The Ariel Helwani Show - UFC Mexico City preview, Who's next for Islam Makhachev? | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

The Boys in the Back try to untangle the log jam at the top of the UFC's lightweight division (03:12), including who's going to be next for Islam Makhachev? Then they dive deep on UFC Mexico City, starting with the main event between Brandon Moreno and Steve Erceg (27:58), before moving on to the co-main event (53:29) and Kelvin Gastelum vs. Joe Pyfer (1:01:47).Plus, the Parlay Pals make picks (1:27:19), list their P4P Mexican dishes (1:40:00), and Super Chats (2:01:14).EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/uncrowned Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

B-b-b-boys in the back. B-b-b-boys, boys, boys, boys, boys. What is good? Welcome in to another episode of Boys in the Back, or should I say, Bienvenido a la nueva episode de los Chicos de Atras. That's as close as I can get to my Spanish for the Boys in the back. It's a tough drop.

Andy, how did he do? I'm so impressed. Oh. I needed an episode there. Los Chicos de Atras, correct? De atras, si muy bien. Wow, con or? I'm practicing.

Con or, muy bien. I'm practicing. Obviously Andy, fluent in Spanish, me not so much. You know sprinkle a little in there in honor of UFC Mexico City this weekend. Which we will get into for that I am one of your hosts. Half of the boys in the back, Connor Burks, join alongside me as always. And the myth, the legend, look at that. You got to get the pose in. Can you even do an episode without the pose? It's become his signature. It's become his signature. It's become his signature.

Maybe one day a fighter instead of one of these after a knockout will hit the, look at this. It's a beautiful spring day here in New York City. I mean, look at that. Where else would you rather be than with a window to look out on a beautiful spring day? Yeah, I realized I looked fake yesterday. Does it look real today or what?

I thought that was a rainbow for a second. That's actually just a crane. That really would have been something if there was a rainbow. It's a New York rainbow. Exactly, New York rainbow. Frankie, how we doing back there, man? Yeah, how you doing, Frankie? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm feeling good. Last Thursday of March, we trudged forward

all along with the spring into April next week, and what a way to end it with UFC Mexico City. We're getting into the months you really enjoy. We're getting into the months that are the enjoyable ones. It's getting darker later, it's getting warmer out. Almost, almost time to shed the jacket. Yeah. Not quite there yet, still a little bit of chill

in the air here in New York City. But we're getting there, we're getting there. I'm excited about it, jump in the pool. Oh, you have a pool out there in Amityville, that's nice for you. Times are tough, times are tough. We got a pool, we'll open it maybe in May, and you guys come over.

I'll be there. Open invitation. I'm down, I'll drive, I'll pick up Jordan on the, on air, Jordan guys come over. I'll be there. I'm down. I'll drive. I'll pick up Jordan on the on-air Jordan on the way. I've made this invitation many times, and nobody's ever taken me up on it. Frank, literally, like in my neighborhood, we went to see Action Bronson.

In my neighborhood, hey, why don't you come back to the house, see the family, see the house. Got to get home. I got to go. Sorry, can't be bothered. It's like an infirmary there. I didn't want to see all this All the victims of the Jackman flu on air Jordan is the only one who's been to my house

And he's been complaining about stomach issues this week Jordan has been yeah Not in this control room Wow look at that Getting beamed up Frank you a big swimmer Is that your secret, Frank? Not in this control room. Oh, yeah. With a blue light. Yeah. Wow, look at that. So it looks like you're getting beamed up. Frank, you a big swimmer? Huge.

Yeah, I feel like you're hitting the backstroke at the pool. Huge swimmer, yeah, exactly. I feel like you're ripping a backstroke. All right, we can talk about that in the summer. We can talk about our plans to go out to the pool in Amityville in the summer. This weekend, we got UFC Mexico City. We'll preview that.

Pound for pound, best Mexican dishes. I think this one's gonna get a little bit contentious. I think this one's gonna get a little bit heated. We'll do bets, we'll do parley pals, we'll do all of that. Before we dive into Mexico City, wanted to talk a little bit about the Lightweight Division, the upper echelon of the Lightweight Division. Obviously, Charles Olvera joined the Ariel Hawani show

yesterday, had a lot of things to say. So he's going after Islam, obviously he wants the belt. So like, he's going after Islam, obviously he wants the belt, Justin Gaethje's going after Islam, he wants the belt, Eli is going after Islam, but now he's saying, well you know, maybe it might be Islam or Charles. Everybody's chirping. Desemporé is going for a legend, he won't say who it is, Dan Hooker's got to come back from an injury at some point. Justin Gaethje. The top of the lightweight division is in disarray. So wanted to bring a little bit of order to it. Look into our crystal ball and see what we think is gonna happen. But

wanted to kind of get an order in our head of what's happening essentially all in March. It's been the month of March that the top lightweights in the world have been hopping on Twitter. It feels like Ilya vacating was like the inciting incident. Like Ilya vacating was now like the, okay, where do I stand in the picture? Because clearly they see a new contender entering the picture. Justin Gaethje gets a big win over Rafael Fazeev. Now it's like, okay, how does this all shake out?

Let's start riving through some of these. We have some tweets, we have some quote cards, we have some videos. So Ilya, this is after he had moved up to lightweight, he had vacated the featherweight belt. He said, when we announce it, you won't believe it. Get ready. It is now three weeks since that tweet.

We have heard nothing. And he has actually deescalated from, I am not only the champion, I'm not only gonna fight for the belt, but I am already the champion of this division, to it's either gonna be Islam or it's gonna be Charles. They're both scared to fight me. We'll see what happens. So I'm not sure he's as concrete on that anymore.

Is there any chance like Alex Pereira's, it won't be Magomed that we've misread this, that this was something else, that it was the street sign, the street named after him in Spain, that it was the changing of the nickname to the legend? When we announced the name of the new street in Toledo, Spain, you simply won't believe it.

He just left out that part of it. What could this possibly, the part that drives me nuts about that tweet is like, no, I'd believe it. There's not one that I wouldn't believe. I think we said it when this tweet came out. I think the only one that I would be stunned would be him versus Conor McFerrin in Spain.

That's where I would be like, holy shit, I actually would not believe this. All right, we roll along with the tweets and the videos. Then Justin Gaethje, this is after beating Rafael Faziv, Rafael Faziv at UFC 313, he said, I won three of my last four, only losing in an exhibition fight, referring to the Max Holloway BMF belt very

much a real fight. I have to fight for the belt at Dana White. I am ready. So he's Justin Gagey now staking his claim that he has to fight for the belt. We got Ilya for sure feeling like he has to fight for a title. Although as you said, like maybe he's backtracked off that, but feeling like he has to fight for a title. He vacated. He has a great claim to it. Justin Gagey, big win over Rafael Faziv, has won three of his last four, the defeat coming to that Max Holloway, feeling like he has a claim to it. So now we've got at least two guys who are like, I'm next. I'm the next guy in line. We move on. Now we've got Charles Oliveira weighing in. Charles, I'm looking for the title and today's champion is Islam Makachev.

Tupori is a very tough guy, but right now I don't see it as a big fight. So Charles is like throwing water on the idea of Ilya Toporya being a big fight for him. I don't necessarily agree with that. To me that's ludicrous. I think Ilya Toporya versus Charles Olivaire is a massive fight. Huge fight. Especially if you put number one contendership status on it. This guy will be fighting for the title next. Outside of Islam, Charles is the biggest name in that division, right? Do you disagree? Like Charles is the number two guy.

I would actually say the three biggest names in the division are Islam, Charles, Ilya. Yeah, there you go. So I feel like that would be a huge fight. Respect to Armin Tsarukin, who I think might be the rightful number one contender, or like the second best in the division potentially. I mean he beat Charles but I do feel like Charles is like the biggest name.

Oh of course and here he says, this is Armin Tsurukian saying, I'm the true number one contender ready to prove it against anyone but how am I supposed to do that when everyone else just wants to fight on paper? Charles, Justin, you can sit and wait or you can step up and earn it. No mention of Ili in that one but he's essentially being like Charles, Justin, you guys keep talking wait or you can step up and earn it. No mention of Ili in that one, but he's essentially being like, Charles, Justin, you guys keep talking about wanting to fight for the title. Well, I had the title fight, then I lost it obviously

because of the weigh-in issues and the injury before UFC 311 back in January. He's willing to take a number one contender fight to earn his way back to the title shot. This is what I love so much about that, is that Armand's like, okay, I see all you saying you deserve a title shot. I had a title shot, I lost it, I wanna prove it,

give me any of these guys. I'll earn it. I'll earn it back. I like that, and I think that's a good strategy because all these guys are gonna be clamoring for a title shot, they're not all gonna get it. One person's gonna get the shot, and then you got everybody else out there Armand's

like give me any of them and I will get the next opportunity so I like that I like the way he's playing it although it sucks because I freaking would love to see Islam versus Armand that's the one I really want if I'm being completely honest I don't think we're gonna get it just no we're not Dana White is how

upset Dana was very clear what else do we have? There's a lot more here. This is on the same day as Armin tweeting it, Ilya says, Charles, it's better if you stay quiet. You have 10 losses, five by knockout, four by submission and one by decision. You are the contender while I am the champion.

The father of the entire division hasn't even fought at Whiteway yet. I haven't come here to ask anything. Here, I am the one in charge. He's incredible. So Ilya, this is what this is five days ago at this point, and he's saying I'm the father of this division.

I'm the one that makes the calls. I'm down Charles. Yeah. It's the, the Sopranos. I'm the MF for the calls, the MF and shots. Yeah. Uh, I don't know if that's the case though, because then yesterday we saw, I think we have the quote card for it,

I know it might be going out of order, but then yesterday I believe we saw Ilya say, all my training is really focused on Islam or Charles, because I don't see any other opponents, neither of them seem to dare to fight me. Yeah, I believe that was either earlier today or yesterday, but the idea of Ilya T Toporya not fighting for the title immediately is starting to become more real in my mind like the the idea of

that because when he first vacated I thought surely he's got some kind of agreement here but the longer this kind of continues to go on it feels like maybe not I don't know like I know Islam June would make sense to come back right international fight week you do Islam versus Ilija be a massive fight but we're now March 27 four days away from the clock turn the calendar turning over to April I think we might be three months

on the dot away from International Fight Week it's getting tight to be able to say like definitively especially if you're Ilija who has to move to a new weight class now certainly easier to move up and down potentially but if you're Ilya who has to move to a new weight class. Now certainly easier to move up than down potentially, but you have to put on some size. You have to get ready for a guy who's going to be a hell of a tough challenge in Islam Makachev.

I feel like we might be running out of time. Like maybe maybe just based on the timeline, it is not Ilya Toporya. Maybe he needs more time and later in the calendar year it will happen. But maybe it is a Charles. Maybe he is also opening himself up to that idea. I'm not sure, I imagine the UFC would want to do Ilya versus Islam, but maybe the schedules will just not work.

Yeah, yesterday on the show, Charles had this to say in terms of the lightweight picture. One other name I wanted to ask you about, because it seemed like some people thought maybe it would be you and Armin, Armin Tsurukian in a a rematch you fought at UFC 300. Is that a fight that interests you? Would you like to get that one back? Did you already have a person mentioning Armin? You fought in UFC 300. Would you be interested in revisiting this fight? No, not at this moment. As I told you, I respect him a lot.

He's a great fighter, but I'm looking for a title. So, it's no use wanting to fight for the title. That's that's the fight that I want. I want to fight for the title. That's it All right Sounds like Charles has no interest in a rematch with Armand Sarugen despite him losing that fight at UFC 300 and Armand also saying Give me Charles. Give me Justin. I'll take them. No problem Charles basically saying yeah, I'm not interested that um Do we also have Charles on Ilya Toporia? Yeah, I think there was a quote cloud or something like that Maybe not. But either way, Charles seemed potentially interested

in the idea of Ilya Teporia, but like, this whole thing, the whole thing that is kind of playing out and shaking out here, does have me wondering how this picture is gonna play out, because everybody seems to have some kind of stake or feel like they have some kind of claim for it, but ultimately, as we said, one person is going to get this shot I imagine that Ilya is in the driver's seat

But I can't stress enough and I continue to beat this drum. It will depend on the schedule It will depend on if on that date that they need you to fight against Islam Can you show up and can you make the way then can you be ready to fight? All right So looking at the rankings, Armand is one and I know these really don't mean anything at all comes down to what the promotion decides. Well, especially because we know it won't be Armand,

which is crazy. Here you can see on the screen right now, Armand Sarukian won, Charles Olivera two, Justin Gaethje three, Max Holloway four, Dustin Poirier five, Dan Hooker six. I would say the cutoff is Justin Gaethje. And then you throw Ilya into the picture as well, because he moved up to lightweight.

As real contenders to get the next lightweight title shot that have an actual chance. I don't think Max Holloway has a snowball's chance in hell of getting it. I don't think Dustin Poirier does. And I don't think Dan Hooker does. What do you have to say? Dustin Poirier?

Let's just, let's just set aside. We think that Dustin and Max are on a collision course, and personally, that's the fight I want. But if- That's the fight that I need. I mean, God. And Dustin's been beating that drum for the Louisiana. If he gets in hometown, Max Holloway rematch, I mean, it'll be magical.

But I don't think it's out of the question if we saw a world where everybody else couldn't make it or they booked them against each other and Dustin could slide in there. Dustin gave Islam a tremendous fight and I wouldn't be opposed to seeing him run it back. I do think the UFC has other plans for Dustin. I think Dustin potentially has other plans.

But I don't think if there was a list, and even if Dustin's at the bottom, I do think he's on the list. So I'll put Dustin there. I'm gonna make him the last number. I'm gonna go out on a ledge, I'm saying 0% chance. No chance at all. He's two and three in his last five

coming off of a loss to the Islam army. One of them is a really good fight with Islam. Yeah, I understand that, but I also don't think he wants to run it back. I think he really does just have one last chance at him. He wants to do it in New Orleans, and he wants to do it against a guy like fight with Islam. Yeah, I understand that, but I also don't think he wants to run it back. I think he really does just have one last chance at him. He wants to do it in New Orleans and he wants to do it against a guy like Max Holloway. I also just think that the list is long enough

that you will get someone. I think they would go to Armand, despite being very upset with him about UFC 311. I think they would go to Armand before they would go to Dustin Poirier again. And then I think one of them, Justin Gaethje, Ilya Deporia, Charles Oliveira, would step up before they would need to go to Dustin.

Yeah, it's one of those things where somebody of that list that you outline is probably gonna be willing, even if they're not 100% ready, to just step in there because they know that it's the opportunity that they can't pass up. So you're probably right, but I just want to be totally honest. I don't know the behind the scenes. I don't know within his camp, but I just feel like Ilya

or Charles, if they offer them the title shot, they will take it. No matter what. Yeah, I think they're just ready to go. I think that's a dicey proposition for Ilya. You should really be ready for this challenge that's coming. For Charles, it's kind of a no-loss situation, right? You were ready to step in the last time

they called your number when somebody fell out and you were ready to take that opportunity. Charles would probably take it and he already has that loss to Islam. Nothing to lose, right? You get another opportunity. But for Ilya, I think the stakes are a little bit higher. You wanna be ready for that.

All right, so of those four, of those top six, let's take it all the way down to Dan Hooker. Yeah. Dan Hooker's out there. Dan Hooker's out there, title shot. No, but. Let's say of those four, Ilya, Charles, Armin, Gaethje, power rank them in terms of likelihood that they're next. Who's gonna get it?

Ilya, Charles. Same. Armin and Gaethje just because the way the promotion is talking and the way that Armin is talking. Yeah, but I think you raised a really good point, which is as you get further down that list, you start to stretch the credibility, and you start to go, does Justin Gaethje really deserve a title shot? Or is Armin, the guy who was about to fight for the title, swallow the pride, hey, he had a bad one,

we're gonna give him another opportunity, and they put him in there? I think ultimately they would come to their senses before they get to Gagey. That's my sense. I think he has the worst case, Justin Gagey. All right, so now do them all. Matchmake that top, matchmake the top six of lightweight.

Islam, Ilya, Charles, Charles. Charles. Charles Gaetel? Charles Armand makes so much sense. Why is Charles so resistant to it? Charles Armand. Charles Armand. Gaetje hooker, just run that back for now. And then Poirier versus Holloway. Poirier versus Holloway. Yeah, I think I'm gonna go with the same thing but I'm not confident in all that breaking down. Charles's resistance to the Armin thing is interesting to me and that's kind of

like the the linchpin of all of it. Alright, so I wonder if his resistance will subside if he doesn't get the title shot That's if they get you if they give Ilia the title shot Will he be more willing to fight Armin for a number one contender? Well, it seems like if you if that happens, right that is a no-doubt no-brainer number one contender fight Yeah, as it was last time by the way, which then ended up with Armin's title opportunity Because if they go to the table with Charles Oliver and they're just like, hey man,

Ilya's gonna fight for the title at International Fight Week against Islam Makashev, and we're going to give you a number one contender fight against Armin Sarukyan. And Charles is like, nope, I'm not gonna do it. And it's like, well, then we're gonna give this to Justin. Justin will fight Armin, and that will be the number one contender fight.

