The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC Des Moines preview, Tom Aspinall's next move, Malcolm Wellmaker joins | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

The Boys in the Back kick things off with a conversation about Tom Aspinall’s record-breaking tenure as UFC interim heavyweight champion and tackle Jon Jones' looming absence (01:56).Malcolm Wellmaker, fresh off his bonus-winning KO in Kansas City, joins to discuss making his UFC debut, quitting his job, future plans, and a potential slot on the upcoming Atlanta card (29:30).Next, the Boys prepare for their Iowa trip by breaking down UFC Des Moines (51:28), and then preview the Times Square boxing card (1:32:15).Finally, they deliver their P4P tourist traps (1:45:29), craft their parlay (2:17:58), air your voicemails (2:25:23), and answer Super Chats (2:51:23).

What is good? We are back with another episode of Boys in the Back on the first day of May 2025, the first Thursday of the month. Beautiful spring day. They just continue to come here in New York City. I am one third of the boys in the back, your host Connor Berks joined alongside me as always. There he is, the man, the myth, the legend, the man that goes by the name New York Rick in the studio, in the house. How are you feeling today, man?

I am on one. I got the Boom Boom Hawk Jam shirt on. Des Moines is just a mere 48 hours away for us on the horizon. I'm on one. I got the Boom Boom Hawk Jam shirt on. Des Moines is just a mere 48 hours away for us on the horizon. I'm feeling great. I am, I'm in a very good mood today. I don't know what it is. Maybe I've had some good meds today,

but I feel like every segment we've kind of like laid out to talk about, I'm excited about. I feel like the temperature outside is nice. I feel like I'm getting ready for our trip. We got an event in Times Square this weekend. Like, I'm really in it. Like, I'm feeling great. We get a little taste of the South,

Georgia's own Malcolm Wellmaker off of a massive KO, joining the show at 1.30. Frank, how are you feeling back there, brother? You know, I'm doing great. Thanks for asking. You excited for Des Moines, man? Absolutely. That's right, that's right.

Excited for the two of you. Excited for us to go have a great time. Honestly, it's just a, you know, time away from you guys looking forward to it. Wow. You're looking forward to the time away from you. Just, you know, like, true love. You gotta break it off every now and then and when it comes back, you know it was real, you know? Uh, that's not quite how I had it framed up in my head. Just enjoy yourselves, you know? Uh, thank you. Thank you. Wish you were there. Wish you you We sure that we're gonna be there with man. We can't wait Um, I was gonna say Malcolm has almost like this like infectious energy that I'm feeding off of to like in every video

He's got such a like bubbly personality. I don't know. I'm just in I'm just in a great mood bubbly personality He's in a good mood. He's making his dreams come true Yeah, like all his social all of his his post fight interviews, everything has just been like on point, positive vibes. Inspirational stuff. I can't wait to talk to him man. I'm very much looking forward to it. I'm really hoping he gets on that UFC Atlanta card because I will be in the building for that one as well and hopefully cheering on the machine to another knockout victory. That'll be great. We'll talk about UFC Des Moines. Obviously we will be in the house for that. We'll talk about that in a little

bit. The Times Square card, you mentioned that. Pound for pound rankings because of the Times Square card, tourist traps, and then your voicemails and super chats on the backend. Speaking of voicemails, just a plug for that. By the way, it's like one of my favorite things we do now. I love it so much. 415 SUPBITB is the number.

You gotta buy hard now. Yeah, you could call us right now. We're not gonna answer these. That will probably be for next week. There's a cutoff time, but we're gonna get to as many as we can. You guys have really brought it, and thank you so much for being participants in this.

I really do love it. I can't believe how much fun it is. And like, I got the perfect setup because you and Frank kind of monitor who gets on the air, and I just, I don't hear anything until we go on the air. It's tremendous. I really do love it. They make me laugh. Before we get into all of that though,

you've got a hot take you wanna get off. I mean, you've been itching in the back seat back in the producer's chair. Now we got our own, like we can kinda steer the ship here. You got a hot take you wanna get off when it comes to the heavyweight division. For some it will be a hot take. There might be some who agree with me.

But there's a position that I have that I feel very strongly about. Let me start by setting the table first. Before I get to the take part, I wanna set the table with the news we saw this week that Tom Aspinall has now become the longest reigning interim champ in UFC history. A distinction that I'm not sure you actually want, right?

Like this is the distinction that you do not want to have because it means you were not able to get that undisputed gold as of yet. And so we see here, at the time this was posted, I think this was like a day or two ago. My eyes are not good enough to see it. This was on the 29th, so that was two days ago. So he is now at 537.

537 days as interim champion, passing Henenbrau two days ago, who had 534. As the foremost John Jones, like defender, advocate, supporter, it has crossed the threshold for me of being ridiculous. Okay, so two points on that. I kind of had to do the math in my head. I was like, well, when did this start?

535 days ago. It was when he beat Sergei Pavlovich at MSG UFC 295. Think about how much has happened since that happened. It's literally a lifetime ago, especially in the sport of mixed martial arts. It's absolutely insane that it's been that long. He's defended the interim belt. John Jones, the heavyweight champion,

has also defended the heavyweight belt since he got the interim title. And the worst part of it all, there's no end in sight. The tunnel is just pure black. We have no idea when this is gonna end. This is what I would deem the tipping point. The reason that I am shifting my position, my initial position was John Jones is one

of your biggest stars, one of your biggest money makers, and you should keep a title on him in less force to do otherwise, right? There's no reason to take a title away from John. People were calling as soon as he was going to fight Stipe to strip him and make John the champion. I was not in that boat. I think they should have kept the title on John. The reason I felt that way is because, okay, there's time to make the fight between Tom Aspinall and John Jones. There's time for that to happen. And once that resolves, we will have an undisputed champion and there will be no need to have strip John Jones. I no longer have faith that that fight is going

to happen. I have lost faithfully. There was, there was optimism at the beginning of the year. I'm not sure I was in the camp of like, it's definitely going to happen and it's going to happen by the summer. I don't know.

I never really bought Dana White's like, yes, it's going to happen. The developments that we've heard is, you know, average of the year, the camp of like it's definitely gonna happen and it's gonna happen by the summer I don't know I never really bought Dana White's like yes it's gonna happen the developments that we've heard is you know Ariel saying that it's not the UFC holding this up that gives me pause to a certain degree because that means that we're now looking at this is gonna happen probably end of year if it's gonna happen at all right if if ultimately John Tom like what the offer from the UFC is, they sign on the dotted line, we'll look at this toward the end of year. It gives me a little bit of optimism in the sense that

okay, at least the UFC is willing to meet the demands, right? There is at least a good faith effort to make the fight. What has made me lose faith is the idea that if that is true and John Jones has been offered what he has asked for and is not still committing to the fight, I don't know that you ever commit to the fight. I don't know that there's a reason if you're John Jones you do it. You either walk off into the sunset or you take the fight. There's really not an alternative. To come back and fight somebody else, I don't even know what to say at that point. And so I've lost a little bit of faith that John Jones is going to return at all. I

think John Jones may sail off into the sunset, but even if he does even if he doesn't Regardless of John Jones. I think the focus now has to move entirely to Tom Aspinall and this is where my take comes in Tom Aspinall I believe could be the biggest star in the UFC. I believe he could reach the heights of Not Conor McGregor because I I think Conor McGregor is an asterisk. He's an exception in every regard. But I truly believe Tom could be up there with some of the biggest stars the UFC has ever had, the GSP's, the Silva's, even contemporary stars

like Alex Perera. I think he can be bigger. He has a few things going for him. One, he delivers in every single fight, right? You get a Tom Aspinal fight, you know he's probably gonna knock somebody out or submit them in 30 seconds like that's basically how his fights go he is the shortest average fight time out of

everybody and he's just an absolute savage. Two, he's good-looking. Three, he's well-spoken. Four, he's contemplative. Five, he makes great video content. Six, he can cut a promo. Like the list goes on and on he's in a in a glamour division at heavyweight where there's not a lot of guys who are probably gonna be able to compete with him. He really probably has quite a few easy title defenses if he can capture undisputed gold. The runway has been set, I think, for Tom Aspinall

to be one of the biggest stars in UFC history. And so in saying that, and now people would say, what about Ilya Toporia, what about Patti Pimp? I think his ceiling is higher than all of those guys just my opinion I think that the package the complete package and I think he's very easy to root for right? There's not a lot of like the trash talk. There's not a lot of the other things that make you polarizing There's not the there's not the things that typically work the best in the fight game with Patti or Ilya where it's like some people Hate them and they want to see them lose and some people love them and their die-hard supporters

I think Tom only has the positive kind of vibes toward him. There's certainly maybe this smaller John Jones contingent that thinks he deserves nothing, but I think it will serve him well in the long run because he will have everybody behind him at a certain point. I say all that to say, you are inhibiting the reaching of that point.

You are now slowing down the momentum of reaching this apex that I believe Is possible for Tom Aspinall in waiting any longer for John Jones There was a time where I would have said John Jones is more valuable to the UFC and you wait We have passed the threshold for that in my opinion We are wasting valuable prime years of Tom Aspinall's career We have passed the point of no return in terms of waiting and I think we need to move on with Tom Aspinall's career. We have passed the point of no return in terms of waiting and I think we need to move on with Tom Aspinall's career one way or another and it needs to be for undisputed goals.

So his next fight, whether it be John Jones or not, has to be for an undisputed title because I think he can reach heights that he should already be on the path to reaching. My first question and I think it's maybe the most important one when it comes to this take is, do you think John Jones can, or do you think Tom Aspinall can still reach these heights without

John Jones? I do because I think if John Jones does not fight him now, the sentiment will be that John Duckton. Now I'm not sure that that would have been the same thing maybe even a few months ago, but this idea that like we started hearing Joe Rogan talking about what the dollar figure is. We've heard that maybe that dollar figure has been met. There's all these things that are now stacking up to say, Tom Aspinall is here and ready and the other side is not. And so if that happens, I think that will be deemed as Tom Aspinall won. Tom Aspinall won that war. And I think that will help him a great deal. But even beyond that, John would catapult him, John would shortcut that. If he had a win over

John Jones that would get him three-quarters of the way there to what I'm talking about. He's gonna have to take a slower road if it's title defense after title defense after title defense but what I think will work in his favor is I don't think these title defenses are gonna be particularly taxing for Tom Aspinall. I don't see a peer for him. If this suppose it, like let's say it's not John Jones. I hear the name Cyril Gahn thrown out a lot. I don't think those two are in the same class. I think Tom will walk through Cyril Gahn. And I think it will continue to walk through every heavyweight that exists on the UFC roster or anybody they're able to bring in.

I truly believe John Jones would, John Jones potentially is one of the only competitive fights he could have and I probably favored Tom at this moment. So he's going to continue to rack up those wins. He's going to continue to be the good guy. He's going to continue and dear himself to fans. I think he will continue to build that momentum and I don't see a way that it ultimately stops. The way that I view this is I think with a John Jones fight and with a John Jones win it would be inevitable for him to become one of the biggest stars in UFC. If he wins in the way that he typically wins,

which is shortest average fight time in UFC history against a John Jones, we were looking at it this week. He has like 1.3 something million followers on Instagram. By the end, by the Monday morning after he beat John Jones, if that fight were to happen and he were to win, he'd be sitting at like four or five million, like the YouTube channel is already stacked to the gills, ready to go, all this content that he has, I'm sure he would

be getting content from that as well. The YouTube channel would just grow and blow up from there, now he is the champion in a glamour division, heavyweight division, and now it's like, how long can that reign last? And now he's the guy that beat John Jones. And it's just like, he is a superstar in his own right now. And now the more he wins, the more easy he makes it look,

the more title defenses that he racks up. Now we're talking about like, oh, could he potentially be the longest reigning heavyweight champion? Cause it's 800 something days that Cain Velasquez said that now it looks like John Jones could potentially break with just one defense against Steve Emiojic. I think, I think the John Jones could potentially break. Yeah. With just one defense. By sitting on the sidelines. Yeah. Uh, again, Stipe Miocic. Uh, I think, I think the John Jones path is so clear. If he doesn't get the John Jones fight, I think it becomes much more

difficult to achieve that status. I think he can easily get to star status, but I think it will take a long and winding difficult path to get there without the John Jones fight. It's the longer and harder path, no doubt. Let me ask you something as a devil's advocate kind of position or maybe just like supplementary info. When's the last time you heard Francis Ngannou's name in any conversation about the best heavyweight in the world? Yeah, it's not often. Left the UFC, never lost a belt, never lost an MMA after that, and is completely erased

from the conversation. Once you have that belt, once you become undisputed champion, the rest melts away. And even John Jones will start to melt away at a certain point. Now, if Tom builds himself up to the point where all of a sudden the John Jones conversation starts back up and it's like, John, man, you really got to come back and fight this guy. I know I'm retired. John, you really got to come back and fight this guy. And I'm retired, John, you really got to come back and fight this guy. It actually helps Tom because it ties him against John Jones, but he's the one in there continuing to rack up title defenses, continuing to grow. I think his growth will get there. It will take longer.

It will take longer. But if he continues to win, I think Tom can be the biggest star in the UFC. Yeah. And I guess if he, in the very first fight after, if John Jones ends up retiring and he doesn't fight again, and then guess if he, in the very first fight after, if John Jones ends up retiring and he doesn't fight again, and then they do an undisputed heavyweight title fight, and let's say it is Tom Aspinall versus Cyril Gahn, if he goes out there and starts his Cyril Gahn, Twitter will just be like, yep, John Jones made the right decision dunking

him. He's the best heavyweight in the world. How long is this reign going to last? Yada, yada, yada. I just think the pathway and the connection to casuals that beating John Jones would give you is invaluable. Like you really, you can't put a price tag on

what beating John Jones like John Jones fights Tom Aspinall. That's one of those fights that your friends that never watch fighting are texting you and they're like, who you got in the fight tonight tuning in blah, blah, blah, million plus pay-per-view buys. It's major, major business. Obviously sellout crowd.

Everyone's talking about it. It becomes that mainstream fight you start seeing on sports center, everything like that. And if he goes out there and starches them, then it's just like rocket ship, just pffft. Yeah. And like there's no turning back from there.

A zero gun win in a vacant heavyweight title fight does not do the same. No, it does not. And it's, and again, it's a small brick, right? Like John Jones, they, if you beat John Jones, you have a prebuilt house. They give you a house.

If you beat serial gone. I'm like trying to picture him going out there and then the first, first half of the first round, him putting out John Jones and it's just like the MMA world completely flipping on its head and like everyone going insane. And he is just, not only the talk of the, of the MMA world, he is the talk of the sporting world.

If he does that, you mentioned the sporting world, it's almost reminiscent of what we saw in the NBA with, um, and Edwards and LeBron James. Like it's like, we've got the goat, but then we've got this young guy who's just like confident, exciting, the future face of the league and all of a sudden he's going out there and all the memes and everything that's come from that, all the stuff about it and I can see the same thing happening for Tom. You beat John Jones, that's a pre-built house. You beat Cyril Ghan, that's a few bricks. You're starting to build the house. It's not, you don't get the house right off the bat. You're going to have to build and you're going to have to build and you're going to have to build. Ultimately, I think

he can get there. It is very accurate and I think you've kind of laid this out without saying it exactly. Tom Aspinall needs John Jones and John Jones does not need Tom Aspinall. Right? John Jones's legacy is completely set. He does not need a Tom Aspinall fight to cement himself as in my opinion the GOAT. In anybody's opinion has to be like one of the top two or three of all time. But Tom Aspinall needs a John Jones fight to propel him faster and further and it would be such an impressive name to have in his resume. But there is a certain point where you come to that if

you are not holding it up there's nothing more you can do, right? There's a certain point where Tom Aspinall can try as much as he wants and can say everything and it seems like he's amenable to whatever the UFC's terms are. If John Jones does not want to play ball, that's not Tom Aspinall's problem and not Tom Aspinall's fault. And look, if you're John Jones and maybe your motivation is to not give Tom Aspinall the satisfaction of even having the fight and just you will forever be somebody who fights these heavyweights, but you never fought me. You could take that route and it might be, that's prime petty right there.

That's some elite pettiness. Petty as shit. If anyone ever asked him about it and he's just like, yeah, well, he never fought me. And it's just like, yeah, because you chose not to. But he still can stand on that. And I could see him doing that. It would be incredible.

I could see John Jones being like, I'm the longest reigning heavyweight champion of all time. And then they're just like, well, he's fought this guy and that guy. It's like, but he never fought me. He's just like, cause you sat on the sidelines. Yeah. But like honestly, fair play to Cain Velasquez when his reign, the 890 days or whatever it was, he won the belt and then fought like three months later and then fought again, like four or five months later and then sat for like four or five months later and Then sat for like two years before the Verdun fight where he ended up losing the belt there

So like he did acquire a lot of those days Like he only had one more defense than Jeff. Heavyweight's always been a hard division for guys to kind of hold onto the belt It's not like the when we were doing the featherweight and it was like all these like Legendary elite champions who have just been the like this private group. It has been different at heavyweight where it has been much harder to kind of rack up those defenses. Right. I mean naturally right. It's the hardest hitting. It's the biggest guys. I think Tom Aspinall has a chance to do that in a division that has not seen that. That is what that is what I'm staking this. That's that's where I'm planting this flag on Tom

Aspinall in thinking that he can be the biggest star is because I don't think anybody has been able to take heavyweight by storm in the way that like boxing has had these heavyweight champions who have been like legendary and it has become this division that like anytime there's a heavyweight fight people I don't think the UFC has that I think Tom Aspinall can be the one to turn the tide I had faith that maybe Francis Agano could have been that guy but he took a completely different path. No shade thrown that way. Like that's the path I think he should have taken. But I think Tom Aspinall can be that guy.

He's young enough in this division at least, right? He's 31, 32. Aspinall, 31, yeah. Yeah, he's 31. Got the 93 babies. In MMA at heavyweight, he's got another 15 years probably that he can still fight. Realistically like nine or 10.

I think he can plant the flag as this guy that just completely reshapes what it means to be a heavyweight champion in the UFC, and I think that will go a long way. And one of the things that we always say is like, ah, there's no competition for them. But what inevitably happens, and it always happens, and it's the same thing that happens in this conversation

when we're like, there's no stars, somebody will rise. There will be somebody, whether it's three years from now, whether it's three months from now, whether it's seven years from now. Like, Patty Pimblitt beating Michael Chandler vaulted him into a conversation. There will always be somebody. There will be a heavyweight.

I promise there will be a heavyweight at some point that will come along. The way Tom did, shoot into the picture. And that will be the competition that he ultimately has to take out. I believe in Tom Aspinall, I think he can be the biggest star in the UFC. So I agree with you, I wholeheartedly agree with you.

If they even make the John Jones fight, the door is so open to it because I think on a smaller scale it could be like the night Khabib beat Connor. Yeah, you're made. Like he gained like four million Instagram followers, becomes just like a massive star, household name. Now everybody wants to watch him fight. He's undefeated.

He's got the perfect record, everything like that. Honestly, kind of similar to when Ilya beat Volk too. Like he, he, his star power just skyrocketed. Now he's going to the Bernabeu everything like that. The John Jones thing can be very similar, especially after like now the talk has been, has been going for a while of like, is John ducking Tom? You know, Tom John, Tom John. And the fact that it's in the heavyweight division, then if it gets made, everyone's gonna wanna watch it.

And then to the point that you said, the shortest average fight time, he is just so casual friendly. He is so just like, yeah, let's tune into that heavyweight fight this weekend. Like, not gonna name any names. I just have a particular group of friends that it's just like, when the fights hit them,

I know that it's big business. When I start getting the texts from these guys about the fights, I'm just like, oh, this is a big fight. Because they are just like the epitome. People throw around the word casual a lot in this space when anyone that's watching every single card is by no means casual. These guys are just like quintessential casual. Like they will tune in for the co-main

and main event of Big Cards. And like- I have the same friend group like that. And these are the guys that if Tom Aspinall goes out there and starches John, every single time Tom fights, they're gonna be like, oh, we gotta tune in to Tom Aspinall. Like gotta watch the Tom Aspinall fight.

