it be friends, whether it be work,

whatever that is, we're always doing things that are not the things we wanna do. Take that, whatever time you have, whether it be the weekend or after work or before work, outline two, three, four things that you want to do yourself, that you've been dying to do, that you kinda push to the side, because it's like, I don't really have time.

I've got work, I've got this, I've got this other obligation. Clear your schedule, do those things that you really dying to do, that you kind of push to the side because it's like, I don't really have time, I've got work, I've got this, I've got this other obligation, clear your schedule, do those things that you really wanted to do and hopefully that makes a positive impact and you can come out of this. And own it, man. If you need to talk to someone, talk to someone about it. Getting it out of your system can make you feel a lot better. There's some times where even if it's just like talking to your mom or your best friend or someone where you just kind of vent it out, even if it's not them giving you advice, talking it out, writing it down to organize your thoughts. Yeah, just my biggest advice is doing something about it,

whether it's exercise, whether it's the things Rick just listed, you know, going to a movie, starting a new book, anything like that, do something about it, don't just sit in it. And hope you're doing well, Jimmer. Can I just say one more thing? Definitely do. On the line of like talking to somebody, talk to a therapist. There's no shame in that. That really really helps. Zero shame. And also to what you said,

Connor, about doing something, do something you can finish. Because that'll really help you. So if you start a new hobby and you're like, okay, I'm gonna make this painting or whatever, once you're done you're gonna feel really really great about it. And honestly, like if you're hanging around people that are not letting you be heard, find a meetup, go meet new people. I don't know if you live in the city or whatnot, but the city can be very lonely. So if you go somewhere where there's people

who are looking for that connection, you're golden. You might need just a change. Yeah, you mentioned doing something you can finish. Cleaning your apartment or cleaning your house is a great step to getting out of it. If you're sitting in a messy house and you're finish, cleaning your apartment or cleaning your house is a great step to getting out of it. Like if you're sitting in a messy house and you're depressed, like it ain't gonna help. Getting a clean space and clearing your head

is a good thing. Yeah, I like that, Andean, being able to finish stuff. I think what all these things have in common is like change something, right? Just don't keep down the same path. If something needs to be changed, even if it's something as simple as like cleaning your space, you're gonna feel a lot more positive in that space

than you did before, and you're not gonna have those same associations and the negativity and sitting in it or go out, do something, meet people. As Andy said, talk to somebody that you maybe haven't talked to previously. Change something and kind of get that momentum going in a different direction. No doomscrolling.

No doomscrolling. Yeah, get the fuck off social media. Yeah. Hey guys, 24Hdubs. Just want to give you guys a shout out and a round of applause for killing it on Tuesday. You guys are there like for like 12 hours. It seemed like you were on all day. Doesn't go unnoticed. Bad love. Peace out, dubs. Wow, appreciate you brother. Thank you 24 inch dubs. Yes Yes long day of a good day really appreciate you The boys JD from BC

I've been listening to hell wani ever since right after UFC 112 when nobody else is dropping content and I'm sitting there refreshing YouTube over and over trying to find something and finally Ariel was popping up with the content and I've been to solid ever since. Rick, you boys with the crust first, then you had your catchy-ass jingle with that Rick's picks that I got reminded of the other day when you guys were reminiscing about it and now it's in my head so thanks for that. But anyway, I just wanted to say I love your guys' content, I listen to it all the time, I'm a carpenter, I'm working outside and there's been way too many times that I'm working with my headphones in and I start laughing at that

damn James Tahuna dropped and the homeowners are probably looking at me wondering what the hell's wrong with me. Anyway, so for a question, I couldn't really think of anything but here's one just off the top of the dome. You got Star Wars, you got Harry Potter, you got Lord of the Rings, and all of the Everything that's related to in any situation. You had to get rid of one of them. Oh, that's what would it be? I mean, this is a no brain for Rick. Don't say it Rick. It's a no brain for Rick, but I can't do it. You can't?

Come on, dude fucking Star Wars like Star Wars is legendary. It's number one, there's not even a debate. Get rid of Star Wars. I might be with you, Andy, I might be with you. Get rid of Star Wars? Yeah, no, no, no, because if I get rid of Harry Potter, then I'm getting rid of the books as well, which the books were just phenomenal.

Andor alone is better than anything that any of these other ones have ever done. Whoa, whoa, whoa, Rick. Respect not even remote Rick. Respect Andor, but you're coming from a place of great bias when it comes to Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings is the greatest trilogy ever made. I mean also like a forgotten fact about the Lord of the Rings,

01, 02, 03, there it is, we're moving on with our lives. We didn't have to drag anything out. Is that true, were they actually three consecutive years? 01, 02, 03, 03 Oscar nominated Oscar winning absolutely legendary films moved on with our lives Yeah, we can talk about moved on with our lives after 25 hours of sitting about the hobbit or whatever like that They maybe you know that was that was definitely like you talk about the Lord of the Rings like it's the Hobbit trilogy Whatever it is. It's associated with it. It's

It's the Hobbit trilogy. Whatever it is, it's associated with it, it's dark. You should watch the Hobbit trilogy then. No, I definitely will not. You really fucking hate that. I definitely will not. Lord of the Rings, I can't cut it. Star Wars, no, okay, you cannot cut Star Wars. As long as you don't cut Star Wars, we're okay.