Yeah, you'd have to step in if you're Charles. I do wonder if he's trying to manipulate the situation to just be like, I either wait for the title or give me Justin, right? Somebody who he knows that he has a better opportunity against as opposed to somebody in Armin who beat him and he's like, ah, I could be the number one contender regardless. It's going to be fascinating to see who like calls, who's bluff, how this ultimately plays out. Really most fascinating to me is almost like beyond the Islam part, that's obviously going to. Really most fascinating to me is almost like, beyond the Islam part, that's obviously gonna be the most fascinating.

If Ilya fights Islam, that's gonna be the most interesting. But is, who is Armin going to fight? That's the most interesting part to me, because it's like, this guy, who is the clear number one contender, who lost the opportunity, is like, all right, I'm gonna humble myself, I mess this up, give me anybody who will just keep me one away, I wonder who that will ultimately be.

Yeah, he just wants a fight. Imagine if it is Charles versus Justin, and it's Armand versus Dan Hooker. If it gets him a title, I don't think he cares. I don't think he cares either, and I definitely don't think Dan Hooker cares, because that would potentially get him a title shot. What if it was Charles versus Hooker?

What if it was like, we're just gonna give a fun scrap to Charles and Armin versus Justin Gaethje is a number one contender? Now if you're Charles, I don't know if you love that, I don't know if you're signing up for that. I don't think he does. Or do you just sit out? I don't know, this is the thing,

it seems like no matter how many times we do this permutation, there's kind of one odd man out in each scenario. There's one guy who doesn't really get what they want Who's gonna be the guy that doesn't get what they want? Yeah, I think there's gonna be more than one that doesn't get what they want Well, no, I mean in all these scenarios we've laid out everybody kind of gets what they want except one person right in the in the Islam versus Ilya and Charles versus Armin Gaetji kind of doesn't get what he wants, right?

Cause now he's in a battle with Hooker, who was the guy he was supposed to fight already. He's no closer to the title opportunity. Honestly, I think whoever gets the title, the other two of Charles, Gagey and Ilya will be salty and not be getting what they want. Yeah. If they fight each other and then the next opportunities

there, only two of them can do that. And then there's one more. I feel like we just sign the bout agreement, book out the smoothie king center down in New Orleans, and just tie off Holloway and Poirier and put them to the side. Yeah, get them out of the picture. And then figure out the rest from there.

I would love nothing more because that's the fight I want. To be in that war room would be quite fun. I mean, lightweight is just as stacked as it gets at the top. The other thing we don't know, and we talked about this early, but it's important to reintroduce into the conversation, is like, who knows who's healthy right now, right? Justin Gaethje just fought, was in a pretty brutal fight

with Rafael Faziv. Maybe he's not going to come back anytime soon, or maybe Armand's still nursing the back. Who knows what he's going to do? And Gaethje isn't a typical, he's not really the back. Who knows what, you know. And Gagey isn't a typical, he's not really cranking out fights. Like he's not getting in there constantly. So yeah, maybe Justin just sits and waits by.

Because sometimes that can be your best play. The sport moves so fast, things happen so quickly. Sometimes that is your best play to just sit there. Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see who pulls the trigger, who ultimately fights. who Armin fights for me is most significant I think if I had to cap it right now, I think it will be Ilya versus Islam sometime this summer Okay, one last question about the lightweight division Islam

Armin Charles Justin Ilya Dustin Max. Oh my god, Dan Hooker those eight guys? Yeah, those eight guys? Do we see all eight fight before 2025 is out? Oh, wow. All right, Dustin and Max is gonna happen before this year's out. Ilya and Islam, I think, is gonna happen

before this year's out. Charles, yeah. Ilya and Islam, I think, is going to happen before this year is out. Charles... Yeah. Charles and... Charles and Armin, I think, will happen this year, especially if they want to keep pace with Ilya and Islam. The wild card is like, how long does Dan Hooker take? And if he's fighting Justin Gagey, maybe that happens like early next year.

Who knows? I wanna say confidently that all eight of them will fight this year, but I know that I'm wrong. You know that somebody's gonna have something. Something will happen to where they don't fight. I would love it. God, cause I'm like, we're saying this is the top six, but then remember, Patty and Chandler are about to fight.

And like, Patty, if he beats Chandler, he will be vaulted into this conversation of like, well, what's next for Patty? Who does he fight? I wouldn't be surprised if Michael Chandler enters this conversation and he wins too, all of a sudden. Yeah, by the way, like, you know, I know this debate rages on forever,

but it's just like, you know, lightweight just crushes every other division. Like, we can just stop. It's right up there. We can, no, you can just stop this bullshit. this debate rages on forever, but it's just like, lightweight just crushes every other division. We can just stop. It's right up there. No, you can just stop this bullshit with that. It's right up there with 135. It's not the same.

It's not the same. No, I do agree with you. The lightweight is- It's ridiculous. That's why it's also pretty ridiculous. I'm gonna hopefully, optimistically say, I do think all of them fight. Because man, there is just like a hard line

after Michael Chandler. Like it goes the six I just listed, Michael Chandler at seven and then the hard line is just Gamrath, Darius, Moicano, Fazif, Patti who obviously could ascend into that, BSD, Grant Dawson, Ignacio Bahamondes. Like the, Matej Gamrath, like we don't know where really like any of those guys are at. They're kind of in this sort of limbo right now.

No, 100%. Just kind of waiting to see where their careers go from here. They're all really high level guys. Top contenders even formerly like in top 10, right? In Dariush, like Dariush has now fallen a little bit. But like, yeah, they're not on the cusp of title opportunities because there's so much action

that needs to kind of be settled at the top. I can't wait to see it play out. I mean, this is one of the best parts about being a fight fan is just playing matchmaker and just kind of like coming up with theories of how it's going to play out. And I love when the fighters fuel the drama by shit talking each other about matchmaking. What's so fun about it, though, is they're also like, nah,

I don't want to fight that guy. And then two months later, we're going to be sitting here and they sign the battle agreement to fight that guy. So we agree, though. We think it's going to be Iliya Toporia next. I still can't shake the idea of him vacating at 145, making the commitment to move up to 155, and then fighting in a contendership fight. Though a fight against Charles Olvera is not bad.

That's not a bad consolation prize. If you're Iliya Toporia, you get your feet wet in a division that you don't have to jump right into the Pound for Pound number one guy in the entire world, and you get it in the guy who's going to name that if you have on your resume, means something. And good grief, where would you even place that? Obviously a pay-per-view card, if it's not for a title though, does it headline? Send Charles to Spain and put Ilya there. I've come off like a million bucks. a pay-per-view card, if it's not for a title though, does it headline? It's not, bro. Like, do you, oh. Send Charles to Spain and put Ilya there.

It'll come off like a million bucks. You could sell that, easy. Pay-per-view? Oh yeah, what, crazy? Hell yeah. I was gonna say, like, you're gonna do a Spain card with Ilya Taborian, Charles Oliver on it. Like, you have to be for pay-per-view.

Man. Now, you could do that anywhere. You do that Vegas, you do that MSG. And you say headline. You say headline. Oh, yeah. 100%. OK. Charles versus Ilya, that's pay per view.

I mean, we did have Kobe Covington, Jorge Mazur, not for a title headline. These guys are. UFC 272. Ilya Toporia, and he's been very vocal about saying this. I agree with it. He is recognized as a champion without the belt. He does not need the belt any longer.

Because of the resume that he's put in, because of those last two fights, those last two performances against the best featherweights on the planet, he has now put himself into a status, honestly, kind of like Charles, where he's called champ, people will view him as a champion, regardless of whether he carries a title or not.

So those are two guys of championship caliber that I think could headline a pay-per-view. The same way I think of Dustin a pay-per-view. The same way I think of Dustin and Max, right? They're probably a lower level than when I'm talking about Charles and Ilya, but Max and Dustin could headline a pay-per-view. They are such recognizable names.

They have such an, the fans have such an affinity for them. You can easily do that. I think Ilya and Charles, no doubt, have that kind of like combined power. We should move on, but like Dustin Maxx, do you think they put the BMF belt on the line and make it a pay-per-view?

Let the thing die. Let it just let it die. Oh, actually, is that the perfect way to do it? You put it on the line, you hope that Dustin wins, he retires with it, and then we never see it again, and then it fucking disappears forever, so we never have to hear this dumb shit ever again. Well, I just keep theorizing that that's going to be

a fight night in New Orleans, but they could do the BMF belt on it. We saw it at 291. What does the BMF belt mean? The baddest motherfucker. No, yeah, fair, touche. But why? Why do we keep? Got him.

Why do we keep? Listen, there's something in the air when silver's on the line, baby. Come on. All right, can't wait to see how that all plays out. It's gonna be fascinating stuff at 155, always a fascinating division. It feels like the pound, like,

I wonder if you went back historically how often the pound for pound number one came from 155. That's a great one. I mean, Habib only got it at the very, very end of his career. Like John had been on top of that forever and Habib only really got it at the very end. Did BJ have a long run at number one?

No, not really because there was guys like Anderson Silva and GSP who were kind of always floating around there. Probably you know what's crazy? Probably not very long at all. Even though division and you know what? That probably tracks what we're saying because there's so many good guys in that division you can't really go on a run. You really can't hold it unless you do what Habib did which is like you get a few in you finally get it at the end. I think Islam has a real chance if he stays on this trajectory and kind of stays at lightweight,

he could rack this up forever and he'll be pound for pound forever. Yeah, it feels like three more wins or something, and you're talking absolutely insane resume. Yeah, ridiculous. One of the best resumes of all time. All right, let's go to this weekend, UFC Mexico City, Brandon Moreno headlining

against Steve Ersegg. I actually saw a couple people being like, I'm surprised that this is the headliner for this, but I think this makes perfect sense. Brandon Moreno is your biggest Mexican star, he's still in title contention. I think this is a great fight as well. The crowd is obviously gonna be going crazy for him.

You get Brandon Moreno in the custom Mexico themed shorts, it doesn't get any better than that. And I actually think there's a ton on the line for both of these guys. I mean, Brendan Moreno, if he were to lose, he would be one and three in his last four and be oh and three against the current champion. Obviously one of those taking place on tough,

but he did get finished in that one. It feels like you'll be miles from the title shot at that point because your argument is null being oh and three against Pantoja and then also being one and3 in your last four. And then Erseg, if he loses, that's three straight for him. And I know that it's against top tier guys, Kaikara France, Alexandre Pantoja and Brendan Moreno.

But the issue at that point is, you have a loss to the champion, you have a loss to who's probably going to be the next challenger for the belt in Kaikara France and you got knocked out by him. And then on top of that, he won't have any ranked wins. Like he kind of made this huge jump like circumstantially into the title,

lost that, knocked out by Kaikara. And if it doesn't go well for him this weekend, it's just like, man, where are we at? I mean, he's only number eight right now. And like you'd have to think he'd slip some more. So it feels like both dudes, with a win, whoever wins this fight is going to be right there on a short list of guys that can get another shot

at Alexandre Pantoja. It feels like whoever loses is going to be pretty far away from that. Could not agree more. It feels like so much more of the stakes are less so about the win and more so about you cannot lose this fight. Yeah.

Because you mentioned it with Ersag, it would be three losses in a row, and it's almost like he was a victim of his own success and more so about you cannot lose this fight. Because you mentioned it with Ersegg, it would be three losses in a row, and it's almost like he was a victim of his own success in the sense that you jump into that Pantoja fight and you do so well in it, and you shock people by doing that, it's like, no, he's fought nobody.

He gets into the opportunity, and against the champion, you look as good as possibly ever you've looked. So the point that- Doesn't go for that takedown in round five, he's probably the champ. He might be the champion. He probably wins that looked. So the point that- Doesn't go for that takedown in round five. He's probably the champ. He might be the champion. He probably wins that fight against the guy

that we all say he's cleared out the division six times. He has no competition. And so he's almost like a victim of his own success. Cause now you follow that up. You lose to Kaikara France. You lose this one and people will immediately go, well, it was just a style matchup and he had that one night against Pantoja,

but he's really not up in this division. I don't think that's accurate. I think you can see in the technique, you can see in the skills that like he belongs here, especially because of how physically gifted he is in this division, like how his size plays into all these fights. But it is a very important fight. You cannot afford to lose momentum like that in a division where, as we've said, the champion just continues to kind of lap people and is looking for opportunities. They'll throw anybody in there. I mean we just last week on the show Ariel broke the news that Kyoji Horiguchi is coming back to the Flyweight division. It seems like he's gonna have one more

potentially in Azerbaijan. If he wins that I would not be shocked if he's the next title challenger after Kai Cara France. So you start to fall out of the picture. And the same applies for Brandon Moreno, as you said, already three losses to Pantocha. And he's kind of just like, the last couple of performances, save for the win, were not great.

He just kind of looked listless, he needed to take some time off, came back. That last performance though, God, that was a hell of a performance. That made me go, this guy on his best night can still compete with Pantoja no problem. I think he's capable of beating Pantoja in the right circumstance,

because that last performance proved what caliber Brandon Moreno still is in this division. But a loss here, you're looking at a skid that really does not put you anywhere close to a title anymore. I'd almost change divisions if I was Brandon in a loss here, you're looking at a skid that really does not put you anywhere close to a title anymore. I'd almost change divisions if I was Brandon at loss. Wow. You say go up to 135.

Your path back there is so fraught with our, it's just impossible. It just feels impossible. Go to 35, get a new coat of paint, see if there's an opportunity there. But with that bad a record against the current champion and this type of record in recent In recent history it feels like you need to switch something up and that might be the division

Yeah, I mean it would probably be the worst run We've seen Brandon Moreno go on since he became the champion like we we haven't seen this it felt like he was untouchable At one point at 125 he was the wars he put on with figure eight Oh is just unbelievable stuff And now obviously him being, if he loses one and three in his last four, yeah, I mean, he's still young. He's 31 years old. He does have 32 professional fights under his belt.

Yeah, I mean, I'd be shocked to see him go to 135, but I mean, I guess if you need to switch things up, you need to switch things up. I mean, we just saw Figge go to 35 and have success, right? We're about to see him in a fight against Corey Sandhagen. I think you can replicate that. Now, do you think that Figi's age and the difficulty he had with the cut

had more to do with the getting stopped? Certainly, and Figi's bigger than Moreno. Don't get me wrong, I'm not predicting that Moreno's gonna go up to 35 and be the champion and be successful. You're saying there's a potential option if he does lose this fight. It's just an option where. Something to think about.

It seems like the door is closing at Flyway, right? And look, maybe you're Brandon Moreno and you're the type of guy like a Max Holloway, right? Max is never gonna get a title shot again. Fast forward, Max got a title shot again, and everybody who was saying that was an idiot. Maybe he just stays around and he's happy to knock off contenders.

Maybe he's happy to continue to fight like the Steve Ersak's of the division and be like, okay, or the Kai Cara France and say like, okay, can this guy be the guy and continue to do that? If he is, I think that's a great path and I think Brandon Moreno is a fantastic fighter and should be able to have that option. I do wonder though if that's his motivation.

If his motivation is to be a champion again, the options at 25 start to really run out if you lose this fight. I guess another point that you do make is that if he were to win this fight he likely won't go up in the rankings or anything it's gonna be Kaikara France or or maybe like a Manel Cop or someone like that next. And is it Horiguchi after that too? Yeah it could be and honestly he's behind Roy Vow. He has a loss to Roy Vow on his record and Roy Vow is going to make a claim for a title. It's, Flyweight is just like, I mean we talk about 155

is just like stacked with like who could possibly get this title shot, 125 is sort of like in the opposite way like it's great fighters but it's just like, well they already lost to Pantoja three times, Roy Vowell's lost to him twice, it's just like, who do you possibly give to Pantoja next? So yeah, I guess I see what you're saying. It would still surprise me but I do see what you're saying.