I have a casual group of friends amidst, amongst one of them, me and this individual, shout out Victor, went to UFC 128 in New Jersey to watch John Jones become the champion over Shogun. So like that group would be like, John Jones fucking lost? Like that would blow their minds and I would get those texts. I think everyone, all like diehard MMA fans like have that group would be like John Jones fucking lost. Like that would blow their minds and I would get those texts. I think everyone, all like diehard MMA fans

like have that group of friends. 100%. That's like, they're kind of into it, but they're not actually into it. They can name the upper echelon, but like they can't name like. Like, oh Habib. Like if you were like Malcolm Wellmaker,

they'd be like, I don't know who the fuck he is. They would have been like that about Alex Pereira like two years ago and then all of a sudden they're like, oh Alex Pereira. Exactly years ago and then all of a sudden they're like, Oh, Alex Pereira. Exactly. The one thing that I also didn't mention and I think would really help is the, the old guard of the heavyweight boxing champions, the Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua is on the back nine

is moving out of the picture. They've still got Daniel Dubois as a champion. I think when he does fight Alexander Usyk, he will no longer be champion. I think Usyk will, will no longer be champion. I think Usyk will... Is that a unification or did he lose one of those? I forget. No, that is unification because Dubois has the other belt. So, he will not be champion.

There will be a gap, there will be a chasm, there will be a space left for a British heavyweight champion in Tom Aspinall that I think could really like capture the imagination of the people over there. And as you know, they're a sporting group. They're a diehard culture for that. Diehard sporting group and like to your point, man, like a diehard boxing country. Like they love their boxing. They obviously love their MMA too, but like-

No, boxing is here. Oh, it's like Adeola Depot, who is, you you know one half of Ariel X Ade, die hard boxing fan, is great in the space, knows everything about it, is from England and we were having a conversation one time, granted this was probably like 18, 12, 18 months ago and it was sort of the comparison of like an Anthony Joshua to a Tom Aspinal there and he was like you're not comparing anything. That is that is apples and bars of chocolate. Like these, these guys are not even in the same space in terms of stardom.

Like Anthony Joshua walks down the street, he's getting mobbed. Tom Aspinal walks down the street, like a couple of people are like, oh shit, Tom, how's it going, man? Whereas like if he becomes this long reigning UFC heavyweight champion, you can sort of start to flip the script on that.

Especially as those guys go out, right? Especially as the, now- Cause we've seen the support he gets when he fights in England. Oh, no. I mean, we got the script. Especially as those guys go out, right? Especially as the now. We've seen the support he gets when he fights in England. Oh no. I mean, we got the chant. They love him. Frankie?

No, he's not, he's not that quick on trigger, man. He's, he's already out of the office. I, it's the, it's the, it's the perfect storm. It's the right timing. I hope we do. I hope we get that opportunity to see if he can become that on the heels of a John Jones fight. It's look, let's just like lay the cards out. They have been talking about the Tom

Aspinall and John Jones has been linked to MSG New York City as just like the potential location for the as long as it's gone because It feels like the biggest possibility that you could that you could have the biggest opportunity to sell tickets and draw a huge gate Also, it's just great to have the event there. That event typically happens in November. So we've got a runway, we've got an opportunity if this fight is to be made at Madison Square Garden for that to happen. The plan, the motion has to be set now. We can't be waiting until three months out from November

and then be like, now you know what, we're not gonna get it. If you're Tom Aspinall, I don't know if you can be patient enough to wait that long. Maybe he has to take a fight in between then. If he does, I hope it's for undisputed title. And if he does, I hope John Jones then returns and fights him regardless of whether he's champion or not to show that he's game. Right.

We don't want the, like a Michael Chandler-esque waiting for Congress. Well, can you wait till November? Let's say, let's say they set a date for November returns and fights him regardless of whether he's champion or not to show that he's game. Right, we don't want the like a Michael Chandler-esque waiting for... Well, can you wait till November... Let's say they set a deadline. Let's say they say to John Jones, you're gonna either fight Tom in November or we're gonna strip you, right? If you're Tom, can you wait that long? I think so. I mean, he actually just came out with a vlog yesterday where he was talking about how like he's been chronically ill to start the year. He's like, I had like

constant runny noses, head colds, been bedridden a little bit. He was like, it's actually a bit of a blessing that like I've been sick while being inactive instead of like trying to train for John Jones. So. That's still six months away. Yeah. But what is he going to do in the interim? No pun intended. I don't know. I don't know. Shout out to the interim goat. I think. Is Tom Aspinall the interim goat?

That's the new discussion. We should start the debate. We should start the debate. Hinnem Barrow, Tom Aspinall, who is the interim goat? How many interim defenses did Barrow have? I don't know. I think he did defend it though. I don't think it was just a one and done.

I don't know, man. I don't know if you want to, look, I'll say it this way. I don't know, like for John Jones, there's going to be time off in between the fights. You have to get the body ready. For Tom Aspinal, I don't know if you want to be inactive before you roll into a fight with John Jones. We're getting to that tipping point of like, it seems like, okay, the fight might be here, but now have you waited too long once it does finally arrive? The thing is it's unfortunate that like, if you're Tom, you can't take a fight.

If John Jones is still on the table, you cannot take a fight. I think we've reached the point where you have to move. You have to do something. I mean, I know Tom will win, but you know, banana peel choked out by Jotun Almeida. It all goes to zero. It would be zero gone. And he would dispatch with him quite easily shout the full cop that

takes us flipping the script over to the women's divisions that take us to another English fighter that is looking for a fight Dakota Ditcheva still does not have a fight with the PFL they're talking about July I believe on the champion series but the news came out yesterday T Tyler Santos, the reason that she has been removed from this year's tournament is because she popped for PEDs six months for failing a drug test and Ditcheva took to Instagram, obviously beat her in the championship last year and said, you're going to need more than a bit of juice to beat Barbie hun, think harder and smarter next time.

LOL. She's just kind of living it these days. She's just kind of like a champ. Yeah, I like the shit talk. I'm liking what I see here from Dakota, but I'm like, when are we going to see her? Like, let's get her in the cage at this point. PFO returns tonight, right?

Yeah, tonight we got a. Oh, we have the light heavyweights. We have the Phil Davis. Light heavyweights going and heavyweights. You got Phil Davis, Rob Wilkinson. You got Antonio Shoeface and Karl Moore, Moldovski versus Bailo Steny in all Russian affair. Karl Albregson, your boy.

That's my boy, shout out. Alexander Romanov, Tim Johnson, yeah. I think I picked Romanov to win it all. Rodrigo Nascimento making his PFL debut, shout out. It's not bad, it's not a bad little tournament. I think it could be, you know, there could be some fireworks in that. Is she PFL's, shout out. It's not bad, it's not a bad little tournament. I think it could be, you know, there could be some fireworks in that. Is she PFL's biggest star right now?

I was just gonna say. I think yes. The tournament, as we've kind of like said, you know, since this tournament, this like bracket started, the season started, I like this format much better. I like this format much better than the previous format that they had with the regular season in the playoffs. The problem is, and it is always the

problem with these tournaments, the biggest stars are not in it. Even to the point that Tila Santos is not in it, you're losing the biggest star from or the biggest name potentially, maybe Carmouche, but you're losing one of the bigger names from your women's flyweight bracket. Dakota Ditcheva, the biggest star, I would say yes. The, hmm, Dumbay. Yeah. Dumbay or Ditcheva. Francis, Patrice Evra. Like, you got some bigger names.

Yeah, Patrice Evra is like, that's soccer though. I know, but he's saying, biggest name. Yeah, biggest name. Fair enough. She is amongst that group. Let's just say that, right? She is in that top group of like stars that you need to see and stars that not only that, you need to put out there if you're the PFL.

We haven't heard anything about Patchy Mix, right? Like I haven't, unless I've missed something, I haven't heard anything about Patchy Mix's next steps. That's another name that we need to see. So like she's in this list of you need to supplement this tournament part and you need to really get cracking on whatever these super fight cards look like, and her next fight, because she's clamoring for a fight, we're all clamoring to see her, it needs to happen.

I agree. We will wait, standby for the Don Davis tweet of breaking news about- Shut up. Maybe he'll call in, maybe he'll leave us a voice- Maybe he'll call in later today, who knows? All right, let's shift from the PFL, very excited for this one, I gotta get ready. Hold on. What do we got? Got a guest coming on. I gotta get my outfit on here. In honor of Malcolm Wellmaker joining the show, Augusta Zone.

I gotta throw on my green jacket. Oh, I love it. I love it. I gotta throw on, maybe get my braids hat on here. Just gotta get ready to go. All right, very excited for this one. Fresh off of a KO victory this weekend against Cameron Simon in the very first round, we welcome to the show Malcolm Wellmaker. Malcolm, thanks for joining us, man. We really appreciate the time, brother.

Yes, sir, appreciate y'all having me. I really liked the outfit. You liked it, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, all right, so my nickname on the show is GC. It stands for Georgia Connor. I was born and raised in Atlanta, went to UGA, spent a little bit of time down at Georgia Southern. So here in Bruce Buffer, I'm not from Augusta, but here in Bruce Buffer, announced Augusta,

Georgia was a cool moment on Saturday. Yeah, no, that was crazy. I didn't even know Bruce Buffer was going to be there. So when I found out he was there, I was having a little starstruck moment when he was saying my name. Uh, yeah. I mean, I was, I was very hyped to see it. Not a ton of UFC fighters coming out of Georgia. And I know Augusta is, uh, is blowing up for you right now with the

success that you're having. I think a little bit of congratulations to kick off the interview in order. Uh, last week we go out to Kansas city. We make the UFC debut. Uh, we get a first round knockout. We get the 50 K bonus, and then we go into work on Monday morning and quit our job. Like how are we feeling right now? How is life going for you? I imagine it's a whirlwind. Yeah, that's probably the best word to use, man. It really still don't feel real. You know,

I'm sitting on my porch, not having to be at work, you know, waiting for the next thing on my schedule to do and it just feels you know, it feels crazy, man I'm still trying to wrap my head around what life is now Yeah, Malcolm. I was looking at your your Instagram and one of your pin posts It's a picture of you on the site and you say I'm not saying I hop out of bed every this is from January I'm not saying I hop out of bed every morning ecstatic going to work But when I walk away from the trade, I believe I'll miss it. One time for dirty hands, clean money. So I just want to ask you, is it bittersweet?

Like, I know, look, we're fully aware that you're making your dreams come true here and in the UFC, and now you're trying to rise up the ranks in the UFC. It's your dream. But is there a bittersweet feeling leaving behind this profession that seemingly you kind of like have turned into quite a fun looking job? I don't know if it's fun every day, but from your Instagram post you make it look like a lot of fun Is there a bittersweet feeling in leaving that behind? Yeah, no, it definitely is, you know, most people would think you know

It's a big, you know celebration and give them the middle finger kind of thing, but it's not man You know, I love what I do. I've been doing it for almost 10 years now. It's how I made my living, how I made so many of my friends, where so much of my support comes from locally when I had my fights. And the guys I work with are like family. So it was definitely bittersweet. When I went in to work the quit, I sat at the table with the guys for over an hour

You know just talking, uh, you know catching up celebrating and um, just you know, wrapping it wrapping it all up before I call it good What was their reaction on on saturday? What what was the the break room like on saturday when they were watching you? Bro, they was blowing my phone up man. I was getting crazy messages watching you. Bro, they was blowing my phone up, man. I was getting crazy messages. I mean, it's, look, my, so many people, like I said, from the local scene that support me are guys that I worked with. You know, I've been on a lot of different job sites, big old job sites, and you know,

when they find out that one of the guys on the site is a fighter, man, they all come out to support. So my phone went absolutely crazy. It's still people I'm catching up with now. And they were just over the moon, man. We saw a post on your Instagram that like went pretty viral and it was you in the morning and you're at work, you're doing the pipe fitting,

the welding, everything like that. And then at night you're training. What was the schedule actually like for you? Like what was, like how much sleep were you getting at night? How many hours were you on the job? How many hours were you training? I imagine it was taking up a lot of your time. Yeah, it was always really tough, you know, but I went through different phases. There

was a, you know, I went through the apprenticeship at first, I had school two nights a week. So I was going to classes two nights a week, going to training two nights a week. And then on the weekends, I try to like, you know, catch up on my own, on my condition and all that stuff. But in the most recent years in my professional career, I've been at the same job for a little bit over two years. And so Monday through Thursday, I worked 7 AM to 5 30, and then I trained from 7 15 PM to around 9 30 at 10 PM. However late I got guys that'll hang out with me and work.

And then Friday, Saturdays and Sundays, I typically try to do two sessions, two sessions, one in the morning and one in the evening. Have you already started planning what this full-time fighter life looks like? Have you made a plan for shaping out, like, okay, now this is going to be my schedule, here is going to be my team? What things are going to change? What things are going to expand? What's going to be different now that you can focus on this full-time?

Yeah, 100%. I literally just this morning nailed down the very last session with my wrestling coach for the day that I'll be doing a private with him. I got a couple of sessions. I'll be doing privates for my grappling, adding in on mornings. And I got a lift plan I'm working out

because I was only lifting one day a week all the way up until now. And I'll be able to actually lift more than once a week, really get some strength on me and level up. Man, I'm so excited. You're saying you're about to get more strength. You're saying this is the power when you're only lifting one day a week.

Yeah, I've been lifting on Saturday mornings once a week for the past year or two of my whole career. Malcolm's about to go super saying. He's taking off the weighted vest. So like all of last week, like we saw like, you're posting a video where you're hyped up with the Venom sweatshirt, like you finally got the sweatsuit kit and everything,

and then like on the walkout, it looked like you were just taking everything in. Like you've been killing on all the socials, like all the behind the scenes stuff, the fight vlogs. Like did last week, like you are living out your dreams. Did last week live up to your expectations of what it was gonna be like to be a UFC fighter? Nah, last week blew it out the water.

Like last week was beyond everything. It was beyond, that was so, that was sincere too. I literally went back there and just picked up my phone and started doing something. But no, last week was incredible man, from the very first day that I landed, I was meeting different athletes in the in the organization that was treating me good You know, I got to meet the nutritionist from the PI that was giving me meal prep Give me, you know protocols for rehydration giving me thermometers for the hot baths

I mean just so many crazy things being able to do the photo shoots and video shoots with the with the organization and then the Photographers and people being so cool. You know, it was just every single day there was something new that I've never experienced and was bigger and better than I thought it would be like to be in the UFC. I mean, seeing the joy you get from it, seeing the appreciation that you have for it and then to match it with the performance that you had, like it makes it almost impossible to cheer against you. Like it just makes it so easy to root for you. One other thing that I did see, I saw you got a

letter from the mayor of Augusta congratulating you on the win. How did that happen? Yeah, man. So, you know, I'm signed with Oridio, man, and these guys are like absolute powerhouses. So, you know, it was out of nowhere, man. A guy from my agency, Ed Capp, he hit me up. He was like, hey, the mayor got something for you. You need to stop by City Hall. And, you know, I didn't know what he was talking about. I didn't know what was going on, but, you know, I made the trip up there. I went to his office, and he had this letter that was giving me congratulations

and not just congratulations. Like, it was an in-depth letter, you know, complimenting details of my career that, you know, he had to know what he was talking about to say those things. So it was huge, man. You know, I shared the fact that I got a letter from the mayor and the Augusta community just was super happy about it. And I talked to them again and they said

that they're gonna be doing something else for me. So it's incredible, man. I really feel like Augusta really is celebrating my success. That's incredible. What was the family's reaction to that? Bro, my family my family been in tears. They cry over anything Like all these little successes man, they they're so happy with it man And it's it's super emotional and just overwhelming with us, you know, finally making it to this point

Yeah, we've shown a lot of like different little clips from your social media. Obviously we've like referenced different things on your social media. I think you're incredible. I think you've got like a really solid voice on that. What's the inspiration for that? When did you start? Was it just you playing around?

Like there's a lot of videos on there that are well produced. Do you have people that work with you? Yeah, who's doing it for you? Is this all you? Is this the third job you have or do you have a guy doing it for you? Yeah, so up until like maybe within the last year, everything on my social media I was doing myself.

I edited all my videos, I'd set up tripods, put them in portrait mode and play with filters and stuff. But in the very most recent year, my brother and one of my closest friends started coming in and getting professional photos of me They're they're learning the photography just so they could be a part of the team and help contribute and come up to success with me So they're doing a lot of stuff for me now. I still do pretty much all my edits But they helped me out a ton with that

It's it's a high quality stuff and shout out to the the family coming along for the ride. I love that Sure, it's incredible It's high quality stuff and shout out to the family coming along for the ride. I love that. Sure. It's incredible. So to the fight itself, you land a picture perfect counter right hand on Cameron Simon, like an emphatic knockout. It goes viral. Everybody sees it.

Crowd goes insane. The thing that I noticed, not only the power, the timing, everything like that, but just how calm you stayed after it happened. You got thousands and thousands of people going insane for you after getting your first UFC victory by knockout. But you stayed so calm. It was just like, ho hum, this is according to plan. Is that what it felt like? Yeah, man.

I don't know what it is, man. But when I get in the cage and I'm in competition, man, I just get cold blooded. You know, I'm a real happy guy. I'm outgoing. I'm very excited and I love sharing my energy. But when it's time to compete, man, and I hit these guys with these shots, like I'm still in that cold blooded state, man. So you know, I hit them with the shot, you know, pops.

My head coach, he always says, you know, take a knee, make sure these guys are okay before you celebrate. So I did it. And yeah, that's when it started, you know, to really hit me what happened. You mentioned this switch to like a cold blooded state. When does that start? Is it, is it when you're in the cage? Is it in the back in the locker room? Is it the fight day?

When, when do you make that shift and, and how do you like know that that shift is happening? I really don't, especially for this fight, I really don't even think the switch happened until the bell Because the whole walkout, you know, I was I was happy as could be I heard I didn't even know the fans was gonna cheer for me, you know when I came out and they were screaming I was surprised so then I felt like you know now I really got to make the most of this walk See a Bruce Buffer like it was all just so Fun literally up until the moment when the bell rang and that's when the switch flipped for me. But I think it's something that at this point

I'm really in control of. Sometimes when I'm warming up, I'm cracking myths. Like I hit that mindset and I really pushed myself. But as soon as the bell rings, man, and then until the ref pulls me off, I'm really in a killer mindset. You mentioned not knowing that the crowd would cheer for you. I think there's somewhere that we would know that the crowd would cheer for you.

And that's if you can get yourself on that Atlanta card. Has there been any traction? Have you cemented your spot on that card already or what's the status there? Yeah, so as far as the Atlanta card goes, immediately after I called for it in the cage, I went to the back and I saw Sean Shelby and I brought up, hey man, I really want Atlanta.

And he was like, don't worry, we're gonna get it done. And I talked to my manager and he said that they've been talking and they feel really confident about it. So at this point, I'm just waiting on a contract. I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen. Oh, that's incredible. I will be in the building for that one. I already got my flights booked.

I'm staying with my parents. So I'm really praying that you'll be on that. Looking forward to cheering you on. I did want to ask though, you walked out the first day out by Gucci, obviously Atlanta legend. If you get on UFC Atlanta, are we going to stick with Gucci? Are we going to stick with first day out, same song, still go Gucci, maybe switch it up to future, Young Thug? What are we thinking? Oh man, bro. That was good. Last Last night I literally was in the kitchen warming up my dinner and I was like,

I had one song that came to mind, I was like, this might be the one. And then there was another song that showed up in the suggested book of that two real, they're older songs that I really love by Thug and by Future. Oh, let's go. So yeah, you called them by name.

I mean, 2015 Thug, 2016 Future, like that is my bread and butter right there Yeah, man, you're right on track it's gonna be something like that the real the real Atlanta fans man Like the guys that's fans of a thug or future and myself people from them from my side, man They are going they go go crazy man. It's gonna be electric. Let's fucking go man I will be super hyped when I see the day that the contract gets signed, because I will be there and I will be going hard. Hopefully maybe wearing some Wellmaker merch.

I saw you got Grizzly Fight Company. Is this your own brand? I saw the website and you got hoodies, you got t-shirts and everything. Yeah. Okay, so this is a crazy story, but I've got a friend of mine, a really close friend. Me and him started training around the same time about eight years ago um but shortly after like within the first couple years he actually got cancer um he beat it he beat it uh but afterwards you know he his body wasn't the same so he started

trying to find out different ways to get involved in the fight community so he came up with Grizzly Fight Co which is essentially like a fightingarel company. So me and him have been working together for a while back when I was fighting locally in the pros. We was doing shirts and donating profits to the leukemia and lymphoma society and we made some real real noise and traction with that locally. So since then me and him have both grown alongside each other and he's an absolute genius with designs and ideas man I'm on the phone with him all the time. His name is Dylan and We at this very moment have another shirt in the works and as soon as the fight gets announced

It's a four for you know, the area come Sure, man, it's gonna be sick. So yeah, just just stay on lookout for that Well, yeah, we'll send you the studio address after this so you can ship it. I got you, I'll get that one. I'll give you all sizes, I got one for you. Shout out to Dylan, I'll pay with my own money, I'll send the link to all my boys,

we'll all be in there, up in the nose, please. We'll all be rocking the Walla merch. I actually wanted to ask you about that. I saw on your socials and on the hoodie there, the nickname is The Machine, but you also go by Walla. Yeah. What is Walla? What's the inspiration behind that? So like just to this story, so I used to rap and I used to make beats.