All right, so here's the thing. The last trilogy of Star Wars was dog shit for me. What about the first three? I actually hate all the spin-offs now. I haven't watched Andor. I need to watch Andor. I need to watch Andor. Andor is a different category.

Mandalorian fell off so hard after the first season. It was the biggest formulaic bullshit. Just like. Andor is up there with the best TV of all time, not just the best Star Wars of all time. All right. I can make a more educated pick after I watch Andor, but right now I'm cutting Star Wars.

This is fucking outrageous. Gone. This is fucking outrageous. Gone. This is fucking outrageous. And this is coming from a guy that rides for one, two, and three. The other one was, Harry Potter. Harry Potter. Harry Potter's.

You gotta remember Harry Potter came out like peak, like the first book dropped for me when I was six. I'm gonna cut both of them and just stick with Star Wars. I'll double up on Star Wars. This is a guy that loves like, I mean, George R. Banks is my fucking guy. Darth Maul is my favorite villain. You love the one, two and three, huh?

I love the one, two and three. I had a birthday party that went in Saul the third one. Also like, dude, you get the- Duel of the Fates. Duel of the Fates, you also get like the Yoda fight. Like when Yoda breaks out the saber, I'm like like what is going on here. This is fucking crazy mace window with the perp Are you kidding me legendary shit come on Jar Jar Binks? I mean they see it in a starboard star Star Wars out What about Nick? I want Nick's opinion. We're cutting Harry Potter. Sorry. Yeah, I respect the game

I was number one. Yes Star Wars number one Yeah, I respect perfectly respect the game. I was number one. Yes, Star Wars number one I mean a smart. It's actually a great question. Those three are like so elite They are like they are like the sci-fi right now like the the stories that are like the most um Tonnage to there's so much out there of these three if you're just going movies Harry Potter out But the boy I agree with I love the book. Oh no actually Lord of the Rings though but well nobody asked Jordan Jordan still here Jordan what do you think Jordan I didn't know I needed to answer this but yeah Lord of the Rings I had an ally all this time with Jordan I don't even know I've supported I'm starting this whole endeavor you guys have never watched the

Lord of the Rings you know I watched've watched one and a half movies. You're so nerdy. They're so nerdy. No, no. I've watched one and a half movies. Is Star Wars not nerdy? Star Wars is nerdy. Harry Potter is nerdy.

They're all nerdy. Read the Hobbit? I play Magic the fucking Gathering, Connor. If anybody's not scared of being called a nerd, it's me. Lord of the Rings sucks. All right. Last one. Hey boys, Leo double N.

Oh, thank God. Let's go really tough week. Thank god for lucas bretsky. I'm a fantasy team Uh, we are obviously going to be appealing it. I don't think we saw a cap but for now it is negative one point For losing by standing. Why does it sound like he's in a bathroom? I guess I saw it. Maybe he's in the backyard. He's speaking about my favorite PFL fights. And yeah, I have seen them all. So obviously had to go with Jake Flynn versus Clifford Starks. Pull that up somebody, you definitely remember it.

How could you forget? What is your guys favorite PFL fight? Let me know easy Yeah, what else you got? Oh Started playing my summer vacation or getting ready to anyway, it's a PlayStation game came out in 2000 Game follows summer vacations of Boku a city city-dwelling 9-year-old boy who in August 1975 is sent to stay with his extended family in the Japanese countryside for a month.

Gameplay takes place in an open-ended environment where the player is sent to determine how Boku spends his 31 in-game days of his summer vacation, but few set goals or specific obligations of gameplay progression. This looks ridiculous. but you set goals or specific obligations of gameplay progression. So obviously you're gonna wanna play this one in August, Frank. Take it easy. Take care. Oh, double B.

What a legend. Wow, what a fucking legend. He sounded a little depressed. He really was getting bummed out about Lucas Breschke losing for his fantasy team. Best fighter is Paul Hughes. Paul Hughes, who's a rock man. Like that's an easy one for me.

I'm gonna have to download this summer vacation game. My summer vacation. You and Frank can play it. Wow, Boku no Natsuyatsumi 2 also came out. Someone said it might be the coziest game I've ever tried. Shout out Don Davis, absolute legend. What system is that on? PlayStation, he said? I see PS2, I out Don Davis, absolute legend. What system is that on? PlayStation, he said? I see PS2, I think.

Oh, incredible. It looks like Nintendo Switch has a version of it as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Shout out. All right, thank you so much for anyone that called in. We really appreciate it. That's the voicemails. Bit of breaking news.

Huge one here. Middleweight division. UFC 321. Who's huge one here, middleweight division, UFC 321. You're kidding me. Ekremalaskarov? June Young Park, Iron Turtle in a big fight. God damn.