Even worse than all the losses to the champion, now even the contenders are starting to fight each other a hundred times, right? How many times can we do Royval versus Moreno, right? Now you start to run into a thing where, because the champion's so dominant, now you guys are fighting so many times and you're trading wins and losses and doing whatever,

it becomes a real glut and it makes it really hard to kind of ascend. What will ultimately happen is they'll start looking outside like they did in Pantoja's last title defense and like they're probably about to do if he gets past Kaikara France, they'll probably look to Horiguchi and so now you're looking at another person

coming from the outside. Can we put those flyer rankings back up as well? It's just like, if you just look at the way they run down, it's like Royville's lost to Pantoja twice. Brandon Moreno's lost three times. Amir Al-Bazhi got the brakes beat off him by Brandon Moreno. Kaikara France, like I guess he's the next

just to get a shot at Pantoja, though he does have a loss to Brandon Moreno. That's where O'Tyra is coming off of a loss. To Brandon Royville, who's sitting at number one. Manel Kopp, like maybe... Manel Kopp was the chosen one and he just blew it. He was the one. Alex Perez, like I'm not certain why he's sitting at number seven.

I just feel like he's miles away from the title shot. Steve Irick said, I already got it. And then Almabyev feels like he's got a ways to go before he gets the title shot as well. It's not happening anytime soon. You would imagine that if, if I believe that the fight, correct me if I'm wrong, the fight that Ariel said that they might be targeting

was Ulambekov versus Horiguchi. Yeah. And so if he wins that fight, you imagine he's jumping right into the top of those rankings if he wins that. Horiguchi would be two, three, somewhere in that range, and then it'd make a lot of sense.

Now, what would also be great is now he's another name that these guys can start fighting. And so, as I said, they don't keep fighting amongst each other and just knocking each other off, and then the next guy, and then the next guy, to the point that it doesn't feel like anybody deserves the title shot. We need some fresh blood, we need some people to move

from the bottom of the rankings toward the top. We've seen this at welterweight, where now all of a sudden, it's like Ian Gary's coming up, JDM's coming up, Shavkat's coming up. It really like cleaned out that top of the glut at the top of welterweight. We need something similar to be happening in this division because the top is all full of like,

really, really, really good, talented flyweights, but they have all these issues in terms of why they might not make sense as the next title challenger. Get Horiguchi a fight. I like the top 10 fight against the girl in back off. Give Kya Sakura another fight. We, you know, I know he had a, he had a tough outing against Pantoja. Most people do.

Get him, get him another fight. Get Josh Van a big fight. Where's my boy Josh Van at? How about Josh Van Tatsuro tie? Let's go. Let's, let's just like, you know, it's an either, it's a bounce back for Tatsuro or it's a top five time for Josh Van Tatsuro Taira? Let's go. Let's just like, in aight, it's a bounce back for Tatsuro or it's a top five time for Josh Van. The takedown defense.

I'm happy to kill. Shout out to Taira. The takedown defense looks sturdy. Let's see if they can hold up against the Tatsuro Taira. I'd like to see. If it holds up, Tatsuro Taira might be in trouble. Yeah, I mean, Josh Van is gonna be a problem for anybody who really can't take him down. Oh, he's crisp.

Because the hands are crispy. He's crisp. The hands are crispy. And so if you can't, if you can't stifle him, if you can't push him up against the fence or take him down, yeah, you're probably in a world of trouble. Now, when you start getting into the striking battles

with like the Brandon Morenos and Roy Valls of the world, now it's like, okay, let's see how good your hands are against the top of the division. I want to see Josh Van versus those guys. But as you're saying, like, let's just start pushing some of these guys up against the hands are against the top of the division. I want to see Josh Van versus those guys. But as you're saying, let's just start pushing some of these guys up against the ranked guys at the top and then we'll get some new blood

and we'll really see how this plays out. But right now it's just a really tough spot. The winner of this is gonna be in a good position, but I don't know how many away they are. Is it two, is it three? Right, they're going to be in a good position to remain in the conversation. But when they get a title shot, I don't know.

We have no idea. Stand by until Pantoja loses the strap. If Pantoja loses the strap. He's just forever. 15 title defenses. Could be. Yeah, I mean, you just kind of stand by and wait. I mean, yeah, maybe like an Ursegar Mareno

versus a Tatsuro Tyra after this or or a Kya Sakora versus one of these guys afterward it's just like yeah it's it's a tough time to be in 125 with Pantoja raining for as long as he's going to. Yeah it's gonna feel a little bit goofy at first because like as we said Tyra's coming off a loss and so you wouldn't immediately think like push them upward but I don't think they really have a choice at Flyweight they need people to enter this conversation in a way that they haven't before and so they kind of just have to push. All right to the fight itself yes how do you feel like this one plays out Brandon Moreno sizable favorite minus 240 against Ersek as the

dog do you think Ersek goes three straight losses or do you think Brandon Moreno goes one and three and is last four? Maybe I'm a victim of recent events. The beat down that he put on Amir Al-Bazi, that Moreno put on Amir Al-Bazi, I can't shake. That looks like one of the best versions of Brandon Moreno I've seen against a guy who,

yeah, you think maybe he's got a style that could really give Brandon Moreno some trouble he beat the living shit out of that guy and to the point that he said like I believe he said to Ariel like he felt bad at a certain point it was like I don't want to keep beating this guy up and I think even his coach said the same safe say you'd I if that version of Brandon Moreno shows up to any fight I'm probably taking them even against you Pantoja who I love dearly like that version of Brandon Moreno shows up to any fight, I'm probably taking him, even against Pantoja, who I love dearly. That version of Brandon Moreno is a scary dude

for anybody at Flyweight. And so I have to believe that we're gonna see that version. Again, I have to believe that taking the time off, resetting a little bit, coming back and looking like that, that that's the version we're gonna get. And so I would say Moreno, but I think Ersegg, I think Ersegg is being overlooked in the sense that, I think the conversation around like,

was that a fluke in the Pantoja fight is already kind of starting, and I'm not ready to have that conversation yet. I think Ersegg is as good as he looked in that fight, and on the way up, I think he got caught by Kaikara France, which is no shame and many have before. I think he's going to give a good account of himself, but I do think Moreno's gonna be better.

Speaking of the El Basi fight, just looking at the numbers are insane. Yeah, totally. Round two, three, and five. Round two he outstrikes him 29 to six. Yep. Round three he outstrikes him 31 to 12. Round five he outstrikes him 32 to nine.

Yeah. Just like absolute beat downs throughout those rounds. I tend to agree with you. I do think that Steve Versaegh, it almost felt like he got like a bit overrated going into the Kaikara-France fight. It was one of those ones against Pantoja. The stock went up so much, even in a loss,

it was just like, man, is he really ready for this? He was ready for it. He hung tough. He gave Pantoja one of his toughest sets to date. And then, yeah, I think he maybe got a little bit overrated and he ended up getting caught by Kaikara France. He's one of the hardest hitters at 125. It happens.

It happens, yeah. He was like a minus 230 going into that fight, and now he's getting the flip side of that. Brandon Moreno's like a minus 240 in this fight. I think it's more closer to even. I think Steve Erceg is going to have a good account of himself. I think it's going to be a close fight. I think it's more closer to even. I think Steve Erceg is going to have a good account of himself. I think it's going to be a close fight.

I don't see him getting knocked out. I think it's really gonna come down to like, we saw Pantoja have success on the ground. He landed like nine takedowns in that fight. And then obviously Erceg, the mishap in round five and Pantoja is able to capitalize on it. I'm wondering if Brandon Moreno works in the ground game here, but I also think Brandon Moreno

can have success in the striking. I think it's just gonna be one of those fights where both these dudes are just dogging it out and it just ends up being very close. I don't really feel very strongly in a way in terms of a winner. I agree with you completely. It feels like one of those fights where maybe Brandon Moreno

mixes in the takedowns, but ultimately they probably get back to the feet and it's just one of those tough dog fights. And it's also one of those just perfect examples of what have you done for me lately. If this was Brandon Moreno coming off the Roy Vow loss, and it was Ersegg coming off the Pantoja loss, who knows where they line this fight at?

It's probably Ersegg, like minus 150 or something. But because of the blast performance against Amir Al-Bazi, and because of the performance against Kaikara France, now it's just like, Brandon Moreno's gonna beat the hell out of this dude. I think it's much closer to even. I think this is gonna be a really close fight. Yeah, you said you felt like the stock price

went too high after the Pantoja fight potentially. I agree with that, but I also feel like maybe the stock price has gone too low after the Kaikara France performance. I agree. I think it's just somewhere closer in the middle. I think both these dudes' stock is somewhere closer in the middle right now.

And I think it's going to lead to a great fight on Saturday. Yeah, I'm excited about it. I think Moreno wins on the feet, ultimately. I don't think he needs to mix in the takedowns. I think he probably wins on the feet regardless. But if he is able to mix in the grappling, and he's pretty good at kind of switching those things when he needs to, I think it'll really shift in his favor quite

a bit. But on the feet, they're going to trade and it's going to be pretty great. Also, how about Steve Ersak, the man who comes into your block and tries to take you down? No problem. Pantoja, UFC 301 in Brazil, Kaikoura, France, 305 in Australia. Now we're doing a fight night. We'll main event it over in Mexico against y'all star in Brandon Moreno, Steve Herceg, like the most docile dude. I like was watching a clip of him yesterday at media day

and he's just like, yeah, honestly, like I was shocked. They gave me another main event. I couldn't believe it. So like, yeah, I jumped at the opportunity to sign it. Like I was like, I didn gave me another main event. Couldn't believe it. So yeah, I jumped at the opportunity to sign it. I didn't expect another main event. He's arm barring his mom to get 100K. He's just a chill dude. He's just a chill guy, man.

He's just a chill guy. He's on air, Jordan looks just like him. It feels like Stevie E's just been walking around the office. Should we cut to the back? There he is. There he is. Steve, what's up, man? There he is. Hey, hey, Steve! What's up, man? There he is. Steve Erzsig also just looks like a Steve.

Well, now are you bringing in your knowledge of Steve Carell in the office when you see that? Maybe, maybe. Are you like preconditioned to feel that way? Steve from Blue's Clues. Steve from Blue's Clues. Kind of looks like him as well. Not these days. I believe he's Clues. Kind of looks like him as well. Not these days.

I believe he's in the bald beard brotherhood. Steve from Blue's Clues is? No shit. Put that up. But I agree with you completely. I just feel like, I feel like there's. Oh yeah, better days for old Steve from Blue's Clues. I didn't know he was looking around.

He almost looks like a bald Matt Lauer. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Shout out bald Matt Lauer. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I agree with you. I feel like he's being underrepresented here, but at the same time, correct me if you disagree, this is a step up, right? You lose to Kaikara France, this is, in my opinion, the second or third at worst best guy in the division, as opposed to if you lose to Kaikara France

and you get a reset. He's actually going up in competition, in my mind. I think maybe that's why he was surprised by it. It's just like, damn, I got knocked down twice and knocked out in the first round against this dude, and now you guys are gonna give me Brandon Moreno and you're gonna give me a main event for it? Unless you disagree, I currently would say

the top three guys in this division are Pantosha number one, I don't think that's up for debate, and then you could flip-flop, but I think it's some combination of Roy Vowell and Moreno right like those feel like the top three guys now I would say once Horiguchi is in this division if that comes to fruition Ariel saying that they were close to making that happen if Horiguchi enters that conversation I think he immediately becomes one of the top two or three oh sure but right now I really do I I think they're they're think they're trying hard to push the Japanese market.

They should. They really wanna get a champion there. Obviously they have such a deep love for MMA, such a deep respect for the game. Getting a UFC champion there would be massive for the UFC. Yeah, and they've got a lot of, Flyweight seems to be where they're kinda loading that deck. They've got a lot of opportunities there in Flyweight.

But yeah, I think Horiguchi would immediately enter that conversation so you're looking at like you lose to Kaikara France and you actually kind of moved up in a weird way but I do think Ersegg I do think Ersegg will have a good account of himself but I ultimately do feel like on the feet I've got the edge to Moreno and if he if he finds a way to mix in the grappling, if he's really just keeping him honest with the takedowns, then I think it even sways more in his favor. So I lean Moreno, but I'm still high on Ersegg.

I am not ready to just be like, eh, it was a fluke. You know what? Just to play devil's advocate to you, I'm going to lean Ersegg, just because I think it's going to be a really close fight. I think it's going to be a good one. At dog odds, you might be better.'s gonna be a really close fight. I think it's gonna be a good one. At dog odds, you might- I don't know if I'm gonna bet it.

I don't know if I feel that strongly, but I'm gonna lean Ersek. The last thing I have to say- Wait, let me ask you though, how? Like what is he doing? Is he just like keeping range? Kinda like the Pantoja fight. Like he just like dogs it out.

Oh, so he's just dog fighting. Just dog fighting. Like he's just landing big shots. He's just hanging in there. He's getting up off the takedowns. He's trying to mix in takedowns himself. Hopefully, you know, it doesn't make the critical error in round five again.

Just Steve Ersig just dogging it out. Devil's advocate. I don't think there's a better fighter on the planet than a dogfight than Brandon Moreno. I was gonna say, like, the guy that you, but also Pantoja. Pantoja is incredibly hard to out-dog. Yeah. And maybe Steve Ersig just hops into that upper echelon

of dogging. He's just top dog. Flyweight dogs, flyweight dogs. God, there's a list. I mean, Pantoja, Royval, Brandon Moreno, Steve Erceg. Is the secret to flyweight success just being a fucking dog? Being a dog.

Dude's a dog. I feel like that's just what you say about the elite at the flyweight division. It's a fun division, and I feel like that's just what you say about the flyweight division. It's a fun division and I feel like. It's a fun division and I really want it to get more life in it. It won't, it just won't. People for some reason are reluctant

to get excited about the flyweights. I think it's, look, truth be told, even when they have these incredible knockouts, it's not the same thing as a guy who's a heavyweight or a light heavyweight uncorking a punch that looks like it's coming from six feet away and decapitating somebody it just doesn't it doesn't have that same visceral feeling It doesn't have that impact it also doesn't happen as often and it doesn't happen as often naturally just because of the size difference in The power that they carry but like fight for fight

They're incredible best fights are happening at flyweight. They're incredible. It's one of the best divisions that the UFC's got. There was also a great run shot at the Jed Meshue at Flyweight Unders for a brief period of history, man. It was a cash cow. Real ones know those were some good times. The only thing I will say about this fight that I hate, that I despise, it disgusts me to my core. What?

The poster for this fight match. What are we doing here? We are fighting in Mexico City and we went with purple and pink for the poster? Like this is what we get? Face, face, purple, pink, names, out, done. Like how do we not make a cooler poster than this? Oh, that's so funny.

This is a crying shame. I'll say this, can I say this? Poster wise, if this was just any poster, it's so funny. This is a crying shame. I'll say this. Can I say this? Poster-wise, if this was just any poster, it's actually not horrible. I kind of like the throwing of the purple and the pink, but not when you're fighting in Mexico City. But for Mexico City, it's not great. You can make this so cool.

Like, going from the artist series at the Sphere show, like this, like, Mexican art with just, like, so much character and personality to just face, face, name, name, purple, pink, print it. If this was Apex 109, it'd be like, oh, all right, they're doing okay. But for Mexico City, they're with you. Yeah, this actually is, I think this actually is

the poster for UFC Apex 106 on May 31st. They're just gonna swap them? Yeah, they're just gonna put Barber and Blanchfield and just change the names on it. So it's gonna be like, there it is! Get them while they're hot! Shout out to the graphics department. That'll be, what was it,

UFC Atlantic City that we were at last year. I was like, yeah, could I buy a poster please? They're just like, yep, that'll be $255. I'm like, what? They're like, yeah, we're only doing signed posters. I'm like, I don't want a signed poster. I don't need the Blanchfield Firo signed edition. And to be honest, I don't even want the fucking poster.

I'm just getting it as a memento, but this poster sucks. Yeah, I was actually digging through my closet the other day and I found my UFC Atlantic City shirt. I'm like, glad I spent 40 bucks on this. I wore it once. Glad I spent 40 bucks. Well, I'll tell you what's gonna go. The Merchant Des Moines though.

I was telling you, the UFC Des Moines shirt's gonna go hard. Yes. Because if you've ever been to a UFC event, like especially a fight night, like UFC pay-per-views, which I've never been to, still dying to go to one, it's always like UFC three-oh whatever, two-oh whatever. When you go to the fight nights,

it says the city that you're in. Like I have a UFC Long Island and I have a UFC Atlantic City and we're gonna add a UFC Des Moines to the roster. 40 bucks, I'll wear it once, but that's more than worth it. I know, I almost feel like people might not believe that we're going to Des Moines because of how much we do like we gotta go No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no actually didn't wanna go to, that one just didn't work out. It actually worked out that it didn't work out because it really wasn't that great of a card. UFC Des Moines.

We're there. Flights are booked. Yeah, we're there. Hotels are booked. We are in there like swimwear. We are there. I came in late, but I think somebody asked you yesterday, did they ask you about like merch for Des Moines?