Back when I was rapping, that was my rap name. My rap name was Walla. So I stopped rapping because I was horrible at it and went to exclusively making beats. And this was like back in like when I was like 13, 14 years old, me and all my friends was doing this. And growing up all even throughout like after high school and even today, a lot of my friends still make music. And they was all rappers and it was me and another one of my friends was all making beats. And yeah, that's what it was.

So since I was in like, you know, eighth, ninth grade, my friend just been calling me Walla and it sticks. So even if you listen to the corner audio, Pops was like making calls. He was like, straight down the line, Walla straight down the line. Like you know, Pops called me Walla and everything. So if you know me from no day, that's what they call me.

Okay, that's cool. So your nickname, The Machine, you fight in the Bantamweight division, the current Bantamweight champion, Marathwa El-Shwili is also The Machine. Are you not only chasing the title, but also being the king of the machines as well? Yeah, absolutely, man. If I ever got the opportunity to fight Maraudo and maybe the battle of the

machines, that'd be a dream come true. But it was even crazy because he was in the locker room when I fought. He cornered one of the ladies from the first fight and he gave me a hand and I don't think you know who I was, he was just being polite. And he even commented on my post about me quitting my job and telling me congratulations. So as far as I'm concerned, he's a friend and it's quite down the line that that could ever happen,

but if I got the opportunity, it would be absolutely incredible. Yeah, that takes me to another thing. I saw in an interview with MMA Junkie Radio, you were talking about fighting for Jorge Masvidal's promotion and him giving you a little bit of a nod after one of your fights there. What does it mean when you're around guys like Marabdavales Vili and Jorge Masvidal and there's something in you that Masvidal is acknowledging you could be something one day? What does that mean?

And what does that do for you as a fighter? You know, it's still unreal at this moment. You know, this whole fight week, I say the fighter I had the most interactions with was Giga Chagasay. But it was Tuesday in the hotel, you know, it was our first day there. We go to the workout room and Giga was in there when I got in there and I was by myself at the time And I just told him I was like hey man, you know I've been watching for a while and excited to see you fight and he kind of asked me a couple questions like, you know It's your debut and stuff like that. But anyway, you know, he sees me starting to hit mix You know, I was cracking. I was excited. I was jumping listening to my music just being me and uh, he stopped me and told me

He was like man, you look good. And if you go out there and have fun like that, you're gonna do great and um, like, man, you look good. And if you go out there and have fun like that, you're gonna do great. And just even like somebody like Giga Chakase saying something like that to me is still mind blowing, man. These guys telling me stuff like that, that Joaquin Buckley embraced me even before my fight telling me how he thought I was gonna do great things. It's crazy and they just really make me feel like I belong here, that I'm one of the people that can have success in this organization just like they do. I saw you said in your post-fight press conference

that this was the first UFC event that you had ever attended. And you're the one fighting on the card. Did you watch it home? You mentioned Giga, you mentioned Joaquin. Have you been watching for a while? Are you fans of these guys? So it just even further pushes,

this is a dream come true. Yeah, absolutely. I've been a big fan of Giga and the way he kicks people for some time. And Joaquin Buckley, man, he is one of the most polarizing figures in the game. So I've always been paying attention to him. So he followed me a couple of weeks before I fought because one of my blue collar reels and was showing me love. So that was, you know, mind blowing in itself.

Polar Reels and was showing me love. So that was mind blowing in itself. And yeah, that was my very first time ever even going to a UFC event and it was, man, that was crazy. It was much better than Apex. What's it, okay, let's talk about that for a second because this has been something that's come up on this show quite a bit. I am team anti-Apex, Rick is okay.

I'm team pro-Apex. And let me give you the justification quickly. I just feel like there's some fighters who want to lock in on that fight, on that moment, the technique, get it done, go do their job and then leave. Now there's certainly a lot of fighters who feed on the energy. I just by your responses, I'm feeling like that might be

for you, but what, what is the difference and what is the difference in terms of how you view the fight when you're fighting in that kind of contained environment in the apex? Where there's not a lot of fanfare versus a full crowd Yeah, you know I I support the apex just because I feel like with us having that a venue available We have more opportunities for fighters to compete more frequently, so I think that's a very good thing um But for me it's not even a comparison as to whether I like fighting in front of the fans or not. It is incredible.

And for me, I feel like it elevated my performance. I feel like I've fed off the energy. I remember the body shot I hit him with right before the hook. I heard the crowd go, ooh. And it just excited me that they enjoyed something like a body shot. So I love fighting in front of the crowd, but I think both of them are beneficial for the athletes in the organization because you imagine that ko in front of 15 people at the apex No on tv is still would have been hype. Yes, of course

Um, absolutely you mentioned a lot of these other guys and now obviously now that you're full-time training Is there any plan to like go to different camps or bring? Other fighters in that you've been watching for a long time kind of make those connections now that you can dedicate yourself more to this. Yeah, no, 100 percent. We've been talking to my management and one of the first trips we want to make, obviously, is to Vegas to get to the P.I. You know, mess around with some of the resources they have there, train with some of the guys they got out there.

And I 100 percent want to work with as many athletes that I have access to at this point. You know, that's always been like a dream of mine that seemed out of my reach, something that I couldn't even imagine actually happening. But it's something that we got the ball rolling on now. So very, very for sure, definitely in the future, I'll be out there with other athletes from the UFC, hopefully learning some things. Malcolm, thanks so much for joining us, man.

Incredible KO. Couldn't be happier for you. And hopefully I will see you in the arena, from the stands, you obviously making the walk, but hopefully I will see you at UC Atlanta, man. And I can't wait to hear what the walkout song's gonna be. I know me and all my boys will be hyped up. Thank you, thank you.

I appreciate y'all having me. Make sure y'all send me y'all information so I can get some merch over to y'all. Of course, Malcolm, thank you again, brother. Rude for you, man. Appreciate it, homie. Take care. The man, shout out Malcolm.

The energy, man. It's just, he's got something. If we go to UFC Atlanta and he puts on a similar performance there. All my eggs, every egg I own is going in that basket. It's a good prospect to put the eggs in the basket on right now. Like the look, the attitude,

the energy, the dedication. The fact that he was doing the hard labor, nine to probably not five, probably longer than that. I know he only lifted one day a week, he said, just on Saturdays. I think he got the grown man strength from hauling the pipes around and everything like that. Yeah, this is going to be one to watch with the level of power that he has and the finishing ability that he has combined with what he's able to do now that he can focus on it and you know we hear this story sometimes where guys have other jobs and and make that shift. I'm excited to see what he can do but man the energy is just so different he's

he's such a he's such a like vibe you you you feel it you feel his passion coming through. So wish him the best. I'm sure you'll see him in Atlanta. I think they'll make good on that one. I love Sean Shelby's attitude there with just like, all right, I want to be on Atlantis. Just like, don't worry. We'll figure it out. We'll make it happen. Sell tickets. People will drive up from Augusta two and a half hours easy up the highway. And yeah, sell out State Farm. Put them on the main card. Main card open. Could do worse than that State Farm put them on the main card main card open. Could do worse than that you put them on the main card opener you'll

probably guarantee yourself some fireworks. I'm excited for that one all right time to switch hats we go from the Braves the classic Braves into the Des Moines hat baby let's get our corn huskers on. Do I have one? Oh yeah you got one look at that I mean this is great you think the people sitting behind us are gonna be pissed this weekend or what? No, they're gonna be wearing the same hats. Is this not the official hat of Des Moines? I thought everyone had to wear this. I was expecting our captain on Saturday to be wearing this. Oh, that reminds me. By the way, shout out to Ovin. Shout out to Ovin, who makes the uncrowned YouTube thumbs.

Just continues to elevate the game. Every week the boys in the back as a banger has the incredible template for a Haewani show. He's the best. We love you Ovin. Wanted to give you a shout out. If you guys appreciate the thumbs, let him know too, but shout out to Ovin. And he just lets us run with it. We just come up with the dumbest ideas possible, the corn. We did the Meta Glasses, the Miami Vice ones, and he always just executes it perfectly. We're like, yeah, corn fields and us and Sanhagen and Figge, like, what do you think? And he's just like, let me cook.

Dumb ideas. I think we're cooking. All right, Jordan, I'll take that. Dumb thumb ideas. That's us. I'm with you, Jordan. I think they're elevated thinking. I think they're beautiful art. Yes. But shout out to Oven. And Oven brings them to life. Shout out to Oven.

All right, UFC Des Moines this weekend. Solid card, solid card. Especially this main card, man. You kick it off with Jeremy Stevens versus Mason Jones. Smotherman City, that's a sneaky banger. I feel like not a ton of name value. I feel like that's gonna be a war. Montell Jackson, Daniel Marcos,

Santiago Ponsonibio, Daniel Rodriguez, RDR versus Bo Nicol and then the main event, Corey Sandhagen versus Figge. Let's start there. Let's start with the main event. Sandhagen-Figge, banger fight, former champion, Figuerreto obviously down at 125. Sandhagen, he's fought for the interim title against Yon,

has fought the best of the best in the weight class. Two big names that put on fun fights. I think this one's going to deliver. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, it's not like a local favorite type fight. You've got the Jeremy Stevens of the world for that. Like you've got that in that slot, but this is just high level MMA and we get to see kind of where these two are at in their careers, right? Like they're guys who are like on the ascend at the bantamweight division, but Figgy hit a roadblock, Corey has been up there and then falling back and then climbed back up and falling back. Like we're going to know like where they are in this picture because it's becoming more of a crowded picture at this point and it'll be

interesting to see who can kind of climb their way back toward that. Are you a little bit surprised to see how big a favorite Corey is? It's jarring. At first I was like, that feels way off. I'm going to have to bet Figaro. And it's really only been growing throughout the week. The more I dove into it, the more that I thought about it, I could really see this going very similar to the Yawn fight. High volume from Corey Sandhagen circling, stays at range and just puts up insane numbers.

I was actually, speaking of the numbers, I was digging into it. Figge has actually been outlanded in all four of his bantamweight fights. Wow, I wouldn't have expected that. The opponent has landed more significant strikes. They have three common opponents at bantamweight, oddly enough, all within the last like two and a half years.

Font, Cheeto, and Yan. Okay. Figgy landed less significant strikes than all of them outstruck 219 to 143. On the flip side, Corey Sandhagen outlanded all of them, 331 to 216. He's got the six inch height advantage. He's going to be able to be rangy. He's got the three inch reach advantage. Like, I just feel like this, this has similar vibes

to the on-fight. Corey Sandhagen is a tough-ass dude too. It's not like if you just touch him on the chin, he's going out or anything like that. I could just see Corey Sandhagen outvolume him over the five rounds and getting his hand raised by the... Yeah, that's fantastic right there. Like, you look at the, basically they doubled up Figgy

and Corey doubled up them. It could be, it could be real bad if Corey's able to get that volume up. I'm in that same boat where I feel like this is Corey's fight to lose. Honestly, like, I just feel like physically the length that Corey has is going to be very difficult for somebody in Vigorado who quite frankly is

probably better as a flyweight than as a bantamweight, but has had great success at bantamweight. I would, I think he would have more advantages at flyweightweight than as a bantamweight, but has had great success at bantamweight. I think he would have more advantages at flyweight than he will in bantamweight. Again, has had incredible success. Seemed like he was one away from the title shot before stumbling.

The physicality though, I just feel like, not even in the sense of like strength, but just the sense of how are you gonna get inside Corey's range if he wants to keep it at that range, if if your figure eight as the significantly smaller man it's going to be difficult and in the grappling like Corey's kind of sneaky man Corey's like really good with the grappling as is figgy but I just feel like there's not a there's not an area that I see a super clear path to victory for figure eight outside of like one hitter quitter but I don't know if he's he's in that mode against Corey.

I just don't see that coming. So in one point, I'm like, this line feels off. But then when I do what you did and look at this fight and assess the matchup and the technique, I'm like, is Corey's fight to lose? Yeah, I feel fairly confident. Maybe instead of minus 500, like minus three. Yeah.

But like I just feel like with the size advantage that he's gonna have, the volume advantage that he's gonna have, and like you said, like Cory is sneaky with the grappling as well. It's not like if it hits the mat, he's just cooked. No, no, no, no, no. And like I'm not even totally certain it's gonna hit the mat.

If it is, honestly, it might be Cory. We've seen times in the Cheeto Verify, like offensive grappling from Corey, where he's completely controlling. Again, he's gonna be significantly bigger than Figueredo. Is he gonna be stronger? I think is something we'll kind of find out on Fight Night, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's mixing

in some of that grappling. Or if he takes it there entirely, why bother striking with Figueredo if he has that available? I don't know. How do you think it plays out? What's the game plan from Corey's side? I think from Corey, you just get on your bike and just circle the cage and just stay at range

and just don't get clenched up. Don't get into a hockey fight or anything like that. Cause obviously, Figurito does hold that power. Man, just use the kicks, use the range and just out volume them. And like, I could see him significantly out volumizing him, like, like really putting up like where it's like by the final tally, it's like one 60 to like 72 or something like that. Yeah.

The volume has never been figure eight, oh, strong suit. It's always been the damage. It's always been the power. And so at Bantamweight, that's lesser, right? That is lesser than when he was at flyweight. And so, yeah, I just, I see it going that way. I see Corey being able to stay on the outside, but I honestly would not be surprised

if he takes it to the mat and just tries to control him. You talked about like figgy at bantamweight and everything like that. If he does end up losing this one, he'll be three and two at bantamweight. He's turning 38 in December. It kind of gets to the point where it's just like, okay, where do we go from here? Like he got two top five fights, obviously,

it would be Jan and Sandhagen, came up short in both. This is all speaking in a world where he does come up short on Saturday. It's sort of like, where do you go from there? Well, you just go down, right? Like these are the cream of the crop. You're now entering from where you were at Flyweight as a champion, you're now entering a territory where you're talking about the best of the best.

Corey, make no mistake, even though Corey has not been able to fight for a title yet, he has been in very close fights with the best of the best in this division. Former champions like Jan, where he was in an incredible fight with Jan, one of my favorite fights that happened that year. And so I don't think that this is like some huge indictment on Figgy. I think

there's plenty of like 10 to 15 to top 20 fights that like make a lot of sense for Figorito if he comes up short here that you can still like have a kind of a great performance and showcase. I don't think it's back to flyweight certainly. I don't want to see him make that cut again because he's kind of in that middle ground where he's probably a little small and outsized for bantamweight but a little too big for flyweight. I think he'll be fine. I think ultimately like I think this goes Corey's way. I think Figge is probably not a top five bantamweight but he's somewhere on the cusp on the outside of that and then he'll be able to prove

that against some other top guys and and make some some money and have some good fights. For Corey I don't I haven't given up on the idea of Corey Sanhig and potentially being a champion. I think it's still there for him. It's just, we've had a few times where he's climbed that mountain and then fallen down. And you start to, at a certain point, go like, he's just never gonna climb to the top of the mountain.

And I know, like, he spoke yesterday at Media Day, and I know fighters say a lot of things before fights, but he was saying that he feels this is the closest he's ever been to being championship caliber. Like his game is- Skills wise. His skills wise to being a champion. With a win, I don't think he gets a title shot,

but he hangs in that limbo of like one away. He's kind of been in that limbo for like four years now, like all dating back all the way to him versus Jan at 267. Yep. Like it feels like he's kind of been hanging around there and like a win keeps him there. I think he'd be like four and one or five and one in his last six, whatever it is, if he gets the win here.

So like he rarely loses. It's always to the top of the top, like Umars and Jans of the world. So like I think a win just keeps him right there. And, and honestly, he'll be watching closely June 7th, uh, for three fifth, three 16, uh, because him versus O'Malley is like a, a lot of people want that one. A lot of people want to see that. I think that plays more into his favor than, than Marab winning. No. So, I mean, is there anybody who Marab plays into their favor?

Like, it's just an impossible task. But yeah, I mean, so we see the division. And Corey versus Corey just, I just don't think Corey matches up well with Marab. No. Is there somebody who matches up well with Marab? You tell me. Who's that person?

Because I don't see you. Maybe Malcolm Wellmaker one day. Machine versus machine. But yeah, there's just, yeah, Tom. Shout out. I was like, oh, you said Tom. Yeah, Marab's a nightmare for everybody. I think win or lose, like, Sean O'Malley versus Corey

makes sense to me. I don't think he gets a title shot, but there is momentum for O'Malley versus San Diego. Maybe that is a good point. Maybe he would be cheering for Marab because then he would want O would want. O'Malley. O'Malley in a loss. And then if you, if you win that high profile

against the guy. Now, granted I'm, you know, I've been pushing the, I think Sean O'Malley could go to featherweight in his next fight. But I love Corey versus O'Malley. Now I want to see, don't get me wrong, on the record, O'Malley versus Jan is the fight that I don't get me wrong, on the record, O'Malley versus Yan is the fight that I want to see next

for those guys, but I wouldn't be mad at Corey versus Sean O'Malley. And yeah, like, as you said, he's in that perpetual one away because he's lost to some of these guys that are in the way of that title shot, but with enough time, you get there and I think I still think I have not given up on like he can be in a championship fight do I think he would beat Marab I don't like you I think that's that's a bad matchup

I think Marab is a bad matchup for anybody but I think he can be in a title fight I think that's the that's the the goal at this point yeah looking for for me to see him in that I think we're both in agreeance on what we think happens in that one. By the way, can we just talk, like, sneaky? Like, the social media video arm of the Corey Sandhagen brand is, like, taking a step up. It is taking a step up. It's taking a step up.

He's got great merch. The Sandman merch, like, he makes his own merch. It's fantastic. Like, he's... Some of these, like, deadpan office style, like, kind of, like, tongue-in-cheek, can't tell if he's... Some of these like deadpan office style, like kind of like tongue-in-cheek, can't tell if he's playing a character or just enhancing his own.

Like very good stuff. Funny stuff out of Corey Sandhagen. It's just also like who he is. He is just like dry deadpan. Like, oh, you're having a bad day? Like just remember, we're all gonna die. So it doesn't even matter. Ariel, one of Ariel's favorites.

He actually inspired me to read a couple of books. we're all gonna die, so it doesn't even matter. One of Ariel's favorites. He actually inspired me to read a couple books, The Power of Now, all about living in the present. Yeah, he put that on the show. And one other one that I've seen Cheeto Vera reading as well, it's all just about being present, which I'm terrible at, as my mind is already

in Des Moines today. Shout out Cory and his social media exploits and videos and things like that. Shout out to Figgy too, it was a great fight man. It's a fantastic fight, I'm excited about it. Let's go to the main event, also looking forward to this one, Rainer DeRidder, RDR versus Bone Nickel. Excited for this one for many reasons.

I think a lot of people are damning it to being bored, like a boring fight before we even get into it, but I think RDR, like with his size, with his physicality, is going to bring the fight to Bo Nicol. I don't think this is gonna be a standard range like he did against Paul Craig type fight. I think RDR is going to be willing to bring the fight to him,

and I think this is probably the first time like we're gonna see Bo Nicol really get tested. Like he's getting a ranked opponent, he's getting a guy that's bigger than him. RDR is like 6'4 and like meaty as well. Like he's every inch of 6'4. He's a physical dude with a ton of experience. I think he's gonna bring the fight to him.

And like this is the first time we've seen Bo Nickel not be a minus 1500. Like for the first time we're seeing him at the minus 300 range. Like this is a fight where it's just like, before this it's like banana peel or bust. Like that's the only way he's losing. Snip on a, slip on a banana peel. Now this one it's just like, there it's like banana peel or bust like that's the only way he's losing slip on a slip on a banana peel now this one

it's just like there's a world where already are is able to get this done yeah you mentioned the Paul Craig fight I'll be honest I think if if Bo Nickel wanted to use his wrestling and finish that fight it would have happened like I don't think that was at all like in it he said multiple times since he's like I was he's going in testing it's right yeah I don't think that was at all like an it. He said multiple times since he's like, I was going in there to test the thing. Yeah, I don't think that was like some, some step back in Bo Nicol's development. I think it was, look, straight up,

the guy's been wrestling his entire life. He needs to get some octagon time where he's striking with people and he got 15 minutes. 130, 27. Yeah, and 130, 27. Has yet to lose a round yet. Like I- That's yet to lose a second, right?