On October 25th, let's go. June Young Park and Tom Aspinall in the same car, are you fucking kidding me? Doesn't get any better than that. Wait, what's the, what's Iron Turtle's record right now? Like what kind of streak is he on? Two straight, I think. Two straight.

He got robbed by Andre Muniz, so he actually should be on a seven fight win streak. Holy shit. He got robbed by Andre Muniz. You got some momentum. You beat Ickram. You beat Oluskarov. Iron Turtle title shot. Damn. fight winch holy shit you got Rob momentum you beat it's IKROM you beat all the scarab I turtle title shot damn turtle versus Homsot turtle versus the

wolf before we go to super chats I do want to acknowledge a few things one thing first we had a tweet here from or an X post I don't know what they call it I'm gonna call it a tweet from Vince McMahon founder CEO of WWE on the passing of Hulk Hogan he said the world lost a treasure today Hulk Hogan was the greatest WWE superstar of all time someone who was loved and admired around the world he was a trailblazer the first performer who transitioned from being a wrestling star into a global phenomenon his grit and unbridled thirst for success were unparalleled and made him the consummate performer. He gave everything he had to the audience

whom he appreciated, respected, and loved. He leaves us with one of his favorite expressions, train, take your vitamins, and say your prayers. Today we pray for him." So obviously Vince McMahon a controversial figure himself, but the face of professional wrestling for nearly its entirety and him granting Hulk Hogan the greatest superstar of all-time status I think is significant certainly from somebody who would know kind of what that is about but there will be there will continue to pour in like tributes to Hulk Hogan from the wrestling community and there will also continue to pour in commentary from people who have a major issue with the

latter part of his life so again as Ariel Hawani came on earlier and laid out and people will continue to a very important figure but also a very controversial figure. Yeah nice words from Vince McMahon there who we don't hear from often these days. So yeah, I'm sure the tributes will continue to roll in. Nick, do we have any Super Chats before we go? Slito chimes in. Rick, thoughts on the challenge season for beer? I haven't been able to watch it yet.

All right, then I'm not going to give away any spoilers. It's actually not the official, I just want to set the record and the context for everybody. It is not officially the premiere. It's episode zero, which they do every season. This is more of like a get to know the cast type episode. And so this is more like introducing you to the challenge, to the players this season and more of that next week

Will be the official premiere next week will be episode one, but if you watched it and Connor will soon well You get the first glimpse of our boy Ben the Davis who is Season of the challenge shout out to Ben the Bane season 41 eventual champion gonna knock over CT in a hall brawl. I guarantee it and Breaking news Nick if you could hit that button one more time Then the Bane Davis one week from now Here in studio joining us to talk about everything, challenge everything in his life, all the fight stuff.

Ben the Bane in studio one week from today. Let's fucking go. Looking forward to having him. First in studio guest for Boys in the Back ever. First in studio guest and a fitting one. Ben the Bane Davis. I think he was our first guest on the show. Oh Oscar was.

Oh Oscar Willis, that's right, cause he beat him. We're not gonna talk about that on the show or maybe we will because Nah we will. Bane's a Fighter, grapp fighter grappler karate combat commentator I think he launched a new podcast just recently a lot to talk to him about in studio to on the Day after the episode 1 premiere of the challenge season 41. Let's go. Shout out to Ben the Bane. Shout out. Season 41 let's go shout out to bend the beam shout out

Josh will Freeman writes in projects nightmare gate. She highlight. Thanks boys in the back. I'm good for sure Yeah, good ones. How does Josh Freeman Justin the highlight gate? He is a good one is oh, yeah good one You know what? I've always loved Dominique Wilkins human highlight reel and I've always also loved Vince Carter half man half amazing Oh, yeah, really good one to a great one from NBA great ones And finally Daniel chimes in which has some poor grammar. What's GC said? Fuck you Frank Yeah, the list Dan for the list the list. Yeah He's out there in Phoenix right now sun tanning

Do you learn here? Do we do another like if you're watching give the secret code? Yeah. He's out there in Phoenix right now, sun tanning. Do we do another like, if you're watching, give the secret code? Yeah, if you're watching, Frank, what did I say to you after you gave that list in? That's the question. Don't see him in the chat, he's always in the chat, man. Nah, he's off the grid now. But by the way, I mean, Nick did a fantastic job, so.

What do we need Frank for? We don't even need Frank. We don't even need Frank don't even need him all right that's gonna do it for us here on the boys in the back episode in the books thanks so much for watching we really appreciate it tomorrow the crack pizza we'll get you ready for the weekend wow only 50 low shout out Shout out, shout out, shout out, shout out, shout out. Nice. Thank you to Ariel Hawani for joining us earlier as well. Yeah, thank you.

Shout out to Ariel. Shout out to Ariel. Rest in peace to Hulk Hogan. Watch the crack tomorrow. Pizza gets you ready for the weekend and then we will be back on Monday. Enjoy the fights, UFC Abu Dhabi. Noonstart doesn't get any better than that.

Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next time. Peace. Thanks for watching!