Yeah, and they were just like, if you wear Iowa State Cyclones merch, beers on me. I already have an Iowa State hat. Oh shit, am I in trouble then? No, no, no, no, we need we need all representation We need camera guy Nick to get a Drake shirt That's that's another the Moines maybe a slipknot hoodie something like that thrown in there But yeah, can't wait for for the Moines can't wait for the Frankie can wear the slipknot Frankie. You're coming, right? I am NOT going to Des Moines That's news.

Boo. Frankie news? I've only said it like eight or 12 times. No, I mean, I thought maybe like last minute you'd be like, ah, guys, I'm just playing. I'm coming. Well, bring you back some corn, man. See, I'm not going.

And then no one expects, you know, they're like, ah. Oh, and then you show up. And then you meet us at the airport. Oh, yeah. Which one's Frank? The best thing is, nobody will know if he is actually there. We can just be like, he was there.

They'll be like, oh, sure. Yeah, this is Frank. This is Frank over here. It's just some random guy in the beer line. What the fuck? It's going to be great, though. All right, let's roll on to the co-main event of UFC Mexico City. One more doppelganger for Steve Versegg.

OK. What have we got? Yeah, he does. It does look like him. I mean, he could have just been a fill-in for several characters on the office. BJ Novak, by the way, for our audio listeners. I see it.

I see it for sure. Especially, you know what it is here? It's the head tilt. The head tilt here is like the fire. The hair is also just like bar for bar, word for word. The chin, the jaw line is for sure. The nose. Yeah.

Basically everything, as we're kind of outlining. Lips are a little off. Never seen them in the same room. Yeah, people have mentioned that this week. They have never are a little off. Never seen them in the same room. Yeah, people have mentioned that this week. They have never seen BJ Novak and Steve Ersik in the same room. Oh, so now it's shifted. It's like fully BJ Novak because it used to be the Steve Carell thing.

No, no, I haven't seen anyone. Oh, OK. Never seen On Air Jordan and Steve Ersik in the same room. I noticed you had a suitcase under the desk. I was missing during that interview. That's true. It's good thing we said nice things about Steve, you know? Shout out to Stevie, baby. All right, let's roll on to the co-main event,

Manuel Torres taking on Drew Dober. This is the one, this is the one. Dial up the friends. Hey man, I wanna watch a fight tonight. Like this is the one, Manuel Torres. 18 professional fights, 17 of which have ended in the very first round, and now you're giving him a counterpart in Drew Dober, tied for the most knockouts

in lightweight history with one Dustin Poirier, not bad. Pretty good list. Not bad company to be shared there. Nine of his last 11 has not gone the distance, he is down to scrap. It's just like, this is one of those fights where it's like, I will be shocked if this is not a banger. Could it go the distance? Yes, like but it will be

a war if it makes it the full 15 minutes. I just the pace that Manuel Torres puts on and the willingness to dance of Drew Dober, I just don't see how this ends up not being a banger. Yeah I I love that. My question to you is. I've got a couple questions. Okay. Torres is gonna put on the pace. Put it right on. Dober is gonna be able to handle that and respond with it,

but is Dober gonna be able to execute what he needs to do? Yeah. See, I don't know the answer to that. It's kinda like, you don't know what you're gonna do until you get hit in the face. You don't know what you're gonna do until you get hit with Manuel Torres' pressure and pace. My questions are, is Drew Dobler's chin gone?

The legendary chin. The legendary chin, yeah. It's finally been cracked. He's been finished, you know, one by sub, I believe, or no, by a cut in two of his last three losses. Is that still there? Because we've seen him eat some of the cleanest craziest punches I've ever seen. I want to say it was like

the Bobby Green one. He was getting outstruck what felt like like 120. And then he just uncorked one and just starched Bobby Green. Like it was it was insane. It was almost just like he just has to eat 10 to get his one blow. So like I do wonder about the chin, and the chin's gonna get tested by Manuel Torres. I feel confident about that. And then two, Manuel Torres, he puts on a ton of pressure, he puts on a ton of pace.

They're fighting at 7,500 feet. Can he sustain that? Yeah, that's a great question. And especially for a guy who's used to having short fights, can you sustain that at the seven-minute mark? Right. If you're out of gas at the seven-minute mark, Drew Dober trains at elevation, you're gonna be in trouble.

You're gonna be in real trouble. But I do wonder if Drew, to your point, Drew's a guy who has taken 10 to give one, that one's usually pretty good, but he's taken 10, how many times can you do that? That is really my question. And even if he is able to withstand that early storm, like, Drew Dober is not,

like even though Drew Dober is an explosive guy and a finisher, he's not a sprinter. He's not like a hit you in the first second and it's over type guy in the way that you're describing Torres. And so I'm wondering if this is in that like three to five minute range, right? Like we've got past the first two minutes,

but now we're kind of like into the gritty part of the first round. What is that gonna look like? Once it goes past that, I am confident that like Dober with his veteran savvy and training at elevation, he'll probably have an advantage the longer that kind of goes beyond that. But that like second half of the first round,

if it goes that deep, I'm curious of how that kind of plays out. Yeah, and honestly Manuel Torres, he lost to Ignacio Bahamundes, but now that... That ages well. Starting to age well. Yeah, I mean, that's what it all comes down to. It's tough to have a confident read in this one

just because of the insanity and the chaos factor of it all. I just feel like someone's gonna get clipped in this one, or it's gonna be a fight of the year. It's a contender for that. It just feels like it's going to deliveripped in this one, or it's gonna be a fight of the year. Like, it's a contender for that. It just feels like it's going to deliver, and then plus, Manon and Manuel Torres representing Mexico in front of the Mexican crowd in the co-main event in what's gonna be a banger.

Like, it just feels like the peaks are gonna be so high in this one. If they do get into a slugfest, is somebody going to fall for sure, or do you feel like it could go to decision, even if they're standing in the middle of a draw? Yeah, if they are standing and trading and slugging it out. It's probably somebody's gonna go down.

I think someone's going out. We're in the old gloves, we're at elevation. Two guys who like, I mean, Manuel Torres, like 17 of 18 have entered in the first round. Like he does have three losses and like nine of them are, nine of his wins are by submission as well. So like he does like out of the 15 or so wins, it's only seven by knockout,

but he still knocks people out. And Dober obviously knocks people out. No, but it's kind of the same for Dober, right? Dober's got wins that are not just standing and one punch KO-ing people. And so I do wonder if it could go longer, but it's the, we've been talking about this for these Apex and other fight nights as well.

They've kind of like, it used to be, co-man event used to be like chief support. It used to be like boxing where it was like, here are these high level fighters that we're gonna give you as a tease, as an appetizer to the main event, which is also some high level action. What it has shifted to is slugfest.

We're gonna give you guys that we guarantee are gonna go in there and knock each other out. Yeah, I think it's gonna be great. And it's like, there's something on this card, and especially in these top three fights, that like my mind's getting warped by the ages of these guys. It's like you see Brandon Moreno's still only 31,

you're like, damn, I thought he was older than that. Drew Dober is 36, and this is gonna be the 25th time he's made the UFC walk, and you're like, I know he's still only 31. You're like, damn, I thought he was older than that. Drew Dober is 36 and this is gonna be the 25th time he's made the UFC walk and you're like, damn, I thought he was younger than that. And then in the next- 80-face, both of those guys. Yeah, and then in the next fight we're gonna talk about, Calvin Gasolum, it actually melts my mind

that he's only 33. It doesn't make any sense. What was the one last week? We were looking at the ages of two people and we were like, holy shit, oh it was... Carlos Olberg being 34? No, no, no, no, no. It was somebody else.

Oh, it was the main event. It was, Leon's only 33. And we're like, young up and comer, Sean Brady, 32 years old. 32 years old. Yes. The ages of all these guys is kind of bizarre because as we've kind of like, it used to be like your age was kind of similar

to your experience. That used to be it. There used to be a much more like linear path in the UFC. Kind of like a traditional sport. That's it. It used to be much closer to like traditional sports, basketball, football, whatever it was. Whereas like you have these like years

where you're outside the UFC, you get to a certain age, a certain experience level, now you're in the UFC, then you're a veteran of the UFC, now you're a champion in the UFC. Now it's like, there are people coming in at 20. We've got Raul Rosas, who's like a kid, who's a child, and then you have people who are coming in later in their careers, they're starting at 31.

Alex Pereira gets to the UFC at 31, 32, I don't even remember, maybe older than that. No, Alex Pereira at the UFC? When did he, what age was he at? Nah man, he was like 35, 34, 35. Okay, so there you go, so you have the, like it's, now it's about like how many fights do you have in the UFC, what's your UFC experience, that's probably a better barometer,

because you look at these ages and you're like, yes, holy shit, this guy's got two UFC fights and he's 34. Like also, like I'm just like looking at it. And Kelvin, as the opposite,'re like, holy shit, this guy's got two UFC fights and he's 34. Like also, like I'm just like looking at it. And Kelvin as another, as the opposite is like, holy shit, he's got a hundred UFC fights and he's only 33. I mean like Drew Dover was fighting on UFC 188. He has been around. And honestly, if we had to like make a pick for the fight, I think it's tough to call

and I think it's a- Home man for talking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think it's tough to call and I think it's a- Home man for talking. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I think it's a bit of a coin toss because of the chaos factor of it, but I actually do think the experience of Drew Dober is gonna play out here. I think so too, but I have questions about Drew Dober at this point.

For sure, I mean, he's lost three of his last four. It is so many wars. Even his last fight against John Silver was the fight of the night, but he has fought. Dude, Anato Moikano, Matt Favola, King Green, Terrence McKinney, who's a somewhat similar style to Manuel Torres with the chaos, Islam, Makashev.

Even when you win, these are not easy nights at the office. Hell no. Benil Deryush, Alexander Hernandez, Nazarat. He's been in the UFC a little long. Olivier Aubin-Mercier. Yeah, yeah. Aubin-Mercier. Had two careers at PFL already. Has fought a few more fights, left for PFL,

won a couple million dollar checks, retired. We haven't seen him fight in a year and a half. And Drew Dover is still kicking. Like he has been around for a minute. He has insane, insane experience. I think that's gonna pay off. So I'm gonna go Drew Dover for the pick. I think it's gonna be a great fight.

That is one that you circle on your fight card. Let's go to the featured bout of the evening, Kelvin Gaslam taking on Joe Pfeiffer. And like we just said, Kelvin Gaslam only 33 years old. Gonna be smaller than Pfeiffer here, but like that's sort of the way Kelvin Gaslam has fought like his entire career at 185.

Like he's just gonna be shorter than dude. I had to check Joe Pfeiffer's age cause I like I dude I did too before the job is there any chance Joe Piper's older than Calvin Geisel I was just think I was like holy shit is Joe Piper like 33 I had to check it when he's 28 yeah he is really like one of the younger prospects but like yeah man Kelvin Kelvin has been around for my entire like fandom like he was on one of the early top like Kelvin has been and and like you said about Dover like there's not a guy in in the division that kelvin that Kelvin has a face like he's fought everybody in his division and so

I Wonder how much that experience is gonna play versus just that like raw brute strength and power of Joe Pfeiffer and just the like, hungriness, the youth that's on his side. I don't have like a super technical breakdown of this. I ultimately just think younger Joe Pfeiffer is going to find a spot where he's gonna put Kelvin Gaslum on the wrong end of a punch. Okay, so I actually agree with that.

I think the things that are playing against Joe Pfeiffer though is the fact that Kelvin Gaslam has a blockhead. He's never been knocked out. He's as tough as they come. Is he killed him? Yeah, right. And he survived. Yeah, exactly.

And he made it to the end of the fight. I think that plays against Joe Pfeiffer. And I also think this elevation plays against him. If you go back and watch the Hermansen fight, he was cruising and then he just fell off a cliff. And Jack Hermansen just started giving him a vet lesson from three, four and five. And like Ramanson just started giving him a vet lesson from three, four and five.

And like, there's not enough time to do that for Kelvin Gaslam because this is just a three round fight. So like if Joe Piper can go out there and bank the first two rounds, then he'll likely just win a decision. It's like Joe Piper's best ability is to just blast you and knock you out. But like against a guy in Kelvin Gaslam

that we've never seen knocked out and just has that sheer toughness, sheer will to remain in the fight, it does give me a bit of pause on that path of victory for him. And then when you combine the elevation into it, it's like, I think Joe Pfeiffer wins. But it might be dicey.

It might be dicey. It might be like a 29, 28. And it's just like, I think he got that think you got that or in round three does Kelvin just go Okay, like cuz we know Kelvin's cardio is not gonna be a problem. We know that he will be there he's he's gone five many many times and we we if if it goes to the third round and Piper is fading can Kelvin find a finish even if it's not just like and Piper is fading, can Kelvin find a finish? Even if it's not just like Piper's able to cruise

and kind of like maybe he takes that round off and wins 29, 28, if Kelvin can put it on him in the third round, it opens up the doors for an opportunity, I just do wonder, can you get through those first round and a half? Like it's gonna, I feel like he's gonna be hunting from the early moments of that. Yeah, I know man, and like Joe Piper has just like

insane power. It's ridiculous, the power, yes. The power is more, like I know Izzy put it on him, like it was one of the most insane beat downs of all time, but just that sheer power that Joe Pfeiffer holds. It's that one hitter, quitter, like real shit. And everybody's chin can get cracked, everybody's. One thing that I do want to say about Kevin Gaston,

like we talk about the cardio, I've seen some people clowning on bro for his picture, for his physique and like we have it right here man. People are like, this looks like Kelvin Gaslam. Wait, that's the current picture? This is Kelvin Gaslam. That's a regular ass Kelvin Gaslam picture. Bro is built like a door, like he looks like a table.

Let's go back to, I think it's side by side of this week and then his first fight in the UFC. A little doughier, but not much. A little doughier, but that's gonna happen when you go from- So how many years ago is this? What is that from? Who knows, is he what, is he 14 in that picture?

Now he's 33? Yeah, I think this is when he was fighting on tough. But it's just like, he hasn't changed that much. No. It's not like he looks horrible. You showed me that and I was expecting something. It just looks like Elvin. This is Kelvin Gaston. Yeah. I think the cardio will hold up. I. It's not like he looks horrible. You showed me that and I was expecting something. It just looks like Kelvin. This is Kelvin Gaston.

Yeah. I think the cardio will hold up. I think it's gonna be a good fight. I think it'll be interesting. Do you think it gets to those later rounds? Do you think it goes there? Man, I'm just like kind of one of those guys that it's like I won't believe a chin can get cracked

until I see it get cracked. Do you think he'll be able to handle it for now? I say Piper wins the first two rounds. Kelvin wins round three, 29, 28, Piper. I can see it. I say Pfeiffer wins the first two rounds, Kelvin wins round three, 29-28 Pfeiffer. I could see it. I think. But man, I do have to say like Pfeiffer had to have learned something. Like he is so hard working, Sean Brady in that gym as well, so hard working, their boys, like they are getting after it. You have to think that that Jack Hermansen loss taught him lessons and he made the proper improvements. When you're somebody who's on a rise that Pfeiffer was on,

to the point that Dana White was telling people, be Joe Pfeiffer, and you get to that position and then you fail, that has to be a real isolating feeling. That has to be a real feeling of helplessness, to the point where you know you're good enough to beat Jack Hermansen. You know that on your best night, you're standing over Jack Hermanson's body

because you knocked him out. And you get to that point, and he's the one putting it on you at the end, that has to be a very helpless feeling because you just don't have the things that have gotten you to that dance. You don't have that power anymore. I am certain that he never wants to feel that again.

I am certain that he has done all the work to make sure that that doesn't happen again. Now granted, when you're out there throwing the hammers that he throws, sometimes it's kind of inevitable. You're gonna lose steam, but I don't think he will ever be in a position where he loses steam again to the point that he just has nothing left. This is also only gonna be a 15 minute affair

where the Manson fight was a 25 minute. The elevation does concern me. Like I'm very interested to see how that affects him. Our own Chuck Mendenhall actually wrote a great article and it is titled, From B. Joe Pfeiffer to figuring out exactly how good Joe Pfeiffer is begins at UFC Mexico City. I do think that's a great headline because I think he's nailing it. I think if he goes out there and wins like a 30-27 or if he

takes Gastelum's chin, I will be thoroughly impressed with Pfeiffer and it just kind of feels like, all right, I got another guy at middle weight to contend for this. I mean, imagine a Philly guard with Brady and Pfeiffer on. Oh man, he's also just such an easy guy to kind of push if you're the UFC, right?