He's just kind of out of control. Yeah, maybe it's my algorithm, but it's like the, it feels like the people have kind of turned on Bo Nicol a little yet. That's yet to lose a second, right? Maybe it's my algorithm, but it's like, it feels like the people have kind of turned on Bo Nicol a little bit. I don't know if it's just a Paul Craig fight, but like dude has five first round finishes, a second round finish, and a 30-27, and in the second round finish, he won the first round. The betting lines would reflect that, because I think there's value on Bo Nicol here at minus 340. Now, that's the current line I'm looking at. And if funny Bo Nicol recurring thing is every time

somebody would be like, Bo, you're a minus 1500 favorite. You'd be like, value, there's still value on me. I think there's actually for the first time an insane value on Bo Nicol here. At minus 340, I just don't see. I don't see what Rainier can do to stop Bo. I thought the last time RTR went out, I believe it was against Holland.

Yeah. He had a good performance, but Holland can kind of be like Jekyll and Hyde. You just don't know which Holland you're gonna get. It was the most Kevin Holland fight of all time. And like he won the GM3 fight and he looked great in the first round and then he got the finish in the third,

but like that second round was a little bit dicey. He was kind of getting tired. I do agree with you. I think Bo Nicol is an incredibly intelligent fighter. I also think like the fact that he didn't use his wrestling is just a wrinkle that he can add into this fight. Like he, I think he's going to have superior wrestling to RDR in this one.

And I just think he's gonna come in with a solid game plan. I think he's gonna have success on the feed. I think he's gonna mix it up and I think he's gonna get it done as well. By no means do I go into this fight going like RDR is like some superior striker to Bo Nicol. Like even in that performance against Paul Craig, like it wasn't, you know, we talked about Giga Chakadze.

It wasn't Giga Chakadze, but it also wasn't like the absolute worst striking you've ever seen. It wasn't, I don't know, Damian Maia. Like, Bo can, and we've seen him get knockouts, like standing knockouts. This is not some guy who's going to be completely incompetent on the feet. And I don't think RDR is going to like outclass him by any means there. Once it hits the mat, I think Bo will outclass RDR. His game is based on that submission attack, and I just don't think he's gonna have any opportunities. I think Bo's gonna take him down

and probably do what he wants. Until I see somebody, until I no longer believe in Bo Nicol's wrestling pedigree, until I see somebody able to stop that part of his game, if he wants to use that and you stop it, if I see that, that's when I'll stop believing in Bo Nicol. But until I see that, I believe in the Bo Nicol Wrestling pedigree. I believe in the idea that he's going to have

the dominant path to victory against most people he faces. He dominated Iowa wrestling when he was in college. He kind of says that, like, this is his house and everything like this. He's made a rivalry, yeah. Fair play to RDR. He was rocking a Iowa wrestling shirt at the meeting day. That's right.

I saw him in that and didn't even think of that. Ah, that's smart. It's good shit by RDR. I have to say, it's really good shit by RDR, he was rocking a Iowa wrestling shirt at the meeting day. I saw him in that and didn't even think of that. It's good shit by RDR. That's good. It's really good shit by RDR. You get the fans behind you. I think it's gonna be Bo Nicol playing Heel in there. I love it, and as he should, and RDR up to the, I didn't even think of that, shout out to RDR.

Who I like, and who I think is a fun kind of addition to this division. I really liked him in one until the Anatoly fight. He's an action guy as you said. This is not like the Paul Craig fight where they're just going to have a kickboxing match like I assume not. Famous last words, we might see that. But I think RDR is going to try and bring the fight.

And I know Bo Nicol is not going to just be on the back foot the whole time and waiting for it. I think we're going to see the kind of vintage, the more vintage performance from Bo Nicol where he uses his grappling and shows that there's levels to this game. And RDR, like I know he got finished in both of them against Anatoly Molkin for the heavyweight title,

but like dude. Who's in Anvil. In Anvil. Walking Anvil. He got the shit beat out of him for five minutes in that first round. Like I was watching that and I bet on RDR that fight cause he was like the undefeated guy

and double champ, yada, yada, yada. And like it took 90 seconds and I was like, he has nothing for this guy. And he took a walloping for another three minutes after that. Yeah, he is tough as nails. He's gonna bring the fight. I'm gonna disagree with the public.

I actually think this is gonna end up being a fun fight. I don't get the boring fight thing. I think the crowd's going to be into it too, man. I think, dude. I don't consider either of these guys like boring. MMA fans are fickle. MMA fans are fickle. And I just think the Paul Craig fight

turned a lot of people on Bo Nicol. It was clear. He was trying to strike. I know it was clear, but it was like. No, I don't mean the decision. I mean like. It was like 45 strikes apiece. The guy's trying to strike.

Yeah. He's wrestled his entire life and he is trying to be a UFC champion. He has to get time in the cage throwing his hand. This is only his eighth MMA fight. I was about to say UFC. This is only his eighth MMA fight. Yes. All right. If he wins this, he'll bump up to 13th.

Bonico, Pablo, Costa. Oh boy. That. All right. If he wins this, he'll bump up to 13th. Bo' Nicol Paolo Costa. Oh boy. That could be a fun build. Nah, I think Paolo is booked for the international fight week. Yeah. Did we, do we know who? I've seen rumors of Roman Kapilov circling on

Twitter, but that's, that's yet to be announced or anything like that. Uh, Bo' Nicol Brendan Allen. That could be some fun grappling. Brendan's down for a, uh, what about like, what's the, uh, I was going to say the mirror match between Anthony Hernandez and bone nickel and the now again, grappling for grappling. I think you're like, that's almost like the worst matchup because

grappling for grappling. You're going to have a hard time being better than bone nickel in wrestling. There's just like, it's also going to have a hard time being more of a savage than Anthony Hernandez. Yeah, that's a fair point. That's a fair point. Come round three when Anthony Hernandez is still there.

Yeah, you're right. And if RDR wins, man, I think it'll win over a lot of fans. If he gets a double, he'll be three and O in the UFC. He'll be climbing up the ranking. God, if he wins, the Bo Nicol is a fraud. Woo, woo, woo. It's gonna be insane. How many, like on Saturday, if Bownickel loses,

when we get back to the hotel, I might just type in fraud check on Twitter and just scroll. It's just gonna be all Bownickel. I don't know if you even need to type it in, your whole timeline is gonna be Bownickel's a fraud, fraud check, fraud check. The hate watches, they're gonna take place on Saturday,

I can assure you. I have to say, man, I think I got a big ass head. Your corn fits your head much better than mine, I have to say. Mine's like kinda like tight on it a little bit. Gotta like keep it. No, don't get think I got a big ass head. Your corn fits your head much better than mine, I have to say. Mine's like kinda like tight on it a little bit. No, don't get me wrong, this is pretty tight. Yeah, it's pretty tight. These are nice, shout out to Etsy.

This was handcrafted. Oh, no way, yeah, these are great. Handcrafted foam. I think we're looking good in these. Yeah, I think it's just gonna be us with the big blimps on our heads. Shout out, counter. Shout out to the shout out counter.

Have we shouted out too much? Not too much, just a notable amount. Frank, you also do the shout out counter. Have we shouted out too much? Not too much, just a notable amount. Frank, you also do the shout out. Did you know about this? I didn't come up with the shout out counter. No, I didn't know about this, but like people like rib on us for saying shout outs. Who, in the chat?

No, I've heard Tyler, the engineer do it. I've heard Jordan do it. Tyler the creator or the engineer? The engineer. I heard Jordan do it earlier today. Shout out to Tyler. Shout out to Jordan. God, Jordan, you did a like a precise who me.

We did an update. It's nine now. Who me? Shout out. Shout out for updating. Shout out to the shout outs, man. We do say shout out a lot, but look, I like giving love to the people.

Yeah, it's a little pout on the back. It's a little like you're showing love That is an James the Hoonah man breaking the fourth wall While he's lighting the joint is just so good too good breaking the fourth wall There were some protests near the office and we were kind of joking about them. And Rick was like, someone had a sign that said,

justice for James Tujuna. And it was a picture of Dyson Pedro. I was dying. That was a good joke. Shout out James Tujuna. Shout out James Tujuna. All right, so we both think Bo wins, but I'm excited for that one.

I think that's going to be good. Let's move on to the feature about Santiago Ponsanillo, Daniel Rodriguez. Not a ton to say for that one. I think that's going to be good. Uh, let's move on to the future about Santiago Ponsonilio, Daniel Rodriguez. Not a, not a ton to say about this one. Low stakes fight. No stakes. They're both 38. They're on the back ends of their career.

It's, it's going to be like a, a fun striking battle. Yeah. But those guys, these guys have been in like dog fights before. Oh yeah. Those scrap. I'm expecting, I'm expecting a bit of a scrap. Oh, like it could go one of two ways.

It could be like a, a knockdown, drag out kind of like dog fight scrap, or honestly it could go one of two ways. It could be like a knockdown, drag out, kind of like dog fight scrap, or honestly it could be them both like taking turns in a little bit of a striking, because we've seen both from each, right? We've seen versions where like Daniel Rodriguez wants to just sit behind the jab and kind of like do that game plan.

And then we've seen him where he's just standing in the middle trying to throw. And we've seen the same from Ponsonibio. I can picture Ponsonibio with blood streaming down his face in like five different fights, but then I can also picture where he's just a little more methodical. And so it's going to go one of those two ways. I'm hoping for the dogfight, but I think it's a great, like pairing wise, it's a great matchup.

Yeah. I mean, I think it's perfect. They're both 38, one is six foot, one is six one, 73 inch reach, 74 inch reach. Like, it's just like mirroring each other. They're like at the exact same point in their careers, on ranked, like on the back end, just like getting in fun fights now. I think it'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it. Get us a crescendo into the co-man.

Yeah, love it. Montel Jackson, Daniel Marcos, we get our yearly Montel Jackson appearance. One fight in 2022, one in 23, one in 24. And hopefully this isn't the only time we see him, but now here's the one in 25. I'm a Montell Jackson believer, but like it's... How can you not be a fan of the guy?

He's exciting, he gets knockouts, but like... Knockdowns, he has like this crazy streak of knockdowns. It's like seven in his last like four fights or something. He's on a five-fight winning streak right now. He's ranked, he's at the back end of the Band of Wade rankings right now. It's like we just need like a little bit more activity. We need to see him. We need to see him. Last time out, 18 seconds and that was July 13th, 2024. That was against the Mon Blackshare.

How many wins has he... I think he's got two wins since then. Yeah, so he's been busy and meanwhile Montel's been on the side. When Montel's in there, he's a terror man. He's a terror. Like he's the last guy I want to see across. I'm a little surprised to only see him at two to one, but you know, it's good respect. Daniel Marcos undefeated. No, yeah. Some of them have been like a bit dicey.

Like the, I think it was the Davey Grant one was a little bit dicey. But like, I think this is just a brilliant scrap. I mean, Montell Jackson's going to bring the fight to Daniel Marcos. Daniel Marcos putting the O on the line. I, I, I'm all in for this one. Not only that, but also like, again, the infrequency

with which Montell Jackson fights, like you do have to like be cautious, you know, you have to be cautious of, of that. So I'm sure that's reflected a little bit in the line, but yeah, when Montell's in there, man, he's a terror for people. Yeah. I, I, I'm very much looking forward to this one.

Montell Jackson, a much bigger fighter, 5'10", to 5'7", 75, and treats to 69, but I think it's gonna be fun. There's a lot of good fights that don't have a ton of stakes. This one at least has a ranking on the line. Another one, Cameron Smotherman, Serhe City, not gonna be headlining a pay-per-view anytime soon, but like these two dudes are gonna come to fight.

This is the one that like I think are gonna surprise people on the main card that it's just like, oh, who are these guys? Yeah, why are they here? I could see some knockdowns happening in this fight. I could see a finish. I think it's gonna be a back and forth affair. I think both guys are gonna have moments.

I really think this is gonna be an exciting one. Yeah, City was on one of the, uh, tough, uh, seasons that I was watching. I think when I was at ESPN, uh, scrapper, man, like this is going to be a fight. This is going to be a fun fight. And, and I feel like the, you know, as we're kind of like going down this, there's a lot

like this, there's a lot of like good pairings, good matches of guys whose styles are going to work well together. Hopefully. Again, famous last words. We always, ah, it's going to work well together? Hopefully. Again, famous last words. We always, ah, it's going to be, can't miss, can't miss, and then it's trash. I think these two will pair well and I think it's going to be fun. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that one and I'm very much looking forward to the main card opener,

Jeremy Stevens versus Mason Jones. Stevens back in the UFC for the first time since 2021. In the meantime, he went one and two in PFL, had a few boxing matches. Undefeated though in BKFC, we were there. Are we just like the Jeremy Stevens podcast? We're traveling with Jeremy. We are on the Jeremy Stevens 2025 tour currently. We are going to be two for two.

Him against Eddie Alvarez, look at that, boom! Bare Knuckle, three and oh in Bare Knuckle, due as an absolute dog. This guy is an animal, but we aren't, Bear Knuckle, three and oh in Bear Knuckle, due as an absolute dog. This guy is an animal, but we aren't fighting Bear Knuckle. We, I feel like Bear Knuckle is suited for a guy like Jeremy Stevens. Oh yeah, I'm honestly, I mean, you know, as when Jeremy came on the show with Ariel,

I'm surprised that he was not like locked up with BKFC. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if he does end up still with BKFC at some, I wouldn't be surprised if he does end up still with BKFC at some point, because unless I'm mistaken, I believe this is a one fight thing with the UFC for this opportunity. So are you surprised that Jeremy Stevens is this big a dog? And then secondarily, are you surprised that this is the fight that they would give him as the welcome to Iowa, in fact, Des Moines, where I believe he's like born.

I think he's from Des Moines. Are you surprised that they gave him this one? No, just because like while Jeremy Stevens is on this great run right now, where he's at in his career, I don't think he's like some star they need to build up or anything. I think it's sort of just like, here's a scrap.

Because Mason Jones, like, while he has a great record, I think he's sitting at 15 and two, he went one and two in the UFC, got cut, had to go over to Cage Warriors, pick up four wins, and now this is his return to the UFC. So is this line off? Is this line right? What do you think about it? The fact that Mason Jones, like Jones had his struggles in the UFC, went back to having success in Cage Warriors, I'm going to go under the assumption that he has learned and gotten better in that time,

and he will use the wrestling and the grappling here, and that's kind of what will thwart Jeremy Stevens. He's three and 0 in BKFC, but he's two and seven in his last nine MMA fights. Like he was struggling in, in PFL as well. I feel like this being an MMA fight against, against Mason Jones, like BKFC, Jeremy Stevens minus 2000 against Mason Jones.

Yeah. MMA though, I feel like this is, this is properly aligned. Yeah. And I bet Jeremy Stevens loves it that way. Honestly though. Oh my God, he's eating it up. He's in Des Moines right now telling all his friends. He's like, stimulus check, Jeremy Stevens plus 550, go ahead and get it. In the same way that when you were talking about the BKFC event in Philly against Eddie

Alvarez, he's the dog there, he's coming to enemy territory, like he lives for this type of shit. This is what he is all about, Jeremy Stevens. And so I wouldn't be surprised if he's taking this as an offense and gonna channel that into something. I don't know, the line feels steep, but we'll see. Ultimately, I just hope Jeremy Stevens gets the love from the crowd, gets the pop that he deserves for this event. When he makes that walk,

I'm gonna be screaming hard for him. I mean, we're gonna have to make sure it's, if we go to another one of his fights in 2025. He gets a big knockout. The Jeremy Stevens train keeps rolling, baby. We're officially in shirt territory. I mean, honestly, like he hasn't had a win in the UFC since 2018.

And like he's only getting older. He's about to turn 40 next year. I will say he looks better though. He looked like from a striking from a, from a striking perspective, like the fight against Eddie Alvarez, like if he's striking with anybody in, in, in that way, like he's going to be very successful. And so yeah, we'll see.

Maybe the grappling is the difference in this fight, but I think Jeremy's still getting it done. Yeah. It has to be the grappling. If, if Mason Jones just stands and strikes, that's how Jeremy Stevens wins. Out dog and I'm landing big shots, wobbling him and finishing him.

But if it goes to the ground, I think it's gonna be all Mason Jones. Yeah. That's a good one to kick off the main card though. Right after, what is it? The Bob O'Reilly hits. Bob O'Reilly. I think I've been in the bathroom both times when I've been in the Stevens. You've never seen the Bob O'Reilly. I think I've been in the bathroom both times

when I've been in the bathroom. You've never seen the Bob O'Reilly. No, I have to say it. I haven't seen it in a while, actually. I think people have talked it up so much that it might be a bit of a letdown. No. Okay, all right. Absolutely not.

I will be seated this time for it. It's one of those things that people will hype it up for you, hype it up for you, hype it up for you, and then it actually delivers every time. So much so that even if you've seen it 10 times, you will still enjoy it. All you, hype it up for you, hype it up for you, and then it actually delivers every time, so much so that even if you've seen it 10 times, you will still enjoy it. All right, man. It's great.

I do want to come out and say something though, like I'm a little bit nervous. Uh-oh. We might be entering like, cursed territory. What are we talking about here? July, 2022, I go to UFC Long Island. It's a pretty good card. Like it's a decent card.

We have some good times. Like it wasn't that crazy. Get to the main event. That was Ortega Yair. Ortega Yair won with the injury. Completely sucked the entire wind out of the stadium. Everyone's like, oh, so now we just like leave? Like that's, that's how this ends. Like, and it was like such a bummer to end the card.

And like, it was a decent card leading up to that. Uh, and I had so much money on Ortega sub two, three, four. And then when they rematch, he gets the sub round three. Uh, don't need to talk about that though. And then the other UFC event I went to was Atlantic city last year, a million I-pokes snoozer main event, like shitty card. Like it was just like a- You're cursing the in-person.

If Des Moines, I've also lost money on my bets both times in person. If Des Moines does not deliver and I lose money on my bets. No more UFC for you. Well then we'll, Atlanta will be the final test. Okay. BKFC, super successful. Great Okay. BKFC, super successful.

Great night. BKFC was fucking sick. That was actually the best night of, I am in agreeance with Jeff Malina at this point, that was the best night of fights I've been to. It was so much fun. It was pretty great. So yeah, maybe we only send you to BKFC events

at no longer used. In boxing. I've been to, I was at Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney last year. Banger, insane, insane fight. And I was at Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano won. Those are two pretty good ones. The boxing fights delivered. PFL, I've even had fun at. Yeah.

We've been for a few championships and things. Yeah, man, I've had some great times. I just like jinx. I was at, I was at Bellator when, uh, Rayfion Stotz ran up into the stands. Where was that? Mohegan? Shout out to Mohegan. I was at LFA 126.

Holy shit, I forgot you went to LFA. Man, you've been to a lot more events than I was thinking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've been busy, you've been busy. This weekend though, we break it. And the reason that I think of that is because Mischa Tate takes on Yana Santos. And I also saw Mischa Tate at UFC Long Island.

Unfortunately, she lost to Lauren Murphy in that one. But we're gonna turn the tide here. The comeback is on. Got a win back in December of 2023, and now she gets, gets Yana Santos. Yeah, I have to look up what, so Misha's last fight. Oh, Julia Avila. Yeah, December 23.

I don't know if we're in comeback. Wait, had she retired before that or retired after that? I think she retired before that. And then came back for the Julia fight. Yeah, I think that was the case. And what was Yannis Santos' last fight? Yannis Santos, you know. Let's see, hold on. It was, what are we doing?

This should just be one click away. Chelsea Chandler, Chelsea Chandler. Ah, the old Santos Chandler legendary matchup. Look, I mean, let's call it what it is. It's both been rough sledding in their last couple, but they both won their last fights. Um, if they're look, Misha Tate has name value. For sure.

And she's never going to be too far from like a real title conversation just on the basis of the fact that she's one of the biggest names the UFC still has. She is, she is an OG of this sport and still competing and so if she's able to put together a few wins she will continue to pop back up and she has his like I wonder does Kayla Harrison have any history with Misha Tate? I saw Misha Tate like potentially calling her

out if she gets a win, but I don't know. Do we want to see that? Well, we know Peña, right? There's history there, but is there history with Kayla? Look, there's not a lot on the line here for Yana Santos, but there's something on the line here for Misha Tate. If she can continue to rack up a few wins and keep herself relevant, I wouldn't be surprised

if all of a sudden she's knocking on the door of title shot. Kayla Harrison goes, Juliana Pena, Amanda Nunez, Misha Tate. She's knocking off all the old cards. Juliana Pena goes, Kayla Harrison, Amanda Nunez, Misha Tate. Hmm, there you go. That would be something. We will see, I think if Misha Tate goes to the grappling,

she can have some success. Yeah. Kind of like a boring decision win. I think so. I think if Mijote goes to the grappling, she can have some success. Yeah. Kind of like a boring decision win. I think so. I think she'll win this fight. A couple other ones. Marina Rodriguez versus Jillian Robertson. I remember just a few short years ago,

Marina Rodriguez was like the next title challenger at 115, was on a great run. I know she was like 35 at the time, but had wins over Yan Jianan, Mackenzie Dern, Michelle Watterson, Amanda Hibas, and now she's one in four since. 38 years old and a plus 230 to Jillian Robertson. I'm with you in terms of like the, the, the, where Marina Rodriguez was and now, and now where she is, but man, the story is Jillian Robertson for me, like she's won three in a row. Shout out to Dean Thomas.

Yeah. Shout out to Dean Thomas. Her grappling is, is next level. Her grappling is next level. And if, and if she is able to take this to the ground, I just don't see how, how most people in the division are able to stand up to it. Like she is, she is an absolute wizard down there

See Marina Rodriguez get get yeah frustrated when she's down there if she can get it there If she can't if now in a world where she can't get it there I could see Marina having some success because on the feet like she she's still pretty game there But if it if it hits the mat, it's gonna be all Jillian I expect that it will hit the mat at some point, and I think she'll be able to close the show. But yeah, you said, shout out Dean Thomas, like what a story, he's talking about like how

she was taking like cardio kickboxing or something, just like something to stay in shape, and all of a sudden has found herself on a three fight win streak in the UFC, potentially four, like she's a real contender. I'm a believer in the skillset of Jillian Robertson. Yeah, she's incredible. Still only 29.

Yeah. The Savage, the name matches up to it. Asmaa Pakhaya, I've taken on Ryan Loader. That should be okay. Gaston Balaños, shout out to Julianna Pena. She has a big crutch on Gaston. Shut up. If I'm remembering that correctly.

Another shut up. I think it is the dream killer Gaston Belanos. That was her parlay pals pick one week against Kwong Lay. Dontel Mays. Did it hit when she picked? No, but we didn't have to talk about that. Dontel Mays, you know, 11 and eight, one and three in his last four.

Yeah, it'll be a scrap. I think Thomas Peterson probably gets that one done. Two ships passing in the heavyweight night there. And then Juliana Miller. Oh, is she back? All right, I love that. She gets that one done. Two ships passing in the heavyweight night there. And then Juliana Miller. Oh, is she back? All right, I love that. She's back, man, at one point, like the next big thing after her appearance on Tough,

but unfortunately gets a loss to Veronica Hardy and a loss to Luana Santos. Now finds herself as an underdog to Ivana Petrovic. Hasn't fought since 2023, so yeah, come back for her. I'm still excited to see her. I they're still something I mean she's got a she's got personality she's yeah she's fun to watch but now finds yourself at three and three would would go to sub 500 with a loss here she's only 28 she I think I think we'll turn it around here yeah yeah that's the that's the curtain

jerk before you on UFC Des Moines we will be seated we will be there we will be seated. We will be there. We will be in the house. Corn firmly planted on the head. Us, camera guy, Nick, TST. Gonna film a fight feast before- Frank, you coming? Yeah, absolutely, man. Just hold your breath. Change of mind, last minute?

Last minute, yeah. Still gotta decide where we're doing fight feasts at. Oh, you should hold that thought. Oh? There'll be some suggestions later on. Oh, let's go, let's go. We will take all the suggestions. Jordan's given us suggestions. I can't wait.

I'm jazzed. I'm jazzed up. I got a- Jazz is such a like, my dad. Shout out to your dad. Who said that? Oh, Stone Cold Steve Austin said it. I picked it up.

There you go, that's my dad. Just jazzed up about it. I can't wait. That's my Texas dad right there. I got, I. There you go. That's my dad. Just jazzed up about it. I can't wait. That's my Texas dad right there. I got, I got, I got comfort plus camera guy, Nick in first class. I'm out.

I'm back in the, in the rear. I'm in the caboose. I can't wait, man. You can't wait for me to bet. Should we start like UFC chants on there? Up the road. Okay. Okay.

Duh, moin, duh, moin. We're going to look like we're that bachelor party and everyone's going to be like, they must be going to UFC to moin, duh, moin. We're gonna look like we're that bachelor party and everyone's gonna be like, they must be going to UFC to moin tonight. For sure when they see me, you, TST and camera guy. TST touching down tomorrow. Oh, great.

Okay, we didn't talk at all. Is TST coming with us as well on our flight? No, he's not, right? No, no, no, he gets there tomorrow. Oh yeah, he's touching down there tomorrow. We didn't talk about this. Like, should we have sat together or is that like what is the what is the protocol there? I'm totally cool with us sitting separately. I I kind of like to read and zone out on flights

I've had to sit next to Frank on a flight before Trying to sit next to you on the train back from Philadelphia. Like ah, man, I gotta put my feet up. I'm sorry Yeah, it's just like do we need do we do we need it? we need it? I felt like I had to at least show the effort. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I like sitting with people, but when I do, I'm just doing my own thing anyway. It's just more of the like, ah, what about this? In the office with us or in the control room,

you're just doing your own thing anyway. Yeah, just doing that. I mean, I don't know if you guys have noticed, like mornings I go and sit by myself. Yeah, yeah, you're like. I literally separate myself. I've been telling a story about zombies and finding $20 to Rick for years now.

I'm on chapter 39. I've never heard this story. Exactly. It's, he'll start talking about something and then when he realizes you're not listening, he completely changed the subject to something fucking absurd and it just proves that you're not listening.

Zombies and $20, all right. I'm gonna keep my ears open. Yeah, so I was on the train this morning and I was having my bagel and then he realizes you're not listening. Zombies and $20, all right. He'll be like, I'm gonna keep my ears up. Yeah, so I was on the train this morning and I was having my bagel and then he realizes you're not listening. He's like, and then a zombie came up and took it and then I found $20 in my back pocket. And then the person's just like, oh shit, nice.

Yeah. They hit you with the damn, that's crazy. Well, that's when I just killed somebody in Magic. Shout out to MTG Arena. You forgot to ask Malcolm if he... Yeah, I should've asked him. He looks like he plays. I actually like that we're also all sitting in different sectors. Well, that's what I was going to say. I didn't want to ask because I didn't want to presume that we should.

And also put the pressure of that, right? Like, should we sit together? So I was just like, all right, let me just sit back. We'll see. If anybody says anything, I'll be like, sure, let's sit together. If nobody says anything, I'm cool. We'll sit separate, three hours. Also, it's a short flight. We're on there for three hours. You get a movie in you play some MTG you land you get also be together for a long for the Entirely of the next like 24 hours. Yeah, and you know, it's a good it's a good experiment You know the plane goes down front back

My god Let me just is it an air bus or is it Boeing? You don't know? You don't want to know? It's Boeing. Oh. Can you take a life insurance policy on someone else? No, it's going to be good. It's going to be good. I can't wait. I can't wait to see that skyline, that Des Moines skyline, baby. It's going to be incredible. It's going to be incredible. All right. That is UFC Des Moines. We will be there. I cannot wait. Follow along on social media. I'm gonna be tweeting my ass off about it.

It's gonna be a good time. Before that though, Friday, just up the block, Times Square, Ryan Garcia, Rolay Romero, Devin Haney versus Jose Ramirez and Teofimo Lopez versus Arnold Barbosa Jr. Your thoughts going into this? Five fight card? Because they also have the Japanese dude going? Like there's like one fight under card and then the NYPD versus fire department? Yeah I mean though obviously those are what's the word? Charity match? No, I was going to say like not replacement talent, supplement, like it's like supplementing

like the card. I'm forgetting there's a term that's often used, but either way, like it is enhancement, enhancement talent. It is clearly about these three fights. It is clearly about these three fights. I have to admit, I'm okay with these three fights. It is clearly about these three fights. I have to admit, I'm okay with these three fights ultimately. I'm more interested in the Times Square spectacle of it all. I think what this looks like, how does the crowd,

if there is a crowd look, all these things, I'm intrigued by that much more than I am by the matchups. If I had it my way, it would be Ryan Garcia versus Devin Haney. Maybe there's a reason it's not happening. Maybe there's a reason they're setting it up this way to build toward it. To me, it's there. And so much so that at the press conference, the most interesting moments are when Ryan Garcia and Bill Haney or Devin Haney are interacting. We saw that moment from Ryan Garcia at the press conference just yesterday You don't wanna see the crazy personality, bitch. Wait, listen, I'm not a champion. And you're Anderson and Subhition. You're the biggest bitch out of all of them.

You're a big bitch. That's why you were Subhition. Apologies for the bad language. You a little bitch. You a little bitch. Uh-oh, uh-oh, it's coming back, it's coming back. I'm not gonna lie, Devon Haney being like, he's coming back. He's coming back.

I'm with Eddie Hearn, what he said to Haewani on, I think it was Tuesday, when he was just like, you know, like 15%, 20% of like where he was at last April, because man, I just can't, like me and Frank were in the building that night. It was just so great. When he was getting those knockdowns, the crowd was so behind him, such a huge underdog.

And like hindsight's 20-20. Going into that fight, it was like, dude, Devin Haney's gonna dog walk this guy. He is out of his wits. He doesn't know what's going on. He's a pound for pound guy. He's drinking beers at the weigh-ins. He doesn't know what's going on.

And then Ryan Garcia comes out, drops him three times throughout the fight, like going crazy. Probably could have stopped it at one point. Missed weight. Yeah, missed weight and was just like, well, you're getting the money, so you're fighting me, bitch.

Like, it's just like seeing that come that come out kind of got me hyped up, but it does take it away that they're not fighting. Even the promo was just between them two. The promo for it, I don't know if they're paying so much money for the Times Square rental that they couldn't pay for them to rematch. I don't know. I mean, they have to pay their purses either way.

They're paying. And they're there. They're in the same city. It's like, I need a good reason for why this thing isn't know. They have to pay their purses either way. They're paying. They're in the same city. It's like, I need a good reason for why this thing isn't happening. Like, I just don't like, it feels like it should be this one. That moment at the press conference, those are not the guys fighting.

I mean, it says it all at the same time. Cause like, as much as like I enjoy the Garcia banter, and like, I thought it was so great, like the looking over at Ariel and Aria and being like, I'm like that. And like, he's like getting all crazy and then he's on the subway the next day. And like the picture of him like flexing over Devin Haney's body, like what?

After he knocked him down once. And like, he was just like such a showman that night. Like, I'm just not, I'm just not as excited for Romero and Ramirez going against these guys. No, I'm in the same boat as you. The one thing I'll say is perhaps it would be good for Devin Haney, not necessarily for Ryan Garcia. I'm not worried about outside of the fence.

Perhaps it would be good for Devin Haney though, to get his confidence back before going into a fight against Ryan Garcia. Because Devin Haney isn't wrong. Like he did pop. Oh yeah. So like he has the excuse. Devin Haney's not wrong.

And to the point that Devin Haney was very unfairly kind of criticized when he was trying to say that Ryan Garcia should be punished for positive tests and all those things that he was saying early on there was a lot of like you're you're this, you're that, the other. No Devin Haney's in the right here. Devin Haney did nothing wrong. He lost the

fight but he did not he did not do anything. Ryan Garcia was in the wrong there. Um, but I say that to say that's the lowest moment in Devin Haney's boxing career. Like I don't want to claim his life cause I don't know, you know, his personal struggles, anything he's gone through, but you can't erase what Ryan Garcia did to you.

And to go right back into that against Ryan Garcia, maybe it is good that Devin Haney gets one more. And so maybe it's good that Devin Haney gets to get his confidence back. He's a massive favorite. You should win this fight. Ryan Garcia is a massive favorite. He should win his fight.

Those two should match next. So maybe this was the path we needed to get back there because I would, I would be concerned if Devin Haney was walking straight back into the Ryan Garcia fight. So that's the silver lining that I'm taking from this. They both are able to get a win here. They'll get, uh, Ryan will have this full build to

this fight, mostly normal, right? We don't, we don't see the manic kind of personality in the antics. We saw it there, but he was even playing it up. He was like saying, don't make me bring it out. And we see Devin potentially, and we see Devin get back on track potentially, right? You erase the, you erase the, the taste of

that from your mouth in the Ryan Garcia fight. And then they fight. So I'm okay with it. It's not my ideal, but I'm okay with it. And anytime you get to see Ryan Garcia fight, I think that's excitement. That's spectacle. Uh, Devin Haney, hopefully, hopefully who

returns to that, like top pound for pound fighter form, right? That guy that everybody was like, uh, Devin Haney, hopefully, hopefully he returns to that like top pound for pound fighter form, right? That guy that everybody was like, man, this might be the best guy in this division. I think he needs to kind of have a showcase that, that brings him back to there. And then I think, you know, uh, Lopez and Barboza jr is the best fight that we've got of those three, like it's, and, and so much

so that you mentioned Ariel and Adé, Adé was saying that he wouldn't be surprised if Barbosa is able to pull the upset of the three fights. And it's certainly the closest odds. He's up and down. Yeah, I was going to say, we talk about like, don't really know where they're at mentally. Like, Tiafimo, like it's, it's hard to gauge

where he's at sometimes. I will say though, maybe this is controversial. Maybe it's not at their best, at their absolute peaks. I think Tiafimo is the best one on the card. I think Tiafimo is the best boxer. I think he's better than Devin Haney. I think he's better than Ryan Garcia at his best. There's been some odd performances where he's not at his best.

When he's at his best, I think he's the best one. And so yeah, it's, it's an opportunity for him again, in a fight where you're looking at the billboard and those two guys are above you. If you're TFMO Lopez put on a performance that makes them go, why am I not the top of the billboard that the next time out, they should be on're Tiafimo Lopez, put on a performance that makes them go, why am I not the top of the billboard?

That the next time out, they should be on my card. I should be the headliner. I think he has that potential in him. Will we see it is the question. And then for Barboza, huge opportunity on a massive card. The eyes of the boxing world are gonna be on this. I don't know how much mainstream like outside the boxing bubble this is gonna get,

but the eyes of the boxing world are going to be on this. And if Barboza can get this done against a guy in Tiafimo Lopez, who has a massive name, that's a big, that's a big thing for him. I mean, absolutely. Especially being in Times Square, like you get that spectacle. Like I talked to my parents about this last night and they were just like, we saw there's a boxing match in Times Square. They don't know who's on it, but like they know that it's happening in Times Square.

There's a picture of it right there. It's like, it's, it's a tough thing to pull off. Like I want to see how it's going to look on the broadcast. I don't really think this is like a service for in-person fans. I think it's more for like a spectacle on the broadcast.

So I'm very interested to see what they do. I'm interested to see how much of Times Square you can see from the ring. That's going to be the maker, right? I think you go with a, with a different camera angle rather than the vaulted down. I think you do more, like try to get more on plane with it so you can get things and maybe change up the lens. Like I think you really need to make it like, if it just looks like a ring up there,

like any other boxing match, like say like how, like we always say with the UFC, doesn't matter what stadiums it's in once the once the fight starts it's all the same whether it's a patch stadium. You gotta be able to see the ball right? The ball? The ball you'd have to be angled like straight up man. They gotta figure it out. They gotta figure it out. Back to Devin Haney it's like death taxes Devin Haney by decision like yeah he needs a finish to kind of like vault him up. Like he's a minus 1300, but the fight to go to a decision is like minus five.

Yeah. I wouldn't say he needs it because we know the next fight is going to be Ryan Garcia, right? It has to be. So nothing will change if he gets a decision or a finish, but for himself and for the people who support him and his confidence, you want to have a showcase fight because again, that Ryan Garcia fight was as bad as it gets for a top level boxer. Like he got

beat up from pillar to post. And now if you're a Haney, you go, yeah, well he is on this, that, the other, and he was out of his mind. And if we do it on fair playing field, it wouldn't look like that. That's one thing, but you can't erase what happened in that ring in your head. You know what happened in there and in your head. You know what happened in there and that's hard. So I think he needs for his

confidence to have a performance like that. But like in terms of like the actual way it plays out even if he wins a dominant decision as Haney has been known to kind of do, it's still a meeting with Ryan Garcia next or if it if it's not my god like what are we doing here but it has to it will be Ryan Garcia. Boxing is weird. Boxing has been in a much better spot at making these fights lately I'm gonna leave it in the hands of the of the boxing gods and hopefully we will get Garcia and Haney but either way I'm locked in I'm interested to see how this looks in Times Square. I'm very excited to see how it looks not only on the broadcast, but New York is a boxing hungry city.

Like people really enjoy boxing here. And they're talking about 300 fans, like 300 fans inside those fences, if that's what they're talking about. If that's all they have is what's fenced off, Times Square, there's 9 million, 10 million people in this city. Like you ain't gonna be able to limit that to 300 people.

It's like, when you go to the hot dog eating contest down in Coney Island, it's like a thousand people, but surrounding the stage is like tens of thousands. So I'm very curious to see like what crowd control is like, what just, what the whole scene is. Ryan Garcia, to hell with one, he mentioned, like he might be pulling up in a yellow cab. Like what's the walkout's gonna be like?

It's just something that you wanna tune in to just be like, what is even going on here? And like, there's also, it starts earlier and they only have X number of fights on it because they have to be out by a certain time. Like obviously Times Square, one of the most crowded places in the entire world. Like they're gonna be strict with like,

all right, get out and clean up. You have to imagine though, that no expense from Turkey ringed his own was spared to make this reality happen. Right. Everything that you're talking about, you wouldn't do this just to shoot it the same way, just to have the entrances go the same way.

You have to imagine that they've anticipated this and you have to imagine that they've got something cool planned. And so I'm most excited to find out what that is. And they've done a good job. Look, as you said, your family is talking about, there's a boxing match in Times Square. Everybody knows about this.

They may not know Ryan, they may not know Devin, they may not know Tia Fimo. They know that there's a boxing match in Times Square. And then honestly, for the argument of Ryan Garcia, like he's such a big star, like there's gonna be a lot of people that it's like, oh, Ryan's fighting. Oh, he's fighting in Times Square. Let's definitely watch this.

So it'll be very interesting. Can't wait wait Friday. That, uh, that, uh, that's going to be a good one. Uh, next up, I'm laughing right now cause I'm looking at our slack. I'm looking at our slack and we're, we're getting produced on the fly and because we're talking about Times Square, we're going to go into Pound for Pound next, which is tourist traps inspired by the card

being in Times Square, but I'm laughing because producer On Air Jordan says, for flow, let's go pound for pound then betting. And I said bet, as in okay, but like sounds good, like all right bet, and Frank just saying question marks because then I started thinking about it. It sounds like I'm like short-handedly being like, no, all right, bet, and Frank just saying question marks because then I started thinking about it. It sounds like I'm like, shorthandedly being like, no, let's go to betting.

Yeah. All clear though, let's go to pound for pound rankings. This is so perfect, I'm so glad you laid that out because I'm gonna interject here and derail it completely because we forgot to mention that Inoue is also back. The Monster is coming back to the US on Sunday and it's a big weekend in combat sports. Massive. We would be remiss not to mention. Also Canelo. We didn't mention Canelo's

fighting Williams on Saturday on Saturday. Time square. This is all about boxing. Triple header for boxing. Des Moines for UFC. PFL's got a card tonight. It's just like combat sports. You're always spoiled as a fan with how much action. This weekend is a big one. All right. Sorry. Now what's the order, Frankie? What are we thinking?