He's an American dude who's coming out there and just trying to knock people out. It's a very easy person to push. You just get behind that and you're like, yeah, that's our guy. That's the guy who's going to step in there, throw real hard hands, and he's going to take out most of the guys. I don't think Kelvin's going to make it easy for him, but I just feel like I can't shake the feeling that the timing of this feels like it's on Joe Pfeiffer's side.

It just feels like on Kelvin, the best days are are behind us and we're getting a guy who's on the climb right now who has ridiculous power and is probably gonna be ready for this opportunity. As you said the elevation you I hope if Joe Pfeiffer did not go train at elevation it was a mistake. Hopefully he got to Mexico City early, hopefully he trained somewhere else because that will be jarring for him but if he did that I'm I'm pretty sure he'll be able to do it. Another thing of note, Calvin Gaslam took a dip down to 170 and fought his boy, Sean Brady.

Yeah. So like I don't know if Sean Brady was able to give him some tips, some pointers, be like, yo, I've fought Gaslam. This is what he brings to the table. I imagine Joe probably was in that training camp. I imagine that Joe was helping him train for Calvin Gaslam. I think this is a great, as you kind of laid out,

it feels like all the pieces are aligned for Piper, but there's also these little things of doubt that can kind of creep in. These little things that make you go, is he gonna be able to do it? I think he will, but I don't think it's like a foregone conclusion. I definitely don't think it's a foregone conclusion.

That's why these top three fights are. There's something fascinating about all of them. Oh, they're very intriguing to me. I can't wait to watch them. Those are the three that it's like must see television for me on this card. Let me just go back to that. Joe Piper gets this win.

Yeah. Philly's been dying for a fight night. It'd be great. Brady probably needs one more before the title shot. Do like a Brady-Ousman or something. You know, we've kind of been ranking like the, you were like, you were like Ilya Charles can headline a pay-per-view. And then like Dustin and Mags, like if you put the or something. You know, we've kind of been ranking like the, you were like, you were like, Ilya Charles can headline a pay-per-view

and then like Dustin and Mags, like if you put the BMF out online, maybe a pay-per-view, perfect fight night. Brady like Usman, Joe Pfeiffer versus a top 10 middleweight on the co-main, sign me up for that. And return of Paul Felder. Wow. Now I'm cooking. Holy shit.

Now I'm cooking, Dana, give me a call. The point we made on the Ariel Hauwani show, and it seemed like PT was in agreement with us, Usman feels like a safer fight than somebody else in that division that might be more of a stumbling block for your title opportunity. Safer fight, bigger name?

Big name, that the risk is worth the reward too, right? You're risking it. you are risking potentially waiting for a title opportunity, because I don't think anybody would say after Shavkat, it's Brady, right? Brady is the guy. And so maybe Ian Gary would disagree, but most people would not. You can kind of sit on that and wait

to see how it plays out. You take an opportunity against Kamaru Usman, that's a huge name, but also somebody that you're probably not at risk of getting knocked out by. You have to, maybe, I don't know, that's not fair to say. Maybe Kamaru Usman, that's a huge name, but also somebody that you're probably not at risk of getting knocked out by. You have to, maybe, I don't know, that's not fair to say. Maybe Kamaru can find it, but typically not the way that that's gonna go, and so I think it's an opportunity to stay in the mix, get a good fight in,

keep yourself sharp, and then look toward a title opportunity. It makes a lot of sense to me. You do that, I mean, we were there for BKFC. The roof would come off for Sean Brady versus Kamara Ousmane. Brady gets a submission. Brady knocks him out. Pfeiffer right before that knocks somebody out. It would be massive in Philly.

I mean, let's give Pfeiffer like Michelle Pereira. We just saw Eddie Alvarez. We just saw Jeremy Stevens come back to the UFC for the Des Moines card. Call up Eddie Alvarez. I don't know what his contract would be. I'll talking underground king. Underground king in the co-main. Call up Eddie Alvarez. In the featured bout. Paul Felder kicking off the main card. Return of Paul Felder one last run. Oh you mix in some, you love this Paul Felder. You mix in some like jersey. Paul Felder

Loki, my favorite commentator. Yeah he's pretty great. I'm a big fan of his. Yeah, you're mixing some Jersey guys, it could be pretty good. Andre Petrosky on there. Jim Miller, throw on Jimmy Miller. Jimmy Miller. Philly would be fun. They're going to Newark,

you could also potentially just do this in Newark. Yeah. But that doesn't feel like, Usman versus Brady, I think we agree, is not a pay-per-view. No, but you could co-main that. But that could co-main. You could co-main that for sure.

That would be something good, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm curious as to what's a pay-per-view. No, but you could comment on that. But that could comment. You could comment on that for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I'm curious as to what's gonna headline that 316 card. Everyone kinda, you know, dogging on a couple of guys for transformations. I don't think there's really been any sort of transformation there. You looked exactly the same.

Someone who had a great transformation. Oh, who? Big Joe Pfeiffer. Oh. He goes from, this was me this time last year. Yep. Big Joe Pfeiffer. He heads out to hair time now, gets the turkey treatment.

Look at it, look at these locks. The man looks great. Is this his first fight with the full head of hair? I think it might be. He's got the fade going in there. Like he got a lineup going. Hair looks tremendous. I mean, that was a time well spent trip to Turkey.

My guy Joe Pete, wow. Dangerous, dangerous in those Philadelphia streets when Joe Pfeiffer is. I will say this is a little bit grainy, it's a little Dangerous. Looking good. Dangerous in those Philadelphia streets when Joe Piper is. I will say this is a little bit grainy, it's a little shadowy, I wanna see it in the light of day. I wanna see it on Saturday under the bright lights in Mexico City.

Bright lights, the 4K cams. Get a little sweaty, see how it looks after we're getting a little sweaty. But shout out to my man. Shout out man. They did him right in Turkey. They did him right and I remember he came on and Ariel asked about it.

I assumed that was Turkey right? Is it in Turkey? They did him right, and I remember he came on and Ariel asked him about it. I assume that was Turkey, right? Is it in Turkey, that hair time? Hair time now, I think, is the name of it. I think he went with one of his coaches, but. Also got it done? Yeah. Oh, wow, shout out. And they were like, do you want to come?

Two for one special. Like, do you want to come if you put a couple posts on social, like, we'll hook you up too. I think Ariel asked him about it, though, and he was like, yeah, I didn't even really want it, but they offered it to me for free, so I was like, sure, I'll take it. And he was like, I would not have done it

knowing what it was, like you get all the pricks in your head and then you're like. He said like his head was swelling up on the flight back and everything. Yeah, we've talked about those flights full of the guys with the little. Shout out, I'll be on one one day. Shout out to Istanbul.

Well, when we go to Azerbaijan for that card, you can take a little stop in Turkey. Stop over in Istanbul. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. And then I fly back, it'll be great having to be on air Azerbaijan for that card you can take a little stop over in Istanbul And then I fly back it'll be great having to be on air every day with just like a completely red head I'm sure that I'm sure the commons in the chat will be really understanding I think you just start rocking the cowboy hat from Dallas. Yeah, you just wear that full-time until it teals And then one day I just take it off and it's just like luscious just yeah Locks

The pool this summer You can confirm hair time now How do you Google it what the first picture that comes up is kind of like AI Francis and Ghanu and Tracy McGrady on the Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no this isn't this isn't AI. This is like an art filter. Yeah, you got Francis Ngannou, Nick's Tracy McGrady too,

a bodybuilder and then it looks like a Portuguese soccer player on there. Shout out. Wow. Shout out to him, man. Yeah, this is pretty. Not the T-Mac, I had no idea. Wow, they had a woman go out there and do it.

You don't see that too. Oh, Nick's it, we got Nick's it going there. Wow, this is great. Yeah, they're tough. Yes, Francis is great. Yeah, there it is. Yes, Francis, Tracy. I mean, this is, if you guys wanna sponsor the show or whatever, that'd be cool too. Boys in the Back brought to you by now,

Hair Time, Hair Transplant, and Turkey. 4.8 stars on 690. There it is. Shout out to New York Knicks, Tracy McGrady, UFC champion, Francis Ngannou. And I wonder who that Portuguese soccer player is. Can I just say, is this really a good advertisement? You're showing them before the,

these are not new hair restored pictures. These are just pictures of them from when they had hair. That was Francis from when he had hair. Francis Ngannou was losing his hair? Wait, did Francis even start losing his hair again? That's how you do it best, is when people don't even know. Oh yeah, yeah, no, he went and did the whole kit in Kaboodle. Okay. Yeah, I'm looking at it.

Shout out, man. Shout out. Shout out to Hair Time now, I guess. Shout out to Hair Time. If they wanna give our boy a free flight to Turkey to get it done. White Vs Istanbul will go hard. White Vs Istanbul will go hard. With the thing?

Yeah, with all the shit in my head. It'll be great. All right, let's keep rolling. Main card, Raul Rosas Jr. taking on Vince Morales. Raul Rosas, obviously only 20 years old, said on the Ariel Hauwani show this week that he wants to make a run at this youngest champion ever. He's still got like three years and some change.

Vince Morales, I suppose this is like a step up from his previous fights like I don't I don't rate this like too much more difficult than the Arichi-Lang fight. It definitely isn't harder than the Christian Rodriguez fight like Vince Morales yes he's 34 and like he has 10 UFC fights under his belt but he's he's three and seven and like he got cut he went away for a couple years and then he came back he's owned two since he came and like he got cut he went away for a couple years, and then he came back He's owned two since he came back. It's four straight UFC losses for him We've seen him get taken down like it feels like this is another win for Raul Rosas, Jr

I don't I honestly don't feel like it feels like a step up like Christian Rodriguez is a tougher fight like this Yeah, not a step up in my mind. It's another good fight for Raul Rosas to get experience, but I'm kinda like, let's just see what the kid can do. Put the rocket, strap the rocket to his back and let's see. I would want to see him get a step up. And he said, I mean, how about the revelation? He said this to Ariel on the Ariel Hawhani show this week.

He said that he was one of the calls to step into the Rob Font fight. Yes. But he wasn't able to do it because his brother was fighting. He would have had, they were all in his brother's corner. His whole corner wouldn't have been able to go. He wouldn't have been able to be there for his brother.

I mean, first of all, like respect to Raul Rosas. Like that's a real like moment where you could have been selfish and taken that opportunity and he prioritized his brother. So respect to a 20 year old man who's making like really smart, like, you smart, maybe not the best career move, in my opinion, because he could have maybe had that opportunity, but something that shows where he

is at in terms of maturity. I'm here for my family. I made these commitments. I'm going to stick to them. I will get to Rob Font one day. I mean, that's wisdom beyond the years of most 20-year-olds. Most 20-year-olds are going, yeah, take that no matter what. F this.

I'm going to get out of here and do it. So respect for that. I really respect Rob Font. That's that's wisdom beyond the years of most 20 year olds there most 20 year olds are going yeah take that no matter what F This I'm gonna get out of here and do it So respect for that. I really respect Raul Rosas for that thought process and decision-making but To go from like I could have been fighting Rob Font to this fight. It just doesn't feel equivalent I'm ready for Raul Rosas Maybe it's not Rob font because that feels like a massive step into that It's my boy Rob font baby like you massive step into the big time. Shout out to my boy Rob Font, baby. Like, you're really jumping.

The underdog king right there. I mean, anytime you just see Rob Font, they post a plus 350 next to his name. It's like, ah, gotta bet it. You can bet your ass you'd be plus 350 to Rau Rosas, and then he'd probably win that fight. But that feels like maybe too big a step up. It felt like more of a need and an opportunity

that they were trying to give Rosas. But I think he will win this fight and I would like to really see a big step up next time. Yeah, I'd like to see him start making his way into the rankings. Obviously the star power's there. He's eclipsed a million followers on Instagram. He's starting to get blue chip sponsors like Carl's Jr.

is giving him his own custom burger. He's got the merch store. He's got the Chiwis catchphrase and everything like that. He's starting to put together the wins. I feel like he goes out there in front of the Mexican crowd. He probably gets a win by finish over Vince Morales and then we really start being like, all right, let's start talking about maybe ranked fights. And if you really want to make a run at being the youngest champion ever, you're going to

have to start taking ranked fights. A hundred percent. And also I think it's one of those things where like most people his age, the only you're concerned about is giving them octagon time is giving them cage time and going like they need the experience They need to have it. He is not like most people who are 20 and entering this conversation He mentioned on the show. He has been fighting since he is eight years old He does not need more just like reps of being in a fight environment. He does not need like more reps in the octagon. He's now had enough UFC fights that I don't think octagon jitters are a thing anymore.

He now needs to start climbing and that's what I want to see because I don't think he's one of those guys that's like, yeah, we'll bring them along slowly. We really need to give them some more experience. He's not like the other 20 year olds. There really are not 20 year olds. This does not happen this way.

He's ready, I think, if he can clear this hurdle, to start actually making those steps up. I want to see harder and harder opposition. Yeah, I'm with you. And I think that starts this weekend with a big one over Vince Morales in front of the Mexican crowd. Some other fights to get into. Is there any chance that Vince upsets him here?

There's obviously always a chance, especially with a guy who's fought, he's made the walk to the octagon ten times. And when he had that stint away from the UFC, I think his last fight was in like 2022, and then he was away for a year and a half, two years. I want to say he went like 5-0 in regional promotions and then got re-signed to the UFC. So he has plenty of cage time under his belt. Here's the thing though.

Thirty-three years old. Rosas has made the walk to the octagon five times and one more on Contender Series. So it's like this idea that like he's gonna be a lot of his, like I just want, I would have liked to see some, he said he was not disappointed because he respects Vince and sees him as a veteran and a good name and a tough opponent.

I agree with him there and I respect that position. I just want to see him continue to grow. Yeah, I mean if you really think about it, Raul Roussos has more wins in the UFC, despite only walking five times to Vince's 10. He's one of these guys that I feel like you can fast-track. And I know that's potentially dangerous. We've seen this before, where you try to fast-track somebody.

But to me, it's not a fast-track. He has been fighting for so long and been ready for these opportunities for so long. Anyway, suffice it to say, I think we both think he's gonna get a win here. I don't think it will be his hardest test. I think he will be successful here. And I wanna see him advance.

But yeah, I mean, who knows? You can lay out these plans and then you do get tripped up. So it's possible. Vince has fought on Bellator, he's fought on Ryzen, Contender Series, UFC, he's made his way around the block, so you never know. Just uses the experience and gets it done, but we'll see what happens.

I think Raul Rosas gets it done as well. David Martinez, fighting Simon Olvera. Martinez making his debut, nine of his 11 wins are by knockout, won by decision on Contender Series, but still an exciting fighter. And then Simon Olvera hasn't fought in two years He's owing to in the promotion this this feels like a good spot for the for the Mexican to get a victory Yeah, and Martina's 11 and 1 it seems like this is a nice little showcase

Yeah One other one on the main card that I think is gonna be really fun. Lazy Boy the return of them Ronaldo Rodriguez taking on Kevin Borjas Ronaldo Rodriguez kind of one of those dudes who's willing to take some to give some. I feel like this one just turns into a scrap. It's gonna be quite fun. I feel like there's a lot of these on this card

where it's just like you get a few Mexican fighters who are just gonna go in there and just lay it all on the line. Yeah. Like I was like, you were like, there's one more I wanna hit and you went to this one. I'm like Edgar Shira's. Oh, Edgar Shira's.

It's a C.J. Vergara. It's gonna be sick. It's gonna be sick. Like they're both gonna throw down. That one's gonna be fun as well. Yeah, I mean they did a good job of this. Like a nine of the 13 fights have a Mexican represented on it if you count Raul Rosas and Kevin Gassum

as Mexican Americans. Yeah. I mean it's gonna be fun and then the ones that don't have that are like Jamal Emmer's versus Gabriel Miranda. Like, that should have some fun scrambles, some fun striking, Austin Hubbard, Markel Menderos. I thought they did, like, it's not the greatest fight night of all time, but I think it's

a fun one that the fans in Mexico are gonna have a really good time at. Yeah, there's some decent, like, even like Rafa Garcia versus Vince Pichel, like, there's some good stuff on here that I'm like, okay I see like I see how this could potentially like build and kind of crescendo By the end of it because you know that people are gonna want to show out for that crowd Like people are gonna if if you give them even a little bit I think that crowd is gonna give it back to you And so I think people are gonna want to show out on this card Yeah, I mean milky Costa versus Christian Rodriguez is also a banger

I mean two young dudes at bantamweight 28 versus 27 Christian Rodriguez, he's had a couple stumbles, but he's also had a ton of successes the Oh snatcher I mean when you put it Rossa's yeah when you put an undefeated fighter against Christian Rodriguez, he's probably also Mexican-American I wanted to verify that but also Mexican-American Yeah, I mean he's just lined up to take your oh he did it to Raul Rosas And he also did it to Austin Bashi and he did it to Isaac Dalgarian like he's just lined up to take your O. He did it to Raul Rosas and he also did it to Austin Baschi and he did it to Isaac Dalgarian.