I think we're going to do it a little different today. Okay. We're going to end with Rick before him will be Connor. And then I will go before Connor. Okay. So always you first though. Oh, yeah, I guess I'm excited for this. Let's, uh, let's get into it

pound for pound tourist traps Perfect. Yeah, so what is Jordan doing? Is he like repping his Knicks patch? What is that? He's holding up the Knicks because they... Big game six. Yeah, big game six. Don't want to lose that one Don't want to lose that one. Don't want to come back to the garden tied up 3-3. Don't want to do that No, we don't we actually don't let's just finish it So starting us off is my number one. Wait what? I'm sorry number five. I always screw that up. Yeah, you know always in the chat is like number one Yeah, you do always screw that up. Oh, you know so starting with number five. It's a fisherman's wharf in San Francisco

It's Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. I actually enjoy Fisherman's Wharf. Oh, okay, all right. Go to the In-N-Out at Fisherman's Wharf? I mean, it's just, it's whatever. What I do like is the area next to Fisherman's Wharf where there are like, the seals come like once a day to hang out, like that's cool. That's what people should be going to San Francisco for,

not Fisherman's Wharf. I actually am with you that like Fisherman's Wharf exactly like, the wharf itself is touristy, but that area around it is very nice. Being on the water in San Francisco, love, love San Francisco. If you're already like, to anyone who's listening to this,

like if you're in the Bay Area, go check out Berkeley, keep going, go see the coastal redwood trees, like don't fall into the trap, which is Fisherman's wharf. Go down to Santa Cruz. I mean, the whole, like that whole Northern California, go up to Napa, Northern, I'm a no cal over SoCal guy.

How many times have you guys been to Cali? I used to live there. My brother lives there, so I go there all the time. Okay, because I've only been a handful of times, so I don't have like the Cali knowledge. Yeah, I mean, also like my aunts and uncles live there as well, because I've only been a handful of times so I don't have like the tally knowledge. Yeah I mean also like my my aunts and uncles live there as well so I've been going to California as a kid. But now like my my brother has you know his wife three kids out there. I was I was less out

there last summer. I hope I hope I go again this year. I mean it's just it's the best been out there Pebble Beach US Open Show. It's not the best. Been out there. Pebble Beach, U.S. Open Shores. But what's not the best is Fisherman's Wharf. Number four. Yeah, it's called Fisherman's Wharf. Is Pike Place Market. Yeah. Up in Seattle. Look, I get it. The signs there, you want to have a picture of it to show that you've been in Seattle. But there are so many coffee shops. The original Starbucks, I think, should

trump this. I think there's enough record stores to keep yourself busy. No reason to go to this busy, gross Trump this I think there's enough record stores to keep yourself busy no reason to go to this busy gross kit can I ask farmers market it's no different than any other farmers market can I make a request I mean please sure I think we need to tee some of these up ahead of time I don't know what this is you haven't told me what this actually is and I don't know what it is you know the other day someone said all of us some of us, some of us are more cultured than others and I didn't know like who would come after me or who would be at the bottom of the list but I think they just-

Well have you ever been to Seattle? No. I mean you've literally never seen that picture before like- I've never seen that picture, never been to Seattle and I don't care about Starbucks. The most famous Starbucks roast is Pike Place roast. Okay, when you said you want to go to the original Starbucks, I thought in my head what a chump you are for even thinking that. Wow. Wow. The original Starbucks is like bomb. Yeah, sure. To get the same coffee that you get in the- Even when you're in California, if you have a chance to go to the original Del Taco, some

of these places, they will surprise you if the quality is so much better in the original spot than the franchise ended up becoming. What is- place Frank? Kathy's door door door house. Shout out, Georgia. Yeah going to my number three What is that place? Don't know there is an area in Texas by the way, all of these are places that I've been to that was kind of a Prequisite I made for myself. So for those at home that don't know anything There is an area in the panhandle of Texas

called Amarillo, Texas, and there is a highway. Used to be Route 66, became, I think, I-40. Interstate 40. Route 66, yeah. No route. I hate both of you. So number three is Cadillac Ranch. So this is an area next to the highway where an art group had

gotten together in the 70s and just dug a hole and stuck a Cadillac sticking vertical in it and they did this for several years moving forward. As you can see a lot of people have come and painted on it so like when you're in that area people are like, oh did you go to Cadillac Ranch? And it's like why bother do that? Like everyone talks about it now there is a Like a multi-millionaire that used to live in the area named Stanley Marsh Which there's some connection with him and like South Park or whatever who allegedly have like gone to buy a Cadillac And they told him that his credit wasn't good enough to like get a loan for it

so then when he got into money he decided to Pay for a Cadillac in cash and then start this art project to just flex essentially don't fall for the trap can I ask something yes yes we can ask something and you make a request just do it what is the trap here Wow so do you do maybe we should define what tourist trap is to me. I would love that. Wow. Like, I really feel like we could have teed you up with a lot today, huh?

But ultimately a tourist trap to me is like, when people are like, you gotta do this thing, you can't miss this, go check it out, and then you go and it's like, meh. Like, what was the whole point? And then you go, it's overcrowded, it's underwhelming, you actually did not need to go at all. It's just a place that like, there's a million of them in New York, where you go and you just look around

and you're just like, it is nothing but tourists here. I'm with it. Absolutely. But does the trap part not imply some kind of like transactional? Like aren't you supposed to be trapped? I'm sorry, is time not valuable to you? Like, clearly not. I also think the trap part, at least for mine,

you are gonna spend Monday at each of these places Yeah, this is the one where I'm not seeing how you how you get trapped. I'm just okay I'm not seeing how you get trapped. Well you drive out to the middle of nowhere Yeah, yeah, I mean apparently like why did I come? You said it was on the side of a road that you're going by anyway Look at it. It's in the middle of nowhere. All right. All right. I'm trapped. I'm trapped I just hop back in my car and keep going. I don't think money has to be a prerequisite for it He's like they got to actually incarcerate you in order for you to be trapped. I don't think you get trapped necessarily. I think it's a trap, like it lures you in, and then you're just like,

I'm a foot, I'm caught, I got trapped by this bullshit. Alright, alright, fair enough. Out of all the arguments we've had about the meaning, thought this one was pretty evident But you know some people some people Apparently more Gonna say soon enough. We're gonna have to do a pound-for-pound best Interpretations of pounds so for this one, I guess we have to really explain. I would love it Yeah, so this for those who don't know is in London Which is a city in a country known as England heard of it

Love that were there so this one. I actually went to Expecting it to be a tourist trap walked in was kind of shown It was a tourist trap and then became surprised by how much it wasn't one and that is the Jack the Ripper Museum in London. So you go in and there's just like this gaudy gift shop where it's like really like this guy was a like a frickin murderer right and like we're celebrating this. I know true crime is like really popular and all that but I was just like had this weird taste in my mouth but then as you go through the museum they actually tell you they're like start like that's three stories and there's a basement

They're like start on the third floor and work your way down and then finish in the basement That's like okay like and the whole time I'm expecting like just some like cheesy sort of You know like you're seeing in this gift shop But you actually go and it kind of shows you the history of everything and then once you get to the bottom the basements Actually like a mock morgue that they make. And they really like sell home to you, like the impact that this had on women in that area at that time, the victims themselves,

it could be little biographies on each victim and it's like you leave feeling sad, which is what that museum should be doing. So again, the trap here is you walk in like, oh, murder, I love it and trap here is you walk in like, oh, murder, I love it. And then you leave and you're like, murder is very serious and like,

we really have an issue as a society. So you've been trapped into confronting your feelings. So you enjoyed this? Oh yeah, it's one of those where I would recommend for people to like, if you like history and you wanna like feel something real, please check out the Jack the Ripper Museum. By the way, Frank just said he loves murder.

So everyone needs to be careful around Frank. He loved murder murder then he went there and he no longer loved murder he was very sad about murder. Murder's bad. I feel like he can't have enjoyed a tourist trap. Oh really? Alright well then wait for my number one. Wait wait wait before you move on did you do the um did you do the jack the ripper tour where they walked around like that? I put my foot down However, you're walking around Whitechapel. I did that That's cute. We were walking around Whitechapel It's pretty easy to put two and two together of like especially if you've gone to the museum before like you know like oh That's where that was okay. That's what another oh, you're like a Jack the Ripper Biographer okay, yeah, someone in the chat asked me yesterday

What is my favorite graphic novel for the record for those who weren't on the chat? It's from hell written by Alan Moore a movie I don't need that movie whatever the graphic novel in which the question I was answering which which is my favorite graphic novel is From hell go check it out. So you love one. Okay. Go number one. I this is kind of funny Okay, sorry for those geographically. This is in Arizona It's a state that's been a part of the Union for a while now, but I want this one is meteor crater Now what I love about this is you see these billboards Nothing is crappier than that

So it's like here's what the trap is is it's subverting expectations because you think like oh my God like they really want me to go and spend money at this place Then you check it out, and you leave you could go to the next photo and like holy shit That was amazing like yeah, that looks. Yeah, I enjoyed it. Yeah, so this is um What I love about it because everyone agrees like those that are on they're like oh, it's a tourist trap I'm not gonna go there and then the people who have been there like low-key It's like probably one of the coolest things that you can do in, Arizona And I agree so that's why it's my number one your favorite tourist my favorite tourist

This is why but you hated Cadillac Ranch But by the way, this is why I asked a week ago Best tourist traps or worst tourist traps and you both were like no just tourist traps I was like, okay I was just gonna be like the biggest, shittiest tourist traps and like you were doing that until you got to your two-in-one I mean, yeah, I asked okay. I tried to steer this ship. I just don't understand like the vitriol you spoke about Cadillac Ranch, and then you're like I love meteor crater By the way meteor crater look fucking it looks that sign was running reddably cheesy

I would have never gone to it the antithesis of it. You guys are just confirming to me that the point stands No, it's the opposite. It's not it looks it's not a trap you they've given you a great spirit. Well. This is fucking amazing I love this. I didn't realize that pound for pound has everyone's individualistic interpretation. I'm sorry. No, it doesn't. That's the thing. It should just be standard.

Five to one. All right, here we go. Is Connor going next? Connor's going next. Yeah, I thought it was we're gonna finish with Rick. I would go. All right, my number five. You can go to these pretty much anywhere.

They are the worst of the worst. If you end up at one. Well, there's multiple. You are just the epitome of a tourist because you're even in one of these places that one would be located. And that is a Ripley's, believe it or not. That's bullshit, no.

Yeah, look at that shit. Look at that shit. Oh my God. Locations in Hollywood, Niagara Falls, Panama City Beach, the Wisconsin Dells. San Antonio, right? Cancun, San Antonio, Orlando, Branson, Missouri, Myrtle Beach, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

It's just like the biggest. This feels so personal. It's fucking amazing. You're so wrong. Oh my, I love Ripley. I love Ripley's, believe it or not. listen to this man go check it out there it's just like bored people in just like touristy dump town I think there's one in Baltimore that I went to and a city beach like a pool table the size of a fucking quarter

right in front of my eyes cool wow you're like that's a tourist trap no it's fucking amazing where's your billiard? Huh? You got it in your pocket There might actually there might actually be a Ripley's believe it or not in Fisherman's Wharf I will admit the buildings like the one I went to in San Antonio as a kid did not look like that So that is very trappy. Yeah, yeah, this is a crazy looking building. Yeah, there was one There is a there is a Ripley's believe it or not a crazy looking building. Yeah, there was one, there is a Ripley's, believe it or not, right by Fisherman's Wharf,

literally across the street. You walk out of Fisherman's Wharf and there is a Ripley's, believe it or not. I think that confirms Frank's placement of Fisherman's Wharf, though, for sure. I agree, yeah, they are just trappy. They are just like, meh, meh. All right, number four, Frank, you alluded to it.

I'm gonna actually have it the OG Starbucks It is a Starbucks with a long line, but he said you should go to it. Oh fuck that It's a Starbucks with a long line serve the same coffee. Nothing cool. The inside of it is Triple Americano on ice with a little bit of water. Yeah, you can go get that at the Starbucks No, but Frank you said the different original locations have different stuff. Is this one one of those places? I just like that the logo's not censored. What does that mean?

I don't know Starbucks lore. The mermaid has boobs. Oh, is that it? Grow up, Frank. Grow up, Frank. But is the coffee different, or do they have something secret menu-y? It's different.

You heard of Triple Americana with ice. I think that's acceptable. You can do that anywhere. Efrain could make that out in the lobby for you. Shout out. Shout out to Efrain. Actually, fun fact about that original Starbucks, quote unquote original, it's actually,

It's not? It had moved, that's not even the original location. Oh, that's bad. Get out of here with this bullshit. That's bad. Go get that line. Go stand in that hour long line for your Starbucks. I'll order ahead and I'll just swing in.

I'm actually like, I don't even really go to the Starbucks, you know, it's more local, huh? Look at you, what a guy. Places like, places like The Bean and Dunkin' Donuts. No, I'm just kidding, I don't go to any of that shit. All right, number three, Hollywood Boulevard. This is California's love letter to Times Square, I feel. It's just a sidewalk with bullshit in the stones.

It's wildly crowded at all times. And you get there and you're just like, this is it? That's, that's all it is. It's just like, this is it? This overcrowded mess with a bunch of pudgy Americans taking pictures with a sidewalk. Like, what are you going to do with that picture? I took a picture with a sidewalk that says

a celebrity I'm obsessed with's name. We shouldn't say that this specific stretch, these stars around are called the Walk of Fame. Yeah, the Walk of Fame. They are where entertainment celebrities get placed on the floor. Yeah, if you don't know about it, a PR team for a celebrity pays a bunch of money

and they get a, brrrr, boop, beep, there it is. You get your old pale pink star. It's a defining moment of many actor's careers. Connor says fuck off. Fuck off. Number two, we head down to the Bayou, New Orleans Cafe du Monde.

I know Ariel has a great story with Mike Breen. Nah, powdered donuts, wait two hours. It's just like, it's like, it's only worth the the two hour wait if like, it's like wow I've never experienced anything like this. I could get this fried dough with powdered sugar on it at a fair in any of your small towns in America. It is simply fried dough with powdered sugar on it at a fair in any of your small towns in America. It is simply fried dough with powdered sugar on it. And I, this may make you furious. I've been to New Orleans many times.

I've been to Cafe Du Monde one time. Okay. Walked in, zero line, sat down, ate it, realized it was mid as fuck, left, and never did it again. So I didn't waste my two hours. That is great for you. Mine was like a wildly long wait. Several times during the wait, I was just like,

feeling we should just bail on this. And everyone's like, no, no, we gotta get it. We gotta get it. Got it. And I was just like, yeah, guys, we had to get it. Yeah. We had to get it. Krispy Kreme is better than this. Yeah, just go to Cafe Beignet.

That one's better. There you go. Did you ever know that Ariel went and got it? With Mike Breen? With Mike Breen? I think so, yeah. Number one, no brainer for me. Oh, my most hated place on earth, where the boxing match is taking place tomorrow,

Times Square. First and foremost, if you've never been, it's gonna be crowded as fuck. It's gonna be dirty, it's going to be crowded as fuck. It's going to be dirty. It's going to be smelly. And when you get there, it's just a bunch of billboards. It is just incredibly bright billboards. That's all it is. Any person who has lived more than six months in New York will be like, yeah, I'm never going to Times Square. Never would, never will. There's nothing cultural about it. It is just a bunch of giant chain stores. T-Mobile, Nike, Olive Garden, Bubba Gump Shrimp, another tourist trap in itself. Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, another... Hard Rock Cafe.

Hard Rock Cafe, just another tourist trap... M&M's store. In itself. M&M's store. Speaking of M&M's, there's going to be some dirty green M&M store. Speaking of M&M's, there's gonna be some dirty green M&M walking around in a costume asking for 20 bucks for a picture. Yeah, get your knockoff Mario and Elmo. We gotta say though that these people were trying to unionize. Is that Boba Duke or Penguin from Batman? I can't quite tell. Just like knockoff, knockoff Mickey Mouse. There's also like a insane rate of like, it's something like 23% of tourists have like claimed getting groped by the mascots. Oh Jesus. They all say that like, oh it's, these are for

free, we do them for the people, like tipping is optional. Take a picture out with them, they're going to be like, $10, $20, I'm gonna need that right now. It is like the epitome of just like America consumerism, overcrowded, just like horribleness. Like you can almost feel it as you're like walking blocks, you're just like, oh, we're starting to get close to Times Square. Like what street are we on? Oh, we're on 41st.

Like we, we should turn back. We should, we, we gotta get out of here. Despise, despise Times Square. I cannot believe like on Google, it has like 4.8 stars on 220,000 reviews. What? It's the worst place. Somebody hacked that, somebody paid for that.

You go one time, you've been a million times. It is nothing but over-bright billboards. Are you guys like me, where you like, cringe when you have to walk through it? The only reason I cringe is because I'm so uncomfortable and it's so crowded and it's like there are no like normal people like it's just people stopping to take pictures I get it like the first time you go it's like wait it's just a bunch of billboards I still need to get a picture of this but it's

just like I yes I have to make a shout out to the real ones in the chat that might know if you're in New York and you're like you know what I'm to the boys in the back, I'm going to avoid Times Square like the plague. I hear you, but if you're a fan of like Gundam or any anime, you have to go to Tamashi Nations. It's the only one in the United States that's right by Times Square. Go check it out. Just get in there, get out, do your business. I like the asterisk rank, I like that. That's good by you. One of my best memories of Times Square, I was going with my girlfriend at the time and we were getting off the subway and I was like,

it smells like, somebody's kinda empty right now. It smells like, is that like iron? Like what is that? Was somebody bleeding? Keep walking? No, someone wasn't bleeding. There was a crime scene and it was like a lake of blood in the thing.

I was like, hmm, that's settling to see. Oh, New York City. Shout out, greatest city in the world. It's a perfect transition to me because you mentioned like the stores around and the prices of things. I had a criteria. Clearly, you know, Frank was not with us on this. I had a criteria for a tourist trap. The trap part of the trap, of the tourist trap is important.

And so- Get on with it. You, this was my criteria. One, lots of people, crowded, right? Has to be. Number two- You mean number five and number four. Can't just be Cadillacs sitting

on the side of the road that you could pull over and drive away. Couldn't take a cool picture if you wanted to. Yeah, can't just like pull over and then drive away. Two. Beared you the first time. Has to detract from an otherwise good area, right? This could be something, but unfortunately due to this,

you have to detracted from what is a spectacular experience. There are other things around here that are fantastic. You are bringing it down. And number three, you have to have overpriced bullshit. There has to be overpriced bullshit. Otherwise it is not a tourist trap. That is the key. The idea of the tourist trap is we are attracting you here as tourists so you can spend your money and we get over on you because you just paid 6x for some garbage. And in six months you're at the gym, I mean in six years you're at the gym with an old tattered Times Square sweater and you're like, why did I pay $85? Why did I buy M&Ms that cost $40 when a pack costs 50 cents over there?

I have a horrible admission. I love the M&M. Yeah, it's Times Square bullshit. The M&M store. Yeah, it's Times Square bullshit. The M&M's store is actually pretty sick. Okay, number five. We did not fall into this tourist trap, but many do. Out in old Philadelphia, hats and genos, right across the street from each other. Epic places, the rivalry, the cheese steaks.

Big signs. That are fucking garbage, that are not good cheese steaks. Don't go there, don't fall good cheese steaks don't go there don't fall into it I don't care what you've heard about all that you have the thing and they're across from each other and there's this whole there's ten better places to go buy a cheese steak in Philadelphia yet because of the name because of the history because of the stories people continue to line up there and eat inferior cheese steaks you have have been trapped. I feel bad for you. Do not go. There are plenty of better places in

Philadelphia and if you want to know where some of those places are you can watch the fight feast right here on this YouTube channel. GC did a great job breaking them all down. Okay, number four. This one's in Hawaii, baby. A place I love, a place I've been to, but this is just this is just not it. When you are in the most beautiful place in the world, I will tell you one place you do not go to, and that's the Dole Plantation. Do not go to the Dole Plantation. You may think, wow, Dole, I know that brand.

That's great. Oh, don't they make Dole Whip? Dole Whip is true. Have you ever had Dole Whip? I have had Dole Whip. I've never been to Hawaii. OK. Dole Whip is fantastic.

And they have a Dole Whip machine here. They have many servings of Dole Whip, I've never been to Hawaii. Okay. Dole Whip is fantastic. And they have a Dole Whip machine here. They have many, uh, servings of Dole Whip, but what else they have is just a bunch of fucking pineapples. There's nothing there. There is no cool story. There's nothing more to it. You, you convince yourself that you're going

here and you're going to learn something. You're going to see something. Nope. It's just some pineapples and it's horrible. And you should not go there. And there are many better things to do in Hawaii. And yet people fall into this trap. Dole plantation. Don't do it. pineapples and it's horrible and you should not go there and there are many better things to do in Hawaii and yet people fall into this trap. Dole

plantation, don't do it. Do literally anything else while you're in Hawaii. Go to the beach. Go to a free beach. Go to cam 4. Alright, number three. This one great list man. Yeah I mean you know there's a criteria you actually have to have. It's beautiful. You know when you pull over to the side of the road it doesn't

quite trap you. Number three, Atlantic city boardwalk. Absolute dump of a place. Nothing happening here other than commerce. I believe it's one of the like oldest and longest and that's where it has kind of maintained its prevalence over the years, but it is just walking up and down and popping into t-shirt shops and eating overpriced bullshit.

If you like walking, there's probably better places to walk. If you like spending money on trash, that's your location. Don't go to the Atlantic City Boardwalk, and quite frankly, maybe don't go to Atlantic City. Number two. And like you don't even really have fun.

No, there's nothing there. There's nothing there. If you're in a casino, maybe you can find a way. Number two. Shout out to the't even really have fun. No, there's nothing there. There's nothing there. If you're in a casino, maybe you can find a way. Shout out to the Saltwater Taffy though. That's really good. Yeah, but you're paying how much for it? A lot. Number two.

Hollywood Boulevard. Our own GC. Aligned. Very much aligned with you. Been. Hated. Didn't understand. I get the I get the the history I get the the moment for these celebrities but for you as you've Very well laid out and astutely phrased it Why do you want to take a picture with a piece of sidewalk that has somebody's name on it charge you to take that? Photo though right no no no okay. They charge you to get on the sidewalk

No, there's lots of other things around there that are trying to trap you, Frank. In fact, shouldn't my pictures also have had more of the other touristy stuff? Did you provide him pictures? I did. I'll blame that on Jordan. I feel like some of mine also got used in Connor,

so maybe it was a splitting of the thing. But yes, Frank, there's actually a lot of stores like in Times Square or other notable tourist traps where they're actually trying to sell you something. As opposed to when you pull off on the side of the road and there's nobody there trying to sell anything and it's just a bunch of cars lined up and then you can just take a picture and leave. There's no trapping in that, but here there's lots of things for sale. Number one, easy call.

Got him. The most obvious, Times Square. It's the worst place in the world and the best place in the world. It's absolute garbage and I hate it and as a lifelong New Yorker, you should never go. I mean, even look here, Grand Slam, number one rated souvenir shop in here.

See Frank, they're not actually like selling it to you like where you're standing. There's stores on the side that you have to go into. Actually, there's a turnstile where they charge you to come into Times Square. There you go. It's like, it's over on the side where they're like, here, come here, buy this crap. Um, and yeah, Times Square is garbage. It's the antithesis of New York.

You're right back there, Frank. Yeah. Frank's taking it personal that he didn't understand the assignment. It's a, it's a really, is that a weeper laugh? Both. It was, it's the antithesis of New York. It's, uh, in the city where everybody is moving and has somewhere to go and something to do.

It's a bunch of people standing around in the middle of the street doing absolutely jack shit and it's garbage and nobody should ever. I fucking hate that place. Except if you're going to the boxing match, that could be probably pretty cool. Yeah. You're for sure going to enjoy that. Uh that could be probably pretty cool. Yeah, you're for sure gonna enjoy that.

There are so many things I would rather do than go to Times Square for New Year's Eve that the list is infinite. You could just keep naming things I'd rather do than go to Times Square on New Year's Eve. Honorable mentions, I had Cafe Dumont on there. Frank mentioned the Jack the Ripper Museum, the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London, horrible. I didn't even know there was one.

Yeah, it's at, what is it, 221B Baker Street, whatever the address in the story is. But that's not like, it's not historical, right? It's a fictional tale. So they've just popped up a shop where they sell you shit at that location. Is this controversial? I think Bourbon Street's kind of shit.

Bourbon Street's all right. It depends how much you want to go and drink. If you're just going to get obliterated, it's pretty fun. That's what made it not be on my list, because at a certain point, there's a purpose there, and I can understand it, but it's pretty crap. It's pretty crap. Oh yeah, I mean, it's a dump for sure. But when I went, yeah, some drinks were

consumed, Plymouth Rock. Oh, I've heard that. It's just because it's so tiny. But isn't it also like not the original rock? Like, is there not, first of all, to my understanding and Frank might actually know this, I don't believe that the history of that is accurate, right? It is not actually where the Pilgrims landed.

Correct. Yeah. And so it's based on a fake thing, and then it's a fake rock. Yeah. So it's like, what the fuck would you go here? And it's like completely gated and caged in. It's kind of ridiculous. They took us in school actually, and I was like super excited. I was like, oh wow, this is where they're gonna crash into like a giant boulder? No, it's just a rock. But it's also not where they crashed. Well, yeah. Even worse. I was lied to in school also. Could they have had some fun and done alliteration and it would have been more apropos if they had done Plymouth Pebble? That's cute. Little PP? Spot on. P squared. That would have been nice. There's this place called South of the Border in like South Carolina and North Carolina that like signifies you're going to the south and it's just like the ultimate tourist trap. It's just like big what is the cell what is the

attraction like why am I going it's a restaurant and souvenir store and like it's just big giant mascots and bullshit like it's just like a stop-off place for people to make like chips I see like south the Border chips. Is that from that restaurant? You're thinking On the Border is a Mexican restaurant. What else is there? Buc-E's, it serves a purpose, gas, and you can get food, but it's become a tourist destination. That's like a Wawa, it's like a gas station of food, right? It's like Wawa on steroids.

It's just giant, it's like a mall mixed with a gas station food, right? It's like it's like wah-wah on steroids It's just like giant like it's like a mall mixed with a gas station It's it's fine. You guys remember this is somewhat related when people would walk around fight hard rock 100% planet Hollywood, and it would be like from exotic places. Yep It's like did you really go on vacation to an exotic place and then go to Planet Hollywood? Or were they being ironic? Real Georgians know there's like beaches in Georgia and there's a restaurant called the Salty Dog Cafe. And it was like a status symbol in middle school to have a Salty Dog Cafe shirt.

It's like, you can only get it there. Ron Johns, yeah, but it was just like, oh, you went to the beach and you went to like the most touristy place of them all, congratulations. Piggly Wiggly shirts. What is Piggly Wiggly's also Georgia? The South grocery stores, but like they have to make almost all their profits

from church because their groceries are like dog shit. It's a great name. Shout out, it's a big name. The new version of that is doesn't Starbucks have like- Cups? Cups from like different locations. Oh yeah, mugs. That Starbucks have like cups cups from like different locations Oh, yeah, that's the like new planet Hollywood like or Hard Rock Yeah, hard rock. It is such a tourist god those were that should have made the law. It isn't rainforest cafe Shout out the rainforest cafe legendary experience

What if we kissed in the rainforest cafe Frank actually really did like the Hard Rock Hotel? Like if you're a music fan, fan will stay there next time we go yeah They had a lot of like old they close the pan Hollywood, but is Hard Rock still open no they converted it recently I think to a new To a new ownership. I think I don't think it's Hard Rock anymore Maybe I'm wrong, but check into that, but I believe they had like old guitars and things from actual like music history I'm it is pretty cool. I'm gonna just stay at the Luxor. We used to have in Phoenix We had a Cooper's town is like Alice Cooper had his own. Oh, that's funny Cooper's town like then the baseball Hall of Fame

He was really big into baseball. So it was right by the the Diamondbacks Park or whatever. That's sick I love that. However, it was funny is that the whole waitstaff had to put on the Alice Cooper like black makeup and That sucks. Yeah, but being that you're working at the stores to try to keep it all look completely depressed I was gonna say imagine having a tough day at work and like you go to the bathroom You look in the mirror and you're like It's like Janine Galofalo and cable guy. It like, welcome to Cooperstown, what can I get you? And it's like, look man, just a smile. We're really going off the rails here,

but last night I got home, Frank, and Office Space was on, and I watched the whole thing. Great movie, Frank. Such a great movie. Such a great movie. It goes the Chachkies or whatever. DC load letter? Shenanigans?

No, that's from South Park? No, it's like Chachkies or something like that. Shenanigans is Office Space. Benegans, Benegans. No. shenanigans no that's from South Park that was like tchotchkes or something like that we're against Ben against Ben against no it was tchotchkes and Flanders or something and she has to wear the flare it was called tchotchkes in the movie really yeah wow 15 pieces of flair Jennifer Aniston that's actually Mike judge playing as the manager of tchotchkes yeah it's so good all right movie that's the pound for pound tour straps. Let's recap the bets.

Give the bets for this weekend. Do voicemails and get the hell out of here. We got to get to Des Moines baby. Um, all right. Recapping last week, Parley pals, my picks, whichever one we want to put up first. We can, we can go over it. All right.

So I lose on UFC. I ended up down like three units on that. If we can go to the next one. Yeah, down three points, two and a half units, but. Wow, you had a lot of action. Yeah, way too much action. Just threw in some like some long shot parlays, just small bets on those.

But on the boxing, we won thanks to Chris Eubank Jr. So we won over the down three points, two and a half units. So the overall record counts just towards MMA, but ended up up because of Chris Eubank Jr. So we won over the down 3.2 on you. And so the overall record counts just towards MMA, but ended up up because of Chris Eubank Jr. Shout out to him. Parlay Pows, Michel Pereira costs us. Michel wins. We're in the green.

It would have been great. But, uh, yeah, no, it is what it is with, uh, with old Michel. Uh, all right, let's run through the big hitters real quick because, uh because we didn't hit, but there were some pretty crazy ones here. We start with Mr. Electrocute. Feels like I could shout this guy out every week,

one of the sharpest in the game, and I really do mean that. He found a needle in the haystack. Went tie on most knockdowns in the Ian-Gary-Carlos-Prochez fight and decision as the exact method of victory. Plus $4,500 on that. DraftKings must have just made a mistake, but he put $500 Canadian dollars down. $123,000 returned to him. And then he also hit another parlay.

Abus by points. Onama by points. Machado-Gary by points. Plus90, plus 185, plus 450, $100 wager, won him $6,113. Were there any knockdowns in that fight? No. So this is basically like you're betting on like Ian Gary by decision, but getting it at a crazy price. Crazy, crazy, insane. It didn't even have to be Ian Gary.

It was just a fight two. And you get Carlos, but the chances are, right, like if Gary's gonna win, like wow. Crazy, yeah, so he was pretty much if Gary's going to win this, like, wow. Crazy. What a snipe. Holy shit. It was pretty much just betting against Carlos Pratchett to win by knocking him out. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. All right. We roll along. Oh, Dell Red, man. Shout out to Dell Red with this one. He goes match now to beat Jimmy Flick. He goes under one and a half in the Anthony Smith, Zhongming Yang fight.

And he goes on, uh, Ickrum to win in round one, that's plus 112 minus 196, but then he goes Jocelyn Edwards to win by round one plus 900, throws that into the parlay, $20 bet, returns him 948. Don't know why you don't just take that as a single, but it's just like, yeah, we'll throw the plus 900 in the parlay. This is the Chris Cyborg, Michael Jackson parlay.

Jocelyn Edwards had only ever gone to decisions, I think she had like one, like last second round three finish. And he's just like, yeah, I'm feeling Jocelyn Edwards at round one. Chelsea Chandler, I don't think had ever been finished. It's just like, sometimes I just like have a

hard time just like why, but it's just like, Jocelyn Edwards, round one. It worked. Shout out to them. Uh, we, we roll along. JRG 97 plus $41,135 turns $5 into 2,061. Chris Gutierrez by decision. Icaro Malascarov by KO.

Randy Brown by KO. Abis Magomedov by decision. David Ornamo Moneyline. Zhang Ming Yang by KO. Ian Machado-Garry by decision. Dart, dartamo Moneyline. Zhang Mingyang by KO. Ian Machado-Garry by decision. Dart, dart, dart, dart, dart, dart, dart, plus 41,135. Shout out to JRG97.

Imagine if he put a hundred on that. Congratulations, man. 41K. Keep you pulling a Malcolm Wellmaker and leaving early. Cone Peasy. Jacqueline Amaran by sub round two. Malcolm Wellmaker.

KO. Ian Machado-Garry by points, parlayed them all up plus 7,859. Wow. Insane. Insane. Shout out to Cone Peasy. Kenya, we've shot him out a few times. He also nailed the most knockdowns tie

decision and Ian Machado-Garry money line. He added Ian Gary, unlike Mr. Electricute, put a lot less than Mr. Electricube, but still, unreal bet, put like $15, turned it into like over a thousand. Is most knockdowns a bet that I'm not like, is that newer? I actually couldn't find it, it's a prop

that I don't think was available in New York, I couldn't find it. Yeah, I hate that, they're awesome. Someone actually alerted to me, I think it was Jay Singh alerted it to me beforehand, he said to do most knockdowns, but I think he was shouting out Mr. Electrocute, but yeah, wasn't available. Most knockdowns is, is tasty.

I like that. Congrats to anybody who can get that. All right. Last one, I think. Meek, Meek in her cheeks is his name on Twitter. Four-leg parlay plus $11,634 into $469. Wellmaker KO, shout out to Wellmaker. In round one, Chris Gutierrez by decision,

some fight to go to a decision, and Schnell to win by decision, $4,469.20. So shout out to them. And congratulations on your wins. That is unbelievable. Parley Pals? Parley Pals. Parley Pals.

We already got Pizzi's pick. He is going with Mason Jones. Jeremy Steve is under two and a half. Randomizer, Frank goes first. Boop boop boop boop boop boop boop. I'll go second, Rick will go third. Wow, you predicted the randomizers. I had already put it in, I had already put it in.

Oh. Go ahead, Frank. So I'm gonna go with Misha Tate and Yana Santos. They're gonna scrap. So they're gonna go over two and a half before we find out who won. Oh, they're gonna scrap. So they'll go.

Yeah, they're just gonna keep scrapping. Just scrap, baby. All right, man. Love it. That leads us to me. I'll go main event. I'll go with Corey Sandagon. I will say that he gets on the bike

and just out volumes, out points, Davidson figure right over the course of the five rounds. Minus 535, that's crazy, but that's what I'm going with, Corey Sandhagen. Give me that sweet, sweet, sweet bone nickel value play. Minus 340? Bone nickel money line, easy. All right.

I said Joan Stevens under two and a half. There it is, Bo-nickel, Corey Sand-Agen, Tate Santos over two and a half plus two 35. Man, we need a win boys. This is it, this is the win. This is the one, this is the win, this is the win. All right, let me run through my picks real quick and then we can do voicemails and super chats.

Yes, Kwong Le, I am taking him to win here. I just think Balaños is too one dimensional. I like the yes, Kwong Le, I am, uh, taking him to win here. I just think Balaños is too one dimensional. Uh, I like the range of Kwong Le. I don't, I don't rate either guy very highly. Um, but I think Kwong Le makes it dirty, mixes it up, gets the takedowns and I think he gets his hand raised. Next up, Misutai. Boring decision victory.

She gets the wrestling going, gets the takedown, controls the fight, stays on top, gets some damage, gets out there. No finish though, you want to hit that parlor boys. Yeah, I'm saying 29, 28. Next up, we talked about him earlier, Serhe City, dog, savage. I think Smotherman's a bit of a glass cannon.

We've seen him put down with a jab. We've seen him knocked out before. Got KO'd on Dana White Contender Series. I think City just stays at range. I think when they do meet in the middle, We've seen him knocked out before. Got KO'd on Dana White Contender Series. I think City just stays at range. I think when they do meet in the middle, I think he has the bigger moments. And I also think he gets this one done. By a decision, a couple of parlays, Pekaev, Jones, Bo' Nickel, minus 104.

And then I'm going heavy on bone nickel Corey Sandhagen. I like that in the co-main in Maine. And then a little PFL to send you on your way, Rodrigo Nascimento making his debut and Simeon Powell, those two money lines pays plus 190. And those are my bets for the weekend. We will be there in Des Moines. We're there baby.

Can't wait. Frankie, what do we got for voicemails, brother? Yeah, let's do voicemails. By the way, to leave one of these, we're listening to them now to leave one of these 415 SUPBITB. SUPBITB. Yeah, let us hear those sweet, sweet voicemails.

Boys in the back. Shout out James DeHouna. Just had a question for Frankie. Frankie, do you play any newer games like modern games on modern consoles or do you mostly just play throwback games on old Nintendo consoles? Just wanted to get an idea of your taste in video games. I think I kind of know, but just wanted to maybe get like the top three games that you play Maybe top three currently maybe top three all time. But thank you Frankie. You're the boy Rick. You're the man DC You're the fucking boy. You bet. You're awesome, dude. Oh, wow appreciate it making you rich dog, but uh All right, what I'm good. I thought we were going in a different direction

They're like that with the pause and everything now shout out to him Thanks for the voicemail man. Yeah, I do play modern games right now the list would be Space Marine 2 Monster Hunter wilds and What is the third one? Oh rogue trader? What is on? Those first two are on PS 5 that third one is on PC But to answer your question question I do play a lot more retro games I listen to music a lot and I feel more comfortable muting a

retro game and just listening to music rather than trying to enjoy a modern game with like their great sound design and everything and missing out on that so appreciate the question. So your headphones in when you're playing like the old. I am a stereo listener, sir. Okay, my bad, my bad, my bad. You are bad. Hey boys, this is Ben Turk from Tucson, Arizona. Oh, shoot. Shout out. Shout out, brother. I was super chatting a lot,

but a question for you guys to hear my voice. How do you feel about Israel Adesanya and his world tour of going to different gyms and even David Goggin, even throwing up and training with Kamaru Usman, Sean O'Malley, all the likes? Do you think he's trying to get prepared for a different style of Sean Strickland or what do you think it's for? I know he needs the Sean Strickland fight because yeah, he just really needs it badly. What the fuck was that?

But shout out. Thanks for the option of calling and appreciate you boys. Yeah, I think it's sick. I love seeing him like, not only did he train with O'Malley, like they went out to dinner, they were chilling right around in the Lambos. He's going out with David Goggins.

I think it's cool, man. I think I saw him on Usman and Cejudo's podcast. They're all kind of joking about how they've each lost three straight, yeah man, I think it's dope. I love elder statesman Izzy. He's done everything he needs in the game. Now I feel like he's just kind of trying to enjoy it. I don't think he's going around trying to get any tips

or anything from anyone. I do agree, I think the stricton fight would be good. Get a redemption, maybe get back in the win column, but I don't think he's pressed on anything right now. I think he's kind of just chilling. Did you see him with Goggins? Yeah. That dude knows that'll put people through the fucking wringer, huh? Some of

the guys that were like, yeah, cardio machine, like next level, you think of Tony Ferguson, you think of Israel Desan, you're like, yeah, there for five rounds, and then it's just like, nope. I want to see Marab versus versus David I mean that's or or maybe Malcolm the the second machine that out but I love is he just doing all this stuff like doing like MMA like fantasy camp where he's just like

hanging out with all these different guys it's great it's it's the perfect thing for him to do at this point in his career. The boys came from Northern Saskatchewan, Canada. So, yeah, let's go. You guys always give me a good laugh and Frank's the man. He's like my spirit animal from the stage. He's always just off the wall going against the status quo. And that's me in a nutshell. So keep up the good work, boys.

I watch every Thursday. Peace. You're the fucking man. That was a great accent. Great message. Nice, short and sweet. That was Northern Saskatchewan is what he said. Frank's a spirit animal.

That's great, man. Shout out. Damn straight. Hey boys. What's up? Longtime listener, first time caller. I will be in Des Moines, Iowa. First, are you guys still

going? Yes. Yes. Second, how can I get that photo up because I need it? And third, let me treat you to the greatest restaurant of all time. Slim Chickens. Slime. You never had it. It's so great. Also, this will be probably after UFC, Kansas City. Carlos Paratas is going to knock out Ian Gary. And then Corey Sandhagen is going to do the same thing to Figgy. Oh no. Do you guys agree? Shout out my boy Ariel. Have a great day boys.

Shout out to you brother. Unfortunate on the Paratas one. Almost got it there in the fifth round. Hopefully he didn't jinx Corey Sandhagen as well. There's an element of like the fact that we're playing it there in the fifth round. Hopefully he didn't jinx Corey Sandigan as well. There's an element of the fact that we're playing some of these the week after that is just amazing. Slim Chickens looks like it's a chain, maybe we'll try it. He asked about the photo op.

We'll be around. We'll be around if you see us, please say what's up. If you see us around the area and we'll be around, give us a shout out. I can't imagine downtown Des Moines is too much of a big spot that we're not gonna be within a few blocks of anybody at any given point. Find us, we'll be there.

We're more than happy to take a picture. It's actually an honor. I get to tell my mom the next day, like, yeah, some guy asked me for a picture. It's crazy. She's like, oh, that's so cool. It'll be great. Please say what's up. Yes we'll be around and shout us up. Oh hey Connor this is your dad. Just was hoping for some clarification on this week's episode. Just heard you say you were drinking beers in 2011 and you said that you were only 17 or 18. Just hoping for a little bit of clarification on that, please stop ripping cigs, thank you. Thank you. That was fucking amazing.