Like he's just, I think three of his last four wins come against undefeated guys. Milky Kastanat that, so be on alert if you're a C-Rod backer. It's lining up to be a fun card. Lupi Godinez following up her 4-0, 2023, with an 0-2, 20-24, and now we get to see her for the first time in 20-25.

I mean, she always fights close. She always fights sort of like by the seat of her pants on getting these victories, so I think that one's gonna be close, but I imagine the Mexican crowd will go crazy for, maybe Diego Lopez in the corner. Obviously they're very close. Maybe he's training for 3-14,

but I think it's gonna shape up to be a good card. Man, the pop for Diego, I bet, would be crazy. If he's in there? If he's there, yeah. Fighting for the title in Miami in just a few weeks. The pop will be nuts. Yeah. I feel like this has good energy.

That's the way I'll put it. I feel like this card has some good energy. And we'll see what the end product is. But there's enough compelling fights near the top and there's enough kind of like, you know Fun scraps near the bottom that I think this is gonna be a good night. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it Also last last note on it 4 p.m. Eastern Star. Oh, that's a nice one. We're out of there by 10 p.m. For a fight night with the crowd I mean, it doesn't get much better than that. Yeah, that's that's nice. It really does not get much better than that

Alright, no fight feast this week. I know that's nice. It really does not get much better than that. All right, no fight feast this week. I know it's a layup to do the Mexican food, maybe the best tacos in New York City. Unfortunately, it does take quite a bit of time, did not have the time. You gave them the bonus London one, I mean, come on. I know, I was looking for the back to back,

but just did not have the time to complete it. We'll get another shot at Mexico, I can guarantee you that. And we will do it right when we do that. Picks, parlays? Yeah, let's do it. Bets, let's recap last week first. We gotta get this one out of the way. Our parlay last week.

How'd we do? Didn't look good. Oh boy. Didn't look good. Yeah, 0 for 3 on the boys in the back and then Pizzi gets the one dub. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter because we spent it, we spent it.

By the way, not just 0 for 3, like none of these even came within an inch. I think Morgan, 30-27, Guram got pillar to post, SmackDown and McCann, I got in like 10 seconds. Thinera got finished in the first round. I guess I got some flack on Twitter for saying that over two and a half in women's fights

is a safe bet. It's a safe bet. It was a good pick. That was a great pick. Actually it was a horrible pick. It was a bad pick. All of us were horrible picks. You can understand it.

Even pizzas. No, pizzas was a great pick. My bets for this past week I get smoked. I got smoked. I was way too invested on old Guram. That cost me heavy. Down six units. Not great but overall record was still at 44. Shout out to Sean Brady. He was my biggest bet of the night. I guess Guram was between the two parlays, so. Shout out to Guram. Tough sled, Nathaniel Wood, nice call there.

Shawn Brady, nice stuff. You sniffed that Wood fight out. I was like. I have to say. You know what it was? I got wrapped up in the or, the more nefarious. I know it, I know it, and it was 20 and 10. I mean, I had a shitty night, I'm not gonna sit here and brag,

but man, that Nathaniel Wood fight, as soon as it ended, I was just like, wow. Called that one, 280. Exactly how I expected that one to be. You had that one sniffed out. Yeah, wish I had just done Sean Brady and Nathaniel Wood and called it a night. I mean, sometimes I'm just like,

why don't I just bet less and bet the ones that I'm really confident in? So yeah. All right, let's do our Parlay Pals picks for this weekend, and then we'll do my bets, and then we'll do the big hitters to highlight the people from that UFC London card. Let me throw it in the old randomizer here. Alright we already got Pizzi's pick I accidentally included him in there but Rick will go first I'll go second and

then Frankie you will bring up the rear. Yeah, I'm feeling something I'm feeling like the the Philly momentum. Oh Gonna go okay. We're gonna be we're gonna be on Joe Pfeiffer All right, Joe Pfeiffer money line is is the play for me this be on Joe Pfeiffer Yeah, be on Joe Pfeiffer, but blah blah blah blah be on Joe Pfeiffer be on Joe Pfeiffer. Shout out All right, so PT took David Martinez you took Joefeiffer, minus 298 and minus 410. I'll go to the main event. I'm not gonna take a side, but I think this will be a war. I'm gonna go Moreno or Seg.

Over two and a half, minus 525. Nice. Frankie? And then I would like to go with... Kiwi Lee! Oh, nice. And we're gonna take Raul Rosas as money line. It's locked in.

Nice. love that. Can I say something? Every time we cut to that shot, it looks like we're focusing on the back seats. Yeah, like they're highlighted. Like they're just like, it's like, wow. Yeah, they are, that is bright lights on them for sure. Do you remember Arsenio Hall?

Yes, of course. That's what it reminds me of. Yeah. All right so that gets us to totaled up plus 141. We are down 1.2 right now. We would get into the black. We'd get into the black. We'd get into the green if we get the dub here. I feel good about this one. Nothing smaller than minus 300. I like it. I like it. I like it a lot. I like it a lot. I think I think we get a dub here. Let me run through my bets real quick here for the people. We start, I was talking about it with the with the Lupita Dinas fight. Her against Julia Polastri. I think it's gonna be close. I think it's gonna be raising close. And in a women's mixed martial arts fight,

you're giving me a two to one on a fight that I think is gonna be very close. I mean, Lupi is almost always in 29, 28s or split decisions. She has the one finish over Elise Reed. I don't see her finishing pilastri here, and I just think this one's gonna be close. I know she's the hometown fighter, the home country fighter, but I will take a dog shot on Julia Pellastri.

And I felt a little bit better. JT Lines, Jacob's Lock of the Week, shout out to him. This is his Lock of the Week. Oh, wow. He strictly takes underdogs. I believe he's hit six. He's going for seven in a row. He's absolutely killing it.

Hits in a row? He's hit six in a row. Holy shit. Oh yeah, he's great on We Want Picks, JT Lines. Shout out to him. Dog Hunter, Lock of the Weeks, he's killing it. Want Picks, JT Line, shout out to him, dog hunter, lock of the weeks, he's killing it. But I had already had her scoped out, I saw her, I was like, you know what, he's on it, I'll be on it too.

So shout out to JT Line, shout out to Jacobs Locks of the Week. Next up, I'm gonna take Melky Costa. This one I just also think is gonna be very close. I know C-Rod is great, he got the win over Raul Rosas, he's the O Hunter, but guess what? Melki Costa does not have an O. He has seven losses but I still do rate him a very solid young guy at bantamweight. And Christian Rodriguez like I know after the Raul Rosas fight and everything the Julian Orosa performance wasn't great and the Isaac Dalgarian

performance also was not great. I know he's winning those fights but I think in in this fight Costa will keep this close. I know he's winning those fights, but I think in this fight, Kosta will keep this close. I think there's gonna be some fun scrambles in this one. And I'm gonna say Kosta by a close decision. Next up, Gaudier Medina over one and a half. Yes, I understand Gaudier like almost strictly knocks people out, but he's making his UFC debut off of contender series and Medina has never been knocked out.

I think this one goes longer than the seven and a half minutes. And then last but not least for the singles, big chin, big heart, tied for most knockouts in lightweight history. I'm going with Drew Dover. I think the experience shines in this one and he gets it done over Manuel Torres. I think the pace, he survives the first few minutes, Torres starts to get tired,

and Dover's able to do what he wants. And he gets to finish himself, I'm gonna say early round two, and then I have a couple of Parleys. I use Raul Rosas, no, I'll use Joe Pfeiffer, and the Moreno or Seg over two and a half. So half of our Parley pals, and then secondary, Hafa Garcia, David Martinez, Raul Rosas Jr.,

a Mexican parlay. The other half of our parlay pals. So hopefully Parlay Pals hits and then Hafa Garcia wins as well. Can't wait for this card on Saturday though. Last thing to do with the bets, got to shout out some people from UFC London. I asked on Sunday and I got a lot more slips so I'm just going to have to start doing that. But there were some crazy ones. There were some crazy ones. People got generational wealth off this Shanna Bannon submission.

I mean, Pooja Tomar, I thought she got the finish. I mean, I bet her. I thought she was about to get the finish and then she walks herself into an arm bar, was sick. But shout out to atfins underscore the. We actually shouted him out last week, back-to-back weeks for old Fins chats MMA. He goes 12.50 on a Shana Bannon by submission, Alexia Thanera by submission parlay, plus 1500, plus 430 parlayed together, plus 8,380. 12.50 into $1,060.

Absolutely insane, shout out to Fins. Next up, Haxton87. All right, he turns $5 into 498 by doing a five leg parlay that consisted of Sean Brady winning by submission, Kevin Holland outright, Chris Padilla outright, Nathaniel Wood as a dog outright, and Carlos Ulberg. To win by a decision

goes at plus 9,875 turns $5 into almost 500 pounds, actually, not dollars. Thank you, producer, honor, Jordan. Damn, the Ulberg by decision was the- Ulberg by decision was sneaky. Sean Brady by submission was sneaky too. I know in hindsight, it was plus 400. All right, we keep going.

On Dogs MMA. He goes, Chris Duncan by submission in round two plus 4,500. Got it. Sean abandoned to win by submission in round two plus 4,500. Got it. Sean Brady to win by submission in around four plus 3000. Got it. He did hide his wagers on these.

So I don't know if he put that much on them. On dogs next time, just leave them up there. We don't unit shame around these parts. Would love to see how much you won. Even if it was 10 cents, don't care. We will still shout you out. Shout out the on dogs MMA. Those are some snipes right there.

Wow. Then we got at 613 MMA max. Sean abandoned to win by submission. Alexia Thinera to win by submission, plus 9400. He throws 80 big Canadian dollars on it, gets back 7600 Canadian dollars. This is the same parlay as the first person. Same parlay, I guess that was the lock of the week. I guess that was the play of the week. That was the third stimulus check that we never got. It was Sean Abannin and Alexis De Niro to win by submission. So shout out to them.

Sean Abannin on the verge of getting unconscious. Holy shit, I couldn't imagine cheering that one on. It's just like, oh no, she got dropped. Oh, she's gonna get finished. Oh wait, she's walking herself into an arm bar. Oh, we won, plus 8,800 baby, let's go. Yeah, shout out to that. I was on the other side with a Pujo Tomar underdog ticket.

I was like, oh! He's gonna win! He's gonna win! What? No, what is she doing? What is she doing? Why is she going deeper into the armor? No! Literally at one point I was like, oh she's out, she's out. No, no, she's back in! Fuck! Why? Why? Why? Alright, there was one last one right there. You can see it on the side. at Michael B Gamblin, another one.

Sean abandoned by- This was the play? This was the play. I'm a public square, this was the play, all the sharps were on it. Sean abandoned by submission plus 1,600. Sean abandoned to win by submission in rounds two or three plus 2,800.

Sean abandoned by submission plus 1,000. And then Sean abandoned by armbar only plus 1800 but still to snipe that is just insane he's got he won 950 Canadian dollars on the armbar 550 on the submission one another like what is that how is Sean abandoned by submission plus 1600 and then Sean abandoned by armbar only plus 1800 feels like bad value there it does but he nailed it yeah great great call but like he nailed it yeah he got uh he got what is that math on that twenty three hundred dollars and then you added another a thousand like he

cashed out like almost four thousand Canadian leaks the Sean abandoned by armbar script that we did not see who leaked this I don't know where did this repeat was it Pizzi? Did Pizzi lay this out? Cause I, I. No, cause he could have told us. He could have told us. I was on Pujar Tomar,

he'd been like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Sean and Ben is gonna win by armbar. Could have malina'd me. He could have been like. No. It's, I mean. Sean and Ben in my submission. Is now the moment?

Do we, do we, do we. Oh yes, yes, yes. Yeah, this is actually a great segue into the pound for pound. But yeah, yesterday we were talking about, you know, obviously a serious situation with the gambling thing, but we pulled out the old cigarette pack and just threw out a hypothetical

if we were to get some insider info. And then one Andrew Feldman on Twitter took it in and worked his magic, handed it in. Here's the video right here. Brady calls me out, by the way, I'm with my teammate right now. He's losing, sure. He fights in 45 minutes. He makes the walk in 45 minutes. He's dying back here. I'm talking 60 seconds back. I'm saying, hey, brother, any one of your friends that has a DraftKings account,

has a FanDuel account, whatever it may be. No ties to me at all. Put down X money, I'm wiring it to you right now. Don't ask any questions. A guaranteed winner. Yeah, alright. Now get the fuck outta here. That's somebody calling in the Sean Abandon by submission and round two.

If I had gotten that call, if I had gotten that call. Oh man. Yeah, shout out to Tony Soprano as well. Goat show. Lived in Jersey for a while. Almost picked up six because of it. You know, Christopher Maltesanti, you know a couple of things. Yeah. And then he... Boy, hold on. Favorite Sopranos character? That's tough. I mean, Tony's a legend. Maltesanti's's a legend. I didn't love the way he went out. Nobody did by the way. Paulie Walnuts. Yeah, Paulie Walnuts isn't bad. I mean it's tough to go against Tony. Like Tony's just the man.

You do love Tony even though you hate Tony? Yeah, that's kind of the brilliance of the series. He's the anti-hero. Yeah. He's like the OG anti-hero. I love Walter White in Breaking Bad too. You truly loathe him, but you're also like, he's like so cool. Like there's an element of a,

I think I'm a Chrissy guy. Yeah. I think I'm Chris. Yeah. That's where I land. It's such a good show. Fantastic. I ran through it back in 2022.

I need to rip it again. It really is just like, it's so good. Especially, I was living in Jersey at the time too. And it's just like, you just the vibes it's it's great a couple bridges I was like I live right near there but yeah shout out. He also did a couple pictures like AI generated pictures I don't know we have them. Oh yeah, shout out. Why is that Zach Galifianakis? Yeah bald bald Zach Galifianakis AI generated me into a thing, but I'm wearing the Marvin Vittori fight day outfit

to Capagal with the backwards jeans on. It's so ridiculous. And like standing there so menacingly and like, it almost looks like I'm Ryan Rosilla wearing that. And like, why are the pants so high waisted as well? That's why I thought Zach Galifianakis it looks like in the hangover You know like it's like a goofy kind of guy also like the AI definitely made it like an ass on the front, too But like AI is getting better with that words. Do you what what do you think he typed in there Connor Burke's?

But with the marv inventory sure I don't think it's backwards jeans. I don't think I'm big enough I think I think he did like bald guy with beard. Or maybe he just put the whole picture in because the shirt matches it to a tee. But yeah, shout out to Andrew Feldman, that was fun. That was fun to see this morning. I had a good time, we all had a good laugh around here. Carlos Pratches fighting in just a few weeks.

Might have to pick up a couple packs on the way, you know? Might have to take the batteries out of that. Yeah, I see you with smoke alarm right there. Might have to take the batteries out of that. Yeah, I see a smoke alarm right there. Might have to take the batteries out and just let it rip. Coming on Monday morning, people are like, whew, what is that? Guy whose security and facilities is watching this, ready to arrest you as soon as you walk out of this studio.

Come and get me. You get cigs in prison, eh? All right, last thing to do for the day, the pound for pound rankings, and then we'll work with the chat, maybe super chat, see what's going on. Yeah, drop some super chats so we can talk with you guys. I'll hop in the chat as well, I gotta do it.

Pound for pound rankings this week in honor of Mexico City, top five favorite Mexican dishes. Some of the best cuisine in the entire world, if it's not one of your favorites. And shout out to Shea Serrano, Mexicans are perfect. Yeah, that looks like a great plate right there. What do we got? Some refried beans, some rice, enchiladas,

the chips and salsa, yeah. I mean, it's tough to go wrong with good Mexican food. Like when it's good, it is great, it is tremendous, it is almost impossible to beat. And there's so many different dishes that you could choose from. So top five Mexican dishes, What's the order, Frankie? I'm going to go with Frank and then Rick.

All right. And then we'll have you, Connor, finish this. Typical. Overlyable. All right. Kick us off, Frankie. All right. So number five is one of my favorites,

but it's the fifth in this pound for pound list. It's a nice little starter here. It's actually pickled carrots in jalapeno brine. It has a way of showing it, if you wanna put it up here on the screen. Andy can actually read us the name of it, because I will butcher this if I try it myself. What do we got? It's a zanahorias en escabeche.

Oh, okay. You can see why you wouldn't be able to. You just order the carrots you know like you just point at them. Is this like an appetizer? Describe this. It's really like it's so here's the thing like I think it's intended to just be like a topping that you add to things but once you've had them enough it's like you're eating them like it's a side dish you eat them as an entree there's a a lot of places, especially Shaheen Alshadi could point out, there's places in Arizona where there's just a vat of it.