That was great. I actually did think about that. When I was doing it, when I was saying it on the air, there was definitely a, there was a time where I was not truthful with my parents about what I was up to, doing illicit activities, drinking and whatnot. And my parents definitely remind me of that often

because they did catch me in a few of those lies. One thing- Where are we at in terms of honest, honest of all the things from the past now? Are we mostly there? Like everything's kind of been- We're pretty much there. Pretty much everything is on the table. honest of all the things from the past now? Are we mostly there? Everything's kind of been. We're pretty much there.

Pretty much everything is on the table. Yeah, I mean, there's some things that just don't need to be told. Yeah. It's not like I'm avoiding telling them. They just don't need to be told. You don't need to volunteer it, yeah. There was one time where my dad,

where me and my boys, my dad had a wine fridge, like a wine cellar, I guess. Yeah. And we are teenagers, and dad had like a like a wine fridge, like a wine cellar I guess. Yeah. And like we are teenagers and so like we took a couple of his bottles of wine. He was like, hey, there's some wine missing. Uh-oh. Got the receipt. What's going on? I was just like, I don't know. I don't know. Did you bring them in the house? Did you make sure they got home? He's like, he's like, I know they got home. Where are they at? And I was just like, I don't know. And he's just like, all right, well, I guess this wasn't you this time,

but if they go missing again, you're grounded for a month. Oh, that's a good dad right there. Yeah, it was like- Cause he knew you were fucking lying. And he smelled that shit. What, are you kidding me? Yeah. Were no other brothers,

like anybody in the house at the time? By the time I got to high school, all my brothers had left for college. I was the youngest. You were the one. And during freshman year, my other brothers were gone. My other brothers were also less volatile compared to me. They were not quite as big of troublemakers. What's up GC? What's up Greg? What's up Frank?

What's up bro? I'm calling Drake, what's up Frank. What's up bro. I'm calling from Miami, Florida. Shout out. 305. Should have practiced what I was going to say a little better. Disregard this message and I will try again. But honestly didn't think the phone number was going to work. All good stuff. See you at the top. See you at the top brother.

Shout out to Miami. That number right there on the bottom, that works. Oh it works. Call us. It's real, it's legit. Hello boys in the back and everybody listening this is Matthew from Seattle and I'm calling with a quick question and then an important message for the team. The question I have is how do you guys know and how do you navigate when Ariel knows something that he's not allowed to talk about? So for example, when he was kind of hinting at TKO boxing becoming extinct during the Jake Paul Canelo saga, he wasn't explicitly saying that it was going to exist and then fast forward a little bit and you know the announcement comes out

So you must have known about it ahead of time, but he can't talk about so I'm just curious how you guys navigate that and how you can tell and Then the message I have is that Lord of the Rings fucking rules. Yes He's gonna say sucks kick rock My man, he knows what's up. He knows ball. How do we navigate it?

We don't really, we don't really have to do any sort of navigation, that's really on him on like what he discloses to the public. How do we know? I mean, he typically will tell us stuff and like it's never our place to tell it. Yeah, if he's asking how can you know, like they wanna figure out the sauce.

So if he blinks yeah We know something. Oh, how would you know how would they know? No, there's no way to know they're trying to get Feels confident in something it's it's usually right well That's the thing like as you can imagine we don't know a fraction of what Ariel knows in this business He has all the connections. He's doing all that we are not journalists in that regard like we are not looking and talking to managers and talking to athletes and talking to sources and all those things. That's his realm and his domain. We don't know a fraction

of those things. If there are certain things that like it would benefit our job to, for him to fill us in on, and we can like be better prepared, he'll do it. If it's something that's vaulted, he would never break anybody's trust. And he keeps that in and he, and he keeps that secret. So it's like one of those things that he navigates and manages that and manages those relationships and we're just, you

know, his support on stuff like that. But yeah, we don't do that role so we're not really like in that position or space often. Yeah, I mean there literally are times where he's breaking news on the show and it's getting broken to us. We're like, oh shit, all right. Or like a good line up. That relationship and that trust that he has with his sources, that he has with the people he talks to and things like that,

that's very like secret and so he's the best in the business and has done it forever. And so it's one of those things that like, if it's vaulted, he's got it in the vault. And if it's not, we know about it. And, but to Connor's point, if you're a smart fan out there, when Ariel is saying something,

it's worth paying attention to. He knows things. He's been in this business a long time. He has a lot of relationships. When Ariel Helwani says something, pay attention to what he's saying Andy the only question I got for you is The Leones or Magallanes, I'm not. The only thing, that is the only important thing

that I want to know from this show. Second thing, quick and to the point, awesome show, awesome content, Frank, your lists are a little sus sometimes, Rick, your lists are definitely sus sometimes, Connor, no complaints brother, did you do the good work? Oh, that was Connor, no complaints brother. Continue the good work. Oh, that was it, that ended abruptly.

Andy, what's the answer? So, okay, for context, Leones and Magallanes are baseball teams in Venezuela. Oh, shit, okay. So this is like, I love hearing this. So I'm a city girl, I'm Caraqueña, so Leones all the way, baby. This is incredible.

Yeah, yeah, I love that shout. Who's better right now? Who's doing better in this moment? Couldn't tell you. Wow, been swimming baseball in the come up. Him calling me Gorgonzola Cigarette for GC is, that is a real fan right there. That guy has been around for a minute.

Shout out, MMA Panda. All right, what's up guys the boys in the back this is your boy Pedro from Shite Time sending much love love the show huge fan appreciate you I've actually been watching Ariel's content since like 2017 ish I must admit at first New York rig I don't remember what it was the take that he had on a certain topic I disagree with so much burritos I said I could even I wish I could remember what it was but nonetheless Fast-forward to today, New York great. Love the guy

amazing takes on everything He brings black characters to the show knowledge that good stuff Frank awkwardly just cool as fuck knowledge that good stuff Frank awkwardly just cool as fuck chemistry shout out Ariel you guys are my second favorite show right behind the era of the show. The boys in the back where I'm more than once a week and stand right now it may not be possible. Maybe maybe in the future that'll be possible. Real quick quick quick question. If and when UFC comes back to Chicago,

would you guys be willing to come out here? Have you been to Chicago? One, and two, would you be willing to come out here and do a meet and greet? We'd love to get a picture with the boys in the back. Ariel, of course, as well. Much love, guys. Appreciate the message.

A, been to Chicago, love it, great. Been to a White Sox game. Don't need to go to Wrigley, been to a White Sox game. B, would we go for Chicago? I feel like at this point, UFC Chicago is gonna be so legendary that they got an event back in their city. Like it has literally been years of Chicagoans?

Chicagoans, yeah. Chicagoans? Chicagoans. Chicagoans, people from Chicago that have been like, when are we getting UFC Chicago? When are we getting UFC Chicago? I would go back just for that, as long as it's in a warm month. January, I'm not going.

I went to the last one or not the, was it the last one? I don't know, I went to the Cejudo Marias one, which maybe was the last pay-per-view, I don't know if it was the last event there, but I've been to Chicago many times. One of my great friends, shout out Tessa Hirsch, is from Chicago. I would definitely go to Chicago. It's a beautiful, you know, diet New York. It's a nice little quaint fake New York.

And it's quite nice. Wow, quaint. Tiny, tiny little baby mini almost New York Those chicos de atrás Frankie name Gonzalo from Puerto Rico Listener watcher all of it. I got one question for your boys and one good one all this bud Islam Ilia Charles what is going on for International boys and one good one. All this buzz, Islam, Ilia, Charles, what is going on for International Fight Week?

No, boys, no, no, it's not Ilia, it's not Islam, heck, it's not even John Jones. Someone get the damn Avram bike, put it in the middle of the cage, let's get DC, let's get John Brady in there. International Fight Week, let's just have him fight in the middle of the octagon. Who the best man in the world is.

Let's go. Oh, the fans would, that was a great message by the way. What a promo. That was fucking tremendous from, from beginning to end the Spanish into English. That was shout out to Puerto Rico on that one. Um, yeah, I think the fans would love that. I don't think we would get booed at all.

I don't think people would be like, what the fuck is this? I don't think Averon would be like, is Goron back? Yeah, is Goron back and he's biking? Great idea, I support it wholeheartedly. That's great. Hey boys in the back, this is Trey from South Dakota.

Oh shout out to South Dakota. Frank, I normally am hating on you. G-C you're obviously the greatest. But after finding out that New York Rick is one of the Melee sayers, poof, the hierarchy is changing. What are you, Melee? Yeah, Melee.

Ugh, Reese's Reese's? Love you guys though. Reese's. But seriously, maybe Pee-Pee should replace New York Rick. Ah, come on. He's got his own show, he's got his own show. I don't get mentioned and then I get shit on and replaced by T-T.

I'm actually with him, yeah, I'm big melee and- Melee, melee. Melee, yeah. I'm also Reese's over Reese's. Yeah, Reese's. Frank, Reese's or Reese's? Yeah. Oh, you fucking opt it out.

Pop culture question for ya. Who do y'all got? One silverback gorilla versus 33 New York Ricks, 33 mysterious Franks, 33 GCs, and one Jocelyn Edwards. Who the fuck is winning that fight? All right, thanks much. When he said one and then he started J, I thought he was gonna say John Jones. One Jocelyn Edwards, the way she looked last week, the gorillas fucked.

She's gonna take it out, yeah. The gorilla is fucked. I think we're fucked in that one. I think we're fucked just because we're just like such gangly armed Biebs that the gorillas running right through us. But like I feel strongly that if you gave like a hundred real solid men, like that had some like strength and fighting capability, that that's just too many men for one animal.

That is like the equivalent size of us. Like I get he's bigger, but like six feet. I know he's muscular, but like you just would, you're getting casualties, you're getting injuries. You just have to hoard them until you can get all four limbs down. Once all four limbs are down, it's go time. You're choking them out. You're clawing his eyes out. You're taking his teeth out and stabbing

them with it. It's getting nasty. Wow. You're getting, you're getting me. I was thinking about this. I also am with you. I believe the hundred men win and I believe the overwhelming volume of how much pressure

they can put on the gorillas will win. But I was thinking you're going to have to really prep and those men are going to have to be trained to be like animal I was thinking you're going to have to really prep and those men are going to have to be trained to be like animalistic. Like they're going to have to fight like a gorilla. That's the thing. 33 New York Ricks, 33 GCs, 33 mysterious Franks and one Jocelyn Edwards. Jocelyn Edwards has the most brass balls out of any of us.

She's the one making the walks of the octagon. Frank's going to be like, Hey guys, I'm not going to be able to make it to the octagon, Frank's gonna be like, hey guys, I'm not gonna, He's not showing, those 33 are not his. I was gonna say, I was like, I'm not gonna be able to make it to the gorilla fight today, so it's just gonna be the 67 of y'all. And then, I don't know, we start running at the gorilla and I see one of me ripped up, I'm like, maybe we shouldn't do this, guys, what are we trying to prove here?

I'll tell you what, if that gorilla got on a fucking bike, you're gonna kick his ass, I'll tell you that. Let's get the fucking gorilla on a bike, the stupid animal with it, he wouldn't even know how to pedal, I'll smoke you what, if that gorilla got on a fucking bike, you're gonna kick his ass, I'll tell you that. Let's get the fucking gorilla on a bike, the stupid animal, he wouldn't even know how to pedal, I'll smoke his ass. Sup boys, the crack super fan, Sean Plant, calling it from Austin, Texas. Shout out to the crack.

Would y'all ever do a collab episode where like it's the boys in the back, but then y'all get fucking like PC and Chuck in studio, if there's ever like a card in New York or something where everyone's in town for it, that would fucking do absolute numbers. Like, holy fuck. Alright, thanks boys, bye. A little crossover episode. We do the boys in the back green, we throw a clover on there. It's like back in the day when you got like Jimmy Neutron and Fairly Oddparents crossing over. I was gonna go like Saved by the Bell and Fresh Prince or whatever the fuck from that era. Showing your age, yeah, yeah.

But yeah, crossover universe episode, I'm down for that. Okay, I think that could be fun, but what if we just hosted each other shows? Oh, we'd be the crack. What if Pizzi and Chuck did the boys in the back and we did the crack? I don't know how it would be any different, but I'm down for that. No, we would just do like more of their style.

Like their style is like, the crack is more, okay, here's topic, conversation, bring this in. What? Pizzi coming, potentially coming maybe for the KTHL right? The boys in the crack. The boys in the crack, that's the crossover. Actually, sorry, that doesn't sound great.

The boys in the crack does not. The boys, it's better written. It's better, yeah, yeah, that's probably. Drop the I right there, boys in, that would still be boys in the crack does not, the boys, it's better written. The boys and the crack. It's better, yeah, yeah, that's probably. Drop the I right there, boys in, that would still be boys in the crack. I'm game for boys in the crack. I'm down, boys on crack. There we go, that's it.

But then we'd have to actually spell crack before it. Now you're talking numbers. If we did boys on crack, that'd be incredible. The boy walks in here and just. Yeah, what's up, what's up lads? I can't get behind the boys in the crack I'm sorry crack your back no I'm saying boys in the crack but it's obviously spelled CR a cracked back would be them hosting ours boys on crack would be us hosting theirs the biggest absolute no-brainer is the boys in the baku and

But yeah, I'm so down for a crossover that be so should we on the ahead of this Ovin This is your advance warning should the should the thumb for the baku event be? We make the logo the boys in the I'm actually thinking about making this logo right here the boys in the baku Yeah, and like everything is yeah, Azerbaijan II. I can't wait for that card, it's gonna be great. Hi there, boys. This is Connie Boyzen, mayor of Des Moines, Iowa. I just wanted to formally invite you boys down and to see if GC would like to receive the key to the city from me.

Also, mysterious Frank, if you could have my husband back on Xbox, he would really appreciate that. Alright, boy. Thank you. Connie Boyzen. Connie Boyzen is actually the name of the mayor of Des Moines. You need to add her husband back, dude. Or I'm not gonna get to the key to the city. I'll see what I can do. The Frank video game add me thing is just killing me every time. Frank Have you added any like new people? I do not have an Xbox

That's even better Boys in the back, you know who it is double D. Yes funny Reaction to the show last week, you know somebody who's got my name ahead of me on Twitter likes to pretend that he's me. I gave a big shout out to what he called an impression. It's funny stuff, you know, and we appreciate the positive headlines. Anyway, wanted to circle back to what's going on the PSL. Of course, this will be airing Thursday.

Tune in 730 Eastern. Phil Davis versus Rob Wilkinson the main event and As far as what's to come, you know, Eddie Hull's talking about how scared he is of Francis and Ganyu and We just want to say we understand, you know Francis is the Baddest man on the planet Eddie is the strongest man on the planet. So here's what we're offering. An open weight tournament that Eddie Hall can join. We can get Dylan Danis in there.

We can get Francis Ngannou in there. We can get, you know, who do you guys want to see? That's what I'm calling in. Those are the three. Who else would you like to see in PSL's first open weight world tournament? Shout out to Donny D. Shout out Don Davis.

We always appreciate the support of President Don, or Chairman Don. Shout out Don Davis. Even the plug for the light heavyweight card today. Nailed it. Nailed it. Phil Davis, Rob Wilkinson. Who do I want to see? I don't know.

It's actually Don Davis. At this point, we're going to get a call from Don Davis, and we're not going to know that it's not Don. That it's not the impersonator. I don't know. Throw Dakota in there? Dakota versus Francis? Yeah. Dakota, Francis, and Eddie Hall, Dylan Danis in the first round. Dakota versus Eddie Hall could be incredible.

Open weight. Open weight tournaments were the thing that I wish I had back and wish I never saw again, simultaneously. Because they're crazy, but at the same time, it's like such a spectacle. Eddie Hall is making spectacles fun again, which I can appreciate. Hey, Eric, my cinema man. what do you think of Sinners? You catch it? You see it yet?

Yes, I've seen Sinners. I also saw it. Didn't know it was a vampire movie. That's my favorite part. I thought it was good. Very entertaining. Michael Jordan kills it. He makes you believe that he's actually two different people yeah he was time filled shout out Kugler and and Michael B Jordan together is like an unmissable combo at the moment really liked it thought the performances were fantastic like the story great visuals gonna stick with me what did did I say B plus? No, what did I say? You said like a point five out of ten. Yeah seven point five out of ten Frank did you see it?

No, I was planning on seeing it not yet. All right After watching this This episode was a Wednesday of 30th of April. Rampage is talking about streaming. I was thinking what if you live stream Fight Feast? Livestream Fight Feast? Oh, Livestream Fight Feast. That'd be tough. Actually, no, it wouldn't.

We'd just sit there and eat. Easier. It would just, yeah, it would be way easier. The editor on there, it can be a bitch, but, uh, yeah, I mean, that would be fun. One week, maybe like International Fight Week, I don't know. Should we, maybe there is something we can do live stream though, maybe there is a way.

I don't think it's walking through college bars and getting into fights with people, but maybe there's a way we can do something live stream beyond like just, you know, sitting in the studio YouTube thing, but we'll think about it. Is that it? Super Chats. Is that it? Super chats! So we got Corbin.

What's the opinions on throwing a slap in MMA? Is it funny? Disrespectful? A good goading tactic? A sign of dominance? Does it do significant damage? I think everything but the last one. Yeah, it's funny. It's funny, you're goading your opponent. If you're dominating them and then you slap them, yeah.

Yeah, I'm fine with it. Yeah, the Diaz brothers made that Stockton slap famous. Cody, what's up boys? Big fan of the show from Des Moines. Hope to see y'all there. Are y'all doing a meet and greet? I recommend stopping by Bebop's to eat during the fight feast. It's our favorite spot to grab a burger.

All right, Bebop's, let's go. Bebop's might be the one, the Slim Chickens that he offered up earlier was not great. I think he was saying maybe Slim Chickens like not related to Des Moines, like he'll just take us there. Oh, okay. Bebop's also a chain, but maybe we'll just have

to grab a burger and a shake there and see what's good. It's just about getting that Des Moines experience and their headquarters are in Des Moines. Will we do a meet and greet? We'll just be around. We'll be around. See us come meet and greet. We're always down to say what's good.

When you see the line forming around the block and we've got a hundred deep, like, you'll know. Know that that's not us. No, no, that is us. Old man Dave. Hey boys Do you mind if the fans of the show bother you for a picture opportunity on Saturday night? You are not bothering opposite we we appreciate the fuck out of y'all even watching this and letting us Get the chance to do this. So we we owe you that if you even want one with us. Yes, please come say what's up

El Torito boys in the back, can you confirm or deny once and for all, are you guys going to do a live show from Vegas on International Fight Week? Question mark, question mark, question mark. Cannot confirm live show, also cannot confirm we're gonna be there, but it's looking very, very good that we are going to be there. There is a very high chance.

I'm very much looking forward to it. Yeah, we're trying to figure things out now. But it is trending in the very positive direction that we will be in Vegas for International Fight Week. And lastly, Andres says, voicemails is my favorite segment. Starting to look forward to it each week. Us too.

You're telling me. Us too, Andres. We appreciate the Super Chat and we appreciate the voicemails. It's kind of just like 45 minutes of us just getting the bullshit. And some of these are hilarious. Yeah, you guys are killing it.

One more time, that number is 415. SUP B-I-T-B, give us a call. Super Chat, whatever, we love talking to you guys. So yes, if you see us on Saturday, let us know. That it? That was it, but I wanna say, shout out counter, 57. Shout out counter counter 57. God damn that's a lot. That is a lot. Shout out to the shout out counter that's a lot. BoojowPaka just added in at the last minute for 499 he said that Don unironically promotes PFL better than the real Don. That is the real Don.

That Don does promote PFL well. ChewDog asked if I'll go to UFCX if we're out there? Yes that's been my dream for years to go to UFC X. I don't even know what it is, but I will be in attendance. All right, Super Chat's answered, voicemail's answered. Betts, Des Moines, Malcolm Wellmaker, what a guy he is. That is the boy right there. Hopefully we will get to support him on UFC Atlanta in about a month and a half's time.

That's gonna be incredible. We gotta go catch half's time. That's going to be incredible. We gotta go catch a flight! We gotta get out to the Midwest, we gotta get to Des Moines, the Quad Cities, the cornfields, the home of Tony Hawk's Boom Boom Hawk Jam, Saturday! We will be there! Watch the crack tomorrow! Watch the Helwani Show on Monday where we'll recap it all! Peace. See you guys later!