Like you just go and help yourself to all of these. You can pickle them yourself. You can buy them pre-made where they're already soaked in the brine. But just to really, you can't beat this flavor, this crunch, it's amazing. It's speaking to me. I mean, the jalapenos right off rip.

As you should be, yeah. At number four, we actually have chile urulino. Okay. So again, taking the pepper, stuffing it up with some mozzarella, some, you know, you could put all sorts of different stuffings in there. What's great is it's got a little zing to it. Like it's not too spicy.

Eat the whole thing with a side of rice and beans. You're gonna be just sitting pretty. I'm down. So this is a pepper. That's what I'm like, yeah, stuffed pepper. The poblano, anaheim. The poblano thing is the pepper of rice and beans. You're gonna be down. So this is this is a pepper That's what I'm like. Yes, don't know anything is the pattern. I use got it Yeah, because think of it kind of as a stuffed green bell pepper, but like with that Mexican flair this yeah, it's perfect Oh, yeah, we put the lime on top like in the picture or no Absolutely, okay always with the citrus you got to have it if you want to just really start to accentuate with those

I'm with you Frank that That looks good. That looks very good. Coming in at my number three is a personal favorite of mine, aguachile. This is essentially you take shrimp and you cook it in lime juice not unlike ceviche. It has some shrimp in there? Yeah it's gotta have some shrimp. Put some cucumbers, some red onions, some jalapenos, cilantro, right? The whole thing, again, cooked in the lime juice, very similar to ceviche, but a lot more lime forward. You got a little bit of tomatillo in there to get some of that green sauce going.

Oh, it's amazing. Eat it on a chip, on a tortilla, whatever you want. OK, so it's not a soup. It's like a dip a little bit. It's not a soup. No, this is cold. This is, you can eat it as an appetizer. You can eat it as an entree.

You can eat it as a snack. It's like the shrimp cocktail. But it's going This is you can eat it as an appetizer You can eat it as an entree you can eat as a snack You know it's like shrimp cocktales going on something it you're not just you know you can eat it with a fork There are no rules. Okay, zero rule. The only rule is eat it You said zero rules I said just right no rules just right let's go out back tonight Shout out. I don't think you're gonna find this at out back. It's a trap no At number two I actually have carne asada Yeah, now my favorite thing to do is you get a good flank steak fuck that looks great Marinated essentially and what is pico de gallo and it got some citrus some some tomato jalapeno on you

Yeah, let that thing sit actually my secret, and this is for the viewers and the listeners at home, a little bit of orange juice. You have the lime juice, just a splash of orange juice. Let it sit overnight. Got to be patient with it. You really want those flavors to get locked in. And then after that, it's going to look exactly like it does on your screen.

You don't even have to do anything else. Yeah, I mean, you had flank steak for lunch today, huh? Yeah, it wasn't my favorite. I feel like there's an Americanization of what flank steak or skirt steak is supposed to taste like. And it's like, oh, it's a tougher meat. You cut it in a certain way. You don't want to go with the grain.

You want to go against the grain. And you have to marinate it. And what we had today, just for the people at home, we had flank steak sandwiches available to us at yahoo. Thank you It's just too chewy. That's not what you want. This is gonna be nice very digestible You also don't want to overcook it look how nice and looks at it Shout out to the other flank steaks and they coming in at number one. I mean this is a solid big big Thing for the mysterious household is nachos. Yeah. yeah, I mean there's just no way like yeah

Honestly, you could put the carne asada on the nachos you can have the whole chili on the nachos What is on the nachos give me your like perfect? That's the thing like I actually am very flexible I'll do stadium style, which I don't know if you guys are familiar with that That's actually using like the the cheese sauce okay, and you're putting it on top Then you have this style where you're like baking it you know all that Taco Bell silly Don't ever use that word again Taco Bell like what are we talking about Mexican food right now man? Yeah, oh my dear So I like it my favorite would be a take each chip and spread a little bit of refried bean on there

Get some a jack on top bake it to where every piece is like its individual almost like little little pie You know they've all been baked and then you put the same toppings that you would anything else But again stadium style is great little factoid for me for you rather The emulsifier that you use to make nacho cheese is like you have to use an emulsifier Otherwise the cheese is gonna come out all stringy and everything is actually N A C H O like that's the molecular makeup of it. Oh wow. If that isn't divine like. That's divine intervention right there. Exactly. Wow. We were meant to have nachos. You just blew my mind with that. Respect the list. Respect the list. Some smaller names on there, but then end it with a heavyweight giant.

I think, a great list, Frank. Everything there looked delicious, and I like your commitment to the spice, like the jalapenos in a lot of the dishes. I'm with you there. What I'm realizing is I may not have a very refined Mexican food. I knew Frankie was gonna go like that.

Oh, is yours? Okay, well let me just do mine and then we'll see where we net out. Okay, number five. This one had to be on there. It will not resemble the others, but it had to and it's the churro. Like, I need a churro.

Shout out to churros. It's just, it's simple, but it's perfect. And I would actually say, my list looking at it, one of my keys is the simplicity. And this applies to not just Mexican food, but all food I eat. Simple is better for me. Less ingredients, but ingredients that I do love.

You're talking fried dough, you're talking powdered sugar. It says itself. It doesn't get any better than that. It doesn't get any better than that. Give me the fried dough, give me talking powdered sugar like I mean it doesn't get any better it does not get better than that give me the fried dough give me the powdered sugar but just the the composition of these also I like the bite ability like I like the whole thing and snap it in it's great oh Frank I meant to ask you this about the nachos what's up is this is frustrating to you as it is to me my number one thing that drives me nuts food wise is when I've eaten all the

nachos with all the stuff on it and then I get to the nachos that have nothing left because I've eaten and I'm just Eating a plain nacho that kills me you got it. You got a strategize better man So I can those are you like this is a slop in like great looking nacho can I just eat it now? You got to observe the rest of the plate and be like I got a couple of chips They're gonna be more exactly exactly so then you need a couple naked ones. It's a necessary evil You need the you're going naked to go in to go in yeah, and you need a couple you know palette refreshers as well I was gonna say here's my thing Open a nacho shop

Refill you're get you get down to the dregs. It's just the chips. Okay. We're going back. We're putting more stuff on for you. All right, I like it, I like it. That's the key. All right, anyway, number four. An appetizer, but one that I love dearly, a lote. I mean, again, simple ingredients, right? We got the corn, we got the mayo, we got the spice on. But man, when you combine those things,

and you know what, in this picture, it's here, I didn't pick this on purpose, but a little bit of the char. Like I like it a little bit, a little bit charred, you get that little smoky flavor. Corn, mayo, spices, like it's just delicious. You get that cob, you're going. You make a mess, but you're just so happy,

it doesn't really matter. Number three, one of my favorites, enchilada. Oh, yeah. I'm a big enchilada guy. Make those things swim, baby. You love the sauce on top. The sauce is key. Like, obviously, the sauce is almost most important, right? Because underneath, you just got the corn wrap

and you've got the filling, whether it be the, you know, whatever kind of meat you've selected. But the key is that sauce. You slather it in sauce. Maybe you melt a little cheese on it. But the important part is you get the right sauce on the enchilada it sets the whole thing what's your go-to the one you pictured I think was mole yeah like a mole I mean obviously a little sweet a little spicy greens always like the

spicier the better for me but I also like sweet so when you can combine like sweet and spicy that's that that's that perfect I was gonna say sweet spot but that's that perfect combination for me. But yeah, I'm pretty good with any, like a really like tangy, sharp green is also pretty good for me. All right, I'm gonna throw this out there. There's a restaurant in both Atlanta and Athens, Georgia,

where I grew up and where I went to school at, Taqueria Del Sol, and they have lemon cream enchiladas, and the sauce is like this cheesy lemony creamy sauce, and it is the greatest thing I've ever had. Anytime I go home, I have to get it. Yeah, it's just incredible. I would love to find somewhere that did that. I would try that.

All right, number two. Not as simple, because I think one of the things is I like a lot of ingredients in it, but simple fresh ingredients and that's that guacamole. And especially, show the picture, you need the stone. You need it to be ground up that way. That bowl better be like 27 pounds too. That's it, you better have a,

they better be coming to your table with the Rocca Gibraltar on there and you better be grinding that thing up nice and good. We get a little onions, we get some spices, tomato. You really get that going. But you dip the chip, and see here, the great part about that is, now you're dipping the chip in. You kind of guide that, as opposed

to when it's laying on top of the nachos. You can't determine that. Quality fresh made guacamole with quality fresh made chips is an elite combo. It's so good. Simple but good. It's one of those things that I like more ingredients than less. I'm typically a less ingredients guy, but I do like when it has a little bit of extra

flavor to it, but the key is that freshness. The fresh chips and the fresh guac. All right, number one, maybe I'm just a simple man. In fact, I know I'm a simple man. I know where you're going. But I'm just a simple man in fact I know I'm a simple man over you but I'm going taco just give me the taco but here's the key corn corn tortilla over flour sorry oh okay one over flour I'm that guy love them you mean that guy that's like that's the default no well yes but not the default not yeah how about this Frank not a Taco Bell Jesus

The number one for mayor of Mexico out of the D-Bell Did you even get a corn taco at Taco Bell? Well yeah the crispy ones are corn yeah but we're talking the soft corn and I mean it's almost like to the point that like Frank said for which which one was he saying it for? All of them? No, where you were saying the meat on top doesn't matter. Oh, the nachos. You were like, it could be steak, it could be, I'm the same way with the tacos. You give me a little lengua.

You give me any meat and I'm good. But simple. I don't want to overload it. Like you put maybe a little bit of the radish. You can sprinkle some lime on top, onions. But I don't want to overload it. And I think this is the brilliance of the taco. Here's the important part about the taco that I think differs from maybe some others that might be on your list and we can address later. You can't overload the taco.

Because if you overload the taco, now you can't eat it. So they made it so that you have to keep it simple you get the meat in there you get enough of the little ingredients to set it off and then you eat it there are other contraptions that have been created where they can be overloaded and there's too much shit in there and it takes all the flavor away tacos are perfect they're small they're compact they're simple and you can eat like 20 of them you just grab one you get it this way. I love it, tacos. I was very curious to see what your number one was gonna be

because if you didn't go tacos, that would've meant you and Frank did not have tacos on your list. No, tacos, tacos, tacos. I have a question for you guys, so if Andy doesn't mind throwing up the taco picture. So you can see there's two tortillas here. Here's something that I've actually learned over the years, you use one tortilla at a time

and then whatever falls off the first taco, you now have a second taco. Wow, I've been through them all. Those are pretty loaded tacos though too. I've always eaten the two at the same time. There's no wrong way to eat a taco, man. You enjoy that taco. No, but efficiency-wise,

yeah, you wanna clean up the little bits. Two tacos in one? Save it for your chips left over from your nachos. I just I just pick at it I just use I just eat it with my hands like a toddler. I'm a good toddler. All right Let's rip through my list starting at number five cheesy gordita crunch. No, I'm just kidding You guys are gonna get all Number five I'm gonna start with flautas, AKA taquitos, you know, you get a little bit of chicken, a little bit of beef, maybe some cheese,

whatever you wanna do in there. You roll it up, you fry it up, and then you dunk it in maybe some guac, maybe some salsa, maybe some sour cream. I mean, it's just divine. Like, it's just like a fried tortilla with stuffing in it, and then you're dunking it in something Rolled taco. Yeah, essentially a rolled taco taquito flauta what I mean look at yeah, but the fries the fries

The fries very important Frank most tacos are actually fried like street tacos are supposed to be lightly fried Exactly why the crunchy shell became a thing in Tex-Mex is they really how do we make this faster? We'll fry the tortilla before we made the taco and we talking like light on a About Taco Bell you should look into where it came from well It feels like we're getting into Chalupa range now You know nice no no the whole idea was like nobody has time to fry a taco if you're in a hurry So let's fry the shell first and then stuff it and that's where you got the American taco Oh, so like the crispy shelled ones. That's yeah like that's that okay the whole thing came from I call the flautas the the dipper. That's what they call

Well also speaking of Cry we need to get the tissue shout out to El Monte ray taquitos absolutely unbelievable got me through the high school post post high school snacks El Monte ray taquitos throw them bad boys in the oven, throw them in the microwave and that makes all the difference. Absolutely unbelievable. Number four, same number four as Mr. New York Rick and that is gonna be the Elote Mexican street corn.

Let's go. Slather that baby up. Throw it on the grill and then just slather it up, a little bit of creamy spicy mayo, a bunch of spices on there, get that lime squeeze going. It's unbelievable. I mean it's it's fantastic. I absolutely love the alote. Some of these other things, like they can interchange. If alote is on the menu, guaranteed order.

We'll take a couple alotes for the table. Thanks. Every time. A couple alotes will start us off. Chips and guac, that'll start us off. Drinks, anybody want some drinks? Some margaritas? All right, and then come back for the food order in a little bit. Number three, pinnacle of diversity in this one. I mean, it's one of those guys that, yes, he's sitting at number three on my list, but on his best day, and he has a lot of good days, he's an easy number one.

I mean, you can mix and match any way you please, and that is your number one, my number three, the tacos. I mean, you can get different fillings, a little bit of beef, steak, chicken, shrimp, fish, pork, maybe a veggie one, my number three, the tacos. I mean, you can get different fillings, a little bit of beef, steak, chicken, shrimp, fish, pork, maybe a veggie one. Maybe you're just doing avocados as the base. Different salsas, different tortillas,

different shells, cheeses, cremas, salsas. The options are limitless. At their peak, they are almost impossible to beat. Tacos, number three. Yeah, I mean. God, like a nice fried fish taco with like a good crema on them. The best. three. Yeah, I mean. God, like a nice fried fish taco with like a good creme on them. The best.

Man. Yeah. I mean, I had it number one, so I can't wait to see what you have number two and one. Korean tacos are also good. Oh yeah, shout out. Shout out to tacos, I absolutely love tacos. All right, number two.

No wrong way to eat a taco. No wrong way to eat a taco, Frankie. No wrong way to even though, you know, you're shaming us a little bit with our love for Taco Bell, but that's neither here nor there. You'll get a Taco Bell? No. No. See?

Number two, going dessert here. Only gotta have dessert? No, you had churros on it. A churro. Not churros. Oh. Tres leches. Ah. Just an absolute banger of a cake. The lightest, airiest spun cake you ever had,

soaking in three kinds of milk, hence the name for those that don't understand. Tres leches means three milks, three kinds of milk, evaporated, condensed, and whole, give you just like the sweetest, most moist dessert you have ever had in your life. A little bit of cinnamon on top of that there. You get a good tres leches, it's hard to beat. I actually had never had it until like this time last year.

We did the fight feast for Mexico City last year, had never had it until like this time last year. Wow. We did the fight feast for Mexico City last year and I had it for the first time, mind blown. Can't believe I lived 30 years of my life without ever trying it. One of my wife Holly's favorite dishes, definitely her favorite dessert.

Loves a tres leches. So good, so good, absolutely. Incredible, which leads me to number one, a dish that I also recently discovered in years past. And that is, I am also shocked that Frank didn't have this, chilaquiles, typically considered a Mexican dish. Fried tortilla chips, but just simmer them in either a salsa or a mole, topped with some cheese,

some egg, some avocado, some crema, maybe some cojito, maybe some onion on there. It's just, it's so good. It's mind bogglingly good. The first time I had it, I couldn't handle myself. This is like the upgrade of the nachos. Like this is like the, like. It's like almost, you would like almost consider it

to be like breakfast nachos. Like the egg is consistent on it, but you are simmering the tortilla chips in like a salsa. So it isn't like you're just baking it. Yeah, tomatillo. The place that we got the Tres Leches, like they all said that, yeah, You are simmering the tortilla chips in like a salsa. So it isn't like you're just baking them. The place that we got the Tres Leches, they all said that, yeah, I remember those probably are the best tiaquiles I've ever had.

Oh, tiaquiles, shout out, man. That is my number one. Wow. Well, I think we can all agree we should go get some Mexican food. Let's go get some Mexican food, baby! Little team bonding post show. Yeah, oh.

Should we invite Ariel? You think that's? Yeah, give him a call, give him a call. Send him a text, send him a text. I am down for that, yeah. Shout out to Mexican food, man. Yeah, oh should we invite Ariel you think that's I'm down for that. Yeah, shout out the Mexican food man. I have no but should we actually though? I'm down. I'm down a team trip a team trip. Can I tell you guys something? Yeah, yes, I'm gonna break a little circle of trust back here Yes, Andy messaged me yesterday sent me some pictures direct quote for tomorrow because I don't trust their list. Okay I want to do what you have.

Oh, Andy has a list! She sent two of the three things on your list. Okay. I'm so proud of you guys. Chilaquiles is my number one. Oh, it's gotta be. But the green sauce, it's so good. It probably wasn't on my simple, basic mix.

What else do we have? Chilaquiles? So I didn't write five, I just sent a few until Jordan was like, they're not that bad of a list. Okay. Chilaquiles for sure with eggs for breakfast shout out green sauce I gotta get on this Fuck me you have to have it. Oh, it's so alright. So we're going after I guess I have to get this Chilaquiles have yeah and then Mexican hot chocolate. Have you guys had this?

No, I actually have had this. Shout out, another great dessert. Tell me, what's the difference? It's spicy. It's spicy. I feel like it's always made in that same pot. So delicious. Like if you like a good hot chocolate, this is just so aromatic and spicy.

It's so good. It's so good. Shout out Mexican hot chocolate. And then the elotes. I had a question for you guys because I'm glad you guys added them. Have you had it in cups? I was just about to say, so you go off cob. Yes, I go off cob. And also the last lot is I had a question for you guys because I'm glad you guys out of them Have you had it in cups? I was just about to say so you go off cob

Yes, I go off cob and also the last time I was out in Mexico There was just people with stands and different buckets of different kinds of corn and you could just tell her this one this one This one this one and then the topic that's what this is. This is the move. Okay I'm I'm not a I don't love corn on the cob because of the mess it makes I love this is an amazing So thanks for feeling I'm earning my food. I don't like that Toddler eating habits you're bringing up here Rick. You're like, I don't want it to be messy I don't want my nachos to not have anything on it. I feel like that wouldn't the toddler be the opposite Toddlers don't like messy food. You ever wants to toddler eat Frank? It's not pretty

No, I haven't yeah, I feel like you were off the mark a little bit there. That's right next time All right any super chats Frank. I know let me let me grab a bib for Rick He doesn't like the mesh he's just he's trying to force this one in it's it's not it's all right Oh, oh, oh in the chat Frank yeah Starting off Trin daddy wants to shout out to the boys in the back, especially New York Let's go. Let's go sickness dodging street shooting best ride-or-die, bro in the entire biz And somebody don't wear the man New York. Oh, sorry. Sorry Frankie. I mean people listen to podcasts when I hear the super chat No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That was my bad

Can somebody confirm? I think Trin Daddy was the one who tagged on the Frank one on the end of Hellwani show yesterday. And if he is, that's very funny. Shout out to Trin Daddy. Shout out to Trin Daddy. Tech wants to know, has anyone made a boys in the back Studio Ghibli picture yet?

We have not. No. No, no, no. And we refuse to, right? Like, we're not taking in those. I'm too old. I'm too old for the AI slop. Yeah. However, fans of Studio Ghibli all around, right?

I love it. Jordan is shrugging right now. Boy in the Harem. Princess Mononoke. Princess Mononoke. Howl's Moving Castle. He knows, he's agreeing, he's agreeing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Cole B. writes, UFC brings back Nate Diaz for Diaz versus Dustin at welterweight for Dustin's retirement fight. Max versus Charles for BMF. Oh shit. And Justin versus Dan. Shrug face, I can't see that.

Yeah, he's shrugging his, yeah. I don't hate that. If this was in the realm of possibility, I ain't mad at it. Yeah, I don't hate that at all. Dustin versus Nate. Would be sick. Would be pretty fun. Feel like Dustin gets that done, but that's a perfect time you go out on that big name yes, I

Here's the here's the problem I? Do I love these as fights? I really like the the creative Matchmaking that you're doing here because I think Charles versus max will be Insanely fun and gives us that kind of like nobody's left out matchmaking that you're doing here, because I think Charles versus Max would be insanely fun and gives us that kind of like, nobody's left out. My biggest problem that I think you'd, or the biggest problem that I think you'd face there is I think you would be very hard,

it would be very difficult for the UFC to convince Nate Diaz to sign up for a fight where the whole story is Dustin Poirier celebrating Dustin Poirier going out. And it's like, Nate Diaz is a big star. And he's never, even when Conor McGregor is the opposite, he's like, I'm the guy. And so I don't think you could sign him up for the fight where it's like, everybody's glowing about Dustin.

This is Dustin's big send away. It's in Louisiana. And Nate is just like there. He would not sign up for that. He's just not that guy. He's the main attraction. He's always been, and Nate is just like there, he would not sign up for that. He's just not that guy. He's the main attraction, he's always been the guy who wants to do it his way.

Look at me, I don't care how famous Conor McGregor is, I'm the guy, I just don't see it. Yeah, it's a good counter to it though. I don't know what they would do with Dustin if they did this, but like Charles versus Max for a BMI would be sick. Would be sick. Charles versus Max would be incredible.

That would be unreal. The problem is, you versus Max would be incredible. That would be unreal. The problem is you've got this whole thing at the lightweight division, and then you've got Dustin off to the side who needs somebody who is a good fighter. Big fight. Yeah, big good fight, and kind of makes it hard. But I like the creativity on this one. Could run back Dustin versus Hooker.

Or what if Dustin's got two? Didn't Dustin at some point say he's got two more am I crazy? I don't know if he gets the New Orleans fight. That's got to be it Yeah, so maybe you do Nate first then you do the New Orleans fight. I'm down Anything else Frankie Ryan Maddox writes Luck I think that look dog was one of the interviews that Ariel. Hoani couldn't think of yesterday Sorry for only shouting out GC yesterday, New York gout more like I'm gonna go man. You really wow

Everyone really feels bad for that Feel better though like now that they're all feeling guilty. They're coming out to say I wonder if that's Tom's son I mean Greg's son Ryan Craig Maddox and shout out to Atlanta Braves legends my Maddox year right now 31 let's go um I'm a needy person, and I appreciate the love, thank you. As far as that, he's referencing, yesterday we were talking, one of the people on On The Nose asked Ariel and referenced kind of surprising interviews or refreshing

and fun interviews and I certainly think Lok Dog, Lok Dog, he said Lock Dog. I think I have to- Is it Loke or Lock? He said Lock so I have to shift into it. It's one of the two. Lock Dog definitely fits that bill. He's an incredible kind of like refreshing name and face

in that division so yeah, it could be. Jake Olate writes, UFC Iowa ticket secured, maybe see y'all around. Let's go. No love for Drake as y'all will be in their arena Interesting no you said yeah, I'm I'm pretty sure that he's he's talking about the Drake Bulldogs the the university that was actually just in the NCAA tournament Unfortunately got knocked out in the round of 32

I believe in Des Moines and this is the arena that they play at unless I'm mistaken I could be wrong on that But yeah, we've been shouting out Drake. We're cognizant of Drake. We're corn heads. We know Iowa. Largest producer of corn Iowa is. Anything else Frankie? 24inchdub says just want to say the show rocks and mad love to Frank. Hey shout out. Shout out to 24inchdub. I know I know he was upset with our Bob Cousy takes yesterday. As a South Dix fan, I get it. Oh man, how about the Stephen A and LeBron like,

back and forth. Yeah, they're heated. The never ending drama between them. I feel like this one's just gonna be good for LeBron. Don't know how good this is gonna Go for Steve somebody in our group chat. Maybe it was howani It's like are they working themselves into a shoot like oh, they're already shooting if he feels like we've been yeah Once we started bringing up the really personal stuff, but from Steven a today that was that was yeah

Any other ones Frank? Sunny Chung makes a suggestion next list maybe each maybe each give number five, number four, number one, more drama. So like go for each person, go R5. Oh, okay. You go 555. 555, 444. Ooh, Sonny, we'll put you in the next production meeting.

We'll see how it goes. No one gets angry about getting told how to produce a show than Mr. Mysterious Frank. I just think we could afford to have one more producer? What does on air Jordan say to this I? Answered a Frank Frank makes the call orange dubs double dips and Costco churro ruled rip old friend rest in peace to a real one one of the largest churros for sure it was like this

Oh, yeah, like shout out to the shout out to the Costco churro Churros are just fucking fantastic. Oh yeah, they're great. It's just fried doing. You ever get the Subway ones? Churros, churros, churros. Is that? No, no, no, no, no.

Is it legit good or are you? New York City Subway. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like down in the Subway. Oh, I thought you meant Subway restaurant. Oh yeah, yeah. No, yes, a million times. Side of the road churro, Subway chur Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, yes a million times side of the road churro subway churro. Yeah, no problem

I am NOT the I Am NOT scared of people handling my food. Let's just say that like I'll go to a street card. Yeah In fact, I dare say it adds a little extra spice like flavor It adds a little extra spice like flavor. I love I actually wearing gloves Sometimes sometimes I would not bother them if they did not put gloves. What is this? Yes everyone is I'm not I'm not sold on that Frankie There's no health regulations for the churro cart down Let's go down on the subway. No Snack let's just say maybe I bought you know a food or two or somebody wasn't wearing gloves selling food in like the dirtiest place possible The rat I saw carrying the pizza across the platform no gloves

They call that what I would have by the pizza from they're not wearing gloves. Lastly Ben hatch rights. I'll do a subway show Y'all ever consider fighting back Honestly, I bet the subway restaurant churros are fire. They got good cookies Have I ever considered fighting back in the day like organized now? No I you know, there's been a why back in the day. You guys passed your prime now. I am yeah Was this one just for you? No never did yeah, how about now? I'm way past my problem fucking stress that would come to it man

I respect people that made the wall professional fighting, right right I mean I've fought like can I see the question I was like half paying attention because I was laughing about subway. Yeah, oh Like yeah, I mean I feel like somebody's asked organized MMA now. Yeah like We've been in a fight before but that's not consider the fight before you got into it No, it was not a lot of spots. I went into it Yeah, there's a lot of pretty spontaneous dumb decision. Yeah. Yeah dumb. How much do you know about yourself? You've never been in a fight Yeah, is that fight? I've been in a fight Frankie. Yeah a couple fights in my day weren't considered to just happen when any fights I

Mean who your friends in a party? I mean You want to say I went home on Easter one day and I described this all in a time like if I were ever to Be like in the octagon I'm the reason there's a cage because my ass is trying to run out of there and I'm like, let me out I please just let me like has anyone ever had to climb out of the octagon They're trying to get away from the other guy There was that one guy in the boxing match who yeah at the moment The bell ring just climbed over the rope casually walked out bolted out as you walked out

I mean, I think you'd be surprised Frankie how many of the Athletes that Ariel has spoken to over the years have said like they've wanted to do that like the UFC fighters who are like in there that are trained killers that are like yeah I just didn't want to be in there I couldn't I wanted to get the fuck out like it's kind of it is it is a it is a mental battle it is like that and that is why Ariel in particular but I think all of us continue to talk about how much we respect these athletes for going in there because it is not lost upon us as

myself in the media fans that they are putting something on the line they are doing something extremely dangerous they are putting something on the line. They are doing something extremely dangerous. They are sacrificing things for our entertainment. And it is not natural to want to be in there. It is the opposite. It is something that you're supposed to, like your instincts are supposed to have you fleeing from those moments, but they rise to the occasion and put on fantastic performances and entertain us

for many, many years. But I think you'd be shocked, Frankie, how many people actually do literally feel like and put on fantastic performances and entertain us for many, many years. But I think you'd be shocked, Frankie, how many people actually do, literally feel that, and then they just swallow it and go. Yo, 1000%. If I ever were to do that, I know I'd be in the locker room being like,

why the fuck am I here? I cannot believe I'm about to do this. Yeah, famously, Donald Cerrone, one of the most game guys of all time, one of the guys known for making that walk no matter what, sign me up two weeks this, that, the other, has talked about the crippling anxiety that he faces every time he's about to do that walk.

Why the fuck am I doing this again? I don't wanna do this, I'm gonna throw up. Yeah, I mean, it's not even funny, but NFL players. There are NFL players that'll just puke before every game. Just gotta get the nerves out, just because they're that scared to go out there. But they do it anyway. And that's why I respect them so much.

It really is an unbelievable amount of bravery to get out there. So respect to them. I will never say anything bad about people that make the walk. Respect to them for life. I mean like shout out to guys like Oscar Willis, Ben Davis.

Yeah. Bare knuckle. 100%. Crazy man, crazy. I'm proud of him. Yeah, shout out. No worries. Ben Davis, future challenge champion. I can't wait to lock champion. I can't wait to lock in I can't wait to fucking see that Anything else Frankie that was it?

Well shout out shout out to the chat someone mentioned. Who was the chick that ran in the one fight? Chelsea Chandler against over to my The ultimate screenshot be fair. We've seen some actual running this one this one predates your time, but there was a guy named Caleb Starnes who literally spent an entire round running around the cage circling away. By the way, I think we should do this. Andy, how did we do on the list? I was very concerned about how you were gonna feel. You had your suggestions, like were we okay, that we do good? Rick, you guys did not disappoint. Your list was so predictable.

Your list was so predictable. Yeah. You play the hits, you play the hits. I'm a simple man, I don't deny. I saw it coming. That Family Guy clip that I sent yesterday, the tacos on a corn tortilla, that's you. Okay, but at least I didn't.

Jalapenos. At least I didn't put like quesadilla and it's oh what I was referring to Wow I can't believe I'm going back to pound-for-pound But important that I say this what I was referring to that nobody had I think burritos are an abomination This may be a hot take crazy Those are an absolute abomination your number things that people just pile into this pocket, just absolutely disgusting. There are shitty burritos, fact.

No, all burritos are shit. All burritos are shit. All burritos are shit. Terrible take, terrible take, terrible take. Terrible take, love burritos. You know what, I'm not having dinner with you. Lay the things out on a plate. Put the individual ingredients out.

You just haven't had a good burrito. Put them on nachos. Burritos are just pockets for you to, I feel the same way about salads that are overloaded with ingredients. I feel the same way about salads that are overloaded with ingredients, I feel the same way about sandwiches that are overloaded with ingredients. What about a spring roll, huh?

Dude, this is crazy. No, burritos are shit. Not only burritos are elite, you can also have the versatility of breakfast burritos as well, which is just one of the best breakfasts. Eat some good tacos instead. I've never been more embarrassed. Burritos are just an excuse for people

to pile 10 different ingredients into it. You don't even have to do different ingredients to it and you don't even taste it. Give me rice, give me chicken, give me cheese, give me guac. Sounds like a great taco. Sounds like a fantastic taco. Wrap that bitch up into it. Maybe fry it. Then we're talking chimichangas, baby. No chimichangas out here. Alright, for Eric, enough of this nonsense. Frank is back here trying to bribe Andy to be like, hey, can on the horn and just be like Frank's got the best list did not?

Ten money ten dollars across my face you think you went in money They're cooking you in the chat. They're saying that you're actually trolling. They're actually saying that he's Me oh no not trolling Absolute garbage they're saying that you're having a gout flare-up and it's making you angry Mike Says you're a troll skull face says you're dead to him Someone ban Rick from the chat. You all enjoy your your disgusting trash pockets Delicious delicious taco crazy

Get a bowl like an adult. Get a bowl like an adult. Also, another more drama in the chat, plus money MMA, Frank, he's saying that Frank won't talk about the fatty boombaladdy. And he says that I wasted two bucks telling GC I got him in NOLA. There is a-

Can you answer that? There is a producer that feeds me what questions to read to air and which ones not to. Wow. Are we avoiding the subject of fatty boombaladi right now? I guess. We don't even, I... Fatty boombaladi for you guys at the NOLA show.

Yeah, shout out to Postman AMMA. We got you, brother. We got you. I mean, down for that. To go to the NOLA show, like, Dustin... Go to the NOLA show, off a little fatty boomblattie, spend some time on Bourbon Street, I'm down.

Haven't been to New Orleans since 2022. What's the pen pun we could tie in? Oh yeah, we could think of something. Dustin Pennyay? Nah, we could think of something. We could think of something good. But yeah, shout out. Shout out to the Plus Money MMA.

Shout out to the fatty boomblattie. Everybody knows that. All right, so I guess we end the show with Rick's worst take of all time. Everybody fucking loves burritos, huh? Breakfast burritos too. Changed the rice to the eggs, absolutely fantastic. Stick that in the taco, it's good. Shout out to the chat, shout out to everyone for watching.

Tune into The Crack tomorrow, and then the Ariel Hauwani Show on Monday. Wow. And we'll be back. Enjoy UFC Mexico City. Maybe we'll get some Mexican food on Saturday. Get a burrito. For God's sake. Get a burrito.

Get a burrito. Get a breakfast burrito. Don't get a burrito. Get a burrito for lunch and enjoy your weekend. Thanks for watching. Adios amigos. Adios amigos.